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Fics uploaded at random & unbeta'd for the most part
(sorry)
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Requests and Inbox open indefinitely
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More to come soon
recently learned about Lita Ford, the guitarist for Joan Jett's band The Runaways, who found herself in perhaps one of the cockamamie predicaments of all time
this shit literally sounds like the plot of a yuri manga. girliepop walked right into the setup for a 60,000 word slowburn f/f fanfic and couldn't even appreciate it
Oh wow, this was dark and grim, but I adored the protagonist! I love ruthless, anti-hero protagonists in general, especially female ones, but Rin was especially great. The fantasy war in this book is clearly based on the real Second-Sino Japanese War. It reminded me significantly of “The Song of the Lioness” and “The Traitor Baru Cormorant,” but I loved this in a way I never loved those. The tactics, machinations, betrayals, scheming! The lying and double-crossing! Absolutely delicious. And I’m always a fangirl for the “obsessed character pushes themself beyond reasonable limits, to the point of self-harm, because they’re just that ambitious and driven” trope, coupled with the “underdog will stop at nothing to claw themself to the top” trope. What stopped this from being a five-star read was simply that it was far too long and dense; an editor REALLY needed to step in and say “Ms. Kuang, PLEASE break this into a series; this is insane.” It could’ve filled five books (or at least three).
Massive trigger warnings for war crimes (graphic genocide, mutilation, torture, murder, animal cruelty, rape, child soldiers, child marriage/sex slavery, etc) and intravenous drug use. If you’re at all familiar with the real-world Nanjing massacre, or the heinous experimentation of Unit 731, this will ring especially harsh.
ANON AAAAA <3
Thank you so much you’re so sweet. I’m gonna keep this messag in my mailbox like the praise hoarder I am.
I will accept this rock even though I’ve got 0 new writing to show for it.
Please stay safe and healthy out there <3
Thanks again for answering! I have no problem waiting :). What is your favorite part in writing Product Placement? Are there any particular scenes that you would like to write but haven´t done it yet?
Hello again! Thank you for waiting - you are incredibly sweet and I can’t thank you enough for leaving these asks. I really do appreicate them I think my favorite part of writing Product Placement was crafting a fleshed out character from something gimmicky / one note. It’s what I love about writing ALL minor characters as main characters in stories, honestly. I mean what we know from the show is extremely limited. Butch tells a bunch of scary stories, shadows people to get info, and is all about the Dramatic Reveal (tm). HK’s real name is Francis, he’s part of a hustler network, and he is a little bit of a swindler but does have a soft spot for marbles. That’s it, basically. I like being able to fill in the whys and hows, the backstory and motivation and goals. As far as scenes I had wanted to write but hadn’t yet - I think that’s in part why Product Placement is in this limbo. I wrote all the scenes I wanted to write already. The connective tissue that hold them together is what I haven’t written. Aside from the first chapters being... laughable (to me, I say, ten years removed fro the place I wrote them) they are largely disjointed. the thinnest thread of character growth holds them together. I wrote, and still largely do write, in a one-shot-one-deal format. They’re longer, sure. But I write in episodes. I’ve done some multi-chapter work, yeah - but it’s stupid hard for me personally. I think it’s in part that I run though the story in my head, and when I sit down to write, I’m angry that it’s not already connected, that I have to write it all together in a way that makes sense. With one shots, and with the way Product Placement was written, I did just that. Skipped over the ’boring’ shit. In doing so, the story suffers, and older me looking back on younger me just skipping over a lot of stuff is frustrating. I’ve been tempted to delete the whole thing and start over - but the length and depth and breadth is daunting, and I ultimately give up before I get started. But that doesn’t really answer your question. I’m gonna adjust it, just a little. The favorite things that I haven’t posted yet, instead. And, spoilers, but not really, because this story was always gonna have a happy ending, even if it got a little dark. I liked the bittersweetness of the night before Butch went off to college. Saying goodbye, but not forever. I liked when they grew up. Got older. Got a place of their own. A pet (and an owl because Butch is, again, Dramatic, but that’s illegal and hard and morally not great, so that’s probably not going to be)And I liked that they got hep. HK, specifically. Because he needs it. Even if he has to be nagged into it, even if he’s resistant. Because he needs it and deserves it.There’s more, obviously. Chapters on chapters of things unconnected, one shots thrown together in universe that might have made sense before. But these come to mind without even opening that old file, so I know, even in concept, they’re still good and would have a place in the story final.
Thank you for answering. Can you tell us more about some of your favorites Butch headcanons in any regard?
Hello again!!Of course I can :D
This is by no means exhaustive but here’s the ones I’ve thought of in the time it took to get back to you (sorry again)
Butch’s extended family is largely HOH. As a result, he knows sign language. I wanted this to play a bigger part in later chapters of Product Placement, but I’m not sure if I remember where or how.
Because of his extended family, Butch is amazing with babies. Because he’s a giant nerd who tells spooky stories, he’d great with all kids, tbh. He’s the “Weird Cousin” but in like a cool way.
Having lived in Arkansas, Butch was sent to the guidance counclor for his ‘outrageous and troubling’ stories many times until everyone realized he was gaming the system and they made him go back to class.
Butch doesn’t have much fo a sweet tooth, but when he (eventually) quits smoking he replaces them with the occasional lollipop along side his toothpicks.
I’m not sure if I mentioned this in OG Product Placement, but Butch smokes in large part due to his Uncle Don, who taught him how to tell scary stories, and left him with several stories on his passing. Uncle Don was a rampant cigar smoker, but Butch couldn’t find or afford the cigar brand he used, so cigarettes were as close as he could get.
Also not sure if I mentioned this in OG Product Placement, but once Butch outgrew his black jacket he wears in the show, he replaced it with a doctored-up green one. I’m no sure if there was a distinct reason for this, but it’s so in a lot of fanart @tazzes drew. I mean it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense since he still shadow-lurks, but whatever. (HK got a nicer grey trench coat for his redesign if you’re wondering)
This is less of an HC and more of like a fun fact, but all of Butch’s stories are nods to tales from Are You Afraid of the Dark. It didn’t play a huge part, but there are shades in some chapters if you squint. I’m an unoriginal hack
Working off that, I intended to have Butch be published when he was older. Basically he was going to novelize Are You Afraid of the Dark and agree to let his work be adapted into a TV / Netflix show. (I know I’m unoriginal and that makes no goddamned sense let me have this weird crossover)
Butch likes well written horror writing, and loves terrible horror movies Terrible adaptations of excellent written fiction are a double edged sword of guilty pleasure for him.
Butch wound up going to college. He went less for the degree and more for the experience (I am willfully ignoring the horrible idea irl this would be). HK went up to visit him frequently, as he skipped that bandwagon to grow his business.
That’s all I can think of rn but hit me up again if you’ve got more questions or thoughts :D
What are your favorite topics and tropes to write about in fics?
Oh anonI am the most basic of bitches, so I love any and all tropes and cliches. To a point some shit just ain’t coolI’m. Guilty of a great many things that are like. Fanfic staples. Overuse of small dashes and words like ‘mutter’ and ‘mumble’ and ‘murmur’. Using strange descriptive words because it’s FUN. Too many commas. I live for that shit. You want tropes I fucking love and will die for? Here’s some. It’s not an exhaustive list because I will just keep adding and I’m sure I’ve forgotten but HERE
Friends to lovers
Enemies to lovers
Enemies to friends to lovers
Share a house to save on rent
Share a room
Only one bed
Fake dating
Fake married
Sleepy admissions
Drunken admissions
Accidental admissions that are tried to be taken back but whoops they’re out there now
Accidental kisses
Neglectful/dead parents (idk why I do this but it just. Happens to damn near each one sorry)
One sided pining
Mutual pining
That thing where one doesn’t QUITE get how much the other loves them and it hits them like a fucking freight train
This does not include everything, nor does it include AU’s, spinoffs, or naughty stuff because we’ll be here all day and I already let this languish in my inbox for forever but if you’re super curious drop me another ask
Hello. Can you tell us more about Francis relationships with the others hustlers? Especially with Tammy and Fingers? They seem like friends even outside of business, but Francis always talks like their only connection is their shared career. What do Tammy and Fingers think about him? Does Francis background influenced on how he perceives other people (and possible friends/lovers) approaching him? (I made a lot of questions, sorry about the rambling)
No worries about asking or rambling!! Ever!! Please I love to be bothered about my OTP you are 100% cool (even if it takes me like 10 years to get back to you sorry)
I always headcanoned HK was kind of a head honcho, an unofficial leader. He’s called THE Hustler Kid, after all. Whether or not this title was handed down I never quite figured, but he’s been doing this for so long and so successfully that he’s got seniority if that makes sense?
That said, he’s also kind of a mentor, kind of a benchmark. They’re all competing and use and trade with each other, and the business can be cutthroat. My version of HK was always kind of benign, tbh. He COULD be big mean and scary and pull any number of strings to shut people down, but he very rarely uses them. And that combo of HAVING that power but not wielding it like a club is a balance he sought early on. A way to hold all the cards, as it were.
I named a BUNCH of other hustlers in one chapter and I’m. I’m pretty sure they were just Joke Names. I’ve got no other notes about them. Morgana is the only exception, who was also kind of a joke because she’s named after a character in Rugrats who Grandpa Lou shares a date night with (Tommy and Chuckie interrupt it in typical Rugrats fashion). She was supposed to be someone with an ‘old soul’ like HK, into the antique things and maybe kind of a foil to him? I honestly can’t remember. They COULD potentially be close but HK is emotionally stunted and has Work Blinders, so there’s that. Or at least I think that was the intention. I could have done her more justice, but alas, I was focused on the slash.
Fingers and Tammy are a little different, in that they are HK’s friends. HK may or may not know this. HK’s life is consumed by his work, as it’s his one activity. Hustling is his everything. So he more or less considers them “Work Friends” - as in he’s friendly and personable, but held at arms length. With the exception of TJ, who’s everyone’s pal, Butch is the closest he comes to a non-work-friend, but that started as a business arangement, so it’s a moot point.
Tl;dr - HK is pretty sure Tammy and Fingers are just work connections, but literally everyone else thinks they’re Actually Friends and, surprise, Everyone Else is Actually Right
As far as actual characters go - I’m afraid I can’t tell you very much about Tammy, as she was @snazzytazzes creation. Feel free to drop a question in her inbox, but idk if she really uses Tumblr anymore. From what I remember, Tammy was a chaotic force for good. Her good, but never like. Malicious. She just looked out for herself first, and HK and Fingers second, and everyone else was hit or miss.
Fingers I always HC’d as being like. Low key and chill. Observant, patient, and smart af. Hustling is what he does to get by. I think I had notes about him having two little sisters, and having a Dad that passed away being a firefighter. His mom holds down the fort. Idk if that ever actually played any parts in any WIPs but it’s what I’ve got written. I also can’t remember if I gave him an actual name ever? I wanna say something like Justin. Maybe James. A J name. But that’s also lost to time.
Fingers is Super Real with HK which is Great because HK needs literally anyone to ground him, and as much as Butch is there to do that, Butch is also Dramatic™. He’s pretty sure HK and he are friends on a level above Work Friends, but he’s also not one to go proactively helping, especially someone so private as HK. And, to be fair, HK’s kind of a dumbass so he might be insulted if Fingers tried to be Overly Not Work Friend. That said, Fingers knows HK’s going through Some Shit on a near constant basis, so he’s trying to be there for him. Especially as he gets older and more mature. Fingers is the kind of guy to notice things are up with his bro.
HK is. A mess of a human.Fingers and Tammy are saints.
To answer your last question - HK’s past ABSOLUTELY does play a part in how he perceives people coming up to him for friendship / relationship / whatever. His situation with his neglectful parents have kind of. Hardened him to emotion. So he’s stunted there with a) recognizing people are looking for a connection and b) how and why to do such a thing.
ADDITIONALLY - HK’s work adds and extra level of bullshit to filter through because, as a Hustler Kid - people only came up to him when they needed something. So if someone’s gonna come up to him and ask for a date- then what’s their angle? What’s in it for him? For them? Pros and cons? Is he gonna lose out on this investment?
It’s emotionally exhausting for everyone and no matter how handsome I fanon make him it’s Not Great until he works through Some Shit.
Hi. I hope it's ok to ask about this but I'm really curious, in the Product Placement universe, how is Butch's family going to react if they find out that Butch is kinda romantically involved with Francis? I always imagined that his parents will react like Billy's parents in Young Avengers when he told them that he was dating Tommy, but I really want to know how you think things will play out. In the same note, how will the other hustlers react to Francis being involved with another guy?
Hi there Anon!
It's perfectly fine to ask - in fact anytime anyone wants to ask about the OTP I'll gladly answer :D
I'd like to preface this as someone who kind of. Ignored the timeline of the 90's and location basis and made it in a fiction vacuum where it wasn't THAT big of a deal because my heart is Soft and the person who Conducted the Angst Train also disregarded the time and location for more soap-opera-esque dramatics.
That said - I always imagined that Butch's parents were accepting but. Not in the most healthy way. Like the "...oh." kind of response. Like no real effort to learn, more concerned about how he's going to make it living in Arkansas, what about grandkids, don't you want to get married and live a normal life - that kind of thing. So like. Not Angry, but not going out of their way to accept and embrace either.
On the bright side, Butch's older brother Joey was there to back him up 100%. He's in college, he's got some idea about things that aren't """"Normal""" where they are., and he's willing to learn about things he doesn't know about. Plus, it's his kid brother, and although he jumped into taking over (stealing) his room the DAY he was leaving for college, he still loves Butch.
The other hustlers were shoulder-shrugging and 'meh' about it. There might have been a few frowns, but it also doesn't really affect their business so it doesn't matter to most of them. And he's such a pillar of the organization who's gonna be That Asshole who kicks up a fuss over what HK does in his free time?
I toyed with the idea of HK's folks coming back into the picture because HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO OUR IMAGE... but I also figured HK had been waiting to see if this stirred up anything in them. And when that didn't do it, it's both a relief and a disappointment.
Hello, have you considered uploading your fanfics on AO3? You've a lot of great works and it may be good to sharing them with a new audience.
Hello Anon!
First of all - thank you! I’m really happy to hear that someone liked what I wrote :D
And second - you are extremely correct! I meant to start putting things up on AO3 on my two week break from work but just. Didn’t because of who I am as a person. But! I am going to start putting things up on my AO3 at some point in the near future. I’ve even got a handy dandy how-to from @arterial-scribblings - who I also co-authored a story with that’s currently up for reading over there if you’re so inclined!
Here’s the link! I’ll put it somewhere on the blog when it’s uh. More active and less a barren wasteland.
Not a red rose or a satin heart. I give you an onion. It is a moon wrapped in brown paper. It promises light like the careful undressing of love. Here. It will blind you with tears like a lover. It will make your reflection a wobbling photo of grief. I am trying to be truthful. Not a cute card or a kissogram. I give you an onion. Its fierce kiss will stay on your lips, possessive and faithful Take it, if you like. Lethal. Its scent will cling to your fingers, cling to your knife.
Thank you anon I appreciate your lovely prose and that you saw fit to share it with me. I'm not terribly fond of onions but the phrase "It is a moon wrapped in brown paper" is gonna stick with me like onion stink so thank you for that.
HEY
Once more I’ve been hanging onto this message because I’ve just been grinning at it like a fool.
Thanks so much!!! I will never ever be over how much love Product Placement gets. It’ll be 9 years since its inception this year!! How crazy is that!!!
Feel free to drop me a message any time! I can’t thank you enough for the support of my silly old fic.
“are you a ‘wolf like me by tv on the radio’ werewolf, a ‘hungry like the wolf by duran duran’ werewolf, an ‘it will come back by hozier’ werewolf or a ‘hollow moon by awolnation’ werewolf?” is a questionable intrusive thought i just had, sure, but also a compelling buzzfeed quiz
|Part 1 - Now Complete! Available On A03 Here>Creators: @mugsandpugs1 and @whattheficery
Tagging: @vanirdoitbetter@icelandicandamess@gaysuperiorTotal Wordcount: (8 chapters)
Pairing: Lance Alvers/Pietro Maximoff (Lietro)
Rating: PG-13/ T+ for language, bullying, and referenced child abuse
Summary: In an alternate universe where Pietro’s father abandons him in Deerfield, Illinois, the thirteen-year-old mutant must navigate his way through friendship, first crushes, and the tumult of growing up Different.
He’d looked up the name in the school library after Pietro began calling him ‘Lancelot’, wondering if he was being made fun of. He’d been surprised to find a knight; a lover; a defender of the throne. A hero.
“No, it’s not a compliment!” Pietro had sneered, genuinely disgusted, when Lance called him out on it. “It’s a warning. Don’t be a hero; you’ll just end up dying young for some stupid, ‘noble’ cause.”
Hey uhhhhhhh
Mugs is too kind crediting me so much <3
‘Cause Mugs did most (all) of the work soooooo you should go shower ‘em with adoration ‘cause this GR9
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