Whumptober Day 12: "Just A Little More"

HELLO for your spotify wrapped, please tell me about the character (or fic or ship etc) whose playlist song #72 belongs on!

Oh my god it feels like I’m talking to a celebrity HELLO I LOVE YOUR FICS THANK YOU SO MUCH.

#72 is specifically a song I listened to so much because @chosen-hero-inari said it fit one of our OCs, and it really does lol. It’s…

It’s on the playlist for our beloved OC Cerise Landors-Tate! She’s so silly and I love her. She’s from this concept for a hypothetical Power Rangers spin-off game and is also a fankid technically. She’s the pink ranger and we love her because she’s adopted and has so many issues but loves her dads deeply and wishes that one of them would love her back (he does, he’s just cripplingly emotionally constipated and doesn’t know how to properly express that he loves her)

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Power Rangers S.P.D. Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Bridge Carson/Sophie, Jack Landors/Sky Tate, Sydney Drew & Sophie, Bridge Carson & Sydney Drew, Bridge Carson & Sydney Drew & Sky Tate, Bridge Carson & Sky Tate, Elizabeth “Z” Delgado & Sophie, Boom & Sophie Characters: Bridge Carson, Sophie (Power Rangers), Jack Landors, Sky Tate, Sydney Drew, Elizabeth "Z" Delgado, Boom (Power Rangers) Additional Tags: I am a little unhinged, Stabbing, Mysteries, This is just “what if SPD was a police procedural/mystery show” Summary:

Bridge gets stabbed and the rest of the team is on the mission to find who did it.

Whumptober Day 13: Family Curses

A/n: Yoka Tono is @yumizurueleonora and my name for Arata's mom, we've written her a ton of times.

Hereditary

Oh, Arata thinks, I’m actually going to die.

He’s thought that before, when Souma had to leave to go the hospital first and foremost, but now he actually feels it.

Like something has a vice grip on his heart and the rest of him is wasting away. It hurts. It hurts so much.

Taiga was right, he was just avoiding the pain. This pain. And now that he knows he can't surpass RAD WEEKEND, it's going to kill him.

-

When Akito hears a knock at his door, he assumes it’s Ena and after the thrashing they just got from Taiga he doesn’t want to deal with her.

The knocking doesn’t go away after ignoring it, so finally Akito rolls off his bed.

“Go away shithead, I don’t–” the insult dies in his mouth when Akito sees his dad looking at him grimly.

“Akito, I need to talk to you,” Shinei says and hoo boy whatever Akito thought Ena was going to bug him about, he wants this even less.

“Ok?” Akito says, sitting at his desk while his father sits on his bed.

“So, Akito, I won’t ask for the details about whatever happened tonight,” Shinei starts and oh thank Miku for that. “But I’m going to guess something happened at your show, it went poorly, and you’re feeling very dejected right now.”

Understatement of the fucking century.

“But,” Shinei continues. “It’s probably good that this happened now and not when you’re older so you know how to deal with it. And Akito, no matter what happened or how bad you feel, you cannot give up on singing.”

Akito blinks. “What?”

“You cannot under any circumstances give up your creative passions after you turn 20.”

“Who are you and what did you do with my dad?” Akito asks. 

“Akito I’m being very serious right now.”

“Isn’t this like the exact opposite of what you told Ena?” Akito says. “Something about art being super lonely?”

“Ena isn’t cursed.”

“Excuse me?” 

Shinei is deathly serious. “The firstborn sons of the Shinonome family are cursed to die if they lose their drive to be creative after they turn 20.”

“What?”

“We all naturally have a passion for doing something creative, and if that drive is ever lost it will kill us,” Shinei says.

“If this is a joke, it REALLY isn’t funny.”

“Akito have I ever told a joke in your life?”

“Oh shit,” Akito says. Then his brain catches up with everything his dad says and he grabs his phone and starts texting

He sees a news alert before he can get the message out though.

Unidentified male, seemingly in his 20s, found collapsed…

“Crap,” Akito says. “Get in the car we have to go to the hospital.”

“What?” Shinei asks. “Why?”

“Because I’m not your firstborn son

-

Souma has to beg the nurses to let him see Arata. 

The doctors don’t know what’s wrong with him, but they’re doing everything they can to keep him alive.

It was Akito who texted Toya, and since Toya knew Arata was at the hospital a lot, asked if one of Souma’s nurses could confirm his identity.

After that they were reluctant to let Souma see him because of what was going on, but eventually they relented.

Dying.

How could Arata be dying? Souma was supposed to die first, probably should have in the initial car crash.

Arata has a perfect bill of health; he can’t just collapse with some unknown condition!

But there he is, lying on a hospital bed, with vitals Souma knows too well means things are bad, impossibly pale.

He grasps Arata’s hand in his good one and doesn’t let go, even as Yoka arrives and starts crying, and Toya, An, and Kohane show up to comfort him.

An looks like she’s already been crying today, but Souma doesn’t ask. 

Finally, Akito arrives with a man who does kind of look like Arata.

“Hello,” the man with Akito says. “I’m Shinei Shinonome, I believe this is my fault?”

Yoka spins around and slaps him, and Shinei nods.

“I probably deserved that. I’m so sorry Yuma, I didn’t know you were pregnant.”

“It’s Yoka.”

“Oh,” Shinei says. “Just slap me again if you want.”

“What I want is to know what’s going on with my son.”

“Right. Ok so, the firstborn sons of the Shinonome family are afflicted with a curse that hits when they become 20. After that point if they lose their creative drive, they die.”

“Arata… lost his creative drive?” Souma gasps.

“Him, along with everyone else in our group,” Kohane mutters. “Taiga decided to challenge us to show us we couldn’t surpass RAD WEEKEND.”

Souma winces “It went that badly?”

“Yeah,” An says. “Aunt Nagi’s dead.”

“She died at your show?!”

“No, she’s been dead for three years and everyone in town knew except us.”

“What about Arata?” Souma says instead of processing that. “Even if Taiga was tough and Nagi was dead he wouldn’t just give up–”

“Taiga told him he’d never be able to surpass RAD WEEKEND because he didn’t really care about it.” Toya says, “because really all he cared about was keeping his promise to you.”

Taiga… used Souma to hurt Arata? Lead him to almost die (albeit unintentionally on Taiga’s part)?!

Souma takes a deep breath and turns back to Arata. “Hey, partner, I know you can hear me. I’m sorry about what Taiga said to you. He’s a bastard. Anyway, apparently you need to keep being creative or you’ll die, and I know this is selfish, but I need you to live for me, partner. Don’t keep being a singer if you don’t want to, write, or draw, or do anything. I don’t care, but I love you partner and I need you to live!”

Souma repeats “I need you to live” like it’s a prayer, and soon he feels movement in his hand. He jerks his head up. “Arata?!”

“Hey, partner,” Arata says weakly. “What happened?” Arata takes a look around the room and his smile drops. “What the hell are the rest of you doing here?”

“Glad you’re ok,” Akito says. “Anyway, it turns out you inherited a curse from our dad.”

“Oh of fucking course,” Arata says. “God, anything else I need to know about?”

“Please tell me you don’t have a second family curse,” Yoka says.

“No,” Shinei says. “We used to think there was another one, but when I was a kid we figured out that autism was just really common in my family so other than those, that should be everything.”

“What about the allergy to penicillin?” Akito asks.

“That’s your mother’s side of the family.”

“Great well if you haven’t given me any more troubles can you get out? I’m having a moment with my partner here. The rest of you leave too.”

“Excuse me?” Yoka says. “You just nearly died, I don’t care how much you love Souma, you’re not kicking me out.”

“Ok fine, everyone except my mom and my partner get the hell out.”

“Glad you’re not dead, by the way,” An says. “You know the worst day of my life would be even worse if that happened. Still doing shit otherwise, thanks for asking.”

“Oh my god, we’ll deal with that later.”

“I want to point out that I’m the one who realized you might die and rushed over here,” Akito says.

“Thank you, now get out.”

Everyone except Yoka leaves, and Arata smiles the prettiest smile in the world.

“I guess we’ll have to stay partners,” Arata says. “Or else I’ll die. How could I possibly have any creative drive without you?”

“Oh no, how terrible,” Souma says, and he doesn’t hesitate. He leans in to kiss Arata for the first time in far too long.

Yet another writing ask

Which of your fics would you keep the basic plot of but rewrite completely?

Anything that you'd like to write but feel like you're unable to?

How would you describe your writing style?

Do you have any OCs? Do you have a story for them?

What's a tag you never want to use for your works even when it applies?

What's your ratio for rating your works?

Your favourite ao3 tag.

How slow is a slow burn?

Thoughts on cliffhangers.

Top three favourite fic tropes.

Three tropes that are fine but overrated.

If you write in more than one language, what's the difference?

Rate your worldbuilding skills from 1 to 10.

Write and share the first sentence of a new fic. Just that.

What's your favourite plotless fic you have written?

Are one-shots really underrated?

Past or present tense? Why?

First, second, or third person?

Share a snippet from a wip without giving any context for it.

Do you work on a single project or many at the same time? How does that work for you?

Can you accurately predict how long your fics are going to be? If you can, what's your secret?

What is it about watching the same two idiots falling in love over and over again?

Dialogue or description? Why is the other one so hard?

Thoughts on flashbacks/flashforwards.

Is writing the whole thing beforehand better or worse than writing it as you go?

What would you describe as OOC?

Do you agree that one shouldn't start a story with a piece of dialogue?

Any writing advice that works for you and you feel like sharing?

What's the hardest thing about writing?

Describe a fic that almost happened, but then it didn't.

What was the most difficult fic for you to write (but in the end you made it)?

Do you have a word/expression that you always use in your writing?

Give your writing a compliment.

Do you write to improve? Or is that not a concern for you?

Thoughts on writing challenges/contests.

How do you come up with fic titles? What's the one you're most proud of?

Do you research before writing or while you write? Is it fun or boring for you?

"This never happened" fix-it fics or "this happened but" fix-it fics?

Wildest AU scenario you have written?

Write a 9-word fic.

GUYS. ALTO HAS A FANFIC BLOG TOO. FOLLOW HER NOW.

Whumptober Day 2: Amusement Park

The Things I Do For You

“Why are we doing this again?” Akito groans as he helps pick through the remains of the burnt pier.

“Because Aoyagi can’t say no to Tenma and you can’t say no to Aoyagi,” Tono says.

Akito grimaces, but he knows Tono’s right. Phoenix Wonderland had bought the land the pier is on to expand into a water park, but then it had mysteriously burnt down, so now they were stuck helping pick through the wreckage.

The two of them are doing some heavy lifting by the water, which isn’t fun in the humid summer air. Akito’s pretty sure he’s run out of sweat and is about to suggest to Tono that they grab some water, but Tono’s staring off into the ocean.

“Tono? What’re you spacing out for?” Akito asks.

Instead of a snappy retort, Tono doesn’t say anything until Akito physically walks up and grabs his arm.

“Dude, what’s wrong?” 

Tono blinks. “Sorry, I just could have sworn I heard Souma.”

“What? Dude, why would Souma be here? It wouldn’t be safe.”

“Yeah. Of course. You’re right.” Tono says, but he doesn’t sound convinced.

Akito rolls his eyes and grabs Tono’s arm. “C’mon, I think the heat is getting to us.”

Akito! Help!

Akito whips his head around at the sound of Toya’s voice, but the only thing behind him is the blue expanse of the ocean.

“No,” Akito says. “Fuck this.” He starts dragging Tono away from the ocean with one arm and calls Toya with the other.

“Akito? Everything ok?” Toya asks over the phone. 

“Were you by the pier?”

“Um, no? We’re over by the Ferris Wheel.”

“Yeah, thought so. Tono and I are hearing things, can we meet you by the snack station?”

“Are you ok?”

“We will be once we’re in the shade and drink like a gallon of–”

Suddenly, Tono tears away from him and starts running back towards the pier. “Souma! I’m coming partner!”

“Tono– talk to you later, partner!” Akito hangs up and chases after Tono, tackling him into some wood before he can throw himself into the water.

“Let me go! Souma needs me!”

“Souma is not here!”

Akito, help me! I can’t swim!

Akito looks up and blinks. That certainly looks like Toya in the water, but Tono struggling to get out from under him takes Akito’s attention away.

Akito, help! Don’t you care about me? Don’t you love me? Will you really let me die?

“Ok, look,” Akito says, trying not to hurt Tono too much. “I do love Toya, I’ve also had too many problems with people who look like Toya using that to get to me, and I literally just talked to him, and if Toya was suddenly drowning we’d be hearing Tsukasa, so no. Not gonna work, sorry.”

Not-Toya looks annoyed, then sinks back into the water.

Akito breathes a sigh of relief, but a split second later, scaly hands burst out of the water and grab onto his arms.

He and Tono are dragged over the side of the pier into the water. Akito can’t make out what’s grabbing onto him in the dark, but it’s all he can do to hold onto Tono and try and swim away.

Akito kicks and pulls frantically to get away, and eventually spots a rotting piece of the pier and kicks at it frantically from you.

The entire thing above them shakes and old wood crashes into the water, chasing off the figures in the dark.

Akito swims back to shore faster than he’s ever swum in his life, dragging Tono the whole way.

“Akito? What happened?” Toya, the real Toya, with legs, is on the rest of the pier with the others.

“We got fucking sirens,” Akito sputters. Tono also starts coughing up water.

“What?”

“Sirens, Toya.” Akito says. “We got fucking sirens. Let’s get out of here.”

these are my mutuals. they know who they are

Two Knights' Tango

Whumptober Day 1 Prompt: "You Have To Let Go"

Summary: Akechi remebers the truth of their current reality.

Word Count: 1303

TW: Cursing, Third Semester Bad End, Akechi being Akechi

AO3

Ren knows that his plans for a peaceful evening with his friends are ruined the second Goro walks in with that smile on his face.

It’s been a while since Goro -- no, Akechi, he is Akechi right now -- has put on that mask. A smile like daggers that doesn’t reach his eyes, his whole body tense with rage at everyone around him. He takes his usual seat at the counter and stares at Ren expectantly.

Ren, uninterested in having this conversation, takes his time making his coffee.

“What do you think?” Ren asks, passing a mug down to Akechi. A floating facsimile of how Morgana used to look smiles up at him, and Akechi makes a face that gives Ren the hilarious mental image of the Detective Prince punching a mug. “Yusuke’s been helping me practice latte art. It’s not as good as his but--”

“What the hell do you think is going on here?” Akechi growls.

“Well it’s Thursday, so we’re chatting before our usual study session with--”

Akechi grabs Ren by the shirt and pulls him close so their faces are inches apart. Despite knowing better, Ren can’t help but hope Akechi will claw his eyes out or something. Really let loose this time.

Instead Akechi lets him go after a second. “Why did you take the deal?” he asks.

Ren locks eyes with him. “Because otherwise you’d die, idiot, and despite what you think I should do, I care about your life.”

“Oh you care,” Akechi spits out. “Of course, that’s why you’ve forced us all to stay in this make believe world you and that damned doctor have cooked up.”

“I mean Maruki does most of the work,” Ren says, “I just play along.”

Akechi slams his fist on the table. “How are you so damn calm about this? Changing people against their will, forcing them to live a life you decided for them? What happened to the righteous leader of the Phantom Thieves?”

“I thought you hated that guy.”

“I will stab you.”

“Couldn’t even if you actually wanted to.”

“Oh yeah? Try me.”

“No,” Ren says, taking a sip out of Akechi’s latte. “You literally can’t. Haven’t you noticed the lack of work, detective?”

“Because Maruki won’t allow it?” Akechi hisses out. “And you’re ok with that?”

Ren shrugs, and Akechi looks legitimately taken about.

“W-what is wrong with you? You don’t even regret it? Sumire is dead because of you. Her heart may be beating but the personality of Sumire, the girl who looked up to you, is gone and replaced with some idealized shadow of a person who never existed. Your friends decided to reject this reality purely because you asked them to, and you just dragged them back-”

“They chose it first,” Ren says with a bitterness he didn’t think he still had. He should probably talk to Maruki about that.

“That’s not what happened and you know it,” Akechi replies. “Maruki never gave anyone a choice. No one except you. ”

“You asked me if I regretted anything?” Ren says. “Of course I do, I regret so many many things. But there’s nothing to be done now.”

“So you’re giving up? You can’t muster the courage to fight Maruki and-”

Ren hates this part.

“Use your fucking brain for once instead of trying to fight all of your problems, Akechi!” Ren snaps. “If this was just Maruki changing the past, this place would be unsustainable. People die, people get hurt, and people hurt each other. Sometimes they hurt each other without malicious intent, which is a bitch because then making everyone happy is impossible and it’s hard to predict when those cases are going to happen. Fixing everything the first time was hard enough, imagine having to do that over and over again with every little issue that could possibly upset someone as time passes.”

Goro’s eyes widen in realization. “So to make sure everything stays perfect Maruki would have to preserve things?””

“Pretty much the only way to do his whole thing without going crazy after the first decade or so.”

Goro takes a breath to steady himself. “And how, exactly, do you know this? Isn’t it just a hypothetical at this poi-”

“How long have you been a third year?”

Akechi opens his mouth to answer automatically, then stops and thinks about it. His hands ball into fists. “How long have we been here? In this reality. How long has this been going on, Ren?” he asks.

Ren shrugs. “Like I told you the last time we had this conversation, I haven’t been inclined to keep track.”

“The last time-- we’ve had this conversation before ?”

“Yep. You don’t exactly take it well, and that pings Maruki and then he, you know” Ren waves his hands in Akechi’s face, “makes you happy.”

Akechi grits his teeth but takes a deep breath. “So how come you remember?”

“Because a long, long time ago I signed a contract that said I’d take full responsibility for my actions,” Ren says, “and I didn’t realize what that really meant. Maruki’s tried to help but I guess there are some things even he can’t do.”

“Then why don’t you try and get back to our own reality?” Akechi asks.

“Because it’s gone. Mementos, it felt huge, but it really only affected Tokyo. I’m sure you’ve figured that out since we’ve only ever heard from targets in the city.”

“Which means Maruki’s reality only affected Tokyo.”

“Finally he puts it together!” Ren applauds.

“Don’t mock me. So while we’ve been here...”

“The rest of the world has moved on. Or destroyed itself. Who really knows. Either way the world we knew is gone,” Ren says, “What if I just condemn everyone to something worse?”

“So you’re just going to hide?”

“I already made a choice to get everyone stuck here. I can’t just change my mind-”

“You already did that when you accepted the deal!”

“And that was a mistake! You want me to just repeat it?” Ren snaps. “God damn it, Akechi. Even if we can break out of here, something that will be much harder than it was back then, who the fuck knows what we’re going back to. Maybe everything’s been destroyed, maybe World War III started. What? You want me to just repeat my mistakes and condemn everyone to something worse?

“It’s not just your choice! Don’t the others deserve a say in which reality they want to live in?”

“They’re fine not knowing. They’re happy either way.” Ren runs a hand through his hair. He’s worked up, again. Why? Why is he always angry when they get to this part? They've had this conversation so many times now -- it never changes -- and it still gets to him. “Just, let go, Goro. Give up on going back. I wish I could.” With that, Ren puts his apron on the counter and heads upstairs, phone out to tell the others to cancel for tonight. “Switch the sign around on your way out.”

~

“So, he’s not going to help us?” Sumire asks when Goro finishes the recording for the others.

Goro shrugs. “He’s given up. Do the rest of you want to continue without your fearless leader?”

An awkward silence settles over the small laundromat that they’d decided to meet in.

Then Haru steps up, eyes burning. “I will reclaim my future,” she says. “Or die trying.”

Slowly but surely, everyone else agrees. Goro doesn’t dare think about the relief that fills his chest at the thought of the others being willing to help him. They’re allies with a united goal, that's all. Besides, he could have done it without them.

A few feet away, hidden in the branches of the tree, a blue butterfly watches. It feels hope for the first time in a long while.

I know this is kinda out of nowhere but I was going through some of my really old ao3 tabs and I stumbled across some of your Ace Attorney fics and I know you in my head as the one person that’s out there writing Souma/Arata fics (thank you for that btw) so I got a little jumpscared when I saw your username in one of my old ass ao3 tabs and like this is the second time something like this has happened to me with fanfic authors (it’s happened countless times with fanartists) and cemented that the pipelines are real, I just thought it was funny and thought I’d share lmao

Ah! My old AA fics… I haven’t written for AA in forever, though I have replayed the games about twenty-million times since then. I’m glad you enjoyed my old works too! Thank you so much!

Me, every morning: Comment?

Inbox: 0

Me: Aw, nothing today.

Me, 20 mins later, checking my inbox again: Comment?

Spotify writing prompt: how about song 73?

73. Transition 4 (35:MM A Musical Exhibition

And if a world lies beyond/Does something try to respond?/Is film an unearthly bond?

Futaba pulls away from Ren and the others, eyes trained on the white hat across the room. Normally something like this, an afterparty for the film festival filled with strangers, would terrify her, but in this case, it’s almost like something is pulling her to the girl in the white hat.

Hikari Honda.

Futaba had never met her, never heard of her until they’d randomly decided to go to this showcase. But watching her film, “New Cinema Labyrinth,” and then seeing her come on stage something in Futaba got excited.

And not in the way that Hikari’s cute. Like, obviously she’s cute but that’s not the feeling in Futaba’s gut. Hikari felt familiar, and Futaba’s gonna get to the bottom of that feeling.

“Hey!” Futaba says, reaching out to grab Hikari’s arm. Hikari stops and turns to Futaba in shock, and Futaba’s throat clams up. Gah, running up to a random stranger like that, she’s acting like Inari. “H-hi! I’m Sutaba Fakura,” Futaba stammers. “I-I mean, Futaba Sakura! I uh- really liked your movie!”

“Oh! Thank you,” Hikari says. “I’m sorry, have we met before?”

“I don’t think so! I’m not really a huge movie buff, but my friends wanted to come.”

“Oh.” Hikari frowns. “I could’ve sworn I’ve seen you somewhere before.”

“Me too!” Futaba says. Suddenly, someone bumps into her and Futaba yelps.

“Um, would you like to go somewhere more private?” Hikari asks. “I’m not really great with crowds.”

“Me neither,” Futaba says. “Um, why don’t we go over back where my friends were? We sorta staked out a secluded corner by the refreshments table.”

“I’d like that,” Hikari says. She offers her hand out to Futaba. “Would you lead the way?”

Futaba grabs Hikari’s hand effortlessly. “I’d love to.”