When I was your age

Hello! I have been on tumblr for a while now and I still have no idea what I'm doing. I love Rise of the Guardians, Good Omens, Thunderbolts, cute animals, and funny .gifs. I have a husband, a daughter, and I am older than you think. I also write fanfic! You can find me on AO3 as notastranger.

[bowlingforgerbils]

Hello!

I would like to get in the habit of writing more little minifics and posting them here instead of adding yet another AO3 WIP to the pile. I have a couple ideas already in mind, but if anyone wants to throw me something they'd like to see me write a little thing about, or wants to chat about Cooper and the Void headcanons or whatever, this is a friendly reminder that my askbox is open. <3

[bobakowalski]

Idk if you still take requests but I would love for Bob to kiss John's nose if you're up for it 🌞

Here they are 💖 In doomsday outfits as a little treat

[disterras-sims]

i get the WORST cuteness aggression whenever my miis do these actions! i just wanna eat them up!!! 😖😩💖

[montereybayaquarium]

The Pacific Ocean is wider than the Moon. Anyway how’s your day going?

[noxfauna]

dip moon like cookie

[panseal]

[bowlingforgerbils]

📝 for the writer ask game: 4, 6 + 28

Thanks for the ask! 💖

4. Do you save your ‘cut scenes’ from your fics?

I don't. 😬 Truthfully, I don't have much in the way of extra material for my fics, if I feel like a scene is going down the wrong path, I delete it or re-word it. I'm a linear writer and an edit-as-I-go type.

6. Do you listen to anything while you write? Or do you prefer silence?

Silence! 🤫 If I am somewhere noisy, I will put on instrumental music to drown it out. Despite getting into making playlists these days, I can't write to songs with words, it's too distracting. The playlists are for brainstorming and daydreaming.

28. Do you prefer canon compliant fics or AUs?

Uh... I think it depends on the pairing/canon. I tend to start off with canon compliant fics to get a feel for the characters, and then I start exploring AUs. (With a notable recent exception, lol.)

[mrsducky]

WYATT RUSSELL as CORPORAL LEWIS FORD Overlord (2018) dir. Julius Avery

[bowlingforgerbils]

Ask game!

26, 32 and 39!!

Thank you for the ask! 💖

26. What is your favorite part about writing?

I love getting my ideas out of my head and onto paper. 99% of my fanfics come from me daydreaming about my favorite characters and then creating an elaborate enough story that needs to be written. It's a little like bringing something to life. It existed only in my head first, and now it's out of my head for others to see.

32. Out of all your fics, what is your favorite title?

Okay, this is dumb, but my favorite title is Two Bros Chillin' in a Hot Tub and the reason is because (a) it is accurate (although the two bros in the fic are no feet apart because they are hella gay for each other), and (b) every time I see the title, I think of the vine that it came from and sing the entire thing. 😂 It makes me so happy!

39. Do you have a preferred writing drink/snack?

I tend to do my writing in the morning while I'm having my second cup of coffee, and sometimes later I'll have tea. I don't usually snack while I write because I need my hands to type, not snack.

[ahyperactivehero]

Fanfic Author Asks!

(I love these things so much, I thought I would do my own lol)

How many WIPS do you currently have?

Do you prefer oneshots or longfics?

What was the last thing you looked up for a fic?

Do you save your 'cut scenes' from your fics? (Want to share one?)

Where do you get your title inspiration from?

Do you listen to anything while you write? Or do you prefer silence?

What fic are you the proudest of?

Has anyone ever drawn fanart for one of your fics before?

What time do you prefer to write? (Day, night, etc.?)

How much do you write before you post?

Do you outline your fics before writing them?

Have you ever made a moodboard for a fic? (Do you want to share it?)

Have you ever made a playlist for a fic? (Share?)

What is something you really like about your work(s)?

Do you look at comments right away? Or save them for later?

How do you write your fics? (Handwritten, google docs, word, etc)

Do you regularly discuss your fics, or do you keep most of the info to yourself before you start posting?

How do you decide what POV to write in?

Do you work on multiple fics at once or only one at a time?

What made you start writing?

What is something that no one has caught about one of your fics?

What is one of your favorite tropes to write?

Do you post your fics on a schedule?

Do you have any writing goals? (Word counts, chapters, finishing fics, trying something new?)

Is there a scene you are dreading writing? (Want to share what it is?)

What is your favorite part about writing?

What is a question that you never get asked about your fics that you really want to answer?

Do you prefer canon compliant fics or AUs?

What fic are you the least proud of?

Is there something you would go back and change about a fic if you could?

How do you stay motivated?

Out of all your fics, what is your favorite title?

What is your favorite line from *insert fic name here*?

Have you ever done a collaboration? Would you?

Favorite review you've gotten?

Are/were you surprised by your top fic? (hits, kudos, comments, anything)

Favorite genre?

Fic idea you're most excited to get to?

Do you have a preferred writing snack/drink?

Happy Endings or Sad Endings?

Bonus: Readers, tell your fave authors something you liked about their fics/works!

[belljarbrews]

I love questions!

[bowlingforgerbils]

Hello! Remember that faun/Greek warrior I mentioned? Here it is! 2001 words of faun Miles helping an injured warrior Ford. TW: blood, mentions of death and dying, stitching a wound. Nothing graphic. (Also, if you thought you already saw this, it's because I accidentally posted a draft instead of the finished fic. This is the real one!)

A goddess's sacred forest was no place for an injured warrior, but Ford was out of options.

Resting against the trunk of an ancient tree, he carefully undid the straps of his bronze chest plate and winced at the sizable bloodstain spreading over his linen tunic. The wound underneath — a long, jagged gash across his abdomen — was only marginally less disturbing. Any deeper and an oracle could have used his entrails to divine the future.

He balled up the fabric and pressed it against the wound, grimacing at the pain. The scars that littered his body told the tale of his previous injuries, but none of them were as bad as this one. Already he could feel himself growing woozy from the blood loss. He'd be lucky to make it out of this forest alive.

A rustle in the bushes somehow caught his attention over his agony. Ford spotted a pair of large blue eyes peering at him among the leaves.

Shit. Those eyes were too pretty to be human. A dryad, maybe? Was he bleeding out on her tree?

"I can't hurt you even if I wanted to," he bit out with a grimace. "Lost my sword and spear. I'm at your mercy."

The eyes disappeared. Then, slowly, a figure emerged from the undergrowth.

Not a dryad.

They were male, for one thing. A sweet, boyish face and a bare, flat chest, although only the upper half was human. His furry legs were bent back like a goat's and tiny horns peeked out from a mass of dark curls on top of his head.

A faun, then. Ford tried to remember the stories that his mother had told him, but the pain was making it hard to think.

"You're hurt," the faun said in a soft, trembling voice.

"Yeah, no shit," Ford replied dryly. The faun visibly flinched and Ford sighed to himself. "Sorry... meant no disrespect, uh..."

"Miles." The faun took a few shy steps towards him on tiny hooves. His ears were like a goat's, too, Ford noticed, and they twitched nervously. "I, um... could help you? I have some healing poultices, and I'm good at stitching..."

Some medical care sounded really good to Ford right now, but he was wary. There was always a price to pay when receiving aid from a nature spirit. "What would I owe you, Miles?"

The faun frowned cutely, his ears drooping. "You could not snap at me?"

Ford almost laughed. Must have been the blood loss. "I'll try my best."

~*~

After a quick retreat further into the woods, Miles re-emerged with a satchel slung over his shoulder. He sat down next to Ford on the grass, furry legs folded up beneath him, and examined the wound.

By this point, Ford was very close to passing out, which he knew was a terrible idea. He concentrated on the soft pout of Miles's lips instead. "How's it look?"

"Not the worst I've ever seen," Miles replied, despite the worry on his face. "Here..." he pulled out from his satchel a green seed pod that Ford vaguely recognized. "Chew on this, it will help with the pain."

Ford did as instructed, his hand heavy as he brought the pod up to his mouth. The effect was nearly immediate, and he relaxed against the tree as Miles took out more items from his satchel.

"I'll clean and stitch the wound, then dress it. You'll need to rest for a while while you recover." His gentle hands used a pristine cloth to wipe away the blood before he got out the needle and thread. "I can give you another seed pod if it's too painful to stay still."

"Nah," Ford mumbled around the chewed-up pod on his mouth. "'S doin' plenty already..."

Miles seemed mollified by his response, especially when he started sewing up the wound and Ford didn't even flinch at the needle. It didn't seem to take very long, or maybe the seed pod was doing something funny with how time was passing. It was like Ford had only blinked once or twice and it was over.

"Thanks," he said quietly, as Miles tied off the last stitch.

"Don't thank me until I'm done," Miles replied with a shy little smile. He opened a small clay jar and smeared a sharp-smelling poultice over the stitches. "Can you sit up a little? I have to wrap the wound."

The acrid scent roused Ford enough that he could follow the request. His armored skirt rode up at the change in position and Ford caught the faun taking a little peek and blushing at whatever he saw.

"See something you like?" Ford asked with a loopy grin.

That only made Miles blush harder. "No, I — I'm trying the be respectful..."

Ford rolled his eyes. "Says the faun who's trotting around the forest naked."

The pout on Miles's face was beyond adorable. His ears flicked back in protest. "I am *not* naked. I have on a flower crown."

"Mmm." Ford's gaze lifted lazily to the faun's hair. There was, indeed, a crown of flowers nestled among the curls. "You're right. They're pretty."

Miles bit his lip and started wrapping a clean linen around Ford's torso. "Thank you."

"You're pretty," Ford added. The pod was nothing but a husk now. He spit it out and let his mind sink more deeply into a pleasant haze. "Pretty little faun..."

"Nymphs are pretty," Miles corrected absently, not meeting Ford's eyes. "I've got hooves and a tail."

"Bet your tail's pretty, too." The absence of pain let Ford's tongue loose. "An' you got gentle hands... I'd never find a nymph as gentle as you..."

His words seemed to miss their mark wildly, because instead of another blush or maybe even a smile, Miles looked on the verge of tears. Ford felt awful, even through the thick layers of wool that his brain was swaddled in, and tried to think of something else to say to take away that sad look on such a pretty face...

Then sleep claimed him, and he wasn't thinking about much of anything.

~*~

When Ford came to, he was lying on a soft pallet, a linen sheet draped over him.

The pain was back, but it was more than manageable. Slowly, he sat up and took a better look around him. He was in a little stone hut, like a shepherd might use for temporary shelter. Aside from the bed, there was a chair and a few shelves loaded with various items, and something warm and fragrant cooking in a pot over a small wooden stove by the entrance.

Miles was tending to the pot, but startled as soon as Ford sat up. "No, no, no," he fretted, his hooves tippy-tapping on the stone floor as he rushed over. "You're not ready to be sitting up yet."

"Says who?" Ford grunted. His head was clear again, aside from a vague headache.

Miles pouted, eyes filling with tears. "Says me," he replied, lower lip trembling.

Tyrants, monsters, fearsome beasts — Ford had stood up to them all, but it was going to be this pretty little faun and his pretty little pout that did him in.

"Fine," he sighed, reclining against the pillows tucked behind him. "How'd you get me here, anyway?"

"I carried you." Ford scoffed and Miles made a face, ears twitching. "I did, honest."

Well, it's not like Miles had any reason to lie about that. "This your home?" he asked. "I thought fauns lived out in nature. Slept on tuffets and ate nuts and berries?"

Miles looked back at the pot that was simmering, a soft frown on his face. "I'm not like other fauns."

Ford tensed automatically. There was something ominous about that answer. "How so?"

When Miles returned his gaze to Ford, his eyes were sad, but it was a different kind of sadness from before. 

This time, they were filled with grief. 

With the measured movements of someone putting off the inevitable, Miles brought the small wooden chair to the side of the pallet and took a seat. It was an absurd image, a faun sitting primly with his hands folded in his lap, but Ford paid no attention to that, waiting silently for Miles to answer him.

“I was born not to far from here,” he spoke, his voice quiet and heavy. “The son of a farmer. I had a gift with a bow and arrow, and when I was old enough, I joined the light infantry as an archer. I didn't think about the people I'd have to kill, I just wanted to make my parents proud. The first battle I was in, it was — Gods, it was the worst thing I'd ever seen. My general told me to keep shooting, so I did, arrow after arrow, but the other side kept coming, and I — I don't remember what happened, but soon enough I was laying in a pile of bodies, on my way to the river Styx like the rest of them.”

Ford made a soft sound of empathy. That had nearly happened to him, too, more than once.

“A-anyway,” Miles continued, after a slow exhale and a glance Ford's way, “A goddess showed up. I don't know which one. I cried out to her, not to save me, but for absolution. I’d been a temple-going boy my whole life, always left an offering at the altar. I was ready to die, but I was scared to go with so much blood on my hands, that I'd end up in Tartarus… I guess she took pity on me, because she turned me into a faun and took me to these woods. That was... a while ago, I guess. I lost track.”

Ford watched the way Miles trembled all over, like he was ashamed. “Hey…” He placed a hand on the faun’s furry knee. “That’s a good thing, though, isn't it? That you survived?”

Miles smiled wanly. “It’s not that I mind being a faun, but it means I can't go back home. And the other creatures who live here, they know I’m different and don’t want to be around me…”

Ford couldn't imagine why the other fauns and nymphs wouldn’t want Miles for company. It was their loss, anyway. He pet the fur on Miles’s knee — much softer than a goat’s, and very warm. “Is that why you saved me? To keep me around?”

Miles looked at him in alarm, a protest about to leave his lips, but then he caught sight of Ford’s smirk and scowled at him. “You promised you'd be nice to me.”

“No, I promised I wouldn't snap at you.” He gave the back of Miles’s knee a little tickle and was delighted by the giggle that escaped those pretty lips. “Anyway, it doesn't matter, because I’m not going anywhere, especially since you took my clothes. Not all of us can prance through the forest naked.”

“I’m not naked!” Miles insisted, but he was smiling now, a hopeful shine in his eyes. “You’ll really stay with me?”

“Yeah.” He gestured for Miles to lean closer, then gently brushed out one of his curls. “And you are naked. No flower crown.”

Miles blushed adorably. “Are you alright with that?”

Ford nodded. “More than. So long as the same goes for me.”

Miles nodded, eyes bright. Ford tugged his shoulder a little, bringing him close enough that they could kiss. The faun’s lips were as soft as they looked, and he tasted like a ripe berry. It was probably as close to the Elysium as Ford was ever going to get, and he lost himself in that feeling for a little while, at least until Miles pulled away.

“Your stitches,” he said, even as he kept staring at Ford's lips longingly. “We have to be gentle.”

Ford gave him a little nod and carefully drew him back in for another kiss. 

Gentle wasn’t something that Ford was good at, but for this sweet little faun, he could learn.

[marypsue]

the self-indulgent fanfiction will continue until morale improves

[bisexualbaker]

The self-indulgent fanficiton will also continue after morale improves, just with better morale.

[willybob9]

[katzwashere]

So the World Cup is over? Well, not for them 😏😏😏

Like my work? Find more here!

[bowlingforgerbils]

Ten People You'd Like to Get to Know Better

I was tagged by @bobakowalski 💖💖💖 Thanks for the tag!

★ Last song: Holding Out For a Hero by Bonnie Tyler. I was letting Spotify recommend me songs based on what I'd already put on my latest playlist. That one went on immediately!

★ Currently watching: I have to wait until my husband comes back from his work trip, but when he does, we're going to watch "The Other Bennet Sister" together. It looks cute!

★ Current Obsession: Miles Miller. 😂 I thought I'd be able to move on after writing If You Could Only See the Beast You've Made of Me but nope, this incredibly sad boy is taking up all of my brain space. Shoutout to all the Lewis Pullman girlies who have been waiting for us Wyatt Russell girlies to see how the other half lives.

★ Currently reading: Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

★ Currently working on: The last chapter of Sun Is Shining And So Are You but ALSO a faun/Greek warrior one-shot for a new ship that I'll post here and NOT let it spiral out of control because I already have enough WIPs, thanks!

★ Last google search: stuff about fauns. 😁

I will be brave and actually tag people this time! @doggedworship @aereona @hi-res-tm @belljarbrews @lollypopunicorn14 @coyotevalentine @absolutelynothoughtswhatsoever @lonelyorchidman @sylphidine AND the tenth person is if you would like to do it and you weren't already tagged by someone. Consider yourself tagged by me! 💖

[tomatette]

Happy 'Comment on a Fic Monday!'

Have you done your part yet? XD

[disterra]

this weekend's ridiculous lil chibis inspired by: kitty john in someone who needs me by @/prettygirlwyattrussell | puppy john in he's got that dog in him by @/bowlingforgerbils 🐶🐱 semi-infected lewis ford rescuing miles miller because i remember @/lollypopunicorn14, @/lalalunascope & @/hi-res-tm mentioning this crossover ship 💗

[absolutelynothoughtswhatsoever]