Update: The Next Multi-chapter Fic Debuting On November 18th Will Be A Modern/neighbor AU :)

Here I Am, Next to You (You Pull at My Seams) - An Avatrice and MaryShannon fanfiction

Hey everyone! Here’s an extract from my new summer romance fic, featuring in equal measure Avatrice and MaryShannon! If you like what you read, the link to the full chapter will be at the end!

On the other side of the pool, Ava was paddling away from the shallow part. She ignored the pain in her limbs and pressed on, all the while Mary was calling from the side of the pool.

“Ava, come back on this side. Don't you want to learn how to swim properly, rather than... whatever you're doing?”

Ava shrugged off her comments.

“I'm fine,” she shouted back.

She was in the middle of the pool now, where the ground was so deep that she couldn't feel it even with the tip of her toes. She was paddling her arms and legs as fast as she could to keep her head above the water. On the side of the pool, a young woman in a black swimming suit stepped up to the diving board. She had long, strong legs. Her hair was hidden beneath a black swimming cap, though a few small one still peaked out, plastered on the nape of her neck. Droplets of water had collected in the hollow of her throat, now running over to the edge of her swimsuit.

Ava forgot to paddle. She stared. It lasted only long enough that she felt herself sinking beneath the water. Panic rose in her chest and she kicked the water hard. She couldn't calm down. Every kick of her legs only seem to drag her further under the water. She tried calling for help, but water filled her mouth and smothered her voice.

She didn't hear the splash, only felt someone grabbing her and pulling her to the surface. She continued to struggle, but her rescuer was strong.

“You're okay,” the voice of a young woman told her. “You're okay.”

Ava finally snapped out of her panic. She was being pulled toward the ladder, held firmly above the water. Once she could finally grab the ladder to keep herself from drowning, she pulled away from her savior. Her heart sputtered in her chest when she realized it was the girl from the diving board.

“I'm...”

Ava wasn't sure what she was trying to say. They stood so close to one another that she could see the freckles on the other girl's face. I'm grateful? I'm Ava?

“I'm dead,” she thought and said at the same time, because she had to be.

The girl frowned.

“No, I... I pulled you out,” she replied with confusion.

“Yeah, no, obviously. I'm not dead, dead. I'm just... I'm Ava.”

Before the other girl could introduce herself, Mary arrived just in time to drag Ava out of the pool.

“I told you to stay in the shallow part. I warned you, didn't I?”

Ava rolled her eyes and exited the pool. Mary threw her towel at her and Ava brushed the chlorine water out of her eyes.

“I was fine. I did it on purpose again.”

Then, she saw her rescuer was climbing after her, and giving her strange look, and Ava was quick to respond.

“I mean I didn't do it on purpose to scare anyone. I had everything under control, totally.”

“That's the stupidest thing you've ever said,” Mary replied, earning herself a glare.

A moment later, another woman joined them. She wasn't wearing a swimsuit, but shorts and a tank top, her long brown hair held in a ponytail.

“Everything alright?” she asked.

“I'm sorry, Miss Masters,” Ava's rescuer said. “I thought she was drowning, I...”

“You did good, don't worry.”

“I'm sorry about that,” Mary intervened. “Ava doesn't know when a joke has gone too far.”

“It's fine. Better safe than sorry.”

“I just got tired all of a sudden is all,” Ava tried to defend herself against Mary's glare without passing for a complete loser in front of the cute girl.

Full chapter 1 here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45141238/chapters/113558530

Chapter 2: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45141238/chapters/114008935

❤️ Contributor Spotlight! ❤️

We're thrilled to finally introduce our amazing contributors! They've been hard at work creating such lovely art and writing for everyone and we can't wait to share it with you all!

Ana | @falene | @cebrys | Churro | Comi | Dohwa | @dreorcaul | Faerieko | @kaban-bang | @sunkenbeast | @kaylees-art | @lizzbian-himbo | Majitek | Manda | Micha | @mflanart | Moe | October | Phanat | Rascal | Sky Hawkins | Titobeansz | @cviperfan | Farky | @electrospherevaults | Kay | @mexicancat-girl | @tinglecannon | @franzizka | @whiteravengreywolf | Wtfoctagon | Floral Frolic | @hoshizoralone | Mel | Witchychuu

Resistance is Futile - a CindyxAlice fanfiction

A/N: Hey guys! This is an extract from my new flower shop/tattoo shop AU oneshot, in which Cindy stubbornly hates Alice because it’s easier than confronting her feelings. It’s a fun story, I promise. If you want to read the whole thing, you’ll find a link to it at the end! Have a nice Sunday!

A minute is enough to change the course of someone's life forever, for good or bad. A flash, an instant, is enough to turn rags to riches and back around. It can be the difference between life and death. One decision, one moment, can lead one's life down a perfectly different path. In the case of Cindy Berman, however, this kind of radical change of life took fifteen minutes, at the very least.

The Milkman's was where they met after work. By six-thirty, the bar was usually crowded beyond belief, so whenever they wanted to have a drink, Cindy would go ahead while Tommy closed shop. Cindy didn't mind. The bar was clean, seemingly decorated by a baseball fan who hadn't seen a game since 1978, with memorabilia on the walls and over the booths. Most of the usual crowd was made up of nearby shop owners. Fier street was the most commercial street in town, and all the people working there made up a small community of kind, fun-loving people.

When Cindy settled in one of the empty booths, a few of the regulars who had already closed up shop welcomed her. She didn't order anything just yet. Tommy would be here any minute, and they would order then.

One after the other, the red leather-bound half-moon booths were filled up, usually by one person sent ahead like Cindy. Then, the rest of the group would arrive, filling up the booth. They too saluted Cindy in passing. She began to lose patience. She checked her phone, wondering what was taking Tommy so long. He closed off the shop on his own almost every evening, he should be here already.

When the front door opened, and the bell above it rang, Cindy was quick to look up. But it wasn't Tommy. It was a young woman, wearing a rock band tee-shirt. Her hair was a short mess of blonde locks. Both of her arms were heavily tattooed. Cindy spotted the image of a large green and orange snake disappearing beneath her sleeve. The woman looked over the room. All the booths were taken, but there were still a few empty tables at the back, and by the bar counter. Cindy watched as, from behind the bar, Ruby talked to the woman. The blonde turned around to face the waitress. There was enough of a brouhaha already, in addition to the music coming from the speakers, that Cindy couldn't make out what they were saying. Soon, Ruby left to pour a drink and the blonde leaned against the counter, waiting. There was a chain tied to the side of her black jeans. Although she wasn't wearing platforms, the sole of her shoes was still giving her an additional half-inch.

The blonde turned around suddenly, leaning her elbows against the bar. Her eyes spotted Cindy staring at her almost immediately. Cindy averted her eyes, pretending she'd only been giving passing glances to the room and not at all staring at the stranger. She made a show of huffing and checking her phone, then looking back up. The blonde was still looking at her. She gave her a wave. Cindy looked away.

Someone sank in the booth beside her and Cindy jumped out of her skin. It was only Tommy, wearing the orange tee-shirt with his shop's logo on it. The Lumberjack, house plants and botanical shop.

"Where have you been? I've been waiting for fifteen minutes, at least."

Tommy shrugged.

"The curtain got stuck again."

"The longer you wait to call a repairman, the more you're gonna have to pay to replace it when it breaks down for good."

"I'll do it tomorrow," he said, and she knew he would forget and it wouldn't be done until she called someone for him.

"Anyway, what do you want?" he asked as he slid out of the booth.

"The usual."

She followed him with her eyes and noticed the blonde had disappeared from the bar. She was probably hidden in the growing crowd, Cindy figured.

They lingered in the booth for an hour, drinking a beer each – a light pale lager for Cindy, a tall old ale for Tommy. They talked about everything and anything, about Cindy's classes and Tommy's football friends and the movie they were about to see. When Cindy checked her phone again, it was about time for them to leave and she was thirsty.

"I'm going to get a water and pay," she said as she slid out of the booth.

"Can you get me one too? I'm gonna stop by the bathroom."

Tommy stepped through the crowd, too tall to disappear through it entirely. Cindy gently elbowed her way to the bar and waved Ruby over. However, the waitress was fleeting from one table to the next, serving drinks and picking up empty glasses. When Cindy finally managed to flag someone down, it was the bar's owner, Harry.

"Can I get two waters? And then I'm going to pay."

"Sure thing."

Harry slid down the bar and Cindy drummed her fingers on the countertop, following the rhythm of the music.

"Leaving already? Can I convince you to stay for one more drink?"

FULL STORY HERE

Life Day on Peridea - a Wolfwren fanfiction

A/N: Hello everyone! I just posted a short Christmas fic. It's pre-relationship but I hope it will still keep you entertained until I post my bigger Wolfwren Christmas fic on Christmas day! Here is the beginning and the link to the full story will be at the end!

Days didn’t quite track from one galaxy to the next. Although Huyang’s internal clock would tell them of some special day which had come to pass, no one had the mind to celebrate. Life Day had come and gone with barely a mention, and no song was sung and no gifts were exchanged.

The Noti had their own version of Life Day. Sabine watched them decorate their homes with leaf garlands and pieces of moss. They picked out flat rocks and shells and, come the day of, gifted them to their family and friends. A handful of them gave Sabine gifts and, as she was feeling bad that she had nothing to give in return, she gifted the rocks and the small white seashells back.

That evening, the Noti played music and gathered around a central fire pit, where they cooked and the elder told stories to entertain the young. Sabine, Ahsoka, and Huyang watched from the edge, near their own little campfire. The T-6 had been left higher on the plain behind them, looming over the Noti camp. They watched the Noti tradition with interest, until Sabine spoke:

“I can’t believe Life Day exists even in another galaxy.”

“I’m certain they wouldn’t call it that,” Huyang replied.

“You know what I mean. The singing, the exchange of gifts, all we’re missing is a tree and the candles. And the snow.”

The droid interjected:

“The original Wookie tradition does not require snow in the slightest. Kashyyyk is a temperate planet covered at 87% of jungles. They only experience snow on the poles where the Wookiees do not live.”

Sabine rolled her eyes.

“I grew up on Krownest, remember? What does your encyclopedia tell you about Krownest?”

Full Story Here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/52416232

The Valentine’s Day Gift

Ava doesn’t have a family photo album. If she ever had one, it was destroyed in the car crash, like her childhood. Sometimes, she imagines that she could find it again, tugged into a cardboard box in some storage space in Portugal, where their landlord might have kept the things they left behind, hoping that they would return to claim them one day. But she doesn’t keep that hope alive. Most likely she will never see what her life was before that fatal crash, and she’s made her peace with it.

Beatrice doesn’t think she has a family photo album. Her parents weren’t the kind of people who bothered to take pictures on whatever business trip passed for a family holiday. She knows they have some pictures, class photos and tournament pictures taken by her coachs, but none was given to her when she joined the OCS. Part of her wishes she had one, she tells Ava one evening, and Ava jokes that she must have been a cute kid and makes her feel better about it, but deep down, it doesn’t quite fill the hole.

For Valentine’s Day, Ava presents Beatrice with a large package, tenderly and clumsily wrapped.

“I thought we said no gift,” Beatrice berates her, even as her own is hidden in the drawer of her bedside table.

“Yeah, yeah, just open it.”

So Beatrice does. Inside the cardboard box, she finds a beautiful, black leather-bound photo album. The word “family” is hetched in golden letters on the cover. It’s not empty either. Flipping inside, Beatrice finds pictures dating back to when she joined the OCS. It’s her, and Lilith, and Mary, and Shannon, and later, Camila. After that are pictures she has never seen, pictures she assumes Ava must have taken on their last trip to the Cat’s Craddle. Pictures of Yasmine agonizing after training, and Camila teaching the new recruits, and Mother Superion feeding the stray cats in the garden. Then, it’s pictures of the two of them in Switzerland, during their two months in hiding. Their time training, decorating their apartment, going grocery shopping and working at the bar. The most mondain of activities which had been so new to Ava back then.

Finally, a third of the way through the album, she finds pictures of them now, traveling, living, loving. There’s still many pages to fill, and Beatrice can’t help but contemplate the blank pages taking up most of the photo album, waiting for their own pictures.

“I know it won’t replace the childhood memories we lost,” Ava says, “but I thought we should have one.”

Beatrice is close to tears and her heart has never been filled with more love. The photo album is kept in a proeminent place in their living room. Soon, Beatrice adds a little 1 on the first page, and buys another. It is the second of many more to come.

Cross the Line - a Wolfwren fanfiction

A/N: Hello everyone! Can't believe @wolfwrenweek is over already! For my final story this year, I have a roommate AU where Sabine finds a stray kitten. It's very fun, and I hope you'll all enjoy it! Here is the beginning and the link to the rest of the story will be at the end!

Shin started watching TV just as the rain started falling. As she was immersed in the plot of the show, she did not notice the sky blackening to the point that the apartment was plunged in darkness. She heard the rain pick up in intensity, but did not see the flashes of thunder outside, as they merged with the bright glow of the TV.

The apartment door opened and she jumped. It took her a second to catch her breath. The familiar voice of her roommate made her feel like an idiot for having been spooked in the first place.

“What the hell is going on with this weather? Is it some kind of tropical storm sweeping north?”

Shin could not see Sabine in the hall, but she did not pay her any mind. It was rather typical of them to have short, meaningless conversations. Shin had moved into Sabine’s apartment six months ago now, but she had warned her ahead of time that she liked to do things her way, and she wasn’t much for conversation. At the time, Sabine had told her it would be fine, yet still she attempted to make conversation very often.

Shin would not have paid her any more attention, in fact, if Sabine didn’t turn on the living room light, blinding Shin. She blinked and squinted at her roommate.

“Could you not?”

“Sorry.”

Sabine turned to go into her bedroom when Shin noticed that something was off. There was an unnatural budge in her sweater. The material was straining against her chest, which never happened because Sabine’s chest wasn’t that big – not that Shin had spent any time thinking about her chest at all – and she was keeping a hand on it. She was hiding something.

“Sabine? What’s that in your sweater?”

Sabine stopped dead in her tracks. She kept her back to Shin.

“Nothing, don’t worry about it.”

“I’m not an idiot.”

Sabine sighed, and turned around. Indeed, she was cradling something through her sweater.

“So… how do you feel about cats?” she asked.

In a world that wants to shove advertisements in our face every second of every day, do you realize how significant it is that AO3 doesn’t host ANY ads? They make NO revenue from the traffic they receive or from users in any way.

You might not even realize how exhausting it is to be bombarded with advertising all the time. Just look at FFN. You can’t read anything on the mobile version of the site without having to scroll past huge adds in the middle of a fic or between reviews. You can’t watch a YouTube video without encountering ads at the beginning of the video, the middle of the video, and/or the end of the video. With influencer culture, most YouTube videos are advertisements.

But AO3 is an ad-free space created by fans for fans. They ask for donations to keep running and to pay for lawyers (to protect our right to produce fannish works), what, twice a year? And no one profits off that money. Because AO3 is part of a non-profit organization….

Anway, I’m still baffled by the people out there who think AO3 is an evil organization out to scam people.

The purity wank stuff is another matter altogether.

Wolfwren fanfiction posting schedule

Hello everyone! I decided to make a little schedule for all the wolfwren fics I will be posting on AO3 in the days to come, because I have quite a few one-shots in my folder that need posting. If any of these fics sound interesting to you then you can check out my AO3 account here: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhiteravenGreywolf

Saturday 4th November: Wolfwren High School AU part 2 (aka the sequel to my Halloween fic "Now is the Time")

Tuesday 7th November: Sequel to "The Injury of Finally Knowing You"

Thursday 9th November: Wolfwren High School AU part 3

Saturday 11th November: The Speeder Bike Race

Tuesday 14th November: The Art Gallery AU

Saturday 18th November (hopefully): A new multi-chapter fic

I always post a link to the fics when I upload them on AO3 so be on the lookout for them! I hope to see you soon!

I just realized that it would be so easy to make a Ocean's 8/Warrior Nun fic with Ava, Beatrice, Camila, Lilith, Mary, Yasmine, Mother Superion, and Shannon trying to steal the crown of thorns. Has someone done it before? Am I the one who's gonna have to do it?

We Will Raise Warriors - a Wolfwren fanfiction

A/N: Hello everyone! Who's ready for a new episode in my "Ahsoka season 2 and Beyond" series? This one is about Sabine and Shin finding a little orphaned and Force sensitive kid and they need to figure out what to do with him. Here is an extract and if you want to read the whole story, the link will be at the end!

They dashed to the station. When they came into the light, they saw the ship fly off, too high to be reached or pulled back down with the Force. Sabine holstered her blaster and cursed:

“Karabast! We missed it!”

She pressed a button on her vambrace.

“Hera? It’s me. We missed it by a minute. It’s a YV-929 light freighter. We’re too far to track it. Please advise.”

Then, she turned off her communication and huffed. Beside her, Shin stared at the small ship. It was shrinking quickly toward the clouds. One more minute and they might have been on board to save those kidnapped children.

“Should we get back to the ship?” she suggested.

She turned to Sabine, only to feel eyes watching her. She turned away. Something huddled in the shadows, out of sight behind empty crates. Sabine knew her wife well enough to know that something had caught her attention. She approached the crates slowly. Shin followed. She wasn’t feeling hostility, but dreadful fear. She clipped her lightsaber back onto her belt.

Sabine pushed one of the empty containers aside, revealing a little boy on the other side. He looked up at them with tear-filled eyes. His dark hair curled atop his head. His black skin was marred by bruises around his neck and a scratch on his cheek. The sleeve of his shirt was torn. As soon as he spotted Sabine, he recoiled and knocked into another empty crate behind him.

“Wow, hey,” Sabine said.

Gently, she took off her helmet and smiled down at the boy.

“We’re friends. We don’t want to hurt you, promise.”

Still, the boy wasn’t at ease. He crawled away from the woman made of metal and hid behind Shin’s legs. Shin stayed perfectly still, afraid to hurt the boy if she tried to step away from him. Sabine kneeled in front of him, setting her helmet on the ground.

“Where you in the big cargo box? Did you escape from the ship?”

After a moment of hesitation, the boy gave a tiny nod.

“We wanted to stop the ship but we weren’t fast enough. You must be very brave to have escaped.”

Shin couldn’t see the boy’s expression, but she could feel a strange buzzing coming from him, like the air was singing. She’d never felt anything quite like it before. She focused on it. In front of her, Sabine continued to talk to the boy:

“I’m Sabine, and this is Shin. What’s your name?”

Instead of answering, the boy curled up against Shin’s leg even more.

“You have nothing to be scared of now that we’re here, I promise,” Sabine told him.

Still, the boy remained quiet. Sabine gave him a tentative smile but it seemed no use.

“Poor kid. They really did a number on you.”

“His name is Finn,” Shin said.