#so where are my alien hero snippets

[kaeyas-beloved]

To Hold and Be Held

Characters: Alhaitham, Diluc, Kaveh, Xiao

Summary: Who is holding who and why and when?

Genre: Fluff/Angst/Comfort + Snippets

CWs: gn!reader, angst/comfort in Xiao’s and Kaveh’s, only proofread in a half-assed kind of way

To be held by Alhaitham is not rare but not common either. This act of intimacy happens primarily in the late hours of the night and the wee hours of the morning. It’s the times when he just can’t be bothered to let go of the pleasant warmth you give off as he stays snuggled in the covers, nowhere near ready to start his day. It's in the moments where you take a seat on the opposite side of the couch, sometimes even the other couch altogether, unwilling to disturb your lover as he reads. Yet, somehow, not even five minutes later the man will find his place beside you, eyes never leaving the page as he guides you to lean against him.

And even when you've found a comfortable position for the both of you, Alhaitham's arm remains in its spot around you.

To hold Diluc is to hold the weight of worlds because that is what he himself does. He carries the lives of everyone in the city when he takes up his place as the Darknight Hero, he manages a whole industry from its product to its staff, ensuring that both are properly taken care of. Most of all, he takes care of you. You who shall not see another day of harm or sadness if he has anything to say about it, you who shall always be loved by him.

To hold Diluc is to temporarily allow him to not shoulder these responsibilities, to let him relax, be loved and just be Diluc.

To hold and be held by Kaveh is like looking at the sea crash onto the sand then recede - sometimes there is more sand, sometimes there’s more water. This is an accurate way to visualize your relationship, sometimes Kaveh holds you and other times you hold him. To hold Kaveh is to let him know that just because he is sad doesn’t mean he has to hide it, least of all from you. Holding him means to shield him from the world just for a little while. To hold him is to let him calm down from venting or ranting, be the topic about Alhaitham or some client. To be held by Kaveh, however, is like drowning in happiness. If he’s holding you, the chances are high that he’s smiling earnestly, laughing at either something you’ve said or a situation he’s retold.

If you’re holding each other, the chances of him being happy are indisputably high. Really, if you’re holding each other, it’s no longer a chance that he’s content, it’s fact.

To hold Xiao is like holding a baby bird or glass figurine, so fragile and to be handled with care. Xiao is the furthest from being weak when it comes to physical or mental strength, but even he will one day succumb to the years of sorrow weighing on him, crumbling until it’s almost impossible to get back up. So to find him curled into himself, his agony hanging heavy and all-consuming, it’s only natural for your first instinct to be to embrace him. He’ll tense in the beginning, perhaps always remaining unaccustomed to physical affection, but the longer you hold him, remaining by his side and letting your warmth seep into his bones, the more the darkness backs away to where it came from.

It’s a long war to be fought, but in this instant, you can be sure you won this battle.

Tag list: @spoopy-fish-writes // @that-enby-alien // @xenuuu // @mariposa666haruka // @quackquackmfs // @saishin-michiyoshi // @ajaxstar // @genshin-impact-writings // @ventisweetheart // @lordbugs // @lemontum // @akiria12167 // @ari-the-wr1ter // @dontmindmebeing // @xiaos-wife // @irethepotato // @milkwithspiceyicecubes // @stygianoir // @stage-lucida // @x-zho

. . .

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#al haitham x reader #alhaitham x reader #diluc x reader #kaveh x reader #xiao x reader #alhaitham x gender neutral reader #diluc x gender neutral reader #kaveh x gender neutral reader #xiao x gender neutral reader #genshin x reader #genshin impact

[creweemmaeec11]

Sleepless Fights

Partly inspired by a combination of this snippet from @hufflepuffwritingstuff2 and this snippet from @saltydumplings

It's just sleepy fluffy softness

"My gods hero, you can barely keep your eyes open,"

"I'm fine," they grit out, despite their eyelids fighting to close, "just... fight me already...."

"If I started singing right now you'd probably drop. You really think you can help anyone- never mind fight me- like this?" The villain asked casually, completely unintimidated by the approaching hero.

Said hero abruptly stumbled, having not noticed the vine that had grown and snagged their ankle.

"Hey-!" The vine twirled, causing the hero's back to hit the ground.

Sluggishly, they pulled themselves up, but the delay in the movement was enough time for another vine to sprout and wrap around their wrists.

"Seriously? This is... this is cheap, even... even for you," the hero said, speech slurring slightly as they tugged on their wrists.

When they didn't receive a response, they looked up to where the villain had previously been standing to find it empty, "hey where-"

"You're so tired you couldn't even hear me behind you, hero," the criminal's voice sounded scolding, almost disappointed, yet caring.

Before the hero could reply, they felt something like a jacket being laid over their shoulders. They hadn't even noticed the chill of the night air until it was contrasted with the warmth still emanating from the fabric.

Gods, it was comforting, like a warm blanket that had just come out of the dryer, and they couldn't help the way they relaxed and sink into it. It radiated through their body, heat relaxing their tired muscles.

The hero hadn't even realized they'd closed their eyes until they snapped open at the feeling of two arms wrapping around them from behind.

"Hey-! Wa-"

"Shhhh,"

"N-no! I-"

"Do I need to test out my singing theory?" The villain cut them off in a soft voice, sounding slightly amused, "because you wouldn't stand a chance, you're-"

"I can't!" The hero cried, suddenly struggling with more vigour, "every time I sleep someone- someone else is in trouble and- and-"

"Hero," the criminal said firmly, arms tightening snugly, "so help me- I will cocoon you to the ground in vines if you don't stop struggling. You can't help anyone like this,"

"You- you don't know that!" The hero replied. What little energy they had left had been quickly drained, leaving their entire body feeling heavy.

"I do," the villain replied, "because usually, you could break free of vines this small with no problems,"

The hero wasn't exactly sure when, but at some point during their struggle, the villain had pulled them back flush against their chest. The warmth coming from them felt nearly impossible not to melt into. They were so tired.

"I- you can't make me sleep on the ground in the middle of nowhere-"

"Are you seriously that tired that you forgot where you are? We're in my garden, hero. Why do you think there are so many vines for me to control?"

"I- uh-"

"That was rhetorical, buttercup,"

"I can't just sleep in your garden-"

Suddenly the hero's world went dark when the villain's hands gently covered their eyes. The darkness made it that much harder to stay awake. They felt the alien sensation of teleporting, feeling the cold grass beneath them morph into soft sheets.

"Better?"

The vines also vanished, but the hero lacked enough energy to even sit up. Their entire body felt heavy.

"This is cruel," the hero whined quietly.

The criminal behind them chuckled quietly, moving their hands in order to lay the hero down beside them onto the pillow, then tugging the blanket up over them.

"I don't... I don't want... want to sleep..." the hero slurred, already halfway to unconscious; they reached haphazardly and clumsily toward the criminal next to them.

The villain signed, trying to sound annoyed, but the soft, fond smile on their lips told a different story, "you're a pain, hero," they complained, reaching up card their fingers through the hero's hair.

"That's... cheating," the hero whined again, but leaned into the others hand regardless.

The villain just chuckled, scratching the hero's scalp softly.

As it turns out, the criminal had been right earlier because the second they started singing softly, the hero didn't stand a chance. They were out like a light.

The villain sighed, continuing to card their fingers through the other's hair as they gazed down at them. This hero was going to be the death of them, they were sure.

Yet they wouldn't have it any other way.

#writing #NOT A PR0MPT #Hero x villain #villain x hero #Heros and villains #heroes and villains #hero x villain snippet #hero #villain #hero x villain drabble #hero x villain snippets #snippet #ficlet #short story #snippets #my writing #my work #creative writing #Crewes writing #writers on tumblr #writblr #drabble #story #writer #writers of tumblr #stories #Crewe #fluff #cute #fluff snippet

[helenaheissner]

Comic Review: Green Arrow by Joshua Williamson Volume 1: Reunion

As a longtime Green Arrow fan, I had been looking forward to reading the first trade paperback of the current ongoing series by Joshua Williamson for a few months now. Williamson's been having something of a moment lately- his also ongoing run on Superman has been widely-lauded and very much enjoyed by me personally, and while I've not yet read his Batman & Robin series, the snippets I've seen online make it look very much up my alley.

In the wake of a recent event storyline titled Dark Crisis (also written by Williamson, and which I've not read either), Oliver Queen, rich brat turned hardcore survivalist turned bow-wielding man of the people superhero, is missing, stranded on an alien world for reasons he knows not why. So he does what he does best: survive.

The drive to survive is something I consider an inherent part of Ollie's character: he's motivated not by a desire for justice, vengeance, or familial obligations like many other DC heroes, but by an iron will to survive implanted by his being stranded on the not-so deserted island of Lian Yu for several years. He wants to survive, by any means, and he wants that for everyone around him as well. That is both his greatest strength and his greatest weakness, because sometimes by choosing survival over all else, he neglects to let himself truly live the life he wants with the family he has built, or otherwise cross moral lines for the sake of his (admittedly very noble) concept of a greater good. That dissonance is a huge part of what drives this six-issue opening act. Because while Oliver is doing what he does on the other end of universe, his family- specifically his adoptive son and former sidekick Roy Harper/Arsenal; the on/off love of his life and mainstay of the JLA, JSA, and Birds of Prey, Dinah Lance/Black Canary; and his illegitimate biological son, former Buddhist Monk turned co-Green Arrow, Connor Hawke.

It's on their hunt that they find trace of Roy's presumed-dead daughter by an unrepentant supervillain, Lian, and a touching father-daughter reunion happens... Only for Lian to suddenly vanish in a rush of light, and rematerialize on the same world where Oliver has been stranded.

Let's talk about the Arrow Family for a moment, shall we? The Arrow Family is freaking great! Oliver and Dinah are genuinely one of my favorite ships in all of comics, Roy is a Teen Titans mainstay who's undergone some of the best character development in all of comics, Connor is a brilliant example of a legacy superhero done well, and Oliver's adoptive daughter and other sidekick, Mia Dearden/Speedy, as well as his other-other sidekick and much younger half-sister Emiko Queen/Red Arrow, are two of the most criminally underrated heroines in the DCU. But due to several questionable editorial mandates and a few baffling writing choices over the past twenty or so years, the family has been scattered. Lian was straight-up dead for over a decade in real time, Connor and Mia were stranded in the proverbial comic book limbo after a continuity reboot in the early 2010s (long story), Roy and Dinah were on the outs with Ollie at various points in the past two decades, and while Emiko has gotten to hang around pretty consistently, the character wasn't created until 2013 and didn't became her big brother's sidekick until 2017. And this is without even getting into all the instances of Oliver being an idiot about his personal life and isolating himself from his family in the process.

This comic makes that a driving tension in a very literal sense- something is causing the members of the Arrow Family to teleport away from each other when they're near each other, causing Oliver to conclude that the only way they can all survive is to be apart.

He's wrong, of course. And he realizes he's wrong. And I won't spoil why, other than a very clever reveal of just who from Oliver's personal history would want to mess with him, as well as setting up a new potential archnemesis for the entire Arrow Family going forward in Amanda Waller (which, frankly, is a move that makes so much sense thematically it's surprising it took so long for someone to try it, given the potential contrast between Oliver's humanistic progressivism and Waller's authoritarian patriotism). What I will say that when truly pushed, when truly forced to choose between survival and family, Oliver sticks to his guns (so to speak) and chooses his family, chooses to take a chance on all of them being together no matter what risk there is for something to go wrong. Because when you're hardwired for survival above all else, the idea of letting someone, anyone, let alone a whole family of someones, into your heart is TERRIFYING. But Oliver Queen is not a coward, and he wants very much to be able to prove wrong all the many, MANY people who think that he is a bad man. He wants to be able to look in them in the face and tell the unblinking truth when he says 'no, I am a good man. Fuck you.'

And he does. And it is GLORIOUSLY CATHARTIC.

This book also does emotional beats very well. We get two parent-child reunions in this story, between Roy and Lian and then later Ollie and Connor, and both of them bring on the warm and fuzzies something fierce as these people who have been through so much together put aside all the hurt feelings and bad memories and are just thrilled to see each other once more. And then there's Ollie and Dinah's reunion... Let's just say I swooned. I swooned something fierce when my OTP got a spectacular (and rather hot) kiss scene.

This book also does banter and superhero lunacy very well (Roy and Peacemaker getting into a shoot-off becomes a plot point, and Oliver fights literal alien corporate fat-cats while in space) while still balancing it all in real emotion and a compelling personal story with personal stakes. It's aided by superb artwork from Sean Izaaske, who not only provides fantastic panel layouts, action scenes, and facial expressions, but also does several fun stylistic shifts when representing different periods in Ollie's history. It builds on established lore and character arcs without actually requiring you to know the storylines they originally came from (which is not always easy in superhero comics). Basically, it's very, VERY good, and I recommend it highly.

***

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#green arrow #comics #dcu #dc comics #oliver queen #black canary #dinah lance #arrow family #roy harper #speedy #arsenal #red arrow #lian harper #connor hawke #review #comic book review #joshua williamson

[explorersaremadeofhope]

I would like to know more about both your Star Trek Terror fic and your Crozier hates tinder fic please 🙏

omg okay so like, these are both a bit old, star trek terror fic is proper old, i think i wrote it in 2021, but im still hoping!! i had so much fun just working out the worldbuilding on that one and how the different characters slot into different roles, but then i ran up against my old nemesis The Actual Plot and was like 'hmm ok, i think i need to know a bit more about Star Trek TOS lore for this', aaaand that's where i stalled. it's fitzier, but like, eventually. very eventually. you'll see why from the snippet 😂

crozier hates tinder fic was me going 'why is there almost no modern au romcom rossier fic' and then having a very funny convo with some folks on discord about science nerds on tinder. that one mostly exists in vague outline form with a scene or two written out plus random details like 'james ross owns not one but several tacky early 2000s mugs from various places in the southern hemisphere, preferably with penguins on'.

snippets mostly below a cut because they got long (sorry about that)!

Star Trek Terror:

francis raised his brows, but said nothing. ignoring fitzjames' confused expression, he turned his attention back to the file in his hand. "i see from your service record that you've received several commendations for bravery in engagements with the romulans and the klingons." he looked up. "out of curiosity, do you speak klingon? or romulan?"

"ah, no, sir," fitzjames smiled apologetically. "i'm afraid i don't."

"i see. so your expertise lies primarily in firing at alien races, not communicating with them."

it wasn't a fair question, nor a fair conclusion. clearly taken aback, fitzjames blinked in open surprise. "sir," he began carefully, "i believe my qualifications -"

"your qualifications, commander fitzjames, are perfectly adequate. even impressive. for war." francis fixed him straight in the eye and held his gaze. "but don't let the repurposed nature of our ship fool you. we are a survey vessel. you will appreciate, no doubt, that the primary goal of any exploratory mission is to avoid bloodshed, not to excel at it." fitzjames drew breath to speak. francis ignored it. "put bluntly, commander, we don't particularly need a war hero. what we need is someone who knows how to calibrate a spectrometer correctly."

"with all due respect, sir," said fitzjames, once he was sure francis had finished speaking, "i think you'll find i have the requisite scientific training to apply for this post." he'd uncrossed his legs while francis was speaking and now sat ramrod straight. his mouth was pinched, his dark brows drawn together.

francis waved that away with a flick of his hand and a shake of his head. "this isn't a twelve-month patrol tour along the neutral zone, commander. we will be five years in deep space. sometimes uncharted space. in that situation, a man's merits on paper will matter far less than his personal qualities."

there was a pause in which fitzjames lowered his gaze to the floor, his jaw working. when he spoke again it was to a point just above francis' shoulder. the affable buoyancy had drained from his voice, leaving a gravel harshness which francis privately suspected was far more genuine. "i respectfully posit, sir," said fitzjames, "that you don't know my personal qualities, seeing as we've only just met."

francis' smile did not reach his eyes. "be that as it may. i'm afraid my decision is made, commander." he set his padd aside and folded his hands on the table. "thank you for your interest. and good morning."

Tinder fic:

“Well,” says Blanky flatly. “That's sexy.”

But as he reads over the message one more time, Francis’ heart is actually slowing down from its panicked gallop – his dread replaced with sheer relief at being given a topic of conversation he's fluent in.

“No, no, it's fine,” he says absently, staring at the words I'm thrilled we matched. “I don't mind.”

“Aye, you wouldn't, would you. What the hell are–” Thomas peers at the screen more closely. “Pinnipeds?”

“Seals. Well. Not just seals.” Francis looks up. “It's one of those things – all seals are pinnipeds but not all pinnipeds are seals. You know?”

Blanky regards him with the look of a man who absolutely does not. "Right."

After staring at his phone for a few moments longer, Francis opens the keyboard. 

Hi, he types out with deliberation. Thank you for – no. That comes off a bit pathetic, doesn’t it. Backspace. 

Thank you; likewise. Exclamation point? Does the full stop look dour? Cold? But he’s never been much of an exclamation point man. Likewise – I’ve always wanted to visit Antarctica. What

He stops typing, seized by a sudden fear. Hurriedly erasing the message draft, he looks up at Blanky. “Can people see me typing on this thing?”

“Fuck should I know, Francis? I’ve been married for twenty years. – Give us a minute, though.” Blanky pulls out his own phone and writes a text. Less than a minute later, his phone pings. “Hannah says aye. Also wants to know if I'm cheating on Esther.”

#* #asks #wip game #thank you for asking!!💖

[heroes-villains-side-blog]

Help, my brain wants to create another blog (blog #8!!!!)

On the one hand, I'm not into the genre much and can very well just use this or my main blog for the rare few writeblr works that interest me

On the other hand... I like organizing and wanna see what I can accomplish in the name of community

It'll be like this blog, where I reblog prompts, snippets, advice, or other things that interest me but from the following genres

🖋️ Fantasy 🖋️ Sci-fi and aliens 🖋️ Horror 🖋️ Alternate history 🖋️ Utopian 🖋️ Dystopian 🖋️ Apocalyptic 🖋️ Post-apocalyptic 🖋️ Supernatural 🖋️ Myth retellings 🖋️ Fairytale retellings 🖋️ Medieval 🖋️ Pirates 🖋️ Science fantasy 🖋️ Urban or modern fantasy 🖋️ Light fantasy 🖋️ Etc, just separate from #heroes and villains stuff, but sometimes the lines could be blurry.

The issue is that the stuff I love in the genres is so rare, and the common tropes that most authors use are stuff I don't like. No hate to those writers who like those tropes ofc. We just have different preferences.

So the blog won't be community-centric, it'll be biased towards stuff I like. Which is fine, just don't come after me lol (I ain't getting paid for this, I just like organizing).

I have hyperfixated at times on media that's fantasy, sci-fi, supernatural or myth related, so the interest is there if done right

My main novel is fantasy, yes, with a knight, royalty, magic… but it's more humor than anything and that's what I love about it. And excluding fanfics (which were fantasy or supernatural anyway), I've written some fantasy/ supernatural/ myth work so, again, the interest is there... And let's not forget the huge fairytale retelling dark aesthetic database that I made.

And I do have some fantasy stuff I wanna write but lacking an outline to start :P

Inspired by this thread because there are writers who wanna write, but finding readers seems to be the issue which could be due to the lack of systemization of the genre (just #fantasy could be used by snippet writers and writeblrs promoting their actual books, both have vastly different audiences so you can see the problem)

I'll go ahead and tag the self-proclaimed "fantasy squad" from the thread @thepenultimateword @writing-on-the-wahl @watercolorfreckles @amethystpath-writes @snowshower @puddleslimewrites @muses-of-the-mind and @surplus-of-sarcasm who accidentally pushed me down this rabbit hole today when I just told @eahravinqueen a few days ago stuff I don't like about the genre XD

For everyone else, ideas for new tags and/or systemization are most welcome! Just leave a comment or reblog in the tags or send me a message or screenshot of stuff you've seen that works or whatevs!

#speculative fiction #writeblr #new tag ideas #fantasy squad #speculative fiction squad

[ganonfan1995]

totk spoilers

just thoughts on totk thus far

I keep seeing ppl say they've done away with the triforce in totk...but like....im 99% sure that's what the secret stones are supposed to be.

The triforce itself is comprised of the combined power of the royal 3.

But they also seem to work 1:1 like the triforce did in like LTTP.

Also there's 8 pieces which calls back to LoZ 2.

I'm not done the game yet, but totk seems to rehashing a LOT of older lore mixed with more recent lore. Notably, this game feels like its primarily touching on the first 3 games, plus OOT, with some of the better ideas from SS.

You see implications of who the gods truly are (apparently colonizing aliens who descended upon the land to mine its resources...which was something implied in SS quite blatantly???)

But it also adds context to the original 3 goddesses, implying that they had been ancient Zonai who posed as gods to the original inhabitants of Hyrule. Later becoming dragons and mythologized after thousands of years. (also me pogging that the light dragons stoney spines are the same colours as the goddess plumes!?!?!?? idk what that means but cool?????????)

I also don't know if they touch on this later, but it really seems like the Sheikah, esp the ancient Sheikah, were Hylians who specifically followed in the footsteps of the Zonai. I think this makes sense, and ties them to previous games where they were a tribe/clan/family of ninja who were closest to the gods. And since Zonai fancy themselves gods (or at least the ancient Hylians did, I don't think they were tbh) , this kind of clarifies that relationship/connection. Maybe they have a specific tie to Mineru, which would reiterate their bond to the royal family. But that might be over complicating things, since at least in botw they're just like, straight up ninja. But who knows, maybe not??

Also the young dumb idiot energy that Rauru brings is great. Big fan of young fucko who thinks he can be a good king but inherently fucks up because that's impossible, girl ur a monarch, is super interesting. wanna take him by the ears and look him dead in the eyes like, buddy you legit should not have taken those fucking stones out and just lived a quiet life in the woods...but then we'd be without a game. 🙄

I'm still collecting the slabs, the small snippets you get of both he and Sonia's relationship and characters are so fun. Sonia is also great, wish we got a bit more of her tho.

I'm really enjoying Ganondorf, he's a bit understated, but it's been interesting to see him younger than we ever have, right before the unification wars, head full of poetry and ambition. Why he green tho???????

Also really interesting how they've loosened the whole "hylia" stuff in favor for just "goddess"

Very much loving that Link is no longer a knight, but a swordsman who travels around helping people out. Total folklore/fairytale vibes, 10/10!! Also I feel like I'm connecting to him much more in this game, I really could never get behind the devout knight energy. He's a folk hero, he's here for the love of the game, and so am I!

Also mfw "Link...interesting...I look forward to meeting him." my man's been pining to meet ME for thousands of years, confirmed. I read homestuck, I know a black-rom relationship when I see one. (swooning)

#totk spoilers #this is abt everything except the ending #i just need to ramble

[marnz]

hello friend!! i was wondering since you both read and write a lot if you had any recs for books that are narrated by death?

also! how is your original novel writing going? you posted a snippet to tumblr once of the opening scene i think and i still think about it because your writing was so descriptive and lush

friend!! please accept my apologies in this delayed answering, your message was so kind that every time I thought about it I got overwhelmed 🥰

Okay books narrated by death! The only one I’ve read is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and it is gorgeous, I was so obsessed with it as a kid however it is about wwii in germany so ymmv.

however! I did some research and Mort by Terry Pratchett comes highly recommended (it is part of discworld). I enjoy Pratchett, he’s very fun. Death is also a big character in the Sandman Comics by N*il G*iman. I do not enjoy G*iman but ymmv!

I also am duty bound to recommend In the Woods by Tana French, a gorgeous, atmospheric murder mystery that is deeply spooky and unsettling. Death is not the narrator…but I do believe it is a character (many many interpretations!)

I feel quite bad sending you away with like 3 recs so here’s what I’ve been reading

- Exordia by Seth Dickinson - I’m not done with this yet but so far it’s like, what if every sci fi first contact military propaganda action movie…got lost and ended up being about the moral quandary of the trolley problem, Kurdistan, pink noise, and prime numbers? what if an author who hates imperialism and loves math decided to write a book length call out of Barack Obama’s drone warfare program with body horror? what if you were a cringe fail elder millennial in nyc that rescued a sexy alien with 8 snake heads instead of only one and every time you physically touched it was a sex scene? And this made the savior of the world? this book is for: homestuck fans, people who were in tragic situationships with their wife and their bestie, pilots, people who like their sci fi hard

- Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin - okay if you haven’t read this stop everything and read it immediately. This book is for: tragedy lovers!!!! Gay people!!!!! Francophiles. Marxists. People who were into the social network rpf in 2013 and read that one fanfic where Andrew Garfield and Jesse Eisenberg get cast in a Giovanni’s Room adaption and finally fuck. Anyway. Earlier this year (or possibly last year?) I read a memoir about toxic masculinity and how it demands emotional alienation of the self and I was like “okay. I mean. Obviously?” And buddy. Baldwin says more about this topic in chapter one than that author did in his whole book. And it’s sooooooooooo beautiful god like every paragraph has a life ending sentence.

- the Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai - the year is 1985 and the location is Boystown, the Chicago gayborhood. Our hero? Yale, art lover, is trying to pull off an insane deal at work and survive the devastation of the AIDs epidemic. But actually the year is 2015 and our heroine is Fiona, Yale’s best friend, who travels to Paris to track down her estranged daughter and then her emotional repression stops working! I know this book sounds devastating and it REALLY is, like at one point I was sobbing so hard my husband got really worried and I was like, no, it’s all good, thumbs up! But ALSO this book is very funny and very joyful. This book is for: people who love to laugh. People who love to cry. Art lovers. People who love emotionally messy families.

- I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai - a film studies professor & podcaster returns to her elite high school boarding school 20 years after graduating and find herself getting sucked into investigating the murder of her junior year roommate, who was murdered senior year and is now the internet’s favorite cold case. Please note this book is a response to #MeToo. This book is for: people who love True Crime but are also critical of it. People who love twitter drama. People who were losers in high school. People who devotedly at watch YouTube essays. Hot divorcées. Angry women.

I have also read a lot of excellent non fiction, the Murderbot diaries (just read themmmmm! Worth it), the entire Kate Daniels series (again.), the new SJM book, and some mid to bad books.

#answered #ummide #also to answer your question I figured out why my old draft wasn’t working. decided to start over. worth it #thanks so much for asking 🥺 #I did do the whole normal epic fantasy thing where I wrote it like that. and now I have decided to approach it like #it’s a true crime investigation memoir that uncovers more than Luka bargained for. I’m loving it. #💜💜💜💜 #the new SJM book is. her tortured poets department. which really could mean anything.

[sixpossumsinatrenchcoat]

Four More Years

(just wanted to post this lil suntan snippet of a new Omori timeskip fic/college AU i'm working on! it is silly and soft and not even a little bit tragic, bc my heart can only take so much. canon-compliant, post-good end, lookin at ~10k words)

Kel bursts onto the scene in typically noisy fashion. “Sunny! Suuunnnnyyyyy! Do you have headphones on again? C’mon, finish up, I’m starving!”

...He’s lucky he’s cute. If he wasn’t, Kel would be very unpopular with Sunny’s classmates. But even art school kids can’t bring themselves to hate Kel. It would be like hating a big friendly dog just because it stepped on your mixing palette and tracked paint all over the floor. The worst he gets is a few exasperated glances, and most of those bounce off his thick skull.

They buy Kel a couple of tacos to tide him over and then mosey over to Sunny’s apartment. Kel’s big idea of the week is to make a bento and deliver it to Hero at work. Apparently Hero’s been too busy with his residency to cook, and Kel thinks he’d appreciate a home-cooked meal.

“Cool,” Sunny says drily. “Where are you gonna find one?”

“Hey!! I can cook!!”

“Sandwiches.”

“Sandwiches are good!!!”

They’re still about a half mile from home when they get ambushed by the most beautiful armchair Sunny’s ever seen. It’s rich black velvet with a gilded frame and it has paws, thick wooden legs carved into clawed, sturdy cat’s paws. Sunny closes his eyes. “Ohhh…”

“You need it, huh?”

“Kel,” he says pitifully, pawing at Kel’s arm. “Kel, can you please tilt it on its back legs. I’ll never ask for anything again.”

“Easy!!”

The bones of the chair must be solid teak. Kel has to throw his weight into it just to get the front paws off the ground. But when Sunny crouches down to get a look, another little moan creaks out of him. Oh, god. They do. They really do have toe beans.

So of course they have to drag the chair the whole way home, because Sunny is 100% certain that if he takes his eyes off it, it will walk away without him. But again, this chair is ungodly heavy. Kel can barely shift it, so Sunny actually has to help, instead of just pretending. He’s not used to doing manual labor, so they stop and rest maybe every twenty feet.

The armchair is big. It’s designed for one person, but it’s definitely big enough for two, if the two people in question are very comfortable with each other. Which they are. They always have been.

But Kel won’t sit down.

“It’s all you, dude!” he insists. “Don’t stress it! I’m barely even tired!”

Sunny’s forehead furrows. “We can both sit, though?”

“Seems a little crowded, haha!”

“I could just sit on you.”

“Aw, you don’t want that. I just came from the Y. I’m all sweaty.”

“...You could sit on me?”

Kel looks genuinely moved. “Aw, Sunny. Buddy. My best friend in the whole wide world. I would crush you like a bug.”

“I’m not fragile,” Sunny mutters. “You’d have to do a lot more to break me.”

And Kel, for no reason that Sunny can think of, turns beet red.

Stuff like that keeps happening. Kel is acting totally normal, and then suddenly he turns weird. At the party last night, Kel moved to sling an arm around him—like he always has, for the past twenty years—and then visibly stopped himself on at least four separate occasions.

“He won’t even sleep over anymore,” Sunny sulks. “Last night he slept on the couch. But Basil’s bed is big enough for all of us. If he wanted more space, my bed was empty.”

“Ohhhh,” Aubrey says. “Okay, yeah. I got it. —Oh, sorry, was that it? Or did you wanna give me a little more context?”

He turns away from his work for just long enough to glare. “Explain.”

“Yeah, it pretty much sounds like he likes you, dude.”

Sunny frowns. “As a—”

“No, not as a fucking friend. Are you an alien? Obviously I meant he’s, you know. Attracted to you, or whatever. ‘As a man.’ Lmao.” She actually says lmao, pronounced like, luh-mao.

Sunny looks down at himself. “...Are you sure?”

“Hey, don’t sell yourself short, kid. You’ve got that whole dark academia thing going. You know, the piercings, and the… sweaters, and all pale and malnourished and shit.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

#omori fanfic #omorisuntan #omori suntan #omori sunny #omori kel #college AU #timeskip #post-canon #post good end #omori photobomb

[starvels]

the many revelations of the making of the superhero community polycule map, ft. an increasingly complex notation system

i'm thinking something akin to an expanded polycul.es, with categorization and notation methods for any (or all!) of the following

any associated teams of an individual relationship designation, type, and status (sexual, romantic, kink, alterous, "whatever sounds fun," open, closed, exclusive, hierarchal status, perpetual, spontaneous, "exes so turbulent that it's essential knowledge," tentatively back together, zealously back together, etc) primary powers & abilities (non-hero, combatant, unenhanced, technological enhancement, mutant, mutate ± source, other biological enhancement, magic user, empath, telepath, specified/nonspecified elemental kinetic, shapeshifter, alien, interdimensional being, extradimensional being, etc) anything else one's heart may desire and/or find amusing

i would greatly enjoy at least one discovery of an unexpected relationship (regardless of whether it's because they have been involved, because they haven't, or due to the manner of involvement) or at least one person with an incredible number of current and/or former relationships, but mostly i just want to see where your mind goes kdjskdjskd

(prompt inspired by true events-- earlier this month i met my partner's partner, who then introduced her partner and partner's partner, and at some point it was revealed that that person's partner, who is five down the line from me if you're trying to keep track, has five partners of their own?? i do feel it's relevant to note that before the events of that day, i was only aware of the existence of the metamour, who i had not met, and the fact that they're also non-monogamous. evidently, it's much easier to end up in a large polycule than any prediction i could have come up with. aromanticism win? emphasis on the question mark)

polycul.es is a really cool tool! it might be something i fiddle with in the future but tbqh, i wonder how i would do with trying to order things like so, as i'm notttt a hugely ordered person? kdjfnbkjdnb i do make character notes for longer (20k+) fics, but its like.

seemingly very ordered planning thoughts for RSTV! but when you open the files its just

which is just snippets and not really any concrete, fully formed organized thoughts lol.

but ! i do find the idea of a vast complex, silly and ever evolving polycule amongst the various teams compelling. there's a couple of tools for hockey fandom where people have gone through and you can see the relationship mapping and degrees of interconnectedness amongst players and that's what i imagine this to be. could be a 616 canonical version and a fanon version where everyone is real gay and fancy free. i feel like it would be really delightful.

reminds me of that chaotic relationship post i did about the richards/dr. doom/namor/steve/tony.

so! in response! i could maybe do summat like that again if folks like it, yus!

fun for you on the discovery of five degrees of poly tho! congrats on the bacon 🥓

--

answering what pairing/porn trope/kink you wish i would write 👀

#our talk #what you wish i would write #stevetony talk #fic talk #writing talk #otavengers

[lea-andres]

An Espnah oneshot/snippet thing no one wanted, yay~ I wrote this instead of finishing up the next chapter of WtDMtN, I'm sure everyone's thrilled, LMAO.

Although this does contain my lore's explanation for Smash Bros AND the Olympic Games games! Because those being canon amuses me. Along with Sonic knowing/being Santa.

Espio being a knight is not canon to my lore (...maybe... I'm tempted, tbh), it's a reference to SonicSong182. Iykyk, and if you don't you should remedy that. SS182's fucking great.

Dinah can't quite match I believe it was 17(!!!!) languages Espio apparently is fluent in according to MoStH, but she qualifies as multilingual. Latin and Japanese are the main two in here. I'm a dumbass American who only speaks one language, I cannot guarantee the 100% accuracy of anything ever.

Yes this is part of my plot to manifest Espio and Rouge as being 100% playable in the next Olympic Games game lmao. I want them, leave me alone.

"So… explain to me this whole Olympics thing again." Dinah requested, as she and Espio sat down on a bench by the rink entrance to pull on their ice skates.

"Where did I lose you?" Espio got his on first, and began doing some light stretches.

"Back at 'The Super Mario Bros are real'."

"You really struggle with the whole 'other dimensions and other planets' thing, don't you?" He teased, getting up and getting out onto the ice to do more stretches. Dinah finished lacing up her skates, and looked up at him to respond.

"Yes I do, because you know how often that comes up when I'm digging artifacts out of the ground?" Espio couldn't resist, forcing himself to keep a straight face, he locked eyes with Dinah, and said as evenly as he could manage.

"Ancient aliens."

"Adversus solem ne loquitor, you fucking moron!" She practically snarled back playfully. He burst out into laughter as he returned closer to the rink, holding out his hand to assist her. Dinah got up, a little wobbly in balancing on the blades, and took his hand as she made her way to him.

Once she got onto the ice, Espio launched out more toward the center, doing several tight spins and twirls before stopping sharply. The spaniel had stayed behind back at the wall, leaning against it as she watched him with an amused smirk. He blinked in confusion. Usually Dinah was all for jumping straight into an activity with him, eager to at least keep up if not try to top him. Why was she holding back now?

"Walk me through this multidimensional Olympics thing again. How did Sonic meet a video game character again?" She asked instead. He just nodded as he skated back toward her.

"Okay, so apparently Sonic got this letter in the mail. And when he opened it, it teleported him to this nexus where many great heroes across the multiverse were hanging out and having a low stakes fight club."

"Is this at all like Sonic's claim of going into that book and becoming King Arthur?" Espio smirked at that.

"I had been meaning to ask you for your professional opinion of that. Is Sonic the one true king?"

"Sonic gets points for sheer gall, but… I significantly doubt it." Dinah smirked back. Shifting so he was now gliding backwards away from her again, Espio continued.

"Anyway, Sonic met Mario there. Apparently WE'RE a game in the Mushroom Kingdom, so he was just as floored to learn about us as we were him."

"Are Sonic's games good?" Dinah raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"Plus minusve," Espio waggled his hand, shifting again to now be sweeping straight toward her again, completing the large circle. "It's a… polarizing topic over there, even amongst the fans."

"Ouch." The spaniel shook her head with a laugh.

"So, they became friends, apparently Tails and the Mushroom Kingdoms' best scientists got to work on connecting our dimension and theirs, and Sonic's friends and Mario's friends get together for a friendly Olympics inspired competition."

"And you've competed?" She continued to watch him circle back and forth before her. 

"Not… officially. Typically I've been invited to compete in a single event as a Rival, but I'm hoping to make the cut this year-"

"Whomp whomp…" Dinah giggled. Espio pointed at her in mock irritation.

"Don't make fun of me, I've been busy! I've got ninjitsu training, cases that pop up, whatever bullshit YOU throw at me-"

"Your mysterious part time job you keep vanishing to?" She continued to smirk teasingly.

"Oh right, that's related to this! So, I met Princess Peach at these interdimensional get togethers, and-"

"Is she as hot as she is in the games?" Espio studied Dinah's face for a bit, trying to gauge why she was asking that.

He decided to cover all bases: "You're not going to try to pull my boss and I will NOT invite her to a threesome."

"Your boss?" Dinah repeated, adjusting her glasses. "I didn't realize the Mushroom Kingdom was in the market for Shinobi."

"They're not, to my knowledge. Princess Peach knighted me and I've been serving as a guard in her castle-"

"No you haven't!" The spaniel interrupted in amused disbelief.

"Why would I lie about that?" 

"I take back my professional opinion of Sonic's delusions of grandeur, that wasn't the most absurd thing I heard today." She continued teasingly.

"Come with me next time and I'll prove it!"

"So do you wear the mushroom hat and the diaper, or-" Dinah cracked up laughing at that, almost knocked herself over, then flailed to catch herself on the wall so she didn't wipe out on the ice. She adjusted her glasses and smiled nonchalantly, trying to play it off.

"I don't, I have proper armor." Espio narrowed his eyes at her slightly, noting what he just saw.

"Is the Princess still getting kidnapped by Bowser all the time?"

"It's been a bit since the last one, but… I guess?"

"You're a shit knight." Dinah teased.

"HEY-" Espio himself almost wiped out at that, letting out a shocked laugh.

"Can't stop one fire breathing turtle from kidnapping the princess?" She tsked playfully.

"You should stick to ninjitsu and detective work, Onmitsu."

"Just because you study knights of olden times in our world doesn't mean you're qualified to review my performance as one in another, Himawari!" He fired back playfully, snagging Dinah's arm as he skated past, pulling her away from the wall and along with him.

She lost her balance almost instantly, dropping backwards. Espio lunged to catch her, sliding across the ice on one knee, firmly cradling her head with one hand and gripping her waist with the other as he stopped her skull from cracking into the ice. She had flung her arms around his neck in her attempt to save herself, letting out a big gasp of relief when she didn't crash hard.

"Thanks, Onmitsu…" She breathed, a little dazed from the adrenaline rush.

"You… can't actually ice skate… can you?" He accused softly, giving her a look of suspicion.

"You never asked if I could, you just asked if I've been ice skating, which I have. Once." She pointed out, grinning mischievously.

"Dinah…"

"Is it a crime to want to ice skate with your Onmitsu?" She teased, one of her hands wandering up to stroke his cheek.

"It should be, if you're going to risk spilling your brains all over the rink to do so." He chastised, shifting his grip so he could scoop her up bridal style instead.

"I can make this work." He smirked, making sure he had a firm grip on her before beginning to skate forward.

"What work? What are you doing?" Dinah demanded anxiously, clinging to his neck and shoulders.

"Resistance training for speed skating events." He started picking up speed. Quickly adjusting her glasses before returning to tightly gripping his shoulders, she teased with a grin.

"Don't crash."

"I'm far less likely to than you are." She thumped his chest lightly for that, both of them laughing.

#i don't have a oneshot tag anymore lmao #espio the chameleon #lea's ocs #dinah the spaniel #canon x oc

[dystopicjumpsuit]

I'm not sure how many of these you've already answered so I hope you don't mind me sending you a hand full! B F H K and Y for the fanfic game, also, I'm sending you all the happy weekend vibes your way cos you deserve it!

No problem at all! I love this game.

B: Any of your stories inspired by personal experience?

I work in academia, so I definitely was inspired by that when I was writing "Martyrs and Kings." Things like the endless deluge of administrative tasks, and also the gala scene with the lecherous donor--those were pulled straight from life (except my organization named a museum after him, not just a wing 🤢). Beyond that, I think most/all of my fics have some element of displacement or migration/diaspora. My family fled my home country when I was a teenager to escape cartel violence, so those themes of alienation and struggle to find a place that feels like home tend to work their way into most things that I write. Finally, I am bisexual, and I seem to include a lot of queer characters in my stories.

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

I'm pretty happy with this scene in "Martyrs and Kings." I think it shows so much of Kix's charm, and I enjoyed throwing Maree off her game. I also liked the inversion of roles for Kix, the medic who now is getting medical "care" from someone who is very much Not That Kind of Doctor:

“Where else are you hurt?” she demanded.

“Nowhere,” he said, avoiding her gaze.

He took a hitching breath, and she narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

“Take off your shirt,” she ordered.

He shot her a startled glance.

“What?” he asked.

“Off. Take it off. I know you’re hiding more injuries.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, rising to comply.

He shed his jacket and then slipped his shirt over his head with a tiny grunt of pain.

She hissed in a breath and unleashed a torrent of curses that made Kix’s mouth drop open in awe. The entire left side of his ribcage was covered in dark bruises.

“Will you teach me how to swear like that, doc?” he asked as some of the tension in his face began to ease. “I didn’t know you had it in you.”

H: How would you describe your style?

Oh, that's tough! 😂

I think I'd describe it as introspective. I like to explore the characters' inner lives, and sometimes I do it to the detriment of the action. My next longfic will be more action-oriented, so I'm hoping to strike a balance there.

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

It's a spoiler for the next fic, alas! I will say that it gave me writer's block for two weeks because it hurt my feelings every time I opened the doc. 😭

Y: A character you want to protect.

Oh my god, every clone. All of them. Just let me gather them up like ducklings and take them somewhere safe and warm and happy. Most specifically, Echo and Gregor. I know I'm hyperfixating on them right now because they're the heroes of my WIP, but damn, they've been through enough. Let me protect them.

#dystopicjumpsuit answers #dystopicjumpsuit writes #thanks for the ask!

[ninjastormhawkkat]

Can we get more of the evil wordgirl/hero Steven au?

Okay I have about four of these aus out there. Two involve alien Steven and human Becky and one of these two involve Becky being fused with Squeaky.

My villain Becky au aka Mousekit au, Steven is more of hero support to Amazo Guy who is the main hero in this au. Steven would help Amazo Guy like with Wordgirl in the canon series if the accident didn't happen.

My version of the braingirl au has the hero Steven and mousebraingirl where Wordgirl gets fused with Squeaky instead of Steven. I do have a new side blog for that called @worldofbraingirlau which is an ask blog and also includes snippets for the au if you want to check it out.

I am just going to focus on headcanons for the mousekit and mousebraingirl au since headcanons for the other two aus usually revolve around episodes. I can put those down if you want to hear more about them.

Mousekit au

-Steven does punish Becky if she gets caught doing her crimes. The punishments vary based on the severity of the crime.

-Mousekit likes doing team ups with most of the villains, sometimes she distracts Amazo Guy while the villain gets away. She also works with villains hand-in-hand stealing stuff and battling Amazo Guy. Becky likes hanging out with Granny May the best because she enjoys scamming and deceiving people with her. She also likes hanging out with The Butcher because they can talk about their families with each other.

Besides Steven and Amazo Guy - only the villains know Becky is Mousekit.

Steven found out about Becky being an alien from Amazo Guy since Bob is not around in this au.

The only battle Steven was the hero that defeated the villain was when Tobey built an army of destructive robots designed to impress Mousekit and win her affections. Steven took much joy in creating a virus that caused all of Tobey's robots to humiliate themselves and self destruct. Amazo didn't have to lift a finger that time.

The villains know that Becky's dad helps Amazo Guy but they don't purposefully try to hurt him.

The Miss Power Arc in this au is pretty tame compared to canon. Amazo Guy does not fall for Miss Powers tricks. She does succeed in hurting Becky's feelings and making fun of how she is a disgrace to Lexiconian kind. Steven and Amazo Guy cheer her up. She does try to kill Steven like in canon. He helps Mrs. Botsford with the villains, was captured also because Becky was his daughter and Miss Power believed he created villains not heroes. Amazo guy stops her buy punching the living daylights out of her.

The Kid Math arc is more emotional. Rex has a hard time accepting Becky's friendship and help since she is a villain, may explain later in a different ask.

As for the Mousebrain Takeover episode - Mr. Big creates a mind control device that convinces people they are villains so they can commit crime and give Mr. Big a distraction for him to commit his own crimes and not get caught. Steven is unfortunately hit by this device and becomes a "charming" villain😈.

I do have a rough idea on involving Squeaky and including Dr. Two Brains, but it won't be Steven but someone else.

The henchmen in this au are henchmen for hire.

Mousebraingirl Headcanons: Welcome to angst😈

Steven does not know his daughter is Wordgirl before the accident. He finds out after she displays her powers trying to steal cheese. It worsens his already guilt that not only he turned his daughter into a villain, but he just doomed Fair City because he took away their hero.

Steven does not like being referred to as a hero as Wordman. He just took the mantle because the city will fall apart to villains if he didn't.

Mouse has a different outfit from her old Wordgirl one - mouse themed - that she created by herself.

Her villain name is Mousebrain Girl. Almost no one else in Fair City except Steven, Bob, and the Henchmen know Becky is Mousebrain Girl. They don't even realize that she used to be Wordgirl, even when she still defines words from time to time.

Bob is upset about what happened to Becky but does not blame Steven for it. He feels guilty for not trying his hardest to help her.

The henchmen join Mouse when they see her carrying a whole giant wheel of cheese and think she needs help carrying it. Steven did invent a storage for her cheese like in canon, but for the purpose of keeping Squeaky appeased why he searches for a cure. The Henchmen live in the warehouse. The cheese storage system is there and they keep an eye on it. Steven is kind of a jerk to the henchmen at first because they are villains and except for Mousebrain girl, he despises the villains because of his issues with Squeaky and how he is a hero now. He begins to tolerate them over time and along the way becomes somewhat nice and civil with them.

Except for his daughter and a few other people, Steven is just cold, angry, and callous to everyone else. Guy is really consumed with guilt and anger at himself for being so careless with his experiment. He refuses to let anyone help him thinking he doesn't deserve it but Mouse does. After the incident, he moved out of his lab because of painful memories and moved his research equipment to his basement. He is still a teacher and does help the Fair City police in the criminal science dept. when he is not being Wordman. (headcanon by @djsadbean)

Mouse's personality is a mix between Becky's and canon Two Brains. She has been put in jail only when the police arrive quickly to take her away before Wordman can intervene. Steven always pays the bail and just carries her in his arms silently while taking her home. (If she hasn't busted out by then.) Most people don't realize Steven is behind Mousebrain girl's creation and just associate him helping Wordman take her home.

The Miss Power arc is emotional but the "Mouse Brain Takeover" episode is just...Yikes. Squeaky manipulates Becky in this au to let him take over and afterwards, Steven gets her to promise to not let Squeaky take over again. Let's just say Steven has a lot of nightmares about that event afterwards and has woken up with tears in his eyes.

The Kid Math arc makes Steven confront himself and his worries and regrets about being a mentor again. He is less patient with Kid Math than Wordgirl is at the beginning.

Steven has lied to the public that Wordgirl is back on lexicon for special training and he takes over for a while. He hates when the ask when she is coming back. He also hates lying to Becky about him being Wordman but he can't let Squeaky find out.

Steven was a huge emotional wreck after the first battle with Mousebrain Girl, he wasn't willing to fight her but he really had no choice.

Professor Tubing suspects that Steven is Wordman and knows about Mousebrain Girl's identity and what happened with Wordgirl, but he doesn't know how to come about this conversation with his old friend.

Mouse does not remember much about her past as Becky except for her dad, bob, and that she is an alien from Lexicon but that's about it.

Well @notavegan3 I hoped you like these headcanons. Let me know if you want to talk more about them or how episodes will work in this au.

tags: @liloskull343 @drtwobrainsstuff @hibiscus-candy @melodythebunny

#wordgirl #wordgirl au #answered ask #notavegan3 #mousekit au #hero steven au #evil wordgirl au #mousebraingirl au #amazo guy #amazing cheese #miss power #kid math #mr. charming #squeaky #tw: angst #tw: self negativity #tw: guilt #tw: depression implied #tw: self esteem issues #Steven needs help in this au #the henchmen #braingirl au #worldofbraingirlau

[razieltwelve]

Don’t Say Goodbye... Say See You Later (Rebirth)

This is set in the Rebirth AU in which Taylor Hebert from Worm lives an entire life as Atalanta Yun-Farron (Taren’s twin) before eventually dying of old age and returning to her original body in the locker. She does, however, keep her Semblance, memories, and skills although they do take time to return in full.

X     X     X

They had finally done it.

Scion was defeated, and humanity was safe. Taylor - the young woman who had lived an entire life as Atalanta Yun-Farron - had led the campaign as Huntress, a hero from Brockton Bay. By some miracle, the friends she’d made in this life had survived the terrifying final battle.

She had been looking forward to a few years of peace... and then aliens had shown up because, of course, there were aliens.

Except... these aliens looked an awful lot like humans, and the one leading them looked a lot like Taren.

Using her sway as Huntress, Taylor had finagled her way into the diplomatic party that had been dispatched to meet them. They were using translators to make themselves understood, but she had picked up a few snippets of what was undeniable Remnant Standard and what sounded like Yun and Dia from them.

She waited until she and the leader of the delegation were alone in one corner of the room before trying her luck. She wasn’t really expecting anything to come of it, but Diana had once told her to try a certain phrase if she ever happened to return to her original body.

“Who knows,” Diana had said. “Maybe you’ll run into some our people again. The multiverse is a strange place. Weirder things have happened. We can all teach our children a certain pass phrase. That way, if you ever run into any of our descendants, they’ll know it’s.”

“So...” Taylor began. “Does the phrase ‘Gary is a bastion of sanity in a world gone mad’ mean anything to you?”

The man, who really did bear a remarkable resemblance to her twin, stared at her in shock. “I beg your pardon?”

“Gary is a bastion of sanity in a world gone mad.”

He blinked and then reflexively gave the counter phrase. “Only a madman thinks Gary promotes sanity.”

“Better a madman than a grumpy hedgehog,” Taylor replied.

“And better a grumpy hedgehog than a fluorescent gorgonopsid.” He stared. “I... how do you know those phrases?”

“I was there,” Taylor said quietly. “When Diana came up with and got all of us to make sure our children would memorise them.”

“Then...”

Taylor smiled. “In another life my name was Atalanta.”

The man’s eyes widened. “I see.” He lowered his voice. “In that case, would it be all right if I visited you privately later. There is something I must do.”

“That’s okay.” Taylor grinned. “Your name was Taren, right?”

“They named me after the progenitor of my line. I believe you were familiar with him.”

“I don’t suppose you have a chocobo, do you?”

“Yes, I do. However, I left him behind for this meeting. It is supposed to be a diplomatic meet and greet. My chocobo is...?”

“A giant jerk?”

Taren’s lips twitched. “You could say that.”

X      X      X

Later, once the party was over and Taylor had returned to the house she lived in, Taren appeared in her living room.

“Advanced teleportation technology or your Semblance?” Taylor asked.

“The latter,” Taren replied. He was carrying a long box. “This is for you.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know. But this box was entrusted to our family - our whole family - by Diana Yun-Farron millennia ago. We weren’t sure if it would ever be needed, but...” He pointed to where a light on the box was glowing green. “There can be no doubt. Our knowledge of soul transmigration says that a person’s soul can be recognised from one life to another. Aura is the power of the soul, so the fact that the box’s Aura sensor is indicating a match with previous scans of your Aura says enough.” He set the box on the table. “I will wait here. I would suggest taking the box somewhere private. The instructions made it clear that you would probably not want anyone else to bear witness to what it contains.”

“Uh... right.” Taylor took the box and went into her bedroom. She set the box on her bed and reached for the touch pad to open it. There was a brief flash of light and then a familiar feeling washed over her. “This is a Saviour-based silencing field...”

“Silencing field enabled.” The voice, calm and collected, came from the box. “Outside surveillance is now impossible. Do you wish to open the box?”

“Yes,” Taylor said. “Open the box.”

The box opened, and a holographic display activated. Tears prickled at the corner of her eyes. Diana was right there in front of her. She looked even older than Taylor could remember, which meant this had likely been recorded after Taylor - as Atalanta - had already passed away.

“Heh.” Diana smiled. It was the same smile she’d alway had, even if there were more wrinkles and her hair was now completely white. “If you’re watching this, then it meant I didn’t make a mistake with the math. You really did return to your original body when you died in our world.”

“As if you’d make a mistake with the math...”

“Atalanta,” Diana said. “I put this box together because no matter how far you go or how much time has passed when you finally get it, you will always be my sister.” She chuckled softly. “It’s been tough being the last, you know, the last from our generation. I’ve outlived everyone else, even you. But in a way, I’m glad. It would have broken Averia’s heart to see my die, and I know how much watching Averia and Taren pass away hurt you. At least this way, you didn’t have to bury me as well. But I can take it.” Diana’s smile was fierce. “I can carry this grief and sorrow without flinching because that’s the sort of person I am. And this way, I’m the one who gets to leave this message behind for you. Does that make me selfish? Maybe. But I never claimed to be perfect.”

Taylor had to wipe away a tear. It was like Diana was right there in the room with her. Despite the years that had passed since she’d returned - almost a decade - she had never forgotten her family from Remnant, had never stopped wishing she could see them one last time.

“A lot of the stuff I’d like to give you is stuff that I’ll be entrusting to our descendants. I’ve told people what to watch out for. But there is some stuff I wanted to put in a box, something you could receive as quickly as possible once one of our descendants found you. Go on, have a look.”

Taylor peered into the box and gasped. The box had obvious been divided into a few layers, but the top layer contained an item she would recognise anywhere.

“This is...”

“The first thing I wanted to give you was Adamantine Storm. I think you’ll find that it’s been restored to pristine condition.”

Taylor picked the weapon up reverently. It was the weapon she’d wielded for most of her life. Without thinking, she snapped it out to one side. It transformed seamlessly into a spear before changing into a sword, a rifle, and a whip. It had been years since she’d held it, yet it fit perfectly into her hand. Looking more closely at the blade, she read the inscription that Diana had put on the weapon when she’d made it.

“For my sister, who is incredibly stubborn. A weapon even harder than your head.”

Setting the weapon aside, she moved aside the divider to reach the item stored below it. Her eyes widened. It was a very familiar scroll. As she picked it up and turned it on, the hologram of Diana continued.

“I knew you’d appreciate your old weapon back, but I think you might like your scroll even more. It has all of the data saved still on it. That includes all of the pictures and videos you kept of our family and friends, as well as your wife, children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. There was still some free space, so I threw in anything else I could think of that you might be interested in.”

Hands shaking, Taylor began to peruse the contents of the scroll. It was all there, just as Diana had said. The first picture she opened was one taken when she had just arrived at Beacon Senior Academy. Her parents were there, as were her siblings. They were all smiling and happy. Even Fury was there although he had his usual grumpy look about him.

Almost unable to do it, Taylor put the scroll down too and reached for the divider that hid the last object at the bottom of the box. When she saw it, she couldn't stop her tears.

It was an old kite, weather-beaten and badly dented.

“I remember when we made that kite,” Diana said. “You were six years old. We went to the park with our parents, and you saw other people flying kites. You wanted to fly one too, but we didn’t have one, so Averia and I helped you and Taren build one. Our parents pitched in too although they denied it when you asked if they’d done anything. They wanted you to believe it was all your own doing, but you were a smart kid. You knew what they were doing.” Diana chuckled. “We must have flown that kite for hours, and we flew it each time we went to the park until you finally stopped going.”

“I thought I’d lost this,” Taylor whispered.

“I found it when I was going through our things after... well... after you passed away. I didn’t want anyone else going through all the stuff we had back at our parent’s house - the house we grew up in - and I found it. I wanted to include it in the box because there are some things we can’t put into words, but I think this kite makes things pretty clear.” Diana leaned forward, and her smile was radiant. “You are loved, Atalanta. Never forget that. You are so loved.” Diana chuckled. “And this... this is where I stop talking. You’ve got hours and hours of footage of everybody on your scroll, and if you asked whoever brought you the box, I’m sure they’ll be able to get you more. There’s just one last thing I have to say.” Diana said a word, and Taylor frowned. That had been in Ancient Dia, and she’d never quite gotten fully fluent in it. “You’re probably looking puzzled right now,” Diana said. “So let me just tell you what that word meant, little sister. It means ‘goodbye but not farewell’ which is the Ancient Dia way of saying goodbye... but not forever.”

The image of Diana vanished, and Taylor fell to her knees. She felt the tears rolling down her cheeks, but she made no move to wipe them away. She wasn’t sure how long she stayed like that before she finally got to her feet. She took a moment to use the en suite bathroom to tidy up her appearance before she went back to the living room.

“Thank you,” Taylor said to Taren. “That... that box means so much to me.”

“It was my highest honour to give you that box, my lady.”

“My lady?” Taylor asked.

“Ah.” Taren smiled. “We haven’t revealed the details to your diplomats yet, but I belong to a faction known as the Grand Empire Alliance. It is an empire that spans multiple universes, but its origins can be traced to two groups: the Schnee Mercantile Alliance... and the Arendelle Empire.”

“The Arendelle... Empire?” Taylor murmured. “Then...?”

“Yes. The rulers of the Grand Empire Alliance are direct descendants of your sister Averia Yun-Farron and Elsa of Arendelle. As the sister of a founder of the Empire you are... well... nobility of the very highest degree.”

“...” Taylor sat down. “You’re going to have to explain a few things to me.”

“It would be my honour.”

#final rose #fanfiction #taylor hebert #atalanta #rebirth

[ursafootprints]

pray tell what are gone fishing and neighbor's cat flash about? heheheeheh and i can guess what aliens2electricboogaloo is huehuehuehue snippet? ououououo

and tell me about your color coding system? c:

(In regards to my WIP/snippet meme!)

gone fishing (NOT the actual title lmao) is my Starkercest AU where Peter does not tell his dad about his new superpowers because he wants to prove himself as a superhero first, and then is very, very irresponsible with his secret identity once Iron Man starts flirting with the new hero on the scene. (Or in other words, he catfishes his dad.) It has also literally been like 95% complete since June but I keep just not working on the only scene I have left to finish, you gotta love ADHD.

It was maybe one of the most awkward moments in his life full of awkward moments, but the next time Peter saw Iron Man on patrol, he did find the strength to take him aside and say, "About-- last time--" "Oh, we're going to talk about it," Iron Man said, and it was so hard to read his tone when he was in the suit, but Peter thought he sounded nervous. "Yeah, um," Peter said, rubbing at the back of his neck and trying to remember the script he'd come up with. "I'm-- sorry for running off like that, I know that wasn't-- super mature, but I just… panicked a little, because I'd never thought about… if you actually…" 'Wanted me' stuck itself under Peter's tongue and wouldn't come out, because thinking about someone wanting him still felt foreign and ridiculous and embarrassing, and he was agonizingly aware that he was talking to his dad in a way that he wished he would have been when Tony had kissed him, and when he didn't finish his sentence Tony shrugged.

neighbor's cat Flash is a SpideyFlash fic where Flash essentially annoys Spider-man into being friends with him (much like your neighbor's cat who pressgangs you into being their second owner even though you KNOW they're getting fed across the street because they just keep showing up at your door and aggressively demanding your attention,) and over time they turn into real friends(/Flash's immature hero crush becomes a very real and present crush) and it causes ~ripples~ for their dynamic at school because Flash stops being such an asshole under Spidey's influence. Lots of exploration of Flash's home life/internalized homophobia/things that I think would be interesting if they were influencing his canonical assholishness!

I don't have a genuine snippet to share because it's only in outline form, but it IS 100% outlined from beginning to end-- I'm not sure if I'll actually write it or just rework the outline into a bulletpoint fic, since I came up with the idea during the very narrow window between first getting into MCU Spider-man fandom and then pivoting H A R D to specifically Starker fandom, haha.

You know EXACTLY what aliens2electricboogaloo is lmao, but for everyone who doesn't, this is an idea of @king-of-kaoss's riffing on the scene in Infinity War where Peter's like, "if an alien lays eggs in my chest and I eat you, I'm sorry," and that's not exactly what happens but Peter DOES end up as a mutated monster alien thing and he makes it Tony's problem in a sexy way.

Peter crowded Tony against the wall and bent to bring those sharp teeth toward his throat, and if Tony couldn't believe how many things he'd survived just to get his throat ripped out by the mutated version of his own protégé, he was at least grateful that he wouldn't have to face May Parker's wrath at seeing what he'd allowed to happen to her nephew. And then Peter nuzzled into his neck, and said with a voice that was low and guttural and still somehow Peter's, "Mr. Stark, I think something's wrong with me."

Color-coding! It's kinda-sorta by ship, and then kinda-sorta by specific type of AU so that it's not just a wall of Starker-color? Green is complete, bright red is for whatever chapter of YNYD I'm currently writing (or, eventually, whatever my main priority at that time is, once I'm done with YNYD), deep red is Starker, purple is omegaverse ideas (so daddy long legs was also purple until I finished it), blue is Spiderio stuff and the lone yellow one is because it's Toomes/Peter. (That one and post-spiderio are ALSO Starker, but like, I gotta break up the wall of deep red somehow.)

Thank you for playingggg 💖💖💖

#ask games #ursa asks #half-baked ideas

[memento-morri-writes]

yo for the wip title tag, i'd love to know about 'We Only Know Their Name For Certain', it's a great title and i have so much curiosity!! whatever you'd like to share about it

also 'COW writing'? is it truly about bovines or does COW stand for something? [@rodentwrites]

Ahh, thank you so much for asking!!! (and for giving me the change to ramble about We Only Know Thier Name For Certain!)

We Only Know Their Name For Certain is, actually, a terrible title, given that it's the first line of the story, and also that I didn't write it. That single line was a writing prompt that I found I don't even know where, but it stuck in my head. Around the time I found it (holy shit, that was 4-ish years ago???) I was assigned to write a short story for a state-wide short story contest as a class assingment.

My original idea was a short story told only in transcripts of messages left on an answering machine, and I'd like to revist that someday as well! But I hated it every time I tried to write it. And that writing prompt, those few magic words, was stuck in my head.

So, I opened my "fragments" document (aka, the google doc where I write down all the tiny little snippets that pop into my head and that never become more) and I started writing. I though I'd be lucky to get a paragraph. But, nope, I ended up with just over a thousand words. Just pumped them out in one sitting.

I showed it to my teacher, who is a harsh critic, and she loved it. I submitted it. It didn't even get close to winning, which was sad.

But I haven't even told you what it's about!! It's a weird little speculative story about humanity. Aliens have found Earth, some time in the future. But there is no life here. No people, no animals. Only plants, and some very strange graffitti. Here's the opening lines:

We only know their name for certain.  It was found, carved into every cliff face, written on every wall, visible everywhere we turned.  “We are Human”. We can only take it to mean that was their name.

Spooky shit, right? I haven't even figured out myself what happened to "us", but it can't be good....

Anyways, the rest of the story is basically this essay written by an alien, trying to explain, to understand humanity. They talk about the things they've found (airports, the University of Michigan's Big House, the Titanic, the Great Pyramids, Mt. Rushmore, etc.) and they make assumptions about us. Not really assumptions, but thoughts about who we were as a species.

It's obviously not my best writing, given that I wrote it at the age of 14 or 15, but I love it dearly, and now I really, really want to go back and revisit the idea!! So, thank you for the inspiration!!!

I'll talk about COW under the cut because this is already really long. (TW for injury and death (also child death) under the cut!!)

So, COW sadly has nothing to do with bovines. I love them, but that is not what this was. COW stands for "Creative Original Writing", and was a requirement for my, you guessed it, creative writing class.

At the end of the class (~12 weeks because my school was weird), we had to turn in 20 pages of our own writing, all of which was supposed to have been written during those 12 weeks. We had all of class every Friday to work on it, though.

My COW Writing is actually several things, the vast majority of which involve superheroes, because I loved (and still do) superhero fiction!! (Hence why I can't stop recommending the Villains series to anyone I meet, lmao.)

The first few pages (7 of them, to be precise) deal with Adrian St. Clair, a character that I made up for that very class. Most of my writing with him was really bad, and the only part that really matters is the first 235 words.

They're a re-written version of something I wrote 5-6 years ago, and that I don't have the original version anymore. But it's this little thing that talks about "the hero" and "the villain". They're taunting eachother, chasing. And the Hero jumps up on the railing of this pedestrian bridge, and is running along it, and somehow, he falls.

Well, then you find out that "the hero" and "the villain" are two children (brothers to be precise) who were playing in the park near their home. Yes, the one fell. Yes, he died. That was real. The last line is "How was I supposed to tell mom?" Because that poor kid (Adrian) is in shock. And of course, as a child, you screw something up and you think "shit, I need to either come clean or come up with a lie." And so that's where he's going. (Side note: what was up with my 7th grade brain when I first came up with that scene??? This version is from 11th grade, but it's almost verbatim from the original.)

The next part of the COW document was also something that started out on my "fragments" doc. I had written the original years previously, so I decided to rewrite it for this project.

This one has to do with a teenage vigilante named Ash, who has at some point prior to this scene been cut with a poisoned blade. She's trying to get to "safety", but very much out of it. (Side Note: how the hell did I write a better Poisoned Blade Disorientation Scene over a year ago (and also like, 6 years ago) than the 3 times I've tried to write a similar scene for ATQH??? HOW IS THAT FAIR???)

She imagines the headlines surrounding her death, and also the reaction of her younger sister, who she has apparently been caring for.

She makes it to "safety", but collapses on the steps, unable to reach the doorknocker. She thinks it's laughing at her.

(In the original version, in my "fragments" she is only rescued because her rival (the person she went to get help from but also the son of the city's most infamous villain), Nik's cat is meowing and trying to get his attention. He's like "what?" and then he sees A Leg out his window. Thank the cat, not him.)

The rest of the 20 pages is Adrian's real supervillain origin story. His mother works in a not-great part of town, and he visits her after school, even though she told him not to. He overhears these guys planning a robbery of some kind, and on the way home, he debates wether or not to report it. In the end, his goody-two-shoes side (or maybe his naivity) wins out, and he calls a tip line.

The woman on the other end is clearly apathetic, and seems to think it's a prank, but she assures him that the tip will be passed on to the proper authorities.

Later, his mom never comes home from work. Turns out that the robbery was planned on her work place, and she was killed in the crossfire. (It's mentioned earlier that her boss is a real shady guy, and probably some kind of drug dealer.)

Adrian is furious with the authorities (aka, the superheroes) for not doing anything, and thus begins his path to villain-hood. (Although I never got to write that far.)

Also, he spends some time after his mom's death with his elderly lesbian neighbor. Idk why, that's just what happens.

I'm SO sorry for the monster that this ask became. But I hope you find some part of it interesting?? Maybe??? If anyone read all the way to the bottom, you deserve a cookie and a hug, and please tell me what you think of my (kind of cringey) superhero shit. (Be nice about WOKTNFC, because I like that story, and I'm going to rewrite it.)

#Morrigan replies #rodentwrites #sorry #no actual cows #my writing #wip title game #WOKTNFC #writeblr

[kariachi]

A collection of Pride snippets, involving most of the hero-side kids.

~~

“Question,” Alan said, picking through his half of he and Chris’s closet, “where’s the line between ‘incredibly gay’ and ‘tone it down before you hurt yourself’?” Watching from his bed, Cooper shrugged.

“You’ll know it when you get there.” Humming, Alan stared deep into his wardrobe.

“…we keep the glitter to an accent.”

“Probably a good idea.”

~~~

Watching over Ben’s shoulder as he put a ‘no cops at pride’ banner together, Kevin chewed his lip. He hadn’t been asked for his input, but, this was happening on one of his properties. That meant he should say something, right? Right.

“Benji? Hate to be the one to break this to you but, you’re a cop.” Ben froze and turned to him.

“I’m a Plumber.”

“Exactly. Just because your focus is on aliens and mutants doesn’t mean you’re not a cop.” For a long moment Ben just stared at him, jaw slack. Slowly, he set his markers down and rose to his feet.

“I need to go lie down a minute,” he said as he made for the car. Kevin just watched him go.

“Never even crossed your mind, huh?”

~~~

It took a moment for Helen to check her phone, busy getting lunch together. A single picture, of a custom rainbow shirt strewn out on a bed, the word ‘Available’ across the front in bold white lettering.

manny wtf

remember back when I worried my family wouldn’t be supportive apparently dad had to be talked out of one that requested a butcher specifically

lol

~~~

“I really need to thank your parents again for letting me stay over.” Gwendolyn rolled her eyes with a laugh as they went through Emily’s overnight bag.

“When, in the past twelve years, have they not let you stay the night?”

“Still,” she laughed back, “any rescue from my dad’s advertising. Oh!” she pointed at a small rainbow bag as Gwen pulled it out. “Pins! I found a shop online that does nice ones, so I went on a bit of a spree. Thankfully Uncle Chuck is cool with funding my pride stuff.” Turning them out onto her bed, Gwendolyn started shifting through them. A couple of bi pins, some standard rainbow, a few trans and nonbinary, a small handful of ‘queer and disabled’ ones- “One for me and three for the guys when we see them tomorrow.” -and one genderfluid one.

“Em…” The grin that split Emily’s face was almost as wide as the one on Gwendolyn’s.

“I wasn’t about to leave you out. Put it on after we leave, I’ll remind you to take it off when we get back, your mom will never have to see it.” Eyes going teary, Gwendolyn pulled her into a tight hug.

“Best. Friend. Ever.”

~~~

“I’m good but, you want this ‘no cops at pride’ banner Kev’s got lying around.”

“You know what, sure. Don’t feel like carrying anything around, but Dad’ll have a field day.” Huffing, Pierce glared down at his phone. “How is it so difficult to find decent demi-guy themed anything?”

“Don’t look at me,” Argit said, “I only even get involved in this stuff to make Kev happy.” Everything human gender and sexuality just, didn’t apply to Erinaens. As happened when you were dealing with disparate species.

“How I wish I gave as few shits as you. All of this stuff is just, not what I’m looking for.” With another huff he set down his phone and threw up his hands in surrender, turning his attention to his lunch. “You think I can get Kevin to make me something custom?” Argit snorted.

“Throw him a twenty and you’ll be set for life.”

#fanfic #poor ben having revelations #gwen getting loving support #most everybody having a nice pre-pride time