#at least it gets an update phew

[hyocherie]

[the stage is mine] finally gets an update ! it's actually just chapter one, but it's now edited and has new scenes added to it

#wow its been a while #two months? wow seiji wow #at least it gets an update phew #now love me back and house of hards #i have been working on them for a month now and still #let batman do his work pls #hyocherie #tokyo revengers #inc0rrect1stgenblackdragons #sano shinichiro #imaushi wakasa #shinwaka #wakashin #whisper of the heart #amasawa seiji #tsukishima shizuku #ao3

[straycalamities]

so for some Reasons, the same reasons zombinoslayer is on indefinite hiatus, i have a question on like. Say there is a Truffula Flu-oriented plot, story. Y'know a narrative. Coming up, but the way it's being made is basically prose-based, how would you prefer to see that formatted onto a tumblr askblog/archive thing?

it does deal with two characters and two characters only (so far?)

rp-style is out of the question because of editing reblogs being killed

but...i have a few thoughts, but i'm not sure which one people would like to read and digest the most

for more clarity on what i mean with terms/styles: click under the readmore

when i say "prose-style" i mean it's written like a novel. it's 3rd-person limited and past tense.

The sun was baring down hard on Mikey's back as he trudged down the sidewalk. He drug his feet, pose hunched. Why did he have to run out of eggs on the hottest day of the year?

when i say "script-style" i mean that it's written how you would read the script for a show or a play. this is how i treated zombinoslayer's big scenes. it'd have progressive images for each action/dialogue, wherever i deemed an image needed/important

Mikey: [The sun is bright and harsh. He is walking down the sidewalk. He looks exhausted.] Why did I have to run out of eggs on the hottest day of the year?!

and when i say comic, well, that's obvious. i'd do my best to translate everything as well as i can into something that is heavily image and dialogue based that has comic frames and such.

pros and cons of all these being:

prose pros (lol): it keeps all of the character's inner feelings, struggles, and thoughts and even some motives out and easier to see, which with these scenes and with how these characters are, might be important or even very enlightening for people i also don't have to draw as much because i would only be illustrating significant parts and to make the posts look more appealing/interesting. thus updates would happen more frequently. easier to plug into a translator if english isn't your first language the images would be illustrations i'd actually put effort into since there would be so few of them

prose cons: it'll be a lot more reading overall less left to interpretation, i guess? less pretty pictures? it takes a lot more cerebral energy in some cases to take in prose and turn it around in your mind i just get that for some people, they don't like walls of text. like i, for one, have gotten very bad at reading so i get it

script pros: more pictures to look at then prose-style scenes move by more quickly and smoothly, everything focuses more on actions and interactions so maybe things are easier to digest than prose-style still translator-friendly updates still more frequent than comic-style, but less frequent than prose-style most likely full-color images. may or may not have a bg in every image (just think zombino-slayer style? but i might not render every time either like i did there because that was..phew..that took a lot out of me)

script cons: more images to draw for me the format might be wonky to some none of those inner thoughts/monologues, a lot of depth and inner feelings/struggles/references made in the characters heads are left out. it all focuses on the external with hints to the internal left to expression, body language, and dialogue and the reader's own bias/experience

comic pros: ALL THE PICTURES YOU COULD WANT! everything's images! if you're most comfy with reading comics or manga already, you'd dig this (obviously) the least reading and it's all together in one image (well multiple) very easy to soar through and take everything in since the focus is on images and dialogue Only (maybe narrative notes or thought boxes when really important) easiest to share i'd think? and easiest to get a feel for what's going on in a scene without having to study and/or think too hard about it

comic cons: oh my god all that drawing...updates would be slow as molasses tbqh.. unless i decided to do manga-style aka B&W or limited grayscale/monochrome. even then though again, everything internal would be left to the hints you'd get from the external i could give with imagery, panel-shape, dialogue, and such not translator-friendly (i know there's the google image translator, but i'd be handwriting the text (i just like how it looks best) and it's not always friendly to handwriting)

--

as far as specifics for each style, we'd work that out once one is picked

other notes: i do think i'm a pretty strong prose-writer, but i also think i'm a pretty strong comicsmith. so i don't think it's really up to what i'd, personally, be able to pull off best with the skills i own :3 (and i mean script-style is the most simple of the three. and i've already done it. it'd be almost identical to zombinoslayer. and it'd be most similar to Camp Entre's rp-style i think? even though Camp Entre was much more dialogue-based than anything else

i know i haven't uploaded too much of either, especially my writing, but trust...i'm pretty good at it. at least that's what people tell me.

#truffula flu #yeah ill tag it #polls #share this around if you want #i want a wide opinion

[razorblade180]

Jealous Knight Shade

For context, some of yall might remember this story. It’s really old and I just found out a tumblr update completely ruined the format and wouldn’t let me fix the og post. So I had to completely re structure, add, and edit it as a new post.

[Jaune’s Dorm]

Radio:Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen! It’s a beautiful sunny day completely with a slight breeze and temperatures in the mid seventies. Perfect for the Vale concert!!! *clicked off*

Jaune:*jean shorts and a muscle shirt* I am sooooo pumped for this concert. The lights, the food, but most importantly….

Blake:*in the bathroom getting ready* The one….the only…….Jaune and

Blake: Casey Lee Williams!!!

Jaune:Gods I can’t wait any longer! Blake, how much longer are you gonna take? We’re gonna end up looking wasted anyways.

Blake:I at least want to start the day off looking somewhat presentable. I never been to a concert before; honestly never expected to go to one.

Jaune:Really? I guess it’s a good thing you met someone who always gets tickets with the best view possible!

Blake:I still can’t believe you’ve met her before! I hope I get the chance to as well.

Jaune:That won’t happen as long as you’re in the bathroom. We still gotta catch the flight! (Actually we’re ahead of schedule, but Yang and Sun don’t need to know I’m hanging with Blake alone. A blonde war is the last thing I need.)

Blake:I’m ready! *walking out* how do I look?

Jaune:It’s about ti-*Blake in a purple crop top and black high waisted ripped shorts. Black ankle high converse and some wristbands*

Blake:*nervous* Well..? I knew it was gonna be a little hot out all day; plus I never get the chance just to dress casual.

Jaune:*red* You look good! Like really good; wait that sounded weird. I mean you know…you……it’s nice.

Blake:*giggles* Thanks. I’m guessing you’re ready?

Jaune:Uhh Yeah! *hands her a water bottle* concerts can get exhausting for her. *puts on a string bag* I got a few other things in here since it’s an all day thing.

Blake:Well isn’t someone prepared?

Jaune:I’m a veteran at these sorts of things.

Blake:Then I guess I’m in your hands then; let’s go. *starts walking away*

Jaune:*watching her walk away* …….. *sips water* I am not ready for today…

[Airship]

Jaune:*leaning forward* If I die right now Blake, tell my ghost about the concert.

Blake:Why would you get Airship tickets if you get air sick?

Jaune:It’s the fastest way. Too much traffic on the road and I’m sure you want to get there as soon as possible.

Blake:You don’t have to go that far for me. *leans in a bit* you look like you’re turning green.

Jaune:You say that and get closer to me?

Blake:*leans back* that could’ve been bad. Last thing I need is vomit on me; especially my hair.

Jaune:About that…*points to her bow* you can take that off since we’re off campus. Honestly I doubt anyone at our school is even gonna show up.

Blake:Yeah but….I just want to have a normal day.

Jaune:You’re more normal with it off to me.

Blake:*red* That’s nice to know. Besides my team you’re the first to say that. Thanks…

Jaune:That’s what friends are for. *leaning back* Phew, I think the worst has passed.

Blake:That’s good… *takes off bow and leans on him* glad you’re feeling normal too.

Jaune:*redish* Yep, things are just…. normal between us. Completely…..normal.

[A long airship ride later]

Jaune:*stretching legs* I’ll never get used to how long this trip is. My legs still feel *Blake runs passed him* asleep…..

Blake:*Looking at the venue* Wow….*it's basically like Coachella*

Blake:There’s so much of it, we'll do everything! It’s almost a little overwhelming. *ears wiggling*

Jaune:*Smiles don’t take it all in at once; you’ll go mad. First things first *pats her stomach* food.

Blake:I had half a mind to claw you just now. *stomach rumbles* but you’re right…

Jaune:Let’s go then, pizza is always a safe bet. *starts walking* I’m pretty sure it’s to our right.

Blake:Uhhh you might want to try left.

Jaune:Huh, really?

Blake:*points to her ears* I can hear essentially everything around here. I here grills to our right, and oven timers to the left.

Jaune:Blake….you’re amazing. Do you know how much of a maze this place can be!?

Blake:It’s no big deal. Still, there’s a lot of people here. I bet there’s a line for food.

Jaune:I can deal with that as long as I know where I am going.*grabs her hand* Let’s go!

Blake:Wait just a- *gets pulled onlookers staring at them*

Blake:Uh, I think people are staring at us.

Jaune:*looking around* I…think you’re right.

Blake:*folds her ears* I thought you said people wouldn’t care about my ears?

Jaune:*pulls out his hoodie and puts it on Blake. It goes down to her hips* Believe me, it’s not your ears. *starts walking behind her.

Blake:? *realization* Ohhhhh *red*

Jaune:Just ignore them and you’ll be fine.

Blake:I’ll try.

Stranger:*whistles* I think this is the first time I cat called a pretty kitty. What do you say about being with a dog?

Blake:Sorry, I’m not a fan of mutts.

Everyone:Ooooooohhhhh!

Stranger:What was that you little-

Jaune:*wraps arm around her waist* Walk away while you can dude. She may be the Faunus but I’m the one who bites.

Blake:*red* (That’s hot; why did it sound so hot!?)

Stranger:…..*stomps off embarrassed*

Jaune:I swear this place is awesome. Some people are just hot heads.

Blake:It’s alright! (He smells nice) Uhh maybe you should keep your arm around me. Just to be safe.

Jaune:Sure *starts walking happily*

Blake:(How did he do that!? Intense one second and happy the next!?)

Jaune:Wanna get some drinks?

Blake:We can’t buy any.

Jaune:*pulls out two fake IDs* I mean....Blake:......Have you always been this much of a rebel?

Jaune:I like to have fun when I can and I want to show you a good time.

Blake:*pondering* You know this is illegal.

Jaune:So is terrorism

Blake:Can’t argue with that; let’s get wasted!

Jaune:Yeah!!!!!*12 hours later*

Blake:*wakes up in a random bed* Ugh my head. Where am I? *sees she’s not wearing a shirt* What did I do!? Who did I do!?

Jaune:*laying on a couch* Look whose awake. *throws her aspirin* btw you slept with no one and this is Casey’s tour RV.

Blake:I met Casey!?

Jaune:You don’t remember?

Blake:.....No!

Jaune:We drank, the show started and we started singing your favorite song…

Blake:From Shadows is underrated.

Jaune:Yes it is. After that some more people started flirting with you and one grabbed your butt. After that I hit him and Casey had her roadies kick him out. She then proceeded to buy everyone drinks....

Blake:God she is a national treasure.

Jaune:After that we got to go back stage where I introduced you two and you turned into a total fangirl. You wanted an autograph but then you passed out and now we’re here.

Blake:That’s it?Jaune......[Last night backstage]

Jaune:*slightly buzzed* Blake, this is my good friend Casey.

Casey:Hello! Nice to meet a fan; also an old friend. *goes to hug Jaune*

Blake:*thoroughly drunk* Excuse me miss Williams! *grabs his arm* But he is taken!

Jaune:Uhhh what?

Casey:*snorts* What?

Blake:This man *hic* right here....is mine! He spent the whole day showing me an absolute great time! *rubs his chest* I intend on repaying the favor tonight.

Jaune:*bright red* You’re drunk Blake....

Blake:Drunk off of your love hehehe *almost falls over*

Jaune:*lifts her over his shoulder* I’m sorry for her. She’s usually super chill.

Casey:I believe it. Maybe I’ll get to meet her with less fireball in her system.

Blake:.....You have a cute butt Jaune. Not as cute as mine but still pretty nice.

Casey:*laughing*

Jaune:Oh boy....do you mind if we crash in your RV? I don’t think she’s quite travel ready.

Casey:No problem, *autographs an album and puts it in his bag* I figure she would want a souvenir.

Jaune:Thanks *turns around and walks away*

Casey:*waves* Bye Blake!Blake:I will fight you for him. You may be amazing but I call dibs! He’s getting laid tonight!

Jaune:You are going to bed!

Casey:*hysterical laughter*

Jaune:*puts Blake on the bed* Sleep!

Blake:Awww but I’m not tired. *takes off her shirt* Maybe you can fix that for me.

Jaune:(Why can’t this happen when we’re sober?) Blake go to sl- *pulled into her arms*

Blake:Come oooooon! I promise it’ll be fun.

Jaune:You’re drunk Blake, that makes it wrong.

Blake:Terrorism and Fake ID’s are wrong.

Jaune:I mean you’re not wr- no! *pulks himself free* Bed, now!

Blake:Fine, we’ll just do it in the morning. *passes out immediately*

Jaune:*flops onto the couch* Sigh, it’s always the quiet ones.

[later]

Jaune:....That’s it. *you got an album by the way.

Blake:Sweet! Thanks for the good time Jaune. Even if it’s a bit hazy *hugs him*

Jaune:Uhhh Blake *red* your shirt.

Blake:Eh, I don’t care. You probably saw them last night.

Jaune:Don’t worry, that’s the only thing I saw.

Blake:Too bad, you could’ve had an amazing night. *whispers in his ear* By the way, Faunus have high alcohol tolerance.

Jaune:*red* Huh!?

Blake:*walking towards the restroom* Well what do you know, this place has its own shower. Can you think of a more perfect way to start a morning?

Jaune:Depends, you remember what you said last night.

Blake:*playfully* Who knows? Maybe you should join me in here and jog my memory Mr. Cute Butt

Jaune:Now that is the best cat calling I’ve heard this entire trip.

#rwby #jaune arc #blake belladonna #rwby knightshade

[kopfkino-o]

The Seer's Stone - Chapter 6 (Az POV)

Summary: Azriel is being pushed to his limits, driven half-mad by his increased workload, Koschei’s recent movements, and the unaddressed feelings still hanging between him and Elain. His mind is at war with himself, thoughts and regrets constantly battling with him, but when an old acquaintance comes calling he feels compelled to answer, bound by loyalty and duty he sets off to find what very well might be his own damnation.

Pairing: Elain x Azriel 

Timeline: Post-ACOSF

Wordcount: 1970

Read:

Chapter One | The Crone’s Trade

Chapter Two | The Oracle of Seraphyros 

Chapter Three | Last of Our Kind (Azriel)

Chapter Four | An Empty Seat

Chapter Five | Death and the Lovely Fawn - UPDATED

Author’s Note: Hope you all enjoy! More below 💋

PHEW! After several months of insanity (see: moving to a new city, taking on several new projects at my day job as a graphic designer, getting engaged, traveling to Europe to be in a friend's wedding, hurting my knee again (rip lmao), and the general chaos of being alive) I am so excited to be back writing again. And even more excited to share this latest chapter of the Seer's Stone with the world.

Writing took a back seat within my life last year, due impart to the aforementioned chaos, but also due to some personal anxieties I had about sharing my work. It's irrational, I know, writing is writing, art is art! But still, I found myself lacking confidence and facing a ton of writer's block, but I found some new inspiration through my professional creative work, had a few friends that really helped to cheer me on, and had a lot of downtime after my knee surgery to think about and play around with my craft. All that being said, I'm really really glad to be back at it and revisiting this story, and learning through writing fanfiction.

My plans for the fic haven't changed (too much), but I do think I ought to note that I made some edits to the last update, Chapter Five | Death and the Lovely Fawn, that I feel like I just needed to make to provide clarity/build up for the direction of the story.

Lastly, I just wanted to say thank you to the folks who reached to me about this fic even when I wasn't actively updating it and offered me support/encouragement. This meant so so much to me, more than you all probably know, and I just wanted to say thanks for that.

This one's for you guys.

xoxo, Court

There was a building headache in Azriel's temples.

Every beat of his heart reverberated through his skull like a war drum. Azriel worked his jaw, grinding his teeth. There had always been something about the dank darkness of the Hewn City that pressed down on him like a fist, but the hateful place was particularly grating tonight.

Wrong, his shadows murmured, this place is wrong

"Hush," he snapped back at them, in no mood for their whisperings.

The floor shifted underfoot, and the long, stone passageway changed before his eyes, writhing as if it were a living thing. To anyone else, the illusion might have been nauseating, but these tunnels and their strange enchantments had become second nature to him during the time he served beneath Rhysand's father.

The old High Lord had personally keyed the spells into the oily stone walls to prevent his captives from ever learning the true layout of the tunnel system. And, perhaps, to also remind them they were so far beneath the earth they could only dream of feeling the warmth of the sun on their faces again.

He had been cruel like that.

Azriel rounded a bend in the stone and found himself in another long hallway carved directly into the mountain. Only this hallway was lined with ancient, half-rusted cell doors—cells that housed the worst of the Night Court's filth. Or at least, what was left of them.

Halfway down the corridor, Feyre and Amren were waiting for him outside one of those cells, the High Lady and her second-in-command half-concealed in shadow, their whispered voices echoing queerly off the rock walls.

Both females fell silent when they caught sight of him. Something twisted in Azriel’s gut. For them both to be here, in the dead of the night, with Nyx still so young and Varian here in Velaris on a short respite from Adriata, meant something was wrong. The look on Feyre’s beautiful face only confirmed that. Something was very, very wrong.

“You’re late,” Amren snapped. It was as much a greeting as he’d get from her.

Azriel matched the second’s same cool indifference. “I was in the middle of something when you sent for me. I came as soon as I could.”

“Off again, doing only the Mother knows what? You don’t fool me, boy. I can smell the Continent on you.”

“I come, I go. So is the nature of my work.”

“Is it, now?”

“If you intend to suggest I’m up to something you disapprove of, then by all means, Amren, do so now and let us be done with it. I’m not here to indulge in idle banter.”

The second-in-command bared her teeth, smoke-gray eyes glowing like two torches amidst the gloom, and for half a heartbeat, Azriel thought she might press the matter.

Then Feyre stepped forward and cleared her throat. There were dark smudges of exhaustion beneath the High Lady’s eyes, but she still looked as regal as ever in her Illyrian leathers, her carved ashwood bow and a matching quiver of arrows peeking up over her armored shoulders.

“Enough, you two,” Feyre said, voice laced with nothing but command. She shot both Azriel and Amren a warning look before folding her tattooed hands behind her back, taking up the position of authority fitting of both a war commander and a queen. “We have bigger matters at hand, and I didn’t leave my infant son asleep at home with a nanny just to come here and listen to you bicker.” She nudged Amren with an armored elbow. “So, won't you be a dear and update our lovely Spymaster on the situation at hand?”

Amren shot him one last distrustful look before answering their High Lady's command. "We picked up two...stragglers...trying to make their way to the Prison Isle. From what we've been able to gather, it appears they were attempting to make their way inside the Prison itself."

Azriel's brows rose. Sneak onto the Prison Isle? That was not only impossible, but it was complete and utter madness. A sick, sudden realization shuddered through him, so fierce it cut through the pounding in his head.

Elain.

Elain was trying to get access to the Prison for reasons still unknown to him. Her and the spellspinner she'd tried so diligently to keep hidden in the Library.

Azriel's shadows had brought him word of their machinations weeks ago, initially tipped off by the arrival of the young spellspinner, and catching Elain in his bedroom yesterday had only confirmed his suspicions, but surely she hadn't gone against his warnings. Surely she hadn't...

"Something wrong, boy?" Amren crooned.

He ignored her. "Tell me everything," he said to Feyre.

"One male, one female. Both don't seem to hold any particular court alliance, but they were...dressed strangely. Almost as if they were trying to blend in with the Library's priestesses. Only their robes were gray, not white, and they carried no invoking stones." Feyre scrubbed a hand down her face. "Rhys caught the male on the beaches; I found the female still on the boat they'd used to reach the Isle."

Azriel might have sighed his relief if only Feyre's words weren't too much to stomach. Elain and her friends, and whatever wild plan they'd concocted, might be safe for now, but an unwelcome stranger trying to land on the Prison Isle was nothing to take lightly. And the fact Azriel, nor his shadows, had seen it coming rankled him.

"I tried to talk to her, wanted to know who she was, why she was there," the High Lady continued. "But she pulled a knife before I could get to her. I watched her open her own throat. Tried to heal her, but to no avail, little thanks to the poison on her blade." Feyre shook her head then tossed a thumb towards the cell door. "Rhys is inside with the male. He won't speak, though. He just keeps... singing."

"Singing?" Azriel echoed.

"He means to mock us," Amren murmured.

It was Feyre who ignored the second-in-command now. The High Lady tipped her head towards the cell door. "You'll see." She said. "We'll be waiting at the Riverhouse for your report."

And with that, Feyre reached a hand for Amren and winnowed them both away, leaving Azriel alone with his pounding head, the ancient black stone, and the iron door looming before him.

Azriel drew in a breath. Down, down, down he sank into himself before he strode for the cell door and shoved it open.

The sharp smell of blood and piss and fear arrested his senses as soon as he stepped into the dimly lit cell.

Old memories reared their ugly heads, taking him back to a different time where he came to these very cells to serve a far different lord. Truth-Teller warmed at his side, steadying him. Azriel wrapped a hand around the dagger's familiar hilt and shoved the memories back inside their iron cages to rot.

He made a quick sweep of the room when his eyes finally adjusted. Shadows clung to the corners of the narrow cell, dark enough to conceal his brother's powerful form hidden within them. Rhys was the darkness here. Anyone else might have missed him, but Azriel knew his brother's scent, the sound of his breathing, and marked where he stood in one of the shadowy corners.

In the center of the cell, bound and blindfolded, sat the captive. His gray robes were bloody, his lip split and broken, but he was singing just as Feyre had promised. Singing some horrible old song.

"...blue blood, red blood, blood black as a moonless night," the captive's voice echoed off the cell walls, garbled and made watery by his mouthful of broken teeth. "A pound of flesh, a pound of bone, a gift for a maiden made of light..."

Azriel's shadows swarmed. They flowed across the old stone floors to circle the captive like a pack of hungry dogs, writhing and twisting as they tried to make sense of him and his strange song. Almost as if the song had offended them. As if it scared them.

The darkness melted, and Rhys appeared from within it, arms crossed and brow furrowed, the mask of the High Lord in perfect place. Stars were dancing in his violet eyes, cold and unyielding, burning with a hunger Azriel himself knew all too well.

"He's been at it all night," Rhys said softly. "The same two verses of the same song, over and over again. It's driving me fucking mad."

"You scramble his brains or something?" Azriel asked.

"Would that I could. His mind is impenetrable. Practically walled off with solid obsidian. I've never seen anything like it."

"He's been prepped on how to face a Daemati, then."

"Or spelled to keep one out of his mind."

The words rose a chill within him, and Azriel found himself watching his brother more closely. Rhys worked a tick in his jaw, violet eyes churning as he assessed the battered man babbling his strange song.

"...away, away, at the crown of midnight..."

Azriel had never heard the tune before. Yet, it rankled him somehow. Dragged cold talons through his guts as if it were trying to make a home there.

Pain pricked behind his eyes, blooming like a thousand burning stars.

Azriel rolled his shoulders, fighting the headache, and drew in a deep breath of the rank air, descending deeper into that inside, readying himself for what was to come.

"He'll break," he said softly.

Rhys did not look at him as he replied. "I know."

Eventually, they exchanged the briefest, most fleeting of looks, but the silent words that passed between them meant everything. Rhys's eyes reminded him that Azriel did not have to do this. That he was, in fact, not his father's son. That this Night Court was a court of dreamers, of sons who were forgiven of the sins of their fathers, of daughters free to live as they pleased.

But the weight of duty had been taught to Azriel decades ago. And it was not a lesson so easily forgotten.

Skin slips easier off the smaller bones, blood congeals at the joints, and the mind always, always fractures first.

The old High Lord had taught him those things. Had made sure Azriel knew them, committed them to his memory so he might never forget his purpose. His worth. The thing he'd been made for.

Azriel slid Truth-Teller from its sheath. "Leave us," he said to his brother, voice soft as night. "I'll bring my report to the Riverhouse."

Rhysand put a gentle hand on his shoulder, the gesture made as if it might spare him, as if it might change what he was and the things he was born to do.

It wouldn't.

Azriel had stopped telling himself such follies a long, long time ago.

So he waited until his brother closed the cell door behind him. Waited until his shadows drank the last bit of light from the dank cell. Waited and listened as the prisoner whimpered the last verses of his swan song.

"...a sword for the son, a horn for the Queen, and dagger for their fool..."

Once, when he was just a boy, the shadows had taught him there was a place he could go, somewhere he could hide from his father's wrath, from his brothers' hate. Somewhere deep within himself. A place where he felt nothing, saw nothing.

Was nothing.

Azriel went to that place now, hiding somewhere deep within himself. He thought of roses as he raised Truth-Teller to the pale flesh of the prisoner's chest and began to cut.

Blood bloomed and the ache in Azriel's head erupted like a thunderclap.

And a dagger for the fool.

#the seer's stone #elriel fanfiction #the seer's stone fanfic #elriel

[the-bad-batch-baroness]

Where's Mommy?

Wolffe x OFC

Part 12

Summary: Wolffe's wife suddenly dies, leaving him a single father in the middle of a war.

Pairing: Wolffe x OFC

Characters: Wolffe, Cara (child OFC), Sinker, Comet, Boost, Warthog

Tags & Warnings: heavy angst, mention of death, off-screen death, spousal death, grief, hurt/comfort, family fluff

Word Count: 1.7k

Author's Note: Phew! That was a whole lot of work, but everything has been converted from reader to oc, and every chapter has been updated to third-person past tense writing 😮‍💨 Nothing in the plot has changed, but I did update some wording and filled in a few gaps I found while I was going through the story. Y'all, the next chapter is the funeral. Enjoy this last bit of, uh... not as sad moment(?), then brace yourselves! As always, please enjoy 💚

Beta: @beating-a-dead-plot

Part 1 || Prev | Next

Wolffe watched from his seat at the desk chair as Cara, Comet, Boost, and Warthog continued to unpack her things and arrange the room. He had Warthog stuff his armor in the wardrobe while she wasn't looking to try and keep the mood up. She was going to have enough to be sad about when they went to the funeral soon. Too soon. He didn't even know if he was ready for it, let alone Cara. He'd already had a conversation with the Wolfpack about it, and they'd be ready to step in when he needed them.

"Commander," Sinker called from the doorway. "Can I talk to you?"

Wolffe sighed and got up from the desk chair to join Sinker out in the hallway. He left the door open so Cara wouldn't fret about his absence, but he'd keep his voice hushed so she didn't overhear their conversation. If he was lucky, she wouldn't notice that he'd stepped out of the room. Sadly, with the look on Sinker's face, Wolffe knew that whatever happened in that briefing couldn't be good, at least not in terms of their remaining time left on Coruscant, and he braced for it.

"How was the briefing?" Wolffe asked.

"We're deploying," Sinker sighed. "I'm sorry, Wolffe."

Wolffe cursed under his breath.

"According to the intel," Sinker continued, "Captain Rex and General Kenobi were taken captive by Zygerrian slavers while trying to infiltrate their operation to free some imprisoned Togrutas."

"You're kidding," Wolffe said.

"Afraid not," Sinker said. "We're being sent to Kadavo as reinforcements for the liberation."

Wolffe pinched the bridge of his nose. "When are we leaving?"

"Two rotations," Sinker answered. "It would've been immediate, but General Skywalker and Commander Tano are already on the ground, so it bought us some time to regroup. As is, it's going to take twelve standard rotations just to get to the Kadavo system from Coruscant."

Wolffe breathed a small sigh of relief. It wasn't a lot of time, but it was enough for him to get his affairs in order. He looked over at Cara and watched as she played a game with Comet and Boost. She will be devastated when he has to put his armor back on and leave. With no mother, no father, and no Wolfpack, she was going to be completely alone. It'd take at least one standard month to get to the Kadavo system and back, and that didn't even take into consideration the length of the actual mission. Liberations could last for months.

"May I be excused?" Sinker asked after Wolffe didn't respond. "I promised the general that I'd help with the… preparations."

Wolffe paused. He knew what the implications of that word meant and while he was grateful that his second in command had his hands on his wife's funeral, it was still a stab to the heart.

"Yes, of course," Wolffe stammered. "Dismissed."

Sinker left and Wolffe walked back into the room, grabbed his comm, sat down at the desk, and typed a message to Fox. We need to talk. It's important.

It took a while, but Fox eventually answered back. I'll be at the funeral.

Wolffe quickly sent another message. No, not there. Tomorrow morning. The diner.

Fox replied back after a couple of minutes. Meet me there at 0600.

Wolffe put his comm back down and anxiously tapped his foot against the floor. It was a long shot, but he needed someone to look after Cara while he and the Wolfpack were gone. Even if Fox couldn't do it, he probably had a couple of trusted brothers in the Coruscant Guard who could. It was better than the alternative of some random Jedi caretaker brainwashing his child while he was off fighting the War. He wanted to be able to trust the Jedi, he did, but he always found a small seed of doubt when he tried.

"Cara," Wolffe called. She ran over to him. "I'm going out tomorrow morning."

"You're leaving?" Cara asked, her voice full of uncertainty.

"No, baby," Wolffe soothed. "I'm just gonna see Fox for a bit."

"Can I come?" she asked.

"No," Wolffe said.

"Please?" she pleaded.

"You don't even like Fox," Wolffe argued.

Cara pouted.

"Comet will be here to watch you," Wolffe said a little louder. He looked up at Comet and received a smile and a nod of acknowledgement. "You can explore the Temple together."

Cara continued to pout.

Wolffe decided to change his tactics. There was something in the Temple that could get her excited, even if only a little bit. "You know," he began. "I heard they have a tree somewhere."

Cara perked up. "A tree?"

"Mhm," Wolffe said. "A real one." It was something Wolffe and his wife planned on doing after the War; moving to a planet full of different flora and fauna for Cara to see. His wife kept images all around their apartment of different trees and plants from around the galaxy, since Cara had never been off-world yet.

Cara gasped with wide eyes. "Can I go see it?"

"Sure," Wolffe shrugged. "But only if you stay with Comet."

Cara thought about the proposal for a moment. "I'll stay with Comet."

"That's my good girl," Wolffe praised. "You can go play now."

Cara ran back to Comet and Boost, but then turned on her heels and ran back to Wolffe.

"Daddy," she said. "I have to go potty."

Wolffe blinked a few times in surprise. He was so used to Cara using the refresher by herself at home, that it didn't even dawn on him that she might need help here. He really wasn't made for parenting, but he was going to do his best to help her. The last thing he needed right now was for her to have an accident, and right before the funeral too. He glanced at the chronometer to make sure they still had time, then took her hand and guided her through the halls to find a refresher.

There should be a one somewhere on that floor, but he didn't remember seeing it on their way in. Then again, he did zone out for a bit near the end. After walking a little further, he saw a sign, but it was for a male species refresher. He looked around and saw another sign for a female species refresher, but he wasn't sure which one he should take her in. His wife would've just taken her into the female species refresher and took care of everything. Maker he wished she was here.

Since he was a male species, did he need to bring her into that one? If he did take her there, he risked her seeing things she shouldn't be seeing. However, if he took her into the female species refresher, was he going to get arrested? He noticed Cara starting to wiggle and he knew he needed to make a decision quickly. Ultimately, Wolffe took her into the female species refresher for her own comfort and protection. If he got arrested, Fox could always bail him out.

"Do you need help?" Wolffe awkwardly asked while rubbing the back of his neck.

"No!" Cara said adamantly and slammed the stall door behind her. "Mommy said I'm a big girl and big girls use the refresher alone."

Wolffe was shocked, but rolled with it. "Oh, okay. I'll, uh, I'll wait out here then."

Wolffe wasn't sure what to do with himself while he waited. He missed out on the potty training phase when Cara was two years old, and this was always his wife's territory, just like bath time. Which was something else that slipped his mind. He had no idea where the bath was, if the Temple even had a bath, or who was going to help her bathe in the morning. His wife was adamant that someone had to watch her in the bath. Maker strike him dead if she drowned when he wasn't around.

Within a few minutes, the stall door swung open and Cara came walking out. Wolffe opened his mouth to remind her about washing her hands, but before he got the chance, she was already at the sink washing her hands with soap. He didn't have to remind her; she did it all on her own. She even used the stool on her own. She didn't need his help at all. Wolffe felt a small twinge of pain in his heart. She was growing up so fast and he'd barely been around to see it. He'd missed so much, and he was going to miss even more.

"Ready to go back?" Wolffe asked after Cara finished drying her hands and hopped off of the stool.

Cara nodded and grabbed Wolffe's hand. He held it just a little tighter while they walked back to the room, because there might be a day when she no longer wanted to hold his hand, and when that day came, all he would have were the memories. It was expected of a clone to grow up fast, that was their purpose, but if he could ever find a way to stop aging, he'd give it to his daughter. It might be selfish, but he didn't want her to grow up. She was his baby girl and he wanted her to stay that way.

When rounded the corner of the hallway leading to the room, Wolffe could see Sinker standing outside of the door, dressed in his formal wear and holding what looked like Wolffe's officer uniform folded neatly in his hands. It must be that time, Wolffe guessed. He grabbed the uniform from Sinker and left Cara with him while he went into the room to change. When the door shut, Cara didn't say anything, but she did look a little confused. Sinker wasn't sure what to say to her, so instead of stumbling over his words, he said nothing.

Comet, Boost, and Warthog had already changed into their dress uniforms and went ahead, which left Sinker, Wolffe, and Cara to bring up the rear. It was fitting, in a way, for them to arrive at the funeral last. After a few moments, the door slid back open and Wolffe emerged in his officer's uniform. He fixed a couple of spots while Cara looked up at him with concern in her eyes, almost as if she knew what was going to happen, but still, no one had the heart to speak it out loud. Inevitably, it was time for them all to say goodbye.

Part 1 || Prev | Next

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#tbbb writes #commander wolffe x ofc #commander wolffe x oc #tcw wolffe x ofc #tcw wolffe x oc #clone x ofc #clone x oc #commander wolffe #tcw wolffe #wolffe #the clone wars #clone wars #tcw #star wars #clone wars fanfiction #clone wars fanfic #clone wars fic #tcw fanfiction #tcw fanfic #tcw fic #fanfiction #fanfic #fic

[zanazirafanfic]

Quick Update

Phew, okay! I'm finally getting back on schedule a little, I think.

Just finished the 2 whump fics I was behind on, and I'm going to try to get the 2 "25 Days of a Cowboah Christmas" chapters done - or at least well underway - today too, before I start on Whumpcember 11. They'll both be shorter chapters (Chapter 10 starring a member of the gang we haven't seen yet, and Chapter 11 taking a quick jump back in time to visit the younger "old guard") so it shouldn't be too terribly difficult.

Whumpcember Part 11's prompt is "infection," and will star our good old friend Mister Bell. I've included a teaser image below - if anyone can guess the show, character, and scene it's from, you'll know where I'm headed with this. If not, let's just say, I am excite. ;)

@photo1030 @micah-bells-baby-daddy @micahsrevolvers

#fanfiction #rdr2 fanfic #prompt fic #red dead fanfiction #christmas fic #whump fic #arthur morgan #dutch van der linde #hosea matthews #john marston #micah bell #zanazirawrites

[iz-rarepair-tournament]

Click for larger image/higher quality!

But yes, it took a lot of fiddling graphic design is my passion but I managed to get a visual bracket made, but it's uhh not the best so I'll definitely explain it. I couldn't quite get the names to all fit in so I used icons instead, and basically, whatever line you see the icons sitting on is the line they go with. So as an example, at the top left, Tak/Tak's Ship go up against Purple/Membrane, and whoever wins that will go onto the line to the right, at which point they'll go up against Zim/Red. I think it'll become visually clearer once we get past the initial round, but I'm so sorry for this clutter, aa

This is seeded but I let a website choose the match-ups so if anything seems unfair, well. I'm sorry :')

Due to the weird number of pairs, we're gonna start off with a sort of preliminary round of just 6 polls for those pairs you see on the far left and right sides of the bracket. The winners of those polls will then go up against whoever they're matched to on the bracket, at which point we will have a huge round 1, then round 2, etc etc until we eventually arrive at a winner

The preliminary round will consist of:

Tak/Tak's Ship vs Tallest Purple/Professor Membrane

Professor Membrane/Mr. Dwicky vs Tak/Zib

Ms. Bitters/Countess von Verminstrasser vs Zib/Zimtwo

Sizz-Lorr/Mr. Dwicky vs Tallest Red/Announcer Irken

Professor Membrane/Tallest Miyuki vs Tallest Red/Professor Membrane

Jessica/Letty vs Zim/Professor Membrane

Following that, there will be polls for:

Zim/Tallest Red vs a winner from preliminary round

Tallest Miyuki/Tallest Spork vs Zim/Prisoner 777

Dib/Zib vs Gretchen/Zita

GIR/Mimi vs Gaz/Keef

Dib/Lard Nar vs a winner from preliminary round

Dib/Mr. Dwicky vs Dib/Skoodge

Dib/Gretchen vs Dib/Professor Membrane

Skoodge/Keef vs a winner from preliminary round

Dib/Keef vs a winner from preliminary round

Professor Membrane/Zim's Computer vs Zim/Tallest Purple

Dib/Torque Smackey vs Keef/Chammy Wamboo

Tak/Tenn vs Gaz/Gretchen

Tak/Skoodge vs a winner from preliminary round

Lard Nar/Prisoner 777 vs Bill/Count Cocofang

Dib/Gaz vs Dib/Tallest Purple

Dib/Tallest Red vs a winner from preliminary round

PHEW. Hope that clears it all up, sorry again for the trainwreck of a bracket but I wanted SOME kinda visual at least. And I'll update the bracket and likely keep it on the masterpost as time goes on. But yes, those are the ships.

Now give me some time to get the polls prepared and then I'll start posting them :D We'll do week-long polls for maximum engagement.

Fun fact, Dib has the most unique pairs in this tournament at 11 different pairs! (slaps his back) this bad boy can fit SO many rarepairs in him

#invader zim #iz #shipping polls #again if a ship you nominated didn't make it don't fret! I might do a quick and dirty bonus bracket of all those after this one #they will get their chance to fight <3

[eartheats]

phew! hiya again guys! update on the situation: we sadly weren't able to find the bugger in question that was apparently causin' the ruckus, so the rangers are apparently gonna be keepin' things a lil locked down for a while longer to try and see if they can find and relocate it. kind of a shame, but they've given us a couple routes to redirect trainers through, so at least things won't be too too bad until they got confirmation

honestly, lulu and i are super pooped after today too--we're just gettin' back, and i'm hopin' to settle in for tonight. might go over and visit lydia, i know she gets off work soon, and it'll be nice to just chill with her and lucha for sure.

...linux said they'd be back, they apparently had somethin' they said they needed to take care of alone??? honestly kinda concerned for 'em--

#ren talks #pkmn irl #pokeblogging #pokemon irl #rotomblr #an iron purpose #//pt. 1 of 3 :3c

[trulybetty]

Sunday Week in Review XI

This week's header is dedicated to @legendary-pink-dot for the idea of Dieter being his own 80s sitcom 😝💕

Is everyone okay this morning? Have we all recovered from last night? Do we need to hydrate, grab a snack (not that kind of snack) and recoup? Any welfare checks we need to send out? Phew 🫠

It's been a slog to get through this week, and I didn't get to as much reading as I wanted, which you'll see below. These daily prompts have been taking up more time than I expected and work has picked up (rude). But I'm also realising as I read through people's weekly round-ups, that I've missed a lot this week that I haven't seen come across my dash.

So if you've posted something this week (fanfic, thots or anything else) and you'd like to share it - feel free to drop it in my DM's or as an Asks!

T R U L Y  U P D A T E S . . .

oct' x 15 - first wine (sequins!joel x reader)

oct' x 16 - flying kites (frankie x reader)

oct' x 17 - whispers (chiffon!dieter x bryony)

oct' x 18 - picking apples (sequins!joel x reader)

oct' x 19 - ghosts (dieter x f!reader)

oct' x 20 - sweater weather (chiffon!dieter x bryony)

oct' x 21 - acorns (tim rockford x f!reader)

birthdays, besties & bravos (celebrating the lovely @wildemaven)

W H A T  I  R E A D . . .

A Safe Haven | Chapter 9 (Joel) (Check TW’s) by @joelsgreys This was the update I've been so patiently waiting for and it did not disappoint! This is a fantastic series that I never thought I'd get so emotionally invested in - but that's how good Vee is! This is always one of my top recommendations when suggesting Joel fanfics to read!

Working Title | Chapter 14 (Dieter) by @rhoorl Another great update for Dieter and Belle - I'm rooting for these two from the sidelines and I'm exciting to see how things play out for them!

Delta Landscaping | Chapter 8 (Triple Frontier + Pedro Characters) by @rhoorl Okay, there's not one, but two Pedro Character appearances this week and I'm trying to figure out how I can move to Mule Falls Court like yesterday - because it's all going down over there and I highly recommend this be added to your reading if you haven't read it yet. A Month of Sundays (Various) by @gnpwdrnwhiskey I'm living for all of these prompts and I can't choose one or two because they've all been soooo good!

M E M O R A B L E  P O S T S . . .

I'm on edge as @for-a-longlongtime shares more of their WIP that is Peña x Rockford x Reader, with that line up you know it's going to be good!

Self Care with Dieter & Jett (@morallyinept) - this week it's emotions and highlights some important stuff!

More Dieter and his hippo table shenanigans delivered by @i-love-movies to @gnpwdrnwhiskey, this made my week 🤣

B R O U G H T  T H E  J O Y . . .

Bit of a personal one, but we got to do a little Halloween festive trip out yesterday with the little Truly's. Something you're not always able to do when you have a child with extra needs, as events such as these can be a bit overwhelming for a multitude of reasons. So when we're able to attend ones that are specially catered for families like ours, it's always a special occasion - even if it does make you realise how unfit you are wrangling two kids 🤣 Also, keeping on brand, Baby Truly adored all the Halloween decor and was waving and saying hello to her minions the props.

Watched the new Goosebumps on Disney+ not expecting much, and I actually enjoyed it. Little Betty would have been all over this as a kid.

Also, watched my annual viewing of Practical Magic, which thanks to the wonders of the digital age I own to stream to my heart's content regardless of the season.

T H I S  W E E K ' S  J A M . . .

Back in my Matchbox Twenty feels this week 💛 - this one has been in heavy rotation while writing!

Hope everyone has had a great week! Here's to a new week ahead! Hopefully, if Pedro makes another appearance we'll all be ready for it, or at least recovered by then! 😝🫠

Happy Sunday all! ☀️💛

#betty's sunday in review #sunday week in review #Spotify

[bearhugsandshrugs]

BG3 Kinktober Recap

Phew. Kinktober 2023 for Baldur's Gate 3 is nearly over and I wanted to share some stats!

75 prompts were submitted

31 participants joined

61 works were created

over 221,000 words were written

This was the first time I ever ran any kind of challenge and I'm absolutely blown away by what we created here. Thank you so much to everyone who participated, whether by prompts or fills (or both), I appreciate you all so much.

Anyone seeing this for the first time: Please go check out the amazing works that were created this month!!!

Note: the public stats on the Collection are different from what I can see on the backend (at least for the number of people who signed up, but here I'm not sure if this is prompt givers vs. writers).

I'm adding some reflections on the Challenge under the cut and am inviting anyone who participated to share theirs as well! Please tag/reblog if you do, would love to see your thoughts.

First, the set up: Setting up this promptmeme challenge and collection on AO3 wasn't great. I don't think it was very intuitive, so it took me a good 2 hours to figure it out, with some tweaking here and there afterwards. But don't be discouraged! Once you know what to do it's alright. Feel free to message me with questions if anyone wants to run a similar challenge on AO3.

Some notes: I could have included an email but that would have been public and I wasn't really sure if I wanted that. I could have added mods to this challenge and probably should have, because my idea to check every submittal crumbled on Day 2 lol.

Overall people kept submitting prompts after prompts, especially after brainstorming sessions on discord servers, which I guess is the nature of this. I initally added several free forms and prompts to kick it off, but quickly there were more prompts than people available to claim, which is the nature of such challenges I guess. Many things were also submitted several times because people wouldn't check past prompts. I could have moderated this better but didn't have enough time, tbh.

Most fills were created in the first half of the month. There are still 28 unfilled claims that I don't expect to get filled, which is okay (I also had to drop a few claims because I overestimated my ability to fill them). Generally, for AO3, this is not ideal: since it's AO3 personally I felt more obligated to write fics, rather than drabbles, and of course that takes so much more time than drabbling short ficlets. Wish I would have specified this differently in the beginning.

Some personal thoughts from my poor writer brain:

I am such an insecure weak ass person, lol. I felt obligated to a fault to fill everything I claimed, dropped several prompts far too late, and completely soured my joy in writing smut in the process. I think I wrote too many fills in too short a time frame. I didn't enjoy the challenge as much as I could have as a result. This isn't on anyone in particular other than me, but I thought I would share in case anyone else struggled. Instead of claiming things I knew I could write well I constantly took prompts that were challenging (too challenging at times), including characters I rarely write or scenarios I wasn't particularly able to craft well (I know people enjoyed my fics but I guess I could have done better work with less pressure). I'm not sure why I did this. I think the prompts were just so great that the idea of filling sounded easier to me than actually doing the work LOL. I don't regret it, to be clear. I simply could have been better at going at this.

Promoting this was also something I should have done more, but my blog isn't really big (and that's fine) and to this day I keep forgetting adding my tumblr/discord underneath the AO3 fics I publish.

I really should not have worked on two series while doing Kinktober. It was distracting, in all directions. I still hope I did the fills, Keeping Score and Til Death justice. I love all my fic children equally.

So, what's next?

I know there's a huge demand for promptmeme challenges and people really want to send in prompts and places to fill. At the same time consistently checking prompts (and fills) to see if something is included that doesn't align with my values feels very intimidating, at least for me alone (I've been in fandoms for almost two decades, I know that at some point, something horrible will pop up in prompts or fills. I've seen it before, and it would anger me to no end if I would miss, say, a transphobic prompt or fill in my collection).

If anyone has ideas/suggestions/thoughts on that, please let me know.

As always, my DMs and Asks are open to chat!

Thank you again to everyone who participated. You're rockstars.

– Em

#bg3 kinktober 2023 #bg3 smut #my writing #kinktober 2023

[bronx-bomber87]

First off like to thank @timlucys /chenfordsource for reaching out to me and letting me know how to properly gif credit. Apparently I was not doing that right like at all LOL Apparently there is gif Library that does it for you who knew? haha Thank you again, Nothing I wanna do more than properly thank and credit all the beautiful gifs on this site. Tumblr wouldn't be a thing without all you gif makers so thank you for showing me the ropes yesterday on how to properly tag/credit our hard working gif makers. You being one of them.

Wanted to round out the weekend with one more review.

Off we go onto ep 7!

1x07

‘The Ride along’

The look on Tim’s face when Lucy comes rolling up late LMAO He's checking his watch and doing everything but pacing. His body language is anything but relaxed while he waits. Lucy is doing what she does best....rambling. I love her nervous rants with him. She has zero filter when it comes to him. Makes me so happy haha

He's not in the least amused by her usual charm today haha Tim is definitely edgier than usual. She tries to lighten the mood with her snow joke to no avail. Starting the day off with hard ass Tim it would seem....

Gotta love Lucy's company line reply. Beautiful thing about Lucy. She knows when not to push it with him. Picks her battles as it were. Is very attune to when to fire back. This is not one of those moments. They unfortunately get interrupted by Grey needing to talk to Tim before they head out.

Sadly the reason he's been pulled over is because of Isabel...*sigh* Every time Tim thinks he can breathe, resurface emotionally, and just have a handle on his life Isabel drags him back down. Grey pulling him into his office is heartbreaking. Telling him she’s been arrested for possession/dealing. Eric absolutely kills me with how he conveys what he’s feeling in that moment. I wish there was a gif set of this scene. The minute they bring Isabel in, there is instant concern on Lucy’s face. She’s already gearing up for an emotional battle for Tim.

They make it back to the station after Grey sends them out on patrol. Tim bringing in a guy that clearly didn’t need to be processed. Just so he could be back in processing for an update. Lucy knows this and says she’ll keep an eye out for the detectives for him.

What absolutely kills me about Isabel in this stage is how quickly she can utterly destroy him. Anytime he’s getting his head above water, she’s there to shove him back down. Pains me to watch him get eaten alive emotionally by her. Any conversation he has with her wrecks him. He loves Isabel and it’s actually killing him. The hurt he carries around is on full display in this scene. She is asking the world of him right now. Baiting him with promises of rehab. Manipulating him to help her. The inflection in his tone is so tragic. He's trying so hard to not break.

Once again I applaud Eric for being incredible at his job. He’s wearing his heart on his sleeve while he talks to her. The emotional manipulation she thrusts upon him is brutal to watch. She's saying all the things he's longed to hear. Probably dreamt about the past year or so with her gone. When Tim Bradford loves he loves deeply. Isabel knows he still loves her. So she is very aware he would/could cross this line for her if she begged him to. What she doesn’t realize at this point is how it’ll destroy him if he does. Lucy is watching all this in the distance. It’s written all over her face something is very wrong.

This scene is HUGE. Lucy once again swallowing her fear for him. Standing in front of the raging sun that is Tim. The way he slams that car door and storms over to her. Phew Lord. She is bracing herself for Hurricane Tim, He is ready to chew her a new one. You can see she is not excited for this fight. But she also knows he needs to hear what she has to say. Because if she doesn’t he will do something he will regret forever. She's seen the good in Tim. She can't allow him to take on this burden for Isabel.

Tim my sweet boy she is right in her depth with this. Lucy is spot with her assessment. He does project being rogue with her and she sees through it. Knows his moral compass runs deep. That in the end he would regret compromising it. Even for Isabel. So he lashes out in response because he knows she’s right. Whenever she pegs him like this he defaults to being defensive. Like I've said before he's never had someone fight for him like this. Or stand up to him even when he's being obstinate as hell. Especially when he is.

There is no way Lucy is walking away from this fight. Not before she says her piece. She continues to try and protect him emotionally. By firing back with her caring. He’s never asked this of her but she does it regardless. She can't stand by and watch him destroy his ethics. Just like he could never truly live with himself if he did.

The look on his face after she tells him this. Ugh My heart Tim. She already knows him better than he would like to admit. In the back of his mind Tim knows taking the drugs is only enabling her. When he came back out to his car he sure as hell wasn't expecting to see Lucy there. Not only was she there but she was fiercely battling for his soul. To keep it intact even if he was livid about it. You can see it in his face. The words are registering with him. She’s breaking through a bit.

Even though what she's saying is hitting him, he’s so full of anger and conflict he just walks away from her. Leaving her standing there wondering if she made a difference at all. All she can do is watch him drive away angry and hurting.

Lucy being Lucy wants clear the air about last night. Tim shuts it down right away. Letting her know this isn't to be discussed further. Ah bristly closed off Tim. You’ll get there Lucy keep trying haha I love that she gets to hear about Tim leaving the drugs behind. Grey comes up to report and apologize to Tim they were found in her apt.

Whether he wants to hear it or not she tells him he did the right thing. He’s still conflicted and says ‘Not for Isabel.’ oh Tim.... I think he had crisis of conscience before her arrival. Then when she showed up it only reaffirmed he did the right thing. He was still feeling guilty/conflicted but Lucy helped him decide what he did was right. Even if he was raging about it when she was there.

That final scene with Isabel with Tim hurts my soul. He knows he did the right thing even if she hates him for it. Brutal to watch happen. The tears in his eyes. Oof. Talia and Angela finding him after is so sweet. Just being there for him even when he protests. The Tim Bradford special haha Being good friends just in case he might need them. Love them for it. Taking him out for drinks just what he needs.

~~~~

Side notes.

Not a ton in this ep for me.

Wes’s first episode yay I do love me some Wesley Evers.

#Caitlin rewatches The Rookie #chenford #chenfordhiatus #tim x lucy #summer rewatch #s1 #1x07 The Ride Along #tim bradford #lucy chen #the rookie #lucy x tim #eric winter #melissa o'neil #otp: doing my job

[visarcana]

In celebration of the miserable realization that I haven't updated in more than a year

I was thinking of how this happened and if I REALLY have done so little on the fic. A lot is going on but that shouldn't be my excuse; I had difficult years before. So what was I doing for the past year?

I published the Folken oneshot here and here (phew, there's at least something).

I do have SOME version of ch 17 ready that I have continually worked on, it's just that it doesn't feel up to my standards. What is worse, I cannot figure out what comes after. I have the CONCEPT and major scenes but the plotholes could sink the whole thing if I'm not careful. I hoped to have this figured out before publishing the next chapter, I usually had, in similar situations before. I wonder if I should just risk it and just go ahead.

I have some scenes that do not exactly fit into the fic at this point BUT I WANT to have them. What do? Force them in there somehow (I did that in the past already)? Create a separate "fic" for them? I feel like such an inexperienced writer when things like this and the previous one slow me down while others can produce chapter after chapter much more regularly.

I did A LOT of translation last year, and it was the hard kind, the novel translation. You kinda have to employ your skills there as a writer, too, besides dedicating buttload of time and patience. Maybe I tired myself out and hit the limits of my creative energy? It certainly feels like it at times. This is something that took me by surprise, in the past, the translation fueled rather than impeded my writing.

I did have some very engaging fic talks with a few of the readers and friends, I'm really thankful for that. They were obviously about the stuff I had already posted but I guess it doesn't hurt to think on the past things again, quite often, an inspiration hits from that. Not to mention motivation, it's incredibly motivational to have someone care about your story, I don't think I even need to say that. I even was lucky to lay my eyes on some fanart for the fic and although I can't say I contributed there such a treat ALWAYS deserves gratitude and mention <3

The questions also helped me understand where my writing is unclear or where it may get confusing. Besides the answers, I had to even look up some photo references and even did some pencil sketches. Although they are not great, it's the only thing that I've drawn in long months.

So, in case someone else wondered about the same things, and since I have some of these answers typed out already (with some of them quite elaborate as usual), I will post the "questions" below.

If there is any interest in any of the answers, I will publish them here. I wouldn't want to spam you otherwise, I mean, I get that it's the new chapter people would want to read, if anything. I can't make any other promises but I'll keep working on that as well. Anyway, an update of this blog was long overdue, so I did at least that.

-- CHAPTER 16

What are “sliders”, “lum”, “Telandir” etc.? Basically, worldbuilding Q/A.

What does Van mean exactly when he says “There are four of you, and you will come down with me peacefully. Or there will be less… if you think you can outrun me.”

Is it “Cyro” or “Cyrien”? How old is he? How does he feel when Hitomi intercepts on him on the way to the command tent and what does his apologetic shrug at the end mean?

What is Hitomi wearing and why does no one pay much attention to her until she speaks up at the war council? Why do the soldiers call her “Private Sweetling”?

How does Van feel about the whole situation with the captives? Are Hitomi’s concerns substantial?

What really happened and what are the physical actions (and reactions) of the characters during the argument taking place in Van’s tent?

What is the meaning of Van and Folken’s conversation about Hitomi, when Folken says his brother “disappoints” him?

What is the meaning of Folken’s “what if I told you I’m done being useful”? What does Van’s reaction to that mean?

Why does Allen see younger himself in Van and what are his regrets?

What does Hitomi mean when she says “everything is shattered”? -- PREVIOUS CHAPTERS

Why does Hitomi so easily accept that Gaea was real after all, when she had been thinking it was a dream for several years?

Why is Hitomi so formal with Millerna at the start? Why is she starting from zero with some of the relationships like Millerna and Van?

Why do people call Hitomi “seeress” in VA?

Are Hitomi’s abilities gone? Why can Van dowse and can anyone do it?

Why does Dornkirk want to separate Van and Hitomi? What is the connection between Lenz’s tasks and the ch15 forest scenes?

Why was there not a scene revealing the reactions of the characters back on Earth to Hitomi’s disappearance?

#visarcana #progress update #concept sketches

[recurring-polynya]

Writing/Art Update 2.6.2024

I managed to write exactly 4000 words of what I am currently calling Chapter ?10?, which is to say, "the last chapter," however many end up getting squeezed in before it. It's coming along pretty well, and I think the stuff I had planned in the outline is going to fill out the space of one chapter pretty nicely. I had been worried that I was going to write all of this up and it was going to be, like...3000 words total, and I was going to have to come up with some more stuff, but that doesn't seem to be the case. (phew!)

It's a little bit ambitious, but I've set "Finish Chapter ?10?" as my goal for this week. On this project, I have been aiming for 4k words/week, and it's probably going to be more like 5 or 6k, but we'll see!

It's kinda crazy, actually, because I can remember back in October, estimating out the size of what I thought this fanfic was gonna be and saying to myself, "If I can write 4000 words/week, I can finish it around March", which felt like both so many words and so far away, but somehow, it's February, and it's already longer than I thought it would be (finished) and I'm still trying to grind out 4k/wk and it still feels so far away, except that it's still looking like it might be done sometime in the vicinity of March and that's next month. This is definitely the hardest fanfic I have ever written (every fanfic is the new hardest fanfic I have ever written). 0% inspiration, just scraping every one of these words out of the dirt with my fingernails. Astonishingly enough, it's still kinda good. At least, I think it's kinda good. We'll see.

I used most of my daily drawing time this week to work on a combined Kuchiki Sibs birthday drawing. I was feeling pretty good about it until I showed it to my kid and she was like, "Mom, can I give you some constructive criticism?" and then I shriveled up and died, but I don't care, I still like it.

Okay okay okay okay I'm doing this update early today, so I can jump back in and start clocking words for next week, let's gooooooooo

#writing update #art update

[lokigayforhela]

Power-Hungry

TW: None

Rating: G

W/C: 3730

A/N: Phew! Managed to pump out another chapter of this before I leave for my cruise on Monday (which means no updates until after I get back since I’m giving myself the week off to relax). I hope this chapter tides you over until I’m back. Enjoy!

Installment One

Installment Two

Installment Three

You lost track of the time as you basked out in the warmth of Xandar’s sun. You realized you must have ended up dozing off, because at one point you closed your eyes and when you’d opened them again, the picnic basket had been all packed away, and Hela was still sitting on the rock jutting out of the ground a few feet from you, watching you with an expression you couldn’t quite decipher.

Once she realized you were awake, though, her expression smoothed into something more akin to her usual demeanor, though softer than it was to anyone else. You’d noticed that, the longer that you’d been in her presence. With everyone else she was so hard and cold and to the point. And with you, she was still the same but there was more… leniency. Space left for you to learn and understand. It made your heart flutter and you still couldn’t quite figure out why. It was the same way you felt when she took the time to tell you stories about how she’d grown up or when her gaze lingered on you a little too long when you were re-energizing her.

You just couldn’t, for the life of you, understand why it was you that was getting that side of her.

“Feeling better?” Hela’s voice brought you back to your senses and you pushed yourself to sit up, nodding when you realized you felt more you than you had in quite some time. Perhaps it truly was the sun, after all, that energized you.

“Thank you, again, for allowing me to come outside. I appreciate it very much, and am grateful for your kindness.”

That curious, unnameable expression flashed in Hela’s eyes for a brief second before she nodded once. “We do have a schedule we must adhere to, though, so it’s time to go in now.”

You tried not to look too saddened as you nodded and got to your feet. Realistically, you had known that even this much time in the sun was a gift that you had been afforded, but that didn’t make you any less wary about returning to your tiny little cell, where you didn’t know how long it would be until you saw the sunlight again. Not to mention the fact that Hela had left two bodies down there, as well, and who knew how long it would take to get rid of the blood and the smell once everything got… taken care of.

Hela seemed to be on the same page as you as you walked back up the ramp, still at a distance from each other, and she cleared her throat briefly before speaking. “Of course, there’s the matter of your room.”

“I can clean it up, your highness,” you offered, aiming to be as amicable as possible in the hopes that it would keep you on Hela’s good side and therefore allow you more time in the sun wherever you ended up stopping next. As much as you hated the idea of having to scrub up all the blood and figure out how to get rid of a body, you would do just about anything to ensure yourself more time to re-energize yourself at a later date.

To your surprise, Hela shook her head.

“No. I will not be sending you back down there.” She turned to a servant standing in a nearby alcove. “You. Take two others down to the brig. I expect it to be spotless and the bodies disposed of by the time we reach our next destination.”

The servant gave a bow of acknowledgment and hurried off, and Hela began to walk. Unsure what else to do with yourself, you followed after her, assuming she was leading you somewhere else to be kept until you could be put back down in your cell.

Instead, when Hela pressed her hand against a pad to open up a sliding door, you found that she had lead you to her own chambers.

At least, you assumed they were her chambers. The bed was bigger than anything you’d ever seen in your life, and the colors matched her outfit. All greens and blacks, with accents of gold in places. It was so uniquely her.

And you were so out of your depth.

“…your highness?” The two of you were alone again, but given the fact that you were now in her personal chambers, under a pretense you didn’t know the bounds of, it felt safer not to use her name, for the moment.

“I’ll send for a bed at supper, so it will be here by the time we finish eating. You’ll be allowed to sleep in it, of course. Can’t have you draining yourself by sharing a bed, now can we?” Hela spoke so flippantly on the matter that you were a bit thrown for a loop. You’d never shared a bed with anyone before, save for your parents when you were smaller. The closest you’d ever came to anything like that were the times Hela would come to re-energize with you, but even that had never felt anything like what Hela seemed to be implying.

Your silence must have confounded Hela, as she turned to look at you when you remained silent. “…unless of you course you’d rather go back down to the cell, which can be arranged if you’d prefer?”

You were smart enough to hear the warning in that, even if she lacked any real conviction as she said it. No, you were going to stay with Hela, and Hela was well aware of that. The threat of the cell was simply a reminder that, no matter how Hela chose to keep you as a prisoner, that would still be what you were to her.

“No. No, you… I mean I… I’m not sure that I’m worthy of sharing your chambers, is all. Everything here is so…” you trailed off, letting yourself take in the room in full. The desk against the far wall covered with papers and quills and maps and whatever else a commander required, the small armory wherein lay a few pre-summoned weapons at the ready for Hela’s perusal, the almost comically small wardrobe that you assumed held a few outfits that weren’t of the armored battle suit variety. “…much.”

Hela quirked an eyebrow as you met her gaze, lips curling up in half-smirk. “And is much a bad thing?”

You shook your head, gaze trailing back over to the bed that seemed to take up an entire quarter of the room. “…no. Just not anything I’m used to.”

Hela seemed to consider that for a moment, nodding slowly as she crossed over to sit on the edge of the bed, posture still stiff, ever ready for a fight that wasn’t coming. “And what are you used to?”

You blanched, taken aback by Hela’s curiosity at… well, anything about you that didn’t directly regard your powers. “Are you… asking me about my life back home?”

Hela waved a hand as if to encourage you to go on, and you pressed your lips together, dipping your head slightly before taking in a slow breath. “Well… I certainly wasn’t raised around war and ships and… and beds that would put a cloud to shame.”

Hela gave a small huff of a laugh, and you couldn’t help but to feel a small swell of pride at getting even such a small reaction out of her.

“No, but I… I grew up mostly outside. Amongst the flowers and the trees and the animals… I’m pretty sure I had more friends that couldn’t talk to me than those that could. And I liked it that way. It was easier, that way. People are… hard. They take work and effort and… they drain you, and not just… because I’m me, I mean.” Without thinking much about it, you let your feet carry you over to the desk, leaning against the edge of it, and when Hela said nothing against it, you continued. “They drain you emotionally. You have to learn how to talk to them. What they want to hear, when they want to hear it. It’s like a very difficult dance, and if you make one misstep, then you stumble and fall and everyone laughs.”

You shook your head slightly, shrugging a shoulder. “Then you factor in the way people treat you when they find out you’re different. When they find out what you can do for them, and it’s… hard to tell when someone actually wants to know you or if you’re just a means to an end. Usually it’s the latter. At least, in my experience.”

Hela nodded slowly, gaze still fixated on you with such an intense curiosity that you struggled not to shy underneath it. “…and you truly don’t know how you got your… gift?”

Again, you shrugged a shoulder. “Like I told you when you first… When I got here. I’ve just… always been able to do it. Though there was a bit of a learning curve between realizing I was doing something and… understanding what I was doing, if that makes sense.”

“It does.” Hela pressed her lips into a thin smile, and you returned the gesture before looking down at the floor, unsure where to go from here.

You wanted to know more about Hela, but it wasn’t your place to ask questions. Hela was allowed to ask after you. You were hers, as she often reminded you, and therefore obliged to answer anything she wanted to know about you. You were given information only when Hela deemed it necessary, which was few and far between, and largely came about as small rewards for doing her the service of recharging her.

Perhaps, though, given your new living situation, you would be allowed at least a few questions of your own.

“…what about you?”

Hela tilted her head slightly, eyes narrowed slightly as she studied you. “…what about me?”

You swallowed thickly, steeling your nerves before pressing on. “What are you used to?”

Hela gave another faint curl of her lips, nodding slightly as if she was impressed at your decision to question her. “War and ships and beds that would put clouds to shame.”

You fought the urge to roll your eyes, but lost to the urge to smile, shaking your head a bit. “No, no. None of that. When you were little, still learning about the world and everything that you can do. What was it like for you?”

“Well, I have mentioned that I was trained for battle at a very young age, and battle truly has been most of what I’ve known. Even when I wasn’t training, it was learning to plan battles. Strategies, familiarity with landscape and other kingdoms’ and realms’ strengths and weaknesses.” Hela’s expression had darkened to something akin to remorse, but you didn’t call her out on it. “Always learning.”

“Surely you must have had some time to be a child?”

Hela only shook her head once. “No. It’s always been… going and going and going since I could walk. And even if it hadn’t been for war, it would have been for ruling. It still was, to be honest. I am the Crown Princess, after all, and one day Asgard will be mine and I will rule it. And you’ll be there, too. After we find what we’re looking for.”

Your brow furrowed at the thought, for a plethora of different reasons. You’d assumed Hela would keep you indefinitely, but somehow you’d never considered that would entail going back to Asgard while she ruled. And that aside, she had just openly admitted that she wasn’t simply conquering lands just to do so, but was actively on the search for something; information you hadn’t been privy to, as of yet.

“…you’re looking for something?”

Hela looked over at you again, and you could feel her sizing you up as she regarded you, and you sat very still, as though that might help in her assessment of you.

Eventually, she dipped her head in a nod, and stood up, crossing over the desk you were leaning on, and you straightened instinctually, turning as she pulled forward a spare bit of parchment upon which had been drawn six small items that looked to be stones of some sort. You’d never seen anything like them, and above each was written something in a language you didn’t understand. Asgardian, you assumed.

“I’m looking for these.”

“…what are they?” You almost wanted to reach out to touch the paper, as though feeling the lines of the drawings would provide you with clarity, but as your hand twitched, Hela pushed the paper back into the pile she’d moved it from.

“Something that will put me above all others.” Hela drew back then, and headed for the door. “Come. I’ll tell you more after supper.”

~~~~~

Hela, in fact, did not tell you more after supper, nor did she tell you anything more in the next five days that you were traveling.

You couldn’t say that you were upset about it. Hela was only being realistic, you reasoned. What need had you for knowledge about business that would never truly involve you? Better to let you be curious and find things out as they happened rather than give you information that others could get from you, should you ever make it away from Hela.

Not that you could ever even think about getting away from Hela.

Being on the ship with her had become normal. Sometimes, it felt like you’d never known anything but, and life back home felt like a distant dream that you couldn’t quite remember anymore. It was strange, and yet you couldn’t stop yourself from feeling like you were exactly where you were supposed to be. Like everything you had ever done had let to this, right here. Sitting in Hela’s bed on her ship while she sought out something to get herself more power.

“How are you liking your arrangements here, sweet girl?” Hela cooed, bringing you back to the present as you looked over your shoulder, where Hela sat behind you, braiding your hair as you re-energized her for the first time since you’d left Xandar. “This must be much better than that horrible cell down there.”

You weren’t entirely sure if that was meant to be a trap or not, so you pleasantly shrugged your shoulder. “I didn’t mind the cell so much, but here… I get to see outside, here.” You glanced out of the window, realizing that the stars and eternally black sky had given way to something much more sky-like, though you still had no idea where your next stop was. “And I get to be with you.”

You said the latter before you could comprehend that you’d said it, and you stiffened as you felt Hela’s hands still at the small of your back for a brief moment before she continued weaving your hair together.

“And do you like being with me?” Hela’s voice was even, yet you still couldn’t bring yourself to turn around to look at her.

Instead, you answered with the truth. “It’s better than being alone.”

You heard Hela make a strange noise, as though her breath had hitched or caught in her throat, but before either of you could say anything, there was a knock on the door before it slid open.

“Your Highness. We’ve reached Knowhere.”

~~~~~

You’d never been anywhere like Knowhere.

Though, to be fair, you’d never been anywhere but your home planet, so that really wasn’t saying much.

But given the way that Hela was holding to you tightly rather than keeping you at a distance as she had on Xandar, you imagined it wasn’t exactly a reputable place.

Hela didn’t say much as you traveled with her, and to be honest, you were a little surprised that she had brought you with her at all. She’d made it clear you weren’t really in need of knowing just what she was doing in her search for whatever it was that had been drawn on the papers, but she’d insisted that you come with her.

Perhaps, you mused, she was a little worried that if she left you on the ship again, someone might try to attack you again, and wagered it much safer for you to just tag along with her than risk having to kill more of her men.

“Whatever happens, you stay with me. Am I understood?” Hela was all business. No pet names, no soft voice. It made you more nervous than you cared to admit, so rather than give a verbal answer, you only nodded, opting to instead look around at the different races of aliens selling wares and bartering with others. Somewhere in the distance, you could see what looked like some sort of gambling den, from which you could hear shouting and yelling intermittent with the occasional cheer.

“This way.” Hela pulled you along, and you didn’t stop until you reached what seemed to be some sort of a bar not too far from the den you’d noticed before, and you watched as Hela leaned over to someone nearby, whispering something you couldn’t quite understand. The pink alien nodded, and disappeared behind a rather ornate door, but before you could comment on it, Hela turned back around to look at you.

“Have a drink. It’s polite.” She nudged over one of two small glasses you hadn’t seen her order, and you picked it up, peering into the cloudy liquid as you made a face.

“…is this safe to drink?”

“The man we’re going to see wouldn’t benefit if he killed those who came to see him.”

You weren’t entirely sold on the idea, but you were curious, and starting to feel the slightest bit drained from Hela’s constant touch, so you tipped the glass into your mouth, making a face as the liquid burned all the way down your throat.

“That’s a good girl.”

You blushed at the compliment, and watched as Hela threw her own glass back without so much as a flinch, leaning back against the bar and looking at the sea of people standing around and conversing. Not for the first time, you found yourself unable to look away from her, gaze traveling over her face as your mind began to grow fuzzy from whatever it was you had just drank.

“You’re staring again, pet.” Hela turned to look at you, but seemed to stop in her tracks at your expression, like she couldn’t understand why you were looking at her, or why you were looking at her the way you were looking at her.

“…sorry. I was just thinking…” Your voice was hardly above a whisper, but you knew Hela could hear you with how close she was still standing. Had she gotten closer since she turned to look at you? You couldn’t quite tell.

“What about?” Hela’s voice was hardly much louder than yours, but her tone sent a chill all the way down your spine.

You opened your mouth to speak, but before you could, the ornate door opened again, and the girl who had gone inside earlier spoke.

“Goddess of Death, Hela Odinsdottir. The Collector will see you now.”

The next few moments passed in a blur, partially because of the alcohol, but also because all you could focus on was the cool of Hela’s hand at the small of your back and the proximity of her body to yours as the alien led you past row after row of glass boxes, each containing a creature more fantastical than the next.

“That’s a Contraxian… and that one just over there is a Dark Elf, from Svartalfheim…” Hela pointed out to you, voice low enough so that only you could hear, and you nodded along, wondering why they were being kept in glorified cages.

“Milady Odinsdottir, I present to you… Taneleer Tivan.” The girl gestured in front of where you had stopped, and a man dressed in an almost comically ostentatious cape turned around to face you.

“Your highness… Such an honor to meet you in person, finally.” He took a step forward, and Hela did the same, her hand falling away from you and you found yourself missing even such small contact from her, despite the relief of getting a break from energizing her. The man, The Collector, took her hand, pressing a chaste kiss to the back of it, and you felt an awful flare of jealousy at the action, even though you weren’t entirely sure where it came from, or why you had any reason to feel jealous in the first place.

Hela, for what it was worth, seemed entirely uninterested and unimpressed, stepping back as soon as he let go of her hand.

“No need for formalities and pretenses here, Tivan. You and I both know you have information that I want, and I’m prepared to do whatever it takes to get it.”

You’d gotten so used to Hela being gentle with you that you’d forgotten just how harsh and commanding she could be, even though you could tell she was holding back, for now.

The Collector waved a hand dismissively, and then his eyes trailed over to where you were standing and he tilted his head. “But we have a guest! And you didn’t introduce us.” He took a step toward you, and you instinctively took a step back. In the same instant, Hela reached back to put a hand on your wrist protectively.

“She has a curious power. I can feel it from across the room. You simply must introduce us.” Tivan looked back over at Hela with what could only be described as a hopeful expression, but she remained stoic.

“She’s not why I’m here. You know where the Soul Stone is.” She let go of your wrist then, and flicked her hand out, a sword slipping into her palm. “And you’re going to tell me.”

The Collector held his hands out, and started to say something, but was drowned out by a crash coming from the direction you and Hela had come from, and you all turned around in time to see a group of people coming in, led by a tall, purple alien with a golden gauntlet on his left hand.

At your side, you felt Hela tense.

“Shit.”

#Hela x reader #Hela Odinsdottir x reader #Hela #Hela Odinsdottir #Marvel #drama #angst #Power Source au #anonymous #ask #answered #Power Hungry fic

[lucky-bishop]

✨ Fic Writing Review 2023 ✨

Thank you for the tags @rosieposiepuddingnpie and @thotpuppy! I still had a few works in progress that I knew (or at least desperately hoped, lol) would be posted in 2023, but now I can safely say I'm done posting for the year (though I have things raring to go for early 2024) and wanted to share my year in review!

Words and Fics

230,669 words posted across 32 fics

One fandom represented: y'all already KNOW it's Teen Wolf!

Earliest Drop: Doctor's Orders (Steter, Explicit, 2,529 words) on 1/5/2023

Most Recent Drop: Creature of the Night (Stackson, Mature, 7,529 words) on 12/29/2023

Longest Fic: Pretty Good Bad Idea (Steter, Explicit, 28,502 words)

Shortest Fic: Werewolf Healing (Teen+, 1,090 words)

Overall, this makes me super happy! My writing goal for 2023 was 200k words, and I made it with over 30k to spare! I also met my goal of posting at least once per month (although in the summer it was mostly just the biweekly updates for Pretty Good Bad Idea).

Top Fics by Kudos

The Empty-Nester Alpha (Steter, Explicit, 16,306 words)

Pretty Good Bad Idea (Steter, Explicit, 28,502 words)

Lips are for Biting (Stetopher, Explicit, 2,436 words)

Down to the Marrow (Steter, Explicit, 23,206 words)

A Long History (Steter, Explicit, 11,528 words)

Hm. I wonder what my most popular pairing and rating are 😂

My fandom fic events in 2023

The Empty-Nester Alpha (Steter, Explicit, 16,306 words) for the 2023 Steter Valentine's Exchange

Burnin' Up for You, Baby (Starrish, Teen+, 5,765 words) for the Stiles Rair Pair Valentine's Day Event

Promises, Promises (Mature, 2,789 words) | The Witch in the Woods (Explicit, 7,044 words) | What Spring Will Bring (Mature, 1,701 words) | Breaking Bonds (Teen+, 4,354 words) | Born to Run (Mature, 3,419 words) | Touch Me, Fix Me (Explicit, 5,497 words) for Deter Week 2023 (which I will be running for 2024! Details coming soon!)

I'm Sorry (like a pipe through the gut) (Petopher, Teen+, 1,675 words) for the May 2023 Petopher Event

A Ways to Go (Stackson, Mature, 10,537 words) for the Stackson Reverse Bang

Welcome Home (Stetopher, Teen+, 1,113 words) | Good Morning (Stargent, Explicit, 1,489 words) | The Best Gift (Starrish, Teen+, 1,999 words) for the Stiles Shipping Central Ficlet Exchange

Down to the Marrow (Steter, Explicit, 23,206 words) | sweeter than honey (Steter, Teen+, 1,909 words) for the 2023 Steter Bang

As We Know It (Stetopher, Mature, 17,063 words) for Fandom Trumps Hate

A Creature of Habit (Steter, Mature, 20,918 words) for Steter Secret Santa 2023

Hey Batter, Batter, Swing! (Steterson, Explicit, 5,209 words) | Creature of the Night (Stackson, Mature, 7,595 words) for the Teen Wolf Holiday Fest

Last year I said I wasn't going to sign up for so many events this year. As you can see, I lost control of my life.

Upcoming Events and Projects for 2024

Oh man! A ton of events, again, lol. I will probably sign up for at least one Valentine's Day event, like I mentioned above I'll be running @deterweek 2024, I'll be down for the Steter Bang and Steter Secret Santa again, and hopefully several months of the Stiles Shipping Central Exchange.

As for projects, also a ton. I can never just be working on one thing at once, lol. I currently have eight requests in my queue, one of which is going to be ready by early January. I have thirty-nine existing idea docs/WIPs for Teen Wolf (including that one request). Which is fucking insane of me. Actually. But for a short list of things that should be (or hopefully will be) coming in early 2024 are:

Possessive Peter Steterek

Stiles gets bit by a grindr hookup (Steter)

Lorde-inspired Stargent painting fic

Alpha form Peter/Stiles monsterfucking in the woods

Outside of Teen Wolf I have a Stranger Things and a few WWDITS idea docs/WIPs that I'd love to work on, but I just don't know if it'll happen. We'll see! Cheers to 2024! That's a wrap! Phew, thank you if you read even half of this, let alone all of it.

Rules & Tags below the cut!

Rules: Feel free to show whatever stats you have. Only want to show Ao3 stats? Rock on. Want to include some quantitative info instead of stats? Please do this. Want to change how yours is presented? Absolutely do that. Would rather eat glass than do this? Please don’t eat glass but don’t feel like you have to do this either.

Tags: Anyone who sees this and hasn't done it and would like to! I know I am very late to the game, haha, but I love seeing stuff like this.

#my writing #2023 #teen wolf #year in review #fandom events

[letmetellyouaboutmyfeels]

Fanfic Update

OKAY PHEW NOW THAT'S OUT OF THE WAY...

WHAT is up with the fanfics?

A lot. A lot is up. Help.

While I did not expect to get sucked into a new ship (Xedgin), I knew at the start of the year that as I got my self-publishing off the ground I wouldn't have as much time for fanfic, but the hope is that now I will be able to finally finish these bad boys.

So, what exactly are these mysterious WIPs?

We have:

Buddie:

Monsterfucker PWP #1

Monsterfucker PWP #2

Oh no! My two angstiest fics had a horribly angsty child!

Hey does anyone remember my podcast episode with @burnthatbridge and I said there was a fic I wouldn't do... yeah about that...

What do Greek mythology and BDSM clubs have in common?

Uno Reverse Card

"I'm 10k into this fic and I don't think I can claim this is a joke anymore."

Xedgin:

Xenk and Edgin and the Terrible Horrible No-Good Very Bad Dungeon Crawl

Did Someone Say "Fake Dating?"

The second you tell Edgin he can't have something is the second he's gonna want it he's a thief what the hell were you thinking...

My DM is a Saint (Or: Mads Why are You Reading 'Dead in Thay' and Giggling?)

The plan is to publish the Xedgin fics ASAP, but the Buddie fics will all be unleashed in October, since they have a Halloween-esque theme to them in one way or another. I feel bad that everyone's going to wait almost a year for new Buddie fic from me, but I hope that Fractals from the Lightning Bolt have entertained you in the meantime, and seeing as at least three of my Buddie fics are headed for the 50k+ range at 100mph, I do hope the length will make up for it.

It's gonna be a hell of an October this year. Buckle up. ;)

#mads writes stuff #I have been truly dying to write my fics #but between work to make ends meet and all the stuff for my Patreon/self-publishing #I'm shocked I found the time for the two Xedgin fics I HAVE posted #but I've gotten the ball rolling and my hope is that I'll have more time now #especially if I get enough people on Patreon to make my self publishing 50-75% of my income #that's the hope/goal anyway #we can also blame my boss for jerking me the FUCK around for three months #but that's a story for another time