#I have to run to a thing but I'll come back to re-read/edit this later maybe
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Mayhem Moondrop
WoL/OC tag meme! thanks @anneapocalypse for the tag!
Tagging in turn: @elizabethrobertajones, @tinygamertris, @gachabastard, @thesingingscorpio, @vitaecryptid, and @grahatiasravetower just in case you see this in a few months when you remember to log in again
(Choose whichever WoL/OC you want, do it more than once, ignore me entirely. what am I, a cop?)
B A S I C S
Name: Mayhem Moondrop
Nicknames: Mayhem is already a stage name and doesn't really need abbreviating. They will respond readily to whatever non-obscene epithets you choose to bestow, though.
Age: mid to late 20s at this point? 23 at the start of ARR
Nameday: 18th sun of the 4th astral moon
Race: Keeper of the Moon Miqo'te
Gender: No (agender)
Sexuality: Yes (pansexual and polyamorous)
Profession: Bard (actor, folklorist, and historian all in one word, what more do you need?)
P H Y S I C A L A S P E C T S
Hair: Black, currently worn short but growing it back out - they had to cut most of it off after nearly losing an ear at the edge of the universe.
Eyes: Silver - Moon Keeper eyes are slightly reflective
Skin: Grey
Tattoos/scars: I don't mod aside from reshade so until they give us a fashion accessory, you'll just have to imagine an Archon mark on their right cheek post-Endwalker. They have relatively few scars - the most prominent is along their scalp, mostly covered by the hair that's still growing back in from when it was left.
F A M I L Y
Parents: Their mother was a poacher-turned-bandit in the Black Shroud; she was killed by Wood Wailers when Mayhem was barely old enough to say their own name, and they don't remember anything about her, or the gang she traveled with. Father unknown, and considering how Keeper culture works, was likely never expected to participate in parenthood beyond the siring of a child anyway.
Siblings: Due to how Moon Keeper naming conventions work, Mayhem is aware based on their original name that they were not their mother's first "son". No siblings have ever come forward to be associated, and they've never been interested enough to go looking.
Grandparents: Under the circumstances, good luck. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Emotionally they sort of consider Jehantel to be their grandfather, although it's not something they've ever discussed outright.
In-laws and other: No in-laws, although Count Edmont would be perfectly willing to consider himself for the role even though they were never married to Haurchefant; Mayhem is polite but keeps their distance a little bit because they don't want to explain to him their opinion on the Fortemps family dramas. Post-Endwalker the adult Scions are involved in a polycule which technically would add Wilfsunn and Bloewyda (as Urianger's adoptive parents) to the potential in-law list (excellent) but might also add Matoya (terrifying), so we're just not going there. As far as other blood relatives, in theory Mayhem could go back to the Shroud and find their mother's clan in hopes of reaching out to find some, but they're not interested in participating in traditional Keeper culture (which is highly gendered), and none of those people came looking for them when they were getting raised in Gridania, so they don't feel like there's much point.
Pets: None; they're not really an animal person
S K I L L S
Abilities: They've always been good with a bow, which was how they got their start as a wagon guard for some traveling performers, and gradually invited to participate in performances as their interest became clear. Over time, they've started to learn a few other fighting styles: red mage for when they want to take center stage rather than play narrator, astrologian for when the path of the story needs a little help to get on the right track, and most recently warrior so that they can pick up where someone else left off. They trained a little with firearms when they were in Ishgard, since Stephanivien had access to the best practice shooting range that would actually welcome outsiders, but ultimately they prefer archery.
Hobbies: Reading, writing, crafting, performing. For all that their formal education was pretty basic and perfunctory, Mayhem is a deeply curious person and loves to learn, and to share the knowledge they've gained in turn. They have a knack for understanding how to connect to an audience and meet them where they're at in order to draw them into a story or an explanation. While they were with the performers they also learned to make and repair costumes, and have kept up the practice enough that they're now a fairly accomplished weaver. Naturally, as a bard, they also sing and dance, and relish the chance to get back up on the stage from time to time to put on a proper show.
T R A I T S
Most positive trait: I would say their curiosity. The drive to learn and keep learning, to never assume they know everything, has kept them humble and compassionate throughout their journey.
Most negative trait: Avoidance and deflection. They love learning about other people but they rarely talk about themself, and especially early in their journey they took a very long time to bond with others in a way that would actually make them want to stick around. It wasn't until near the end of Heavensward that "run away and change your name and try to never look back" stopped being an option in the back of their mind.
L I K E S
Colors: They usually default to green for clothing choices, but they really love vivid colors in general, especially in intricate patterns. Thavnair was a delight.
Smells: Subtle, natural smells, mostly - flowers on the breeze, the forest after a rain
Textures: Soft and fuzzy, squishy and comfortable. They like the subtle roughness of old paper, too.
Drinks: Usually favors cool and sweet and fruity. Still has a melancholy weakness for hot chocolate.
O T H E R D E T A I L S
Smokes: Nah, too much risk of messing with their voice
Drinks: Enthusiastically at social gatherings. Has been carried to bed more than once.
Drugs: Doesn't seek them out but is willing to partake if offered.
Mount Issuance: Their Grand Company mount has lived a pampered courier's life at the Rising Stones ever since the Scions moved in, and has most recently been transferred into Tataru's possession. Mischief, the black chocobo they consider their primary mount and companion, was a gift from Haurchefant, and is technically a little too big for them because Ishgard breeds chocobos meant for Elezen and Hyuran riders. They love her anyway.
Been Arrested: They've always managed to talk themselves out of trouble, aside from MSQ incidents.
#ffxiv#mayhem#warrior of light#meme#I have to run to a thing but I'll come back to re-read/edit this later maybe
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This week on Ensemble News
The newest Crazy:B event has the community busted. Several theories, notes and analyses have appeared as a consequence.
Last week's catastrophy regarding the Enstars assets Drive appears to have settled down, however, the future of the drive is still unknown.
Ensemble News, our account, is finally running! Round of applause, we hope you support us through our journey.
Want to know more? Stay with us
▶ Fandom Section
Crazy Anthem and its landmarks
The newest Crazy:B music video for their song "Crazy Anthem" has been released. Because of this, the fandom has been making speculations about the possible landmarks that the video may feature, alongside theories and other writings.
A user on Twitter ¹ has deciphered many of the possible locations in which Crazy:B appears through the video and, possible, during their event story.
The video happens in California, as the event synopsis explains, but it looks like their route starts in San Francisco and finishes in Baja California, Mexico.
Curious about the locations? Here are some of the ones the fandom was able to find;
— Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills
"Venus Beach" — Venice Beach, California
— Walk of Fame, Hollywood
— Los Cabos, Baja California, Mexico
References:
1. Lisaw (@.mafucchu) via Twitter. 28/05/2023. Link
The Enstars assets Drive and its future
The past May 18th, the Enstars wiki Twitter account made an important post ¹ spreading awareness about the current state of the assets drive held by the account @.gradualcolors. The Twitter thread written explained that the assets drive — in which all cards, art, chibis, gifs, voice packs, and etc. are hosted, was going to be taken down due to multiple DMCA violations.
A week later, @.gradualcolors mod replies:
"All I want to say is that I want to stick with my belief of "assets = fandom creativity" and I'll try my best to maintain the new drive when I put it out again. I want to keep seeing how ppl decorate their social media with those files or do fun things like reading guides!!
Tldr; drive gone, will be re-hosted because I want to, rip my wallet tho.
- H.E. had precedent to nuke the drive for reposting reasons so pls be careful posting fan created edits
- Lemme see the cool edits and cute carrds you guys use these files for when drive comes back" (Rai via twt) ²
We don't know how much time it'll take them to make the proper accomodations to restore the folders, but we sure hope the struggles seize sooner than later.
References:
1. Enstars wiki (@.enstarsENG) via Twitter. 18/05/2023. Link
2. Rai (@.sakasakitty) via Twitter. 21/05/2023. Link
Inauguration! Ensemble News is finally up
To conclude with this fandom section, we'd like to express our excitement for this passion project. Ensemble News is a little blog that was constructed with pure love, with the objective of informing others and bonding with the community further. We hope you give this blog a chance, we encourage you to interact with us and to enjoy your time here. ♡
▶ Game Section
Event
The first Climax event has been announced. It's time for Crazy:b and their newest event "Sugoroku* Journey! Number Eight is Our BGM" to shine. Synopsis:
"Rinne and co. are invited to appear on "Number Eight", a show that was popular once upon a time, and so they head overseas. From Crazy:B's dice result begins their road trip where everything is left up to fate--" (Iridescent via twt) ¹
This event will feature 5* Rinne Amagi, 4* HiMERU and 3* Niki Shiina and Kohaku Oukawa.
Feature Scout
Feature Scout 2: Koga, has been announced. Synopsis:
"Koga isn't quite able to figure out what casual shots should be like, causing him to struggle in his photoshoot. He wants to show a cool side of himself while still looking natural." (Iridescent via twt) ²
This scout features 5* Koga Oogami, 4* Mika Kagehira and 3* Tsumugi Aoba.
Event Scout
Scout: Biblion, has been announced. Synopsis:
"Tsukasa isn't entirely sure about joining Biblion yet, but he joins as a temporary member. He finds a book that interests him in the bestseller section, and is engrossed in the book's universe." (Iridescent via twt) ³
This scout features 5* Tsukasa Suou, 4* Kaoru Hakaze and 3* Nagisa Ran, Hajime Shino and Tsumugi Aoba.
References:
1. Iridescent (@.iridesenescence) via Twitter. 27/05/2023. Link
2. Iridescent (@.iridesenescence) via Twitter. 24/05/2023. Link
3. Iridescent (@.iridesenescence) via Twitter. 28/05/2023. Link
May 2023 Tsukisuta notes:
Main story 1.5 is currently being voiced, part 3 will come out on June 26th. Summer voicelines will be added in-game on June 1st. New stamps were added to the Ensemble Live shop. Outfits for the 8th anniversary are now in the dia shop. Element (animation) prints are out and currently being sold at 7-Eleven JP. The next round of Starry Symphony tickets will start being sold on Jun 8th.
▶ Thank you for using Ensemble News.
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I am very curious to know your response too so I am going to ask you the same question back!
What do you enjoy most about the revision process? Are there some things you enjoy more than others? How does the revision process compare to the initial drafting process for you, do you prefer writing a first draft or would you rather skip to editing?
Thank you! A lovely set of questions!
So I'm going to answer all of these questions in a slightly disordered way but I trust that it'll make sense. If not, feel free to send me more asks for clarification!
When I write, I typically bang it all out in one or two goes (for shorter works), or over a week, or a month or so. My current WIP is an exception as I hand wrote it as a young teen, typed it up and completed it during NaNoWriMo in my late teens and as an adult I've been world building, rewriting, adding and now finally going back and writing the book as a whole.
There's a lot of different parts and elements from a lot of different places that are all making it into this cohesive "final" draft, but I really do enjoy it! I enjoy those rapids like flow of inspiration and getting in the zone, but I also really enjoy this process.
Typically the whole editing thing for me goes
Draft hand written or typed up
Type up draft (if hand written) or print the typed draft and then type it up again into a new document. This let's me re-read the story, flesh it out, and get a new perspective. This has been so tremendously helpful for me!
Take a break from it (no, seriously, step away from the computer, self!!). This break also typically involves rambling about it to someone or another (my close friends, my family, my cat, my dog), getting new ideas and jotting them down.
Go back and re-read, print out what's typed again (I use cheap paper and always front and back especially for the longer stories), take so many notes on it, then just kind of marinate in the story. This also involves a lot of talking to my cat, dog, parents (Bless them half the time they have no idea what I'm going on about but they give helpful advice and encouragement either way!), friends, and then I go back aaaand....
Type it all up again! By this point the story is looking pretty swell, and it's close to it's final draft, if it's not already at its final draft.
I really love all of it, especially the parts where I can just take notes on my story, write all sorts of odd things and just let inspiration come at me in a new way. I think that's my favorite part, seeing how I can build upon the ideas I already had, making them stronger and more detailed. While the grammar stuff always feels like a drag during the editing process, editing beyond that is a delight for me. I get a lot of inspiration for sequels or spin-offs or new ideas altogether.
I do sometimes skip to editing like with what I'm doing with HoM. Because the book is coming from so many sources that I've written over so many years (and I've been using this as my project for school), I'm going back and re-reading a lot. This is in part to remind me what I wrote, and to help me keep the flow of the story as I go into the next part. So I'll do tweaks here and there, add in more details, fix a run on sentence, but it's more light edits.
I do jump around a lot though when drafting. If there's a scene I wanna write, I'm gonna write it and trust that I can get myself to connect it later on. When I edit I tend to go straight through the whole thing.
Thanks again for the return ask!
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(Scissors) what's your editing process?
(Hamburger/three lines) send a fic and an unrelated trope and I'll remix it - Cherry Cordial but Royalty AU 👀
Thank you for the asks from this game! 💖
✄ what’s your editing process?
Editing process...lol what editing process?
Okay so I'm going to give you my like actual editing process for anything that I like send out beyond fandom funsies.
Write
Let it set for a bit, walk away from it.
Come back, read it to myself. Read it to a small gathering of plushies (do this for my secret santa fics because those are gifts so I want them to be slightly more edited then my usual.)
Go walk away for a bit or do something else. If lucky come back another day.
Have a text to voice reader read the thing back to me. Make edits and changes.
Have it re-read it to me again.
Repeat as needed.
Maybe pop it into a program that is supposed to fix your writing. However I don't fully trust those. They make just as dumb of mistakes as I make on my own and sometimes worse ones.😂
Send the thing wherever it needs to go.
My teachers always told me to let things marinate and my mentor pretty much told me that I got to always read my stuff out loud to myself so that I can catch errors I wouldn't otherwise. I use the plushies because I was trained to read to people, to an audience even though I hate it because I get super nervous about it. But then later on in work situations where I had to edit I realized that wasn't working because I was inflecting which is fine in fiction but not so much in non-fiction and was told that sometimes it helps if something else reads it to you so now I have an app in monotone read to me because then I can catch when things don't sound right or when something is wrong because I'm not filling in those blanks myself because I know the content too well. Another reason why letting things marinate works.
But truthfully for fics I write it in Scrivener, read it to myself not out loud, paste it into ao3, read it one more time adding bolds or italics because for some reason those don't copy over from Scrivener properly and then hit paste and try not to cringe at all the mistakes I find later when I re-read the thing. Because I make more mistakes now then I used to, silly mistakes I didn't use to make but again, it's for fun so I try not to let it bother me too much and when I've got the energy I try to occasionally pop back in and fix glaring errors. But I'm sure I miss them.
☰ send a fic and an unrelated trope and I’ll remix it
Cherry Cordial as a Royalty AU 🤔
My first thought here is that it's magic right? Like at it's core Cherry Cordial is about magic which makes me think fairy tales and then I realize that's what Candied Apples is. 😂 A fairy tale royal au of sorts.
So maybe we can mix a few fairy tales together for a royalty au. Daniel stumbles upon a magical artifact like the lamp only instead of a genie he gets Terry. Or Terry could be like jafar, (I should probably read the original and not just know the disney version) Or Daniel runs into a witch (Terry) and makes a trade to be a royal so that he can better compete with the royals or get a step ahead of them (Johnny and cobras) Because Johnny would be a prince...or maybe he's Cinderella.
I guess my question is whose the royal in this AU? One of them? Both of them? Johnny's Cinderella with fairy godmother Susan and his cat that talks and dresses up in a pretty dress and all in magical disguise to dance for the night because Susan wants to dance with the princess and can't go alone, or they sneak in to dance together and Susan uses her magic to help him sneak in with him without getting into a fight because he and Daniel (the prince) don't get along, only Daniel doesn't recognize him but also kind of does but can't quite put his finger on it and wants to keep dancing but the magic will for sure where off so Johnny runs, slipper left behind.
If we do a both of them au, maybe Daniel is set to meet up with Johnny to discuss things between their kingdoms but they've met before and it went awful and he doesn't want it all to get screwed up again so he makes a drink, a concoction he finds in an old book that should make them more amiable but he made the wrong one and he thinks he totally gave him a love potion, but he also misread it and really it's just a harmless aphrodisiac or something like eating an oyster but not, and so Daniel is less nervous and actually having a good time and Johnny was determined to try and have a good time and maybe his cat keeps like trying to trip him and Daniel catches him when Peri succeeds in tripping him and he realizes he's got a total crush because Daniel's good at all the princely stuff: sword fighting and horseback riding and talking and Johnny doesn't feel like he is (except at fighting) but really they're both in the same boat at being good at it just getting in their own heads and thinking the other is better. Maybe Terry uses Daniel to kidnap Johnny by tricking him so that he can impress Kreese, not realizing that was maybe a non-useful ploy and really only just makes Daniel have to go rescue him but also makes Johnny realize that he's not as worthless as he was lead to believe and that he actual does know all the princely things he's supposed to and is good at it. But Daniel would for sure bust in, possibly fight Terry, realize it's a waste of time and grab Johnny and run. Gotta let him have his badass hero moments.
#writing asks#ask game#long posts#edit: I got my wip's mixed up I originally wrote muffuletta I meant candied apples
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Spoiler Alert (Peter parker x reader)
An: Hello my lovelies! So this one I wrote a couple years ago but it's my first attempt at a soulmate Au. It's pretty cheesy and stuff but y'know. Anyway, let me know what you think. I'll probably edit this one soon and change it to fit my current writing style and repost it but until then I hope you enjoy it. As always all likes, comments, reblogs, and follows are greatly appreciated to get this blog up off the ground. Happy reading!
Warnings: None, it's pretty much all fluff.
Word count: 3,411
Closing my book with a long sigh I glanced down at my wrist, and read the words 'Man I can't believe Dumbledore died' on my left wrist. Groaning, I fell back onto my bed, thinking about those words, and the book series I had just started reading. I had just started reading the first Harry Potter book and I just found out there was a character named Dumbledore. Grabbing the nearest pillow I screamed into it, slowly letting my frustration leave my body. I couldn't believe an entire book series was just spoiled for me because of one stupid sentence! Ooh, when I met my soulmate I was gonna give him an earful. But I was still going to read the series, of course, wouldn't want to waste reading a perfectly good book series. Especially because another Harry potter movie was going to be released In theaters in a few more weeks. I had around 4 more weeks to read the whole series. Although I could handle that, I wasn't too excited about reading a book that had already been spoiled. But I would cope with it, if it meant being able to finish the series before watching the movie. So here I sat in my room for the past two hours wondering who my soulmate was and how much I despised them for ruining the book series before I had even read it. Sighing again I re-opened my book and continued reading where I had left off. When Harry was about to board the train to Hogwarts.
-Time skip to a few weeks brought to you by Hermione Granger the brightest witch of her age-
A few weeks had past since I had started to read and finished reading the series and I was super excited to watch the newest movie coming out. I was going to go see the movie with one of my best friends in the whole world (b/f/n)(best friend name). She was about as big of a nerd about the series as I was. Over the course of about 3 weeks I had become such an extreme nerd about the series it was INSANE!!! I was still a little bit salty, my stupid soulmate had to go and spoil the whole thing with one sentence written on my arm for all eternity, but I coped with it, after all there was only one more week until the movie hit the theater's!!
-1 week later-
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" I screamed after realizing what day it was. I woke my best friend up, as we had had a sleepover the night before, so we could go to the earliest showing of the movie, on the day it was released. She sat up quickly hearing my scream.
"WOAH WOAH WOAH!! WHAT HAPPENED!??!?" She screeched thinking I was getting murdered or something.
"IT'S TODAY!!!!!" I screamed my reply "WE HAVE WAITED WEEKS AND MONTHS AND YEARS FOR THIS AND ITS FINALLY HERE" I continued screaming, not caring how much I exaggerated how long we had to wait.
(b/f/n)'s eyes widened as what I had just said sunk in, before she started screaming along with me "AAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAH" We screamed and screeched in unison "its here its here its finally here!" We shouted as we danced around in circles.
"WHATS WRONG WHATS HAPPENING WHO'S GETTING MURDERED!!!!" My mom screamed bursting into my room, holding a baseball bat.
"IT'S FINALLY HERE!" (b/f/n) and I screamed running up to her and spinning around her as she groaned.
"Oh dear lord, it's 8 in the morning you never wake up this energized on a school day!" She answered our joyous shouts groggily. "I need coffee" She muttered dropping the baseball bat and sluggishly exiting my room to get herself some coffee. (B/f/n) and I danced around the room, and jumped up and down cause premiere day was finally here. We ran out my room giggling like crazy, our giggles were met with another groan from my mother who was currently leaning against the counter practically chugging down her cup of coffee. (b/f/n) and I danced around her one more time before running off to fangirl/boy about the series. We quickly got dressed after about 2 hours of gushing over the new movie and the series, and went to eat the breakfast my mom had made for us. (b/f/n) and I had saved, and pooled together our money ever since the trailer for the movie was released, and we had bought tickets for the midnight premier in theaters as soon as we had enough money. So we wanted to go shopping for a new outfit to wear to the midnight premier. so we inhaled our breakfast, and walked to the mall like two blocks from my house.
"(y/n) How much farther to the mall" (b/f/n) whined as we walked to the mall.
"Not much, so quit complaining" I replied snarkily as we waited at the crosswalk while cars drove past us.
"UGH my legs hurt!" She whined again as the stoplight signaled for us to walk across the street. After walking across the street and turning the corner, we walked a few blocks further away from my house before arriving at the mall. We quickly ran to hot topic to see if they had any Harry Potter dresses in stock that we could possibly wear to the movie later. Stopping at the harry potter dresses we looked over our options and decided to get some uniforms for our houses. I obviously got (hogwarts house) robes while (b/f/n) got Hufflepuff (if your house is Hufflepuff you can change your best friends house). We quickly found our size in the uniforms and tried them on in the dressing rooms. Satisfied with how they looked we paid for all the clothes and ran out the store giggling. We walked around the mall some more stopping in different shops and store windows. In the end I ended up buying the outfit for the movie, some pins from different fandoms I obsess over, and some new clothes for school. I looked at the time on my phone, and saw we had spent about 3 hours in the store yet had 12 hours left till the movie started. Running home like we were in a marathon, we got changed into our clothes and did our makeup, and continued to fan-girl about the movie when we were finished. We ate a quick lunch at around 2:00, then decided to check out the line for the theater we were going to watch the movie to see if people were lining up yet. So we grabbed our backpacks and filled them up with water money snacks and our phones, before saying bye to my mom and leaving the house. We walked the short 20 minute walk to the movie theater filling the walk with mindless chatter about stuff we deemed unimportant, before getting to the good stuff the juicy gossip going around school. What we heard what's her name said to what's his face during math, and how the schools sweetheart couple broke up over something trivial and would be back together by the end of the week. We spilled tea the rest of the way to the theater. When we got there there was already a line starting to form and it was only around 2:30, there were only like 4 or 5 people in line right now and we assumed that they were people who hadn't bought their tickets ahead of time, so they had to be at the front of the line in order to be garenteed the first available tickets. Chuckling at those movie noobs, (b/f/n) and I decided to walk across the street to the Barnes and Noble (or another popular bookstore If you don't have barnes and Noble where you live). As we walked across the street to get to the book store we started to discuss a good amount of time to spend there before going to eat somewhere before the movie.
"I think we should spend no more than 3 hours in there, or else we are going to look like nerds" (b/f/n) declared.
"We are in a bookstore on a Saturday! We are going to look like nerds anyway" I remarked gesturing to our outfits.
"Okay that's true but still if we spend 3 hours in here and then 2 hours in the restaurant eating then it will be around 7 when we finish eating, then we could go get in line and wait the rest of the time till the movie in line." She explained doing the math in her head.
"By the time we actually agree on a time it will already be midnight!" I said chuckling, "But let's just go into the store and finish looking when we finish looking alright?" I asked
"Ok sounds good to me" She replied as we entered the store.
-another time skip brought to you by Weasley's wizard weaseys-
(probably spelled that wrong)
By the time we actually came out of the bookstore, we had mistakenly spent 4-5 hours in there, way more than we agreed on. My stomach was growling like nobody's business so we found a nearby (f/r)(favorite restaurant), and walked to it.
"Damn this is a lot of walking" (b/f/n) said as we arrived at the restaurant, we took our seats, and both already knew what we wanted to order. So when the waiter came to ask us what drinks we wanted to order, we just ordered our food as well. Checking the time on my phone I read 8:00, we assumed it would take around an hour and a half to receive our food and we would be on track for getting in line around 9:30 or 10:00 depending on how long it took us to eat. We had received our food an hour later as predicted, and then it took us around another hour to eat. Once we were done we split the bill between the two of us and left a good tip for our waiter. We half walked half jogged back to the movie theater as it was finally dark out now and stumbled our way to the back of the line that had a good amount of people waiting for it. It was around 10 to 20 people already so we got into line at the back, and started the antagonizing two-hour wait until we would get to enter the theater and watch the movie we had been thinking about all day long. We anxiously waited for the two hours to pass while (b/f/n) and I chattered to each other and watched people file into the line behind us. After the two hours that seemed to endlessly drone on and on and on were over they finally started letting people into the theater, although those who didn't buy their tickets had to go and buy them before they were allowed inside the theater. Since we had been smart and pre-ordered ours we got to go right in and get our seats before many of the people in front of us even entered the theater. (b/f/n) and I chose seats right in the middle of the theater, the same distance from front to back, and from side to side. That's when we began to unload all our goodies, we pulled out bags and bags of candy and soda we had bought from a gas station on our way here from my house, we had candy-like airheads, red licorice, sweethearts, sour patch kids, gummy bears, gummy frogs, and sharks, and tons of items covered in chocolate. (b/f/n) made a reference comparing us to harry after returning from the candy trolley on the Hogwarts Express for the first time, with all our sweets. I chuckled at her reference. Once we got settled the previews started, and since no one wants to watch the fifteen minutes of previews we talked in low whispers while the previews droned on, we could barely sit still throughout the previews as we were so excited for the movie. Then finally it was time, the music started playing, and (b/f/n) and I clutched each other's arms tightly while squealing silently. The title rolled onto the screen and the lights dimmed down. We dug into our candy and ate silently as our eyes sparkled as they were glued onto the huge screen in front of us.
-After the movie-
When the movie finished (b/f/n) and I sat and fangirled about the fabulous movie we just watched, we analyzed everything we saw, and mentioned details basically no one noticed. That's when I saw two boys in the corner of my eye get up from a few seats away from us, and start walking. I saw one of the boys turn to the other and heard him say "man I can't believe Dumbledore died" my eyes widened as I thought back to the words written on my left wrist, angrily I stood up and ran after the boys when I finally got within earshot of them almost everyone in the movie theater had left. I tapped (ok slapped) the boy I heard say the words on my wrist.
Once he had turned around with an extremely surprised expression on his face I angrily whisper/shouted "YOU YOU'RE THE ONE" I smacked him on the shoulder again, as he looked at me with pure terror in his eyes.
His eyes widened with a sort of realization as he checked the words written on his right wrist. "That was not how I expected those words to be said" He replied lowering his arm back to his side. We were soon joined by (b/f/n) who walked up stuffing (his/her) face with leftover candy and popcorn.
"So what did I miss," she asked me not noticing the boy in front of me. Soon the boy's friend walked up.
"Yo Peter what's taking so long," He said to the boy, aka my soulmate, before seeing me and (b/f/n) standing in front of him. "woah, who are they" he said nodding towards me and (b/f/n).
"Umm... well you see this one" He gestured towards me "is apparently my soulmate" he continued, "and I don't know who this one is... yet" He finished gesturing towards (b/f/n).
"Oh cool" The boy whose name I now knew was Peter's friend said.
"Wait hold up what?!" (b/f/n) said confused and shooketh.
"Yeah... (b/f/n) Meet my soulmate, Peter" I said awkwardly
"huh, well alright then Nice to mete yah Pete, can I call you Pete, Imma call you Pete" She (or he) spat out quickly while shaking his arm wildly, and grinning like the Cheshire cat.
"calm down (b/f/n)" I said quietly while elbowing her side, she flinched grabbing the sides of her stomach.
"What! I'm not even doing anything" She responded saltily
"Hate to interrupt but I think we should leave, the cleaning crew is coming in" Peters friend insisted
"y-y-yeah, l-lets go" Peter agreed as the boys turned to walk out the theater with me and my bestie trailing behind.
we entered the hallway and I squinted as I came into the bright light of the hallway. I quickly texted my mom that the movie was finished and to come pick us up. After I took the time to study my apparent soulmates facial features, and damn I liked what I saw, he has beautiful chocolate brown eyes, curly brown hair with the front swept off to the side, his eyebrows were more on fleek than mine would ever be. He was wearing a blue sweatshirt that said midtown high on it, with jeans and black vans. He looked literally perfect, like someone I would dream about.
"OH um I never introduced myself, I'm Ned... Leeds" Peters friend whose name I know knew to be Ned informed us, snapping me out of admiring my soulmate's face.
"Nice to meet you Ned" I responded shaking his hand politely "Oh yeah I'm (y/n) btw, and this is (b/f/n)" I added gesturing to (b/f/n).
"T-that's a really p-pretty n-name" Peter stuttered, Blushing like mad which caused me to blush.
"T-thx" I responded with a slight stutter, as I continued to blush, "I uh, um I l-like your f-face?" I responded as a question, mentally slapping myself for my idiotic response. My response made him blush even more, and Ned and (b/f/n) walked away leaving Peter and I alone in the Hallway.
"Imma, just be over there" Ned said quickly walking around the corner.
"y-yeah m-me too" (b/f/n) agreed, Following closely behind him.
"S-sooo" Peter said after we sat in an awkwards silence for a few minutes, "you're my soulmate" He said awkwardly
"yeahhhh" I responded even more awkward than him
"Cool" He replied looking down at his feet... "well um y-yo-you're pretty" He complimented me, while stuttering
"t-thanks" I stuttered back rocking on my feet, thats when I got a text from my mom saying she was here outside waiting for us. "Oh hey um my moms here, do you have a phone or something I can use to contact you?" I asked texting her back.
"Oh um yeah, here's my phone number, (314) 335-6740" Peter said as I typed it into my phone, I sent him a quick text saying Hi and he created a contact for me.
"Okay umm cool well I'll text or call you sometime and we can set something up I guess" I told him
"y-yeah I-I guess we can" he replied smiling a little half smile.
"Alright oh um (b/f/n)!" I yelled down the hall, "my Moms here we gotta go!" I informed her and she came running down the hall,
"COMING, BYE NED BYE PETE!" She yelled as she ran past them and with me out the door, my mom was waiting outside, pulled over to the side of the street, and we climbed into the back seats.
"So how was the movie?" She asked
"It was great!" We replied, smiling between ourselves, The rest of the car ride was short and silent, and when we arrived back to my house we ran to my room closing the door behind me and started squealing!!!!
"OH MY GOD I JUST MET MY SOULMATE" I giggled ad squealed loudly.
"AND HE"S SUPER CUTE" (b/f/n) Added.
That's when my phone dinged signalling I got a text, It was from peter, 'Hey, I miss you already and can't wait to get to know you better' The text said, I showed it to (b/f/n) and we both fell back onto my bed giggling.
"Best soulmate ever" I said sighing.
~~Fin~~
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QOTD: Who is your favorite marvel character? and why?
Join my discord: https://discord.gg/9bwRmtXCuB
#Marvel#Peter parker#Spiderman#Soumate au#Peter parker x reader#spiderman x reader#fanfiction#new writer#Fluff#spiderman fluff#peter parker fluff
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Play It Cool - Tyson Jost (22/n)
Author's Notes: This chapter is all over the place, figuratively and literally. Playoffs are always emotional, this season was no different. All in all, it's definitely a segue to a new chapter in both AJ and Tyson's lives. It's tough to say goodbye, which is why AJ refuses to, rather, says "seeya later." Also random note: I told myself I was going to bed by 1am. It's now nearly 3:30am. I edited it quickly but... yeah I'll re-read in a few hours and probably cringe at something I missed. Love you all for putting up with my late night/early morning typos!
Pairing: Tyson Jost x OFC
Chapter 21: https://brainrattlers.tumblr.com/post/695263081501196288/play-it-cool-tyson-jost-21n
Word Count: 3251
Warnings: Language, and there are some sad feels going on, for sure.
Tyson looked damn fine in his suit leaving the game. And don’t think for a second that Tyson missed AJ biting her lip and quirking an eyebrow up when he came out of the locker room, scanning him up and down with her eyes. The smirk that hit his face when he caught eyes with AJ would have normally been enough to make her blush and look away, but it hit differently this time around.
Instead, she stared intensely back at him, nodding with a grin.
This would have been one of those nights that, had they been back in Denver, would have led to Tyson either pulling AJ in for a long kiss, or otherwise found a dark corner somewhere to make out a bit.
But alas, they weren’t in Denver, and also they weren’t alone with Laura along for the walk back from the arena.
It was AJ’s last night in St. Paul for a bit - she didn’t want to distract Tyson for the playoffs, even though Tyson swore up and down she wouldn’t be an issue. Just like him though, there were a few things she had to deal with in Dever first. But unlike Tyson, she didn’t have money in her pocket so she could just hire folks to box up the rest of her stuff and get it moved. Instead, it was on AJ to make decisions on what was going to make the cut to move to Minnesota eventually.
Thoughts fluttered about AJ’s mind since she had dropped the bomb that she was intending to move, and that Tyson wanted her to pick out their apartment. However, luckily for AJ, Tyson wanted to keep the stress of moving to a minimum and wait until after the Wild’s playoff run had come to an end before really digging into finding a place. She didn’t really want to be burdened with moving right now either, considering she had no idea where they’d be in the coming weeks.
Also… as AJ does, she had one more surprise up her sleeve - she didn’t want to cram everything in before that.
But for now, tonight was all that mattered. Both were shockingly adult about the night, knowing that morning would bring practice for Tyson, and the long road back home for AJ.
Scratch that… not the long road back home, but the long drive back to Denver. Home was now TBA.
Anyway, after making sure things were cool in Tyson’s space for Laura, he beelined it to AJ’s room. He barely made it inside the room, and with the door lock clicking, Tyson found himself pinned against the door with AJ unbuttoning his shirt as he was struggling to get his arms out of the sleeves of his jacket.
“Oh for fuck’s sake Tys, hold still!” AJ was having problems undoing the buttons from their holes.
Tyson couldn’t stop the laughs. “Let me get my arms free first and I can help. You clearly need more practice with this!”
AJ rolled her eyes playfully. “Fine, fine… I’ll practice every day once I move up here.”
Tyson loved the way that sounded. Even though the playoffs should have been number one in his mind, finding a more permanent residence was way up there, especially since it meant less facetime, and more face to face time. With his arms finally free of the confines of his suit jacket which he slung over the breakfast counter that fell onto the sofa just beyond it, Tyson started helping with the shirt buttons AJ eventually gave up on.
The intensity of the moment faded quickly - it occurred to AJ that Tyson had just played an entire game, and even scored a goal earlier that night. The adrenaline of it all was wearing off, and Tyson had a different idea anyway.
Breaking away, he shuffled over to AJ’s backpack on the ottoman in the bedroom area of the studio room, grabbing her tank top and shorts she’d been sleeping in and tossing them to her. She eyed him with curiosity, but complied with his silent request. After getting changed (and honestly a little surprised Tyson didn’t try to sneak a peek), she found him in the tiny kitchenette, only in a pair of boxers. Phone in hand, he scrolled and tapped a bit until music softly started playing from the tiny speaker of his iPhone.
“May I have this dance?” Tyson offered his hand to AJ, who gingerly wrapped her fingers around his as he pulled her in close.
With a bit of awkwardness figuring out which hand was supposed to be on AJ’s hip, and which should be holding her’s, seeing as Tyson’s a lefty, and AJ’s a righty, Tyson guided AJ around the kitchen in a small circle, keeping beat with the music. He looked down into her eyes, feeling like the luckiest man in the world at this particular moment. Another song came up on the playlist, which caught AJ’s attention instantly. Looking up, she found Tyson still sharing that soft look into her eyes, followed by a kiss on the very tip of her nose. With eyes closed, AJ snuggled her face into the crook of Tyson’s bare neck and shoulder as they swayed with the smooth vocals of Chet Baker. It was fast becoming a favorite of his, almost as much as AJ loved it.
With the conclusion of the song, Tyson kissed AJ softly, but poured his heart into the kiss. Even with no music now playing, he twirled AJ around and pulled her back to his chest, posing a one-word question.
“Bedtime?”
With a quick detour to brush teeth and get ready for bed, Tyson wrapped himself around AJ under the covers. Even though no naked shenanigans followed, slow dancing in pajamas in the tiny kitchen was the perfect ending to the night.
In Tyson’s eyes, it was even more perfect when he noticed AJ was scrolling away on her phone as he peeked over her shoulder. She wasn’t even hiding what it was. Twisting her neck a bit to try to look at Tyson, she asked a question.
“Do you want to live closer to the arena and practice facility, or are you thinking elsewhere? Maybe Eden Prairie? Edina?”
Tyson continued to peek over AJ’s shoulder as she scrolled through apartment listings, stopping occasionally to look at floor plans and discuss wants/needs. At some point though, AJ felt the soft snores of Tyson resonating against her shoulder. Realizing she was having to drive 13 hours back in the morning, sleep was decided to probably be a good idea. With her phone on the nightstand, AJ rolled over to face Tyson, where he unconsciously pulled her body in close. It was unbearably warm, so she somehow managed to get herself uncovered and left the blanket on Tyson, drifting off to sleep as well.
The alarm on Tyson’s phone rang out early, as he had every intention to get to the gym for a bit of a workout before practice that Sunday morning. Knowing she’d be back soon enough, he insisted AJ stay in bed and get a couple more hours of sleep before the trek back to Denver. With not having work the next morning, it was perfectly acceptable to get back to Lakewood late. She could sleep in on Monday, she had nowhere really to be, other than watching Game 1 between the Wild and St. Louis that night.
A long kiss and the promise of seeing each other soon followed, along with the typical “text me along the way.”
AJ actually got up a bit later and snagged breakfast with Laura, promising to keep in touch and let her know what plans were as far as, well, moving at this point. It’d probably be a few weeks at least, or at least they hoped. With a final once over of the room, AJ once again had her backpack packed, and she retrieved her car from the valet, and was on the road.
Thankfully the 13 hour drive was uneventful, and AJ rolled into her driveway right around midnight after the time zone difference. A quick text was sent, hopefully not waking Tyson since it was now 1am for him, and he had a game later that night.
AJ: Back at my place. Miss you already. Cuddling with Maple just isn’t the same. Kick some ass tonight at the game. Love you so much
Thankfully the pillow she brought with her on the trip was still ever-so-slightly smelling like Tyson. AJ couldn’t even pin down what it was. A mixture of the hair product he was trying out, a little bit like his aftershave, a bit of deodorant, but mainly, it was just Tyson. AJ held the pillow close to her chest, breathing in what remained of the scent. It lulled her to sleep fast, and hard.
The buzzing of AJ’s watch against her wrist slowly brought her out of a deep, dreamless sleep.
Tyson: Miss you too, and love you more. Slept like crap without you. Glad you’re there safe.
Tyson: Hey eggo you sleeping still? Just checking in before my pre-game nap.
AJ rubbed her eyes and groggily looked around at the room she was in, realizing the sun was streaming in the windows.
AJ: Oh damn, it’s already noon. I must have been tired. Tagging you in for a little sleep. Sweet dreams babe. Think I’m going to order pizza, see if Jess maybe wants to come over to watch the game.
Tyson: Sounds like a good plan. Text after the game.
The afternoon was actually spent looking through a room full of stuff, and deciding what she could part with, and what was an absolute must have. She was making pretty good progress, losing track of time as Jess knocked on the door and let herself in. With alcoholic beverages in hand (especially as AJ didn’t want to pack bottles to move with, so drinking it seemed to make sense), the two sat on the sofa watching the game and chatting about what all had been going on the past few days.
AJ actually felt pretty crappy suddenly - and not because they were mixing a lot of alcohol and eating greasy pizza, but more in the fact that she wasn’t going to get to have these nights with her best friend once she moves away. Self-doubt was creeping in on whether this was the right idea, but without a decent job in Denver and the fact that her secret fiance was living in a different time zone, it really did make sense to make the move. Jess was pretty sad about it too, but it was indeed pointed out that summers could be spent traveling a little bit. It wasn’t like now that AJ was tied to the Wild with Tyson, that she wasn’t allowed in Denver. And if Jess had her way, AJ and Tyson would be making their way up to Cole Harbour to see her and Nate at his summer home. Hell, maybe they could even come out to Alberta and all spend a few days there. The options, within reason, were pretty much limitless.
While the thought of traveling and getting to see everyone made her happy, the 4-0 Game 1 loss was tough to swallow. AJ had been cursing the fact the Wild put in Fleury, and questioned where the offense was. Ultimately, it just wasn’t the Wild’s night.
The rest of the week was spent putting a handful of items up on Buy/Sell/Trade sites, and coordinating pickups. With her own place starting to look more empty, the Wild won the next two games, the first at home, the next in St. Louis. A couple of the evenings that week were spent with Jess, watching the Wild, or the Avs, if Jess wasn’t at work or at Ball.
Finally it got to Saturday night, where the Wild were scheduled to play in St. Louis Sunday. AJ’s next plan went into action overnight - catching a red-eye, and catching a ride to the arena thanks to a wonderful Lyft driver.
Breezing by security this time around, AJ didn’t have her normal seat, but did get herself up against the glass, tiny sign pressed up in front of her as the teams took the ice for warmups. A few players nodded in acknowledgment. Deslauriers gently launched himself into the glass in front of AJ not wanting to potentially injure himself. And finally, Tyson saw her there with the small poster. He shook his head, smiling as he read the words plastered against the glass.
I’m JOST WILD about you, Tyson!
Unfortunately, that was going to be the high point of the game for Tyson. Another loss to the Blues, another crowd of fans that were taunting the few Wild fans there. AJ up and left during the recap of the three stars of the game, taking her Blues-jersey-shaped microfiber towel with her. Despite her better judgment, she snapped a photo of it and posted it with a caption of “oh look, a nice dusting rag!” on Instagram.
(To be fair it did get a lot of likes from her Avs fan/player friends, as well as new Wild fan/WAG/player followers. But… it was petty.)
Tyson couldn’t believe AJ was crazy enough to make the trip in less than 24 hours flying back to Denver, but seeing her in the stands wearing his name and number was just about his favorite thing in the world.
Unfortunately, the series went to six games, ending in St. Louis. AJ sat home alone that last game, pretty much in tears that the playoff run was cut so short. She could only imagine what Tyson and really the rest of the team had been feeling. There was so much hype for them, and then it all fell flat.
Not sure how to approach it, AJ sent a simple text to Tyson, letting him really take control of the conversation, if he chose.
AJ: I’ll be up for a while, packing some boxes.
She knew at least the thought of her getting ready to move might cheer him up some… and while it did, obviously it still stung that he was done for the summer.
Tyson: I’ll text you when we land. Need sleep.
Tyson: Love you
AJ: Love you too (heart emoji)
It was nearly 2am by the time the team got home, after a grueling round of media availability. It doesn’t make much sense to rub salt in the extremely fresh wound of the playoff exit, but the journalists still have to write, and without interviews, other than the game recap, there isn’t much to report. AJ had to shut off the post-game wrap as it was absolutely heartbreaking.
After falling asleep on the sofa, AJ’s phone started buzzing with a notification that Tyson was trying to facetime. The face that greeted her was not the typical happy, bubbly Tyson, but instead a very tired Tyson, with puffy, red-rimmed watery eyes.
The two just stared in silence for a moment, but AJ was the first to break it.
“Tys, I’m so sorry, I…”
He wasn’t usually one to interrupt, but this was one time that Tyson did.
“When can you get here?”
The small voice, and the tears that were threatening to fall over his lashes were absolutely devastating to AJ. He could see her looking around the room, silently taking inventory of something he wasn’t sure of. After a few more moments of quiet deliberation with herself, she brought herself to look back at the camera on her phone. Tyson had dropped everything for her previously when she mentally needed that extra support. This was her chance to return the favor.
“It’s.. oh, it’s Friday morning already, I didn’t realize I slept that long,” With one more glance around her very empty home, she made another snap decision. “How does Sunday sound?”
With a sniffle, Tyson nodded quickly with a small smile indicating he was going to be okay due to the answer.
Friday was an absolute blur. The team had a day of debriefing, a rather sobering day of feelings no one really wanted to deal with yet. It really wasn’t anything new for Tyson, the Avs had a 2nd round exit the previous three years. But it never gets easier, it’s just a wound that reopens. The only thing he had going for him at that point was literally counting the hours until AJ would be back in St. Paul.
And on that note, Friday was a blur for AJ as well. Coordinating the last few large item pickups, and packing was most of the day. Seeing as how Nate wouldn’t be playing for a few more days, a final hurrah for AJ, dinner at Nate’s with Jess happened. Lots of tears, happy and sad, mainly from AJ and Jess, but even Nate was a little upset that AJ was leaving. The dynamic of their friendship had evolved so much over the last two years, and even though he had Jess, he was going to miss random texts to play Fort, or to snag lunch after Saturday practices like they used to back in the day.
“You dork, I’m not dying, and depending on how it plays out… I may actually have more time for Fort!”
There were so many hugs that night, and it took a lot to separate the three at the end of the evening when AJ had to head out, as she had one more day to finish cleaning and getting what few items she was taking with her to Minnesota loaded into the trailer she rented.
Saturday was emotionally tough, finishing the last of the boxes, and handing her extra keys to Jess to get the last few items out when they were sold off. With the last of the “seeya laters” - AJ spent her last night in Denver. She walked to the park behind her home, watching the sun drop behind the backdrop of the mountains. Denver had always been her dream, and she made it there. But that was now a past dream. Her current dream was seeing where life would take her with Tyson.
One last dinner of In-n-Out, and AJ called it a night, sleeping on the air mattress that Nate had lent her. She was barely able to sleep, as a mixture of anxiety but also excitement overtook her. It also didn’t help that Tyson was nearly texting her every hour with a countdown of the hours until he expected her there.
Waking up earlier than expected, the last of AJ’s things were collected and thrown into her backpack. She deflated the air mattress and secured it into the little bag it came in, and tossed it by the front door. A photo was snapped of the empty home. And with that, AJ locked the front door, and buckled Maple into the passenger seat next to her. Once in the car as well, the photo from moments earlier was posted to Instagram.
wicketthewarriorThough my time here in Denver was short, it was amazing. I met so many good people, saw so many beautiful sights, and cannot forget all the great food and drink. So many memories made. But it’s time to start a new chapter. Trading the mountains for the land of 10,000 lakes. It’s not goodbye, but “see you later, Colorado.” josty17 - I’ll be home soon.
Chapter 23 is at https://brainrattlers.tumblr.com/post/696530198978576384/play-it-cool-tyson-jost-23n
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Are you willing to share more about your outlining, writing, and editing processes?
Sure! I'll also start by saying that this process has evolved a little over the course of my three books and I'm sure it will continue to evolve as I become a more seasoned writer and my needs change.
I tend to do a very thorough outline. I call it my prototype draft because it's really something more than an outline but not quite a complete draft. This is approximately 10-20k words and I use Randy Ingermanson's snowflake method for the most part to get there. I start with a paragraph-level summary and grow it from there. Writing short synopses from the points of view of most of the main characters helps me to add depth and refine my synopsis, and then I move into a scene-level breakdown.
At the scene level, I pull out my copy of Save The Cat Writes a Novel. I usually really struggle with the portion of the story between the midpoint and the ~80% mark, but I make myself get it right at this stage instead of just diving into writing. I've tried the "I'll just start writing and figure it out when I get there" approach, and it didn't work for me.
I use Plottr and/or Google Sheets to make a list of major characters, locations, and plot points, and mark which ones are in each scene. Then I have a little visual that helps me see how often a character or subplot is brought up, and whether it's too much all at once or too sparse. This also helps me make sure I wrap up all the subplots and don't forget about them.
At this point, I've got anywhere from a sentence to two paragraphs per scene. Something like: "Opens at Virginia's birthday. Marney and Lawrence are there, and she's screening calls from her children. Forgets the cake in the oven and her kids show up just as Lawrence puts out the fire. Jack tells Virginia she should consider moving into a retirement home (gives her a binder of options he's researched) and uses the fire as evidence in his favor. Virginia kicks them out, but when she shuts the door behind them she finds a foreclosure notice on the door."
The above is a condensed version of the opening scene of my first book. When I have this for all of my scenes, I print it out and read through it. This is my prototype: it's a complete telling of the whole story, but without the prose or dialogue. I can work out problems with the story here, cutting scenes that aren't moving things forward, or adding or moving scenes where needed. I usually do two or three passes of reading and making notes/changes to my prototype.
Then I write it.
The writing is just a matter of butt-in-seat, which is really frickin' hard to make myself do, but at least when I sit down to write I know what I'm writing. I also use asterisks in my manuscript that I can ctrl+f and come back later, so if I can't think of a word or if something feels awkward, I don't have to disrupt my writing flow to address it in the moment. The worst thing for me to try to figure out later is a timeline, and yet I never remember to do this first. But thinks like, what day of the week is it, how many days has it been since whatever previous scene, etc... I always end up with notes to go back and figure this out in edits.
My edits include finding and fixing places where I put asterisks in the draft, addressing anything else I wrote in a "notes" doc to myself during the draft, running it through proWritingAid, then sending to my editor. I found my editor through a facebook group of authors. I only do one pass with her. After I send it to her, she turns around comments and corrections in under two weeks, and then I go through and make changes as needed. Sometimes it's big (she's a former police dispatcher and her comments on one scene led to a near-complete re-write of that scene), but most of her comments usually aren't.
And then I format my books for ebook and print using Vellum.
I hope this massive info-dump was helpful!
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1, 11, 15, 23, 30
weird questions for writers!
1. What font do you write in? Do you actually care or is that just the default setting?
i write pretty much exclusively in times new roman! i usually switch to lucida grande for editing since that's the ao3 font and it helps me catch typos, and occasionally i'll write in arial in google docs if i don't feel like changing it from the default, but 9 times out of 10, it's times new roman. i don't really care much, but i've also gotten used to writing in tnr, so if i try to switch it messes with my flow and makes me think more about the font than the words, so i think i'm pretty much stuck with it XD
(more under the cut!)
11. Do you believe in the old advice to “kill your darlings?” Are you a ruthless darling assassin? What happens to the darlings you murder? Do you have a darling graveyard? Do you grieve?
i had to google what this means askldgag ('to get rid of an unnecessary storyline, character, or sentences in a piece of creative writing') but i do think it's good advice! i've been working a lot in the past few years since i started writing again (first for tma, and now for malevolent) to clean up my writing style, and i think this is part of it for sure. i get very attached to my long sentences, and learning to cut them up or delete them altogether was very hard for me. i'm still bad at outright cutting scenes or storylines that i'm fond of, and honestly the ones i'm less fond of as well. i'd love to get in the habit of re-writing an entire chapter to cull out unnecessary things, but as i'm not planning on writing for profit, simply for fun, and that doesn't sound very fun to me, i haven't put much weight on that
i do have a darling graveyard! i usually plonk sections that i discard into either my notes app or my outline, and sometimes i go back later to recycle, but most of the time i realize that those chunks are better off dead and buried and i don't resurrect them. there was a really good piece of advice i read once that said 'if you run into a block in your writing, the issue is probably 10 lines back' which has helped IMMENSELY, and that's where a lot of my cutting comes in, where i'll just chop a whole section i wrote and start over to get the flow better. thus, the darlings are usually better off dead, because they were causing more problems than solutions.
15. Do you write in the margins of your books? Dog-ear your pages? Read in the bath? Why or why not? Do you judge people who do these things? Can we still be friends?
i write in the margins of textbooks that i own, and that's pretty much it. i like keeping my books in good condition, so i usually don't write in them, dog-ear my pages, etc.. (i don't take baths, but if i did, i don't think i would read in the bath.) i don't judge people who do, though! it can be very satisfying to mark up a book, and when i do it with textbooks, i love it a lot. it's just not for me with fiction (though i think i would feel better marking up a second-hand book than a bought-new book since it's already no longer in pristine condition!)
23. Describe the physical environment in which you write. Be as detailed as possible. Tell me what’s around you as you work. Paint me a picture.
the physical environment i write in changes, but lately (since i moved) it's been mainly one of two places
i sit in the black faux-leather bucket chair i have in my room, one blanket beneath me, the other covering my legs, feet propped up on my bed (which currently has bookbinding stuff strewn all over it). i have the worst posture as i hunch over my laptop and write my silly little words. i have earplugs in and over-the-ear headphones on, blasting 'Heavy Rain Sounds | No Thunder' from spotify at max volume to drown out the sounds of living with five other people. i probably have some sort of beverage slowly equalizing to room temperature as i get caught up in the writing and forget about it. it's either too hot or too cold; there is no in-between
i sit at my desk in my office at work, where i basically sit around and wait for people to have a/v issues and thus have essentially 6-9 hours of free time to do whatever interrupted by occasionally having to explain to people how an adapter works. there's probably somebody singing vocal warmups in the background, or playing slightly-out-of-tune jazz saxophone, or playing the same piano piece ad nauseum. my coworkers could definitely see my computer screen if they looked; i've still got ao3 pulled up and visible in the background. i may still be listening to heavy rain sounds if the vocal warmups are bad enough, and i almost certainly have coffee that i'm chugging like it's the nectar of the gods because i probably got there at 7:30am and have to make it through to 11:00pm without leaving the building once. it is a Tuesday and i have not seen a window for seven hours <3
30. Talk to me about the role dreams play in your writing life. Have you ever used material from your dreams in your writing? Have you ever written in a dream? Did you remember it when you woke up?
hmmm, i used to use stuff from my dreams as the inspo. for original writing, but i don't do that as much anymore because a) i don't do much original writing anymore 😅 and b) i don't dream as much anymore! at least not in coherent, recognizable ways that aren't just like. stress dreams. i suppose the tradeoff is that i haven't had a nightmare in a while either so ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯ i get inspiration from daydreams if that counts lol?
and i don't think i've ever written in a dream! the closest i've gotten is dreaming that i had a writing-based assignment finished, then waking up and finding out i did not in fact have it finished 😔
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Motivation - My Guide for writing
After I saw this post by @duskwoodfanfic I've been thinking a about it myself🤔 Here I present you, a little collection of things I do to gather motivation for writing🌿
Please keep in mind, I'm not a "professional" writer, this is just a little summary of things I do to find some motivation to write💕
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1: Revisit screenshots (of Duskwood -/or any game/-)
Revisiting screenshots of Duskwood chats may help you capture the personality of a character easier! How do they speak? How do they react in certain situations? How is their relationship to each other?
2. Every day objects
You can find a great source of inspiration in the smallest every day things! Now, you can take those things, leave them as they are OR advance them! Or both🤭
A tree? Could write a story involving a treehouse. A mirror? Write about someone or a couple walking through a mirror maze and struggling to find their way out. A closet? Maybe someone's playing hide and seek.
I like to use this method, since it's the easiest way to get inspiration :)
For example, "Hues of Pink and Blue" was inspired by seeing an advertisement involving a cave and the favorite colors of me and my best friend :) Whilst "Summer Sunsets" was inspired by fairy lights and the currently setting sun😄
3. Listening to music
Listening to music is a great way to achieve a good word flow and boost your imagination! I personally love to listen to music while writing😄 At some point I just lean back and let unconnected words fill my mind, I have time to bind them together while writing🤭
If the lyrics distract you easily, you can simply throw on the instrumental of the song🎶 Sometimes that's even more beneficial!
4. Read Prompts
By reading prompts (or incorrect quotes) I usually get ideas more easily! They are a great way to imagine a conversation, scene or setting💭
Same goes for looking at pictures, by the way!
5. Clichés
Now, this goes two ways.
Take clichés, write clichés, write whatever you like :) Sometimes starting off with a cliché is a great way to get into a story!
Otherwise, take clichés and turn them around. Do the absolute opposite of what the cliché is meant to say, go wild!
6. Social Distancing - Writer Edition
If you have finished your story, leave it to rest and return a few days later and read it again. Keeping distance to your story and then re-reading it is a great way to spot things you may find yourself unsatisfied with and find sections you want to rephrase.
7. Don't write in chronological order
If you begin writing the plot points you are excited about, it's easier to actually get into your story. At least that's the way I feel about it🤭
Usually I section my work when I don't write the story from beginning to end with [...]. It helps me keep track of the things I am missing and most times I get ideas to fill the voids as I write!
For example:
Jake’s head turned to look at her. Her breath hitched, a warm sensation running over her body as MC looked into his mellow gaze. His eyes gleamed with admiration, void of all the saddened emotions she expected to see.
[...]/[note of what you want to happen in this section]
“I cannot believe I found someone like you.” A soft mutter ranked through Jake’s voice. MC chuckled, cheeks heating up with the bliss his words brought into her spirit.
I'm not lying when I say half of all my word documents look like this when I'm writing😝🌿
8. Write now, edit later
I often find that the fastest reason for my motivation dropping is through my own unsatisfaction. Here's what I think may be quite helpful:
Write anything that comes to your mind. Anything. Don't stop, write it now, edit it later. Your story is here to be progressed, not to be "perfect" through and through the moment words come to paper. Take it easy, you can do it💕🌿
9. Self Care
This point is what I consider the most important one in this list. Stay hydrated, eat when you need to, take a break when you need to. Take a shower or bath, clean your room, whatever you want or need to do to upkeep your comfort and well-being. Your writing is here to wait.
Your health is playing a critical point in motivation. Don't let it go.
(If you have days where your own mind's up against you, please know that this is also okay. Sometimes we're void of the strength needed for self care. Just know you can turn to me, I'll gladly listen to you, all your struggles and issues are valid💕💫)
10. Taking Breaks
Taking breaks is essential to recharge and rethink. I usually take a break every 15-20 minutes when writing (except I am in a word-flow), which I feel is quite helpful! Everyone has their own preferences and need though, so experiment around with your comfort zone here :)
If you don't feel the need to take breaks or feel like they may throw you off your stride then don't take them. Everyone is a unique individual with unique needs😄🤭
11. Brainstorming
Brainstorming with a friend or fellow writer can help you advance and develop your plot further!
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I hope this post has been beneficial to the person who just read it💕
Once more, those are the things I personally do, each individual has different preferences and work flows!😄🤭 What works for me may not work for you and that's okay :)
Also, sometimes a Writers Block is just that, there's no need to force it away. Sometimes there's a need for a break we shouldn't ignore.
Thanks for reading, have a great and healthy week!🌿💕💙
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Part 2 of the response to this ask:
Part 1 was about where I think Geten’s story is going, and if I think it’s likely that Dabi will kill him; it dealt mainly with how those characters are set up in canon. Part 2 is far more about the fandom, and the assumptions people make that lead them to theories like the one above--specifically, the assumption that the League was always planning on bailing on the PLF. Hit the jump below with me and I'll go over why I think the common arguments for that are misguided at best, and willfully misreading the text at worst.
WARNING: Contains some generalizations about parts of the fandom that I have mostly taken steps to avoid seeing on my dash, so some of my characterizations may be out of date. I’ve tried to desalinate this post as much as possible, but as an unapologetic fan of the MLA and of Spinner (who I do not bring up incidentally), this is a topic I feel particularly strongly about. Apologies, but I Have Seen Things.
DISCLAIMER: I like Geten better than Dabi. I don't think he's better developed; I don't think he's a better character--I just like him better. This is largely down to the fact that I find the MLA fascinating from a worldbuilding perspective and its members compelling personally, whereas I’m less interested in Dabi personally than I am the Todoroki Drama on the whole, and have been tired of Fanon Dabi for approximately 83 years. I’ll also be the first to admit that my take on Dabi is pretty mercenary--hardly the irredeemable psychopath the Hero Stans on Twitter see, but nothing close to Secretly Soft Big Brother Touya, either. If that’s not your bag, you may want to skip this one.
So, here's a bullet point list of the reasons I have personally seen on why the League was always planning to turn on the MLA:
Dabi and Toga mention "getting started early," and Shigaraki mentions a plan, suggesting that the League had a plan in place independent of the one they arranged as the PLF.
Shigaraki says he won't forgive the Liberation Army for messing with peoples' feelings, so he would never really mean it when he forges an alliance with them.
The MLA is quirk supremacist, like Endeavor, so Dabi would never work with them.
Dabi is just using Skeptic against Skeptic's will; it’s not a willing partnership.
Mr. Compress rejects the PLF moniker for Shigaraki, ergo Mr. Compress didn’t genuinely associate Shigaraki and the League with the PLF.
Toga hated Curious, so she wouldn't want to work with the MLA either.
Twice would never forgive them for what they did to Giran.
[Error: argument about Spinner's opinion on the PLF not found.]
So, let's go over those, shall we? Note that a lot of what I'm going to lay out below isn't conclusive. What I want to establish is simply that the canonical evidence isn't conclusive, certainly not as much so as the people who support this view espouse.
|| Dabi and Toga mention "getting started early," and Shigaraki mentions a plan, suggesting that the League had a plan in place independent of the one they arranged as the PLF.
In responses to my recent Overhaul post, I defended Viz’s official translation as an accurate rendering of the dialogue in question. In general, I feel like Caleb Cook is pretty reliable in his translations, if sometimes kind of stiff or dry in localization. However, there are times he makes assumptions about lines--as indeed a translator for a currently-running series will sometimes have to--and sometimes, those assumptions don’t pan out. This is one of those times.
Dabi's line, "Shall we get started early?" is based on an assumption Cook made about a line that doesn't have an actual subject. In the original dialogue--Hayame ni hajimaru ka--there is no “we,” not even in the form of some implicit collective in Dabi’s grammatical inflection, nor is there a question of "should." All Dabi’s doing is musing that the start (again, there’s no subject, and so no indication of the start of what, or the start as initiated by who) is happening early.
Toga's line communicates much the same, save that she does specify that the schedule/plan/arrangement is happening earlier than expected--which is totally true, since her line is in response to Dabi observing that Machia moving must mean Shigaraki's awake, and Shigaraki was supposed to be down for another month.
Shigaraki's line, like Dabi's, lacks a subject to describe what exactly is supposed to start as soon as Shigaraki wakes. He's saying something that would, in a more stilted way, be, "I wake up and then it's the start, right?"
None of these lines suggest that the characters are necessarily talking about any plan other than the one the PLF laid out. Yes, it looks somewhat damning that Shigaraki's first action (after getting himself a cape, anyway) is to have Machia bring him the League, but heck, maybe that was always the plan. Just because Shigaraki wants to rejoin his comrades doesn't mean the rest of the PLF didn't already have machinations that they were supposed to set into motion the moment Machia left. After all, the plan as Hawks understood it did involve simultaneous attacks on major cities--maybe the League was going to be spearheading one of those attacks. Further, Shigaraki knew something was wrong from the moment he regained consciousness, and we don’t know how that knowledge affected the call he made. Hell, maybe the original plan was for the League to be brought to meet him somewhere in a chartered limo; we don’t know.
It's telling that this idea that the League had a Secret Plan to screw over the MLA rarely seems to account for Mr. Compress and Spinner being confused over the suddenness of events. The response to questions about this seems to be that the "villain trio" knew about it, so the ignorance of the rest of the League can just be handwaved--the important members knew, and that's enough. This is ungenerous towards both Twice and Mr. Compress, but I have got particularly little time for Spinner, the narrator of MVA and guy who decided to devote his all to Shigaraki, being disrespected in this fashion. More on that later.
|| Shigaraki says he won't forgive the Liberation Army for messing with peoples' feelings, so he would never really mean it when he forges an alliance with them.
Shigaraki does say he won't forgive the MLA, but consider what he did to the MLA and its leader. He destroyed most of their stronghold, killed scores of them, is directly responsible for Re-Destro losing his legs, and saw that vaunted descendant of Destro about six inches shy of full forehead-on-the-ground dogeza. The League Shigaraki commands killed a great many more of them, including one of their inner circle. He commandeered the Liberation Army, its resources, and its grand cause. I think it’s safe to say he’s more than responded in kind!
I'm not saying Shigaraki feels for the MLA the same way he does about the League, far from it, but I do think he's practical enough after two hundred chapters of character development not to throw them away out of spite. In Chapter 246, he tells Ujiko explicitly, "When someone offers me something, I take it," and, "I'm done taking the heroes lightly. I'll use everything I've got to obliterate the dregs All Might left behind." From a purely practical standpoint, if he intends to throw everything he has at the heroes, he has no reason to throw the MLA under the bus, and 116,000 reasons to keep them around. I'm altogether sure that, so long as they stood to be useful to his plans, he would have kept them around.
|| The MLA is quirk supremacist, like Endeavor, so Dabi would never work with them.
+
|| Dabi is just using Skeptic against Skeptic's will; it’s not a willing partnership.
I hadn’t seen the second point in the wild, but I suppose it must be how the “The League will betray the MLA” theorists are getting around Dabi and Skeptic’s clear collaboration and how that collaboration totally scuttles the first point, huh? Hilarious.
Anyway, setting aside the fact that Dabi showed up to the one planning session we were shown when even Geten didn’t, there’s evidence in the canon that Dabi was working with Skeptic since even before the raid. Consider that Dabi’s video was filmed at the villa (the wall paneling and the style of the couch both match) and ask yourself where the camera he used came from. Once the filming was complete, where was the video stored such that Skeptic could access it from his laptop? If Dabi’d had it on an SD card and Skeptic was seeing it for the first time, why didn’t Spinner, Compress and Toga watch it alongside him? Surely Skeptic would need to watch it through at least once to know when to splice in the footage of Jin’s death for maximum dramatic impact? On that note, by far the most telling piece of evidence is this: if Dabi wasn't already working with Skeptic, then why was he wearing one of Skeptic's body cameras during his confrontation with Hawks?
Further, Skeptic's protest when he’s pulled onto Machia isn't that he doesn’t want to be with the League; it’s that he doesn’t want to leave Re-Destro behind. Once he's resigned that it's going to happen, though, he's cocky about his talents and complimentary of Dabi's big reveal, even if he is exasperated about the League's antics. It's ambiguous, I admit, but given that Dabi's wearing his cameras, he had to have known Dabi had a reason for them--and given that he is both abrasive and mouthy, I can’t imagine he wouldn’t have demanded to know what that reason was.
Hell, Dabi even thanks Skeptic for his editing work, which is more direct positive approval than he's ever shown anyone in the League (give or take the high-five with Twice, which, genuine or not, he would have known he was doing on camera). That much-vaunted panel of Spinner telling Toga to come back to the League? Dabi's grinning, which in isolation you could read as a certain rueful affection, but with the full context of the chapter, it becomes apparent that Dabi is grinning at Skeptic's laptop, seconds after telling Skeptic to "hurry up." Skeptic is, at that moment, probably gearing up the video to project nationwide, and Dabi’s more focused on that than he is Toga’s crisis, even when Compress directly appeals to him for aid. He tells Compress he doesn’t care, the same way he told Hawks he doesn't give a damn about the League.
Let me be clear here: I'm inclined to take Dabi at his word. I think Dabi hangs around the League because, for all that he says one man's conviction can shake the world, he also knows his own limits, and the League offers safety in numbers and an avenue to pursue his revenge. Maybe he finds them acceptable enough company, maybe he even does like them a bit despite himself, but I think any affection he might have for them is entirely incidental to his views on their usefulness. In the same way, while he's willing to bail on the MLA when the heroes attack, I don't think it was his plan to do so, especially not given his apparent immediate regard for Skeptic, as seen in the deleted scene here. Sure, he dislikes Geten, but ultimately, Geten is a stupid kid too tied up in his care for Re-Destro--who's now worshipping the ground Shigaraki walks on--to really be getting in Dabi's way.
Maybe if the MLA really were as quirk supremacist as Geten makes them out to be, Dabi would be actively looking for a way to see ‘em burn, but as I’ve said countless times before, Geten is not a reliable narrator vis a vis the MLA's doctrine. Now, obviously I don't expect Dabi to give them an unearned benefit of the doubt,(1) not after what he heard Geten say, but if Dabi has been working with Skeptic, it doesn't take a genius to realize that while Anthropomorph is a perfectly good quirk, it is categorically not what primarily defines Skeptic’s "worth" in the MLA societal microcosm.
Nothing that Skeptic does reflects the way Geten talks about "elevating one's ability" or "sheer strength" in the way that HeroAca fandom tends to understand as referring to flashy and offensive quirks. And yet, Skeptic is a ranked advisor warranting an introductory panel with RD's inner circle and Geten is not. Perhaps, just perhaps, this might have led Dabi to reevaluating his initial assessment just slightly?
|| Mr. Compress rejects the PLF moniker for Shigaraki, ergo Mr. Compress didn’t genuinely associate Shigaraki and the League with the PLF.
So, this one's pretty wild, because, in the same chapter that had people crowing about Mr. Compress's dialogue, Mr. Compress's actions show the exact opposite of the conclusion this theory would demand. Specifically, if it was always the League's plan to ditch the MLA, Mr. Compress would have darted right past Skeptic, ignoring the man's cries for help. He doesn't--he picks Skeptic up on the way past and (at least in the volume corrections) deposits him safe with Dabi in Spinner's scarf. Of course, Skeptic still stands to be useful, but if one acknowledges that Skeptic's usefulness is reason enough not to abandon him, then what exactly is the argument for leaving 116,000 perfectly useful warm bodies behind?
But let's set aside Compress rescuing Skeptic and focus on the actual point, because that point in itself is still flawed. Mr. Compress's thoughts on the PLF in the specific talk bubble in question are somewhat ambiguous. It's another case of the Viz translation making a couple of assumptions that are just that--assumptions.
Compress's words in the Japanese are as follows:
Chōjō Kaihō Sensen.… Viran rengo no Shigaraki Tomura ga…
Viz then renders the line like so:
The Paranormal Liberation Front's… No, the League of Villain's Shigaraki…
Note that in the Japanese, the possessive no is only included once, to indicate Shigaraki's association with the League. Further, the original doesn't indicate any negation in Compress's thoughts. Yes, he could be rejecting the PLF association for Shigaraki, but he could as easily be narrowing his scope to Shigaraki as the figure he represents to the League, rather than the figure he represents to the PLF--not rejecting wholesale, but rather becoming more specific. Compress might also be thinking first of the PLF as a general organization, then narrowing down to Shigaraki specifically.
Rather than reading this line as an indication that Compress regards the PLF as temporary, I was heartened by the fact that Compress thought about the PLF at all! If the League really had been planning to discard them this entire time, then there's no reason for Compress to have ever taken the Front seriously enough to have thought about them in that moment of crisis. You can carry this back further, too. In Chapter 258, when Twice is asking Hawks for help, he says that Spinner and Compress have been in meetings for days. Coupled with Compress's first thought about the entity that will carry out Harima's desired reformation being the Liberation Front (or possibly "the Liberation Front's Shigaraki"), this indicates to me that Compress was taking it seriously, not just gorging himself on sushi on the MLA's dime.
Indeed, back in Ujiko's lab, when it was just Shigaraki talking about his backstory and his dreams of destruction, Compress looks the opposite of impressed; we know from his narration in 294 that he liked the League because they didn't place any importance on one another’s pasts. Yet, at some point, his view shifted to believing that fulfilling his ancestor's ambition, his bloodline’s duty, really might be back on the table. We as readers don't quite know when that shift happened, but given, again, his initial mental invocation of the PLF, I think we can assume that it's tied to that alliance, those resources. And sure, when the moment of crisis happens and he's really defining who and what Shigaraki is to him, and where his values and priorities lie, it's with the League and Shigaraki as the leader of the League. But that doesn't mean he never had his hopes for the PLF at all, or was partaking in plans to ditch them.
Also too, this is a man who was lamenting the loss of their partnership with Overhaul, a man who personally maimed him, on top of killing a comrade. You're telling me the guy who shrugged off his animosity towards Overhaul would willingly allow the League to plot sabotage against even wealthier collaborators against whom he has even less reason to hold a grudge? Come on, guys.
|| Toga hated Curious, so she wouldn't want to work with the MLA either.
This one's easy: Toga pretty explicitly hated Curious, but she's even more explicit that she likes the MLA because she thinks the world they want to create is wonderful. She says this verbatim at the end of 225, after Curious has spent the entire chapter hounding her with explosions and intrusive questions. What turns her animosity on Curious is not some reveal that the MLA's world would be terrible after all, but Curious calling Toga's "normal" miserable and tragic. Essentially, she doesn't object to the world the MLA wants to bring about; she objects to being turned into a martyr for that world, especially when that martyrdom requires that the things that make Toga happy be characterized as horrific misfortunes.
Toga doesn't like Curious; she kills Curious. And then she comes into a position of leadership, and we don't know a lot about how that position takes her, but she seems delighted to be walking out onto the stage to be announced as such, and she makes active contributions to the discussion of the PLF's plans in Chapter 245. We are, again, given no indication that her lethal response to Curious means that she's planning to ditch the MLA on the whole.
Incidentally, Curious asserts what she does about Toga only in the context of the world as it stands. The world's rejection of Toga's normal, and the extremes that rejection drove Toga to, are what Curious considers tragic and miserable, not Toga's fascination with blood in and of itself. She clearly believes that, in the world the MLA envisions, Toga's life would not be so miserable because she would never have been oppressed to the degree that she snapped. And frankly, Curious isn't wrong. The only reason she is a villain in that scene is that she's willing to murder Toga to project that tragedy to the world. If she'd been willing to sit down and have a civil interview with Toga to print it in a relevant magazine, she would have been fine.
|| Twice would never forgive them for what they did to Giran.
You know, this is a totally fair point. It is, however, somewhat complicated by the fact that Giran himself never left the PLF. Now, there’s almost certainly something to be said about Giran’s whole information broker shtick being terminally compromised by his capture, his maiming, his client list being hacked, etc. He had a bunch of identifying items strewn all over the country that were covered in the national news, items that people who associated with him closely certainly would have recognized. Maybe he’s laying low for a while?
I don’t know why Giran was still around by the time of the raid. I can theorize about his pragmatism or what have you, but the canon really doesn’t give us anything to go on. Still, if he really hated the MLA all that much, as he would be totally justified in doing, it’s pretty bizarre that Horikoshi showed him twice in PLF crowd scenes post-Deika looking nothing worse than kind of confused and uneasy. Heck, you’d think he would at least have merited a better seat in the crowd for the big merger announcement.
Giran aside, the fact that Twice never does hit it off with anyone in his regiment is, I think, telling. If there’s anyone in the League that intentionally kept himself at a distance from the MLA because of hard feelings, it’s likely Twice. After all, if he had befriended anyone, he presumably wouldn’t have needed to go to Hawks for tutoring almost an entire month after Deika. That said, the fact that Twice does go running to Hawks for tutoring shows that he’s at least doing his best to act in accordance with what he thinks Shigaraki and the rest want. That doesn’t preclude the League having a secret plan that he’s either in on and playing along with, or hasn’t been told about because he might not be able to stop himself from vocalizing about it. Still, while absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, obviously absence of evidence is not evidence of presence. So, lacking any sign that the rest of the League is planning treachery, I’m not inclined to assume Twice’s lack of forgiveness is indicative of anything other than his own feelings.
|| [Error: argument about Spinner's opinion on the PLF not found.]
:: INCOMING SALT WARNING :: INCOMING SALT WARNING ::
This is the one that really gets to me. I have never seen an argument that the League is planning to betray the PLF that convincingly explains the fact that Spinner, to all available evidence, threw himself wholeheartedly into trying to make the PLF succeed. To be more precise, I have seen one explanation, and that explanation is that the plan to ditch the MLA was a secret that only Shigaraki, Dabi and sometimes Toga knew about, and to reiterate, that is bullshit.
In my experience, this is an explanation proposed by people who care about Spinner only insofar as he can be a Soft Gaymer Boyfriend or score them rhetorical points, but have little to no interest in his ongoing--and, indeed, increasing--importance to the League generally and Shigaraki’s arc specifically. The dude who talked about how Twice’s home was the League, who got through to Toga while still respecting her choice when no one else could, the guy who recognized the hollowness within Shigaraki but also bonded with him over video games, the man who Mr. Compress said was Shigaraki’s most devoted follower(2)--this man did not do all of that for people in this fandom to say, “Oh, well, the others probably just kept it a secret from him because they thought he’d be bad at lying.”
Really? “Bad at lying?” And that’s an adequate justification, is it, for Shigaraki letting Spinner toil for months under false pretenses? For lying to the man who adores him the most? Of course it isn’t, but the people who theorize this don’t really care about Spinner’s adoration for Shigaraki, or the fact that Shigaraki rewarding Spinner’s feelings by allowing him to dedicate himself unstintingly to something Shigaraki was planning to discard from the beginning would be a blatant abuse of Spinner’s trust.
I have never seen anyone try to argue that Spinner was in on a plan to betray the MLA all along. That’s because it’s patently obvious that Spinner--forthright, direct Spinner, who named the merged organization with Re-Destro, spends all his time in meetings, has a direct exchange with Re-Destro about the state of their plans, and is probably the reason RD started wearing polka dots--went all-in on the PLF. But for the people who propose the “the League was always going to bail” theory, Spinner and his labors are an afterthought.
Spinner is not an afterthought. Where Mr. Compress has been captured, Toga could hypothetically be peeled away from the League via Uraraka, and Dabi almost certainly will be peeled away via the Todoroki plot, Spinner’s driving motivation at this point is Shigaraki himself. He connected to Shigaraki’s nihilism, his hatred, but also his humanity--the humanity in Shigaraki Tomura, not in Shimura Tenko. His empathy didn’t spring from contrived psychic glimpses of crying 5-year-olds, but from long months of observation, doubt, and gradually deepening wonder. He’s the only person currently with Shigaraki that I can see caring enough about Shigaraki’s welfare that he might sacrifice his own goals and desires to help Deku save him.
Spinner is not an afterthought, and I refuse to build or entertain theories that treat him that way. So as to his opinions on the MLA? Despite having his own reasons to be leery of them based on how shabbily Trumpet treated him, he was obviously trying to make the Paranormal Liberation Front succeed, which means he must have believed that Shigaraki wanted it to succeed. Therefore, unless you’re prepared to assert that Shigaraki (and everyone else who was in on it!) was cruel enough to lie to Spinner about something he was devoting so much time and energy to, the inescapable conclusion is that Shigaraki also wanted the Front to succeed.
(Note: After letting a friend pre-read this, I have been informed that there is, in fact, one explanation offered for Spinner knowing the League was going to abandon the PLF but working his ass off on the venture anyway, and that explanation is, “Something something wants to prove himself because low self-esteem.” This is so ridiculous I can’t even bring myself to edit this post accordingly. Low self-esteem! Because nothing would alleviate Spinner's low self-esteem like toiling for months over something that holds no worth to the people he actually cares about, right? Right?? Bah. Humbug!)
And but so, to wrap all that up: I fundamentally disagree that the League viewed the Paranormal Liberation Front as a temporary arrangement, at least to the extent that they were actively planning to betray their newfound--new won--allies. The fact that I don't think the League intended to discard the MLA out of hand does, thus, influence my opinion that, whatever Geten's fate will be, I'm pretty sure it's not going to be, "He gets murdered in a way that resembles nothing so much as a sick revenge fantasy dozens of chapters after the last point when such a death would have been remotely tonally appropriate."
Thanks for the ask, anon! Sorry about-- *waves at all of this*
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(1) Not that Mr. “Burns Random Delinquents Alive For Not Measuring Up To His Standards For Villainy” has any moral standing to criticize others for how they determine the value of peoples’ lives, mind.
(2) Other translations for the verb in Mr. Compress’s Japanese line of, “You are the one who ____s Shigaraki the most,” include yearn for, long for, pine for, miss, love dearly, adore, idolize, and revere. “Most devoted follower” is accurate enough, but considerably less homo than some of the things we could have gotten there.
#bnha#stillness answers#paranormal liberation front#league of villains#stillness has salt#spinner defense squad
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A/N: I'm officially obsessed with Wolf Bride and what does one do when she's obsessed with a certain book? She writes an AU about it! 😁 So, Talley Ho! *in my Sherlock Holmes voice*
Rated: Mature. | Contains sexual content and strong language. (You know? The usual from me. 😁) | Bolded and/or italicized words are conversations and thoughts of the characters. | Main Characters: Roman (LI) and Naia Evans (MC) | All Characters and names: (except MC and certain original characters, created by me) are property of Pixelberry.
Current Word Count: 3,680 words. (more or less. I stop counting after editing and re-editing. 🤷🏾♀️)
Missing a chapter or want to read a chapter again? I got you covered! Click ——> Here!
Song And Story Inspiration: In The Still Of The Nite-Boyz II Men | Give Me One Reason-Tracy Chapman | Nobody’s Supposed To Be Here-Deborah Cox
Tag List: @shewillreadyou @choiceslady @queenjilian @bebepac @txemrn @texaskitten30 @glaimtruelovealways @hopefulmoonobject @lucy-268 @pixie88 @otherworldlypresents @choicesficwriterscreations
TW: kidnapping. Read at your own discretion.
Chapter 5.) In The Still Of The Night.
In the still of the night.
I held you.
Held you tight.
'Cause I love.
Love you so.
Promise I'll never.
Let you go.
In the still of the night.
As she slept peacefully in her new bed, Naia dreamed that she was running through the forest. She felt strong. She felt invincible. She could feel the wind on her face as she ran. It was exhilarating. She felt free. When she came out of the woods, she was a wolf. And when she looked up, she saw him. It was the wolf she had seen in her dreams before. It was him. When he howled she did the same.
That’s when she woke up. She sat up in bed, panting with her heart thundering in her chest. She looked around her room in order to get her bearings. That’s when something compelled her to look out her bedroom window. And when she looked out the window she saw a wolf staring up at her. When she shook her head, the wolf was gone. The image of the wolf was still in her head when she went back to sleep.
After waking up later that morning and taking a good hot shower, Naia couldn’t get Roman out of her head. She wanted to feel his arms wrapped her again. He was seductive and mysterious and she wanted more. She could still feel his warm breath on her neck and the closeness of his body to hers. She thought it was insane but never actually questioned why she thought that way.
When she went to the kitchen for breakfast, she noticed a note on the counter. It was from her uncle.
“Good morning. Gone fishing. Be back later. Help yourself to whatever is in the fridge. Uncle Z.”
When she opened the fridge, she grimaced because there wasn’t much in there to begin with. When her stomach rumbled she knew she had to change that.
“Okay well since a home cooked breakfast is out of the question. I think I’ll try the breakfast place I saw when I drove into town. Also I’ll do some grocery shopping while I’m at it. Because this right here ain’t hitting on nothing.” She thought to herself.
With keys and wallet in hand Naia set off for town. After shopping at Banner’s Family Market, she was just about starved and stopped by Tucker’s diner.
After getting a table she sat down and looked over the menu. As she looked over the menu, someone was watching her. Or so it looked that way.
I remember.
That night in May.
The stars were bright above.
I'll hope and I'll pray.
To keep.
Your precious love.
At another table, Trent was eating breakfast with a few members of his team when Naia walked in. He felt a pull towards where she was sitting.
“Yo T! What is it?” Jenkins, one of his team members asked.
“I don’t know. Something weird just happened. Like she just walked in.” He replies shaking his head.
“Man! Please tell me that you’re not talking about that so-called dream girl again!” Sergei said to him.
“If you must know, yes I am.”
His crew collectively groaned.
“Dude it’s been almost a whole 2 months! Let it go already!” Hugo told him.
“As I’ve told you idiots before: I can’t.”
“Can’t or won’t? Which one is it T?” Jenkins asked him.
Trent never answered. He just sipped his coffee. Even though he’s blind he could feel her presence. After going over the menu for a solid 20 minutes, Naia decided on the Lobster Eggs Benedict and a sweet tea. Just as she was about to put her order in, Layla walked in.
“Layla! Over here!” She called out to her new friend.
Trent nearly dropped his cup of coffee. Hearing her voice in real time both scared and excited him.
“You almost dropped your cup. You okay man?” Jenkins asked him.
“Huh? Yeah! I’m…I’m good.” Trent replied, while trying to hide the crack in his voice. With his hearing being better than most, he tuned into her conversation
“Hey! What are you doing here?” Layla asked Naia as she sat down across from her.
“Since my uncle has gone fishing, I decided to do some grocery shopping and I was starving so here I am. What are you and the little one up to?” Naia replies.
“The same thing as you. Have you ordered yet?” Layla asks.
“Just about to. What about you?” Naia replies.
“Oh girl! They already know what I want. A pitcher each of cranberry juice and ice water, their triple berry cheesecake parfait, double blueberry pancakes and a ham, spinach and swiss omelette.” Layla replied.
Naia’s eyes went wide.
“You’re actually gonna eat all of that?!” She asked.
“I mean…I am eating for two, ya know?” Layla replied, rubbing her belly. The two shared a laugh as they continued their conversation.
Trent turned his attention back to his team just as the twins came strolling in. His boss Bernard Sayre is a blowhard who only cares about 3 things. Making money, being powerfully unstoppable and his twins Dylan and Tyler. The twin terrors as they’re known around town, just love getting their way no matter what they do or say. And although it annoyed Trent, he was powerless to stop them.
“Heyyyyy boys!” Dylan called out to Trent and his team. Her voice sounded like banshee screech.
“And here comes daddy’s two brats…” Jenkins groaned as the twins approached.
“So what are you guys up to?” Tyler asked.
“We’re eating. Why?” Trent asks.
“Because we were hoping that you’d join us at Buck’s for the Friday night sing a long and pool.” Tyler replies.
“You’d have to ask Layla if we’re allowed back in. Especially after what happened the last time.”
The twins groaned.
“Well she’s sitting at a table with some girl. So I guess it’s worth a shot.” Dylan said with a sigh.
Naia watched in amusement and shock, as she watched Layla polish off everything she ordered with ease.
“I can not believe that you ate EVERYTHING!”
“Told you!” Layla replied as she swiped her finger on the inside of her parfait cup.
“Uhhhhh Layla…”
“Huh?” She asked.
“It’s all gone! Put the cup down!” Naia replies.
The two laughed as the twins approached.
“Hiiiiiiiiiii Layla!” They say in unison causing Layla to groan.
“Ohhh and hi Layla’s friend!”
“What do you two want?” She asked the twins.
“Weeeeeellllllllllll…we were hoping you’d let us have Friday sing a long and pool.” Tyler said in a cloyingly sweet voice.
“After the shit you pulled the last time? NO!” Layla hissed at them.
“Come on Layla! Our dad paid for the damage!” Tyler whined.
“Yeah he did…after I threatened to sue his sorry ass!”
“Please!” The twins begged.
Layla rolled her eyes then replied, “fine! You can come tonight.”
“Thank you!” The twins squealed.
“Whatever. Go away!”
“You don’t have to be rude!” Dylan said.
“Which would you rather: me be rude or me ban you two from ever stepping foot into MY bar?” She asked them.
The twins stood stuck.
“I thought so. Now again: go away!”
The twins turned on their heels and stomped away. When they were far enough away for her pleasure, Layla turned her attention back to Naia.
“Sorry about that.”
“Who are they?” Naia asks.
“Tyler and Dylan Sayre. Their dad Bernard owns Sayre Energy and Power. They’re a public nuisance.” Layla replies.
“They look harmless to me.”
“That’s because you haven’t been around them when they’re drunk.”
“Touché.”
“I guess since they’re having Friday sing a long and pool, you should come too.”
“Me?” Naia asks.
“Yes you! It’ll be fun as long as those two aren’t drinking.” Layla replies.
“I don’t know about all of that.”
“Also there’s normally a $1,000.00 cash prize for first place.”
“Why didn't you lead with that?!” Naia asks.
“Because Dylan normally wins because no one wants to challenge her.” Layla replies.
“Well as someone who’s still paying off student loans: Count me in!”
So before the light.
Hold me again.
With all of your might.
In the still of the night.
So before the light.
Hold me again.
With all of your might.
In the still…of the night.
That night at Buck’s the party was in full swing. People were dancing, drinking, playing pool and mingling amongst themselves. Naia stuck close to the bar and Layla as they watched the crowd. And like clockwork, Dylan was drunk and ready to sing her heart out.
“Alright you party animals! Let’s get this sing a long on the road! Now all of you know the rules. First place gets $1,000.00! And since that first place is always me I have nothing to worry about! So hit the music!”
“Ohhh God…” Layla groaned.
“What?!” Naia asks.
“Little Miss Banshee is about to assault our ears and sing Deborah Cox Nobody’s Supposed To Be Here.” Layla replies.
“It can’t be THAT bad, Layla.”
“Wanna bet?” She asks just as Dylan grabbed a mic.
After clearing her throat, Dylan began to sing. Sorta.
How did you get here?
Nobody's supposed to be here.
I tried that love thing for the last time.
My heart says "No, no." Nobody's supposed to be here.
But you came along and changed my mind.
I've spent all my life on a search to find.
The love who'll stay for eternity.
The heaven sent to fulfill my needs.
But when I turn around, again, love has knocked me down.
My heart got broken, oh it hurts so bad.
I'm sad to say love wins again.
So I placed my heart under lock and key.
To take some time to take care of me.
But I turn around and you're standing here.
How did you get here? Nobody's supposed to be here.
I tried that love thing for the last time.
My heart says "No, no." Nobody's supposed to be here.
But you came along and changed my mind.
This time I swear I'm through.
But, if only you knew how many times I've said those words.
Then fall again, when will I ever learn?
Knowing these tears I cry, this lovely black butterfly.
Must take a chance, and spread my wings.
Love can make you do some crazy things.
So I placed my heart under lock and key.
To take some time to take care of me.
But I turn around and you're standing here.
Standing here…
When Dylan got to the bridge, Naia thought her ears would bleed out.
No, nobody, no, no, no, no, no, no, ooh!
No, no, nooooooooo...
How did you get here? Nobody's supposed to be here
I tried that love thing for the last time.
My heart says "No, no." Nobody's supposed to be here.
But you came along and changed my mind.
How did you get here? Nobody's supposed to be here.
I tried that love thing for the last time.
My heart says "No, no." Nobody's supposed to be here.
But you came along and changed my mind.
When she was done, Naia was ready to run out the door screaming.
“Ohhhhhh myyyyyyyyy God! That was fucking horrible!”
“Told you.” Layla deadpanned.
“She has to be stopped! What other songs are on that karaoke machine?” Naia asks.
“Hundreds! So if you’re gonna sing, pick one and make it good! That way ears will stop ringing.” Layla replies.
Naia left her seat at the bar and walked over to where the karaoke machine was and went through the list of songs. Doing so, caught the ire of a very drunk Dylan.
“Ummmmmm what do you think you’re doing?!” She asks.
“Picking a song obviously.” She replies over her shoulder.
Dylan huffed.
“You actually think you can beat my melodious voice?” She asks.
“A dead horse can beat your voice. And just like that I found my song.” Naia replies.
“Good luck beating me!” Dylan sneered.
“Watch and learn young grasshopper.”
Naia took the mic and began to sing Give Me One Reason by Tracy Chapman.
Give me one reason to stay here.
And I'll turn right back around.
Give me one reason to stay here.
And I'll turn right back around.
Said I don't want to leave you lonely.
You got to make me change my mind.
Baby I got your number.
Oh and I know that you got mine.
You know that I called you.
I called you many times.
You can call me baby.
You can call me anytime, you got to call me.
Give me one reason to stay here.
And I'll turn right back around.
(You can see me turnin')
Give me one reason to stay here.
And I'll turn right back around.
(You can see me turnin')
Said I don't want to leave you lonely.
You got to make me change my mind.
I don't want no one to squeeze me.
They might take away my life.
I don't want no one to squeeze me.
They might take away my life.
I just want someone to hold me.
Oh and rock me through the night.
People started to gather around Naia as she sang. When she looked towards the bar, she winked at Layla. Layla mouthed the words “next drink is on the house.”
This youthful heart can love you.
Yes and give you what you need.
I said this youthful heart can love you.
Oh and give you what you need.
But I'm too old to go chasin' you around.
Wastin' my precious energy.
Give me one reason to stay here.
Yes and I'll turn right back around.
(You can see me turnin')
Give me one reason to stay here.
Oh I'll turn right back around.
(You can see me turnin')
Said I don't want to leave you lonely.
You got to make me change my mind.
Baby just give me one reason.
Oh give me just one reason why.
Baby just give me one reason.
Oh give me just one reason why I should stay.
Said I told you that I loved you.
And there ain't no more to say.
When she finished the applause was thunderous. She had everyone on their feet. When she looked out on the crowd, she saw a visibly angry Dylan. Naia smirked and winked at her, which further infuriated her.
When Naia walked back to the bar, she got the feeling someone was watching her but she didn’t know who that someone was.
“Soooooo…how was that?” Naia asked Layla as she reached the bar.
“AMAZING! Now if you can beat her brother at pool, the bar is on the house.” Layla replied.
“Sold!”
“Well get to it girlie! Because you’ve been eyeing that bottle of tequila over my shoulder since you got here.”
Naia snickered then took off towards the crowd gathered around Tyler. As she went to WB w the crowd was she got the same feeling that she was being watched. And she was indeed being watched. Trent was tuned into her movements even through his blindness.
“Well this looks like fun!” Naia says as she reaches the pool table.
“Go away! Nobody wants you here!” Dylan hissed.
“What’s the matter princess? Scared I’ll beat your brother like I beat you?” Naia teased.
“You can’t beat me!” Tyler huffed.
“Wanna bet?” She asked him.
“Sure. How much are you willing to lose?”
“Since I beat your sister: $1,000.00.” She replies. She didn’t think he’d take her seriously.
“You’re on! Best 2 out of 3?” He asks.
“Then you’ve got yourself a game.” She replies.
Once the balls were lined up and it was up to her to break. She got stripes while he got solid.
“Let’s go!” She tells him.
The two were evenly matched with the first game going to her and the second going to him. And it all came down to the last game. Naia had an impossible split. Or so that’s what Tyler and the crowd that was gathered around them thought.
“I’ll make you a deal new girl. If you bank this shot, I’ll up the bet from $1,000.00 to $3,000.00.” He said to her.
“Deal!” Naia replies.
Naia tucked a hair that out of place behind her ear, lined up her shot and sank both balls. Beating a very stunned Tyler.
“TAKE! THAT!” She squealed.
“But! But! I…we…” Tyler stammers as he goes pale.
“You lost just like your sister? Yeah I know. Now pay up!” She told him.
That’s when Dylan jumped into Naia’s face.
“You cheated!” She screeched.
“No, your brother ran his mouth and lost. And now he has to pay up. So give me my money!” Naia yelled back.
When Dylan reared back to slap Naia, Trent caught her hand.
“Hey! Let go T!” Dylan yelled.
“We’re not doing this again. Now Tyler pay the lady her money. You know you have it.” Trent said in a stern voice.
There was something about him that caught Naia’s eye.
“My dad will kill me if I pay her!” Tyler whined.
The twins looked at Trent with puppy dog eyes. But he didn’t budge.
“You’re no fun, T!” Tyler whined.
“Don’t care. Now pay her!”
Tyler groaned as he pulled money out of his pocket then handed it to Trent.
“Here!” Tyler pouted.
Trent took the money and handed it to Naia. When their hands touched, it set off a spark inside her. The same kind of spark she felt with Roman.
“Sorry about those two. They don’t know how to lose gracefully.” He said to her.
“Don’t worry about it. Thanks for getting my money.” She replied.
Trent turned to the twins then said, “beat it you two! We don’t need anymore trouble.”
The crowd dispersed after the twins huffed then walked out. And Naia found herself back at the bar gushing with Layla.
“Ohhhhhh myyyyyyyyy God! Look at this! I just won $3,000.00!”
“I can't believe you did that! No one has ever beaten the twins. Their dad will be so pissed that they lost that kind of money.”
“In the words of T.I. ‘it ain’t tricking if you got it!’”
They two laughed.
“Okay but in all seriousness, thank you! It’s about time that someone brought those two out of the clouds. So here’s your brand new shiny bottle of tequila!” Layla said as she gave Naia the bottle.
“Thank youuuuuu!” Naia squealed.
Just then Trent called out.
“Layla! Another round?”
Layla groaned and rolled her eyes.
“Who is that?” Naia asked.
“That’s Trent. He works for the twins dad.” Layla replied.
“Is he their bodyguard or something?” Naia asked.
“No but he’s always around when those two cause trouble. Let me go fill their orders.” Layla replies.
“Okay. I’ll be here with my brand new bottle.”
Layla shook her head and headed off towards Trent and his crew. Naia couldn’t help but look the same way. Her eyes instantly went to Trent. He was beautiful and there was something about him that stuck with her.
He enchanted her and what she didn’t know was she did the same for him. After the bar closed, Naia began walking back to her uncle’s house. She got halfway down the street when Trent caught up with her.
“Hey!” He said to her.
“Hi! How are you?” She replied.
“I’m good. You must be new in town. I’m Trent.”
“I know. Layla told me your name. I’m Naia.”
“It’s nice to meet you Naia.”
“Likewise. It’s nice to meet another friendly face outside of Layla and my uncle.“
“It’s dark out here. Mind if I walk you home?” He asked.
“Sure. Especially when I’m not sure which way to go.” She replied.
“Where does your uncle live?” He asked.
“Just outside of town. His house backs up to the woods.” She replied.
Even though it was nighttime, he flashed a smile at her that made her heart leap. As they walked they talked about what their lives were like growing up, what college life was like and past loves. She had just met him but she felt she knew him her whole life. When they got to her uncle’s front door, they weren’t ready to say goodbye.
“So this is me…”
“So it would seem. Thank you for letting me walk you home.”
“No thank you. Because I probably would’ve gotten lost and would’ve wandered around the woods for days.”
“I think you would’ve found your way home.”
There was a magnetic pull between them that neither could deny. Before either knew what they were doing, they kissed. It was a slow, sensual and deep kiss. And when it ended both were desperate for more.
“Wow!”
“What you said.”
“I better get inside.”
“Will I see you again?” He asked.
“Of course. I’ll be here for a while.” She replies.
“Good. Have a good night Naia.”
“Goodnight Trent.”
When she went inside her heart was racing. And she wanted more. She wanted him. This was the exact same way she felt when she kissed Roman.
The next morning after showering, she was in the kitchen fixing herself breakfast.
Her uncle still hadn’t returned from fishing. She had just sat down to eat her breakfast when the front door swung open. It was a man and a woman. They were two of the people she’d seen with Roman.
“Come! The ceremony awaits you!” He commanded.
“1.) no. 2.) WHAT THE HELL?!” Naia replies.
“We’re wasting time! Come now!” The woman demanded.
“What the hell? Get out!” Naia screamed.
When the woman went to grab Naia, she danced out the way. That’s when the man grabbed Naia and threw her over his shoulder. He dragged her out of the house, with her kicking and screaming.
“Let me go!” She screamed.
She struggled to get free but he was way too strong. She was thrown in the back of a van and a hood was placed over her head. Naia had no idea where they were taking her. And she was terrified of finding out.
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Of Books and Strangers
NOTE: Here's a less dark story this time- this is one of my first attempts at a romance story (Help I didn't know what I was doing with this one) but it turned out ok. I do have a multi-chapter story that I'll start uploading next week or later depends but anyway enough from me- I hope you enjoy the story!
WARNINGS: NONE
The cool air nipped at his skin. Cheeks flushed, adrenaline pumping, he raced down the street, continuously checking his watch as he went.
Five minutes left.
He could make it if he hustled.
The streets were mostly silent, only the occasional car or passerby but not much else. He checked his watch again. Two minutes. Almost there, keep going. The shops all blurred together, he was only focused on a particular sign ahead of him anyway.
Finally, he skidded to a stop in front of a wooden door, pushing it open. The musky smell of old parchment filled his nostrils as the bell rang, alerting the staff of the newcomer. It was calming, familiar. He quickly collected himself and scanned around for the nearest staff member. Bingo! Target in sight, he hurried over.
‘Excuse me!’ he all but yelled, ‘Where’s the dystopia section? I’m looking for a copy of ‘Monsters of Men’ by Patrick Ness!’ The staff member directed him to the shelves, notifying him that there was only one left in stock, the last of the signed copy editions. Thanking her, he dashed into the aisle.
‘Come on, come on!’ He whispered, eyes darting from spine to spine, brows furrowed, forehead dripping with sweat. Not this shelf. Whipping around, he scanned the next row. ‘Ah!’ he exclaimed. There it was, in all its glory. Pristine spine, copper decals, mint copy - and most of all, it was signed! Every book lover’s dream!
Just as he reached for the chunky book, a soft hand accidentally brushed against his, also reaching for the same thing. Instinctively, he flinched back, hand retracting, allowing the stranger to make their move and swoop in on the prize. They gently pulled it out of the shelf, proceeding with caution so as to avoid damaging it. Finally, someone who treats books right.
‘Ah, sorry. Did you want this?’ The stranger held out the book.
Their voice was soft yet strong, brimming with confidence. Examining their features, he came to the conclusion that this was a woman standing in front of him. She looked to be around his age, he noted. She was a head shorter than him, reaching just under his chin. He sighed, he had run here for nothing. His cheeks were still flushed, and his lungs hadn’t quite recovered yet. He felt oddly at ease, this woman respected her books, and he knew it would be in good hands.
‘You keep it, you deserve it.’ He cringed. You deserve it? Nice going, voicing out your thoughts. Well that was awkward. He could already predict her reaction, smiling awkwardly and slowly moving away - like everyone else that he encountered. The image of going back to his lonely apartment popped into his head - he already knew he’d be reliving this moment at ungodly times in the night, he just did. Shivering, he shoved his hands deeper into his pocket - at which point they felt somewhat clammy.
She smiled, clearly amused. At least she didn’t turn tail and run. He would, if he was on the receiving end.
‘Hmm, are you sure? This is the last copy after all - it’s sold out everywhere else. You seem like you made quite the effort to get to it-’ gesturing to his haphazard attire, she articulated her point- ‘and also seemed to forget how to wear a scarf.’ Her hazel eyes flickered to said scarf, squinting. She tucked the novel under her arm, then reached over and fixed his attire, straightening his coat collar and re-wrapping the scarf. Meanwhile he stood there, frozen stiff. What just happened?
‘Oh- sorry! I had younger siblings you see, so I had a habit of making them look presentable. They couldn’t dress themselves properly for the life of them.’ She smiled, fondly recalling a memory, most likely envisioning her family in their lively home - a stark contrast to his empty apartment. The only person he had over was the delivery man. But really, was he dressed that bad? He must’ve looked like a hoodlum, running around like that. Great, another thing to add to his ever-increasing list of embarrassing moments. Oh right, she asked him a question.
‘Please, keep the book. Think of it as an act of generosity from your local book-lover,’ he winked - might as well max out the weirdness. Well, he actually did want to be nice. After all, she had just spared him another 10 minutes of looking like an idiot. Luckily she was very socially adept and responded with tucking her hand under her chin in mock thought.
‘You know, mother always said to not accept gifts from strangers.’ Well, he hadn’t even paid for it so it wasn’t much of a gift, per say. This was awkward. What should he say? Should he say anything? She spared him another moment of internal panic, though, for she opened her mouth to speak once more. ‘But you won’t be a stranger if you tell me your name!’ She held out her hand for him to shake. Smooth.
‘Gerald, nice to meet you, uh-’
‘Meredith,’ she grinned, ‘Well then, Mr Gerald, thank you for the book. Say, do you visit here often?’ She opened her tote bag (It had ‘The Case-back Book of Sherlock Holmes’ on it. Cute) and pulled out her purse, making her way to the counter. As she was about to hand the cashier the change, he stopped her, paying for her instead. She smiled at him as thanks. He then proceeded to answer.
‘Yes, actually. This is my local bookstore, which I frequent every Saturday. There’s just something about bookstores - and libraries - that’s just so…’ He trailed off, waving his hands around, trying to emphasise his point. She laughed, agreeing with him, mirroring his gestures. That wasn’t so bad.
They exited together, instantly having to face the chilly, bitter air. Meredith’s nose became red, breath coming out in visible puffs as she stuck her hands deeper into her pockets. The book was carefully tucked away in her bag, safe for journey to its new home.
‘Well, it was nice meeting you, Gerald. It’s not everyday you meet someone who shares a passion with you. Thank you.’ She paused, the corners of her lips upturned.
‘You’re welcome, Meredith.’ He tested out her name on his tongue. It was strange and difficult to pronounce, him not being quite used to it yet. She waved goodbye and spun on her heels, walking away towards the bus stop. ‘See you soon,’ he whispered, though his words were lost in the icy wind. She looked lonely and cold, her figure slightly hunched to conserve what little warmth she had. The sudden urge to console that figure kicked in. She probably got on well with her siblings, with the way she talked so fondly. She probably wanted to get home quickly, feeling a little lonely without them. He grabbed the receipt from his pocket, along with a pen and hurriedly scribbled something down, hands quickly losing feeling in them.
‘Ah! Wait!’ He yelled, trying to catch up with her. His boots crunched against the snow, damn she walked fast. He held his scarf in his hand, face now exposed to the true extent of the harsh weather. Finally, he caught up, hunching over and catching his breath. She looked at him quizzically, watching him recover. He stood, firmly wrapping his scarf around her neck. ‘What’ll your siblings say if you catch a cold?’ He finished, admiring his handiwork. Nodding to himself, he spoke over his shoulder, ‘Take care of yourself, ok?’ With that, he left, humming to himself - he felt good, like a weight had been lifted. He had helped someone.
What he didn’t witness was her tugging the scarf down slightly, picking up the note which fell out. Tears slipped down her face as she read it, he was kind, so, so kind. She didn’t deserve that kindness. His note reminded her to take care of herself, so she could take care of her siblings too, with his number hastily scrawled at the bottom.
‘Thank you...' She whispered to the wind as her cheeks reddened, and this time, not because of the cold.
#romance#mimstories#romancestory#short story#creative writing#original fiction#writer#writblr#cringe#new blog#tagging is still fun#please support me#i'm new here#probably spelling errors#lowkey cringey#comedy#books#bookstore trope#tropes#oh look we touched the same book trope#ok bye#enjoy
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first off, i'd like you to know that you update waaaay more than i do on any of my blogs, so i think you taking a small break for a DAY (i literally haven't written anything in months) is okay. take care of yourself sweetpea, and you can't control technical problems. also you have such an active imagination and you dish out so many prompts everyday!! like, i'm envious, do you not have to edit😂? if i write something i'll have to re-write 25 times before im alright with releasing it to the public
Thank you Darling one, I am trying to learn to give myself more time to breathe, as the longer I carry on so busily, the more likely I am to burn out big time. Learning to pace myself and take breaks is still hard but I’m aware and trying and that’s whats important.
Ahaha thank you, I do have an incredibly overactive imagination, though coming up with new things can be difficult at times, and I often need a kick start.
I actually tend to edit as I go, otherwise I find myself getting stuck after a few paragraphs. Usually if I get stuck, then going back a paragraph or two and rereading them, helps me find the thing that’s tripping me up, so that I can fix it and carry on.
That being said, Sometimes I keep on writing even if I know what I just wrote doesn’t sound right or make much sense, because at least there’s flow going. It’s only once I’ve either, finished what I’m writing, or the flow is disturbed, that I go back and try to read it and fix it again.
Much like when you’re reading a book and find yourself imagining what might come next, writing can be much the same. Sometimes you just need to give it a quick reread and see where it looks like it was heading, so that you can continue.
Sometimes what I write doesn’t feel quite complete, but often those are the days when I’m feeling stressed or I’ve run out of time, and they usually don’t end up being as bad as I thought they were, once I read them later on after some sleep. I also have horrible grammar as is likely incredibly obvious, but still there are little things that I’ll pick up as I go or after rereading what I wrote.
Another thing I do, is if no more mistakes are jumping out at me, or something is wrong with the finished result but I can’t figure out what, I’ll go and write something else, or do something else. Whether that’s the second prompt, a short drabble fic, or just getting up and pacing while listening to music for a while, by the time I sit back down and reread everything slowly (I’m a speed reader and that causes issues often) then I can usually find what’s tripping me up.
In the end, whilst they aren’t the much polished creations at times, they are at least readable and understandable, and that’s what I’m most concerned with. If I ever choose to make any of them into a full on novel, then obviously more thought attention would be put into those things, and I would likely look into finding an editor/beta reader.
That’s way more than what you asked for, but apparently I’m in the mood to ramble tonight (this morning? eh)
Thank you again for being so sweet Darling one, and don’t let the need for perfection stop you from sharing your creations. Sometimes you’ve just gotta get it out there and fix things up later if it’s necessary.
#write-it-motherfuckers#mod speaks#ask#asks#askbox#ask box#inbox#answer#answers#reply#response#advice#unsolicited advice#oops
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Black Being Beautiful It's another old-time flick, having been made an entire year before The Grasshopper, specifically in--hold on to your hat--1968. Its female lead is a woman who has long, long, long since devolved to Trivial Pursuit-question status, namely Diahann Carroll (Its male lead, Jim Brown again, has, as has been pointed out before, a very successful career as an entrepreneur, not to mention considerable visibility as a rather simplistic, indeed, flat-out shrill Black Spokesperson). Having been made in 1968, its cinematic style and sensibility, not to mention the makeup of most, if not all, of its characters would likely be considered mightily passé, even, considering the fact that these days, political correctness is running rampant, prehistoric. Yet be that as it may... The fact is, The Split, which, thanks as usual to my greatly-cherished DVD player I've seen several times, is a quite gripping, very well-paced heist flick, easily carrying you along on its wavelength, easily causing you to accept its reality. And not once, not once, while watching it does your attention flag or you lose interest in its characters. Let's specify... Split kicks off with a wide-angle shot of a dirt road. Before long, it hones in on this car conking out, carrying this majorly hunky black dude, who, as we'll come to discover, is said picture's central character, McClain (Brown). He tries for a while to fix the car but eventually opts to riding a bus, which we see stopping in front of this rather ramshackle motel. McClain gets off and goes inside and is (in time) joyously greeted by its proprietor, Gladys (Julie Harris). He first asks about his ex, Ellie--whom we'll soon meet--and is bluntly told: "She moved. I haven't seen her." When asked about his future plans, McClain gives an answer that in sum tells the point of the entire picture: "Just one big job. That's all I want." We then see the aforementioned Ellie (Carroll) on the phone, enveloped in shock, obviously being told that her ex is back. Next we see the former couple in bed, lying warmly up against each other, obviously having Done The Deed. We quickly get the message that their history being together was far from happy (Ellie: "I kept on dreaming. And one morning I woke up and you weren't there. That was one morning too many." McClain: "If I'm not here, what the hell were you just doing [in having sex with me]?" This causes Ellie to angrily slap McClain's face). There's further dialogue between them (Ellie: "I'm weak with you...That's my problem...You want to see me crawl. You want to see me so weak I can't stand any more"; interestingly, given that, as has been mentioned, this was 1968, Ellie in time calls McClain: "You black son of a bitch!"), and then we cut to McClain casing the place the latter intends to hit, namely a football stadium where there's scheduled to be a face-off involving the Rams and the Packers (Gladys: "There's 80 thousand seats in the place." McClain: "And that's a lot of money"). Let's continue. Following are scenes wherein McClain "tests" the fellows he wants to include in the upcoming heist, namely Clinger, Kifka, Marty, and Negil (Ernest Borgnine, Jack Klugman, Warren Oates, and Donald Sutherland, respectively) by putting them through various paces--dropping in on Clinger and initiating a fight, initiating an open-road car chase with Kifka, et al. When the team McClain wants and Gladys are gathered together, we discover that there's certainly, definitely no love lost between McClain and the guys (Negil: "[McClain is] a big black idiot." Marty: "If there's one thing I don't have time for, it's a smart-ass nigger!"). Yet when our hero at last finally shows up they all fall into line and it's agreed that the money will be stashed at Ellie's place (Gladys: "Ellie's clean. And the cops have nothing on McClain"). Next up is a rather engaging montage wherein McClain and Ellie are walking side-by-side along different places, including the beach with Ellie carrying her heels (McClain: "I'll be with you [after the heist] because that's where I want to be"). At last finally the day of the heist arrives, with McClain and Co. seizing the take while holding several guards and several stadium employees--among them the longtime comedic actor Jackie Joseph--at gunpoint and getting away with the help of McClain and Kifka masquerading as ambulance drivers. Then, as Ellie is lying on top of her bed reading, she, and we, hear a knock upon her door. Upon opening it, in comes McClain with the stolen gains, making it clear his intent to stash them at Ellie's. After her expressing understandable consternation ("You're using me, Mac"), we see McClain seduce Ellie by first taking her up in his arms, then throwing her upon the bed and having his way with her, with her (lovingly?) caressing the money that McClain has thrown upon her bed. Following are McClain and Ellie (obviously) fully under the covers and the phone ringing. Ellie gets it and hands it to her ex, as it's for him. Next we see McClain and Clinger, while playing pool, making plans to get together later with the rest of the gang and divvy up the cash. Next: We see Ellie's ever-horny landlord Sutro (James Whitmore) sneak into her apartment and, while our girl is combing her hair in front of the mirror, approach her, supposedly about the rent. Yet, as time goes on, it becomes abundantly clear that what Sutro really and truly wants is not rent money but Ellie herself--as evidenced by the frequent close-ups of her bosom area and her upper-thighs area. Before long Sutro gives in to his lust and grabs Ellie. There's a struggle, she manages to knee him and she opens the lower shelf of her drawer, where, we find, there's weaponry stashed. Yet Sutro catches her, throws her upon the bed, and himself gets hold of a machine gun lying inside the drawer. Sutro winds up fatally machine-gunning Ellie, seizing all the money, and throwing a sheet over her dead body. Split goes on. When McClain arrives at Ellie's apartment and discovers her corpse, he is of course devastated. Then he opens the drawer and sees that the money, all of it, has been taken, which also knocks him for a loop. The police--having been called by Sutro, who has alerted them to Ellie's murder--show up, McClain manages to get away and, upon re-uniting with the gang, discovers, along with us, that they are in no sense happy campers (Gladys: "You've humiliated me, McClain." Marty: "As you can see, you're on the spot, boy"). We then see that the police detective Walter Brill (Gene Hackman) has been assigned to investigate Ellie's murder (and also see a newspaper headline that fully reflects the fact that this was 1968: "LANDLORD SLAYS NEGRO BEAUTY"), McClain is for a while tortured by the rest of the gang--while his arms are being held down, Clinger smacks his exposed stomach with a soaking-wet rope--McClain manages to escape--with Gladys getting accidentally and fatally shot in the process--and winds up cornering Brill in his home. At first Brill resists McClain's pressure ("the former to the latter: "There isn't a man in the force who will rest if anything happens to one of their own"), yet comes to bend under McClain's prodding (McClain to Brill: "You curl up pretty fast for a cop, don't you?"). Brill comes to throw in with McClain, the latter assuring him that he's the best bet to getting the dough ("There are three others [in the gang], but if you deal with me, you might live to spend that money"), there's a shootout in a deserted area between McClain/Brill and the other gang members, said team winds up killing them all, and the ending of the picture is genuinely unusual. It's comprised of McClain being about to board a plane and stopping upon hearing...Ellie's voice. So there's The Split, in all a marvelously taut, marvelously absorbing crime flick. Whitmore chillingly embodies the ever-lustful, ever-creepy Sutro. Hackman lends his monumental presence and his monumental acting skill to the role of Brill. The two white chicks of Split--Joyce Jameson as Girl-Girl, a jolie laide whom Oates's character hooks up with early on and Joseph--are, respectively, enticingly sexy and enticingly charming. All the backup gang members come through magnificently in the acting department; there's never, ever a false note concerning any of them. As scenarist, Robert Sabaroff comes up with many meaty, pithy exchanges for McClain and the principals in his life to engage in. And director Gordon Flemyng consistently keeps the action moving, never allowing anything to flag (Said scene between Sutro and Ellie deserves special mention, being an entirely blood-curdling combination of adroit camera placement and adroit editing. Also: Apparently Brown and Flemyng didn't exactly click as work colleagues. In his through-the-roof-selling personal/professional memoir, Borgnine reported that the latter, on the final day of shooting, went up to the former and--according to Borgnine, echoing his own feelings--told him: "If you were the last actor on Earth, I would never work with you again"). And now we come to Brown and Carroll. While their acting in The Split, frankly, leaves much to be desired, their stylish good looks, their forceful sexiness, and their awe-inspiring physiques save the day. Their scenes together are aflame with their physical spice and their physical grace. The fact is, The Split is further proof of a point I (I hope) have made before: that theatrical films were at their best when they were a visual medium, when they wholly put aside aesthetic considerations and simply presented gorgeous, muscular/shapely performers whose physical beauty and unyielding sexiness majorly turned us on (To make another point I hope I've made in the past: While television is up to its neck in intellectual and creative barrenness, it shines as a visual medium. There's no blah about the director or about any of its products' Importance. All that's needed is to get whatever Baywatch Babe on-camera showing skin or get Kerry Washington on-camera, period and the winning score is made). It was a 1970s writer who asserted that Carroll and her then-Julia-co-star Fred Williamson (remember him?; I didn't think so) "embody perfection." With regard to The Split, it is Carroll and Brown who are the real and the true embodiment of perfection. And are added proof, assuming any more is needed, of the sanctimonious guilt-bingeing and the complete meaningless of the "issue" of "looksism."
#the grasshopper#1968#Diahann Carroll#Jim Brown#enterpreneur#the split#dvd player#julie harris#football stadium#james whitmore#gene hackman#joyce jameson#gordon flemyng#visual medium#television#julia#fred williamson#perfection
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