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ohbloggerimagines · 11 months

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HELLO

First of all the way you write rocket is genuinely amazing. Eating up everything you put up on your page with him.

And second, i was wondering if you would be ok with writing rocket x reader where reader comes out as asexual to him. And at first Rocket thinks the problem is him and the way he looks but the reader explains that there's nothing wrong to his looks, it's just how they are.

A little hurt comfort maybe where it's just a misunderstanding.

Hope you are having a good day and thank you

Here you go <3 I really hope this is kinda what you were thinking because I got VERY carried away

and if i implied anything in a bad way im sorry ;;

pairing: rocket raccoon x fem!reader

word count: 2,788

tags: gotg, rocket raccoon x reader, asexual, fem! reader, angst, swearing

You sat on the large couch in the common area, re-reading the book you had read probably hundreds of times at this point. You could hear the laughter of Peter and Rocket from the front of the ship, and every now and then the sounds of someone walking around on the upper decks.

“I’ll be right back, Pete.” You heard Rocket say, your eyes lifting from your book as you heard him making his way to where you were. “Hey sweets.” Rocket said, taking his usual spot next to you, “Hey Rocky.” You smiled, looking over at him. “That damn book again? You’ve just about ruined it for yourself haven’t you?” He chuckled, “No, no. It still reads the same way it did as when I first picked it up.”

You could tell by his eyes, he wanted something.

“Aren’t you supposed to be helping Peter, you know, steer and navigate and what not?” You asked, raising a brow at him. “Well,” He said quietly, scooting closer to you, “Pete’s got it.. I have some time,” He started, hand placed on your thigh and slowly creeping upwards. Your breath hitched, “Oh, uh, you know, not right now, Rocket. Maybe later tonight..” You said, seeing the disappointment in his face, his ears twitched ever so slightly. He pulled his hand away. “Alright.” He said, leaning back into the cushion. “That’s what you said every other night..” He mumbled, standing back up almost as soon as he was getting comfortable. “Rock-” You started, almost tempted to reach out to him. “No, I get it, it’s fine. Y’know Peter probably needs me anyway, gotta help him with his shit all the time.” He huffed, feigning a smile. You opened your mouth to try and stop him, but he just stared at you. You closed your lips, eyes darting back down to the book, listening to his footsteps almost hurrying back to the pilot area.

You dropped the book into your lap, hands cupping your face as you sighed heavily, trying not to cry. How were you going to tell him?

“I just don’t get it, man.” Peter shrugged, glancing over at the slightly irritated raccoon. “Why don’t you just ask her what's up?” “I don’t think it's that easy, Pete.” Rocket huffed, staring out into the darkness of space. “I mean, everyone has needs, she’s gotta come around to it eventually, right? I mean, yeah it's a little weird, y’know, you being a raccoon and all and she’s-” Peter felt the side eye from Rocket, “But she likes or loves you or whatever, soo..” “How do you do it?” Rocket asks, Peter raising a brow. “You boast about all these women you’ve been with, including Gamora, how do you get them to, y’know..” His voice trailed off, almost embarrassed to be asking this damn question. Peter snickered, “How do I get them in bed with me? Now Rocket, that is private information that I don’t think I want to share with you.” He teased, “But, I guess it’s just my charm.” When Peter didn’t get a response from the normally snappy raccoon, his eyebrows almost softened, feeling bad for his best friend.

“Look man, you gotta flirt with her and shit. Don’t be such an asshole all the time, like, tell her how beautiful she is, compliment her and stuff.” Peter shrugged, “I do!” Rocket threw his arms up, “Or at least I think I do. Am I that much of an asshole that she won’t even sleep with me? I mean I’ve tried, I’ve made moves, we sleep in the same damn bed half the time! She just rolls away or mumbles ‘not tonight’ again and again. Why the hell are you humies so stuck up sometimes?!”

Peter glanced over at him, doing one of those half ass-white Terran smiles. Peter was catching on to what you were feeling.

“What?” “Nothing, nothing.” Peter shook his head, eyes back on the literal space in front of him.

“You’re no help either, dammit.” He hopped out of his chair, “I’m going to talk to Drax.” Rocket waved his paw at Peter, climbing the ladder to the next level up.

Peter shook his head, thinking he had to go talk to you to try and figure this out and help his friend if he could.

“Drax!” Rocket banged on the large metal door, sliding open to reveal the tall, muscular man who resided behind it. “Yes?’ Drax asked, almost confused as to what Rocket could possibly need from him right now.

“Gotta talk to you.” The raccoon said, sliding past Drax, “And close the damn door, I don’t need anyone, especially Y/N to hear.” He relaxed hearing the metals connect to the closing door.

“So,” Drax started,

“How do you get a woman in bed?”

Rocket asked flatly, almost catching Drax off guard. “You came in here to ask me how to make love to a woman?” “No no, Jesus, not make love, I can do that shit, but how do you convince her in the first place? I mean you had a kid, obviously you know what you’re doing.” Drax sat on his bed, watching Rocket climb into the chair across from him. “You’re trying to have sex with Y/N?” “Yes! Duh, who the hell else? But she just..won’t.” Rocket shrugged, swaying side to side in the chair, “Well when I met my wife..” Drax trailed off, thinking for a moment about her. “We fell in love, and made our beautiful daughter. Maybe you two are not in love.” Rocket stared at him blankly, “We definitely are.” He said confidently.

“..Maybe it is because you are small, and hairy. And sort of ugly.” Drax stated, Rocket baring his teeth slightly at him. “Shit, you’re as much help as Pete is.” He groaned, rubbing his eyes.

“Have you considered just asking?” Drax suggested, “Peter said the same damn thing. The hell do you guys want me to do? Just walk up all ‘Oh hey Y/N, wanna have sex with me?’ I don’t think so.” Rocket argued.

“Yes.” Drax said matter of factly.

“You know what, screw this.” Rocket jumped from the chair and made his way to the door. “And so help me Drax if you say a word to anyone about this I will claw your damn eyes out.” The door shut heavily behind a very disheveled Rocket.

“Y/N? Y/N!” You heard your name being called, the voice approaching from down the hall. You set down the dish you were cleaning and leaned out the door of the kitchen, seeing Peter poking his head into all the hallway doors looking for you, “What’s up?” You asked, raising your brow. “You free?” Peter asked, causing confusion on your end. “Uh.. yeah, why? Something happened? Need some help up front?” “No, I just have a question for you.” Peter walked into the kitchen and leaned on the counter as you picked your dish back up and continued to clean. “Ask away.”

You could hear Peter swallow, almost nervous.

“Have you and Rocket ever..” He trailed off, anticipating you to start telling him ot fuck off and mind his own business. Instead you became ridgid, feeling all the color wash from your face. “I-I don’t mean to be intruding!” He tried to save himself from the awkward conversation ahead, noticing you tense. “Why?” You asked quietly.

“Well, ugh this feels so weird to talk about and I probably shouldn’t be but, Rocket came to me and like, asked how to get with a woman..in that..situation..because he said you wouldn’t..” His voice was quiet, almost like a child afraid to be scolded.

You let out a heavy breath, setting down your plate. “I know what you mean.” You didn’t even bother looking over at him.

“Do you even..want to?”

“Yes, well, no, but not no in a bad way. It’s just..I’m..” You dropped your shoulders,

“Is it Rocket?” “No, of course not. It’s definitely me.”

“Oh. I get it. Then why don’t you talk to him. Let him know..?

You let out an accidental laugh, “Ha! Easier said than done.”

“What do you mean?”

“Come on Pete, you know Rocket. How he reacts to shit.”

What you didn’t know was the keen ears of a raccoon had picked up on his name on your lips down the hall, stopping in his place to eavesdrop.

“I just can’t do that, I’m not into it, y’know? You seem to have figured that out.” You said.

Rockets ears pinned to his head, clicking his tongue, “Whatever..” He brushed off the hurt, continuing on his way down the hall, failing to listen to the next words out of your mouth.

“I love him, everything about him. But I just don’t feel those feelings. And I never really have for anyone, anything even. I don’t know if Rocket would believe me if I tried to explain that to him..” You rubbed your temples, Peter trying to think, trying to help the both of you.

“I thought I’d be able to figure this out if I heard both stories here but, you’re right, he’d probably just assume the worst. I really just think you gotta tell him. I know it won’t be easy, but he doesn’t know what to think, he’s confused as to why whenever he makes a move you shy away everytime. He needs some type of explanation, and you need to stop hiding it from him if you really love him.”

You closed your eyes and shook your head, a shaky sigh escaping your lips. “You’re right.” “Per usual.” Peter said coyly, earning himself a death glare, “Ok, sorry not the time for that. But, I’ll leave you to it then. I don’t know where he went after he brushed my advice off. He couldn’t have gone far.” Peter waved, “But it is getting late, he might’ve decided to head to your- his- the room for the night. I’m gonna do the same soon.” He suggested, leaving the kitchen and heading back to his captain seat.

Gotta tell him, don’t you?

This was a lot for you to decide.

You wanted to tell him, but then again it’s Rocket. Snarky, aggressive, jumping to conclusions, Rocket.

You had made your final rounds of checking on everyone before you headed to yours and Rockets shared room. Saying your goodnights and making sure doors were secured, lights that weren’t needed were off.

Were you stalling? Yes, for sure. You now knew Rocket had some type of suspicion about why you wouldn’t engage with him, and you became nervous to even enter the room, afraid to get either berated, interrogated, anything. You just weren’t ready to come out to him yet.

You slowly opened the door, prepared for what you thought was to come.

But nothing.

“You’re in here early.” You said wearily, noticing how calm he was.

That was unusual for him.

“Yeah, had some shit in here to do, figured get it done before Peter talks my ears off about getting it done.” His back was facing you.

Normally he would get up, hug you, kiss you, tease you, anything. But he was scarily..normal.

“Oh, alright. Sounds good.” Your nervous eyes darted around the room, searching for your pajamas to grab to get an excuse to go to the bathroom and escape the tense air.

“You left them on the bathroom floor when ya changed earlier.” Rocket read your mind, “Thanks.” You hurried into the bathroom, closing the door and letting out a heavy sigh.

Gotta tell him, gotta tell him. Dammit! Just tell him.

A knock at the door. “You good? I gotta piss, hurry it up.” Rocket almost hissed. You didn’t realize how long you had been sitting there.

“Sorry.” You practically tore off your clothes and got into your pajamas, opening the door and getting right into your bed.

How were you gonna approach this?

You heard the trickle of urine hitting water, your heart speeding up.

Gotta tell him.

The flush of the toilet.

The bathroom lights went out, and out came Rocket in his own pajamas, which was just a pair of loose pants.

He got back into his chair at his desk, the sound of screwdrivers hitting screws, wires snapping with electricity.

“So, um.” You started, picking at the skin around your nails. “I know earlier I said we could..tonight..”

You glanced over at him when his tinkering noises silenced. Ears twitched with irritation, flattening ever so slightly.

“I already know the damn answer. It’s no, again.”

“Yes, But, I need to tell you something-”

“Oh,” He spun, looking at you harshly, “I already know the damn answer.”

“You do..?” You asked, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

Who told him? How did he find out? A god, he was a lot more mad than you thought he would be.

“I sure as hell do. And I don’t need to hear another word outta your damn mouth.” He snapped, eyes staring into yours.

“I didn’t think you’d be that mad about it.”

“You gotta be shittin’ me, Y/N.” He laughed.

You almost cracked a smile, assuming his laughter meant you had mistaken his anger.

But you were so wrong.

“You’re not into it, I know that now. Not into me, not into the way I look, I bet thats what it fuckin’ is. You just can’t do it.” He seethed, anger leaking from his tone.

“Wait, Rocky, what-?” You sat up into your bed. “Oh don’t ‘Rocky’ me. I heard you and Pete. I heard what you said. I love you, Y/N and you just go and say some shit like that? Ya just can’t do it.” He mocked you with the last line, turning back to face away from you to pool in anger.

“You were spying on us.” You mumbled. “It's hard not to spy when you’re just blurting names out willy nilly.”

“You didn’t hear the whole fucking conversation!” You snapped back, causing Rocket to shift in his seat and turn an ear to you.

“Oh yeah? And what else did you say? How much I disgust you? How you would never sleep with me? How I’m probably just some dumb idiot who-”

“Rocket! God dammit listen to me! You shouted at him, your tone laced with frustration.

He turned to you, placing his hands behind his head. “Fuckin’ speak your peace then.”

Your face dropped.

You had to do it now, with his attention.

“I..I’m..” You stumbled over your words getting caught in your throat.

“Right.” He scoffed, getting out of his chair. “I’m getting a drink.” Rocket made his way to the door,

Hand reaching for the handle..

Just say it.

“I’m asexual.” You whispered.

“What?” His ears perked up, body turning to you. “You’re what..?”

“Asexual.” You swallowed the nervous lump, waiting for him to start some shit.

“That's.. It? This whole time?” “A long time, actually. I just.. Didn’t know how to tell you..how you’d react.” His gaze softened as he made his way to you, sitting on the edge of the bed.

“So it’s..not the way I look or..” “Oh god no, Rock, I think you are the most handsome guy in the galaxy. You have an attractive personality, too. I just don’t feel those feelings like you do. And I’m sorry if I can’t give you what you-”

“Shut up.” Rocket said lowly, taking you back. “What?” “You don’t have to apologize, you idiot. You could’ve just told me. I would’ve been fine with it. I mean, I am fine with it. Just.. kinda mad it took you so long. Do you not trust me or somethin’?”

You breathed a sigh of relief, “I do trust you, I just assumed you’d be angry.”

“Well you know what they say about assuming.” He teased. “I’m just glad to know you don’t think I’m an ugly fuck or some shit.”

You tousled the fur on his head, “Of course I don’t think that.” “Thank god, your opinion is the only person’s that matters to me.” Rocket chuckled, sliding off the bed and back into his chair.

“Now c’mere, I need you to help me with this, and I want your beautiful dumbass next to me.”

You rolled your eyes, pulling up your own chair beside him, both of you leaning over the desk in the low light of the desk lamp.

“So, Y/N, when we’re done with this, can you um.. Educate me a little on the whole asexual shit? I’m tech smart, not that smart. Don’t wanna make a fool of myself.” He said softly.

“Sure thing, Rocky.” You smiled.

#rocket raccoon x reader #rocket raccoon #gotg #gotg3 #rocket fic #peter quill #ansgt

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wispstalk · 25 days

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20 questions for writers

under the cut. Thanks to @everybodyknows-everybodydies for tagging🖤

Tagging back: @nuwanders @jiubilant @ervona @ehlnofay @druidx @blossom-adventures @sylvienerevarine @throughtrialbyfire @da3drat no pressure

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Five

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

198327

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Just elder scrolls. I have a feeling that's gonna be it for me. I've been tempted to write stardew valley fic lately which would perhaps be classed as "crack" (I know what that is in theory but the way people use it makes no sense to me) but I took a cursory look at the tag and I don't think the stardew valley fandom is ready for a ray fic lmao

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Well. I have five.

5. Do you respond to comments?

I try 🫠 it haunts me how often I've left my beloved mutuals on read..... but if that's u and I did, I am telepathically beaming this: !!!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ Making out sloppy style etc etc

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

lol. lmao even

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

.....within AO3 I guess it's "Morning" but also that's set at a refugee camp? I will say the skyrim story will have a more peaceful ending but up until now fic writing has been an outlet for my thwarted rage and covid brain damage soooo

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I mean this is generally a culture of positive feedback. Someone did yell at me once for hitting martin septim with the transgender beam which is a level of no-life-havin loserdom which could be classed as "hate" but came off as pure cope and seethe

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I really bristle at the word smut sorry its too cutesy. I was a prodomme for seven years I don't do euphemisms lol. I wrote a sex scene into IITT to see how I felt about writing sex scenes. I learned that I am only interested in writing them if they serve specific functions. I have absolutely zero judgment toward anyone who wants to write about fuckin and suckin, that's just not why I'm here

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

No but recently my household watched game of thrones together and my bf and his brother were cracking jokes like what if one of these medieval characters had a gundam. Neither of them read fic so I was like don't be too entertained by yourselves. I bet that has been written. looked it up on ao3 and sure as shit

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I'm not gonna lie I did find a fic where someone very obviously ripped me off but I don't wanna call them out. One specific instance where they bit my style was so clumsily applied as to be obvious, but their prose in general was fantastic so like. who care.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not as far as I know but that would make me holler

13. Have you ever co-written a fic?

Nope. I'm not opposed to the idea but it's hard to imagine how I'd do this given my process. I think I'd be pretty difficult to work with

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

?!? I dunno I don't have one. I put a lot of effort into writing martinhok but I could not say that one, due to how overwhelmingly heterosexual the tag is. I'm sorry but can everyone who's not a faggot please pipe down

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I have my moments with the skyrim wip. I've signed myself up for something pretty complicated and challenging but I also learned that I can finish things so I'm not really worried about it. The fact of the matter is: I do not care if this is good. It matters that it is done so I can move on with my life. If parts of it are boring and overlong that's yalls problem

16. What are your writing strengths?

I get a lot of compliments on my worldbuilding. I do think a lot about the minutiae of material culture and think I have a talent for incorporating detail in engaging ways

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I'm a cornball. This is a corny activity. I don't really care because I'm doing it for free. Enjoy the unsolicited view into an internet stranger's terrible psyche

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I try to apply with a light hand. I'm a dumbass sheltered American and I can mostly make myself understood in a Spanish-speaking country but that's about it. I like playing around with language and the idea of multilingual societies matters to me so I include it, but I'm not a linguist so I try to work within my limits. Whether I am successful at this is up to others.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Elder scrolls. Never felt compelled until i spent a winter playing oblivion and went wow this game has an incredibly bleak narrative behind a silly aesthetic. Oops now I'm in a lore pit

20. Favorite fic you've written?

The Nature of Fire is my best prose hands down. I'm gonna be real with y'all I am desperate for people to read it. It is genuinely the best I can do at this point and if you like what I've done so far, well, whatever u read sucks compared to this fic.

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swaps55 · 6 months

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20 Fanfic Questions

Tagged by @cchickki. Thank you!

Tagging @urrone @westernlarch @bioticbooty @commander-krios and anyone else who feels so inclined!

How many works do you have on AO3?

2. What's your total AO3 words count?

944,833

I haven’t checked to see if Mezzo’s current word count will put me into 7 figures, but if it doesn’t, it’s close.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mass Effect. One trick pony right here.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Sonata – Sam and Kaidan fake dating.

Cantata – The Making of Commander Shepard, aka, a group of misfits find a home in each other. Also it’s an epically slow burn friends to idiots to soulmates.

Celestial Navigation – One of the rare times I wrote smut. The entire time I worked on it I was the equivalent of a hissing cat stuck in a tree.

Pieces Form the Whole – A collection of mshenko shorts, prompts, etc., featuring more or less a proto-Sam Shepard who isn’t Sam Shepard but eventually became him.

Fugue – Alchera and the 2 year gap. A story about finding hope in grief.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes! Sometimes I go through a low spoons period where they sit for a bit, but I have a rule that I cannot post anything new until I have responded to everyone who took the time to share their thoughts on a thing I wrote. Community is the best part of fandom. Having others to yell and flail with about the fictional people in my head is fucking incredible.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

A short in Pieces Form the Whole called Faraway, So Close, which is the only Angst Without a Happy Ending thing I have ever written. It is the fic that kicks puppies. It is less than 1,000 words and I will never write anything like it again.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Not sure I have ever written about two happier people than Sam and Kaidan at the end of Sonata.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Nope. The occasional odd comment, but I haven’t gotten any hate, thankfully.

9. Do you write smut. If so what kind?

When a story calls for it, I write it, though I’m too ace to write much smut for the sake of smut. I don’t have anything against it; smut just doesn’t interest me much unless the conditions are right. Couldn’t tell you what the conditions are. I just know them when I see them.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Crossovers and AUs aren’t usually my thing, but I have to admit I have been mildly tempted to write a Mass Effect/Stargate AU, because I sure wouldn’t have to work hard to set it up, and Sam Carter and Sam Shepard breaking physics would be tons of fun.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I am aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not translated, though I’ve had a couple of stories podficced, which is insanely cool!!!

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Once, and it taught me rather painfully that cowriting is not something I am cut out for.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

Shepard and Kaidan, to the surprise of no one.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

It’s pretty rare I start something I don’t finish. My head explodes if I try to work on more than one project at a time, so if I get invested in something it generally gets finished. I have a story called Cadenza that isn’t currently doing anything – because I can’t work on 2 things at once – that I really want to finish; I just don’t know when I’ll get there. But I really hope I will.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue and combat are two things I have a very good time with.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I suck at setting. If reading that surprises you in any way, and hopefully it does, it is because I have worked very hard to suck less at it.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I have long envied the ability of others to write in other languages, and write dialect. I would love to be able to do it, but I suck at it. So add that to #17, lol.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Technically, it was The Black Stallion. I was probably eight. I sent The Black and Alec Ramsey to space.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

Aww, don’t make me choose between my children. I love my stories. But gun to my head, long fic is probably Cantata. It was such a joy to write, and watching other people fall in love with OC characters I figured no one would care about was proof magic is real.

My favorite one shot is probably The Words That Change Us, an N7 day story that became the catalyst for all the Sam and Kaidan First Kiss AUs. Writing that story was an insane experience – I couldn’t write it fast enough. At one point I had two completely different conversations unspooling in my head at the same time. It’s so much fun to go back and read.

#mememe #meme replies #how writing is written

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theaggresivepacifist · 6 months

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Twenty Questions

Thank you @cupofteaandstars for the tag!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 16, plus a Spanish translation a friend did of one of my works.

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 73,165, for now.

What fandoms do you write for? Exclusively Stranger/Secret Forest and related crossovers, although there was that one Andor one that I just had to put out there to cope with the intensity of my feelings about the cliffhanger season ending.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

It's a close race among some of these, but:

gamsa

chilyo

chib

heonsin

haengbok (with maengse only one behind at the moment)

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I do, always! I'm honestly always so astounded and delighted to think of someone reading my work while I'm just out here having a normal Monday or Tuesday, and want to express that delight.

What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Oh boy, just you wait.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Since all things Si-mok and Yeo-jin related (or Stranger-in-general-related) are usually bittersweet, probably inyeon, a relatively recent one. However, the one that leaves me with the warmest feeling at the end is actually pyeongsaeng.

Do you get hate on fics?

Fortunately not! I've gotten a few weird comments once or twice but nothing mean-spirited.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I do not, and the few times I've been tempted I have realized swiftly that I'm not cut out for it.

Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Only within the Stranger/SF multiverse so far - in other words, AUs for Stranger/SF that are based on Bae Doona and CSW's other works, which I think of as other lives of Si-mok and Yeo-jin.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Ditto Cup, not that I know of. I would go absolutely off-the-charts feral in order to get the copycat fic taken down.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have! My IRL best friend of many years graciously wrote me a Spanish translation of chib.

What's your all-time favorite ship?

Eh, I'm not really a shipper...? HOWEVER, @ohyangchon has given me massive Changjae feelings and I love their relationship so much.

What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

Scenes just sort of seem to come to me, and once they're there I don't stop until they eventually coalesce into a complete story, no matter how long that takes to find its shape. I do have an extensively Yeo-jin and Si-mok inspired novel (low-key sci-fi? space opera?) that has been nagging at me for years, but I don't think that one will ever amount to anything.

What are your writing strengths?

I'd like to think I inhabit the voices of the characters well.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Pacing, probably?

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Similar to Cup's thoughts, this is difficult because I feel like sometimes names, titles, and terms of address in particular just don't have the same nuance and feeling translated from Korean into English-- especially the terms of address that Si-mok and Yeo-jin and others use for each other. Therefore, sometimes I do transliterate. Also, as I become a little bit more comfortable IRL speaking Korean, where practical I sometimes find myself wanting to mimic the Korean clause order/speech patterns of sentences even while writing in English.

First fandom you wrote for?

I think it must have been a gift fic in the Redwall fandom (never made it to AO3, but a cozy and comforting thing to work on)

Favorite fic you've written?

I love all my children equally!!! But I do think I did some really great character work in bohoja, one of my works on a more underrated duo (Si-mok and Mr. Kang). I usually am pretty self-critical, but there are a few lines in there that I always read and think "damn, who wrote that???" XD

Who hasn't been spoken for? Tagging @gottagobuycheese, @inkingtwice, and @michyeosseo as well as anyone else who's interested!

#my original fic #stranger #tvn stranger #forest of secrets #secret forest #stranger 2 #tvn stranger 2 #forest of secrets 2 #secret forest 2 #*gasp* personal information about me????#only Cupofteaandstars and ohyangchon could have dragged this out of me

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galacticwildfire · 7 months

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Fire Meet Gasoline | Poe Dameron

Three

Poe Dameron x Solo Original Character

Hope Solo’s haunted by the night the temple burned. Having gone rogue she hunts the First Order in search of answers until a fateful encounter with Poe Dameron brings her back to the Resistance and Leia puts her daughter under his command to find Luke Skywalker.

Word count: 10k

Tags/warnings: simp poe, exhausted leia, (those may as well be permanent tags), the meet cute, Poe giving oc an existential crisis with his jawline alone, flirting, attempted x-wing race, ego's, rizzpoe, resistance command having a panic attack, mentions of war crimes/systematic kidnapping and indoctrination of children, trauma, first half is sexual tension second half is angst. Leia trying her best to be a good parent to a traumatised child. They will make up I promise.

All my stories are written for adults with adult themes, I use appropriate tags but read at your discretion.

A/N: I have three chapters of the prequel published on ao3/wattpad. the story kicks off properly in this chapter.

Hope

By late afternoon the hanger's quiet enough that I can work on my x-wing in peace, which thankfully hasn't been repurposed. Although Mom knows if she ever gave my x-wing to anyone I'd probably blow it up out of spite, and she knows this because I'd threatened as much.

Major Brance ducks in and out of the entrance several times in the hours that pass as I run maintenance, as if ensuring he isn't hallucinating and looking disappointed each time he realises he isn't, speaking with greater levels of panic into his comm each time.

"We had six months of peace after she left and then Dameron was recruited. Now there's two of them," I hear him ranting as he exits the hanger again, thinking I'm out of earshot. "Two of them!"

I can't help but smile to myself a little in intrigue, finding myself growing increasingly curious about this commander who seems to give Brance the same headache as I do. That might just be enough for me to overlook his rank. Almost.

His ship sits on the other side of the hanger, the orange and black paint noticeably standing out from the rest, and I'm chuckling to myself in satisfaction at noticing the paint's been touched up since I called it beaten up. Although now mine is the one that needs a touch up by comparison.

The next time Brance comes in Statura accompanies him and gives me an awkward wave from across the hanger before pulling Brance back out, thankfully that's the last time I see them.

"Gee R2, you'd think they weren't happy to see me," I remark as I get to work installing the new parts after finishing general maintenance and he beeps at me. "Alright maybe I'm enjoying it a little."

At least my infamy's still feared by high command, even if that doesn't extend to a commander who should very well know exactly who I am. All things considered I should be more concerned by the thought that Mom could arrive here at any moment, but I can put off that anxiety for a little longer.

My hands are stained with soot and engine oil, but my mind seems to quieten as I tinker. Something I always thought came from my father, until my grandmother's surviving handmaidens told me it also came from my grandfather, among other things. Thankfully with the years I've found some level of acceptance with that fact, even if the memories sharpened with Ben taking the mantle Vader left behind. At least Lando can share my humour at calling him Grandpa Vader even if Mom looked like she wanted to hit me over the head the first time she heard it. And every time afterwards. Turns out dark humour only goes so far.

My mind's focused on the adjustments to the thrusters, transferring over the parts I'd taken off my N-1 at the lakehouse so the modifications are similar, making it far faster than ties and any other navy starfighter. Faster than any other x-wings on base as well. I was tempted to get R2 to pilot the N-1 here for me but considering what I've been using it for I thought it best it stays in storage on Naboo. I'd forgotten how old these x-wings are in comparison to the newer models of ships, my N-1 was average in comparison to the models I grew up flying, but still newer than these. So while some of these parts might be a little overpowered for my neglected x-wing I can make them work, it'll make it highly illegal, but fast.

Just how I was taught.

At least I don't have to pay to replace the proton torpedo I'd used up now, it might have been a bit overkill considering they're generally used to attack larger capital ships or freighters but I'd always wondered what would happen if I shot them into a bunch of tie-fighters and now I know.

I'm quite content working while talking to R2 until a now slightly familiar voice calls out to me in the empty hanger.

"Need any help up there?"

"No," I answer automatically, too caught up in what I'm doing to take any real notice. R2 chides me for being rude like he isn't worse and I realise Threepio's yet to talk my ear off which means he must be with Mom, wherever she is. "But since you're offering toss me up a wrench will you?"

He chucks it up and I catch it before tightening the last bolt and only then do I recognise the voice. Suppressing a smile I look down and see him standing back, trying to figure out what I'm doing. "Problem? Because I can tell you those parts have too much kick for a T-70."

"That's the point," I reply, swinging my legs over the edge of my ship so I can take him in and find that he immediately recognises me from the stunned look that crosses his face, the look in his eye leaving me pleasantly surprised after all the wary stares of the afternoon. Although I'm more surprised by the immediate effect his face has on me now that I can see it properly. I don't expect to like it as much as I do, pegging him as the type that's ridiculously handsome and knows it, although it's certainly not without reason. "Once I'm done my baby's going to have more engine power than any of the newer models, might need some reinforcements but I'll make it work."

He shakes his head, grinning up at me with white teeth that stand out against the shadow of a beard on his certainly well-chiselled face that reminds me of the statues that adorn Naboo's art museums, but it's his dark eyes that take my attention as he studies the engine and my other modifications, recognising them with equal surprise and respect. "You know those mods are illegal right? The type you can only find in blackmarkets in the Outer Rims."

"I should know since that's where I found them, but considering this is faster than any of the New Republic's ships, and yours, I don't have to worry about that do I?" I smirk a little too proudly and find myself saying. "I see you gave the General my regards."

He looks at my ship and then to his with the slightest jealousy after mine had outrun his in the field and I just smirk to myself from my ship.

"I did," he says, something about the look in his eye drawing me in. He still doesn't realise I'm her daughter, that much is clear, and so I play coy. "I told you I could put you in touch didn't I? But just a warning, we might be a paramilitary but she doesn't like us breaking too many New Republic regulations."

Oh, he has no idea and I can't help but tease "If you're going to report me for breaking regulations don't bother because she's already given up on me."

"I take it the two of you have some history then?" he gathers and despite the curiosity in his eyes he still doesn't put it together, which means Mom has definitely lied to the Resistance about where I've been for a commander to have no idea who I could be, but I shouldn't expect anything else by now.

"Let's just say I've done some work for the Resistance, had some disagreements and ended up where you found me," I explain simply, revealing just enough. When I'm used to everyone knowing my name it's almost nice to be a mystery. "So illegal modifications will be the least of her worries."

He makes a surprised sound, running a hand through the almost black curls atop his head. "The General must like you then to let you get away with this type of stuff." He looks me over with slightly nervous eyes before putting on a charming smile. "You must have been stationed on the Raddus because I know I would've definitely remembered meeting you before."

A self-satisfied smile comes to my face at his attempt at flirting and find myself amused, but more surprised by the fact that I don't actually mind it. "I've been on this base far longer than you have commander, you're the one who's new here."

"General recruited me a few months back from the Republic Fleet," he says and my eyes narrow now, wondering how the hell a new recruit could possibly be made a commander when I never was after years of service. But I swear behind his self-confidence there's a sincerity to his words as he says "You know, if you were new to base I was going to offer to show you around."

"Really?" I say, leaning forward from the edge of my ship in intrigue, giving him my full attention as I look him up and down. Somehow only finding more things to like much to my own surprise considering I've never been the type to be partial to a flyboy, or much to men in general.

"What can I say?" he shrugs but the look in his eyes is a little less carefree than what he's trying to portray as he returns the gesture, tongue running over the seam of his lips as he takes me in. Leaving his intentions maybe a little less innocent than his sincerity. "You're a hell of a pilot, one of the best I've ever seen. You left an impression to say the least."

I can't help but feel warmth come to my face at the look in his eyes that I've never quite seen in anyone else's and turn my head, not knowing whether to be frustrated he's actually having an effect on me or flattered I have a commander standing here flirting with me, but I do like the attention. As for flattery well... that's something I've always received little of.

So maybe I'm being a little bit of an asshole, but I genuinely don't know how to do anything but rebuff him considering it's second nature by now. "What was your name again?"

I remember it, but I want to see how he reacts to his ego being bruised. Somehow he's not put off and just challenges "You know now I think of it you still haven't given me yours."

Wanting to get a little closer I hop down from my ship to find that he has half a foot on me, maybe a little more although it's not exactly hard when I inherited my mother's height. His face is closer now and somehow even more striking up close much to my frustration, a problem I've never had before or at least not to this degree. The sudden proximity leaves me a little more bashful than I'd anticipated but I may as well enjoy the moment considering it'll be over once he learns my name, for a multitude of reasons.

"You can call me Captain," I state. I might have had that title stripped away with every other privilege I had when I was grounded but if she wants me back she's going to have to make compromises.

"Captain?" he repeats back in surprise but respects it. "Alright Captain..." he trails off for a moment, considering his options but inevitably deciding to go with one of the riskier ones. "How long have you been away from base for?"

"Almost a year," I answer, curious to see if that leads him down any trail of thought but he doesn't seem to be using his head to think, although unfortunately for me that face makes up for it. He's older, late twenties, a man who clearly takes pride in his appearance judging by his hair. Again, he has good reason too and even more unfortunately I'm too susceptible to that damn face.

"Then let me give you a tour of the new and improved facilities," he begins before changing tactics, his voice deepening slightly as he leans closer. "Or I could take you out to a spot just outside base with a clear view of a constellation I think you'd like, and maybe by the time we make our way back you'll like me enough to be on a first name basis." His eyes are kind, but there's a mischief behind them that draws me right in. "If that's alright with you?"

It takes me a moment to register what he's saying let alone asking, and when I do I'm convinced that surely I've misheard him or definitely misinterpreted his words. But his interest is something I definitely I haven't misread, intentions are another matter, but this... this was the last thing I'd prepared myself for when I returned to base. I've had passes made at me sure, but certainly never this.

It leaves me speechless for a moment longer than I'd like, but I manage to quickly regain myself and my dignity. I've been back here for five minutes and I'm blushing over some flyboy's pickup line, a flyboy who holds the rank I'd sought for longer than he's been a part of the Resistance.

Oh no this, whatever it is I'm feeling, this won't do.

"Alright commander," I say, making sure whatever happens next is on my terms. "I'll consider it, but first how about you show me what you've got and finish what we started in the field."

"What I've got?" he repeats as I look at the x-wings. "Sweetheart you're speaking to one of the best pilots in the galaxy."

"Sweetheart?" I repeat and actually laugh knowing it didn't end well for the last guy that tried to call me that, and he momentarily panics before seeing the glint in my eye, only more determined to put him in his place before I can consider maybe, just maybe, taking him up on his offer. "Alright then flyboy, get that ass in an x-wing and prove it."

He's tempted, tongue running across the seam of his lips as he leans down and crosses his arms over his chest. "As much as I'd love to do that, I don't want to get put on probation in my first few months and neither should you."

I whistle, taking pleasure in taunting him. "I got the big ego part right but I didn't take you for a pussy."

Now I've got him. "Oh no, I'm not a pussy."

I look down at his astromech who beeps at him knowing it's a bad idea, just as R2 gives me a beep of warning to not get myself in trouble but I've already made up my mind and so I look back up at him with a raised eyebrow. "Really?"

His dark eyes are locked onto mine with determination and I find a spark in them that's the same as mine. "Really."

Knowing I must have some effect on him I tilt my chin up, smirking as I challenge "Prove it."

I must look like a hot mess after hours of maintenance with my braid falling out and the top of my white blouse unbuttoned and stained with oil, my body's covered in engine grease wiped off my palms and smells like it, but he seems to like that.

And I definitely like his face.

Maybe I was right in coming back to base after all.

"Alright," he agrees, physically closer than I've let anyone come to me in a long time. "But you'll lose."

"Fifty credits," I bet knowing I've certainly returned a lot richer from my exploits, even if most of it's gone into my ship and weapons, and he doubles it.

"Hundred."

"One fifty," I challenge to raise the stakes and see that same restless excitement in his eyes. Pilots, people who live on risks and rushes of adrenaline, they're a disaster waiting to happen when it comes to gambling. "You on?"

"How about this, I win and you let me show you around base," he says, the glint in his eye proving to me he might be more of a worthy opponent than I'd originally taken him for. "You win and you're the one who gets to show me around."

He knows he's got me there, and I'm shaking my head with a stupid smile on my face knowing it too. It's a win-win situation for him although I'm curious to see if it would be the same for me, silently cursing how something in his eyes makes me electric. He might be a flyboy but he's one smooth bastard and I've got to get him back. "Alright then hotshot, first one to circumnavigate the planet's atmosphere and land back here wins."

"Atmosphere?" he repeats, knowing atmospheric flying in one of the more dangerous thrills a pilot could partake in, but he only grins back at me with that spark in his eye. "You're on."

"Let's see what you've got then commander," I say, waiting for him to realise he's screwed with the work I've done on my ship but again, he's thinking with anything but his head, and I tease "Then we'll see about me showing you around."

I'm not the only one with a stupid smile on my face and his eyes follow me as I walk back to my ship. Maybe I'm guilty when it comes to liking the attention, I've had my fair share of it not that I've ever entertained it, but none have ever looked like him or had that spark in their eye. I go to pull the ladder over, considering using the force to leap up might give him a little bit of a shock, and hear him call out "Need a foot up?"

"Piss off," I laugh and he flashes a teasing grin at me that only feeds my own determination. "You know you're going to lose right?"

"Don't worry I'll go easy," he promises as if he's doing me a favour.

I raise an eyebrow, not afraid to pull a dirty card to throw him off his game. "Because I'm a girl?"

"Oh no, no, no," he quickly corrects with a nervous laugh, his momentary panic only confirming that he isn't that type of flyboy. There shouldn't be any of them on base considering who the General is but you never know, I mean she did marry one after all. But still, I find an awful amusement in how quickly he refutes it. "Women are just as capable in a cockpit I can promise you that, but as damn good as you are you haven't seen me in action yet."

"Because I'd taken care of all the action before your slow ass ship could get there," I reply and he's all the more ready to try to show me up and my ego meets his as I smirk. "Don't worry I'll go easy."

The droids beep at each other in question as to whether or not they should get involved as he takes on the challenge, jumping up into his x-wing and I climb into mine, only for another ship to suddenly appear in the atmosphere as our droids get into their respective astromech ports. I blink in confusion at the ship, only to sense her before I begin to register who the ship belongs to. "Shit."

He looks at me as to ask if I'm ready to take off and he flashes a confused look as I give him the fall back gesture and shrink back into the cockpit as the ship lands, seeing the same look of panic on his face when he realises who's caught us.

I'm wearing a guilty smile as Mom comes out of the ship, walking with purpose but stopping in her tracks the moment she senses me, whatever emotion fills her face is quickly replaced with exasperation as she looks up at me, and then to the commander, shaking her head at us both.

"Get out of those x-wings."

The commander panics as we both climb out of the x-wings and I come to stand in front of Mom for the first time in almost a year. She wears the familiar expression of frustration, but thankfully I still see the fondness amongst it. I open my mouth but find myself lost for words as I suddenly clam up.

"General," Poe stammers beside me. "I was just-"

"I'm not blaming you, Commander," she sighs and turns her head towards me. "I know my daughter has a habit of causing trouble."

He does a double take, one I've seen often when the men on base have realised they've attempted to chat up the General's daughter. Although none have admittedly been as successful as him. "Daughter?"

Mom just gives a slight shake of her head as she sighs, as if she hadn't expected anything else. "Commander Dameron meet-"

"Hope Solo," I say shaking his limp hand, he's stunned as I meet his eye and for just a moment I see the faintest flicker of recognition amongst the pure mortification. "General's daughter."

"Unfortunately for my sanity," Mom remarks and shakes her head at me as Brance rushes into the hanger to meet her only to go unignored as she asks "Did you seriously try to drag my newest commander into an x-wing race?"

Brance looks between the commander and I at those words and suddenly seems to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown as he marches back out of the hanger as quickly as he came. Again, Mom looks as if she hadn't expected anything else.

"Maybe," I admit as Poe scratches his head, clearly more than a little blindsided. She looks at my x-wing, mechanically literate enough to realise the parts I've put in aren't cheap or legal and I try to smile and exploit the big eyes that seem to work on everyone else but her. "Miss me?"

She raises her eyebrows in warning and I quickly shut up.

"Commander, considering you've already become acquainted with my daughter you can be gracious enough to escort her to intelligence where she will hand over the information she has on the First Order outpost she destroyed before Snap could gather data on it," she says, barely reigning in her frustration with me but it's the disappointment in her voice that stings. "Then you'll meet me in my office, Hope."

"Yes General," we both say in unison and she shakes her head as walks past out of the hanger, leaving the commander and I standing there in shared awkwardness. While I feel guilty he's purely mortified, and I actually feel slightly bad now.

It's silent until he breaks it. "I'd say you were trying to set me up if she wasn't so happy to see you."

"Yeah," I say, his sarcasm being nothing but truthful. "Won't lie, I was hoping for a warmer welcome back but it could have been worse."

He looks at me now with his own eyebrows raised, standing there in a state of barely constrained panic. "It could have been worse? Worse for you you mean?"

I look at him in surprise. "A flyboy who actually cares what his commanding officers think of him, how rare."

"When my commanding officers are war heroes, yeah I care," he says defensively, incredulous that I don't share that sentiment. The tension between us is just as thick as it was moments ago but different now.

"Well commander, you'll come to learn your heroes are quite human," I assure him, knowing how every person on base reveres my mother, which is fair as she deserves every bit of it, but their reverence for Luke and my father is less justifiable. "Legends are often disappointing."

If I'm the last hope for my family then I'm only proof of that.

He looks at me now how they all do when I don't live up to the expectations they have of their heroes, little do they know their own heroes don't even live up to them.

But my own reputation? Well I can certainly live up to that.

He takes me in more carefully now, with equal caution and curiosity, but also with the slightest bit of wonder in his eye as he says "So, you're Hope Solo."

"That's me," I say, shrugging my shoulders despite knowing the weight my name carries. "Am I missing some grand reputation I'm meant to be living up to?"

From the way he stammers I know I am and it usually falls into two categories, a Jedi or a political scandal. My reputation as a pilot clearly isn't as prominent as I'd like it to be despite my stint as a racer.

"Well," he begins and I can tell he's not quite sure what to make of me. "I- you aren't what I expected."

I'm intrigued now as I take him in, sensing nerves beneath that cocky exterior. "And what did you expect?"

I don't miss the way his eyes skim over me and so I return the favour, somehow still quite liking what I see despite his fleeting defensiveness. "Well-" he coughs to try to cover himself. "Not you."

That's an answer I don't quite mind and I laugh under my breath. "Acceptable."

"So," he continues, keeping a respectable distance from me as we continue through the base, suddenly taking a very different approach towards me now he knows I'm the General's daughter. A fact that inevitably scares off anyone who looks at me how he did, although I can't quite say anyone has, not like that at least. "How did the General's daughter end up rogue in the Outer Rims?"

"That's quite the story," I say, realising what I did must have stayed classified outside of high command. "And not a pretty one."

"Alright," he says, he doesn't push but asks "So what did you do here before that?"

That's the question.

"Well I'm the General's daughter," I say, repeating what everyone else does with some embellishments. "Best damn pilot here, but considering I prefer blasters to negotiating they tend to keep me out of the loop."

He raises an eyebrow, a glint of almost childlike excitement in his eye as he asks "Not a lightsaber?"

And there's that one final legacy that Luke left me when he went into exile, that of the last Jedi. When the news of the temple's destruction broke they all looked to the supposed sole survivor for answers, but some looked at me as a suspect. The Jedi Killers grandaughter being the only survivor of a fire that killed all of the Jedi... that's one other legacy I've been left with.

But he only looks at me with an awestruck curiosity, not too dissimilar to how I'd look at Luke and the other students before I'd started my training, back when the Jedi were still mysterious to me. I can't quite remember anyone looking at me that way however, not until now.

"Oh I've got my lightsaber but I've been frequently reminded that it isn't a good look for the Resistance to use it for combat," I explain as we walk through the hanger towards intelligence, not quite sure why I'm still speaking to him when I'm about to get torn to shreds by my own mother but he's listening and perhaps I don't mind the sound of his voice. "And then there's the fact we aren't meant to engage the enemy first."

"That's a big one," he says keeping his tone light, playful even, but I can feel a mutual frustration there. "Something tells me that's part of it?"

"I might have gotten a bit carried away once or twice," I admit, something tells me with an ego like his he has as well, but not to the severity I did. "But there's nothing like practice."

He meets me in the middle there. "As frustrating as it is not being able to engage the Resistance is better when it comes to action than the Navy, I can promise you that."

"Yes but be warned commander, a little too much action and you'll get yourself grounded," I say with a bitter edge to my voice. "I would know."

"Too much action or insubordination?" he asks in amusement and if his face wasn't enough to take a liking to him that's sealed it.

"Well there's no point committing insubordination if there's no action," I remark and he laughs, something tells me he's no stranger to it either.

"I like the way you think but I'm glad I'm not your commander."

"I prefer to work alone so rest assured you won't have to deal with me," I say as we reach intelligence but something in his eyes tempts me against my better judgement, strikes a boldness in me I had never quite realised was there until now. "Unless you want to?"

But as expected he's suddenly hesitant. It's typically seen as disrespectful to even look at your superior's daughter that way and well no one wants to disrespect the general, but it's a little late for him to pretend like he wasn't quite interested just a few minutes ago.

He quickly becomes nervous, trying to laugh it off before not so subtly changing the subject. "So uh- I guess I will be then if you're going to be flying?"

"I will be," I state as he clams up, putting on his friendliest face and the gives me an awkward thumbs up of all things before guiding me inside the command centre. Usually I wouldn't care, usually I'd laugh when I'd watch them suddenly clam up, but it seems this one's left an impression, for better or for worse.

Brance stands there as we enter the room and hesitates at the sight of us. "The General said you had some reconnaissance data about First Order patrols?" he swallows and I can't recall what I did to make him like this, but he's in charge of intelligence. He knows exactly what I've been doing. "Around Tatooine I presume?"

There's judgment in his voice upon mentioning Tatooine, but Brance's judgment's only a fraction of what I'm about to get from Mom.

"Well, I don't exactly have it," I say looking at R2 but he's hardly been collecting any. "I saw an outpost and I blew it up, twenty four tie's in total including the ones this commander saw me take down, three squadrons, not much else to say." I turn to the commander now, since these patrols should be his area of jurisdiction, but mostly because I don't like to walk away without the last word. "But if you'd like a report on all the First Order outposts I've cleared in the outer rims you can come and find me."

Poe stops and blinks at me in slight alarm. "Cleared?"

"Cleared," I confirm and leave him to put together what I mean as I dismiss myself with a sly smile. "Commander." I nod my head to Brance who's turned pale. "Major."

Both their eyes follow me as I leave the room, forcing myself to keep a straight face as I willingly send myself to the interrogation chamber.

The encounter still plays on my mind as I wait to speak with Mom, it's almost a welcome distraction from what's waiting for me. But it's hard not to dwell when it's left a bitter taste in my mouth.

I'd once joked to Lando that no one would be brave enough to take a chance on me with who my family is, little did I know then just how true it would be, and that was before the entire galaxy found out I'm the heir of Darth Vader himself. In the public's eyes Mom was never a Jedi, she as far as they know can't wield the force. They could throw every accusation of treason and conspiracy against her but that, the claims of being a danger to society because of our blood was reserved for me and Luke and Ben.

Not to mention I've become the sister of a pretender.

But he's not the one accused of being the Jedi Killer, how can he be when much like Anakin Skywalker the galaxy believes he died with the rest of the Jedi. Like Luke he left me to bear those accusations alone. To carry this name that's only gotten heavier with each passing day.

But for a moment I liked being a mystery, and I liked it even more when he still looked at me with awe instead of apprehension after learning my name. Poe Dameron. I hate to say it but unlike the other flyboys that come through here I actually like this one.

Wait.

"Are you fucking serious," I whisper under my breath in irony into the empty space of Mom's office and remember where I've heard his name.

It was just days before everything went to hell. I'd travelled to Theron to be with Dad after I'd gotten myself expelled from university after a rather dramatic display that I'm still quite proud of. Lando and I sat watching the Five Saber's races when a man had caught my attention in the stands below, or if memory serves me the force had drawn my attention to him. Not that it would have mattered to Lando, all Lando saw was his niece staring at some guy.

"Oh no, now I know for a fact pretty boy down there's too old for you," Lando had laughed.

I'd just reminded him about how much older Dad was than Mom when they met and he laughed with me while trying to hush me. I don't know how the conversation had descended into what it had, with me expressing to him my juvenile worries no one would ever want to take a chance on me with who I was. Perhaps now I don't care about something as silly as love, I've experienced enough of it to know how it ends, but back then I did, what sixteen year old doesn't? He tried to ease my worries, giving me the sort of pep talk only an uncle can give, Mom had echoed similar statements not long after but Lando's words stuck with me over the years.

I'd thought that had been the end of it until I'd sat in the cantina as Lando went to the bar and I watched the same man introduce himself. Growing up with war heroes for parents, especially Han Solo, I was never a stranger to having aspiring pilots wanting to meet their heroes and so I'd watched from a distance as they spoke, happily out of sight.

"General Calrissian," Poe Dameron had said shaking his hand. "It's an honour."

"General?" I heard Lando repeat in amusement. "No one's called me that in a long time."

"You fought with my parents on Endor," he'd said and I'd been slightly more interested.

"Wait don't tell me, I know that face," Lando had said and laughed in realisation. "You're Kes and Shara's boy aren't you?"

He'd given his name "Poe Dameron."

I'd recognised his parents names, particularly his mother's since she'd defended Naboo during Operation Cinder. More than anything I just remember being confused by the strange nagging I felt, almost as if I knew him, or rather that I would know him. It seems my intuition was correct.

All things considered, that day is something I'd all but forgotten about until now and it leaves me unsettled. Nothing good ever comes when the force starts throwing these coincidences at me, or rather as it seems wrapping up loose ends. There was more to the conversation I struggle to recall, conversations about the navy and whatnot, but I do remember them talking about his mother.

As an aspiring pilot I'd taken an interest in the women who flew such as her and Hera Syndulla. Dad would often feign offence when I'd beg Mom to be able to come with her to meetings with General Syndulla since they'd had a friendly rivalry back in the day. Although Hera never abandoned her kid despite him being force sensitive so I know who I like more. Wherever he is I'm sure he's glad he was grown up by the time Luke began taking students, with Ben's age group having been the oldest ones he trained. The youngest however... that still pains me to think about.

I'd disappeared before Lando could introduce us, so at least some of my anonymity remains intact. While I'm vaguely familiar with him, all he knows of me would be reputation and that's how I prefer to be known.

Although the force isn't finished with me yet, the lingering tension from the last time I sat in this office still remains, bringing back other more uncomfortable memories.

"What do you mean I'm grounded!" I raged at her after coming back from what I thought was a successful mission. "I did everything you asked me to-"

"I sent you to run reconnaissance not to engage!" she yelled, as beside herself with anger as I'd ever seen her. "Instead you used the force to interrogate an officer and not just that, you engaged an entire squadron of stormtroopers with a lightsaber-"

"And I took them out!" I reminded her, proud of my accomplishment even if she was horrified, or at least proud in the moment.

"And potentially started a war!" she snapped and slammed her hand down on the table. "What is the one rule I ask you to follow, the only damn rule that matters!"

Still I didn't care. "How are we meant to stop them if we can't fight them-"

"We stop them through these missions you think are pointless, through collecting data and using it to secure whatever funding we can get from the very few allies we have in the senate," she tried to make me understand and she grit out "Hope, we do not have the numbers or the facilities to enter into a war. The Rebellion was thousands strong, we have less than a hundred and the Resistance cannot afford to lose the only Jedi we have because she decided to go rogue and take matters into her own hands with the very weapon that should never be used for such violence."

Those words rubbed me the wrong way "So that's my role, the one symbolic Jedi. Not a pilot, not a fighter, not even your daughter-"

"Don't go there," she warned, the mother-daughter relationship we'd finally forged during the scandal with Vader having worn away with every disagreement over strategy. "I am speaking to you as your general, not your mother, and it's time you learned the difference. Which is why you aren't just stripped of your rank, you are grounded until you can pull your head in and not endanger this entire resistance on a whim. You tortured a man Hope." The way she looked at me made me sick. "You used the force to torture a man like-" she cut herself off but we both knew damn well who she was comparing me to. "For someone who can see the past you sure as hell don't know how to learn from it."

"He mentioned Ben," I ground out and she couldn't meet my eye. "He's calling himself Kylo Ren and has made himself the First Order's enforcer. Did you think I was going to let that officer go without finding out everything I could about what my brothers been doing!"

"I'm more concerned about what you've done," she said, terribly pale. "Saving those children at whatever cost, that I could excuse, that I would have even promoted you for. But the carnage you left behind and giving the First Order grounds to attack us I can't excuse. Using the force for that- as the last person with any authority to tell you how the force should be used... I am disgusted Hope."

But not as disgusted as I was at what I'd seen. "He was dragging children screaming from their homes-"

"And what intelligence did you torture out of him?" she asks me and that's when I clamped my mouth shut. "You could have asked where they were to be taken, how many, where their battalion is stationed, but no. You weren't just reckless you were selfish. If you were going to take your anger out regardless you could have given us something useful instead of chasing after Snoke. Tell me how did you rationalise the thought that a low ranking officer would know where either of them are?" I opened my mouth but she cut me off sharply. "Every single member of high command across all of our stations has petitioned for your demotion and an official court martial which has never happened before in the entirety of this organisation. They want you not just grounded permanently but banned from any Resistance operations and frankly I agree."

I gaped at her, betrayed. Command could believe whatever they wanted, but this was my own mother. "You think I'm dangerous?"

"I think you have been nothing but angry and spiteful these past years," she confessed to me as I stood there with tears burning in my eyes. "I understand you went through something horrific, I understand why you're acting out, but right now I can't trust that-"

"I won't end up like Ben?" She still couldn't meet my eye and I felt more betrayed by her in that moment than I ever did when I discovered the truth about Vader. "You think I'm like him?" But I knew there was something else. "No, you don't think I'm like Ben. You think I'm like him. Your father."

There was a bite to her voice. "Don't call him my father and don't you dare think for even a moment I would believe you could become what he did."

"Then why?" I whispered, tears of anger wetting my cheeks. "Why don't you trust me?"

"Because as of this moment you are too unstable to be trusted with important missions, or any mission for that matter," she said carefully, but the words hurt just as much. "I can't protect you from the law if you decide to let darkness take control, which is why you have to work where I can keep an eye on you. I want you to go to Hosnian Prime to work with the few allies we have left in the senate, Varish will look after you. You spent years being educated for a career in politics and I gave you your title so you could take my place in the senate. If I can't trust you in the field then that is your assignment."

I shook my head. "No." She was leaning over her desk, head hung in distress. "If you won't let me fight then I'm not staying here."

"Hope," she argued. "Please for once in your life think before storming out."

"I have," I said. "If you don't trust me then I'm going to find the one person who does." She looked up in fear, and I knew what she assumed. "Not him, Dad."

She sighed. "Honey, your father-"

"Is out there," I said, tired of failing to live up to her expectations. "And if I'm too much like him for you, or any other man in this damn family, then I'm going to find him!"

I'd stormed out with hot tears running down my cheeks, now I sit here cold as she enters the room and sits down across from me without a word, neither of us knowing what to say until I break the silence.

"Am I being court-martialed?"

"No," she answers shortly, her voice difficult to read.

"Lando convinced me to come home," I say, unable to calm the defensive tone in my voice. "I was hoping for a warmer welcome considering the speech he gave about how much you've missed me, how worried you've been."

"I was worried," she says, struggling to hold back her frustration. "I was worried sick that you were hurt or out of your mind but no, I find you the same as ever going off to race x-wings whilst I've been in the core worlds doing the job I'd asked you to do." I just shake my head to try to fight off the guilt and look away until she relents and asks "Did you find Han?"

"No, but Lando will keep looking," I answer stiffly and get to business. "He said you had a mission for me."

She nods, but if I thought she was going to let the past be the past I was wrong. "We will get to that, but now enough time has passed I hope we can speak honestly now about what happened so let me begin by saying what you did horrified me Hope. My barely nineteen year old daughter torturing an enemy officer and committing a massacre beyond what was necessary to protect those children. Even after they were off the planet you went back to finish the job to ensure there was no one living to testify to what you did. You committed a war crime, several I might add."

Against my better judgement I retort. "Legally it's not a war crime if we aren't technically at war."

She shakes her head, having not expected any different. "A cold war is still a war and it's only getting worse."

"Which is why-"

"Why you've been hunting the First Order for sport?" she finishes and I'm glad Snap gave me a warning. "Commander Dameron told me all about your encounter before you decided to come back and try to- what- what the hell were you even doing?"

I put it simply. "Trying to prove a point."

She just sighs and puts her head in her hands. "Hope you've been back five minutes and you're already giving me a headache."

"You asked me to come back," I remind her, wishing I'd stayed gone. "Sent Lando to beg me to come back-"

"Yes because you're my daughter and I love you despite how infuriatingly stupid you've been," she says bluntly and pure anger suddenly fills her eyes. "Working for Boba Fett?"

Shit.

Despite my panic I hold my ground. "He pays well."

"He pays well?" she repeats. "I should think so considering the money he got from giving your father over to Jabba the Hutt."

"Well that's his own fault for making shitty deals and not following through," I say, knowing well enough by now how it works. "You say I don't learn from the past but he's the one repeating it."

"And you should be smarter than to get into the same mess for the sake of spiting him," she lectures. "Because that's why you did it in the first place isn't it? To spite your father and when he didn't come back to drag you off Tatooine you decided to take the credits and take your anger out on tie fighters."

I remain unremorseful. "Would you rather me use a lightsaber?"

I'd almost forgotten that like myself, she gives as good as she gets but it's a comparison that doesn't phase me anymore. "Like Vader did?"

"I was once told Anakin Skywalker was a war criminal," I say, remembering that history lesson on the Clone Wars after years of Luke making our grandfather out to be the ultimate hero in Ben's eyes. "It only seems right I continue his legacy."

She does not like that answer. "Alright then I was wrong, you haven't matured enough to take on this mission."

She gets up to leave and I relent "Wait, Mom." She looks at me expectantly and we've been through this enough times I know what she wants to hear. "I'm sorry."

She still waits. "For?"

"For being a smartass about committing a war crime, no matter how justified it was, and running away for a year," I say and watch her inhale deeply to keep herself calm. "And for being a smartass now."

She sits back down and leans back in her chair. "A year Hope. I would have thought being gone that long running around the Outer Rims would have matured you at least slightly."

I actually scoff. "You really thought that after being married to Dad?"

"For one single minute can you not be a smartass," she pleads and raises her index finger. "Just one."

I wisely keep my mouth shut and nod, knowing it won't last.

"Long enough has passed I believe I can convince command you've grown up and have seen the error of your mistakes," she begins, moving to negotiations. "Now we both know that's a load of crap but if you want to get back in the field they need to believe it. I might be the General but there is only so much I can do to help you because I can't be seen giving my daughter or any member of this Resistance special treatment. While you've been gone I've done my best to try to rebuild your reputation for the day you inevitably came back, most of the base believes you've been studying politics on Naboo and completing your education."

I scoff in offence and suddenly it all makes sense why a commander would see someone pull off what I did and never even think of my name. "That's the best lie you could come up with, that I willingly went back to university after they expelled me for arguing with that old Imperial bitch?"

"Yes," she states and my frustration only grows, that I'm only known as the spoiled princess sent off to Naboo instead of what I've worked hard to become.

"So you discredit the fact I'm the best pilot in the Resistance so everyone believes I'm just some spoiled princess playing politics at some prissy university to the point your shiny new flyboy can't even realise who I must be and thinks he's actually better than I am?" Her eyebrows shoot up at that remark. "That's your solution to rebuilding my reputation? By utterly falsifying it and discrediting the one thing I've worked hard to be." I stick a finger into my chest as I grit out "I started flying when I was a child, I begged and pleaded to join the starfighter corps when I was just twelve years old and have spent my entire life working damn hard to be the pilot that I am. It's bad enough everyone just dismisses me as being Han Solo's daughter when I'm a better pilot than he ever was, but for no one to even recognise me as a pilot and just think I'm off prancing around Naboo-" I have to cut myself short. "How could you do that?"

She sees I'm genuinely hurt but remains firm in her decision. "How do you think they'd take it if I said you were running around with pirates and hunting the First Order on some mad vendetta?"

"They'd think I was actually doing something worthwhile," I say and she blinks at me incredulously. "You might think I've been acting like an idiot but I've been smart about it."

She's unimpressed and bites back. "Words right out of your father's mouth."

"I made sure even if people pieced together I was the one in that starfighter they couldn't do anything about it because I was being legally contracted to defend a system from an unwelcome force, hell I had an invitation to the bounty hunters guild that I didn't accept because I knew it would be a bad look for the Resistance and for you. But I've been damn good at what I've been doing and I'm not going to apologise for it."

"Congratulations," she deadpans. "In trying to piss off your father you've become him, running away from your family for the thrill of making credits and blowing things up."

That finally shuts me up, Vader I can take being compared to, but not him. Not when I know she looks at me and sees him more than anyone else. She suddenly looks remorseful and reaches for my hand.

"Hope, you are my daughter and I love you more than you could ever know," she says and I wasn't prepared for those words, looking away as I force back tears. "But you need to realise your actions have consequences, if your father's situation isn't evidence of that I don't know what is. Luck inevitably runs out."

"It hasn't for you."

Her eyes are sad. "It ran out a long time ago, but yours hasn't. Not yet." I don't expect the ache when she reaches for my face and forcing back tears has not felt this hard in a long time. "You've grown up."

"Yeah well, that happens," I say curtly and she withdraws her hand. "I know you think I ran off like Dad did but you didn't give me a choice."

"You had a choice and you made it," she says gently, the love in her voice only making it worse. "But now I need you to own up to it and make better ones."

"If you want me to be ashamed of what I've done and apologise for it I won't," I say and finally she listens. "I did make my choices, and don't think I wouldn't make them again."

"Alright," she says upon seeing this won't go the way she wants. "Do you want to hear the truth?"

Believing there's nothing left she could say to hurt me I shrug. "Shoot."

"I never believed it when I was told the Skywalker blood ran strong in you, but I should have. When Sola and my mother's handmaidens told me you reminded them of my father I didn't listen. When Luke warned me dark things would come of your training I should have listened but I didn't and you were nearly killed as a consequence."

"Mom-" I immediately whisper at her blaming herself.

"I knew something was wrong between you and Ben, I knew something was wrong with him, but I sent you back to Ossus with him regardless," she says as if Ben gave her a choice in the matter. He'd taken me as his apprentice, and his eyes his authority overuled our own mother's. "Days later everything was gone. Ben, Luke, eventually Han. Everything was lost in that fire except for you." Her voice breaks. "I have tried in every way I know how to help you Hope, but you aren't helping me. It is a fact that you share many similarities with your grandfather, more than Ben ever did. Everyone who's ever lived to know both of you has said as much. I am aware of the darkness that's clung to you ever since you discovered what he became and I want to help you Hope, but I need you to let me."

My throat's tight. I've always shrugged off the comparisons, but they've never come so strongly from my own mother, the one person in the galaxy who has the most cause to despise him. Yet in my travels I've only found more people who've confirmed what I've tried to deny for years. "So that's why you can't stand me, because I take after him?"

She shakes her head in disbelief that that's the conclusion I'd come to, voice incredulous as she whispers "No, Hope that's not what I'm trying to tell you."

"Do you have any idea how long I spent trying to live up to you?" I ask her, remembering now just why I ran. "Trying to live up to a perfect hero but no matter how hard I try I'm told time and time again that I'm my father's daughter, or worse that I take after Anakin Skywalker. Never you, never Padmé Amidala, only ever them." Frustrated tears burn in my eyes that she truly can't fathom. "I don't want to hear that, I don't want to live up to anyone's legacy. I've spent years training to make my own path, I've spent another year out there in the Outer Rims not even recognising myself in the mirror trying to make a name for myself just to have all these powerful people look at me and tell me I'm just like a man I never knew. Desperate for validation, living up to a self-imposed prophecy, the one to restore balance and save us all only to lead the slaughter. Or worse that I'm like the father who abandoned me."

She quickly becomes unnerved at the cynical laughter that escapes me along with the tears. "Hope-"

"I don't want that, I just want my family but I can't have that," I say with a barely contained primordial rage burning in me. "All because of a voice in Ben's head." She's deadly quiet as I finally look her in the eye. "So if killing stormtroopers is as close as I can get to killing Snoke then that's what I'm going to do."

For the first time I sense a deep fear within her and she again reaches for my hand only for me to sharply pull it away. "I need you to listen to me."

"No!" I yell, a trembling mess as I slam my hand down on the desk. "I need you to listen to me when I say that if I can get my hands on Snoke I can end this! Or if I can just find Ben I know I could bring him back or convince him to turn on Snoke, but to do that I need to get my hands on these First Order officers and-"

"And you'll what, torture information out of them?"

The answer's simple in my mind. "Why not?"

"Because it's torture hope!" she yells. "For the love of-, you are not going to be torturing anyone for information. I know how much you loved your brother, I know how close you were and you are not the only one who wants him back." There's tears in both our eyes now. "But you are simply not prepared to take on Snoke."

"Luke took on the Emperor didn't he?" I retort. "He convinced Vader to turn on him and so will Ben. I know him better than you ever did Mom as much as you hate to hear that. I know he was screwed in the head and delusional, hell I know that better than you ever could and I have permanent scars to remind me of it every day!" There's nothing but pain in her eyes. "But everything he did was to protect me as twisted as it was and he would never let Snoke do to me what he's done to him. I know if I bring him back we will destroy Snoke."

She tries to steer me away from the subject, to de-escalate, to distract me from the spiral I'm heading down. "Someday yes, but for now I need you focused on proving to the senate what the First Order is truly doing so we can prepare. I promise you the day will come when you can use your saber but until then we need to build up the Resistance before starting a war we can't win and you are only one person. We need the support of the New Republic and the senate-"

"When are you going to realise we need to damn what the senate says and go after them ourselves?" I exclaim and it's then I fess up. "Do you have any idea how many of those bastards I've killed before they could gain a foothold in the Outer Rims?" Her face turns to stone. "How many outposts I've destroyed-"

"I don't want to know," she says hoarsely. "I don't want to know how many people you've killed or how many outposts you've blown up. I just want you to do what I'm asking you to do."

"What are you so afraid of?" I ask her at a complete loss. "I am capable-"

"You are too capable and you know it which makes you dangerous," she states factually and years worth of anger finally comes out. "You think you're smarter than everyone else in the room, but you're not. You think you are better and that you know better but you don't and it's past time you heard it. You don't do what is asked of you, you either go too far or disobey. You have always been all or nothing Hope. You run away for a year and now come back asking for me to trust you but I can't. You're impulsive and rash and not in the way we need. You don't think before acting and still refuse to do what is asked of you. You always have and I had hoped you could be mature enough to sit down so we could both apologise and move forward so I could give you this very important mission but no, you're too defensive and too defiant to even listen to me without interpreting me trying to get through to you as an attack!" Her voice breaks and for one of the very few times in my life I see tears running down her face. Three times I've seen it, but never solely because of me. "I love you, but I cannot trust you when you're like this."

Her words hurt, they're true, but they still hurt.

No, they don't just hurt, they tear me apart and I've never craved to be back in my bedroom on Hosnian Prime so badly. Back when I was still a child, back when I was still young enough if I cried I knew someone would come to comfort me, whether it was her or Dad, or most often Ben. Back before everything went to hell, and I can't stop the tears from coming now.

She goes to take my hand again but I pull it away, shaking my head as I stumble back out of my chair away from her, my flight response taking over. "Hope!" she calls out as I head for the door. "Wait-"

I'm already out the door and halfway to the hanger when I slam into Poe Dameron as I round a corner, he catches my arm and goes to ask if I'm alright but I pull it free, not stopping to make conversation as I rush to find R2 so we can leave.

For good this time.

#poe dameron #poe dameron x solo!oc #poe dameron fanfiction #poe dameron x oc #sequel trilogy #poe dameron x original character #solo original character #skywalker original character #solo!oc #poe dameron x solo original character #star wars fanfiction #star wars original character #sequel trilogy fanfiction #poe dameron x f!oc #poe dameron x female original character

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madd-devil · 2 years

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Peau d'Âne's daughter and the Lost Boy

Author note: This is a new series hehe! I don't know many parts there will be. The reader is the daughter of the princess from the tale Donkey Skin. Have fun! :3

If Felix had the choice between feeling humiliated or scared, he would pick the latter.

That girl observed him from behind the counter, with an intense interest and ferocity in her eyes that made him quiver. Rumpletilskin, the bastard son of Peter Pan, forced him to walk towards her. He turned to insult him but refrained from doing so: he needed a plan to get away from this boring city and to get back to Neverland, so he had to play nice until he got an opportunity to do so.

"There, (Y/N), you always asked for another pet, there it is!"

The blond haired boy stopped breathing and he glazed at the Dark One with a horrified look on his face. A pet?! What did he mean by that?!

"When I said I wanted a pet, I thought about getting another cat so Sharon wouldn't be so lonely." She replied with a smirk and she tilted her head as she inspected Felix with her eyes… or was she undressing him?! "Though… having extra hands in the shop wouldn't hurt."

"I am not a pet!" The blond haired boy roared, and threw himself on her, wanting to injure her before he could escape through the door which was open behind her.

However, she swiftly dodged him and chuckled mockingly as he found himself against a broken piano. Under his body, the keys made some sounds and he cringed at how bad he sounded.

She waited for him to calm down, looking at her nails boredly. He was looking at her, and he wondered how such a girl could have avoided him so easily. She didn't look like she was trained to fight as well. What was so important about her?

"Are you calm? Or should I put you in time out?" She sighed as he took a small statuette to fight, just in case to defend himself. "Men." She rolled her eyes as she sent him flying into a leather sofa. "You don't move now." She ordered as she pointed her finger down at him and he replied with a glare.

Rumpletilskin disappeared with the girl in another room and now Felix understood why the older man brought him there: that girl had magic. Well girl was a big word, she looked like she was not that much younger than him and he was considered as the old one on Neverland. Realizing he still had the statuette in his hand, he put it down beside him and eyed the front door. It was so tempting. He could simply walk away… but he knew there was definitely a catch.

Something suddenly moved and ran in front of him. He thought he was hallucinating, it was dark and was very long. It went under a coffee table, and didn’t move. Two eyes were observing him, and the blond haired boy decided to move very slowly and quietly. Crouching down near the table, he realized that the shadow was in fact a cat. A black cat to be more precise, with a very little white patch on her chest and green eyes that could never compete with Peter's.

He had seen cats before, on ships that made the mistake to come to Neverland for example. But, they never kept them. This one had a sparkly collar with a name tag that read the name "Sharon". An odd name for a cat he thought. He extended his hand under the table, hoping to maybe pet the animal. She looked so soft…

"What are you doing?"

Felix let out a small surprised cry and accidentally hit his head under the table. He grumbled, and heard some giggles. The cat took this opportunity to run away from them and disappeared somewhere else. The blond haired boy sat down and touched his head. The girl stared at him with an amused look and the Dark One rolled his eyes before advancing towards him rather menacingly.

"You are going to stay here, in her care. You will work, you will be fed and have a roof under your head. That's already too much for a scum such as you." Rumpletilskin announced and Felix's eyes went to the cane, imagining being hit by it, which made him shiver in panic. "If you step out of line just once, she has the right to crush your heart, did I make myself clear?"

He nodded, feeling instantly threatening. He was not on Neverland anymore, the best was to lay low until he found a way to free Pan from the Pandora box and to get back to the island. This was his home, not that horrible looking shop.

The young woman then stepped and crouched down, forcingly taking his left arm and put a bracelet around it. Felix felt a light burn and the bracelet tightening around his wrist. He let out a hiss of pain. He truly was treated like a pet.

"There, there Felix. Don't give us that look." Rumplestiltskin sneered at him.

"I will kill you." He replied, glaring at the man.

"Of course you will. Now, (Y/N), will you please bathe that dirty fleabag of a human and give him something proper to wear? I don't want the customers to run away at his sight."

"Sure…" She muttered, sounding bored.

When the older man left the shop, she kicked him in the leg, telling him to stand up. Felix did so, and followed her in another part of the house. He observed it neatly, trying to find ways of escaping. He found none and sighed, defeated. They arrived in a narrow corridor, at the end of it, there was a door with a sign "bathroom". He nervously looked at the (H/C) haired woman.

"Do you know how to wash at least?"

"Of course I know!"

"Great, because you smell."

Felix really didn't like how that girl treated him. She was very condescending with him, and acted like she was a superior being. She roughly and quickly explained how this bathroom worked, and found some clothes that miraculously fit him. He had to admit, he did feel better after showering and washing his hair, with that soap that would have burnt his eyes, as (Y/N) stated.

However, he had tried to remove the bracelet once more. But it was attached to his skin, which made it painful to remove and… and he was stuck. He was hating it. At least, the young man was clean and had clothes.

"That style suits you. You like a classy retro grandpa."

"That was supposed to be a compliment?"

"Yes. It was."

There was a silence again and Felix didn’t know what to say to her. He was kind of her prisoner.

"What's your name?"

"Felix. Didn't Rumpletilskin tell you that? I thought he would at least inform his… daughter of this." He tried to put seeds of distrust between them but soon realized it was just another fail as she started to laugh and shook her head.

"You have it all wrong. I am not his daughter. Just his apprentice. Have been since I came out of the womb." She smiled proudly.

After that talk, she beckoned him to come over. He followed her, still looking out for an evasion plan. He also needed to get a map of the city, he had heard where Pan was being held, and with careful planning, he could get him out. They would get their revenge, destroy this city and go back to Neverland.

"Do you want the bed or the mattress?"

The question caught him off guard and he glanced around the room where he was standing: it was of decent size, but very messy and he wondered how that girl lived in this pigsty room. It was even worse than in Neverland.

(Y/N) sighed annoyingly, as he was not replying to her question. His attention went back to her.

"What do you prefer?"

"It would be rude of me to let you sleep on a mattress like that. But… I admit it would fit. I mean…" She grinned and Felix swore he saw fangs or something like that in her mouth. "You are my new pet."

"I am not a pet!"

"Fine, fine… I should have collared you instead of putting on this bracelet…" She mumbled to herself as she quickly was making space. "You will have to get the air mattress. It is in the closet, in a blue box on your right when you exit my room."

He had to follow her orders. He thought about it before: he needed to lay low, gain her trust so she could remove this ugly bracelet and run away from here. Stepping outside the room, he went exactly where she indicated the box was. Opening the closet, he let out a cry of surprise as several boxes fell out. It was badly organized, no wonder it feels like this!

"Felix, you alright?" Her voice reached his ears and he rolled his eyes, she was surely faking her worry.

"I am fine. Nearly got my head stomped on by boxes." He groaned as he started to pick them up and organise them so they would never fall again.

One had accidentally opened and the content had spilled on the floor. He crouched down and realised it was mostly letters, paintings and small gifts… He wondered why it was there but didn't think about it too much. He neatly put the content back inside the box and put it with the others. Finally, he noticed the blue box, which was quite heavy.

Felix walked to her bedroom and dropped the box down. (Y/N) had finished tidying up and took something flat out of the box. The blond haired boy observed her, not understanding what she was doing.

"I hope the air pump still works…" She groaned under her breath.

He didn’t quite understand this magic: in less than ten minutes, thanks to this little device, the mattress started to grow and grow until a mattress indeed appeared.

"Let’s hope it doesn't deflate when you go to sleep." She joked as she disregarded the box. "By the way… You will be in charge of cleaning the house and the store. And you will have to do everything I tell you to do." She finished as she approached him like a prey, grinning.

"So I am a slave, am I right?" Felix asked, his tone defensive.

"More or less, yes. Listen… at least we won't beat you up, you will have good food, a roof, clothes… a lot of good things. And maybe… Maybe one day I will free you."

He perked up at this, and he groaned when he realized it would be in a very long time. She informed him that they would probably go shopping the next day.

A few weeks had passed, and Felix slowly found his marks in this new life. He worked hard so (Y/N) and Rumpletilskin wouldn't breath down his neck all the time. His chores included cleaning around the shop and the house like the young woman had stated, he also helped to move some heavier objects and furniture.

Since the young woman wasn't mostly present and Rumpletilskin spent his days with his lover (he recalled her name was Belle), he was alone in the shop. It gave him plenty of time to learn and to plan his great escape plan.

He kept to himself as well. Yes, they clothed him, fed him and he was sleeping in the same room with (Y/N) but that didn't mean they were friends. Also, the cat was avoiding him, which was a shame. The girl told him that she needed time to adapt to a new person in her home.

Then something happened.

He was bored and had decided to explore the backroom of the shop. Of course, he went to a section that was usually forbidden to him… That's where he found a giant form hidden by a dusty white sheet with holes in it. His curiosity got over him and he ripped the sheet.

He was not surprised to find a giant wardrobe but he was amazed at how beautiful it was: it was white and blue, with literal gold engraved in detailed patterns. Felix was actually in awe of the furniture. He lightly touched it, too afraid to break. Why was this beauty kept in such a nasty place?

Some minutes later, he decided to open it. Maybe it was keeping a very powerful object that could aid him in his quest for freedom and revenge? Salivating at the idea, he swiftly opened the double doors, and was immediately disappointed by what was inside.

There were dresses. Three of them caught his eyes almost instantly. They were big, and gorgeous, even ravishing. One was blue, the same color of a cloudless sky, with pearls on the collar, and ruffles a little bit everywhere. It was very simple, unlike the other one. It was gray with white dots, which had diamonds and other rare gemstones engraved in them. And finally… One that seemed to be made in gold, with again precious and rare stones. It was the most stunning of all the dresses. It was even hurting his eyes.

But why were those dresses there? It didn't make any sense: Rumpletilskin could become rich if he sold them to the right people. Maybe he should tell him about them. Perhaps the old man had forgotten about it or something.

"What are you doing here?!"

He jumped in surprise upon hearing (Y/N)'s voice from the shadows. He swirled around and was faced with a very angry and furious young lady. She had a look that could have killed him on the spot and he swore he saw her palms sparking up. She pushed him out of her way roughly and he nearly tripped…

(Y/N) closed the doors loudly and he thought she would smash the wardrobe. Her eyes held such ferocity and rage that he didn't dare to breathe. Maybe she could hear his heartbeat as well? Felix had to remind himself he was in danger, strangely… He was in awe of her. The way she behaved… So strongly and so menacing… What was wrong with him?

"Why were you here?!" She screamed at him, using her magic to slam him against the wall.

"I was… was bored." He had trouble coming up with clear sentences, he felt dizzy and disoriented.

She seemed to realize he was not feeling well so she released him. He fell harshly on the ground and understood that weeks without daily training had reduced him to being a weakling. (Y/N) huffed and she urged him to stand up and to leave.

The evening was calm after this. Felix had avoided her but… he couldn't do that for eternity. They slept in the same room, so they would eventually come face to face again. He didn’t want to apologize, he didn't do anything wrong.

Walking by the kitchen, he noticed that (Y/N) was near the stove, putting the kettle on. She didn't seem to be the type to enjoy tea, he had heard it was for people who enjoyed relaxing. She seemed to notice him and glanced at him.

"Hey…"

Her voice was softer than earlier in the afternoon but he actually froze. His neck and back were still sore after what had happened.

"Hey." He replied back. "I was… I was just moving'… to the room where we sleep." He stuttered, finding it hard to speak. "I should get going."

"No wait. I am sorry I snapped at you earlier."

"It's fine. I shouldn't have opened that wardrobe anyway."

"The dresses… they belonged to my mother." (Y/N) told him as she poured some hot water in a yellow cup.

"Is… is she dead?" Felix asked in a whisper, feeling dumb suddenly. If she had the dresses… maybe it came from an inheritance?

"Unfortunately no. She sent me the dresses. To make it short, she exchanged her first child for an opportunity to escape her lavish situation and then met my father. They had me and Rumpletilskin asked them to get his prize back when I was born." She replied, and he guessed she seemed pretty annoyed because of her tone. "They didn't hesitate to give me over."

"They sound like… terrible people."

"I never bothered to get to know them. If they were… so ready to hand over their first born, then they don't deserve to know me." She declared, giving him the yellow cup with a soft smile and stared at him. "So… tea truce?"

The way she smiled… His heart started thundering in his chest and he felt his cheeks heating up as he took the cup. When she asked if he was okay, he told her he felt a bit sick.

"Homemade tea, usually it is for Belle, but… I don't know, I wanted to make you welcome. So you can feel included." Then she coughed discreetly. "And to apologise… for slamming you against the wall."

"That's okay." Secretly, Felix wanted her to do it again. She was hot. When did he start being like that? It was unlike him! "Thank you… I guess."

It was awkward but he appreciated the tea. He drank it while attempting to draw away a sketch of his great escape plan in a notebook (Y/N) had given him. Actually, it was Rumpletilskin's girlfriend who gifted him this, via the Dark One's apprentice. It was a very beautiful one as well: it had a dark green leather hard cover with some flowers engraved on it, he recognised them as heliotropes and tulips. The blond haired boy thanked his good knowledge of the fauna and the flora. He had never seen the woman but he put her as the weakness of the Dark One. That could be useful. Maybe he could manipulate her as well?

Sighing, he closed the notebook and hid it under his pillow. He took a glimpse at (Y/N)'s empty bed, and he wondered when she was going to get home. It was nearly midnight. He had eaten with Rumpletilskin and it had been horrible. The man didn't talk at all and actually left Felix alone while he was eating. He laid on the uncomfortable inflatable mattress, staring at the ceiling. Tomorrow will be another day where he could work on his great plan.

Some days had passed since that accident with the wardrobe and the reveal of (Y/N)'s difficult and horrible past. Felix had been taking care of the shop and the house, cleaning it and enjoying being alone. (Y/N) had been out of the home most of the days and the nights, but oddly enough today, she was present. He took it as a slow day, taking his time for once.

"Felix! I need your help. I have no fucking idea what Rumpletilskin did with the laundry detergent but it's everywhere." (Y/N) called out from downstairs, sounding irritated and frustrated.

The blond haired boy walked down the stairs quickly, nearly missing some steps. He jumped over the last one and discovered (Y/N) kneeling on the floor in a nearby room, in a short and simple dress, mumbling about murdering the Dark One. He followed the form of her body, feeling something funny in his stomach, and snapped out of it when she abruptly glanced at him.

"Get some towels and lay them out on the ground, so you don't slip." She instructed and Feliox did as she told him so.

"How are we going to clean this?"

"We have to mop the room many times." She replied angrily and took a bucket full of water and put a broom inside it and twisted it in another one. "I swear that old man has problems remembering things... and on that day I wanted to go out too! If Sharon gets here, she might lick the floor and get sick."

Felix hummed, watching her from the doorway quietly. He didn’t know if he should intervene as she seemed pretty mad. He didn’t want to be hurt again... or did he? The funny feeling was still in his stomach when she talked or moved a certain way.

"Here, let me help..." He started to stutter as he approached her, barefoot, as she stood up to dip the floor cloth back into the bucket.

Fate had another plan for him: he slipped as he reached her and fell forward, taking her with him in his fall. They both fell on the ground harshly and loudly, the mop falling with the two buckets.

The blond haired boy was above her, panting heavily, flustered and a bit embarrassed by this new position, while she was groaning in pain with closed eyes and reaching for the back of her head. He could just lean in and kiss her.

That's something he could do. He liked that girl. And he wondered why. He had never fallen in love so nimbly and so intensely for someone before. But, he only desired more. He wanted to drown in this new and fast consuming love.

"Felix get up please." She said in a very soft and hushed tone.

"Right..." He mumbled as he difficulty stood up, not wanting to slip again. His cheeks were a bit red from thinking all of this. "I should... I should finish the cleaning. I mean..." He gulped nervously, reaching for the buckets and the mop. "It seems like you were going out."

"Yeah. Thanks. I will own you one." She gave him a splendid smile and his heart thundered again in his chest, and he was afraid she would hear it. "Have fun." She joked as she swiftly and carefully left the room, taking her boots in her hands.

When he heard the door closing and being locked, he sighed. His eyes wandered to his wrist, where the bracelet was merging with his skin. He tried to move it again, and winced when he realised that he couldn't. It was hurting his skin badly. And it was very itchy as well. It felt like a burn that was never healed.

He was still a prisoner here. That bracelet was a constant reminder of his condition in this town. He would never be free unless he freed Pan and both got revenge. But this plan was thwarted by his new found love for his "owner". Starting to mop, he chuckled at this thought. This story would have made a nice and beautiful fairytale. And Felix knew he didn't deserve a happy ending. The wisest thing he could do was to forget this girl and concentrate on the escape plan.

Of course, when he fell asleep that night, all he could dreamt about was (Y/N).

#ouat #ouat felix #ouat felix x reader #ouat peter pan #ouat neverland imagine #once upon a time felix #imagine felix ouat #ouat felix imagine

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bekala · 18 days

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20 Questions for Writers

@noxnthea tagged me so here we are.

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 18

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

555,722 more than I expected. It's gonna get higher!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Almost exclusively Marvel, but I have two Sons of Anarchy fics that I brought over from my FanFiction.net account way back when and there's more over there.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Order of Operations (Darcy/Bucky; E), biologically, but not conceptually (Darcy/Bucky; T), Trust in Motion (Darcy/Bucky; M), Lessons in Avoidance: Or How Darcy Lewis Learned to Have Feelings (Darcy/Clint; E), a haunting (Darcy/Bucky; T)

5. Do you respond to comments?

I try to reply to all of them. Talking to readers in the comments of one of my absolute favorite things about posting fics.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

An Unsealed Fate (E)

Is an AU one shot Bucky/Clint/Nat based the night before a battle in a world inspired by the show Carnival Row. All the characters are having this bittersweet moment of expressing their love for each other and not saying goodbye as they prepare to fight for freedom at dawn the next day.

“We don’t say goodbye before we part,” Clint continues as his fingers finish the last button and he starts to tug Bucky’s trousers and pants over his hips, “we don’t seal a fate until all other paths are closed to us.”

“He’s right,” Nat says and when Bucky turns his head again she’s so close he can make out the gold stars around her irises, the only outward sign of the immense power hiding under her skin, “don’t tempt fate. What will come will come but we have now and we’re going to celebrate it with you.”

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Almost everything tends to have happy endings in one way or another! I write fic as an escape so even though I like to let some angst in I like to wrap it up with a happy ending.

That said, the most stereotypical happy ending I have is probably, It's Quite Inconvenient. This is a Darcy/Bucky Regency AU comedy of errors, and it ends on a very happy note!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not usually, fingers crossed it doesn't start! I love my fandom community like crazy!!

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yep. The kind I want to read.

10. Do you write crossovers?

I don't know that I've written any crossovers but I've written a number of AUs.

11. Are any of your fics converted into podfics?

No, but I'd be excited about it if they were.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope!

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

Not technically, but I work so closely with @noxnthea on so many of my fics they might as well be co-written - or at least co-loved/co-plotted/co-agonizedover. The running joke is she's the fairy god-mother (and superstar beta) to everything I put out. I don't think any of it would make it public without her!

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

I don't know that I could pick.

I love writing Darcy/Bucky.

I'll read almost anything though - I write almost exclusively Marvel but my reading tastes extend well beyond the Marvel fandom.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Too many to talk about.

The one I really think won't ever get finished though is a daemon AU that's got about 50k words and is Clint Barton centric. I love it so much but it just never fell into a strong final plot unfortunately. It's also in present tense, which I don't write anymore so it would be SO hard to pick back up - BUT, god, when I go back and reread it sometimes do I just love it so much.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I'm pretty good at action sequences, banter, and pacing?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I am really trying to work on getting better at complex plot development and suspense. I also want to get better building a more complex vocabulary to improve my diction.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I do this. I don't mind when others do it.

I think it's best when done sparingly and with a sensitivity to the fact that you don't speak the language. I prefer when it's done in a way that the dialouge is not important to the scene. Or if it is, I think it's really cool when the translation is provided contextually rather than in notes later on. That said, I've seen it done really well both ways!

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Tamora Pierce - on an account that doesn't exist anymore. I have been in fanfic for A LONG time. Like, the first fanfic I ever read was printed out and handed to me in the hallway of my middle school when the internet still made screeching noises as it connected.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Oh, um - I think I've answered this before, but I'd probably have to say: Order of Operations - I am in love with this universe and still writing sequels and follow ups. I think it just came to me during a really difficult time, which is still in progress, and it's become a comfort to just sink into it and share with the community.

It's been so much fun!

tagging -- anyone who sees this and wants to do it!

@shireness-says maybe??

#tag game #ao3 writer tag games #my fic

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intheinkpot · 1 year

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Tagged for a combo of WIP Wednesday or Six Sentence Sunday by @pentacass. Wasn't sure what to put here so I decided to share some snippets I've written for two of my SWTOR OCs that I hope to do something more with one day!

Thorn Graves (Sith Inquisitor)

Thorn peers up at the Sith kneeling over her, struggling to ignore the pounding in her head. Her fellow slaves had cauterized the wound to her head - a deep gash from a shovel blade thrown by an irate slave driver which had taken her by surprise - but the wound has grown infected, and she hasn’t been blind to the hole being solemnly dug on the outskirts of the field all day.

How ironic the Sith have finally caught on to the Master and the slave drivers hiding her existence when they have finally almost succeeded at killing her.

“What is your name?” the Sith asks coldly.

Thorn laughs. Born into slavery, she’s never had a name but the one she took for herself. Certainly no family name. Still, he clearly expects an answer, and she’s never missed an opportunity to rankle her masters where she can.

She thinks of the thorn bush she hid under as a child, the one that tore the Master's clothes and sliced his skin just the same as it did to her, the protection it offered still, and she thinks of the grave already dug for her and the next one sure to follow. She grins.

“Thorn Graves,”' she sneers at him.

He grunts and slams the hilt of his lightsaber into the side of her head.

Arlan Sinoss (Jedi Knight)

Arlan remembers Voss. Remembers when an ancient being offered her power to defeat the Emperor if only she gave into temptation and betrayed her allies. Remembers turning down the power, remembers trying to offer herself to it as a sacrifice instead to save a woman she barely knew.

“Death is all but certain for your Sith friend. I could save her. I need only a moment of control.”

Staring at the vision of Lana, the woman she loves, with a lightsaber swinging to cut her down, Arlan doesn’t hesitate.

“Take care of it,” she says, and it sounds like take me instead.

“I must say...as relieved as I am at your choice to keep the Alliance independent from the Republic...I’m a bit surprised as well. I thought when it came down to it, you would choose to rejoin the Jedi Order.”

Their room on the Alliance ship is dark, lit only by the light from the stars and the Republic fleet ships surrounding them. Most of the crew is in the cantina, and Theron will probably be dragged back onto the ship by Torian and Shae after they finish draining the pockets of that poor soldier who opened the tab in exchange for good Corellia stories. Ordinarily, Arlan would welcome the chance to relax and enjoy herself in the Republic fleet cantina, like the old days with her crew between missions.

Lana stands near the foot of their bed, facing her. It would be so easy to push her down onto the mattress, just a step or two before her knees would hit the edge of the bed. Before she would land on top of Lana with Lana’s hands already halfway to tangling in her hair, legs moving to wrap around her waist.

Instead Arlan stands as if rooted to the spot several feet away, a weight in her chest and her limbs. Realizing that Lana is waiting for a response, she says, “It was tempting.”

There’s a beat, where Lana watches her curiously.

“But?”

Arlan swallows. There are many reasons that come to mind: the lack of Republic support during the war with Valkorian, how little she knows about this new Chancellor, the ability to operate and defend people outside of Republic authorization - how would someone like Arcann have fared under a Republic banner? Would they have gotten the information they needed out of Savik if they had turned her over to the Republic? If Arlan had not been in complete control of Alliance fleets, would the civilians of Corellia have been sacrificed in exchange for a few ships?

But most importantly, despite the words of Chancellor Rans and her apparent willingness to give a chance to the former Imperials among the Alliance’s ranks, Arlan had wondered how those people would fare under a Republic banner. They had placed their trust in Arlan, in what she stood for, in what she fought for. They were her responsibility. Perhaps one day the Alliance would merge with the Republic - but not today.

“I have to protect my people,” Arlan says, meeting Lana’s eyes, and finally she takes a step forward. There’s still a weight in her chest, but she brings her arms up to rest her hands on Lana’s arms, just above her elbows.

Lana’s eyes widen in surprise. “You don’t trust the Republic?”

“It’s... I want to believe the new Chancellor is genuine. It’s not that I don’t trust the Republic,” Arlan says. “And it’s not that I don’t want to help the Jedi or that I think I could do that better by turning down a position on the High Council - ”

“You turned down a position on the Jedi High Council?”

Arlan nods. “There're so many people from the Empire who joined the Alliance, and while the Chancellor offered them Republic citizenship and clean records if they wanted it... I have to be sure they would thrive in the Republic before I ask them to follow me there.”

Lana’s eyes move back and forth slightly as she searches Arlan’s face. She looks so close to understanding what Arlan is saying, perhaps hesitant to take that final leap.

Arlan squeezes Lana’s arms gently. “I have to be sure you will be happy.”

Lana’s lips part in surprise. “You turned down the Jedi Order...because of me?”

Arlan presses her forehead to Lana’s. “I would do all that and more if you asked me,” she murmurs, echoing the words Lana said to her weeks ago.

Lana kisses Arlan hard, fists her hands in the front of Arlan’s shirt and tugs Arlan against her, holding her there until Arlan's arms finally wrap around her waist. Her hands tangle in Arlan’s hair, nails scratching pleasantly at her scalp.

“I love you, Lana,” Arlan whispers, when they apart for breath.

Lana holds Arlan’s forehead against hers, staring into Arlan’s eyes. Her own nearly glow in the dark.

“I love you too. You mean more to me than I could ever say.”

Arlan brushes her lips against Lana’s and whispers, “Then show me.”

Lana smiles and kisses her, soft and lingering, and it warms Arlan’s chest and lifts the weight that had settled there.

// tags for either WIP Wednesday or Six Sentence Sunday, your choice! @galindathegay @naralanis @stargazereyes (no pressure!)

#the only time arlan gives in to valkorian is to ensure lana's safety #thorn is so dramatic and i love her for it #swtor #jedi knight #sith inquisitor #lana beniko #jedi knight oc #jedi knight x lana beniko #my writing #writing prompt #oc: thorn graves #oc: arlan sinoss

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mytheoristavenue · 8 months

Note

Just wondering; how have you been able to gain so much support on your work and writing style? I already know some tricks with tags and stuff, but do you have any other tricks to share?

Hmmm... That's a very interesting question with a not-so-easy answer! Here's my advice:

One thing to remember is that it doesn't matter how much love you get on your work if it's work from your heart! You may have a love for an obscure character that doesn't really trend much, but you have ideas that you just have to share. Try not to feel too defeated if this is the case and you only get a few notes!

You'll see the most growth of your blog when you follow trends. Is there a new season of a popular show coming out soon? Has something old recently become popular again on TikTok? If it's in your interest set, run with the trend! When things trend, people tend to search related tags more, thus (assuming you've tagged your work correctly) they'll be more likely to be exposed to your work! The same goes for fandoms that stay in the limelight such as MHA or One Piece!

Speaking of correct tagging, in my experience, there seems to be a sort of etiquette to it! Remember to use as many tags as possible that pertain to the content of your post! This could mean listing all the characters you mention, all the ships you mention (including 'x reader/(y/n)/you tags with every character that the reader is shipped with!), acronyms of the series title, and the title spelled out. That being said, try not to use tags that don't pertain to your content. It may be tempting to use tags of a very popular search that doesn't exactly line up with your work, and doing it once or twice won't hurt, but try to avoid it! When you do this, it clogs the incorrect tag, which can be frustrating to not only people searching for that tag but also to people who are rightfully using that tag! It pushes their posts down while raising yours. It also is not likely to benefit you much, as people searching for that tag will blow by your post as it's not what they're looking for!

While you should always put what you want to post first, try to read the room. In some fandoms, NSFW content is unspokenly frowned upon. In some fandoms, it is considered alright or encouraged to put younger characters in sexual or dangerous situations, like MHA. Take things like this into consideration before posting, and if you're thinking of putting an underaged character into an adult situation, take a look around to what others post and what the community deems is okay. To explain, I am not giving you permission to make NSFW content of children, I am just saying that it is considered alright in some spaces, especially when the characters are 16-17yo. Just remember to take note of how the community you're catering to might feel about that post. If it's something considered 'taboo' in that space, don't expect it to go viral.

In my experience, OC/self-ship content doesn't go as far as reader insert/(y/n) content. But don't be discouraged! Share your OCs, ships, and shifting stuff! Someone will like it, and if nobody does, you do, and that's all that matters!

Remember to like and reblog when you're viewing other's content. If you don't boost others, you can't expect to be boosted by them! Like, comment, sharing, copy link, reblog, add more tags, follow that blog, and interact with them. Support others!

Make masterlists and pin posts! A master list is an organization compilation of all your works that fall under a certain category! I have a 'Prime' masterlist that is my pinned post. It is filled with links to other, more specific masterlist, sorted by fandom. This means, that when peoplefind a post that they like of mine and go to check out my blog, the first thing they see is that list! Then, if I have more work related to that thing, they can find it all easily! Make sure you pin these lists or any other important/ new posts! (Note: you can only have 1 pinned post at one time!)

Try joining other communities for your interests like Discord! These are gathering places for fans and most times have space for fanworks that offer constructive criticism, advice, and support! Just remember to practice safety online!

Remember that the algorithm does weird things! Sometimes things get censored for no good reason and that's nothing you can help! Sometimes, people get shadow-banned if they get too much growth at once!

Remember to post consistently! The best blogs post either on a schedule, or often enough to be considered relevent! The more often you post, the more frequently your blog will be featured in top or new posts to your tags! Some searchers engage in their interest daily, so they will always be on the lookout for new content, so make sure they see your name a lot!

Hiatuss are okay! But remember, when you're not posting, someone else is, so when you're offline, it's someone else's turn to have all the attention! It may take some time/effort to regain popularity after a break, and that's perfectly fine!

(If anyone has anything to add, please feel free!)

#fyp #writing #art #fandoms #fanworks #advice #asks #answers #requests #inbox #writing advice #writing resources #writing help

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cometomecosette · 2 years

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Character ask: Grantaire

Tagged by anonymous

Favorite thing about them: Despite his small role, he’s such a rich character who appeals on multiple levels. For starters, he’s funny, witty, lively, and fun-loving, which provides much-needed relief from the story’s heavy drama. But at heart, of course, he’s a “sad clown,” and his cynical worldview is poignant and sometimes all too relatable. And then there’s the key contradiction within his character, which is both fascinating and moving: the fact that despite being a resolute skeptic, he adores his idealistic friends, is only happy in their presence despite mocking their beliefs, and loves Enjolras, idealism personified, to the point that he chooses to die with him. He would be a compelling character even without the gay subtext, but the fact that he’s almost explicitly in love with another man makes him all the more engaging for modern audiences. It’s impressive that Hugo managed to put so much substance into a minor character who only appears in a few scenes.

Least favorite thing about them: Well, he is a loose cannon who fails to make himself useful as a revolutionary. As much as we might like him, it’s understandable that Enjolras dislikes him until the end. In the novel (glossed over in the musical), there’s also his casual sexism, which was probably to be expected from such a wild and worldly young man in the 1830s.

Three things I have in common with them:

*I’m often disappointed with the state of the world and feel tempted to become a total cynic.

*I enjoy physical pleasures and sometimes indulge in them too much. (I’m more prone to overeating than drinking, though.)

*I admire Enjolras’s idealism enormously.

Three things I don’t have in common with them:

*I very rarely drink alcohol.

*I don’t belong to a group of revolutionaries.

*I’m female.

Favorite line: From the novel, it wasn’t easy going through his long speeches to pick out favorite lines, but I finally narrowed it down.

About Christ’s cross: “There is a gibbet which has been a success.” (Or, in another translation, “a gallows that made good.”)

About Enjolras: “What fine marble!”

From his first rambling speech: “Life is a hideous invention of I know not whom.”

From the famous dialogue in “Enjolras and his Lieutenants,” when Enjolras asks him if he’s good for anything: “I have a vague ambition in that direction.”

When Enjolras accuses him of believing in nothing: “I believe in you.”

From “Preliminary Gayeties:

"...I suspect that God is not rich. The appearance exists, it is true, but I feel that he is hard up.”

“Marius and his Marie, or his Marion, or his Maria, or his Mariette. They must make a queer pair of lovers. I know just what it is like. Ecstasies in which they forget to kiss. Pure on earth, but joined in heaven.“

And of course, from his ultimate self-sacrifice:

“Long live the republic, I’m one of them!”

And his final words, to Enjolras:

“Do you permit it?”

From the musical:

“I am agog, I am aghast!

Is Marius in love at last?

I have never heard him ooh and aah!

You talk of battles to be won,

And here he comes like Don Ju-an!

It’s better than an o-per-a!”

and

“Drink with me to days gone by.

Can it be you fear to die?

Will the world remember you when you fall?

Can it be your death means nothing at all?

Is your life just one more lie?”

brOTP: His fellow Amis, and in many productions of the musical, Gavroche.

OTP: Enjolras, though less in the main plot than in the afterlife, and/or in a better time and place where they could have reached an understanding sooner.

nOTP: Any woman.

Random headcanon: His backstory, with everything that made him such a skeptic and yet gave him such a profound need for others’ idealism, would probably be worthy of its own novel.

Unpopular opinion: While I do think he’s in love with Enjolras, I don’t take great offense to seeing his devotion read in a platonic way too, because it does have much more depth than just romantic attraction. And I certainly don’t think Enjolras is in love with him; I ship them in a sense of “what could have been.”

Song I associate with them: “Drink With Me.”

youtube

Favorite pictures of them:

This illustration by Gustave Brion.

Anthony Crivello with crazy ‘80s hair, Broadway, 1987.

And with normal hair in the 10th Anniversary Concert, 1995.

Paul Truckey, US 3rd National Tour, 1996.

Tom Zemon with Stephen Buntrock as Enjolras, Broadway, 1997.

Hadley Fraser, 25th Anniversary Concert, 2010.

George Blagden, 2012 film.

#les mis #les miserables #character ask #grantaire #fictional characters #ask game

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epersonae · 7 months

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Tagged by @adickaboutspoons - thank you!

Rules: Go to your published works on AO3 and list the first fic you ever published there, the last fic you published, any fic that you wrote for a fandom/ship only once, your favorite fic you wrote in the fandom/ship that has the most works, the fic you wish more people read, the fic you agonized over the most, the fic that sprang fully formed from your mind without any effort, and a work you are proud of—for whatever reason. <3

First fic - A week at a day spa, which is the first fic I ever wrote, and the first time I'd written any fiction in years. It was a bit of an experiment, right before I became completely obsessed with my rarepair. I don't love it, but I don't hate it either. I'd be tempted to take another run at that moment from another direction after everything else I've written.

Last fic - end up several worlds away, the missing scenes companion to for the benefit of all the broken hearts. I just added a chapter with Stede seeing Mary's art for the first time. At the moment, this is my only active WIP; I have a partially written chapter in GDocs that I might work on again soon.

Only fic for a fandom/ship - The dead and the living, my one and only Star Trek (TOS movies) fic. During my time between TAZ and OFMD, I got into a Star Trek Slack and we have done watch parties for a bunch of the movies. somewhere in my head/gdocs I have the start of a long heavy fic about Khan's wife, but this little piece just kind of popped into my head after we watched Star Trek III. I love Carol Marcus a lot.

Favorite fic in the fandom with the most works - Did I really write one hundred and fifty fics for The Adventure Zone????? I sure did. Obviously I have to pick The Reckoning Arrives, which is my longest fic in any fandom, the fic that Ryn and I worked so hard on, the fic that kinda saved my life. But also I was poking through some of my other TAZ fic, and there's actually quite a few of them I still love, but The Woman Who Wasn't There is a fave as far as fics that aren't in my larger continuity. (readers of for the benefit of all the broken hearts will notice a theme about bringing the wife back into the story, which I hadn't really considered until today.)

Fic I wish more people read - another one I found while poking through old TAZ fics: Don't forget to remember. NGL, it's kinda fucked up, but at least it's short? But it's just a tight little story about coping and trauma and memory, and honestly it gave me an outlet at a time when I really needed it. Of my Our Flag Means Death fics: probably the whole devil's threeway series, which is about to be completely decanonized and I'm totally okay with that. I still think I got a vibe that I'm really pleased with and it ended up being the only reunion that I've written, which I think is genuinely funny.

Fic I agonized over the most - for the benefit of all the broken hearts, which I agonized over in so many ways. both in terms of WHAT AM I EVEN WRITING HERE and in the actual work of writing (and the bonkers choice to not name the protagonist in the text), and then in the actual work of editing. I put the most effort into this of literally anything I've ever written in any medium for any purpose.

Fic that sprang fully formed - nice either way, aka the beard fic, which I wrote over the course of a single afternoon driving along the Columbia River Scenic Highway (that was a weird week). Although to be honest, I would say almost any fic less than 1000 words is likely to have sprung fully formed, especially a lot of my earlier TAZ works when I was kind of continuously writing. (Again: 150 works)

A work I'm proud of - it really does have to be for the benefit of all the broken hearts, I worked my ass off on that one and it occupied my whole brain for several months. It was a wild thing to attempt to do, both as a story and as a technical challenge, and I'm so pleased with how it turned out.

Tagging (as always, no pressure but have fun with it!) - @naranjapetrificada, @nekosd43, @gaypiratebrainrot, @mxmollusca, @oatmilktruther, @emi--rose

#tag games #my fic #my writing #did a little bit of a dive into my taz fic for the first time in a while #there's some stuff in there that I still really like!#I do associate don't forget to remember with a bad emotional incident but also with realizing I was having a time and reaching out for help #also: I really have written 604k of fic huh? 😅

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shipping-strawberry · 2 years

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I wanna say foremost that I have absolutely nothing against Lacey. She seems like a very nice person, and I have seen her art— it is cute!

However, I don’t think she should return to Tumblr.

It’s not because I dislike her, or that I’m an anti, or anything like that. I support her, and I’m upset at the hate she’s getting. It gives me heartache.

But I really don’t think that Tumblr is healthy for her, particularly mentally. She’s already gotten very suicidal over hate these past few months, if not years. I’m worried that she may end up actually hurting herself, or worse.

Plus, the consistent harassment, suicide baits, death threats…I don’t think she should have to endure all that just to make positivity posts for us proshippers, sweet as they are.

All in all, her leaving Tumblr seems like a much better alternative than her remaking blogs over and over again just to get the same disgust and hate every time.

[TLDR at the bottom.]

hi there, anon!

i want to start off by saying that you most certainly do bring up a fair point, and you are right; lacey will keep getting harassed, no matter how many times she remakes her blog. antis will just keep digging through the proship tag to find her blog over and over and over again.

i will admit, though, i don't agree completely.

antis are sending her hate because she's a proshipper. we all know that. but that's not the only reason they do it; they want attention.

and that's why antis do what they do. that's why they send anon hate. that's why they crosstag. that's why they start discourse on proship posts. because they're attention-seeking little gremlins, desperate for people to notice them — wherever it's in a negative light or not.

i've wanted to say this to lacey for some time now, though i never did because i felt like it would be too rude, but she really should just avoid responding to anon hate altogether. i know she does it because she feels like she's standing up for herself, but it's so pointless, because surprise, surprise: antis aren't going to give two thirds of a fuck about what she has to say. she can cook up the best response with multiple articles and sources to back her up and prove her haters wrong, and guess what? they'll still call her a pedophile. it won't change a thing, because they'll still be starved for the attention that they get from her.

and honestly, every time i see lacey, or even just anyone in general respond to anon hate, i just mentally facepalm so hard, because guys — you're giving them what they want.

i don't know if it's obvious, but i myself am a very angry person in real life. i have extreme difficulty managing my anger, and i constantly go apeshit over even just the smallest of things. i've even had to seek help because of this behavior.

trust me — i know how tempting it can be to respond to anon hate. i know how much you will get the urge to just let loose and go off after reading an aggressive message in your inbox. but just don't do it. block them, report them, and keep the hate out of your inbox and away from your blog. at the end of the day, antis just want attention.

don't give them what they want.

don't give them that satisfaction.

and here's the thing: if there's one specific anti constantly harassing you on anon like lacey had, and you keep replying to all their asks, they're going to keep on harassing you.

and if you don't? they'll eventually fuck off and leave you alone, because they're not getting the attention that they desire from you.

if lacey wants to stop getting anon hate, then she needs to stop responding to it. because antis will just continue abusing her and using her as a source of attention. needless to say, they don't give a shit if they're hurting her and badly damaging her mental health. because they'll put their own desires ahead of anyone else's, because that's just what antis do.

want to know something? i discovered one of my friends is a proshipper very recently. and although they don't actually have any ships, because shipping is not really their thing, they told me that they used to run a (now deactivated) proship blog on tumblr with a few other people. and guess what? they have never received hate from antis. not once.

want to know why? because they didn't allow anonymous asks.

antis know that hiding behind the anonymous mask is a cowardly move. and they know that they're the ones in the wrong, because the moment a blog doesn't allow anonymous asks, they stay quiet.

tumblr is most certainly damaging for lacey's mental health. you are absolutely right about that. not even just that, but it can even be damaging for other people when they see those anon asks, too.

stepping away from tumblr is a great decision for her to make, and i can see why you think it's a good idea. i think it's a good idea, too. last time lacey had her blog deactivated, she took some time away from tumblr, which is probably what's best for her, and i think she's doing the same thing again.

but her mental health can be so much better if she just chooses to remain on the positive side if the community.

yes, when she decides to come back, there will be those nasty anons in her inbox again. i can guarantee that. but if she'd only stop responding to them, they will eventually leave her alone.

and if they don't, the simple solution is to just turn of anonymous asks. because that ensures the antis will fuck off completely.

things can be so much better for lacey if she just stops giving antis what they want. because then she can focus on happily posting her art and posting/reblogging positivity for proshippers. antis won't bother her again, and her mental health won't continue to get damaged.

i hope this didn't sound too rude, because that wasn't my intention at all. i just wanted to share about my thoughts on anonymous hate, and how to deal with it.

TLDR: antis want attention, so if lacey wants to stop getting anon hate, she needs to stop replying to it. replying to anon hate gives antis the attention they want, so please don't respond to them and give them that satisfaction. if you don't respond, the antis will eventually leave you alone because they're not getting the attention they want from you. turning off anon asks also ensures there will be no hate from antis whatsoever, because antis are cowards and are too scared to stop hiding behind the anon mask.

#ask #long post #proship #proship safe #anti anti #antis dni #anti harassment #proshippers please interact #not positivity #abuse mention #harassment mention

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chocolatepot · 1 year

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tag 9 people you want to get to know better!

Working my way through memes I was tagged in! @adickaboutspoons tagged me for this late last month.

Three Ships of All Time:

Ed/Stede (OFMD), of course. Have to start with that. THE ship of all time. Need I say more?

Mobei Jun/Shang Qinghua (SVSSS). I actually started shipping this before I read the book based on fanart and such, so I was so disappointed when it's like ... not there until the very end. 🙃 But it's so cute!

So much pressure on the third one here. I could put a couple other MXTX pairings, but I'm tempted to go with Hilson (House MD)? When I watched the show as it aired I was actually a Huddy fan, but on rewatches House/Wilson really stood out to me.

First Ever Ship:

I can never remember! I usually go with Anne Shirley/Gilbert Blythe because a) I know I did ship it early and b) lots of people I've been friends with have said that that's their first ship, but I literally have no idea if it's true. Mary Lennox/Dickon Sowerby is another contender, and may even be more likely? (Mary/Colin shippers DNI)

Last Song:

I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) by the Proclaimers. Classic.

Last Film:

Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris, the new one with Lesley Manville.

Currently Reading:

A Restless Truth by Freya Marske! I'm only a few pages into it, so I can't may much about it, but I am loving it. Very excited for the lesbians!!

Currently Watching:

Game Changer, the most recent ep. They're forcing Grant to do a Bachelor competition. It's amazing.

Currently Consuming:

Cottage pie, warmed up on the stove. It's very good! All the ingredients came from the farmer's market. Also broccoli and a really nice brownie from the local bakery.

Currently Craving:

To be able to write! I was PMSing the last few days and simply could not write anything. I finally stopped trying yesterday, but I feel like maybe I could work on the "Sweet Damsels learning to dance in the moonlight" wip now ...

Tagging:

@one-more-page, @brigdh, @thisgirlshouldbeworking, @ghostalservice, and @marzipanandminutiae

#meme #it me

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daughterofsarenrae · 4 years

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I mean maybe i DO start rb'ing things to my loz url

#idk if i would consider it like. a blog im upkeeping or putting effort into #more like... a collection of art and shit #just bc i am very conflicted about spamming stuff thats not d&d related here #i made this blog specifically to be organized #but that ship sailed when i logged out of my old personal blog for good #idk bc like i KNOW its my blog and i can post what i want #but again i DO like having something of a theme #but if i post to my loz url then how much loz do i post here #UGH #decisions #in the end this doesnt matter #but my loz url would mean i wouldnt have to tag things as loz so like. tempting #i hate tagging #....i say as i write an essay in the tags #i have s o many drafts bc inwas too lazy at the time to tag for fandoms #i have been SO fucking talkative on this blog recently #idk WHY my brain has just been in OVERDRIVE lmao

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narutakijune · 3 years

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About ATLA Relationship Arcs

So, this is me, finally trying to write some meta after lurking in my little tumblr corner for months! Hi!

Although I’ve tried to tag properly, if you are a Kat*anger and just want to enjoy your favourite couple in peace, this might not be the post for you. I am not trying to bash characters but I do have a lot of critical stuff to say about the writing.

Anyway, you have been warned and here is my story about my personal first Atla experience: I watched the show this year for the first time, and after the end of Book 1 I decided to look up spoilers, because after what happened to Yue, I wanted to make sure that Zuko and Iroh would be ok. So I knew what was going to happen: Kat*ang endgame and absolutely no Zutara at all. Still, by the end of Book 3, I was convinced that I had read wrong - that there would be an epilogue with a different ending or at least that Aang would only get together with Katara post-show- in that Korra series or something - because anything else wouldn’t make sense- right?

….

After I got over my shock and surprise, I went online and found out about that decade-long aggressive passionate ship war and how even the showrunners got involved.

And then I really worried that I might have missed a few points. Apparently ”Aang and Katara were the DNA of the show”, according to the creators themselves, and “Zutara could never have happened”.

Another popular anti-ZK argument I found was: Why do you always go on about Katara and Zuko? Just look at Zuko and Aang! They are the hero/ anti-hero and each other’s foils, their relationship is much more meaningful!”

So I tried to find out what it was that I apparently couldn’t see.

(Another disclaimer: I love analysing stories (like many Zutarians apparently) and this will get long and rambly. If you get bored to tears when people start talking about “narrative structure” you will probably not like this.)

Talking about narrative structure, I do believe that, in order to let your story, your characters and their relationships really shine, a good basic structure is important. There should be a recognizable development and individual parts of the story that build upon each other and lead to consequences and change, until there is a completed arc - because it is all about the journey that takes you to a satisfying ending, right? So that’s what I tried to do, with my personal Kat*ang vs. Zutara take, I tried to look at the structure and development of their relationship arcs.

The argument that threw me off track for a while is that compared to Aang and Zuko, Zuko and Katara’s relationship is not supposed to be that relevant for the plot. After all, Zuko is the foil, the anti-hero, the deuteragonist to Aang, who is the hero protagonist.

This is all true of course. But then why is it that in every finale, Zuko’s main opponent (and later ally) is not Aang but Katara? Why is it that their sun/moon, red/blue, fire/water dichotomy is so obviously highlighted?

I think one reason why Zuko and Katara are paired off so frequently in the story - as opposite elements, as opponents and as allies - is that they BOTH are Aang’s deuteragonists. While Zuko also acts as antagonist and Aang’s foil/mirror, Katara takes over the more traditional deuteragonist role of confidant / best friend/ narrator.

Protagonist Aang is what connects them, although they are on opposite sides: Both need Aang because he represents their hope to save their world. Very simply put, Katara protects him, so he can make the world a safer place again, and Zuko wants to capture him, so he can go home and be safe again. That rivalry between them is already established in the first episode, even before they meet each other: Katara, who hopes that the Avatar will return (as she tells everyone in the intro), and Zuko, who seems to be obsessed with finding him for more sinister reasons.

And just to make sure, I am not talking here about the characters’ feelings and emotions! This is just about the abstract roles they have been assigned within the narrative.

When regarding Zutara’s special connection to Aang and their rivalry with each other, it makes absolute sense to stress their “same but different”ness as well, visually and metaphorically: Red and blue, fire and water, sun and moon, arguably Painted Lady/Blue Spirit, and, when you put into account their story arc, also Oma and Shu.

With this basis, which puts them together and sets them apart simultaneously, their relationship already becomes very dynamic and interesting, even before you consider any romantic potential.

And here’s another thing, Zuko and Katara also have their own story arc within the main plot. Although they don’t have many scenes together before Zuko joins the Gaang, when they do meet there is always a new shift in their relationship and in quite a few cases their interactions are important for the main plot as well. If you just look at their “end fights” at each book’s finale, there is an obvious and consequential build-up, like any decent story arc should have:

Book 1 starts with Zuko as the powered-up enemy and Katara as the weak newbie waterbender. Both are battling over Aang. At the end of Book 1, they are finally established as equally powerful fighters but still fundamentally different (You rise with the moon, I rise with the sun!)

In CoD at the end of Book 2 happens the next step: they realize that they are not different at all! But Aang still doesn’t represent the same for them and they end up on opposing sides of the war again.

In the Book 3 finale, when Zuko has completed his own (anti-) hero's journey and Aang represents the same “hope” for both of them, they do not only join forces: Their “same but different”- traits make them such a uniquely suited match that they are even able to save each other’s lives during their fight with Azula (who in turn happens to be Katara and Zuko’s antagonist/mirror/foil).

And in addition to their own story arc they even get an individual recurring theme, which also appears in every book whenever their relationship status changes: The lost mothers, especially Katara’s mother.

In Book 1, Katara’s necklace (the symbol of Kiya) plays not only a major part in two of Zuko’s capture attempts, it is the reason for their very first one-one one encounter in the story.

Their first friendly connection in COD in Book 2 happens because they start talking about their mothers. And in Book 3, their final reconciliation (sealed with a very cathartic hug) happens after their life-changing trip which is, of course, all about Katara’s mother.

Again, I am not even trying to analyse their characters and motivations within the story - there are many metas that have already done that much better, more detailed and with screenshots. This is just dry structure and tropes and themes. But I think people recognize and connect with a well-structured arc, even subconsciously, which is one of the reasons that makes Zutara such a compelling couple. They complete and contrast each other, their relationship dynamic constantly changes, builds up, falls apart, reconnects. Such a setup is the perfect playground for a lot of creative takes on what-ifs and alternative scenarios and of course, shipping them romantically is extremely tempting - think of all the possibilities! It’s no wonder that the Zutara fandom is still so active decades after the end of the show. And it’s also no wonder that the Zutarians are known for “over-analysing everything”. You can only over-analyse if there is anything that gives you enough food to analyse to begin with. Which brings me to

KAT*ANG

I just go right to the top and take the quote from Br*yke themselves:

Kata*ng was in the DNA of the thing from the start…. [Zutara] was just dark and intriguing.

If you read this quote and then start watching the show, I would (grudgingly) agree that:

Aang and Katara understand and complement each other really well. Aang gives her the chance to have fun and go on adventures and in turn, Katara is his fiercest supporter from the very beginning, something that he really needs after he lost all his people AND has to find out that the world thinks the war is sort of his fault. In turn, the journey to the North Pole is as important to Katara as it is to Aang, because it is her dream to learn waterbending properly. That’s what she literally says when Sokka & Co try to banish Aang: (Sokka: Where do you think you’re going? Katara: To find a waterbender. Aang is taking me to the North Pole.) In that way, they are friends who give and take equally and are equally taken care of. They even have the last Airbender/ last Southern Waterbender status that connects them. The few times they have a fight, Aang does something in the end to redeem himself (perform some heroic feat) and Katara sees that she is right to believe in him.

Aang has this very sweet crush on her and it will be very sweet and wholesome when Katara will return his feelings at the end of their adventure after he has hit puberty. On the other side, there is also some heavy shipbaiting with Zuko: I save you from the pirates. The betrothal necklace. June and her excellent shipping taste. But in the end they are enemies, they barely know each other and, come on, it would be too dark and intriguing! There is no real threat against friends to lovers Kat*ang, the soft heart of the story. It’s very straightforward and there are a lot of simple “the hero saves the day” scenes for Aang but that’s fine! It’s not really my kind of ship but that’s not the point, it works for the story they want to tell.

End of Book 1.

In my - probably harsh- opinion, everything you really need to know about the Kat*ang relationship has been told by this point. If you want to be really mean, already by Book 1, episode 3.

That explains maybe why many (not all! but many) pro-KA arguments sound as if their shippers have not watched Book 2 and 3 at all. The Book 1 synopsis also perfectly sums up Bry*ke’s quote above. But then Book 2 and 3 are still there and I don’t know what happened but it seems as if they somehow decided that the Kat*ang story does not need any new and lasting input. Maybe because they were afraid that too much new development and change would stray too far away from their original Kat*ang vision. But there are still 2 more books and more adventures and Kat*ang somehow has to be kept apart until the finale.

So the tension in their potential romance is based largely on the question whether or not Katara will return Aang’s feelings. In general I don’t have a problem with that will-she-won’t she-technique. It works well in books where the love interest is not a POV or in shows/ movies where the love interest is not one of the main characters. But Katara is not only the female lead but also arguably the narrative voice of the whole story! As a result, this kind of writing makes Katara look as if she doesn’t have any agency in their relationship, which is not surprisingly a very popular anti-KA criticism.

Additionally, since her dream - learning waterbending - has been fulfilled by the end of Book 1, the relationship work becomes a bit one-sided. Of course Aang is the hero and his journey is the heart of the story. But in order to highlight their special connection it would have helped to give Katara another personal agenda, which Aang could have supported in some way. She is still the last Southern Waterbender and he the Last Airbender but this is not really explored in the Kat*ang relationship. And her other personal agenda, her mother, is already reserved for the Zutara arc.

Instead, in Book 2 and 3 the Kat*ang story is somehow all over the place. Of course there is new conflict and a few romantic scenes as well. But obstacles are either introduced too late or just dropped when not needed anymore, conflict is not resolved and their flirty, romantic moments never lead anywhere- and if they do, they lead to more conflict that is not resolved (yes, I am looking at you, EIP Kiss!).

Take for example Katara’s very sudden argument that they cannot be together now because there is a war going on. We hear her saying that for the first time in the very last episode (EIP) before the 4-part finale. That is too late to have any impact! That she has these kinds of thoughts was never even alluded to before. Not once.

Or the pattern Aang runs away/ is flaky - Katara is upset - Aang comes back and does his hero thing - Katara is relieved. In regards to their relationship arc, nothing changes here between Book 1 and the finale, only the stakes for Aang’s heroic performances get higher.

Or Katara being the one who is able to calm Aang down when he cannot control the Avatar state (which, in my personal opinion, is neither romantic nor healthy). This is also connected to the problem with the seventh Chakra, that Aang needs to let go of his attachment for her. I will be angry forever with how they wasted this for a possible relationship development! That Aang has to decide to either do his duty or save his forever girl (because let’s be fair, he did try to let go and only ran when he had the vision of Katara in danger) - that’s a fantastic setup!

But no, it doesn’t have any real consequences for Kat*ang at all. Instead there were only half-baked attempts – Aang does lie about his failed practice with Guru Pathik but the ultimate reason why his chakra is blocked is Azula, not his decision to run. Aang does try to let go of Katara for a little bit but then Azula shoots him. Nothing in Book 3 shows any change in his feelings that could have been a result of his instant let-it-go. If anything, he gets weirdly obsessive - which could have been used as a side effect of his blocked chakra but – again, no, nothing happens.

I suspect the whole thing was just introduced to create temporary drama for poor Aang, but it is never explained why Katara holds him back, what aspect of the attachment is blocking him or what would happen if he did let her go. Maybe they tried to make a statement about how love is more important than Avatar rules – which would have been fine but it’s also never properly explored. Instead, as soon as that plot point becomes inconvenient it’s simply dropped like a random rock™.

Compare all that to the Zutara arc, where both characters’ feelings about each other are always very much in the open, and where every interaction causes lasting effects in their relationship. Yes, it is unfair to compare that to Kat*ang, because up to the end of Book 3, Zuko and Katara almost never meet, while Aang and Katara spend almost every episode together – of course they cannot do meaningful things all the time. But on the other side, with Kat*ang, there would have been a great chance to show a subtle, gradual build-up instead.

It also doesn’t help that the Zutara arc seems hellbent on sabotaging every romantic moment Aang is allowed to enjoy:

There is Kat*angs first maybe-kiss in the dark before the background of the Oma and Shu legend. But it does not lead anywhere. Instead, Zuko and Katara almost reenact the legend itself in the Book 2 finale as two real enemies to almost-friends, including a glowy rocks-backdrop and the right costume colours, just so nobody misses the message.

In Footloose The Headband, Aang and Katara have a really sweet dance together, and everybody can see how they almost intuitively know each other's moves. This could be a great hint on how well they will fight together in the finale. But is it plot-relevant? No, because the final tag team is Katara and Zuko! While Aang gets paired off with random rock™.

Then there is Aang’s riding off to battle- kiss in DotBS, which Katara is not even allowed to enjoy, because keeping her feelings vague is apparently more important than character development at this point. It is the only romantic moment that gets mentioned again, but in a way that sinks the former cute and wholesome ship into the deep ocean, and the reason is - Aang is jealous of Zuko!

If all of this was only done for the sake of shipbaiting, then it really went out of control at some point.

In the end, the showrunners still had their reasons to choose Kat*ang, maybe because that corresponded more to their own vision, and there are still enough people out there who agree with them. Which is absolutely fine! In the end, what matters most is how you personally connect to the characters and nobody needs to defend their personal taste. But the typical anti-ZK claim, that all the Zutarians with their crazy analysis and rambling meta essays are reaching and delusional and that they desperately try to construct something that isn’t there, is not only a very lazy argument but simply not true.

And I’d claim that in spite of the canon choice, Zutara is technically the better written relationship. By far.

#zutara #antikataang #anti kataang #anti-kataang #atla critical #atla writing critical #long post #atla meta

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