could you do number 28 on that thing u reblogged? (something about [them]). if u can frenrey is what i had in mind but abything is cool :)) love ya
(Micro story prompt list)
28. something about him
Benrey sits on top of a tank in a storage room and watches Gordon stomp around and yell about aliens. They've just encountered some creature that's new to the Science Team and subsequently killed it, so of course Gordon is freaking out.
"How does something like that exist?" he yells. "How does that even make sense - Tommy, Tommy, please stop pointing that at me!"
"Sorry, Mr. Freeman," Tommy says, swinging the gun away from his face and pointing it down the hall instead. "I'm ju- I'm only trying to be prepared."
"Okay," Gordon huffs, as Dr. Coomer and Bubby smash apart crates behind him. "Yeah, okay, sure, that's - that's not a bad idea." He glances around and frowns. "Hey, has anyone seen Benrey?"
Tommy glances up at where Benrey's sitting on his tank, then looks away, mouth in a thin line.
"Gordon, I'm thirsty!" Dr. Coomer chirps, and Gordon sighs again. Benrey watches the line of his throat as he tips his head back in annoyance and bites down on the pink-and-blue Sweet Voice that tries to escape.
"Fine, Dr. Coomer. Let's try to find a vending machine."
Benrey kicks his heels gently as they merge into a group and head for the closest doorway. He should be irritated by Gordon, by his loud voice and his belligerent attitude and the way he yells at everyone, especially Benrey. But there's something about him that just fascinates Benrey. He either wants to bite him or kiss him. Maybe both. Is that a thing?
Well, he can't figure it out from up here. Soundlessly, he hops down from the tank and trots after the group. He's interested to see how long it will take Gordon to notice he's back with them, and he's even more interested to hear what kind of noise he makes when he is inevitably startled by Benrey's presence. Maybe he'll even put his hand on Benrey's shoulder or face again. Maybe that would help him make a decision on the biting or kissing thing. He hopes so.
In the meantime, Benrey follows the Science Team like a shadow and tries not to think about the way everything is converging in his head. The timelines may be coming together, but he will ignore that as long as he can. He'd much rather have fun with his friends.
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Not sure why it's a new trend among fic readers to assume if the fic has not been posted within the week it's inappropriate to comment on it, like the fic has to be hot out of the oven to give feedback for.
I got a comment on a fic that is less than a year old and it was mostly an apology for being a comment on an "old fic" and how late they were in commenting.
Just comment on the fic. Doesn't matter how old it is.
One of the best things about being a writer is thinking of something small you can add to your work that’s just. Devastating. Like you’re sitting there going. Oh. That would be diabolical. People would get really riled up about that. Exquisite. Let’s do it.
frenrey fanfic recommendations from a guy who’s horribly hyperfixated on frenrey and is getting a degree in english literature to write fanfic better (half-kidding)
mdni for section marked 🔞 :P
long fics:
Human Resources Violation (113k words, fin.)
most popular fic in the fandom & for a reason. generally a must read since most people know about
Play Again? (106k words, fin.)
not very ship focused but creative narrative that holds its own and well written (joshua pov!)
you might want me (to drop dead) (89k words, fin.)
personally one of my favs, first long fic ive read that actually made gordon and benrey physically fight, also great characterization + hate dating ♥️
heathens (183k words, discontinued)
my fav roommate au, i think it does it right where others fail. it is polyamory with tommy later on but that really shouldn’t stop u from reading tbh, very good
water under the bridge (don't pretend that you don't want me) (48k words, fin.)
college auuuuu ♥️ first frenrey fic i’ve read
brokeback mesa (146k words, fin.)
western auuuuu so much research and effort put into accuracy it’s worth it to read just for that alone . learn something new about cowboys
no grave can hold my body down (73k words, fin.)
in which benrey didn’t betray gordon au, i liked the medical horror and its a well rounded fic
E rated fics: 🔞
various homes on the long road of denial (series, 19k words, ongoing)
don’t let the 2nd person deter you, they're all really beautifully written one shots. really really great writing can’t stress enough
my favs of the series: what is yours and what is his + and i would twist if you told me
remote access (22k words, fin.)
genuinely the best fanfic in the entire fandom (in my opinion). i talk and think about this fanfic all the time. the characterization is so So good
you wouldn’t stop me, right? (20k words, ongoing)
no actual smut yet but vivid descriptions of planned and executed murder. it’s the darker side of hlvrai that people never really try to explore especially in regards to ptsd and trauma, so i looove and can’t wait for updates
cracking open a cold one (20k words, fin.)
funny and in character and Hello. vampire au. hell yes ??!
authors:
cxlesstial : has been in the fandoms forever and has 23 whole fics Hello. haven’t read them all but i recommend
unfounded_hermantics : has 2 current longfics that r both very good 📍
marzanna : i glaze marzanna so much I hope you don’t see this but anyway they’ve written all my fav fics in the fandom and have the best characterization to me♥️
and if you’ve made it this far, id like to #selfpromo i’ve got 4 frenrey yuri fanfics (one 80k word ongoing and one finished 40k word 🔞) that people have said was apparently good. .
if i didn’t include your favorite fanfic its probably because i 1) havent read it, 2) i didn’t like it, or 3) the fact i hardly read oneshots. feel free to recommend ur favs below if not included >_<🪽
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One of the best and most helpful things anyone ever said to me was: Don’t advertise your mistakes.
You will often notice when you’ve made an error, or when there’s something you could have done better, or etc, and sometimes other people will notice too. But often, they won’t. So don’t point it out.
It’s really a sign of a lack of self confidence – you think that if you point out the error first, it will save someone else from having to point it out for you. That by being self-depreciating, no one else will feel obliged to point out your flaws.
But here’s the thing. People don’t notice jack shit, most of the time. Sure, yeah, sometimes you’ll fuck up and people will notice and mention it, and thats fine, but 95% of your errors will go unnoticed. Unless you choose to point them out, in which case, you ensure that 100% of your errors get noticed.
The above sentence was said to me during a dance rehearsal. I’m not a pro dancer by any stretch of the imagination – this was a fun little between-friends dance that we were going to perform at a medium sized function full of people we knew. Half the people in the group did have dance experience, which made me - a non-dancer - feel self concious. So every time I messed up the steps, I would laugh at myself or made an “agh” sound or be verbally frustrated with myself that I was struggling to get that move, or whatever. Which drew peoples attention to the fact that I’d made an error.
There were like 10 of us doing this dance; me missing one step went largely unnoticed in the scheme of things, because with ten of us, anyone watching the dance had so much to look at that the likelihood of them seeing me misstep was extremely low. Unless I made a big deal about it, which would draw their attention to me, and ensure that they were made aware.
I used to point out my mistakes all the time. Not just with the dance, but across the board in general life, too. “Agh, whoops,” or handing over a completed project like “I know I could have done [thing] better, but hopefully the rest is ok,” or whatever. People were often frustrated with me, and I feel, in hindsight, that they were frustrated with me because in their eyes, with me constantly highlighting my own errors, they knew I could do better but instead here I was, giving them a shoddy, half-assed, error-filled effort. By me pointing out my every mistake, they were aware of how many I was making, and they were frustrated by my seemingly endless errors.
Then I got told to “stop advertising your mistakes,” and it was a bit of a revelation moment for me. I made a concious effort that day to minimise my reaction to my own mistakes – for the rest of the rehearsal and into the final performance – and you know what happened??
After the performance, countless people said some iteration of the phrase, “I didn’t know you could dance!!”
They thought I was a dancer. That I’d been dancing for years. They hadn’t noticed any of my missteps.
I messed up multiple times during the final performance. If I watch the recording and focus on me, I can see my missed steps, the time I span clockwise on the spot instead of anticlockwise, the time I was slightly out of alignment with the other dancers, etc. But if I watch the dance as a whole, watching all 10 dancers instead of just me….. I dont notice the mistakes I made. They blend in. Theres too much other stuff going on for anyone to notice the one dancer who spun on the spot in the opposite direction to everyone else.
And everyone thought i was brilliant. All I noticed, while dancing, were my mistakes, but no one else saw them, and everyone who saw the dance was super impressed with it and with me. That would not have been the case had I reacted to every one of my errors as I’d made them.
So I took that concept and applied it to the rest of my life. And you know what???? People were less frustrated with me. Because they weren’t noticing my minor errors, and I wasn’t pointing them out any more, so from their perspective, it looked like my output had improved. It looked like I was making “less errors.” I wasn’t, its just that before, I was pointing every one of them out, and now, I was letting people notice them on their own. And they didnt notice them.
You are always going to be hyperaware of yourself and your own mistakes, but other people are way too distracted by their own crap and have too much other stuff drawing their attention to notice your every misstep. So stop pointing your mistakes out. Stop being your own worst critic. Everyone fucks up now and then, its fine. You fix the error if you can, and you move on. You dont have to pre-empt someone else pointing out your mistakes, because its extremely likely that they wont notice your errors. Unless you point them out.
online numbers can really fuck you up when it comes to your creative work because you're sharing something you worked on with all your heart but it's very important to remember there's actual people behind those numbers. even if it's 1. that's one whole actual person. that's a human being who said "haha nice". that's a connection with a REAL person with a REAL life and REAL thoughts and feelings and experiences. like. damn. that should mean something
Hey y’all I have an announcement! My web app that I’ve been working on, Afro Index, is now live! It’s a visual reference library of Black hairstyles, for artist, animators, writers, and anyone who wants to learn more about them!
Check it out at afroindex.org! 💛✨
A reference library for Black hairstyles with accurate naming,
structured filtering, and curated reference images.
I think fanfiction as a medium is different enough from mainstream literature in the tools it offers writers that it's a shame that it's not talked about more often. And it's not me saying "fanfic is better than books xD" because that sort of mindset is a symptom of people who aren't particularly well read in either medium. I'm just speaking of like... The little things you get to do with a fanfic that you genuinely can't really do in an original story.
I had a big fanfic in a previous fandom where one of the big reveals was the involvement of a kind of infamous villain, whose presence was built up to and foreshadowed through the whole fic until his reveal without ever mentioning his name, so that the name drop would be a gut punch. It worked especially well because of who the villain was and his presence in that fandom space specifically (it's very complicated) and if it was an original story this reveal wouldn't work at all the way it was written in the fic. Because if you don't have a predisposition to think about that character and his relationship to the hero in a very specific way, then just seeing their name won't do much to you; the reveal and the recontextualisation it pushes upon you hinges on your previous knowledge of the source material.
I think it's an interesting tool fanfic authors are given. One of my favorite fanfic of all time is partially a re-imagining of its source material's canon, and something it does is introduce antagonists much earlier in the story or deepen npcs' stories. It then works to evoke a tragic irony that again wouldn't work if you didn't know the source material, and it's something the author obviously has a lot of fun with.
You could call it cheap or a crutch and I mean, yeah, sure, it is a little bit: the fanfic relies on previously established emotional bonds and stakes to achieve its goal, and in some cases it saves the author from having to 'properly' build up its stakes. But I think it's INTERESTING that it has that tool at its disposal. I think it's a fun thing to play with and I think these built in expectations and emotional bonds are especially why I find story driven aus in particular to be fascinating in the amount of ways you can play with them. You know??
yeah ok I spent way too much time on this anyway I let two interests intersect too hard Here . bovids include cattle, sheep, goats, antelope, and goat-antelopes
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Would love some director's commentary on waterbound!
(Director's Commentary Post)
(Waterbound)
Okay, first of all, I just went to open up the doc file on my computer (which is still titled "Daemon crossover" because my fic filenames are a mess), saw the date of the last edit was in September of 2025, and went "that can't be right, I just finished that." It is, in fact, right.
I love that you're asking about that fic, because suddenly I'm doing daemon!AUs all over the place (Iron Lung, Project Hail Mary), so going back to this one feels very topical. I'm pulling mainly from the six pages of notes/outlines/quotes from the end of the document, because that's where I shove all my outlines and story snippets. It's nice not to delete things, because you might need them later.
This gets long, so I'm putting it under a cut. Also, spoilers for the fic!
I talk a lot about behind-the-scenes stuff in the notes of that fic, mostly how I needed to rework the chapters to put more basic worldbuilding daemon info in, since the comments made it clear people were unfamiliar enough with the source material that some impactful moments I had planned wouldn't be as impactful unless I set up the rules. So that's why we get the flashback to the schoolyard with one child touching another's daemon and the reaction to that - I needed to explain the taboo against touch, so when the pirate touches Lambda, the horror and revulsion don't come out of nowhere.
But also - a lot of this fic was not planned out ahead of time. I didn't have a clear ending plan for it, so it meandered a bit and I'm still not really happy with the pacing. Too much happens at the start, then there's a long lull, then too much happens again with another long lull. I had a couple plot points I wanted to get through in each chapter, but oh my LORD they would not stop talking. Jumping around timewise affected that as well - though the non-linear storytelling allowed me to do stuff like the schoolyard scene when I needed to impart more information about daemons in general.
Below are some sections of my notes/outlines:
((SHE GETS TOUCHED by someone, she gets touched for sure, bc I need it thematically and to have the CONTRAST between the nauseating, skin-peelingly awful stranger touching her vs the feeling of benrey's hands on her. And when he gets to touch her later he starts by putting his hand over where the poacher had grabbed her, then ghosts his hand over the scar and they both fall in love.))
-> This shows I did not have it planned out originally to have someone touch Lambda, but it became very essential to the plot.
And then we cut back to gordon going through her pain and him and xen jetting back to help. And he's like aw my daemon's in pain but hooray I can feel her – and then he basically convulses bc he can feel foreign hands on him and xen, who was going to be chill and measured about this, just goes berserk instead
>>later, benrey's like “ummm so...you touched my daemon.” and gordon immediately starts sputtering excuses but benrey just wants to even the score and touch lambda too, and she's the one who is like “yes, this guy can, it's okay” and the first thing benrey does is ghost his hand around the healing scar of her fin, the one he saw severed before his eyes, and gordon is like “oh. oh fuck.” bc of The Tenderness
Two options: one, she comes popping up and they both get annoyed at each other and then he goes back to his bunk and basically ignores benrey, who’s just like “wtf mate?”
Or, two – she’s being pulled down by Humboldt squid and other daemons have to come to her aid, including something huge and dark and terrible that her sonar can’t make sense of (benrey’s daemon), while benrey holds Gordon back from jumping over the fucking railing into the wine-dark sea as he goes hysterical.
Either way, later after they’re friends (benrey shows Gordon the beauty of the open sea – stars at night, bioluminescence, etc), they sit together and benrey helps Gordon as his daemon holds lambda as the boat continues, slowly tearing their connection until they’re separated, but not severed – like benrey and his daemon are. Once he’s not tied to his ocean-dwelling daemon, Gordon finds he actually likes being on the water, and hoorayyy happy ending. Or something.
His arm? Lost in a squid battle previously? Lost in this squid battle? – no, that would cut the journey short bc they’d have to take him to shore. hmmmm JK LAMBDA LOSES PART OF HER FLIPPER and Gordon feels the hurt bc they’re connected but then she’s fine bc it was only the tip of the pectoral fin.
-> I have a lot of little conversations with myself in the outline notes. I should date some of these so they're easier to keep track of, but that would take a great deal more organization than I think I'm capable of...
>>me?? Gordon is surprised and flattered, and lambda is exasperated. “who do you think I’ve been talking to for the past month? Oh my GOD you’re such a SQUARE.” Gordon is kinda flabbergasted that lambda would WANT to talk about him. Hmmm self-reflection time, methinks? A bit?
Benrey explains their separation here, I think. might as well get all the revelations about her out of the way now. (nvm no space) (nvm yes space)
-> These used to be under chapter headers (I would finish one chapter and put "Part 6" or whatever and do a little outline of where the next chapter was starting or going - very important for writing momentum).
Below is an early outline for their possible separation - that was something I knew needed to happen. Gordon had to become separated from his daemon to appreciate staying close to her. But the "how" of it was very up in the air for a while, and at one point it was going to be a slow, deliberate thing that Benrey and Xen would help with. I prefer the fic version, obviously.
Maybe lambda brings up separation. Benrey tells the story of how he’s hurt from the pirates, 14 and fresh-settled and scared out of his mind and alone, alone – but never alone, not really, bc he has his daemon. But he’s hurt and he needs help, and he also has a half-mile long daemon who can’t leave the water. She’s terrified he’ll get so sick/infected he can’t move, so she pushes him to get ashore and get help, and finds a small village where that can happen. Twenty years later, they still worship her as a god...but anyway, lambda is like “if they can do it, we can do it too” and Gordon is like “wait...you want to get rid of me?? Sad puppy eyes, nevermind the fact that he’s been yearning to escape for years. There’s a big discussion and they end up eventually deciding to do it. Maybe out on a zodiac, pilfered at night? Or at night in gordon’s bunk, single and low in the ship bc he has to be...more privacy? Maybe? But then after she comes back (with benrey’s daemon having held her tight just as benrey held Gordon as the ship kept trundling on and slowly, passively, pulled them both apart) he’s so spooked that she’ll leave him or something he gets smothering.
And then more musing on how to make the separation work below:
Storm? Gordon goes overboard maybe? (damsel in distress lol) – could have him wake up laying on his back in like two inches of water, and he doesn't understand what he's on as he scrambles to a sitting position and just sees wet, flexible material as far as he can see in every direction, until one end of it raises up and there's tentacles, and he realizes with horror (and excitement) that it's benrey's daemon holding him up (buuuuut why wouldn't she just bring him back? So hmmmm)
>>maybe pirates and storm at the same time? And gordon gets knocked overboard, but they've already got the waterbound daemons in a net, so lambda can't follow him? Benrey/gordon daemon switch for a short period of time until benrey's daemon can get him to safety and go back and whack the pirate vessel, who were probably hoping to ransom crew and/or steal and sell their fancy equipment
part of the on-board security team's job is specifically to keep benrey safe, so no one hostile can use him to make his daemon hurt anyone. Maybe if there's a pirate attack, they circle up around him, and that leaves gordon vulnerable? Maybe....
show the separation scene (ORRRR have it be the pirate scene??) YES THIS
And then one of the earliest versions of a "thesis" to this fic:
Gordon is full of ennui for being a desert person forced to sea by his daemon. Benrey's like “sea's just another kind of desert, bro” - and Gordon is enlightened
And one of the earliest outlines of the potential ending (I think I wrote this when I was about halfway through):
>>>***toward the end, he’s swimming in the open sea (which he didn’t want to do previously – chicken hat) and has to finally ask her why she settled as a dolphin and she explains the whole “we wanted to live but we would have just survived” if they went back to the desert, etc, and he finally admits that it was a good choice, as he’s watching a shirtless benrey’s hairy chest flexing on the inflatable platform
>>FINAL FLASHBACK to when they were kids and she changed flick flick flick to different things, and they're so curious and engaged – not knowing there are storms ahead, but also blue skies and clear sailing. And it'll be worth it, because of that. All the storms and the muddy waters will be worth it for the immense glowing weight of xen and the single-minded regard of benrey, along with the companionship of a group of friends they never could have imagined as kids. It'll all be worth it in the end.
...This kind of turned into Quotemageddon, but hopefully it gives some extra insight into my process and this fic's growth. I never plan for my multichapter works to be as long as they turn out, but this one especially came out of left field with how long it is. It does not have to be that long. It's longer than Speechless, for crying out loud! However, the Among Us crossover has already overtaken it, so that's okay.
Thank you so much for the ask! I'd love to do more of these. I have so many notes at the end of every fic...
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
“looks a bit shit.”
Gordon’s eyes snap open. “What?”
“your arm.” Benrey is eyeing his stump with unsettling intensity.
“Yeah, we’ve been over this, asshole, you let them cut off my--”
“want me to kiss it better?”
Gordon is stunned into silence for a solid five seconds before finally managing to say “What the fuck?”
hiiiii I posted my first hlvrai fic! these two are so deeply weird and I love them
plot 150 words
bed-sharing 200 words
smut 800 words
projecting my fears, insecurities, and anxieties onto a fictional character 9,356 words
fluff 150 words
someone who is good at fan fiction please help me budget my WIP, my family is dying
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I hope every writer who sees this writes LOADS the next few months. Like freetime opens up, no writers block, the ability to focus, etc etc you're able to write loads & make lots of progress <3
Guy who never feels like his problems are “bad enough” to be taken seriously: what if I hurt the character so horrifically that everyone around them could not possibly deny the severity of their pain even if the character themself tries to downplay it.
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