Work Text:
Proem:
I've always been a romantic and a dreamer (maybe too big of one, according to SOME people, lol), and folks think that's cute but it sucks also? I had this massive, tragic, crush on somebody super out of my league and like, thank god actually for a mutual who helped me get over it, because I know that time heals all wounds (especially wounds of the heart) but it also sucks the entire time. After though, it's kind of nice to look back at longing and crushes and obsessions and be like "that was fun" (even if it was not fun, haha, at ALL, at the time). And honestly? It makes you really grateful for your friends who put up with you while you were obsessed, like THAT is love, the friends who stick by you. AND since I super owe my pals who put up with all my shit, now that I'm not knee-deep in The Longing (tm), I want to give back. Because it really is like a circle of support for all of us easily-obsessed softies and me being like "it does get better with time" and feeling great about myself helps almost nobody, especially folks who got it bad. And you know women are basically Professionals at these feelings, because the system has them doing a million other emotional support things for everybody else and then ALSO they are having Big Feelings about all sorts of shit. And that just makes the whole thing worse! 'Cause you gotta just shove it all down and deal with it since your bummers and longings and desires and whatever are secondary to making sure somebody else doesn't feel bad because they asked the waiter for more pickles or whatever. And like, punching a wall about it isn't an option, or otherwise exorcising it via distracting activities because that's not what girls do or you are expected to feel this way etc etc etc. So instead of time healing the wound it festers, basically? ANYWAY! I feel like we gotta do more for the girlies who grin and bear it when their hearts are breaking, so I am writing a hundred (100) stories, or drabbles or whatever you want to call them, as told by ten very cool and normal people (seven women, three guys), back during the pando. I have even written some poems, y'all, I feel like Jolkien Rolkien Tolkien here. These shorts have everything (stefan.jpg). Romance, comedy, tragedy, rags to riches, set in a bunch of different places and times, so no matter who is reading it you will find something tasty. And maybe learn something! Haha, even if you learn what you don't like, that still makes it useful. If you do get something, even a laugh, out of this, then you can thank lol, the concept of love itself, I guess, because if I had not finally gotten over it then I would not have been hit by the inspiration fairy to write this.
[ten stories, 100 days, seven people]
Conclusion of the Author:
Okay ladies, you've been my inspo for this and I think (thanks to all your love and kudos!) I have totally hit my goal with this: so now thank god and thank you, I can close my drafts and hit publish. Before I sign off though, I want to head any haters off at the pass who think that none of these stories are special, actually. Yeah, they're not! They're just stories get over yourself. And I know perhaps some folks are like, "they would never say that" or "only freaks would read this trash" and like that's silly because anybody could say anything if you set it up right and I think I did, tbh. Devil's Advocate though, maybe I stretched some premises too thin, and surprise! I actually put a lot of thought into what I wrote and why I wrote it, so I did it on purpose, actually. First, if I went too OOC with anyone, then that's what the story needed, which would be obvious if you actually knew shit about tropes and motifs and not just booktok catchphrases. And if you maybe think some of the tropes are too "weird" and shouldn't be used "because of the children" well learn what YKINMKBYKIOK is and get over yourself, because that path heads towards censorship and this is Archive of OUR Own and I have clearly tagged everything, so what are you doing at the sacrament/dead dove/don't like don't read. There is some wild "classic" literature out there that can get just as freaky as fanfic, and anything can help or harm, depending on who is reading it and why. Coffee is delicious and a great pick-me-up, but it also gives some people the shits and shakes, right? So then, since some people should not be drinking it do we slap the iced coffees out of our gay little hands? Fire is majorly useful and necessary for a tonne of shit, but also: it burns down houses so we should outlaw fire! SURE, VERY NORMAL THINGS TO THINK. If you're going to always take a bad-faith approach to something then it doesn't matter what you're reading, you're going to find the worst way to interpret it. If you know how to be normal about shit, then you can read the most depraved fic you want and it doesn't suddenly make you a criminal. A person can make any interpretation they want of what they read, and twist the most innocuous thing into nastiness. Every story has the possibility to be useful or malignant and that goes the same for the shit I write. If you want to take my stories and decide to interpret them in the worst possible way I can't stop you! That's what death of the author means, baby! And it something hits for you in a good way because you read it at the right time, then that can't be denied either.
There are some readers who could do without some of the chapters here. Fair! But sometimes the characters decide what happens not the writer. But, even if you think I had total control of what all the characters wanted (which I didn't, you folks know how it is!), I gotta say I have no problem with some chapters not being perfect, because pobody's nerfect, the great god garf said that probably. I think it's important to acknowledge that what you make isn't always going to be perfect. Nothing is! That's the beauty of life, the mix of good and bad and mid. And besides! Fandom and fanfiction is something we do for fun, as much as we all love to deep dive on like, the complete history of doillies for a single line in a fic, but the obsession for perfection can be a barrier to just having fun and getting it done! anyway, Read the bits you like, skip what you don't, I've tagged each chapter appropriately. Don't like? Don't read. ( ◡‿◡ *)”
Also, I am sure some folks are going to say some of the stories are too long, but like girl you read the whole thing, so. And it's been a minute since I started this whole thing anyway, but I still remember the entire point was to have fun and give you all something fun to read when you're feeling down and need a diversion. If you're procrastinating with this fic, then of course you're going to want shorter chapters, because you know you should be doing something else. But if you just need to distract your heart a while, or decompress with something silly, then you're going to want MOAR words actually. So. Again, I am totally sure that also there are folks being like, "you normally write good stuff, why is this so weird and silly" and that it's embarassing for me write what's basically crackfic. Listen: we stay silly. Besides, some of the canon has itself gone off the deep end lately, so if the writer's room at Big Network TV thinks it's fine to get weird with it, I am going to get weirder.
Again, some people are definitely going to be pissed I did their blorbo wrong, and that's fair, we all have our headcanons. But also blorbos were made to go in the salad spinner. And if you hate that, sorry but I did run things past my besties who claim those blorbos as their own and they loved it, so. For those who still have complaints, I've done my bit already defending my choices so I'm done, thanks, make up your own rebuttals. Love is real, and it's thanks to all the folks that know that who kept me going while I wrote this, hope you had fun. <3
And that's all folks!
Notes:
(for real this time)
The Decameron is fun but it's Giovanni Boccaccio's opening and closing chapters that stuck with me. What a weird and interesting dude. I feel like he's got cinematic parallels with Dr. Chuck Tingle, writing stories to bring joy and love despite the devils and the haters.