#*changing it from 30 to make this post canon lol

[syndxlla]

best friends don’t look at each other the way we do

A low stakes, high reward and self-indulgent Zelink fan fiction. Canon-compliant. Takes place between both and totk

Chapter Six: This is Home

Read chapter five here

My masterlist

Song: Run To You by Leah Michele

Summary: Link is brought on to investigate a new strange monster plaguing the farmers in Hateno. He is faced with a new type of post-traumatic experience he doesn’t expect to have.

Warnings: canon-typical violence, suspense and horror, PTSD, squint and theres very base-line sexual content, GRAPHIC descriptions of animal mutilations!

Word Count: 3.5k words

Authors Note: I didn’t update for two and a half months and said “lemme give you guys the best chapter yet” (imo). Thank you for being patient with me. I restarted school, closed one musical, opened and closed a 30 performance long run of another musical and literally fell in love with a man 16-years-older than me in that time lol. Also I wrote this in one sitting and I’m starting chapter 7 now 🫡. Its unedited be nice.

Also please do not make fun of me for using a Leah Michele song for this chapter its so good and it works really good so just shut up. Kloveyoubye

The summer starts to get hotter. A week passes and nothing changes, neither of them ever address the hand holding, Link is fixing the hole in the roof and Zelda is reteaching herself how to fix a clock, an activity she originally learned at the age of seven. Everything is so normal, the sun starts to set a little later, and the fireflies have started hatching.

Link never really thought he would end up in a position to do housework. He tried to get Bolson to fix the hole before Link bought it, but it would take a certain number of wood piles and when Link went out to get them he got a little distracted. And by distracted he means ending the sandstorm in the desert caused by the Divine Beast. It just got put on the back burner, and now here he is, using basic tools to hammer in new shingles. He wipes his brow, his shirt off again. He takes a look at the hammer in his hand, thinking about the savage Lynel sword that same hand has swung.

The passage of time is weird.

Maybe he does want to go back to work. Going from Demon slayer to roof repairman in two and a half weeks is a little jarring.

He hears a groan of frustration from inside the house, and makes his way inside, where it's much cooler.

“Everything alright?” He asks, looking at the girl who’s hunched over the kitchen table.

“No, this is absurd.” She slams the machine on the kitchen table. “I can’t remember how to do the most basic thing in engineering ever.” She frowns.

Link chuckles and places a dirty hand on her shoulder as he walks past her. He moves to the water basin and wets a cloth that he wraps around his neck. “I don’t know the first thing about that stuff, so you have me beat.” He shrugs. “Man, what I would give for an hour at Lurelin right now. Or better yet a weekend at Tabantha. I bet the weather there is a comfortable 60 degrees.” He sighs. Trying to slyly put the worm in Zelda’s ear about a possible trip.

Zelda groans, “I agree. I don’t remember it getting this hot.”

“This is just the beginning, wait until it’s the midsummer festival.”

“A festival?” Zelda’s face lights up.

Link nods, “It’s something they started about thirty years ago. It’s right here in Hateno. People from all parts of the kingdom will travel for it.” Link drinks some water, leading against the counter at the hip. Zelda makes special effort not to admire how his obliques curved. “There’s music and dancing, it’s quite fun. I was invited last year as a special guest. The “chosen hero” or something like that.” Link shrugs.

At that moment they hear a sharp knock on their door. It startles both of them. Link moves to answer it, setting the rag and cup down.

“Dantz, what is it?” Link says as he opens the door to a distressed farmer.

“Master Link, so good to see you,” His voice is shaky, “I didn’t know who else to go to.” Link listens more intently, Zelda even stands. “Two more of my cattle have been killed. When I heard you were back in town I knew you could help me. I don’t know who—or what—is killing them, but it's not a moblin. It’s something darker.” He’s speaking a mile a minute.

“Slow down,” Link stops him, “When did this happen?”

“In the night, I came here as soon as I could. They were covered in something… unnatural. Please, Link.”

Link turns back to look at Zelda. “Stay here.”

“What? No. I’ll come with you!” She moves to him and Link stops her. If this is anything like what Cado saw at the castle, he didn’t want her to be anywhere near it.

Link completely turns around and puts his hands on her shoulders, “Zelda, you cannot.” He stays sternly.

“Why? You don’t have to baby me. I can help you.”

“Zel-“

“I’m better! Please don’t leave me-“ Before she finishes the sentence she’s falling back down, like she was going to faint again. She had gotten herself worked up and now her heart was weary again. Link catches her before she falls, her knees knocking together.

“Oh, Goddess.” Dantz says. “Should I help?” He asks and Link snaps, telling him ‘no’ a little too forcefully.

“Zel, come on, let's get you to bed.” He wraps her arm around his shoulder. “Dantz, I’ll be there within the hour. I’m sorry.” Link says in a calmer tone.

“I understand, Link.” He nods and turns to leave.

Zelda can’t get up the stairs and Link picks her up, carrying her up to her room. He places her in bed as she starts to cry.

“Hey, hey it’s okay.” He brushes her hair out of her face. She takes his hand.

“No. It’s not.” She replies. “Stop telling me it’s okay.” She groans. “It’s ridiculous that I can’t do anything without this happening.” It was the second time this week.

“I have to go help them.” His hand is held back by her, but she eventually lets it go.

He turns to leave her, pulling his green tunic over his messy hair, and getting ready for combat. He isn’t even anticipating a fight, but he wants to be ready. He puts his gloves on, and straps both his sword and shield to his back. He even gets his bow ready because he has no idea what it might be. It sounds serious.

It’s the first time he’s been entirely suited-up since the castle. He forgot how natural it feels. He forgot how much he felt like himself.

Zelda has gotten up and stands at the railing of the loft. “Be careful.” She says in a weak voice.

Link looks up at her, he wants to stay here with her and hold her and let her know that it's going to be okay. “Please rest.”

He walks out the door.

The cattle are lying dead in the corner of the pasture. Flies buzz around them. Dantz and Link examine the scene, a pit in both their stomachs.

“What could it be?” Dantz asks.

Link crouches down, getting a closer look. The gunk is a deep maroon color, almost like malice but thinner, almost like a glossy serum as opposed to a thick slime. Link takes a risk and touches a bit of it that was strewn across the grass, rubbing it between his fingers. It didn’t seem to hurt him the way malice did. He sniffs it, it’s rotten and foul. He gags almost immediately. Link wipes his hand off in the grass.

“I’ve never seen anything like this.” He admits. “And I’ve seen a lot.” This was only confirming his worst fears.

“The other ones that were killed were left like this too.” Dantz explains, “There isn’t even any meat taken out of them, only their eyes are gouged out.” He points out.

“Whatever is killing them is doing it for sport.” Link stands back up and folds his arms. “This is bizarre, I must say.” It was starting to be late afternoon, he still had a few hours of sunlight. “What did you do with the other ones that were killed?” Link asks.

“We tried to clean them up and butcher them for food. But the meat inside was rotten, like it was poisoned under the skin.”

Link hears a giggle from behind them and turns around to see the two daughters of the rancher watching them from behind a post. When he catches them staring they both hide.

“How old are your girls?” He asks.

“Siva is eighteen and Catli is sixteen.” Dantz replies. “They are my pride and joy, I can’t let anything bad happen to them.”

Link advances towards them, “Girls.” He smiles, charming as ever. They both sneak out from behind the post, sheepish and giddy. The older steps forward.

“You’re the hero.” She puts her hands behind her back. Link nods.

“Can you girls show me the edge of your property?” He asks, wanting to test a theory. They both happily nod and start to lead him, he notices especially how Siva looks at him as she walks by. She was very agreeable: long, dark and curly hair and alluring eyes. He follows them. They take him past the fence and through the forest, the younger chatting and asking questions about his quests and whatnot. He just smiles and nods, answering with basic “yes’” or “no’s”.

Link’s theory starts to prove right, he sees a set of two acorns on the ground, then a pair of two foot tracks, and eventually, at the end of the property, where two songbirds lay dead at the bottom of a tree, both covered in the same strange goop. Whatever this is, it’s looking for things in pairs. Like two sisters.

Link would never imagine putting these girls in danger, and would send them home in about an hour or two when it started to get dark, he just wanted to lure out whatever was killing with a pair.

He sat down at the base of a tree, and listened as the girls talked themselves up, clearly competing with one another for who can be the most impressive to the hero. Link decides to let them have their fun, it’s not like he was getting this attention from Zelda.

Zelda.

She’s all he could think about. He listens to the girls for a full hour, but doesn’t comprehend a word they’re saying because all he can do is think about the woman he left at home. He wishes he hadn’t left her home, she’s probably sad and lonely. Or maybe she isn’t, perhaps she’s enjoying some alone time. He doubted it, though. He was sure she was fuming at him for just leaving her, for going in such a rush. Proximity can cause problems, maybe this was good for them.

Link must have zoned out because all of a sudden the younger sister was gone, and he was left alone with Siva. This was dangerous territory.

“Where did your sister go?” He asks, clearly uncomfortable.

“Oh! I told her to go get her tapestry to show you! Of course.” Siva says in a tone that was a little too flirty for Link’s liking. She sits next to him, facing him. Link knew the look on her face, and he knew he should stand up and put an end to whatever was about to happen. “Because you know… now we’re alone.” She sighs and leans in.

Stop. Stop. Stop. He tells himself but doesn’t move, he lets her place her lips on his.

Link is not an experienced kisser. He’s had a few drunken nights in the last three years where he ended up in a Gerudo’s bedchamber or a stable-workers hideout, and while those were all agreeable experiences, he’s never actively sought them out. It was always nice to get the tension from his journey off, though.

Link makes the mistake of kissing her back, and she’s sighing into his touch and he’s pulling her in. Being alone with a woman he’s been in love with for three years and not being able to touch her or talk to her the way he wants to has left him with a lot of pent up energy, it felt good to get it out.

Link puts his fingers through her hair, and starts to kiss down her jawline and neck and she’s letting out the prettiest little sounds.

And then he starts to think about Zelda. The sounds Zelda would make, the feeling of her hair intertwined in his fingers, how her lips would feel against his…

Zelda.

Zelda.

“Zelda.” He sighs, and then Savi is pulling away.

“Hm?” She asks, and Link is dazed and confused, thinking with anything other than his brain. He doesn’t know how long they were kissing because suddenly it's much darker outside, and if Dantz caught them like this, Link would be the one hunted down and killed, not whatever monster is out there.

Link immediately feels stupid, this was a rookie mistake. He shouldn’t have let it happen.

“What?” He responds to her, and then out of the corner of his eye, he sees something run behind the tree. “Shit.” He jumps up. “You need to go. Right now.” He pushes her back towards the house. It wasn’t far, she’d be okay. “Please don’t tell anyone about this.”

She nods, also remembering their reason for being out here. She runs back home and Link shakes his head, trying to refocus. He sees it again, it’s fast, moving from tree to tree, but further away. Link grunts and starts to slowly follow it. He isn’t sure if it saw him. It’s tall, and it’s dark. He would guess it’s a Moblin by its size but it's much too fast to be a moblin. Perhaps a wizzrobe? But he could hear its feet on the grass. Link starts the stalk, prowling towards it like a predator.

He doesn’t think it knows he’s following, because he’s able to follow it halfway up Madorna Mountain before he accidentally steps on a branch that snaps loudly. Again, a rookie mistake. Link was out of practice, rusty. He silently curses himself for that. The beast turns around to look at Link, but he’s able to hide behind an oak tree. It was still a little light out, and the lights from down were getting smaller and smaller as they worked their way up the mountain.

Link stayed vigilant. It’s been a long time since he’s had to fight a new enemy, and he wasn’t sure how powerful this was going to be. It gets quiet, he doesn’t hear it move. Even with Link’s impaired hearing, he had a knack for the details, but not today, not now. A cricket chirps but it’s silenced halfway through its sound. The wind goes still. A cloud covers the moon.

He girds up, and moves from behind the tree to keep following it, but he’s met with a horrific sight.

The creature is standing there, about six feet away from Link.

It startles him. He’s met with a feeling of dread.

It’s tall, probably seven feet. It’s hunched down, a humanoid-sort of beast that looks like a shadow covered in the same maroon gloop as the animals.

Link freezes up, he is paralyzed with fear because he knows exactly what it is.

He knows who it is.

It opens its eyes, those awful, yellow, glowing eyes. He chuckles at Link and it fills his skull. It wasn’t quite human, like it was a pile of goo that was regaining its strength and slowly rebuilding itself into a human. Into a phantom.

They stare at one another, his laughter taunts Link. Link can hear his heartbeat in his ears. His palms start to sweat. He is met with the images of three weeks ago. The battle, the castle, the evil.

Ganon.

Or at least some form of him.

He doesn’t move, he just laughs at Link. The boy swallows, and he wants to run, but he rolls his shoulders back.

“Courage and Bravery are two different things.” Zelda’s words ring in his memory.

He grabs his sword.

The Master Sword unsheathes with a light ring, and it glows in the darkness.

In an instant, the monster is screeching and howling like a Lynel and melting away from the light of the sword. The pure power of the holy blade made the beast slowly melt into the ground, like an ice cube in the desert. It covered its eyes, and screlted into the forest, echoing no doubt into town.

Link walked closer to it, waving the blade, spinning it in his hand until the creature was completely put away.

Whatever that was, it isn’t very strong. It will surely get stronger, though. Link had a feeling this was not the end of it. It left behind a puddle of goop. Link’s stomach dropped when he realized why it was killing for sport and in pairs of two. It was probably seeking Him and Zelda. Unable to differentiate what living things were hylian and what was cattle or animals. The stealing of the eyes surely had something to do with it regaining its strength, but what?

How did it know to come look in Hateno already?

After sheathing the sword and thanking the Goddess, Link took a moment to bury the secretment. He still felt sick to his stomach. Why did he freeze up like that?

Maybe that final battle had more of an effect on him than he thought.

He heads home, explaining to Dantz what had happened and what he saw, sugar-coating it a little and just saying it was a ghost. Link wasn’t sure how long it would stay away for, but hopefully long enough he could talk to Impa about it. Clearly the Master Sword was protecting him. He made a special effort to avoid Savi.

When he gets home, he drops his equipment off, pulling his gloves and boots off and leaving it all in his little corner downstairs. He pulls his shirt off. He would sleep out with Epona again tonight, he would need to to avoid the nightmares. His Mare had that effect on him. The feeling of safety and home.

Zelda was asleep, snoring lightly in her bed. He stayed quiet and went to sit at the table, grabbing a baked apple to silence his rumbling stomach. Guilt washed over him as he remembered what he did today. Savi came onto him, but he knows he shouldn’t have let that happen. He was ashamed of his conduct.

The laughter of the phantom rang in his ears. Flashes of its grin and glowing eyes projected in his mind. He felt ill.

Link disassociated. He sat at the table for three hours and it went by in minutes.

What snaps him out of it are the screams of terror he hears from upstairs.

His mind immediately jumps to the worst possible situation. He grabs the master sword and sprints upstairs. He sees nothing but a scared girl, crying from a nightmare.

“Zelda, what is it?” He asks, setting the sword town and running to her. He kneels by her bed and takes her hand. “I’m here, what’s wrong.” He whispers.

“You’re here?”

“I’m here.”

“B-but. The guardian, it got you. It killed-”

“It was just a nightmare, it wasn’t real.” Link reassures her. “I’m here, breathing, alive as ever.”

Zelda shakes her head, she’s clearly so traumatized that she cannot differentiate dream from reality anymore, she probably thinks him saying that is the dream.

“Here, feel.” He grabs her hand and places it against his chest where his heart is. “Feel that?” He asks, “Bum-bum. Bum-bum.” He whispers. “That’s my heart. Its pumping, it's beating.” Zelda sobs and he pulls her into his chest. “It’s okay, I got you. I’m here.”

He holds her for a moment and then stands up, “I’ll get the stool if it will help you sleep.” He turns to go.

“Stay with me.” She asks, tears wetting his collarbone.

“I’ll be right here, I’ll grab the stool.” He says.

“No, stay with me.” She says, and gestures to the bed.

“What?”

“Please. I cannot sleep without you by my side. I’m too afraid I’m going to lose you again.” She sniffles.

“Zelda I can’t-“

“Why?” She asks. “Because of decorum? Because I’m royal? Because you don't want to get caught?” She picks up her hands ‘None of that matters anymore’ she signs.

Link nods, “Are you sure?”

“Please.” She pleads.

Link moves back to her, trying to control his racing heart. Zelda scoots over to she’s closer to the wall, and Link carefully crawls into the covers of the bed. There wasn’t a ton of room, there would be no way for them to lay in the bed without being in full contact. “Is this okay?” He asks as he pulls the covers up.

She nods.

“Hold me?” She asks.

Link looks at her and it takes every ounce of his self-control not to kiss her. He nods and lays his head down, his chest facing up. He pulls her into his chest, wrapping his left arm around her shoulders and his right arm over his stomach to her waist. She tries to control her breathing, and it gets easier as their hearts begin to sync up.

Link wants to cry too, because this is the safest he has felt in a hundred and three years. This is the most at home he has ever been. He mentally-pinches himself because he’s sure he’s dreaming. But he doesn’t wake up, in fact, he starts to fall into the deepest sleep he’s ever had.

Every muscle in his body starts to relax, his eyes get heavy, and the scent of the girl on his chest fills his dreams with images of fairy forests and gentle ocean waves and the time of day when the sun moves into twilight.

This is home.

#fan fiction #tloz #zelink #zelda #botw #legend of zelda #the legend of zelda #zelda fandom #zelda tears of the kingdom #link x zelda #best friends dont look at each other the way we do #zelda fanfic #link zelda #zelda totk #zelda botw #tloz link #link fanfic #loz link #zelda x link #sm/ut #zelink fluff #fluff #angst #horror #smutty smut smut

[onyichii]

This is a response to @cocogum post! Since it is SUPER LONG! Imma start doing this instead of reblogging if I have a lot to say.

OG Post by COCOGUM:

YES COCOGUM!! I am LOVING YOUR ENTIRE POST! I have a few thoughts to add...

A) I'm happy her hair is growing out too! I hope she eventually has hair as long as her mothers.

I want her to look like a forest goddess.

I think the growth is a symbol of just (as you said) being happy or at peace. In TV/movies people cut their hair as a symbol of change (freedom from the past) and grow it out again (sometimes) when they're at a new happy place. As we have seen, her hair and that green leaf she sports now are a symbol of her new found happiness.

B) I too was not expecting the "adult fun time" scene but i am hoping we get A TON more especially if this series is gonna be 100 chapters. I want more fluff, more hugs, more kisses, more f--ks! lol Put a baby (or three) in her Yugo! Give the Sadida kingdom an heir!

I can see where you are coming from that Yugo was having a wet dream. If that's the case, that is funny because he (presumably) had just pollinated his flower queen and he is dreaming of doing it again! 😀😀 And he called her tireless!? LMAO. Whether it was a dream or they were interrupted before the nut we can agree that they are BOTH hungry for each others touch/warmth (based on that scene alone).

I still think they were interrupted before they...made sap🌳and fell from the air.

I think the "adult fun time" positions you were suggesting are accurate and I can see Yugo switching too. I think it would depend on who initiates it. When she initiates she's top but when he initiates he'd top....sometimes (not all the time because as you said—he loves the view)! lol

C) For the open room. I think the construction of the floor (or level) gives them privacy. Like a long corridor before the room entrance. And at the entrance to the corridor there'd be a magical cotton bell (as seen in s3) that rings when pulled to let the royals know when servants want to enter. BUT if there is no magical door bell (OR ANYTHING) that is bold of them!! lol.

Rereading your post...if the doorway is open like that it makes me think of this quote (the last quote at 1:40) from the film Scary Movie (watch from 1:30 to 1:42 for context)

D) So I am GLAD people have been bringing up Draconiros. I am not deep into the WAKFU/KROZMOS/DOFUS universe and had NO IDEA who he was nor any of the other primordial dragons.

I got into Wakfu for Amalia. I thought she and Yugo would be cute from all the hugs she gave him. When they canonized a potential Yumalia (in the OVA) I STANNED for their star-crossed lover romance that could never be. I love the whole cast but Amalia's character design is so cute/fun (it drew me into Wakfu).

Anyway, I am curious if Draconiros is ALSO responsible for Nora's daydream in ep 4 of season 4. THIS SCENE ALWAYS THREW ME OFF!

I feel like this scene was added for two three purposes... 1) to introduce the audience to Efrim (in a foreshadowing way) 2) to add to what Oropo says in episode 1. Questioning Yugo's "good" intentions and actions which have caused (and WILL CAUSE) trouble for the World of Twelve. 3) To sneakily, introduce Draconiros (without the audience knowing).

The reason why I think this is Draconiros and NOT Efrim is because—how would Efrim know any of what was said in that scene? Efrim is in the Necroworld at this moment. He and Nora were in the Krozmos away from the World of Twelve for a long time. There is NO WAY Efrim would know about YUGO's effects on the World of Twelve. At none, that I can think of...

Which also brings to question, how did the Goddess Eliatrope know the Brotherhood of the Tofu and everyones names when they entered the temple? Did I miss something? I mean Quilby could have told them some things. From before his imprisonment...but I digress...

Anyway, I think Draconiros took on Efrims form/voice in s4. And now he is making an official appearance in the manga.

If they had shown Draconiros in season 4, it would be a loose end. And Tot wanted to wrap the animation up without any loose ends. So (to me) it'd make sense not to show Draconiros' true form at all in s4 and have him take on Efrims form/voice.

E) I think this dude is gonna be a problem. But I may be over thinking 🤷‍♀️. And shouldn't he be referring to her as QUEEN Amalia instead of LADY Amalia? Does he have some passive aggressive beef with her? Or is it okay to refer to a Queen as Lady instead. I feel like the Sadida's are more chill about titles (compared to other kingdoms) but...idk.

His character design (in this scene) is just giving...bad guy or pawn to me. If I am right, he could play a betrayal role (if the plot takes that turn). I do not see him being a fan of the Eliatropes either.

F) And I agree that the Sadida kingodm is tense with it's new residence. I'm glad you brought up the perspective from the Sadida but let's talk about it a little more with a Eliatrope in mind...

The Eliatrope have NEVER had to live with another race before. EVER. They had their OWN PLANET. No other race existed on there but them.

Thanks to Baltazar (in s2) they had been watching Yugo through the Eliacube, but have they been taking notes on the customs of the world around him?

Being on a new planet with so many races must be a SHOCK to them. ADDITIONALLY, they haven't interreacted with anyone but each other for goddess knows how long!!! So the communication, customs, cultures, and everything probably hit them like a TON OF BRICKS. I would assume that they don't (quite) understand what tolerance and acceptance of other cultures is thanks to their isolation too.

However, it is something they are gonna have to learn. Starting with the Sadida race.

Since they're teens I think (...well, I hope) it'll be easier for them to learn and integrate into the world of twelve via the Sadida Kingdom.

ALSO...It will take time for the Sadida's to be comfortable with the Eliatropes too. I mean...people have been trying to take their homeland (via possess the tree of life) for a long time. It's no surprise that they are weary/tense of some alien race residing on said homeland. They may know Yugo, but they don't know his people. They probably think they'll take over....IDK.

But I am here for the tea! 🫖🍵

FRIDAY NEEDS TO HURRY UP!!

#wakfu manga #wakfu webtoon #wakfu #wakfu yugo #wakfu amalia #yumalia #wakfu s4 #wakfu season 4 #amalia sheran sharm #yugo #yugo x amalia #yugo the eliatrope #kroz #krozmos #dofus #onyichii rants

[cult-of-the-eye]

Mag 81 A Guest for Mr Spider

FUCK FORMER HEAD ARCHIVIST

Wait I need to check the timelines - this was 2 days after leitner's death

New spooky music???

My man is so fucking dramatic I love him so much "grand of sand behind my eye" love the way he speaks

Yeah FUCK JURGEN LEITNER

Omg the greying hair is canon??

Child in the 90s makes him at most 27 GOD DAMN. I was imagining like mid 30s...can you imagine a fucking 27 yr old using words like "ilk" when talking to you

Oh shit he's an orphan poor guy

Yeah ok a lot of his personality seems to make sense if you realise he was raised by his grandma

You know those memes that are like people raised by their grandparents are exceptionally polite but in a brisk way, talk fancy and are super posh? Yeah that's him.

Getting such neurodivergent vibes

Yeah he sounds like a main character from the start Jesus Christ he's such a kid who got traumatised and then grows up to be a horror protagonist vibes

My First Leitner lol like kids had to be introduced to them at a young age like those my first toys

He's so funny I can just imagine him as an 8 yr old getting super like affronted at this like how dare my grandma think I am of subpar intelligence he's such a little bitch from the start

"The eponymous Mr spider" even talking about his childhood trauma he's busting out the vocabulary

Fuck that story actually kinda rattled me I had my hand over my mouth in shock for most of it

I think it was the bit where the horsefly brought his son and they were both crying that got me, I could definitely imagine it scaring an 8 yr old

The way it drags out as well, with the pages of the same scene it really heightens the suspense

Is his childhood bully someone we should keep track of?? Love how he says Michael probably cause he sees him as a bully lol

It's interesting how despite him bullying him (quite badly seeing as though he beat him up) he's still like yeah but he saved my life and that means he deserves to be remembered

My bro didn't save your life on purpose, he was just trying to make it worse and happened to come to a terrible fate cause of that

I guess underneath it all he was still a kid who watched someone die, knowing they'd get eaten by a fucking spider, he still held him in some regard

The way he specified the guy was his bully even after he was being eaten though lol

He was desperate to get the book back? That's a leitner thing I guess, the book makes you want to keep it so it can finish whatever it wanted to do to you

On my relisten (which I will do once I've finished the series I'm sure of it), I'll have to look out for any reaction of leitners name

I wonder why Jon didn't react more to Carlos vittery's statement, like it must've terrified him? I saw a post a while back explaining Jon's thoughts and IT WAS GENIUS it was like of course he doesn't react, he must be terrified that someone knew about his experience and somehow did this to mess with him or it was a joke and he can't let anyone know that the Head Archivist is not Good at This ugh it's so good I'll tag it if I can find it

AHHHHH HE REGRETS DISMISSING THE OTHER STATEMENTS AHHHHHH

HE FINALLY ADMITS THAT HE NEEDS HELP WE LOVE THIS CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT YES YOU FUCKING DO BITCH.

yeah at least he's right about Elias killing leitner

GEORGIE THE EX GIRLFIEND

ITS SO WEIRD TO SEE HIM ACTUALLY NICE TO SOMEONE WOW HIS VOICE CHANGES SLIGHTLY AS WELL HES LESS ACADEMIC

THE ADMIRAL

Awwww he's so cute with georgie

GHOST PODCAST GHOST PODCAST

THE WHAT THE GHOST T SHIRT IS CANON???? AHH THATS SO CUTE

Can he not go back to his own flat?? Did he bring all his clothes to the archive and then subsequently leave them there? Does he even have a flat??

God Georgie is so nice I would kill for her

It's so funny that an apparent supernatural cynic dated a ghost podcaster

WOW SEASON 3 OFF TO AN AMAZING START I CANT WAIT TO KEEP LISTENING IM GONNA TELL MY THERAPIST ABOUT THIS TOMORROW!!!

#tma #the magnus archives #jonathan sims #jarchivist #a guest for mr spider #the web #tma season 3 #georgie barker #tma georgie #jurgen leitner #what the ghost #the admiral

[hugmekenobi]

S2: The Bad Batch (11)

Chapter Eleven: Metamorphosis

Gif by @dreamswithghosts

Hunter x femaleJedi!reader

Series Summary: Some time has passed since everything that happened at Kamino and you and the Batch are trying to figure out your place in the rapidly changing Imperial galaxy. And you're having to do all this whilst figuring out where your relationship with Hunter fits into it.

Chapter Summary: A final mission from Cid sees you encountering something that you never would've expected.

Masterlist for S1

<Previous Chapter

Genre: Friends (idiots) to Lovers (we're in the lovers stage now)

Chapter Warnings: Canon-typical violence, very light angst and feelings/protectiveness, Hemlock making an appearance

Word Count: 3.6K

Author's notes: Very much just sticking to the episode, with a couple little extra scene details but it'll be a more chill read for sure! Hope you still enjoy! Excited to begin work on Ch12 and please do let me know on this post if there is a preference cause sometimes I need a little creative help lol

With you all having caught up on some sleep, it was time to get in touch with Cid and her reaction came as no surprise to any of you.

“Not sure what’s got you all twisted up in knots.”

“We were stranded on that planet, Cid. We needed you, and you left us.” Omega said hotly.

“You’re fine now, aren’t you? And you got your ship back.”

“Yeah, with no help from you.” Wrecker complained.

“Do you wanna mope or make money? Because I got a tip on a downed ship, which means cargo ripe for the taking. I’ll even give you 30% of the cut.”

You scoffed at the way she acted like she was giving you all a gift.

“That is our standard percentage.” Tech pointed out.

“All right. This one time, let’s say 35%.”

Wrecker thought that sounded okay but one glance at the rest of you told you that a better offer was expected.

“Okay, 40.” Cid said but again was met with hard stares. “Fine, 50% as a token of my goodwill, that you seem to have forgotten.” She added pointedly.

“Goodwill?” You repeated with a roll of your eyes.

Cid didn’t pay that any attention. “I’m sending you the intel now. Don’t come back unless you scavenge something valuable.”

“What makes you think we’d come back at all?” Hunter countered.

“Don’t test me, Bandana. Just get it done.” Cid snapped before she signed off.

Tech examined the intel on the datapad, “Severing ties with Cid could be problematic, considering what she knows about us. Perhaps we choose a diplomatic solution and complete this one last mission for her.” He suggested.

Hunter sat down and took the datapad from his brother. “Cid only sent coordinates. No ship transponder code or indication of what caused it to crash.”

“Limited intel. There’s a surprise.” You muttered as you stood beside Hunter’s seat.

“How hard could scavenging cargo be?” Omega offered.

“Omega, don’t ever lose that optimism.” You said affectionately before you heard a heavy breath leave Hunter’s lips and there it was again, that exhausted sigh. You placed a supportive hand on his shoulder.

--

Omega gasped from her room as the ship left hyperspace and entered the atmosphere, “There’s a village here.

“That would explain how the wreckage was reported so quickly.” Tech said in reply from his seat in front of the hall control panel. “The crashed vessel appears mostly intact. The cargo aboard should be in fair enough condition to transport.”

--

The ship landed and fully kitted up, you all left the ship, and searched for the vessel.

It didn’t take long to find.

“What kinda ship is this?” Wrecker asked as he studied the wreckage.

“Don’t know. No hull markings.” Hunter responded.

You shone your torch across it. Whatever had caused this ship to crash, it had made it crash hard. There were no signs of life and there was debris scattered all around the main crash site.

“Based on the severity of the impact and the lack of communication signals, the crew aboard most likely perished.” Tech said as he stared at his datapad.

Omega had climbed up to access the door. “We don’t know for sure. They could be trapped inside. Come on.”

“All this time with us, how has she kept this up?” You pondered as you made to follow her up.

“Couldn’t tell you.” Hunter agreed, a smile in his voice. He knew the rest of you had been hardened by war and had seen the very worst of people and it had left its mark. You all could find that hope when you really needed to, you wouldn’t have made it this far otherwise, but it didn’t come as easily as it used to, and he worried that that would start to show in Omega, but he was yet to see that. If she could keep that type of outlook and strength within her, then they’d have done something right.

--

The door whirred open, and Hunter and Omega shone their lights into the dark corridor, but it seemed to be clear.

Hunter led the way in.

--

The more you walked through the ship, the more uncomfortable you got. It was eerily silent and empty, yet you felt like you were just waiting for something to jump out from any number of the dark corners, leaving you with the sensation that you were intruding.

“Where is everyone?” Omega breathed.

Wrecker’s foot nudged something on the ground. “Oh, check it out.” He gasped eagerly as he picked it up. “High-volt electrostaff.”

You barely registered what he said, you were too busy examining the markings on the wall.

Tech followed your trail of light with his own. “Something unfortunate happened here.”

“Whatever did this wasn’t human.” You added.

“I will get the power restored and check data logs on the bridge.” Tech said.

“By yourself?” Omega whispered nervously.

“Yeah, I don’t know about that one, Tech.” You agreed.

“Your concern is not warranted. I will be fine.” Tech said dismissively.

“Famous last words of anyone whose wandered off into a creepy, dark space.” You muttered but your concern was obvious.

Tech simply shrugged. “I will rejoin you all momentarily.”

With a sigh, you split up and the four of you continued your exploration whilst Tech went to the bridge.

--

What the rest of you next discovered as you carried on exploring the ship was not what you were expecting. Your torch light shone on what appeared to be some sort of tank and you immediately noticed the abrupt change of temperature.

“Why is it so cold in here?” Wrecker asked.

“It’s some kind of lab.” Hunter deduced as he led the way around the room.

“This medical equipment is Kaminoan.” Omega said, her breath coming out as smoke.

“Huh. So, what’s it doing here?” Wrecker asked.

Omega looked down at a broken piece of equipment. “It’s their cloning technology but this configuration is different than anything I saw in Tipoca City.”

Hunter clicked his comm. “Tech, find anything on the bridge?”

--

“Not yet. Still rerouting the reserve power. Stand by. The grid should be restored momentarily.” Tech was then distracted by a loud clatter. He followed the sound to what he thought was the source which was a broken droid that was repeatedly saying ‘danger.’ “What happened? What attacked this ship?” He asked it but it simply stuttered ‘danger’ again powered down. It was then he heard the sound of something clanking above him again and he knew he needed to find his way back to the rest of you.

--

Wrecker examined and touched a gloopy like substance next to a section of scratched on the walls. He grunted in disgust. “These are reinforced walls. What were they keeping in here?”

There was a faint creaking sound echoing throughout the room and the hairs on the back of your neck stood up. “I don’t know, but it’s still on board.”

The sound of water dripping and something chittering about you all started to grow louder and it was then you caught sight of a creature you’d never seen before hanging upside down from the ceiling, saliva dripping form it’s jaws but there was also an electric spark coming from its mouth which reminded you of something, but you couldn’t remember what.

“Hunter, what is that?” Omega whispered.

“Back away slowly.” Hunter ordered quietly. He kept a protective arm out in front of Omega as he did so.

You all did as he said but suddenly a pipe burst and you all instinctively turned to look at it but when your attention went back to where the creature had been, you were horrified to see that it had jumped down from the ceiling and was now stalking towards you all.

You made to step out, but Hunter’s hand caught your wrist.

“You’re not going to try and connect with this.”

“Hunter-”

“This isn’t something that’s up for debate. It’s an order. You’re not going near it.” He said firmly as he pulled out his blaster.

“Hunter, this isn’t going to help.” You hissed as you reluctantly did as he said and drew your blaster.

“This thing destroyed this ship. I’m not taking any chances here.”

Wrecker attempted to stab it with the electrostaff but the creature simply snatched and swallowed it.

You, Hunter, and Wrecker let out a series of shots as the creature screeched and made to lunge for you. There wasn’t a fatal hit but luckily your actions seemed to be off putting enough as it retreated back up to the ceiling.

The four of you stayed on guard but it was then that the power came back on so at least that made seeing this thing an easier task.

Any relief at having actual light was short lived for a rattle behind you saw you all turn to see the animal again only this time it didn’t hesitate to charge at you all.

You- thanks to your Force abilities- were able to dive over it and Hunter reacted quickly enough to grab Omega and jump out of the way. Wrecker unfortunately got knocked to the side.

The four of you sent a round of blaster fire down the corridor after the creature but it was too fast and too slinky for any shot to find a weak point and it turned around the corridor out of sight.

“Tech, we’ve got a problem. Get off the ship. Now!” Hunter urged into his comm.

--

Tech was already running as he replied, “I suspect this is some type of research vessel.”

--

“We know!” You said as the four of you ran through the corridors whilst keeping an eye out for any sign of the creature.

“And whatever they were researching just got loose.” Omega added.

“And it’s headed your way.” Hunter informed him.

--

You all rounded the corner to be met with an incredibly bizarre sight: the creature appeared to be feeding off the electricity coming from one of the power outlets on the ship and the creature itself seemed to be using it as a way to… grow?

“Does that thing look different to you?” Wrecker asked nervously.

It did but again, something about this animal was striking some degree of familiarity in you and you were infuriated that you couldn’t think of how or why that was the case.

Tech had appeared on the opposite side of the corridor, but he came to an abrupt halt as he witnessed what this animal was doing. He was not deterred by the fact that now its attention was on him, in fact he liked that it gave him a brief moment to study it. “Fascinating.” He murmured to himself as he watched the electrical energy be absorbed by the animal.

The four of you weren’t prepared to let the creature get closer to him. You opened fire once more to distract it.

“Take cover.” Tech ordered you all as he pointed his blaster to one of the power outlets.

Wrecker picked up Omega and turned to shield her body with his own whilst Hunter did the same with you, minus the picking up part.

Tech fired the shot.

The explosion created a hole in the ship which gave the creature the chance to slip away.

You all followed it out but lost sight of it in the woods.

Tech lowered his visor and saw the fading heat signature of the animal. “The creature appears to be headed in the direction of the village.”

“We’re the ones who let it out. We have to neutralize it before it hurts anyone.” Hunter said.

“How? Our blasters our useless on it.” Wrecker countered.

“Given the fact that the crew was most likely eaten by the creature, I doubt it is currently hungry-” Tech said nonchalantly.

“It ate the crew?” Omega interrupted, backing into you with fear.

You laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. “How is that helping, Tech?” You scolded.

“It ate the crew.” Omega repeated breathlessly.

“Just stop.” You advised as you saw Tech getting ready to say something else.

“Access the lab files and find out what species we’re dealing with and how to stop it.” Hunter directed Tech.

“Mmm, I can help.” Omega offered, finding her courage again. “I know my way around Kaminoan tech.”

“Go.” Hunter said. “You two, with me.” Hunter ordered you and Wrecker and the three of you set off for the ship.

--

“Hunter, if we can’t take care of this thing before it hurts anyone, you need to let me at least try my way.” You said as you got into the co-pilot’s seat whilst he got the ship in the air.

“I know.” Hunter agreed. He regretted not letting you do it earlier, he’d let emotion be the ruling judgement in the heat of the moment. Balancing both his professional and personal relationship with you was something he was still finessing.

“See anything?” Wrecker called from the gun turret as he scanned the woods below.

You looked at the scopes. “Zero, two, five.”

Wrecker saw it then. It was moving fast. His shots couldn’t make a hit and it disappeared from view.

“Did you get it?” Hunter asked.

“No.” Wrecker grunted.

--

Tech had managed to infiltrate the lab’s files. “Look at this.” He said to Omega as he examined the information on his datapad. “These appear to be designs using the creature’s genetic material for modified armour plating. That must be why it was unaffected by our blaster fire.”

“Then how do we stop it?” Omega asked.

“Uncertain.” Tech unplugged and moved on to the next panel. “However, this confirms that the species feeds on energy, which propels its rapid growth.”

“You mean it’ll get even bigger?!”

Tech’s eyes widened as he stared at the information on the screen. “Yes. Much bigger.”

--

Your jaw dropped as you watched out the window as the ship past over the woods. The creature had reached a power plant and had drastically transformed and then it hit you. “Hey, I recognise it now!” You hadn’t been there the day Coruscant was attacked but you had seen the holonet reports and the images were pretty memorable.

“You recognise it?” Hunter repeated, stunned.

“I wasn’t there and I’m blanking on what it’s called but it attacked Coruscant a few years ago.” It was then that Tech’s voice came through the comms and confirmed what you were saying.

“Hunter, the creature is the same species that attacked Coruscant during the war. You must not let it get near the power grid or it will increase exponentially in size.”

Yeah, you were pretty clued into that now. “We were a bit late on that one, Tech.” You responded as the creature spotted your ship and let out a roar.

Hunter took evasive action but not before the creature’s tail collided with the side of the ship.

“Still want me to drop you off?” Hunter glanced at you as he righted the ship.

You grimaced. “Uh maybe not right now.” The animal was too aggressive now, too scared and felt to threatened. There would be no room for you to work your way into forming any kind of bond with it. If it really came down to it, you would go but it didn’t need to happen right away yet.

Hunter was quietly relieved although he knew that if things got too out of hand, you would be the only option they had left.

--

The best strategy you guys had come up with to protect the village was being the source of distraction. Wrecker continuously opened fire on it but it was having no effect.

“Stop it before it gets any larger.” Hunter said to Wrecker.

“I’m trying!” Wrecker shouted back.

You took a deep breath. “Hunter, you gotta put me in there.” It was the only other option you had.

Hunter’s jaw clenched but he nodded.

You moved towards the door but just as Hunter got the ship in position, the alarms went off. “We’ve got ships on our tail.” He swerved the ship out the way as they opened fire.

You stumbled backwards. “Where’d they come from?” You said as you righted yourself and Gonky before you went back to the cockpit. There was no chance of you getting down to the animal now.

“Hold on.” Hunter signalled as he kicked the ship into high gear.

“Tech, Omega, you’ve got Imperial inbound. Get out of there.” You said urgently into you comm.

--

Omega picked up her comm as she heard your voice. “On our way.” She replied before she looked to Tech who showed no signs of hustle as he stared at his datapad. “Tech, let’s go.”

“Not yet. I am not finished transferring all of the data.”

An explosion sounded outside, and the ship shook with the impact of it and the power went out.

“Come on.” Omega implored before she started to run.

Tech followed her but their way off the ship was tricky as it was starting to fall apart. The explosions continued to surround them. They managed to vacate it but not before a series of ships passed overhead and fired down at the wreckage.

Tech grabbed Omega and took cover from the resulting large explosion behind a larger piece of debris as the ship got completely destroyed.

--

You were too busy avoiding the other Imperial ships to see what exactly had been done to the creature, all you caught sight of was the power plant exploding. “They’re not killing it. They’re taking it.” You murmured as you saw the now unconscious creature being taken up into another Imperial ship. What could the Empire possibly want with something like that?

“Let’s not be next.” Hunter said, pulling you out of your thoughts.

“Hunter, they’re going to take that village.” You said quietly, unhappily, as you caught sight of some ships taking up position in front of the houses, but you knew that there was nothing you could do. You were outnumbered and Tech and Omega needed you guys to get them out.

“We can’t help them.” Hunter said regretfully. He wished they could, but they’d be no good to anyone if they were dead and if they didn’t get out of here soon, that’s how they would wind up and Tech and Omega needed out of there too.

--

Tech and Omega paused for breath and Tech tapped into his comm. “Hunter, we’re clear of the vessel and heading to the landing zone.”

“Copy that.” Hunter acknowledged and he got the ship in position. He didn’t let it land though, there were too many ships on their tail to do that. The best he could do was slow it down and open the main doors.

Tech leaped onto the stairs and grabbed Omega’s hand as she jumped up after him to get her secure. The two of them made their way into the ship and sat, with Tech making sure Omega’s safety support was down first before he did his own.

Hunter got the ship out of there and sent it into hyperspace.

--

“The crashed vessel was part of the Imperial cloning operation.” Tech informed the rest of you as he sat in front of one of the control panels in the ship corridor.

“The Empire cloned the Zillo Beast?” You echoed as you stood behind Tech’s chair and studied the information on the screen.

“Yes and no.” Tech responded. “The directive came straight from the Supreme Chancellor before he became Emperor.”

“What’s he want with it?” Wrecker asked.

“The creature’s genetic material has the potential to be weaponized in the hands of the right scientist.”

“Where were they taking the creature?” Hunter asked his brother.

“Unknown. The ship did not have a destination logged. Hunter, there is far more to this than we realised. From what I have gathered, I suspect the Empire did not destroy the cities on Kamino to end cloning.”

“They wanted to control it.” You said softly but there was a hint of anger in your voice.

“Indeed.” Tech said in agreement.

Hunter set off towards the cockpit but paused hallway and turned back to face Tech. “Send the data to Echo and Rex. See what they can find out.”

--

Daro

“Doctor. The creature has been recovered and is now safely secured below.”

“Good. And our other guest?”

“The shuttle is arriving now.”

The doctor set off towards the landing platform with a squad of troopers. “Did any of the villagers see the Zillo?” He asked the leader.

“Several. The locals have been detained and will be dealt with. However, one vessel escaped our assault. It was a military class shuttle.”

“Find out who it was.”

“Yes sir.”

The doctor watched on ahead as the shuttle landed. “Hello, Prime Minister.” He greeted the Kaminoan as he came off the ship. “Apologies. Former Prime Minister.”

“Why have I been brought here?”

“The cooperation of you chief scientist has not been forthcoming. Nale Se’s defiance is problematic.”

“It must be frustrating to have your resources but lack the expertise to achieve your goal. And if you fail to convince her, it won’t be long before you are in a cell like me.”

The doctor was not intimidated. “I fear you misunderstand your situation here. If you know of a way to persuade the scientist, now would be the time to mention it.”

“Indeed. In exchange for my freedom.”

“I’m listening.”

“There is a particular clone you must locate. A young girl. She is the key to controlling Nala Se.”

“How very interesting.” The doctor invited him to follow him inside. “It seems we have much to discuss.”

Next Chapter>

Tagging: @noeasyisnoisy, @fuckoffthanos, @tpwkcalli, @graciexmarvel, @arctrooper69, @nightmonkeysstuff, @brujaporfavor, @flyingkangaroo, @sunkissedclones, @ladytano420, @keep-calm-and-drink-caf, @yyourmotherr, @xxeiraxx, @dragonrider9905, @starwarsnerd111

#the bad batch #the bad batch season 2 #the bad batch s2 #hunter x reader #hunter x fem!reader #hunter x female!reader #hunter x femalejedi!reader #sergeant hunter #sergeant hunter x reader #hunter tbb #hunter the bad batch #the bad batch hunter x you #hunter x y/n #tbb hunter x reader #the bad batch fanfiction #fluff #angst #star wars #friends to lovers

[compacflt]

i’ve got a question about your writing process: in order to write a 30 year narrative, you create it out of hundreds of individual moments & actions, and each one has to function by itself and also part of a whole—have truth to itself and emotional resonance in a timeline. imo the key to doing this successfully is to care about each moment and make each one memorable, which seems very difficult: you have to get at the meat of the human behavior, believably, in a way that matters and explains and progresses the story, every time. and to write 200k words of it you do it hundreds of times! could you talk a bit about idea generation for each moment and how you brainstorm and write them?

omg an excuse to make more diagrams ! Thank you so much for this lovely ask!

okay: in case you don’t want to scroll through like four/five months of my inane icemav Poasting, I’ve done a couple other posts that go into my process — here about specifically chapter 1 and here about the fatal flaw of my fics from a construction standpoint

but from an idea generation standpoint… it’s pretty boring and cynical. I literally just make checklists. “things that HAVE to happen.” here’s my notes app check list of stuff that HAD to happen for the story to make sense in my rewrite of what is now chapters 8 & 9. this is from last december lol

and here’s a checklist/diagram of the major story beats and the changes in relationship dynamics throughout the story. any one of these dynamics changing reflects on the others in a way that‘s worth talking about. the hard part is finding a framing device or scene to talk about them.

the A plot of the fic is ice’s relationship with the navy, primarily. his arc is defined by his rank. so that’s the number 1 dynamic I wanted to focus on in such-and-such scenes, and why I stuck as stringently as possible to the “one rank per chapter” formula until ice got to the top & had to reckon with what being at the top actually means. His change in ranks is inspiration enough for most scenes because it shifts the dynamics in a way that is worth remarking upon in and of itself.

as an example im thinking of this scene (mostly because it’s short but also) because i think it’s kind of representative of how my idea generation process works

It fills a lot of gaps that i needed filled at that specific juncture in the story. the idea started with a stupid little section of dialogue in my head (mav would be surprised that ice’s official Navy docusign signature isn’t his actual signature) that happened to be symbolically relevant too (of course ice would have two different signatures for his two different personas). Then it morphed into a discussion of Ice’s canonically unhappy-looking compacflt portrait, which is canonically unhappy-looking. Then add onto that ice admitting he’s only happy at home (home obviously meaning with maverick, given that he’s literally in his house right now and still doesn’t feel like he’s home) and maverick telling him, “well that’s a problem that has literally the easiest fix in the world. youre making this way more complicated than it needs to be. just come home to me.”

so it’s literally just checking off boxes of things I wanted to talk about. as I said, a very cynical creation process. ✅ ice and mav doing the long-distance-relationship phone call thing (framing device for the whole scene). ✅ mav knowing ice’s real vs fake signature ❤️. ✅ ice’s canon unhappy compacflt portrait that makes an appearance in TGM. ✅ ice not feeling at home in Hawaii. ✅ ice not being fulfilled by the job & only being fulfilled by mav. ✅ ice coming up with excuses to see mav at any possible chance he gets. ✅ ice still obviously thinking of mav and Bradley as his family & maverick as his home. Etc etc. You see what i mean? how many stupid little ideas, symbols, and dynamic shifts can i cram into a page or so? that’s pretty much my thinking.

#btw i was out with my friends when i got ur comment on ao3 and it literally made me burst into tears in public so thanks #apartment should be house or residence and drivers license should be DOD ID card #no way the compacflt lives in an apartment on ford island. not possible #also when i wrote ‘it’s not my job to be happy in pictures Pete’ i was kicking my feet and giggling like a little girl #it is actually a huge part of his job to look happy in pictures LMFAO #or at least content with proceedings #but that doesn’t fit the debbie downer narrative!! #top gun #top gun maverick #edts notes #pete maverick mitchell #tom iceman kazansky #icemav #asks #the extras I’m working on are similarly stupid wrt original ideas #Ice & mav celebrate Xmas!!! then turns into like a whole big angst fest #all my ideas start small! #theyre just framing devices for what I want to say

[unhelpfulfemme]

7 and 17 for the ask game!

7. I'm gonna be honest and say that this happens very rarely to me because if there's one virtue I have (and I have very few of them) it's the capacity to attribute blame correctly. So if fandom is weird about a character I usually start hating the fandom and withdrawing from at least that part of it rather than letting it influence my opinion about the character. Alternately, I'll perhaps review the canon and realize that the fandom is right and I had skipped some key details about the character or how they were presented, which will make me change my opinion about the canon character or the canon's framework overall, but I don't think that's what the question is asking.

BUT there is one notable exception, and that's Dara from the Daevabad trilogy. Which is barely a fandom LOL, like the entire series gets 2 Tumblr posts every six months, but I do love those books and I do get livid about the way the fans treat this particular character to the point that each time I see fanart of him I recoil in disgust.

I put in a cut because this turned out longer and angrier than I expected lol but I guess that is the spirit of the poll?

Basically you know the age-old debate about whether Kylo Ren fans are racist towards Finn and whether Kylo is a better or worse character than Finn and whether people just like him more because he's white etc. etc.? I generally think that's a stupid thing to hoist onto the sequel fans when it's the canon itself that encourages a superficial reading of Kylo as tragic and dramatic and of Finn as a plucky comic relief guy whose emotions shouldn't be taken seriously. But Dara and Ali from Daevabad are the perfect examples of the trend the people who complain about it are trying to highlight and I reeeaaally wish those books were more famous in wider fandom circles because we would be Having so many Discussions about them.

Dara and Ali are basically the two angles of what's a lowkey love triangle with the series' (awesome!) protagonist, Nahri. In my eyes, Dara and Nahri have so little chemistry that I nearly quit the first book 30% in because I thought it would all be about them, but YMMV I guess. Then I saw Nahri and Ali interact once, thought "man, I wish these two were being set up for a grand romance instead" and was then thrilled to discover that actually they were and the author was clearly phoning in the Dara/Nahri parts because they were there to make a point rather than to be romantic or appealing.

Dara is an asshole, but in canon, he's a well-written asshole and there's a point to his characterization. He's an extremely talented Proud Warrior Guy who is really patriotic and cares about his family and his country and about making them proud. He's also arrogant and short-tempered, but so is Ali. The thing is, Dara's superiors send him to commit genocide, and Dara does so to mixed success. Then the people he's tried to genocide come for his own people to exact revenge and brutally kill his family. This all sparks a massive civil war, in the middle of which Dara ends up trapped in a Fate Worse Than Death kind of situation for thousands of years, until he is somehow saved and joins the protagonist. He feels anguished and vengeful about his family dying but is also still chauvinistic AF and never examines his own role in all of this. He still believes that blindly following authority and being loyal to people of his religion and ethnicity is his highest moral duty. This makes him commit even more war crimes, end up in another fate worse than death situation, and only manage to get out of it by sheer luck and through the other characters being kinder towards him than he would have been in their shoes. He also always thinks he knows better than anyone else and routinely overrides Nahri's wishes because he thinks he knows what's good for her.

Now, he also has positive traits, like he's a kind and patient teacher and has a code of honor etc. etc. but his narrative is clearly about radicalization and cycles of revenge and, well, toxic masculinity. There honestly isn't much else to him.

Ali is also stubborn and arrogant, quick to judge people who are different than him, and prone to foot-in-mouth incidents. He's more of a warrior poet type, equally badass but also bookish. BUT he's also Black and a practicing Muslim, which I guess puts some people off of him. The thing is, Ali is a wayyy more complex character than Dara, he has a whole-ass family and his relationship with every one of its members is lovingly and intricately drawn by the author, and he also has nuanced and complex thoughts about his code of ethics, the system of governance of his country, his religion, and many, many other things. He is put into a lot of interesting situations and forced to make many difficult choices and is just overall a more complex and interesting character.

And still! STILL! Like 80% of fanart and fan content for this series is all about Dara, a frankly quite unsympathetic character if you think about it for more than 0.2 seconds and the flattest one of the main three to boot. I would have been content to read Dara's canon story and recognize it for the well-crafted story it is and even empathize with him (he was quite young when all that happened to him) but the amount of passionate insistence by the fans that he is the poorest meow meow and so much hotter and more interesting than Ali makes me have an irrational and visceral negative reaction whenever I see him.

17. Superficial answer?

We need more Padmé Amidala/Asajj Ventress content. For some reason I really like the idea of the two of them together and there are like 4 fics with them on Ao3 of which 3 are orgy fics with 10 different characters. The reason I like the idea of the two of them together is totally not because they represent the two types of women I tend to develop crushes on and I'm just mashing my dolls together.

Deeper answer?

I really really love those posts where people apply whichever discipline they're working in or are passionate about to fandom works? Like that biologist who made up a theory according to which Wookies and Caminoans have a common ancestor?

I can never get enough of that and wish I could see it more often. I want more biologists squinting at the weird plants in the back of scifi series. I want political theorists to try to make sense of the politics in Vorkosigan. I want art historians to try to develop a theory of how art and fashion changed between Hot and GOT.

Make me a bastard child of your fandom special interest and your professional special interest. I will eat it up, I promise.

#the daevabad trilogy #I guess?

[elfyourmother]

Do you consider yourself a lore breaking, lore bending or lore adhering roleplayer? Does this adherence to lore depend on the kind of lore you're exploring with your characters; i.e. you play fast and loose with ideas xiv has yet to develop, but you tend to pay close attention to the fleshed out ideals? Is there lore you have modified that you're proud of and would share here?

I view lore as a starting point for me to jump off from and make my own. Always have.

I find strict adherence to game canon for its own sake creatively suffocating and always have, in every setting I've ever written in. It’s pretty much entirely because I grew up on DMing and writing in Forgotten Realms, which took a very DIY approach back in the day that was heavily encouraged by its creator. Everyone's Realms were equally valid, according to Word of God, and there were often intentional "blanks" left in sourcebooks for the DM to fill. These books emphasized over and over again that the DM was the ultimate authority on canon, not TPTB or the novels or anything else. That philosophy has informed my approach to worldbuilding in the transformative fandom sense for the last 30 years. That and being a queer Black femme of color who is very rarely satisfied by canon narratives rife w racially problematic tropes. I change things to make a space for myself and my characters and the stories I want to tell, by necessity. FFXIV is no different in that respect.

That said, I don't smash SE canon just to smash it either. Despite how bonkershits a lot of Gisèle's canon appears on the surface (eg. post-war Ishgard's constitutional monarchy with King Aymeric), everything I change has been carefully considered and engineered for as much internal consistency as possible. As much as I operate on Rule of Cool, I need things to make sense for me to have fun.

But I am distinctly not a roleplayer, for this and many other reasons. I'm strictly a fic writer, and I don't ever collab with people. The world Gisèle operates in is constructed entirely for her, and my own enjoyment, by design. So no one is forced to deal with my stuff if they don't like it.

That said, King Aymeric is probably the lore I’m most proud of. I wrote a ficlet for ffxivwrite last year on it here, but the cliffs notes: Aymeric invoked the ancient covenant between man and dragon when begging Hraesvelgr’s aid against Nidhogg and vowed he would restore it, but Hraes said that because that covenant was broken by an Elezen king, only an Elezen king could restore it. Hraes was wily though, it wasn’t just upholding weird draconic custom in saying that. His ulterior motive was to make Aymeric guarantee his people would be united enough not to turn on the Dravanians once Nid was handled. the end result is that Aymeric restored the Ishgardian throne (“The Azure Throne”, as a nod to Haldrath), but as a largely unifying figurehead/ceremonial position with Parliament strictly defining the role of the king. Artoirel is Lord Speaker of the House of Lords. Aymeric’s still LC of the temple knights in addition to his royal duties. He wasn’t giving that up lol.

making a constitutional monarchy plausible in the context of the story was challenging and I think I’ve done a solid job of it tbh. I wanted to lean into the Arthurian romance vibes of HW but also solve the fundamental problem I had w how it ended, which is that I don’t think it’s a terribly realistic scenario for ppl who were under a theocracy for 1000 years. Aymeric essentially having his hand forced by Hraesvelgr solves the issue of why he would restore the throne and tbh I don’t flinch from the complications of squaring that with the revelations about Ishgard’s founding, I think it only plays more into Aymeric’s ambivalence about the role he’s been thrust into.

#gatheredfates #ask bisho

[angel-eyes05]

i remember his hands - preview

PAIRING: kang the conqueror x fem!reader

SUMMARY: after a scientific experiment goes horribly wrong, you've been transported to the quantum realm and have been stuck there for the past decade. with no company, aside from janet van dyne, your life changes forever when a mysterious man in a golden ship crash lands next to your settlement. startled with his initial presence, you two have a rocky start. but as time goes on, you two find each other slowly drawn to one another. you have secrets though, and he has a past he refuses to bring up. can you two make it through navigating an unknown world together, discovering any ulterior motives, and stand the test of time in a place where time has no meaning at all?

INFO: slow romantic burn, pretty fast sexual burn, kinda enemies to lovers????, takes place during that little flashback janet has during quantumania, idk how accurate this is gonna be to canon stuff cause i get very confused about the quantum realm lol, reader is in mid to late 20s while kang is in his “early 30s” (ik he like technically doesn't age or whatever idk the lore but i just made it accurate to jonathan majors age and wanted to give an accurate age range/gap/count), y/k is very fleshed out like i give her everything lol

WARNING: implied su!c!dal thoughts

CHAPTER WORD COUNT: 570

NOTES: hi there!!!! did i make an account just so i could post this? yes, yes i did, and what about it. I was looking for quantumania!kang fics and turns out, theres like 3-4!! so i was like, hey why not. please don't judge my writing cause this is the first fic i’ve written…like ever lol. also, please suspend your disbelief for this, like don’t question why they have working appliances or whatever or that i made up names for the monsters or something, cause 1) idk how to explain that stuff and 2) that's not the main focus sooooo yeah. but, nonetheless, i hope you guys enjoy, if anyone even reads this at all even though this is mainly for my sake lol.

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

It’s been ten years. Ten years since it all went wrong and you landed in this wretched place. Ten years since you’ve had a decent meal and been able to sleep soundly without having to worry about the creatures of the quantum realm getting you in the night. It got slightly better around seven years ago when you found Janet Van Dyne, someone who had experience in navigating this strange world. About 30 years of experience in fact. The thought of you being down here for that long made you nauseous. 

Every day was the same. Wake up, check the settlement perimeter, help Janet with breakfast, hunt surrounding mites, occasionally go into town to trade for parts, eat dinner, then go to bed. Thank god Janet was there or else you might’ve gone insane by now. All this repetition was not your style at all.

You missed life up above. You missed going out with your friends. You missed running into people at the grocery store you haven’t seen since elementary school. You missed your yearly trip to New York during Christmas and seeing everything so festive. It sounds pretentious but it was the truth.

But what you missed most of all was San Francisco. It sounds stupid but you loved it there more than anything. You loved how the flowers would bloom during the springtime. You missed feeling the wind through your hair, as aggressive as it would be at times. You missed going to the beaches. Being in the cool water, feeling the sand in between your fingers and toes, being kissed by the sun. God, you missed the sun. Everything was so dark down here. So…hopeless. Thank god Janet was there or you might’ve…

There wasn’t any point in thinking like that anymore. You had accepted life the way it was. It wasn’t like you had a solid plan for making it back home anyways. As much as you did miss it, it wasn’t like the power of hope, love, and friendship would make a quantum tunnel appear out of thin air. Even if you could find someone selling the necessary pieces to power the tunnel, they would probably be listing it at way too high of a price for you to apprehend it. So for now, and probably for the rest of your life (however long of that left you had, time was strange down here), all the good you can do is try to protect yourself, keep Janet company, and stare at the stars, or whatever you wanted to call them. 

That's exactly what you decided to do before heading off to bed. After checking the surroundings of the settlement for mites, you sat next to the closest thing you could call a creek and just stared up at the engulfing darkness. The tranquility this activity brought you allowed you to sleep soundlessly, without an unknown creature coming out of the shadows to attack you. While staring up at the twinkling lights, you see one of them in the distance that appears to be moving closer to you. As it gets closer, you can make it out as a circular, golden ship. It crash lands about 300 feet away, causing the earth around you to shake. Curiosity takes over you as you decide to start heading over to the crash sight, unaware about how much the repetition of your life you always complained about was about to dissolve.

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

NEXT PART

A/N: hiiiiii, so that was the quick little preview, i hope you liked it. i’m gonna be honest im very nervous about posting this lol 😭. but i hope you enjoyed it. chapter 1 should come out shortly after i post this so i hope you’ll stick around for the rest of the series!!!

#i remember his hands #kang the conqueror #kang x reader #kang the conqueror x reader #marvel mcu #mcu fanfiction #fanfiction #fanfic #mcu phase 5 #quantumania #ant man #fem!reader

[chainsawsangel]

meet my oc!

lovely art of my OC, Ray Asaka, done by @leviiackrman (also if this type of content/oc content in general isn't your thing feel free to ignore this post or unfollow. I don't mind but don't be an asshole about it) - universe: jujutsu kaisen name: ray asaka age: 23 birthday: march 25th, 1994 born: sendai city, japan partner: ryomen sukuna -

Background:

*NOTE: there is an age gap between the two, Ray being 23 and Sukuna being over 1000 years canonically lol, but he looks at least mid-30s.

Ray Asaka was born within a hospital located in Sendai City, Japan and was welcomed into the world by a lovely mother and father. Growing up, Ray was always fascinated with nature and the forest, she'd always be quick to run off and explore which left her mother worried 24/7 and her father just as worried.

As she got older, Ray also grew a curiosity of watching crime/law television which would lead to her studying as a Law Student.

At 23, she found herself with her own apartment while balancing life as a law student! She also doesn't live too far from parents so whenever she finds the time, she'll go and visit them, catch up. However, all of that would change after a slippery car accident winds up killing her bringing her short life to an end....kind of.

When Ray died, it seemed like it was the end for her, that she'd buried in a pit of darkness while her parents struggle and cope with their daughter's death but, the world had other plans it seems because after she died, Ray found herself in a dark place filled with the depths of death and a one powerful being: Ryomen Sukuna, King of Curses.

Sukuna would be the first person Ray would see after, a sinister grin staring down at her, whispering the words: you'll be perfect here. Ray was confused, all she wanted to do was go home and rest after a long day of studying. Her first thought was home, that's what she wanted. After finding out the place she was in belonged to the King of Curses himself, Ray pleaded and begged him to take her back into the world, give her a chance at life. Sukuna would eventually grant the living dead girl that wish in some form....by making her his apprentice, his pawn and eventually, his future lover.

Ray agreed and she became just that: his pawn, a young woman that would become powerful alongside him given the abilities she had to take down whatever enemies Sukuna had on his mind, he saw her potential and he liked it, he liked her. loved her.

The abilities given to Ray were aligned with death itself, those abilities included: Darkness manipulation, Reanimation and Demonic Energy Manipulation, all of which were powerful enough against those that got in her way and they'd be terrified of her for it.

Once Yuji bites the finger of Sukuna, things get a bit awkward considering his life is not only aligned with the Sukuma's but also the young woman's as well considering Sukuna is connected to a teenager's life. Yuji and Ray have seen each other in passing, there'd be some glances or some quick "hello's" here and there but nothing major yet, those subtle passings would be what brought all of this together from Ray's death to Yuji biting the finger.

Yuji winds up keeping her a secret for a while, away from both Megumi and Nobara before eventually revealing her to them. She's also introduced to Gojo as well, someone she sees as a frenemy in a way.

Ray forms interesting dynamics with them, whether they're her frenemies or simply enemies, the dynamics are there but, she still remains loyal to Sukuna as both his pawn and soon, lover.

No matter who she's near, Sukuna is as well. Where she goes, he's right there with her and they make for a terrifying yet powerful duo.

- Some quick fun facts about Ray Asaka:

Her parents own a calico cat, his name is Honey.

Canonically, Sukuna can only take control of Yuji for one minute meaning it's a struggle for him and Ray to be together at times. However, I headcanon that once night hits and Yuji is asleep, Sukuna can take over at times (not always) and that's where most of the moments between him and Ray take place.

Some means Ray enjoys include pasta and lasagna.

Her favorite color is purple.

Ray has three scars that she gets from her death: A scar across her neck, one in the middle of her nose and one next to the corner of her right eye.

Ray Asaka (JJK OC) and Ryomen Sukuna - art done by the wonderful at @leviiackrman

#v: living dead girl #oc: ray asaka #pairing: sukuna and ray #jujutsu kaisen #jjk #jujutsu ryomen #jujutsu sukuna #jjk ryomen #jujutsu kaisen ryomen #jjk ryomen sukuna #ryomen sukuna #sukuna jjk #sukuna ryomen #jjk oc #jjk ofc #sukuna x oc #ryomen sukuna x oc #sukuna ryomen x oc #anime oc #anime ofc #anime #oc #ofc #original character #original female character

[ladynightlark]

Hello! Me again! I have a question writing wise.

I was wondering how you try to always keep your characters...well, in character lol. Or rather, how do you keep their personalities the same or nearly the same as in canon. For me, when writing For This is All for My Sunshine, I'm always going to the show or Manga to try and study their characters, but I can't help but feel they still come out as OOC.

So, I'm wondering how you combat this problem?

Hi! Glad to hear from you again!

So, this is an interesting question because I think it’s definitely (in my opinion) one of the biggest challenges that come from writing role-swaps. And it makes sense, as one of the major indicators I think most readers rely on when deciding whether to follow a story is how well certain characters (especially Nezuko) who may not get a lot of development/screen time in canon are portrayed.

After all, Nezuko is her own person, and writing her to be a carbon copy of canon Tanjiro wouldn’t do her character complete justice.

This is definitely something I still struggle with (to the point that sometimes, it’s part of the reason I get so behind on updates lol), but like you mentioned in your questions, one of the first things I do is go to the manga and anime and do some research there. Just read/watch the character I’m studying, see how they interact in certain situations, and just overall see what are the biggest take-aways from their characters altogether.

But something else I do during my “researching” period is read other role-swap and character-focused fics for the characters I want to write for. I like to see how they view the character, and then based on that, I like to add my own headcanons and see what fits best.

I also like to look into tumblrs and authors that like to do posts and fics going into the character. There’s a lot of great demon slayer writers out there, and sometimes they like to post about their thoughts and how they came to them. Or share their favorite headcanons.

Same with TikTok and YouTube, there are definitely some creators that have such an in-depth look into some characters and provide a lot of insight into who they are and what they’re meant to represent in the KNY universe.

Another good source of info on lesser known characters are the handbooks and light novels. They have lots of little details about certain characters that may not have made their way into the manga/anime, especially on stuff about their past and even behaviors growing up. 

I highly recommend checking out the Wiki as well from time to time, as you’ll often find a lot of these details compiled there, along with some information on character personality and fighting styles. 

Finally, I like to focus on one or two major themes/ideas that the character is supposed to have. I may go to the manga or anime and look for supposed important moments/lines they have in the story, and write those down. So it’s something I can reference.

If I find myself particularly stuck, I’ll open up a document and just spend maybe 30 minutes or so just doing research and recording notes about the character there. So when I’m back to writing, I can have that doc open on the side and consult what I have.

Ultimately, it’s up to you to do your take on the character. I don’t think there’s any wrong way to go about portraying Nezuko and other characters, as long as they have something about them that makes them distinctly them.

You’re doing a great job with your fic, so don’t overthink how you write them! And nothing says you can’t go back and revise your work later on if you decide to change something about the character you’re writing.

I hope this helps! Feel free to send in more asks and whatnot about writing help if you or anyone reading this found these types of posts helpful!

Good luck with your story, and have an awesome day!

#kimetsu no yaiba #demon slayer #demon slayer fanfic #ask #ask me questions #writer's stuff #writing advice

[practically-an-x-man]

6, 22, 23, 30, 35, 48 for the fanfic asks?

Thank you!!

Fanfiction Writing Asks

6. What’s the last line you wrote?

From what should be the last chapter of A Love Once New, once I actually get it written up:

“Eh. I was fourteen. Heard it had alcohol in it.” he said, “Doesn’t get you drunk, though, just gets you sick as all hell. Without the healing factor I’da probably gone to the hospital.”

(he's talking about vanilla extract lol)

22. Do you title your fics before, during, or after the writing process?  How do you come up with titles?

If it's a oneshot, it's usually after I've finished writing it. For a longfic, I'll usually write the first 3 chapters before I start posting it, and I come up with the title just before posting it. I'm not great with titles (though I'm trying to get better) so I don't really have a system - unless I'm going with song titles, which I do with a couple of my fics - and I just try to come up with whatever I can to get it posted lol

23. Is writing the beginning, middle, or end of the story easiest? Hardest?

The middle is usually the easiest, once I get rolling into the plot and can actually start writing the scenes I want to write. The ending is the hardest, partially because there's always more scenes I could write and it's hard to know when to end it, and partially because I struggle to pace out an ending without it either dragging on or feeling choppy.

30. How much do you edit your fics?  Do you edit as you write or wait until you finish the first draft?

I usually edit as I write - I start each writing session by rereading what I've already written and making tweaks. Then I give it one final scan as I'm getting it uploaded to AO3/tumblr (mostly bc I have to manually input my italics and things into AO3).

35. What’s your favorite fic you’ve posted?

Aw man, I love them all for different reasons!! I think Desert Song has some of the most unique character interactions, and I think Quinn is one of my most dynamic OCs. Taking Flight and WWFA? have some of my best stylistic writing, especially with the descriptions of magic. Heartstrings also has really fun emotional descriptions and character interactions, and some of my favorite dialogue. Smoke and Mirrors is about recovery and finding home, and I still adore its friends-to-lovers arc. Bolts and Blasters is a really fun slowburn and has strong themes of expectation vs. choice. Catch and Release deals with grief, and has some of the best fight scenes I've ever written. Eris' fics are fun because of their dynamic with Rick, and Nikoletta's I love because of the themes of physical and emotional healing.

That probably just sounds like I'm bragging on myself, and maybe I am a little, but I really do set out for something different in each of my fics and I think I strike on different strengths with every single one. I really can't choose!

48. Who is your favorite character to write for?  Has this changed since you’ve started writing for that fandom?

Agh man, this one is also impossible to choose between!! One of my favorite things in writing is character analysis and exploring different dynamics, so I love these characters all for different reasons too! I could ramble on again like I did in the last question, because I really do have something to love about every character I write for...

But for the sake of making a choice, I'll say this: Quinn is the most fun OC to write since she's such a total wild card, and Warren/Angel will always be my number one canon character to write for because he has such an interesting story and a lot of emotional depth to explore. Abner Krill has also become a recent favorite, since he's also got a lot of emotional trauma and depth to explore.

#my friends!!! #answered asks #ask game

[ask-artsy-oncie]

What’s Jules’ and Kit’s relationship from them first meeting onwards? Do they move in together at some point? How do they keep in contact? Stuff like that.

They exchange contact info after Jules is given a tour of the Sea Duck. I think it takes a little while for them to meet up, again, but they do. They're too fascinated by one another not to.

I think, though, if I want to explain how their relationship goes from one stage to the next, I ought to examine their social lives and how it impacts the development of their romance.

Kit's doing very good, now! In that, he has his family, he has Della (fuck canon, Kit and Della are childhood friends TO ME!!!), he has now former pirates he works with and can bond with, he goes out drinking every so often, like. I still consider him an introvert but he's got a pretty healthy social life and doesn't really struggle to have positive friendly interactions on the regular. He's just a generally good-natured guy like that.

HOWEVER, god, his romantic experience is weird. It's not like he never "noticed" girls or boys, but the vast majority of his focus growing up was on learning how to fly, getting into flight school, getting his pilot's license, etc. He just didn't have time for romance because he had other things at the forefront of his mind, and it took up a lot of his mind, too. I think it was something that gave Baloo great joy (in the sense that it meant that at least Kit "wasn't growing up too fast") and Rebecca a lot of anguish (in the sense that she had certain expectations for certain milestones at certain ages).

Into adulthood, maybe perhaps a little stunted from ignoring those kinds of feelings throughout his teen years, I don't think Kit really winds up in a serious relationship at any point prior to Jules. And I'm not even certain it's something he even cares to look for. He's very fulfilled by flying and cloudsurfing, among other things, yknow? I do think he ended up in short flings and even one-night-stands (he's still an adult with needs, and that's just how he went about dealing with it) throughout his 20's and early 30's, so he's not totally inexperienced in romantic endeavors, just not committed.

And he's also just fucking horrible at being self-aware about his attraction, as well. I've said this in a previous post but Kit develops crushes on pilots very easily. They don't last terribly long, but he's never aware of how obvious it is, or that much has even changed within him. Maybe after the fact, but rarely ever in the moment. His family absolutely teases him over it. Della is more exasperated by it.

Meanwhile, Jules has very little experience socializing outside their family. They'd always been the shy one among their siblings, and as they grew up they'd made one or two school friends (basically, they socialized just enough that their reclusive nature was never noticed, by their family or themself), but rarely ever got close enough to anyone like they were with their family.

They do, however, technically have a leg-up on Kit in that they did briefly date someone in a superficial high school sort of way. Lol.

Jules was just also pretty damn absorbed into their fixation on learning magic and magical history to really focus on maintaining friendships and other relationships after high school. Their siblings all grew up alongside them and got busy with their own lives. Jules gradually, without meaning to, became more and more reclusive. Stuck in their own head. Very painfully aware that they would like to form friendships and even romantic bonds at this point in their life, but totally intimidated by the process of doing so.

It's by chance that Kit makes the first move on that fateful day. And does so in a way that opens Jules up to him in a way they'd definitely struggle to without prompting. And they click pretty easily, it turns out.

Jules's proficiency is in magic, of course, but engineering and machinery really fascinates them. They genuinely were hanging off Kit's every word as he explained the mechanisms of the Sea Duck and compared them to those of other planes, what each part did and if and how it did it well. Meanwhile, Kit has had a pretty limited encounter with magic. In Talespin he's shown to be at least a little superstitious, and I, of course, have a very self-indulgent headcanon that he reads tarot, but he doesn't know the fine details, how or why things work the way they do. Actually seeing someone flying on an honest-to-god broomstick made his brain go "!!!!" and he absorbed Jule's long-winded, tangent-filled explanations with no complaints. Beyond just vibing with having related special interests, they're also both invested in the other's respected special interest.

It makes for a pretty great feedback loop, so when they do meet up, they tend to hit it off really well. Before Jules knows it, they've made their first friend in a long time. It happens without either of them really even noticing. It's suddenly just so normal to have one another in their lives. Suddenly, Jules is wedged into Kit's life, seamlessly, and Kit is wedged into Jules's. Kit is swinging by Jules's shop in his free time, just to see them, and hopefully goad them into having a conversation with him and giving him their attention, despite them being on the clock. Jules is starting to show up to Kit's shows when they can, and, with Molly's permission, ends up waiting backstage for him on the regular, hoping that they'll get to steal a moment or two of his time.

But Jules absolutely is having a very new experience after spending so long, alone. Whether they consciously realize it or not, they're pretty overwhelmed by this foreign feeling of having such a close companionship with someone, now. Not to mention that Kit is, physically, very attractive to Jules. What I'm saying is that Jules develops a crush on Kit pretty quickly. And once they notice they can't even bring themself to deny it when pried by one of their sisters.

They like Kit. A lot. But he's also the first friend they've had in so long, and the last thing they want to do is ruin that by letting romantic feelings get in the way. So they don't act on their feelings, which they feel is the smart, mature thing to do. They just want to be able to enjoy having a friend, right now (though it doesn't stop them from becoming a blushing, stuttering mess when Kit gets too close or grabs their hand and holds it, or, god forbid, some adventure perils cause Kit to pick them up. They have had to refrain from asking Kit to crush them SO MANY TIMES NOW--).

And Kit? Honestly was pretty smitten with them from the get-go, but again, he really isn't aware of it. He of course gets teased, he's so obvious about it, but he brushes it off with the same lighthearted comebacks as he always does with their teasing. Like he just does not make the connection. He just really, really, really enjoys being around Jules so he acts on those feelings and doesn't really put deeper thought into them...

... Until his crush ends up lasting so long that he inevitably comes to the realization that he has one, while he's still having one. Uh oh. Kit ends up entering a sort of crisis mode where he's suddenly hyper aware of his feelings for Jules and can't behave normally (or rather, calmly) around them anymore. He gets too jittery, too blushy, too dumb around them, now, and it's making him frustrated with himself. Meanwhile, Jules repressing their own attraction to Kit is starting to get kind of painful for them. There's romantic tension between the two of them that is just begging to pop at any given moment. Their loved ones are way too invested in this repressive disaster unfolding before them, btw. Things are super awkward between them now, despite their best efforts, but they're also attached enough to each other that it doesn't stop them from spending time with one another.

And, see, Jules has a pretty bad habit of talking aloud to themself. It's a holdover from only really having themself to talk to when there wasn't a customer to be helped. They're not loud about it, but they're definitely audible. And they're in turmoil at this moment, so they're definitely talking to themself every chance they get.

Despite their own self-awareness, Jules does not actually recognize that Kit reciprocates their feelings. They believe that things are getting more and more awkward because, in bottling up their feelings, they believe said feelings have gotten "worse" and are putting the strain on their friendship they feared it would. So their next step is just to convince themself to get over their feelings. To cross the peak of this awful mountain they've been climbing, already. That this isn't going to last much longer, that it's just their physical attraction to Kit messing with the rest of their feelings and it'll go away. That, sure, maybe right now they're in love with Kit and extremely attracted to Kit, and--

The door to their shop is open.

Kit is standing in their doorway.

As Kit still does, in order to suffer through incomprehensible sentences and blush so uncomfortably hot, just so he can hear Jules's voice and see their smile and be with them, with their attention on him.

He's probably heard to much.

He has heard to much.

The tension pops like a bubble.

And it really is such a drastic relief to the both of them that, all this time, they were just being idiots and there really wasn't much of anything to worry about. They're adults, dammit, they shouldn't have to dance around one another, if they both like each other romantically they should just give this dating thing a shot, right? The two of them think so.

And so they end up in a sort of honeymoon phase, where they're still extremely reactive towards one another. Blushing, stuttering, babbling, awkward messes. But it isn't painful for either of them, anymore. It just makes them feel warm and happy and giggly, until everything calms down properly and they settle back into their familiar familiarity. They're just both friends AND lovers, now.

I'm gonna stop it there because it's past 1AM and I am extremely tired, but this is them going from acquaintances to friends to a couple, at least. If I was more coherent I'd probably have a better narrative structure to this? But maybe I'm just being too harsh on myself. If this satisfies you, anon, then I'm very happy :)

#Kitlio #Long post #Julio Starleta

[onewingedsparrow]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @skyyknights and @traveleorzea ! Forever ago but I'm finally getting around to tackling all these questions. Thank you so much for the tags! :D I decided to answer these questions (mostly) based only on the fics I have posted to AO3 right now. I could have answered some of these questions based on WIP's I haven't posted yet, but I decided to keep it simple. The stupid new format of Tumblr kept screwing up my links, which is part of the reason why it took me so long to post this.

1. How many works do you have on AO3? At the moment, only 43!

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 39,225 as of December 30, 2023. I expect this to skyrocket once I eventually post my megafics for Transformers and Fire Emblem. But, it is not this day.

3. What fandoms do you write for? Anything I want to write for 🔥❤️‍🔥🔥The Legend of Zelda, Transformers, Miraculous Ladybug, Fire Emblem, the MCU, Critical Role, and Puss in Boots are the fandoms represented on my AO3 now, but that's only the beginning! I have a few more fics in the works for many other fandoms, including but not limited to Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Mario, Batfam, Honor Among Thieves, and The Stormlight Archive, that simply aren't ready for AO3 yet. I hope to get them up someday, in the years to come. 4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? From the top and descending, that would be: "Let Sleeping Dogs Lie" (Puss in Boots: The Last Wish) I'm genuinely unsurprised this is at the peak. It's held this rank ever since I posted it. Wholesome Team Friendship Fluff, post-movie! "To Bee a Leader" (Transformers: Robots in Disguise 2015) This one always surprises me!!! I never expected it to get so much traction! But I'm so happy it keeps getting hits! I'm so happy people are enjoying / relating to my Prime in Disguise Bumblebee angst + emotional hurt / comfort! "Release Me" (The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom) With the advent of TotK, it is only logical that this shot to the top 5. This is my fic I wrote before the game released, where I theorized: what if the green arm was actually antagonistic? "Watched" (The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess) I think the LU fandom finally found this one, because it wasn't this high in the ranks before, lol. It's not technically Linked Universe, but you could certainly read it as either TLoZ or LU, as you prefer. Pre-canon, still in Ordon Village, Link doesn't know it...but he's being watched. "A Name Aptly Chosen" (Bumblebee (2018) / Transformers: Rise of the Beasts) Oh, when did this happen??? When did you hit the top 5? 👀 This is news to me! This makes me so happy!!! This is how I imagine Bumblebee explained to Optimus Prime his name-change from "B-127" to "Bumblebee" ✨

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Most of the time, yes! I love when readers leave comments because I'm excited to hear what in my writing stood out to them. Thus, I try to reply to as many as I can. I hope that if I stay engaged with my readers, they'll feel more comfortable with commenting, whether on my fics or someone else's ✨ That being said, however, when particular comments don't pass the vibe check, I see no need to reward with any response. <3

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Ooh. As of now, that trophy goes to "Where Sorrow Rings" (Fire Emblem: Engage). A close second might be "Out of Tune" (The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.) (The even-heavier angst that I write is currently unpublished, because most of it is in my megafics.)

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Good question! My first instinct would be Let Sleeping Dogs Lie, but depending on preference, I suppose Welcome Home and Dissonant Echoes could possibly compete with that one.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Not much yet (lol), but I figure it'll happen eventually because that's how the Internet works, regrettably. 9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Nope. I don't read it either.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? Lol, this is a super funny question for me personally. I crossover so many things, but my best crossovers haven't made it to AO3 yet because I'm still building up the greatness to reach its full potential. I think the only crossover I have right now on AO3 is a Stormlight!AU for TLoZ, The Song of Stormlight. But oh, the crossovers in my mind...! I gotta mention some of them just for fun, in the hopes it'll motivate me to bring them to fruition:

Psych x Transformers Assassin's Creed x Transformers Assassin's Creed x Fire Emblem Fire Emblem x TLoZ Fire Emblem x TLoZ x MCU x MtG x Nintendo-in-general x 신의 x Stormlight Archive x literally anything else I can think of and no I am not joking, this is very much a thing. This is my magnum opus. One of the biggest worlds I'll ever write; one of the biggest projects I've been working on for many years that have already passed, as well as many more years to come.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? I hope not. 🗡️🗡️🗡️

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Not that I know of. If someone wanted to translate a fic of mine, I might be truly honored, but I would want them to ask permission first.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Hmm...not seriously. I've collaborated worldbuilding with many people over the years, and done much roleplaying, but I've never co-written a "fic" that wasn't a for-fun "Round Robin" game.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship? OoT Zelink. They are my OTP.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? *laughs That could be literally any of my WIP's at any point. I want to finish them all. I plan to finish them all. I hope to finish them all. But, actually finishing them all is dependent upon many factors. I think of ideas faster than I can finish them, and I have many priorities to juggle. I hope I don't abandon my stories, but I make no promises. Even so, I try not to doubt that I'll finish my fics; I strive to keep a positive mindset, because that will lend me the motivation to finish them, even if it takes me years to do so.

16. What are your writing strengths? Dialogue, poetry (I love writing words to a beat even within prose), and coming up with titles, to name a few!

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Finishing

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I think it's delightful when it's executed well, and distracting when it's not. That's why I try to be careful when I attempt to do so. When I do so, I wish to respect the language and the culture the language is a part of; language has much nuance, so I don't just wanna copy-paste something from the Goog's Translate without taking certain linguistic factors into account.

19. First fandom you wrote for? The first fandom I posted for on AO3 was Transformers: Prime. That's not the first fandom I ever wrote for, but I'm not telling you that, Tumblr.

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written? This is a cruel question. I could well cheat this question and say "all my fics are my favorite fics I've ever written, because writing is a delight." I would mean that. But, in the spirit of the ask game, I will respond with "Safe With You." 🏍️ Oh, I just realized now I gotta tag people 😂 All rightyyyy, I'm sorry if you've been tagged before, but I'm going to tag @misscrazyfangirl321 @cooking-with-hailstones @clawedandcute and @margindoodles2407 but only if you want to! <3

P.S. This is probably self-explanatory but just in case: if you hop onto this game, please make a new post <3 Thank you in advance, friends!

#20 questions for fic writers #travelerorzea #skyyknights #long post #tag game

[neptuniadoesstuff]

Le main crew of Mortal's Curse! (Also TW for some scarring/injuries)

(Update: Had to remove a slight error I made in the drawing)

I spent way too much time on this just for Screb to make the quality trash. :( So yeh uh... Enjoy this "masterpiece" I made in IbisPaint-

Also some close-ups lol.

Btw the pink stuff on the knife is just jam.. ITS JAM NOT BL00D!

ANYWAYS, HERES SOME INFO I DECIDED TO COPY OFF MY SCREB PROJECT (but with some changes bcs frik u):

Elara "Velvet" Shelley (Velvet is just an online aliase as she is referred to "El" irl) (My ver of Canon Elara Shelley)

Jeremiah Samuel Greenbel/"JJ the Rascal" (JJ is a online aliases & his nickname) (My ver of Canon Jeremiah Greenbel)

Sirius "Foxglove"/"Fuax" Grant (Both Foxglove & Fuax are online aliases) (My ver of Canon Sirius Grant)

Harper Halmor Tolnek Turner (Often refered to "Hall" or "Harp") (My ver of Canon Harper Turner)

Miren'Aska Lao Middleton (Just referred to as Aska or Miren) (My ver of Canon Aska Middleton)

Facts are gonna be in a new post of mine so u goobers after to wait.

1: || Elara Shelley | Age: 27-28 | Female, She/Her | Straight Ally (Is prob a Gray-Ace as well) | Is Greek/Japanese American | Engaged to Sirius | Born a Mortal but was given the "Curse of Immortality" at a early stage of life ||

2: || Jeremiah Samuel Greenbel/Turner aka JJ | Age: 34 | Cross-Gender (Male), He/Him (Sometimes He/They or He/They/It) | Bisexual, Demi-romantic | That of European Ancestry + Korean-American | Married to Harper | Born with "Greenbel Syndrome" (a family-based gene) & a mutation that made him have a tail ||

3: || Sirius Grant | Age: 30 | Male (Trans), He/Him | Straight | Russian-American | Engaged to Elara | Last name was originally called "Alexeyev" but he was adopted by a mixed family ||

4: || Harper Hallmor Tolpek Turner/Greenbel | Age: 34-35 | Male, He/Him | Gae | African-American, Mexican (& is somewhat descended from the Ferronox Tribe) | Married to JJ | Is a complete coffee-adidct & will become feral when given decaf ||

5: || Miren'Aska Lao Middleton | Age: 32 | Demi-boy, He/They | Pan | Filipino & British but born in New Zealand | Married to a Russian/German woman named Rushka | Is often called Miren or Aska by his friends but is referred to as "Michael" or "Mikey" by close friends ||

Plz note all of this info I made up is only Canon in Mortal's Curse & not MO: Astray. Also my ver of Aska & Sirius are not related to their canon counterparts family-wise. + MC takes place in the later future of the good ending.

Characters: The main crew of MO: Astray but my vers (All designs are mine ig but originally by Rayark & Archpray)

Art: Mine.

Program: IbisPaint x

Bubs' TOS: Plz don't repost/steal, trace, or recolor my art WITHOUT MY PERMISSION! If you do, I'll take yur femur and pelvis.. SO, DON'T THINK ABOUT IT! (The PNS on my Blog's pinned project clearly means "Please No Steal" plz follow that rule.) If you do post my art on anything like yur blog or somewhere else (With my permission) PEASE CREDIT ME!

#neptuniadoesstuff #n-verse #art #mo: astray #moastray #mortal's curse #Art #Elara Shelley #velvet #JJ the Rascal #Jeremiah Greenbel #sirius grant #Harper Turner #Hallmor #Aska Middleton #Miren'Aska #The Crew #Wishinori Biotect #I took too much time making this so help me-

[strangewiggles]

i dont have any specific questions but. fun facts you never get the opportunity to share..?

yeah shore i got a few funnies

gonna make this one about micky and bertie (mostly micky) cuz ive had them the longest and ive posted about them the most i think. they also have the most fun facts

ill put a cut here cuz this post might be long

1. this is on her ref , but micky is part spotted linsang, on her dad’s side.

she mostly takes after her mom, a black-footed cat, but she has an unusually long tail, spots on her belly, and unretractable claws on her hands*

she also has a cousin, named charlotte, whos a linsang and has a part in her story

*linsangs have retractable claws, but micky was born without the ability to retract them. her parents don’t know if it was caused by her being part linsang, or just by chance

1A. her unretractable claws are sometimes seen as an aggressive display, mostly when she was in school though.

(from a strip about micky getting in a fight in elementary school)

1A-B. micky wore glasses as a kid, most cats do as a kid, due to the way cats eyes develop in this world. in real life, kittens take about 6 weeks to develop full eyesight i think? in my furryworld they can take a few years

her eyes also went from blue to green and blue, to green, to green and brown

this eye development concept (both color and vision) was inspired by the way kittens eyes change colors

2.

when micky’s older (late 20s/early 30s i think), she becomes an elementary school music teacher

(she also played clarinet qhile in school)

(micky, approx. 30, from an old sketch strip, talking about noticing signs of abuse in students)

3.

micky is canonically cis, but thats not to say she doesnt question

(from an old sketch strip about micky thinking about Pronouns™️)

4. micky and bertie’s story went theough many changes and has been worked on for quite a few years now,

originally it was a comedic story about boring office workers that i started like 3 years ago LMAO safe to say its very much not that anymore, especially because the two had the exact opposite dynamic from the one they do now.

(from a doodle of the original plot of their story)

4A. in an older version of the story (older than the current one, the original above is the oldest) the story was about micky constantly flaking on bertie at parties and hangouts and such, and was even about micky going to a mental hospital i think?? something like that.

(from and OLDDD OLD sketch strip about micky flaking on bertie)

in this version, bertie was more aware of micky’s mental issues and their relationship was arguably closer and more romantic than their current one LOL.

5. …bertie’s eyeball tattoo on her stomach

(from berties ref sheet)

… thats all.

#asks #oc posting #long post #i hope this was satisfactory.. even if its mostly one character..

[dailydragon08]

Maybe you’ve spoken about this elsewhere but: do you remember the first time you watched Star Wars? Was Luke your guy from the beginning (he certainly was for me!), and what did you initially like about him?

I actually haven’t said before! My dad was actually the one who got me into Star Wars. He loooooves it and constantly talked it up so much when I was a kid. I had the whole Endor tree village play set with all the action figures and remember playing with them before I even watched any of the movies. I knew going in Luke would become a Jedi, so he was already my fav cuz cool powers.

I remember my dad making a whole thing out of watching ANH (idt the prequel trilogy was out yet, but they were in the process of filming TPM?). Like we got comfy on the couch with a million pillows and blankets and made popcorn and everything. I was 10, so I got the Parent Hand slapped over my eyes when they showed Owen and Beru’s bodies lol. But I looooved the movie. Like was just so obsessed with it and then just inhaled everything Star Wars related.

I remember liking Luke and thinking he was cute, and having a massive crush on ROTJ Luke. To this day, I think that’s probably a big part of the reason ROTJ is my favorite. But I don’t think I really fully appreciated who he was as a character till later. I remember having a bit of a crush on Han when I was little too and just loved how badass Leia was.

I think I’ve talked about this before, but now especially as someone who unfortunately has my own trauma, Luke is just so personal to me. He’s been through a lot of trauma and I think people forget that cuz he tends to be very loving and sunshiney. But that’s also WHY I love him so much, cuz that loving, sunshine nature is a conscious choice that is very hard to make and takes a huge level of strength to maintain after all he’s been through. Like in canon, he’s bullied growing up, loses his family in more ways that one (Owen & Beru getting killed, watching Obi-Wan die, Vader knocking down the pedestal Luke put Anakin up on with the dad reveal and just completely changing how Luke sees himself and his family name, even having to rescramble how he sees Leia in his head post-twin reveal if you wanna get really detailed, then watches his dad die right after he gets him back), fights in a LITERAL WAR and is made a commander (which in the radio drama, I think happens because his CO gets killed and they’re just like “congrats, you’re promoted”) by his early twenties. Like he has SO MUCH SHIT happen to him by the end of ROTJ and he’s not even 30. I don’t think anyone would blame him if he had become bitter and angry, but he DIDN’T. Like I had some issues with his characterization in TBOBF, but he’s still the same kind, nurturing, gentle Luke.

Speaking of kind and nurturing, I think I was just always drawn to how he’s such a polar opposite of all the toxic masculinity stuff that’s popular with male characters in the media. We need more male characters who are gentle and kind and sweet and loving and that doesn’t take away from their strength or is pointed at in canon as being “weak” by their peers. Me characterizing him this way is also a big part of why I was not a sequel fan (no shade to anyone who likes it and obviously, this is just my personal opinion; but Luke is just very personal to me cuz he’s a symbol of yes, you CAN make it to the other side of your trauma without being a broken mess).

Sorry this got away from me a bit 😅

#luke skywalker #star wars #asks open