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straysketches · 11 months

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The Night Before the Future (preview)

✨Fic Link: “The Night Before the Future”✨

Summary: Two clans of gargoyles -- creatures that turn to stone during the day and come to life by night -- reside in the city of Iwatobi. Video evidence of their existence is eventually caught on camera, and the clans struggle to find their place in the world as the city transforms into a bustling metropolis almost overnight.

Fandom: “Free!” characters set in the “Disney’s Gargoyles” universe (some characters are gargoyles, others are human/other)

Pairings: primarily SouRin & Reigisa, with mentions of NatsuNao & MakoHaru

Rating/Warning: Teen (language, violence, mentions of death/depressing themes)

Tags: fantasy/AU, action/adventure, found family, angst, romance/fluff, friends-to-lovers, slow burn

Word Count: 44k (11 Chapters; completed fic!)

It happened in a single night and rippled through the city of Iwatobi like a wave.

***

Miyako glided as quickly as the wind would carry her over the dark, quiet coastline, towards the inner city. Her clan had just said their goodbyes and were one by one going back to business as usual until only Hiro and Tachi, her closest friends, were left, watching her until her silhouette disappeared.

“Think she’ll be happier?” Tachi asked, finally moving towards one of two abandoned beach homes the clan utilized for storage. She pushed the door open, its handle long gone, grabbed two empty backpacks hanging on the wall, and gave one to her companion.

“She’ll definitely be less restless,” Hiro replied, maneuvering the backpack’s straps under his wings, over his shoulders and clipping them into place. “The city will keep her busy.”

Tachi adjusted her own pack. “I just hope she’ll be safe, I worry every time another one of us goes over there.”

“You two worry too much,” a burly grey tank of a gargoyle chuckled—the leader of the clan, Ono. He approached the house with a slow saunter as they came outside. “Don’t worry for her, have confidence in her! She’s not the first of ours to transfer to Samezuka and I doubt she’ll be the last.”

“I have no doubt the Samezuka clan will be safe, I’m hoping the Samezuka district is as kind,” Tachi stretched her green feathered wings a few times, pulling their muscles and testing the currents coming in from the waves.

“Well, Seijuro left and I haven’t heard any complaints from him. Between you two and me, the last I spoke to him, Toraichi said he was heavily considering our boy as his second.”

Hiro’s eyes lit up. “So soon?”

“It’s not official or anything, but Seij has proven himself more than capable of taking charge. Not going to lie, I’m kind of jealous, he was such a hothead before he left, guess city living humbled him.” Ono rubbed the back of his neck and looked out at the expanse of beach that lay before him on either side.

Right in the middle of the vast beach and small grassy hill were two beach houses that had been put up for sale and abandoned long ago. Gargoyles weren’t the best carpenters, but they did what they could to keep the homes as neat as possible, sweeping away dust and keeping their belongings organized. The paint outside had started to chip in some places, but that was of little concern. His clan was scattered throughout the beach, talking, playing, swimming in the waves, exercising their wings in the skies—this was where the Iwatobi clan lived, far enough from humans to live as they pleased without being on constant alert.

It was rumored amongst the clan that their ancestors came from the mountains and eventually migrated down to the coast.

The houses came some five or so years ago, and Ono was sure they would have to give up their beachside home, but the two houses were built, construction was halted before more could go up, and no humans ever came. The closest beaches occupied by humans were miles away, the clan protected by an uninhabitable rocky cliff to one side, and miles of wilderness beyond the beach on the other. The Iwatobi clan didn’t know much about human customs, save for what they bothered to learn from the fae folk they made supply runs to, and eventually the clan grasped enough of the concept of how humans used money to learn that the houses were too expensive for their own good, so they fell through and the clan was once again safe.

They now used the homes as an epicenter, storing supplies, food, clothes, personal items and occasionally gathering inside when weather inclined. Everyone worked to keep the houses tidy and the beach clean. The beach had long since been declared closed by the authorities and haunted by the locals and the Iwatobi clan rarely ventured into the city unless making supply runs, which Hiro and Tachi were assigned to tonight. Miyako grew up in this clan and at some point she found cleaning and swimming too dull for her senses and craved something more exciting; shortly after, she met Toraichi.

“Go on, you two, you’re wasting moonlight,” Ono said, as the pair climbed to the roof of one of the houses, caught a gust a wind and flew towards the city.

Iwatobi was a large but modest island city, connected to the rest of the world through bridges and ferries on the west side; it grew from infancy as a small fishing town and had since tripled in size, though not so much in grandeur. It had its checkpoints—choice restaurants, lovely housing options, and a downtown one could describe as bustling on the right day—but was rarely filled with excitement or experiences typically associated with a city of its size. Located in the heart of the city was the social hub known as the Samezuka district, an expanse of shops and noise that spanned about three blocks, where the other gargoyle clan resided.

Miyako tucked her wings close to her as she maneuvered between vacant streets and dark alleys, forced to be more wary of humans. She flew down into one alley, gliding silently over a passing car, and pressed herself against the cement wall. She watched as people yelled over the crowd, trying to hear themselves, keeping their eyes glued to the path in front of them or to the ground to avoid relentless salespersons. If anything new or exciting came to Iwatobi, Samezuka would find it first and spread it through the rest of the city like a literal heartbeat, pumping ideas, merchandise and the promise of something bigger, better, flasher. On the opposite end of the street, a large billboard was in the process of being built; another sign to sell another product. Miyako had never seen actual daylight, but she surmized Samezuka was just as bright. The energy in the street was invigorating, she was almost tempted to walk out and experience the rush for herself, but instead she sighed and scaled the wall, making her way to the roof.

In the short distance, she saw shadows moving across the rooftops—they’d almost be undetectable if she didn’t know what she was looking at—and her heart thrummed loudly in her chest when one of the shadows made their way towards her.

Toraichi was a built gargoyle with medium brown skin, his body covered in dark stripes outlined in white. His large batlike wings wrapped lazily around Miyako, bringing her closer.

“Welcome home,” Toraichi said, gently tucking a strand of long red hair out of her face.

They fell into each other’s arms like it was the one place they were always meant to be. Toraichi was the young leader of the Samezuka district clan, a caring and considerate leader who worked alongside his clan rather than ruled over it. He came to the city with a handful of rogues—gargoyles that lived on their own—some years before. They found a home in Samezuka, taking an immediate liking to how much busier it was than the rest of the city, and soon afterwards they were found by the Iwatobi clan. Younger members of the home clan, curious about the newcomers, would often hang around until some became a permanent part of it, and the ragtag Samezuka group of no more than five quickly grew to fifteen.

***

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phoenixtakaramono · 3 years

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Does Bing gē Have Descendants in ‘The Untold Tale?’

This topic has come up a few times since The Untold Tale takes place in the PIDW universe (post-Bingge vs Bingmei extra), I figured I might as well compile and archive my official answer here for me to refer my AO3 readers to in the future for convenience’s sake. I hope everyone doesn’t mind. :) I’m always happy to answer questions!

TL;DR

Q: Will we see Bing gē having fathered children with his harem of 600 or so wives in TUT?

A: For TUT, the answer is a definite “no.” There were a lot of factors which’d contributed to my decision. I’ll try to explain my reasoning down below.

Context

In PIDW, it is canon that Luo Binghe has a bountiful number of descendants with his harem of 600-or-so wives. It is a detail that has been mentioned even in ch1 of SVSSS and in ep1 of the donghua.

(SVSSS Excerpt - ch1)

(SVSSS donghua - ep1)

I like to plan things ahead of time. So from very early on, I knew this would be something I would have to decide on whether or not to address when I’d finally decided to expand TUT from just a prologue into a full-blown story. And after contemplating it, I decided against adding children into the story. It is because 1) it would make the situation more complicated, and 2) it would take TUT in a different direction that wouldn’t be fun for me to write.

I’m a very decisive writer, meaning when I make my mind up about something, chances are I won’t change my mind. This is because I would have already planned it into my plot outline, which means changing a decision would require me to change other details in the other chapters I have planned for that story. (I’m typically not a spontaneous writer; I try not to write spontaneously because when you’re a writer who rotates through multiple WIPs with different characters across different genres or writing styles, you inevitably have writer’s block because you probably won’t remember all the ideas or the direction you had whenever you return back to a different WIP. To reduce this shortcoming, it helps me personally to have a plot outline. This way I can return to any WIP, read my notes and then transcribe them into legible paragraphs, find a way to transition between the story beats I have to hit for that chapter, and then eventually post the final draft to AO3 when I feel it’s ready.)

Having made a decision, I knew I had to set it up in TUT and give a “reasonable explanation in-story.” Hence, in ch2, we see:

(Excerpt I - ch2)

Basically the set-up is TUT takes place post-Bingge vs Bingmei, but between “the third or fourth book” of the hypothetical PIDW webnovel series aka before Airplane wrote the fanservicey chapters where the luckier of LBH’s wives give birth to children during the harem drama plots and the children are probably rarely, if ever, mentioned again in the story as a lot of stallion novels tend to do.

(Excerpt II - ch2)

(Excerpt III - ch2)

Contrarian Tendencies

You know the saying: Monkey see, monkey do? In my case, it’s monkey see, monkey do not do.

A little fun fact about me as a writer: if I have already seen a fanfic where someone has already written a concept or idea into their story, chances are I will just avoid it entirely in my own stories. I don’t know why this aversion exists, but I’m assuming it’s because of my counterculture hipster inclinations and an intrinsic fear of plagiarism which has been beaten into all of our skulls since adolescence. There’s nothing wrong with being inspired by other people’s works. Technically everything’s been done before in writing so, as a writer, a good rule of thumb is to always try to give it your own unique spin on things. So for me, my brain somehow interpreted this a step further. This is a reason why I try to avoid reading stories from whichever fandom my WIP is from during the writing process of updating a fic, because this is how I get influenced. Once I see an idea or interpretation from another fanfiction, it influences me to not want to write it into my own. This is a very strong unconscious impulse for me. I guess this is just the neurons in my brain’s thinking that this way, it won’t be something my readers will have read before and the story idea will come across as different or fresh, and mine. In a way this is also how I show respect for fanfiction writers in the same fandom—by being inspired to not be inspired, ha. I like to think every story in the world serves a niche audience, so seeing a diverse range of originality and interpretations in a fandom is a good thing. This is also how I feel when I am able to identify certain popular tropes or depictions or patterns in a fandom; 99% of the time, it makes me feel a compulsion to “go against the grain” or write the opposite. For example, you have no idea how long it took me to come around the idea of incorporating the fanon “A-Yuan” into TUT. However cute it is, the moment it dominated the fandom (well, “dominated” is an exaggeration; it’s more like I’ve seen enough, especially in the Original LBH/ SY | SQQ tag), my gut reaction was to nope out of using it. But after seeing a lot of comments in my inbox with readers affectionately calling SY “A-Yuan,” I’d contemplated it for a long time and it wasn’t until ch4 that I decisively decided that yes, I can have Bing gē calling SY “A-Yuan” in TUT—but it has to be at the right moment for maximum dramatic and emotional impact. (See this thread that started it all. And this is the small sneak peek I wrote where LBH will call SY that for the first time.) <- This is the rare 1% where I actually conformed to what’s popular.

In this case, when I finally decided to expand the prologue into a full-blown story, coincidentally I had just recently read a good Binggeyuan (Bingyuan) fanfic which featured a kidnapped Shen Yuan interacting with Bing gē’s harem and LBH’s children/descendants. I’d liked their portrayal and even thought the children were cute. <- However, with me having reading this, the problem came up: I felt the familiar stubbornness in me rearing its head. So knowing myself, if I had included children, it is very likely the direction that I would have gone down for TUT would have been the opposite. To further complicate matters, you have to keep in mind the kind of writer I am. I tend to like grounding stories with a semblance of realism, no matter if the genre is pseudohistorical fantasy, romance, sci-fi, etc. And this writer has seen and read quite a few harem and palace intrigue Chinese dramas/ premises.

For further context, in those types of “historical” C-dramas^, in that sort of environment which fosters scheming, competition, jealousy, etc, it is almost expected to see heirs aka children aka descendants harmed along with the women. Innocent parties are often victims in these sorts of cutthroat premises, to underscore the underlying message the show or novel wishes to present. (See Ruyi’s Royal Love in the Palace. See Yanxi Palace. See The Legend of Haolan. See Nirvana in Fire. See The Rebirth of the Malicious Empress of Military Lineage. Etc.) And me being me, this would be the direction I would take. Remember, while TUT is meant to emulate a legitimate danmei C-novel reading experience in a fantasy world, I do drop pseudohistorical and cultural Easter eggs into the story. So trust me when I say you would not like the direction TUT would have gone down in, had I made LBH have children with his harem. I mean, theoretically yes, we could’ve seen endearing children characters from me, but you would have also seen me addressing a lot of the baggage that comes with (see Comment III Excerpt down below).

The situation with dissolving Bing gē’s harem is already complicated enough. As his romance with Shen Yuan develops, I didn’t want to have an additional headache thinking about how to address the issue of LBH having children already. Divorces in a pseudohistorical context is already a heavy topic—even more so when it’s divorces with children in the mix. Naturally I will still have SY and LBH eventually discuss the matter of legitimate heirs since LBH will essentially become the Sacred Ruler of all Three Realms and it’s a traditional precedent for an emperor to bed his empress, noble consort, and imperial concubines until he has his heirs (plural, because the rate of mortality was high in ancient China). In TUT’s case, at that point in the story SY will remind LBH that he’s essentially an immortal sovereign so there isn’t any need for an heir unless he wishes to retire. Furthermore, he will inform LBH that he could set a new precedent since he’s already different from the other emperors from history (with him being of half-Heavenly Demon and half-human cultivator lineage); as long as LBH is fully aware of all perspectives of the situation, he doesn’t necessarily need to conform to all traditions if this is something he really feels strongly about. But this future conversation(s) is likely the extent of it.

But wait, you say, what about a certain someone who’s going to be transmigrated as an imperial crown prince? Isn’t he going to be in that sort of vicious upbringing? <- Yes. But that’s an entirely seperate matter. In a way, since I’ve decided Bing gē will not have had any children or descendants in TUT, with Airplane, this now presents an opportunity for me to show the consequences of being one of the many children of an emperor with a harem of women vying for one man’s attention—and the power struggle that’d ensue in this kind of environment. It’s an interesting What-If parallel, if you think about it.

AO3 Comments

Although these are just small excerpts from replies I’ve written before, it’s nice and orderly to just compile them here for everyone since these will be buried underneath all the comments as TUT updates:

(Comment I- ch3)

(Comment II- ch4)

(Comment III- ch4)

Because of seeing comments that have asked me for my thoughts on whether or not I will include LBH’s children, I’ve had so much fun seeing theories thrown around: from LBH’s blood parasites being able to control conception, to someone’s headcanon about LBH being a hybrid and all that entails scientifically (think: mules). I will say in TUT, it’s more the former since in PIDW he’s supposed to have descendants; we’re pretending Bing gē doesn’t have any yet (and now definitely won’t, especially after having heard SY’s “prophecy”) because he subconsciously does not want children due to certain fears, trauma, etc. And his Heavenly Demon’s “blood parasites” (blood manipulation) is a convenient story device to explain why no wife has gotten pregnant yet.

I hope this explanation makes sense! Mainly I just wanted to have this archived on tumblr so that I have this post to refer to moving forward.

On a side note: especially since ch4 had been posted, quite a few people have actually mentioned they’ve read my replies to other comments and/or I have seen different people having hopped onto other readers’ comment threads (for example, imagine my pleasant surprise when I saw a reader you lovely person, you helpfully jumping in to respond to another reader’s questions about TUT, and their answers were actually aligned with what I would’ve answered!), so it’s always such a thrill whenever I see this level of engagement happening. I can’t explain why, but seeing this happening is just so cute to me. It really makes this writer feel so warm and fuzzy inside!

#svsss #bingyuan #bingqiu #the scum villain's self saving system #luo binghe #the untold tale #phoenixtakaramono #ask #technically not an ask #but i like to categorize it there #I mainly wrote this lengthy explanation on tumblr #bc I wanted to link this as ref #anytime someone asks me in the future regarding LBH’s kids #lol it’s actually not cinnabar pills hidden in a bracelet #it’s some sort of seeds which supposedly stopped concubines from being pregnant #I discovered this when I rewatched Ruyi’s Royal Love in the Palace #Do you all notice you have a unique writing syntax/ style #that’s how I can identify that you’re all diff ppl in the comments #one time an anon guest wrote something for G&G #and in the comment thread as another guest anon they supposedly agreed with the prev anon #in that case it was obvious it was the same person pretending to be another guest anon #and I can tell because their writing syntax/ voice is identical #which is why I’m so pleasantly surprised to see this phenomenon in the SVSSS fandom #you all have diff writing syntaxes #seeing you all interact with each other’s comments or my comments to other comments #is just such a delight ahhhhhh #I love the SVSSS community #you guys are so warm and welcoming

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ladyfl4me · 5 years

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A,E,F,G,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y,Z ;o

Okay *cracks knuckles* let’s go! F, M, and S have already been taken from this list, so feel free to send in... B, C, D, or H, I guess. Yeehaw. This is really fucking long.

A: How did you come up with the title to [TMWCIFTC]? -- It started, as many things do, as a bad pun. The novel The Spy who Came In from the Cold was a cold-war spy thriller, about a British spy who goes over to East Germany as an apparent defect, except he’s actually there to spread misinformation and fuck shit up. He falls in love, becomes disillusioned with his superiors, and is shot dead over the corpse of his lover after climbing over to the east side of the wall. Needless to say, this is nowhere close to what happens in TMWCIFTC. I chose it early on because of the literal meaning: there’s a moth(man), he’s coming in from the cold WV weather, boom shaka laka, we have a title. Over time, though, it’s evolved into another meaning. Indrid himself is coming in from an isolated, lonely existence: he’s rejoining the family that cut ties with him, he’s in love, he’s warm and safe. The moth sure did come in from the cold, and hopefully he stays that way.

E: If you wrote a sequel to [TMWCIFTC], what would it be about? -- Hm. Considering my entire TAZ fic career is a tangled hairball of sequels and prequels, I kind of have this base covered. At the moment, TCOS - aka The Children of Sylvain, the sequel to TMWCIFTC - is about three things: a Pine Guard road trip race against time and the feds, the Spanish Sylvan Inquisition That Nobody Expected (least of all Jake and Hollis, who have to set aside their differences and past conflicts to save Kepler - and who knows, maybe they’ll fall in love along the way), and Alexandra the Interpreter getting woke to Sylvan politics and doing what she can from the inside to change them. In other words, it’s going to be a massive sequel that is the finale of the Amnesty alternate universe I’ve created. It’s this series’ Endgame. (That reminds me, I need an actual title for this collection of stories I’m writing. The “Tin Cinematic Universe” doesn’t quite have the ring to it that I’d like.)

G: Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out of order? -- eh, it kind of depends. It’s like a buffering bar on Youtube videos. I outline what I can until I run out of ideas, then start writing, then add outlines to the end, until the outline is complete and I just have to keep writing.

I: Do you have a guilty pleasure in fic (reading or writing)? -- I don’t have one for reading, but for writing, I fucking love structuring chapters around songs. Classical or otherwise, I love music. All my stories play in my head like a movie screen, and I just do my best to describe what I’m seeing in my head with an accompanying score. It’s not so much a guilty pleasure as it is a writing process. Frankly, I don’t think I actually have a guilty pleasure; the act of writing itself is all the happiness I need.

J: Write or describe an alternative ending to [insert fic]. -- An alternate ending for The Devil Went Down To Georgia would be... interesting. It ended with Boyd-as-Jersey-Devil scaring the pants off some poor broke college kid, who stole his worthless fiddle; then he changed back, and he and Ned went on their merry way to go break into Aubrey’s house and send everything down the drain. If there was one thing that I could change in there, it would be how fast Ned ran. If he ran a little faster, he would have seen the alley; he would have witnessed Boyd turning into the Jersey Devil, or at least turning back into himself; and he’d get a very rude awakening as to what Sylvans are and that his partner (in crime, and everything that mattered) was a fucking cryptid. God, that’d be a fun AU to write. Who knows, I might go do that someday.

K: What’s the angstiest idea you’ve ever come up with? -- At the moment, the only angsty idea that I’m actually conceptualizing is a Hollis/Jake angsty breakup for TSG. (Spoilers, I guess.) I once wrote a very grimdark ending to TMWCIFTC where everyone fell through the ice and drowned. It wasn’t fun. I’ve also mentally killed off each Amnesty protagonist and NPC in various ways, but I never felt comfortable writing them down. I only write angst with a happy ending because those are the kinds of stories I need to hear.

L: How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting? -- 9 times out of 10, I just throw it into the void. I write as much as I can in big chunks, and then kind of hope for the best. TMWCIFTC, for example, is a completely unedited, unbetaed vomit draft. I usually do a quick reread of my oneshots to catch grammar and spelling errors, but other than that I just trust myself that it’s fine.

N: Is there a fic you wish someone else would write (or finish) for you? -- Can I get some kind of resolution for To the Edge of Night? Can I please get some kind of resolution for To the Edge of Night??? I was 14 chapters into that bastard before I a) became a more casual MCU fan and b) discovered TAZ. It was such a niche fic with such a niche structure - LOTR as galactic Asgardian propaganda to cover up Odin’s mistakes - that at some point I lost interest in it. I just saw Endgame though, so now I might get some inspiration for stuff to bastardize.

O: How do you begin a story–with the plot, or the characters? -- Characters. When coming up with character backstories, I can usually find ways to slot their lives together that necessitate a plot. I love character-driven stories, where their actions actually do shit and their words actually mean something, in favor of getting dragged along behind the plot like tin cans behind a car.

P: Are you what George R. R. Martin would call an “architect” or a “gardener”? (How much do you plan in advance, versus letting the story unfold as you go?) -- I’m definitely an architect, but in a really messy way. My friends can attest that I do an insane amount of planning for each story - often in their DMs, sorry about that, Fae, Cro, Indy and Aline 😬 - and all that usually ends up in a stream-of-consciousness rant outline on Google Drive. Knowing where the story is going helps me a lot, but the planning I do is definitely just building flower beds in which to sow seeds. Or building a greenhouse. I plan the bare bones of a story, and things get really wild within it, but it does follow a logical plot structure.

Q: How do you feel about collaborations? -- I have a lot of respect for the people who can successfully pull it off, but idk if i’d ever want to do one myself. I get really possessive of my stories and ideas and like to be the one in charge of their execution. That being said, some collabs have produced amazing stories. I don’t mind reading collab fics, but actually being in a collab grates on me more than it should.

R: Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider an influence? -- I’m definitely influenced heavily by Neil Gaiman. I read American Gods and Good Omens a lot while I was trying to write TMWCIFTC; not only was it a good brain break, but I was able to pick up a lot of tips on scene pacing, concise yet expressive language, and character interactions. My creative wriitng professors have always told us to read so we know what to steal - not in terms of content, but in execution.

On the fanfic side, @miamaroo is a huge inspiration for me. I’ve been reading Northern Migration a lot recently, and I love how its canon divergence is so worldshaking and so complex, but is still familiar in nostalgic yet terrifying ways. I read it back in October, went, “Huh, I wanna do something that wild. And if miamaroo can do it then I sure as fuck can too,” and I started planning TMWCIFTC during that one month dead zone the McElroys took last year. Northern Migration is one of the best, most coherent, most stunning, and most incredibly written TAZ Balance AUs I’ve ever read, and if I hadn’t read it, I wouldn’t have been inspired to take the fuckall huge plunge into TMWCIFTC.

S: Any fandom tropes you can’t resist? -- Bed sharing and cuddling, hand kissing, wrist kissing, whump, sympathetic villains. Canon divergent AUs are my absolute favorite things to both read and write. Anything that would turn me into Charlie Kelly slamming his finger on a bulletin board screaming, “CAROL,” is a fic I would give my life for.

T: Any fandom tropes you can’t stand? -- Not a fan of a) woobification and b) flat villain characterization, to the point where the story is riding on villain tropes instead of an actual person or plot. Character nuance is always something I look for when I read. I don’t usually get bitter about tropes, though; some stuff, when subverted, works really well. I fully subscribe to don’t like, don’t read, don’t write, which is why I don’t write anything that warrants AO3 content warning tags or an Explicit rating, in favor of focusing on plot. Every author has a reason for what they write and how - be it their level of experience, personal preference, or simply the joy of writing something and getting it out there - and I respect that. Within reason, of course.

U: Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much. --

@miamaroo, for reasons I’ve already discussed. My favorite TAZ Balance author hands down. Read Northern Migration and give it the love it deserves, or I’m replacing all the faucets in your house with silly straws.

@transagentstern. Fae has a bunch of absolutely incredible fics and an amazing grasp on characterization. We come from the same place with AUs, in that canon is but the bare planks on which we put the drywall of our plot an characterization. They structure AUs and character backstories from the ground up in believable and emotionally raw ways. Also they have great music taste. I especially like their interpretation of Indrid in Moth to the Flame; he, like all the other characters in the story, is far from perfect, and his character arc is explored in relatable ways that I love to read.

@keplersheetz. Aline - theneonpineapple on AO3 - researches like a motherfucker and has a wealth of knowledge/experience/viewpoints to draw on, making author-author interactions with her an absolute delight. She’s also doing the lord’s work with rarepairs. Spin a wheel, find a ship, and she’s probably written for it or at least conceptualized it. Reading her character studies and stories of the old Pine Guard - aka Mama’s original crew, before the current PCs joined - is always a delight. I’ve also hashed out a lot of details for The Children of Sylvain, especially for Mr. Boyd Mosche, guilt-wracked Jersey Devil extraordinaire, with her help.

V: If you could write the sequel (or prequel) to any fic out there not written by yourself, which would you choose? -- Not gonna lie, I’m fine with a lot of stuff that’s out there right now. It’s been a hot few months since I’ve actually stopped to read fic, but from what I recall, most of the fics I’ve read have done a good job of keeping things intact.

W: Do you like more general prompts, or more specific ones? -- The vaguer, the better. With really specific prompts, it usually feels as if the story’s been written for me already; with vague, general prompts, I have more agency to explore my own ideas. Some accompanying detail is usually nice, though. For example, the coffee shop/college/flower shop AUs that @transagentstern wrote are my ideal prompt for drabbles: premise, a little bit of open-ended detail, clear explanation of what’s going to happen while leaving the rest up to the imagination. Good stuff. If it’s for a long-form piece, though, I prefer full agency, or even just some time to lie facedown in the dirt and wait for an idea to strike me.

X: A character you enjoy making suffer. -- Yes.

Y: A character you want to protect. -- Tim.

Z: Major character death–do you ever write/read it? Is there a character whose death you can’t tolerate? -- I do read lots of major character death, yeah, though not always for TAZ. There’s something cathartic about seeing a character die, but sometimes it sits wrong with me in ways that I don’t like. As for writing, I’d rather kill a character for a reason rather than for shock value/for the Feels, though said Feels can accompany the reason.

#anon please dm me so i know who u are #please #i'm begging you #i'm in hell #asks #anon #ask game

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creideamhgradochas · 6 years

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Thanks to the lovely @whostheblondegirlwriting for taking the time to answer these! Get to know more about lovely E, go give her a follow and then show her some love!

These questions are from this list. You should check it out, there’s 50 questions all together and they’d be great to ask your favorite fic writer!

*Disclaimer from E, herself: If you’re looking for some sage-like writery advice...keep lookin’. You won’t find it here. This whole fic writing endeavor is an adventure in “[shrugs] We’ll see what happens”. Behold! An odyssey of half-assed, one line inspo. Marvel at the absolute appalling lack of plotting and vision. Tremble at the underwhelming realization that “Huh. I could do better than that”. In short, at least you don’t pay money for this, right?

1) How old were you when you first starting writing fan-fiction?

I have no idea, honestly. I signed up for AO3 to actually share it though in September 2015 when I was 36. So we’ll go with that.

2) Do you prefer writing OC’s or reader inserts? Explain your answer.

I think I have done more reader inserts than OC, counting all the tumblr oneshots. But you can actually create something substantial with an OC. An OC makes you work. I prefer them.

3) What is your favorite genre to write for?

I don’t know if I’ve done enough variety to have a fav, honestly.

4) If you had to delete one of your stories and never speak of it again, which would it be and why?

I wouldn’t. They’re all mine and I’m proud of each of them, no matter how popular (or maybe I should say, unpopular) they are/were.

5) When is your preferred time to write?

Whenever I have the time! I’m not picky, because time is very hard to come by with my job anymore and the fact that my husband doesn’t know I write. Morning, noon, or night for me. It can be hard to sneak it in and still get everything else done.

6) Where do you take your inspiration from?

I don’t have a good answer for this and I’m laughing to myself thinking I should have one. Lol An idea comes up and I write it. That’s it. Shameful, I know.

7) In your Back to One series, what’s your favorite scene that you wrote?

Oh, damn. Uhhh...I think I liked Sebastian fumbling through his confession to Lily in Montauk. But I also probably had the most fun with the “champagne incident” because it was for my tumblr-lifemate, @ceebeetumbles.

8) Have you ever amended a story due to criticisms you’ve received after posting it?

Nope. It is what it is. You can’t please everyone and I don’t try. As long as I like it, it’s good enough. It’s not like anyone’s paying me for this, anyway. Lol

9) Who is your favorite character to write for? Why?

Hmm. Right now, I’d have to say Jack Rollins, because he preoccupies so much of my writing lately. Besides his own fic, he’s also featuring in an AU for Echo that’s in draft. Considering he had two lines in Winter Soldier, I’m very proud of the interest and love my Jack gets.

10) Who is your least favorite character to write for? Why?

Chris Evans, for right now. Only because he has been less than inspirational for some time due to his relative inactivity and, uh, [ahem] some personal choices he made. But I’m optimistic he’ll come back.

11) How did you come up with the title for the Back to One series?

The main character, Lily, goes through some personal and professional ups and downs as an actress. The phrase “back to one” is a direction for actors to go back to their first mark, so I thought it was fitting, as Lily would hopefully get things right, find her best self again, and have a fresh start as she meets different situations and opportunities in her story.

12) How did you come up with the idea for the Back to One series?

I thought I’d write a Sebastian Stan fic and figured a good match for him (and someone to help drive the story) would be an actress. But then I considered an OC like Lily could have more angles to write and it became really an OC fic that features Sebastian Stan. Oops.

13) Do you have any abandoned WIP’s? What made you abandon them?

I haven’t ever abandoned a fic. I refuse to give up on A Touch Up and do write a line or two here and there, just nowhere near the volume I need to publish a full chapter like I used to. It ended up on the shelf because Chris Evans got so boring after Civil War premiered and the fic is literally built on what he was doing in his everyday life. I also have a personal distaste for Jenny Slate and I guess you could say his decision to date her made me doubt the version of him I’d created in ATU, which is a problem when your fic is paired so purposefully around the assumptions I/we all had made by that time about him.

14) Are there any stories that you’ve written that you’d really love to do a sequel to?

I’m doing it. Echo was my pet project and, though it has my smallest following for a WIP, I had enough demand/interest for the story to be told from another character’s perspective that Jack Rollins and the STRIKE Series were born. There’ll be some unexpected things along the way in that series that I hope those fans/readers enjoy.

15) Are there any stories that you wished you’d ended differently?

No. I’ve only ended a couple fics (Echo and Kindness). Everything else is still a WIP or open ended series that publishes oneshots every once in awhile. The rest of my work is basically oneshots.

16) Tell me about another writer(s) who you admire? What is it about them that you admire?

Don’t laugh at me when I say I admire anyone who puts their work out there, even if it’s just a paragraph long imagine only on tumblr. It takes a lot of nerve, no matter what level your work is at or how big the scope. I’ve seen some good, bad, and ugly fic floating around, but I see value in it all and love seeing experience/determination help the writer evolve.

We ain’t all Hemingways or Shakespeares. And that’s okay. Some of the best writers don’t have thousands of followers and get hundreds of notes (but deserve them). And some of the behemoths out there aren’t necessarily turning out mind blowing fic, either. It’s a crapshoot and fandom can be fickle (if not downright confusing af).

17) Do you have a story that you look back on and cringe when you reread it?

Not at all. If it posts, I’m happy with it.

18) Do you prefer listening to music when you’re writing or do you need silence?

Either is fine. I probably write more in quiet, though, because my husband works 3rd shift, so I’m mindful not to disturb him.

19) Have you ever cried whilst writing a story?

No. Closest I could say to giving me my own feels was when I wrote The Death of Brock Rumlow (when it existed as part of the original Echo plot).

20) Which part of your Back to One series was the hardest to write?

I’m happy to say I don’t think there’s been a hard part to write for Back To One, or any of my fics. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it!

21) Do you make a general outline for your stories or do you just go with the flow?

Nope. No outlines or plans. I pretty much just sit down and write. If inspiration doesn’t hit, I’ll switch to a different WIP. If I have an idea for a line or scene I might make a note for later (maybe just a few words to point me in the right direction/remind me, or a line or two of dialogue), but once I get to it, I usually just write it out at once.

22) What is something you wished you’d known before you started posting fan-fiction?

How little time I’d have down the road for it. Maybe I wouldn’t have run such long WIPs/fics at a time. It feels like it’s been 100 years since I had time to open requests and I had to abandon a weekly posting schedule for 3 WIPs earlier this year because I just don’t have the time to manage the volume I used to anymore.

23) Do you have a story that you feel doesn’t get as much love as you’d like?

OMG yes! Echo and its companion fic, Jack Rollins (and I’ll probably say the same for the au/the STRIKE series). At this point, I can confidently say the following for Echo didn’t carry over to Jack Rollins, but I knew both were niche fics in the beginning anyway. I’m grateful for the attention Echo got, but it was such a labor of love, I’d have liked to see it do better. I may only have several regular readers for Jack Rollins commenting or reblogging, but those few readers and myself are the ones I wrote it for, and that I’ll keep posting it for until it’s finished, regardless of how tiny the readership because I love it.

24) In contrast to 23 is there a story which gets lots of love which you kinda eye roll at?

Not in an “oh, geez. Not that again” way. More like a “oh, stop. I can’t believe you guys like it that much” kind of humbled eye roll.

25) Are any of your characters based on real people?

Obviously the celebrities like Chris Evans and Sebastian Stan, technically yeah. I have no doubt that some of my own ticks, experiences, etc have made it into a character or plot, or things from people I know or have come across. Things you don’t necessarily draw lines between on purpose but maybe catch on to later, sure.

26) What’s the biggest compliment you’ve gotten?

Any of the comments or messages from people who say they cried, laughed out loud in public, got way too giddy, or held their breath because of something I wrote. They make me so happy, just to see someone got so lost or involved in a moment means I did a good job. Having someone say they reread a fic (or are reading for the X time) is a hell of a compliment, too.

27) What’s the harshest criticism you’ve gotten?

It was about A touch Up and how I had given the reader insert character, or implied, too much description (ex. noting that POC don’t blush as often as this girl did, when I wrote it as that feeling in the cheeks anyone can experience to convey her nervousness/embarrassment/etc at those points in the story so people maybe shared that sense as they read, not that she frequently ran around with a noticeable flush) and that, although I may not have said it outright, things like that apparently had made her so that she was obviously white. That ruined it for the commenter, despite there not actually being that much said about appearance in the story.

28) Do you share your story ideas with anyone else or do you keep them close to your chest?

Rarely. @ceebeetumbles gets a snippet of a chapter thrown at her once in a very blue moon, if I want to be sure something isn’t too cliché or generally awful. Lol But there’s a chance she’s reading along with the fic, so I may not send the whole chapter. I don’t plot per se or collaborate with anyone though.

29) Do people know you write fan-fiction?

Just the lovely people who’ve visited me on Tumblr or AO3.

30) What’s you favorite minor character you’ve written?

It’s a toss up between Frank Grillo’s appearance in A Touch Up and Jack Rollins or Eric Mickelson in Echo. I’m also a little fond of Drew Madison in Back To One.

31) What spurs you on during the writing process?

That I told you I’d post an update to a WIP, promised a drabble, or set a deadline that a request would be done by. So, really just my self-imposed “schedule”.

32) What’s your favorite trope to write?

I don’t really have one.

33) Can you remember the first fic you read? What was it about?

Nnnope. Lol

34) If you could write only angst, fluff or smut for the rest of your writing life, which would it be and why?

It’s a toss up between angst and fluff. They both come pretty easily. Honestly, smut is exhausting to write and I do so little of it because I don’t want it to be repetitive. Fluff is always fun. But, man...the possibilities with angst are pretty limitless, so maybe I’d lean a little more that way.

#milestone celebration #ask the author #whostheblondegirlwriting

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dykedteach · 6 years

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tagged by the wonderful @lena221b for these questions (daaays ago), thanks lovely!

The rules are:

✰ post the rules

✰ answer the questions given to you by the tagger

✰ write eleven questions of your own

✰ tag eleven people

1. You are filming a polyamorous romcom. Who do you cast?

Tessa Thompson, because she’s great and I want to see her in everything. John Boyega, because oh my god can you imagine him in a romcom? Hollywood is missing out on a trick here. And Luke Arnold, because he’s been all over my dashboard today and I miss him.

2. Do you like museums? What kind of museums?

I do, I love them! Art museums are brilliant, but I think my favourites are those super interactive science museums. The one in London is amazing.

3. What was the weirdest thing you’ve ever cooked?

Hmm, I once made cookie cups and then filled them with sickly sweet icing, that wasn’t great. I don’t think I cook many weird things?

I’m not really fluent in any other languages besides English, but I studied German in school and did really well at it, and I went to some evening classes a few years ago to help improve my skills. I’d love to be fluent in it! I’m learning it at the moment with duolingo, as well as French, and Greek!

5. Do you remember this SOFT BOYS DOING SOFT THINGS POST inspired by the BOYS video? Examples include: Diego Luna opening a bottle of sparkling rosé, Stanley Tucci making a pie crust, Andrew Garfield bathing a puppy, etc. Now it’s your turn to play :) Who is doing what?

Ohhh my god yes. I love this concept. John Boyega riding a pastel yellow bicycle with a basket full of flowers on the front. Armie Hammer in flannel pyjamas. Oscar Isaac on a porch at dawn with oils and an easel, painting the sunrise. That one screencap of Toby Stephens where he’s knitting and pulling a dumbass face. All are good.

6. What is that extremely niche thing (pairing, kink) that you’re into and wish more people shared with you?

i still feel like silver/rackham has a lot of potential as a crack pairing for the ages t b h

I kinda do I guess! Overwatch is one of them, I don’t participate in it but I know shit about it and I’m smart enough, for instance, to know that I’d totally let Moira rail me.

8. What’s a show that’s badly underrated and that everyone should watch according to you?

:) :) :)

do i even gotta say it by this point, all of my followers by this point are either Black Sails fans, or have been going “YES, we get it, we know, now fuck off.” every time I mention it. I’m also currently trying to convince my coworkers to watch Queer Eye!

I use my likes as a place to keep posts I want to reblog later, or look at in more detail, or keep for reference (or like, if I just like something, like a response or a selfie). When I make my queue, I do it from my likes. Drafts, I use for my fics! Which is a terrible idea!

10. What perfume/cologne do you wear? Or alternatively, what’s your favourite?

I’m still mainly using a Givenchy one I got a few years ago in NY, but I need a scent update soon I think. My absolute favourite was a bergamot scented one I got from the louvre giftshop, and I haven’t found anything I love as much since.

11. According to you, which movie should win the Academy Award for Best Picture this year?

My personal favourites so far have been Call Me By Your Name, Get Out, and The Shape Of Water. I want them all to win big, but I’m not sure which one should get best picture!

my questions!

1. Did you have an album that you played over and over, memorising the lyrics and the track listing and rereading the lyric booklet growing up?

2. Do you like getting, or buying yourself, flowers? What’s your favourite kind?

3. Do you plan your activities before you go on holiday or on a trip? Or do you make it up as you go along? Or just not really do anything and chill through your trips?

4. What would be in (or on!) your ideal luxury hot chocolate?

5. Do you have any names planned out for children? (if you want them, of course)

6. What year did you join tumblr?

7. If you’re at a bar, what do you order as your go-to drink?

8. What kind of pencil cases did you use when you were in school? Like, were you a practical clear plastic case person, or a fluffy pink case, or (like I did) a kid gothy type cases with chains and zips on, or whatever?

9. You’re getting married tomorrow. Congrats! You get to choose one celebrity to be your maid of honour/best man (is there a gender neutral term for that kind of role? like, right hand person? you know what I mean anyway), one celebrity to perform the ceremony (they got certified online the night before, don’t worry), and one celebrity to provide entertainment or music. Who do you choose?

10. What’s your favourite memory of eating something with a family member when you were a little kid?

11. Sun or Moon?

tagging (if you feel like it, no worries if you don’t!) @ourrealitiesaredifferent @beneaththeblacksails @plushvelvetsondheims @bisexualpirateheart @buildarocketboys @hermanncrab @scarletsue @betanoiz @arts-and-maths @klexquisite @dillyboys

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saibowtie · 6 years

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11 questions

I was tagged by one of my biggest tumblr crushes @lena221b <3

The rules are:

✰ post the rules

✰ answer the questions given to you by the tagger

✰ write eleven questions of your own

✰ tag eleven people

Questions:

1. You are filming a polyamorous romcom. Who do you cast? Ohh this is so hard and I’ll probably change my mind in 5min but can I get Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan and Natalie Dormer?

2. Do you like museums? What kind of museums? I do! I like all kinds, but mostly ones focused on design, be it interior, fashion, packaging, or any kind of product design. I’m so fascinated by things people can come up with that combines functionality and beauty.

3. What was the weirdest thing you’ve ever cooked? hmm.. I don’t think I stray too much from ‘normal’ recipes. Though I did bake an apple pie cheesecake recently. I got it from the buzzfeed tasty app. It’s basically a cheesecake with an apple pie topping and crust, it turned out amazing!

4. You know I’m a language enthusiast, so I’m super interested in any kind of language related facts. Just say anything about you and languages, the languages you speak/are learning/want to learn, the language you speak at work/uni vs. at home, a favourite word in a foreign language, anything really. At one point I could hold a conversation in a total of seven languages. Sadly I didn’t keep up with practicing most of them and I’m down to speaking 3 and barely understanding another two. (I’m fluent in Romanian, German and English, barely understand Italian and Spanish, and I’ve forgotten all of my French and Japanese T_T). The word ‘prost’ means ‘cheers’ in German, and ‘stupid’ in Romanian ^_^

5. Do you remember this soft boys doing soft things post inspired by the Boysvideo? Examples include: Diego Luna opening a bottle of sparkling rosé, Stanley Tucci making a pie crust, Andrew Garfield bathing a puppy, etc. Now it’s your turn to play :) Who is doing what? Chris Evans knitting a sweater for his dog

6. What is that extremely niche thing (pairing, kink) that you’re into and wish more people shared with you? Idk how niche these really are but breathplay and edging really rock my boat. If well written I can also go in for watersports. I guess anything that portrays complete intimacy and trust.

7. Do you have second-hand fandoms? Like fandoms that you’re not actively involved in but your friends are and/or it’s on your dash a lot so you know what’s going on even if you don’t watch the thing. Teen Wolf was one of these for the longest time, I had started reading fics before ever seeing the show bc of my dash. I think I really joined the fandom around S3 (and what a disappointment that was lol).. hmm.. right now I think Black Sails? A lot of people on my dash seem to love it, but I haven’t had the energy to start a new show lately.

8. What’s a show that’s badly underrated and that everyone should watch according to you? I’m embarrassed to say that I haven’t watched any new show in about a year or so. I’ve got an endless list of things I need to catch up on. Though I did see all of Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and LOVED it!! Also I will forever be bitter about the cancellation of Agent Carter.

9. How do you use your likes and drafts on tumblr? Like, I “park” untagged reblogs in my drafts until I have the time to read them (if they are lengthy text posts) and tag them for queuing. I use my likes very liberally, sometimes it’s a way for me to say I’ve seen your post and I support you, for example, or just as a reminder that I’ve already reblogged a post. I don’t really use my drafts, and I’m a horrible tagger. I do have about 4000 likes. Since I mostly use tumblr on mobile, I ‘like’ stuff that I want to have a later look at when I’m at my laptop. Sadly I never manage to go through all of them in the end...

10. What perfume/cologne do you wear? Or alternatively, what’s your favourite? I really like Stella by Stella McCartney, I only ever get it at duty free shops cause it’s so expensive and i’m a poor little bean. Generally i like either fresh scents (I love woman by DKNY) or anything rose/peony scented :)

11. According to you, which movie should win the Academy Award for Best Picture this year? I’ve seen all but Lady Bird by now, and so far no contest: ‘Call Me By Your Name’ all the way!

Thank you so much for tagging me!! This was fuuun! :D

New questions:

1. What is your favourite ambient sound, what do you listen to when you need to concentrate on something? 2. Do you remember something you did as a child that seemed horribly naughty at the time but is actually really silly/tame? 3. If you could be a fly on the wall, who would you like to spy on? 4. Do you have a favourite fairy tale, what is it and why? 5. What album/artist was the first you bought a CD (cassette/mp.3) of with your own money? 6. Who would play your mother in a movie about your life? Who would play you? 7. Name one thing you like about yourself? 8. Do you have a bedtime ritual? 9. What was your favourite movie you’ve seen in the last year? 10. What’s your go-to karaoke song or if you’re not into karaoke, what song do you belt out when you’re alone at home? 11. If you could see into the future - but only once - how far forward would you look?

I tag @why-the-f-am-i-like-this, @sinuswave, @magicwolvesintimemachines, @dust1feather, @rainbowgeek, @ohanadoesntapplytoadam, @lena221b if she wants go through all this again, all my porn bot followers and everyone else who feels up to it :)

#uff thinking up questions for these is so hard #woop this was fun

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sarimaposthumous · 4 years

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The High Priestess - CH 6

TITLE: The High Priestess

CHAPTER NUMBER: 6/?

AUTHOR: SarimaPosthumous

GENRE: Supernatural

FIC SUMMARY: Jenny is an OC set in the Supernatural universe. She has owned a bar called the High Priestess for nine years and has managed to carve out her own niche in the hunting world. Everything changes when the two notorious hunters show up in her life after she’s managed to avoid them.

RATING: M, (Violence, language, slight sexual content, angst)

Word Count: 3,038

WARNINGS: Angst, sexual content

AUTHORS NOTES: This is a filler chapter to tie up some loose ends. I will bring the Winchesters into the next chapter. This was cowritten with the amazing @spnjediavenger‘s and is a part of her fic “White Wolf.” Please check out her series and please provide feedback!

Link to her fic: x

AO3 Link: x

I opened my eyes after a dreamless sleep, still feeling unsettled from the previous night’s events. Reaching over to the nightstand, I grabbed my phone and looked up recent news in Delaware in the hopes that my gut was wrong. My heart filled with dread when I saw the news articles about the brutal hammer murder that took place in the area that Nick had visited. I didn’t need to read the article to know that this was his doing.

I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration, how could I be so stupid and trusting and just so… naïve? Especially after everything that has happened. I let out a sigh and looked at Duke who let out a low whine. I bit my lip and opened the texts. It still felt weird texting Ellie after everything that had happened. Even though our relationship had mostly been over the phone, it had been nine years since we last saw each other in person and about two years since our falling out.

“Did you or did you not sleep with Lucifer?” Elliana’s voice blared through the phone.

“Yes, but...” I tried to respond before Elliana cut her off.

“There is no ‘but,’ Jenny! How could you do that? I can’t trust you anymore after you knowingly slept with the Devil; he hurt and tortured me for you! I saw everything and there is no point in denying it. I was tortured for six months and Anaya was killed because of you; I will never forgive you for that.” Ellie hung up the phone.

I tried calling her over and over until I eventually received the blocked number automated voice message and just did not know whether to laugh, cry, or scream. My body opted to cry, and I sat on the ground like a child and began to sob at the heartbreak of losing the last person I considered family.

I hesitated before typing out the text and debated how much information I should divulge. After a few drafts, I sent the message.

Jenny – Hey, Nick was here. He was acting all weird and crazy. Almost reminiscent of Lucifer. He asked for information about his wife and son’s murders. I tried to help him, but he left in a hurry.

There was no response and I stood up to get ready. In the process I anxiously checked the phone again and nearly put my phone down before I noticed the three little dots dance in the lower left corner of the screen. I bit my lip as I awaited her response.

Ellie – Thanks for the heads up. No surprise that you tried to help Lucifer’s vessel. I’m surprised you didn’t tell him where we were so he could take Jack.

I scoffed as I contemplated my response.

Jenny – I think it’s time we discuss this face to face.

Ellie – I think I’ll pass on hearing about your relationship with Lucifer. Sorry we killed your boyfriend.

Jenny – That’s not the point and you know it. I’ll be waiting at the High Priestess for you tomorrow and will close the bar to keep it private. If you don’t show, I’ll take that as if you never cared about me or Shane.

It felt like forever before I received her last message.

Ellie – Fine.

*****

The next day I made sure the “closed” signs were up and sent everyone home. I was sipping on some whiskey when I heard the little bell above the door ding. I looked up and saw Ellie standing in the doorway. Her hands were stuffed in the pockets of her leather jacket and her eyes looked around the room before settling on me. She took a deep breath and walked over towards me as I took a final swig of the whiskey that remained in my glass.

“So…what did you want to talk about?” Elliana said, hard look on her face.

“Us…our friendship…I want to mend things. You never really gave me that courtesy.”

“Well you never really deserved that courtesy, Jenny.”

“Please, just let me explain what happened. I am not sure where you went wrong after you supposedly saw what happened. But let me tell you what actually happened.” Elliana crossed her arms at this and barely nodded for me to continue.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly as I recounted the details of that night.

I was sitting at the bar on my laptop putting together a case. When this blue-eyed handsome stranger walked in.

“Castiel,” Ellie interjected.

This man (who I did not know what Castiel looked like at the time) practically sauntered up to me at the bar and sat next to me. He just stared at me until I looked up at him, welcomed him, and asked “Can I get you anything?” “Just a whole lot of you,” he responded and winked. I rolled my eyes and replied, “Keep up your cheesy antics and I’ll kick your ass right out of my bar.” The man chuckled and we just talked for a while. He told me he was a hunter and we talked about the case I was putting together, and he offered for the two of us to work it together. Then after a few drinks, one thing led to another and we had sex.

I paused and noticed no reaction from Ellie before I continued. After we…finished…he turned over and said “Hmm.”

“What?” I giggled.

“I expected the Earth to shake, tremble, or something.”

“What, do you really believe in Earth-shattering orgasms or something?” I joked.

“Well, when a Nephilim is conceived usually something like that happens.” He looked at me and something was off in the way he smiled. He traced a finger down my neck as I processed what he said. “What are you an angel?” I sat up after it clicked.

“Oh babe, I’m much more than that.” He blinked and his eyes turned red revealing himself to be Lucifer.

After that, I pretty much freaked out and drove him out of my place. If that’s what you saw, I am not sure how you would think that I knowingly slept with him?

I noticed the tension in her shoulders only slightly lessen before she let out a sigh, looking off to the side, and spoke, “That’s not what he showed me.” I gave her a bewildered look before she continued and explained her side of the story.

“How did you find me?”

Lucifer chuckled a bit, as if it was a silly question. “Jenny led me to you, of course,” he said. Ellie still was unnerved with Lucifer in Cas’ vessel; speaking in his voice.

The girl scoffed a bit, eyes still closed. “Yeah, right. Why the hell would Jenny do that to me? Especially when she was the one to get you away from me in the beginning.”

Cas-Lucifer gave the girl a smug look. “Oh, she never told you? That was all just a show. Jenny and I have quite the romance going on,” he smirked again (which Elliana was quite frankly getting sick of).

Ellie finally opened her eyes to squint at Ca- Lucifer. “Why would Jenny be with someone like you?” she spat. “The one that tortured me? She’s like a sister to me, and I’m one to her. And she was the one to help me get Sam back so you weren’t let out of the cage again.”

“Ohhh that little trip. Did you like her little nickname for me?” he said, ignoring her common sense.

Jenny scoffed at Crowley. “Do you really expect us to believe you want the Winchesters back in action? I’m sure business has been booming since they shoved Luci back in the cage and Dean hooked up with Lisa.”

“That whole trip was a pretty good coverup, minus the nickname slipup. That little ‘favor’ she owed me for letting you go? She had to get me out of the cage. But it turned out not to even be an issue for Jenny; she wanted me out,” C-Lucifer explained, still pacing in front of Ellie.

“No...no,” Elliana said, slowly shaking her head. “I don’t believe you. Jenny would never do that to me,” she continued, though her voice shook with emotion. She couldn’t help but think about what Lucifer was saying. Every cell in her body reminded her that he was the father of lies. He was just trying to beat her down. But how else would he have been able to find me? She thought. The guys don’t know where Garth’s place is and I turned the tracker on my phone off. And I’m warded so Cas/Lucifer wouldn’t be able to find me...and Jenny does keep tabs on a lot of hunters…

C-Lucifer smirked deeper, sensing the uncertainty in her. “Let’s go back in time then.” He approached her and lifted a hand towards her head, making her push herself further into the wall. “Don’t worry,” he soothed. “We’re not going to your past,” he continued, kneeling down and putting a hand on her head. “We’re going to mine.”

The two end up in The High Priestess to see Jenny on her laptop at the bar. Lucifer is standing next to Ellie with his arms crossed. Lucifer, who looks like Nick again says, “I took the liberty of changing into Nick for this little show-and-tell as opposed to your little winged friend.”

Ellie turned to see Castiel enter the bar and Jenny looked up at him, slightly taken aback by this handsome stranger. “Welcome,” she says. “Can I get you anything?”

“Just a whole lot of you,” Cas winks, his eyes turning red before blinking them back to normal.

“Lucifer!” Jenny exclaimed before leaving the bar and pulling him into a hug. He grabbed her face and pulled her into a kiss. Next to Ellie, Lucifer snapped his fingers and she saw the Castiel next to Jenny transform into “Nick.” Ellie looked at Lucifer who shrugged.

“Sorry, I couldn’t bear to see that goody two shoes angel all over my girl,” he emphasized to Ellie to try to prove his point.

“You’re finally out of the cage!” Jenny exclaimed but took a step back to look him over. “But why do you look like this?”

“I just had to ride this vessel out to get out of there as fast as I could; I couldn’t wait to see you, babe. Not that you did much to help seeing as I was in there long enough. It seems like you didn’t even try to free me.” He stepped towards her almost menacingly, pulling a fake pout.

Jenny bit her lip and her shoulders slumped. “I’ll admit, I gave a half-hearted attempt to try to free you, but Ellie got me to try and help her free Sam and it was hard to do both without her knowing….” Jenny crossed her arms, looking at Lucifer who almost looked dejected. “And after you tormented her, how could I turn around and be with you again? I was just so torn.”

Lucifer pulled Jenny’s arms around him and held her. “So, you’re saying that without Ellie, we could be together? No uncertainties?”

Jenny slightly pulled back to look up at him, “Honestly, yeah. She’s a reckless girl who can barely keep it together to hunt properly. I’m always stuck worrying about her and yet again I am sacrificing my happiness for her,” Jenny sighed and put her forehead to his chest.

He brushed his fingers through her hair. “Don’t worry Jenny. I’ll take care of that brat for you.”

“You will?” Her question was muffled by his chest.

“Of course. Anything for you, babe.”

The Lucifer next to Ellie snapped his fingers and they were transported to Jenny’s room. They could see the two of them kissing and Ellie could tell where this was going.

“Enough!” Ellie barked, turning her head away. Lucifer was leaning against the wall watching the scene intently.

“Oh come on, this is the best part.” Ellie turns around, grabbing her hair in her hands. Lucifer sighed and said, “Ugh fine. Prude,” and snaps his fingers, taking them back to reality.

“Do you believe me now?” Ca-Lucifer asked. “She knows how much I hurt you but she still wanted to be with me. I almost hate to say this but her relationship with me seems to outweigh your safety and friendship. Guess she wasn’t who you thought she was after all. Which is all the better for me.”

Elliana closed her eyes again so Ca-Lucifer. It’s Lucifer! she had to remind herself. She closed her eyes again so Lucifer wouldn’t see the tears building up. She didn’t want to believe what she saw but...for some reason she did. And it broke her heart.

After Elliana finished speaking, a heavy silence hung in the air between the two girls.

It seemed like forever before I responded. “I am not sure how I feel about you not even giving me the benefit of the doubt when you said so yourself, that he was the ‘King of Lies.’”

Elliana sighed again, “Ok, maybe his little vision was a lie but how else would he have found me, Jenny? The boys and Cas didn’t know where Garth’s place was and I’m warded against angels. There’s only one other place I can think of that he would get that information. And besides, what have you done to help us fight Lucifer? Because from my point of view after seeing that happen, what? You and him happened to fall off the grid at the same time?”

I paused, “Ellie, he had demons everywhere at that time. If he was able to keep tabs on most of us from the cage, what do you expect? And I never did anything to help with the fight against Lucifer? You know what happened when I first met him. And who do you think helped Gabriel and Rowena trap Lucifer to rescue you and everyone else from the Apocalypse world? He came to my bar to drown his sorrows about Jack when Gabriel disguised himself and Rowena hexed him.”

Ellie was slightly taken aback but squinted at her after a moment. “And just why would he come seeking refuge at your bar after you kicked him out?”

I shuffled uncomfortably as I thought of how to respond. “Well…that wasn’t technically the last time I saw him. After you ended our friendship, he eventually showed up after he escaped Crowley and looked for his son. I turned him away and refused to help him. But then he showed up again after he escaped from Apocalypse world and Asmodeus, he was completely powerless, so I pitied him. He was just so helpless and even admitted stuff like wanting to fit in and please a father he could never please and just wanted to be a good father to Jack. I genuinely thought he had begun to change without his grace. Eventually, he regained his strength and said he was going to pursue Jack.” I paused, “Since I am being honest with you and you deserve to know the whole truth…Lucifer and I did have a very brief relationship during this time.”

Elliana’s jaw dropped and she paused before saying, “And you have the nerve to be mad at me for not giving you a chance to speak?!”

“If you had given me a chance to speak and we reconciled, none of this would have happened after the fact.” I paused a beat before continuing. “I get that you were going through a traumatic experience but blaming the person you considered a sister without even giving her a chance was uncalled for. At the time I had no idea how much he hurt you. You were out of the picture like he wanted, and he played the both of us. I genuinely believed he was changing. He was just so different around me. Again, no one told me what had happened to you, I didn’t even know what happened to Anaya until you called me and yelled at me on the phone.”

“People like Lucifer don’t change. After the things he did to me, and even the times you said he’s tricked you, how could you still let him in? Didn’t you think he’s done enough damage? Even if I apologize for not letting you explain yourself and forgive you, I still don’t think I can trust you. If you’ve forgiven Lucifer or Nick every time he’s given you puppy eyes, I don’t think I can trust your judgement...”

“Maybe when you’re older you’ll understand that not everything is in black and white like you make it out to seem. There are shades of grey and people can in fact change. But it seems like you never will. If you cannot trust me or my judgement, that is on you. We have both been through some shit over the years because that is the life we were thrown into.”

“Maybe if you were the one tortured by Lucifer you would understand. You don’t think I know people have shades of grey? I’ve had to forgive even the guys for things they’ve done but some things you just can’t get past. Would you forgive the demon that killed your family? Or Shane?”

“If you were manipulated by that demon, I would have forgiven you because I consider you my family. But it seems that you more so consider the Winchesters as family since you much more readily forgave them.”

“Believe me, it took time... Maybe this is just gonna need time, too. Look, I’m sorry for not giving you a chance to defend yourself; but I’m still going to need time to think things over,” she said, taking a pause to look away before back at me. “Our relationship will ever be the same. But maybe we can work on mending it. Just give me the time to work through all of this.”

I nodded in understanding and then relaxed slightly before letting out a small chuckle and said, “I can’t believe we downright let a boy get between us. Maybe a hunt together might help…and you can even bring the Winchesters along.

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