And so ends another year. Farewell 2023, fourth year of uni. Farewell 2023, year I lost my Zoe. Farewell to one of the strangest years of my life.
This year started with going to see The Phantom of the Opera at The Arts Centre Melbourne.
I also spent 10 days with my sister, helping us to bond, in March, which was also quite good.
I found out I had autism, which made life so much easier honestly. There's no need for me to feel bad about my little quirks, there's a reason.
I finally discovered I have Coeliac disease. 2.5 years struggling with nausea and fatigue, finally resolved with the discovery that I am intolerant to gluten.
I watched about 5 movies in two months.
This year, writing's changed. My fanfiction has evolved from primarily platonic angst and fluff through to romantic ships and even a little dip into smut. I give all that growth to @iamvegorott, who has been such a great friend to encourage me to explore these new skills in my writing. Any time I wasn't sure about an approach, I asked Veg, and they gave me tips and encouragement to approach it. Thank you so much, Veg.
It's also thanks to Veg that I expanded my fandoms list of writing, now exploring NateWantsToBattle as a fandom and approaching MadMare as a ship. I didn't realise I was experiencing a burnout on writing the same fandoms until I tapped into a new one, and my motivation is back in full force.
With the help of my great friend @brokentimewatch, I started writing three new ships: Silent Film Sweethearts (JJ x Noir), Death's Dichotomy (Murdock x Yancy), and Antique Companions (Shawn and JJ and Noir). I also travelled deeper into making Vintage Husbands (Shawn x JJ) into a romantic ship.
This was a year of writing advancements. I started my first vampire AU (the Files series), which was so fun and sort of hinted at the mature change to the writing. I would love to return to that series, to that universe, soon as I figure out any more gaps in the story to write.
I also made a vampire AU out of MadMare, which spanned 20 chapters and a short sequel blurb. It's the more nsfw of the vampire AUs, looking into some things I seem to be fixated on.
In the sewing sphere, I have figured out how spiral steel boning works, and I figured out hook and eye tape.
I posted a YouTube video almost every week this year, which was amazing.
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I hope next year brings as much fun as the end of this one has. I look forward to screaming over more writing ideas with Hunter and Veg, helping out @jellyfishdooter with creativity, and finishing my damn Wishing Dress project!!
Happy new year to everyone, and I'll see you later with lots more writing!
I’m gonna level with you dude - I was about to write the angstiest fucking thing. I found out about a soulmate type in which your soulmark only fades in when you’re about to meet your soulmate, and can fade out again if you miss your opportunity.
You can see how that lead to angst.
Here’s the blurb for what I was going to write:
“ Marvin and Anti have had their shared soulmark for a while, terrifying the city as supervillains.
Then one day, it changes color.
Three days later, they hear about a new up and coming hero.
Four days later, they meet, have an epic battle - and the hero is killed, either in an accident or because they simply won’t let some whimp in a red suit stop them from becoming the rulers of the city
Five days later, the mark has faded entirely from both of them, and the two find themselves fighting more, disagreeing, until their spats split them apart and turn the city into a playground for their vengeful battles. “
But then I looked at your blog and like honestly? You seem way too sweet for that. Look at that icon. So it became pre-relationship banter with superhero Jackie and (Super)villain Anti and Marv, only like... team rocket level instead of fuckin DC level seriousness.
Ship: antimarvelsepticeye, jackie x marvin x anti
CW: none, actually.
Soulmarks were fickle things, Marvin had learned. They were supposed to fade in before you met your soulmate, showing that you were about to meet. But.. even after meeting his soulmate, it kept… changing. Just subtly - the intricate pattern fading from pure blue into something softer and warmer from time to time.
Marvin had mostly put it out of his mind. He knew it had been happening to Anti, too. Maybe it had something to do with their powers - or maybe it was just random, something marks did from time to time.
Marvin didn’t really care - they had plenty of other things to entertain themselves with. Currently, they had figured out a way to turn the city hall into jello, because Anti had wondered if it was possible and Marvin was determined to prove… something. He wasn’t sure exactly what, but it was going to be fucking epic. They were almost ready, to - Anti had been creating distractions by turning every street light in the city to red, and Marvin was going about setting up his supplies on the domed roof of the city hall. He unconsciously scratched at his lower arm, where his soulmark had once again shifted color - almost turquoise, now, tingling almost like it had right before he’d crashed into Anti that fateful night.
(He had been figuring out how to turn the city plaza’s fountain into foam when Anti had glitched out of a nearby wall, arms loaded with cash. They had looked at each other, looked at the power and magic oozing from both of them, and spent the rest of the night getting to know each other as they waited out the police sirens on a nearby roof. Not til the next morning had Marvin realized his soulmark had gone from almost invisible to baby blue. Now it was a rich blue, and they were the greatest partners in crime this city had ever seen.)
He was just about to put together the mixture with just a pinch of magic when someone cleared his throat behind him.
“Magnificent, what are you doing?”
Marvin sighed.
“Jackieboyman, why do you never any fun?” He whined as he turned around, crossing his arms. Jackieboyman, hero of the city and general ruiner of fun, stood leaning against the tower on the top of the dome, a bemused smile on his masked face.
“No, that was a genuine question this time. I never know if you’re trying to set up a firework for the city’s orphans or like… I dunno, kidnap the governor.”
“Neither, actually,” Marvin sniffed. “I’ve come up with a new spell that I wanted to test out.”
“On City hall?” Jackieboyman said incredulously. “Why?”
“To see your pretty face, obviously,” Marvin replied, if only to see the flush turning the hero’s face almost as red as his suit.
“Well, uh, I - Despite that, I’ll have to stop you, you know that,” Jackieboyman finally said, squaring his shoulders. Marvin grumbled. He’d hoped he had forgotten about that.
“You’re such a bore, Jackieboyman. Would it kill you to lighten up once in a while?”
“I don’t know, would it kill you to stop dressing like a kid’s show magician?”
Marvin gasped, then laughed.
“You’re getting better at this whole banter thing, Jackieboy.”
“You two give me lots of practice,” Jackieboyman answered, also grinning. “Now please get off the roof and go stop Anti from causing a five-car pileup out of boredom.”
“Will do,” Marvin agreed and gave a lazy salute before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. He would have liked to stay and watch Jackieboyman’s face as he realized that Anti had taken the opportunity to glitch the Governor’s statue straight into city park’s pond, but sometimes, you had to make sacrifices.
Right before he fell asleep that night, Anti’s arms wrapped around him, he noticed that the soulmark had faded back into blue. How very strange.
A few weeks later, Marvin and Anti were walking home from a movie. It was biting cold, snow falling in tiny flakes, but Marvin barely felt the cold. Anti was making animated gestures as he raved about the effects and action and holy shit Marv we gotta try some of those, can you imagine flipping a car twice over a busy intersection it’ll be fucking great -
He struck out with his hands and promptly lost his balance, arms pinwheeling as he tried to grab for Marvin. He would have been fine, of course - Anti was made of sturdier stuff than humans. But he never ever impacted with the ground. Out of nowhere, a young man appeared, catching Anti just as he was about to fall.
“Woah there! Gotta be careful in this weather,” he laughed, lifting up Anti to a standing position as if he weighed nothing. The stranger stepped back and Marvin finally got a good look on his face.
He was, maybe, the cutest guy Marvin had ever seen.
“Are you ok?” He asked, looking at Anti earnestly. “Uh - I - I mean, I’m fine. Thank you. I mean - yeah.” Marvin hadn’t heard Anti stutter like that since their first date, oh my god, this was delightful.
“Thank you so much!” Marvin said, putting as much flirty cheer into his voice as possible. He held out his hand. “I’m Marvin, and this is Anthony.” The man hesitated a moment before taking it and dear lord that smile was every high-schoolers wet dream. Marvin barely noticed the faintly yellow soulmark on his bare arm. Why was he even wearing a t-shirt in this weather?
“I’m Jackie.”
“Well, Jackie, let us buy you a coffee as thanks!” Marvin said, smiling back and delighting in the dusting of pink on Jackie’s cheeks. He knew without looking that Anti had the same look on his face.
“Ummm, I mean. Are you sure?” Jackie’s eyes had flickered down for a moment, to where Marvin and Anti were still holding hands. Anti replied, voice that perfect growl.
“Don’t worry, Jackie, we got time. Right, Marv?” Marvin giggled. “Definitely. Only if you have time, thought, dear,” He smiled at Jackie.
It was quiet for a moment, then Jackie nodded.
“Yeah, sure, why not? I got time for a coffee. There’s a really nice little place down by the docks?” Marvin knew that one - they’d been there before. The three of them began walking again, Anti quickly falling into a discussion of action movies with Jackie. As the two of them grew louder, egged on by the other’s interest, Marvin scratched at his arm absent-mindedly. Once they got to the cafe, he’d forgotten all about it - if he had, he might have noticed how his soulmark had grown deeper in color, slowly growing greener as he, Anti and Jackie talked and laughed long into the evening.
