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deathbyoctopi · 5 months

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Another year, another rec list with some of the best xuexiao I've read these last 12 months!! >w<

And like last year's rec list, this isn't either exhaustive or limited to fics posted in 2023. It's just the things I have found, which I liked, and want to spread the love about ^-^

Here's, in no particular order, my favourite xuexiao (and occasional songxuexiao) fics. Also, take a look down below for other mxtx or danmei pairings!

You're mine by twilightshards. This is a phenomenal oneshot where Xue Yang does not wait patiently to take revenge on Baixue temple, but rather follows the annoying daoshi out of Jinlintai as soon as he gets off the hook. He catches up with them a couple of nights later, only to find Xiao Xingchen in a... compromised position. While moaning Xue Yang's name.

The tamed by @fieri-sentio-et-excrucior. Last year I recommended the wonderful The Prisoner of Jinlintai fic, and now we got a sequel to that!!! Exciting stuff, very exciting... Xiao Xingchen saves Xue Yang from his botched execution and Song Lan is there raging at what he thinks is a psycho taking full advantage of his friend's kindness. Absolutely loved it!

蛇 - shé by shoujorei. A spectacular oviposition fic with blind snake hybrid Xiao Xingchen and enemy-posing-as-housemate Xue Yang, who really didn't know what he was volunteering for when he offered to "help" daozhang with his next heat. An absolute delight!

good lies go bad by istilfearkanna One of the Yi City what-if's I like so much, showing what would happen if Song Lan is successful in killing Xue Yang and, as per canon, vows not to tell his friend anything. So naturally you have Xiao Xingchen happy about his rekindled friendship, but also deeply worried about his missing friend... breaks my heart every time T-T (thx lionfish13 for the rec!!!)

Down in the black sea by @10holmes. A mermaid AU which has to be the sweetest Xue Yang /Xiao Xingchen tale I've seen in a while, with xxc being a revered merman saving the life of a handsome pirate... without realizing that is the infamous Xue Yang, mermaid hunter and slayer of plenty of his kinsmen!! But of course, they fall in love. It's downright adorable (and deliciously angst-inducing!) Also, the worldbuilding in this one is marvelous!

promises, promises by an anonymous author. Time travel fic!!! This one follows Song Lan trying to right the wrongs of his life in the easiest way possible: that is, to eliminate Xue Yang before he has the chance to hurt anyone else. Except... he gets distracted saving the life of a poor child with a mangled left hand. Still ongoing, and XXC isn't in the picture yet, but the new chapters are highly anticipated and the writing style is so, so, so good.

the non-con opition by the same anonymous author. How do I know? None of your business!! But the awesome writing style continues here, as well as the song lan/xue yang being brought together by fate is just as awesome. It promises to be songxuexiao eventually, for now it's a delightful soulmates/omegaverse with alpha!Song Lan in rut nonconning the hell out of a mysterious omega with a foul mouth.

Sant Xingchen i el drac by @ergbolli45 A little sweet adorable spin of a traditional legend very dear to my heart. It's winter, the Yi City crew are bored around their campfire, and A-Qing wants a story. So, Xue Yang offers to tell a tale from some exotic land on the west about a little princess, a brave knight and a fearsome dragon.

sticking their dick in crazy by Sectionladvivi. I'm not generally one for modern AUs, but this one is such a stupid and shameless pwp that it skyrocketed through my rankings XD SongXueXiao, and oddly enough, the crazy one alluded in the title isn't Xue Yang!! Delicious and filthy. No thoughts, just horn.

Priceless by @fieri-sentio-et-excrucior. Another modern AU!! but how can I resist, when this is Xue Yang breaking and entering happily married songxiao's domicile, who were getting ready for a very sexy night... and end up, Song Lan tied up and forced to watch the criminal fuck Xiao Xingchen senseless (and unaware it's not his husband the one in bed with him!). Evil and sexy, another wonderful fic by such a wonderful author <3

hands, reaching out by @neriine. A retelling of Yi City but with mutation-like special powers, making it especially interesting when it comes to xuexiao's backstory (song lan is also there, in the background) and the night hunts. It's sweet, sweet, Xue Yang as always a murder gremlin who thinks he has it all under control when the first thing that he doesn't know half-way about is his own feelings... Very well-written, and creative in its worldbuilding!

THIS lovely picture is not from a fic (well, not yet, unless I manage to do something cute with it >w<) but serves as an example of all the wonderful pic manips @wangxianswuji has made, which maybe it's cheating a bit for a fanfic rec post, but. They're just so good. Go check their profile and drool with me ^-^

and speaking of art, I can't not mention @wrathyforest's art done for the fic Now that I see you, particularly one of my favourite moments with Xiao Xingchen defending Xue Yang from an undesirable... this fic was in last year's rec list, and very deservingly so!

ANd now for the other ships!

Love of my life, don't hurt me by @foreheadkissesforzewu-jun This is a delightful and spectacularly cruel tale of unrequired love by a gallant cultivator spiriting his soulmate away. At least, that's what Wen Zhuliu sees it, when in fact this fic is him kidnapping and brutally assaulting Lan Xichen, while following the events of the Wen war and the sunshot campaign. Loved it, but PLEASE read the tags.

Jade pillar, bending like reed by awkwardrecline. dark jades (and dark!Lan Xichen in particular) are so so sooo very dear to my heart... this fic has it all, a tyrannical Lan clan leader who will abuse his power left right and center, a jealous didi who wants nothing but possessive love, so much smut everywhere... Cloud Recesses is never as sexy as when the jades are so unrestrained, I love it! ^-^

My future mommy's mistake by tenwudzvrs. Is this fic pretty much what many people consider nono kinks? mpreg, noncon, xue yang being an utter dick? and do I love it precisely because of it? XD pregnant Wei Wuxian goes home one evening but comes across a ruffian in a back alley, who does everything to him up to and including speaking with his husband through the phone while nailing him to the wall. Lan Zhan isn't happy. I am delighted.

What brother needs, brother gets by @foreheadkissesforzewu-jun. a modern AU jadecest pwp which... to be honest, it's pure oral fixation Lan Xichen going to his didi after he got dumped by some idiot and Lan Wangji doing the best he can to comfort him. It's ridiculously shameless and incredibly enjoyable, just to see these two come to the conclusion that the best course of action is to fuck each other!! XD Wei Ying will find a surprise when he gets back home from his travels and finds his husband has collected another husband...

furious love by @alipeeps. From Till the end of the moon, a very nasty and wonderfully in-canon insight on the disastrous marriage between Ye Xiwu (the original) and Tantai Jin. Let's just say she decides to take her marital rights to the extreme, and using the very same lust potion that originally landed her in that marriage to begin with! Tantai Jin is one of those characters that truly suffer beautifully, and suffer he does here!

a fire, made high and wild by @judiwench. A fic for Sleuth of Ming Dynasty, which is a series that wormed its way into my soul. Sui Zhou desperately searches Tang Fan (him, please, him, not his corpse) only to find him... less than good. I was seriously debating between this one and is the festering that kills a man by the same author, but... Agh, they are both amazing snippets at their obvious mutual love, and the trauma that brings it to light. Highly recommend the series and these fics!

a long sleepless night by @dying-redshirt-noises. This one is from Mysterious Lotus Casebook, a wonderful three-way pwp in the Girls' Mansion where Fang Duobing gets doused with sex pollen... of course, Li Lianhua wants to help, but there is not much he can do with his yang disfunction. How handy to have someone like a-Fei nearby to rail the young master, then!! It is sexy and wonderfully in-canon, and I'm all for it.

And I'm probably still forgetting a few fics, there is nowhere near enough jadecest here compared to what I know I have read and enjoyed... Shame on me again for forgetting to bookmark more often than not.

I'm a bit sad that I barely found any of this year's authors on tumblr (don't know if they don't have accounts here, or do under different usernames) so if anyone knows about them, repost bc I'd like to engage and give them my most sincere praise.

Also, I will say I purposefully avoided tgcf fics for fear of spoilers until I read the whole book, so... next year I'm surely filling this with hualian and such!! >w<

Finally, since we're at it, I just will get a bit of self-promotion with the 5 fics I liked most of what I wrote on this year. I'm IMMENSELY PROUD to have produced 36 fics in this year of our lord 2023 (3 per month!!! omfg!!) and while I can't claim favourites, these might be the ones I'm most proud of:

Some kind of dream. Xuexiao roleplaying after a night hunt, with some nice power dynamics, very mutually enthusiastic consensual non-con, and Xue Yang all but confessing that he is Xiao Xingchen's worse enemy... Smut and fluff, all in one. I do love the 3 year bliss in Yi City, and all the in-canon opportunities it offers!!!

Incensed nights. An INSANE endeavor for kinktober, with WangXian dreaming each night a different cozy, cruel, smutty or simply crack-y scenario. 31 fics for the price of one!! multiple pairings, I can't stress how much Lan Zhan dreams of his brother, or wei wuxian's mind follows other ships... Extremely happy with this one, and I nearly went crazy, seriously.

Shards of morning nights and forbidden kisses. My attempt at jadecest, niecest and omegaverse, all in one. ANd quite successful, might I say! Both clan leaders Lan and Nie want to find a way to claim and marry their respective omega didis, but something something clan rules forces them to play a delicate and sexy political game. It ends in a very nice orgy XD

A Comedy of Yi City Errors. This one, I'm particularly happy with the sheer amount of planning and interlocking plotpoints it has, with Song Lan coming across Xiao Xingchen, a-Qing and Xue Yang without even realizing. I'm told it is quite funny... And I like it very much >w<

...what did you call it again? the only one not mdzs in the list, this is for Till the end of the moon and it's yet again Tantai Jin suffering in his so beautiful way! It was done for an exchange, following the premise: take a canon even and make it worse. Do you think ttj had it bad in the series, with the servants mistreating him in Ye Manor? Ya have seen nuffin!!!

Once again, thanks for reading, thanks to all authors for writing, and let's have a wonderful 2024 full of fics and love!!!

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ladykailitha · 6 months

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Royal Pain: Epilogue

I know I said I would hold off posting until the Christmas story was completed, but this one literally had one chapter left and it felt rude to make you wait for it.

Happy boys!

Pt 1 Pt 2 Pt 3 Pt 4 Pt 5 Pt 6 Pt 7 Pt 8 Pt 9 Pt 10 Pt 11 Pt 12 Pt 13 Pt 14 Pt 15 Pt 16 Pt 17 Pt 18 Pt 19 Pt 20 Pt 21 Meta Pt 22 Pt 23 Pt 24|Pt 25|Pt 26|Pt 27|Pt 28

****

Six months later:

They were having a holiday plus everyone celebrating something awesome party.

It was held at Steve and Eddie’s new house. Steve had decided to move out the apartment and buy a house now that the business was so successful. And on their six month anniversary, Steve asked Eddie to move in with him.

It had two studios. A music one for Eddie, where he could write songs and the boys could practice so that they no longer had to rent out that garage.

The second one was for Steve to get his art degree. He was still running Royal Pain, but wanted to learn new styles and techniques that would help him become a better tattoo artist.

Chrissy, Robin, and Vickie had also moved into together, but into a bigger apartment that had three rooms so that they could all have their own space, but still remain a committed polycule.

Argyle and Chrissy were both full time tattoo artists, leaving time for Steve to go back to school.

Robin was going back to school, too. To become a translator.

Eden and Argyle were still a couple and expecting their first child in the summer.

Nancy and Jonathan remained broken up, with Nancy in therapy and Jonathan dating a friend of Miranda’s.

Jeff and Miranda were getting married in February, the reception to be held at the Nightmare Holes.

Mike and Will were official now, too and were in talks to move in together. They were trying to decide to move to Will’s apartment, Mike’s, or a find another apartment all together. One that was both their space.

Erica had moved to New York to be with Max and Lucas. But all of them were in town for the party. Having planned it around when the Knicks would be in town.

Hopper was loving Eden as his apprentice, hers almost being up. He was eyeing the first of the year to promote her.

Brian came out as ace and that Cecil was his platonic life partner and had been for the last couple of years.

Gareth and Gethin were still sharing the apartment, but they were still single. Gethin was always looking for the next Mrs Hughes, but Gareth was content to find out more about himself before diving into a relationship.

Dustin and Suzie were also expecting, but they had just found earlier that week.

The Binghams were so excited that two of their daughters were pregnant and were planning to come up in the summer to help with Eden’s baby and help Suzie get ready for hers.

They were all gathered around in the kitchen with a package that Murray had sent over that morning.

“Come on, Ed,” Wayne said softly. “Open ‘er up.”

Eddie nodded and tore the brown paper off the gift. He let out a choked out sob.

Steve put his arm around Eddie’s shoulder.

“Oh sunshine,” Steve breathed. “Show everyone.”

Eddie nodded and lifted it over his head so everyone could see.

There in a black frame and nestled in a white background was a gold record for their song, Pretty Boy Under Bright Lights. The first love song Eddie ever wrote for Steve. And it had just sold its five hundred thousand copy.

They all started cheering.

Steve kissed Eddie’s cheek fiercely. “See? I knew you could do it on your terms, Eds. You are a rockstar now.”

Tears ran down his cheeks nodding his head. Then he was surrounded by his band. They were hugging him and cheering.

Sometimes it really does work out for everyone. Even if didn’t happen the way they thought it would.

Eddie thought back to that day so long ago when Max had called him to let him know that she was leaving. He never thought that losing a tattoo artist would change his life forever.

Later that night, he pulled her aside.

“I owe you big time, Red,” he said, wrapping his arm around her.

Max grinned. “Hell yeah you do.”

“Anything you want, you’ve got,” Eddie promised. “My left kidney. My first child.”

She laughed. “When you two get married, I want to do matching tattoos on both of you.”

Eddie blinked. “Deal!”

Steve wandered over just then. “What’s a deal?”

Max grinned up at him. “Eddie just promised me that I get to do wedding tats when you two get married.”

Steve looked at Eddie and then back to Max. “Yeah, that’s fair.”

Max nodded once. “Damn straight it is.”

“Oh, honey,” Eddie teased. “There ain’t nothing straight about this relationship.”

She smacked his arm.

But Eddie just giggled.

“Come on,” Max said. “I want to see it.”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “You saw it on my Insta.”

“It’s not the same and you know it,” she growled. “I want to see Steve’s masterpiece.”

Steve blushed. “Come on, Max...”

Eddie looked at his blush and then turned to Max. “Fine. But here and not out there where everyone can gawk.”

“Well, duh,” she said. “That’s why I asked now.”

Eddie took off his shirt and turned around.

“Oh shit,’ she hissed. “It’s even better than the pictures give it credit. Steve, this is incredible. There’s no way I could have done something like that.”

Steve ducked his head. “I really really like how it turned out.”

Eddie put his shirt back on. “Yeah. Me too. I just don’t like showing it off, because it’s so personal. Between me and Steve.”

Max nodded. “Yeah. Absolutely. Thanks for showing me.”

Eddie nodded back and wrapped his arms around, Steve. “Thanks for everything, Red.”

She waved them off. All she had done was leave. But they didn’t see it that way. So yeah, they owed everything to Max, for choosing to live her life on her own terms.

“Before we go back to the party,” Steve said. “I wanted to give you another present before we got to the main one later.”

Eddie’s shoulder sagged. “Babe you didn’t have to do that.”

“I wanted to,” Steve said scratching his cheek. “In fact it was something I’ve been meaning to give to you for a long time.”

He pulled out a brightly wrapped package the size of baseball.

“This isn’t a baseball, is it?” Eddie asked playfully.

Steve laughed. “No. It’s not that.”

Eddie removed the wrapping paper to find a small black velvet box. He opened it slowly.

“Babe, you can’t give this to me,” he begged. “This is the only thing you have left of your grandpa.”

Steve took it out and slid it on Eddie’s middle finger on his right hand. It fit perfectly. “I’ve been wanting you to have it since you gave me your lucky guitar pick. I wanted to give you something that was on the same level of importance to me that this was for you.” He tapped the pick gently that was under his shirt.

“It’s not–you’re not–”

Steve shook his head. “I will propose. Just not yet and not with that. You’ll get a ring on your left hand, sunshine. Make no mistake.”

Eddie nodded. “I love you, babe.”

“Steven Courtney Alexander Harrington you better not be making out in there!”

Eddie and Steve laughed and kissed deeply, then they walked back to the party, arms wrapped around each other.

“Right names, wrong order,” Eddie teased as they rejoined the group.

Robin blinked. “Wait, really?”

Steve nodded.

“I can’t believe you told him before you told me!” Robin hissed. “I was here first!”

“But I liked watching you guess,” he said laughing. Then he turned to the rest of the crowd. “Who told?”

Robin wiggled her shoulders smugly. “No one told me. I looked up your grandparents. They’re both pretty famous, after all.”

Steve sighed. “Again which of you told her to look it up?”

Robin’s jaw dropped and Vickie’s hand slowly went up.

“Traitor!” Robin said in mock outrage.

Eddie leaned down to see that Steve was pouting about her learning his middle name.

“Don’t worry about it, babe,” he said kissing Steve’s cheek. “We can make her guess my middle name.”

Steve immediately brightened up. “Oohhh. Yeah, okay. It’ll take her years to guess yours!”

“It’s Wayne,” Robin said confidently.

Wayne snorted from the corner. “You really think my deadbeat brother would name his son after me, the responsible one?”

She frowned.

Steve turned to Eddie gleefully. “You’re right, sunshine. Best game ever.”

Robin started shouting out names and it wasn’t even Eddie correcting her. It was Jeff, and Miranda, and Gareth, and Brian and everyone else who knew Eddie’s middle name.

And of course Steve knew it too, but he liked watching their friends and family laugh and try to guess. Because the truth was, Eddie didn’t have a middle name. Robin could guess forever and never get it right.

Steve curled up against Eddie’s side and sighed happily. It was his best year yet. And as long as he had Eddie by his side, they would all be great years to come.

END

****

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#my writing #stranger things #steddie #ladykailtiha writes #tattoo artist steve #complete

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mychoombatheroomba · 5 months

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Let You Down

Between the Bones (Leon x GN! Reader) - Chapter 12

You should have known better.

(Cross-posted from Ao3)

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

Chapter Index

TW: angst, flashbacks/nightmares, guilt, terrible emotional responses to feelings

You remembered hearing about how comets could get stuck in orbit around a planet, pulled from their path by the force of gravity if all of the factors were right. It was something you’d heard in school at some point, in another life. It was impressive to think that something could be hurtling lost through space and still manage to get dragged off course. How could that even happen? How could everything in the universe line up just so - enough to stop such a force? To trap it?

Now, you were starting to understand it.

Over the next few days, neither you nor Leon mentioned what happened, and you, for one, were glad of it. You weren’t sure what there was to say, anyway. Not when you both had other things to focus on.

You were thankful for the preparations for assessments, because it was easiest to look Leon in the eye when you were giving a correction, or going on about what he might have to expect in the coming weeks. You might even have been able to pretend it hadn’t happened at all, were it not for the way you felt his eyes on you when he thought you weren’t looking. Or the way your own mind would conjure up some delicious impossibility when you let your guard down.

Luckily, you’d had a year to learn how to fend off dangerous thoughts. Training was your weapon, and it had worked well enough so far.

The trouble was in the company you kept. It was difficult to keep your mind off of Leon when he was at your side so often. At mealtimes and in your personal hours, you found your mind drifting. Even as the two of you sparred, or shot, or pushed yourselves through the obstacle course, imagination crept in. You would glance his way, catch sight of him straining against you in a fight, or aiming down the barrel of his pistol, and then you’d feel that pull.

Then, you started feeling it even when Leon wasn’t around.

You thought about sparring with him, pinning him to the ground and dragging your lips across his throat. You’d imagine him making those wonderful noises, looking at you with that same intensity he had when he fought.

A momentary desire. A want that could be handled. That’s how you liked to think of it, because that was easiest.

It was harmless enough, you thought, because how the hell would you make it work, anyway? You were training almost constantly, and even when you weren’t, the base was under constant surveillance. You were still technically a Sergeant, even here. Whatever Leon’s official rank was, you were fairly sure that you were a step up the ladder, and the rules were clearly set against that kind of fraternization. Even if Leon wanted you in the way that you wanted him - a possibility you were trying hard to talk yourself away from - there was almost no way the two of you could act on it.

I wouldn’t worry about something that’s not going to happen.

You’d said that to Leon, and now you could take your own advice.

And yet, you worried anyway.

At a point, you stopped being angry with yourself about it. That point came not too long after you reported to Major Krauser after a night watch.

You’d woken up before everyone else, readying yourself to be more exhausted than usual for the rest of the day. It was a long shift, as always, because there was seldom anything going wrong on base. The worst case scenario was usually a recruit trying to sneak out at night, or writing letters when they shouldn’t be. Still, you’d learned long ago to take the job seriously, and so you kept a watchful eye over the base as you went, noting that little nook by the officer’s barracks and on the west side behind the mess hall where you knew the cameras were blind.

Places where you’d seen soldiers hiding out for a smoke, or to steal a drink, or . . .

If indeed there was a world where you and Leon were to act on whatever was between you - if there was anything between you - then you supposed it might be there, in the blind spots of the cameras, when no one was looking. As you finished your watch, you couldn’t help but imagine that world, letting yourself indulge in the thought, however admittedly shameful a thought it was.

You felt like you were getting away with some great crime, in a way. Or, you did, until after you gave your report and Krauser didn’t dismiss you right away.

“You and the rookie,” Krauser began, and you felt your blood pressure skyrocket, your mind going on high alert. There was only one rookie he could be talking about. “You’ve been spending a lot of time together.”

Your thoughts bombarded you in quick succession.

He knows-

How the fuck would he know?

He knows-

You’ve only been thinking-

“Yeah,” you nodded dumbly, trying to assess both what emotion the Major was speaking with and how guilty you looked. “I’m trying to get him up to speed.” You almost considered praying that he wouldn’t ask any of the questions you dreaded. Then again, whatever higher powers that were up there had never been merciful to you before, why would they start now?

“You’ve done a good job,” Krauser said, and you wished you could enjoy the compliment. “He’s not hopeless anymore, I’ll give him that.”

“He’s never been hopeless,” you defended, your affection for the man in question squeezing the words out of you.

Krauser noticed. You could see it in his eyes - the way his mouth tightened. Still, he shrugged in the end. “Maybe not, but he’s actually keeping up, now. Hell, he’s doing better than most of his unit. Even if he’s soft.”

That bit, you weren’t sure you could argue with. He’d jumped in to save you from being hurt, after all. He’d asked you about who you were as a person, what sort of music you liked. Who you wanted to be. Leon was not the hardened soldier that everyone else on base was. Maybe that was what endeared him to you, in a way. And maybe that was what scared you about him. How long would that soft side of him last?

“He’ll get there,” you said, your voice quieter.

“Not if he’s never challenged,” Krauser asserted, and you couldn’t help but furrow your brow. Every day in this place was a challenge. What the hell more did the Major want from him? “I know you’ve been giving him advice,” the man went on, “and that’s alright. Good, even. But I’m going to have your unit help me with their test, and I don’t want any details spilled. Understood?”

Ah. That was what he wanted to talk about, then. Maybe you were in the clear, after all. “Understood, sir.” You said it because you were so relieved he wasn’t asking about you and Leon on a more personal level. Then, a beat passed, and you thought about what the Major was implying. “What are we going to be doing?”

“We’ll start getting you ready for it tomorrow,” Krauser said, and that didn’t make you feel better whatsoever. “I’ll go over it when we meet for afternoon drills.”

That was all the explanation you were going to get for now. Whatever it was, if your entire squad was going to be involved, then it was probably going to be bad. Different than your own assessment had been, all those weeks prior. Knowing Krauser, probably more brutal. You had something new to think about now, at least. Something constructive. Something attainable.

“Am I dismissed, sir?” you asked.

You were more than a little surprised with the answer. “Not just yet,” Krauser shook his head, taking a step closer. “The rookie. He tell you about Raccoon City?”

The question caught you off guard in a way that Major Krauser so often did, with words or weapons.

“You know?”

Stupid question. “I read his file. What they'd let me see. Know you two have some shared experience.”

“. . . Yeah, he told me.”

“And you told him?”

The sky was bleeding a rising red. Bleeding just like you. You smelled smoke-

A shadow passed over the sun-

A red beret above you-

A gruff voice. “This one’s still alive!”

You weren’t supposed to have spoken about it, you supposed, but that didn’t change facts. “Part of it, yeah.” Krauser would either understand or he’d write you up. Maybe that discipline was what you needed. Maybe it would knock your head back into gear-

“Good.” Krauser nodded once with approval, and again you were a little shocked. “Need you two to stop feeling sorry for yourselves. If you have to pull each other out of the muck to do it, that’s fine by me.”

A few years ago, that comment would have lit an inferno in you. It would have burned you up with rage, because who was this man to tell you how to live with your own grief? Who was this bastard to say that you couldn’t mourn for the life and the people that you lost? You were different now, though. You’d served for long enough to know a hardass drill sergeant’s talk when you heard it, and you knew Jack Krauser well enough to know when he was pushing you forward instead of holding you down. This, however harsh, was the former.

“Will do, sir,” you nodded, almost smiling. You have been doing a lot of that, lately.

Krauser didn’t quite return the look, but that was alright. He just nodded, seemingly content that he’d made the points he wanted to make. “Dismissed.”

⧫⧫⧫

He knew it was a dream.

It had to be, because there was no way you were actually underneath him, hands clutching at him. Looking up at him with wide, dark-fire eyes. Your fingers wove in his hair, pulling him down-

Down-

Until his lips were against your own.

Oh, it was a dream. One he’d been having more and more, lately. And however wrong it was, however Leon knew it improper to be thinking of you like this, he let himself drift through it. Get lost in it. It was so much sweeter than his dreams had been of late, how could he not savor the little whispers of his name from you?

How could he not let himself sink into that bliss?

How could he not try to memorize the way your hand felt as he took it in his own?

The way you clung to each other like a lifeline-

The way your breath hitched-

The way the world seemed to fall away-

“Did you forget about me that quickly?” The words turned his blood to ice. It wasn’t your voice. No, he would know that voice anywhere. Dreams were the only place he could hear it, now.

He wasn’t kissing you, anymore. You were falling away from him, the ground giving way . . . and then, you weren’t you. Just as she had so many nights before, Ada was looking up at him, her gaze as dark as the emptiness that waited for her, if Leon let go. So, he held on, knuckles turning white, wishing that he could change the past.

But this was a dream. Not real. Just a reminder of hard truths.

Most nights, though, when he dreamed of Ada falling, she seemed accepting. Afraid, but accepting. Now, as her hand slipped from Leon’s, there was nothing but accusation in her eyes as she fell down-

Down-

Until she was gone, like she had never truly been in the first place.

⧫⧫⧫

Whatever nonsense you were planning, it was curbed when you saw that Leon was sitting by himself at lunch.

It wasn’t unusual. What was unusual was that when you moved to join him, he glanced up at you, and then looked back down just as quickly. His jaw tightened. He gave you a mumbled greeting, and then went quiet.

“You alright?” you asked, and he took a breath before he answered.

“Yeah. I just didn’t sleep well.”

You knew well enough what that meant, no one better. Krauser’s words lingered in your head, joining the concern that was already there. However else you were thinking of Leon lately, he had been there for you. Least you could do was return the favor. “Do you want to talk about it?”

He looked up at you, conflict plain in his expression. Whatever was happening in his mind, his answer was simple. “Pass.”

You’d both long since learned to respect that much from each other, so you nodded and let the subject drop. Even if you wanted to dig deeper. Even if it was plain that Leon was far from “fine”. But you were the last person alive who could accuse someone of hiding what they were feeling, or not wanting to talk about it. You’d been doing it for a year now, after all.

“Knives today?” You asked, when the silence grew to be too much.

Leon just nodded.

⧫⧫⧫

Leon understood how you could get so lost in a fight, now. He knew why you would spar to clear your head. There was so little room for other thoughts when you were truly in the moment, when all you let yourself think of was the blade you were up against. The blade, and not the person.

Easier said than done, when you were the one holding that knife.

Still, for the most part, Leon found that he was able to keep his thoughts on the combat. Moves and countermoves. You’d advance, and he would block. Answer your attack with one of his own. It all started to blur together, his mind rushing to keep up with you. It was getting easier. He almost forgot the dream that had him in a chokehold all day. Then, everything would get muddled when you would pause at a safe distance, your eyes finding his own as the two of you planned your next move. Or, when in the heat of the moment, the two of you would find yourselves locked together, struggling to get a knife around the other’s guard.

Those were the moments when Leon’s will would falter.

-his lips were against your own-

-you clung to each other-

-her hand slipped from Leon’s-

He swore beneath his breath as your knife smashed against his fingers, and he took a moment to shake the pain from his hand.

“You sure you’re alright?”

You would be able to tell that his mind was a mess. Right now, though, he wished that he was a stone wall. Unreadable. He didn’t want you to so easily tell what was happening behind his eyes. “Yeah,” he lied again, “I’m alright.”

The look you gave him spoke for itself. That’s bullshit.

Even with that look, though, you didn’t push him. Because you were, beneath all that training and cold steel focus, a good person. Leon knew it, even if you likely wouldn’t agree. He knew it, and it made things all the more difficult. If you were just some emotionless soldier, intent on molding yourself into a killing machine, he could have ignored what he was feeling. Instead, you were . . . well, you.

“Okay. Just focus on me, alright?” you said, your voice quiet and steady and just a touch too compassionate. He shouldn’t begrudge you compassion, but his emotions were a jumble as it was.

Still, he followed your command, doing his best to quiet his more traitorous thoughts. It got easier when, after a quick exchange of attacks, he managed to get his knife through your guard, pressing the tip of its blade to your chest.

Victories were coming more and more often now, but each time Leon won against you, he couldn’t help but feel proud. Even now, when his mind was all shadows and doubts. Of course, encouragement from you didn’t hurt, either.

“There you go,” you praised as he stepped away. You were smiling.

God, your smile.

“You know, you’re getting pretty good at this.”

The compliment did raise his mood, despite everything. “Good enough to pass assessments?”

“You’d better be, or what the hell have we been doing this whole time?” It was said with good humor, and it made Leon huff a little laugh.

“Fair enough.”

“You’ll be fine,” you reassured him, and he had no choice but to believe you, when you were looking at him like that. “That said, you up for a challenge?” you asked, the concern on your face being replaced with a grin.

He loved it when you smiled like that - it made your eyes light up like a devil that meant well but was going to leave a trail of fire behind them anyway. You were trying to distract him, he figured. Trying to get his mind off of whatever was bothering him the only way you knew how. A challenge with you was usually more of an impossible feat - something he could strive for, but never quite achieved. Still, because he needed that distraction, he found himself nodding. “Sure.”

With that, you slid your knife into the pocket of your fatigues. Armed versus unarmed. Same way you’d fought him on that first day. “Let’s see how many wins you can get in a row.” You bent your knees, getting into a ready stance.

Leon felt the corners of his mouth curve upward. “Wouldn’t it be more of a challenge if you were armed?”

“Well, maybe I wanted a challenge, too.” You swiped at his knife hand, knocking it out of the way for a stomach jab.

Leon blocked. Slashed at your arm. Near miss.

He pushed the offensive, just as he’d been taught. By Krauser. By you.

You tried to catch his wrist, but he twisted away. Instinct guided him to his first victory - a knife slashed across your belly too fast for you to avoid in time. You didn’t wince away from it, and Leon was glad of that. In fact, you gave him an approving nod. “That’s one.”

The second victory went to you, when you leveraged the knife out of his hand and the unarmed bout that followed ended with you locking your arms around his neck from behind. “And one for me,” you said, and he could feel your breath hot against his ear before you let him go. You’d been on top of him hundreds of times, now. Why was it now that feeling you against him set his blood pounding?

He knew that, on some level, it was because of the whispers of fantasies he’d indulged in of late. Dreams that he’d let play out when he shouldn’t have.

Focus.

Another round. His win. He switched hands as you tried to bind his attack away, caught you first in the arm, and then later in the well between your neck and shoulder. You were breathing heavy, your eyes filled with what Leon could only hope was determination.

On and on the two of you went, fighting with everything you had. You had more wins, overall, but it was no surprise. The fact that Leon was winning at all was a step in the right direction.

And as the two of you fought, Leon felt the despair that had been dragging him down all day begin to fade. Each of your little smiles, or jabbing comments pulled him into the moment. The here and now. You didn’t give him the opportunity to think of the past, because if he let himself slip, he would lose.

That became abundantly clear when you stripped the knife from his hand and came at him. Now he was on the defensive, his body alight with electricity as he realized the danger he was in.

You slashed at him once. Twice. Leon just barely got out of the way in time.

A kick sent Leon backwards, and he rolled to come up on all fours just in time to see you rushing him.

The sun had set. The only lights were the street lamps overhead and the dim light coming from the officer’s bunkhouse. Still, it was enough to catch on the blade of your knife as you brought it down on him, holding it in reverse like the fang of a spider ready to pierce his skin.

The light caught the blade in your hand, yes, but it also caught the handle of the one still in your pocket.

Leon took the chance without thinking, rising onto one knee and moving one arm to block as the other went for your hip. Your eyes widened as he closed his fingers around the knife, and you moved to stop him too late. He pulled the weapon free of your pocket, cutting an imagined line across your stomach before holding it to the inside of the leg that was forward. Right where the femoral artery ran beneath the skin and muscle - a place that would bleed you fast in the real world.

So close to a more compromising position, that Leon nearly froze as he realized just where he’d placed that knife.

Nearly.

Instead, he found himself keeping the blade there, and looking up at you with an almost-grin of his own. All that kept it from a full smile was the uncertainty of what your reaction would be to the move. You looked surprised, yes. But there was something else there, too. Something darker that danced where the lamplight couldn’t reach. Even if you’d just lost the fight, you looked otherworldly standing over him. “Smooth move, pretty boy.”

Something in him tensed at the nickname. Sparked. He was losing the fight against those thoughts of his. Had to push through. “Sorry,” he said, even if he didn’t really mean it. “That was kind of cheap-”

“No, it was smart.” You lowered your still raised knife, and Leon let his blocking arm relax. He let his knife fall away, too, glad of the low light hiding the redness in his cheeks and ears as he rose. “If it’s there, might as well use it.” Even so, you went and put the knife back on the table where it belonged. “Now, let’s see if you can find other ways to surprise me.”

Leon took to the challenge eagerly and won the next round in doing so. Your head tilted back on instinct as he rested the knife against your neck, and there was no anger at the defeat to be found. You were both tired. You shared the same quick breathing and pounding hearts. Sweat beaded at your brow, the same as it did at Leon’s. The day was almost over. All that to say, Leon wasn’t surprised when you grinned at him over the knife. “Think you can make it to three?” you didn’t move away as you spoke.

What he’d dreamed of didn’t matter anymore. Only this moment did. However dangerous it was.

“Do I get anything if I win?”

You didn’t break his gaze as you answered. It let him see the way your pupils dilated, and with the way his blood was pounding in his ears, there was no guilt to be found at the way it made him feel. “I’m sure I’ll think of something,” you said, and Leon knew that he had to win.

And so, the last fight of the evening began, set to the tune of the radio as it always was. Leon paid the music no mind, because the dance that the two of you were locked in was something else entirely. Something that no music could ever hope to score.

It went on for a long time - Leon swinging the knife at you, and you avoiding it. You stepped back and to the side, but never forward. Never towards him. After hours of you teaching Leon to get in close, Leon knew that you were planning something. The wildness in your eyes only confirmed it.

Wild and alive - so different from the way you’d looked on that first day. He’d thought you were ice, then. Now, he was staring at a crackling flame and couldn’t look away.

You exhaled as you retreated from another attack, stopping just short of the wall of the officer’s barracks. “What are you doing all the way over there?” Leon asked, fairly sure that you’d spoken those exact words to him at one point or another.

You just shrugged, keeping your guard up. “Waiting.”

“Could be waiting a while.”

There was that devil-grin again. “Then come and get me.”

Leon knew it was a trap. You’d all but spelled it out for him. Still, he advanced, taking a few more swings. If he could get you caught against the wall, then he might be able to get the upper hand. Slash, slash, and thrust. The last one aimed at your heart, meant to get you to back up.

He supposed that he should have known not to back you into a corner.

You reached for Leon’s arm before he could pull it away, trying to trap his hand against your chest. So you could pull the knife free, he thought, but was quickly proven wrong as you turned and dropped down. Your back to his, your free arm bracing against his own, and Leon had only an instant to prepare as you leveraged his body over your shoulder.

The impact came hard and fast, and his entire body shook with the force of it, and he couldn’t help the yelp he made as the air was knocked from him.

He felt the knife get pulled from his grip, but he was lucky enough to get his feet under him quickly. Dazed, he forced himself around the moment he could. His free hand found the back of your knee, his shoulder bracing against your stomach just as he felt the knife come down on it. He probably could have stopped there, called it a defeat, but he was already moving and there was no stopping his momentum as he pushed all his weight against you, pulling your leg forward at the same time. You toppled over, your back kicking up dust as you hit the ground.

The struggle that followed was a blur. All Leon could think was that you still had the knife, and that he had to get it away. Down and away. Your surprise was probably all that saved him.

He pushed himself up and forward, arms moving against yours. Grunts and groans, the sound of boots scraping at the dirt, and then metal hitting the ground as Leon pinned your arm down to the side.

His forearm came down over your throat, stopping just short of applying any real pressure. The rest of him was atop you, keeping you firmly against the ground. He was so caught in making sure you couldn’t escape, in the way his head was still spinning from his fall, that it took several seconds for him to realize that he’d won.

When that realization came, though, it didn’t matter. Not when you were looking up at him the way you were. Winning didn’t mean a goddamn thing, because his face was so close to yours, and your eyes were dark - so, so dark - as they searched his own. A fire so dark it burned black. A sea so deep, he couldn't see the bottom. Couldn’t even imagine it.

And both of you were at its edge, silently asking each other the same question.

Should we jump?

He didn’t get to answer the question for himself before he felt your lips against his.

You’d kissed him.

For reasons he couldn’t fathom and didn’t care to, you had kissed him.

The moment was stretched and pulled every which way, and Leon could only struggle to grasp onto something he could make sense of. Closed his eyes so the rest of him could get a clearer picture. He was aware of the way he took a sharp breath when he felt you against him. Your body was beneath his, and the warmth of it was suddenly so strange. He wanted to sink into it all the same. Get lost in it. He had to move the arm at your neck when he felt you straining against it. And your lips . . . he couldn’t help but move his own against them, tasting the dust you were both covered in. He couldn’t help but breathe his dream into reality, happy to do it for once.

Happy because how long had he wanted to press his mouth to yours? How many weeks had he imagined this moment in one way or another? How many nights had he dreamed of your hand weaving through his hair, pulling him down-

Down-

Until she was gone, like she had never truly been in the first place-

The memory struck him like a bullet, tearing clean through him so fast he didn’t fully realize it had hit him. Ada. Her lips against his. Her eyes looking up at him. Accusing. “Did you forget about me that quickly?” That wasn’t a memory, but it stung like one. It rotted away at him, poisoning him with one thought above all else.

How could you?

And in the moment of panic that followed, Leon pulled back, like he was flinching away from something hurting him. He didn’t even fully realize that you’d stopped moving your lips. That you’d taken your hand from his hair.

All he knew was that you didn’t chase him when he pulled away. Instead, he found your eyes distant.

“We can’t do this.” You said it like you’d known it all along. Like you knew whatever was between you was moments away from dying, and there was nothing you could do to save it. Or, maybe, like you were steeling yourself to let it go.

“I’m sorry-” he said, but you shook your head. Didn’t let him try to explain the disaster of his thoughts.

“There’s nothing to apologize for.” Your voice sounded empty. That mask of calm was back on, and Leon felt like he was watching you slip through his fingers, too. “Can you let me up?”

Leon did as he was asked, his body moving while his mind stayed behind, trying to pick up the pieces. To figure out what had just happened. To staunch the bleeding, even if it was too late. He only remembered to give you a hand when you were already halfway to your feet, and if you saw the offer, you didn’t take it.

He had to say something. Had to explain-

Saying your name caught your attention, but you didn’t hold his gaze for long. “I didn’t mean-”

“Don’t worry about it.” You didn’t let him finish, and it ran a line of frustration through him. Before he could even think to protest otherwise, you were continuing on, your words strung tight, ready to snap. “Let’s call it a night, yeah?”

He could have refused.

He could have insisted that you talk, that you clear up everything that had just happened. That way, he could tell you why he’d pulled back. Maybe learn why you’d let him. But lights out was soon, and there wasn’t enough time in the world to explain himself. If you even wanted an explanation. So, in the end, Leon just nodded, his words just above a whisper.

“Okay. Good night.”

⧫⧫⧫

You watched him go, trying hard to ignore whatever was squeezing your chest. Constricting it. Panic and longing in equal measure, you supposed.

You’d stopped it.

You’d stopped before it could get worse.

That was what mattered.

You were safer this way. You both were.

You busied yourself with putting the knives away. Straightening yourself up. Then, when you were sure you were well and truly alone, you let yourself hunch over, bracing against the locker where the training equipment was kept. There was too much to think of; you couldn’t get a lock on any one thing. It all came at you sideways and backwards, and there was nothing you could do but take the blows because you should have known better.

You should have fucking known better.

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Chapter Index

A/N:

The lads are struggling, I apologize for their lack of emotional awareness. Or maybe their emotional hyperawareness. All this to say, they've both got enough emotional baggage to sink a cruise ship, and god I wish they could see a therapist about it.

Also, if the song had come out by 1999, Leon would absolutely listen to Let You Down by Dawid Podsiadło while angsting about Ada and the Sergeant. I certainly listen to it while angsting about them. But then again, I just listen to that song while angsting about anything. Thank you very much, Cyberpunk Edgerunners.

#leon kennedy x reader #leon s kennedy #leon kennedy #jack krauser #resident evil x reader #resident evil 2 #resident evil 4 #resident evil #between the bones #gender neutral reader #leon kennedy x you #no y/n #angst

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accirax · 4 months

Text

New Evidence Regarding DRDT's Chapter 2 Killer?

Hello again, everybody! As I continue on my journey of rewatching DRDT via stream, I continue to pick up on more and different things than I noticed the first time. The subject of this theory post is the letter, signed by Eden (even if it wasn't necessarily written by her), that she, Rose, and Whit put together before the second Class Trial began-- I want to take another look at it.

(CW for Despair Time spoilers through 2-10 and mentions of suicide as described in Arturo's secret)

This note is a highly important piece of evidence, and I would expect that anyone invested in trying to solve the case is pretty familiar with its contents. However, I want to highlight exactly what the killer had to know in order to put this note together.

There is someone in the cast who has a motive secret that someone was "responsible for the death of [his/her] sister."

Eden was the recipient of this person's secret.

Eden didn't mean to tell this person, but it slipped out.

This person threatened to do something to Eden.

Arei promised to be Eden's friend.

Like I said, shouldn't be too much of a shock to any of you. However, what I really want to draw attention to is the first bullet point: someone is responsible for the death of his or her sister.

Why am I drawing attention to it? Because the last time Eden or Arturo says anything even close to a family member dying is here... (11:31)

...before Arei arrives. (12:44)

(The last time anyone actually says "sister" is Eden at 11:13.)

But, why is the time of Arei's arrival such an important distinction?

The thing is, most killer theories I've seen for anyone other than Eden or Arturo account for the killer being able to write this note by listening in to the conversation through the door. What I'm trying to say is that there's a contradiction there that I, at least, didn't notice until just now:

If the killer, listening in through the door had to know that the secret Eden received was about Arturo being responsible for the death of his sister, they had to be listening in before Arei arrived, because that is the only time in which Arturo's secret is discussed in enough detail to mention a family member dying. However, when Arei arrived, she had to walk right past and through the door.

This is what the door to the outside of the Infirmary looks like. There is no way in hell that Arei wouldn't have been able to see anyone who was walking by or listening in while she was doing the exact same.

So, what would this mean? Well, it would mean that only Arturo, Eden, and possibly Arei (depending on when she got into earshot of the door) knew enough about Arturo's motive secret before the murder to include all of those details in the note.

Or, at least, that's the boldest version of the claim. However, there are some counterarguments.

The first is that other people could have known if Arturo, Eden, or possibly Arei told somebody else about what happened and mentioned the detail about Arturo's secret. However, I don't believe that any of the three of them would have done that.

Arturo very clearly did not want his secret to get out, and seemingly didn't even want to believe that the death was his fault in the first place. Threatening Eden and making an enemy of Arei also make him look really bad. Both factors combined make it very unlikely that Arturo would want to tell anyone that this happened.

Eden also didn't want to tell anyone about what happened because she was afraid of Arturo finding out, as is clear in the Class Trial. Additionally, if she did want to tell someone so that they could help protect her from Arturo, it probably would have just been Arei. Thus, the information wouldn't have spread any farther than just Arei again.

Arei is definitely the iffiest option, but I still find it hard to believe that she would have told anyone about this occurrence. Firstly, it's already debatable whether Arei heard the specifics of Arturo's secret in the first place. Secondly, Arei probably would have had respect for her new friend and not wanted to share this traumatic event and put Eden in danger. I guess it's possible that Arei could have tried to tell someone about what happened to try to rally a larger movement against Arturo, and then that single person turned around and decided to kill Arei (thus leaving no innocent person who would want to bring up that Arei talked to them in the Class Trial). But, that's... a bit of a stretch. Plus, even if Arei did that, why include the specific details of what Arturo's secret was about?

The second option is that the killer could have planted some kind of bug or other listening device into the Infirmary so that they could overhear the conversation from afar. However, given that we have been given literally no advanced warning that a device like this can even be obtained within the set, much less that anyone actually used one in that location, I'm tossing this objection out, too.

And no, I don't think J's remote could have accomplished something like that, either. Not without an actual listening device already in the room.

The final possibility that I've thought of is that someone could have overheard the conversation from somewhere other than the doorway, which holds a lot more weight. Let's take a look at what's around the Infirmary.

Based on the map, I think the only places that are possibly close enough to the door of the Infirmary are the doors of the Cafeteria or Bathroom (Wash Closet; WC). Recall that, given the private nature of the conversation and that Arei is shown pushing the doors open in the CG, the doors were probably closed. Thus, anyone listening in would have needed to hear the conversation from behind at least one set of closed doors.

Let's start by quickly ruling out the Bathroom. I'm operating on the assumption that, if you can hear something going on in the Infirmary from where you are, people in the Infirmary could hear what's going on in that location, too. If people could hear what's going on in the Bathroom all the way from the Infirmary... Well, that's some pretty shitty architectural design, pun intended.

The Cafeteria is a viable location, though. In fact, we've already confirmed that you can overhear a conversation going on in the Cafeteria from the Infirmary.

So, using the same logic I described earlier, if Teruko could hear something in the Cafeteria from the Infirmary, it stands to reason that you could hear something in the Infirmary from the Cafeteria.

However, this argument still has its issues as well. The thing that Teruko (and Xander) overhear in this scene is, funnily enough, Arei arguing with Eden over not being invited to bake with her. It is described in multiple lines as a very loud event.

While I don't deny that a panicked Eden, a shaken Arturo, and an infuriated Arei could have been quite loud, all of those things, once again, happened after the last time that Eden or Arturo said anything about a dead family member. It's impossible to tell for sure given that the prior part of the conversation isn't fully voice acted, but it's implied that everything Eden says about Arturo's secret is in a regular, or possibly even hushed, tone of voice. If someone only started listening in after things got loud, they would not have heard about Arturo's secret in detail.

Additionally, there are the logistics of who would be sitting in the Cafeteria. Given that nobody else has stepped forward and shared that they overheard this conversation as well (even under potential penalty of death), it seems reasonable to assume that no innocent student overheard what happened in the Infirmary. Therefore, conversely, if any student(s) did overhear the conversation, they were probably involved in the murder somehow. I'm sure you could argue some fringe cases, but this is the general rule.

Unfortunately for this argument, though, the majority of scenes in the Cafeteria have many people present in them, whether due to partaking in a meal or a fight. Overall, that makes it unlikely that someone would be in the Cafeteria by themselves or with only one or two other people. That's not always the case, though, so we can't rule out only a few people being in the Cafeteria!

Can we try to further pin down the time period when this confrontation occurs to try to figure out who could or could not have been in the Cafeteria?

Eden tells us that this confrontation happened on "the day Nico tried to kill Ace" and "the day that Arei and [Eden] had a falling out," which, by my notes, is Day 6. Arturo never challenges this notion, and it also lines up with Eden being afraid that someone is following her on the night of Day 6, so I think that this is true. The canonical events that Teruko takes part in during Day 6 are:

Teruko plays with cacti and gets caught by Eden

J and Arturo, Nico and Ace, and Arei and MonoTV fight

Charles' secret is revealed

Eden tries to host a clock decorating event

Arei has her breakdown and David comforts her

Teruko confronts Rose about her secret

Nico threatens to kill Ace

Nico's secret is revealed and Hu and David comfort them

J drags Teruko into a closet to get away from Arturo

Teruko runs into Eden in the Dress Up Room

Ace is nearly murdered and tries to confront Nico afterward

The events highlighted in green are the only ones of the day that none of Arturo, Eden, or Arei are in. Given that all of them were present for the confrontation, it could not have happened simulataneously with any of the other events.

If the confrontation occurred while Teruko discussed Rose's secret with her (and Nico was there), the killer could really be anyone other than Teruko, Rose, or Nico. Anyone who we didn't have eyes on theoretically could have been in the Cafeteria at that time.

If the confrontation took place while Nico was threatening to kill Ace, however, I doubt that anyone would have been able to listen in on the Infirmary conversation over that cacophony. Therefore, for the sake of someone listening in, that option should also be eliminated. If it took place while Hu and David were comforting Nico, things would look bad for Levi and Rose, as they were both still in the Cafeteria after Teruko left. I know what I said about multiple students in the Cafeteria probably all needing to be collaborators in the murder, but if it was Levi and an asleep Rose, perhaps Levi could have gotten away with eavesdropping by himself?

Despite all of that, though, I think that Arturo's relatively calm and normal (for him) demeanor during the closet scene would speak to the notion that he hadn't just heard that Eden knew about his sister's suicide. Therefore, I believe that the confrontation likely occurred between Teruko's two trips to the Dress Up Room, when she "spent the rest of the day in her room resting." That would line up both with Arturo's claim that he was just "in the middle of something with Julia" (Teruko saw them together just beforehand), give Arei more time to cool down and reflect after her big afternoon, and put the time of the confrontation very close to when Eden is worried about someone following her. (Although, it does give Arturo less time to have "been following" her, assuming that comment was about him.)

That would also give pretty much anyone the chance to have been in the Cafeteria, because Teruko wasn't with anyone at that time. However, it may have been during a pretty dinner-y time, which decreases the odds that anyone would have been in the Cafeteria alone or nearly-alone.

If all that wasn't enough, here's one final wrinkle: whoever witnessed all of this happening would have overheard Arturo threatening Eden and decided not to get involved themselves. It's not a total nail in the coffin, given that I would assume most theories in which the killer overheard the conversation require them to have not attempted to help Eden for one reason or another. But, it is something to consider. Personally, I have a particularly hard time believing that J, #1 Arturo Hater, and Levi, adventurer on the quest of being a good person in the same vein as Eden, wouldn't have tried to stop what was going on if they'd heard.

So, in summary, if the person who wrote the note is not Arturo, Eden, Arei, or someone working very closely with them, they have to be someone who was in the Cafeteria probably alone at the time of the confrontation (assuming Eden's words were even loud enough to be overheard from across the hallway through probably closed metal doors), who decided not to step in to save Eden.

What does that mean? Well, I think that it means that it's very likely that Arturo or Eden is the killer, because having all of those dubiously possible clauses happen to fire off all at once seems implausible to me. But, I already thought that Eden was the killer, so it may just be confirmation bias. Otherwise, since we can't pin down the exact time of the confrontation, I don't think it actually helps us to fully eliminate anyone from the running-- other than, arguably, Teruko. I do urge everyone who thinks that someone other than Eden or Arturo is the culprit to consider this data when coming up with their theories, though.

However, I will end this on the note that all of this deductive reasoning is... incredibly nitpicky. At the end of the day, the crew behind DRDT is very small, and I would understand if the exact details of where and when what parts of Arturo's secret were said or what exactly the Infirmary door looked like were things that they didn't take into account when planning out the murder.

I've seen some critics say about recent YouTube indie animation shows that the long hiatuses between episodes give the shows an unfair disadvantage. That's because the long gaps allow fans to scrutinize every detail of the worldbuilding and characterization and find their holes for far longer than a network television show would between episodes. While DRDT is not exactly one of these indie animation pilots, it is a YouTube show created by a small team of independent creators. I can only imagine that they may be facing the same thing with having to take a break mid-trial. If that's the case, and what I've presented here contradicts what actually happened in Chapter 2, know that I don’t hold it against DRDTdev at all, and don’t think you should, either. I would apologize for pointing out this “mistake,” if you can even call something this minor that.

However, I also think that all of this might be possible, perhaps even on a coincidental/subconscious level, because Eden or Arturo is the killer, and DRDTdev didn't think too much about the logistics of how someone else would overhear the conversation. So for now, I'm considering all of this logic as reasonable theorywork.

If you have any rebuttals though, whether about a specific character or the premise in general, I'd love to hear them! Or, if I missed some detail in the story in general that blows this theory to smithereens entirely, I wouldn't love to hear that, but it would probably be good if I did.

Otherwise, thank you for reading, and have a lovely rest of your day! :D

#danganronpa despair time #drdt #drdt spoilers #eden tobisa #arturo giles #arei nageishi #fanganronpa #sorry for going back to drdtposting when it's supposed to be milgo time i was simply watching the stream and had this epiphany #and needed to write it out #can't remember if i've said this on blog before but how it often works with me is that i have no ideas then i am struck with an idea #and then i CANNOT do anything else until i've written the idea out #i think i might've said that on the archetypes post? well it's still true so #every day i come up with eden propaganda. sorry queen #my theories #cw suicide mention

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shurisneakers · 5 months

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a writing challenge? in 2024? you bet

Hi! Hello! Hey!

I've been going through A Time and have chosen to cope by going back to the specific vibes of 2016 to 2018. That happens to include an incredible resurgence in my love for MCU fanfic, the community around it and all the love that goes into them. I've felt a bit distant from here for a while, but I still see so many of my old friends writing, ones who want to get back into it, and a whole lot of new writers I am dying to meet.

I've floated this idea vaguely on my blog and people seem to be interested so I figured it was worth a shot!

So yeah, welcome to Ari's Old School, Nostalgia Jam, Why-The-Hell-Not MCU Fic Writing Challenge 2024!

Prompts, rules and whatnot under the cut:

Requests:

If you could reblog this post to reach someone who might want to participate, I'd really appreciate it! No need to be following me, it's open for anyone.

Reader-inserts, OCs, solo character fics, character x character-- absolutely no limitations

Any and all MCU characters are allowed

Anything above 500 words should have a read-more/keep-reading tab. Series, multi-chapters, one-shots, drabbles, etc etc. The sky's the limit.

Please tag me in your fics (@shurisneakers) so I'm notified of them, and post them with the tag #arisoldschoolwritingchallenge . It may take me a while to get back to you due to the circumstances I find myself in currently, but I absolutely will. Please send me a DM if I haven't responded within 10 days.

Send me an ask with the prompt you would like. Feel free to pick up to 2 prompts

The only thing I request of you: no RPF and no dark fics. Smut is welcome, but non-con/dub-con/incest or anything along those veins is something I'd ask you not to submit for this challenge. Thank you for your understanding!

I know I've called it an MCU fic challenge as it's the community I've grown with, but if you feel like any of these prompts resonates with a character from another fandom, please go ahead and write it. This challenge really is just about the fun of writing fanfic and love for Your Little Guys

No submission cut-off date. Take all the time you need.

Prompts

I've tried to have a mix of classics and uncommon tropes/dynamics, so I hope everyone finds something they connect with!

Relationship Prompts

1. Enemies (taken by @theysaywhatasadsight)

2. Best friends/childhood friends

3. Coworkers (taken by @jaaneymann)

4. Internet friends

5. Neighbours/roommates (taken by @angrythingstarlight)

6. Fake dating (taken by @hungryforpowernotfood)

7. Commuters

Alternate Universe Prompts

1. Florist AU (taken by @hungryforpowernotfood)

2. Showmance AU (taken by @bombsonboard)

3. Social media/streaming/gaming AU (taken by @splintered-emotions)

4. Thieves/Heist Group AU

5. Time travel AU

6. Pirates AU

7. College AU (taken by @lovelybarnes)

8. Apocalypses/dystopia AU (taken by @targaryenvampireslayer)

9. Chef AU

10. Roadtrips AU

Some rarer miscellaneous ones for those who are so inclined!

1. Shipwrecked together on an island

2. Meet Ugly (opposite of Meet Cutes) (taken by @barnesandco

3. Both of you are ghosts but don't know the other is

4. Treasure hunters AU

5. Faking death

6. Professional cuddlers AU

7. Time loops/Groundhog Day (taken by @sxrensxngwrites)

8. Orpheus and Eurydice

9. Villain x hero

10. Hitchhiking

11. Carnival of Horrors

12. Robin Hood

13. Matchmakers AU

14. Insomniac x narcoleptic

15. Intergalactic Coffee Shop AU

16. Doomed By The Narrative

17. Enemies to Lovers to Enemies

18. Subversion of Classic Hallmark Movie Tropes

Dialogue prompts

You can tweak them as per requirements, but be sure to keep the underlying message!

Angst

1. "I should have trusted myself. I should have stayed far away from you." (taken by @waywardcrow)

2. "Has it occurred to you that how I feel matters too?" (taken by @jaaneymann)

3. "We failed. I would do it again."

4. "You do not deserve my forgiveness."

5. "You make me feel so alone." (taken by @reidishh)

6. "I'm not giving up on us." "I did. You should too." (taken by @targaryenvampireslayer)

Crack

1. "Ohhh, you wanna kiss me so bad it makes you look stupid." (taken by @pinkthick)

2. "I think you and I make the worst choices together." "Yeah, but it's always entertaining."

3. "I trusted you." "Terrible decision, really."

4. "I know I'm smiling but I want to push you off a very big cliff." (taken by @pepperonijem)

5. "I'm hilarious." "You're traumatised."

Fluff

1. "This is the only thing I look forward to everyday." (Taken by @bombsonboard)

2. "I think we should do that again. For the sake of the world and my sanity."

3. "You're all I think about." (taken by @waywardcrow)

4. "Don't go anywhere I can't follow." (taken by @iguess-theyre-mymess)

5. "Don't smile at me like that." "Like what?" "Like that." (Taken by @lovelybarnes)

Word Prompts:

Flesh

Strawberry

Bruised (taken by @juvenilearson)

Groovy

Jump

Sunflower (taken by @barnesandco)

Alchemist

Wayward

Offerings

Mischief (taken by @supraveng)

I hope you'll join in! Please do tag anyone you think would be interested, I'd love for this to have as wide an audience as possible.

Lots of love <3

-Ari

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itsdappleagain · 2 months

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tagged by @emily-prentits THANK YOUU THIS LOOKS SO FUN

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

18!

2. what's your total ao3 word count?

141,974 words...which is a little embarassing considering jo, who tagged me, has 59 works and only about 30,000 more words. evidently i like my longfics.

3. what fandoms do you write for?

carmen sandiego 2019! 17 of those and one (1) original work that i dont mention in this post at all

4. what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

the cardinal and the kitten - 325 kudos

say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime (let me lead you from your solitude) - 164 kudos (we call her the phantom au for short)

simple are the ways of love (simple as the touch of another's hands) - 156 kudos

Upon the Sword - 154 kudos

Everything is a Lie - 127 kudos

5. do you respond to comments?

Most of them yes!! I LOVE getting comments I screenshot and save every one I get.

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Hm- I guess it depends. Hellscape ends with Carmen's internal monologue just before she gets mind-wiped by VILE, but its technically no angstier than canon. they gave you life (and in return you gave them hell) is pretty angsty the whole way through and examines Carmen's trauma.

Those are both little one-shots, though- I usually end my reigns of terror within chapter fics pretty happily if I can manage it. The Phantom AU (linked above) ends in a dark place but leagues brighter than it seemed to be heading towards. It isn't a terribly neat and happy ending, and it tells a story of trauma and attempted suicide and the road to recovery from these. Let's go with that one.

7. what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

In Love Is A Locked Cell Door Chase Devineaux and Crackle happily start making out in a jail cell and live happily ever after!

Ok, being serious-

For a one-shot, simple (linked above) starts happy and ends happier.

For a chapter fic, Choice ends with Carmen, Julia, and Gray all living in a very happy polycule pardoned from the law with full emotional control of their lives which is fun :]

8. do you get hate on fics?

@emily-prentits used to leave passive aggressive comments on my wattpad and we would fight in the comments sections 💀now we're partners so make of that what you will. but anyway, no serious ones, no!

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

No, not really! I have a few "fade-to-blacks" or skip-overs without any detail. The one time I tried writing smut it was really forced and hard for me to write...doesn't help that I've never felt sexual attraction in my life so I don't know about that. Curse you asexuality for taking papertiger handcuff sex away from the world.

10. do you write crossovers? what's the craziest one you've written?

No, I'm not a fan of crossovers

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

I've had one or two...heavily referenced. Not in bad faith, but it was funny to see a lot of my plot and prose mannerisms reworded in a younger author's fic. I think they credited me as inspiration or gifted it to me both times so its not a big deal.

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

I have not!

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

If FRANTIC FANFIC! counts, which it shouldn't lol. Also the polycule is working on something :3

14. what's your all time favourite ship?

15. what's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I have an au where paper star and black sheep escape VILE together and go through a sort of friends to lovers to enemies deal as carmen (renamed cardinal here due to never escaping in the boat the way she does in canon), though influenced by paper star at the start, eventually finds her inevitable path of good while paper star slips into a chaos that cardinal just can't stomach

ill paste a snippet here that i wrote but its a little bit long and complex and i dont have a ton of motivation for it

16. what are your writing strengths?

ABILITY TO MAKE READERS SUFFER

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

cohesive plot...lord help me i cannot plan a fic to the end before i post chapter 1 and it bites me in the ass all the time

18. thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

if there's a small amount of it, i usually write it as-is in the other language and use external sources or context clues to explain it. if a lot of dialogue is in another language, I'll put it in brackets and write it in english!

19. first fandom you wrote for?

carmen sandiego. still going lmfao

20. favorite fic you've written?

that's really hard- i'm going to do top three in no particular order SORRY

Love, Carmen - this was the first or one of the first fics I ever wrote. it put me on the map a little bit (wattpad..) in terms of writing and boosted upon the sword and choice when they came along. it was really fun to just be young and writing after finishing all two released seasons of the show. i still like it a lot. its just cute and simple.

the phantom au - what a labor of love. i've had other fics (evil carlotta series, cough cough) that have been long and complex but those strayed into meandering and pointless and i lost a lot of motivation. phantom combined my love of theater with my favorite show and my hunger for angst angst angst. it was super fun to write and, at the risk of sounding vain, i pulled off a very hard to pull off trope at the end and i think i did it well. i think if you read any one of mine, this highlights a lot of my strengths.

the cardinal and the kitten - this is a popular one of mine that kind of serves as an updated love, carmen. i really enjoy how i wrote carmen and julia playing off of each other and my dialogue is very strong in this one.

okay, sorry about how long that was i treated it like a professional interview. i had a lot of fun writing this instead of working on a very important school project

#tag game #weed wife #carmen sandiego #carmen sandiego 2019 #writing #ao3

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cha-melodius · 7 months

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I woke up to WIP Wednesday tags from @kiwiana-writes, @sherryvalli, @littlemisskittentoes, and @leaves-of-laurelin, and just got one from @tintagel-or-cockleshells before I could post this lol, so I guess I better dig up something. Actually, I finished the chapter I mentioned on Sunday, but I now have to take a bit of a break to work on a secret exchange fic and also something else I'm keeping under wraps until next month, so this might be my last one of these for a little while. We'll see how fast the writing goes lmao.

“You don’t need interesting, you need to get laid,” Pez chimes in as he nearly collapses onto the bar for support on Henry’s other side, glistening from the exertion of dancing and drawing quite a few looks of his own. “I’m perfectly fine, actually,” Henry insists. “Besides, I’m not going to bring someone home while my sister is staying with me.” “I can stay with Pez,” she volunteers cheerfully. “Or you could go to the other guy’s place and leave me with your giant telly. I wouldn’t complain about that.” “Look, I appreciate the effort on my behalf, but I’m just— not interested,” he sighs. Bea stares at him for a moment, then seems to come to a decision. “All right then, let’s go,” she says, grabbing her jacket out of his hands and shrugging it on. “Go where?” “Home. Tea, biscuits, Bake Off.” “But you were dancing—” “And I had fun, but now I’m tired and ready to go,” she tells him. She peeks around him at Pez. “What about you, love?” “Oh, I’m staying. I’m having too much fun to leave now,” Pez says, flapping a hand at them. “Go. Snuggle on the couch and watch your baking programme.” He looks pointedly at Bea. “And don’t let him pine over either of them.” Bea’s eyebrows shoot upward. “There’s another one? How did I not know about this?” “Bloody hell, I’m not pining over anyone,” Henry protests, groaning.

Tagging @rmd-writes, @welcometololaland, @cricketnationrise, @three-drink-amy, @iboatedhere, @indomitable-love, @dumbpeachjuice, @liminalmemories21, @myheartalivewrites, @nontoxic-writes, @14carrotghoul, @orchidscript, @nicijones, @loki-is-my-kink-awakening, @mirilyawrites, @wolfpup026, @hummingbee-o0o, @dreamycloud, @daisymae-12, and anyone else who wants to jump in, tag me!

#wip wednesday #my wips #rwrb #rwrb fic #firstprince #false dichotomy

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tgmsunmontue · 7 months

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Another Time (Chapter 1/14)

Summary: Jake wakes up in Rooster's body about ~30 or so hours post-Mission and they have to deal with it. They're adults. Apparently.

A/N: There seems to be a lack of body-swap in this fandom, so I thought I’d give it a crack. It’s one of my favourite tropes. I am from New Zealand but I write with lots of ‘z’s and remove a lot of my ‘u’s. However I don’t in my author’s note. Hopefully I caught them all – apologies for slip-ups. (I also type with wrist braces on so my finger mobility can be a bit screwy – that said I’m also a fandom old (but not an elder) so while this isn’t my first fic, it is my first in the fandom and after I’ve taken a break.

Jake’s POV for odd chapters, and Bradley’s POV for even chapters.

Also, obligatory note that I have no knowledge of the US Navy (and that whole ‘girl, what were you doing at the devil’s sacrament?’ thing applies here as well in terms of military propaganda).

(Posting on Tumblr, chapter a day until it's complete (currently 12 chapters in), after which I will post it on AO3 once a day until it's complete).

CHAPTER ONE

Jake wakes up in the sick bay, his breath coming in gasps as his dream fades into mist. Why is he in the sickbay? He doesn’t remember getting here and that’s never a good sign. There’s only half-light, the room has no portholes just some lights left on the dimmest possible setting; he can tell he’s still on the ship. The last thing he remembers though is falling into exhausted slumber in his rack, Javy below him and Payback and Fanboy opposite. He doesn’t feel right though, body aching all over, skin tight in places it shouldn’t be. He holds his hand up in front of his face and squints. Blinks.

That is not his fucking hand.

Okay.

Deep breath.

In.

…

And out.

…

Again.

…

He tries to sit up and needs to slow down the movement, body stiff and he’s not in his own body. Or there’s something very wrong with his head. Or both. He’s staring at mostly bare feet that don’t belong to him (one is wrapped in a bandage and is slowly throbbing in time with his heart – it doesn’t feel like a good idea to test bearing weight on it) when the door to the sickbay opens abruptly and he just stares. He guesses he knows where his body got to.

“Thank fuck! You okay?”

“I… Rooster?” He’s hazarding a guess, but it’s the only one that makes sense. He has no idea where Mav is, the other bed is empty. And he’s somehow in Rooster’s body, and not in a way he previously imagined was ever possible.

“Yeah. Fuck this is weird. You’re in my body.”

“Yeah, no shit. You’re in mine. What the hell happened?”

“I don’t know! I woke up in your rack and promptly whacked my head because I thought I was here…” Rooster says, putting his hand to his (Jake’s) forehead where a bump is already forming.

“Be a little more careful with the goods there…” Jake says, and he feels like throwing up a little, although honestly he’s not sure if that’s in response to seeing himself through someone else’s eyes or if he’s feeling Rooster’s concussion. This is already a colossal mindfuck and he’s only been awake for a few minutes.

“Yeah, you too. Are you feeling okay? I was feeling pretty shit yesterday.”

“I can confirm this body still feels like shit.”

“Okay, here, drink some water. I’m allowed to take some ibuprofen. That’ll help.”

“We need to report this?”

“No! Fuck. No… I mean, maybe it’s just a short 24 hour thing?”

“You think it’s like a stomach bug? You think people just change bodies with someone and it goes away overnight?”

“You have any smarter ideas? I want on the next transport off, and if they think I’m not stable enough to travel… or if something is wrong –”

“There is something wrong!” Jake hisses, because he is not okay with this. Maybe if he wasn’t feeling like he’d ejected and then crash landed he’d be more… relaxed. Fuck if he knows. He can’t argue with wanting to get back to shore though.

“Okay, there is. But let’s get back to shore, RTB and then… figure out a plan of attack.”

“Oh, I cannot wait to hear what you think might work.”

“Shut up.”

The door to the sickbay opens again and they both turn to look at the corpsman entering the room.

“Morning lieutenants. Any reason you’re here Lieutenant Seresin? Not bothering my patient I hope?”

“Not at all, I just needed, uh, wanted to check on him…”

Jake watches his own neck flush in embarrassment, and hmm, that’s interesting.

“He can, uh, stay, while you check me over,” Jake says, because he has no clue what Rooster was like last night, over than alive. He’d been fine on deck right after Mav had (crash) landed, but he suspects adrenaline had been carrying them both forward for the most part. Now it’s been over 24 hours and he’s pretty sure Rooster’s ankle might be broken, given the sharp increase in pain as it dangles freely. He has no idea where Mav has fucking disappeared to, but he’d been here yesterday when he’d popped in for a quick check-in with some of the others.

“Well, okay. Let’s look at your ankle first. I hope you weren’t seriously considering walking on it after what I told you last night.”

“Sorry, forgot. Really need to piss,” he states, which is partial truth and lie. He couldn’t forget something he didn’t know.

“Hmm. Here then.”

Jake takes the container and chances a quick glance at Bradley who is fucking smirking at him with his own damn face. Unbelievable.

“Nothing I ain’t seen before sailor…”

Jake feels heat flood his face for no good reason and that’s mortifying, he’d take his own neck flush of embarrassment over this any day. Of course Bradshaw means it because it’s his fucking body, but the look the medic is giving them is amused, clearly having drawn their own conclusions and Bradshaw is looking completely unrepentant. Asshole.

TWO

#Hangster #Sereshaw #rooster x hangman #hangman x rooster #top gun maverick #top gun maverick fanfic

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bourbon-ontherocks · 2 months

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20 questions for writers

I was tagged by @pia-writes-things (ty!!! ❤️)

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

46!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

703,271. Which is, um, a lot.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Good Girls (formerly), HPI (formerly), and l'Art du Crime. There's also a random bit for les Combattantes, and one GG fic has a shared universe with Graceland. I'm very mono-fandom lol.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Take A Dip

It's All Coming Back To Me

It Hurts When I See You Struggle

Love And War

We're Living In A Powder Keg And Giving Off Sparks

Unsurprisingly, these are all GG fics, although I don't think my kudos ranking is accurate because most of these were impacted by the great kudos-bombing gate from 2020 so it's hard to tell what's actually my most kudo-ed fic.

5. Do you respond to comments?

Absolutely. My secret goal is to keep the conversation going back and forth for the longest possible time because I love the opportunity for a good ramble about my writing 😈

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I wanna say Ad vitam æternam (L'art du crime)? I mean, it's literally an MCD fic, so, not that merry... Also if I remember correctly, Always lost in the sea (HPI) doesn't end on a very hopeful note either.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I don't know? All of them? None? I generally tend to go for happy open endings with that extra bit of bittersweet so I really couldn't tell. But hey, maybe the ending to that thing I'm currently writing actually is the happiest of it all, because oh boy, things do get cheesy at some point 🥺

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No at all! Unless you count that one person who commented on several chapters of whichever long GG fic I wrote just to point blank hate on Beth character lol

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Of course I do (in English only), I like my porn toxic and desperate and angsty with just the right amount of power play and mutual hatred. Basically, I write hatefuck 😂

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Not really, no... I've tried a couple of times, but I think I'm better at/more interested in mimicking existing interactions than inventing a dynamic between characters who never met canonically (and also, boy the kind of SETUP you need to justify some characters crossing paths... it's just too much work). I'm more of a cameo/easter egg kind of writer, so once in a while I'll allow a character from another fandom to pop up in a fic and say hi, but it's really a blink-and-you'll-miss-it kind of encounter.

I guess my craziest attempt would be that Crazy Ex-Girlfriend / Good Girls crossover that I never finished though, cause like, super different moods?

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of but I don't really attempt to know

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! By myself lol. I once posted a fic in two languages before acknowledging it was a hell of an additional work 😭

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Kinda? We never finished nor even posted it but at some point we shared a quite unhinged co-writing story with @whiskeyjack and @00gangfriend00 and it was a lot of fun 🥰

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

You... you guys have that? You don't just live by your Ship of the Moment just to instantly forget about it and hop on the Next Ship when it shows up? I'm sorry but I don't think I have one of those.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

What a trap question!!! 😂

It's All Coming Back To Me, obviously. Look, I really really want to finish it, not even for me at this point, but for the 120-something people who subscribed to it, for the faithful readers who still leave me comments every now and then hoping for closure. I know how it ends. I have it partially written. I just don't seem to know how to write for Good Girls anymore, and getting my head back into it feels like such an insurmountable load of work, I just- I'm trying, ok?

But like, if someone's interested in helping, or even writing that ending based on my notes (and getting full and proper credits for it obvi), just let me know! I'm really open to it 🥲

16. What are your writing strengths?

Probably dialogues? I've been told many times that my dialogues feel very close to the original, and the thing is, I write about TV shows and I have a very good ear so I think I catch quite easily the actors' voices and tones and mannerisms in my head, so every time I write down a line, I play it several times in my mind with the character's voice to determine whether they would say it like that or not. Looks like it's not working so bad.

Also I *think* I'm not too bad at stream-of-consciousness inner monologues. At least it's one of my favourite things to write so there's that.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Action scenes (that includes sex lol). Filling the gaps between the important parts. Descriptions. Setting up the scene.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Like, featuring two different languages inside the same fic, or writing in different languages? I'm not sure I've ever really written the first one? I guess I find it a bit clunky, occasionally I've written scenes that included a character whose native language wasn't the one of the fic, and I'd give them a line or two if that's relevant to the plot (for instance, if characters are lost somewhere in another country, I can add a line/dialogue in another language for comedic effect. Or it can be a way for a character to whisper something for themselves), but the logistics are quite nightmarish, you gotta either assume your audience knows the second language, or translate the lines in the author's note, or have another character translate it in a way that doesn't sound too articifial, that's really really tedious haha

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Good Girls.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

You think I know that? Out of FOURTY-SIX??? Lol. Get out.

Tagging: @sdktrs12 @joeyjoeylee if you're around @riosnecktattoo @humanbra @hemerae-ramblings @sothischickshe @asteraceae-blue

#tagging games #writing #my fic #fanfic

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pepperonidk · 2 years

Text

i. the gentle indifference of the world || all my love

"I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world." - The Stranger; Albert Camus

Pairing: Jeon Wonwoo x f!Reader Summary: He's cool, smart, attractive... and completely out of your league. But that won't stop you from falling head over heels for him. Warnings: none Word Count: (i’ll be right by ur side till) 3005 A/N: i've rewritten this chapter like 6 times bc i was so nervous but uh it's finally out in the world heyooo. can anyone guess what anime this was based off?

take a look at my pinned post to see how to join the aml taglist! back to library || next chapter

If you had listened to the rational voice in your head when your dad broke the news to you, you wouldn’t be in this situation.

If you had started making a list of things to pack, if you had called either of your two best friends immediately after, if you decided to be sane for 12 minutes, you wouldn’t be in this situation.

However, hindsight is 20/20, but in terms of foresight? You shouldn’t be allowed near the driver’s seat of any vehicle. Because instead of making any of the simple rational decisions after your father mentioned the possibility of moving across the country, you chose to sit down at your desk and write a letter. Fountain pen in hand and a candle burning beside you, for 12 minutes you were a character in a Jane Austen novel. Probably Lydia Bennett of all people, but a Jane Austen character nonetheless.

And that letter was how you found yourself in this situation – mortified and surrounded by whispers and stares, but worst of all, the icy glare of Jeon Wonwoo was fixed on the pretty pink card in your hands.

A simple “no thanks,” and that was it, but why did it feel like time stopped? One word was enough to crumble your fragile heart and you froze right in place. It wasn’t until you felt a pair of arms wrap around you that you began to breathe again, and blood rushed back into your brain enough for you to see Wonwoo turn the corner and disappear.

Once you finally felt your heartbeat return to normal, you looked around to see the empty classroom you were in and you let out a sigh.

“You ready to tell us what just happened?” one concerned voice asked. Seokmin’s voice was always gentle, always cheerful, usually loud, but the softness in his tone this time tipped you over the edge and you felt the sting of fresh tears in your eyes. He knelt down to look you in the eye as your other friend, Mingyu, helped you to sit at a desk.

Another sigh and you finally began to explain. “My dad said we might be moving in a couple of weeks,” you started, feeling your heart sink at the looks of hurt on your friends’ faces. “So I guess part of me panicked and I decided to tell Wonwoo how I felt.”

Now it was Mingyu’s turn to let out a sigh. The ever rational, ever charming Mingyu, who could see the end of any problem. His sigh was not out of pity, but out of frustration. “You know you could’ve called us right? We could’ve talked this through, came up with a better way to do this.” You knew that Mingyu and Seokmin would not have let you go through with the idea if you had called, but you appreciated the fact that he didn’t say that.

“I know,” you began to argue. “But I don’t know, part of me… hoped he would say yes.” You didn’t miss the way Mingyu and Seokmin’s eyes went wide as you mumbled the end of your sentence. “At least anything but whatever the hell happened today.”

You knew Mingyu was holding himself back. In his head he runs through every scenario before he acts, actually somewhat calculating underneath his laid-back exterior. He knew this was the most likely scenario, but he would never tell you that, so he lets out a sigh instead and turns his attention to the math equations written on the whiteboard.

Seokmin on the other hand was a reactor. His heart was on his sleeve and his anger at seeing his best friend upset was clear in his furrowed eyebrows and shaky voice. “I just don’t get why you keep wasting your time on him,” he confessed. “He’s too dense for his own good and he’s not particularly nice either. He’s smart academically, but stupid in every other way. He’s really not worth it.”

Mingyu turned around, surprised at Seokmin’s outburst. “Seokmin,” he called out. “Aren’t you friends with him?”

Seokmin scoffed in response. “What about it?” he answered back. “You guys are stupid too, but we’re still friends.” A beat of silence passed as the three of you stared at each other, unblinking, before laughter broke the stillness. It was moments like this that made you pause to appreciate the two boys you called your best friends. Although life had its ups and downs, the downs never lasted long, not when you had two loving friends to pull you right back up.

You stood up, a renewed sense of pride and determination filling you up. “You’re right Seokmin,” you exclaimed and Seokmin gave you a thumbs up in return. “Boys are stupid.” Mingyu and Seokmin shared a shocked look.

“Well that’s not–” Seokmin began to protest.

“I’m not stupid,” Mingyu started a little too loudly and boldly. “I wouldn’t have turned you down.”

He finished his sentence softly as he watched you walk out of the classroom door. Seokmin placed a comforting arm around Mingyu’s shoulders. “I wouldn’t have turned you down either Mingyu,” he teased as Mingyu shoved him to the side.

Despite your renewed sense of pride, the quietness of your study period left you too much time to think and you found yourself lost in a sense of nostalgia as you sat at a table in the library.

The first time you met Wonwoo was still painted clear as day in your mind.

You were a freshman searching for solace amidst the chaos of high school on the first day and you had found yourself in the library. Until now, it was a place of peace for you, but especially so on that first day.

Running your fingers along the aisles of books, you found one that you wanted to read. The Stranger, by Albert Camus, sitting right at the top shelf, pushed just a little too far back for you to be able to wiggle it out. You let out a sigh, and rolled up your sleeve, embarrassed that your next plan of attack was to climb the shelf to be able to reach the book. You braced yourself, shutting your eyes and taking a deep breath, when a baritone chuckle snapped you out of your thoughts.

You had opened your eyes to see an arm reaching past you to grab a book off the shelf– your book. In your head you cursed his long legs and arms, but as you met eyes with the boy, you felt your heart sink down to your toes and shoot right back up and suddenly you didn’t want to read a book that was so nihilist anymore. Meursault may not have found it, but love suddenly became something that mattered.

He handed the book in your direction and you had to force your attention to his words and away from his face. “Were you trying to get this?” he asked.

“Huh?” you blinked before looking down at the book you were no longer interested in. “Oh, yeah, I was but, I don’t know if I want to read it anymore.”

He hummed and nodded in response as he inspected the book. “The Stranger,” He read. “Is it good?”

“Yeah, if you’re into stories about life having no meaning,” you explained, suddenly flustered at the way he seemed to take your words seriously.

“I see,” he replied. “Then do you think life has no meaning? It seemed like you wanted this book pretty badly.” The weight of his question startled you as you tried to stammer out a response but before you could get anything significant out, his watch beeped and he was already turning his back to you. “Thanks for the book recommendation,” he called back, waving the book in the air.

That day, Wonwoo stole not only your book, but your affections.

For the next four years of your life, you found yourself loving him from a distance. You’d see him in the hallways, in class, but you could never bring yourself to say anything to him and you resigned yourself to this distance. It was lonely, but it was safe, and that was good enough for you… until today.

Now, after breaking that distance, you wished you never did. It was easier to never know how he felt about you, to be in love with the memory you had of him rather than be crushed by reality.

The final bell finally rang and you were more than ready to head home. Outside the quiet bubble of the library, the school was cheering, the drumline playing in the main hall and everyone shouting cheers to the football team, but you couldn’t find it in yourself to celebrate your senior homecoming game with the rest of the school. Instead you found Seokmin and Mingyu and made your way home.

“Welcome home!”

The sound of your father’s voice filled you with warmth as soon as he opened the door, the joy in his greeting briefly making you forget the events of the day. He wrapped you in a tight embrace, still smelling of spices from his day spent at the restaurant, and led you and your friends into the house.

Once inside, your dad gave your friends a confused look. “Isn’t tonight your last homecoming game? Shouldn’t you be at the game?” He questioned as the three of you kicked off your shoes and set your backpacks down by the door.

Seokmin looked over to you as he answered, “Nah,” he replied with an easy smile. “The real party is here.” Your dad let out a hearty laugh in response, which the three of you mirrored.

“I had made way too much dinner for just the two of us, so it’s perfect that you guys are here,” your dad put his arms around Seokmin and Mingyu who cheered in response.

“Well, once I found out you were making the world’s best lasagna, how could I not invite myself over?” Mingyu said. The way your dad beamed back at Mingyu made both you and Seokmin chuckle. Mingyu was both an extremely talented chef as well as an extremely talented eater, and your dad absolutely adored him for it. He was always welcome to the family dinner.

“Careful, dad,” you chimed in. “Between Mingyu and Seokmin, there might not be any left for the two of us.” Your dad laughed in response as Mingyu rolled his eyes and Seokmin nodded. As you settled into the table, you realized your dad wasn’t exaggerating at all when he said he made way too much dinner. The table was lined with lasagna, roasts, vegetables, and lots of side dishes, enough for a feast. “What’s the occasion dad?” You asked as you looked around the table, trying to decide what to eat first.

Your dad set his silverware down before explaining. “Well,” he began. “To be honest, I felt somewhat bad.”

“About what?” you asked, your mouth full of lasagna.

Your dad chuckled as he continued, passing you a napkin. “As I’m sure you’ve explained to your friends,” he gestured to Mingyu and Seokmin. “I accepted the offer to help start the new restaurant. I thought about it some more, and I felt bad that you would have to uproot your whole life right at the end of high school.”

You looked at him, urging him to continue.

“So I contacted my friend from college, the one I meet with for lunch sometimes, and he said that his son also goes to the same school as you and since they have a spare room, he’s offering to take you in for the year.”

“No shit,” Mingyu exclaimed in response as Seokmin nudged him under the table, giving him a look reminding him to keep his foul language to himself, but your dad just laughed it off.

“That means I get to stay right?” You squealed. “I don’t have to leave?”

“Yes, that’s true,” your dad confirmed. “But it’s only for the year. At the end of your school year, you can move up with me, or if everything goes really well, I’ll be back home early.” He let out a sigh of relief at seeing the way the three of your faces lit up. Ever since you were little, you, Mingyu and Seokmin had been inseparable. You would walk to school and back home together, you would have sleepovers and every meal was spent together. Your dad felt that tearing you away from them right before you would have to separate for college anyway was cruel.

He cleared his throat as he continued. “I know the situation isn’t ideal, and that you’ll probably miss me so so so much,” he teased. “But I know you’ll be in good hands while I’m away.” He smiled fondly at the two boys sitting around the table who were looking at you with nothing but adoration in their eyes.

The rest of dinner went by quietly. Polite talk here and there, but an overwhelming effort to avoid discussing your father’s move, which was at the end of the week, settled among the four of you. It wasn’t until after dinner, after Seokmin had to go home, that you finally got to process your feelings with Mingyu who stayed behind to help clean up.

“Gyu, you really didn’t have to stay,” You sighed as you leaned against the counter beside him as he turned on the faucet in the sink. “I don’t mind doing the dishes.”

He gave you the same winning smile that he gave your father earlier. “Please,” he began. “It’s the least I could do… you’ve had a long day.” He cocked his eyebrow at you, reminding you of the unopened note that now lay on top of your desk in your room. “How are you feeling?”

You grabbed a dish towel, helping Mingyu dry the dishes he washed, not wanting to meet his eyes. “Like a salad.” Mingyu turned to you with a confused chuckle, waiting for you to elaborate. “I feel so many things right now but I can’t really condense it all into one thing.”

Mingyu hummed thoughtfully before continuing. “Okay, well what’s the lettuce right now? The biggest thing you’re feeling.”

“Hmm…” you thought. “Sad, that my dad is leaving. I’ve never been away from him that long.”

“Okay, what about the chicken?” You couldn’t help but let out a chuckle, appreciating the way Mingyu ran with your simile.

“The chicken… Happy.” You finally gave Mingyu a small smile. “Happy that I get to stay here with you and Seokmin.”

Mingyu smiled back at you. “I’m happy about that too. How are we supposed to be a trio if it’s just me and Seokmin?”

You rolled your eyes playfully as you swatted his arm with the dish towel. “Gyu, you and Seokmin have enough personality for 13 people. I’m sure you would have found a way.”

He pouted in return, rubbing his arm where you swatted him before slipping back into a smile. “Not true, but whatever,” he relented. He was glad that the trio would remain a trio, but it got him thinking about what the future holds for the three of you. College was never really something you all had discussed in depth. Mostly just vague hypotheticals about what decorations to get for the apartment you’ll share and the kind of classes you’ll all take together. But in every future he could imagine, the three of you were always together.

After that night, the rest of the week passed by in a messy and teary blur, with Mingyu and Seokmin coming over every day to help you pack. Well, “help” was a strong word. They mostly sat on your bed and looked through your knick knacks while asking for snacks. They were also very unhelpful at trying to convince you to “Marie Kondo” your room, as they called it.

Seokmin tried convincing you that maybe you should leave your giant stuffed avocado behind, to which you adamantly argued against because he won it for you at the school carnival last year. Mingyu asked why you still kept your report card from fifth grade in a treasure chest, to which you responded by showing him the teacher’s notes, “Had to separate her from Mingyu and Seokmin. They distract each other and draw pictures on their math homework. Always laughing and smiling in class :)”

Going through your whole room with them was a lot less embarrassing than you had expected, and by the end of the week, you were ready to go with only the essentials packed. Mingyu and Seokmin came to see you off, helping your dad pack your things into the car and they each gave you a big hug before letting you go.

Your dad laughed at the scene, watching the three of you get teary eyed even though you would still see each other every day at school. But when he finally drove off and saw you looking wistfully out the window, he felt a pang in his chest and it reminded him how much he’s going to miss you as well.

The drive was fun as it always was with your dad, but as he parked in front of a huge house in a very wealthy neighborhood, the grin on your face grew even more. The homes in this neighborhood were much bigger than your own, and you figured you should enjoy yourself while you’re here. Your dad took your hand as the two of you walked to the front door of his college buddy’s home, telling you a silly story about their adventures together in university.

“Oh, I’m so excited you get to meet him,” your dad exclaimed as he rang the bell. “I heard his son is actually in your grade, so maybe you already know him.”

You looked at your dad curiously. “What’s his name?”

But before your dad could respond, the door swung open to reveal none other than–

“Wonwoo.”

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