#writing a concept for a fic crossover that would no way in hell happen in cannon

[stealingyourbones]

Danny Phantom meets Superman. More accurately I should say that Danny Fenton meets Clark Kent.

Let me make this clear cause people seem to forget this: superman is smart. Clark kent is a very intelligent guy. Hes an INVESTIGATIVE journalist. He works with Lois Lane whos a multiple Pultizer prize winner and you know damn well that Lois wouldn’t work with anyone that cant keep up with her in both wits and smarts. He’s good at his job and in some comics he gets Pulitzer Prizes from some of his articles as well. Dude is dumb but he’s smart if you get what I’m saying. High Int. Low Wis.

With that in mind, During an assignment by Perry White, Lois and Clark meet the Fentons in their Amnesty residence to get some quotes on an article that discusses “Everything we thought didn’t exist is now real. Superheroes, Aliens, even Vampires, so why do we not Believe in Ghosts?”

Clark Kent spots Danny and notices instantly that MANY things are wrong with this child. His shoulders are hunched in a way that is intentional and tensed. Like he doesn’t know if he should fight or flee. His eyes are darting around and constantly taking in their surroundings like he’s waiting for something to barge in. His heart is beating far slower than it should. The kid intentionally makes his chest rise and fall but he’s not breathing in any oxygen. All of those are concerning but they can happen in metas. The thing that isn’t normal is that Clark can’t hear any of Danny’s other organs working. Like the kid is a revitalized corpse and his body only thought to bring back half of its needed functions.

So Clark does some digging. He doesn’t want to tell any of the Justice League because this isn’t a Superman job, this is a job for Clark Kent. He gets some help from Oracle and with her word that she won’t say anything to batman, He agrees to update her regularly about the kids situation.

Oracle sends over some VERY concerning documents from an organization called “The Ghost Investigation Ward”. Oracle tells Clark that she’s working on tipping off the Bats and Birds so they can help dismantle the organization.

While sifting through the documents Clark comes across a profile of a “Danny Phantom”. As I said, Clark isn’t stupid. There is definitely a profile of Danny Fenton as well since he’s the son of two world renown ghost hunters. He puts the two and two together and uncovers just the horrible treatment that Phantom has been receiving from his parents, the government, and his peers. Clark is outraged and can’t just stand aside and let this kid suffer. So he makes another trip to the Fenton residence under the guise of needing another quote and sits Danny and Jazz down and tells him that he knows of the terrible lab safety, the immoral experiments his parents do on the regular, the neglect of the kids in pursuit of scientific discovery. He knows and he wants to help. Clark tells Danny and Jazz that there is an apartment available right nextdoor from his and that he can help them get to a safer location and apply for emancipation.

The Fenton kids are shocked at this guy and his immensely kind heart. Danny knows something is up though. Something is up with Clark Kent. He looks like all his life would be spent in the gym when he isn’t at work and yet Danny can’t find a thing on Clarks interest in working out. His baggy clothes somewhat cover up his muscles but his frame is far too wide to be hidden. Clarks heartbeat is slightly faster than the average persons. No human eyes could be that startlingly sky blue. And Danny knows that he has seen Clarks face somewhere but he cant put a pin on it.

The Fenton kids agree and they get brought to metropolis and the emancipation case is no problem with the evidence Clark managed to collect. The kids get the apartment next to Clarks and Clark helps them grow and get better mentally and situationally. Clark knows that in a way he’s trying to make up for his neglect on Connor but he still knows that helping these kids is the right decision.

After a month or so, Clark and the Fenton kids have a rhythm of meeting at each others apartments, getting doted over to make sure that the fentons are well fed and have everything they need and are getting settled into their new life.

Clark hasn’t told the league. Oracle keeps her promise to keep the Fentons out of Batman and the Justice League’s radar. Clark knows that he will have to tell them soon eventually. He knows that things like this wont last. He tries his best to keep these kids happy and support them how an actual caring parent should act.

A few months into the Fentons stay in Metropolis on a cool autumn afternoon, Danny is sitting on a beanbag chair reading a ratty old book that Clark lent him as Clark is typing away on his computer writing up an article for the Daily Planet when Danny looks over to Clark and says,

“I’m Phantom.”

Clark pauses typing and shoots a small smile towards danny, “I know.”

Danny nods in relieved acceptance as Clark straightens up from his hunced over position on his computer.

He pulls back his shirt collar slightly to show the blue suit and red cape. “I’m Superman.”

Danny looks at him and smiles, “I know.”

They both just sit and continue reading and writing with soft smiles on their faces. Comforted at the exchange and that it’s finally out there and eachother knew.

After a while Danny’s obsession gets to be too much. He tells Clark about it and that he has to find a way to sate his obsession of protecting and Clark accepts that it was only a matter of time and invites him to meet the League.

When Superman brings Danny to the Watchtower, saying that the rest of his fellow superheroes were shocked would be an understatement. The Man of Steel and this ghost kid are talking like a father and son.

To say that Batman was pissed that he wasn’t informed of this child is also an understatement. But there is also some amusement and respect under that frustration. Superman managed to keep this kid under wraps and didn’t even alert Batman. Superman smirking and saying under his breath to him “Looks like the World's Greatest Detective isn’t so great huh?” Makes Batman respect the man even more.

In the Watchtower, Danny meets up with Teen Titans/The Team/Whatever They’re Called Now, and meets Conner. Conner is understandably pissed and spiteful that Danny got to have Superman as a father figure.

Conner knows that Superman treating Danny this way is definitely a way of him trying to make up for the faults and breaks he had with his parental relationship with Conner. he agrees with himself that he shouldn’t hate Danny for having Superman as a Dad and the two get along like tinder and matches. Connor still has a grudge against Superman don’t get me wrong, just not as much as before.

Sometimes while the League is in battle, Superman likes to just look for Danny and watch him hold his own against world ending threats. Danny is now truly confident and it’s no longer a facade. He’s no longer hunching into himself to look smaller. He laughs more often now and seems to be genuinely happy. Superman fondly looks at his son as his kids eyes flicker with green fire as he says a shitty ice pun and freezes Metallo in his tracks with ghostly ice.

[mrsreginagold]

Fic: Why Don't We Rely On Chemistry?

Fandom: Ready or Not x Saw VI (Crossover)

Pairing: William Easton x Grace Le Domas (Willace)

Rating: R

Spoilers: Takes place at the end of Saw VI, but in an AU where William lives, and after the events of Ready or Not. While it arguably messes with timelines, Grace has been working at Umbrella for around a month, and as a new hire in administrative would not have been targeted the same way as those who have been part of his team for longer. 

Summary: Grace is unprepared for William’s sudden arrive at her apartment but lets him in regardless. 

Author’s note: Every now and then, a crack pairing that forms seemingly out of nowhere becomes important enough to write. In this case – there were three different concepts that demanded attention, so I decided to tackle them all in between other projects. Dedicated, with affection, to @eternal-learner whose interest in the idea of the pairing finally got me to think about it clearly. 

The Song That Inspired This

Why Don’t We Rely on Chemistry?

            It’s the last thing Grace Le Domas expects – her boss leaning against her doorframe: bloody, disheveled, and looking as though he’s been through hell and back at least twice – but she would be lying if it also wasn’t a relief to see him. 

            Things with the estate she’d inherited had gotten complicated, as it was only a few months after her horrific ordeal on the night of her wedding. In fact, she had just ended a tense phone-call with her lawyers. Honestly, a distraction was exactly what she needed. 

            “Will,” she reached out quickly to catch William Easton’s tall, lean body right as his legs gave out beneath him. “My god, what happened?”

            “Jigsaw,” he gasped, the gravel in his voice revealing the pain he was in. 

            Grace’s eyebrows furrowed. “Isn’t he supposed to be dead?”

            Somehow, her employer manages a brief laugh while she hoists him up, draping one of his arms over her shoulder so she can cart him inside her apartment properly. 

            “Apparently even the dead can exact revenge.” He remarked as she charted a path through her messy living room.

Admittedly, it doesn’t take too much to guide him into the small bathroom at the end of the hall. While she has a tinier frame than he does, she is also strong enough to carry him entirely if need called for it. Luckily – that doesn’t appear to be the case.

            She lets him recline against the counter, flipping on the light switch so she can see things more clearly. “Take off your shirt and tell me what happened.”

            Again, he laughs, though there’s a wounded hiss and he inhales sharply right after. “You’re being so bossy. Do you get that from watching me all day?”

            She finishes rummaging in her medicine cabinet, turning just in time to see him struggling with the buttons. The sarcastic retort she’d prepared dies on her tongue and her gaze softens. 

            Grace crosses over to William and takes over, popping each button on his blood-stained shirt open in rapid succession. “Please tell me, as best as you can.”

            He takes another shaky breath before doing so, while she gingerly pushes the ruined garment off his shoulders. 

            He leaves nothing out in his retelling of the harrowing encounter in the abandoned zoo, but what might be the most alarming part of all is how haunted he is about not being able to do more. 

            In ordinary circumstances, she might ogle his surprisingly defined torso a bit, but she is more consumed with tending to his injuries while he relays his story. 

            She winces in sympathy when he is unable to keep a whimper at bay while she cleans the puncture wounds on his hands – wiping the blood away as gently as possible despite the sting of the rubbing alcohol. “I’m so sorry, I’m almost done,” she mutters. “Then I’ll stitch up that gash on your side.”

            “Don’t apologize,” he shakes his head, dark brown strands of hair coming loose from where he had smoothed them back earlier. “You’re rather adept at this, actually. Did you have any medical training?”

            “On myself you could say,” she holds up her own hand, where scar tissue is visible right on the center of her palm. 

            He blinks, concern crossing his handsome features. “How?”

            “A fucking kid shot through my hand, that’s how. And then I impaled it again on a nail.”

            “Grace…how much about your past have you told me?”

            A rueful smile tugged at her lips. “Well to be fair, I was only recently hired.”

            “True, but now I’m doubly curious,” he turns when she instructs him, so she has a better angle at which to sew in the stitches. 

            In a way, it’s a great release to finally share her own story, and she’s certain William appreciates being able to take his mind off his own for a while. 

            What she isn’t counting on is the tears that have sprung to her eyes by the time she’s completed her work, and when she peers up at him, the emotion reflected back in his sea-colored gaze nearly takes her breath away. 

            Gingerly, he frames her face between his damaged hands. “What happened wasn’t your fault.” 

            “You need to tell yourself that too,” she half sobs.

            The next thing she knows, she is cradled in his arms, flush against his solid chest, and listening to the steady beat of his heart while he soothes her with kind words.

            “This isn’t hurting you?” she risks a nuzzle.

            “You’re worth the pain,” he rests his chin against the top of her head. “If there’s something I’m grateful for, it’s that you weren’t with my team long enough to get dragged into that game with me. I don’t know what I would have done if I couldn’t have saved you.”

            “If there’s something I’m great at: it’s surviving,” Grace admits, tilting her head back so she can look at him again. 

            Her heart skips when he smiles genuinely for the first time that night, and then he raises a hand to trace along her cheek before whispering, “I don’t doubt it.”

            Whether she moves or he does is beside the point – in the next moment, their mouths are colliding in an ardent kiss.

            She parts her lips eagerly in invitation, delighted when he takes it, and his tongue delves with practiced precision. 

            She hooks her index fingers into his belt loops, tugging him forward as she steps backward to lead him to the shower. 

            They separate for air and for Grace to shuck her tee shirt over her head. 

            There is no mistaking the lust in William’s gaze the second he gets a glimpse of her in the black lace bra she has on underneath, those eyes of his trailing slowly over her. 

            She makes a show of removing the undergarment – and then she is standing there, half-naked and hoping that he won’t let reason cloud his judgement. 

            He hesitates for a split second before throwing caution to the wind. 

            She’s in his arms again in a heartbeat, elation coursing through her entire body as she blindly reaches for the faucet to start the hot water. “You sure?” she mumbles, fumbling with the rest of his clothes.

            “I need to feel something that isn’t pain,” he responds, assisting her until they’re both completely nude and stepping under the refreshing, warm spray. 

            If he weren’t recovering, she’s certain that he would be lifting her up and pinning her against the wall. Instead, she straddles him on the tub floor and takes initiative.

            They’re careful after joining together, moving in a deliberately paced rhythm so as not to aggravate his injuries. The water cascades over them while they exchange loving kisses, and a symmetry builds. 

            It’s been some time since she’s connected with another in this way. She relishes in how good it feels – as though he’s been made for her because he fits so perfectly. 

            His name falls from her lips like a mantra as they pick up speed, and she cards her fingers through his damp hair while looking deeply into his eyes. He braves gripping her hips more tightly, and she can’t deny that she likes witnessing a hint of dominance, especially when it adds to his allure.

            “Grace…” his already low register is akin to an inhuman growl, and she shivers before kissing him again, encouraging the movement of their entangled forms until there is nothing left but the pleasure they share. 

            “For the record, this was probably the worst idea, and I should have immediately taken you to a hospital,” Grace confesses not long after. Her hands are preoccupied with stroking through the hair on his chest while they lie in her bed, twined with each other and the sheets, recuperating. 

            William’s quiet laugh rumbles against her cheek. “You gave me some painkillers and food. I should be fine till tomorrow morning,” he sighs and sweeps his fingers tiredly through her unbound, blond waves. 

            She lifts her head from where it’s pillowed comfortably and purses her lips. “One hint of a fever and I’m dragging you there completely naked.”

            “That’ll be a sight,” he grins, yanking her close for a sweet kiss that she happily returns. 

            He’s right. Being responsible can wait till the morning. 

The End

[notwonderlandsworld]

I absolutely love your writing! I wanted to know if you have any ideas on what to write? I am currently reading all the Batkid and thought "what If the dimensions crossover of another batkid who is oldest is taking over as batman then meets the younger batkid who just became their own vigilante?" Or smth along the lines of that concept. I honestly just want batkid baby and then batkid adult being a badass

I've left Batkid open for anyone who wants to request. The intention I had was setting the story up (the prolouge) to help set MY version of how I believe the batkid would turn up. It's really an open book other than that, so anyone can request for batkid, whether that be older or younger!

Made this a one-shot since u didn't really specificy if u wanted a headcanon or something hope u dont mind! I added my own sort of twist to this

SPECIAL NOTE: all of my child fics/daughter/son/sibling fics will be with an adopted reader and not a biological one. Biological would mean that half of these parents/couples would be mixed, so no I won’t be doing biological. Especially when it comes to predominantly white characters.

(Naomi is a made up character btw)

pairing(s): Batfam x Child!Reader

warning(s): way too much use of the word 'you', cursing (I think), little angst, kinda confusing i'm sorry, NOT PROOFREAD

word count: 4.4k

You don’t even know what actually happened, but you were certain it was all Klarion’s fault. How’d it come to this?

Your father never really let you go out on missions as much as the boys, since they apparently all agreed you were too young to join them. That got a rise out of you, which led to a huge argument with all of them.

You were ten, but that was considered too young for this kind of stuff?

Wasn’t Dick like eight when he first became Robin?

Needless to say, it ended with some yelling, crying, and a threat to even run away. After that, you were allowed to join patrol with them, with the exception that you’d return home early on school nights.

Currently, you were told to stay in the car while Batman and Zatanna went ahead to investigate  the abandoned circus. Taking your cape off, you groaned at the horrible substitute over a real blanket.

“Ya alright, lad?” the man sitting in the back asked. Looking back at him, you shrugged, “This cape doesn’t necessarily make a good blanket.”

Constantine chuckled, “I would give ya this coat, “ he gestured to the one he was wearing, “But I’m kind of using it.” You groaned, “Why’d I even get left with you?”

“I’m not really chuffed about having to babysit either.”

Sending him a glare, you sighed while leaning back against the seat. Looking ahead, there were flashes followed by some colors being flickered out into the night sky. Zatanna probably found something, or someone.

You were about to close your eyes before a loud bang erupted from far away. Flinching, you gasped as an explosion appeared not too far away, black clouds of smoke contrasting with red and orange flames.

Constantine spoke up, “They seem to be handling it well. Lovely.” Looking over at him, you hopped into the driver’s seat and turned on the Batmobile.

Gesturing to the passengers side, you told the man to jump ahead. “Looks like they need help.” Before he could make a quick-witted comment, you stepped on the gas and drove to the scene.

Constantine gripped onto the backseat from the sudden speed, “Bloody hell! A warning would’ve been nice!”

“I told you to get in the passenger seat!” you yelled, not bothering to look over your shoulder.

Arriving at the scene, the Batmobile skidded to a halt as a giant piece of cement was thrown in front of you. Constantine was already in the passenger seat, opening the door as another boulder was flying towards the car again.

Yanking you out with him, he ran away from the destruction. You yelped when you felt him teleporting across the circus. Luckily, he stopped in front of your father and Zatanna.

“What happened?” Batman began. Constantine let you go, adjusting his coat. Before he could respond, you beat him to it, “We were almost crushed by some debris! Luckily, Constantine saved us.” A laugh was heard from away, making the four of you look back at the perpetrator.

Klarion emerged from the mess he created, even with Teekl on his shoulder he looked menacing. Looking at you, he let out a pathetic scoff, “Now who’s this?”

You glared at him, “Does it matter?” You were about to walk up to him until Batman pulled you back. Zatanna prepared herself for any possible oncoming attacks. Constantine watched on, secretly on the edge as well.

Klarion huffed, looking down on you, “I was simply trying to be polite. After all, it'd be rude to kill a stranger.”

“Then I'd like to remain a stranger.” you scoffed, reaching behind to activate your electric gauntlets without him noticing. Klarion smirked, at least you had some nerve to talk back.

Eyes turning red along with his hands, he began to glow and threw an arm in your direction. The rest of the group were thrown across the ground as a large construct wrapped around your body.

Zatanna tried to attack Klarion, but ultimately was pinned down by Teekl.

The cat’s teeth were drawn, bare, and sharp, as they slowly were leaning down towards the woman’s neck.

Attempting to use her magic, she winced when one of the claws sunk into her forearm. She screamed as they successfully punctured through.

Constantine was ready to attack with Batman until they were both pinned down as well. Your father struggled hard, yelling out your hero name.

The man cursed at himself internally. He couldn’t fail you like he did with his sons. He won’t. He refuses. Yet there he was, still being held down. Hopeless.

Struggling against the grips the witch boy had on you, there was only one option left. You just hoped it worked as the gauntlets charged up, ready to be used.

Klarion had yet to notice as he laughed, “How sad. You’ll have to remain a stranger when I kill you. And to think, it could’ve been nice to know who was under that cowl…”

The boy snapped his fingers as a book appeared out of thin air. Opening it up, he flipped  through each page, tutting, “I wonder…what spell I should rid of you with.” Further inspecting more spells, he let his magic grip loosen a little.

You smirked, perfect timing.

Squeezing a fist, you super charged one of the arms. Just as the boy turned back to look at you with an ‘aha!’ he received the endside of your knuckles.

Gritting your teeth, you pushed harder, charging up the bolts more. The tingly feeling was beginning to reach up your forearm, but you didn’t care.

Big mistake.

While giving Klarion a piece of your mind, you failed to notice his arm reaching towards your neck. It was until you felt a prick that a big flash banged, knocking the both of you away from each other.

Opening your eyes, you screamed as you were thrown around these odd strings of waves across…well who knows where.

Before you could even regain yourself, you felt something crash into you followed by another scream. It sounded older, yet very similar. ‘Probably dad’ you thought.

Opening an eye, you saw the familiar Batman insignia and wrapped your arms around the figure. Falling into a random portal-door-thingy, you yelped as the figure took most of the fall.

Rolling off them, you remained on the ground. ���Ugh…thanks for catching me dad—”

“(Y/H/N)!” a voice called out. Turning your head towards the voice, you recognized the voice as the figure of your father ran towards you. Wait but then who was…

The person who caught you groaned, turning onto their side. Cape torn and helmet thrown across the debris of the ground, they grounded to their knees.

Constantine helped Zatanna up after she healed her arm, trying to figure out what happened. Klarion was gone and nowhere to be found.

The older figure groaned, rubbing at their head. Fuck, that was gonna leave a mark, you’ll have to hear about it from Naomi later.

Flinching, the figure heard a familiar voice call out to them. Seeing the man run towards the small child they saved from…who knows what, the figure’s eyes widened. Both them and the small child called out, “Dad?”

Wait. Both child (Y/N) and adult (Y/N) looked at eachother. “Did you just call him ‘Dad’?” you both said simultaneously. Bruce soon realized the situation, as soon as his eyes landed on the older figure, his eyes widened.

Was…that…is it…

You (adult version) looked on, terribly confused yet worried when you realized you weren’t back home. This wasn’t the Gotham you knew.

You couldn’t hear your butler, Naomi, over your ear piece anymore. And now you were somehow here, looking at…a younger version of yourself?

“Y-You're…” you stuttered out, struggling to finish a sentence. The child version of yourself also was finding it difficult to form words. “Y-You’re…”

“...You’re me?!”

Constantine gave a low whistle, at which Zatanna glared at him, silently telling him to shut up. “I’m too knackered for this…”

-

(IT MIGHT GET CONFUSING HERE SO READ CAREFULLY)

Arriving at the mansion, everyone was left in shock. If Bruce didn’t know how to feel, you can only imagine the rest of the family. Duke was the first to notice as Constantine teleported to the cave with a group in tow.

He was about to ask how the mission was. Fortunately he was drinking his coffee when he asked who the older figure was.

“This is (Y/N).” Bruce introduced the adult version of you. You nodded, still dazed. You couldn’t even look back at yourself.

Cue Duke spitting out his coffee followed by shattering cups as Alfred arrived with a—now broken—teapot and several cups. Both men looked unapologetically at the figure in shock.

(Adult) you on the other hand, was worse then (child) you at the moment. Feeling the need to throw their ripped cape around themselves as more people stared in shock.

You could feel tears threatening to fall when you noticed Alfred. In your universe, he was dead. Naomi took over the legacy.

Bruce ignored the shock on his son’s face, heading over to the computer. “Duke, I need you to bring the rest down here. I’ll try to find any possible trace of Klarion.”

“R-Right…” the boy couldn’t have run faster as he fled up the stairs. Alfred meanwhile snapped out of it and attempted to clean the mess he made. Trying his best not to look at the currently shaking figure, he called out to you.

“(Y/N), b-be a dear and assist me in this mess.”

The awkward silence happened when both (child) you and (adult) you began walking towards the butler.

The older version stopped once they realized, giving a small apology before gesturing (child) you towards the old man. The child version looked back, a slight pang in their chest after realization of the small droplets around your eyes.

Alfred was not in your older version’s world.

A pang hit your chest as you continued towards the butler. The older version slumped before recollecting themselves, heading towards Constantine and Zatanna. “There’s got to be a way to fix this.”

The two of them looked taken aback at how serious (adult) you could become all of a sudden. Zatanna smiled, “You definitely take after Bruce…” she muttered, but (adult) you heard. Choosing to ignore the statement, you asked, “Any way I can head back home, y'know to my universe?”

The woman seemed deep in thought as she began pacing, “Hmmm…”

Constantine looked at her, “What are ya doing?” The woman stopped, “Thinking of a way obviously.”

The man scoffed as he crossed his arms, “Of course there’s a way.” The two blinked at the man expectantly. He looked back before shrugging, “What?”

Zatanna rolled her eyes, “Tell us the way to get…older (Y/N) back home!” (adult) you held back a laugh, swallowing it down when both mages stared back. Ignoring them, you shot a look over the shoulder.

Your father—the one from a different universe—was focused on the big screen. At the feeling of being stared at, he turned his eyes away to look at you. He wanted to look away, that wasn’t his child…

Except it was.

He had so many questions as he maintained eye contact. You were a full grown adult, looking almost his current age. Your eyes were glassy, like the spark he sees in (child) you now was gone.

Completely void of any sort of joy. He noticed the few streaks of gray in your hair. Skin dull and almost unhealthy looking to the point of worry. An appearance anyone could comprehend.

In that universe, you looked tired.

You were tired.

Which is why Bruce couldn’t look at you. He didn’t want to see how he failed another child.

Breaking eye contact, the man continued to look for ways to deal with the situation. Luckily, Constantine said there was a way to fix this.

In the corner of his eyes he saw (adult) you look away, a frown on your face followed with a cast down. Tucking into your cape in an attempt to seem smaller, it gave him all the answers Bruce needed to know.

He did in fact fail you. Didn’t matter what universe it was from.

-

Zatanna and Constantine were going to be at the manor for a week it seems.

Apparently the spell they had both studied was time-based. They would have to wait an exact week before moonlight to conduct the spell.

Constantine claimed it was an easy ritual, but did nothing to calm nerves as he scattered through his book, obvious confusion written over his face.

Zatanna seemed more confident than the man, but at least she knew how to hide her perplexity.

In the meantime, (adult) you was going to be staying with you for a week. It’d give (child) you a chance to properly talk to them. Ask about their dimension, or was it the future?

Oh who knows anymore.

Currently (child) you sat back, eating some mango slices Alfred had prepared in a bowl, as you observed the older version of yourself in the backyard garden. A peaceful look on your face…or their face…or…

Whatever.

(adult) you seemed to be basking in the flower blushes. A day had barely passed and anyone had yet to talk to the other version of you.

It appeared a naturalistic setting was the perfect stress reliever.

Swinging back and forth, (child) you hummed before stabbing another mango slice with a fork.

“Mx. (Y/N) please don’t rock the chair back and forth. I wish to only wash the bowl once you're finished, not blood as well.” Giggling along with a clink of dropping the fork down, you faced the butler. “Sorry Alfred.”

Turning back to the window, the butler spoke again. “Would be a better option to join (Y/N) 2 outside; I'm certain they wouldn’t mind some extra company.”

Biting your lip, you poked at the leftover chunks of fruit. Although it did seem like a good idea, there was some hesitancy on your end. What would even be a good way to approach?

Shrugging, you looked back at the butler. “I don’t know…They’ve been pretty adamant about not talking to me…maybe I’d be bringing back some bad memories, Alfred.” The older man hummed, grabbing the bowl and adding some extra mangos.

“Well,” he began, “I, for one, believe that some communication could very much help; they do have to stay for a week. If (Y/N) 2 felt lonely before, I’d bet on how desolate they must be feeling at the moment.”

You nodded, grabbing the bowl he handed you. It was now refilled with more fruit. Observing the older you from another dimension, they were gazing at a Calluna. A forlorn look across their face.

Taking a deep breath, (child) you nodded. “Alright.”

Bowl in hand, you headed out and began walking towards (adult) you. Their back being the first thing you see, you noticed how they seemed to be still.

Hesitating, you swallowed down the anxiety and reached over to touch their shoulder. They had caught it before you could even touch. It caused you to let out a small scream and drop the fruit.

(Adult) you heard someone approaching and got on the defensive. Before they could even lay a hand, they turned over quickly and gripped the wrist.

Eyes widening they noticed it was (child) you with a bowl that was now on the floor…were those mangos? Noticing the tight grip, (adult) you quickly let go.

“S-Sorry…”

"Um…it's okay." (child) you let out a breath of relief when your wrist was released. Taking a step back, it was clear just how easily the future had changed…well, you.

Technically. Feature wise, you looked relatively the same, except there was a jagged scar running across your eyebrow. Pointing towards the mark, (child) you asked, "What happened?"

(adult) you gasped, attempting to cover the long-lasting reminder. It didn't seem to impress your younger counterpart as they raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "Well? I'd at least like to know how I get my wicked scar from the future."

Hesitantly, (adult) you answered, "...I got it from someone."

"So…" (child) you dragged out, balancing on the balls of your feet innocently before asking excitedly, "Who gave it to me?!"

(adult) you raised a brow, confused. "You're not…disgusted by it? Horrified?"

(child) you let out a 'pfft'. Gesturing to your older counterpart you explained, "Hell no! You look so cool! Besides, that scar just gotta make a cool story! By the way, who'd you say gave it to you?"

(adult) you looked away from (child) you. Luckily, the bowl of ruined fruit laid on the floor. Thinking quickly, you grabbed at the bowl, "Uh hey! I think um…your butler might want this mess cleaned up."

Luckily, (child) you fell for the bait and gasped. Kneeling down, you helped your older counterpart pick up the ruined mango slices. Sighing, you explained how fruit was supposed to be a peace offering. Pausing, (child) you asked, "I like mango in your dimension, right?"

(adult) you chuckled, before standing up. "Thanks…how about we just sit down and talk instead?"

"Ok." (child) you nodded, leading them to the small picnic table setup. Once the two of you sat down, (adult) you smiled at their younger counterpart. "So what do you wanna know?"

(child) you smiled back, eyes twinkling, "Everything! Oh I got loads of questions I—"

The older version of you held back a laugh, it was beautiful how bright and energetic their younger self was back then. They'd do their best to explain as much as possible.

As long as the scar wasn't mentioned.

-

The boys were in the batcave, practicing like usual. Nothing major. Right?

Instead they were spilling the current gossip happening in the manor.

"I mean, did you see how badass (Y/N) 2 looks? I don't think Bruce has ever looked that awesome in a suit before."

"(Y/N) 2?" Jason asked Dick. The oldest brother shrugged, "Alfred came up with the name. It kinda stuck." 

"Although we're supposed to be training like Father told us," Damian spoke up while stretching himself, "Grayson is right. Do you remember when Duke called us down to the cave and we first saw them?" 

Tim nodded, "Yeah. It was like I was looking at a whole new Batman. Possibly more intimidating than Bruce to be honest. Although…" the boy sighed, "...kinda sucks how it's (Y/N). I mean, I could almost see how broken they were."

Jason crossed his arms, "I'm just glad there's finally someone other than me with a scar in this family."

"Jason!"

"Ow!" The second oldest brother felt a punch on his arm. It soon led to another following back. Next thing you know a giant rumble happened with all of them.

Reaching downstairs with your older counterpart, (child) you felt their hand grabbing onto yours.

'Hmm, weird' you thought.

Meanwhile (adult) you felt almost frozen at the sight of seeing all your brothers together again. As if the first time seeing them wasn't bad enough.

Hearing them laugh (Jason had Damian in a chokehold, much to Tim's joy and Dick's dismay) felt foreign to older you.

Despair filled in your gut. Your universe doesn't have this, not anymore. The stupid decisions led to loosing this. And the regret solidified every single day.

Seeing just how different your world was from your younger self, it felt like a bittersweet dream. Something you could've had but lost.

It made (adult) you freeze in your spot. You didn't want to take a step further, it was almost too painful. Feeling a tiny hand squeezing your large one, older you looked down to see your child counterpart smiling up at you. A look of comfort. Relief.

A look that says 'its okay'. Almost as if (adult) you could catch a break. For once in so many years. "Come on." (child) you said as you gently tugged them towards the boys.

It didn't take rocket science to tell (adult) you was ready to run back to the solitude of the garden.

But you weren't gonna let that happen.

"Hey guys!" The brothers all stopped at the notice of their youngest sibling along with…their other younger sibling behind them.

Raising a brow at Damian still pulling Dick's hair, (child) you hesitated, "Uh…shouldn't you all be training?"

(adult) you held back a laugh when Tim began flicking at Jason's ears, causing the man to growl at his younger brother before twisting his arm. The boy shrieked and threw a kick. It hit Damian and soon the rumble was about to begin once again.

"Hey! Guys! Stop!" Younger you yelled, but the sound was lost as the fighting seemed to get closer in both you and older yourself direction.

"We should move..." (adult) you gently shoved (child) you behind them. Your older counterpart walked up to the boys, cracking their knuckles before diving in.

With rapid speed, (adult) you first grabbed Jason, grabbing the base of skull and using your elbow to clock his face.

He couldn't even react before the man was thrown to the floor. Next was Dick, who was yanked from Tim and arm got twisted behind him. "What the—"

(adult) you kicked the back of his legs, successfully dropping him. Tim didn't get the chance to run away before he was spin-kicked down, landing on his back with a thud.

Last standing was Damian, who stared at your older self before scoffing. "Fine. We'll stop."

(adult) you nodded while giving the boy a smirk. "Very well." 

(child) you gaped at your brothers on the ground, groaning from all three of them. Looking up at your older counterpart, you took an exhale. "That…was…awesome!!"

(adult) you looked at their younger self, confused. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Um, are you kidding me? That was fucking radical!! The way you dropped Jason down like—" (child) you attempted to imitate the previous moves, "And then you were like! And he was like—"

you continued with your actions, making your older self let out a chuckle, "—And then that move you used on Tim was epic!"

"It was nothing. Honest." (adult) you mumbled, hand scratching the back of their head.

"Don't you dare say it was nothing. I just saw some extreme badass-ery before my very eyes"

"Language, (Y/N)..." Dick winced out to your younger self while still on the ground. (adult) you looked down at the boys, a sheepish yet awkward smile, "Sorry about that I uh…it's just that (Y/N) was trying to get you guys to stop and…"

"No we get it," Tim said, picking himself off the ground, "We were supposed to be training anyway."

"Ugh. I think they broke my brain." Jason moaned, holding onto the side of his head.

"Can't break what's already broken, Todd." Damian ducked as Jason threw a punch at him.

(adult) you watched on as your younger counterpart rushed to stop the rumble about to happen again. It felt nice to be here right now.

It may not have been what your world was like at all, but it was nice to see what it could have been.

Maybe later on when you get back, it could be.

Mistakes were fixable.

Sighing, (adult) you shook your head at the thought.

But not all of them.

-

A week had gone by so fast now that your older self was easing more into the lifestyle (child) you had. It grew nice to see them smile and laugh along with (child) you.

After learning more about one another, the two of you grew closer. It oddly felt like you had gained another sibling.

You liked it.

Hence why it almost broke your younger self’s heart when Constantine and Zatanna showed up on Sunday later that night. Currently resting on one of the walls of the ratty tents of the abandoned circus. Where this whole mess began.

Both in your suits (all-be-it your older self in their tattered one again), all you were waiting on was for Bruce to call you over while Zatanna performed the spell.

“Why are we here again?” (adult) you asked your younger self. Looking up at them, (child) you explained, “Constatine said for the spell to work, he and Zatanna need to conduct it in the same place you were pulled from.”

“Ah…”

There was a pregnant silence where neither of you spoke. Looking up at the broken ferris wheel, your older self began. “Y’know…It felt pretty nice this week. Thanks.”

“Hm? What do you mean?” Eyes meeting with your younger counterpart, you gave them a smile, “My world is completely different from yours. I don’t have this family like you do. Or at least I had something like it, but I can never get it back.”

“Oh…” (child) you looked down at your shoes. You felt almost guilty at the idea that you have the privilege of experiencing what your older self could not. Seeing them kneel down, they put a hand on your shoulder.

“You were able to show me the ins and out of your life, with your family and the love you share. Although I don’t get to have this anymore. Just knowing that in another dimension such as someone like you has it…well it’s all that matters to me at this point. Knowing that I, that you, are given this world is all worthwhile in the end.”

(child) you stared at your older self, before going to hug them. They stiffened under you as your tiny arms wrapped around them. “Thank you…”

You felt your older self’s arm hug you closer, “For what?”

“...I don’t know, for everything.” (child) you mumbled. (adult) you swallowed the lump in your throat as you closed your eyes.

You’ll be damned if you let any tears fall.

Pulling away from each other, your younger self took this time for one more question. “Yeah?”

“Can you please tell me…who gave you that scar?” they pointed to the one that ran across your brow. Your older self sighed, responding with only a dull stare. “I wish I could tell you.”

“Why can’t you?”

Because I don’t want you to despise Bruce. You don't deserve it. That’s my world not yours.

“...(Y/N)?” (child) you asked when your older self didn't respond. They were about to say something when Bruce called over the communicator he gave his child.

Voice crackling through the machine, he ordered you both that the spell was ready. Your older self gave you a smile, reaching to ruffle your hair.

“Let’s go.” 

Welp. I've been busy with work, so I won't apologize for taking so long. BUT I WILL APOLOGIZE for not notifying any of you yet on updates. I will say that if you have sent in a request you will get a response, I promise that much :)

[recurring-polynya]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

got tagged by @mrpuppett thank you!!

1) How many works do you have on AO3? 44, although 1 is just a less-explicit version of an explicit one, and 4 of them are anthologies of my yearly short-fiction output, which range between 6 and 42 chapters

2) What's your total AO3 word count? 942,912 😇

3) What fandoms do you write for? I currently write for Bleach. In a previous life, I wrote for X-Men, Batman, and (sobbing) the Star Wars prequels.

4) Top 5 fics by kudos? 1) a little in love now and then (479) 2) don't tell me that we've grown (for having loved a little while) (357) 3) The Letter of the Law (346) 4) this could be permanent, you know (295) 5) Call Me Back When the War is Over (284)

It is extremely funny to me that my 2nd most popular fanfic is my IkkaYumi one.

5) Do you respond to comments? I try to reply to all of my comments! Even if it's just a super-short one, I try to say thank you or if someone leaves me some emoji, I'll send some back. I love to talk about fanfic and think about fanfic and analyze fanfic, and I have had some really great conversations in the ao3 comments sections, both for my fanfics and for other peoples.

6) What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Dear Wormwood, I guess? I got several comments on it that were like "it'll get better, right?" and I was like "no, absolutely not." I'm not really an angst writer. I mean, nothing against it, I honestly just never come up with very good ideas.

7) What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? My fics tend to end on notes of progress or hope or small triumphs. this could be permanent, you know probably has the most traditional all-problems-solved, they kiss, roll-upbeat-end-credits happy ending.

8) Do you get hate on fics? Surprisingly, no!

9) Do you write smut? Sometimes! I find writing smut to be an almost entirely different activity from other kinds of writing. If I had to compare it to anything, it's a lot like writing fight scenes.

10) Do you write crossovers? No. I don't really care for them in general, unless the two universes vibrate in a very specific way where I think an interaction between the characters would be interesting. For example, I would think Natsume of Natsume's Book of Friends and Kurosaki Ichigo would have a lot to talk about (not that I ever got around to reading that one crossover series I found)

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen? Nope.

12) Have you ever had a fic translated? I have had people offer and then never heard from again. Not Broken, Just Bent was made into a podfic, that is sort of like a translation.

13) Have you ever co-written a fic before? Not in current times, I have in the past. When I was doing Bat-fic, I wrote in a shared universe with a couple of other authors and that was a lot of fun.

14) What's your all-time favorite ship? I have had others in the past, but I think RenRuki has strongly claimed the "all-time favorite" title at this point.

15) What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will? Never say never, I say! There are a lot of fics that I have put aside in favor of other projects, but in my heart, I believe I will get to them eventually! I do have a few WIPs that I have officially Given Up On, and I stick them in a particular folder on my GDrive, but that only happens when I decide I *don't* want to finish them.

16) What are your writing strengths? Banter, slice-of-life, depicting a rich variety of interpersonal relationships that don't fit neatly in one particular bucket.

17) What are your writing weaknesses? Run-on sentences and other related over-wordiness sins. Also, I'm slow as hell.

18) Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language? I try to do so sparingly--I use Japanese for things like fighting techniques and also for specifically Japanese items or concepts (like foods or articles of clothing), but I generally do not try to sprinkle Japanese words into my characters' dialogue for mood or whatever. I rarely use honorifics because I don't feel like I grasp the subtleties of them enough to do a good job.

This is a thing I am super-duper nervous about (not just language but also culture generally). It almost stopped me from getting into writing anime fanfic in the first place. I do my best to be thoughtful and respectful. I try to do as much research as I can and I always want my writing to be rich with detail, but I also don't want to overreach into things that I really don't know enough about. I have learned a TON in the process, which has been very rewarding.

19) First fandom you wrote for? I was writing fanfic on paper when I was, like, 9, so it's honestly a little hard to remember. I think it might have been for Batman: The Animated Series? The first time I really participated in a fandom was X-Men (RIP to alt.comic.fan-fiction, you made me the person I am today)

20) Favorite fic you've ever written? It's probably Call Me Back When the War is Over, but I'm also very fond of Portions for Foxes.

TAGGING: @backwardshirt @zabiume @bleachbleachbleach but only if you want to! (and anyone else who wants to, of course, this was fun!)

[minty-playhouse]

Explaining Nesmith/Townshend or A Primer on Townsmith

Dear friends and enemies... (and specifically @gitsor3010 and @smugruttle if you guys didn't want me to ping you, you shouldn't have liked my drabble, rookie mistake)

Recently I posted a drabble here regarding my very specific and niche ship of Mike Nesmith and Pete Townshend, motivated in part by @yaggerdangs-remedy shared enthusiasm for it (love you for that by the way, if you are reading this <3). I also posted another small thing on my NSFW sideblog, because of course I did.

Surprisingly, that first drabble seemed to have caught the attention of more than one person, so I guess it's my civil duty to explain where the hell this ship even came from, and also tell you all about dynamics and whatnot about this ship so I can maybe convince you all of my truth!

This post might get long though so I'm putting this all under a read more. [spoilers: this post did get long it's like 3,000 words long I'm sorry]

=Quick Background:

To start explaining Townsmith we need to go way way back to when I was 19 (over 15 years ago!) and I became obsessed with The Monkees and The Who almost simultaneously. The Monkees came first but it took just a couple months at best for me to also grow very attached to The Who.

Obviously, as a very normal person, I wanted to write about crossovers involving them, and even entertained the idea of a TV show centered crossover that was inspired by the small trivia about how there was like a glimmer of a thought of making a Who TV show but nothing came of it (but honestly can u IMAGINE mod era Who TV show?).

At the time thought, I didn't have enough writing skills to pull off anything of real substance, and the crossover ideas were more silly fanfic concepts than anything. I still have some of those early writings saved but they are very poor quality, but they still have some good ideas I pull from now and then.

In the middle of all this crossover musing, I felt really strongly about Mike/Pete, and at the time it was more of a surface level "they would look nice together and they are both weird" thing than whatever monster I created in my head now. I dunno exactly what pushed me in that direction. Me not being too invested in Towntrey at the time was probably to blame, as I was too busy shipping Roger with John. But I guess I unconsciously felt bad for Pete and wanted him to have someone he could bond with.

I also didn't have any Mike ships at the time, as I was hyperfixated in Jonestork and Micky was just the fun friend. So I just put them together for convenience. Oh, that was such a foolish mistake on my part and I had no idea.

=First Big Townsmith Idea:

OK, cool, now we've established this came from me not wanting them to be alone + they had some traits that matched. They are both tall, lanky weird guitar players who are a little too invested in their music to the point is a little strange to those around them.

And from that concept came the idea to write about Pete and Mike meeting by chance at a party, getting smashed and fucking. There wasn't much beyond that at the time, and because I didn't have the skills to pull off anything really that cool (I wanted them to be tripped out and whatnot, but lack of resources and knowledge at the time made this just some distant thought).

But that small seed was stuck in the back of my brain, waiting for when all things fell into place, I would be prepared.

The years passed, ships and fandoms came and went, and I became better at writing and better at expressing what I wanted through my fics. But I never really returned to Who or Monkees as strongly as I did when I was 19. I still listened to the music and whatnot, but for no reason in my mind I had put myself above RPF. No, I wouldn't go down that path again, I told myself for years and years...

Then last year happened and all of it went to shit.

Honestly I just doubled down on the RPF in ways my 19 year old self would never even dream of, and by digging through my old notes and ideas, I stumbled upon Pete/Mike again.

Now older and with more knowledge about both of them, in my head I was like "Yeah, they are fucking soulmates there's no way" and went back to the idea of them meeting and tripping and having no strings attached sex. But oh boy are there strings attached to this. Are there ever strings attached to this. But I think it was important to let you all know the basis where I built this on. It was a one-shot idea I had when I was like 19 and wanted to fill a ship gap. You can't make this shit up.

=Townsmith Makes Sense Chronologically And I Hate It:

It would be all funny and haha if I didn't start to expand on the original one-shot concept. I could just make it extremely anachronistic and just leave it at that. It's just a mindless smut one-shot, after all. But hey, if I have the tools now to research and make this make more sense chronologically (trust me the Internet was not like this when I was 19) why not use those tools?

So, I found that the ideal point for the one-shot. 1969. Pete just found himself being hailed as some kind of musical genius for coming up with Tommy, while Mike is struggling to keep himself interested in the Monkees concept in a post-Head climate. Mike was never the biggest fan of the Monkees as a concept, and by the time the movie rolled out his interest had waned considerably. He wanted to do his own stuff, he didn't want to be tied to this marketing stunt.

But hey, Mike's still under contract so for all intents and purposes, he has to keep up appearances.

And he heard about Pete. Everyone heard about him at this point. And Mike has to admit he's jealous. Pete had the type of creative freedom Mike could only dream of at the time. However, Mike is still Mike and he isn't about to be all in awe and amazed by some British musician that just "got lucky". In the initial concept, this all started off with Mike being very envious of Pete's position, but also thinking that Pete was also pulling publicity stunts of his own, why with the Who's whole live aggression and whatnot. And that notion just becomes more solidified in his mind when he meets Pete and he's... quiet. Almost shy even.

There's no way a guy like this is the same guy that is up there on stage. Maybe Mike was wrong and maybe music was all based on carefully curated personas.

The problem is, Pete is who he is. Yes his stage "persona" is not the exactly the same as his regular one, but right now he's in a post Mod mindset. He doesn't have to care for an image or a persona.

Mike still needs to hang on to that.

And when Mike meets Pete he is not impressed. Obviously. But he still wants to hear what Pete has to say. After all he did write Tommy and Mike is intrigued (and this plays out later, but let's not get ahead of ourselves).

So they drop acid and talk, as one does, and at first Mike has all the confidence in the world. Yeah sure this meek British man has some words on him. Beautiful, deep meaningful words, but his behavior is a far cry from the explosiveness Mike saw on the TV and such. He can handle Pete.

Mike so cannot handle Pete.

At the same time Mike is envious of Pete's position, there's some borderline envy on Pete's end. Oh, if only he could just let other people just think for him. Do all the heavy lifting of music creation on his behalf while he just stood there as an avatar. Sounded pretty ideal, and specially during Tommy where Pete was under tremendous creative stress, trying to do something that was similar yet different from things that came before.

Still though, Pete wouldn't give up his creative freedom for the sake of some stress relief. Even in the early mod era days, he was quick to seize creative control over things, and that's what I think is the most interesting aspect of them: they are both very intent on being in control of their creative endeavors, but Pete was blessed with the opportunity to be free to do what he wanted. Mike's creative freedom was quickly stripped from him when he joined the Monkees and since then it was an uphill struggle for any of them to get any of it back. A journey that had started almost two years prior with Headquarters.

But now the TV show was over, the movie had just been released and Mike found himself in this weird position where yes, he was still under a contract but... was he really? He could set off to do his own thing.

And this is where the strings get attached folks.

=A Much Needed Recap:

OK, so let's recap because that was disorienting: 1969 was a weird year for both Mike and Pete. Mike was in this weird place where he was still part of the Monkees but not really, and Pete was hailed as a visionary and saw his band become ridiculously successful almost overnight (like it or not, the Woodstock performance sure brought in the numbers).

Right now Mike's jealous of Pete's position, Pete is not jealous of Mike's position but he would appreciate having someone thinking on his behalf here and there. And when they meet Mike has this "Mike" mindset where he's by default better than Pete. It doesn't matter what Pete's achievements are, he's still gonna be better because that's just how Mike's brain works.

Pete on the other hand is just kinda glad to have someone to talk that's on the same wavelength as him. He loves his bandmates to death, but sometimes Pete feels like everything he's saying is just going over their heads. He doesn't feel like that when talking to Mike.

((Now is a good time as any to mention that while I'm trying to center this around the original first meeting one-shot concept, there are other angles to them meeting for the first time, but let's stick to one continuity for the sake of this post and your sanity. If you are dying to know you can just send me an ask and I'll talk about it.))

So yeah, Pete feels that he can just say things to Mike, and Mike will get it, which doesn't sound like a lot but for someone who's mind is so full like Pete having someone understand is a fucking gift. And sure maybe they are just a little more "attuned" because they are tripping together, but Pete feels that even if they weren't Mike would get it.

And sure Mike may not understand like half of what Pete's saying, but he'll still fake it 'till he makes it. Mike doesn't care this is Pete Townshend, he'll not be seen as dumber or inferior in any way.

And I think that's one of the most compelling aspects of them, is they they bond mentally way before physicality is even taken into consideration. But the physicality is taken into consideration for sure because lest we forget, this was born under the premise of a horny one-shot. And Mike would be a liar if he said he didn't find Pete's strange looks kind of... fetching in their own unique way.

Maybe because Mike doesn't think he's conveniently attractive either (doesn't help he had to go up against fucking Davy Jones and Peter Tork, and Micky's energy alone made him irresistible) he finds some manner of solace on Pete who's also weird looking, but it's more that Mike was against some stiff competition and less that he isn't good looking. And hello, Pete can totally tell he looks good, and that his accent is pretty damn charming.

=Physical Attraction? In My Conceptual Sex?

OK since I am here I have to talk about them being attracted to each other on a physical level too because heck, they are only human.

Pete likes Mike's accent and the way he talks. He thinks Mike's Texan accent is very charming and kinda hot a bit, maybe. Pete isn't very used to this type of accent very much so it gets to him real easily.

Mike also likes Pete's accent but because he's so soothing and mild when he talks. Mike had to live with the day by day life of being next to Davy Jones of all people so his opinion on British people and their accents soured a bit (no shade to Davy, I love the lil' guy but he's just so overbearing sometimes akjfgakjfg). But Pete changed that idea.

Also, also, Mike being in love with Pete's gorgeous electric blue eyes because of course Pete's blue eyes are a factor why wouldn't they be a factor in a Pete ship like c'mon! And don't even get me started on Mike going bananas about Pete calling him by his full name, which is very much A Thing for this ship like there's a whole different weight when Pete says "Mike" and when he says "Michael" and anyone familiar enough with Pete (specially '69 Pete) could tell you that.

But yeah, it starts off with Mike trying to one-up Pete when he has no idea what he's going up against, but somewhere along the way they end up finding common ground, make out and while they don't want to make it A Thing (they don't want this to be a relationship they literally just met and dropped acid and fucked this is not basis for any solid relationship) there's no denying that they have this very serious connection going on, so they decide to keep some degree of contact after their meeting. You know, just in case.

That is of course until they find themselves calling each other on a regular basis, and Mike sharing music stuff with Pete, and finding it in himself that yeah, he can also just do his own thing, fuck you.

And look I'm not saying that Mike's sudden creative burst with the First National Band was influenced by him having mind blowing sex with Pete Townshend while high off his mind and bonding with him and sharing creative ideas with him, but I am saying that the first two National Band albums were released in '70 and Tengo Amore is there so I rest my case.

=Only I Do Not Rest My Case Because The Prison Exists

I promise you all this is the last section of this!

So they remain A Thing. Pete and Mike are sharing creative thoughts over letters and phone calls, and having nasty (yet somehow still very soft) sex when either of them has like a second to spare from their daily lives to fly over and visit.

Because now Mike's trying to make up for lost time and release every song he didn't release for the past like three-four years in one-two and Pete's influence just fuels that fire. And Pete is now expected to live up to Tommy's expectations so it's not like he has time to spare either but Mike's excitement and different approach to music is refreshing and a much needed respite during Pete's creative process.

Mike hears Pete talk about the concept of Quadrophenia, and Mike becomes enamored with the idea of a narrative told through music. Sure when he heard of/listened to Tommy it was already an idea in the back of his mind, but it wasn't like he could just do something like that.

But now it's '72-'73 and all bets are off.

Pete is glad that he has someone to talk to about the more intricate concepts of music making, but he's also excited when he hears from Mike that he wants to pursue something similar. Mike knows that whatever he does is not going to compare to whatever Pete's doing. Pete had years to prepare for this. Mike is just now given this big freedom so he's just doing stuff and hoping something will stick.

Is Mike still jealous of Pete? Maybe, but at this point it has become more friendly rivalry than anything. (look Mike finally learned he doesn't need to be top dog in every little thing to be worthy of value)

Mike still goes through with it, the success of Quad emboldening him to keep going. There's clearly a market for whatever Pete's doing and Mike finds it refreshing and reassuring.

Then '74 rolls out and The Prison comes out (and honestly, in my eyes it's one of Mike's finest works, I'm always blown away by how good it is, and honestly I always forget this album is 70's because it sounds so much more "modern" and I don't know how to explain it).

Pete is excited to hear about it when it comes out (Mike was sure to call him the day before the release so he wouldn't forget!!!) and from them on they just keep in touch. They aren't dating (at least not in this timeline of this ship) but they sure as hell have a connection that they maintain throughout the years.

So yeah chronologically speaking this all somehow makes sense, isn't that weird?

[butchfalin]

killing care and grief of heart director's commentary let's gooo

SO. this is mostly just rambling but considering this fic is relatively short i have many many thoughts about it and the concept... mostly because it ended up being entirely different from what i anticipated it becoming.

the inspiration behind it was reddie fic, because i was an IT writer for years and there were many fics where richie went back to the sewers to pull eddie's body out and resurrect him through the power of belief. i feel like that concept is very similar to how cognition works — a weapon only hurts the enemy if you believe it will, etc etc — and was what i really intended to play with. i miss writing reddie fic but have no new ideas and the concept of going back to retrieve your dead friend is a fantastic and underutilized one!!

and then i was writing it and i kept getting stumped by my own writing... the belief/cognition is still very much important to the story but has been overshadowed by other elements. initial drafts, however, were essentially that akira believed so hard that akechi was alive and he was visible enough in the public eye that he just. Believed him back to life. which still partially happens! but not quite to the same extent.

what happened in actuality is that... well. mostly. right now i am working on a production of orfeo, an italian opera based on orpheus and eurydice. and it's my favorite myth of all time so it really shifted the concept in my mind... also the orpheus parallels Were in some reddie fic. this is a recurring theme.

BUT! i would like to spend a moment discussing exactly what the hell happened in the fic, because it wasn't really clarified. this is because akira did not care and had other things on his mind (namely, akechi) lol

there is exactly one hint as to what it is, and it's this line:

"but kaia," you might say, "this explains literally nothing." and you'd be right! but here is what it refers to:

yeah. that's all the hint you get. sorry!

because it's a persona trait, it's not something joker can use on other party members. HOWEVER, a couple key things are at play here: firstly, that akechi is also a wild card and is inherently attached to him through their fates being literally cosmically intertwined. secondly, there's the belief aspect, as mentioned earlier — akira believes akechi can be healed, so he can. thirdly, ...it's orpheus. it's thematically rich! also, rule of cool. why not!

but, okay. reddie is still here, also very much inspiring it. namely, the inspiration is from this:

absolutely devastating! also i think makes sense given the way akira in-game denies akechi being dead several times. i can't find the screenshots, but you know the moments. he never actually says "akechi is dead", always just sort of trails off, and has several lines about wanting to keep their promise or their fight not being over yet. that was also very much the inspiration behind this, and informed many writing decisions, such as these bits:

:) he's Unwell. anyway, speaking of reddie! i have no idea what the interest crossover here is, but there's one Very Direct reference:

this is a longer page than is probably strictly necessary, but if you don't know the context, i think it helps. in the scene, eddie has died, and richie is trying to take his body back out. ""i don't know," richie said, but he knew well enough" is one of those quotes that the entire fandom knew by heart. i still think of it every time i hear "well enough" in any capacity. it's heartbreaking. so obviously i had to steal it lmao — except that here, akira was alone, so he was unable to carry akechi's body in any regard. and, of course, when he kissed akechi, he was alive :)

i don't really have many other thoughts except that naturally i had to bring up kaguya because... i love her. that's all. and i would never ever get rid of her (currently my party has both kaguya and kaguya picaro lmao) But! it is more interesting if orpheus is there. just know i love kaguya soooo much. kaguya numero uno forever‼️‼️

also, i want to write more horror, because a lot of my non-fic writing is horror in some capacity... this is sort of lightly toeing the line into that because i tried to add properly visceral descriptions :) you will be seeing more of it. this i promise.

anyway i leave you with this: a short snippet of a story i wrote well over a year ago (that's entirely unedited and has gone untouched since then) that was shuake-inspired orpheus and eurydice. everything comes full circle

^ this story was inspired by third semester bad endings... from a technical standpoint it could certainly be better but i do think conceptually it is interesting and may be something i one day revisit. yay :)

ok that's all. if you read this far i love u

[bapydemonprincess]

Hi hii, big fan of you and grelleswife's fics and stuff. My favorite is The Butler, Big Brother, with Amy. I love Amy so much.❤️ So I want to know some things. Like would Amy count as an Aunt to any of Sebastian's kids you have made? Does she want to have a mate eventually too? Maybe get married? Can she make a contract and have a master or is that not possible being a President? Does she count in Hell as a child demon despite being a President? Like does she need looking after?? Does she know other demons seen like Claude and Hannah or do they not count because different universes? XD I remember she got really sick too going without eating a soul, so does she need to constantly eat souls? Also, I think, one more thing. I remember early chapters in the manga Sebastian said Hell has Xenomorph looking creatures not cats. Does Amy have those at all or any pets? And does she have a favorite animal like Sebastian?? ^^ Okay. I think that is all!! Thank you and I can't wait to see more stories from you! 😘😘 Hope Amy comes back especially!!! 😁❤️

Hello, Anon, and thank you so much for sending me this message and these interesting questions, and loving my and @grelleswife's writing!! It feels sooo good to get feedback, especially on my end when I'm only here on tumblr and not AO3 at the moment. So thank you overall so much for reaching out!! 💖

I'll try my best to answer all your questions!!

would Amy count as an Aunt to any of Sebastian's kids you have made?

I have definitely imagined some crossovers in some situations, like an older Amy in modern 21st century appearing to hunt down her sibling and popping up right at Seb's and Agni's place- wherever that may be -and meeting Aarushi and/or Ambrose. OR maybe at one point the meeting happened on purpose where Seb really WANTED their new, first heir Aarushi to be introduced to their family.. and then YEARS LATER.. Amy arrives to meet the SECOND one Seb popped out >:3 (*insert image of no-nonsense business wear pencil skirt Amy with heels and sunglasses and nails done looking all the world like a Wine Aunt, minus the wine*) Or of course her getting introduced to Wolfram and Seb and Wolf's babey Ulva, or Amy appearing in the sebagrellerin universe to meet the sweet babey Aidan.. OR... well... there are many verses, it seems, where Amy's big dumb sibling just can't resist a human mate and despite their differences.. 😏

2. Does she want to have a mate eventually too? Maybe get married?

Well, as I've established, in the uhh MAIN AMY UNIVERSE (*snort*) she's stumbled upon a teen reaper boi Adam Borders, under the mentorship of Grelle Sutcliff, and well... let's say she didn't stand a chance in the Tsundere Game >:3, though her veteran older sibling of said game is not too happy with this development! The Protect Family Urges growing STRONGER than EVER in Sebastian 🤭 Even against all common sense! And I've basically established that they are pretty much like mates at this point.. minus the mental bond connection.. Who knows, maybe they'll get there eventually! 😉 As for marriage, well... it's much more complicated to imagine overall because Amy is a demon. And yes, we've written SEBASTIAN getting married, but I'd say the difference is Seb is more... a "domesticated" demon. Because, in this fanon at least, Seb is way more into human concepts like marriage. Not to say maybe Amy ISN'T but.. she's also a young, teenage-like demon too, so.. gehstdjfuy that's the best way to put it, I think. 😅

3. Can she make a contract and have a master or is that not possible being a President?

I personally believe she COULD make a contract, and any demon has the ability in most cases. In this universe. In That Butler, Big Brother, in fact, she tried to make a contract- if VERY poorly -with Prince Soma. Basically if she'd had more experience and know-how, she likely could have done it. Although in that case, it also depends on the human being targeted, and despite if Amy WAS experienced, I doubt even then it would have worked, because well.. Soma. But there's a time and place for everything, so, if the scenario was different, like Amy was facing a human in perhaps a much more desperate situation, and the human needed to chose either a contract or.. y'know.. DEATH likely.. Then that definitely would be a more likely way for Amy to make a contract! And pull it off despite being a President! I think, personally, with her job at home much more better handled and stuff, she could definitely go off and make a contract or two somehow. 😌

4. Does she count in Hell as a child demon despite being a President? Like does she need looking after??

Well I do not see her as a "child" by demon standards anymore, but much more in the pre-teen/teen area of her immortal demonic like. Though there is most definitely a hierarchy in hell, a ranking system, where the higher in the ranks you are, the less you have to do for yourself, really, because you have servants yourself at that point. Though somehow, the rank of "President" counts as still a hard working sort of rank and not a "sit on your ass all day" rank. Somehow. 😜 And I definitely wanted to keep a lot of the "official lore" of Amy the demon from the actual real life Lesser Key of Solomon that includes the fact that they do influence humans in some way.. specifically teaching them things like astrology and liberal arts like the page says! Though my version of Amy is definitely a demon who has been coddled and stays put and, well, despite what they've described Amy as, She or He is much ... smaller and youthful.. (Though there is art of Amy the Demon in HUGE firey forms, and I think despite age, she CAN become like that 🔥 because as we've seen with Seb in the manga, size and shape certainly don't matter~)

5. Does she know other demons seen like Claude and Hannah or do they not count because different universes?

I do believe I've answered these questions before actually! Here about Hannah, and here about Claude!

6. I remember she got really sick too going without eating a soul, so does she need to constantly eat souls?

The main reason she got so weak in that case was from coming to Earth by her own means without all the typical summoning help of a human on this side, and offering up a sacrifice to her like we've seen in the manga done. And, for a younger demon like Amy to just go off and use what power she has to pop up on earth, it was pretty risky on her end! I wouldn't say she has to, normally, constantly eat souls, but compared to a much older demon like Sebastian, it's a very vital thing to keep up her energy if she wants to keep staying on earth and hanging around!

7. I remember early chapters in the manga Sebastian said Hell has Xenomorph looking creatures not cats. Does Amy have those at all or any pets? And does she have a favorite animal like Sebastian?

I definitely can imagine these Totally-Not-an-Aliens-Reference "pets" of hell are the type of animal that are like guard dog-like, and maybe many higher-up demons have them for security or pets.. But I also see Amy as the type to trust other demons for security over creatures that are more animal-like. I'm not sure if she has a favorite at the moment right now, really. I just see Amy as a jumpy little demon, who just can't exactly trust any of the four legged, furry, non-furry, or no legged creatures of earth just yet 😂 (She's still a babey in those types of situations you could say~🖤)

WELL, I hope I've answered all your questions to your liking, I've been busy and tired lately so it was a little bit of a struggle when to find the best time to answer these.. But I really wanted to, so here I am, while at walmart, doing my best fgrhdkyfug 💀

But again, thank you so so much for the questions and your message overall!! I love getting feedback, really I do!! And it was fun to think up answers for this!! So feel free to return and send me more at any time!! 🥰🥰🥰

[phantomato]

Five Tom Riddle Crossover Fics to Read

Tom Riddle is a difficult character to ship. For those of us who want to see pairings beyond the Big Two (Tomarry and Tomione), canonical options peter out relatively quickly. Sure, we can invent our own pairings by fleshing out side characters, but sometimes, the itch is best scratched by borrowing from another canon.

And it makes sense for Tom more than nearly anyone else in HP. Tom was born into an era that is the subject of so much literature, so it’s easy to find another person kicking around postwar Europe if that’s your goal. He’s an archetypal character, the villain seeking immortality, and can be matched against other villains with the same aims. Hell, even his quest to recover lost artifacts turns into the basis for two of these works—Tom Riddle has the perfect combination of a recognizable context and character model, plus the ambiguity of his canon timeline, to slot him alongside so many other fictional figures.

I want to pause on some of these themes for a second. Immortality or relationship to age, for one, is something that comes up in three of these pairings: the Darkling and Koschei the Deathless are both immortal characters in their own canons, and Edmund Pevensie is not immortal but has aged and de-aged repeatedly in his travels to and from Narnia. The HP series doesn’t give us nearly this wealth of different perspectives on age and immortality, which is fair—HP makes it clear that immortality is unnatural and undesirable, and Flamel is notably a ‘good person’ because of his willingness to accept his own death—but for a character as obsessed with the idea as Tom, some emotions can only be explored when you match him with another character who has a complicated relationship to aging. Even someone like Indiana Jones, not immortal and not trying to be, has an interesting perspective to bring to a story because he has seen so many other quests for power gone terribly awry.

Of course, the other thing we get from crossover pairings is the ability to match Tom with a villainous character. And whether you’re a fan of conflict at the start of a relationship or not, I think there’s something to be found in putting two villains together: moral arguments, when they exist, are rarely about whether death is necessary but about what kinds of death are best used when; the entire concept of either a redemption arc or a breaking bad arc can be thrown out a window. It’s a space wherein our two villains are allowed to be themselves, and the reveal of the extent of each character’s villainy becomes a strange form of celebration. This is challenging to achieve if one sticks to HP canon alone, whereas crossovers are a fruitful space.

My selection methodology was to read every crossover fic with a clear focus on Tom Riddle or Voldemort on AO3. I found crossover pairings by visiting the meta pages for the Tom Riddle, Voldemort, and Tom Riddle | Voldemort tags—I may have missed some pairings for Tom Riddle, as the character has over 300 child relationship tags and AO3 cuts off at 300 displayed. If you know of any ships I missed and should check out, do tell! I’ll also make a note here that one of these fics is my own—if self-recs bother you, skip Bluebird.

The following five fics are ordered by wordcount. Let me know what you think!

Neurotic Virtuosi, by skazka

Crossover: Hannibal Rising (movie version). The wizarding world exists, and Tom and Hannibal encounter each other in non-magical Eastern Europe.

Summary: Tom and Hannibal ride the same train when Tom is hunting down the diadem. Tom shares an apple and thinks about keeping Hannibal.

Mature, <1k, Graphic Torture Fantasies

Why?: This is one of those pairings that I wouldn’t have thought to do when the characters were both young, but it’s so much better for that choice! The length of this fic means we only get a taste of their interactions, but what a taste it is. Tom’s internal fantasies are horrifying and described in a very erotic way, which fits both characters.

This also serves as an interesting vision of what Tom might have experienced during his world tour to find the diadem, a period we rarely get to see. I particularly like that the author chose to write it as frustrating and mostly fruitless; a Tom who is stymied and unsuccessful is a particular weakness of mine.

Two Sides of the Same Coin, by Anonymous

Crossover: Chronicles of Narnia. Both Hogwarts and Narnia are real, and the characters meet in Britain. The magic isn’t the same, but there’s mutual recognition.

Summary: Tom tries to use sex to seduce secrets out of Edmund. Edmund sees something reminiscent of his younger self, the version of him who could join the White Witch, in Tom Riddle.

Explicit, 2k

Why?: Edmund and Tom are a pairing made in crossover heaven, both boys of a similar age born into war in the same country and whose discoveries of magical worlds help them escape it. Both lust for power and make poor choices; Edmund canonically recovers and finds redemption from his actions, and Tom does not.

This fic wears the hat of something pure smut, starting in the middle of a sex scene and tagged with top/bottom roles, etc., and it is that and does that well. But give it a shot for Edmund’s reflection at the end, his hopeful musings that he can apply the lessons learned from Aslan to help Tom before Tom’s utterly lost. It’s a crossover ship with unbelievable potential for both characters, and this fic makes me want so much more.

Shedding Skin, by electric_typewriter

Crossover: Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente. Both the wizarding world and the magic of Deathless exist.

Summary: Tom meets Koschei before splitting his soul. They keep meeting, and Tom keeps attempting to match Koschei’s immortality.

Not Rated, 2k

Why?: Immortality via relocation or storage of souls is an idea that easily predates Harry Potter as a series, and seeing two different versions of the some core idea interacting with one another is precisely what crossovers exist to enable. Koschei as an immortal being that found his immortality in a way he considers superior is a fascinating concept, because it creates a power imbalance between them that leaves Tom always running to catch up. And Tom, poor Tom, feels like a desperate man, finding sensation only when he’s around Koschei and feeling nothing at any other time.

This reads a bit like you’re dissociating. The author uses descriptive language to keep the reader a little distant from the grounded reality of the events happening, which has the effect of keeping you focused on the metaphysical question of what it means to have part of a soul.

Bluebird, by Phantomato

Crossover: Shadow and Bone. S&B summoning powers instead of HP magic, set in the real world, with characters’ histories preserved.

Summary: Tom is the second sun summoner to exist, born long after the first gave up her powers and lived out her natural life. He tracks down the Darkling, the shadow summoner who never really died.

Explicit, 17k

Why?: Tom is an immortal being for at least part of his life, and his character arc is about pursuit of immortality, but he is fundamentally a young immortal, and is killed before he can graduate to old immortality. Aleksander, the Darkling, is canonically an old immortal, and his character arc is about the burden of living with the knowledge that you will likely always be alone. That loneliness sets the scene for the relationship between Tom and Aleksander, driving Aleksander’s behavior—he fundamentally believes he will always be alone, even an immortal like Tom passes through his life.

There is a high proportion of smut in this, serving in place of the emotional honesty that neither character can muster, and I recommend it for that. But the story also relies on investment in quiet everyday moments shared between the characters. It’s a fic told through behavior because both men are so cautious around one another, where they nevertheless manage to find sympathy for the other.

Riddles of the Dead, by Maeglin_Yedi

Crossover: Indiana Jones. Blends together the wizarding world and the mysticism present in Indiana Jones films.

Summary: Tom Riddle hires an expert archaeologist and gentleman adventurer, Dr. Indiana Jones, to help him pursue an artifact that might grant him immortality. There’s fucking, fighting, magic, snakes, and some difficult choices in store for our leading men.

Explicit, 18k, Angst

Why?: Maeglin Yedi has been a mainstay of the Tom Riddle/Lord Voldemort ficspace for nearly two decades, but an old crossover like this can unfortunately slip through the cracks. It shouldn’t! With an original publishing date in early 2005, this predates the concept of horcruxes, the knowledge of Tom’s early years at Wool’s orphanage, and, well, so much of what we would eventually learn about Tom Riddle as a person. It’s a testament to the author that the story manages to capture Tom’s character in such a way that he’s still fully recognizable to a current-day reader, despite working with so much less canon.

This fic is fun. It’s an adventure, featuring hazards and traps and assassination attempts that you would expect from an Indiana Jones film, but the magic and mystery never overwhelms the relationship at the core of this story. It’s set up beautifully, with a mirrored structure between the front and back halves of the fic that foreshadows the inevitable end of the story. Watching older, confident Indy seduce young, hungry Tom is a delight. One (possible) mark of a great Tom-centric fic, imo, is to be able to portray Tom enjoying the exchange of power, giving it to someone as well as taking it from them, and this Tom is able to revel in giving up some perceived power as he practices being vulnerable with Indy. The romance is quite sweet, especially considering that ‘angst’ tag at the top of the fic!

[littlemulattokitten]

I started reading fanfic when I was 11-13 years old. falls into Rabbit's Lair after innocent research into the canon just because I wanted to read more about it. it's funny because I read for a long time couples and plots keeping the canon, until I got to know the wonders of alternate universes. do you remember how it was for you?

I do! I started primarily in the Twilight fandom, but I read some HP fic too at the time. I liked Harmony (HarryxHermione) because I've always disliked Ron in canon and that was around the time I was gifted and read the 7th book. Like shortly after it came out, I think. So I was extra pissed off at Ron because of him ditching them in the forest.

I was also deeply over Edward and Jacob in every capacity in the Twilight series because they were problematic af, even if they were hot as hell in the movies. So I was tip toeing into the world of AU ships. I nose-dived hard into JasperxBella and CarlislexBella, but to this day like 90% of those begin with the premise of EITHER: A.) Alice/Edward cheats or B.) Esme and Carlisle aren't true mates. Literally all of them. Maybe one or two all human AUs didn't start that way but there was almost NO decent stories that weren't written by the same few titans in the pairing.

I wrote several fics with decent premises and absolutely god awful meme-tier writing (because I was fucking TWELVE) that have since been deleted. Sometimes people still message me asking about a few of them??? I don't understand??? The concepts were fine but I did them no justice??? I digress.

And mind you this was back when Twilight had like...maybe 70k fics total, I think? On FFN. I didn't even learn about AO3 until 2016. On FFN HP had like 550k fics back then? Its way more now for both.

HP was more intimidating because I didn't think anyone would even see my stories in that saturated of a fandom. I think I wrote one Twilight HP Crossover fic where Bella basically replaced Hermione, the Cullens showed up, got verbally shit on, Alice wanted to be a Hufflepuff, Bella-mione told them all to go fuck themselves, nobody trusted Dumbledore, and she was dating Harry. This fic was a travesty. And crossovers don't usually perform well anyway so like...that fic is gonna stay dead.

At some point between....2012 and 2013, I think, I purged all but one or two of my fics. I left my beauty and the beast fic that I need to finish. And my Hunger Games fic that is literal garbage because I wrote it in HIGH SCHOOL, but it was my most popular fic and my only completed fic.

I had gotten tired of reading Hunger Games fics, I didn't want to write Twilight fics bc original concepts didn't seem to get a lot of attention, just trope recycling. So I finally said fuck it and started writing HP fics. I'd been toying with The Fourth Blood Princess' plot for years, so I started playing with that.

Somewhere between 2013 and 2014, was into Tomione (not for the first time) and was inhaling all the fics where Hermione met Tom when they were both school aged. I was quickly burnt out on all the (delightful but) common time turner fics and I desperately wanted to know what would happen if the Diary was connected to 5th year Tom Riddle (sans horcrux) and if that Diary was given to Hermione.

I wrote most of the now archived version of Diary without posting a single word. I made a friend on this very website who I still talk to sometimes though she's no longer on Tumblr and let her read what I had. She encouraged me to post it.

And we know what Diary has turned into lmao. I still don't know why it has taken off the way it has, but I'm here for it. Still wish Fourth Blood Princess had gotten that attention sometimes, because I firmly stand by the fact that there are not enough fics where Severus get's a true chance to atone AND the love he deserves, but it's fine. Slowburns always out perform family-centric fics.

;) Thanks, lovely. I hope this didn't bore you lol.

[superphantom]

Superphantom Saturdays #7

Good afternoon everyone! Today I’ve got something new: a series. Now, if you’ve been into Superphantom for more than a bit you probably know of 

“A Supernatural Halfa” the series on ao3 by @itsreallymea

(If you’d prefer to read on ffn)

An excellent collection of short fics taking place in the same timeline, Supernatural Halfa has a great cast of characters, mainly featuring truly iconic interactions between our beloved protagonists, with a few additions starring The King of Hell himself. Enjoy excellent combinations of lore, hilarious snappy dialogue, and beautifully in-character interactions all on top of some real questions of morality in this universe. Seriously, there’s all sorts of new perspective stuff happening here, it’s great.

I won’t say any more so I don’t spoil, but I do hope I’ve convinced you to check it out, its really a staple of the crossover, setting up awesome themes and really delving into some fascinating concepts that I would love to see explored in fic more often. The author is no longer writing fic, but they did say they were working on some original stuff, so check out their tumblr to keep up to date on that. Lymea has such a pleasant writing style and a real gift for making character interactions bounce off each other, so if they are doing something it’d be worth a try at the very least. 

As always, remember to give kudos and review!! Just because they’re no longer writing doesn’t mean it won’t mean something to know that people are still enjoying their works. It really is the best thing you can do with an author, and it only takes a few seconds to do.

If you’d like to be featured on a future Superphantom Saturday, or are working on any Superphantom content please dm me! I’d love to see it. Until next time, Thank you to everyone who has liked, reblogged, or in any way interacted with this blog, it means the world to me. And a final thank you to the fic writer!!! Excellent job, thank you so much for posting. :)

[oloreaa]

fic writer review

Tagged by: @justrunamok love ya baby❤

Tagging: @corvueros @reluctant-mandalore @moskaisley @pettyprocrastination @mitchi-c @obirain @mandolovian @marvel-and-mischief

1. how many works do you have on tumblr?

I think including each chapter of Vencuyanir it'll be around 50 something? Too many to keep track of and some I deleted again💀

2. what are your top five fics by notes?

Pick up lines, Cherry, Cold Fingers, Daisy Chains, Body Warmth

3. what's your total tumblr word count?

I don't wanna know😭😭 over 270k including Ven

4. do you respond to comments, and why or why not?

I used to!! But I didn't post much anymore and I regularly lost followers because of comment reblogs so I stopped reblogging it after a while. I do my best to respond to comments on ao3 and let the readers know that I've seen their comments! It's also because I'm very forgetful and think that I already replied that it happens that I don't respond for weeks dgsjskdkff

5. what's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

I think Cherry? But Ven is gonna have a happy ending as well🥰

6. what's the fic you've written with the saddest ending?

Daisy Chains, no lie haha, I intended to write a follow up happy ending for it but inspiration left me, so have a sad end for once

7. do you write crossovers?

Not yet (?) but I really love to read them, especially when mashing up different universes. Maybe it's just my current interest now but I think having Mandos in the The Last of Us universe might be rad as hell since the armour and the jetpacks would help with fighting the Infected or the cordyceps fungus spreading over the galaxy far far away hehe

8. have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yeah, and it stings still whenever I scroll past it

9. do you write smut? if so, what kind?

I currently don't publish them!! Most of them are Ven and it's very soft and filthy🥰

10. have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of it, there were similar concepts every now and then but that's common enough and I don't mind these

11. have you ever had a fic translated?

Someone translated Daisy Chains into Spanish! It's on Wattpad somewhere and I'm super honoured by it!

12. what's your all-time favourite ship?

Din Djarin and a well deserved nap. Otherwise Gu Xiang and Cao Weining from Word of Honor because they made me physically sob and cry for hours and that had not happened in all my times of fandom

13. what's a wip you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

The one Pirates of the Caribbean fic that I started years ago and the concept still slaps, some of the ideas were actually good enough for Disney aka I recognised some bits of storytelling and plot setup in the final movie that had also been used for the fic; but it was not the same haha just some very similar concepts

14. what are your writing strengths?

I like to think that it's in the relationship between the characters and bantering dialogue!! My style is more simple and not as poetic so I try to see it as a kind of screenplay that just meanders around with no big symbolism etc, it's just little moments stacked on top of each other

15. what are you writing weaknesses?

Transition between scenes and an inability to get certain things onto paper even though I know how it should look like😭 also since I'm writing on the spot most of the times many things happen without my input and it becomes a scrambled mess that is very hard to navigate

16. what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

It really depends on how the translations are provided. If you use italics to indicate another language or pepper in single words that have been translated in the beginning (aka the reader would know the context and how it should be used), that would be fine with me. If there is just long phrases inserted there with no translation whatsoever, I dislike it. Of course it's cool for those who do speak the language to recognise some of the points, but a lot of nuance gets lost if you simply put it in a way the majority would not understand. Providing authenticity is a good thing, especially when the fic is set in another country, for example, but I think it should still be accessible for the majority of the readers (who speak English, most of the time)

17. what was the first fandom you wrote for?

It was actually Lord of the Rings haha and the story was extremely bad💀

18. what's your favourite fic you've written?

Vencuyanir!! It's my baby and I'm so proud of how far I've come even when it's a bit wonky and cliche at times, but that's how I know how to improve. I really love the characters and the pace and knowing that I can take my time with the slow burn and make it realistic🥺

[itssolonelyhere]

Happy to hear your back and queen is cont. Will you ever update dreams of a monomaniac or is it discontinued for good? I rlly like princess of zho and beheader but they haven't been updated in years but ill still have hope. i read kingdom because i liked them so much. your a good writer so im okay with whatever you. have you considered sakura x re8? That would be interesting and your rlly good with crossovers. good luck and welcome back ⊂(￣▽￣)⊃

AHello, anon!!!

Thank you for the kind words and I'll try to answer the best I can. It really has been a long time since I updated my old-old work... Dreams of a Monomaniac, The Last Princess of Zhao, and The Beheader were all started in 2015, a few years after I moved to help take care of my sick father. Fanfic was like my little corner where I could just take a break and escape reality for just a bit. After he passed away at the end of 2016, I had a really hard time continuing my work. I was devastated and fell into a deep depression that seemed never-ending. I did maybe one or two updates over the course of four years and wasn't happy with them. I only did it out of guilt after seeing messages from readers who missed them. Those definitely weren't my best by any means...

My passion for writing came back at the beginning of 2020 when I rewatched TDK and decided to give it a go one more time. It wasn't my usual crack pairings or crossovers, but something new which excited me. I do honestly want to finish my old work. It's just hard because when I reread them, it reminds me of a painful time in my life that I don't want to think about. Not only that but my writing was crap and I feel the need to edit them to hell and back lol (they're all pretty long and it'll take forever). They will be picked back up someday... just when I'm emotionally and mentally ready to. That might not be the answer you were hoping for but I'd rather be honest than giving a specific time frame and you being disappointed if it doesn't happen. I do appreciate you enjoying them, being patient with my irregular schedule, and even reading the Kingdom manga, which is pretty time-consuming.

As for Sakura and Resident Evil 8? Consider me mind-blown 🤯. I spend way more time than should be allowed daydreaming and coming up with weird ideas but I really like this one. Since I read this ask, I have all these different scenarios swirling around in my head. There are a million updates I need to work on but this kind of slide-lined my thinking process and got me excited. A one-shot? A full-on fic? Slowburn? Who's POV? What kind of pairing? How would any of this even work? You messed up my day 😤lol (jk). I like the idea of possibly doing a Lady Sakura x Heisenberg fic (no clue what kind of ship name they'd have... HeisenSaku, KarlSaku, Heiku? 😵) and changing up some of the game's original story. Hidan would make a cool Lord too. Maybe I can do a crossover and include two additional Lords into the fray (Sakura and Hidan). We'll see where that goes, I guess... It's an interesting concept I could plan out for a future fic.

Sorry this is a bit long... Anyway, thanks a lot for sending this in and being interested in my work! I know it can be frustrating sometimes when a fic you enjoy is suddenly abandoned. I'm grateful for your patience and for hanging in there with me. Hopefully sometime soon I can finally finish what I started years ago 🙏. I also appreciate the story ideas and I'm more than willing to hear you out or answer any other question you might have. Oh, and that kaomoji is really cute. Sending lots of good vibes your way! 💖

[shadowsong26fic]

Coming Attractions!

A day late, but ah well...

As usual, we’ll go ahead and do an Open Question Night. Which basically means that, while my ask box is always open, tonight I’ll be keeping an eye on it and answering things as they come in. Any fandom or work I’ve talked about here (or posted on AO3) is fair game, as are general questions about writing, etc. I do accept prompts, but I am. Not very good at filling them in a timely manner unless they Immediately spark something, lol.

So, yeah, what’s on your mind?

Also, since I don’t think I have for a couple months, plug for my Discord server! It’s pretty quiet, mostly intended to be a slightly more interactive extension of this space, but you’re welcome to check it out!

Anyway, the usual Coming Attractions details are behind the cut!

PodTogether 2021:

I participated in this challenge for the first time this year, and it was a whole lot of fun! Of Other Suns is a SW/AtLA crossover, and I think it turned out pretty well! My reader/podficcer and I worked pretty closely together during the initial brainstorming process, working out what we wanted to do, and also bounced off one another during the whole editing/finalizing process. There’s a lot that I didn’t end up putting into the fic (because time and length; I am a. Uh. Very wordy writer; the aim was for 6-12k words, we ended up with nearly 15k as it is...), so I might poke more at this specific AU, or crossovers linking up at a different time (either a different point in the SW canon, or in the AtLA canon, or both). I...definitely have extensive headcanons for SW characters as benders of various elements (or nonbenders), and there are at least two Force-sensitive AtLA characters who were outside the scope of the crossover.

Anyway, if you want to check it out...click this link XD (and definitely listen to the podfic too!!! It’s really great)

Precipice:

So, between the final push on PodTogether and some origfic stuff I got done, I...did not get anything finished and posted for this, alas. But! I am saying it here in the hopes that doing so publicly will for once get me to actually stick to a deadline, which is that I will get either the first Protectors chapter or the next Preludes one-shot (or both!) up by this Sunday, September 12. The Protectors chapter will be mostly scene-setting, establishing where various characters are when we open, six years after we last saw our heroes. The Preludes segment will involved Hondo contacting Obi-Wan (and Anakin, who’s with him when he gets the call) about something Relevant To Their Interests.

I will for sure get that Prelude out this month, and hopefully at least two Protectors chapters, but we’ll see how things go at work and how much brain that takes, which is always a factor...anyway, with any luck, I’ll start establishing a Rhythm. I don’t think I’ll be doing weekly updates, the way I did for the first few arcs of Precipice (in part because there are some other longform projects I intend to start putting out and if I am going to do Weekly Fic Posts, I’ll probably alternate), but we’ll see how things go.

AtLA Fic:

Again, I didn’t finish what I wanted to (other than the aforementioned crossover for PodTogether), but I have been working on stuff in the background and, while I’m not going to commit to a Specific Deadline like I am for Precipice, I do plan to post at least the opening chapter of the still-untitled Avatar Zuko AU I’ve been working on this month, so watch this space!

Other Fic Projects:

I’m poking around at what to do for next years SWBB (if only because my wordcounts have been Steadily Increasing and I’d like to get a head start in anticipation of that happening again this year, lol). Still considering exactly what to do, whether I pour all my focus into OFLAM, like I consider every year, or see if I can work up Bail Unfucks the Timeline or another half-plotted AU I have in the back of my head, or go with a different prompt/storyline that occurs to me at some point between now and then, but I’m starting to Actively Ponder things.

I do have that BSG1 crossover outline in the works, I swear XD I’ve got...uh...maybe half to two thirds of the first third of the overall storyline written up? XD It’s a. Uh. Long one. I might go ahead and release it in three parts, just for length/convenience, and because it does more or less have three distinct sections (the initial contact/New Caprica fallout and establishment of the Haven settlement which makes sense in context; the second contact/algae planet; and then an adventure on a resurrection ship to retrieve a Specific Boxed Five and possibly walk away with Ellen because that would just ruin Cavil’s day and I do so love to ruin Cavil’s day, lol). ...I’m going to go ahead and post a preview snippet at the bottom of this post, as Motivation XD

I think that’s all the fanfic stuff I have specific updates for. There’s generally always stuff noodling around in my brain (lately, for Star Wars, AtLA, BSG, or some combination of the three), it’s just how much of it materializes, lol.

At some point, I plan to revisit some BSG epics I had going on (Serenissima; rewriting For Sorrow Sung or doing a slightly different storlyine with the same concept; The Other Battlestar; a few others), but no concrete plans as of yet.

I also kind of want to explore a far-past AtLA setting I designed for a challenge community way back? But I’m not sure if that would work better as an original work with the serial numbers filed off, if I could figure out how I wanted to do that (I have done it before, as I’ll talk about below, but this concept, while not directly involving any characters from Avatar canon as it’s set 2000 years prior to Sozin’s reign, does to an extent lean on the Avatar specifically as a concept, in a way that the other fic I did this with did not).

Original Fic:

Due to a challenge on rainbowfic, I actually got. Quite a bit written? Most of it was not super plot-relevant, but I dropped some Hints about a character in Lux and I got to play in some heads I don’t very often. I might go back to the Regency AU at some point, and there’s a specific reveal I want to write up for a secondary character in The Farglass Cycle, but I haven’t quite figured out how to structure that one, so we’ll see how it goes.

Had an interesting discussion the other day about the way original fiction sometimes starts as fanfic with the serial  numbers filed off and...well, a lot of my original stuff starts that way? Or has some roots there, anyway.

Lux doesn’t quite as much, but I definitely ported in at least two characters who started as fanfic characters (leaving aside that this is, y’know, The Apocalypse IN SPACE so, like. Various fandoms that deal with that probably influenced things, plus several key players are Public Domain Characters sooooo), plus some of the way the world is constructed draws on the Native Tongue trilogy and I flat-out stole a concept from Queen of the Damned, though the way it works in this world is different (also, to be fair, I think I’ve seen it in other places, too; but I personally got the idea from there).

The Farglass Cycle and Untitled Intrigues Story, however, straight-up started as fanfic concepts. And I don’t think it’s obvious unless I point out what the source materials were? Farglass, in particular (it’s the AtLA fic I mentioned earlier), because it started as an alternate future and then the map and magic system got reworked, plus the Avatar themself wasn’t even super involved in the original fic context, and while certain characters are very loosely based on AtLA characters, by now they’ve been so altered by the setting that it’s...I used the same archetypes, if that makes sense?

And then Untitled Intrigues Story started as a fusion between two wildly different fandoms, and while one character is a pretty clear expy if you know where he comes from, and another character kept the same actress in my head, I don’t think it’s very clear other than that.

...anyway, not sure where I’m going with that, other than it’s been in my head lately, lol.

...I think that about covers it! What about you guys? What are you all working on? Slash any questions, etc.?

Teaser for BSG1 AU outline, as promised:

So, anyway, SG-1 is prepared for rain and mud and a survivable-but-kinda-unpleasant environment. They’re also prepared for the usual shenanigans--Goa’uld, cranky local politics, weird alien tech that Daniel really should know better than to touch but sends him into another dimension anyway...

Just. Y’know. A normal mission.

They’re...not quite prepared for what they actually find when they step through.

Which is a very tense and now slightly Confused crowd of people, and a firing squad made up of very large killer robots, with a teenage girl as their target.

(One of the large killer robots is. Uh. Well. Half a large killer robot now; that particular Centurion was in the wrong place at the wrong time and got kawooshed in the face. As one does.)

(Said Centurion absolutely wins the ‘Weirdest Death’ pool for the week in Download City, because that is clearly a thing that exists because it entertains me)

There’s a beat where everyone just stares at everyone else, trying to figure out what the hell is going on.

The wormhole disengages.

Daniel takes half a step forward, opens his mouth to start the ‘we are peaceful explorers from Earth and y’all seem to be having a Moment here, sorry for interrupting, but, uh...’

And then the moment end and absolute chaos erupts.

[ghostmartyr]

So if you, like me, have nothing to do but wonder about the state of my inbox, you might rightfully be wondering how I plan to deal with the obscene backlog I have spent so many years failing to deal with.

If you have never wondered that, fear not, that doesn’t exclude you from finding out.

Today we’re just going to go through my entire slew of unanswered asks, and instead of answering them, I am going to provide excuses for why I didn’t do anything with them.

For added fun, several of the asks were in my Drafts.

I will not be cutting out the comments I started to make.

I will no doubt regret this.

Let’s have a time, shall we?

I don’t even know what year this is from. If I remember correctly, I didn’t get back to you because I thought about trying to reason out who would legitimately win, and there were too many points for both sides. I kept intending to come up with a proper answer, then time went by and this got buried.

Though the actual answer is probably “it depends on who gets the main character sticker at the time.”

...

..

.

Well.

I can tell you this is multiple years old.

We, as humans, aren’t equipped for time travel.

I didn’t answer this one because I didn’t feel like it was asking for one, and I’m only reproducing it here because it is really, really funny now.

Two years old. Plus change.

I think the entire reason I never replied to this one is that it cheered me up whenever I scrolled down enough to see it, so thank you.

You know, I entered the link at the time. Really, I did. But then came trying to come up with a comment and what can you really follow that with?

(Click the link.)

Okay then.

I still feel no need to respond to this, so that’s probably why I didn’t to start with.

Historia and literally anyone.

I don’t remember why I didn’t answer this, which usually means some combination of feeling tired and not being in the mood to scroll down to where it was.

Oops.

The thing is, this crosses dangerously close to being a fic idea. Fic ideas take time and effort. You can imagine the absolute dread I felt at having to engage with either concept.

It would have been a lot of fun to do, though. Hats off.

See, again. This is a very interesting concept that requires thought. I can tell you when I received it I was in no mood for anything that required anything of the sort.

I wrote a fic that is possibly never going to see the light of day now where they hang out in a kitchen with hot chocolate together and bond through unstated trauma and Frieda attempting to make things better.

That probably contributed to interfering with imagining how they would actually get along.

Anyway, I ship them slightly in that fic AU. Don’t @ me.

Oh dang. I remember this.

I actually really wanted to answer it, but the problem is that I wanted to come up with a good answer. Every character, tiered by their chances. A full Hunger Games edition of what went down and who killed who.

Then I didn’t.

Anyway, turns out the answer is that no one feels the need to chop of rocking chairs in a hurry, so she’d last a long time!

I didn’t answer this because I try to avoid responding with, “I don’t know.” My secondary answer would probably have been, “By being killed.”

Not that there’s anything wrong with those answers, but unless there’s been a tonal trend in asks, I assume that pithy answers that don’t actually have any meat behind them would not be appreciated.

I would stick to him probably being killed, though. But some signs do point to him being relatively immortal.

Hm.

Hmm.

I don’t know why I didn’t answer this, but I would guess it had something to do with me caring very little about Ymir’s thoughts on anything outside of her little clutch of people. And ongoing trauma of repeated dead/alive Ymir commentary killing off my desire to come up with a good answer.

Sorry?

I... have no idea why I didn’t answer this? Maybe I didn’t see it?

Anyway, yes.

There’s a longer version behind that yes, and I’m sure that might have contributed to never getting around to answering this. ...Assuming a past where I did actually see this one.

I have a confession.

I don’t really like crossovers.

There’s a sliding scale of degree, but that’s basically why this didn’t get a response.

Ah, we’ve landed on a recurring theme.

Sometimes, answers involve me thinking about the entire cast.

The usual consequence of that is I don’t have the energy for that, so nothing ever happens with these.

Oh, this one’s easy.

I had no fucking clue.

No ideas, head empty.

That didn’t seem like a good answer, so here we are, probably around a year later. I still have no clue. If I were forced to write a singing duo AU, I would probably just put some adjectives and nouns into a blender and flip a coin.

Names are hard.

I think I didn’t answer this one because I felt like I’d answered similar asks before. And I’m not really sure when this is from, but it’s possible canon complicated coming up with an answer that wasn’t distressed screeching.

Something something give Connie and Mikasa hugs, not partial about where they get them from.

Apparently not. Oops.

I can’t remember why I didn’t respond to this one. It’s possible the oodles of bad parenting proved too distracting to formulate such a post.

Sometimes I get an ask, and my immediate, gut reaction is, how the fuck should I know?

If I can move past that, the ask is answered.

If I can’t, the ask continues its descent through scroll hell.

I am sorry. There are no answers here.

Yeah, this is just the same as the above, just with I have no idea.

It’d probably be a Madoka Magic deal.

Huh. I don’t remember passing this one over. If I were to guess a timeline, I was probably too bitter over potential post-timeskip looks that I never got to be interested in focusing on the characters lucky enough to get good ones.

Go Connie for being less short, I suppose.

This clearly belonged to something that I was doing, but time has eroded the context, so I am simply left with failure and disappointment on all sides. Sorry.

Aw, we’re getting into the boring part of the inbox now, I think. Not because of the questions; you guys are always great. But I can’t think of a reason why I wouldn’t have answered this, which leads me to think that the reason was I was too tired to put words together.

That’s a boring reason, so maybe I should go into Drafts for the next few...

Yeah, still unfairly prejudiced against crossovers. I am no fun, etc. etc.

I have no memory of it, but I feel like I didn’t answer this because there was no way I could match this kindly anon’s enthusiasm.

You go, random internet person.

You have good ideas.

Oh no.

Uh.

See.

I know exactly why I didn’t answer this one.

I am so sorry, Anon.

I really didn’t care.

I am filled with affection for you because you clearly do, but uh.

...I basically put this on Read.

This has a very simple, ie boring, explanation. Any time someone asks about the cast as a whole, I want to think about the cast as a whole, and that takes a lot more thought than most of the asks I get. Cue putting it off. Cue it getting lost in scroll hell. On and on we go until we end up here.

Anything that opens with kilometers is something that requires more brain power than I have had in the past year.

Also I think I got this during a spoiler week, so I saw it, but I was trying not to look at it, and then it got lost in the post-chapter asks.

That happens a lot.

We might see it more soon.

If I can’t come up with words more than “-shrug-” I try not to answer.

...Good news, though!

The manga did my job for me!

I feel like I answered some variation of this. That might be why I didn’t answer this specific one.

The wiki does a better job keeping track of the timeline than I ever have. I probably didn’t answer this because it would involve trying to remember which volume actually name-dropped a number of weeks or months. Searching for lines I know a character said is pretty easy, but searching out lines I have a vague feeling of someone providing? That tends to hit the frustration button with the force of a truck.

But yeah, if you ever want to know how long something took, the wiki is absolutely your friend. They do good work.

Consider: “What if” questions are hard, and I am lazy.

This is actually one I really did mean to get to, sorry. It’s an interesting thought, and I miss Sasha.

...I clearly did a magnificent job answering your asks, friend.

Prediction asks are hard for me; I feel like I’m throwing darts randomly into the air and the dartboard is still deciding if it’s going to show up. So uh. I guess I just kept putting this off until it didn’t get answered.

This post is going to have so many apologies. Implied and otherwise.

I continue to be the No Fun Police who accidentally-on-purpose avoids crossover commentary.

I feel like I didn’t answer this one entirely because seeing it in my inbox gave me far too much joy to have it lost in a sea of posts.

This is what my inbox was made for.

I have no idea when this was from, but I see your emotions and appreciate them, Anon.

...Did I not see this one?

Hey, Anon who probably doesn’t remember sending this: This is a good ask and deserved some good attention, and I’m sorry I missed my shot at it. Good thoughts.

I didn’t answer this one entirely because I knew I couldn’t match the energy of it, and responding with anything less felt heretical.

That is one hell of a mood, Anon.

This is definitely from the era of, “Can’t think, brain empty.” Sorry about not getting back to you, I just really couldn’t organize my thoughts well enough to come up with an answer.

I feel like I didn’t know what this was continuing from and was too exhausted to ask.

LOOK YOU CAN SEE I WANTED TO ANSWER THIS BECAUSE IT’S A DRAFT.

Too many things, Anon.

I liked so many things about all of that. Trying to turn that enthusiasm into words wasn’t agreeing with me, so I put it in Drafts and told myself one day I’d do the most awesome post detailing everything.

Intentions, huh?

Every time I tried to take a normal screenshot with formatting Tumblr just laughed at me, so that might have been a contributing factor.

Dang, I’m really sorry. This is another one of those cases where I wanted to take my time with a response, and I took too long.

I, uh.

Am guilty of not being too interested in pondering Ymir’s thoughts on Levi or Erwin.

That’s it, that’s the explanation.

Yeah, I just couldn’t come up with an answer here? Or someone else asked? Or several of my friends decided to be annoying about lists on Discord? I don’t even know.

Presumably there could be a list.

There is not.

Honestly, I just couldn’t figure out how to follow that starting sentence up. A thought exercise on Armin, Historia, gender, and themes sounded really interesting, and I put it in Drafts so as not to forget it being interesting.

Then, you know. This post sort of paints the picture.

Ah.

Man, I really was looking forward to putting some proper thought into this. That’s the problem with having so many things I love in one place, I guess. Symbolism? Historia and Ymir? Mikasa? So many good things! Where do I start!

With paralyzing indecision that results in not a lot. Sorry, Anon. This really did light up my day when I got it.

Here’s the thing about me and writing:

I often fail to.

(I love both these ideas, though.)

Yes.

Do I know why I didn’t get around to answering this?

Absolutely not.

But yes, I’d agree with that.

GOOD NEWS!

The manga actually gave us some of them together in the future.

I occasionally giggled over their shared distaste.

It was a good time.

And this is another one I just do not know why I didn’t answer, whoops.

This never got answered because I couldn’t come up with an answer.

Broad questions are scary because they can go just about anywhere and I didn’t know how to handle that level of commitment.

I think I didn’t answer this one, A), because words are hard, and B), because mostly I just wanted to listen to more of your wondering and less of mine.

I probably could have answered this by saying I don’t have any, but that seemed rude, so I didn’t respond to it at all.

Yep.

Frieda is worthy of my time and effort.

Landing this in Drafts instead of my inbox.

Where the lighting makes it more obvious that hope has gone there to die.

I think about it so much too.

I find the answers fundamentally upsetting.

That is probably why I did not provide an answer here.

That is a lot of kids to make up headcanons for.

So I didn’t.

She’s eaten by dogs before she develops a personality.

Since that seemed like the wrong thing to say, I said nothing, and into Drafts this went.

‘I have no earthly clue’ seemed similarly unhelpful.

At this point, we understand that there is no mystery to my backlog.

This one hurts.

-sees the 112 reference-

Wow does it hurt.

As I hope is obvious, I really, really loved this question, and kept meaning to carve out time to work on it specifically. What went sideways was trying to put words to how EMA functions. I knew the feel of what I wanted to express, but every time I tried to write it, it came out wonky.

I’m very sorry I couldn’t do anything for this, because I was thrilled to spend time with it.

I didn’t answer this because Fuck Marley.

It’s nothing against you. At the time, I simply wasn’t in any mood to consider any version of Marley. Even the canon version was too much for me, so giving it my time in a roleswap AU had me hissing.

Roleswaps in general are amazing, and I love them a lot. A dedicated person could make a fantastic one based around Marley and Paradis. I think it would probably be cool af.

But I was so tired of Marley when I got this, I just couldn’t make myself think about it. Sorry. It’s a fun idea.

I didn’t answer this one because I kept trying to extend my response past, “I think he just really likes baseball.”

I think he just really likes baseball.

My feelings on that as a quality answer are derogatory.

Mm. The ones where I actually tried to get something started hurts.

Ultimately, this ask was a larger demand than I could make my brain work through at the time. I made sure to write down the tl;dr version of Sasha’s, because I found that desperately important, and not something that people talk about much, but the additional weight of trying to think of themes for multiple characters made it hard to progress.

Me, looking at the prompts: Hi my brain left me.

Sorry, Anon. Too many gears were moving for me to get a proper feel for what I wanted to do with this one, so I ended up ditching it. ...I was planning to finish it, though. Eventually. See, I even put the quote in the Draft version as a reminder of what I was doing, so I could get back to it right away.

Yeeeeah, this is just one more to the “I will give this wonderful thing all the time it deserves!” pile.

The pile is stored in the Failure Corner.

Perfectionism is the enemy of progress.

You guys really like crossovers.

I love that for you.

-spends two years ignoring you-

I mean, I just didn’t know what to do with the rainbows.

They sure are there.

They sure are pretty.

I sure couldn’t come up with a comment to add.

...I don’t know why I didn’t answer this. Possibly because I think it’s fine? I’m not too attached to it, and spent the whole manga period wanting to watch an anime version instead, then we got an anime version.

I’d guess that my general “meh” feelings interfered with responding here.

No idea why I didn’t answer this.

Yes, and good for you.

I support all thoughts on giving the Reiss kiddos personalities.

I think I didn’t get back to you on this because I wasn’t sure how to encourage you to keep going so I just sat awkwardly on my hands and felt weird about not saying anything.

...Thanks for sharing!

I love how it’s the little things that date these.

Unfortunately, we’re now at the point where 90% of the reason I didn’t answer was because I was too sick to muster up anything approaching enthusiasm.

Or because I’d just finished answering a bunch of chapter-specific things and was burnt out.

This felt pretty self-explanatory to me, so I felt like that gave me permission to ignore it.

Also, it mentions Marley.

I might be slightly petty.

Really though, I think what stopped me from giving a proper answer is that the question of what an author is trying to say throws me off a little. I work better thinking of it in terms of what the story is saying, with the author just happening to be the hands that wrote it all down.

I don’t know. This was probably another case of feeling like I should give this more of my time than I was able.

I couldn’t decide.

That’s it.

That’s the reason.

Everyone needs to give Mikasa a hug.

My blog title for a hug.

-the crossover snake hisses and consumes another-

I am so sorry.

This is fun.

I probably should have just gone with posting and saying so, because I am genuinely charmed by this. I tend to feel like I have to add something to asks to justify the post. That policy maybe didn’t need to be a thing.

I love my anons.

I want that to be clear.

Really, I do.

I especially love their willingness to embrace my crackpot logic.

Still.

Sometimes, the only response one can have to Schrodinger’s Ymir is to ignore its existence, find a pillow, and scream into it for the rest of time.

This replaces typing.

-looks at Armin-

-looks at Eren-

Yeah, don’t know why I didn’t answer this one, either. I blame tiredness? Sorry about that.

I feel like I didn’t answer this one because it felt like work.

This is where I start considering that making this post was a mistake.

I could have just agreed with you and gone about my day.

Probably should have.

Did not.

Another one for that, “had nothing to add so I just left it in a corner, abandoned and unloved,” pile.

There is an apology section at the end, but we’re not there yet.

This one I don’t think I noticed.

Alternatively, I did notice, and wasn’t sure “Yes,” would pass as a good enough answer.

--------------------------------------

Okay, time to really just get into it: I think for the remainder of my inbox, I didn’t answer because physically, I was just too damn exhausted, and I kept waiting for a point in time where I’d feel better. Sorry to put a limit on the personalization, but in the end, that’s all there was to it, and rephrasing it a dozen times will make me crazy.

And here we are.

Well.

Good grief, do you guys even have any clue how much I like all of you?

Obviously there’s a lot of guilt in the above, because I can’t tell you how much I wanted, each time, to give a great answer that would make you thrilled you messaged me. I am so sorry to all of these I didn’t get to. There were days when the alerts in my inbox were the best thing to happen to me, and I never wanted to let any of them go without acknowledgment.

I try to say thank you as often as I can in my responses, because that’s as close as I can get to reminding you all, constantly, that I am grateful for your participation. The only times I don’t say it is when I worry that it’ll look like it’s being done out of habit, not genuine gratitude. Or when I think you might take it the wrong way if I say thanks for a basic conversation. Because you provide me content and make me interested in things I might not normally look twice at.

There are so many instances of people saying hi, and thank you, and wishing everyone well here.

I haven’t been active in the larger fandom in two years, but I have always been so happy that you guys kept dropping by my space anyway.

You are a pleasure and light in my life, no matter how much snark I might throw about.

Thank you all.

[ooachilliaoo]

2020 Fic Year In Review

Tagged by my lovely friend @faith-less-one who tagged me specifically so I could rant about the many many multi chaptered fics I’m working on behind the scenes so …rant incoming.

I’ll Tag: Anyone who wants to! I think I’ve seen similar posts from most of my lovelies but @pip-n-flinx @natsora @alyssalenko if you haven’t - feel free 😊

2020

Total number of completed stories: 5 that I’ve posted and another 11 in the editing pile 😊

Total word count: So in terms of fic I’ve actually posted 20,754 – but I’ve written rather more than just that this year (and to be honest i’m not even sure that all of that was written in 2020). Counting it up across the various WIP’s  I have would take ages so as a broad indication I will just say that for NaNo this year I somehow managed to write 62k? Which honestly surprised me and I’m super proud of that fact.

Fandoms written in: Dragon Age and Mass Effect (I mean…duh?)

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d expected? Way more. I somehow managed to take one of my multi chaptered fics from concept to almost completed in like…a matter of months? Then there were all the extra drabbles falling out of it and it became almost a whole AU unto itself and I’m just super super excited to finish it.

What’s your own favorite story of the year? Of the fic I’ve posted I think it has to be ‘First Meeting’ I’ve been feeling the fantasy vibes big time this year and this combines so many of my long-held headcannons and thoughts that it was nice to have it finally on paper.

Did you take any writing risks this year? I wouldn’t call it a risk per se but mixing Mass Effect and Dr Who was…difficult. It was a lot of elements to balance and I’m not quite sure I handled it well in parts of the main story. Not a risk more of a challenge but still.

Do you have any fanfic goals for the new year?  Sure…I’d like to finish ‘In all but name’ and maybe start posting it? (it’s 33k at the moment though so that’s going to be a hell of a beast to edit). I’d like to be able to post more regularly and get more drabbles out, just to aid motivation but like, I know because of how my brain works I can’t …force that. So, who knows if I’ll manage either.

Most popular story of the year? In terms of Kudos that would be ‘Time Effect’ my ME/ Dr Who crossover. 😊

Story of yours most under-appreciated by the universe, in your opinion: I’m gonna say Time Effect: Coda for this one. The events in Coda contain virtually all of my post-war headcannons and I just loved the idea of Shepard being somehow able to see what happened post-war. It felt similar to ‘Tough Kid’ while writing it only it’s more melancholy all the way through rather than the gut-punch at the end of ‘Tough Kid’ and I personally just really love this one.

Most fun story to write: This has to be ‘In all but name’ once I had the inspiration for the concept just every headcannon and set piece I’d ever dreamed of for King Alistair and my Elissa Cousland just sort of fell into the overarching plot so I was finally able to write them all down. Then like, because ‘In all but name’ hinges on them conducting this 10 year secret relationship I felt I could absolutely go off on the most elaborate royal wedding you’ve ever seen. Like seriously the wedding (if you include the planning of it) is like 8,000 words on its own. There’s one part of it I may re-write but yes other than that bit it was SUPER FUN to put it all down. The ‘Robin Hood’ AU is also lots of fun because I do like writing an Alistair that grew up as a prince and I love the dynamic I’ve given Prince Ali and Elissa in that one. I’ve had a lot of fun writing WIP’s no-one but @faith-less-one has seen yet this year.

Most unintentionally telling story: I’m not sure what this means but I guess I’ll go with ‘First Meeting’ since from the moment that they meet Elissa’s thoughts are basically my own thoughts on playing that part of the game.

Biggest disappointment: I guess not being able to post more? I think it’s because I’m writing less drabbles and more multi-chaptered fics and because I don’t write chronologically (Like the ending to ‘In all but name’ is already laid down despite the fact that chapter 4 is entirely missing) it means I can’t post those until I finish. Hopefully when some of the multi-Chap fics are done it will be worth it.  

Biggest surprise: Coming up with like…an actual cannon for  my Warden Cousland and King Alistair from the ending of DAO to post DAI. Like, I’ve always hated the fact that you have to like…declare yourself Queen at the landsmeet or become a mistress or get dumped - I like none of those options! So coming up with a plot that I absolutely loved, that fitted in all my most beloved headcannons and set pieces in it while also being super fun to write was a nice surprise.

Bring on 2021!!

[dragonnan]

16, 17 and 19 for the most recent ask thingy, should you feel the mood sway you. 😁

The mood will ALWAYS sway me lol!

16. Describe your WIP that currently has the highest word count.

Simon and Simon and Psych (Psych/Simon & Simon) Word count: 24,323

So this one, in spite of not being updated in YEARS, is a story I’m still absolutely on fire to resume because I’m just thrilled af about the concept. It’s a crossover between 2 series I love - Psych and Simon & Simon (an 80s Private Detective series).  What excites me most about it was the reimagining of Simon & Simon for the modern era while still retaining all of the things that made the characters what they were.  

A little back story on Simon & Simon as I feel more people will be less familiar with that series of the two.  The series is about 2 brothers who decided to open a detective agency together after the younger brother, AJ (Andrew Jackson), left the larger detective agency where he had been working for several years.  

AJ is blond, surfed a great deal as a younger man, attended law school, and was considered the “golden child” growing up somewhat sheltered and cherished and maybe a tad innocent of the world.  When his brother went to Viet Nam, AJ took part in the peace protests - primarily because he was terrified for his brother and wanted to do anything he could to make the fighting stop.  AJ tends to be the more mature of the brothers - nearly always wearing a suit and usually takes lead in dealing with clients (assuming Rick doesn’t interrupt him).  

Rick, the older brother, left home after they father died and bounced around from various interests, including being a biker for a time, before going to Viet Nam.  He would come back from the war with a boatload of PTSD and a very fierce drive to protect his younger brother (probably far more so than he’d even felt prior to Viet Nam but to be clear - Rick is VERY protective of AJ).  All of that, however, might take the casual observer by surprise as Rick is incredibly irresponsible (on the surface) and nearly always in a good mood or quick with a joke.  Just don’t threaten baby bro other their mother.  Really, just do not.   

So that’s a bit of backstory so I can mention my changes for the modern era.  Instead of Viet Nam, Rick is now a veteran of Desert Storm.  They now both carry cell phones instead of relying on pay phones or other land lines.  They have a website.  I’ve updated their cars.  Before, AJ drove a red Camaro T Top so I changed that to a 2008 Chevy Corvette.  Rick, in the series, drove a 1979 Dodge Power Wagon so that one... did not change lol!  I seriously cannot picture Rick in any other vehicle. 

So after ALL OF THAT there’s actually a story in progress...

The plot thus far is that the Simon brothers are in Santa Barbara because AJ is running in the annual Half Marathon (an actual one cause I do like to blend some real events with my fiction lol).  While in town, Rick goes to run an errand - picking up an item his buddy Carlos had shipped but wasn’t able to pick up himself because Carlos is... sketchy (an actual character from the series that we hear about anecdotally from Rick).  Meanwhile, Juliet and Lassiter are at the shipyards as well, having set up a sting on suspicion of drug activity.  So, of course, when Rick goes to collect this item for Carlos, he ends up being stopped by the cops who confiscate the item after finding it filled with drugs and they arrest Rick.  THIS, then, is how the crossover comes into play as Shawn, of course, horns in on the investigation and immediately suspects that Rick is being setup so he volunteers to help out the Simons.  Various things happen which ultimately leads Shawn, Gus, and AJ back to the shipyards and a suspicious warehouse (aren’t ALL warehouses suspicious?) where suspicious men are rapidly emptying it of product.  The 3 men get caught and are bundled off in the back of a suspicious vehicle to a suspicious location.  At about this time Rick is let out on bail (thanks moooom....) and in a panic as he hasn’t heard from his brother.  When he realizes AJ must be in trouble, he ends up tentatively joining up with Juliet and Lassiter who are trying to find Shawn. Nobody is entirely thrilled with being teamed up in either group...

And this is roughly where things stand after the last update!     

So after I’ve subjected you to all of the above, how about a snippet from chapter 1?

___

Shawn Spencer spun slowly in his father's chair – maintaining just enough speed to make a full revolution before kicking himself into another circuit.  Typically he enjoyed his time at the station, provided he wasn't behind bars or being subjected to an interrogation.  Okay, scratch that.  He did enjoy an interrogation provided his hot pants girlfriend with a personal pair of handcuffs was the one dressing him down.  He leered. He didn't even have to try to make that sound dirty.  

Right.  Back on the subject at hand. Naughty cop Jules would, sadly, have to wait until they could have some private time.

If they could have some private time.  Of course, the way things were going lately...

And that brought him back full circle to his original beef.

Dad was being cagey. Like, Nick Cagey complete with diminished mane and sneaky covertness. Sure, he pretended he wasn't being covert but his dad sucked almost as bad as Lassie when he tried to fake acting casual. He was way too sour in the shorts to pull off that level of none chalice.

Like now, the old man was going for coffee. Like anybody with half a badge couldn't see right through that act. Shawn pulled together a mild sneer as his dad returned to his desk.

“Really? You put sugar in that too?”

His dad didn't look at him as he set his coffee on the desk. “Stop glaring at me. And get the hell out of my chair!”

Shawn didn't budge. “I am on to you.” He enunciated with immaculate exaggeration.

“The only thing you're on is my chair. And too many Pop Rocks; I thought Gus had cut you back to one pack a day.”

“I'm allowed two packs on the weekend.”

“It's Wednesday, kiddo. Maybe it's time you invested in a calendar.”

“Well maybe it's time you invested in hair plugs!” Shawn paused as his father crossed his arms. The pointing hand dropping back to his lap. “Too Terence Stamp? Sorry, I was caught up in the moment.”

“What do you want, Shawn?”  Giving up on patience, Henry opted for shoving his son until he toppled out of the chair.  Ignoring the yelp when Shawn flopped to the tile, he scooted closer to the desk so he could pull up the report he'd been working on.  Fingers just coming to rest on his keyboard, he scowled at the active game of Pitfall taking up his screen.  He tapped a button but rather than taking him back to the SBPD mainframe, it caused the character to jump into the green shapes he assumed were meant to be alligators.  Behind him, Shawn gasped.

“You just killed my last guy!”

“Be grateful that's all I've killed.” Slapping a few more keys he finally found the right combination to get back to his report.  

Still sitting on the floor, Shawn drew up his knees up and propped his chin on both fists.  Not even managing to type a single word, Henry sighed and swiveled towards his moping son.

“What, Shawn?”

Now that he had the desired attention, Shawn pushed his lower lip out the tiniest bit.  “Jules is busy and she said I can't help with the stakeout cause it's “super stupid important, Shawn” and Gus won't let me borrow the blueberry so I can follow her cause deep down inside I know she wants me to help cause, please, like I don't always make a stakeout better – I mean, who else is going to remember to bring an extra container of cheese dip for the nachos because one cup is just never enough and believe you me you do not want to short cheese a guy packing tear gas...”

Henry held up a hand to cut off the ramble that could easily go on another five minutes.  With his other hand he rubbed at his aching eyes.  Of course Shawn would find out about the sting.  However, Chief Vick had been adamant about keeping him out of it.  Henry had actually lobbied for including his son on the details – the memory of the last big operation that had temporarily cost him his job was not an easily healing wound.  Rather than even attempt reconstructing the word barrage of bitching, Henry latched on to the least pointless detail.

“Where is Gus anyhow?  I thought you two left an hour ago for dinner.”

Shawn shrugged.  “I don't know for certain...  I mean, by now he could be anywhere.  He's always expressed an interest in touring with Alicia Keys...”

“Shawn.”

“We went to Taco Louie's and he insisted on the deep fried beef and bean mini burrito...”

Henry raised his hand again.  Enough said.

“Well whatever you were thinking, I'm still not talking the Chief out of her decision.  You're bored?  How about you work on the burglary case I gave you.”

“Daaaad... the Redbox robberies?” Groaning, Shawn flopped on his back and sprawled dramatically. Officers passing back and forth shot glances at the display and Henry rubbed his face in embarrassment.

“Dammit, Shawn, get off the floor! You look like an idiot!”

Shawn sat up but didn't stand.  Nor was he ready to let go of his latest complaint.

“Come on!  Dad, Redbox?  That is so... not sexy!”

17. Describe a fic that is still in the ‘ideas’ stage.

This one is an Iron Man character exploration regarding Tony’s relationship with Obie and that, with hindsight, he realizes Obie had been grooming him.  It will never cross that crucial line but the potential leaves Tony reeling.  This will be in the same universe as another short fic titled “Simple Math”.  Here’s the bit of writing I’d put together so far:

_____

He'd thought it was bonding; at the time.  His dad had never been one for just hanging out; shooting the shit; telling tales out of school.  No, Pops, when he bothered to interact, led with questions.  “You keeping your grades up?” “You still seeing that floozy?” “When are you going to pull your head out of your ass and grow the hell up?” “You do realize it's my name you're disgracing every time you go on a bender?”

With Obie it was just, easy.  Obie might ask about school but it was always with approval and pride.  He would discuss Tony's conquests as though Tony had climbed Kilimanjaro wearing nothing but underwear and a cape.    

Obie was there when his father wasn't. Which meant that Obie was always there.  The first time he got astoundingly drunk on his father's scotch, Obie was the one to help him hunch over the toilet and vomit expensive, aged booze into the toilet.  Obie was also the one to replace the depleted bottle to keep Howard in the dark.  For a fourteen year old kid still trying to gain his dad's favor, that had meant everything.

He saw his first porn with Obie; sex education ala Traci Lords, three months shy of his fifteenth birthday.  That was the same time he was introduced to weed.  Obie had cautioned him to use it sparingly; didn't want to fry that genius brain, he'd say, and ruffle his hair.  The porn had made him uncomfortable.  Obie had turned it off and told him they could watch whatever Tony wanted.  They'd ended up changing the station to Knight Rider; smoking and munching Cheetos and laughing over their orange fingers.

It was Obie who was there, arm around his shoulders, after his parents died.  He desperately didn't want to sob in front of the man.  Things were so complicated with his dad that all he felt was blinding guilt... as though some part of him had caused this.  But Obie had filled him with bourbon until the emotions got soft around the edges and he'd sat beside the older man, head tipping gradually to the right until he was held up by Obie's bicep. Obie had just slung and arm around him and let Tony pass out while he rubbed a broad hand up and down his arm.

It was strange, now, looking back with adult perspective.  A perspective that included Afghanistan and his intended execution and Obie's arm around his shoulders while he talked about legacy and responsibility while Tony's lungs slowly seized.  He'd taken the time to sit there – arm around Tony's shoulders while one broad hand traveled up and down Tony's bicep – just like when he was a kid and Obie was the whole world.

He'd tried to remember if it had felt so tainted... at the time.  Or if he'd always believed it was love.

Obie had never quite crossed that line. Though hindsight offered a peek into that possibility with enough clarity Tony had fought with his cramping gut for nearly thirty minutes.  He'd staved off vomiting though he was fairly certain his dignity had still been in tatters what with Bruce wandering in on his misery.

19. What’s your favorite character headcanon?

Gosh... It’s funny that when asked the question the first thing that I ponder is “what head canons?? what are characters??? Do I even watch tv???” So I needed to ponder a bit.

As far as it goes my favorite head canons are not typically ones that I myself have come up with.  And going with that maybe the best one I know is for the series, and character, Sherlock.

I’m am 100% all in on Sherlock being on the autism spectrum.  Yes, I know this is attributed to MANY characters but consider the fact that those reasons have a ton of validity.  Sherlock has very strong indications of being on the spectrum and having read quite a number of essays on the subject, many of which were written by people who are also on the spectrum, I’m completely convinced.  It’s to the point I don’t even like calling it a “head canon” as that implies it’s only a fan concept and therefore has less likelihood.  It just feels so deliberate with that character.  

So going off from that I would say, in a more general sense, my favorite head canons are they type where we can discover neurologically atypical traits in characters - especially heroes.  Too long anyone neurologically divergent is portrayed either as a victim or, FAR FAR worse, as the “crazed villain” and frankly that is disgusting.  So it is beyond refreshing to suddenly have this amazing, brilliant, layered person who also displays autistic traits.  In going back over characters that I’ve loved most there are many who have traits of this sort that, only in hindsight, do I recognize.  Just a few off the top of my head; Malcolm Bright, Shawn Spencer (100% ADHD), Rapunzel, Rick Simon (remember him? lol), Adrien Monk (his OCD was very deliberate), as well as characters who’ve developed trauma after horrific events such as, well, most MCU characters but particularly Tony Stark and Stephen Strange.  Malcolm Bright also very much was built from trauma but I also am convinced there are neurologically atypical traits at play.  

Thank you so much for the great ask!!