#ff lithium

Happy Saturday/Wednesday!

Thanks for the ask, @raevenlywrites!

Mel does this in the story quite a bit. It’s how she shows affection for the people she likes. Sometimes they’ll find little trinkets and baubles and hand made things lying around in their spaces, and there’s only one person who could have left them there. 

Have another Comic Sans PowerPoint! This time, it’s for Fish Food!

Oh, no, Tumblr wouldn’t let me add the last slide as a photo boo. Let me know if you can’t read it and I’ll try to fix it.

I also removed this one because it was redundant:

[Tag List and WIP Info under the cut!]

Happy Storyteller Saturday Sunday!

Hi @ettawritesnstudies! Thanks for the ask!

Aw, that’s so nice!

Hm. I’m writing a couple short stories right now, so my WIPs have been a bit neglected. 

I love the way my characters grow and change throughout the story in Fish Food. It’s awesome. And plotting all the little twists and turns the plot takes (especially the big twists and turns) is so much fun! I’ve never worked on something of this scale before because I never thought I could write something this long, but the more I work on it, the easier it gets. 

Storyteller Saturday!

OH MAN me either! 

Heck yes, @quilloftheclouds. Let’s do it for Fish Food, since I vaguely recall answering something similar for H2H and it was so much fun.

Make the superheroes cook, I say!

Will brings a casserole. It’s 100% something someone else gave him a few days ago for some reason or another, and there’s a 75% chance it’s green bean.

Depending on the time of year, Ryan either brings homemade raisin challah (it’s amazing), sangria, or some type of fried thing. And yes, he totally makes a fryer to test his mechanical skills. And yes, he totally burns himself a little. Everyone is Concerned. But he’s fine.

If it were the villain pot luck, however, he would try to be fancy and bring fried desserts. It… would not go well. Instead, he would be a last-minute sign up for cutlery and plates.

Stephanie bakes a big ‘ole blueberry pie. With the COH logo on it. And she insists on cutting it with the biggest knife she can find. It’s Symbolic ™. Also, blueberry is Andy’s (aka Babylon’s) favorite and they hate that they love Steph’s baking so much. She also supplies several 6 packs from the bar.

Andy brings store bought frosted cookies. You can expect to find them at any workplace social function. It’s only a coincidence that most people enjoy them.

If Jamie (aka Sparkplug) were still with the COH and was invited, she would make a huge pot of gumbo. It’s her favorite.

Nightmare would be the unfortunate organizer of the pot luck and would feel obligated to bring something impressive. Then she’d think about it and realize that as the best villain, she doesn’t have to do anything. She’d bring something with watermelon in it, though.

Ferro would make trail mix. He’s not creative. And he hates cooking. If he felt like making an effort, he might make dairy free rice krispy treats using his powers. Does this have any weird effects on the people who eat them? Who knows. It’s now a science experiment.

Much love to you from me and mine, but especially:

From Ioana, my bisexual Romanian immigrant heroine, whose language and love blend together in her heart and make her all the more beautiful for her difference:

She reached the last page of her book, sighed, and closed it with a reverence Ioana recognized; she, too, had held manuscripts as though they carried the life of the author in the glue of their binding, had folded her hands around Sebastian’s face the very same way. Turning to slide her book into the opening of the heavy bag that occupied the aisle seat, the woman raised her head and surveyed the passengers one by one, starting at the back. Ioana did not look away in time, too distracted by the curve of her neck to notice when she had moved to face her. 

Ioana met her bright green eyes and smelled lemon trees. The woman smiled and nodded gently in acknowledgment, as one does when confronted with the gaze of a stranger in America. Ioana did not know what to do, so she kept her eyes on the woman, afraid to let her gaze slip away and lose her forever.

From Mike, my biromantic ace hero, who took a long time to find people to call his family, but once he did, learned to love himself as much as they all loved him:

Nick was totally gay for Gatsby, you know, James says, watching Mike’s face. The hallway was nearly empty, students having rushed out to seize the earliest moments of the weekend. James drops his bag at Mike’s feet, leans back against the row of deep blue lockers, their numbers scratched out, doors dented, and grins.

What? Mike sputters, No, he wasn’t. He was with Jordan. How do you know?

I pay attention, dude. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey, James says, pulling the words straight off the page from memory. That’s about Gatsby’s smile, by the way, he says. Sounds like love to me.

...

Like you’d know what love is, Mike says. James just stares at him, face carefully blank. 

But what about Jordan? Mike asks, pulling the right strap of his backpack until it tightens all the way, throwing him off-balance, then yanking the clasp so it sits even on his shoulders again. 

Um, you do know that bisexuality exists, right? James slings his backpack over his shoulder and looks Mike in the eye.

Yeah, of course, Mike says. He’s never lied to James before. He’s never had to. Why now?

From Lithium (A.K.A Stephanie Charles), a literal Bicon in her universe and kick-ass superhero, who takes no shit and celebrates every moment she can:

“Finally decided to bring someone by, eh, Willy Billy?”

Will blushes a furious pink. “Not someone. A friend.”

Stephanie smirks and leans an elbow on the back of Ryan’s booth. “That’s how the best times start, my man. Friendship makes the world go round.”

“No, really,” Ryan says from underneath her arm. “He’s, uh. Not my type.”

“Oh. I see.” Stephanie whips around and leans against Will’s booth, leering down at Ryan with interest. “How you doin’?”

“I meant blonde,” he blurts, sending Will into a flustered giggle-fit. 

Stephanie grins, wicked and keen, then leans over to ruffle Ryan’s hair. “Aw, shucks, I like you. No offense, but you’re not my type, either.”

“Man?”

“Nerdy,” she says, and slaps two menus down on the table. “I like my boys and girls beefy and dumb as a sack of bricks. Real jock folk.” A quick pinch to Will’s arm earns her a swat from Conover’s finest. “Now, he really does frequent the gym, but between you and me” - she leans in close and utters in an exaggerated stage whisper - “he’s a bottle blonde.”

“Hey! Secrets!”

“Like you need any more of those, As Told By Ginger.” And she flits off to tend the bar.

Ryan slides his menu to his side of the table and smiles. “What interesting friends you have.”

“All the better to embarrass myself with, apparently.”

And from me, your ace writer friend: I see you, you’re amazing, keep on keepin’ on, and I love you. 

Storyteller Saturday!

Er… Sunday!

Well. It’s Tuesday now and time is meaningless.

Aaaand now it’s Friday again. Oh, the ceaseless march of time. Thanks, midterms.

Heck yeah good vibes!!

I’ll answer these with a hodgepodge of characters:

Hot Drinks:

Will - Green Tea

Ryan - Coffee and chai

Stephanie - Mulled Wine

Babylon - Hot Chocolate

Mel - Peppermint Tea

Gemma - Ginger Tea

Fred - Hot Cocoa (does soup count? I feel like soup is his favorite.)

Oz - Black Coffee (that’s a lie his favorite is a hot toddy)

Cold Drinks:

Will - Ginger Ale

Ryan - Lemonade

Stephanie - Apple Cider (because I love apple cider)

Babylon - Water (NOT sparkling)

Mel - Apple Juice

Gemma - Arnold Palmer

Fred - Sprite

Oz - Pepsi or Coke. He can’t tell the difference.

Beach Day!!

Will - He’d volunteer to drive. He’d also be in charge of making sure everyone brought everything they needed/wanted. It’s not the first thing that comes to mind as a day off activity, but he has fun watching kids marvel at his near-indestructible sand castles.

Ryan - Not even remotely a beach goer. He’ll go if everyone else is, though. He respects the sun for its vitamin D content, but that’s about it. He’s a little paranoid about sunburns, so he would sit under the umbrella on a comfy beach chair and read a book like a nerd.

Stephanie - Sunbathing until she’s lobster-red. No doubt. Or sneaking up on Babylon and dropping kelp over their shoulders to freak them out. They’re never freaked out. Steph is not deterred.

Babylon - Surprise surprise, Andy knows how to skimboard! So they’d be tearing up those crashing waves all afternoon. 

Mel - Would probably find some crabs in the sand and poke at them. Also, her bathing suit is the cutest. She brings some crabs over to Gemma and they poke at them together and then Mel puts them back where she found them. 

Gemma - After spending 20mins harvesting kelp bulbs, she’d swim out just past where the waves form, get a little spooked, and swim back to shore. She’d do this about 5 times before Mel points out the pattern and then she stops and has a snow cone about it.

Fred - Fred brings a book and reads. But he forgets to put sunscreen on. Which means he gets very sunburned. Woops. He had fun, though, so it’s fine! Gemma can help him out with some aloe or something.

After the third alarm went off, Babylon decided that they’d had enough.

“Give me the headset.”

The poor agent jumped in his seat and spun around to face them. He certainly was not expecting the head Hero of the Intelligence Division to snipe at him over his shoulder. It’s rare they they interfere at all outside of pointed glares and signed memos from the higher ups about inefficient job performance.

“Y-yes, sir.”

Babylon narrowed their eyes at the honorific and pulled the headset off the agent’s head.

Lower comms agents always got skittish when the hero was nearby. That’s why they tended to watch from the observation deck. However, this mission was too important to remain in the background.

Babylon didn’t even bother adjusting the microphone placement before shooting off orders.

“Jen, get me security on channel 4. Agent Kittering, rotate the cameras in section 2 fifteen degrees to the left and hold until our agent is free from LOF.” A quick survey of the monitors showed no visible activity from their hero in the field. 

Finally. 

“That should give you enough maneuvering room, Flora. Buzz in for confirmation,” they said into the mic.

“Roger dodger,” Flora Fauna responded, voice crackling over the connection. The line went quiet.

“Kittering, bring them back nice and smooth and bow out of their system.”

Babylon slipped the headset off and let it clatter to the agent’s desk.

“There. Was that so hard?”

The agent didn’t even get to reply before they were out of the room.

Lithium was leaning against the wall on the other side of the door, smirking and drinking a soda from the mess hall. 

The bubbly liquid slurped loudly through the thin straw. 

She snickered.

“I’ll be sure to mention your stellar team building skills in our next meeting.”

“Jump off a building.”

“Aye aye, cap’n,” she said, and threw Babylon a sloppy salute.

“Christ,” Babylon muttered, and stalked off toward the observation deck.

Great. Just what they needed. Glib comments and incompetence. 

It’s gonna be a long day.

Oh baby I’m just a man on the moon

I keep spinning in circles around you

‘Cause I been living where the black meets the blue

And it’s all I ever known how to do

“Man on the Moon” - POWERS

[Tag List and WIP Info under the cut:]

Fish Food Character Introductions!

I thought I’d throw these out before I start posting the scenes so we know who’s who! 

(Click the images for higher resolution 😊)

Here we have the main crew: three heroes and two villains. 

Iron Will and Overseer are our main protagonists.

Lithium and Babylon are two supporting cast members who don’t get along.

Nightmare is our main antagonist. (Or are they???)

Also seen in the story are Sparkplug, a hero-for-hire who explodes things, Hydrophase, a rarely-mentioned former sidekick, and a few more villains!

[I used this website to make the character images!]

[Tag list and WIP info under the cut!]