#i've written a lot of love letters to this pairing- consider this one of them

[dollypopup]

I think it's interesting to look at the 'Mr. Bridgerton' scene as a backdrop for the eventual mirror scene. Firstly, in the fact that I think we've kind of misinterpreted it.

So many people are of the mind that scene's purpose to 'drag' Colin, but really, that scene has 3 primary functions. The first is to inform Colin that Penelope is aware of what he said of her, thus opening the door to clearing the air between them and providing an avenue for which Colin can apologize. The second is to establish the ground that they are currently on: Penelope has given up on the dream of Colin Bridgerton, in particular the perfect prince that can do no wrong, and has made it clear to him. It also creates distance between them that they will bridge.

But the third, and to me the most wrapped up in the mirror and the inner workings of their relationship is that it reveals how Penelope feels about *herself*. It's not necessarily an echo of what the ton considers her as, after all, we have a lot of evidence indicating that, for all intents and purpose, people aren't *unkind* about her, but rather that they ignore her. Audience members recognize this as Penelope's own shyness being the cause, she is often sitting off on the sidelines or not really talking to much of anyone, in the books she's referred to as the 'one who doesn't speak', and her LW business takes her away from being a character in the action of the ton to a bystander, kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts that perpetuates itself. Pen felt unseen so she became LW to have some power, but then LW herself must remain unseen and Penelope continues to be by design of her own making.

No, I think what it really reveals is that Penelope has incredibly low personal self esteem. We as a fandom has lauded that scene as her dragging Colin, saying that he's cruel and calling him Mr. Bridgerton is absolutely meant to create distance between them, but I don't think she's dragging him.

Because the person she is *actually* dragging here. . .is herself. And it is a general theme in her life. In Whistledown. Aloud. Even with Marina, when she complimented her, she assumes that she's lying. When Edwina says she's wearing a pretty dress, Penelope puts herself down and doesn't believe her, even when the compliment is genuine. In truth, Portia is not seen as being particularly unkind to Penelope. At least, speaking as someone who's mum was *awful* about my size and weight and outfits, Portia is. . .overall rather mild. She's not KIND and loving, not by a long shot, but she's also not targeting Penelope only. She's plenty mean and critical to Prudence, too, even to the point where she foists her off to her own cousin as a pawn piece. Penelope has low self esteem because of a lot of reasons, she's bullied by Cressida (I think a lot of girls are, she was pretty mean even to Daphne in S1) and her family isn't very tender to her, and she's not being pursued at every turn, but part of it is also her own perpetuation.

Listen to what she says "Of course you would never court me" "I embarrass you" "I am the laughingstock of the the ton". She sees *herself* as an embarrassment. She puts *herself* down. Arguably, more so than the ton does. She's meaner to herself than anyone else is, aside from Cressida. And honestly? Looking at Colin's face there. . .he is HURT that she considers herself this way. That she's projecting that onto him. Yes, he's hurt that he hurt her, of course he is, he never wants to hurt her. And yes, he's ashamed that he said he wouldn't court her the way he did and that in doing so, he validated her fears that she is unloved and unwanted, but also because. . .she already feels that way about herself. She's felt that way for years. And it's painful to care about someone, to see them as wonderful, and realize. . .they don't feel the same about themselves at all. I don't think Colin is out here feeling so wounded over the fact that she called him cruel and won't refer to him by first name anymore, but that he's most hurt by what she says about herself.

Because he *doesn't* see her the way she accuses. She says she never expected him of all people to be so cruel, but he feels the same way. He never expected her to be so cruel to *herself*. He wants to go somewhere private, not because she is an embarrassment, but because he wants to have a private conversation with her. Maybe assure her. Maybe explain himself. Maybe hash it out. But god Luke Newton's acting. . .he is *aching* for her. And it feels like he's going to do those lessons not in atonement for what he said (thank god) but to genuinely help his friend who thinks badly of herself. To lift her up. It's not about him at all, not about earning forgiveness, but about elevating Penelope. And that's. . .fuck, I just find that's just so heart stoppingly beautiful.

You can see, in that scene, how much he cares about her. How deeply and genuinely he adores her as a person. And just how painful it is for him to know he has validated, whether on purpose or otherwise, how poorly she feels about herself. How low her self-confidence really is. She is giving him a glimpse into the cracks of her heart, and when he sees them, he wants to reach out with both hands and make it feel better. Make her feel better.

After she says 'even when I change my entire wardrobe', he looks so fucking crushed. So 'don't say that'. So 'you really believe that?'. So 'God, I hate that you think that way'.

Because regardless of it all, he does love her. It's not romantic yet. It's not sexual yet. But he genuinely, truly, from the bottom of his heart, thinks she's wonderful. That was evident even in the 'purpose' scene. Every time Penelope opens up and reveals a facet of herself, he likes it. He likes her barbs and her dreams, he likes talking to her. He likes her. And he feels awful that he hurt her. And he feels awful that she's hurting herself. He loves her. He wants her to love herself.

And that's where the mirror scene comes in. Because the mirror scene isn't about sex, not really. Not entirely, at least. The mirror scene is about *intimacy*. The mirror scene is about being seen. Not just her seeing him, or him seeing her, but for Penelope to see *herself*. In a way, through his eyes. Because hers are biased rather negatively toward herself, which is evidenced in the 'Goodnight Mr. Bridgerton' scene, and in so many little moments we've already gotten where she's literally looking down on herself, feeling down. She doesn't necessarily *like* what's in the mirror, but he does. Because he likes *her*. And he wants to show her that he does. Show her that he finds her beautiful and have her recognize that in herself.

The 'Goodnight Mr. Bridgerton' scene is about Penelope revealing how she sees herself. The mirror scene is about Colin showing her how *he* sees her. The Goodnight scene is about Penelope thinking she means nothing to him, that he thinks of her the way she thinks of herself, that this is how everyone thinks of her, and the mirror scene is a direct response to that: No, he doesn't. No, he doesn't think she's embarrassing. No, he doesn't think she's a laughingstock. No, he doesn't think she's unappealing. And he doesn't think she should, either.

And he's going to show her that. Not just tell her, but show her. The mirror scene is so often a focus on Penelope, so much of Polin is in Penelope's focus, but approaching it from Colin's perspective and his motivations is so fulfilling, too. It's a glimpse into them in conversation, and a demonstrate of how Colin loves her. How Colin loves in general, openly and earnestly and altruistically. How he encourages her to be braver and more confident in herself, bolstering her because he just likes her *that much*. How he finds the most fulfillment and satisfaction in caring aloud. The mirror scene is a demonstration of his heart in reflection.

When Luke Newton said the first word that came to mind with the word 'Mirror' was 'Exposed', he doesn't just mean physically. He means emotionally, too.

God this couple is so fucking good.

#polin #colin bridgerton #penelope featherington #Bridgerton #i love them #but honestly? i think i read too deeply into them #this is the only post about them i'll keep up #but after everything i've seen in this fandom and the promos and the synopsis- i don't think these two are friends #and i think i have given them more nuance and depth than they actually will get #and so i guess they're my dream #this version of them #the version of them that loves each other deeply and sees one another and has tenderness for each other #but everyone else in the fandom was right- we won't get this #we will get penelope needing external validation through the ton's opinion and we won't get colin being a full character #we will get a story based on suffering and holding scorecards against each other #we will get groveling and cold shoulders and drama in place of real growth #i suppose it's just sad for me #because i read so much of what i've thought of these two and i *see* the love i have for them #but bton and this fandom don't have that same love #so i have to let go of that dream #and that's for the best #but as a memento: have this #i've written a lot of love letters to this pairing- consider this one of them

[winterrrnight]

secret admirer (reader's pov)

PAIRING: high schooler!soft!rafe cameron x high schooler!fem!reader

SUMMARY: the reader has a secret admirer who drops letters, flowers and some other little souvenirs in their locker.

WARNINGS: a lot of cliches, falling down and getting wounded, and some fluffy fluff :) if I missed something let me know! Please ignore any grammatical/spelling errors

EDITH SPEAKS: buckle up bffs because this is long!! Please note the following before you read:

both reader and Rafe are well versed in French.

The French translations are given side by side in the oneshot.

I don't speak French so everything has been gathered from the internet. If there are any mistakes, please let me know.

I'm not American so I've had a very different high school experience: I never had detentions in our school. So everything has been written based upon what I've seen in American shows :)

And that's it! I hope you enjoy reading, please like and/or reblog to show your love <3 feedback is highly appreciated! 💐

UPDATE: I have made a whole secret admirer universe! The link of its masterlist is given below <3

navigation || join my taglist || requests || series masterlist

As the class comes to an end, you walk out and go to your locker. You dial in your locker combination, and just as you open it, an envelope falls out and drops in the ground.

Confused, you bend down and pick it up. The envelope is plain white, and its flap is glued at place. You pull open on the flap, and find a folded piece of letter inside.

"Oooooo what's that?" Your friend says, smiling. "Looks like a love letter."

You shake your head. "I doubt it's a love letter," you say as you unfold your paper. A single sentence in cursive writing is scrawled on the paper. It takes you a second to realise it's written in French.

Je rêve de toi.

It translates to "I dream of you".

Who can write this to you? Thoughts clink around your mind like ice in a glass of water. Suddenly, you feel something drop out of the envelope. You look down at the floor, curious.

It's a little daisy.

↶ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊˎ-

Since then, a little gift always awaits for you in your locker every few days. Every time it's a letter with a simple sentence in French written on it in fountain pen. It's accompanied with a little flower, or a small piece of chocolate, and one time, it was a bracelet.

You've tried your best to figure out who's been sending you these. No one in class has flirted with you, so you don't even have any options to consider. The thought that someone secretly likes you does make your heart swoon, but at the same time it also concerns you. What if it's someone pulling jokes on you, just playing with your delicate heartstrings? You really hope it isn't the second one, because if it is, it will leave you heartbroken in a way you've never been heartbroken.

But you can't deny the smile the letters bring on your face. You collect the flowers and press them in between the pages of your journal. Every chocolate you've received so far is the kind you like, which makes you wonder how does this person know what kind of chocolates you are into. And the bracelet, well, it's tied securely around your wrist.

You reach school, and with hope in your heart filled to the brim, you open your locker. The smile on your face is as bright as the stars when you see an envelope.

Before you can open it, the ringing of the bell makes you look up. The first class has started and you're still in the hallway.

"Shit," you curse, as you hurriedly throw the envelope in your bag and rush to your English class. The scene in the class will not be pretty: your teacher isn't fond of late comers. Well, saying he isn't fond of them is an understatement. He hates their guts.

With your heart beating faster than the speed of light, you look through the small gap in the door of the class. Your teacher is extremely punctual, and as always, the class has started. He's walking around the class, handing your previous tests. You take in a deep breathe and open the door. The sound of the door opening makes everyone look up at you.

"Well, well, well, look who decided to show up," your teacher says, passive aggressiveness laced in his voice.

"I'm, I'm sorry, it won't happen again-"

"Oh looks like we have another late comer," your teacher says, cutting you off. Confused, you turn around to see Rafe Cameron standing behind you. His uniform shirt isn't buttoned properly; random buttons connected to the wrong holes, his belt is missing, and his hair is messed up. He looks like he just woke up.

You feel your cheeks heat up from the warmth of his body. He's standing right behind you, and if you walk a millimetre back, you would crash right into him.

"I'm so sorry, I swear I set an alarm but it didn't ring and-" Rafe starts to ramble.

"DETENTION! Both of you!" Your teacher yells. You flinch at his sudden loud voice. He signs two detention slips and hands those to the both of you. He dismisses you swiftly by closing the door on your faces.

You look down at the detention slip in your hand and sigh. You look up at Rafe to see he's looking at you. You break your small eye contact with him and look at your shoes.

"Shall we go?" He asks you. You nod at him, still not looking at him. In silence, you both walk to the detention room. It's just a classroom which isn't in use anymore. Your PE teacher is the one who will be supervising you. When you reach the classroom, you're surprised to see it's only you and Rafe in the detention. Usually it's around 5 - 10 students at this time in detention.

The teacher is inside, his nose buried in a magazine. He doesn't lift his head up when you and Rafe and walk in, and take adjacent seats. Only when you both sit down, the teacher lifts an eye to see you both.

"Just two of you?" He says, and you nod. "Well that's going to be a waste of my time." He closes his magazine, drops it on the table and stands up from his chair.

"I'll be here in an hour to let you both out. Don't do anything dumb, you're being watched." He says, leaving the classroom and closing the door behind him.

It gets extremely silent in the room, it's so silent that you can hear a pin drop. Your breathing is the only sound filled in the room, along with the constant ticking of the clock hanging on a wall.

You can't believe you're in a class room all alone with Rafe Cameron. It's pretty much given away that he's the most popular guy in your school, and not because he's the jock and only sleeps around with everyone, but because he's an actual sweetheart. He's nice to everyone, and has the most beautiful personality. One thing you know for sure is that if someone gets to date him, he will treat them like a royal.

You decide to finish up with some school work you're left with. As you open your bag, you notice the envelope you had completely forgotten about. Eagerly, you pull it out and open it. Today, there's no souvenir in it. Only a folded piece of paper.

You unfold it, and instead of the usual one line, there are multiple. You read them slowly, as you also translate them in your mind.

Votre âme est un paysage choisi

Que vont charmant masques et bergamasques

Jouant du luth et dansant et quasi

Tristes sous leurs déguisements fantasques

It takes you some fair amount of time to translate the verse. This is what you come up with:

Your soul is a moonlit landscape fair,

Peopled with maskers delicate and dim,

That play on lutes and dance and have an air

Of being sad in their fantastic trim

It suddenly clicks you: the verse if from Claire de Lune. You smile at the French written on the paper, and just read it over and over again in your head.

"What's that?" You suddenly remember that Rafe is right next to you.

"Nothing," you say, folding the paper and putting it back in it's envelope.

"Looks like a love letter, someone's been writing you love letters?" He asks, curiosity in his eyes. You take a few seconds to give him a reply.

"Maybe?"

"What do you mean, maybe?"

You sigh. "I've been receiving these letters which have poetry in French written in them. They usually come along with a little gift, like a small flower or some chocolate. But, there's no name on the paper whatsoever, so I have no way of knowing who is it, if it's legit or if someone is playing a prank on me."

"I don't think it's a prank, you know." You look up at him. He's gazing at you intently.

"You don't?"

He shakes his head. "Someone maybe likes you a lot, and is, i don't know, scared to admit it to you."

"But, why do you think it's not a prank? And how are you so sure it is an actual love letter?"

"Why is it so hard for you to believe that it can be an actual love letter? That someone actually likes you a lot? You're an amazing person, don't decline the thought of someone being your admirer so easily."

At these words leaving Rafe's mouth, you have a small hunch that maybe he's the one writing these letters.

Oh no, he can't be the one. You shake the thought out of your head. He's the most popular guy in the whole school, he can choose anyone, why in hell would he choose you? What does he see in you?

You've never been the one to be in the spotlight, you've always lurked in the shadows. So, when the letters started coming, you did want to believe that you have an admirer. That you are worth of being loved by someone deeply. But you find this thought too good to be true, so you instead believe it's just a prank.

You aren't sure how to respond to Rafe's words. All that slips your lips is a small thank you. You direct your focus back to your schoolwork on hand.

↶ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊˎ-

It's been a week to the detention. Since then, instead of every other day, the letters have been appearing every single day. This morning, you had a bigger envelope than usual. The size of the letter inside is the same, but there are more gifts than usual. Instead of the usual single flower, you have a daisy chain. There are many chocolates instead of one, and there are two new bracelets.

At this point, you are starting to get a lot more concerned than before. Someone's out there spending money on getting you chocolates and bracelets, and you don't even know how to thank them for it; you can only do that if you know who the person sending you these gifts is.

You keep the little gifts in your locker and take the letter. As usual, there is one line scrawled on the centre of the page, the cursive handwriting perfect as it is each time.

Je vous souhaite d'être follement aimée.

"My wish is that you may be loved to the point of madness." You whisper. You softly trace the words on the paper with your fingertip.

"Who are you?"

↶ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊˎ-

The sky has suffused into hues of pinks and oranges, and you get on your bike. You're on your way to your favorite place: the strawberry field. You found that field when you were cycling around the area at the mere age of 6. Since then, you absolutely love going to that place at all times. The heavenly scent of strawberries will be settled all around the field, especially due to them being in season.

You reach the field in a few minutes. You take your bike to the small trail in the field, which is accompanied by perfectly manicured bushes of strawberries around it. Following the trail leads to a massive opening right in the middle of the field, which has a big tree planted in it. You love to pluck the strawberries and then sit under the shade of the tree as you eat them and watch the sunset.

Just as you reach the tree, you notice something unusual. There is a notepad, along with a bottle of ink and a fountain pen. You look around to see if you can spot the owner of the stuff. A sudden rustle in the bushes a little farther on your right increases the rate of your heartbeat. The sound of the rustling increases with each passing second, and suddenly, a head pops out.

Your eyes widen at the sight. "Rafe?" You ask, completely dumbfounded. Rafe is holding a basket full of the ripe strawberries. He's wearing a button up paired with a simple pair of trousers. The sleeves of the button up are rolled up to his elbows and you notice sweat shining on his forehead and his neck.

"Oh, hey," he says, completely frozen in the spot. None of you are able to comprehend the current situation at hand.

"I didn't expect to see you here, what are you doing here?" You question.

"Nothing, just... just getting some of these strawberries. I've heard they're really good," he says, coming out of the bushes. He walks up to you, and stands right in front of you, not leaving much distance between you two.

"How did you... how did you find out about this place? I come here almost every single day and I never see you here. Why suddenly today?"

You need to know why he's here. You need to know why does he have that notepad and a fountain pen. The hunch you had the other day, the one which you dug deep in your heart because you just believed it isn't true, is starting to come back up.

Rafe is just standing there, looking at you. He doesn't have anything to say. While you're waiting impatiently for him to tell you everything. You don't want to believe your gut feeling unless you have a concrete proof of it.

"Why do you have that notepad with you, with that fountain pen?" You swallow the lump in your throat.

"For you. It's all for you. It's all always been for you." He whispers. You feel like you're frozen right at your position. "These," he says, pointing to the strawberry basket, "these are for you too."

"But... why me?" You mumble. Your mind doesn't want to believe this. No, this can't be true. The person who everyone will fall on their knees for can choose anyone, but instead he chose you.

"Because," he walks closer to you, places a finger under your chin and gently pushes it up so you can look him right in his eyes, "I want you to know how special you are. You deserve nothing but love, and this is just me showing you that." His hand is now on your cheek, and you find yourself feeling comfortable in the warmth of his hand.

"But-"

"No buts. I told you this before too, why are you not willing to believe that you are so worthy of being loved and appreciated? That there is someone who's ready to do this all for you. I could've just come up to you and confessed how I have fallen for you, but that wouldn't be special now, would it? That's what everyone does. And then my purpose of showing you that I'm not like everyone else and how I will shower you with love every single second of my life is defeated. I will bring you the moon, all you have to do is just ask." Rafe says, his voice nothing but a whisper.

But this isn't enough for you. You need to know what he sees in you. You need explanations on why he's doing so much just to see you happy.

"Why me?" It slips out of your mouth, because your mind won't relax unless you hear it all from Rafe's mouth.

"Do you remember kindergarten?"

↶ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊˎ-

Rafe runs to the swings, a big smile on his face as he finally gets to use it. The swings are never empty, but now he has the chance of getting to take a ride on them.

But, just as he sits down on the swing, a group of boys approaches him. They are all a year older than him, and they love to pretend they own the place.

"Hey! Give us the swing!" The head of the group, Greg demands. Rafe starts to feel scared, but he doesn't show it on his face.

"No!" He says firmly, his grip tightening on the swing. With just a small nudge of his head, Greg motions the boys of the group towards Rafe. They grab onto his shoulders and forcefully throw him off the swing. Rafe screams and feels tears stream down his eyes in pain. But, no teacher is around to help him. Greg laughs in his face and goes to his new found victory: the swing.

You see it all unfold from the side. You are sitting in the grass all alone. That's where you are every single day, because you don't mix in well with the other kids. When you see Rafe hurt, you rush up to him.

He's still crying when you reach to him. You do nothing, all you do is offer him your hand. Rafe suddenly stops crying and grabs ahold of your hand and with all the strength in your little body, you pull him up. You take him to the teacher.

The teacher gasps at Rafe's condition: teary eyes with dust all over his face and clothes, and two wounds each on his knees. You stand on the side as the teacher gets the first aid kit and starts to treat his wounds. You can't look when Rafe whines at the burning feeling of the antiseptic liquid against his knees. At that moment, all you wanted was to swap places with him so he doesn't have to go through this all.

Once his wounds were all covered in bandaids, you take him to your table in the classroom. From your bag, you pull out your favorite lolipop and hand it to him. Rafe looks at you and the lolipop with wide eyes.

"You are so brave," you say, as you nudge the candy closer to him.

"Thank you," Rafe says, accepting the lolipop from you.

↶ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊˎ-

"From that day, I've never stopped looking at you. As we grew older, I knew you were the one I wanted to be with, and I wanted to reciprocate all that you've done for me. It's not just the lolipop, throughout all the years you've been there for me when no one else was, I just don't want you to think that your efforts go unappreciated." Rafe finishes.

You remember it all really well. All the times in kindergarten when you gave him your food because he dropped his on the ground, when you cut his craft paper for him because he just wasn't able to cut in a straight line the way you can, or when you gave him a pencil each time he forgot one at home.

"Rafe..." You say, starting to feel little tears blur your vision. Before you can hide them from him, Rafe is quick to reach his hands out to your cheeks and to wipe them off.

"This is nothing compared to what you've done for me, those chocolates, little verses of poetry, bracelets," his eyes goes to the bracelet you're wearing, "they don't amount to the things you've done for me in any way. But I just want to show you how amazing you are, and how you deserve the nicest things in the world."

You don't want to hear anything else. You press your lips against his. It takes a second for Rafe to process what's happening. Your arms are quick to wrap around his neck, pulling him closer to you as your lips move against his.

You pull back softly and lean your forehead against his.

"Je t'aime. Aujourd'hui. Ce soir. Demain. Pour toujours. Su je vivais mille ans, he t'appartiendrais pour tous. Si je vivais mille vies, je te ferais mienne dans chaacune d'elles." He whispers, his eyes closed.

"I love you. Today. Tonight. Tomorrow. Forever. If I were to live a thousand years, I would belong to you for all of them. If I were to live a thousand lives, I would want to make you mine in each one."

↶ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊˎ-

TAGLIST: @runningfrom2am @ragingsammie @maybankslover

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#rafe cameron #rafe cameron oneshot #rafe cameron fic #rafe cameron x reader #soft rafe cameron #soft!rafe x reader #soft!rafe #rafe cameron fluff #rafe cameron fanfiction #outer banks #obx #outer banks imagine #obx imagine #outer banks oneshot #obx oneshot #outerbanks fluff #obx fluff #outer banks fic #obx fic #obx kooks #drew starkey #drew starkey fic #written by edith! 🪄

[sinisterexaggerator]

Sriluurian, the language of the Weequay "was formed by guttural mumbles and subdued whispers." It also used hieroglyphs as a written form. It is a language used to communicate with people from other tribes, as Weequay from the same clan/tribe could communicate via their pheromones and did not need to use spoken language.

"As a result, speech was only a secondary form of communication for Weequay, and they seldom spoke a whole sentence, resulting in Humans mistakenly believing the species to be unintelligent."

There are only two known Sriluurian words in canon/legends that I can find.

Uurutche'zediev - The name of Temptation Canyon on Sriluur ( a place on their home planet ).

Raquor'daan - Dark wolf ( an animal that lived on Sriluur ).

It sort of reminds me of Huttese.

Now, imagine if you will...

Hondo never shuts up. He's always talking, telling stories, flattering himself, or giving commands. He knows at least four languages, if not more: Sriluurian, Basic, Shyriiwook, and probably Huttese.

Considering his species, this is not natural. Pair this with the fact that Hondo "has a large disconnect with Sriluur culture and religion," and what we get is a black sheep of the family.

This is verrrrrry interesting, because another part of Weequay culture dictates that "as long as the clan survives, a single Weequay is expendable." We know from canon that Hondo was sold to priests of the god Quay by his parents, which means they were most likely hard up for money and needed to support the clan in some way; stealing and swindling people wasn't cutting it.

That, and/or Hondo was considered to be one who is expendable in this scenario, and maybe there was a reason for that.

To me, ( and @allsystemsblue xD ), Hondo is a well-spoken, well-educated man with street smarts on top of book smarts. He may not be Count Dooku, but he is not a dummy by any means. The fact that he can speak that many languages should be proof enough, but he was also an advisor to a Hutt who trusted him with his business dealings, not to mention his successful pirate's horde, and the fact he kidnapped a Sith lord with ease.

Now, imagine him being surrounded by other Weequay whom he cannot identify with. Imagine he often simply speaks his mind instead of talking with his pheromones. Imagine how shunned or ridiculed he must be by the others, them using their guttural, grunting language or not talking at all verbally, and for Hondo to have so much to say, with so many ways in which to say it.

Not only did his mother teach him things, but we can assume he also read a lot of books, and was literate, unlike his brethren. Just look at this letter he wrote himself, for Pete's sake!

I've decided to headcanon that Hondo grew up in Dnalvec. It was "the main port city of Sriluur, which housed three of the four main spaceports on the planet. It was a chaotic frontier environment of drifting star pilots, information merchants, and mercenaries."

By doing this, I imagine Hondo's youth was filled with all sorts of colorful characters, world travelers, and the well-to-do. Teeth says he was a charming young man who people fell in love with left and right. I tend to agree with this.

Maybe this is why he can't shut up now for the life of him; he always has so much to say when no one wanted to listen to him before. Maybe his mother warned him time and time again. Maybe this was one of the reasons she kicked him out of the house on numerous occasions to spend time on the streets before she finally let him back home again.

And even though he loved his mother, deep down he only wanted her to love him back. He holds her in esteem, refusing to think poorly of her, convincing himself she did her best, that she would never truly mean to hurt her child...

But that is where the disconnect comes in. If Weequay's truly are as they are described in canon/legends as "mean-spirited, suspicious, xenophobic, devious, and deceitful," and Hondo is none of those things, or only learns to be so from a necessity to survive, then that means he must have had a very disappointing and frustrating childhood, not to mention the heartbreak he must have felt when he was sold.

Just a thought.

If he ever told me a story, I would be sure to listen.

#Weequay #Hondo Ohnaka #Headcanons #Sriluur #Sriluurian #Star Wars #Star Wars Languages #Clone Wars #fanfiction #backstory #wip #wookieepedia #character analysis

[the-rebel-archivist]

Fanfic Writer Questions

Tagged by @kittlesandbugs, thank you so much!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 24, but there are a lot of things that I've only posted on reddit or kept in a document, I've been trying to upload some old works recently though!

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 47,945

3. What fandoms do you write for? Dragon Age mainly, but also Fallen Hero, some Baldur's Gate 3 (not posted to AO3 yet but there is... a decent amount), a bit of Mass Effect and a bit of The Exile

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? Some of these are at the top simply by virtue of being older and/or with more popular pairings

Stay - Dragon Age Inquisition, Cullavellan, early work, Cullen's perspective on a late evening reviewing paperwork in the Inquisitor's quarters. He makes a scandalous suggestion: forging her signature

Eloquence - Dragon Age Inquisition, Cullavellan again, also Cullen's perspective, set earlier than the one above. It's very cute, early work but full of words unspoken and gentle teasing

Deliberations on the Inevitable - Dragon Age post-Origins, Morrigan/Amell, from Morrigan's perspective. A mouthful of a title. The Warden is convinced to leave to find a cure for the Calling after Kieran tells him his blood sings louder

Amell Family Letters - Dragon Age Inquisition-ish, letters between the Warden, Kieran, and Morrigan while he's out trying to find a cure and they're at Skyhold

Motherly Love - Dragon Age post-Inquisition, Cullavellan, early work, Lavellan has difficulty bonding with her daughter. The story itself I'm considering retconning but it was really personal to write

5. Do you respond to comments? I try to but I have a habit of bursting with joy when I read them and telling myself "I'll respond when I get to my desk" and then forgetting that I should

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Most of my fics usually end reasonably positively even if the path they take to get there can get rough. I think maybe I am cursed, maybe I am gifted might be the angstiest overall, the PTSD of a war criminal Exile commander still towing the party line before exile

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I don't know if I have any that aren't at least a little bittersweet, but of them A Father's Legacy is probably the happiest. Colonist Shepard has a long-needed talk with his parents and has a chance to try to learn from their mistakes with his daughter

8. Do you get hate on fics? Not that I've seen

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Only for fun in private with friends. There's some truly silly smut on my drive that will never see the light of day publicly

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? Also only in private with friends, but only once. A satirical TWC crossover into FHR

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? No I don't think so

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Not really, I've started a few collaborations but they didn't get very far

14. What's your all time favorite ship? Anything with Morrigan. It's always great, there's always a little edge to it even in extremely loving fics (as there should be!)

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Raynda and Tamaris's Wycome Adventure, a pre-Inquisition short novella-length fic. It's mostly there, kind of. Needs refining and editing and at this point probably a rewrite

16. What are your writing strengths? Period novel-like prose, describing impressions, established npc voices, and I'm really good at writing child POVs

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Plotting a longer work, or rather coming up with a compelling problem that will build tension toward a satisfying climax. It's why I trend towards short in-between ficlets instead

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? If I know the language maybe, it just has to have a purpose beyond obfuscation and I'd rather not use google translate

19. First fandom you wrote for? Dragon Age

20. Favorite fic you've written? I'm torn between Deliberations on the Inevitable and The Queen but I think it may be The Queen. The courtly love and the metaphors are things I'm still proud of. It also comes as no surprise but both fics feature strong women, Morrigan and Anora.

I'm not sure who hasn't been tagged already so I'll tag @ohmypawsandwhiskers @wolfs-dawn and @plisuu but if you see this consider yourself invited to fill it out

#tag game

[licensedqueerio]

IK u've already done Fred Benson x GN reader confession stuff but...more please?? maybe reader leaving Fred anonymous love letters until the truth comes out??😳😳

I'm obsessed with Fred x jock reader. Apparently, I'm a sucker for the nerd/jock trope. I thought I was more interesting than this!

Also, this is different from my usual works. I kind of just want to see how it does in comparison to all my other pieces that have happy endings. This was fun to write anyhow :) I think I’ll write a part two eventually. Just depends tho if anyone wants one.

(also I’m kinda in a romance slump if that makes sense. I need to read more romance books, so if anyone’s got any recs, lemme know)

—

Word count: 2.7k

Pairing: Fred Benson x Reader

Warnings: N/A

Request Here

—

It started small. A slip of notebook paper shoved into his locker during passing period. 

Dear Fred, your hair looks really nice today.

It wasn't anything romantic. It was barely even a compliment. And it definitely told nothing about your identity, you wanted to stay anonymous. Especially when you kept doing it.

It wasn't a daily thing. It wasn't even a weekly thing at the beginning. But sometimes you thought he looked extra nice, or that something he said in class was really funny. Sometimes you didn't even compliment him, you just said something pointless about your day and asked him about his.

It was a fun little thing you got some serotonin from doing. And you didn't have to face the awkwardness of ever saying any of it in person. It's why you started writing the notes in the first place, words came more freely when you wrote them down. Something to do with not having to see the person's reaction to your words. It’s why you'd never said more than a word to Fred.

You knew how he was. You heard he once made a newspaper kid cry without even touching him. You didn't want to risk being torn to shreds with just a few words, so you stayed anonymous and just shoved the notes in his locker for him to find.

But one week he disappeared and something…changed with you. You began writing him more. Every day he was missing you slipped a note in his locker. Saying you missed seeing him around. Or that you missed his witty remarks in class. You were secretly worried about his well being.

Dear Fred,

You probably don't want to hear from me considering I've left you about six notes this week alone. It's the most I've written to you, actually. I guess I was worried. Not I guess. I was worried. A lot. You just disappeared off the face of the earth for a week.I suppose that’s your business though.

I really did miss you in class, I didn't lie about that. It's boring without you picking fights with everyone. But you're back. I saw you in the hall earlier. You looked like actual hell, no offense. I think I saw a cut on your face but I’m not sure, you walk too fast. Are you okay? Getting into actual fights after school too now?

I'm glad you're back anyhow. And I'm glad you're in one piece.

It was longer than usual, but you slipped it in your locker like normal and that was the end of it.

Until it wasn't. That single note seemed to open some sort of door in your mind that green lit a different sort of note.

Dear Fred

So that cut scarred. I noticed it in class. If I'm being honest, I couldn't stop looking at you. Even with a scar, you're beautiful to look at. I couldn't tear my eyes away from you, the way people can’t look away from the TV or something. Not in the way someone looks at a car wreck or something.

You distracted me in a way I enjoyed, like the TV. Consequently, I’m definitely going to bomb out next test, but tis a small price to pay. One I’m likely going to keep making in the foreseeable future.

I don't know how I ever got work done in the past with you sitting in the same room as me. It's as though my eyes are finally open and I can see you for how attractive you really are.

You distract me in the best possible way, Fred Benson.

You hesitated to send that one, so you nearly got caught. You kept turning it over in your hands as you walked back and forth in front of his locker. Debating on if you should leave it or not. Weighing the pro’s and con’s and taking into account the heightened risks.

"Can you move?"

You turned, staring at Fred with wide eyes. And wow was it nice to actually look him in the face. You were usually stuck staring at his side profile because of where he sat and where you sat.

"Uh, hello? You're pacing in front of my locker. So if you could go have an existential crisis about—" he looked you up and down, eyes lingering on your letterman jacket, "some brainless sport, I'd appreciate it."

You blinked. Wow. "Uh, yeah," you intelligently said, stepping to the side. "My bad," you added and very quickly walked away before you could further humiliate yourself.

After a few paces, you looked over your shoulder to find him already staring at you, eyes narrowed and firmly fixed on you. You whipped your head around and walked faster.

You left the note in his locker later, but stopped for about a week and a half. You didn't want to run the risk of him suspecting it was you who was leaving the notes. So, you stopped leaving them for a bit.

When Fred finally stopped giving you looks in the hall, you slipped a new note in his locker. You even taunted him and asked him who he thought was leaving him these notes.

After that one, you waited another week before leaving the riskiest one yet.

Dear Fred

I have a crush on you now. Fuck you and your irresistible seduction techniques, I feel like a middle schooler who just learned what a crush is. This wasn’t supposed to happen. I was just supposed to leave you notes on occasion to maybe make you smile because you always look so grumpy.

But it was inevitable, really; all that time spent staring at you. If I had a type in people, you would fit it like a glove.

You're incredibly smart, passionate and driven, witty, (kind of mean), and very nice to look at. You're a catch. At least in my book.

I get butterflies when you walk in the room, I can barely stand to look you in the eyes without feeling warm and fuzzy. Even though you don't realize the impact you have on me, I can't help but hope for even a small chance with you.

I want to get to really know you. I want to know what makes you, you. I wanna know what gets you going and what you hate. I want to know you.

But alas. Here we are. Maybe one day I'll scrounge up the courage to sign my name at the end of one of these notes.

—

Fred slammed the piece of paper against the table with a loud smack that echoed through the empty paper room. "Look."

Nancy looked up from her lunch and stepped away from the counter she was leaning against. It was then he saw Robin, sitting on the floor next to her. She sprang up though when Nancy walked away.

"What's going on?" She asked as Nancy took the piece of paper from Fred. "Ooh, what's that?" She asked, hooking her chin over Nancy's shoulder to read over her shoulder.

Fred scowled at her. He wouldn't have brought it up if he knew she was in here. It was bad enough Nancy knew. (Actually, it was nice Nancy knew. He could talk about it with her). Robin on the other hand, was a whole other story.

"Fred's been getting notes in his locker all semester," Nancy filled in. "He's got a secret admirer," she teased with a smile.

"Fun," Robin nodded. "Oh wow. 'I get butterflies when you walk in the room', they're so into you!" She excitedly exclaimed, hooking her arms around Nancy's middle.

Fred ignored that. No way was that possible. It was a prank. Some douchebag who thought it was funny to mess with him. He was getting sick of it.

He very firmly ignored the part of him that hoped it was genuine. That whoever was leaving these notes in his locker genuinely liked him.

He didn't like to listen to that part of his brain. It usually led him to crushing disappointment, so he learned it was best to just shove those feelings down until they dissipated. They would, eventually.

"You still have no clue who's giving you these?' Nancy asked, handing Robin the note when she made a grab for it when she tried to give it back to Fred. Robin pressed a kiss to her cheek in gratitude.

"Nope," Fred answered. "One of my English classmates. Or maybe math, that's usually when I find the notes," he shrugged.

"You don't have anyone who seems the type to do this?" Nancy pressed. She was very involved in trying to find Fred someone so he didn't have to always third wheel her and Robin.

Fred did, actually. You. He didn't think you would be the type to write anything as sappy as a love letter considering your jock reputation, but that day you'd been lingering around his locker was suspicious. Plus he didn't get a note til later in the day. It made sense, but also, it confused him a lot more.

Why would you write him a love letter? Was he right? Were you just screwing around with him and you and your other jock buddies were getting a good laugh?

"No," he answered anyway. "No one. I don't even talk to anyone besides you two."

"That's sad," Robin deadpanned. "You don't have any friends? I think that's worse than Steve," she jested, jostling Nancy with a grin.

"Steve has friends," Nancy began, distracted from the topic at hand.

"That are children," Robin finished. "Anyways. Freddie, we need to find you friends. Besides us, because while we are wonderful company…"

Nancy elbowed her with a tight smile.

“Fred,” he corrected for the umpteenth time.

The door suddenly slammed open, making Nancy and Robin jump away from each other. When Fred looked up to see who had arrived, he found himself staring at you, frozen in the doorway. Your hand was still on the doorknob. You quickly hid your other hand behind your back.

When your eyes met his, you very quickly broke eye contact and looked at Nancy and Robin instead. Then your eyes found the paper in Robin’s hands. You opened and closed your mouth a few times before managing a choked, “sorry.”

“Oh, hey, Y/N,” Nancy politely greeted and Fred suddenly remembered that you two were friendly with each other. You had a mutual friend: Steve Harrington.

“Nancy,” you said with a nod of acknowledgement. You stepped back, safely out of the room.

Fred watched you, making eye contact again and frowned when you immediately avoided it. But he said nothing.

“I’m gonna…go,” you said, taking another step backwards and letting the door close as you walked away.

It was silent between the trio for a few moments.

“Dude,” Robin exclaimed. “It was them. They’re writing the letters, one hundred percent. I mean—did you see the way they looked at you!?”

“No,” Fred denied. “Why would it be them? Have you seen them? They hate people like me. Them and their buddies make fun of people like me on a daily basis.”

“Not all jocks are Jason Carver,” said Nancy with a ‘for-your-information’ tone. “I think it could be them, just based on their behavior. They were really avoiding eye contact."

"Maybe they just hate me and don’t want to look at me,” Fred countered. “Maybe they were doing something they’re not supposed to and that's why they were avoiding eye contact. Why would they be here?"

"Maybe they were gonna deliver another letter," Robin suggested with a grin. “And then they seen you and you like, totally ruined their plans.”

“No,” Fred denied again. “Can we stop talking about this now? It wasn’t them. They’re a stupid jock who would mkae fun of me the first chance they got,” he said sourly, snatching the letter back and haphazardly stuffing it into his back pocket.

—

“Ow, what the fuck!?” You furiously hissed, rubbing the back of your head that had just been rudely knocked against the wall. You squinted at whoever had just pulled you into the paper room and proceeded to shove you against the door. You found yourself staring at none other than Fred Benson. You blinked at him. That was unexpected.

“Sorry,” he said, but didn’t at all sound apologetic. “But it’s not easy to find you without your jock buddies and I need answers. Now.”

“Y’know, Benson, you could have just asked to speak with me. No need to assault me,” you said calmly, straightening up and fixing your jacket. You folded your arms across your chest and stared at him. “So? What do you want?”

Your heart was pounding inside your chest and you felt warm low in your gut. Just being this close in proximity to the boy you’d developed a crush on was driving you crazy. But you had to seem calm and collected so he didn’t suspect anything.

“You did it,” he said bluntly. “Didn’t you? The notes in my locker?” He thrust the newly written letter in your face.

Your facade cracked as you forced a laugh, “am I supposed to know what that is?” you asked, glancing at the paper then staring back at him, ignoring the heat rushing to your face in embarrassment. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t lie,” Fred said with a frown, lowering his hand. You could see the doubt crawling into his expression though. “You’ve been writing them for the past few months, haven’t you? You’re the only person who makes sense.”

“I haven’t written anything,” you denied, stronger this time. “Why would I leave notes in your locker? That’s just ridiculous,” you forced out, even though it hurt to say because it wasn’t ridiculous and fuck, you didn’t want to hurt his feelings.

Fred’s frown turned into a scowl.

“I have to go,” you said, clearing your throat and twisting to open the door. But before you could, Fred's voice stopped you.

"Wait."

You paused with a quiet sigh. You turned back around to face him. "What?" You expectantly asked.

You weren't expecting Fred to press his lips against yours and keep them there in a lingering kiss. And you weren't expecting to like it so much.

You pulled away abruptly, your arms coming apart to hold his shoulders. "What was that?!" You exclaimed, shaking him a little. You were just surprised and flustered. And happy it finally happened.

Fred's eyes went wide and fearful. He tensed up beneath your hands and tried to shy away from you.

In an instant, you dropped your hands, stepping back and bumping into the door, but you didn’t care. You showed him your hands, palms out, “shit, Fred, I’m not gonna hit you or anything,” you said quietly, unable to raise your voice.

Fred didn’t look confident that you wouldn’t as he stepped backwards. “I’ve been beat up by your friends before,” he said, finding his voice. “Look, just go. Clearly I was mistaken.”

“No—”

“Go!” He said louder, turning his back on you.

You opened your mouth, but no words came out. So you sighed in defeat and turned around. With your hand on the door knob, you glanced back at him. You watched as he rubbed at his face before turning around. You turned the knob and opened the door, stuffing your free hand into your pocket where it crushed the letter folded up inside. You walked out of the paper room and didn’t look back.

#ransomswriting #reader insert #ask box #reader #stranger things #stranger things season 4 #answered asks #fred benson #fred benson x gender neutral reader #fred benson x reader #x reader #nancy wheeler #robin buckley #ronance

[ryan1014n2]

Do you have any other ships besides Rusty x Duncan, and would you care explaining some of them if you're comfortable. :>

Oh boy, ships! Yeah there's uhhh quite a lot of others that I enjoy. I'll list some of them out, but I don't think there's much explanation to be found honestly 😅 (excluding the two I have written little essays for)

(Haphazard bullet point list below cut)

Thomas x Ryan!!! Have you seen Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure??? I don't talk about it a lot because I'm living that Skarloey life but I love them!!!

I've given some thought towards Thomas x Luke because they have the sweetest little friendship in Blue Mountain Mystery. That movie just makes my heart melt.

I can see Thomas x Percy but it depends on my mood honestly.

I'm a Luke x Millie enjoyer! Tiny bf and gf. The Switch is a good episode. I don't know why I like this pair only that I very much do. Oh and they seem so excited to see each other at the start of Runaway Engine too! They're just very cute.

Stephen x Glynn. I don't know how to explain this other than to say just watch them interact with each other. How could I not ship them?

Toby x Henrietta since it's like, practically canon already? No super strong feelings on them, it just makes sense.

I've seen Peter Sam x Rusty mentioned a couple of times and while I probably never would've considered it myself, I think they're nice together. 💖

Okay. Uh. Skarloey x Culdee. I forget when I first considered this (I just checked and it was January apparently) or even why, but I wrote a little personal essay that is not at all compatible with canon (I wrote it before I read Mountian Engines) but I was quite entertained by the idea? Essentially how it went was that they met when they were both in for repairs at the same time. "While they’re in for repairs, they get to chatting and are soon good friends. When Skarloey is back on his home railway, he ends up talking endlessly to Rheneas about Culdee. It’s Rheneas who puts the idea in his head that he’s in love (it goes exactly like this)." He receives a "brutal bout of teasing" from Rheneas. (Also, while not exactly relevant, I NEED to share this paragraph because it delighted me to re-read: "Rheneas, in his hubris, repeatedly said things along the lines of “you’ll never see me falling in love,” and indeed to this day he hasn’t. Skarloey remembers this very well and is ready to turn his words back on him if the day should ever come.") Pretty much how this ends is just with Skarloey being a complete mess when it comes to Feelings and kinda dreading the day they interact one-on-one again.

*sighs and buries my head in my hands* next on the list is Rheneas x Culdee. LISTEN. Some of us have favorite characters and would like them to fall in love with other characters, okay? This post is what did it for me for this ship and you know what? I wrote a thing for this too. Let me pull it out of the archives real quick. "I think that Rheneas and Culdee having a little letter correspondence through their crews (which at first felt a bit odd, but now the crews find it very sweet and like to help them write the letters) is quite nice. Rheneas would like to meet Cathrine because of how highly Culdee speaks of her (he loves his coach of course ❤). She sometimes writes, but finds the thing a bit silly. She loves how fond Culdee is of his little pen pal though."

Oh yeah and Culdee x Cathrine for the same reasons as Toby x Henrietta.

Also Harvey x Daisy. Because dangit I really like A Most Singular Engine (even though I admittedly don't actually know that much about Harvey 😅).

I like the idea of Thomas x Ashima and I don't know how controversial that is (if at all)? He acts like he's got a crush on her in some parts if The Great Race and I find that very entertaining.

I'm almost certainly leaving some out but I think this post is long enough as is. Most ships I'm just kind of indifferent on? I'll see stuff like Percy x Harold, Edward x Henry, and James x Gordon and such and just go "yeah sounds great you guys have fun and keep doing what you're doing 👍."

There's also the fact that there's honestly quite a bit of the show that I don't remember seeing (and need to get around to) so some haven't even occurred to me because I haven't really met the characters yet.

#you can see this spiral further as I remember ships that I don’t usually think about #there's no WAY I'm tagging all of these characters #tysm for the ask!! #ask #ttte shipping #ttte #my post

[megatraven]

i want to send you... all of the fanfic ask meme letters??

>3c gladly! i'll take out the ones with [insert fic] tho

B: Any of your stories inspired by personal experience?

I have an Alyanette fic I wrote awhile back where they reunite at the airport which was inspired by this couple i saw at the airport Actually running into each other's arms and spinning each other around

C: What character do you identify with most?

>3ccc Astoria MC. workaholic. in love with nonbinary demigod. stressed. confidence for miles. hell yea

F: Care to share a favorite hurt/comfort fic?

I can't tell if this is asking about fics I wrote or fics I like but my two favorite hurt/comfort fics are In Case of Sadness (an ML fic) and Even to the Edge (an LS fic)!!! In terms of one I've written..... all of them are my favorite >0c but I'll pick Wedding Blues

G: Care to share a favorite crack fic?

Oh easy. It's called dude. and it's only 24 words but it's probably the best fic i've ever written. (shoutout to kelly for consistently reading it LMAO)

H: How would you describe your style?

I don't know! I don't really think about it. I have no idea what my style's like, I don't reread my work often and it's not something I pay much mind to while I write

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

Oh, so many. So many guilty pleasures. I'm a huge fan of angsty endings and character death, both in terms of reading and writing.

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

The "angstiest" idea I've ever had is genuinely so cringey, OOC, and lacking in logic that I cannot bring myself to share it.

L: What’s the weirdest AU you’ve ever come up with?

Probably my Astoria Shrek AU :/

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

SO MANY? Too many. I know I've mentioned it but I've got a shapeshifter!Cerberus au on the back burner that I'd really like to get to. I have a snippet of a fic for it... somewhere. OH AND MY AI!JULIETTE AU!!!!! Where Juliette is a rogue AI created by her parents that steals/mods an android to be Juliette, though it can also switch over to the Bat Suit.

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

Yes. Infinitely yes. Every unfinished fic I have. Every idea. I wish someone else would just pluck the ideas from my head and write them for me.

O: How do you begin a story–with the plot, or the characters?

I think more often than not, my stories start with dialogue that launches right into the plot- if there is a plot.

P: Are you what George R. R. Martin would call an “architect” or a “gardener”? (How much do you plan in advance, versus letting the story unfold as you go?)

I'm guessing a gardener bc I do not plan my fics at all beyond the initial idea(s) that inspired them

Q: Do you have any discarded scenes/storylines/projects?

Oh hell yea. My tumblr drafts are full of them!

R: Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider an influence?

Pretty much all of my friends who write (especially from MLF shoutout to them) are an inspiration to me and influence me in some way!

S: Any fandom tropes you can’t resist?

Corruption arc corruption arc corruption arc corruption arc!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Soulmates! Rivals to lovers! Enemies to lovers! Friends to lovers! CHILDHOOD BEST FRIENDS TO LOVERS!!!!!!!!!!!!

T: Any fandom tropes you can’t stand?

Way too many to list. way, way too many.

U: A pairing you might like to write for, but haven’t tried yet.

Honestly there's so many, but I'd love to write fic for Bakudeku someday. Catradora, too. There's a lot of Obey Me pairings I'd like to write for too oof......

V: A secondary (or underrated) character you want to see more of in fic?

Alya. Always Alya. She will never have enough appreciation. Nino too.

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

I like them both, but I'd probably say I prefer general prompts. Prompts that get too specific are sometimes hard for me to get excited about, especially if they're ones that I don't think would happen or be possible to write for in-character.

X: A character you enjoy making suffer.

All of them? All of them. But right now I especially like to make Alex and Astoria MC suffer. And Hades. And-

Y: A character you want to protect.

*sweats* A..... all of them.......

Z: Major character death–do you ever write/read it? Is there a character whose death you can’t tolerate?

Yes! I answered this for a guilty pleasure trope question above pretty much. Major character death makes for interesting fic for me and there was a time early in the Miraculous fandom where I read every single listed MCD fic on AO3. Characters whose deaths I can't tolerate....... probably Alya. Reading fics where she dies were always the most difficult for me.

[palimpsessed]

So @captain-aralias​ did one of these and invited other writers to do the same. And I wasn't really going to because it feels a bit late now and also I've done quite a few other year in review posts for 2020. But then I got to thinking that it would be really nice to have one of these for each year to look back on and compare, which convinced me. So, here we go!

If you’re a writer, I’d also encourage you to steal this. Tag me on your post so I can see your thoughts! 🥰

List of Complete Fics for 2020 1. At the Top of a Tower, With You- General, 900 words 2. Use Your Words- Teen, 16k 3. A Man of Letters, or Five Times Baz Retreats and the One Time He Doesn’t- Teen, 54k 4. To the Manor Borne- Teen, 43k

Total: 4 fics, 113k words

Every one of these fics was written for an event, which, realistically, is the only reason they got finished. I have so many ideas I'm working on all at once, and I came into fandom with a focus on making art, so to actually find the motivation to sit down and write/finish/post a fic was entirely deadline based. And it's a technique I'm sure I will also employ in 2021.

Best/Worst Title?

Well, I've mentioned a few times before that I usually have a title before I have much in the way of a fic concept. I don't really dislike any of the my titles, because they all did exactly what I needed them to do, which was help me focus on what I wanted to accomplish in the fic. Comparatively speaking, though, I can answer this.

Best: Use Your Words - succinct, idiomatic, a book quote/motif that also has the potential to be a spell, does what it says on the tin, is probably what all of us are constantly yelling at Baz and Simon to do throughout the books and the fic itself

(Honorable mention to A Man of Letters because that title forms a perfect heart shape when viewed on mobile on AO3. ❤️)

Worst: At the Top of a Tower, With You - this is also a quote and it fits the fic perfectly, but it is a bit of a mouthful and it has a comma in the middle of it, which, while I love commas, feels a bit off-putting in terms of a title - also, it's always kind of bothered me that it's a Baz WS quote used for a CO-era Lucy POV

Best/worst summary?

Again, I don't really dislike any of my summaries.

Best:

To the Manor Borne: The gang decides to spend Christmas together at Pitch Manor. Romance, hijinks, and holiday cheer ensue.

Anything that lets me use the word hijinks is always good! - it's short and sweet - it does a fair job of setting up the premise for the fic and giving highlights, without giving anything away

Worst: A Man of Letters

I'm not going to include this one because it's so long, I had to cut down the version I posted on tumblr to fit in the AO3 field, which is really why I rank it below my others - it effectively sets up the world of Simon and Baz in Regency England prior to where the story starts, but it is prohibitively long - and it's set up, not summary, so it also loses points for not doing what it purports to do - I could have said exactly what this fic was in one sentence: "Simon and Baz meet at several Regency-appropriate venues over the course of a London season and reflect on their acquaintance in letters", but instead I did the full book jacket version because it was more interesting to me.

Best/Worst First Line?

Oh, this is interesting. I can honestly say that I have no idea where this will go. Going to pull up my docs and find out! Okay, since I only have four fics to consider, and I'm feeling split, I'm going to do two for each. I feel good about my words, but I will say that half of my first lines actually provide information, and the other half are incomplete thoughts. Those were stylistic decisions I made, but when taken alone, it does somewhat limit the effectivness of a sentence when it can't stand without the rest of the paragraph. Perhaps that decision will lure readers in for more?

Best:

In the end, we wind up at Pitch Manor. (To the Manor Borne)

I know that you won't be surprised when I tell you that I do not like writing letters. (A Man of Letters)

Kind of interesting that these both contain key words from the titles 🤔

Worst:

I'm not sure how I'm supposed to do this. (Use Your Words)

I love how the title seems to be answering Baz's question when the two are put together like this 😂

Strange that it should end here, where it all started. (At the Top of a Tower, With You)

The title also seems to complete the first line in this one, too. I'm learning about my writing as this goes on, so that's cool!

Best/Worst Last Line?

Hmm. Okay, again, no idea. Also, a little leery of including last lines for anyone who hasn't read the fics they're from yet. (Tho I guess it's unlikely those people would be reading this😆) But let's see what we've got.

Use Your Words and A Man of Letters have very similar final lines, and both are somewhat spoilery.

Best: The ending of A Man of Letters felt risky to me, in the way that it is formatted and changes tone from the rest of the story. It was something that happened as I wrote it and I loved it. I had no idea if readers would like it, if they would feel like it worked as an ending, but I felt strongly enough about it to let the entire fic hinge on that and I think it really paid off. So, without giving you the actual last line, which is only one word, I'm going to say that one is my best ending.

Worst:

To the Manor Borne: "Carry on, Simon."

It's not bad, it's just not mine.

Looking back, did you write more fics than you thought you would this year, fewer than you thought, or about what you predicted?

I did not set out to write any fics in 2020. I was supposed to be taking a break from writing. I've been an aspiring novelist for half my life now, and have been going through major ups and downs with my writing. I decided I needed to re-evaluate and figure out if writing was something that was even going to be able to make me happy anymore. The answer is: YES! Just…not original fiction. At the moment. I'm happiest when I can write for the sake of writing and not have to DO something with that writing. Which is why discovering fan fiction was AMAZING!!!! 🥰🥰🥰

To actually answer the question, yes, I wrote more than I thought I would. I also wrote exactly as much as I thought I would, simply because these were all things I signed up for (with the exception of my Countdown fic, but I committed to it as if it were something that required a sign up).

I have a lot more ideas for 2021, but I don't know how many of them will come to fruition. I'm not putting pressure on myself to have to do anything beyond what I sign up for again, because it did work out so well for me starting off.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted last year?

I mean, the pairing and the fandom were in no way a surprise. 😆 They're my only ones, so those were both a given. The genre is also not surprising.

What's your favorite story this year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you the happiest?

A Man of Letters, without any hesitation. I adore it so much. It's the kind of fic I know I will unabashedly sit down to read over and over, even if I'm the one who wrote it. I had one reader to please and it was ME. By far, my most self-indulgent fic.

Okay, NOW your most popular story?

That depends on the metric.

To the Manor Borne leads in Comments (107), Kudos (153), and Hits (1992), and Use Your Words leads in Bookmarks (26).

But since To the Manor Borne is top in 3 out of 4 metrics, I'll say that one.

Story most upderappreciated by the universe?

I mean, the least popular by a wide margin is At the Top of a Tower, With You, but I don't know if I'd call it underappreciated. It's short, it's angsty, it's got a very unusual style, it's Lucy POV, it's the first fic I wrote and posted. I didn't really go into it with high performance expectations. I'm proud of it, I just didn't expect it to be popular. It would be nice if more people read it, but I'm not broken up over it.

Story that could have been better?

I'm not even going to touch this one. Everything can always be improved upon, but if I go down that route, nothing will ever be done. This is one of the things I have come to appreciate about traditional art versus digital. With traditional, there is only so much you can do before something is permanent and you have to live with it. It's an exercise in letting go and acceptance. Digital is flashier and more flexible, but I could (and have) spend months on a single piece and never feel satisfied, never stop tweaking. I think that's also the reason I started to hate my novels.

Sexiest story?

Based purely on overall vibes, I find the understated tension of the Regency the most appealing, so I'm going to say A Man of Letters. I didn't actually stray into sex territory in any of my fics (though Simon and Baz have had sex by the time To the Manor Borne starts, and refer to it, and probably do it "offscreen"), but A Man of Letters is the one that feels sexiest to me. Lots of thirsting!Baz and feral!Simon and sensual hand touching (how risqué!) - and YEARNING. That, to me, is the sexiest vibe of all. So. Much. Yearning.

Saddest story?

At the Top of a Tower, With You - for this one, I tagged "angst without plot" and I stand by that. It's Lucy losing her connection to Simon at the end of CO and trying to find a way to reconcile herself to leaving him alone again. I gave it as much of a hopeful bent as I could, with the refrain of Baz's spoken "love" to cling to, but it's very sad.

Most fun?

To the Manor Borne - All of my fics have their fair share of angst, but this one also has some good, silly, holiday fluff thrown in. Since I wrote it for the Countdown, each chapter was based on a different prompt, which led to this one going in all sorts of directions no single fic probably ever should. Plus, it has the most Shepard, and Shepard always makes things more fun.

Story with the single sweetest moment?

Oh my god. I don't know. No, never mind. I do. It's To the Manor Borne, but it's split between the two gift giving scenes, the Constellations and Secret Santa/Gift Giving prompts. These were private moments between Simon and Baz, sharing themselves with each other, being vulnerable, and communicating. It's the gifts they give each other, yes, but it's more so the reasons they chose those gifts, and how they show part of themselves and share their love for each other, through those gifts, that had me in tears writing those two scenes. I'm super proud of them.

Hardest story to write?

Use Your Words - it was written for an exchange and that made it really hard to write it knowing there was this pressure of making my gift-ee happy with the fic. I'm proud of it, and they really liked it, but the anxiety was too much for me.

Easiest/most fun story to write?

A Man of Letters - if there is a fic better suited to me as a writer, I haven't met it. I started writing after reading Pride and Prejudice in high school, so I started out writing Regency and I spent years and years and years of my life obsessed. When I transferred into college, an administrator I had never met before heard my name during orientation and said, "Oh, you're the Austen scholar." (It is a small, private college, and I was a transfer, so the pool of students was even smaller. But still. Many years later, I'm clearly not over it.) I also did my senior thesis on an epistolary novel (Frances Burney’s Evelina), and my English Lit emphasis was for that time period. So, I felt like I had been preparing for this fic my entire adult life. 😂

Did any stories shift your perceptions of the characters?

I don't think so. I tend to let my writing be dictated by the characters, so I'm always following their lead. Sometimes they'll do or say something that surprises me and takes me down a route I didn't necessarily foresee, but I don't think there was ever a point where one of them did something that made me rethink who they are as a character.

Most overdue story?

I will say A Man of Letters, since that one felt like a culmination of my seventeen-year-old self's wildest writing dreams. But I should probably say the Scooby Doo AU I still haven't managed to finish, because that one has been a WIP since I joined the fandom. Oops. (I'm hoping when I look over this in a year, I can feel smug that it's finally done.)

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?

Writing at all was a risk for me! And writing fan fic for the very first time! Writing an entire fic told only through letters. And then ending it in a completely different style from the rest of the fic. Doing a multi-chaptered fic for the Countdown, using a different prompt for each chapter, and publishing a chapter every single day for thirty days (with the exception of two days that had art). Signing up for fandom events in the first place!

What I learned from taking risks in my writing is the same thing I learned when I took risks in my art this year. I have a much better appreciation for what I've done when I push myself, I feel better about the end product, and I like it longer. I think it's really good for me to challenge myself creatively.

This year's theme and the story that demonstrates it most?

Oh boy. Um. Therapy! Both Use Your Words and To the Manor Borne had their big HEA moments built around sending Simon and Baz to therapy. I don't think that's likely to change for future fics, either. I feel like therapy as the theme for 2020 seems very fitting. (Also, I think I keep sending the boys to therapy because I'm trying to get myself there…)

What are your fic writing goals for next year?

Just to write what I want to write, have fun, not put any pressure on myself, and to take risks in my writing and my art because it will help me to grow.

#fan fic year in review #my fic #at the top of a tower with you #use your words #a man of letters #to the manor borne

[vtori73]

Okay so... I'm making another post again about this (CW for mentions of Biphobia and transphobia):

Only it's not ABOUT this but it's about what I as a queer ACTUALLY care about in terms of rep and such. Real quick I will say that as much I do agree with SOME of these being bad fancanons for being negative/stereotypical whatever I ALSO think claiming some of these as outright harmful is a bit much & grasping at straws a bit.

Anyway moving on, right now I'm seeing specific Lesbians are harassing the writer of the new Harley Quinn Comic eat, bang, kill tour because they wrote her as Bisexual... not a decision the writer made herself but something that was WRITTEN into the original show that the comic is following.

Like... I'm sorry but first things first based on facts if you know anything about Poison ivy before recent depictions she has been heavily represented/written/depicted as straight, I don't believe if she's ever 100% stated as such but... come on, no straight people were back then, media still doesn't feel the need to state characters as hetero because our society very much does the whole "assumed straight unless stated otherwise." And Poison ivy, in certain depictions ive seen at least, comes off VERY much as for the male gaze and I know lesbians are used this way often BUT this isn't as often in certain media like comics (or wasn't common) where they usually would prefer them be open to men so the demographic they care about can fantasize about being with the character.

Second, this IS definitely being fueled by racism since the writer is Black woman (not mention also queer & disabled) and so far the people responding have been white or at least one of the main ones is.

Third, this is just another one those things that to me REALLY shows how Biphobic certain parts of the Lesbian community can get.

Like I'm sorry, what I'm about to type of probably going make some upset and scream "lesbophobia" but I HAVE to share because I can't be the only one who feels this way... I feel wary around Lesbians online sometimes, not because of any stereotypes but because I've SEEN how openly, some Ive followed even in the past, are to complain about us (Bi+) people and openly explain how they DONT want to share spaces with Bi woman. Look I get wanting to hangout with people just like you, BUT its weird how quickly some Lesbians are to want to discard us and not relate to us because we possibly may like, talk about, be in relationships with men and it's even MORE weird that that's a determent to y'all even though these same types of lesbians make their whole identity/community dependant on men (I'm sorry but even if it's specifically about hating men ur still at the end of the day... making it seem like ur sexuality/community hinges on men) and not you know... loving woman.

I've seen some Lesbians complain about how they need Lesbian ('only' heavily implied) bars and how its annoying that bi woman go to them. And countless of stories of Bi woman being shunned, turned down for being Bi, no I'm not saying that is so awful Lesbians don't want to "sleep" with us (why the parentheses? eh just that I'm not going to assume ALL anyone wants to do after meeting in a bar is to fuck it's probably a good chunk of the time but not 100%) I'm saying it's pretty Biphobic, bigoted, etc to turn someone down JUST for being Bi, you obviously only have a problem with Bi people being Bi.

And also yes we do get hurt because duh its Biphobia but we also are ultimately glad to know because we wouldn't want to sleep with Biphobic people anyway we just want y'all to acknowledge it for what it is, a bigoted prejudice, no not a boundary but a Biphobic preference. I know a lot won't get that and scream "it's a boundary, it's a boundary!" and I don't know if they do this to Bi woman who say it but if this was about Trans woman they would also add "you just want to rape, coerce, harass Lesbians into sleeping with you" & usually paired with plenty of misgendering. I feel like I have seen it but only more so in terms of gold star lesbian rhetoric instead of terf rhetoric.

Either way, it just kind of sad, frustrating and annoying that Bi+, trans, etc can't DARE to bring this stuff up without being called Lesbophobic (just using this term would get me harassed & called a bigot on Twitter because it "contains a slur") because we SHOULD be allowed to bring up stuff that hurts us but we can't because LGBTQIA people seem to have this unspoken hierarchy of who gets cared about, believed, listened to first and it's definitely seems based on the order of the letters in the alphabet soup.

.

.

.

But anyway yeah, I have a hard time taking the post I shared an image of above seriously when stuff like I wrote above is going on. Yes I do think being critical of fandom in terms of bigotry is important, ESPECIALLY racism because that honestly is one of the BIGGEST problems since fandom is dominated mostly by white people (specifically women & queer people) however... I don't think the above is a decent example of that, it condenses the issues and leaves out so much needed nuance and such (yes this is cropped so it doesn't include some of the other additions to it but tbf from what I remember it didn't really add nuance, just clarifyed what the first post was doing).

For example, a Bi person headcanoning a character Bi a majority of the time should not be considered Biphobic, even if the character is a negative stereotype PLENTY of people do this as a way to reclaim the character from the bigotry that was written with it. Or the above, if someone hc's a character who is a badass as Bi there shouldn't be an issue. Now if a Bi person hc's others like the above there MIGHT be an issue then. Also, not to mention that identities intersect, if a pan ace person want to hc certain characters a certain way that could be stereotypical should we label them xphobic regardless of their identify?

I just think the original post it too vague and paints all fandom hc the same regardless of who is making them and like I said before, while this can be a problem I have more of an issue with this new trend of shutting down others hc because others claim the character even though the characters specific id is never said & thus should be open to anyone (example: Lesbians claiming its bigoted or get upset at others for hc a character as Bi that they hc as Lesbian even though the character was originally written straight or is very heavily straight coded and/or had relationships with men). Also fandoms erasing characters identities that are outright stated or implied is ALSO a huge thing I find to be more of a problem then the above post (examples: Luz Noceda from Owl house is stated by the creator as being Bi but people are calling her/them (her & her girlfriend) lesbians; another one that I feel is SORT of a problem but I also can't 100% condemn people who do this because the show doesn't help with continuing to be vague about it is Bob Belcher & him being hinted at being Bi but is erased by straight and gay(LG) fans as being straight).

Also I don't apologize for all of my examples being about Bi people, biphobia, etc because I am Bi so that is what I know and experience first and foremost!

[manikas-whims]

Messing with Her

Pairing: Shouto Todoroki X Momo Yaoyorozu

Words: 1711

Rating: T

Read on: AO3 | FFnet

One. They are supposed to share just one lesson with the students of class B every week and yet somehow it has become the least bearable thing for Shouto. Although he isn’t much of an extrovert, he can bear with a few new faces but this doesn’t mean he’s ready to share seats with said new faces. And as if this isn’t enough, fate decides to play a dirty trick on him by giving him the worst possible seatmate for this particular class— Neito Monoma.

Not only does the blond hold some kind of personal grudge against class A but he is also nearly deranged. His obsession with annoying people is seriously worrisome. Negativity is known to eat away one’s inner conscience, deprive the person of liveliness and joy yet this boy thrives in chaos. Disaster fuels him like no drug can ever. And Shouto is extremely disgruntled to have to share a seat with him for a whole year.

He doesn’t pay heed to the crazy boy’s taunts and focuses on Sir Cementos, who is explaining something about strategizing which they’ll have to apply later on in test missions. His eyes glance ahead, stopping upon the back of a girl with silky, black locks next to an orange haired girl from class B. He sighs. It was his lovely, dark haired, seatmate herself who had suggested this new seat arrangement by drawing lots so as to help the two sections become more accustomed to one another and to make some new friends. Well he certainly does not need new friends. He is content with having her, Midoriya and Iida.

“Ohh so Mr. Cool Guy here is now ignoring me.” Monoma speaks, feigning a hurt expression.

Shouto finds the nickname funny, considering how hot-headed he gets when having to deal with idiots like these. But just like the rest of his classmates, he’s promised his class representatives that he’ll try to learn from this experience, not pick fights. And so, he tries to concentrate on what is being taught right in front of him.

“Is it your class rep, you’re thinking about?” Monoma says, his eyes now fixated on Yaoyorozu.

“Oh I know..” Monoma clicks his fingers, as if he’s discovered Shouto’s deepest, darkest secrets. “You’re thinking you’d rather sit with her than having to face a genius like me.”

Shouto huffs, cracking his neck to diffuse the annoyance building up within him. He has to! He promised Iida and Yaoyorozu.

“You think she’s better than me?” Monoma asks haughtily. This guy doesn’t know when to give up, does he?

Shouto ignores him.

“She is intelligent, I’ll give her that. But isn’t her kindness off-putting? I dunno, she almost seems too good to be true. Hey! Maybe she’s faking being nice to-”

“Fuck Off” The words escape Shouto’s lips before his rational mind can stop him.

It is only when the whole class turns towards him, some gasping in shock whilst several others hooting in approval of the possible incoming argument that he realizes he’s said the curse words loud enough for everyone to hear. He looks away, unfazed by everyone’s undivided attention on him. He only swears if it is to humiliate his bastard of a father. But people like Monoma press the right buttons, pushing him to lose his composure. It would’ve been fine if the arrogant boy had kept his snarky comments limited to him but he tried to insult Yaoyorozu, someone whom Shouto holds very important in his life, just like his other friends. He assures himself with that thought but wonders if he’d actually reacted the same way had it been Midoriya or Iida. Anyways, he couldn’t have just sat there and let the guy say whatever.

Sir Cementos puts down the chalk in his hand and opens his mouth to berate him for his language but Yaoyorozu beats their teacher to it.

“Todoroki-san! How could you?” she stands up, disappointment clear in her voice.

How could he? Normally, he would’ve simply told her that this stuck-up class B student just badmouthed her. But with an audience around, he can’t. He just knows that’ll hurt Yaoyorozu more than Monoma’s false remarks. So instead of stating the truth, he decides to lie. “Because he deserves.”

From the corner of his eyes, he can see Iida itching to chide him but is stopped by Midoriya.

“Swearing is wrong!” Yaoyorozu emphasizes, her hands resting on her hips. “Whether or not a person deserves it, is not as important as you spoiling your tongue by using such foul words.”

Here it is, her ‘good girl’ speech. Although she’s right, she can’t force everyone to stop swearing. And he’s already not the most ideal boy in his class. He is kind of a brooding, no-nonsense, cool sort of guy but that doesn’t mean he’s not bad. It may not be apparent but he’s just as handful as any other teenager. He doesn’t answer much to his sister and he treats his father like trash (which the man actually is). Oh! And not long ago, before the sports festival, he used to be pretty rude and uncaring about others. Its surprising that she and the rest of his classmates collectively decided to forget all of it as soon as he started opening up. So yeah, he doesn’t really care if swearing is wrong.

“It’s my tongue I’m spoiling, so you don’t need to worry.” He says with a shrug, earning some collective ‘oohs’ from the other students.

Her expression darkens at the nonchalance in his words. “I’m not worried. I just want you to apologize.”

Shouto’s eyes widen for the fraction of a second before returning to his stoic demeanor. Apologize? Him? To this jerk? And that too for cursing at Monoma because the blond was mocking her kind character? Not in a million years. If asked, he can share his soba with her but he will definitely not ask for this obnoxious boy’s forgiveness. He cocks his head to the side as he responds, “Or what?”

His words ensue a set of gasps, hoots and snickers. Even Bakugou quirks a brow in amusement. The sassy intonation in his words, makes Shouto question himself too. Crude words are one thing. But where is this coming from? He doesn’t remember ever speaking like this to anyone. Especially, since he had only meant to decline her request. Somehow he ended up saying these..challenging words!? He’s not in the position to challenge her for correcting him. So then, how did he let such words slip out of his mouth? Must be due to his time spent in the company of Bakugou and others at the provisional training.

Or is it because he enjoys messing with her? He knows she’s genuinely too sweet to scream at him for his words. Plus, he has noticed her always blushing cutely when he says something unpredictable. He isn’t sure why she reacts the way she does towards some of his actions but he likes it. He likes getting under her skin. He wants to witness how much she can take until she finally snaps back at him and takes action.

“Or..” she begins through gritted teeth, “I’ll never talk to you.”

His brows furrow immediately. The last time she stopped speaking to him was a disaster. Yes, he had talked it out with her. But he doesn’t have the energy to repeat that because he knows most of class A will be eavesdropping on them like the other time. He balls his palms into fists, the temperature rising on his left side whilst decreasing equally at his right. This isn’t fair. He didn’t expect her to be this strict on him. He isn’t saying that he’s special but she always does make him feel so. Wishing him good luck during tests, lending him spare stationary material by actually using her quirk to create it for him, offering him her expensive variety of tea and so much more. It’s just that her little gestures make him feel warm and happy..make him feel special and loved.. So now that she’s the one reprimanding him, it’s disheartening. Still, he cannot apologize to Monoma. He just can’t.

“It’s okay, Yaoyorozu-san.” Fortunately, the orange haired girl from class B intervenes. Kendo right? She’s the one who keeps her classmates in line. “I know Monoma is a bit provoking in nature.” She says sheepishly. “So there’s no need to say sorry to him. I think a written apology to your homeroom teacher will be better.” She suggests, looking awkwardly between Todoroki and Yaoyorozu.

Yaoyorozu bites her lip as if contemplating if she should agree or not but then relaxes visibly. “Fine then. Todoroki-san, please write an apology to Aizawa sensei.” With that said, she turns around, a frown still etched on her face to express her disappointment in him.

He watches the others turn back to Cementos, assuming the matter is over. But not for him. For some inexplicable reason, Shouto can’t get enough of this. He knows this isn’t a competition and that she wasn’t serious when she said what she did. He knows. Yet..

“Or what?”

“Or..I’ll never talk to you.”

The statement echoes in his head. He can’t believe that she shot back to his pugnacious words.

Shouto knows that it’s unnecessary and he’s being childish. But he can’t help himself from wanting to have the last word in this silly, one-sided argument with her. Maybe it’s his adolescent hormones kicking in but he wants to spite her, test her some more..

“Well then you better keep an eye on me or I won’t be writing that apology letter.” He drawls out but he doesn’t get to wait long. He sees Yaoyorozu instantly push her chair back with a noisy screech. In a few quick steps, she stomps towards him, glaring Monoma to get her message across. The blond boy immediately vacates the chair for her and she sits down next to Shouto, passing him a fiercer glare. He smirks, relishing in the hooting that follows anew as a result of his playful words.

Seriously, if all it takes is a few swear words and silly comebacks to make her sit by his side, then he’ll gladly do it all over again.

A/N: Amongst class A students, i think Shouto is the most badly behaved one. He's rude to people he doesn't like or doesn't respect, regardless of their age. There's so much I've noticed about him that I feel like he is the Bad Boy type right next to Bakugou 🤭

Well, I hope you guys enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing..

OH, I'M OPEN FOR REQUESTS NOW

If you have a scenario, AU or just sn idea about todomomo and you want me to write it, please comment about it here ☺

#todomomo fanfic #todomomo fanfiction #todomomo #shouto todoroki #momo yaoyorozu #todoroki shouto #yaoyorozu momo #shouto x momo #todoroki x yaoyorozu

[kingofthewilderwest]

Hey :) I want to watch more httyd but sadly I've seen all the movies, are the tv series' any good? Which one should I start with?

Oh goodness, I have a post somewhere answering this very question, but I’m too lazy to find it. TIME FOR A REWRITE! XD

I find the HTTYD television materials VERY worthwhile additions to the DreamWorks Dragons franchise. I feel like we are extremely blessed to have over a hundred episodes of a show filled with fantastic moments and memories. Personally, I always encourage people to check them out. The shows won’t be for everyone, which is alright, but I feel that the television series has a lot going for it. I love the shows myself and constantly reference some points from them in my analyses because I think they’re so critical. I’ll explain pros and cons so you can make your own choice about whether or not the shows might be your thing.

I’d say the number one highlight of the television series is the increased time with the dragon riding gang - Hiccup, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Snotlout, and Astrid. Many of these characters are secondary in the movie trilogy, having little time on screen, but the television series fleshes them out. It’s because of the show that I fell in love with Snotlout’s character and saw him in three-dimensional depth; I’d say he’s the character they handle best, going into how he hides his insecurities with machismo because he wants to impress a berating father. It’s the show for why I attach to the twins; their sibling devotion and love for one another is brought out wonderfully on screen. There’s good moments with everybody, and you’ll see everyone pair up with everybody - what’s the friendship between Astrid and Tuffnut like? Now you’ll know.

I think a decent test for whether or not you’d enjoy the character dynamics is… well… did you like the character bantering that happened in THW? If so, that had a very distinct tv series feel to it - to the point that they were even referencing ongoing television series gags like Snotlout getting his ass caught on fire.

There’s other characters to meet and engage with too! We’ve got Heather, a badass young woman who connects well with Astrid. We’ve got Gustav, an obnoxious wannabe “Snotlout” who shadows the older dragon rider. We’ve got Mala, the queen of a warrior-trained society that reveres dragons. And there’s Atali, Minden, Throk, Savage, Alvin, Dagur, Mulch, Bucket, Mildew, Krogan, Johann, Viggo, Ryker, and more!

The television series is also good for laughs. Did you ever want a musical episode where Snotlout sings about how amazing he is? Did you ever want to see an entire pile of fish dunked on Hiccup’s head? How about where Hiccup painstakingly tries to talk without using the letter s? “TOOTHLEH! PLAMA BLAT!” is a moment I’ll never stop laughing at.

I also think the best DreamWorks Dragons villains are in the television series. Alvin the Treacherous is a hoot on screen, delightfully voice acted by Mark Hamill. Dagur the Deranged has his fan base for a reason. And for me? Viggo Grimborn is my number one favorite villain from the DreamWorks side of HTTYD - a manipulative, morally gray trader who is such a keen strategist he makes Hiccup appear a foolish child.

One small last point: there’s extra depth to appreciate about the films if you go through the shows. Astrid sympathizing with Hiccup in the first film makes even more sense once you realize her family name got tarnished and she felt social ostracization herself. You see Hiccup attempting to develop his flight suit and sword, leading into HTTYD 2 material. The presence of Fireworms in the third film is a reference to a dragon species introduced in the shows. A conversation point in THW about having dealt with “their kind before” (that is, dangerous people like Grimmel) is a reference to Hiccup’s adventures with Viggo Grimborn. The underground caves that become stables in HTTYD 2 were first found in the television series, explored in DOB. Stoick and Hiccup have several conversations about leadership that lend extra feels to the tragedy in HTTYD 2. Tuffnut yakking to Hiccup ridiculously in THW brings up all the memories of weird conversations they’ve had before… there’s extra context, content, and background to appreciate when you approach the movies with knowledge of the full franchise. 

Now, the shows aren’t perfect, and it’s usually the same reasons why people don’t get engaged with the shows. Again: some fans love the shows and scream their way through episodes, some fans dislike the shows and refuse to touch them, and some fans are “meh” about the shows and get through them with liquor. It’s all dependent on the sorts of things you tend to attach to, and the things that tend to bother you.

One reason some people don’t engage is that the first episodes of the first series (Riders of Berk) can feel childish in tone with low stakes. It is to note that the adventures and stakes do grow from the start. The animation levels also drastically improve from start to end… it’s a wild difference to compare the first episode of Riders of Berk with the finale of Race to the Edge.

Another reason is that the shows are not about the dragon characters. There will be the introduction of many cool dragon species like the Death Song, Scauldron, or Thunderdrum, but the shows aren’t about the humans connecting with their dragon friends. They do not focus on the dragon characters. So don’t go here for Hiccup and Toothless dynamics. There’s a few feelsy moments to talk about, but not many; Toothless is mostly a background character as the stories focus on the humans instead.

Next, some people feel like the characters are “dumbed down” or written inconsistently, and while I wouldn’t phrase it exactly like that, there’s a point to be made there. Some audience members especially don’t like how Hiccstrid gets handled in the first half of RTTE, where they feel like the bumbling hesitant startings of romance is inaccurate to how the two would develop relationally. (It’s to note that another group of people fawn over the Hiccstrid dynamics). Others hate Heather, calling her a “Mary Sue” (a term I think should be retired from existence because it’s a pointless criticism word anymore, but anyway, some people feel like Heather is an Angst Child who takes too much screen time, and that’s a fair point too). Astrid sometimes feels too damsel-in-distress-y for me. As far as Hiccup? Well. Hiccup’s personality is presented a bit differently than you usually see in the movies. RTTE!Hiccup is some of my favorite Hiccup, but he is presented with a different flavor.

Next, some people say that the television series story is inconsistent, completely irreconcilable, with the events of the trilogy. I personally find the continuity blips minor at best, and similar to franchise blips that happen anywhere, but it’s your call, and it’s totally fine if you find the continuity irreconcilable. It’s your take! It’s your experience with the story! Things like Hiccstrid romantic development, whether or not Berk was at peace during the five year gap between HTTYD and HTTYD 2, whether or not Hiccup knew anything about Bewilderbeasts, and whether or not Hiccup had run into other dragon riders before Valka… well… the television series will present something different than you might have presumed from movie material alone. This HIGHLY irritates some people, as it can feel like it sabotages the efficacy of certain moments in the films. For other people like me, it’s an entire non-issue. All is all fair because we engage with media in different ways! Here’s the issue just so you know: you can make your call about whether or not continuity questions will bother you.

Last, the plot. The first two television series, the plot is straightforward and fine. For RTTE, the plot is not the best presented. I think the first two seasons start out GREAT, but then it gets increasing issues. It’s for this reason that some people like ROB and DOB but aren’t engaged with RTTE. There’s a lot of fun to be had in it, and there’s many points at which I was fully engaged. In many ways, RTTE does some things BEST of the whole series. BUT. It doesn’t take much observation to realize there are logic gaps, motivation questions, convoluted but repetitive plot twists, some eyebrow-raising unrealistic moments, and instead of showing smooth characterization, people have a tendency to suddenly jump forward or shift in spurts. If you’re someone who gets invested in a show primarily for long-term plot arcs, you might get irritated at decisions in RTTE. But if you’re someone who’s willing to go along for the ride and just have fun and take it for what it is, RTTE has an entertaining story with lots of adventure.

For me? The television series is a blessing and COMPLETELY worth the watch. But I hope this discussion of pros and cons can make your decision best for you!

So! With all that said! What order should you watch them in? The order that they were released:

Riders of Berk

Defenders of Berk

Race to the Edge

Riders and Defenders of Berk are not on Netflix and you’ll have to go elsewhere to watch them. Race to the Edge got released on Netflix and is still available there… though all the shows have been released on DVD by this point.

I highly encourage you to watch the shows start to end as they came out because of plot reasons. RTTE especially needs to be watched in episode order, but RTTE makes sense only in the context of you seeing ROB and DOB first. There are filler episodes, but there are overarching plots. If you went straight into Race to the Edge first, you’d have no idea who the Helheim Heather and Dagur are, and why it’s important to run into them. 

I hope this helps you and any others considering the shows! It’s so much more dragons dragons dragons dragons dragons and I hope that, if you watch, you have just as much of a blast as I did!

#httyd #How to Train Your Dragon #DreamWorks Dragons #Riders of Berk #ROB #Defenders of Berk #DOB #RTTE #Race to the Edge #if you want to find my other answer to this question it should be buried somewhere in my faq tag #at least it BETTER be #faq #ask #ask me #analysis #my analysis #rtte #something-wicked-this-waycomes #also the tv show basically made Snotlout bisexual so WOOT

[miaoujones]

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR POSTING THAT EXPANDED LIST. I was honestly freaking out a little with your initial wishlist because I was getting really worried since what it seemed like you wanted is really close to something I've already written OTL If it's at all possible to expand on your AUs list, or even just to describe a few fics/concepts you've really enjoyed in the past that would really help me make sure I make you something you'll like

hi, anon!

first off, and i think my letter says this, i really want you to have a good time writing for me. i’ve been miserable writing for exchanges and i’ve received fics where it’s pretty clear the author was miserable, and that just sucks. i genuinely believe that your love and passion will come shining through, so if there’s an idea you’ve been kicking around but didn’t have the motivation or an excuse to write it, please consider me that motivation/excuse! (as long as it’s not on the Dislikes list.)

but in case that makes you want to throw things at me, i’ll try to answer you a little more specifically. :3

i think this lists a lot of the things i really enjoy in fic. they aren’t super tropey, but i guess i’m not a super tropey person? i don’t know how much this will help because i do it sort of whimsically and inconsistenly, but maybe my ao3 bookmarks will give some hints? (i just skimmed through and the voltron ones are kind of heavy on the e ratings, but maybe if you look at tags no matter what the fandom is, a pattern of tropes will emerge?)

for specific au’s:

sports, especially olympics sports. i watch hours and hours and hours of the olympics, no matter which season, no matter what sport. so if there is a sport you love, you cannot go wrong with olympics au. (if you want me to pick a summer sport for an au, i might say gymnastics or diving; for winter, perhaps curling or ski jumping. but if you pick a sport YOU love, i bet i will fall in love with it too.)

soulmates. i am especially into it if it’s not a perfect system, if errors and glitches occur, if not everyone finds their soulmate or they end up with more than one… but i’ll also take a perfect match soulmate! if you can weave a soulmmate au into the actual vld canon, that would be amazing—but complete au is wonderful too.

something with an emotional/psychic kind of connection, like a sense8 au or pacific rim au or a pern au. (if you do pern, i’d be happy with one of them being a rider and the other a dragon. or if they’re both riders, why can’t a bronze fly a bronze??)

for that matter: why can’t a sub be in a relationship with a sub? (idk if “subs in love” is a trope, but yeah…)

not au but very specifically to shiro: canon threw a lot at him in later seasons and then never did anything with it. tell me more about his connection with the atlas (speaking of psychic/emotional connections). tell me how he felt and dealt with the atlas merging with voltron. whether you want to ignore the epilogue or read between the lines of it, what’s next for shiro and space (because there is no way he’s giving that up, right?).

i tried to make that last paragraph open to any of the pairings i requeste. the one thing i will say is this: please don’t be mean to curtis. if you hate him but you want to do a post-s8 fic, i’ll be 10,000,000 times happier if you just ignore his existence than if you do something involving infidelity or death. :3

this is by no means comprehensive. i’m really bad at any sort of “name your favorites” type thing, which in effect this is. but i hope there’s something here that inspires you. :D

#anon

[tryslora]

Hi. I really, really love your fics. I only used to read drarry earlier, but you have introduced me to some of the most amazing pairings ever. especially teddy and James. I've fallen in love with them. Also, I really love kingsley/draco and I don't think you have ever written them. Would you ever write them? What are your thoughts about them? Also, out of all the fics you have written (seriously, you are a blessing) which is your favorite?

Hi, Nonny! 

OOOOOH, that’s awesome! I love when I hear that someone has decided to try a new ship and fell in love!! James/Teddy has become one of my fave fun pairings to write lately.

I’m afraid I don’t really have plans to write Kingsley/Draco. Which is nothing against the pairing, just that I don’t really write the older characters in HP. I tend to stick to the Trio era and the Next Gen era. I’m not sure why; I just don’t feel like I have the connection with the others (ironic, considering my age, I know). I’m sorry. :(

Oh goodness, my favorite fic that I’ve written? Um. Hm.

If we’re talking HP, then it’s probably Do This in Remembrance (SO MANY WARNINGS APPLY). It’s horror, which means I had to return to the very roots of my first writing to do it. It’s also a love story, created for a fest that was entirely supposed to be about Draco/AlbusSeverus love. It took a lot out of me to write, and it led me in a very different direction, but I couldn’t get it out of my head once I read the prompt. Out of all my fic, it’s the one I wish could translate in some way into original fiction, but it’s too embroiled in the wizarding world to have that work.

If we’re talking overall, then currently it’s probably the massively long love letter to Jackson Whittemore, the It’s Hard to Move Through Water series. I wasn’t sure I could pull it off when I started (I have a brain like a sieve, so weaving something through canon was a huge challenge) but I was so HAPPY with how it turned out. 

My Yuletide fic for this year is currently a contender for reasons I cannot discuss. I have to write about that after reveals.

And of course, my original work is topping my list over at @welcometophu, because I’m getting to literally write fic about all the stuff in my own head. I get to share characters and plots and things that are super important to me and that live inside my head, and I can’t even express how much I love being able to share these voices with readers.

#Anonymous