#i never posted it on ao3 for a reason so i am pleasantly surprised you enjoy it!!!! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

surreality51 · 1 year

Note

Hi, I just wanted to say your ask to Emungere is the reason I have fallen in to the Fedal rabbit hole - so thank you!! I would NEVER have looked them up if I'm not following the Hannibal fandom and her Tumblr. I know next to nothing about tennis in real life but two days ago I saw the hand holding and shirtless posts (among others) from you...My heart just goes to Rafa :D I am now completely converted and wanted to read/watch everything about them. Any suggestions where I should start? Thanks!

Welcome, anon!

I just joined two months ago myself, so I'm new too, but so far everyone on tennisblr has been lovely. I've also delved headlong into Fedal, and there is a ton of great content you can sink your teeth into. I'll put everything I know in this long post, but tennis mutuals feel free to jump in with more recs!

Tumblr peeps

Cool people to follow on tumblr <-everyone on @hubillusion's list is awesome

@tennisandlife is another awesome blog to follow, even though they stopped posting in 2020. I literally spent 3 hours going through their archive, there is SO MUCH quality Fedal content.

@tennis-out-of-context is also fun, although it's not exclusively Fedal content.

Books on Federer and/or Nadal

Rafa: My Story by Rafael Nadal and John Carlin. A must-read for any Rafa fan. Rafa in his own words, through 2011. What I love most is getting Rafa's insights into his own game, his approach and preparation for matches, his journey.

The Master: The Long Run and Beautiful Game of Roger Federer by Christopher Clarey. Probably the most comprehensive Federer biography to date, published in August 2021. Clarey traces the development of Federer from boyhood to 2020 in an attempt to figure out the how and why of Federer. Along the way you get a lot of insights into Roger's game, his team, but Roger himself still remains somewhat inscrutable and untouchable. Not unlike the man himself. If you contrast this to the confessional approach in Rafa, where you actually get into Rafa's head, you could make the argument that the distance in The Master is due to the difference between biography vs autobiography, but I also think it's very fitting for Rafa's personality vs Roger's. Still, given the challenge of the task, Clarey does a commendable job in attempting to unravel Federer. A must-read for any Roger fan.

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal: The Lives and Careers of Two Tennis Legends by Sebastian Fest (2018). This was the third book I read, and I assumed that it would retread much of the content from the other two books, but I was pleasantly surprised. Sure, the book rehashes many of the key moments in their rivalry, such as Wimbledon 2008, but it also covers a lot of the behind-the-scenes things that the other two books don't--things like the ATP Players Council and Roger/Rafa's political fallout in 2011-12, Rafa's knee injuries and treatments, how the anti-doping measures impact players, etc. A good supplement that gives an interesting view into the challenges of being a professional tennis player.

I haven't read the following yet, but I'm hoping to get my hands on them soon:

Roger Federer: The Biography by Rene Stauffer

The Roger Federer Effect: Rivals, Friends, Fans and How the Maestro Changed Their Lives by Simon Cambers, Simon Graf

Fedegraphica: A Graphic Biography of the Genius of Roger Federer by Mark Hodgkinson

(I love Rafa, but you can probably guess which half of Fedal comes out on top for me)

Fanfics

I'm not going to recommend specific fics, but rather favorite writers on AO3. Any Fedal from these writers is awesome, you can't go wrong.

Mystivy - everything from mystivy is the best. I just finished reading the "Joy" series, which is simply beautiful. Only parts 1 and 2 are written; part 3 looks like it was never posted so it's technically an incomplete series.

emungere - you know emungere, so no need for me to explain how amazing her writing is. "Wild Card" is the fic I needed when I first dived into Fedal. You must be logged in on AO3 to view emungere’s tennis rpf.

rilla - "The Long Experience of Love" is probably my favorite Fedal fic overall, even though it's an abandoned WIP.

Serenade - mostly ficlets, but each one is incredibly insightful and makes you go "oof." “Tennis Is Not A Game You Play Alone” has my favorite line from any Fedal fic: Rafa met his gaze, dark eyes unreadable. "I would rather lose to you," he said, "than win everything in a world where you never exist."

eliane - I haven’t actually read any of eliane’s fics but I’ve seen multiple recs, so this is next on my to-read list. Must be logged in to read on AO3.

louise_lux - I also haven’t read any of louise_lux’s solo work, but I read the joint fics she co-wrote with emungere and they were fuckin’ hot. Also on my to-read list.

Video

Strokes of Genius - feature-length documentary of the 2008 Wimbledon final. You can find it on YouTube (here's one link but not sure it works. I watched it on these links: part 1, part 2, part 3) Also the Rafa and Roger bonus features.

Rafael Nadal Academy - 4-episode documentary series on Amazon Prime. Takes you into the daily life and operations of Rafa’s tennis academy in Manacor. You meet the staff there and follow the stories of 8 students who are pursuing their tennis dreams. And of course you see Rafa in the episodes too, but it’s primarily about the academy. I wish they would do a season 2.

The bazillion videos from 2017, 2019, and 2022 Laver Cup on YouTube. Fedal played doubles in 2017 and 2022, and were supposed to play doubles in 2019 but Rafa got a wrist injury.

Roger Federer: Everywhere Is Home: documentary of Federer’s 2019 Latin America exhibition tour, produced by ESPN: Vimeo

Roger Federer: The Reunion: documentary of the 2020 Match in Africa charity exhibition match with Rafael Nadal. Available for rent or purchase on Vimeo

NBC/Credit Suisse documentary about the art installation project that Roger was part of: Portrait of a Champion

Rafa Nadal Academy’s Instagram has tons of videos and photos of Rafa as well. Here’s a video about when Roger visited the Academy for its grand opening in October 2016. You can find other videos from the grand opening on YouTube, like the press conference and speeches.

I want to say that there’s a 20-min or 40-min documentary about Federer vs Nadal in the 2017 Australian Open produced by AO Films or something like that, but I can’t find it now. :( Maybe other tennisblr folks can help? Found it!

YouTube also has highlights or full matches online. I recommend 2008 Wimbledon final, 2017 Australian Open final, and 2019 Wimbledon semifinal, and their associated press conferences/interviews.

Miscellaneous

ASAP Sports Transcripts does the English transcripts of pre & post-match press conferences for multiple sports, including tennis. Here’s the archive of Federer’s press conference transcripts and here’s Nadal’s.

Rafa’s diary from his old website (copied by someone on LiveJournal for posterity).

I read somewhere that Rafa wrote a couple of tour diaries or blogs for the ATP tour way bay when as well, but I can’t find them. Tennis mutuals, any help? Is that the same as the link to Rafa’s diary from his old website?

Rafa Nadal Fans website - I haven’t really looked at this, but at first glance it looks like a ton of Rafa content.

Stalk Follow them on official social media accounts for Roger, Rafa, Severin Luthi, Rafa Nadal Academy, etc.

Tons of interviews and articles from major publications such as New York Times, Sports Illustrated, GQ, you name it. Just google “Roger Federer cover story” or “Rafael Nadal interview.” There’s also the tons of interviews and articles in Spanish, French (L’Equipe), German (Blick, Tages-Anzeiger), etc, some of which you can translate on Google Translate.

#fedal #roger federer #rafael nadal #at this point I've read over a thousand pages about the lives of these two idiots #masterpost #thank you for coming to my TED talk

45 notes · View notes

academicdisasterfic · 3 years

Text

Career Day

so I read this post courtesy of @bixgirl1, @l0vegl0wsinthedark and @o0o-chibaken-o0o three times this morning, nearly cried laughing, and here I present to you: dumb dad Drarry on Career Day.

Albus Potter really just wanted two things: that new edition of Hogwarts: A History that Rose had been taunting him with all summer, and for his father to stop being so weird about the Career Day next week at Godric’s Hollow Primary School.

‘Dad, you’ll be fine, it’s just coming in to talk to my class for half an hour.’

Harry paced across the kitchen. ‘No - but - okay. So. You’re saying that...many people...will be coming…do you know…who…’

‘Um.’ Albus lowered his piece of toast. ‘Scorp’s dad is definitely coming. Talking about journalism.’ Harry squeaked and a glass fell off the counter. Albus sighed and put down his toast.

‘You shouldn’t be nervous, Dad, it’s awesome what you do.’

‘Oh, it’s...not that…’ Harry waved a hand in a feign of nonchalance and hurriedly Reparoed the glass. ‘I mean, I’ll bring in some of my new pieces.’

‘Cool.’ Albus raised an eyebrow as Harry bustled around the kitchen, not looking at him. He didn’t know why this was such a big deal; Harry was an amazing woodworker, combining magic and practical skill to create cribs that sung infants to sleep, or picture frames that adjusted size depending on the photo, or tables that set themselves. It was super cool and he was way happier than when he’d been an Auror.

‘I’ll ask your mums to come, too,’ Harry said, hurrying out of the kitchen. ‘Yes, that will work, that should make it fine…’

Albus shook his head, refilled his glass of orange juice, and thought about how he was going to break it to Lily and James that their father was going insane.

‘Scorp!’ Albus grinned at his best friend as he and Harry entered the crowded classroom, a swarm of parents and children. Harry trailed slightly behind Albus, clutching his box of shrunken wooden objects and making a small whimpering sound when Scorpius and his dad approached. Albus thought it was awesome that he and Scorpius were friends, as they both had the only gay parents in school. Well, Harry was bisexual, which he’d described to Albus as being able to fall in love with anyone. Albus thought it was ironic that his dad could have anyone and was still single, but when he told his parents this at their weekly family dinner, Luna and Ginny just laughed at Harry for about ten minutes straight and Albus felt a bit bad.

‘Hello, Albus,’ Draco beamed. He’d been very firm on that name - Mr Malfoy is my father, Albus, don’t be so formal - and he was always interested in chatting to Albus about history and Hogwarts and all sorts of things that Harry didn’t know much about. Harry was an excellent father, and Luna and Ginny were great mums, but none of them shared Albus’ bookishness. Draco looked at Harry then, his mouth twisted in a smile. ‘Potter.’

‘Malfoy.’ Albus looked at his Dad. Harry was blushing. God, was he that nervous?

‘Dad’s been nervous all week about today,’ Albus told Draco. Draco smirked.

‘Is that so, Albus?’

‘Yeah! But I’ve told him not to be, because he’s obviously awesome at what he does, and there’s no reason he should be nervous.’

‘Indeed. Your father is exceptionally...talented.’ Draco looked calmly at Harry, who looked about ready to pass out. ‘He’s so good with a bit of wood.’ Harry made a high pitched noise and Albus looked at him, brow furrowed.

‘Oh my god, Dad, relax.’

‘Sure,’ Harry wheezed. ‘I’m very relaxed.’ At that precise moment, Ginny and Luna arrived, and Harry almost jumped behind them.

‘Sweetheart!’ Ginny pinched Albus’ cheeks and he rolled his eyes. Luna enveloped him in a patchouli-and-vanilla hug. ‘Thanks for having us. Hi, Scorpius, Draco.’ Ginny grinned widely at Draco - who, for some weird reason - winked at her.

‘Hello, lesbians. How are you?’

‘Oh, very good,’ Luna said serenely. ‘The animal sanctuary is coming along so well, and it’s so nice being closer to Holyhead for Ginny’s practices.’

‘Yeah,’ Ginny said. ‘And the kids love it there, right?’

‘It’s really fun!’ Scorpius said, grinning. ‘I love the Kneazles, they’re so cute.’

‘Yes, I’ve always been rather partial to pussies,’ Ginny said, and Draco spluttered a laugh. Albus looked over to his dad, who looked like he wanted to die.

‘Adults are so weird,’ he said to Scorpius, who nodded in agreement. ‘Let’s go find Lily and Rose.’

…

The rest of the day passed fairly normally, although Harry huddled behind Ginny and Luna for most of it. That wasn’t too unusual - Albus knew his dad hated attention. What was unusual was the spluttering and choking sounds he seemed to be making a lot today.

‘Shh, for Godric’s sake Harry,’ Ginny scolded. ‘You’re fine.’

‘How am I supposed to be fine when he is there, looking at me like that…’

‘You’re so melodramatic. He likes you.’

‘No he doesn’t!’

‘Yes he does, Harry,’ Luna chimed in. ‘That’s why he’s flirting with you.’

‘But…’ Harry looked slightly hapless. Albus was deeply confused. He had no idea what flirting was.

‘I thought that much would be obvious after, erm, Albus’ birthday party.’

‘We said we’d never speak of that again,’ Harry hissed.

‘I’m just saying,’ Ginny held her hands up, ‘Draco only gets his co--erm, his dragon--out for men he actually likes.’

‘You think?’ Harry’s voice was very soft and Ginny snorted.

‘Yeah, you absolute fuckwit.’

‘Ginny!’ Luna scolded. ‘Children.’

‘It’s okay,’ said Albus, leaning back out of the row and whispering conspiratorially. ‘I know that fuck is a bad word. I won’t say it.’ Harry snorted in laughter and Ginny put her head in her hands.

‘We are not cut out for this,’ she moaned.

‘Agreed,’ Luna and Harry responded in unison.

…

At the end of Career Day, Ginny and Luna wandered over to collect Lily and Albus for the week. Albus was deep in a conversation with Scorpius about astronomy and was pleasantly surprised to see that Luna had his bag, too.

‘Come on, Scorp,’ Ginny grinned. ‘You’re staying with us tonight.’

‘No way!’ Scorpius looked thrilled and bowled his dad over in a hug. ‘Thanks!’

‘Behave,’ Draco smiled, and kissed his son gently on top of his head. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’ Harry was standing just next to Draco, cheeks very red and hands shoved in his old jeans.

‘I’ll see you on Sunday for family dinner,’ he told Albus and Lily, and kissed them goodbye. Luna and Ginny murmured something to Harry that made him make the weird choking noise again as they left, and Albus only heard one last sentence as Harry and Draco walked out the front of the building.

‘Now Potter, where were we?’

Read on Ao3.

#drarry #dad drarry #dumbasses #god i love them #draco malfoy #harry potter #linny #scorpius and albus have no clue what's up #rooney writes

196 notes · View notes

jadevalentine-writes · 2 years

Text

Farfalle di Carta - MXTX Big Bang 2021 HuaLian Fic - NOW AVAILABLE ON AO3!!!

Guys. It's finally happening!!! 😭

After months of writing in pretty much secret, I am thrilled to present my HuaLian fic for the @mxtxbb, Farfalle di Carta!

This labor of love has fantastic artwork embedded within by sofinch_wxx on Twitter, which I will post separately in a few minutes. I was so honored to work with them and they even blessed me with an extra full colored piece as well as two sketches, all of which are embedded in the fic with the appropriate chapters.

As always, this baby would not have seen the light of day without the great beta skills and sound boarding with the lovely @subtlybrilliant , who is my muse and greatest inspiration in writing again. She helped me overcome many roadblocks and kept my pesky commas in order and for that I am eternally grateful. <3 I love you!

And now, without further ado...the summary and link to AO3. I hope you all enjoy!!! 🤗

Read on AO3

Summary

Xie Lian never judged a book’s contents by its cover. He had read plenty of good books over the years that had plain or uninteresting covers. Usually the title or summary compensated for the plain exterior and would be the reason Xie Lian pulled the book off of the shelf. Sometimes he’d take a book out of sheer curiosity, even if nothing drew his attention. Those were often the books where he would be pleasantly surprised. Underneath plain dust jackets could be hidden intricate gold leaf designs. Some may have folded maps in the back cover. Or, on rare occasions, Xie Lian would find the pages edged in gold, a feature that could not be seen until the book was pulled off the shelf to shimmer under the light.

One day while perusing the stacks at the library, he finds a book shelved apart from the others, as though peerless. The plain dust jacket was in taters, revealing the faded red cloth of the hardcover underneath.

And it was filled with paper butterflies.

OR a 90s nostalgia modern AU where Xie Lian randomly meets Hua Cheng over a poetry anthology and they fall in love (slowly) and get up to shenanigans with their friends.

#mxtx big bang 2021 #mxtx big bang #tgcfnet #hualian #xie lian #hua cheng #tgcf #tgcf fic #tgcf fanfic #tgcf fanfiction #hualian modern au #farfalle di carta #hualian au #hualian fic #hualian fanfic #hualian fanfiction

84 notes · View notes

officialscaramouche · 3 years

Text

Yellow

pairing: Albedo x reader

summary: Albedo noticed a change in your behavior lately and he’s going to figure out why.

warnings: nonne

word count: 1,118

The sequel to green! Have a nice fluffy comfort fic. Also posted on ao3

EDIT: can’t believe i posted only HALF of the story. i fixed it

Your behavior had changed these past few days. He wasn’t sure if he was reading into things that weren’t there, but he couldn’t shake off the feeling that something had happened and you didn’t tell him about it. Was it a bad day at work? Were you not feeling well? Perhaps that creep at the bar had bothered you again? Did he say something wrong?

Whatever it was, Albedo loved that you came to him for comfort. He loved to hear you complain because you’d ask for his love afterward. He listened to you whenever you needed and he loved to do it because he loved you. That isn’t to say he got off on your misfortune, but rather he felt special knowing you trusted him at your most vulnerable.

When the two of you would fight he never raised his voice or said things he didn’t mean. He let you speak your part, even if your part was the whole fight. He’d let you yell and say terrible things. He did so because he wanted to understand your pain, feel your pain. He never fought back because if you were upset, you usually were reasonably so. Be it that he spends more time in the lab than with you, or he missed your planned dinner date because he got caught up painting the night sky, or maybe that something he said simply came off rude. He’d always hear you out and he’d always understand. But this time you didn’t come to him and he didn’t understand why.

The sun was beginning to set and the sky was filled with warm yellows and pinks and blues and he couldn’t help but to think of you. He looked at his unfinished research sprawled out before him and made a decision. He recorded all of the current statuses of his concoctions and ripped a page out of the notebook. He walked over to Sucrose who was dusting the shelves and tapped her on the shoulder. “Here,” he said, pulling her wrist to place the note in her hand. “Please watch over my table, I’m going home.”

Sucrose pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and peeked at the notes. “Oh, okay. Something come up?” Sucrose adored you and sometimes she felt like you were too good for Albedo. She felt like she didn’t have the right to feel this way due to her lack of experience, but she sees how patient you are with him and how doting you can be sometimes, and frankly, she wished she could receive the same treatment.

Albedo remained as deadpan as always. But Sucrose could tell that he was feeling some type of way. “I think so. I’ll be back as soon as I can, I promise.”

Sucrose nudged him on towards the door. “I’ll be okay. If I need anything I’ll come to the city. Go!”

Albedo wasn’t a big fan of the Windblume festival. There were too many people out and about, the music was too loud, and too many drunkards walking around during the day. But you liked the festival. You liked meeting travelers, dancing in the streets with your friends, and often times you were found stumbling out of the bar with an overly-friendly bard that paid for all of your drinks. That’s why he found it odd that you weren’t begging him to go play booth games, eat street food, and having drunken sex every night.

Instead, when you last spoke, you weren’t reluctant to send him off back to the mountains. In fact, you seemed to be rather unbothered about his leave and that bothered him. He promised he’d be back in less than two weeks and you told him not to worry and that he shouldn’t rush back. In your letters, you sent a significantly less amount of papers, remaining vague and monotonous about your excursions and almost avoiding telling him you missed him altogether. He loved you through and through. He loved hearing how much you missed him. So when your last three letters failed to mention that, he had to come back to see what was going on.

You greeted him like normal. You jumped into his arms and you screamed with delight. “Welcome home! You’re so early!”

Albedo wrapped his arms around your waist and held you close, nuzzling his face into your neck and breathing in your skin. “Something told me I needed to come home,” he says matter-of-factly, pulling back to look into your eyes. “I missed you.”

“What do you mean? Did you think I was in trouble?” There you go again, avoiding voicing your affections. He couldn’t lie to himself. It really bothered him.

“No, not in trouble. I’m just worried that you’re upset with me.”

You pull away and look at him dumbfounded. “Upset with you? What gave you that idea?”

Albedo pulls out your three letters. Your eyes widen in genuine surprise. “Here, you greet me plainly, just ‘Albedo,’ but you normally say ‘my love, my dearest, light of my life,’ and then in this letter, you said you’ve been feeling down but you didn’t tell me why, and then here you didn’t tell me what you thought of my sketch like you always do, and then in this one--”

You quickly put a hand to his mouth and chuckle. “Oh, honey I didn’t know you looked so deeply into my letters.”

Albedo dropped his shoulders and pulled your hand away from his mouth. “I know you, you’re predictable. These things bother me.”

Albedo looked pathetic. You felt a little bad for showing your bitterness in your letters, but you didn’t know he was so sensitive to the slight changes. It still bothered you that such a beautiful, unique, and special flower brought him to think of another woman. You admit that it’s a little silly, but Windblume was all about flowers and lovers and if he should be reminded of anyone it should’ve been you.

“Well,” you begin, looking away from his staring eyes. “I guess...there is something.”

Albedo cups your face with his hands and watches you closely. “Did I do something? Please tell me.”

You take a deep breath and sigh. “It’s stupid.”

Albedo shakes his head and thumbs your cheeks. “Nothing that upsets you is stupid. Now spit it out.”

You avert your gaze once more and pout, fighting with yourself. “...The other day...when…” Albedo nods, pulling you close and caressing your shoulders tenderly. “When we made the sweet flower…” His ears perk up with the newfound context and observes your expressions. Your eyebrows are furrowed and your cheeks are flush with nerves...or was it embarrassment? “You said it reminded you of...Sucrose...and not me.”

Albedo stares at you blankly for a moment, recalling the day’s events. He hardly remembers any of it besides being pleasantly surprised to see you. He remembers being pulled out of his focus, paint on his face and hands, to you sweetly calling his name. You shivered in the cold, not fully prepared to face the mountain but you were expecting him to be in the camp, not on the mountain trail. He rushed over to you, leaving his easel and brushes behind to give you his coat and gloves. You handed him a book and explained the situation. Then, he was teaching you how to combine elements in a certain order to conjure the beautiful ancient sweet flower.

He remembers telling Sucrose it reminded him of her, but did he notice your uncomfortability? Did he fail to recognize the neglect? He looks at you ashamed, his eyes glassy with regret. “I’m sorry,” he finally answers. “I didn’t know that my words hurt you like this. I’m sorry, my love.”

Albedo kisses your forehead sweetly, rubbing your hands nervously. Albedo felt an uncomfortable tingling in the tips of his fingers, his body warm with sorrow. You smile weakly and assure him that you accept his apology. “But…” you whine, getting Albedo’s attention once more. “The festival is all about flowers and lovers…”

Albedo pinches your cheek. “Want to know what flower reminds me of you?” You look at him expectantly. “Your smile brings me much warmth, like laying in the sun after being cold for so long and it makes my skin tingle a little, but the warmth envelops me and holds me tight. Your laugh is sweeter than any sweet flower nectar and can turn the worst days into the best. Your predictability is comforting, in the sense that you’re right where I need you, when I need you. And you’re never hard to find, because you’re always right by my side.”

You roll your eyes impatiently. “So what flower am I?”

Albedo laughs at your impatience and kisses you gently, lovingly. “Y/N, when I’m out in the fields and I have a desperate longing for you and I’m missing you with all of my heart, I turn to look to where you would be and at my feet, with me along every journey, you are there in the cecilias.” He peppers your cheeks with kisses, holding you tighter. “I can’t make a cecilia in the lab. If I want to find one, I have to go where the sun shines the brightest, where the wind is the sweetest, and the grass is the greenest. And I will gladly cross Teyvat for you, [Y/N].”

You were right. Green wasn’t your color. The rays of the sun, the life in the flowers, and the light in the day were your colors. You were yellow.

#albedo #albedo genshin impact #genshin #genshin impact #albedo x reader #writing #yellow

214 notes · View notes

fullmetalscullyy · 3 years

Text

royai week day 4 - communiqué

summary: roy has an announcement to make to everyone

rated: g | words: 2084 | tags: royai, post-canon, romance, marriage, marriage announcement, marriage of convenience, kinda? bc they just have~ to do it but it works out for them, basically royai using royai to further their agenda

read on ao3 | read on ffnet

“Good afternoon,” Roy greeted with confidence into the microphone atop the podium in front of him. Hundreds of pairs of eyes stared back expectantly, and while that should have been unnerving, his excitement at the upcoming announcement kept the feeling at bay. This communiqué had been a long time coming, crafted from years of subtle diversion, and playing a tactical game. Now, it was coming to fruition. It was all still part of their game, but Roy had a personal stake in this part of it too. It was still a win for both parties involved.

A huge personal win.

Up there, on the podium, he was completely exposed. While that was dangerous for someone like him with such high political standing, Roy trusted the eyes that were watching his back implicitly. He does not turn complacent, but is more than confident in their abilities. He trusts each and every one of his subordinates to ensure the day goes well and without incident.

“Today’s announcement,” Roy continued, “will hopefully put to rest any fears you may have had regarding me assuming the role of your leader. Fuhrer Grumman has led this country exceptionally well over the last five years but feels ready to step down. As you all know, I have been named his successor and will make a promise to you all now, this country’s citizens, that I will do my utmost to ensure I do my best by you.”

There was a pleased applause after he finished, accompanied by a quiet murmur.

He meant every word, but that was not the reason Roy had taken the stage that day.

“I would also like you to know that I’ve heard the rumours surrounding me,” he smirked, letting his gaze sweep across the crowd before him. Out the corner of his eye, he noticed how this had piqued the interest of those in the audience with the various media outlets. Their ears perked up at the mention of rumours, understandably. “I am aware of the public’s opinion on a bachelor like myself being given the title of Fuhrer. However, I have come here today to offer my reassurances.”

Some people in the crowd turn to one another, momentarily confused by what he’s saying. Roy smirked to himself, thinking of his own private joke before he opened his mouth to finally reveal to the world something he has wanted to for over two decades.

“As you can imagine, this will be a busy transition period for us, so I hope you will extend your respect, as well as privacy, to both myself and my new fiancé as we navigate this new chapter in our lives. I can assure you though, an official date for my upcoming wedding will be announced soon.”

It was like the crowd had frozen. A few jaws went slack, and mouths parted in shock as they processed the news faster than others.

“More news will come in due time. Thank you.”

With a simple bow of his head, Roy stepped back from the microphone and turned to look at the stunned officials up there with him. Breda and Havoc approached, nonplussed by the news, and started to escort him off the stage.

There was a split second where the world was completely still, as everyone was still processing what he’d just announced. Then, everything felt like it exploded. The crowd erupted into applause and cheers. Cameras flashed in desperation to capture the moment that Roy Mustang, the most eligible bachelor in Amestris and a well-known womaniser in his younger years, announced he was engaged, and his wedding would be announced soon.

Roy can hear some of the questions being yelled by the reporters.

“Who are you due to marry?”

“What’s her name?”

“General Mustang! When did this happen?”

He ignored them all, for all would be revealed in due time. It was enough for now that it had been announced. Roy never planned on revealing anything else other than that today anyway. He would have loved to. He can’t wait for the day he can finally give the order to give the announcement, but he must hold off. The mystery will drum up interest in their favour. It will draw eyes to them and get people talking. No other Fuhrer had caused quite as much a stir as he had, and Roy wasn’t even officially in office yet. He was popular and well liked among the masses. Not as much as the Fullmetal Alchemist, the alchemist of the people, but Roy’s work over the years had built up a perfectly crafted reputation for him. It played well into his plans.

A womaniser who announces he’s settling down with someone who is a complete mystery. It was interesting news. Especially for the imminent ruler of the country.

The public ate it up, desperate to know. Out the corner of his eye he could already see heads bowed together in excitement as they gossiped about the news while Roy walked off the stage.

He was led by his security team into a private room within the building behind them. Havoc gave him a quick nod in response to his order, reaching for the door handle and pulling it closed behind him. Breda was down the hall, already speaking into microphone after microphone in order to soothe public relations about the surprise announcement. Poor guy, but he did volunteer. Having Breda assure them, but give nothing away, would only cause more intrigue. If Roy went out there and spoke to them all, they’d never let him leave.

His shoulder slumped now he was away from prying eyes. Not with fatigue, but just to relax. The initial phase had finally started, and his plans were set in motion. While he did have a personal stake in this and was more than happy to go along with it, it could certainly be draining. But then again, nothing had ever been simple between them.

The door opened as he was pouring himself a glass of water. He reached for a second glass and smirked, not turning around because he knew who it was who’d entered. His order to Havoc was to permit only one person entrance to the room.

“Did you really have to do it so dramatically?”

There was a grin on his face as he turned on the spot, coming face to face with his fiancé. Well, according to the country, she was still his fiancé. Nobody, except from them and his team, was aware that they were already married, and had been so for a while. While touring Aerugo last month they’d taken a clandestine trip to one of the islands off the coast to the south. It was just the two of them, the team, and his mother in attendance. Gracia had made the trip, and so had Edward and Alphonse, along with their respective families. Everyone who mattered most to Roy was there to witness them come together as a couple.

Marriage was not the be all and end all for him and Riza. They already knew where they stood with each other and what their relationship was. They had done so for years, and the ring that nestled comfortably on the end of his dog tags proved that. The legal document was just a formality at this point and given his current position as leader of the country, it would be necessary. So, they’d compromised. A private, personal ceremony for them to do things their way, exchanging the rings they’d already given each other years ago. The grand wedding that was yet to come was for the masses, not for them. Once the official ceremony happened, he would move the ring onto his ring finger where it had always belonged and where he’d always wanted to wear it.

Riza’s lifted one eyebrow expectantly, awaiting his answer.

“They expect a show,” he shrugged, “so I’m going to give it to them.”

“So, our official wedding is just a show,” she deadpanned.

His expression softened at her light teasing. “Our official wedding has already happened,” he reminded her. “In case you had forgotten, we are already legally married.”

“I hadn’t,” she placated as she approached him, “but you need to stop talking about it so openly. You were the one who suggested keeping it a secret, and the walls have ears,” she replied cryptically. Once close enough, she brushed a piece of invisible lint off his immaculate uniform and his shoulder tingled where she’d ran her hand over it.

“Let them listen,” he shrugged again. Roy lifted a hand to rest upon her hip as he grasped one of hers, lifting them both to rest between their bodies. He bent his head forward and kissed the backs of her knuckles, a small, fond smile playing on his lips. “It doesn’t matter now that our news is out.”

“Part of the news is out,” she reminded him. “You were quite adamant about only revealing some of the truth so early on,” Riza smirked. “It will be a busy transition period for us, after all,” she quoted back to him with mock sympathy.

His eyes rolled fondly.

“So,” she continued, extracting her hand from his and taking a step backward to put some distance between them. Roy felt like a petulant child, pouting at her actions. “We must keep up pretences and give ourselves the time and space we need to adapt to our new circumstances and navigate through it.”

“You’re no fun,” he complained, his tone nearly a playful whine.

“I know, dear,” she replied, sounding like she didn’t particularly care he felt that way. Roy was only joking though, of course.

“How did it look from up there?”

Riza’s perch had been on the roof of the building behind him, on the lookout for anyone who may wish harm upon him, along with her own elite security team.

She snorted lightly. “I will admit, it was entertaining to see the looks on their faces.”

“They were very surprised,” he chuckled, pleased with himself.

“It’s never a dull moment with you.”

“I would hope not because you’re stuck with me now, fiancé,” he grinned.

“Unfortunately,” she deadpanned quietly. When he scowled at her, she laughed loudly, her smile reaching her eyes.

For a moment, Roy is enraptured by her beauty. Her grin lit up his whole world and the sound of her laughter pulled at the stings of his heart pleasantly.

He is married to this woman, he thought to himself, and still couldn’t quite believe it.

After so long… After so many years of ignoring feelings and holding back – or trying to – now he didn’t have to.

Although it was his plan to delay the information given, he really wished it wasn’t. He wanted to go back out there and tell everyone how much he loved and cherished this woman before him.

All in due time. And the pay off when that day finally comes will be so worth it.

They’ve both waited for so long. Roy could stick it out for a few more days. What was more important was holding this woman close and loving her so freely like he has always wanted, and Roy planned to do just that.

Riza smirked and didn’t shrug him off as Roy wrapped his arms tightly around her frame. He pulled her close and kissed her, trying to convey just how much he loved her with one kiss alone. She hummed against his lips pleasantly as her arms lifted to loop around his neck. One hand slowly, tantalisingly, trailed up the back of his neck, making him shudder. She noticed and grinned against him. When her nails scratched lightly against his scalp and Roy groaned, Riza’s smile widened. She knew exactly what she was doing to him. She could play him like a fiddle, but Roy didn’t mind at all. There’s no way he was going to stop her ministrations when they felt so good.

“I love you,” he breathed. His chest heaved with his breath and the words almost got stuck in his throat, both from the emotions overwhelming him and their passionate kiss.

“Love you too, Roy.” When she pulled away to look at him, Roy didn’t let her move far. Their noses were almost touching but he could see her expression soften. She looked so happy and content. So in love. Which was exactly how he felt too.

They both couldn’t wait to start this new chapter in their lives together.

#royaiweek21 #royai #royai fic #royai fanfic #royai oneshot #emma writes

42 notes · View notes

aph-english-rose · 3 years

Text

Office Talk

So I originally wrote this fic for usuk week but was completely swamped with work and missed it. I’ve decided that instead of leaving it completed but abandoned that I’ll post even though the event it was intended for has been and gone.

This was inspired by the 2021 usuk week prompt for day 1: Rumours!

Paring: USUK

Words: 2711

Summary: Arthur has been the centre of many rumours since taking on the role of personal assistant. However, the most recent rumour floating around the office appears to be based upon more than just gossip.

You can also read it on AO3 or on FF.Net

_____________________________________________________________

Arthur knew that something was off the moment he walked into the break room. Francis was lingering suspiciously beside the kettle in the corner, his lower back resting against the countertop. His fingertips were wrapped around an obnoxiously coloured reusable coffee cup, eyes staring off into the distance until he heard Arthur enter.

“Well, well, well… if it isn’t the man himself,” He remarked as Arthur approached him.

Naturally, Francis - being the irritating twit that he was – had positioned himself awkwardly in front of the kettle, the only thing Arthur needed to use in the entire breakroom. Francis never attempted to move out his way, watching in amusement as Arthur struggled around him. He barely even flinched when Arthur ‘accidentally’ elbowed him on the back of the head as he pulled out two reusable cups in monotone colours and set them on the counter.

“Are you planning to move at all?” Arthur huffed, a scowl forming on his face as he flicked the kettle to boil. Francis merely smirked at him from behind his coffee cup and took a loud slurp of his drink. Arthur felt his left eye twitch. Although he knew Francis was simply playing and meant no harm, the Frenchman knew full well what tiny little things made Arthur’s teeth grind. Knowing that Francis had no intentions of moving, Arthur worked around him, reaching across the counter for a tea bag and placing it in one of the cups along with two spoonsful of sugar. In the other, Arthur poured the perfect amount of coffee granules.

“You’re the talk of the office this morning you know.”

“Why? What have I done this time?” Arthur asked, squeezing himself into the tiny gap Francis had left for him where the corners of the countertops met. He mirrored Francis’ stance, his back leaning against the counter and his arms folded against his chest as the kettle whistled away behind him. They were unnecessarily close, their arms pressed against each other, but neither made the motion to shuffle up and make more space. If Francis wanted to play this game, then Arthur was happy to oblige. Besides, in a battle such as this both knew Arthur was the most stubborn and wouldn’t back down. Arthur knew that eventually Francis would lose interest. Luckily, being this close didn’t bring much discomfort. Arthur had known Francis since they were teenagers. They had grown up together and as a much as they enjoyed winding each other up, Arthur knew it was merely playful banter and that Francis genuinely cared about him.

“There is a rather juicy rumour floating around.”

“How lovely.”

“Even I am starting to wonder if it’s true and you know I’m not one for rumours.”

Arthur snorted a laugh, turning to make his drinks as soon as the kettle had come to boil. Arthur didn’t believe Francis for a single second. Francis was the biggest gossiper in the entire office. The only reason Arthur knew half the employees in the building was because of Francis and his inability to stay quiet. He thrived off the tales, bouncing from one person to another until he had heard all sides of story. Only then, when he had figured out the facts, did he pester Arthur with the information. Sometimes Arthur wondered if he was in the wrong career. Surely someone with such skills would make an impressive investigator.

“Of course not. Are you going to tell me this rumour or am I going to find out from Linda when she comes to clean up this evening?”

“Oh, I’ll tell you. I’m just not sure you’re going to like what you hear with this one.”

That made Arthur’s curiosity tingle. A rumour about him that he wouldn’t like? How interesting. Arthur had been the subject of many rumours during his time in the office, all of which were utterly ridiculous and contained no ounce of truth to them. The previous rumour that had involved Arthur claimed he were a vampire enslaved by his boss to carry out his orders. It was so absurd that he and Francis had cried laughing for hours to a point where Arthur was concerned that he would have to ring an ambulance.

However, this time, Francis appeared cautious. Had he already figured out the facts and concluded that Arthur would react negatively to such rumours floating around? It made Arthur’s thoughts race, sifting through his previous schedule for something out of the ordinary for such rumours to spark. Had he acted differently whilst on shift? Had someone caught him talking to himself? Surely not. Arthur’s one-way conversations were always contained to the privacy of his office or an empty elevator. The most that Arthur ever did whilst at work was go up and down in elevators for coffee breaks, answer the constantly ringing phone, book appointments and sift through thousands upon thousands of emails.

“I’m listening,” Arthur said as he finished making the drinks. Once again, he worked around Francis, returning everything to their rightful positions and throwing the spoon he had used into the sink to wash later. Once the coffee cup lids had been clicked into place, Arthur carefully gathered them into his hands. They were pleasantly warm, the reusable cups doing their job at holding in the heat so Arthur could carry them without fear of burning himself.

“Well,” Francis started as they left the break room together. “Gilbert told me, that Erzsébet told him, that she heard from Emma, that Michelle saw you down at that Italian place with the big boss last night.”

Arthur almost spat out the sip of tea he had taken. He spluttered as he struggled to swallow the hot liquid, glaring at Francis as he harshly pounded his back. When Arthur finally felt like he could breathe again, he jabbed an elbow into Francis’ side to stop him from hitting him again. He was cautiously aware of the way the boiling drinks his hands were sloshing around in their cups, waiting for the opportune moment to spill all over him.

Arthur out on a date? With their boss of all people? How ludicrous. Arthur desperately tried to prevent the heat rising to his cheeks, taking a steadying breath in an attempt to slow his quickening heart rate.

“How utterly ridiculous.”

“Were you?”

“Are you honestly asking me that?”

“You know as well as I that Michelle isn’t usually the type to start rumours.”

“Perhaps she’s turned over a new leaf.”

“You’re avoiding the question.”

Francis gave him a stern look that told Arthur he wouldn’t rest until his questions were answered. Looking down the hall ahead, Arthur saw the elevator and immediately his strides grew faster.

“Francis, I’m Alfred’s personal assistant. I am paid to follow him around, schedule his day and generally do as he asks. The only way I would voluntarily spend time with him outside of business hours were if the bloke were to pay me a hefty sum of money,” He explained, watching as Francis kindly pressed the elevator button for him.

“I had to ask!” Francis grinned, holding up the single hand that wasn’t holding his cup in innocence. The gentle ping of the elevator arriving on their floor sounded like music to Arthur’s ears, the doors opening slowly and revealing it to be empty. Arthur felt like he had been blessed. Drinks in hand, Arthur backed into the elevator and quirked a suspicious eyebrow at Francis who remained where he was.

“Of course you did. Oh, tell Gilbert, Erzsébet, Emma and Michelle to stop gossiping and get on with their work. Alfred doesn’t pay them to sit around and spread rumours about his assistant.”

“But gossiping is so fun!” Francis pouted, blue eyes watching as Arthur jabbed a finger into the elevator panel, signalling his exit. “It makes my day go faster. Plus, I’m not sure I believe you anyway. Your cheeks are red and you have your liar face on.”

“Goodbye Francis,” Arthur smirked, holding up one of the cups in a gesture of farewell as the doors began to close. He could see the way Francis narrowed his eyes at him, uncertain of the truth within the rumour.

As soon as the doors clinked closed and the elevator began to rise, Arthur let out a long sigh. What a morning it had been so far. The elevator took him up several floors uninterrupted. Arthur was thankful for the peace and quiet. When it arrived on the correct floor, the familiar ping sounded, and the doors opened slowly this time onto an extremely quiet floor of the building.

Arthur stepped out and made his way down the hallway ahead. Looking down at the carpet, he was surprised he hadn’t worn it out by the number of times he passed this way. He felt as if this route around the office was programmed into his brain.

Ever aware of the increasing warmth in his hands, Arthur passed by the door with his name etched into the silver plague and continued down the hall. At the very end stood a smart looking door, a golden plague shimmering on its front with the words ‘Alfred F Jones, CEO’ engraved into it.

Polite as ever, he stopped outside and tapped on the door with his elbow. When a quiet ‘come in’ came from inside, Arthur once again relied on his elbow to press down on the handle and open the door. It swung inwards into a large spacious room. The first thing that Arthur noticed was the view, one of the walls on the right made completely of floor to ceiling glass overlooking the bustling city below. On a clear day like today, it was easy to see off into the distance and spot the towering mountains littering the skyline.

“You took your time,” said a voice. Arthur rolled his eyes and closed the door with his foot, heading in the direction of the desk on the left of the room, situated opposite the breath-taking view.

The desk was long and neatly organised with all the essentials one would need to run a business smoothly. A fancy computer screen was angled on the desk as to not block the view and a neatly stapled booklet of paper that had once lay prominent on the desk was being shuffled into a brown file out of sight from wondering eyes. In front of the desk were two comfortable looking chairs, angled perfectly to face its centre and readily awaiting use when the next private meeting came around.

“I was harassed by a certain Frenchman,” Arthur replied, weaving around the chair, and handing one of the cups across the desk to its eagerly awaiting owner.

Alfred was slouched in the comforts of his desk chair. The collar of his dress shirt had been unbuttoned, his tied slackened to lay lazily against his chest and the jacket of his suit hung smartly across the back of his chair. He smiled as he leant forward and took the cup from Arthur, beautiful blue eyes seeming to sparkle at him from behind the silver frame of his glasses.

“Thanks,” he said before taking a long, clearly needed, gulp of his coffee. He hummed at the taste; eyeing Arthur as he set the cup onto a designated coaster. Arthur copied his movements, taking a quick drink of his still boiling hot tea before placing the cup on the other unoccupied coast beside Alfred’s. “What did he want?”

“To inform me of another delightful rumour.”

“Let me guess, you’re secretly a spy trying to infiltrate my company?” Alfred grinned, relaxing back into his chair with his hands resting behind his head. Arthur’s green eyes followed the way his shirt pulled taught, begging to be untucked from his waistband.

“Oh, I’m most definitely a spy,” Arthur smirked playfully, walking around the desk.

“I knew it!” Alfred laughed, pushing his chair back away from the desk and opening his arms in Arthur’s direction. The Brit took the invitation with no hesitation, walking straight to Alfred and perching comfortably in his lap. The CEO hoisted Arthur up, throwing his legs over the arms of the chair on one side. With one arm comfortably secured around Arthur’s back and the other settled across his waist, Alfred’s hands clasped together to engulf Arthur in his warm embrace.

“Apparently I was spotted down at Vargas’ place on a date with the big boss last night.”

“Oh, really?”

“Uh-hm.”

“And what did you say?” Alfred mumbled as he pressed his nose into the crook of Arthur’s neck. Arthur’s eyes instinctually fluttered closed as he felt Alfred’s lips caress his skin, trailing sweet kisses from the crook of his neck to the base of his ear.

“I said that the boss would have to pay me quite the sum of money if he wanted me to spend time with him outside of work.”

“How much we talking?”

Arthur turned his head to face Alfred when he pulled away. Their faces were mere inches apart, Alfred’s breath dancing across his skin. Alfred had his eyebrow quirked as if genuinely curious.

“Thousands, perhaps even millions.”

“Ah, well, I’ll gladly pay you millions in kisses,” Alfred whispered, pressing a gentle kiss to Arthur’s lips. Arthur found his arms reaching up to entangle themselves around Alfred’s neck, pulling him closer when the other tried to pull away. Arthur grumbled an incoherent grunt that sounded somewhere along the lines of ‘not yet’ before dragging Alfred back in for another, much longer kiss. Alfred’s arms held him tight, his hand coming to rest on Arthur’s hip and rub tingling circles through the fabric of his clothes.

“This is why you’re the centre of all these rumours,” Alfred whispered between kisses until Arthur was satisfied and pulled back.

“Shut up,” He huffed, turning his head so Alfred was left once again kissing the side of his head. “It’s not my fault. You’re just as clinging – if not more so when we are at work!”

“Hey, I’m the boss I can do what I like.”

“I know, that’s why you’re never the one covering off these bloody rumours.”

“Who started it?”

“Michelle apparently, although I’m not sure I believe that,” Arthur explained, looking over to the windows and admiring the view. Would Michelle really waste her time ensuring a rumour about him made its way around the office?

“Why not? She looks like the gossiping type.”

“I’m pretty sure Francis is onto us. In fact, I don’t believe there is a rumour at all. I think Francis just needed an excuse to ask me himself without doing so directly.”

Alfred laughed at that, nuzzling his nose affectionately against Arthur’s hair until he turned back around.

“Sounds like a Francis thing to do. To be honest, I did think I saw him last night.”

“What?!” Arthur’s eyebrows immediately fell into a default scowl, searching Alfred’s eyes for signs that he was lying. If Francis really had been there at the Vargas restaurant, then he knew for certain that everything Arthur had told him downstairs was a lie. Was he waiting for Arthur to come clean and tell him the truth personally?

“Hey, it was for a brief second! I just saw a flash of blond hair from behind a plant – it could have been anyone! Wait - where are you going?”

Before Alfred could even finish his sentence, Arthur was out the door. It took him a record amount of time to bypass the elevator, race down the stairs and hunt down Francis. Arthur had known him for long enough. He knew his games – he knew their games. On many occasions in their youth Arthur had been the one undercover, hiding behind the plant and spying on Francis to ensure his date was going well.

Sure enough, Francis was in his office. He was sat casually at his desk, a light glow cast across his features from the computer screen in front of him. Sat prominently on his desk was the same obnoxious cup from earlier. He seemed startled by Arthur’s sudden intrusion, locking his computer quickly.

Arthur said nothing, watching Francis squirm under his gaze as the office door clicked locked behind him.

“YOU SNEAKY, RUMOUR STARTING, NOSY TWAT!”

#Hetalia #APH #usuk #Fanfiction #APH Fanfiction #My Writing #APH America #APH England #APH France #Alfred F Jones #Arthur Kirkland #I hope yall enjoy reading it #am i nervous about this yes yes i am

17 notes · View notes

lilydalexf · 3 years

Photo

Old School X is a project interviewing X-Files fanfic authors who were posting fic during the original run of the show. New interviews are posted every Tuesday.

Interview with Tabula Rasa

Tabula Rasa has 8 stories at Gossamer, but there are even more X-Files fics at AO3 and her website. She writes Mulder and Scully in a very lovely way. I've recced 3 of my favorites of her fics here before: Bird in Snow, Fall: East on M St, and Skuamorph. Big thanks to Tabula Rasa for doing this interview.

Does it surprise you that people are still interested in reading your X-Files fanfics and others that were posted during the original run of the show (1993-2002)?

I'm always extremely pleasantly surprised to get kudos (or, very rarely, a comment) on my old fic, but I'm always happy to see it! I did post them all (I think) to AO3. I'm not surprised people are still reading fic, though. It's an iconic show and now with streaming, it's really easy to watch older shows and natural to want fic about them!

What do you think of when you think about your X-Files fandom experience? What did you take away from it?

XF was my first fandom, definitely my first online fandom, and so it will always have a special place in my heart. Also... I had a great time! I stumbled upon and joined the Scullyfic email list by accident, but it was the best thing I could have done. I learned a lot about how to be a writer and how to be in fandom, and those lessons are still important to me. Foundational. Also, in terms of modern fandom drama, XF was more low-key on the drama (although it didn't seem like it at the time!). But I learned something that's always served me well: find like-minded people, and hang out with them. Don't worry about the rest.

Also... you can't control the show, but you kind of can control the canon.

Because of Scully, I ended up taking a forensic anthropology class in university-- and now I have a Master's in a forensic science! Part of the Scully Effect, and proud of it!

Social media didn't really exist during the show's original run. How were you most involved with the X-Files online (atxc, message board, email mailing list, etc.)?

Definitely mostly email list! I never really got the hang of message boards. Posting fic was exhausting, and tbh I never figured out how to work Ephemeral. I checked it every day, though! I loved, after a new episode, everyone sending in their thoughts and reading everyone's experiences together. Fandom was a lot more work back then, tbh!

What did you take away from your experience with X-Files fic or with the fandom in general?

That fic can be just as good, or better, than traditionally published works. There are works of XF fic that have stuck with me for years now, far more than some books I've read. That fan writers can know the characters better than the show writers. The fandom in general was really smart, and mostly more adult than me (I joined fandom when I went away to college, so I always felt at the younger end of the scale. That was good though!).

Also, my first time reading and writing porn. Not gonna lie, I was shocked the first time I accidentally read smut. But I adjusted fast. lol

What was it that got you hooked on the X-Files as a show?

I was still a kid (now we would say preteen) when the show premiered- I think in middle school. But I was already into ghosts, aliens, monsters, solving mysteries, and I'd already imprinted on the dynamic thanks to Square One (really)! I was also just old enough to start developing celebrity crushes. Hilariously, I did not twig to the fact that I'm bisexual the entire time I was in XF fandom, despite having enormous crushes on BOTH Mulder and Scully. Ahhhh!

Also, my whole family was into the show, but I was definitely the one with the hyperfixation. I used to take notes and record the episodes as I watched. It just had the right stuff and hit at the right time. And I've always been obsessive.

What got you involved with X-Files fanfic?

As a kid I also really liked Star Trek, and someone had given my dad a book about the history of Star Trek, which I read. This included mentions of fandom and fanfic. As soon as I had a private-- and perhaps more importantly fast-- internet connection (in college), I went looking for XF fanfic, and that was that. Hooked immediately. Also I shipped them A LOT so that's what I went looking for.

What is your relationship like now to X-Files fandom?

I tend to not go back to a fandom once I have a new fandom, so I wouldn't say I'm in it. I did hang around the edges for the revival, of course, because I wanted to experience that with the same people, but since the revival was mostly not that great (with a few exceptions), I didn't get pulled back into it. But I still think of the people I knew in the fandom a lot, and always hope they're doing well.

Were you involved with any fandoms after the X-Files? If so, what was it like compared to X-Files?

I've never left fandom, and I've been in a BUNCH: Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Bandom, Supernatural, now CQL/The Untamed and other Chinese-media fandoms, with many smaller ones in between or on the side. I feel like at their core fandoms tend to be similar, although where you host the fandom makes a big difference: Livejournal, tumblr, twitter. I think that because fandoms now tend to be bigger and more diverse (which is good) there tends to be more wank (which is bad). In some of them I was close to a group of people, some of them not. Honestly the best thing is when someone you know from an old fandom is in your new fandom. It's so much fun. I have really good friends thanks to fandom, and I've had them for YEARS. Like. 15 years.

Who are some of your favorite fictional characters? Why?

I tend to focus more on ships than characters, but some of my all-time favs: Scully, Hermione, Sirius Black, Castiel, Lan Wangji, Xie Lian. That's just fandom-oriented ones, otherwise we'd be here all day. :D

Do you ever still watch The X-Files or think about Mulder and Scully?

I don't often rewatch episodes any more, although if I come across an ep on tv I might. I definitely still think about them though! For example, I'm a teacher now, and just a couple weeks ago one of my colleagues mentioned he'd heard the students saying they shipped two of their classmates, and he was like "Ship? I don't get it" and I was like "HOO BOY, do I have a story for you!" And I explained how shipping came from XF fandom, and why. That was fun. I definitely still think about Mulder and Scully too-- I mean, they're cultural touchstones, so they do come up sometimes in greater pop culture. Also, I was in Hannibal fandom for a while, and Gillian Anderson is still The Best.

Do you ever still read X-Files fic? Fic in another fandom?

I haven't read XF fic in years, even the ones I remember as being really significant/important to me. I still have my all-time favs saved on an external HD though! Fic in another fandom- every day lol.

Do you have any favorite X-Files fanfic stories or authors?

Blinded by White Light by DashaK has stuck with me. Mr. and Mrs. Smith and the Ruby-Throated Warbler by I forget I'm so sorry -- that's lasted as my ideal post-canon MSR and as an interesting and different way to tell a story. [Lilydale note: It’s by rah.] I was always thrilled to see fic by Brandon, JET, MaybeAmanda, Syntax6... and, frankly, everyone on the Scullyfic/ Emuse list. So many talented people in that fandom!

What is your favorite of your own fics, X-Files and/or otherwise?

Things Outside, which is the only thing I've ever written based on a dream, and I'm really satisfied with it. It was hard to write but so much fun to revel in the weirdness. I always kind of wanted to write more because I know a lot more about the situation, but otoh, I like the open, ambiguous ending (usually I am very HEA).

In other fandoms, King & Country in bandom (MCR) and in Supernatural I'm very proud of Hope and Clay. I struggle to write casefics even though I love to read them, but that one really worked out.

Do you think you'll ever write another X-Files story? Or dust off and post an oldie that for whatever reason never made it online?

I don't think I'll ever write something new. There is an old fic that may be done but it was smut so I was too shy to post it at the time. In theory if I find it and it's decent, I could post it!

Do you still write fic now? Or other creative work?

I do! I write fic very slowly, but I do write still! I have a million ideas for stories, but I'm so slow at the actual writing part.

Where do you get ideas for stories?

I usually take a jumping-off point from canon, or of course, something I need to fix or expand on. Or sometimes I start telling myself a story as I fall asleep and the idea grabs me long enough I can manage to write it.

What's the story behind your pen name?

I was getting into fandom and realized people didn't use their real names. I flipped through my history book looking for inspiration, and decided tabula rasa was a great name for a writer. I tend to add an X because it's rare to get "tabularasa" as a username, and the X is indeed for X-Files (so I'm something like tabulaxrasa most places). I usually go by Tabula Rasa or Tab, though. And I still use it because 1) it IS a great name for a writer; and 2) it's not fandom-specific so I can keep it in every fandom.

I identify with it so much I have answered to this name in class (oops). I have a "Tab" t-shirt (as in the soda, but I have worn it to Comic-Con for ease of ID-- better than a nametag!). And my mom got me a necklace with a "tab" typewriter key as a charm, which I adore. Yes, I have accidental merch of myself.

Do your friends and family know about your fic and, if so, what have been their reactions?

As you can tell from the above, my family knows (my family being my parents and sister). They are supportive! I think my mom read a couple stories? But obviously she has to know the fandom to get it... I got my sister into fic, and we even wrote a couple fics together (in Gundam Wing). She's a lot more selective about fandoms, but she's joined fandoms on her own, too. She's just not in one constantly, like me. :p

I tend not to tell not-online friends unless I have felt them out and know they're super fannish, or they bring it up first.

Is there a place online (tumblr, twitter, AO3, etc.) where people can find you and/or your stories now?

Most of my old fic is now on AO3 and I hang out on twitter a lot, @tabula_x_rasa

Is there anything else you'd like to share with fans of X-Files fic?

I'm really glad people are still in this fandom! It will always be so important to me. Thank you Lilydale, for this nostalgia trip!

(Posted by Lilydale on March 30, 2021)

#old school x #xfiles fanfic #xf fanfic #xf fanfic author interviews #tabula rosa

40 notes · View notes

piano958 · 3 years

Text

My first AO3 Post: Don't Leave Again (chapter 1, Narusasu/Sasunaru)

So I wrote this after being horribly sad and stuck in a hole. Decided to post it, and was pleasantly surprised by the number of people who wanted to read it!

This is the first chapter. There are nine chapters (currently) in total, please check it out if you like it!! Also yes, it is indeed a Naruto fic. I am not sorry, I am just now getting into Naruto :')

----------------------

Link to fic Content Warnings: Angst, Depression, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Self-Harm, Alcohol, Drunkenness

Summary: Sasuke has been gone for so long that almost everyone has given up on him and moved on, but for some reason, Naruto is still hung up on him. Speaking of Naruto, he is not doing well in the slightest. The man is depressed, anxious, and on the brink of giving up on life in general. When suddenly one day Sai appears at Naruto's door with information on Sasuke, things are about to be shaken up out of nowhere.

Notices: They’re adults but aged up. Kinda like if Naruto had started a little later than it did? I don't know how to exactly explain it, but they're adults (around like 21.) This takes place in an 'AU' where the ninja war was more of a general thing than part of the main story, and where Sasuke isn’t as fucking stupid. Also, a lot of these words were supposed to be italicized but I wrote this all on my phone so it didn't carry over; that's why the formatting is weird too. READ. THE. WARNINGS. Thanks.

----------------------

Chapter 1: A Collapse Rarely if ever did anyone see Naruto cry. He was always a positive person. Being on his own had taught him that nothing would get done by moping, and a smile made you far less of a target than crying did. He was quite used to the side eyes he received every day, though a majority of it changed from angry glances when he was a kid to regular ones now. Realizing that Naruto could, in fact, kill them and blow up the village easily but didn’t and instead fought for the village probably has sunk in a little bit.

It would’ve mattered a few years ago. It would’ve mattered to Naruto a lot that people didn’t see him as a monster anymore. His ultimate goal, becoming Hokage and proving his worth, didn’t matter for a second if he couldn’t save Sasuke.

Sasuke shouldn’t matter that much, and Naruto was fully aware of that. Even Sakura had given up, truly given up, on the fucking stupid black-haired ninja. And she had been absolutely head-over-heels for the man. Naruto, however, just couldn’t give up and he didn’t know why.

It was starting to get to him. Like, really really get to him, that he couldn’t shake Sasuke. The team had previously discussed the possibility of killing the ninja should he ever become hostile and Naruto absolutely did not take the conversation well. He was no stranger to panic attacks, but no one else was aware of that and they almost had a meltdown watching the smiley, bubbly boy crumble. He wished they didn’t see that. They check on him far too often now and look at him questioningly when he does anything but smile.

He still hadn’t let them see him cry. No one would get that pleasure.

The dining table Naruto sat at felt cold. It felt empty. Naruto didn’t eat very often anymore. He still adored ramen; no one could take that love away from him. He didn’t buy any now, though, and instead only got some when he knew people suspected something was up and he wanted to keep face.

Cold. Empty. It genuinely didn’t bother him most of his life, and he enjoyed having space to himself, but tonight was one of those nights.

Some years ago Naruto learned something pretty awful: he healed super fast. The fox inside of him gave such a huge boost to his chakra that any wounds he received would heal pretty much overnight. This made him sort of reckless as a ninja, and a fun puzzle for the doctors at the Leaf hospital.

How could that possibly be awful? Well, Naruto had learned a very common form of coping: self-harm. As a ninja, you’re surrounded by knives and blades all day every day. You practically carry a dozen everywhere you go. Pair that, Naruto’s incredible healing speed, a young human whose life is seemingly falling apart at every turn, and you have a recipe for disaster. Sometimes, it’s literally the only thing that kept him alive other than being a disgrace.

Being treated like a monster, losing the only thing he ever considered to be a friend and facing the idea of killing him, losing his teacher, being alone, feeling so absolutely terribly hopeless… Naruto was stuck in a hole. He couldn’t see a way out of it. Sasuke wasn’t coming back any time soon, and he could never accept his life’s goal without him. He’d rather die with Sasuke than kill him. In fact, even if Sasuke came back there was still something eating at Naruto… something to do with him and Sakura… something to do with Naruto never being okay. He couldn’t figure it out, and it was eating at him like a heaven curse. Even if Sasuke was back, Naruto would still be a monster and would still have nothing. Sasuke hadn’t ever cared about Naruto’s attempts to bring him home, and even though Naruto would chase him till the end of time… well… it didn’t matter. Naruto didn’t matter. He was nothing but a burden and a tool, happy to give his power to the village, but in the end, he knew whatever this was that was eating at him would never allow him to become Hokage.

He trudged off to the bathroom and turned on the shower. He sat at the bottom of it, cleaning himself vaguely and staring mostly, eyeing the knife he kept in there. Did it really matter that he did this? If he healed overnight, no one would ever know, and for the times it was too deep some bandages and an extra few days were all he needed. He couldn’t hurt anyone else if they didn’t know, and there was no other thread than this one tethering him to the earth. This was, quite frankly to Naruto, the only thing he had control over.

Kurama wasn’t happy about what he was doing, but Naruto didn’t listen. The fox would heal him regardless. He felt what would be the angry stomping if the fox was in front of him in his chest, demanding him to stop because even it knew when enough was enough, but Naruto didn’t listen. He continued on and on until the last thing he was red. It was fine, he’d wake up anyway. Nothing mattered, not even his own life.

Except… this time he didn’t quite make it to red. A knock sounded on the door. Normally Naruto would ignore it, as it was probably just Sakura or Sensei checking on him, but the knocking grew frantic. Naruto groaned, picked himself up, and bandaged his arms the same way he always did when he awoke, and yelled, “Coming, just give me a minute!”

The knocking stopped suddenly, and Naruto rolled his eyes as he took his time. No one could know, after all. He approached the door mentally preparing himself to act happy.

When he opened the door, a black-haired someone collapsed into his arms, coughing blood. It wasn’t Sasuke.

8 notes · View notes

dancer-me · 3 years

Text

Fic Writer Questions

@hopeintheashes tagged me (that was pleasantly surprising, so YAY) as well as anyone who wants to play (so if you want do - just do it!!!) 1) How many works do you have on AO3?

I have nine!

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

106,461! I broke 100,000 on AO3 and didn't notice =O

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

For posted fanfiction, I have written for 5 fandoms at this point. Naruto (this was my early days, around 2007 to 2015, with pretty huge gaps inbetwen), Merlin (oops), High Seas (just the one small fic because Netflix had me angsting hard enough to break my hiatus), and of course 9-1-1 and 9-1-1 Lone Star!

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. Express to Nowhere (911 / 911 Lone Star) 2. Giving up Ground (911 / 911 Lone Star) 3. Quarter Life Crisis (911) 4. Pull me Under (911) 5. Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You (911)

5) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I hesitate to say this about a WIP but I'm pretty sure it's going to be Giving up Ground when it's done. Not that it's going to have a sad ending, but that it's part of a continuous series and I already have the next part planned out and partially started (titled "Overdrawn" for anyone interested) so it will leave things feeling hopeful but open-ended, which can be construed as angsty. But really, all my other stories, while they have angst for the most part, have happy endings because I'm a sucker for it. Chaotic Energy is slow burning itself to the happiest of endings.

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Hmm... I think it's Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You! This story was just such a fun blast of drama, hijinks, and hilarity, with our two leads getting their love story at the end of it all :) All my completed works have very happy endings, but this one resonates because there really wasn't any angst at all in the whole thing. Just good fun!

7) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

The only cross-over I have ever written or been compelled to write in my life has been with 9-1-1 and 9-1-1: Lone Star, and that's my Chaotic Energy series. I don't know if it's "crazy", though it's turning out to be crazy long, since my original plan for it was 5 separate one-shots and Captain, that ship has long since sailed. We're deep at sea now, SOS. I love what it's become, though, and I hope everyone who reads it is enjoying the journey :)

8) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Weeeeeeeeell. Here's the thing. I wrote m/f smut back in the day, on ff.net and carried my one shots over to AO3 when I made the move. I'm talking way back in the day - those two "E" stories are dated 2015 but I actually originally posted them in 2011 - TEN years ago!! I haven't written smut since (I'm not counting TK and Carlos getting frisky in chapter 2 of Giving up Ground). It's not that I wouldn't, but that I haven't been inspired and with time somehow I have also become ragingly self-conscious over whether I could still do a good job. My smut has always been emotion based though, as I've never been able to truly go PWP. That said, I'm actively open to and considering some m/m smut for my current fandom. Fingers crossed I don't embarrass myself.

9) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I do on all my recent work on AO3 (basically my 9-1-1 and lone star fics that I've written since coming out of hiatus).

10) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not on any of my AO3 work, though I have received hate on my much older work on ff.net to varying degrees of reasonability. So far the AO3 community has been very kind to me! I’ll get some comments where I think readers had hoped I’d go in a different direction, but nothing has ever been too much.

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of! Imitation is the greatest form of flattery but also no, stop, don’t do that.

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, actually! I wrote my first ever published fic for Naruto called “Stand Alone” back between 2007 and 2011 (took a couple years off in the middle there to, you know, finish high school…) that someone asked me if they could translate into Russian. At the time I thought that was super cool, and it still is, but now I look back at that story and I think oof, now we can cringe at it in multiple languages. (more on that later)

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

No, but I’m not opposed to it! I’ve seen some excellent fic partnerships and it’s so great seeing writers leverage the creativity and talents of their friends and peers.

14) What’s your all time favorite ship?

Y’know, before 9-1-1, it was Merlin x Arthur, but Buck x Eddie have 110% of my heart and attention now.

15) What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

On the topic of Merlin… I started writing “The Quest for the Knife” back in 2015 at the peak of my Merlin fixation after painstakingly planning it out. I have pages upon pages of outlines and notes for a 14 chapter adventure… somewhere. I found a piece of it like an archeological dig when I was moving this pandemic season, but the rest seems lost to time. I’m sad because I had gotten so excited about it and loved my first two chapters, but I don’t think I’ll ever finish it. I might take it down so I can stop wallowing in guilt.

16) What are your writing strengths?

I like to think I write good action / adventure scenes and plot lines, because I love painting vivid pictures of what I see playing out in my head whenever I think through my stories. I like to incorporate subtle (and not so subtle) humour as well in my work, which is born from my very active internal narrator voice as I go through my day-to-day and try to find the humour in everything. I also like to make outlines before all my bigger stories too, which ‘usually’ means I avoid cringey plot holes and can make some fun connections.

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

*looks at the camera very seriously* writing convincing smut. Well, that, and the kind of emotional, flirty love and fluff that I love devouring in fics. I don’t think I do nearly as good a job there. Get in a character’s head and angst them up? Sure. Wax poetic in a convincing and not jarring way about how much Character A is in love with Character B without making it seem like it was a bit too much of a leap? Debatable.

Also… I tend to require my readers to suspend a lot of disbelief to enjoy my fics with elements of adventure, because I tend to do exactly 5 minutes of Google research for something before I decide I’ve had enough and go ahead.

18) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Here we revisit the cringe of “Stand Alone,” where I tried in the first half (the 2007 portion) to incorporate Japanese since I watched the anime in Japanese and felt this was the best way to try and have the character’s voices come off the page. It… is really just a big ol’ cringe, because I didn’t know the language, and I definitely didn’t use suffixes right at ALL. So… I tend to avoid it personally because I don’t want to cringe at how wrong my use of other languages is.

But if it fits you, your story, fits your character, and you know the language confidently enough to not embarrass yourself? You do you *carefully side steps around discourse and leaves the room*

19) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Naruto!

20) What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I think it has to be “Express to Nowhere” these days. It was wanting to write that fic that pulled me out of hiatus and helped me find joy in writing and sharing my work again, and I have nothing but love for it and how it turned out.

Holy Cow I was warned that this level of introspection was going to take a minute but whew this was a good chunk of time. Fun to do and think about though!

Tagging: @221bsunsettowers, @onelonelytortillachip, @blueeyedbuckley and anyone who sees this and thinks, "hey, I have an answer for these questions." Because I am madly curious and would love to see your take!

#danswers #fic writer game #she's a long boi

10 notes · View notes

logically-asexual · 3 years

Text

I want to give you your grin

this was written for the prompt Crook/Aftermath of loceitweek2021, so the last chapter will be posted on monday ♡

summary:

After Thomas chose to go to the wedding, Janus has a lot of work for his plans to work out, and that includes getting Logic on his side. Logan currently is constantly being left out. He is trying too hard (and failing) to make himself fit in with the others, so he will try anything to feel useful.

Janus decides to take advantage of this (and Logan's denied feelings for him) to get away with his scheme, but what neither of them expect is actually falling for each other in the process.

warnings: emotional manipulation, Logan is very insecure. let me know if i should add more.

Read on AO3

Chapter 2

| Previous | | Next |

words: 2169

The following day, Logan was called to a conversation Thomas was having with Patton. They quickly explained to him that Terrence was going to be in town this weekend, since he had some unexpected time off, and he really wanted Thomas to go help him with a project. However, Thomas had agreed with Logan before that he would use his free time this week to catch up with revising a script the team needed on Monday, and to make a meal plan for the following week so Thomas could practice his cooking and avoid ordering takeout every single day.

Logan was surprised that they wanted to hear his opinion before making a decision, so he made an effort to come up with a fair solution for everyone.

Thomas could meet Terrence on Saturday. He would need the entire morning to get ready, probably, since usually several hours are required for Thomas to motivate himself to go outside, and he would also need time to recover his energy afterwards. So the entire day would be out of the question for work. That meant he could look for recipes and make a simple plan on Friday after work, go buy the necessary ingredients on Sunday morning, and revise the script the rest of the day.

“Well,” Logan started, before being interrupted by Deceit appearing next to him.

“You’re going to tell Terrence that you two can hang out for a couple hours but you’re otherwise occupied and do not have the energy for anything else.” He said with determination.

Patton started to protest but Deceit interrupted again.

“What? I thought you were the one so keen on “keeping one’s word” and “not going back on your commitment”?” He said, with a hint of disgust as he put air-quotes around Patton’s words. “Or are other people more important than the promise you made to our friend Logan, here?”

Everyone was looking at Logan now. Patton began stuttering, maybe wanting to apologize, so Logan tried to reassure him before the conversation got more complicated.

“I don’t mind, actually. I was going to propose an alternative that would free our schedule for Saturday so Thomas could meet Terrence for however long he finds it necessary.”

“Oh, right, because he is so full of energy these days to work on his own job, his personal life and doing other people’s work for them in his free time.” Deceit replied, sarcastically.

“Hey, he doesn’t want me to do his work for him!” Thomas objected. “He just said he needed help with something.”

“Yes, sure, he is definitely only here in town by chance and not making excuses to take advantage of the fact that you don’t seem to have the word “No” in your vocabulary. Logan agrees with me, don’t you?” Deceit turned to him with a raised eyebrow.

Logan had to look down to avoid everyone’s intense gazes on him. “I... well... Thomas does know that word, it’s actually one of the first words he learned as-”

“You’re avoiding the question.” Deceit was clearly irritated, and Logan couldn’t endure his disapproval for some reason, but agreeing with him would upset Patton and that would be counterproductive, as well. Thomas needed a decisive Side to come to an agreement, he needed Logan to have an answer for him, but what answer did he want? Maybe they should just skip the meal plan and try again next week, or-

“Logan, are you okay?” Patton’s voice was gentle.

Of course Logan was okay. This is his job. He was just struggling slightly to keep his breathing steady. “I- I’m sure I can come up with some arrangement, if you give me time. Maybe if- We could try asking first what is it Terrence needs and decide depending on-”

“Oh how sweet,” Deceit drawled, narrowing his eyes. “And I can tell Morality would be just thrilled to let Terrence know that Thomas’ support for him is conditional.”

Patton seemed conflicted by the accusation, but didn’t deny it. He looked expectantly at Logan, as if pleading for his support, but Logan was at a loss.

“Logan,” Thomas chimed in, “it’s okay, I don’t have to make a decision yet. I haven’t opened the text and I can call him later.”

But Logan knew taking longer to think would only prolong those judgemental looks in both Morality’s and Deceit’s eyes, and he couldn’t take it any more. His face was starting to hurt from the clenching of his jaw.

Still not looking anyone in the eye, he muttered “No, Thomas. You should do as Deceit said. He’s right, you’re going to be tired next week and won’t work properly if you don’t take time to rest and get adequate nourishment.” He didn’t look up, but he knew Patton well enough to imagine the defeated frown on his face. Still, he was used to it, and it was more bearable than whatever sensation Deceit’s disfavor was making him feel.

Janus smirked, proud that his plan had worked. Now he just had to finish convincing Logan that this was the correct decision and soon he’d have him wrapped around his finger. He was pleasantly surprised by how easy it had been, but it was true that Logan has had to put up with the other’s neglect far too long, he only needed a little push in the right direction.

“Okay fine.” Thomas said, cutting the awkward atmosphere that had just been created. “I am going to tell him that I’m a little busy but we should meet to hang out and maybe play video games and he will probably get the hint and not insist on the thing he wants me to do?”

Patton smiled widely at him and nodded. “Yeah! I’m sure he’ll understand and no feelings will get hurt in the process! And Logan said we could still free Saturday so you can use the extra time after returning from Terrence’s to relax.”

“Yes, perfect!” Thomas exclaimed with the same excitement. “Thank you, all. I’ll go text him back now.”

Janus groaned silently. Baby steps, he repeated mentally, getting Logan was the focus right now. Logan looked up at him shyly, and Janus couldn’t help but smile at the sight. Logan blushed slightly and turned away, and Janus’ expression turned sharp and smug again.

A moment later, everyone was back in their rooms.

Logan evaluated once more the day’s lessons. It didn’t go as bad as he had expected, he could finally take note of positive results, he just had to make sure he knew the right causes of this success.

What went differently today than all his previous attempts? Other times he has come up with new arrangements so whatever Patton, Roman or Virgil’s new proposals can be taken into action without interfering too much with his previous plans, and they seem to accept it in the end but still become upset with him, or not acknowledge his efforts at all. This time, Deceit seemed happy with Logan’s final decision. He would never act based on emotions, but the way Deceit looked at him after sharing his opinion felt... right, somehow. Like he wasn’t alone, and the sides of the debate were more balanced.

Of course, this was only a hypothesis, other factors could have influenced this discussion greatly and Logan would have to continue verifying his theory. He wouldn’t dare openly contradict Deceit, however; the distress caused by Deceit’s contempt wasn’t something he was looking forward to experiencing again. But he could try agreeing with him on occasion, and test if it helped Thomas find more satisfying conclusions.

Now he just had to make sure Thomas finished his work on Friday, and postpone the meal plan for Sunday, instead, just in case things went well and Thomas saved enough energy.

✩ ✩ ✩

Thomas, as he normally does, strained himself more than he was asked to, and two days were required for him to feel satisfied with the work he had done for his friend. Luckily, Logan made sure Thomas finished his more important task with the script on Friday. The rest of the week Logan just had to verify that the food Thomas ordered wasn’t too unhealthy or expensive, and the following weekend he was able to buy fresh ingredients to do some actual cooking.

As days passed, Logan was faced with more decisions to make. He should be able to ponder and reach conclusions without problem, but he found himself constantly... distracted. Thomas’ inconsistent diet and sleep schedule was probably impairing Logic, although he noted that the distractions most of the time came from the selfish Side that was joining their discussions more and more often.

Perhaps the strong feelings Patton, Roman and Virgil had against Deceit were affecting Thomas and, by extension, also Logan. That could explain why he was alert to every action the other made; it must be Thomas’ feelings because Logan didn’t have feelings, let alone have any strong emotions for Deceit for him to perturb his work like this.

However, solving this problem wasn’t in Logan’s control. Dealing with feelings was not his department, and the conflict the others had with Deceit was something they would have to fix on their own. In the meantime, Logan just had to adjust.

Adjusting was easy, honestly. As the Side that represents logical thinking, he was used to constantly adapting to his surroundings. He just had to keep Thomas focused and under control until the day of the wedding. After that, Patton could take over and deal with his emotional conflict.

One of the tasks in Logic’s to-do list was getting a gift for the bride and groom. Logan thought a household appliance would be suitable since Mary Lee and Lee would be moving in together, but he had to argue with Roman at the mall, since he wanted to go overboard and spend more money than Thomas should. Deceit joined them to suggest they buy something as cheap as possible, and then use the rest of the money Thomas brought to get himself something. When Logan agreed that Thomas could use new kitchen supplies, since he would be cooking more often, Deceit smiled at him.

After that, it didn’t take long to compromise, and they agreed on getting a detailedly decorated memory box, for the pair to save items as souvenirs of significant events, or so Roman explained. It was significantly less expensive than anything Logan had in mind, and they all thought the sentimentality made it a more adequate gift. When Logan made a comment about how sappy feelings finally had a use, Deceit laughed.

Later, Deceit led them to other stores, to find something for Thomas to buy with the rest of the budget. He suggested an elegant set of wine glasses, and Logan couldn’t argue the fact that they counted as kitchen supplies. Once they made the transaction and walked back out of the mall, Deceit held Logan’s hand, and offered him to test together the wine they bought to match with the glasses set.

Logan agreed, of course. It had been a long day.

As days passed, Logic’s list of tasks was being smoothly completed. Deceit came up with suggestions that made the others angry or upset at the beginning, but Logan found merit in them, and since there were now two of them, it became easier to convince the rest. Or if the opposite situation occurred, Logan wasn’t as affected by it, because at least it was the two of them losing or being shut down, unlike most of the time, when he was on his own.

He found that even if Deceit’s ideas weren’t what he usually would support, it was easier to endorse them. The arguments ended sooner, and Thomas reached clearer conclusions, either strongly in favor or (the more common case) strongly against Logan and Deceit’s position.

Furthermore, Logan found Deceit’s approving gestures motivated him, and made work more pleasant. He wasn’t used to physical touch, but he didn’t have to worry about initiating any, because Deceit would pat his shoulder or hold his hand when they advocated for each other. Deceit smirking at him made him involuntarily smile back. He didn’t know why this happened, but he knew smiling sent signals to the brain to boost one’s mood, similarly as with the other affectionate expressions, therefore, he wouldn't complain.

One time, Virgil was particularly irritated about Thomas’ decision to go alone to the event, and intended to take it out on Logan for prioritizing other things over finding a partner. Deceit stood between both of them, and confronted Anxiety about his constant indecision.

At that moment, Janus was facing Virgil, but he could notice in the corner of his eye how Logan blushed at the protective gesture. He was able to swiftly calm Virgil down, but was slightly distracted by the feeling of heat on his own face, the image of Logan’s flustered expression not leaving his mind. He was definitely pleased with the progress he had made.

| Previous | | Next |

#logan sanders #janus sanders #loceit #sanders sides #deceit sanders #logic sanders #loceitweek2021 #ts #i want to give you your grin

12 notes · View notes

mage-ellie · 4 years

Text

The Yearly Halloween Ball

Wrote this really quick while taking a small break from my akechi x fem!reader book yesterday! I wanted to do something Halloween themed since Halloween is approaching :D The 4th chapter of my book with either be posted later tonight or tomorrow :)

Link to original post on AO3: Click me!

Link to the book i’m writing if you’re interested: Click me!

Word count: 2,512

Warnings: Fluff, slight angst because akechi is an edgy boy, slight spoilers

Summary: Akechi never took an interest when it came to the events held at his school, but this year was a little different.

Every year on October 31st, the high school Akechi attended would hold a Halloween Ball. Each year had a different theme. For example, last year, the theme was 'murder mystery' and the year before that was 'graveyard'. This year, however, the student council president decided to go with a different route. This year's theme was 'masquerade'. The students were encouraged to wear their costume of choice, but you must wear some sort of face covering, whether it be a werewolf head or a simple mask. "Get creative!" The student council president had said when he announced this years theme.

The young detective was never a fan of school events, simply because he would be hounded by the student body and his fangirls, but this piqued his interest. An event where nobody would know who he was? He had been working hard these past few weeks, so he thought it wouldn't hurt to attend and have a bit of fun. He'd have to make sure his mask covered enough of his face though.

Of course, Akechi would dress up like the prince he had always dreamed of being. He picked out his best white suit and a deep blue undershirt. He also draped a white cape, embroidered with a light blue thread, that reached his hips over his shoulders. His dress shoes were a polished white and his gloves were the color of freshly fallen snow. The blue masquerade mask he had chosen was nothing fancy. It covered the upper half of his face, as well as the right side of his face. Perfect. Lastly, he tied his hair up into a ponytail that sat low on his head.

The Prince wasn't expecting much from this dance. Perhaps he would dance with a few girls, maybe he'd even get the chance to dance with you, though, he tried not to get his hopes up. He had overheard you talking about going to a Halloween party with your friends during class the other day. You didn't seem all that interested in the ball, but there's always the chance that you'd change your mind. Akechi never believed that he deserved to be around someone as pure as you. He was afraid that he might taint you, but tonight he was feeling selfish. If he got the chance to dance with you, he'd never indulge in his desires again.

Akechi decided to take a taxi to his school where the ball was being held. He didn't want to chance having his costume ruined by someone on the subways. Despite his identity being hidden, he still wanted to look good.

Upon entering the large building where the dance was to take place, he raked his eyes over the mass of bodies already dancing, silently hoping that he'd spot your form amongst the crowd. Although, he had no idea what you would be wearing, even if you were here.

He descended the flight of stairs that led to the party area. For a moment, he thought he had made a mistake by coming here. Many of the students turned and looked at him, whispering to each other, questioning his identity. He even heard his name said a few times. However, no one approached him, which he was grateful for.

The song currently playing was somewhat fast. The slower songs wouldn't be played until the end of the night. The celebrity had time to prepare himself for the dances that he was bound to be asked to participate in.

Akechi made a slow lap around the building, almost hoping that he'd see you. It seems as though the cruel fate he had been given wouldn't allow him to see you tonight. This was nothing new to him, yet he couldn't stop himself from feeling disappointed.

Or maybe not. A sudden eruption of whispers erupted from the crowd, all of them talking about the mysterious princess in red.

Akechi allowed his eyes to wander to the stairs which led to the entrance. His breath caught in his throat and his cheeks flushed. The beating of his heart increased until it felt like it would burst out of his chest. A strange, yet warm sensation flowed through his body. For a moment, it felt like a soft pair of hands were cradling his shattered, broken heart, holding it together and taking away his pain.

The lovestruck man recognized you immediately. The flowing length of your hair. The graceful way you moved, as if you were floating across the ground. Your soft, slightly flushed skin. The kind and shy smile that sat on your perfect lips. You were wearing a scarlet, off the shoulder dress. Your sleeves were lace and the silky material around your stomach mimicked the look of a corset, which accentuated your beautiful body. The same silky material draped above your knees in the front and reached your ankles in the back in ruffle-like waves. The dress you had chosen had black accents on the corset and ruffles. The mask you had chosen was midnight black and covered the upper half of your face. A single, long iridescent black feather sat on the left side of your mask and flowed like a wave behind you as you walked. The color of your high heels matched the color of your mask. A small, silver tiara sat perfectly on the top of your head.

You looked absolutely enchanting. Akechi was finding it difficult to look away from you, although, from the corner of his eyes, he noticed the boy who held your hand. One of the boys in your friend group was your date.

He wouldn't let that get him down though. You were here. Even if he didn't get the chance to dance with you, Akechi thought that maybe, you'd look his way while he danced, or notice him standing by himself by the punch bowl.

You vanished from his view into the sea of people just as quickly as you had appeared. Perhaps he'd make his way around the building one more time, to get a glimpse of you in that dress once more.

The dance was planned to go on for two hours, and an hour and a half had already passed. Akechi hadn't seen you since you came in. He wondered if you had left already. It was about time that he got going as well. People were beginning to recognize him.

As he made his way to the entrance, he noticed your date, who was dancing with another girl. Akechi's blood boiled. The Ace Detective couldn't believe that your date would be stupid enough to dance with another girl, when you were the perfect partner. He made a mental note to find out the name of your date when he had the time.

However, when he made his way outside, the sight before him took his breath away. There you were, only a few yards from the door, rubbing your arms from the cold while looking up at the night sky. If Akechi didn't know any better, he would've thought that you were a Goddess.

Without a second thought, Akechi removed his princely white coat and walked towards you, gently placing it over your shoulders. He watched you flinch, a soft gasp coming from your mouth as you swiftly turned towards him.

"My apologies, Princess. I didn't mean to frighten you, but you looked cold." He spoke in a calm voice, hoping that you wouldn't run away. Akechi was pleasantly surprised as he watched your lips tip upwards as you slid your arms through the sleeves of his coat. It was a bit big on you, yet, he found you absolutely adorable.

"Thank you, dear Prince. I didn't think I would be waiting out here this long for my ride." Your voice was soft and light, as if your date hadn't ditched you for another girl. Akechi's heart fluttered as you called him a prince. The gentle hands that were once cradling his heart, now had a tight grip, like they would never let go. They would hold his heart until it had mended.

"I hope I'm not intruding when I ask this, but are you alright? I noticed your date was dancing with another girl when I was leaving." Akechi did his best to hide the anger he was feeling. He would never do something like that to you. You deserved to be cherished.

What he wasn't expecting was the airy giggle that came from your throat. Your dainty hand hovered over your mouth as you laughed, the sleeve of his coat covering your hand slightly. "Don't worry about that. That's the whole reason I came here in the first place. My friend heard that his crush would be attending the dance and he didn't want to go alone, so I accompanied him. I'm so happy that he got the chance to dance with her. Although, I am a bit disappointed that I didn't get to dance at all. We spent most of the night trying to find her."

Akechi couldn't hide the surprise that colored his face. You were too kind. He definitely didn't deserve to do something as intimate as slow dance with you. One touch and he'd ruin you. However, his selfishness won over when he heard a new slow song begin. The music was muffled by the walls of the school building, yet it was still audible from where the two of you were standing.

"Well, since you're waiting for your ride, may I have this dance?" Akechi extended his arm, holding out his hand for you to take. He relished in the way your face lit up, a bright smile curling its way up your cheeks.

He cursed himself for wearing gloves, but when he felt the warmth of your hand seep through the fabric, his mind went blank. It was like his body was moving on its own. Your right hand was in his left and your left hand was resting on his shoulder. He gently let his right hand take a hold of your waist. Akechi almost melted when you stepped closer to him, the heat of your body pressing against his.

Slowly, the two of you started swaying to the beat of the song. Akechi couldn't hope to match the serene movement of your body as you danced. He was completely and utterly entranced by your beauty in the moon light. He knew he had to savor this moment for as long as possible. Who knew when your friends would show up to take you away from him?

Akechi had been so engrossed in everything that you were doing, that he didn't even notice the song had stopped playing and a new one was starting. Either you didn't notice, or you chose to ignore it. In that moment, it was only him and you, swaying and twirling around the courtyard.

The Prince contemplated what he wanted to do for a moment. There was a chance that you'd pull away from him and yell at him for being a creep, but maybe, just maybe, you'd let him do it. He wanted to take that chance, so he twirled you around, but before you could fully turn back towards him, he pulled you into his chest. Your back was pressed up against his body, his arms wrapped gently around your waist. Akechi's heart nearly stopped when you tensed, but relief washed over him when you relaxed into him.

This time, he didn't stop himself from melting into you as your fingers slid up and down his hands. The fleeting warmth of your touches pulled at his heartstrings. You were so gentle, so delicate. A monster like him would only break you. And yet, the detective couldn't stop himself from leaning his head against yours as you continued your rhythmic swaying. Reveling in the warmth your body brought to his cold, aching soul.

If he could, he would rewind time over and over again, just to reexperience this moment. The young man holding you closed his eyes and focused on the way your body fit with his. It was like you were made for him.

He wondered if you could feel just how fast his heart was beating from this position. He wouldn't be surprised. He could feel his own heartbeat in every part of his body. It echoed in his ears and pulsed in the tips of his toes. If only you knew what you did to him.

Akechi wasn't quite sure how long he had been holding you. It felt like it had only been a few minutes, but also a lifetime. He only began to question the amount of time you had been together when you shifted in his arms slightly.

Disappointment filled his veins as he loosened his grip on you, preparing to let you go, only to be surprised when you turned around in his arms and wrapped your arms around his neck. He felt the light weight of your head resting against his shoulder. The tip of your black mask pressed into his neck. The detective could feel your warm, even breaths fan across his skin as you relaxed into him

He moved his arms around you slightly. His right arm was hooked around your waist and his left arm held your upper back, keeping you pressed against him in a hug of sorts. Akechi had never felt this kind of affection before. He mentally scolded himself for wanting more. He didn't deserve it. He didn't deserve this. He didn't deserve you.

Sadly, his night had to come to an end. The loud honking of a car caught your attention and you pulled away from him to look at the car that made the sound.

"Ah. That's my ride." Your voice was like a melody to him. He would listen to you speak forever if he could.

The young prince watched as you removed his coat from your body and delicately placed it in his hands. "Thank you so much for the dance Akec- I mean, Prince." You looked away quickly as you caught yourself. A smile crawled onto Akechi's lips as he looked down at you, heart full of an emotion he couldn't quite name. You had known it was him, yet you still danced with him.

"Of course. Until next time, Princess." He spoke as he boldly took a step towards you and kissed the part of your mask that covered your forehead, watching your reaction carefully. The excitement in his body increased as he watched your cheeks flush and a shy smile take over your lips.

"Goodnight." Your voice was so small, it made his stomach squirm.

"Goodnight." He said back as he watched you turn and make your way to your friends, all of who squealed at you for dancing with a boy outside of the ballroom.

Despite the voice in his head barking at him, telling him to never interact with you again, he couldn't stop himself from hoping that you'd let him dance with you like that again.

#goro akechi x reader #goro akechi x fem!reader #goro akechi #oneshot #chiche romance #fluff #dance #prince #princess #halloween #masquerade ball #persona 5 #persona 5 royal #slight spoilers

54 notes · View notes

prince-liest · 3 years

Text

fic writer interview!

How many works do you have on AO3?

37, though another one is going up tomorrow because haunted AO3 hours started and I don't want to post it in the middle of the night on a Monday. Also like 4 or 5 more in reserve from zines/bangs. I'm kinda impressed with myself, but also, side-eyeing y'all with fic counts in the 100s. Phenomenal. Effervescent.

What's your total AO3 word count?

257,246

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

In chronological order of first fic on AO3: Percy Jackson, Soul Eater, Steven Universe, My Hero Academia, Dragalia Lost, Avater: the Last Airbender, the Witcher, and Genshin Impact! That's 7 fandoms and I'm not counting Homestuck (I only wrote OC stuff) or D&D (same thing).

I also have works from Axis Powers: Hetalia and Katekyo Hitman Reborn! on Fanfiction dot hell that none of you will ever see. I definitely posted and deleted a Twilight OC fic once.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Dish Duty | ATLA

The Sword of Damocles is Swinging | MHA

The Ancient Art of Jerkbending | ATLA

Dishabille | MHA

Summer Break | MHA

ATLA is a powerful fandom so I'm not surprised both my ATLA fics made top five. Dishabille's popularity continues to pleasantly surprise me. Damocles is only surprising because it isn't first. I am so proud of Summer Break and that entire Shinsou series, I'm glad it made top 5 and is gonna break 1k kudos soon. <3

(Now get Dog-Tired up there, I fucking love that story. q^q)

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

To quote Mido: I do, but not consistently. Q^Q I read them all and I really want to reply to them all, but I very frequently simply to not have the energy. I have it posted on my AO3 profile, though, so hopefully it doesn't hurt anyone's feelings... I have recently been trying to at least answer all new incoming comments and not let the backlog increase! (That said, the backlog is over 100.)

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I don't tend to do angsty endings (I am a hard lover of angst with a happy ending), but I've written some questionable and bittersweet ones. I think arguably the best contendor for angstiest ending is probably Kindred Spirit. I wrote it to low key revenge myself on @thegc4life for insisting that Shinsou gets a hug (he does! technically!) and it certainly ended ominously.

Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

As much as I love "Edward Elric gets transported into X universe and proceeds to kick everyone's ass" crossovers, I don't relaly write any. I do enjoy full transplant AUs, though, and the one I recently posted on AO3 is an MHA-at-Hogwards AU called the Birds and the Mares that I wrote for the HP/BNHA Zine!

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Deeeeepends on what you mean by 'hate.' :X has gotten two comments (one much politer than the other, haha) complaining about my use of the r-slur in Shinsou's internal narrative in one of the chapters, but one person backpedaled and said they understood the purpose of it while the other (more vehement) one never replied to my explanation. That's all, though!

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Yeah. It's never going on my main AO3 (and the one time it did, I orphaned the fic). I have a side account I might post it on once I get over the fact that people who know me also know about the account. It's all 100% PWP of stuff I personally am into, and I have a very specific set of things I'm into, so... idk, feels a little personal! ^^"

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No, but I've had people adopt general concepts I used (fabulous!) and steal my RP OCs back in ye olde fantroll days (not at all fabulous! incredibly hurtful, actually). I am vehemently opposed to plagiarism, even of concepts. It feels so gross.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Someone in the comments mentioned that they are translating Bloodied Hound into Russian and I am SO EXCITED. I desperately want to read it. Of all the languages, it happened to be the only other one I'm decently literate in! I also want to show my grandparents. I really hope the person follows through. <3

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I've roleplayed a lot, but I can't see myself ever co-writing a fic. I'm not even sure how it works, to be honest!

What’s your all time favourite ship?

Urgh. Pass. I can't pick one. Perils of a multishipper.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I was going to proudly say "I never post things I don't plan on finishing!" but in reality that is a lie, because Falling Down A Rabbit Hole exists from back in 2015 and is in fact the reason I made that rule for myself. ^^" Honestly, what's there still holds up, but the reality is that I didn't actually come up with a plot, so there's nowhere for it to go.

What are your writing strengths?

Interesting/relatable/funny dialogue, and also writing feelings in a 'show, don't tell!' kind of way that leaves strong impressions with people!

What are your writing weaknesses?

Plotting out long stories with good pacing! People thought Damocles had a plot, apparently? Joke's on you, it was a series of "I wanna see this happen" scenarios that I made Hawks suffer through and subsequently strung together like a haphazard multicolor plastic bead necklace that I told everyone was actually pearls.

That's why all my stories after Damocles are either short or split into a series. Shinsou's Bad Days is my attempt at proper pacing, hence it being so episodic.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I'll do it if I know the language well enough (so, Russian and ASL, I don't trust my casual Japanese), but I'm generally a stickler for making things come off naturally, so I otherwise will instead try to find the closest tonal equivalent in English (such as having Childe call Zhongli "professor" instead of "xiansheng"). Sometimes there just isn't one (like Kazuha calling Beidou 'big sis' but in a way that doesn't sound kiddish and overly casual for him), though, which sucks. :( Language is cool!

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

T. Twilight. QUQ I wish that fic still existed, it was like a single chapter of two multicolored hair OCs befriending Alice Cullen and being cool. I deleted it but I SHOULDN'T HAVE. IT WAS HISTORY.

What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

This totally changes with each new slew of fics I post. I think currently it is Dog-Tired because despite being unsatisfied with the title, I think the story itself turned out amazing. I also am extremely happy with the entire Shinsou's Bad Days series (including upcoming installments).

Tagged by: @touchmycoat (THANK U LOVE <3)

Tagging: anyone who's read this far, LOL. seriously, though, I have a lot of writer moots and I don't have the time to tag them all but PLEASE do this and tag me so I can read it if you are so inclined! <3

#personal #tag memes #my writing

5 notes · View notes

palavapeite · 3 years

Text

2020 fic year in review

I was tagged by @shoreslip – thank you!! :D

Total number of completed stories: 5 on AO3 (well, one of them will only be revealed in January, but I will count it for 2020 since that’s when I wrote and posted it.)

Total word count: a little over 50k in finished fic. Not counting any WIPs, though I estimate those would push it to… uh, maybe 80k…

Fandoms written in: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d expected? I was hoping to write several smaller things this year, and I am pleasantly surprised that it worked as well as it did.

What’s your own favourite story of the year? The Big WIP I have been fiddling with since August, tbh. I love everything I wrote this year dearly, and have never been so proud of my own achievements, but maybe it’s because I’m still writing this one that I hold it extra dear somehow.

Did you take any writing risks this year? No. I let myself try new things, but I wouldn’t call any of them a “risk”. What even is a risk?

Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the new year? Not really. I feel like that would be pressure I simply don’t need. I want to continue to do what feels good and see where it takes me. Maybe what feels good will include looking at my completed novel draft and ironing out the creases that have begun to appear over the past couple of months. Who knows?

Most popular story of the year? Pevensey’s Unbuttoning Spell, at least from a kudos perspective? I don’t know. The fandom is so small, “popularity” feels like a weird concept to apply.

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: None? I have been showered with so much praise on every fic, it is practically unbearable.

Most fun story to write: Musical Magic, mostly because it was really short and therefore didn’t have a tricky bit. :P

Most unintentionally telling story: I‘m not really sure how to answer this. I suppose all of them could probably tell you things about me that I don’t want to think about too closely.

Biggest disappointment: That the Big Epic WIP did not, for some reason, write itself and get finished by the end of August. (:

Biggest surprises: Tom Levy/William Himbo-Bright :’D

Tagging (if you want to and haven’t already done it) @fol-de-lol, @katherine1753, @ohveda and @thebeautifulsoup.

#memes

9 notes · View notes

guiltysecretpasttime · 4 years

Text

Adversity (Chapter 2)

This is a follow-up to the first chapter here. Cross-posted in AO3.

Overview: Lin and Tenzin are both at the height of their respective careers – she with the Metalbending Police and he with the Air Nation. Questions about their future begin to arise and things come to a head when Lin responded to an emergency call. Would her job take them from each other forever? Eventual HEA. Non-canon compliant, AU. (Notes at the end of the post.)

Tenzin woke up with a start.

From his vantage on his bed, he could see the soft colors of the sky changing as dawn made itself known.

He swore quietly. He did not mean to fall asleep at the island. If he hurried, he figured he could probably still catch Lin before she left for work.

He tried to sit up; only to be weighed down by a toned arm slumped over him. He rubbed off sleep from his eyes and saw his girlfriend lightly slumbering on his chest. The airbender wondered how did the earthbender end up sleeping in his childhood bedroom at Air Temple Island.

Tenzin recognized that it was not a peaceful sleep, however. There were days that she was tense and there were days that she was relaxed. Today, her unblemished sleeping expression was marred by a small frown.

Tenzin skated his fingers on her forearm. His movements jolted her awake.

“Wha-?”

Without warning, the earthbender shot her arm up - hitting the master airbender on the nose.

"Ow!"

Lin bolted upright. "Tenzin - what- oh!" She turned to her side, seeing her lover of more than a decade clutching his nose and rubbing it. "I am so sorry," Lin reached out to touch his face. "I didn't mean to!"

Certain that there was nothing broken and that there was no blood, Tenzin took Lin's hand and held it to his cheek. Time and time again, he forgot that he should never try to startle this law enforcer in her sleep.

"Ten," The uncharacteristically soft voice of the chief of police whispered. "I'm sorry for missing dinner last night. I'm sorry -I just…" Lin trailed off. "I forgot."

Lin was not one to make excuses. Tenzin loved that about her - she was authentic and honest to a fault. As he looked at her contrite expression, all his annoyances from the previous night faded.

In the light of dawn and in bed, it did not seem so bad.

“It's fine.” He replied, meaning it the first time in the past twenty-four hours, kissing her forehead softly.

----------

After spending a few more quiet moments in each other’s arms, Lin broke the silence. “Were you going to meditate?”

“No, actually, I uh, I planned to get home before you left for the station.” Tenzin rubbed the back of his neck. Then everything came tumbling out. “Honestly, I was really…” He searched for a word to describe his emotions. Annoyed. “Irritated.” He tested it. “At first, at least. Then worried – you didn't even think to let me know you'd be late.”

She motioned to speak but he continued. “I know. I know you said someone from the station would likely get in touch with me if ever – in the event of -.” He did not want to say “an accident” or “death” out loud, being a tad superstitious that way. “And you're Lin Beifong, Chief of the Republic City Metalbending Police. You’re practically indestructible, I know.” He held her tighter. “But to me, you’re Lin Beifong, the woman I love. Take care of yourself.”

“I shouldn’t have worried you, I should have called earlier.” Lin averted her eyes and burrowed in his embrace. She sensed something else was bothering Tenzin. “How was your day yesterday?” She ventured, peeking at his face from her position.

Tenzin shifted uncomfortably then sighed. “The air acolytes do not take me seriously. They were laughing quietly most of the session. They were never like that when dad conducted the session.” He huffed. “They probably don’t think I’m an airbending master.”

“It's just the first session.” Lin had another guess why they were laughing but did not speak up about it just yet. “I’m sure they weren’t laughing at you.”

“Why of course they were – they’d look at me then laugh amongst themselves.” Tenzin looked distraught.

“I don’t think so…”

Lin has seen how some of the younger Air Acolytes looked at the youngest airbender.

At the age of thirty-one, he did strike an intimidating yet appealing figure. While lean, his muscular limbs (and hidden well-formed abs, Lin thought smugly) belied a strength that he had acquired on his rigorous training sessions. Not to mention the upbringing of Katara and Aang turned him into quite an intelligent gentleman.

And obviously, Lin supposed, the prospect being the wife of the son of the Avatar does not hurt his chances with the ladies much either.

Wife? Not pausing to think about where that thought came from, she sought to assure him. “You’re doing great, I’m sure of that, Tenzin. Don’t worry so much – they, the Air Acolytes adore you.” She patted his cheek.

Tenzin rolled his eyes, his good mood restored. “You don’t have to be so sarcastic about it. It’s too early.”

Lin made a non-committal noise as she pushed to put her feet on the floor beside the bed.

“I just said it’s too early,” Tenzin reached over to stop her from standing up. “You’re getting up? You really enjoy contradicting me, don’t you?”

Lin laughed. “Well, I do – but yes, I need to go. I just wanted to make sure I got to you before we started today.”

“Let’s eat before you go – I’m sure Mother had some leftovers set aside from last night.” Seeing the woman’s unmoved expression, he changed his suggestion. “Or at least let me make you tea?”

“Tea would be fine.” Lin conceded as she went to change her clothes.

Tenzin got to the kitchen quicker as he did not need a change in clothes, having fallen asleep in his robes.

Lin followed soon afterwards, barefoot but in her daily uniform, carrying an overnight bag.

“You’re going straight to the station?” Tenzin got some cups out as the tea continued to steep.

“Yes, it’s going to be a long day.” Lin did not look forward to these meetings and public speaking engagements. There was a reason why she did not choose to be a diplomat or a councilwoman. She was a woman of action, like her mother.

She rummaged through the bag, checking that she had everything in place.

“How are you getting back to Republic City?” He poured her a cup tea. “I don’t suppose the ferries are operating now.” He leaned back, tugging at his beard while watching her sip her tea. “Or late last night either. How did you get to Air Temple Island anyway?”

She gave him a crooked smile. “I phoned in a favor.”

“What – how – how?” Tenzin stammered, staring at her. “This isn’t illegal, is it?”

“Of course not, it’s me you’re talking to.” Lin scoffed, finishing her drink. “I once helped a dockmaster catch a couple of smugglers in a case I worked on as a detective a few years ago.” She pulled her metal boots from the doorway. “He said I could borrow a boat or a ship anytime I’ll need it.”

“Good morning, children.” Katara entered the room quietly. Only Katara could get away calling the Gaang’s offspring as children, even if most of them are past their thirties.

“Hello, mother.” Tenzin poured her a cup of tea too.

“Lin,” Katara greeted the woman in the Republic City police uniform. “You’re here.”

Lin leaned over to give her adoptive aunt a hug. “Yes, but I’ll need to head on now.” She saw Katara gesture towards the dining table, indicating breakfast. “Thanks, Aunt, but I’ll need to prep for today.”

The waterbender gave a light laugh seeing Lin make a face, recalling that Toph did not like those kinds of meetings as well. “Well, all right. We’ll see you later?”

Lin gave a non-committal sound as she got up to leave.

“Good luck, sweetie.”

Tenzin moved to give her a quick kiss before she hurried off, the ground reaching to meet her as she bent her way to the docks where her borrowed boat waited.

----------

Tenzin waited inconspicuously at the City Hall lobby. Well, at least as inconspicuous as an airbending master (one of two in the entire world) could be. He fidgeted from the stone bench he was sitting on. He figured he better wait until the council meeting was over. He wanted to take Lin out for an early lunch. If the meeting was good, they can celebrate. If it was particularly challenging (or infuriating, Lin might say), he can help her let off some steam.

He was lost in this reverie when the doors flung open.

There was a lot of commotion as the press started taking photos. Security was able to halt any further movement of the press into the council hall.

The Chief of Police rapidly exited the room, looking ahead and exiting the building; her three metalbenders struggled to catch up. The press followed, her stoic expression not discouraging them from plying her with questions.

It all happened so fast that Tenzin did not even get to call out to get her attention.

His father and uncle came out of the hall soon afterwards, albeit in a slower pace.

“Son!” Aang noticed him looking at the entryway of city hall. “You’ve come to join us?”

“Uh – Lin – I,” Tenzin’s eyes darted from where Lin just passed to his father, standing in askance at him.

“Let’s go, Tenten.” Sokka slapped his back, never mind that the airbender was a couple of inches taller. “If we’re lucky, we’ll find a good spot.”

“Good spot?”

“Yes, we preferred not to go the VIP route. Lin would have hated that.” Aang started to walk out of city hall, pleasantly surprised that all attention went with the young Beifong woman than the avatar.

“Well, she would have given it to us still if we asked for it.” Sokka considered, holding up his hand, trying to look against the sunlight as though searching for someone.

“Always hated attention,” The airbender stood patiently, waiting. “Very un-Beifong of her, I should think.”

“Who is very un-Beifong?” A voice rang from behind them, coming from one of the pillars.

“Toph!” Sokka rushed to give her a hug, which the blind earthbender deflected with a punch to his forearm.

“Hey, Snoozles.” She stepped aside as the Water Tribe chief greeted his wife who had picked her up from the pier. “Thanks for sending these two old ladies to fetch me – no need to do so though.” Toph Beifong sniggered, as she felt Katara and Suki roll their eyes as the Beifong heiress was only a few years younger than them.

“Good to see you, Sifu.” Aang tilted his head in acknowledgment to his earthbending teacher, who positioned her foot subtly then smiled somewhat sadly in return.

Tenzin tensed as he felt the milky green eyes turn to him. “Chief Beifong –.”

“That’s Toph Beifong to you, Junior,” Toph snarked, but accepted his bow. “I don’t see Lin around, you know.”

“Hi Sweetie,” Katara gave Aang quick kiss on the cheek. “Tenzin, there you are. I was looking for you earlier.”

Tenzin was bewildered at the gathering of their family at the steps of Republic City Hall. “Why are you all here?”

Toph slapped Tenzin upside the head. “I know I’m not the perfect goody-goody mother like your mother here. But don’t you think I’d at least try to be there for my child?”

The younger airbender still looked in confused as the group paired off and proceeded to what Tenzin saw as the direction of the police department.

Tenzin and Toph soon outstripped Suki, Sokka, Katara and Aang as Sokka got sidetracked by a street food vendor.

“It’s more difficult for her, you know.” Toph spoke, breaking the comfortable silence between them.

“I’m sorry?”

“Lin is in a more difficult situation now than I was in the police force.”

The tattooed airbender threw his girlfriend’s mother a glance. “Well, I understand there is a difference being the current chief versus being the actual founder of the entire force…” He trailed off.

“That’s not all of it,” Toph leveled the pavement in ahead of them, removing the uneven placement of bricks which were a result of shoddy workmanship. “I know she truly climbed up the ranks on her own. She deserves this position based on her own merit.” She felt Tenzin nod beside her. “It was different when I first resigned – she was a just a detective then. Captain Lee became my successor; he stayed there for seven years or so. I remained as consultant to the force during that same period. And, you know how Lin was mentored as his eventual successor.”

Tenzin was not sure where this discussion was going. He also was not sure why they were all trudging towards the police headquarters.

“Lin is truly on her own now.” Toph paused as they neared their destination. “I wouldn’t be around – I haven’t been around for some time now. It’s all up to her now to keep everyone in line and help make Republic City safer.”

Having reached the Republic City Police headquarters, Tenzin saw that an assembly was about to begin. The press was already positioned at the forecourt and a crowd of citizens have likewise gathered. The police force was also stationed in the area, with the Republic City Police and the Metalbending Police sectioned separately.

He squinted and easily found the Chief of Police at the head of the stairs, beside a podium which was set up for the occasion. She seemed to be barking out instructions to her subordinates.

Tenzin was surprised to notice that while there were other women police in the force, there were none in the elite Metalbending division. No one, at least, except for their leader.

“But you’re a girl too.” Tenzin blurted out without thinking.

Toph raised an eyebrow at him, amused. “Why, thank you for noticing. I figured you must have realized that at some point, given that I gave birth to two kids.” She slapped her foot down, sensing the perimeter to see if there are possible threats to the gathering in front of the police department.

“I mean, you and Lin,” Tenzin turned red, stammering. His brother would laugh at him if he were there. Despite being an eloquent speaker, Tenzin easily gets flustered among family and friends. “Lin is a woman too.”

Satisfied with her perimeter check, Toph turned to the airhead beside her. “I’m sure you’d know that pretty well, eh?” She gave a laugh, enjoying the racing heartrate and heat of embarrassment radiating from the man. “I’m also sure you’ve done due to diligence to confirm that she’s a woman?” She took pity at him. “Well, yes, there would probably be similar experiences between my daughter and myself, but she’s her own person. While she would need reminding sometimes, this is very apparent to the police force.” She flicked a hand to indicate the group of uniformed officers. “It’s challenging enough to get into the academy and get a good position in the force. Just think of all the male egos thinking she got a free ride not knowing she probably had to deal with worse as she was raised by me?”

“It would be hard to make sure they get in line,” Tenzin started to understand.

“Yes,” Toph nodded in appreciation. “Mind you, all the old ones – no problem with that. They all trained with me and Lin. They’ve been around longer.” She shook her head in emphasis. “No, I’m not worried about old-timers – they respect her.”

“The rest are probably terrified of Lin,” Tenzin ventured, recalling work stories about the newer officers that Lin shared as they ate dinner at home.

“Don’t be simplistic – I never felt any of the officers look at me the way they do at Lin.” Lin’s mother responded irritably, not being able to get through the man and so deciding to be as blunt as possible now. “They’re all too terrified of me for them to make a move on her. Times change, junior, and I’m no longer around Republic City as much. The mere threat of my presence used to be enough to deter them, but now,” Toph’s tone hardened, facing the general direction of the police force. “Not even her distant manner and aloof comportment can dampen her appeal.” At the airbender’s sharp intake of breath, Toph knew he finally understood what she was telling him. “I’m not threatening you – far from it. I don’t think Lin would do anything about it if she knew; she’s too attached to you for some reason.” Toph rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “I just thought you should know - keep you on your toes, remind you to appreciate my girl. Otherwise, you might have never known; I think you’re a dense airhead like your father.” Just behind them, she could vaguely hear Suki wheedling some jerky from Sokka to subtly remind him of his healer’s recommendation to lay off salty food. “Or your mother for that matter.” Bending a brick in Sokka’s path so he tripped, tossing the paper bag of jerky in the air. “Definitely from your mother’s side.” The blind woman grinned, opening her palm to catch the paper bag as it fell.

“Hey, that’s mine!”

As his uncle struggled to take the bag from the master metalbender, who cackled as she started to eat the jerky, Tenzin could only watch Lin Beifong from afar, processing all that her mother imparted with him.

The current Chief of Police stood tall and poised amidst the frequent flashing of cameras, consulting a folder on the podium. She was getting ready to begin.

Lin was taller than the average woman from any of the Four Nations. Growing up, she did not feel comfortable about it. Already a bit more athletic than the average Republic City lady in the finishing school that the Beifongs went to, Lin felt her height was an impediment. Tenzin had always appreciated Lin’s height; he used to say that it was the perfect height for him to give her a hug. However, it certainly did not help that Bumi would occasionally tease her that she was possibly taller by a head compared to more than half the men in his regiment. That was until she learned to metalbend and once zipped open his fly while he was chatting up a group of women during one of their parents’ parties. Tenzin smirked in the recollection of Bumi apologizing to the women and to pleading with Toph not to arrest him for indecent exposure.

Watching the woman now, any insecurity seems to have been tamped out as Lin welcomed everyone confidently. Tenzin let her voice wash over him as she gave an introduction and an update regarding the earlier council meeting.

He did not see any reason to doubt the warning the former Chief of Police shared. Scanning over the crowd, he saw everyone listening attentively to her measured statements. He wondered how many of these people (and her people) were harboring romantic (or even less than wholesome and unsavory, he thought darkly) intentions towards his girlfriend.

His girlfriend. It clicked in his mind.

“But I’m her boyfriend. I’m an airbending master.” Tenzin whispered furiously at the oldest Beifong woman. “Shouldn’t I be enough of a deterrent to whatever they might be thinking of doing?”

The blind metalbender let out a snort. “You – not saying this to offend you, junior – are a pacifist. And these,” She nodded towards the sea of metal before them. “Are kick-ass metalbenders off to defend the entire United Republic in any way they can. Do you think they’ll be impressed just because you’re the only Airbender of your generation?” She crossed her arms. “Didn’t think so. Wait a minute – junior, do you even know what we’re doing here?”

“What? Of course, I do.” Tenzin aimed for a blank expression and a steady heartbeat, seeing that Toph had angled herself to face him. He barely caught the tail-end of Lin’s introduction speech.

“And so that is the overview of the achievements of the Republic City Police during the first ninety days of my official term as Chief of Police.” Lin’s voice echoed in the forecourt. “We will now proceed with the details regarding each of these items and how they relate towards the City Council’s performance pillars.”

Tenzin’s eyes widened. He had been too preoccupied with his own concerns that he had failed to check-in on Lin. Today was a milestone day in Lin Beifong’s career as the Chief of the Metalbending and Republic City Police department.

“You forgot – didn’t you?”

The airbender felt the ground gave way below him and then suddenly rise up to launch him to the sky.

“You, airhead! You’re more clueless than Twinkletoes!”

He was vaguely aware of his father trying to calm down Toph and hundreds of people turned to see what the commotion was about. But first, he needed to land.

Using his airbending, Tenzin descended beside the column of earth that Toph had seen fit to eject him from.

He raised a hand and gave a small smile at Lin’s stunned face as she was forced to pause her speech due to the disturbance. The tightening of her lips did not bode too well for him at this point.

Toph stopped arguing with Aang long enough to realize that the forecourt was silent except for them. “What?” She sensed her daughter’s mortification from yards away. “Proud of you, Chief!” She made a fist bump. No one moved a muscle as Lin waved one hand to the side and crossed her other arm to her chest. “Well, fine, let me drag myself and Master Tenzin here to the precinct for disorderly conduct or something.” She bent the ground to attach to Tenzin’s legs and literally dragged him sputtering in indignation, to the side entrance. “Carry on, carry on. See you later!”

Bumi sniggered from beside his mother. “Who would’ve thought it would be Mr Well-Behaved who would be called for a time out today?” He quickly put on his innocent face when Katara glared at him.

Aang smiled brightly at everyone else looking at their corner, waving them to turn their attention to the podium and for Lin to proceed with her speech.

Lin was right: it was going to be a long day and it was not noon yet.

----------

Notes: Thanks lone reader :) Let me know what you think!

Other chapters here:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

#linzin #linzin fanfic #lin beifong #tenzin #lok #legend of korra #toccatina's fanfics #toccatina wip #toccatina adversity

16 notes · View notes

chrismerle · 3 years

Note

FOR THE FANFIC ASK MEME THING (I finally picked beyond 'just... all of them?'): F, I, K, M, N, Q, S, T, V, W, X, and Y. WHICH ISN'T ALL OF THEM it's just... several...

(from here)

F. Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

I’m working on a Final Fantasy XV AU, because that’s basically all I write for FFXV; I really love the building blocks it gave me, but I don’t like a lot of the architecture. Anyway, conceptually it’s a fairly standard ‘what if Ardyn wasn’t a villain?’ thing, and on the off chance it ever sees the light of day, it will be called There Is a Crack in Everything.

This is a really early scene.

Regis stepped into his study, and Ardyn scarcely gave him time to close the door before wondering, with a languid sort of ease, “For how long have I been Adagium?” He sounded as if the word tasted foul.

“Longer than I can be certain of,” Regis sighed, taking his seat at his desk, across from Ardyn.

“And I’ll be able to relax for...how long?” Ardyn wondered pleasantly, leaning an elbow on the desk and propping his chin in his hand. “Before those lovely toy soldiers of yours try to haul me back to my stone box, that is.”

For a moment, Regis was quiet. For a moment, Regis thought of his father. Mors would have reacted the instant he realized who Ardyn was, and Regis wondered how many of the Glaive would have died and what sort of enemy they would have created.

He thought of his son, just a few weeks old. Already, Regis knew he did not want to teach Noctis to be that sort of king.

He did not want to be his father.

“You may stay here, should you wish it,” Regis answered at last.

Ardyn blinked, slowly. His expression didn’t change, but his words seemed carefully picked for carelessness. “And no one will wonder at another of the bloodline suddenly appearing?” he asked. “Or am I forbidden from showing off?”

“We’ll say you’re my half-brother,” Regis answered before he was even fully aware he’d come up with a solution. “It won’t surprise many.”

Ardyn’s eyes narrowed. “You’re awfully eager to dub me family.”

“You already are family,” Regis reasoned. “It seems it’s time someone finally treated you as such.”

That, at last, seemed to unmoor Ardyn. His posture went rigid for a moment as his gaze went distant. Twice, he opened his mouth to respond, before closing it without saying a word.

It took him only a moment to gather his composure, though, before he cleared his throat. “I have to say, this is the most elaborate method anyone has ever used to call me a bastard. I suppose that alone means it’s worth putting up with it.”

Regis laughed before he could help it.

I like it for a handful of reasons. For one thing, I’ve successfully weaponized it (and a few other snippets of the same WIP) to make my friend Ala emotional. For another, I didn’t really see this dynamic between Regis and Ardyn coming. It just sort of happened while I was typing, but I liked it when it showed up. It felt natural for an Ardyn who hadn’t been driven mad by turning countless people into daemons, but who was nevertheless not the same gentle healer after 2,000 years of isolation.

I. Do you have a guilty pleasure in fic (reading or writing)?

I got paid for years, plural, to write really bad porn about people who could turn into animals fucking. I have no shame left. I’ve had no shame since the first time someone offered to pay me $500 for smut.

K. What’s the angstiest idea you’ve ever come up with?

It is, again, related to FFXV. I wrote If the Ring Fits and Backed in Silver years ago, and ever since, I’ve tossed around the idea of writing another sequel for Ignis.

The only issue is that my idea for it would forcibly make him realize that the Prompto that had been in their world was not actually their Prompto, and had not been for over a decade. And it would be a conflict he’d have to grapple with through the entire fic, trying to decide whether to force that same replacement on someone in a different world or to just endlessly keep hopping from one world to another because he can’t return to his.

I’ve never actually written any of it, and the concepting never got beyond Ignis’s revelation about Prompto. But considering If the Ring Fits was 10,000 words long and Backed in Silver was 20,000, I can only imagine what sort of behemoth it would be.

M. Got any premises on the back burner that you’d care to share?

Like, WIPs, or things that I’ve pondered but haven’t started working on?

I’ve got a few WIPs. There’s the aforementioned non-villainous Ardyn AU. I’ve got another FFXV fic that’s been on hiatus on AO3 for legitimately over three years, and the next chapter is very nearly finished and I just...can’t seem to get there. I’ve got a Persona 5 new game+ fic in the works. That one’s fully plotted out already, and just the outline is like 15 pages long. Based on how the first chapter is going, each chapter will probably be anywhere from 10-20,000 words long. And I’ve got a melancholy immediately-post-season-two Mandalorian one shot in the works, spawned almost entirely so I could make Mando say ‘fuck.’ I know no one says fuck in Star Wars, but I don’t care. I will not say kriff and no one can make me. And I’ve got the Dragon Age uber fic that I’ve just sort of been plugging away at since Inquisition was released and none of it has ever seen the light of day, unless you count me shoving a few snippets at Siobhan.

Oh, and I’m rewriting an older Mass Effect fic.

For things that I’ve thought about but haven’t really worked on, they’re mostly more Dragon Age and FFXV. The “canon” stories for the two timelines not covered in the uber fic, and more AU nonsense spawned from ItRF and BiS.

N. Is there a fic you wish someone else would write (or finish) for you?

Like, finish one of MY fics? No. I would bite them if they tried. Hell, I love you and I would bite you if you tried.

Just, in general? At this point I would take a monkey paw-style deal to get someone to finish Home.

(for anyone who isn’t Jim, Home is a nuTrek Jim/Spock fic that I think I was in high school when it was published. I graduated from college over five years ago.)

Q. How do you feel about collaborations?

Mixed feelings. I’ll take feedback, assuming I’ve offered the mic for it. I’ll prattle on about whatever I’ve got cooking. I’ll ask for ideas or suggestions. But when it comes to the actual writing of it, I’m a control freak. So, people are welcome to help me gather up the building blocks, but I’m gonna wind up doing the actual building myself.

S. Any fandom tropes you can’t resist?

Overly elaborate AUs.

T. Any fandom tropes you can’t stand?

That thing fandom does where if they’ve decided a character has anxiety, then it does not matter how that anxiety presents itself in canon, in fanon they are a weepy, shy introvert who can hardly string a sentence together because they’ve polymorphed into a shivering puppy.

V. If you could write the sequel (or prequel) to any fic out there not written by yourself, which would you choose?

Does it count if I just say I wanna rewrite a series as a whole? There’s a FrostIron series I read ages ago before the MCU made me wanna gag, and at the time I LOVED it. And then not that long ago I went back and read it again, and it felt like I was saying goodbye to it because oh my god it was unbearable.

Loki was NEVER FUCKING WRONG ABOUT ANYTHING, unless he wasn’t in the room, in which case Tony picked the slack about not ever being wrong about anything.

W. Do you like more general prompts, or more specific ones?

More specific. Not this past Christmas, but the one before that, I was doing some Advent Drabbles for one of my roleplay blogs, so I was open to drabble suggestions anyone wanted to see. Like 70% of them were just one or two words and I’m just staring at my ask box like ‘thanks, I hate it’

(Kudos, though, to the random stranger who gave me a very specific, paragraph-long prompt for a Spider-Man (PS4) fic.)

X. A character you enjoy making suffer.

...All of them?

Y. A character you want to protect.

I guess Din Djarin.

I mean, he still falls into the above ‘all of them’ but when I make him suffer it’s more related to exploring something that happened in canon, rather than me directly causing it.

#Ask #digitalmoriary #Meme #fanfic #writeblr #writblr #long post

3 notes · View notes