#i hope to post more original content this academic year as well!!

[kristynstudies]

finally back to blogging again now that the new semester is coming up!! i have EMERGED from the ashes

#i hope to post more original content this academic year as well!! #kristyn rambles

[choicesficwriterscreations]

CFWC Writer of the Month: missameliep

Each month CFWC highlights one of our talented fanfic writers, and this month’s writer of the month is @missameliep ​! We hope you will enjoy learning more about her and her work below! The writer is selected at random. More info can be found on the navigation page.

Quick Links: 

Tumblr blog: missameliep Tumblr Masterlist

1- When did you start playing Choices? What's the first book you played? 

I started playing Choices sometime around 2017. While playing another game on my phone, I got curious after seeing some strangely funny adds about the app. I remember that the first time I logged into the game it asked me the kind of story I wished to play and I think the first book it suggested was Rules of Engagement. So, I guess that was the first one… but I remember the first ones I really enjoyed playing were the LoveHacks series and HSS.

2- When and why did you join Choices fandom?

For a while I had read fanfics on AO3 and then found out about Tumblr, I created my own account in October 2018 with the intention of reading fanfics. So, I officially joined the Choices fandom on Tumblr around October or November 2018, after spending a few times only reading fanfics, getting to know how Tumblr worked and following some of my favorite writers at the time and reading news and theories about the books, until I eventually posted my own fanfics and started interacting more with others fans and creators.

3- How did you pick your url name? 

My url name was inspired by one of my favorites movie characters: Amelie Poulain. 

4- Go back to your archive and tell us about the first post on your Choices blog. 

It was something totally unrelated to Choices lol I was still getting used to Tumblr and the first post was probably something about cats or a meme I think… (Tumblr app won't let me see my archive)

5- How long have you been writing fanfiction?

I started in late 2018. I had recently found out about fanfiction during many sleepless nights nursing my baby daughter and read a ton of fics from another fandom… and since I had stopped writing content for my best friend's maternity blog but was still excited about writing, the idea of writing one story of mine sounded appealing, and still does. Four years later, and I'm still here, even if real life has left me little time to write fanfic this past year ☺️

6- What is your favorite Choices book to write about?

My favorite book to write is definitely Desire & Decorum, though I enjoy writing for Blades and Wake the Dead too.

7- Share the first fanfic you wrote with us. Do you still like it or would you change anything about it? The first chapter of my series, The Pursuit of Happiness - was the first fanfic I ever wrote. I still like it and am proud of it. Of course, as a perfectionist, there are a ton of things I'd change (and I have fidgetted with it many times since it was originally posted, lol), but I like to think that as my first attempt at writing a fictional story after too many years of only writing academic and professional texts it was a good start and I'm happy I overcame my fears and posted and allowed people to read it even if it was not perfect. When I read those initial chapters now, I can see how much I have learned and developed my craft, and I'm happy about this. Besides, this first chapter was an opportunity to get in touch with other Desire & Decorum fans, and it was an amazing experience with how supportive and kind people can be in this fandom ❤️

8- What is your favorite fic that you’ve written?

OMG! Asking me to pick one is like asking a mother to pick a favorite child lol I can't, so I'm cheating and picking two - one for each of my favorite books: Run to You, a Desire & Decorum one shot and Heart in a Cage, a Blades one shot.

9- Do you have a fic that you didn’t expect to be well received, but it was? What about one you expected to be but could use a little more love?

Definitely, Like Poetry, this Blades one-shot is so out of my style and different from everything else I've posted on Tumblr. It has a lot of angst and deals with the dilemmas of a relationship between a human and an elf, and mortality is the main subject, and I have experienced a different kind of narrative, but the readers really enjoyed it, and I was happy I posted it. 

Well, I can't complain. I have a small blog and mostly write for a pairing that is not the most popular in the fandom; despite those facts, I have received so much support and love from readers, but if I could pick one fic that I'd like to receive more love would be the miniseries Is This Love? , because it was special to create a backstory for my Desire & Decorum MC Elizabeth before she became Lady Elizabeth and heiress of Edgewater, and address some subjects I really wanted to deal with but were mostly hinted at in The Pursuit of Happiness, and writing the relationship between Elizabeth and her mother Mary and the friendship with Briar was truly special to me. 

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

Fluff. No question. I love writing romantic tropes and happy endings, so fluff it is l, especially to my OTP Elizabeth and Hamid ☺️

11- Do you ever recognize yourself in any of your MCs or in your writing?

My MCs are not versions of myself, but I do recognize some traits and aspects of myself, specially in my Desire & Decorum OC Elizabeth Foredale, like myself, she's Brazilian, and sometimes there are references like in her speech pattern in informal situations and the use of slang or calling even the LI "dude" that are very me. There are some subjects and options, like Elizabeth being a law student, that echo my life and experience… 

12- What element of writing do you struggle with most?

It usually depends. But since English is not my first language, sometimes I struggle with descriptions and finding suitable vocabulary and metaphor and creating sentences with a structure that makes sense in English, and since my references are in another language some of my cultural references have no translation or make no sense outside my country. Also I tend to be too wordy and sometimes it's hard to keep the pace flowing as it should, and it takes some time and work during editing to correct that.

13- Do you have any neglected work you really want to finish?

Yes, I do have a lot of stories in my drafts and a long list of WIPs that I wish to finish, and alas, I had the time and motivation to finish them all. I will list three in particular that I have posted in the first chapter and are on my priority list to finish: Bonds of Sea and Fire, I love writing for Tyril and Arwen (f!elf!MC), and I have lots of drafts, but never found time and inspiration to continue the series; Love Thy Neighbour, it's an AU where Elizabeth and Hamid are neighbours at London, and it's a fluff story about destiny and falling in love when you least expect; and Desire & Decorum & Zombies, it's a gothic supernatural AU where zombies are real, and the MC, who is the heiress to Edgewater has to struggle to fit in this new world of nobility, uncover mysteries and literally fight for her life. Three are very different stories, but all have a place in my heart.

14- If someone you know in real life (who isn’t involved in fandoms) asked to read your work, would you let them? If yes, what would you recommend they read first? 

I don't know!! Maybe depending on who this person would be. 🫣 I am very self-conscious about my writing, and only my husband knows that I write fanfic and has read a few of my works… but if it was someone I trusted and was unfamiliar with Choices, I would recommend Like Poetry or the miniseries Safe, because not knowing the characters wouldn't be an obstacle and I'm proud of my writing in those stories.

15 - Are there any writers (published authors and/or fanfic writers) who influenced your writing? I think everything I've read in my life has made an impact on my writing, even if it taught me what or how I didn't want to write and tell my stories. I've read many Brazilian writers, and I love Machado de Assis and his sense of humor, and I know I've incorporated elements of his style into mine, especially when writing historical fics like my Desire & Decorum series; and there are so many other published authors like Jane Austen and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry who also influenced my storytelling. As for fanfic writers, there are definitely some who influenced me. In the Choices fandom, @lorirwritesfanfic was a huge influence. Her Desire and Decorum AU was the inspiration for my series Second Chances, without reading her fics I don't think I would have ventured into creating my own contemporary days AU; another inspiration was @/pixieferry. Her style was amazing and poetic and filled with references unfortunately, she's no longer active in the fandom, but I still think about her fics.

16- Which one of your stories would you most like to see as a movie/series? 

Second Chances! I can totally see it as a rom-com or a series, and I have my dream cast for it ❤️ 

17- Do you write original stories? 

I write original stories. I have written a couple of things when I was a teen, mostly short stories, and have in my drafts two stories I'd like to turn into novels that I started writing during the pandemics and world building for those truly excite me. 

18 -  What other hobbies do you have?

I'm an amateur photographer, but I haven't really dedicated myself to this for a while for lack of time, and I like drawing and doing all sorts of craft work with my daughter. 

19 - What’s your favorite emoji? 

This face ☺️ - I use it a lot! 

20: BONUS - tell us anything you’d like (if you want to).

Writing fanfic has been a nice hobby and means to improve my skills, which is something great for anybody that would like to someday be a published author. But most importantly, I think are the people I got to befriend in the Choices fandom and how much I've learned along the way (which has been so much more than I thought I would gain from playing this silly game when I first started ☺️); each comment has meant so much either to help me improve or to encourage me to keep on writing. So, I just wanted to thank each and every one of you who has read my fics and taken a moment from your time to give me feedback, and my lovely friends who have beta read my fics and cheered me on when writer's block or imposter syndrome was in the way of writing, @princess-geek, @lorirwriesfanfic, and @noesapphic, you guys are amazing and have my gratitude ❤️

#choices fic writers creations #writer of the month #cfwc writer of the month #missameliep #desire and decorum #blades of light and shadow #wake the dead

[upontherisers]

if i know you, i know what you do

this is both a week late and a bit experimental, my apologies. this was originally supposed to be a 5 + 1 but i found myself rapidly running out of room, so it's a 4 + 1. i bounced around a few concepts for this and i'm not sure this is entirely clear, but i'm happy i finally had time to complete something that wasn't for academic evaluation.

i'm so happy @mercurygray did blind dates this year and i'm excited to catch up on what everyone wrote!

this is my first true attempt at writing nix and man, he's hard to nail, isn't he? i hope i did him justice. this is a bit long for a blind date (~2k) and i'd like to give a content warning for implied physical violence.

title from "once upon a dream" from disney's sleeping beauty. read below the cut.

i.

“Who are you today?” he asks.

“Second Lieutenant Catherine Brown,” she says. “Friends call me Cathy.”

Lew sniffs. “You don’t look like a Cathy.”

“Good thing you get to forget about it. What do ya got?”

He hands her a newspaper and she briefly flips through it, making quick note of the annotations and dog-eared pages. The crowd swarms around them and no one would question the scene, an American Army officer handing a nurse a paper, but she doesn’t want to risk getting caught standing for too long. She folds the pages away in her satchel and looks around the square, waiting for her contact to show.

Lewis glances past her ear with a squint, an intelligence officer’s way of looking at someone without looking at them. He leans against the wall of the post office and she represses the urge to make him stand up so she could dust his jacket off. Someone cleaned that uniform for nothing. 

“Where’s Cathy from?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know—”

“I’m serious,” he says, daring to meet her eye. That’s how she knew he was serious indeed.

Telling him wouldn’t hurt, not a detail so small. It was good practice, she reasoned; it helped reinforce her story. Someone somewhere would know her as Cathy, even for just a moment, and the hairpins digging into her scalp and the itchy collar of her nurse’s gown would be worth it.

“Florida,” she blurts. There’s movement out of the corner of her eye and across the square, she spots a man in a suit emerging from a vehicle. Brown hair, burgundy tie, sunglasses—that’s her guy. He looked around with his hands in his pockets, awkwardly tucked into an alley between the florist and the grocers. The SOE sure knew how to pick them; how an agent manages to stick out in his own country, she’ll never know.

Lew chuckles. “Where in Florida?”

“I have to go,” she says, tucking a flyaway curl behind her ear and readjusting her satchel strap. “You should hear from my C.O. in three days.”

Lewis stares at her, lips parted slightly. He looks concerned and she doesn’t have time for it. 

She leans forward and brushes her lips against his cheek in an attempt to sell this passing encounter to any onlookers and tries not to look at his face as she turns away. He murmurs a “be careful” after her and it breaks her heart to pretend not to hear him.

ii.

“And who might you be?” he asks, extending a hand to her. He’s hiding his surprise quite well. 

She accepts his grasp with a coy smile. “Hazel Durham.”

Lewis’ eyes narrow in a flicker and he tucks the corner of his bottom lip between his teeth, nostrils flaring. He hates the name. She laughs to herself; they should let her pick more often.

“Lieutenant Nixon, I understand that you’re a Yale man,” says General McAuliffe, blissfully unaware of the silent conversation happening in front of him.

“Uh, yes sir,” Lew says, “class of ‘39.”

“Well, Hazel here attended Bryn Mawr. Your sister school.”

She makes eye contact with Lew again, nodding enthusiastically but unable to stop herself from pursing her lips in a slightly pained smile. She’d been attached to the general all night and the man had the nerve to be wrong about everything; she wouldn’t trust him with a trained dog let alone the 101st Airborne Division. 

Later, she finds Lew lazily picking at some grapes on the hors d'oeuvres table. He doesn’t acknowledge her as she forks a few cubes of cheese onto her napkin, but she knows he knows she’s there. Since the moment General McAuliffe had ‘introduced’ them, she’s felt his eyes on her, tracking her around the ballroom, through dances and bored conversations with officials. She thinks Lewis Nixon is the only person in the world that she’s completely detectable to, and she doesn’t know if she hates it.

“That must’ve really hurt,” he starts, rolling a grape into his mouth, “telling people you went to Bryn Mawr.”

She snorts. “I thought he blew my goddamn cover. He doesn’t know that they’re different schools. I could’ve told him I went to Scripps and he’d think it’s in New England.”

“Where’s Hazel from?”

“D.C… I went to Linden Hall and my father is a lawyer for New York City’s biggest shipbuilding union so please, no more questions.”

He shrugs innocently. “I wasn’t gonna—”

“It’s one of his staffers, alright? We just want to make sure there isn’t a leak. The Germans seem to be getting lucky with their intelligence.”

He looks concerned. She wishes he’d stop. “If there’s anything I can do—”

“There isn’t. I shouldn’t even be telling you this,” she snaps and she doesn’t mean to, but she also doesn’t take it back. What is it about him that unravels her so much?

Lew looks hurt but he nods like he understands. He turns to pick up one last grape and parts with a deferential nod. “Nice dress.”

She watches him go.

iii.

He slides into the chair in front of her with a smile. “And who am I speaking with?”

“I can’t tell you.”

Lew laughs. “C’mon. You want me to guess?”

She doesn’t respond. She has things to say to him and she can’t bring herself to do it.

“Joannie? Beverly? Bessie? Cathy again? Gimme something, a hint.”

“Stop it, Lew.” The gravity in her voice gives him pause and she jumps at the lapse. “What do you have for me?”

He produces a package wrapped in brown paper and tied with twine, a flower placed under the bow; her heart shatters at the gesture. She reaches to take it but he pulls back with a frown. Her gaze darts around the cafe. She doesn’t have time for this; the train leaves in two hours and her risk of being followed is minimal at this stage, but the assignment does not afford the chance of risk. She reaches again and his arm retreats further.

“Lewis.” Her tone is warning.

He’s frowning at her with a mix of anger and fear and she wants nothing more than to smooth over the wrinkle on his brow, hold the sides of his face, looking into those big brown eyes and tell him that it’s all going to be alright. Instead, she can only stare. She has nothing for him.

He hands the package over after a minute and she places it in the bag at her feet immediately. After another scan of the cafe, she rises, pulling her coat over her shoulders.

“This is going to be different,” she says. “You don’t have a set contact. If you don’t hear from me by May—”

“The war will be over—”

“If you don’t hear from me by May, write my mother. She’ll know by then.”

“Know what?” He’s trying to test her and she won’t rise to the bait.

She looks at him one last time, trying to take in everything she knows about him. Dark hair, strong jaw, those characteristic Nixon brows, the occasional restlessness of his hands—everything she’s watched him grow into and become since their childhood. His parents’ disgraced son, a high-ranking battalion regimental officer, her best friend.

“Goodbye, Lew. Keep safe.”

His hand closes around her wrist and her eyes flutter shut. 

She wants to lean into the warmth of his touch, to rest a moment in a comforting embrace. She wonders if he’ll be the last person to ever truly know her as she was, a girl before the war who wanted to write and act—a girl who believed in the world, in goodness and people and who got bruised by her naivety more than once. 

He stands to meet her and she can see his heart on his sleeve. She wishes she could make this easier for him, give him a reason to care less, but he can’t help it, as much as she tells him to stop. He cares about people more than he knows how to handle.

“Be careful.”

She can’t say anything to make him feel better. She can’t bring herself to lie.

“I know.”

She shakes off his grip and departs.

iv.

“And you are? Or am I allowed to ask—”

“Wanda Benton,” she snapped, trying to nip his attitude in the bud, “art historian from Manhattan.”

“A little close to home, don’t you think?”

“Shut the hell up.” She doesn’t like when they met like this, with him half-hungover-half-drunk and her three days without coffee.

She pulls some photos out of the briefcase at her side. She doesn’t have to scan the bar out of caution—it’s an OSS safehouse, they vet everyone who comes through the door—but she does anyway, out of habit and after her last assignment, out of fear. The pages wobble and flex as she spreads them across the wood, the glare on their shiny surfaces causing her to squint under her sunglasses.

“Can you confirm you’ve seen any of these paintings since you entered Germany?” she asks, leaning in to point at the images of most importance.

“Yeah, a few,” he mutters.

She sighs. “Which ones?”

He points a few out and she makes note of their locations with some follow-up questions. As she turns to him, she realizes he’s not looking at the pictures but her, zeroing-in on her right cheek. She glances away.

“What’s that—?”

“Please just answer the questions.”

His hand starts to raise and she tries to lean away.

“Lew…”

It’s too late. He’s nudging off her shades before she can get a hand up and brushing a thumb over her cheekbone, sendsing pain sparking all the way to her spine. She winces and he rips his hand back. 

“Jesus Christ.” 

She closes her eyes, partially to block the dizzying amount of light flooding her vision and partially so she doesn’t have to look at Lew’s face to see the shock and horror and pity.

She knows what he sees; she’s looked at it everyday since she was extracted from Berlin. The bruising has mostly disappeared into her dark skin, but the pink remnants of scabs and scratches litter her brows and cheeks. Her left eye has a cut that’s certainly going to scar and her nose hasn’t set straight yet.

“What happened?”

What a question. “I can’t say.”

“No.” The firmness of his voice makes her look at him. He looks shattered, like after that jump with the 17th Airborne, and guilt roils in her stomach. He doesn’t have to care this much. “No. Tell me something.”

She averts her gaze to the painting photos. “I ran into some trouble on my last assignment… but I’m okay,” she says.

“Okay my ass.”

“I am,” she insists, placing a hand over his. He gazes at her, mystified, and brushes his thumb over her pinky.

“You’re a good liar.”

v.

She sits beside him on the bench and neither of them speak.

Paris is beautiful in the late summer and it’s bustling. Crowds ebb and flow like the Seine—people laugh and cry and live music floats out of bistros and cafes along cobbled thoroughfares. The birds have come back, signs are lit again at night, and the City of Light is rebuilding. The world is finally living the spring it had been robbed of for so many years and she can feel it, the energy flowing through strangers on the street who embrace without fear. There’s nothing to be scared of anymore.

“Who are you today?” he asks.

She smiles, letting joy split her face as much as it dares. “Rose Robinson.”

Lew’s head whips toward her, surprise evident by his dropped jaw.

“I’m Rose Claudette Robinson. I’m 27 years old. I was born in New York, raised here and in San Francisco. I attended Emma Willard School and Vassar College. I speak four languages. I have two sisters. My favorite color is green. I love baseball. I—”

“I know you,” Lew whispers. 

She nods. “You do. We grew up together.”

He smiles so brightly that it’s nearly blinding and wraps an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close enough to kiss her temple.

“Hi, Rosie,” he mumbles into her hair.

“Hi, Lewis.”

#my writing #meet 'em in the skies #lewis nixon

[onlyhereforsin]

Dreams of Wisteria

A/N: Hello everyone! It’s Ronnie, this is my first time posting on Tumblr and I’m a little nervous lol. But here it is! My original story. So this is only chapter one, and I do have others! Let me know what you guys think of it in the comments. Love y’all!

The wisteria flower that she kept on her desk, the one that usually made her bad days slightly better, or gave her hope after a rough night, was wilting. Jewel had tried to save it, to keep its purple color she loved so much. She felt like she owed it to him. Especially after he....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jewel McDaniel grew up in a relatively small town affectionately referred to as 'The Forest' by the locals. She adored where she lived. Nestled in between trees, rivers and hunting grounds was her house. A long, dirt road covered in rocks and gravel. It was easy to mistake it as a simple forest path. Her house was nothing extravagant. An elevated double wide trailer that was on shared property. Screened in porch, three bedrooms, it was simple. Any child living there, especially with no siblings, would've been happy.

Jewel, however, had no such luxury. Despite how peaceful and calming her house seemed on the outside, Jewel spent most of her childhood upset or stressed. From a young age, she was expected to be nothing short of perfect. Her academics, her appearances, her manners. Due to her own parents narcissistic personalities, she was expected to be the model child.

She felt so lost. Like this is how things were going to be for the rest of her life. That was until she met her.

Peggy Jen Alesme was like a breath of fresh air to Jewel. Never had she met met a girl so joyous and full of light. So happy and content with everything around her. She constantly had a glimmer in her eyes, a light Jewel longed to cherish. To nurture.

They met in Eighth Grade. Two weeks into the school year. It was sunny outside. The not yet fall air was warm and pleasant. The sky was a dazzling blue that not even a cloud dared mar.

It was lunchtime when Jewel met Peggy. She was sitting alone by a fence near the carline, looking over notes for an upcoming history test. After a while, she heard a buttery soft voice call out to her "Excuse me..?"

When Jewel looked up she was sure she saw an Angel. Peggy had long, bone straight brown hair down to her kid back. Side swept bangs that hung in her face, and almond shaped eyes that were framed by dark lashes. And gods above, the color.

She had the most beautiful green eyes Jewel had ever seen. The kind of green you could only find on a hike through the forest, at high noon, when the sun is at its fullest in the sky and shines just right on the leaves of a fern tree.

Her smile matched her oh so well. Lopsided and yet or reached those sweet green eyes and crinkled them around the edges. Her skin was a warm tan, like she was kissed by the sun itself. She was ethereal. "Um..it's my first day and I've asked liked five other people. Do you know how to find Mr. Browns class? I have him after lunch and I have no idea where to go." She said to her. 

Jewel didn't know how to respond at first. Her poor little heart felt like it was going to leap out of her chest like an excited rabbit. Somehow, she managed to steel her nerves after a moment and told her what building and what floor to go to.

Peggy smiled that earth shattering smile and sat next to her, cussing Jewel to shift and make more room for her unconsciously. "So! My name is Peggy! What's yours?"

And that was it. After that lunch, Peggy became Jewel's second shadow. Lingering behind her or walking beside her prattling on about whatever came to mind. Not that Jewel minded of course, she actually loved listening to her ramble. It helped to distract her from the stress her parents forced on her. Besides, her and Peggy enjoyed somewhat macabre fantasy stories with nary a happy ending.

Sometime towards the middle of Eighth grade, Jewel started having dreams. Vivid, slightly jarring dreams. Dreams of wonder. Dreams of a world called Wisteria.

The dreams were colorful yet fast paced. Almost flashes in the beginning. A cat man, a fairy that was so sweet to her, and a voice that could be heard, but with a face that was never seen. Almost beckoning her further into the world. The voice was so nice to hear. Smooth with a subtle rasp to it. The voice knew her name too. "Jewel" it would call "You can stay here with us." But strangely, she would always wake up before she could respond.

After a good long while of the dreams reoccurring, Jewel started writing them down in a journal, making sure to add every detail and event that happened as well as little things she would add to the world to make it more interesting. Delighted every time she returned to see her little changes appear. This place became her own little escape from reality, it made her insanely happy.

One day, she approached Peggy and told her everything. What the voices sounded like, what the cat man was like and how the world looked.

Peggy was immediately hooked and practically begged Jewel to read the latest entry in her little dream journal every morning. Giving the girl little ideas to add to the dreamscape. Their favorite being what they called "Sweet Haven"

An entire forest made of candy and sweets. The tree bark made of chocolate, the rocks gumdrops, the leaves and grass rolled sugar that glimmered in the sun like gems. And the most important part. The clouds made of pink cotton candy. A concept that made Jewel raise a brow in questioning. Due to, in her words, it would be impractical because "Cotton candy dissolves in water." To which Peggy quickly responded with "Short rain showers. The clouds just dissolve." So, begrudgingly, Jewel added the stupid Cotton Candy Clouds.

This little dream journal single-handedly brought them closer together. Throughout high-school they were pretty much never seen without the other side. Up until senior year. Jewel had the dreams every single night, always the same song and dance. The fairy, the cat man- who she found out was named 'Trunks'- and that voice. So alluring and dark. It reminded her of sirens. She started feeling wary of it

Also during their last year, Peggy started having the dreams as well and started her own journal, coming to school she would swap stories of the land and what she did there with Jewel.

That brings things up to the end of Senior year. Exam week was in two days, and studying was crucial for the girls.

Jewel made her way to Peggy's blue pickup truck with a yawn. "Lord help me." Peggy commented as she slipped into the drivers seat "Why is Mr. Clark's study guide so damn long?"  She huffed out, clicking her seatbelt. Jewel chuckled and doing the same "Dunno." She shrugged "But I'm doing pretty good in his class, I'll help you out."

Peggy smiled and pulled out of the school. To lighten the mood and turn it from studying, Jewel decided to connect her phone to the aux cord and start scrolling through her playlist, smiling she found the song she was looking for. Pressing play she turned it up, looking at the girl as the song started.

"Two...birds. On a wire"

Peggy smiled at the song they dubbed their theme song started playing, the two of them started singing along. Jewel rolled the window down and looked at her.

She felt a soft smile cross her lips as she watched Peggy in this moment. She looked so beautiful, the wind swept her hair this way and that, even when the car stopped she felt an invisible microphone with Jewel as they belted the song together. The moment was perfect.

Until Jewel saw it. The truck pulled off again, and Jewel was still looking at Peggy. But she also saw the car. The car that ran a red light. The car barreling towards them, full speed at the drivers side of the car.

Just the. The world was in slow motion. She saw the car slam into them, saw the door get slammed inwards, saw the jagged piece of metal slice into her best friend. The girl she was madly in love with. Then she heard it.

The scream of pure agony from Peggy. That brought her back, she screamed herself as they were thrown like a crushed soda can. The truck fell on its side and slid across the pavement, causing Jewel to slam her head into her door.

The blood. Dear gods it was everywhere, due to the shock and the force, Peggy hung limp as she dangled in the seat, splattering her blood everywhere.

Jewel felt her consciousness slip in and out. The last thing she heard was that stupid song playing.

"Two...birds...of a feather. Swear that they're always...gonna stay together..."

#dark fantasy #fantasy #original writing #original character #sapphic #wisteria #dark queen #soldiers #dreams #lovers #wlw #dead dove do not eat #tw death #Mystoryissad you’ve been warned

[twopoppies]

Hi! I hope it’s not too annoying of a request but I was wondering if you or your followers can think of any fics that are kinda inspiring academically, especially regarding British literature, if that makes sense? I just finished rereading Come As You Are and every time I read it, it motivates me to read more and practice my writing because I want to be more like Harry from that fic hahaha and I’m looking for more fics which evoke this feeling since I’m starting my masters in October and I need all the help I can get. Thank you so much! (I absolutely love your master post and its my go to couple times a week!)

Hi sweetheart. Hmmm... I just reblogged my Dark Academia fic rec, but other than that I think it would be fics where one or the other are writers/poets etc. Not all of these are heavy on the writing/poetry, but they're all great fics.

Make Your Words A Weapon by @helloamhere (E, 36K) I recently read this a second time and it’s even better than I remembered. I love everything this author writes. This one just really hit me hard for whatever reason. Maybe it’s the way they explore Louis’ anxiety and coping mechanisms and pain and the way he pushes people away and protects himself, but also wants someone to push back just a bit and love him despite all of that. And the way Harry is the perfect foil for all of it, while also feeling like a fully developed character himself. Yeah, it’s probably all of that. Plus soul marks! (Musician Harry/Music Journalist Louis)

Our Lives, Non Fiction by @indiaalphawhiskey (E, 114K) this is, quite literally, the best fic I’ve read in years. It’s so well written, clever, funny, emotional, and sexy. Its draw you in immediately and you’ll end up falling in love with these characters before you know it. Don’t miss this one. Harry and Louis are both authors.

An Invincible Summer by Brooklyn_Babylon / @twopoppies (E, 45K) this one is mine, I hope you like it:

Never content to stay in one place for long, a few months down south researching for his novel seemed like an idyllic, slow-paced summer to Louis. He wasn’t ready for the blistering heat, the backbreaking work of watermelon picking, or how stifling the attitudes in rural Georgia would feel. And he definitely hadn’t anticipated falling in love with the farmer’s son.

The summer of 1946 would turn out to be everything worth writing about. Farmer Harry / author Louis

Mine Would Be You by @crinkle-eyed-boo (E, 115K) Beautifully written, flawed characters and an emotionally engaging and ANGSTY plot. Super hot smut that made me cry like a fool. Banter, OT5 friendship, and the gritty realness of New York as a backdrop. Loved this one. Artist Harry / Author Louis

where your lips land by BriaMaria / @briannamarguerite (E, 12K) Ok, I’ve recommended this one a few times and I really do love it. Anyway, I love fics where the two of them are both artists of some sort (Louis is a poet in this one, Harry is a photographer) because it allows for another layer of understanding and connection and support. I particularly love the way Louis’ tattoos are woven into this story with layered meaning. And, as always, just beautiful writing.

you’re writing lines about me by snazzyasalways (T, 4K) This is gorgeously written on that Dreamy, poetic style I happen to love. Louis is a blind poet, Harry is a baker, Harry falls in love with Louis’ words, then with him.

another hazy may by deLILah (M, 41K) Another author who writes great fic after great fic. This one has that dreamy quality I love and there’s also something about it that, at times, reminds me of a little bit of a Raymond Chandler novel. I know that’s weird...but, yeah, it does. Anyway, I love this one. Such a good read.

I would name the stars for you (I would take you there) by orphan_account (M, 91K) This is just beautifully written. Angst. Mutual pining. Dumb boys. Beautiful descriptions of art and creativity and fame and beautiful poetry.

Little Technicolor Things by scary_crow (M, 72K) This is truly one of the most beautiful pieces of writing I have ever read and it is an absolutely travesty that it’s not being talked about every day. This fic is gorgeous and poetic and romantic and heartbreaking and an explosion of metaphoric images and everything I never knew I needed but now that I have it I want to read it over and over and over.

But If This Ends by nonsensedarling / @absoloutenonsense (E, 107K) This author referred to this fic as their “depressed vampire” fic while they were writing, and it is that. But it’s also a unique story with beautifully fleshed out characters, plot twists, and super hot smut. Go check it out! Vampire Harry / Writer Louis

24K Magic by @justalittlelouislove (E, 33K) FINALLY a category in which I can rec this author! I love everything they write, but this was the first one I’d read and it’s just great. Smooth dialogue, sexy smut, great description of character growth…just a really fun fic.

the best part of me (was always you) by @moonshinelouis-archive (E, 6K) Gorgeous writing. The descriptions of heartbreak and missing someone and still loving them were really well done. And I cried. Of course.

'Sup by MediaWhore (GA, 7K) Divorced, awkward Harry pining for silver fox Louis is a trope I never knew I needed, but I love it so much.

I Will Never Rust by stylez (E, 38K) I must have read this at least 5 years ago and I honestly don’t remember details, but my notes say “gorgeous, sad, sexy” so... I’m crossing my fingers that old me knew what she was talking about. It’s frat boy Harry so that could go either way. LOL! Student/Poet Harry.

Loyal Knight and True by rainbowninja167 / (E, 52K) Really original story, mystery and magic, great characterizations. All around a very good read!

Turning Page by purpledaisy (M, 68K) This author does a wonderful job with their characterizations which makes their fics such a pleasure to read. This one really has you rooting for curmudgeonly Louis and skittish/secretive Harry to figure their shit out and fall in love. If you like this one, make time to read this author’s fic, Walk That Mile – it’s one of my all time favorites. Sports journalist Louis.

Black with Autumn Rain by Whimsicule (T, 93K) This author is a favorite. If you like intense, creative stories, with complex characters and tight dialogue, you should read all of their fics. This one has the flavor of a Daphne du Maurier novel – dark, creepy, and moodily romantic. Plus a supernatural edge. It’s so good. Journalist Harry.

That Sounds Fake But Okay by dancingontheceiling (E, 113K) This one has a little bit of everything: Enemies to lovers, fake relationship, famous/not famous... plus, really good writing and some sexy smut scenes. Actor Louis / journalist Harry.

Sing When You're Winning by hazmesentir (NR, 91K) another one I read ages ago, but I always like this author’s writing and the premise of newly out footballer Louis and journalist intern Harry who somehow snags the interview, is such a fun one. And I don’t know why it has an NR rating, there’s plenty of smut.

feel the chemicals burn in my bloodstream by togetherwecouldbealright (M, 123K) I read this one so, so long ago that all I remember is that I loved it, that there’s some really romantic and sweet moments, and that my notes from way back when only say, “OMG this one is so good! And I’ve barely gotten to the smut!” HAHAHAHA! Journalist Harry/prince Louis (this fic has been deleted, so the link is to a download).

#writers and poets #my fic rec #larry fic rec

[presidentstalkeyes]

Stalkeyes’ Big Bumper Post of Assorted Psychonauts 2 Headcanons

Because I’ve been slow to fully embrace this hyperfixation so I’m just gonna dump as many things as possible here - in convenient bulletpoint form! Again, BIG SPOILERS for Psychonauts 2 (probably).

Lizzie and Norma:

You’ll already know this if you’ve read Fire on Ice, but their surname is Difficulty, because dumb puns.

They grew up in a rural town, surrounded by woods - since Liz seems to enjoy hunting in the wilderness and calls Raz a ‘poor city kid’. The town’s chief point of interest is the outlet mall just next-door. Their father, Harding Difficulty, is the town judge (hence Norma’s ‘when my parents hear about this!’ threat).

Lizzie knew of her powers from an early age and took pride in them, thinking being a psychic was really cool (pun intended). As kids, she used to enjoy spooking everyone by playing into the ‘creepy psychic twins’ angle. By contrast, the straitlaced, academically-minded Norma discovered her powers much later and tried to hide them, embarrassed by her sister’s antics; she always wanted to fit in and ‘be normal’ (appropriately enough).

Norma’s pyrokinesis had a habit of growing out of control when she’s understimulated. She learned this the hard way when, one Christmas when she was 8, she got bored waiting in line for a Santa’s Grotto and accidentally torched the place to the ground. Her own father sentenced her to spend that Christmas in juvie, and even now he can’t stop guilting her over it. She later attended Whispering Rock in the hopes that they could teach her psycho-safety, and Lizzie insisted on coming with - to their surprise, the counselors really sold them on the idea of becoming Psychonauts, and Norma stopped hiding her powers, becoming much more confident, driven and competitive. She and her sister effectively (and ironically) swapped roles, with Norma impulsively thinking up schemes to get ahead of the competition, while Lizzie, rebel extraordinaire, was the one telling her to slow down and chill (again, pun intended).

Yes, they like puns. Not that they’d ever admit that.

Norma was a big fan of Sasha Nein in particular, and was overjoyed at becoming his intern after attending Whispering Rock for years. Needless to say, she was kinda peeved when they’d barely even gotten started before Nein began raving over the psychic airwaves about this kid he met at camp, and then said kid showed up to the Motherlobe - not only being accepted into the intern program after only two days, if that, BUT he’d even been on a real mission to rescue the Grand Head of the Psychonauts, accomplishing in days what the other interns couldn’t do in years. Needless to say, she wasn’t exactly unbiased when she concluded that Razputin must be the mole.

Meanwhile, Lizzie could tell her sister was just jealous but was too laid-back to press the issue, knowing Norma well enough that she’d have no success anyway (when she said about Raz ‘I just think he doesn’t want us to see him cry’, she was thinking of her). Liz was content with just teasing the poor kid.

Lizzie didn’t hate her mentor, far from it, but found him kinda frustrating - they seemed to hit it off at first, but apparently she said the wrong thing or just talked too loudly because soon Agent Boole was oddly eager to send her away. She did make an effort to get him to come out of his shell, but eventually gave up, lest she be reassigned to another mentor who was less hands-off.

Gisu:

Her full name is Gisu Karmakar Tripe. She’s of mixed American, Indian and Persian/Iranian ancestry. This is based mostly on Gisu being a Persian word, while her VA’s name is Poonam Basu, which are apparently both names of Indian origin (I say this without knowing if they’re actually Indian, just to be clear). Also, the shawl Gisu wears reminds me of an Indian Dupatta, especially the way it hangs loosely and doesn’t always cover her head.

She’s the older sister of Vernon from the first game. Unlike Sam Boole, she doesn’t like to advertise this fact, sometimes even omitting the ‘Tripe’ part of her name when introducing herself. This is based solely on three things: 1, their physical features are kinda similar, 2, I love the idea of the energetic skateboarder being related to the world’s most boring kid, and 3, I like Vernon. :V

She enjoys hip-hop music, and before joining the Psychonauts she wanted to be a rapper. Morris ‘hired’ her onto K-LOBE because her gadgeteering expertise began with tinkering with radio equipment and DJ decks. Sometimes she records people talking (usually her brother) and makes them into backing samples.

She enjoyed skateboarding even before discovering her psychic powers, though she never wanted to go pro - the sports life wasn’t for her. In fact, she discovered her powers when she tried pulling a 360 Karma Chameleon over a tug boat and would have collided with a drunken sailor had it not been for levitation kicking in.

She was quietly freaking out when Raz seemed to disappear from the base during the third act, thinking he might have been injured or even killed by the Psychoseismometers she sent him off to vent. After making sure Raz was safe, she felt a sudden urge to talk to Vernon.

She thinks Dion is kind of a dork, and after dispelling his misconceptions about psychics finds them more funny than anything else, while appreciating that he was willing to change his views. She also encourages him to go easier on Raz, still kinda shaken from thinking she might have accidentally gotten him killed (the fact that Raz saved her brother’s brain certainly helped).

The Aquato Family:

Dion is in fact Raz’s half-brother - Augustus is his step-dad. This one’s a little complicated. It’s repeatedly stated that the Deluge of Grulovia happened 20 years before the story, and Augustus at that time appears to be around Raz’s age - 12 at the very oldest - yet he has a 16/15-year-old son. Assuming he was 12 back then, that means he himself was 17/16 when Dion was born, which, while barely over the age of consent in the US, still seemed a bit too quick to make that commitment to me. Thus, Donatella was 3 or 4 years older than Gus, and when they first met, she already had a baby son she’d gotten from a previous relationship about a year earlier (she doesn’t remember who the father is, probably a brief fling while the circus had stopped by the city). This gave them a few years to bond - Gus wowing Dona with all the stories of the prestigious Aquato Family Circus back in Grulovia - before they had their first child together, Frazie (aged 13 in the present - she grew fast). This also explains why Dion is the only one of the Aquato children without psychic powers (except possibly Mirtala, though I imagine she might have dormant abilities), since everyone else got them from Augustus.

Speaking of Augustus, if he was 12 after the Deluge, then he’d be 32 in the present, even though he looks and sounds old enough to be in his 40s. This can be attributed to his choice of hairstyle, and the stress of traveling circus life and acrobatic training taking its toll on him; his eyes have dark circles from lack of sleep, while his voice is gravelly from an old smoking habit his Nona got him into (and eventually quit for the sake of the children).

The Psychic Six:

Continuing from the age thing, the Six were of varying ages back when they first formed - the oldest members were Ford and Lucrecia, since Ford was the founder and both look positively ancient in the present, probably in their 70s or even 80s, meaning they would have been in their 50s or 60s at the time of the Deluge (to me, memories of Lucrecia appeared older than the memory of Maligula, since they were more accurate representations of her as a person, while the image of Maligula was a dramatized anthropomorphic personification of what she turned into. The fact that she had pink skin when Nona doesn’t probably sealed it :V).

Meanwhile, the youngest member was Bob, since he generally came off as the most youthful, both in appearance and outlook. He appears much older than he is in the present because his lifetime of alcoholism finally caught up with him.

Compton may have had some bad experiences with teenagers when he was younger - I imagine he was always kinda socially withdrawn even before the incident at the animal shelter, relating better with animals than with people (ironically, this meant he got on well with Bob, though not to the same extent as Cassie). This meant he was a target for mean older kids - just like his grandson Dogen would eventually become - an experience that stuck with him. He was reluctant to interact with Lizzie for partly this reason (plus, he’d heard stories of how older kids picked on Dogen, too), and Lizzie’s brash, devil-may-care attitude clashing with Compton’s insistence on quiet and tidiness certainly didn’t help. After Raz helped Compton overcome his self-confidence issues, he and Lizzie met up again and apologized to each other (because that sort of thing is my jam).

Cassie started writing again after the events of the story; her big comeback was The Maligula Within Us, essentially a memoir of what really happened during and after the Deluge and a treatise on how to keep one’s own personal Maligula in check (with contributions from Raz and Adam Joseph Gette, budding historian that he is).

The Zanotto Family:

If Bob Zanotto is Truman’s uncle, he must have had a sibling, yes? He did have a brother - Truman’s father and Lili’s grandpa - but he wasn’t psychic. It’s for this reason he never really got involved with the Psychonauts. Ironically enough, Truman took more after him than he did with Bob, since his dad was a businessman who emphasized the importance of making social connections, helping Truman in his development as a keen social observer, intelligence gatherer and manager, that lead to him becoming the Grand Head (notably, he was the only person in the base who noticed anything off with ‘Nick Johnsmith’). Somewhat to everyone’s surprise, too; no-one suspected a Zanotto would ascend to the position. While not heartless, he always tended to be too business-oriented for his uncle’s tastes, and never really got along well with plants, abandoning his development of herbaphony in favour of other skills.

Conversely, Lili’s mom got along well with Bob and seemed to share some of Bob’s sentiments about Truman, which lead to them getting divorced when she decided he was too much of a workaholic (she didn’t really agree with Truman’s decision to fire him, either). Lili stayed with her dad because she preferred being around fellow psychics, even if she took more after her mom and was disillusioned with the Psychonauts, inheriting her mom’s belief that they’d strayed from their goal of helping people. She almost developed her herbaphony as a display of rebellion against her father, emulating the great uncle she never met (well, maybe she had met him as a baby, but still). Truman became all too aware of this and made an effort to connect with his daughter more, but only succeeded in embarassing her. Needless to say, this all contributed to Lili’s belief that she’d been a terrible daughter.

Miscellaneous:

The world that Psychonauts takes place in is a lightly fictionalized and cartoony version of our Earth - close enough to our world that real countries like Germany, Brazil, France and Russia exist, along with historical figures like Washington, Nostradamus and Napoleon Bonaparte, but also different enough that there are people with naturally blue skin wandering around and wacky fictional countries like Grulovia also exist (plus whatever country the Lady Luctopus was in - probably Monaco or a Monaco-esque area, since they were speaking a language that was like French but not quite). I feel it hearkens back to the zany cartoons of the 60s and the 90s, which featured similar Earth-but-different settings.

#Psychonauts #Psychonauts headcanons #headcanons #longpost #Non-GF-related beeswax #Psychonauts 2 spoilers #Norma #Lizzie #Gisu #Vernon Tripe #Razputin Aquato #Augustus Aquato #Dion Aquato #Donatella Aquato #Lucrecia Mux #Compton Boole #Cassie O'Pia #Bob Zanotto #Truman Zanotto #Lili Zanotto #If you couldn't tell I wanna spread this around :V

[mrpenguinpants]

Genshin: University AU [V1]

I love modern au. Or any “everything is fine, no one died, it’s just a fever dream” au. Half of me is thinking, damn maybe I should answer this serious- LOL HAHA no. That’s not happening. Time to crack my knuckles and let my brainworms take over again.

Once again, this is 90% crack 10% content. I want to switch up my characters from the last brainworm post but I included Kaeya and Diluc.

---

Today’s appreciation post goes to twistedwishes. Hey! I’ve been seeing you pop up a lot lately and thanks for the support 💕💕 I hope things are going better for you and you’re doing alright^^ I feel kinda bad for making appreciation posts on crack fics but hopefully this is somewhat funny haha. 

---

Genshin: Holding Hands [V1]

Genshin: When you’re cold [V1]

Genshin: Roommate [V1]

Genshin: Royalty AU [V1]

[Masterlist]

---

[taglist]  <- if you want to be added, please read this first.

  @mikeysbike @hanniejji@unionwitch @musekala @twistedsunnshiii @stanzastic @akaasea @xoneaboveallx @adoring-ghost @asheseiler @childelover @dilucsz @dai-tsukki-desu @thicmitten @youaskedfurret @diaxfeliz @wintergreen-aix @dandelily @thegayrubberducky @lovelykittycatmeow @yuunoagivesmelife  @dokidokisama @simpygrimoire @minakohasmanyhusbandos @strwbrry-lia @tigerpriestess @yuu-yuukurotsuki​

---

Diluc

Absolute pretty boy who has braincells, but only if Kaeya is not there. In his mind, Kaeya’s presence makes his room loose 40% of their common sense. He can’t prove it just yet but he’s working on it. He majors in accounting but also has a minor in marketing, logistics’ management, fia- he majors everything business related. He’s going to become the next Elon Musk through smarts or by getting the competition drunk. There can be no contest if he’s the only candidate. He’s actually a hard working guy that overworks and stresses way too much. You have daily “Diluc recharge” evenings where he just hangs onto you while you go through your day.

“Don’t fucking talk to me until I’ve had my coffee,” except there is no coffee - he drinks grape juice out of juice boxes and his only energy boost is when he meets up with you - and that’s his constant mood. So he usually only hangs around you and Jean, since she has childhood friend status and is actually an angel. By default, Lisa is added and Diluc doesn’t mind her but if he see’s Kaeya, it’s full on war paint mode. If he's not busy with work or studies, he's usually with you either in your dorm or his apartment.

He has a fanclub and he seriously hates it and tries to do everything in his power to get Ningguang to take it down. Shouldn’t this be against his rights? But she refuses for whatever reason and makes a whole speech about free will. No matter what he does, someone manages to take a picture and it get’s printed in the university’s newspaper. The only bonding time he has with Kaeya is every Monday, where they collect and burn all the universities newspapers before anyone can get their hands on it. You always bring marshmallows to make smores during their arson activities.

“When I graduate I’m going to burn this school down to the ground. That’s not a threat it’s a promise.”

Ningguang

Is secretly the leader of the Diluc fanclub - not that she likes Diluc, she’s in a questionable platonic poly marriage with you and Beidou - but it was the easiest way to gain funds for the student council. Which she is the president of, so rip Diluc the fanclub stays. Ruthless business woman I tell you. But she can run in heels so her danger factor rises by at least 20%.

Majors in social sciences and law but more specifically the political science & government. She saw the Imperial State Crown that the Queen of England wears and says yes, that’s mine now. If she’s not with Beidou and you planning on “how to infiltrate the state government just for lols”, then she’s with Keqing, Ganyu, and Zhongli discussing student council things. Should they or should they not tell the student body that they can see everyone’s search results? Sit back and relax as the school goes into chaos. 

She’s probably the scariest person on campus No, she is the scariest person on campus. She’s the scariest person on campus. But secretly she’s popping 20 aspirins just to make it through a night. She has the digestive system of steel. She still holds the title of "seriously do not try and beat her in a drinking game it's never going to happen" and that's her proudest achievement in life but sadly she can’t put it on her resume. Kaeya is still trying to beat her out of spite but so far it hasn't been working. You’re seriously concerned for her when she get’s challenged but Beidou gives you a way-to-hard slap on the back and cheers her on. If Ninngguang somehow get’s alcohol poisonings she’ll somehow find away to make a profit out of it.

"I'll let him die, I'll get the insurance money."

Kaeya

One day he chugged too much mouth wash, passed out, and somehow woke up in university majoring in law. His idea is that if he is apart of the law, he can therefore stand above it. To be fair, his only goal in life is to say “I am the manager” and he can go live the rest of his life in bliss or as a hermit. He’s secret best friends with you but wouldn't be caught dead beside you. He will stab a bitch if you ever get hurt but will still trip you on the way home. Seriously, you have no idea why people find him attractive. Your guess is it’s the eye patch or the clap of his ass cheeks that keeps alerting everyone.  

He’s apart of the newspaper club and if anyone asks: No, he has no idea who keeps taking all the newspapers and burns them in the back of the campus. Originally, he joined because he was nosy and needed to join some type of club for his resume. He sometimes feels bad for his junior assistant Amber because he keeps tricking her and says that Diluc is secretly a demon that is trying to steal all the jobs and is apart of the lizard government hell bent on eradicating the human race. He even brought out a whiteboard for this joke, he’s dedicated to his job ok? 

The type of guy to try and be humble and say his work is “okay” but will choke a bitch if anyone agrees. He tends to leave everything last minute and says that it’s his drug since actual drugs could land you one year in prison and a maximum penalty of $2,000. You have to awkwardly hold in your concerned mother head shake when you see him speed running his assignment literally right when the professor is walking around to check if students finished. 

“I was taught how to lead not to read.”

Mona

Broke wallet #2. Zhongli is broke wallet #1 but Childe simps for him so is he really a broke wallet at this point? In this essay, I Mona Megistus, will explain why I have the rights to the title “Broke Wallet #1″...

Believes that astrology should be an actual career path but refuses to take astronomy as her major. I can read the stars not a textbook that tells me how to calculate the mass of the sun divided by the fucks I give. Instead she went into Philosophy and cries to Albedo, who is an actual prodigy genius- sir lend some braincells to everyone else please?, that her professor keep turning her paper down because “star reading” is not an academic source.

Fischl wants her to join the occult club because, surprisingly, Mona is very good at telling people’s fates through her crayon sketch ouija board. She thinks first year Fischl is cute but is put off by the cosplay roleplay that she has going on. She would join except that stupid hat wearing gremlin in her lit class would make fun of her if he found out.

You gave her half your lunch one day and bought her a doughnut "because she seemed upset" and "out of the goodness of your heart" whatever the hell that means. She thinks you pensioned it but once that thought comes she takes a bite. Poison from a doughnut is not the worst way to go out, classes are hard enough. She’s waiting for the lord to strike her down anyways. 

“Its not about passing, its about doing better than everyone else.”

Venti

Slept through most of highschool and people question how he got into university. He’s a music major (wow how fucking original is that), and if anyone asks him to serenade someone or just do anything, he’ll do it for the right price. Or if you buy him alcohol because he still keeps getting ID checked. He’s banking on Kaeya actually becoming a lawyer or being on good terms with Diluc so he can finally stop being arrested for looking like a toddler.

Takes one step into classes and quickly nopes out and goes back to bed. Professors have no idea how he hasn't dropped out or failed. He just has some god given talent. He does whine at you to pretty pretty please with a cherry on top tutor him because you're such an angel and would never leave your poor but awesome best friend hanging right? He needs to get this essay down but how he is suppose to explain how the number 10 is symbolic and connects to the universe or the meaning of life. Do you think he can just say it’s apart of his culture and make up some random myth to pretend it looks like he knows what he’s doing? 

He’s honestly going with the flow and put his brain on the back burner all of highschool and only now realizes wait, I actually have to use my brain?

He’s been banned from most club chats since Venti has the no chill card. Someone says “lol I look ugly today.” and he’ll respond "yup, you look like a cow." and he get’s banned. Zhongli keeps a speed run timer on his phone just to document these occasions.

"Sad spelled backwards is das and das how it be sometimes."

Childe

An actual dumbass that somehow does well. He eats sandwiches with the crust off, this heathen. Surprisingly he’s studying to become a physical therapist but most of his experience has come from breaking his own bones. You’re scared how he's going to be if he actually becomes a therapist. If he'll make bets with his patients or try to one up whatever crazy injury they get into. Everything is a challenge to him that sometimes the best way to deal with Childe is to knock him out. 

This man really knows the way to a Zhongli’s woman's heart. Through micro transactions. Mona saw him accidently drop $20 and just shrugged and walked off. She has never been both spiritually and physically offended in her life. She did take the $20 though. As much as you hate leeching on Chile when he’s basically a walking wallet that probably uses bills as tissue paper, you can’t help but give him puppy eyes while planning on how to get into his will. If he even plans on having one, he might honestly write “whoever wins in a gladiator style duel in my funeral’s tournament, they will get my fortune.”. 

Any sport the university offers Childe is probably in it. Which is how he met Zhongli, challenged him to a fight, proceeded to have his ass handed to him, got a backhanded compliment, and screamed to you he was in love and how he found his soulmate. He's secretly very sappy and has cried and watched every Disney and Pixar movie at least 28 times.

"IM NOT TOO SPICY! I’M A TINY BIT ABOVE MILD IF ANYTHING!”

---

God if it isn’t Scaramouche, it’s Childe that ruins the aesthetic. This is why I hate you. Why do you people enable me like this, it isn’t even good. This is pretty much a @ yourself moment and I vibe hard with Venti. This entire post was just to make a joke about the clap of Kaeya’s ass cheeks alerting the guards.

This week might slow down since I have classes and assignments. My reply’s are gonna be late too, sorry;; (oh and thank you to everyone that was so supportive and nice when I mentioned it. All of you. Beautiful 💕💕 )

#genshin #genshin impact #genshin x reader #genshin impact x reader #genshin imagines #genshin impact imagines #genshin fanfic #genshin impact fanfiction #genshin headcanons #genshin impact headcanons #genshin crack #genshin childe #childe x reader #genshin childe x reader #genshin venti #venti x reader #genshin venti x reader #genshin mona #mona x reader #genshin mona x reader #genshin kaeya #kaeya x reader #genshin kaeya x reader #genshin ningguang #ningguang x reader #genshin ningguang x reader #genshin diluc #diluc x reader #genshin diluc x reader

[kmackatie]

Originally asked by @jamieylnn on this post: "84, 102, or 119 for the intimacy prompts with Shadowgast". I got around to another one of them. It's less fluff and a bit more angsty, but this is where my brain went with it.

Thanks again to @mllekurtz for taking my spaghetti-thrown-at-a-wall mess and helping turn it into an actual coherent meal. <3

request a prompt here

84 - sky watching Shadowgast, post canon established relationship, canon compliant, 2108 words, cw: brief fatalistic thoughts

Caleb stepped onto the roof, hands tucked into the pockets of his linen pants, feet bare and hair untied. He found Essek in the middle of it, lying on his back and hovering a few inches off the ground, one hand held up as he seemed to map something in the stars above.

He paused, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness, taking in the sight of moonlight against Essek’s skin. The shifting, gentle light was like a caress, catching on the smattering of freckles across Essek’s cheeks, the traces of silver still lined around his eyes, and glinted off the jewellery delicately clasped to his ears. He had come out here sometime while Caleb was bathing, the bedroom empty and the open window the only indication that he hadn’t teleported away completely.

They were in Emon, Caleb visiting Allura under the pretence of collaboration in magical education when really it was an excuse for Essek to spend some time investigating some interesting dunamantic pulls he had discovered in the jungles to the south of the capital. It had been three weeks of exploring, discovering, and relaxing in the way that Essek and Caleb do, days filled with academic pursuits while taking advantage of the fact that Essek didn’t have to hide, could just be Essek. They had their Tower, though it wasn’t used much, each more content to take the time to enjoy the open air and sky above them.

But, like all things, it had to come to an end. They lingered as much as they could, on the journey back to Emon. Had slowed down the pace, spending more time in the Tower than exploring outside of it, until they couldn’t justify the delay any further and Essek teleported them back to the house they had rented.

Essek’s easy smile had become strained during their dinner, as Caleb spoke of his students and the plans he had been toying with for the next semester, answers taking longer to come when Caleb would ask for his opinion. He could recognise the signs, having seen them before, but he knew that Essek would only talk about it when he was ready to.

He stepped forward, feet scuffing intentionally against the loose dirt and pebbles. One of Essek’s ears twitched, the only indication that he had heard Caleb’s arrival. Essek continued to stare up at the sky, hand pausing in its tracing before he pulled it back. His violet eyes were shining in the low light, the stars reflected back, an endless void that Caleb could lose himself in if he looked too long.

Pausing, Caleb debated for a long moment before he eased himself down onto the ground next to Essek, groaning slightly as his muscles protested the movement. He envied Essek’s ability to hover, the rough ground was not kind on his ageing body, but it was one trick he had never quite got the hang of every time Essek had tried to teach it to him.

He stared at the skyline of Emon, Allura’s tower in the distance, a beacon on the edge of the Cloudtop district, the few lights still lit up in the houses around them. It was still, quiet, and every bit of his focus was on monitoring the small movements of the drow next to him. The stuttering rise and fall of Essek’s chest, breath ragged and uneven, hand flicking through somatic gestures and arcane runes as if by habit, all while his eyes stared at the sky above, unblinking.

It was a long moment before Essek blinked and broke the silence, his voice rough and low.

“I miss the sky. This one… this one is different. It’s not Rosohna’s sky. I did not think— I should not miss it.”

“It is not that different—”

“Except it is,” Essek cut in, voice sharp. “Rosohna’s… it isn’t a perfect match for what would be in the sky above Wildemount. It’s based off the Bright Queen’s memory of what it once was, over thousands of years ago. The sky has changed since then.”

“I wasn’t aware of that,” Caleb admitted, drawing one knee up to his chest and wrapping an arm around it, eyes still focused on Essek’s face.

“No. You had no reason to be. You weren’t there for that long… and you had more pressing concerns.”

“Fjord never did see that ceremony.”

Essek laughed hollowly. “No, he did not.”

They fell back into silence, and there was a tension there now that wasn’t there earlier. A wariness to the way Essek’s shoulders hunched ever so slightly, as if he had to brace himself for whatever was said next.

And Caleb didn’t want to ask it, didn’t want to bring it up, but he knew that if he didn’t, then this would fester and he couldn’t bear anything being a reason for Essek to stay away.

“Do you regret it?” He saw Essek flinch, a barely perceptible motion that he would have missed, hadn’t he been looking for it. He clarified, “Not… not taking it. I mean— well. Us, the Nein. We threw your plans into disarray and Jester… and me. You would not be here if not for us, you wouldn’t have had suspicion placed on you.”

“There would have been suspicion on me eventually.”

“And Shadowhand Thelyss would have had a plan for that,” he pointed out with a rueful chuckle. “Or at least, the glimmer that we saw of Shadowhand Thelyss would have, and if he was anything like Bren, well… plans upon plans.”

There was a long beat before Essek replied.

“I would not change any step that I took that led me to you—”

“I don’t doubt you on that, meine Liebe, but—”

“I don’t say that for you,” Essek snapped, holding a finger up between them while his eyes didn’t move from the sky. “Just… just let me finish.”

Caleb merely nodded, biting his lip at his instinct to respond.

“I don’t say that for you. I say it because sometimes I need to remind myself of what I have gained. I don’t… it’s not regret. Or rather, I did not know quite how much it would bite. I did not anticipate the… the vastness of it, of displacement.”

Caleb got the sense that Essek wasn’t finished, so he said nothing, just waited and watched, hands itching to reach out, to comfort and hold.

“I miss home. Not… I know I have one with you. My towers, my laboratory. I did not expect to miss it quite so much. The eternal night, the easy access… this hiding. I hate it. I hate it.”

Essek scrubbed a hand across his eyes, and Caleb’s heart ached. He knew what it was like to not be able to return to a place that he wanted to, a weight that nobody who hadn’t experienced loss understood. He lifted a hand towards Essek, but before his fingers could connect Essek flinched back, turning away from Caleb.

“Essek, Liebling.”

“No— don’t,” Essek gasped, curling in on himself. He hunched over, still somehow hovering a few inches off the floor, shoulders raised. “Don’t give me your sympathy. I bought this bed and now I have to live in it.”

Caleb could not help the way his heart clenched at that, the fondness for the jumbled saying seeping through his own pain, his own realisation that this had been brewing for far longer than he had realised. He should have seen it. Should have realised that all the times Essek snapped recently weren’t just due to the exhaustion of being in the sun, that when Essek chose to trance before Caleb had fallen asleep he did so to avoid conversation, that the times he had tracked him down to the ninth floor, the moment of vacant expression before a smile kicked in was more than just troubling thoughts. Caleb had to swallow around the lump that had formed in his own throat. There was a sudden hollowness in his stomach as he realised how much the situation was affecting Essek.

It took a moment to realise the hollow gasping sound wasn’t coming from him, that despite the swirling storm of his own emotions, his shoulders weren’t shaking and he wasn’t falling apart.

Essek was.

Essek, who had tried to hide his worries from Caleb. Essek, who had to be coaxed to state what he needed and wanted on a good day. Essek, who could command and demand his way into any room but would barely make eye contact when he truly cared about the opinion of whoever he was talking to.

This was exactly why he hadn’t said anything, why he didn’t show it. He was as bad as Caleb in his determination to carry his own burdens.

But there was something Caleb had learned, that he had an advantage on Essek in learning, and that was that burdens were immensely easier to carry when shared.

Shoving away his own guilt, carefully, ever so carefully, Caleb inched forward and placed a hand on Essek’s back. He felt Essek tense under his hand, but this time he didn’t move away. Swallowing, Caleb took that as encouragement and shifted again, hand moving across Essek’s back until his arm was wrapped around Essek’s shoulders.

“Essek.”

Essek gasped, letting out a heartbreaking sob before leaning the tiniest bit into Caleb’s grasp.

Caleb just waited. Not demanding, and not expecting, just hoping that Essek would take the comfort offered.

Slowly, Essek turned to Caleb, fraction by fraction he shifted until his shoulder was against Caleb’s chest, his forehead tucked against Caleb, and he was sobbing into Caleb’s shirt. Caleb held him, hand moving in gentle, soothing circles on his back as he murmured in Zemnian, nonsense phrases and observations about everything he loved about Essek.

When he judged that Essek may have calmed, when the sobs became sniffles and Essek stopped clutching Caleb’s clothing like he would drown without the lifeline, Caleb leaned down and pressed a kiss into Essek’s soft curls.

He gently ran a thumb under each eye, drawing away what dampness he could as shining violet eyes blinked up at him.

“I’m so—”

“Shh, Liebling, it’s okay. There is nothing to apologise for.”

Essek’s eyes closed, as he let out a shuddering breath.

“It is okay to mourn what you had, Essek. It is okay to acknowledge what you have lost, even while you acknowledge what you have gained. One doesn’t cancel out the other. Looking back… it is not a bad thing.” He was saying it as much for Essek as he was for himself. They had always been similar, had always understood each other in a way that no one else did. It could be a crutch, could be their downfall, but instead it led to a partnership that was equal, that felt so right, like it was always meant to be. He wanted to be that support for Essek, the way Essek always was for him. “When we visited Blumenthal, and I said goodbye, you stood with me. In the T-Dock even, you would have helped me, without question. You have ever since, even when all I wanted to do was rewrite time so I could step back and do it all again.”

“It is not the same.” There was little conviction in Essek’s tone, it was barely a protest.

“No, it isn’t. But what I am saying is that it is okay to have dark days, to have days where it is all too much. That is why I am here. To remind you that you can do this, Essek. That it is worth it, that you are strong enough to get through it. And on the days where you aren’t, where you need quiet and to escape, I will be here to hold you.”

“You won’t always be here, when you’re teaching and I’m off… wherever.”

“We can both teleport, distance and time are meaningless with the right determination.”

Essek half laughed and half hiccuped, an odd choked off noise that Caleb had never heard him make before. A grin started to grow across his face as Essek looked taken aback at the noise, and it was far too cute for Caleb to let it go.

He leaned forward and kissed Essek, chapped lips pressing gently against carefully looked after ones. Drawing back, Caleb presses a second kiss to the tip of Essek’s nose, another between his eyes, his forehead.

“I love you,” murmured Essek.

Caleb smiled, shifting carefully to lie back, adjusting and holding Essek to his chest as he went.

“Come. Tell me about the differences in the stars.”

#shadowgast #critical role #essek thelyss #caleb widogast #critical role fanfic #cr: fanfic #the mighty nein #my writing #ficlet #writing prompt #non-sexual intimacy prompts #jamielynn #katie replies #ask katie

[fangirl-going-pharmgirl]

Well, well, well...

It's been a hot minute since I've actually posted something original and studyblr-related to this blog. I've mostly been demotivated since the first semester because I hated the way I was taking photos and chronicling my college days. They all started to look the same, and with terrible lighting, too.

Since this isn't something I would do full-time, I decided to just play around with some instagram filters (as you can see from the pictures). I've decided that I wanted to get back in the studyblr game, mostly because it makes me feel good about being productive. Also, I want something to look back to in the future—something that would make me go "wow, I did that." I wanted this to be something for future me, reminding me of how far I've come and how much more I can still accomplish.

I'm also nearing my senior year, meaning I'm about to review for the Pharmacy Licensure Exam. Hopefully, this is something that can help me stay motivated and inspired to study.

I've been cutting down on social media since the pandemic started. I've successfully cut myself out from Twitter and minimized my Facebook usage (only for academic purposes). So far, my mental health has improved a lot since I started to disconnect from things I don't necessarily want or need.

Hopefully, by continuing this blog, I can document my journey from my undergrad years to [hopefully] earning my PhD. I'll still be navigating how I want my blog to look like and what type of content I want to share, so I can't really promise anything cohesive, nor even promise that I will truly commit to this.

I just hope this isn't one of those things I quit on, and I hope I'll get to learn with you and from you.

#studyblr #collegeblr #pharmblr #pharmaceutical sciences #studyspo #study space #nina studies

[thehookandspindle]

Welcome! What I'm Working On #1

This post was originally created 1-2-22.

Hello there, and welcome to the Hook and Spindle! My name is Beatrice. I am a student of ancient languages, a cat lover, and an avid fiber artist. I primarily crochet and spin on a drop spindle, though I occasionally knit as well. I am starting this blog primarily because I want to track a goal I have set for 2022–I want to crochet a blanket every month this year. I’ll be posting weekly progress updates for each blanket, and maybe I will end up posting other content as well. I’m excited to see where this goes!

So, why have I set this goal for myself in the first place? I have a couple reasons. The first is simple: I like to crochet! I want to make more room in my intense student schedule to do what I love and to create. Setting a concrete goal like this at the beginning of the year will allow me to spend more time crocheting without the guilt that comes from the constant sense that I “should” be doing something else. I hope that the feeling of productivity from fulfilling a goal will help me to allow myself to enjoy my free time.

Secondly, I want this project to give me a sense of purpose. I have struggled with depression for many years and it often leaves me feeling purposeless, useless, and extraneous. Having something to work towards will likely mitigate these feelings. Additionally, I don’t plan on keeping every blanket I make. I’m not sure what I will do with them, but whether I gift them to friends and family or donate them, I hope that the opportunity to give back to the people and communities that support me will leave me feeling fulfilled. Plus, writing about the project as I work will let me stretch my writing muscles in a non-academic setting!

I have chosen to make blankets for several reasons:

Blankets are useful and always needed

They are large enough projects that they present a true challenge

They make for easier gifts than most clothing items (no sizing issues!)

They are meant to be used, loved, and passed down.

With introductions out of the way, let me show you January’s blanket! I admit, I have cheated a bit and started this one in December. I’m not following a specific pattern for this one. I am crocheting 8.5in squares, using the linen stitch and working from the center out. I’m alternating skeins each round, which has left me with this fascinating stripey pattern. The yarn I’m using is the good ol’ Red Heart Super Saver in the colorway Fruity Stripe. I am aiming for 36 or 42 squares, which will leave me with a throw blanket measuring ~4’ x 4’ or 4’ x 5’. I currently have nine squares.

Thus far, I have managed to stay motivated. I am super excited about this project and my head is brimming with ideas. I have found so many great blanket patterns on Reddit and in magazines, and I can’t wait to get working on them. I also have some ideas for designing a blanket pattern–stay tuned!

The main factor that’s hindering my progress is wrist pain. If I want to be able to see this project through without my hand falling off, I might have to get a wrist brace and/or a more ergonomic hook. I am currently using a Clover Amour hook and a Clover Soft Touch hook–whichever one I grab first is the one I end up using. Both are a whole lot better than a straight aluminum hook, but they still aren’t great. I might have to bite the bullet and get a more expensive hook.

That’s all I have for now! Thanks for reading and stay tuned for next week’s update!

#crochet #blanket #crocheting #what i'm working on #blankets #crochet blanket #crochet blankets

[acadeemia]

hello everyone! my name is val and, although i’ve had this blog for a while now, only recently have i decided i will start posting original content and join the studyblr community. below this intro post i have reblogged tons of references and resources for my current and future studies, but i hope to be able to make posts like this in the future, as well as create some aesthetics with my own study materials and notes.

about me:

- my name is val

- i am sixteen years old (close to seventeen)

- senior in high school

- entj, slytherin/ravenclaw (i have been told to fit the categories of both!), type cd (disc test), enneagram type 1, and a libra

- from the united states

- speak two languages (english and spanish) at a b2 and above level; french (a2), german (a2), mandarin (a1), russian (a1), arabic (a1), asl (a1)

- ib diploma candidate for m21

academic interests:

- looking to major in biological sciences, focusing on genetics and molecular biology

- minor in anthropology and/or linguistics

- extremely interested in natural and human sciences, but also passionate about history

- career goals: medical researcher and ultimately a university professor

other interests:

- languages: i love having the ability to communicate with others from around the globe. my current focus languages are arabic and french, though i continue to study german, russian, and mandarin chinese (as well as some asl on the side)

- mythology (not just greek- i study myths from across the globe and i particularly love the myths from ancient mesopotamia and egypt).

- genealogy and ancestry is also something extremely personal to me. as i continue to grow i am trying to learn more about my family’s culture, backgrounds, and past as they came from so many different countries and places

- reading (fiction and non-fiction!) and writing! at the time of posting this i am currently reading i am malala by malala yousafzai

- film: i have quite a few favorite shows/movies including orange is the new black, breaking bad, avatar: the last airbender, game of thrones, and avengers: infinity war (and the majority of other marvel cinematic universe movies)

- i love the sidemen (british youtuber group) and they are basically the only youtubers i actually watch

goals & why studyblr?

- i chose to make this intro post and studyblr to motivate both myself and others online to continue pursuing their interests. finding something i am passionate about only kickstarted my future, but continuing along with motivation and work ethic only pushed me forward. i look forward to inspiring and/or helping others as much as i can, and perhaps we can work together to build up our motivations with each other

- current goals: university applications; language studies; gpa and essays; research

blog inspirations

@studyign @studyblrmasterposts @athenastudying @adelinestudiess @areistotle @alimastudies @blacklinguist @cielstudies @emmastudies @eintsein @etudiaire @elleandhermione @ennui-pages @historicalemily @intellectys @ib-studyin @journalsanctuary @kkaitstudies @living-the-study-life @language-obsession @myhoneststudyblr @muststudy @motivatemycollegelife @philology-studies @productive-tips @pennyfynotes @studydiaryofamedstudent @studyquill @studyblr @study-aquarius @tiny-personal-university-thing @tatstudies @universi-tea @victoriaacademia (i’m sure this isn’t an exhaustive list, i follow so many studyblr accounts and i have been overall inspired by the desire to motivate myself and others, as well as my passion for specific subjects!)

#studyblr #university #college #langblr #studyblr introduction #studyblr intro post

[in-a-cave-with]

So starved for Tony content I read that black widow books everyone keeps talking about, the five lines with Tony there are pretty good and very well characterized tho. Please, fo you have any fic recs with good Tony char

HAHAHAAHSJDFNVKJLSDJFD thats a mood....

i have a big comics tony fic rec list here, also some more comics fics ive found since making that post that i rlly like (also be sure to check out some of the other works by the authors here, i added the links to their profiles):

Hope of Morning by magicasen

Incursions. The Illuminati. Rogue planets and mindwipes, Dyson Spheres and Worldkillers. Ask Tony Stark to list all the wrongs he's ever committed, and he wouldn't even know where to begin.

But when the Watcher dies and the secrets of the entire universe come to light, Tony discovers his greatest sin is one he chose to forget.  

(AU from Original Sin #2)

You Can Stay by FestiveFerret

Tony dumped the box on his coffee table, the lid now safely closed. "Thanks for the save," he muttered at it. The world had the softened edges that alcohol gave it, but it wasn't gentle this time, like it usually was, it was numb.

He couldn't even summon the pain to feel hurt about Justine. It wasn't like it was a surprise. No one ever wanted to be with him for himself. No one just stayed. That, apparently, was asking too much of the universe.

not gruesome, just human by isozyme

“I need to crash on someone’s couch for a while.  Your couch.  I need to crash on your couch,” Tony says.

Steve’s mouth opens.  If he asks why Tony’s going to bolt, he can feel the certainty of it under his sternum.  He doesn’t have a sternum anymore, just a tangle of metal under his skin.  Too many things have punched through it to get to his heart.  There hasn’t been enough bone left to reconstruct anything made of flesh in a long time.

“There’s borscht on the stove,” Steve says.

blood, love, and rhetoric by isozyme

Something’s wrong with causality. Beyond the academic.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Steve/Tony style.

in another life (you and i) by isozyme

It’s a man, half-clad in silver armor. His face is covered by an angular mask, eyes glowing blue slits. The suit is a sick frankenstein of Captain America and Iron Man. Tony raises his palms, readying a repulsor blast.

The man opposite him raises a red-gloved hand which, like a terrible mirror, bears an identical repulsor.

The Civil Warrior makes it to Earth-616 six months too late.

on the health benefits of dying young and beautiful by Welcoming_Disaster

PI Steve Rogers is hired to investigate the mysterious disappearance of fashion designer Antonio Stark.

Every Me Loves Every You by foldingcranes

Steve tries to picture it: himself, laying on the Capitol’s steps, bleeding over cold concrete, previously bound and on his way to his own trial. Himself, over this gaunt and somber Stark, who’s been sober for six years, ramming his shield on him until his armor breaks.

(Two lonely strangers from different dimensions meet.)

Without the rusty music of my machine by Missy_dee811

"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion." — Albert Camus

[Written for Lights On Park Ave - Round 11.]

Our Love Is a Ghost That the Others Can't See by Kiyaar

Post-Civil War, canon-divergent from Director of SHIELD.

In Tony’s dreams, he is back in the street, in a crater, the city on fire around him. Steve kneels over him and beats him to within an inch of his life.

It’s his favorite place to be, these days.

Satin in a Coffin by Crait

Careful. It's so heavy only I can lift it.

Time, it needs time, to win back your love again by lomku

“So what are we going to do about it?” “Now? Now I’m going to beat you bloody.”

Steve remembers, and he goes to Tony to confront him, but in the ensuing fight, a time loop is created, trapping Steve and Tony together. Will they be able to set their differences aside long enough to work on breaking the time loop?

When You're a Stranger by Sineala

Tony has made a mistake.

So Far Away From Me by Sineala

Captain America has a new hotline, and Tony is a frequent caller -- but for a very unusual reason.

Double Time by Sineala

Cassino, Italy, December 1943. Special Agent Tony Stark, former Marvels adventurer, is sent to investigate a Cosmic Cube found by the Invaders -- and it's the perfect opportunity for him to rekindle his secret romance with Steve Rogers. But when Hydra attempts to steal the Cube, an inadvertent wish for help leads to the appearance of a Tony from the future of another world: Director Stark of SHIELD. This Tony is a man with a lot on his mind. He refuses to tell them anything about the future, but he seems to know much more than he should about Captain America. And something's happened that's clearly killing him inside, but he's not talking. When Director Stark's failed attempt to return home leads to the unexpected appearance of another visitor from his universe, all the lies come undone. Now there are two wars to fight, and the second one could ruin all of them.

let none be content with me by Mizzy

After Detective Michael O'Brien learns Iron Man's real identity, Tony invites him to stay in the Avengers' mansion while he fixes the flaw in the Guardsman armor that led to Michael's brother's death, an incident that Tony still hasn't properly dealt with.

The Avengers take to Michael, and they might like him more than Iron Man, which Tony... isn't too surprised about. People should like Michael more than they like him. And when new threats and villains just start piling up, Tony has to seriously consider Iron Man's future. Or lack thereof.

through a passive landscape by Mizzy

The New York Times once described parking structures as "the grim afterthought of American design" and Steve couldn’t say he disagreed. The building they were searching was pretty damn ugly. But something uglier was about to happen inside.

#uhhhh satin in a coffin is p3 of a series so just read the whole series if you havent already #also i havent had much time to read fic lately so there are a lot of probably rlly good fic out there i havent read yet lmao pain

[mustlovemustypages]

Yuletide 2020 Letter

Dear potential writer,

I truly hope all is well with you and yours. No matter what state you find yourself in, my wish is that Yuletide boosts your spirits and gives you the extra jolt we all could use to usher in the new year. 

Thank you for taking the time to read my letter and thank you in advance if you decide to write anything for me!

Below are my desired fandoms and pairings along with story ideas that I would love to see written. Please don’t feel stifled by my prompts; I’ve also listed my general likes and dislikes at the very bottom of this letter if you decide to go a different route.

Little Women (2019):

Characters: Amy March and Theodore “Laurie” Laurence”

The main reason I adore this adaptation is because it made me see why Amy and Laurie ended up together. They had very similar worldviews and fit so well what the other needed. Both deserved to be with someone that valued them for who they are. With Laurie, Amy was not just financially secure but with someone who encouraged her to express herself creatively, politically, or however she chose. With Amy, while she grounded Laurie in reality and challenged him to be the best version of himself, he didn't have to fundamentally change to make her happy.

Story ideas:

These quotes really show how Amy's perspective on life was different than her sister's: "You are your family's hope." (Aunt March) "I’ve always known I would marry rich." (Amy March) That's a lot of pressure on someone so young. We heard some of Laurie's thoughts, mostly that he didn't think Amy should feel ashamed for wanting that. How would some of that pressure continue even after she got married, and what would Laurie say to make her realize they were in life together as a team and she didn’t have to suffer the weight of the world alone?

The conversation between Amy and Laurie in the painting studio showed just how level-headed and intelligent she was. Laurie, while not wholly agreeing, was respectful and didn't discount her thoughts. It would be interesting to see the impact on their story if Vaughn hadn't arrived, and this had played out more. Would the proposal have happened earlier and/or how would later scenes be altered as a result of further conversation?

What did the other characters think of Amy and Laurie's relationship, and how did it change after seeing them interact more as a couple? It would be interesting to read about Meg, Marmee, John, or some of the other characters realizing they were genuinely a good match for each other.

Post-canon, I'd love to get a glimpse of what kinds of conversations they had. Did Amy encourage Laurie to pursue a career and find what he was passionate about (music perhaps as Laurie mentioned writing an opera)? And similarly, did Laurie encourage Amy to pursue her art? Did they continue to have in-depth conversations about societal pressures and expectations of gender in certain economic classes?

Tenet:

Characters: The Protagonist, Kat, and Neil

Tenet is the first movie I've seen in theaters since Star Wars IX. There have been some mixed reviews, but my love for Christopher Nolan sci-fi films combined with the experience of stepping foot in a theater again made it a wonderful experience for me. Sure, the plot could be confusing at times, but it was fun trying to fit certain puzzle pieces together and oh so thrilling when things just clicked into place in the most satisfying ways.

I adored the dynamic between Neil and the Protagonist. The easy friendship, the banter, the suits... everything. I also loved the relationship between the Protagonist and Kat. It started off as each using the other but transformed into one of genuine care on both sides. Ever the romantic, I definitely saw something more than just friendship between the two and was slightly disappointed the movie didn't explore that aspect more.  

For pairings, I’m interested in friendships between all of the characters. I’d be interested in seeing a romantic relationship between Kat and the Protagonist if you’re up for that, but not between Neil and Kat, nor Neil and the Protagonist. If you really want to give a romantic partner to Neil, I'd be fine with Laura (or an original female character if she’s not the focus of the story), but please, no slash. While I’d be ecstatic to see all three characters together, if you can only find a way to fit in two, that’s wonderful as well!

Story ideas:

Even though Andrei Sator is gone, there are still other players in the game, some like Priya, who want to eliminate Kat or even abduct her with the delusional idea she can continue her husband's work. The Protagonist (and Neil, if you so choose) ensures no harm comes to her, and he realizes that keeping her at a distance may not have been the best idea.

I personally don't buy into the fan theory that Neil is Kat's son Max; however, I do find the idea intriguing and would be up for reading about how that worked. The Protagonist breaks his rule and sees Kat, helping to raise her son Max/Neil and eventually teaching him about inversion.

The Protagonist doesn't have to wait quite as long as he'd thought to see Neil again. It can be the Neil who had already met him and knows about Tenet or the Neil who knows nothing about inversion.

What conversations did Neil and Kat have while the Protagonist was asleep after almost freezing to death? Maybe Neil explained the finer workings of Tenet and inversion more in-depth. Perhaps they discussed the Protagonist. 

Clueless:

Characters: Cher Horowitz and Josh Lucas

This movie set the bar high for teen romantic comedies. How can anyone ever beat 90s Alicia Silverstone and Paul Rudd? Plus, the relationship between their two characters is fantastic. Josh and Cher just bring out the best in each other. Cher shows Josh that he doesn't need to be so serious all of the time and that people are more than their outer appearances. Josh makes Cher want to be a better person, and he believes that she's not just a pretty face. Their banter and playful moments always make me smile.

Story ideas:

Knowing Josh and Cher end up together, this brings a heightened awareness to rewatches. They have so many casual touches and exchanged glances (when did Paul Rudd's eyes get so blue?) that it's hard to miss their natural chemistry. It may take quite some time for Cher's dad to notice anything has changed because they don't act all that different from before. Is there something that makes him finally take notice? How does he react?

Sort of related to the last prompt, there's a moment where Josh decides to go to the dance to keep an eye on Cher and Christian, and you can tell by Mel Horowitz’s smirk he realizes Josh has a crush on Cher. Does he do anything to push it along or play matchmaker just like his daughter?

I've always been curious about whether or not Josh believes Cher's story about being assaulted in the car by Elton and then held at gunpoint. We skip over Josh pulling up to the phone booth and go straight to Cher already being in the car. How did Josh react when she reiterated the story, and does he instantly believe her, or does it take some convincing? I'd like to see if he comforts her and if they both go together to tell Cher's dad what happened.

Cher is obviously very intelligent socially, if not always so much academically. When it comes time to apply for college, what does she major in? And how is Josh a positive influence in Cher's life, encouraging her to be ambitious and not letting negative comments from guidance counselors or teachers dissuade her?

Things I don’t like:

Alternate Universes – For the specific fandoms that I picked, I really like the universes as they are. I’m definitely okay with deviations from canon, but please don’t make Little Women into a supernatural werewolf story or have Tenet take place in a mundane coffee shop setting. (I don’t mind Soulmate AUs or something similar because those can be incorporated into canon with little change to worldbuilding).

Non-Con/Rape/BDSM/Sexual Violence/Graphic Sex – I like my characters to be happy and everything within ships to be 100% consensual, no question about it (mentions of non-con if it occurred in canon is fine). I also prefer plot over porn, especially with one-shots.

OT3s – Two people per romantic relationship, please. Any more than that makes me uncomfortable.

Character Bashing - Unless a character is a bad guy in canon, I don’t want to read hundreds of words about how awful they are, especially if they are one of the characters that I requested. Don’t take it out on the characters. If you hate my pairings, just write gen.

Things I love:

Hurt/Comfort – There is nothing I love more than one character comforting another. The hurt can be physical, psychological, or both.  

Happy Endings – I’m all for the realistic endings… but if they could be plausible AND at least happy-ish, that would be amazing.

Expanded Scenes/Contorting Canon – Feel free to expand scenes and change up the canon to your heart’s content as long as it makes logical sense.

Humor/Banter/Snark – I thrive on this stuff.

Bonding/Building Relationships – Whether it be a friendship or a romantic relationship, I adore reading about two people growing closer together. When characters know each other so well that they can have conversations with just their eyes or anticipate the person’s next move (especially if it’s to the surprise/confusion of everyone around them), my shipper heart is thrilled.

Dark to Light – Seeing a character come out of a bad mindset or situation and get better is so satisfying.

Happy writing and I hope you get the Yuletide gift of your dreams!

- Maddy @mustlovemustypages (on Tumblr, Ao3, and FF.net)

#little women #little women 2019 #amy x laurie #theodore laurence #laurie #amy march #tenet #the protagonist #neil #kat #clueless #josh x cher #cher horowitz #josh lucas #yuletide 2020 #yuletide letter #yuletide

[your--isgayrights]

Okay i actually have no clue on how tumblr works (hope I'm doing this right lmao) but I'm writing my first fic (I still can't really move on from orv so I decided to make my own content lol.), I really love your writing style, do you have any tips??

Hmmmm tips tips tips tips.... First of all I’m really flattered that you like my writing enough to ask me about it! I’ll try to give my best answer... I think that I used to read a lot of people’s “writing tips” but ultimately I ended up not really understanding them until I started writing a lot? Either way it’s fun to read how other authors think... It’s really cool that you’re writing your first fic and you thought to come to me... did I already say that? Okay long post under the cut.

I don’t think this will be all that helpful, but this is just things that I think about if that’s interesting!

For me a lot of writing is like struggling with motivation (I have ADHD so that’s probs why), I really have to pace myself while writing because I can’t just force myself to do it. If I go in every day and think “I have to write today I’m not doing anything so I should be writing” I can get burnt out really easily, even if I really like the thing I’m writing and know how it’s supposed to go. So one of my big things is that when I’m not thinking about writing I’m not thinking about writing. that gives my brain a break and refreshes me when I get back to my google document.

Something I’ve also struggled with having to remember is that there’s like. Never a perfect way to write. What I end up doing is thinking up ideas and fragments and sentences in my head and the very moment I think of something I like I have to write it down in my notes app. Most of my writing process ends up being like. Filling in the blanks and connecting the dots between scene fragments. 

For fics in particular I’d also just recommend rereading your favorite parts of the og work! I’m the kind of person who has a pretty good reading memory, so people may have noticed that I include a lot of little details referencing the text in my fic. Just reading the work kind of helps you remember the voices of the character and the style of the narration, and if you just like. internalize it. you can probably replicate it pretty well if you wanted to.

OKAY I say that but don’t worry too much about replicating things in the og work perfectly. I find that a lot of times when I’m writing I’m inserting a lot of personal touches and putting things that are a part of me in the work. Writing is always going to be like. an extension of your voice, no matter what you’re writing. I think that when I heard about stuff like that from authors in the past I was always like. What? I’m not writing about things that happened to me. I’m writing about grown adult men having emotional issues, silly. But there’s like a lot more nuance to writing about yourself, I guess. Like you don’t have to have like a self insert or be projecting onto a character to have yourself reflected in something you’ve written.

I’d say that like, whatever you write as your first fic is going to be lovely, but when you grow up as a writer and look back on it, you’re not going to remember who you were when you wrote it. I think that’s why a lot of people look back on their first works and are like “I can’t believe I wrote that, what was I thinking, cringe cringe cringe ugh.” Like I definitely do that sometimes, but I’ve found that the old work I’m happiest with nowadays is the stuff where I can recognize myself in it, even if I’m not in that fandom anymore or if there’s old jokes or typos I don’t remember making. 

With that being said, I’m the kind of person who always gives myself a mission statement when I’m writing. I sort of mentally go, okay, I’m writing this kind of thing, and this is why I’m writing it. It can be something like oh I’m writing this fluff piece because I love this character and wish they had a happier ending, or  oh I want to write this multi chapter fic exploring an issue touched on in the original work but I feel like with my own experiences I could expand on it more than the author did. Just something that tells me why it is important to me to write this thing when I’m writing it.

AAAH I feel like I made that sound more dramatic than it really is, that’s just how I think I guess. I’m the kind of guy where its like things need to have like MEANING to me when I do them. I’m dramatic and gay and that’s my personality I guess 😔.

Hmmm maybe it’s also my BIGGEST writing tip tho. Like kind of just thinking things through when you’re writing is pretty important. When I was first learning to write at all (talking about baby baby me here this is like sort of a side tangent sorry) I think that a lot of times I would copy phrases and developments that I had liked in things that I had read without really fully considering why I would include those things other than the fact that that was just what I thought writing was. It’s important to consider what importance every scene and sentence has to do with the flow of the story. Are they just things that are happening, or is there a reason that the audience needs to know these things? The weight of your words should have some sort of consequence as a result of you writing them. Are you telling the audience information they need to know? Is it about how the character feels? What does this say about the character? Etc.

I suppose that’s sort of my own writing style. You’ll probably notice that I don’t write a lot of descriptive prose if you read my fic. The thing about me is that I never want to write something that makes my audience question why they’re reading it, I guess. I’m sort of self conscious and think about the reading experience a lot. All of the things I choose to describe are usually so that the reader can understand where people are in the scene and what emotions they are having. There’s a lot of emphasis that I put in like. A reader’s ability to read into things, which works against me sometimes because I’m not always certain if people picked up on different things that I put a lot of thought into (the curse of being seen... sob).

ALSO use paragraph breaks. In my first fic (that I’m not going to tell anyone what is even though its on ao3 because im shy) the thing I always regret the MOST is that there are big chunky paragraphs that are hard to read through at the start. Like my eyes get lost. I mentioned I have ADHD before but even though I like. physically can’t read a big chunky paragraph I will always write them that way if left to my own devices. Paragraph breaks don’t have to just be broken up by dialogue they can be wherever you feel like doing them. You need a lot of them. This post should probably have more of them... oh my god it’s so long...

OKAY FOR REAL THOUGH IF YOU COULDN”T SLOG THROUGHT THE REST OF THAT THE MOST IMPORTANT TIP IS RIGHT HERE: 

JUST LET YOURSELF WRITE

I have a lot of like. academic trauma, so maybe this is just me, but the reason I didn’t write fic until I was like 16 was because I was always really scared that whatever I wrote wouldn’t be good enough for some impossible standard I was setting for myself. I was always telling myself that I had certain bad writing habits or that I was terrible for never being able to focus on things for very long and all of my projects were doomed to failure before I even started. But then I wrote my first like 8 chapter fic in the summer of my junior year and I was like... oh. that wasn’t so bad. Like. It’s okay to know your limits, but you don’t really know them until you start writing. Like I wrote an 8 chapter fic, and then a few one shots, and then I tried to take on a very complicated project that ended up being over 40 chapters and I had to put it down because I just wasn’t really at the writing level to finish it. I would advise against writing fics that take so long to write that you start hating the way you wrote the first chapter, basically lol. Know how whatever you’re writing is supposed to begin and end before you start writing it.

Nowadays I always have like. plot outlines in my head when I start a fic. Like okay this needs to happen here this needs to happen here etc. I like making lists if it seems to overwhelming when I’m writing something long, just to organize my thoughts. 

OKAY I JUST TALKED A LOT. SORRY IF YOU DIDN’T WANT TO READ ALL OF THIS BUT I’M A LITTLE CHATTY IF YOU DIDN’T NOTICE.

Defo feel free to dm me if you have like questions or just want to chat about orv or whatever. I’m a lonely little man out here floating on my pile of words, and I’d love to hear what your fic is about!! 

[tthael]

Dude your writing is so stunning. I was gonna ask if you took any creative writing courses or something and saw you majored in literature so like no wonder lol. I wish to write as good as you but as someone who wants to drop out of college I dont see that happening. Anyway you're awesome and I hope you have a good day 💙💙

 I am going to tell you a secret.

I did not learn how to write like this in college.

Most of my creative writing classes (and I only took 4) taught me to read. They were all workshops, and collaborative, and I learned how to read a piece of writing and identify what it was about--and that’s very different from identifying what the writer intended to write. It taught me to read a story about an adult whose divorced mother is remarrying and say, “Okay, but I don’t think that this story is about the capitalist recompartmentalization of families the way that the title seems to indicate. I think that the questions posed by the premise are ‘where are my roots? where does my identity come from? what dynamics do I retreat to when I need to feel safe, and what do I do when that refuge is taken away?’“ And identifying what a story is actually about is a very important part of the writing and revision process. Workshops also taught me to take critique without taking it personally, and to assess what was a critique worth taking, and whether the giver knew what they were talking about and what their opinion is worth.

Most of my literature courses taught me to think critically--in the sense of “identify this and examine what it means.” What does it mean, in Parable of the Sower, that empathy can be weaponized and used to incapacitate others? What does it mean, in RENT, that Benny is offering the protagonists jobs in their fields and they’re eschewing in favor of authenticity and integrity? What does Watership Down have to say about the nature-vs.-nurture argument and its limitations?

But I did not learn how to write like this in college. I learned how to write like this from fandom.

Some things came pre-loaded. I like writing dialogue, and I’ve been told I’m good at it, and I think it’s because eventually I worked out that nobody ever manages to say exactly what they mean and communication is frequently less like an arrow aiming for a target and more like a small boat bumping up against a dock while the people onboard try to tie their ropes to secure it. I like characters over action, and that’s reflected in the stories I tell--all very heavy character-driven stories, where the ratio of introspection to actual events is very high.

Z. Z. Packer’s “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere” taught me to appreciate the way that characterization leads to action; but I never put that into practice until I went on (forgive me) tumblr and started reading meta. dear-wormwoods is one of my biggest sources of Eddie characterization meta, and that has influenced my fics more than anything else in fandom, though we’ve never spoken. When I was reading bagginshield, I read avelera’s meta for them.

But I’ve also found that many of the best meta writers (that I’ve found anyway) are also the best writers I’ve read. I went straight from avelera’s bagginshield literary analysis to their Pacific Rim fanfiction “the only way out is down” and reading their commentary on how they shaped the work during revision. I read amarguerite’s “Some Friendlier Sky” (Les Miserables fanfiction) and then “An Ever-Fixed Mark” (Pride and Prejudice) and I started asking her questions--”you compare Courfeyrac to a cat, and then Mr. Darcy to a cat, even though they’re very different characters. What’s the thought process there?” and she told me and we talked about it. I read chrononautical’s “A Road from the Garden” (The Hobbit) and went line by line picking out the things I liked in the comment, and I had this sudden epiphany about how Tolkien shows the dwarves as sets of brothers, which means that they are technically a race of brothers in their presentation, so it was GENIUS to play around with the brother dynamic in a work like that and reflect on how frequently an individual will tolerate mistreatment of themselves that they would never permit to happen to someone they loved--like, say, a brother.

I learned the basics of literary criticism and critical analysis from college, and from reading the western canon and trying to pick apart things that were useful to me. But it’s so much easier when everything is written in vernacular instead of faux-detached academic writing, and when everyone involved is genuinely excited about and dedicated to the work instead of being forced to dwell on The Old Man and the Sea yet again, and when there’s space for people to go back and forth analyzing and agreeing or saying “but what if” or rejecting and are just united by this love of the content or the characters or the book or the history.

You can learn to write like--well, you would write like you, not like me, that’s how style is. But you don’t have to go to college to do it. My current style is not the product of the institution that gave me my degree--it’s the product of more recent years’ immersion in fanfiction (and more recently some traditionally published original work) and music and content I get for free online. And you can also get a circle of people who are happy to write together, read each other’s work, comment on each other’s strengths and the things they like, make suggestions as to how to improve things. You don’t have to do that in college. You just have to read and write a lot, and the things that you read will influence what writing you produce, and in identifying what you like about the things you read and how they do the things they do, you will be able to look at your own work critically and shape it more towards your satisfaction.

The work I’m writing for IT is some of the best work of my life. TTHAEL is the first long work I’ve completed to my satisfaction. Indelicate is the first thing I’ve written that I feel is really exemplary of my style. Margot’s Room is the first self-contained short work I’ve completed to my satisfaction--and the first explicit sexual content I’ve written that I’m happy with both level of detail and atmosphere. Even Automatic-Mechanical-Pneumatic--which I wrote and posted in the same day, so it’s more of a draft--I look at it and recognize it has pacing issues (you can tell I was racing a clock to get the words out), some of the symbolism is too overt because the characters are too self-aware of it, at one point I tripped up and referred to a character by the real-world inspiration--but that’s a solid draft and it has good parts.

You don’t have to go to college to learn to write. Writing is a skill, and writing is work. And there are advantages that people in colleges have re: networking and libraries and available resources and professors who are being paid to give you feedback. But no institution is going to put you through a four-year program and at the end you’ll come out a “finished” writer, with no more room to improve. That’s something you have to do on your own.

#anon #ask #writing advice #my fic #indelicate #tthael #automatic-mechanical-pneumatic #a-m-p

[study-it-sightless]

For those of you who are new…

First of all, welcome! Whether you’re a fellow blind/visually impaired student, or you’re a sighted person that’s curious about the life of a blind student, you are more than welcome here. I try to stay consistent on here and stay updated, but I wanted to address some things that may be helpful to you.

About Me

You can call me Lena. I am completing my last year of high school, and I hope to study music (vocal) in college soon!

Currently Studying

• Paychology

• Choral and vocal music

• Music Braille

• Italian

• Coding (just started)

• Environmental Science

• Braille (fluency and proofreading)

• Braille transcription (my hope is to someday earn my transcribers certificate)

• ASL

Things to Keep in Mind

1. I have a few other blogs (most of them blindness related), which you can check out at my Other Blogs page.

2. If you haven’t already noticed, I like to write in large print and bold. I do this because it’s easier on the eyes, whether or not you’re visually impared. It’s part of my way to make Tumblr accessible! Feel free to “steal” my formats, I don’t mind. If it helps someone, then that’s great!

3. Also note that I don’t use a lot of pictures/images/graphics/visuals. I will post them sometimes, but I can’t guarantee that they will be any good. Instead, I try to add descriptions of my desk, or my journal layouts, or the weather, or whatever. This allows me to incorporate sounds and smells as well, so…yeah.

4. I use a lot of abbreviations, such as BVI (blind or visually impaired, VIP (visually impaired person), and stuff like that. I’ll usually clarify if it’s one I don’t use often, but these are the main ones I use.

5. While I do post a lot of original content, I still include academic stuff that may have nothing to do with blindness. I am a choral music student, so I do post about that, and I’m a bit of a nerd and love chemistry, literature, history and such, so I will include that here, because I really believe that, as a blind person, we should still have interests that may have nothing to do with blindness.

6. Oh, and I am a devout Catholic. It comes up in practically every aspect of my life, I do have a seperate blog for all my Catholic posts, but don’t be surprised if I mention it here and there.

Oh, and for my fellow VIPs…

1. Header is a pale blue gradient with hints of green and purple mixed in.

2. Avatar is a picture of my hand running along a line of braille.

3. I try to make all my posts large print, but I can’t really do that with reblogs, so I’m going to label those as #small print

For my fellow Studyblr-ers…

I track the tag #blindacademia

And with that, enjoy!

#studyblr #study #blindness #high school #college #study tips #bullet journal #bujo #legally blind #studyspo #productivearlgrey #heyyasi #apringtimestudies #hikayia #keepatudeeon #textbooksanddaydreams #beaestodiando #heyvenustudy #studiovsly #serendistudy #beretstudies #heylamp #athenastudying #seminalstudy #violetsnotebook #journeyinstudy #heyara #myhoneststudyblr #idlestudy #leshiology