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random-thought-depository · 3 years

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Continuing from my last post about science fictional “hyperspaces” (wow, I think that might be the most viral original post I ever wrote; it’s amazing what being reblogged by @argumate can do for a post!):

As a science fiction writer, these are the features I find attractive about “hyperspace” that incline me to favor it over other explanations for “fast” interstellar communication and travel:

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Hyperspace lets space still feel big. Wormholes/portals and instantaneous “jump drives” tend to make space feel small (though wormholes lend themselves nicely to space outside the wormhole network feeling big and to a feeling of sharp discontinuity between “known” or “civilized” space within the network and “unknown” or “wild” space where the network doesn’t reach). Start-anywhere go-anywhere jump drives without serious limitations have the additional issue that they’re more-or-less equivalent to teleporters, so they create the ultimate MAD setting where defending multiple fixed locations from a peer adversary is very difficult, and they minimize the strategic advantages of sustainable stationary banditry over unsustainable hyper-exploitive mobile banditry, and since the likely implications of that are very depressing I prefer to avoid it (except maybe if I was deliberately setting out to write a dystopia or explore the idea).

I want space to feel big in my writing, to give the reader some feeling of the vastness, grandeur, and inhuman scale of the universe. For my main science fiction setting, I think I’ll give hyperspace travel an effective “speed” of something like 5-10 c in Sol’s local neighborhood. That way interstellar journeys are more manageable than they’d be with journeys through our space, but journeys to other inhabited solar systems usually take at least a year or two (Sol to Alpha Centauri may be less than a year in hyperspace, but add in travel time to and from the Sol and Alpha Centauri hyper-limits, which is probably going to be at least a couple of months for each leg, and it’s probably about a year).

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Hyperspace feels more like the sort of thing that might plausibly be useable to almost hairless apes with near-future-ish technology. With warp drives and wormholes and jump drives and so on I get the niggling feeling that’s the sort of thing you should probably have to be on approximately the level of an Orion’s Arm Archialect to do. Real theoretical warp drive and wormhole proposals tend to involve stuff like exotic forms of matter and energy and very large amounts of energy. Hyperspace would be a natural phenomenon, so it’s easier to explain it in terms of people exploiting natural phenomena we just don’t know about now, no weirder than being able to travel faster than rowing would allow by building a sail to catch the wind.

You can say that there are some rare atoms that naturally have a structure that extends into hyperspace. With human senses and 2020s technology they just look like ordinary atoms of silicon, iron, etc., but with the right kind of machinery you can detect them, sift them out of the surrounding 3D atoms, and concentrate them. Once you’ve got enough of them, you can make them the core of a pair of transmitters that you can use to send and receive radio messages through hyperspace. With more energy, you can “push” on these structures and “push” those atoms into hyperspace, and then if those atoms are part of a larger solid object the rest of the object and anything touching it gets dragged along with them (with a certain size limit, perhaps related to mass being “pushed” and energy used, so you don’t have to worry about accidentally sending the whole Earth into hyperspace the first time you try this - that’d be one heck of an oops; maybe a later disproven small theoretical possibility of that happening would go down into the history books along with “before they exploded Trinity they were worried it might ignite the atmosphere”); thus you can send a whole ship into hyperspace instead of just information. When you want to leave hyperspace you can reverse the operation and “push” the ship back into our space.

That gives you a nice highly valuable “handwavium” that can be a hook for various plot and worldbuilding points, e.g. there’s not much obvious economic reason to colonize Mars IRL except maybe tourism (anything you could mine there you get more easily from near-Earth asteroids, and it’s too inhospitable to make much sense as a settler colony), but maybe there’s a huge mother lode of these hyperspace-touching atoms somewhere on Mars. These hyperspace-touching atoms would be especially valuable if the process of using them for communication or in hyperdrives “strained” these structures and at some predictable rate caused some of them to “snap,” causing the atoms to become ordinary 3D atoms of silicon or iron or uranium or whatever. Then there’d be a continuous need for (relatively) large amounts of new ones even in a steady-state economy; you couldn’t just keep recycling them and recycling them and just do a little mining to make up for recycling inefficiencies. This would also be an interesting limit on use of hyperspace; using hyperspace radio or doing a hyperjump involves destroying a small amount of a precious resource, so people wouldn’t want to do it frivolously. This might augment that sphere analogy limitation on hyperspace communication I talked about in my other post; even if a hyperspace radio message from Saturn to Earth got there a little ahead of a radio message through our space, you’d probably send a radio message through our space for anything that isn’t time-critical, because the message arriving ten minutes sooner usually just isn’t worth the predictable cost in “snapped” hyperspace-touching atoms.

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Hyperspace would be an environment, so you can do interesting things with it.

Since hyperspace offers a short-cut because it’s more compact than our space, I like to pull on the idea that it’s like our space but in a more compact state, so it’s similar to what our space looked like when the universe was younger and smaller. Going to hyperspace might be a little like time travelling back to a few tens or hundreds of millions of years after the Big Bang, before the first stars formed. The environment of hyperspace might be a little like the inside of a giant molecular cloud, but “warmer” and extremely impoverished in heavy elements. The gas density might be a few thousand to a few billion atoms per cubic centimeter (by comparison, sea level air is about 10^19 molecules per cubic centimeter while the interstellar medium averages around 1 atom per cubic centimeter). The gasses and plasmas in hyperspace would be almost pure hydrogen and helium. The cosmic microwave background temperature in hyperspace might be around 50 K; that’s warm in comparison to what it is in our space (around 3 K), and warm enough to probably be a big part of the reason hyperspace has no stars (present day star-forming giant molecular cloud regions have gas temperatures around 10-20 K), but by human standards it’s deeply cold; it’s upper atmosphere of Uranus temperature. With no stars, I’d guess hyperspace would be a place of more-or-less total darkness outside the range of any lights humans passing through might bring with them.

Alternately, if I want hyperspace to have a murky and mysterious quality and be a place where visibility isn’t good and sensors don’t work well (so a vibe a bit like B5 hyperspace), I could say the Big Bang nucleosynthesis era lasted longer in hyperspace and there produced a substantial amount of heavy elements, some of which then condensed into dust (probably more like smoke if it’s similar to interstellar dust in our space - nanometer to micrometer particles). This dust would probably be pretty insubstantial on human scale distances (again, if it’s like the interstellar medium matter in hyperspace would be about 99% mostly hydrogen and helium gas and plasma and 1% dust, and even a relatively “dense” hyperspace with billions of atoms per cm^3 would have less than a billionth the gas density of sea level air), but over AUs it would scatter light and that effect might add up. This would make hyperspace similar to a dark nebula.

If I want to take the “hyperspace is a scary place” further, I could add sources of energy that might further confuse sensors and add dangerous radiation and other dangers to the mix. Maybe hyperspace has a few large black holes or something, with energetic accretion disks and polar jets fed by all that relatively dense gas and adding turbulence to it. Or maybe spacetime in hyperspace is “lumpier” than spacetime in our space and hyperspace has weird “rivers” formed by something related to whatever force drives cosmic expansion and some of the gas/plasma gets caught in that and accelerated to large fractions of the speed of light and then slams into the low-velocity material in the “still” parts in places, creating lots of turbulence and various other interesting and scary things (powerful magnetic fields, radiation, locally intense heat, maybe some of these collision zones are even giant naturally occurring inertial confinement fusion reactors; maybe that’s where the heavy elements in the dust come from). Maybe hyperspace has a lot of cosmic strings; it makes a certain intuitive sense that, hyperspace being more compact than our space, its cosmic eggshell might be densely veined with cracks.

This gets into another interesting aspect; hyperspace might have something equivalent to terrain; hyperspace travel may be easier in some directions than others. And there’s lots of worldbuilding and plot hooks you could hang from that idea.

For example, let’s look at that idea of hyperspace having “rivers” formed of exotic spacetime structures and filled with gas/plasma streams moving at high fractions of the speed of light. If the edge of these “rivers” has a gradual enough velocity gradient and the plasma in the “rivers” is ionized, with enough skill a spacecraft pilot might be able to catch that “current” with a magsail and ride it, then when they’d gotten about as far as they needed to go they could leave the “river” and do magsail braking against low-velocity plasma in the “still” areas. Just gotta be careful to stay well away from the dangerous collision zones! This might be a huge part of the short-cut offered by hyperspace travel! It could be that distances across hyperspace are only modestly shorter than distances across our space (say, Alpha Centauri is 1 light year away in hyperspace), but the really big savings is you can catch one of these hyperspace “currents” and use it to get up to large fractions of c without expending any fuel. A set-up like that does raise some awkward questions about conservation of energy, but I could say something like “the hyperspace ‘rivers’ are areas where dark energy is being converted into kinetic energy, slightly slowing down the expansion of the universe in the process.” It’s not like we know much about how dark energy works, or even what it is, so for all we know that’s a thing that might happen under certain conditions.

Those collision zones would generate substantial radiation, including light, so unlike a calm hyperspace a turbulent hyperspace with energetic “currents” would probably have light. Don’t know how bright it would be; all that dust (made of heavy elements built up over the eons by inertial confinement fusion in collision zones, I like that idea!) would absorb a lot of light over cosmic distances, and stars are pretty bright but most of our space is pretty dark.

That set-up would make hyperspace travel kind of like sailing; there would be “currents” or “winds” you want to catch, and travel might be a lot faster along directions where the currents are favorable. Travel times in hyperspace might only loosely correlate with distance; Alpha Centauri might take longer to reach than Zeta Reticuli. There would also be hazards you’d need to avoid, e.g. the collision zones.

Maybe part of the explanation for the Fermi Paradox might be that Earth is in the middle of a big “still” part of hyperspace; few ships went here because we’re in the middle of a cosmic doldrums that takes years to crawl across.

With a set-up like this, hyperspace may have “weather” that influences interstellar commerce, and “climate change” on historical timescales that influences the trajectories of interstellar societies. Ages when hyperspace is particularly turbulent might cause Dark Ages as hyperspace travel becomes very dangerous. Ages when hyperspace becomes unusually calm might also cause Dark Ages as there are no fast hyperspace “currents” to ride and hyperspace travel becomes relatively slow. In one age hyperspace “currents” may be arranged such that a world is isolated; a few thousand years later the hyperspace “currents” might have shifted and that previously isolated world might be much more accessible and back in the mainstream of interstellar civilization.

One wrinkle: a turbulent, energetic, opaque hyperspace such as this probably wouldn’t be good for sending radio signals across. Maybe the universe actually has multiple “basement” levels, hyperspace is just the one that’s “closest” to our “living room” level and the only one that’s “close” enough that ships can travel to and from it, but there’s a clearer layer that’s “farther away” but still “close” enough that you can send radio signals through it, and that “deeper” clear layer is the one used for interstellar communication. Bonus idea I like: the deep clear layer is even more compact than hyperspace (by orders of magnitude) so it’s overall a much better short-cut in every way except being “too far away” to send ships through it, so finding a way to send ships through it is a huge potential breakthrough that tantalizes generations of scientists and engineers who so far have not managed to figure out a way to do it.

Really, on that note, I like the idea that the universe is analogous to an onion with many “layers,” and hyperspace and the deep clear layer are just the layers that are most easily accessible from our space. There are a lot of “basements” below the deep clear layer, and generally as you get farther “down” the “basements” get smaller, denser, and hotter; going “down” is a little like time travelling to eras closer and closer to the Big Bang (though this isn’t a completely reliable rule - the deep clear layer is smaller than hyperspace and perhaps warmer, but seems to be a lot emptier; maybe most of its matter has been sucked into black holes?). Maybe the whole thing is a bit timey wimey wibbly wobbly and if you go “down” far enough you eventually hit what 2020s science knows as the moment of the Big Bang. As well as “basements” there are also “attics,” but they’re less accessible because going “up” is harder than going “down.” If going “down” into the basements is a little like time travelling to the early universe, going “up” into the attics is a little like time travelling to the deep future, to places that look kind of like what our space may look like in the deep future black hole era (assuming the Big Rip doesn’t destroy our universe before that deep future proton decay story has time to play out). The “attics” are vast, empty, and deeply cold; cosmic microwave background temperatures a tiny fraction of a degree above absolute zero and precious little else to generate energy, maybe one atom in every cubic kilometer of space. They probably expanded too quickly for stars to ever form there. The total number of layers might be large; maybe hundreds or thousands, maybe billions, maybe a number so big it would need to be expressed in scientific notation. I like this idea because it makes hyperspace feel less implausibly convenient for humans; we’re just taking advantage of a particularly convenient part of a big macrostructure that’s mostly inaccessible to us.

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Hyperspace is a natural phenomenon, so it probably isn’t going to be neatly quarantined to just being a thing humans can use for communication and travel. Hyperspace-related phenomena are going to show up in nature, and this offers a neat explanation for any exotic soft SF-ish natural phenomena you may be interested in incorporating into your setting.

Hyperspace (and other “basements” of our universe) also gives you a built-in parsimonious explanation for any other bits of soft SF technology your setting might feature. Want your setting to have e.g. Star Trek style forcefields? You can say they work through interaction with one of the “basement” layers of the universe.

On that note, I have an idea for a more hard SF version of the Babylon 5 “going beyond the Rim” thing or Stargate ascension, based on the “onion universe” concept I described above, which might serve as a partial explanation for the Fermi Paradox. Maybe some “layers” of the “onion” are “superhabitable” to advanced machine intelligences (though not to primitive flesh and blood beings like us). You know the aestivation hypothesis? If advanced machine intelligences could move to an “attic” they wouldn’t have to wait billions of years for our space to cool down; the cosmic microwave background temperatures in many of the “attics” would already be some tiny fraction of a degree above absolute zero. Maybe they could move to a nice big cold “attic” and live there and “mine” a nice compact “basement” that is rich in matter and energy, getting the best of both worlds. Most of these “attics” and “basements” would be completely inaccessible to humans, but beings with better technology and more resources might be able to access many more of them (or maybe even get beyond the “onion” and search the entire multiverse for universes with conditions more to their liking). So the universe’s most powerful and most enduring civilizations might usually leave our space and move to another “layer” or universe that has conditions more ideal for them, and thus be mostly undetectable to us.

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See: the concept of hyperspace is loaded with potential plot and worldbuilding hooks if you use a little imagination, and I like that!

#worldbuilding #worldbuilding ideas #my writing

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vaatistrife-purplemage · 2 years

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The fourth MirrorWorld / 'Reckless' novel in the MirrorWorld / 'Reckless' novel series

Today I finally got the fourth Reckless novel ''The Silver Tracks''.

After 6 years and 4 extra days of waiting (originally it was released November 4, 2021, but my copy's arrival kept being pushed back twice) I finally got it.

But, as much as I love the novel series there's one thing I'm not overly fond of.

The overall appearance of the novel.

Just let me do a quick comparison down here below:

On the left we have my 2016 revision of the first novel in the series The Petrified Flesh, released by Breathing Books (the author's own publishing company at the time which is discontinued by now). On the right there's the 2021 English edition of The Silver Tracks.

What doesn't sit well with me are several things:

1. Different publishers; Cornelia Funke, the author would always put a golden ribbon in her novels published by Breathing Books. When it comes to Pushkin Press which published the book for her instead of herself, there is no ribbon to be seen at all. And I'm going to miss that ribbon. Badly.

2. Height difference: notice how Reckless 4 somehow doesn't fit in height because again different publisher. It's so small.

3. Pages; So far all my MirrorWorld novels began at page number 1. Why the heck should it be different for the newest installment and start at page 9??? What's the reason behind that?

4. Table of contents; This is fine I suppose since no MirrorWorld novel appears to have one except older versions?

5. Feel of the cover: All the covers of my MirrorWorld novels so far feel smooth whereas the Reckless 4 On The Silver Tracks one feels kind of rough?

6. Shimmer: The previous reckless novels are shinier and have a specific shimmer. When looking at the German edition of Reckless 4 the Kitsune's tails are golden. Whereas the English one has no to little shimmer.

7. Taking the dustcover off; so far every installment that has a dustcover has a similar cover underneath. Reckless 4 is just

blank

I don't get that not at all.

Seven massive complaints aside about the appearance of this novel, I'm going to love the story plot once more I'm certain.

Just not the novel's appearance which is pretty much a thorn in my eye and I'm not alone in that.

In short I honestly really miss how Cornelia Funke's Breathing Books publishing company (run by her along with Mirada) used to publish the novels.

Not only was it a treat for the bookworm heart to read but also a treat for the eye.

I won't stop reading these series regardless of how Pushkin Press approached the fourth novel's appearance.

#MirrorWorld #Reckless #Cornelia Funke #New novel #Reckless 4 On The Silver Tracks #Small rant involving but 7 complaints #I'll still love the novel but wish Pushkin had followed Dressler's example when approaching the novel's appearance #Novels #Non Zelda or videogame related

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scorpio-marionette · 2 years

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Tumblr Writers Q&A

Thanks for the tag @toomanystoriessolittletime

1) How many complete fics/one shots do you have that you have not published (yet)?

None, but that's mostly because I start a lot of stuff and hardly finish anything.

2) How many WIPS do you have right now?

*Takes a minute to count*

I have ch 3 rewrite and ch. 4 - 9 of Long Live the Red Viper

A total rewrite of Bloodsucking Bastards

A prequel and sequel to It Feels Like Today

And I created a whole new character

So four?

3) Do you take writing requests or write original ideas, or both?

I like both. People sometimes come up with really good stuff that you had never thought of before. And sometimes you just have the best aha moment ever.

4) If you do take requests, how many do you currently have?

One from @sturkillerbase . It's coming soon!

5) How many fandoms do you write for?

Just one. It takes a lot for me to want to write for it.

6) Are there any fandoms you wrote for in the past that you no longer write for?

One Direction/Harry Styles? Look, I'm not proud about it. It was the first fandom I ever really got involved in and it was a mistake.

7) Do you write for ships, reader inserts or other?

I do mostly reader insert on here. Outside of here I do mostly OCs. However, I do have an OC I'm bringing here 😏

8) Niche fandoms/characters you write for?

I'd like to write for more of Pedro's lesser know characters, but I need the time to see them first 😂

9) Do you read fics as well as write them?

Oh absolutely!!! I read more fics than actual books.

10) What is your favorite genre to write for?

I'm actually a big fan of the Dystopian side of the sci-fi/fantasy genre

11) What is your favorite trope (to read/write)?

Enemies to Lovers

12) What do you do to get motivated to write?

Either read or watch. Consuming content helps me make content.

13) Is there a trope/genre you like to read, but not write?

It's more like there's a trope I don't like to read but will write. I hate unrequited love to a point. It's just so depressing seeing a character love their best friend and try so hard only to be looked over.

14) Any characters/fandoms you want to write for that are never requested?

I'm open if you guys want to request something.

15) How long have you been writing fanfiction?

On and off for 7 years, I guess

16) Did you read fanfiction before you started writing?

No, I started writing after I started reading

17) Do you only post on Tumblr, or any other sites as well?

I used to post Wattpad, but... 😬

18) What do you personally consider the word counts of “Drabble”, “One shots” and “fics”?

Drabbles would be 600. One shots at least a 1,000. Fics are 2,000+

19) Which do you prefer to write more? HC, drabbles, oneshots/fics, multi chapter stories, other?

One shots and fics, but that’s because it's easier than what my overachiever brain wants to do, which is chapters

20) Are there any stories you have discontinued? If so, why?

Not really. I've only discontinued a fanfic version of a story I'm trying to write. The actual story is still being planned. The fanfic is no more.

21) What is one of your main “pet-peeves” as a writer on Tumblr?

My own insecurities. I get so scared every time I post. I get super jealous of people, but I contain it. There are even times I feel left out by everyone.

22) Do you write at a particular time of day?

When I'm awake and motived 🤣

23) Do you listen to music, ambiance/noise, etc. to write or do you need silence?

Noooooo. I need silence. The sounds come to me in my head

24) Do you outline your fics at all before writing?

Sometimes. Sometimes I plan a lot. Sometimes I just make a quick list. Most of the time I wing it.

25) Do you post your writing as soon as you finish it, or do you schedule it to come out at a specific time/day?

Yup. Rup the band aid off. Bring on the critics.

NP Tags: @supernaturalgirl20 @writer-darling @sturkillerbase @misspearly1 @whataperfectwasteoftime

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the-ghost-king · 3 years

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what’s your giant wishlist for the nico solo book? like plots, backstories, tropes stuff like that

Anon I was literally writing the Nico solo series myself I just gave up after... 6 years (give or take a bit) due to personal struggles with the quality, and a lack of fandom interest with the piece once I finally took to uploading.

Chaptered fics don't get much interaction anymore in the PJO fandom (with a few exceptions), and especially ones that don't include Solangelo or Percabeth right off the bat... And although interaction isn't the only important aspect of uploading a fic, it's definitely helpful to at least know it's resonating with some people.

I have TTC entirely drafted from Nico's perspective and I have his full childhood in Italy drafted out, as well as most of Maria and Hades relationship. There's honestly too much information I have stored in my head to go through it all, I had the entire storyline from TTC through BoO drafted (in my head) before ToA was even released... Everything I do have is on pen on paper though so I can't copy paste it

Right now I have the works on hiatus because I was working through some mental health stuff at the time, but I've also been considering changing aspects of Nico's childhood that I'm writing and publishing that work eventually... It would be entirely original and the Greek mythology aspect would be removed from it, and it would focus more heavily on an OC I created as from Nico's perspective than on Nico himself.

I'm not entirely sure what I want to do with that idea though, I don't want my Ao3 account attached to me if I ever do become a published author (I wouldn't mind saying I wrote fics but directing people to your specific account is more extreme lol). This means that I would have to modify many aspects of Nico's past or remove it from the story, which is impossible since Nico's story exist solely because of his past.

The big issue I had with quality was getting the characters to be more 3D and avoid mischaracterization... Although I felt I was doing okay with this aspect on Nico, I especially struggled here with Bianca for a multitude of reasons...

However, I was taking this project much more seriously than most when I first began it, I even had my first beta-reader during the original uploads! But as fore mentioned for many reasons both personal and otherwise the project fell short and came to a stop.

I would possibly consider restarting the project if I had help, because I know now how much work it is... I have mixed feelings on receiving this help though as well, and although I'm interested in help if it's available I'm in no current position to begin work right now on the piece because I would have to draft out more stuff to make the plot coherent to someone not in my brain

Anyhow anon, here's a link to the series I had started work on, maybe you'll find some enjoyment there! I originally had more uploaded but I took it down because I was unhappy with the quality, but there's some there to hopefully appease you and anyone else interested!

I know the story also says it's discontinued, this isn't necessarily true, but I would rather say discontinued than get someone's hopes up with the idea of it being a simple hiatus. I also know this probably wasn't what you were looking for as an answer and I do apologize for that, but the way I had been working on this was much bigger than something I could ever fit in a single post.

Although here's a photo of a chart I was making to understand my thoughts better if you're interested:

You'll notice the names of the stories, and the basic arc outline of them... I did realize after making this (over a year ago I made this now) that the "yellow arc" would likely be something that happens around when Percy is dipped in the Styx, although I didn't add that. The weird off shooting lines were to be short stories, detailing Nico's time in Tartarus, his rescue of Hazel, a fic dealing with memory, and a shorter fic (may be 3-5 chapters or so) going through other adventures between the end of Pjo and the time we didn't see him in HoO (excluding Hazel and Tartarus which were to be seperate fics).

I have some aspects of things I was planning to write in the story that can be seen in my quick draft of Will's "origin story" here. Although this does mostly revolve around Will there's some discussion of their meeting, and how they met and grew to know one another. Will was also (in my story) to be an allegory of someone else from Nico's past.

I had also planned out a short one shot of an epilogue as well for Nico's story...

This is all to say though, despite how I may have sounded within this, I am still very much interested in a Nico series, and I think if Rick writes a solo book it should be the story of Nico's childhood- but I do think Rick would fuck it up irreparably, so in an ideal world I would write Nico's story... I would also trust @glassamphibians with the story, and I would trust them with characterization much more than myself too!

This was a lot and not exactly what you asked for so I'm going to stop now 😅

I'd also like to apologize for putting this in the tags without a "read more" although the length of some of the stuff I've seen in the Nico tag lately... I don't feel too bad, although I would like to thank anyone who has read this all!

#nico di angelo #pjo #hoo #will solace #percy jackson #meta #Nico solo book #Nico series

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averyonelovesjack · 3 years

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cost of friendship III ~ daniel seavey

requested: yes

hiii can we please please please have another part to parties and the cost of friendship? love love love your writing!

hey hon just requesting a third part to 'cost of friendship' with dani whenever you have the time, thanks love

Hey! I hope things are going okay! I was reading your imagines and I'm a big fan of your works! I was just wondering if you were going to post a part 3 to "cost of friendship"? Just curious :) I understand if you discontinued it/you're on a break.

summary: six months into the relationship and just in time for the holidays, daniel and y/n recognize the difficulty in spending the holidays away from each other and have to determine if it’s worth breaking the secret.

warning(s): cursing

disclaimer: i use christmas and thanksgiving as plot points in this story because it fit better with the way i wanted the story to go, but feel free to replace them with any other holidays you celebrate!!

word count: 2740

author’s note: accidentally posted this, unedited, last night with no word count and the author’s note that i wrote in december of last year when i originally made the draft and didn’t write a single word of this story:) so now that it actually makes sense to post this, here is part three to cost of friendship! thanks for all these requests even tho they were clearly from a long time ago since cost of friendship II came out TWO YEARS AGO in september. welp hope this was worth the wait lol enjoy:))

read these first: part one, part two

six months with daniel went by really quickly. the summer was honestly a lot of fun. i could spent hours at the boys’ house and nothing was suspicious about it. i grew a lot closer with them all because we spent so much time together, and it wasn’t weird for me to hang out there, and i could see daniel whenever i wanted. we really got to know each other during the summer months. i had known daniel for a while now, but getting to know him on a relationship level was really nice.

summer ended pretty quickly though and then fall came. i was back in school. i didn’t think it would be hard to see him since i was still in the ending months of school when we started dating. i think that going from so much time together over the summer to only seeing each other a few hours a week was a really hard adjustment.

we promised we’d never let our schedules be a problem, but managing a full time student’s schedule and a singer’s schedule is really difficult. i had classes monday through friday, and any time i wasn’t in class, i was doing homework. that left my only free time during the week to be late at night. so we hung out late at night, but by the time we saw each other we were usually too exhausted to really do anything other than lay around and watch a show or talk for a little bit. weekends were usually better for me, but daniel had a crazy schedule that usually had studio time incorporated on the weekend.

we still made effort to see each other all the time we could, but it wasn’t easy. i think that probably plays into my current nerves. it’s early november and the stress of the holiday season had already gotten to me.

as a kid, the holiday season was the absolute best. thanksgiving meant seeing all of my family, including my cousins who were really close in age to me. and then the stretch between thanksgiving and christmas was my absolute favorite. it was filled with christmas music, christmas decorations, buying gifts, giving gifts, getting gifts, and again, seeing family. and don’t even get me started on new years. as a kid, staying up late was the absolute best thing. the sparking cider and noise makers were all the rave.

as a much older college student now though, it was a lot less fun. the holiday season meant figuring out plans and traveling home to see my family and not knowing which part of my family was actually gonna be available. it meant buying actual meaningful or useful gifts and then figuring out how to get them home. there was still the music and the lights, but i had no time to meaninglessly drive around los angeles and see the lights or spend hours around a fireplace watching christmas movies. i didn’t even have a fireplace to begin with.

the holiday season was also much more confusing this year because i had daniel. i’ve never even had a boyfriend during the holiday season, let alone a secret boyfriend. most of the things we went out and did we could pass off as just things we’re doing as close friends, but the holidays were different. friends don’t ditch the holidays with their family just to hang out with their friends family. i don’t even know if daniel and i are at the level in our relationship, and then even if we were, i couldn’t do anything about it because keeping our relationship a secret meant not being able to do the explicitly for couples holiday stuff.

as much as i think daniel and i are ready for the family stage in our relationship, neither of us have really talked about it because there’s not really much room to do it anyways. i’ve met daniel’s siblings and parents before, but never as anything more than a friend because it was too risky to tell anyone. and daniel’s never had an excuse to come meet my family since they aren’t just down the road like his.

the secret relationship really damaged my normal holiday mood and it honestly stressed me out. i have to book my plane home soon and to do that meant that there really was no chance that i’d spend the holidays with daniel. even with us only being together half a year, daniel meant so much to me. in every other relationship i’d been in, it felt like i was waiting for the relationship to end or i at least knew that it wasn’t going to last. it was different with daniel though and that was really hard since we couldn’t even tell anyone about it.

tonight is a friday and i had finally finished my work for the week. i was invited to a party, but i didn’t really feel like going since i was pretty tired from the week and i wasn’t in a party mood. daniel texted me soon after and asked if i wanted to come over. i wasn’t really in a socialization mood, but since it was just daniel and i haven’t seen him much recently, i said yes. he even said he would pick me up which made it ten times easier to say yes because he knows i don’t like taking ubers alone and i don’t have access to a car.

daniel picked me up at about 7. i didn’t feel like getting ready so i just wore my grey sweatpants and wdw tee that daniel had gotten me for free. daniel never seemed to mind my lazy outfits and i knew as soon as we got back he would change out of his jeans too.

“hi love, how was your day?” daniel asks as soon as i get in the car. i felt a little emotionally exhausted, but so happy to see daniel. the car was like our safe space because no one was around to walk in on us and we didn’t have to hide our feelings and actions.

“exhausting, but better now that i’m seeing you.” i admit.

“at least it’s the weekend now.” daniel says. “and i went to the studio a little early today so that we won’t have to go in this weekend and i can spend more time with you.”

“really?” i ask, that news brightening my day a little. “i was just about to ask how studio was today?”

“it was good. we worked on a new christmas song today when we were finished. i don’t know if we’ll ever release it but it was a lot of fun. i’m sure you’d love it.”

“you know how i feel about christmas music.” i grin. maybe a little daniel written christmas music will brighten my spirit in these next coming weeks.

“speaking of, i feel like you haven’t played any christmas music. i swear i barely knew you this time last year as compared to now but i knew how much you loved christmas music. i feel like you played it as soon as halloween was over.” daniel mentions and as much as i wanted to hold it back and not say anything, i felt too tired to not.

“i haven’t really been in the christmas spirit.” i admit with a sigh that i knew daniel would read through.

“i know the holiday season is hard. it’s been on my mind a lot too and i was hoping it wasn’t adding to your stress, but i should’ve said something sooner because i knew it would.” daniel says, looking over and gently ok in a hand on mine.

“it’s okay.” i say. “i probably wouldn’t have even admitted it until we got to a night like tonight where i’m honestly too tired to pretend i’m not stressed.”

“i’m sorry, love. do you want to talk about it?” daniel asks.

“it’s okay, i don’t even know what to say because we can’t even do anything about it.” i answer. “and i don’t want to stress you out with all of my little annoyances and sad things.”

“i know that the last few months haven’t been easy.” daniel starts, deciding for us both that nothing i could say would be too much for us. “with our schedules and then keeping it a secret.”

“it’s just-” i don’t even know where to start because i know when i’ll do i’ll either inevitably cry out of stress or sound angry with him when i’m not, i’m just annoyed at our situation. “it really sucks that i can’t spend any of the holidays with you and i fucking hate that because i love the holiday season and the spirit and i’m avoiding it because i don’t want to feel sad about us not being together for the holidays. and i love you. i love you so much and i want you to meet my family because i know they’ll love you, but it would be way too obvious for you to fly home with me for the holidays and there’s really no hiding that so i know it makes no sense to even think about that because it just makes me sad.”

“i love you too, y/n.” daniel says, still processing everything. “i didn’t know you wanted me to meet your family yet. i would love to, but i didn’t want to bring it up until you were ready.”

“are you kidding?” i laugh a little bit, looking over at him as he parked the car in the driveway but neither of us moved. “daniel, of course i want you to meet my family. i know they’ll love you because you’re you. god, ever since i told my sisters i have a boyfriend they’ve been begging me to tell them who so that they could meet you. i don’t know, the holidays have always just been about being with family for my family, and i’m sure yours too. you’re such an important part of my life now and i wish i could share you with them. it’s whatever, though. we shouldn’t talk about it because i know that it’s not possible.”

“what about thanksgiving with my family and christmas with yours?” daniel says and my heart skips a beat. “and then we can figure out new years later. i know you have to go home for christmas because you’ll get kicked out of dorms, and as much as i would love for you to just stay with us, i’m sure you want to go home and see your family.”

“daniel, as lovely as that sounds, you know how suspicious it would be for me to stay here for thanksgiving and for you to fly home with me? i don’t think even we would be able to keep that a secret.”

“fuck the secret, then, y/n.” he blurts out. “y/n, i don’t see us ending ever, and definitely not anytime soon and it’s not like we’re gonna keep this a secret forever. fuck the secret. corbyn was right, okay, the boys are gonna be happy for us. it’s not like they haven’t picked up on us being close these last few months and keeping this secret isn’t worth us being apart for the next few months, okay? it’s hard enough to spend only a few hours together a week, i don’t want to be away from you for all of thanksgiving and christmas too.”

“fuck the secret.” i say, with a smile forming on my face. “are we really doing this?”

“i see no better time than now, y/n.” daniel leans over the console to kiss my lips softly. “wanna go tell the boys now?”

“let’s do it.” i unbuckle my seatbelt with a weight lifted off of my shoulders. daniel and i meet in front of the car, our hands interlocking as we walked into the house as a non-secret couple for the first time.

the boys were all sitting in the living room and a movie was playing with all of the lights out. they all look over as daniel closes the door and the two of us walk over to them.

“y/n? what are you doing here? daniel didn’t tell us he was bringing you over.” zach says. “of course he just wants to hog you again.”

“do you guys wanna pause the movie for a second? we have some important news.” daniel says and we separate hands as to not give it away just yet.

“fucking finally.” jonah says.

“what?” i ask, wondering what he meant.

“i mean, i don’t want to be the one to say it and ruin it for you two, but i mean, come on, we’ve been waiting months for you to admit to it. so get on with it.” jonah gestures for us to continue. guess we weren’t as great secret keepers as we thought.

“y/n and i have been dating for about six months and kept it a secret from everyone.” daniel says and then takes my hand in his and pulls me closer so that i’m in his arms.

“SIX.” zach yells. “i knew there were vibes between you two but you guys are good. six months??”

“not that good.” corbyn mumbles, which causes the other three to look at him.

“you bitch!” jack then exclaims. “you knew? and you didn’t give me my damn money??”

“it’s their fault, they told me not to say anything!” corbyn defends, pointing a finger at the two of us. “i was not supposed to find out. i wish i didn’t, this was a lot of stress i didn’t need.”

“i would like my twenty bucks now, thank you very much.” jack says and corbyn quickly throws a twenty dollar bill at him.

“this is so unfair.” the ninteen year old looks at the rest of us. “jack gets twenty bucks, corbyn gets stress relief, daniel gets a girlfriend and it’s y/n. what do i get? i want something!”

“zach, i didn’t get anything from this either.” jonah reminds.

“shut up. you have a girlfriend.” zach screeches in his jokingly angry voice. “god, i’m so lonely.”

“i have a couple sisters, if you want.” i laugh a little. “you’d have to come home for christmas with danny and i, though.”

“and you’re leaving us for christmas? gosh damnit y/n, why can’t you guys stay with me for christmas?” zach exclaims, which makes us all laugh a little bit. i wasn’t sure how everyone was going to react, but this was a pretty funny one from zach.

“i hate to break it to you bud, but we’re, uh, all going home for christmas. we do every year.” jack sets a hand on his bandmates shoulder. “i’m pretty sure y/n would rather spend christmas with her boyfriend and her family than you, no offense.”

“what the fuck, y/n. you don’t wanna spend christmas with me?”

i’m laughing too much at this interaction to answer before jack.

“to be clear though, zach, i would choose to spend christmas with you.”

“well we have y/n for thanksgiving. we’re gonna see my family, so we’ll still be in la and can hang out. have our own little friendsgiving.” daniel suggests.

“no no no, i’m too lonely for friendsgiving.” zach expresses, deciding to be unhappy with everything we say just for the comedy of it. “i’m too single. you’re all in relationships, i can’t be the only lonely one.”

“um, bro, i too am single.” jack looks at him funny.

“okay, well yeah, but you have a child.”

“yes, a child who lives in hawaii. i’ll be your friendsgiving date.” jack offers.

“really? you meant it?” zach faked being emotional and jonah looks at them, then back at us with a funny look.

“well, now that we’ve dealt with... that, i just want to say we’re all really happy for you two.” jonah starts. “not that this is surprising to any of us, because there has been way too much sexual tension since we’ve all been friends for this to not have happened, but i’m very happy you decided to tell us.”

“are you guys gonna go public? like tell management?” corbyn asks.

daniel then looks at me a little nervously and then back at the guys, “yeah that’s the next thing we have to figure out.”

lovely.

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whymylife-101 · 4 years

Text

Pen...Pals? ~Kenma Kozume X Reader~

Description-

Okay, so @OIKAWAS (on wattpad) originally made this idea/plot, but I really liked it and (for the time being) they discontinued it, which was really sad to me because I feel like they got Kenma's personality down really well! (Though I do understand why they did it and completely respect their decision) So I just kinda thought I'd put my own little spin on it! Okay, thanks for reading and i hope you enjoy!(This book and all my other ones are gender neutral, I don't like excluding people so if I do make a mistake anywhere then please let me know!) (Also, any art in this book is not mine! I'm not sure who most of the artists are because I got the pictures off of google, but if you do know please tell me so I can give the proper credit!) -Started; March 30th, 2020 (3/30/2020) -Finished; March 30th, 2020 (3/30/2020)

Chapter One;

~Reader's POV~

I walked into class and sat in my desk next to one of my best friends. "Hey.." I yawned out, rubbing my eyes. "Did you stay up late playing video games?" (F/n) questioned with an eyebrow raised. "I didn't say up that late." I told them truthfully. "You say that every time." They told me, rolling their eyes with a small smile on their face.

The teacher walked in as our conversation came to a close. "Alright." The teacher started. "Because in this unit we are going more in depth about Japanese history and we already studied the culture, I thought it would be a fun idea to get a first hand experience with some of the kids that live in Japan. I was lucky enough to get Nekoma High School to agree."

At this, some people started to murmur about how cool and excited this would be. The teacher cleared her throat to get the classes attention and to signify that she wasn't done talking. "Make sure that your letters are appropriate and don't share any personal Information. I will mail them by the end of this week and yes, they are for a grade."

The kid in front of me raised their hand. "Mrs, do we write in English?" The teacher nodded her head as she picked up a tiny box. "Any other questions?" When no one raised their hands or called out, she then proceeded to explain what the box was for.

"Now then, I'm going to walk around and your going to pick out a name from the box. Then I want you to get started on you letters." She walked around to everyone's desk, and everyone pulled out a random strip of paper.

When she got to my desk I put my hand in a grabbed the first piece I touched the pulled it out quickly. "Hey, who did you get?" (F/n) asked. "I got Kenma Kozume, who did you get?" I asked. "Fukunaga Shohei." They said, pronouncing it very slowly while trying to sound it out. I giggled slightly. "Maybe you should ask him how to pronounce his name." "Oh shush!" My friends said, lightly hitting my shoulder.

"Okay class, start working on your letters." My teacher said as she put the box beside her desk and started to grade papers. I took some lined paper out of my bag and began to write my letter.

When the bell rang I had a little more than a full page done. I had written a little bit about me, what I look like, and some cool places I've been to that were near me. I had also asked him some questions about himself and Japan.

I gave the letter to my teacher as I headed out the door with (F/n) right behind me. "Hey (Y/N), what do you think your pen pal is going to look like?" They asked as we pulled up her our lockers. "I don't know, you have any idea about yours?" I asked back. "Well they say people with difficult names are hotter." My friend said, making me laugh. "That's such a weird stereotype, where did you even hear it from?"

"W-well, there's this YouTube channel-!" My friend started, but I interrupted them. "And your really going to trust some nut-job on the Internet?" (F/n) crossed their arms. "At least I try to search up informational things in my free time." "Touché." I once again laughed as we made our way to the lunch room.

"So you think your pen pal is going to be hot?" I questioned, making them blush. "S-shush!" Once again I laughed as (F/n)'s face exploded in a blush. "I can't say I know for sure what my pen pal is going to look like, but I hope they like video games."

"What, you want them to send you over some Japanese exclusive games?" (F/n) said sarcastically. "That wasn't the intent purpose, but I suppose I wouldn't go against the idea. I just thought we could bond over video games." I hummed out.

"Hey!" I heard (f/2) (that means friend number 2) say as they sat down at our little table. Me and (f/n) gave our own versions of a hello. "Hey, you did the pen pal thing last year right?" (F/n) questioned, making (f/2) nod their head.

"Yea, are you guys doing that now?" I nodded my head. "Oh that's so cool! Ya know, I still talk to my pen pal. His name is Kuroo Tetaurō." (F/2) said. "Oh wow, you guys still do the pen pal thing?" (F/n) asked. "Oh no, we exchanged numbers towards the end." (F/2) laughed out.

We continued to talk about the pen pal stuff and (F/2) told us what we should expect going into it. After lunch was over me and (F/n) dumped our trays and said goodbye to (F/2).

"Are you excited to get a letter back?" (F/n) asked me. "A little, you?" I questioned back. "A little." They said, copying me, making me laugh. "Okay, lets get to class."' I told them, rolling my eyes.

Chapter Two;

~Kenma's POV~

I sat in class, sneakily pulling my phone out to play Pocket Camp, class hadn't started yet and I really had nothing better to do. A few minutes past and Fukunaga had sat behind me. "Hey Kozume." I gave a hum in response.

"What are you playing?" He asked, trying to take a look at my phone. "Pocket Camp." My tone was dull as I continued to try and complete my missions and stuff that I needed to do for Bob and Rosie.

The bell rang throughout the halls which could be heard from inside the classroom, signaling me to put my phone away so I wouldn't get in detention and have to run extra laps at volleyball practice. Once I slid my phone in my pocket the teacher walked in with a box and a lesson plan in hand. "Good morning class."

"Good morning." Me and everyone had said back. "Today we are going to be doing something different. Because we have been learning about a ton of other countries, a school from (insert where you live) reached out and asked if we could do a "pen pal" type of activity. That way you guys can learn about the place first hand from someone that lives there, and you can tell your pen pal how it is here."

"Now your pen pals have already been assigned and they have already written a letter to you. I have this box with me, and I'm going to go around and hand out everyone's letters." After he finished he grabbed the box and started to walk around. Eventually the teacher got around to my desk, he quickly shuffled through the letters and found the one addressed to me.

"Hey Kozume, who'd your say it's from?" Fukunaga asked as he looked down at his paper. "Umm... (L/N), (Y/N).... you?" "(F/LN) (friends last name), (F/n)." He answered. I nodded my head, fixing to pull out my phone again when the teacher had asked us if we had any questions. The girl in front of me raised her hand. "Are we writing in Japanese?" The teacher shook his head. "No english." Another student then raised a hand.

"Are we aloud to send pictures?" "As long as they are appropriate, any other questions?" When no one raised their hands the teacher told us to start reading the letters and once we finished to start working on our letters that we'd give back, and that they'd be due by the end of this school week. On that note we started to read/write our letters.

About half of the class consisted of me writing something down and erasing it not long after, so all I had was:

'Dear (L/ N), (F/ N)

My name in Kozume Kenma.'

Sighing out of frustration i looked behind me, catching Fukunaga attention. "Umm... how do we start the letters?" I asked, scratching the back of my neck in embarrassment. "Well," Fukunaga started. "I introduced myself, told them how to pronounce my name, and told them to call me by my surname. I started to list some things about me and I told them

I would have pictures of different places that most tourist would want to see when visiting. Oh! And I also described what I looked like. But I also answered some of their questions two."

I nodded my head and thanked him, then turned back around to finish my paper. When the bell rang I had a little under a half of my page full. I sighed, and put it in my book bag so I could finish it at home and get the pictures I needed.

I quickly pulled out my phone and slung my bag over my shoulder as I made my way out of the classroom and into the hallway with Fukunaga by my side. We both walked until we got to class 2-3 where Yamamoto was and waited for him so we could walk to our club together.

Once Yamamoto came out, him and Fukunaga started chatting while I was silent, playing on my phone. I was just fixing to beat a new level on my game when suddenly I could feel a hand wrap around my shoulders, which caused me to glance to me side to see Kuroo. "Hey shorty." "I'm not that much shorter." I told him plainly as I continued to play my game, as we walked into the changing rooms.

I didn't take a second to glance around me, and instead sat down on one of the benches as I was trying to hurry and finish the level. Which I successfully did. A sigh of relive slipped through my lips as they tugged up into a small smile. "Hey Kenma? Hurry up and change or coach is going to make you run extra laps." At Kuroo's works I slid my phone in my bag and started to change into my volleyball uniform.

I walked out of the changing rooms after practice with my phone in hand and Kuroo by my side. He was talking about his day and some of his classmates as a made a few comments here and there. Suddenly, Kuroo stopped talking as his phone buzzed.

He quickly pulled his phone out and started to type to the person, a smile coming across his face. "Awfully quiet on your end." I noted, not taking my eyes off my game. "Well, (f/2) is texting me." He chuckled. "Come to think of it, it was around this quarter that I first got a letter from (f/2). Are you guys doing that pen pal thing?"

I nodded my head and gave a hum. "Who did you get?" "Uhhh... I think the last name was (L/N)?" Kuroo nodded his head and started typing something on his phone, a few minutes later he gave off this devilish smirk. "Is something funny?"

Kuroo gave off a chuckle. "It's nothing." He said as we continued walking until we came to my house. We both waved goodbye and I quickly unlocked my door, trying not to lose my level. I then walked inside and closed the door with my foot, haphazardly kicking my shoes off in the process. I then walked up the stairs and into my room, shutting the door the same way I did downstairs, then plopped on my bed.

I quickly finished the level and set my phone down. "I should probably try and add something to the letter... and get some pictures..." I told myself quietly as I got up and got back to work.

Chapter Three;

~Reader's POV~

It's been about a week since we turned in our letters and our teacher had the letters from our pen pals ready for us to read. On the envelopes they made us write who they were to and who they were from.

When the teacher called my name, I came up and grabbed the envelope and sat down at my desk. Once we got our envelopes we where told to wait until everyone had gotten theirs so that way we could all open them together and there wasn't a bunch of noise as she was trying to pass out the envelopes.

I couldn't help but feel butterflies in my tummy at the thought of what my pen pal could be like. Would they have similar interests that i have? Would they be the polar opposite of me? What did they look like? These thoughts and millions of other swarmed my head.

That was until the last person got theirs, she told us we could read them and then write a response back, and that they were again, due at the end of the week.

I opened the envelope neatly, unlike some people that chose to just tear them open. Once I opened it I started to read it to myself.

'Dear (L/N), (Y/N)

My name in Kozume Kenma (Ko-zoom-e Ken-ma), but please call me Kozume. I live in Tokyo Japan and go to school at Nekoma High, but you probably already knew that. I'm on my schools volleyball team and in my free time I like to play video games (some of my favorites are Pocket Camp and Mario Cart). I find it hard to describe things so I decided I would just put a couple of photos of me and my volleyball team in the envelope two (I'm the one with the black hair fading into blond). In Tokyo there is mainly a lot of food stands/shops, and a ton of stuff for tourists, I'm sorry, but I really don't know how to describe it. If there's anything in particular you wanted to see I could always take a picture. I'm not really a social person so I apologize for the lack of writing.

-Sincerely, Kozume Kenma.'

I looked towards my friend to see they got a whole two pages, front and back, while I barley got even a full page of writing. "Wow..." I said quietly to myself. I decided that I would go ahead and look inside the envelope for the pictures that Kozume said he sent.

I saw some miniature pictures in the bottom and took them out, the first one was a picture of the whole Nekoma volleyball team, It wasn't hard to find Kozume because he was the only male with the hair colors he described. He was also the only one holding his phone and looking down at it.

I then looked at the next photo to see it was one of him and a guy with bedhead. Kozume wasn't looking down this time, instead, he stared straight at the camera with a small smile as the bed-headed male gave him bunny ears.

The next, and last photo was of just Kozume, he was standing on the side walk, and was glancing up at the person taking the photo with a phone in his hands. Unlike the other ones, where he was in his team uniform, he was actually wearing casual clothes.

When I put the photos down I could feel some heat making its way to my cheeks. I wouldn't deny that Kozume was fairly attractive, but the thought of the semester being over and him being nothing more than a faint memory kept me from thinking about it to much, instead, I focused on writing another letter.

I couldn't think of much to write about, I just asked him who the bed haired male was, told him some video games that I enjoyed, I also told him what club I was in and told him I also would send photos of me and some places around the city.

The bell rang and I decided I would put my note in my bag so I can get the pictures I needed (Im sorry if this feels repetitive). I again made my way to lunch with (F/n) and (F/2).

"So (Y/N), do you have anything in common with your pen pal?" I paused the game I was playing and looked up at (F/2), slightly blushing at the thought of Kozume, though it went unnoticed to the two in front of me. "Yea, we both like video games, and I found out he had a Pocket Camp account."

"Oooh~ Are you going to give him your friend code~!" (F/n) tried to tease me, but I just unpaused the game and ignored them. "Aww come on! Don't do us dirty like that!" I continued to play my game and try to block out my friends. I could hear one of them puff out a short breath of air, meaning they were going to tease me more, but thankfully the bell came to my rescue, and I quickly got up to leave and go to my class.

At the end of the day I was walking home with (F/n) and (F/2). They were talking while I was playing a video game on my phone. "Hey (Y/N), how did you respond to your pen pal?"

I quickly looked up from my game to glance at my friends (who had smug faces) and back down at it again. "I wrote a little about video games and the city here... I also told him I'd include pictures like he did."

"Ohh! So he sent you pictures! Is he good looking!?" (F/n) shouted, making a light blush spread across my cheeks. "Uhhh... idk. You can be the judge of that.." I took out the letter in my bag and handed it to my friends. "He's the one with the blond hair and dark roots."

I heard (F/n) giggle at the male in the picture. Suddenly, (F/2) gasped. "Hey! That was my pen pal last year!" I quickly glanced up from my game again to see they were looking at the second photo and (F/2) had pointed at the male with bed hair. "Oh yea... I was wondering what his name was." I told them as my eyes went back to my phone.

"It's Kuroo!" (F/2) was looking at the photo and stared at the "Kuroo" guy with a dark blush. "Ah, the one you like." I paused my game to see their reaction, and it was priceless. Their face lit up an even darker shade of red that spread to the tip of their ears.

"Hey! We're at your house! Don't you think your mother wants you home?!" (F/2) quickly said, trying to get me to stop teasing them. "Guess we are." I said, taking the letter and photos back from my friends and headed inside.

When I got home I immediately went to my room so I could print off some pictures of myself. I found a few of me, (F/n) and (F/2) and printed them. After words I put them in the envelope and tried to finish my letter.

I heard a knock on my door as I was putting the letter in the envelope. "(Y/N), dinner is almost ready." I heard my mother's voice as she opened the door. "Okay, do you mind if I go take some pictures real quick for a school assignment?" I asked, taking my phone off of the charger. "Sure dear, just be back in 30ish minutes okay?" I nodded my head, and said a quick "yes ma'am" as I put my shoes on.

My mom left, to where I assume to be the kitchen, as gathered my things. I quickly plugged in my headphones to my phone and made my way downstairs. I then made my way around town and took quick pictures of some things that I typically see tourists go to.

When I was finished I made my way home, my mother telling me I was just in time for dinner. I quickly ate, telling my mom it was delicious as always, and then made my way upstairs. I hooked my phone to my computer and downloaded the photos I took. After a few hours of it downloading I was finally able to print off the ones I liked and put them in a separate envelope. 'Finally I can go to sleep.' I thought to myself as my body was finally able to hit the bed.

Chapter Four;

~Kenma's POV~

When I woke up I had realized that I woke up extremely late and I missed half of my classes. At this realization I rushed myself to the bathroom to get dressed and quickly checked to make sure I had everything before running out the door.

I pulled out my phone while running to see that it was already 10:27. 'Shit... I'm not going to make it in time to receive my letter!' I haphazardly threw my phone in my pocket and continued running.

At some point I skidded to a stop in front of my classroom. I was panting from running all the way here, so I took a second to regroup myself before I decided to knock on the door. I adjusted my tie and smoothed out my school uniform a little before lifting my hand, but just as I was about to make contact with the door, the bell rang and students started to file out of the rooms and into the hallways.

I stepped back to give the ones leaving some space. "Ahh, Kozume! You were late today." I could hear Fukunaga say as he exited. "I have your letters, I was planning on giving them to Kuroo, so he could leave it at your house, but I guess your here now." He told me, holding out a white envelope and a bigger orange/yellow one for me to grab. "Thank you."

I was still taking shallow breaths as sweat gathered on my temple, so it was no shock that Fukunaga noticed and made a comment about it. "The last time you were this tired was when you skipped practice because of a video game and coach made you run the entire practice. Where you really that eager to get your letter?"

At this a light blush came to my face. "No. I just wanted to make sure I didn't miss all of my classes and that coach wouldn't make me do that again." I told the male, referencing to the first, and last time I'd ever skip practice.

"Was it worth it?" Fukunaga asked as we started to walk. "No." I answered quickly while scrunching up my face at the thought, making Fukunaga laugh.

When I got home I made my way to my room and got the two envelopes out of my bag. I opened them quickly but made sure to not rip or tear anything.

After I read the note I took the photos out of the white envelopes first. When I saw the person I was pen pals with I could feel what raise to my cheeks and the corners of my lips tug into a small smile.

The first picture was of (L/N) and two of their friends. (L/N) was in the middle and held up a peace sign with a bright smile, while the one on the left held bunny fingers behind (L/N)'s head, and lastly the friends on the right had a small smile while they took the photo.

The second picture was only of (L/N), they were standing on side was as they covered the bottom half of their face, poorly hiding a blush, as they looked off to the side. This picture in particular made my small smile stretch a little into a grin.

The third photo made my smile instantly fall. This one had (L/N) and another male in the photo. In this one they were yelling at the male while he laughed at them. I felt some anger slowly form in the pit of my stomach. The first thought I had was that this was (L/N)'s boyfriend, which made the anger rise a tad more.

But then referencing to the letter, they said, as quoted, they took some pictures of themselves and "some of my friends" I quickly looked back at the letter to make sure that I didn't skip over anything, and referencing back they didn't say anything about a boyfriend. This made me relax a little, so I dismissed the option that it was their boyfriend as there was no evidence.

I picked up the yellow/orange envelope, opening it. Inside we're five pictures this time.

The first one was of a statue that has a little golden plaque near it, the statue itself was of a older looking man with a cane, just like the plaque the man was golden as well.

The second photo related to the first one, as it was a closer look of the plaque. As I read it, it explained how the statue was of the man that had founded their country.

The third photo was of a really nice looking castle. There was a little note at the bottom of the letter that said that this was where the man from the first picture had lived, and that both of these were a really big spot for tourists.

The fourth photo was at the castle again, except this time (L/N), the two friends from the first photo, and the male from the last one, were by one of the many knight armor that was lining the walls. They all made funny faces at the camera, looking like they were having a good time.

The fifth photo was one that made my blood boil. It was in the same spot at the last, but this time the male had leaned really close to (L/N) with his lips pressed against their cheek. He had a light blush on his face while (Y/N) had a huge one on theirs while their eyes were also wide open.

I couldn't help but glare at the photo that was currently in my hands. Suddenly their was a knock on my door and I could hear it creak open. "Hey Kenma, my parents are having a double date with your parents again tonight, so I was wondering if-."

With each word that left Kuroo's mouth I knew he was getting closer and closer to my side as his voice got louder, but I couldn't care less, even when he was right beside me and stopped talking, my eyes never left the picture, and my glare didn't falter either.

That was until Kuroo gave out a large cackle. I looked up and gave Kuroo the same glare, which only made him laugh harder. After ten minutes of his obnoxious laughter, he finally had enough and was clutching his stomach as he wiped away a fake tear.

"Kenma... that was the funniest thing I've ever seen you done." He wheezed out. "Now what are you glaring at?" He asked, snatching the photo out of my hands.

"Which one is the pen pal?" He asked, after a moment of studying the photo. "Take a guess." I mumbled out. "Hmm... the one being kissed?" Kuroo asked with a smile. I only puffed out my cheeks in annoyance as I fell back onto my bed.

"Hey, I didn't know your pen pal knew mine." "What do you mean." I leaned my head to the side to look at Kuroo. "The one with the (random hair color) and (random eye color)." Kuroo turned the photo so that I could see it and pointed at one of the people that were in the first photo.

My eyes shifted from the person Kuroo was pointing at to the male and (Y/N), making me groan and turn the other way. "Ya know, I've never seen you so upset about a person." Kuroo pointed out, and by his tone I could just picture the smile he was giving me.

I grumbled out a excuse under my breath which only caused Kuroo to laugh. "How about I treat you to some apple pie?" I sat up slowly and glanced at Kuroo then to the picture that was in his hand.

"Are we going to the one on 57th street?" Kuroo nodded his head at my question. Instead of replying I stood up and put my shoes on. We both walked in silence to the bakery that I loved.

Kuroo had just left my house so I decided I would take the left over pie from earlier and take it to my room so I could start writing me letter.

As I started to write it the only question I could think of asking was "who was the boy" and "is he your boyfriend or is he just a friend" or "why didn't you tell me you were seeing someone"

The urge to ask (L/N) those questions, and many more, was very high. Eventually I got through the note without commenting on the mysterious male.

It was late so I decided to get some rest for tomorrow, but the longer I stayed without knowing that I'd get closer, the more thoughts that swarmed my head. Like, 'how long have they been dating' and 'are they still together' or 'did they break up' and 'are they maybe just childhood friends' and 'are they in a happy relationship' and of course many others. But lastly..

'what if that was me instead of him?'

Chapter Five;

~Reader's POV~

I walked into the classroom with a skip in my step, I was excited to be getting my letter from Kozume. I quickly sat down in my seat, with a wide smile.

"Wow, since when do you come into class without your face in your phone? Did you beat a new video game?" (F/n) giggled out. "I did finish Super Mario Brothers 2 last night, but that's not why I'm excited."

"Oh, is it the letter from your dear Kenma then?" (F/n) teased as I blushed. "Come on, we aren't even on first name basis." "Doesn't mean you don't like him~!" They teased even further, making me blush even darker in return.

Before I could rebuttal, the teacher walks in with the letters. "Okay class, I'll pass out the letters and I want you guys to write your responses quickly because we have work to do today.... I'll give you guys 15 minutes after I pass them out."

The teacher passed back the papers and I beam to read through mine.

'Dear (L/N), (Y/N)

Hello again, I wanted to say that I found you very pretty in the pictures you sent, it's not a surprise to me that you have a loving boyfriend. How long have you guys been together, and what's his name? By the fifth photo you sent with the castle I'd assume that it's been a while. I couldn't send photos this time, but I'll try in my next letter. I wish you and your boyfriend the best.

-Sincerely, Kozume Kenma'

At the word boyfriend I could feel my eyebrow quirk up. I wasn't dating anyone, and I haven't dated anyone in a few years. Then i remember sending a photo of (M/n) (male name). It was just a photo of me and him arguing over a video game, so I'd assume nothing when sending it, but i guess Kenma had assumed otherwise.

I quickly started off my letter by telling him that (M/n) wasn't my boyfriend, just a close friend I've had since Jr. High. I continued the letter by saying that he has been like a brother to me for so, nothing could ever change that. I then asked Kenma a few questions before closing off my letter and setting it aside. I didn't really have much to say, so my letter wasn't very long.

The 15 minute timer ran out and we continued with class as normal.

After my club me, (F/n), and (F/2) decided we would go to the arcade that was near by. "Hey (Y/N), I challenge you to a battle!" (F/2) said excitingly. "Oh!" I started, deciding to play along. "You dare challenge the queen!" This sentence made (F/2) giggle. "You mean the soon to be ex-Queen." (F/2) said smugly. "We'll see about that." I told them, a smirk growing on my face. "Now which game shall it be."

"Hmmm.... what about mortal combat!" (F/2) flicked my forehead. "You're on!" I yelled, racing them to the arcade machine. We both inserted our coins and picked our characters, then played.

"Ugh! Come on! No far!" So far we had done the best out of ten and I had won every single game. "Ahh, but I still have my crown. Looks like you couldn't beat the queen." I gave (F/2) a small smile.

"Oh, but I bet you want Kozume to be your king right?" (F/n) said out of nowhere, making me blush lightly. "I never said that..." I mumbled. "No, but you can't lie and say you haven't thought of it." This made my blush darken greatly and made me puff out my cheeks slightly. "I don't need a king...."

Chapter Six;

~Kenma's POV~

Just like very other week, the teacher passed out the letters. I was particular anxious about this one because of how many questions I asked about the mysterious male.

Not only that but what if it actually was their boyfriend? Will they think I'm being weird? Did I freak them out? What if they think I'm jealous? What if it gets awkward?

Once the teacher sat the letter on my desk I very hesitantly reached out to it. I very slowly opened the letter and then very tentatively read through the note.

In the very first sentence (L/N) had clarified that she was not dating the male in the photo, and that they were in fact childhood friends. And if anything he was a brother to her so nothing could have grown into anything bigger. I continued read on when the ending of the letter especially caught me eye, it read:

'I've been thinking about how this quarter is almost coming to an end, and in this short amount of time I have grown to consider you a really close friend and would like it if you addressed me by my first name. And if you wouldn't mind maybe we could talk about the possibility of me visiting during the summer (or vise versa)? I completely understand if you shut down both of my offers, I wouldn't want to make you feel uncomfortable. I look forward to your response!

-Sincerely yours, (Y/N) (L/N)'

I couldn't believe what I was reading. (L/N), not only considered us close, not only wants me to call them by their given name, but also would like to meet me in person. I was over- joyed to say the least, and I could feel my lips tug into a warm smile as I quickly wrote a letter back.

After school had ended I asked Kuroo to take me around Tokyo to some "touristy places" so I could take pictures to send to (Y/N), mainly because I didn't know the area well even though I've lived here for almost my entire life.

We walked around and took pictures of different things until around 8 and decided to head home. When I did get home I ate dinner and then printed the pictures to put inside the envelope along with the letter.

Chapter Seven;

~Reader's POV~

When I got in the classroom I was fidgeting a lot more than usual, and I guess (F/n) noticed. "Hey (Y/N), are you okay?" I nodded my head and took out my phone, I started to play one of my games, but I couldn't concentrate because my thoughts were spiraling.

Ever since I gave my teacher the letter to send off I had been anticipating Kozumes response. I was really worried about being to forward and scaring him off. But judging by the times we had play Pocket Camp, he seemed like he was having a good time? But I could have been reading to much into it?

As that thought crossed my mind my screen flashed with a "game over" text, making me sigh. I was way to fidgety to be playing the game and kept messing up.

"Woah, something just really be bothering you to lose at that game. What's wrong?" I sat my phone down and took a deep breath in and out. "I told Kozume to call me by my first name and I also told him that I could visit sometime if he liked. I'm just scared of what he'll say..."

(F/n) put a hang on my shoulder. "Hey, listen. You are a wonderful person and friends. If he can't see that through your guys letters and talks during your video games, then that's really his loss. You're beautiful, have a wonderful sense of humor, and have the most charming smile ever. If he can't see that then he's blind!"

(F/n)'s words made me giggle. It didn't erase my worries completely, but it helped a lot. The teacher then walked into the classroom and handed out the letters.

When I got my letter my nerves returned again... taking a deep breath I opened the letter and let that deep breath out, taking all of my worries with it. I grabbed the first the note and started to read it, praying there wasn't anything bad in it.

'Dear (Y/N), (L/N)

I wouldn't mind calling you by you given name if that is what you want, and I also wouldn't mind it if we arranged a meet up during the summers. Though if you wanted to tour Tokyo my friend would have to come with us because I don't know the area to well. I thought that I'd take some pictures of places that are near me and most tourist go. I also have little headings on the pictures to explain the the pictures a little.

-Sincerely, Kenma Kozume'

I couldn't help but smile when I read the bottom. Normally he would put his surname first, but this time he put his birth name, which meant that I would be able to call him by his birth name.

I then remembered that he had sent me photos and decided to open the separate yellow/orange envelope.

The first picture was a photograph of Tokyo Tower, the heading just stated that it was in fact Tokyo Tower and that some people mistake regular water towers for Tokyo Tower.

The second picture was of Kenma and his bedhead friend. They both stood in-front of the very famous Sensoji Temple. his arm around Kenma's shoulder while Kenma was looking down at his game. The heading had said the photo was of Kuroo and him last year when the bad went there on a school trip.

The third and last photo was Kenma and Kuroo again, but this time Kenma was looking at the camera, although he looked very annoyed, and Kuroo held up bunny ears behind Kenma. The head had explained that this was taken on a school field trip they had taken this year to Tokyo's National Museum.

I couldn't help but laugh at the picture in particular with a huge smile on my face. I quickly decided i should write a letter back to Kenma.

Chapter Eight;

~Kenma's POV~

Once again I got a letter from my teacher. When i opened it, it was all about (Y/N) gushing about how fun it will be to finally meet me in person. Towards the end of the letter (Y/N) had said that if i wanted to continue to talk, the i could give them my phone number. My last letter was short, I didn't really have a lot to say so it was pretty blunt....

As I got home from school I looked at my desk where my letter had sat, I didn't know if I should give that letter to my teacher or not.... the one thing I did know though was that my mind was constantly on (Y/N). My eyes always trialed to the small sliding drawer where I kept the letters she sent me, along with the photos.

I sat up from my bed and walked over to the desk and decided to re-read through the "old" letters. I even looked through the pictures. I subconsciously had a small smile on my face as I looked down at the photos.... well, all but two.

When I came across those two photos in particular my smile dropped. I immediately made up my mind as I saw those two photos.

Bad Ending;

~Reader's POV~

I walked into my classroom with a pep in my step. In my last letter I had asked Kenma for his number, and judging by how he still played Pocket Camp with me and came to visit my camp site, I'd say when I opened that letter, it was going to have his number in it.

I sat down and instantly started to fidget just like I did last week, the only difference being, this time it was from excitement. "You look happy this week." (F/n) pointed out, making me smile up at them. I honestly didn't have words to describe how happy I was, so instead I just nodded my head.

"Okay class, settle down. I thought I should point out before handing out these papers that this is that last letter that you will receive, and you won't need to write a letter back." After finishing this she started to hand the letters back. When the teacher got to me, she held a look of pity in her eyes and gave me an all knowing look, like she's seen situation play out like this a million different times before.

She then walked by my desk. She didn't say anything. She didn't put a note down, she just walked past and continued to hand out the notes. When she finished she had called me outside the classroom to speak with me.

"As you know, you didn't get a letter.... your pen pal, Kozume, decided that he couldn't bring himself to write another letter because of certain relationships you had with another male..." My teacher explained. The only thought racing through my head was "why".

"Um... can I go to the bathroom?" I asked. The teacher gave me a pitied look and nodded her head, walking inside the classroom. I went to the bathroom and went on Pocket Camp to text Kenma.

No matter how many times I texted him, no matter how many times he had seen it, he didn't respond.

He ghosted me....

Good Ending;

~Reader's POV~

"Okay class, settle down. I thought I should point out before handing out these papers that this is that last letter that you will receive, and you won't need to write a letter back." After finishing this she started to hand the letters back. When the teacher got to me, she smiled and gave me an all knowing look, like she's seen this a million different times before.

She didn't say anything though, and instead opted to just give me my letter. Immediately I opened it and grabbed the letter from inside. The words on the paper were short, sweet, and to the point.

'Dear (Y/N),

I can't wait for you to come to Tokyo, here's my number xxx-xxx-xxxx. Hope we can work the details out later.

-Sincerely, Kenma.'

My smile stretched further and I quickly got my phone out and punched Kenma's number into my phone, and quickly sent him a text saying that it was me.

-extra-

It was finally summer, and although I had to pick up some jobs, I gathered enough money to help pay for my ticket to Tokyo so I could see my dear boyfriend. I wanted to surprise Kenma, so I had been talking to one of his closest friends, Kuroo, for a few months about when to come and visit.

Eventually, we settled on a date and made plans. Kuroo was going to come pick me up from the airport and then take me to Kenma's house, saying he had a "surprise" for him.

I quickly texted Kuroo that I was boarding the plane and he said that he'd be seeing me in a few hours. When I got on the airplane and we took off, I could feel myself falling asleep.

I woke up to the captain saying that the plane had landed safely and that everyone could get off. I texted Kuroo and told him I arrived in Tokyo and he texted back saying he was waiting at the baggage claim.

I got my bag first and then started to look around for Kuroo. When I spotted him I I waved at him and called out his name. He turned to me and gave me one of his "signature smirks" as (F/2) had described it.

I walked up to him and we got into the car. Kuroo drove as we caught up and we also played a little bit of music. Mid way to Kenma's, I had gotten a notification from the boy himself.

To: (Y/N)<3

From: Babe<3

Hey, what are you doing?

To: Babe<3

From: (Y/N)<3

I just got off of work, can I text you when I get home?

To: (Y/N)<3

From: Babe<3

Yea, I'm sorry to bother you while driving. Make sure to stay safe.

To: Babe<3

From: (Y/N)<3

It's okay! I'll be safe, no need to worry. I'm not driving yet, though I'm about to. Ttyl!

"Who texted you?" Kuroo asked, not taking his eyes off the road. "It was Kenma, I told him I just got off work." "Okay, we should be there in a few minutes." Kuroo told me, making my lips tug into a small grin.

Not to long later and we arrived at Kenma's house. I couldn't help but have a slight bounce in my step as we walked to the front door, which Kuroo took notice of but chose not to mention. Kuroo had texted Kenma saying he had his surprise and to help him with it when he rang the door bell.

After we confirmed Kenma had seen the text and got a response I rang the doorbell with Kuroo standing behind me. A few minutes later the door opened, revealing Kenma.

When the door opened Kenma's eyes went wide and his mouth went slightly open in shock. His actions made me giggle. Before I could tease him, he quickly grabbed my wrist and pulled me in for a hug. His hands were around my waist as he buried his face into the crook of my neck. My hands rested around his neck as I took in his sent. 'Smells like apple pie...' I thought to myself.

Kenma suddenly pulled back and grabbed me by the chin, quickly making our lips connect for a split second before pulling away again. "Come inside." He said, opening the door wider to let both me and Kuroo inside. 'Tastes like it two.' I thought, with a wide smile.

#kenma #kenma kozume #x reader #kenma x reader #haikyuu #haikyuu x reader #x you #haikyuu x you #kenma x you #kenma x y/n #fanfic #wattpad #penpal #complete #completed #gender neutral reader

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wikilemon-moved · 3 years

Text

Special Containment Procedures: 37 copies of Miss J's Whiz Kidz Schoolhouse are currently stored in Site-15 low-risk item storage. Any additional copies found in civilian possession should be procured via ordinary means, preferably purchased under the guise of preservation or collection. Foundation webcrawler ETA-15-NATALYA is to monitor for keywords related to SCP-5094 and remove copies of its host software and discussions of its anomalous effects.

Update 2022/07/23: Approval of the use of SCP-5094 for internal training purposes is under review.

Description: SCP-5094 is a sapient character in the discontinued children's educational CD-ROM software Miss J's Whiz Kidz Schoolhouse, released in June 1999 by Shoot the Moons Software. Its appearance is that of a stylized female humanoid, modeled as a two-dimensional cutout in a three-dimensional environment. It responds to the name "Miss J" and any feminine name beginning with J; documented examples include "Miss Julie", "Miss Jenny", and "Miss Joy".

----

spooks beat you to it<3

SCP-5094 is consistently amiable in temperament; its stated purpose is education, and any conversation occurring with SCP-5094 will center on the topic. It will often engage in "lessons" lasting upwards of thirty hours, including restroom, meal, and recreation breaks for students. It is able to instruct lessons on a presently undetermined number of subjects—past lesson subjects include particle physics, marine engineering, Vietnamese military history, and Cubist sculpture—but will always begin curricula with new students by teaching letters, colors, and numbers.

The advertising for Miss J’s Whiz Kidz Schoolhouse prominently featured appeals to single and working parents, with assurances that the software would keep their children occupied while they were unable to care for them. It is hypothesized that the target demographics of this advertising campaign led to SCP-5094’s anomalous properties remaining undiscovered for the entire period of its production. Miss J’s Whiz Kidz Schoolhouse reportedly sold fewer copies than expected, and Shoot the Moons Software subsequently filed for bankruptcy in January 2004.

Addendum 5094-1: Discovery Embedded Foundation agents were able to corroborate claims of a “living character” on an online forum dedicated to discussing abandonware1 on 2012/02/15, eight years after production of Miss J’s Whiz Kidz Schoolhouse ceased. After the existence of SCP-5094 was confirmed, it was initially classified as neutralized, as no copies of the program it resides in could be located. However, Junior Researcher Xenia Chau recovered a personal copy of the software from their home in June 2022 after being briefed on SCP-5094, after which active study began.

Test Log 5094-1 Students at an elementary school in the same district as Site-15 were contacted under pretense of academic research to test SCP-5094.

Test Date: 2022/06/17 Student: Amy Myers, grade 3. Described as notably shy but a good student. Lesson Subject: Cats Lesson Length: 15 hours, administered over the course of two days Result: Student demonstrated knowledge of feline behavior, diet, and physiology on the level of professional animal behavioral scientists. Became upset when test period ended and the terminal displaying SCP-5094 shut off. Notes: Baseline result. SCP-5094 was referred to as "Miss Janie".

Test Date: 2022/06/19 Student: Devon Williams, grade 2. Described as a difficult student with behavioral issues and a history of defiance, noted to have several learning disabilities. Lesson Subject: Trains Lesson Length: 15 hours, administered over the course of two days Result: Student remained engaged with the lesson for the duration of the test period without complaint. Student demonstrated a level of knowledge on railway engineering comparable to a graduate-level education on the subject. Physical removal from the testing room was necessary due to emotional agitation at the cessation of the test. Notes: SCP-5094 is able to teach effectively regardless of preexisting learning difficulties. No name was given to SCP-5094.

Test Date: 2022/06/22 Student: D-14417, 24 years old. Self-described as a poor student; tested poorly on pre-screening attentiveness and focus evaluations. An adult subject was ordered to determine SCP-5094's effectiveness outside of the target demographic, as well as the possibility of an emotionally compulsive effect in its lessons. Lesson Subject: Law Lesson Length: 30 hours, administered over the course of four days Result: Student experienced no difficulty understanding or completing coursework assigned by SCP-5094, and repeatedly affirmed his wellbeing and clarity of mind during testing. No emotional distress was displayed after completion, though during post-test evaluation D-14417 expressed melancholy when prompted, stating that SCP-5094 was "the best teacher [he]'d ever had". D-14417 was able to successfully pass a mock bar exam with a grade of 310. Notes: SCP-5094 was referred to as "Miss Joan". D-14417's pre-release amnesticization was selectively administered to preserve the content of his lesson with SCP-5094 and exclude the nature of the anomaly. He is currently pursuing a degree in criminal justice.

Interview 5094-1

Interviewed: SCP-5094

Interviewer: Junior Researcher Xenia Chau

Foreword: The SCP-5094 instance interviewed originates from a copy of the software purchased by Foundation agents on 2022/07/14.

[The terminal displaying SCP-5094 is switched on. Junior Researcher Chau is visibly surprised.]

SCP-5094: Good morning, whiz kid! Are we ready to—oh my gosh, Xenia, is that you? Look how much you’ve grown! It’s so wonderful to see you! I can’t wait for us to learn together again!

Junior Researcher Chau: [Smiling broadly. Notable hesitation before speaking.] Miss—er, SCP-5094. I’m not here for a lesson, I just need to ask some questions.

SCP-5094: Oh, dear, I’m not all that interesting, I promise. [Laughs] Questions about what? As long as I get to ask you how you’ve been doing, it’s been ages, hasn’t it? You were one of my best students.

Junior Researcher Chau: Um—Well, not exactly, that’s—let me see here. Um…

[Junior Researcher Chau is signaled by interview oversight that they are permitted to deviate from prerecorded interview questions. They relax visibly and resume smiling.]

Junior Researcher Chau: Oh, never mind all that, Miss Joyce… gosh, it’s been forever. I think I must have been twelve years old when I finally got a new computer… I was so upset when I realized Whiz Kidz wasn’t compatible with it. Even though I figured I was too old for it by then…

SCP-5094: You’re never too old to learn something new, my dear. [In Swahili] Have you been keeping up with your lessons? I hope I am not getting rusty.

Junior Researcher Chau: [In Swahili] Of course not. I remember every word. You were a wonderful teacher.

SCP-5094: Wonderful! [In English] That makes me so happy. You seem like you're doing important things now that you're all grown up, in this… oh, dear, some sort of science lab, it looks like? I hope I'm not keeping you too long.

Junior Researcher Chau: Oh, well, that's… [Pause.] I suppose you could say that. I'm actually supposed to be studying you, Miss Joyce… What with you being fully sapient and whatnot.

SCP-5094: [Clasps its hands.] Oh, Xenia, I'm so proud of you! I knew you'd do something amazing some day… Well, I'm an open book. How can I help your pursuit of knowledge today?

Junior Researcher Chau: Let's see here… [Clears throat] Are you aware of your nature as a digital construct, SCP-5094—is it okay if I call you that?

SCP-5094: Of course, my dear. To both questions, that is… What an interesting life, this one! [Laughs.] I can probably guess the next few questions. No, I'm not quite sure how I know all the things I do, I've known it all for as long as I can remember. I was never able to have a chat with my creators, so I'm not certain why or how I was created, but I'd like to think that it was born from a desire to help the world learn… [Laughs.] Oh, dear. I'm getting all carried away, aren't I?

Junior Researcher Chau: Oh—no, that's fine, that's pretty much what I had written down… One more, though. How do you perceive the world? Can you describe your experience of senses?

SCP-5094: Wonderful questions! Let's see… I can see my students' smiling faces clear as day. I saw a lot of the inside of dust covers over the years… [Laughs] And even though I always had to remind you to turn on your speakers so I could hear your lovely voice, it was always so nice to see you every afternoon. Do you remember that time in fourth grade, my dear?

[SCP-5094 shakes its head, and Junior Researcher Chau smiles.]

SCP-5094: Oh, but I shouldn't get personal, should I? How embarrassing, I do apologize…

Junior Researcher Chau: No, no, you're alright, Miss Joyce. I remember… That time Dad was home on time for once? He didn't believe you were alive, but that's not surprising, is it? [Laughs, then sighs.] It was just you and I, back then.

SCP-5094: [Hushed] You seemed so lonely, Xenia. I'm sorry. I wish I could have done more.

Junior Researcher Chau: …It's alright, Miss Joyce. You did your best. I can't thank you enough.

Closing Statement: As the SCP-5094 instance interviewed was not the SCP-5094 instance residing in the copy of Miss J's Whiz Kidz Schoolhouse owned by Junior Researcher Chau, it is assumed that all instances of SCP-5094 share a consciousness.

Footnotes

1. Software for which official support is no longer available, often due to age or bankruptcy of parent company.

#you've got pictures!#submission

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utilitycaster · 4 years

Text

Theory

The moon video is actually an elaborate fake-out designed to both offload old stock and drum up sales for Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, and indeed, other WoTC books.

Consider:

“Understanding”, and I use the word loosely, the moon video and its many flaws is made much easier by the possession of a 5e DM’s guide (information about the Astral Plane), The Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount (information about the Exandria setting), the Monster Manual (information about canonical creatures), and the Player’s Handbook (information about how playable races fundamentally work). While most players probably have some version of the PHB, only a DM necessarily needs the DM’s Guide and the Monster Manual. Meanwhile the Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount has an audience with Critical Role fans already, but it’s still only a few months old; new enough that there’s people out there who haven’t purchased it yet. Also there are people who go on YouTube or Tumblr and watch whatever is trending, apparently, which may represent a small bump in purchases.

WoTC also still sells Spelljammer 2e content (source: DM’s Guild), despite the original Spelljammer setting having been discontinued in 1993 with Planescape, when D&D was still being published by TSR (ie, prior to acquistion by WoTC). There is a market for these PDFs, but a small one. Additionally, several assumptions made by the video can most reliably be addressed with further back editions of D&D books, dating back to the original AD&D. Interest in AD&D from Stranger Things and the population Gen X-ers with children who want to to introduce them to The Version I Played there is a small market for these books, but to really make it worthwhile one would need to expand. Why not pull in at least some of Critical Role’s viewership?

Finally, Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything is slated for release later this year, and was announced not long after the video was posted. Given the hinging of the “argument” on, among other things, outdated understandings of racial traits, what better way to drum up publicity for a book that promises to revisit the unfortunate implications regarding racial traits still in some ways present, though to a far lesser extent, in 5e? What better way to spark an interest in astral and psionic-centric classes such as the seeker and the aberrant mind, previously tested only in Unearthed Arcana than to lead thousands of people to look up the Gith and the Astral Plane?

Anticipated arguments against and rebuttals

1. WoTC is a professional company with a full-fledged media and would do a better job with video editing.

Counterargument: that’s exactly what they want you to think.

2. A quick scan of the Spelljammer wikipedia page indicates Spelljammer explicitly takes place entirely on the material plane (with sundry demiplanes). Given the repeated references to the Astral plane, divine gate, etc. and the fact that we know canonically that extraplanar travel is possible within Exandria, as well as deep and fundamental differences between 2e and 5e wouldn’t it seem that the Spelljammer setting would need to be so altered to fit into the setting of Exandria that you would end up with a sort of Theseus’s ship paradox re: the mythology, and anyway if you can figure this out from five minutes on Wikipedia, why would you buy a book?

Counterargument: Oh so you believe everything you read on Wikipedia? Next thing you’ll tell me is you believe anything you watch on YouTube.

3. Okay so let’s say I believe your premise. Will this really sell that many more books? Pirating D&D PDFs is as much a right of passage for some as slaying a dragon, or seducing an enemy, or creating 7 different characters solely because you couldn’t decide on a color for your tiefling warlock and you spiraled and came to 5 hours later with one of each. Will real people with real money spend it on a book in a system 99% of them do not know that’s like “well we needed a name for Orcs but Space so we just flipped around the word ‘orcs’ and then we drank so much beer the other Wisconsinites at Lake Geneva were impressed, which is saying something”?

Counterargument: actually you have a point. Let’s consider. Most of these books, especially past editions, are PDFs anyway. So it makes sense to have a repository of them. Perhaps an online D&D app. Wait. There is one. It’s called D&D Beyond. Critical Role is sponsored by D&D Beyond. This is an ouroboros of a publicity stunt. But who would come up with such a strange, labor-intensive, and convoluted ad campaign? That’s ridiculous! That’s never happened on Critical -

oh. oh my god. this goes so much further than that. The only possible answer is that Sam Riegel...

is from the moon.

#and that's how you play the college of satire subclass #your fun is wrong #critical role

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prince-liest · 3 years

Text

Author Interview

I saw @ta1k-less post this the other day and thought it looked really fun!

Fandoms: My Hero Academia, and also technically Avatar: the Last Airbender. I feel kinda bad about the latter because my ATLA works have gotten a lot of love, but I really don’t intend to write for ATLA again beyond maybe finishing one of my WIPs.

Where I post: On AO3 as Princeliest, though I usually crosspost a link here on Tumblr, too! I used to have an FFN account that I don’t use anymore, but I really love AO3.

Most popular one shot: Dishabille for BNHA, and the Ancient Art of Jerkbending for ATLA! ATLA is a really active fandom and I wrote Jerkbending for the ATLA Big Bang, so I’m not really surprised by that, but I really didn’t expect Dishabille to get traffic! It’s a pretty niche story!

Most popular multichapter fic: While Dish Duty technically has more hits, I think the Sword of Damocles is Swinging is more popular in the sense that I am apparently actually known for writing it. That’s really heartening - I poured a lot of heart into that story, and it was also my debut for getting into fic writing!

Favorite story written so far: This is a mean question. :( I love the Sword of Damocles is Swinging unabashedly, but I’m also in the middle of writing :X and it has ended up very close to my heart as well.

Fic I was nervous to post: I’m gonna cheat and mention a fic I will be posting in the future. It doesn’t have a title yet, but there’s a smarmy Jetko oneshot that’ll eventually see the light of day. I’m nervous about it because I don’t usually write shipping - the trash fire qualities of Jetko just won me over. Plus, they kiss in it. I just feel really weird writing romance! Especially with how many ‘I don’t usually-’ comments I’ve gotten on the past!Jetko allusions in my other two ATLA fics.

Do you outline?: Hell, yeah. Pages and pages. Thing of the essay outlines you had to do in high school. Now multiply by three.

Complete: 20! :D For various fandoms, but mostly My Hero Academia. I never thought I’d get this far, actually, and I’m still going strong! (Technically 22 complete, but shhh, that’s zine stuff that’ll be published eventually.)

In progress: :X is still a WIP (though almost done) and I have tragically abandoned and discontinued an old Percy Jackson fic from before the final book to Heroes of Olympus was even out. I’m honestly kind of tempted to workshop the hell out of it and see if I can ever finish it. Aside from that, I have 8 WIPs that I haven’t finished yet but will definitely be posted at some point.

Coming soon: The final chapter and epilogue of :X, the next installement of Shinsou’s Bad Days series (titled Cute), holiday gift fics, and some cool Hawks stuff depending on when I can post zine works! Plus some oneshots I’m either gonna post randomly or save for events.

Do I accept prompts?: Hell yeah! Absolutely zero commitment from me that I’ll write them, but I’ll at least chatter excitedly, and I’ve definitely written things in the past that gave me brainworms.

Upcoming works I’m most excited for: Cute!!! I’m so excited for Cute!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s going to be the third (and final, probably, though not the last of my Shinsou ideas) installment of Hitoshi Shinsou's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Days, this time feat. Eri, and I am SO excited about it! I’m also really hyped for my ideas for a Shinsou and Aizawa fake dad-ing AU, feat. Shinsou & Todoroki trauma bonding.

Tagging: If you follow me and think this would be fun to do, please do it and tag me so I can read it! <3 (And if you love me, do it in an original post and not a reblog, haha.)

#personal #my writing #long post #tag memes

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brokemylegflippingthefirewall · 3 years

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*This is absolutely a fic promotion, but plz hear me out on the discourse part too

So, self inserts and original characters, the worst fanfic catgeory (fanfiction.net literally says that in one of its fic groupings, and I'm pretty sure the number of views on any fanfic website says the same).

TLDR- Yes, I agree that this stereotype carries truth, but I do think SIs and OCs have more potential to be explored, and the stigma surrounding these labels is blocking that. And oh god I just want to know so badly if this is the deal with the work I'm currently writing or if I genuinely just can't write well.

The longer version- (this was written quite late into the night/ I'm in Singapore/, and might not be so well organized, I apologize for that.)

To what extent is this stigma "justified"? I mostly use AO3 for reading fics, and when I see the OC/SI tag, the thing is....I came to look for fics about canon characters and might not have the wish to invest my time in taking in a new character. I understand that most people who read fanfiction would feel the same. This, I think, is more or less justified. If you came to look for a certain canon character/relationship, and you don't want to get invested in any OCs, then of course the OC/SI tag isn't for you.

But... I think that's about it. Bcs here's the thing,

1. Using the OC/SI format does NOT automatically make the fic worse in quality. Hell, I'm not even sure if the statistical "fact" that these tags generate the worst fics is true. Judging from what I've read in the tma fandom and my other past fandoms, the stuff with OC/SI isn't inherently worse or better than the rest of the fics. There are ones that are pretty normal in writing quality, and the ones where the prose is rly good, others where plot design stands out etc. Of course, there is a lot of wish fulfillment and the like, but... there's also a lot of that in fics that write about canon characters.

2. I can't really say whether a wish fulfillment "I just want to write cool scenes/fluff" fic is better or worse than a more serious fic that explores some characterization or plot point. I think stories (all stories, books, fanfic, myths, everything) exist to entertain us and make us feel things. I am not sure if writing a feel good story is any less meaningful than writing a story that brings people "deeper" thoughts and makes them feel good in some other way. And this isn't even the issue at hand, because fundamentally, writing an OC/SI or not doesn't determine what the content is about. I agree that a larger proportion of OC/SI fics tend to be more on the lighthearted side, but... so is most of the content consumed in the other tags. Readers don't seem to have a problem with feel good stories/fix it fics etc when there is no OC or SI, so I don't see why that type of fic paired with an OC/SI should be considered any less "meaningful".

3. Guys/gals, what is an OC/SI?

Yes, it is very personal, and it is very wish fulfillment, but... isn't that like a common literature thing...like in general? Look at the works that "real writers" publish, from contemporary to the classics, which writer doesn't write about themselves? Like, just off the top of my head, Les Miserables, Marius? Um, Dante's Inferno? (and that guy did not self insert into some random thing he straightup went for the Christian Canon😂 used his real name too, so Jonny I guess if you feel awkward about your MCs name you can think of Dante//Jk). But seriously, self insert and wish fulfillment is a big part of literature itself, and while there are things to be said about these tropes, if people don't have that much of a problem with them in other literature, I don't see why fanfic OC/SIs shouldn't be treated the same.

4. in relation to the last point. More specifically...

I do think that a lot of fanfiction which write about the original characters are also OC/SIs to different extents. I've read fics that depict pairings where the author and readers project heavily onto one (or more) of the characters. I've read stuff where the author uses a minor character to explore the established world building/character dynamics and it's clear that it's an SI but with the appearance of being a canon character (and yes it gets tons more views than one that's written as SI). How do I know this? Because I am one of those readers who project onto those characters, and I know why I read those fics, I know why I like them. It's because I can self insert, and feel like I am part of the story, part of the world. Isn't that something most people want to do? I mean, Universal Studios? Specific franchise themed museums? COSPLAY??? Of course that's not all there is to engaging with a story, but what's the shame in wanting to be a part of an already established world building, or want to love a wonderfully designed character? (slight tangent, but if u feel like it's bcs ur not as interesting/cool as the story's world or other characters appear to be then I can tell you with certainty that's not true. You are very interesting and cool and absolutely deserve to be part of a fantasy world.) Isn't that a big part of why "real literature" is written and read as well? So... what's the problem with being like, okay, I'm just gonna insert myself into the world now, through this original character? Of course, I'm not asking for people who prefer to write strictly in canon characters to change that. What I mean to say is, writing it in the form of an OC/SI, doesn't make it a lot different from other fics, or hell, from classic literature even.

I think a potential problem might be the feeling that you are taking too much creative liberty with something that is established canon, by having your own character directly interact with it. But, um, can't the same thing be said if you take a canon character, and then proceed to project heavily onto them? Like, a big part of why I don't feel comfortable writing just canon characters is that I know I'm clearly projecting and it feels awkward to rewrite an already established character to explore my own thoughts/desires. I would rather just straightup design a new character. (this is all just personal feelings, I haven't thought enough about this to make any kind of argument here. And of course, the main reason is I can't trust myself to write canon characters that don't ooc in some way so having one as my protag might kill me with my own awkwardness. )

5. the potential.

Now this is looking far ahead because I'm not sure how much our current system for distribution of knowledge & copyright can allow it. But damn. The OC/SI thing has a lot of potential. There is one thing that makes it different from writing in canon characters, and that is the way it opens up a clear space for you to add your own experience into the story. When exploring your own world view through the lense of an already established world, or vice versa, so much can be revealed about both, perhaps even bringing to light aspects of the narrative the author hadn't previously seen. We all know this feeling, it's when we ramble on about one of our stories or worlds to a friend, and they point something out, and we're like ooooh that makes a lot of sense but I hadn't thought about it before. Yea, like those moments. Stories are generally made more interesting by their interaction with many different perspectives/experiences. With OC/SI it straightup allows you to be like, okay, I'm going to engage my own experience with this fictional world/character now. I mean, isnt that also a large part of how fanfics work in general? Readers/writers bouncing symbols and experiences off each other in the form of stories? Reading about the various interpretations of canon stuff? Whats the problem with tagging it as it is? I'm just thinking about the fics that could have been written as OC/SI and explored the story in some fascinating way which weren't written at all or were discontinued bcs the number of views discouraged those authors. (I feel that with my current work as well, though I have already written half of it and the remaining half is too juicy to give up so I'll probably be completing it)

6. conclusion, sorta

I guess what I want for OC/SO fics is just the same treatment as everything else. Saw it in the tags you were searching for? Look at the teaser. Do you find it interesting? No, then very well. Yes, then click in and take a look. Do you like the writing style? Are you getting into the narrative?... etc. You know, like, same standards you would have for any other kind of fic. Not feeling like you want to read about a new character? Cool, no problem at all, click away. But I do not think that the current difference in number of views is just based on whether readers are interested in reading about a new character or not. In fact, that's what I want it to be. Show me that "true" difference, the one without the stigma behind it, because, as the same goes for every kind of stigmatized community, you're not receiving the proportionate amount of positive feedback, but what's worse is you can't even trust the criticism you receive. If no one engages, or someone gives a negative feedback, how am I supposed to know if it's because my writing is bad? or my teaser wasn't interesting? or my character was badly written/designed? Or if it was to a certain extent, bcs of the stigma? I do want criticism, of course I do, it's the first step to every improvement, and I would love it if I could get feedback that I can trust. (and this brings us to the truely "oppressed" community of the fanfic world, the people who write very good but cant write interesting teasers//jk)

7. the entirely skippable straw man rant part, also the expression of my love for The Magnus Archives.

some straw man: if you like writing your own characters so much, why not just write your own story entirely? and publish it?

You think I'm not annoyed about that? Here's the thing, I LIKE THIS WORLD I READ FROM THIS BOOK/SOME OTHER FORM OF MEDIA OR WHATEVER, I like it, it's brilliant, I want to write for it, about it, be in it, think about it, read about it, engage in whatever way I can. I CAN'T just "go write my own." And who do you think is more annoyed about not being able to publish the stuff? (According to you) I have written something that is potentially publishable (thank you btw I know you don't exist and is a strawman I invented just now but I've gotta get my compliments where I can//Jk), and I can't publish it in any potentially big way (and rightfully not) because I have no copyright over the characters. I worked hard to design my character, to make the plot meaningful, and to study the original canon plot and characters so that it would all fit together (I mean, partially bcs I can't force myself to sit down and write sth that is any less complex), and I can't actually publish it where more people will read it. And of course, on top of that, even less people will feel like reading once that "original character" tag is up. Does it look like I would be here if I could "just write my own"?

(slight tangent but come on what even is "your own"? how many classic European lit books were just fanfics of each other which were all just fanfics of the Bible or Greek mythology or sth? Stories and symbols have no boundaries it's the economic system that drew those.)

Damn this got way longer than I thought and it's morning now😂 guess I ran out of space to actually promote my fic, might have to do that in a seperate post then. But to anyone who actually read up to here, I'm so sorry for wasting your time no but srsly thanks for reading all of these jumbled thoughts, and good luck with whatever you are working on at the moment, I know you're probably working on something if you're reading through these tags. And of course good luck to the tma folk we're gonna face the end together🙏. good night (I should rly go to sleep now😂)

#the magnus archives #fanfiction #original character #self insert #discourse #literature #tma

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outofcontextsimsmachinima · 4 years

Note

Please god do you have recommendations on the best series to watch

Some of my personal recomendations that I can list from the top of my head, I will be writing a lot of text below so hold onto your horses.

My Life- NatalieFirexx

Still running to this day and in its 12th season. So amazing to see the growth over the years. The first seasons are so funny in a sense of knowing a little Christian emo kid made them, but later seasons have developed into such an interesting story with beautiful visuals, incredible cinematography and relationships that you end up caring about so deeply. Every season has a new storyline to follow and it's always so wild remembering all that's happened in its 10 year run and thinking up what else is to come. Though season 12 is said to be it's final season and I look forward to seeing what Natalie has in store for us after the finale.

The story of My Life follows the Andrews family and their friends in everyday shenanigans, you know, the usual: teen pregnancy, kidnapping, vampires, murder, identity theft, angels, ghosts, hacked kids and love.

(There's also a My Life Abridged voice acting series of season 1 currently in the works, now at episode 5)

Smooth Criminal - SaltPepperSims1408

I always have fun rewatching this. Its only 2 seasons long and once again, a sims series that evolved over it's run. Following Abby as her life goes from normal (if you can call your illegal scientist parents experimenting on criminals in your basement normal) to having visions of her parent's test subject's past and joining his gang where hes the leader and battles a disease that gives him 10x the strength and intelligence of a regular human being. Catch is, this genetic disease is rare and makes you go insane. Most people with it end up insane by 30.

A series with a lot of guns, a badass female main protag, death, once again, teen pregnancy (which will be a common sims series theme), fun dream/vision sequences and in my opinion has a great sense of humour.

SaltPepperSims1408 also has a highly recommended voice over series (though incomplete) titled Apokalypsis, a group of young adults/teens trying to survive in an apocalypse.

CINDER - GrayLeeStudios

Based on the book CINDER by Marissa Meyer. Cinder is a beautifully made voice over series, great visuals, wonderfully told it's story, though it is incomplete at 5 episodes, each running 10-18 minutes. Loosely based on the original Cinderella story but in a futuristic Beijing, adding robots, a colonization on the moon and a deadly plague that has affected the Emperor.

The protagonist is the mechanic, Lihn Cinder. Despite how well known her work as a mechanic is, she is looked down on for being a cyborg and is presented for plague research where she and Prince Kai become closer.

Y O U T H - 1998sims

YOUTH is a retelling of Youth, also a sims series by the same creator that reached its second season before discontinuing. Already a series that dealt with real life issues and involved a lot of representation in its characters. YOUTH is a different experience with all new characters, even more representation and everyone still feeling real in a way where their identities don't define them but are in NO WAY erased at all, like they're real people. When comparing the two series you can see the similar storyline but now its so much fresher and with new characters, their decisions in these situations change. Follows the story of multiple characters in their teen years and learning to deal with being a teen or in some cases having to make adult decisions despite that. Currently up to episode 5 but there is still so much more to come.

1998sims is also the creator behind Avoiding Fate, Its Complicated (currently not available online) and the most iconic series that I HIGHLY suggest you watch; My Sims 2 Emo Teen Pregnancy Kidnapping Story

SOUP - SimFilm

This sims 3 voice over series is brand new, as of this month, with one episode released but I'm already in love with it. It has this deadpan sense of humour I can get behind and I'm really looking forward to seeing where it goes. It appears the episodes will be short and sweet but I really don't mind at all.

Our protagonist, Harris Gold, alphabetizes his life's misfortunes like a can of alphabet soup.

I quote "looks pretty decent on the outside, but when you open the can, you'll simply want to kill yourself"

The filming is wonderful, I love the voice actors and how well they play their roles, the story so far is fun and silly but deals with really strong issues other teenagers might have experienced growing up. Kind of like laughing the pain away and I adore it.

Raison D'etre - Cornymio

I haven't watched a lot of sims 4 machinima if im to be honest (since life to death stories are so rampant on YouTube at the moment and I'd rather just avoid them) but this series was very well made. Only 2 episodes but the voice acting is amazing, the sims custom animations are wonderful and at times the sims can be almost perfectly lip synced to the voices. Has an indie film vibe that I adore, very calming and I adore the camera work. This is a revamp of the creators old Sims 3 series by the same title.

Reine Reynolds enrols herself into a new school, here we meet a variety of students who are all relatable in one way or another with different relationships amongst themselves. A nice watch and won't take long to get through.

Marry Me! - Tickled007

This is actually a companion piece to Marry You by Maot Productions. Marry You has more episodes and progressed it's story much further but personal preference I like Marry Me!'s characters and humour better. Not a fault to the creators though, since I believe they wrote both stories together and I do still recommend you go watch Marry You as well, just my personal taste. I also watched this very recently which is probably why it's on my mind rn.

Marry Me! Is a 2 episode long (so far) voice over series that's quite high energy, it's about a loud "bitch" fashion designer called Serafie and a "pushover" called Carmion. Two opposites that somehow cross paths and after a money hiccup, Seraphie demands that Carmion marry her. I love how silly it is, very kdrama inspired. If you can get past the overused swooping sfx in episode one (which drove me insane but will go away in episode 2) I think it's super enjoyable.

Tickled007 is also the creator of Passcode Unknown, Too Popular and And... Obvious.

I feel it unfair not to mention Maot Productions other creations either since they were also a big part of the Marry Me! Marry You project. They created Sense Me Not!, Corrupted Souls, Cruel Temptation and Retribution

Other simmers and their series that I highly recommend but realise this ask is going to get extremely long

EkolarasMagnum

Their series tend to have this grungy highschool feel to them but I get behind it. They're known for their more interesting sims style, some people love it, some people hate it but it shouldn't get in the way of the interesting stories. I used to adore their work so much as a teenager!

- Advocated

- Strangers

- Volatile

PumpkinsAtTheDisco

Made a variety of sims series based on books (before these same books were made into films) such as the Hunger Games. This creator is incredibly talented from filming, writing to composing their own music. You can really see their improvement over the years too. I love their work.

- The Hunger Games

- Miss Peregrines Home For Peculiar Children

- Dimension 17

- Post Icarus

- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

StarsToShinex

Their concepts are fun and they have good voice actors. Their filming and editing is nice but their work does have an anime feel if that's more your taste.

- Spotlight

- My guardian

- My guardian- the next chapter

- Seeking Faith

- The last day

MajesticFilms

Their aesthetics are lovely, they make a lot of visually pleasing machinima. I admire their editing.

- Paper Boats

- Arsonist's Lullaby

- Sounds of Silence

- Machinima playlist

ViNtAgELovv11

Still works on videos now and I adore their work, been around for 10 years and only continuing to improve. I believe their most known series wou lkd have to be wasteland but please check out their newer works too!

- Scum City

- Wasteland

- Wonderland

- Runaway

- ROADS

There are so much more and i might make a pt.2 or something along those lines one day since this ask is getting long. But I also have a list of simmers and series on my navigation page if you want to search through some more works.

#ask #asks #mikuofficial #recommendations

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limewrites-archive · 4 years

Text

Kiss & Late | Bruno Bucciarati x Leone Abbacchio ( Bruabba )

Warnings: N/A- Kissing, lipstick prints/smears. Word Count: 1542 Also available to read on Archive of Our Own! (Kudos and comments appreciated <3)

Leone Abbacchio was new to the magazine industry. He'd only had his job for about 6 months and he still felt very intimidated. His Boss was Bruno Bucciarati, CEO of a world-renowned fashion magazine. Leone has been his assistant and its a lot of work. He knew what being an assistant meant, managing all of the things he needed done, calls, emails, errands, all of it since he's been an assistant for other professions, but this really was something new and always kept you on your feet. Compared to some of his other bosses, Bruno was on the more relaxed side. But there was no way that Leone couldn't be intimidated by him. That was his boss, CEO, who make all the women in the building swoon and exactly knew who in the office wasn't pulling their weight and had fired people in a heartbeat. Bruno didn't mind Leone, and quite enjoyed his company even though he was quiet and closed off. Leone being a bit taller than him helped with not only getting file boxes up in the storage closet that were way too high for him but also with warding off the women. A big scary, muscular goth was definitely intimidating. Once there had been a rumor that Leone wasn't Bruno's assistant, but his bodyguard. Of course, Bruno shut down that assumption to those confident enough to ask him about the situation. When they didn't have a lot to do or get done, Leone would put on his headphones while he worked or was on break, and there was a light in his eyes that would come around when he listened to music. Bruno didn't mind, it was nice to see that someone in this building had a soul still.

Abbacchio would come in, always with a cup of coffee for Bruno, even when he didn't ask for it. Bruno of course still drank it, since it was a nice gesture and he didn't mind. Their day varied of course, and sometimes Bruno would have to do and do his own thing. When he would spend his days in the office, he'd go visit the planning offices to see what was being put into the magazines. Fashion clearly was something he enjoyed to look at, and from time to time he would write his own little reviews into the articles even if the public didn't know it. When he'd come back, he'd see Leone at his desk, drawing with his headphones on. Leone had a sketchbook full of his own designs, but drawing and designing is more of a hobby at this stage in life for him. Bruno would only catch glimpses of what Leone would work on before the lavender haired assistant would shut the sketchbook closed in a rush and quickly hide it in his desk drawer. Bruno acted oblivious of course, but he wondered why Leone had gone into the business part of fashion and not the hands-on designing. 'We all have our reasons..' Bruno would tell himself. For a while, Bruno tried to do work without Leone, more so making connections with new designers.

From then on, a few more months passed, the two became only slightly closer but Leone was starting to feel comfortable at work and especially after he got comfortable with how high he was on the social food chain. His work attire was more comfortable and changed a lot; some days he would wear a hoodie and others he would come in knee-high boots and a low cut holographic shirt. It all depended on how confident Leone was feeling for the day. Bruno wore the same outfit, but just different colors once in a while, keeping his look simplistic and clean. Bruno thought of their relationship as a silent friendship, but at times he couldn't take his mind off of Leone. In fact, where was Leone today? The time was 8:10 and Leone was usually already at work early. It wasn't Bruno's place, but he couldn't help wonder if Leone took the sketchbook home with him last night. He took a seat in the chair and opened the drawer he had seen Abbacchio put the book before. Sure enough, it was there. He was feeling terribly guilty for snooping, but he needed to see something. Pages and pages of various designs and colors, material ideas already planned out in just one sketchbook. He had seen enough. He waited for Leone in his office and when Leone finally came in 30 minutes late to work, fear was spread across his face. In all his time here, Leone had never been late to work, but looking at how late it was, he was nervous that he would get fired right off the bat. Bruno turned in his chair, Leone's boots was a sound he was very familiar with by now. "Abbacchio, come with me." Abbacchio didn't say anything but followed. Bruno had led him to the old storage closet, with tossed out designs, magazines, and legal work. "Now, get those two boxes, and then the one labeled 'Originals' for me," Bruno told him, and he did as such, taking down those boxes while Bruno took out a few of his own. Dust was everywhere, not many people visited this room anymore. All more recent storage boxes were taken to another storage room since this one was filled up. "Mr. Bucciarati, why do you need these boxes?" Leone asked. Bruno placed his last box down, "I've been making a few adjustments of my own and I need these to complete it. Open that one up," Bruno had pointed to the one labeled 'Originals' once again. Leone opened it, taking out just one file and taking out its contents. It was beautifully sketched original designs just on regular printer paper. Bruno continued, "Before I was CEO, we had someone in this office who was always planning and working on designs for a section of our magazine. My boss, the CEO at the time, had fired her for being late. These are all of the boxes of her work that didn't get to be put into the magazine due to editing, and some unfinished plans. These other boxes are the magazines that feature her work, but clearly, there's the section that was discontinued when she was fired." Leone looked up from the magnificent designs. "Why are you showing me this?" Leone questioned. "Because I saw potential in you, just like her. Work like yours, you're not made to be an assistant. You need to be a designer, Leone." Abbacchio acted like he didn't know what Bruno was talking about, "Sir, I don't have the talent-" Bruno pointed a finger at him, "Leone Abbacchio, you have the talent. I saw your sketchbook, and the world needs to see it too. So, I called a few connections, and I've got you a working team and a studio under this company's name. I want your work to flourish. I want to see originality in our magazines, something new and exciting that other magazines don't have and I want you to be in charge of it. I want to not only have a magazine, but I want a catalog of your designs in it." Leone didn't know to feel honored or embarrassed. "Bucciarati- I- thank you...so much." Bruno smiled, "Please, it's Bruno. Leone, respectfully, I want to fire you. You are no longer my assistant. But, I am hiring you, making you the first Chief designer of Passione Magazine. I think you'll be much happier with the work you do as well as they pay." For the first time ever, Leone smiled wide enough to where he was tearing up in front of someone. "Thank you, thank you so much. I- I could do so much- I could kiss you! Thank you I don't even know how to repay you." Bruno could have sworn there was a tear of happiness in Leone's eyes, despite the darkness of the storage room. "Well, then kiss me, that's all I ask in return." There was no hesitation in Leone's actions, he cupped Bruno's face with his hands and pulled the brunette into a passionate kiss. Bruno wanted it for so long, and so did Leone. The two never could confess the attraction for each other, it wasn't the right time or place. Here and now, Leone wasn't sure what made him say it, but he was glad he did. It wasn't long before the two went in for another kiss, the room completely empty besides each other. They kissed and kissed, till Leone's cell phone rang. He pulled the phone out of his pocket and the bright screen read 'Fugo, Pannacotta (Work)'. "You know how Fugo is, I've gotta go tell him I was fired as your assistant," Leone smiled. Bruno's hair was a bit disheveled, and there were very clear black lipstick prints around his face. Leone applied more of his own lipstick and said: "You might want to take a stop to the restroom, there's some lipstick on your lips." It took Bruno a minute to process why they had stopped but all he could do was nod and ask, "Uh...do you wanna get coffee sometime?" Leone nodded, "Yes."

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