But when push comes to shove, you gotta do what you love, even if it's not a good idea!

I'm the Grate Oracle Lewot, but the e-mail for that account no longer exists, so now I'm just Lewot. Either way, I'm nobody in particular. I try to make things once in a while, but I usually fail. My name is "towel" backwards, which is a Hitchhiker's Guide reference, and that's probably my biggest influence. Meanwhile, the "Grate Oracle" bit is basically self-deprecating humor: I'm not a great oracle, I'm someone whose oracular powers are only effective in the presence of grates. Oh, and I'm a guy—which I thought I should note since, well, Most Fanfic Writers Are Girls.

I am decidedly not a "fix fic" kind of guy—I'll read them if they're good, but I write fan fiction because I'm a fan, not some egomaniac who thinks he can do it better. As such most of what I write will be canon compliant, slipping in extra stories between the scenes. I focus (to a fault) on accurately capturing the characters' voices; I'm bad at coming up with my own characters, so that's why I'm here. I'm also not very good with plot, which will probably be the reason that things don't get finished. Mostly, though, I just love crossovers and continuity, and I'm glad to live in a time when we have something like the MCU.

As for writing advice, I'll say only this. With everything you're doing, ask yourself: "Am I doing this because it makes the story better, or am I doing this because it makes the story easier for me to write?"

My avatar image was drawn by MaliciousLittleCat, and it depicts my Mario OC, Sven the Yoshi detective. (Nothing about him is yet posted under this account.)

Ongoing

RWBY City Undercover ~ This is something silly for me to write on the side, so it won't be updated frequently, and chapters will be short. Need to get back to it though...

Love's Song ~ Some random Pikmin thing written on a whim. Future chapters will likely only come on additional whims.

Upcoming

An MCU OC fic, Agents of SHIELD-based. Three chapters of four complete(?), but won't be posted until the whole thing is done. I have no idea when that will be, but this is where all my energy is going right now. Being a fanfiction writer, I have plans to expand this into a whole superhero team of my own, but let's get the first story done before we worry about that.

On Hiatus

RWBY: The Last Airbender - Book 2: The Second One ~ As much as I have some general ideas for the next chapter, I couldn't seem to get it started and have yet to build up steam again. If I'm honest, I think I used up all the real inspiration I had, and my attempt to force an actual plot into this mess of random scenes may have doomed it to indefinite incompletion. But I am very happy with all of the random scenes that I did complete, so I think it's worth having up even without a conclusion. Maybe a later volume of RWBY will light some new bulbs, but until then, all we can do is wait.

Recommendations

Now You're Thinking with Real Science by Jaywings ~ A crossover of Portal and Invader ZIM that positively nails the extremely difficult characterization of everyone from both, and blends the worlds so naturally that you'll probably forget that it's a crossover. More often horror than comedy, whatever it's doing at any given moment, I have a hard time imagining it being done any better—the story's only flaw, as such, is that it's not yet complete. Since more attention tends to motivate writing, you'd better check this one out, but be aware that updates (understandably) take a long time. Still, this is canon-quality material from two series that desperately need more content, and is quite frankly one of the best pieces of literature (fan or otherwise) that you'll ever encounter. Also check out Be Careful Making Wishes in the Dark by the same author, which pits the ZIM cast against Bill Cipher from Gravity Falls.

The Kingdom Beyond Midnight by Sightshadis ~ A Super Mario Bros. story of comparable quality to Now You're Thinking with Real Science (which is a compliment I never thought I'd give), only it's actually complete. At first you'll find it a little odd that characters like Mario and Yoshi speak in normal voices like everyone else, and there's a Mario x Vivian romance at the center of the plot which may not be everyone's preference, but trust me, if you're a Mario fan, this is one of the best things you'll ever read. As such I don't want to spoil too much of the plot, which contains some surprising twists, but the gist is that our heroes (and Bowser) are pitted against a creepy alternate version of their universe where Peach is an evil dictator. Some other Paper Mario partners like Bow and Goombella play large roles as well. Again, I can't recommend this enough.

To Stop an Extinction by CheesyOne ~ A Pikmin story set after the third game and starring its cast along with Olimar. As the title suggests, they have reason to believe the Pikmin are nearing extinction and hope to prevent this. It sounds simple enough, but I know from experience that Pikmin material can be hard to pull off, and this is not only pulled off but feels like a natural extension of the franchise. It's ultimately a mystery story, so I don't want to say too much here, but I'm certainly finding it compelling.

Cruelty by droidgirl ~ A very short piece offering an alternate interpretation of the finale of Avatar: The Last Airbender. While I'm not saying it's the "right" interpretation, I consider this piece a classic.

ready for a war (again) by owedbetter ~ A short but excellent Black Panther piece following Shuri after the events of Avengers: Infinity War. Captures the weighty emotion of the MCU's version of Wakanda and its people perfectly.

Say It Thrice by Bookworm Gal ~ A crossover of Danny Phantom and Beetlejuice (mostly the movie, with small influences from the cartoon) that I had a lot of fun following while it was in progress. It's now complete, so you don't have to worry about it never ending. Again, it blends the worlds very naturally and explores a lot of the potential of that, and for the most part the characters act like themselves and so on. Several chapters are devoted to Betelgeuse's life before he became a poltergeist, and from what I understand they are very historically accurate. If you're more in it for the action, the finale is pretty epic. And now there's a prequel; it's more slice-of-life and focused on Beej and Lydia's friendship with only minor references to the Danny Phantom side, but it's the same or better-quality writing. (Also this.)

Octogirl: the Story of a Two-Tentacled Sidekick by graceblushes ~ You can get most of the concept from the title, but specifically Octogirl is (or is attempting to be) a sidekick to Spider-Man. Her real name is Maeve Murdock (no relation to Daredevil), and her story isn't too far along yet, but her narration has plenty of sarcastic humor without coming off as annoying, and the author is very good at making superhero material feel realistic without losing the fun. The setting is MCU-inspired with a few changes, mostly regarding Spidey himself to make the sidekick idea more viable. Seems to have fallen dormant.

The Nature Series by rukushaka ~ An excellent Agents of SHIELD series with the premise that, before The Avengers, Phil Coulson, Clint Barton, and Natasha Romanoff operated as a close-knit three-person SHIELD team, and as such the latter two occasionally check in on Coulson during the events of the TV show. This series currently includes The Nature Of The Game, Freak Of Nature, Nature Abhors A Vacuum, and Second Nature. Unfortunately it appears that the author has moved on from fanfiction, so we may not get any more.

The Theta Protocol by Afalstein ~ Another Agents of SHIELD- and Avengers-based story which inserts extra scenes into Age of Ultron and the surrounding TV episodes to better tie the two together. Also check out the Recruitment Drive series by the same author, which crosses over Agents of SHIELD with all kinds of other shows.

Avatar: the Legend of Remnant by Zeroan ~ An Avatar/RWBY crossover (my own territory) that particularly impressed me with a bit that I won't spoil here. The gist of this story is RWBY characters in a mostly-Avatar setting; there's a version of the Grimm, but no Aura or Semblances, just bending—the action still seems believable though. The main thing is that each chapter is meant to be like a complete, contained episode of Avatar, but where most fanfiction just copies and pastes plots and dialogue, these, while drawing inspiration, end up as something that honestly feels pretty original.

The RWBY Superhero Universe, also by Zeroan ~ What we have here is essentially a reimagining of RWBY inspired by the Marvel Cinematic Universe, making the setting more realistic and casting the characters as superheroes with essentially their normal canon powers, which stand out more from the average Joe thanks to the altered setting. It starts with Ruby Rose: The Red Huntress, and balloons out MCU-style from there. Keep up if you can; it's not lacking for content.

The Legend of Ruby by Rassilon001 ~ Another fun Avatar/RWBY fusion, this one also incorporating some elements of Legend of Korra. Like Zeroan's story, it puts the RWBY cast in an Avatar-inspired setting, but this version retains a little more of RWBY in that the characters are attending Beacon and dealing with Cinder's conspiracies instead of globetrotting a la Aang and co. The story reached what was originally going to be the conclusion and then moved on to a second season of sorts, which is now done and is definitely the end. Rassilon001 also has a lot of other stories, and from the ones I've read, they're all probably worth checking out.

Whatever Happened to Slappy Squirrel? by Masked Bard ~ Possibly the best concept for a piece of fanfiction that I've ever encountered: a sequel to Who Framed Roger Rabbit starring the Animaniacs character Slappy Squirrel and the granddaughter of Eddie Valiant. While the technical side isn't as good as some of the other stories on this list, the classic cartoon gags and innumerable cameos by cartoon characters right up to those from the modern age will keep you smiling the whole way through. The story appears to still have a ways to go before completion, but that leaves room for a lot of possibilities. Unfortunately, it hasn't updated in a while.

The collective works of altairattorney ~ This author writes literally hundreds of short, vaguely poetic, usually dialogue-free pieces for a variety of works, with my main interest being the Portal ones. If you want traditional story structure you'll have to look elsewhere, but I can almost guarantee that somewhere among the hoard will be one or more pieces that, for lack of a better term, hit you right in the feels.

Pokedex by Birdboy ~ A drabble for every Pokémon in numerical order, often trending toward dark humor. Together, the entries create a unique and fascinating interpretation of the Pokémon world. Since entries are short, it's easy to breeze through them, but since there are so many Pokémon, it's still a lot of content.

Avengers on Sesame Street by fringeperson ~ A one-shot recommended less on its linguistic merit than its sheer feelgoodery. The (presumably MCU) Avengers guest star on the Sesame Street TV show, and love every minute of it. Probably won't float your boat if Sesame Street is completely alien to you, but if you have any familiarity with these two franchises, and any inner child left whatsoever, this is sure to brighten your day.

Free Ideas - Take One!

Wander Over Yonder/Invader ZIM ~ I can't do this myself because I haven't seen that much of Wander and it's been a while since I've seen Zim, but this needs to happen. Just imagine Wander and GIR together. Or Sylvia and Gaz? Hater and the Tallest? Gah, it practically writes itself! No need to message me, just make it good. Though I'd suggest the general plot be Dib asking for Wander's help in proving the existence of aliens, complete with the other humans calling Wander a "fuzzy kid" and Sylvia a "donkey." Oh, and a Wander-like title card over Zim's head reading "The Invader."

Portal/Professor Layton ~ The professor gets trapped in Aperture—and loves it. Puzzles! Endless puzzles! So what if they're increasingly deadly? Every puzzle has a solution. GLaDOS can't decide if this is her dream come true or a living nightmare.

Portal/RWBY ~ After her apparent death, Penny's soul is accidentally uploaded into P-Body's, er, body. Can she and ATLAS escape the endless cycle of testing? Or is this truly Android Hell?

LEGO Dimensions/Super Smash Bros. Brawl ~ Vortech and Tabuu are pretty similar. Maybe one used to be the other? Maybe they're relatives? Maybe some bigger villain is sending similar blue monsters into various multiverses? (Yeah, I know, having more than one "multiverse" is pretty ridiculous, but there it is.) That's about all I've got, but considering the Mario references in LEGO City Undercover, these seem pretty bridgeable.

LEGO Dimensions/Portal ~ At the beginning of the Aperture Science bonus mission, Wheatley, upon arrival, says that he's already been on quite an adventure. What I'd like to see is the story of that adventure done in such a way that Wheatley was accidentally responsible for one or more important events in Dimensions' main storyline. For example, perhaps all those characters coming out of the rifts that you find with the Locate Keystone were in some way or another sent by Wheatley, most likely trying to get away from his motormouth.

Legend of Korra reboot ~ Certainly better than most shows, but it got jerked around by the network a lot. Looking back, if they had been able to plan for four seasons from the beginning, this is how I think it might be improved: basically, swap the order of Seasons 1 and 3. Zaheer is the first villain, and Amon is the third. Reasons: Zaheer's "kill the Avatar in the Avatar State" plot works better before we're aware of the whole Raava/Vaatu thing, which raises all kinds of questions about what exactly would happen to Raava (of course the cat's out of the bag now but it applies in-universe as well); Korra would be fighting an airbending villain while still learning airbending herself, creating an opportunity for a "learn from your enemies" situation; Amon's Equalist movement could specifically have gained ground because of the chaos that Zaheer sowed; Unalaq could appear throughout Season 1 and get more character development; Korra would have more time to talk with her past lives before she loses her connection to them; and Amon would be that much scarier if Korra had already lost those connections and now the only thing still making her the Avatar is the ability to bend all four elements, and here's this guy who can take your bending away. Whether it's Amon who kills the Earth Queen or Zaheer breaks out of prison in Season 3 and does it (or just does it in Season 1), it should work out, and as for Zaheer getting airbending from Harmonic Convergence, it could happen beforehand as a sign that that's coming rather than as an aftereffect. If you're the kind of person who thought that Amon's de-bending of Korra should have stuck and she should have been left with just air, then perhaps she could go up against Kuvira with only airbending, which could sort of replace the rehabilitating-from-mercury-poisoning thing (which itself could still potentially happen during Season 2). Then, if you still want a happier ending, maybe Aang could show up at the very end, renewing not only Korra's bending but also her connection to her past lives. Or skip that if you still don't like it.

Legend of Korra sequel ~ One simple observation: after another ten thousand years (or less?), Vaatu will reform inside Raava, who herself will still be inside the Avatar (whoever that may be at the time). What effect will this have on the Avatar? Because ten thousand years is such a long time, I'm imagining Star Wars or Futurama levels of technology (with bending incorporated of course), and it would be particularly cool to have the other planets in the solar system be colonized because Harmonic Convergence is the alignment of those planets.

Agents of SHIELD/Avengers ~ What I didn't initially understand about the Framework is that May's incident in Bahrain took place before the first Avengers movie. Obviously, it's due to real life limitations that none of the Avengers appear in the Framework world, but in-universe, with Hydra having taken over before the Chitauri invasion, it's quite possible that most of the would-be Avengers are actually dead. But because the Framework's changes were Earth-centric, it doesn't seem like the schemes of Loki and Thanos would be largely affected. So, imagine this: the first Avengers film plays out, but instead of the team being spearheaded by Nick Fury and SHIELD, it's by the Doctor and Madame Hydra. Imagine Steve waking up to find that Hydra won the war and is now in charge; Tony unknowingly working for his parents' murderers; Natasha may very well still be working for the KGB, or else Clint didn't make a different call; there's so much potential here. I think Hydra would try to engineer things so that the Avengers take out the Chitauri, but die in the process; how successful this is would then be up to the writer.

Seinfeld/Cloverfield ("Cloverfeld") ~ In the series finale, Jerry and co. never make it onto the plane due to "something terrible" arriving ten years early. They initially face realistic shock, but soon fall into their usual petty bickering and minutiae analyses during their attempts to survive and escape. Should include Kramer having ties to Tagruato.

Captain America (MCU) ~ I'd love to see the story of Steve's first Christmas in the 21st Century, with him taking comfort in the parts of the tradition that haven't changed. He probably wouldn't have a lot of people to spend it with, though (since I'm pretty sure it happens before the first Avengers movie), so I'm not sure who to throw in...

RWBY/Milo Murphy's Law ~ Murphy's Law meets Qrow's Semblance. What could possibly go wrong? (Alternately, the Phineas and Ferb Effect meets Clover's Semblance.)

Avatar: The Last Airbender/Ghost Rider ~ Something where the Blue Spirit is equated to Ghost Rider, e.g., Zuko makes a deal with Vaatu and gains enhanced firebending powers that turn his head into a flaming Blue Spirit mask, and maybe he rides a skeletal dragon or something.

Modern Family/Agents of SHIELD ~ Phil Dunphy meets Phil Coulson. 'Nuff said. (Alternately, Gloria and Yo-Yo are distant relatives.)

Agents of SHIELD/The New Adventures of Old Christine ~ Remember the episode of Monk where there's a mobster guy who looks exactly like Monk and so Monk has to pretend to be him? That, only with Richard and Coulson. (Actually, Coulson having to be Richard would probably be just as funny as the other way around.)

Harry Potter/Gravity Falls ~ We get the true version of the Tale of the Three Brothers, and it turns out that "Death" was oddly triangular. The idea being that the symbol of the Deathly Hallows is basically a picture of Bill, so he instigates this whole thing in order to spread his image.

RWBY/Steven Universe ~ Obviously we've got RWBY's Ruby who has a gem-like name, so if she were somehow half-Gem like Steven, well, that seems like an idea of some sort. I guess that would mean a Ruby (Gem) had found her way to Remnant and gotten together with somebody (Summer Rose?) a la Rose (Quartz) and Greg. And so then I guess the Gem powers would replace the whole Silver Eyes thing(?). Although given (RWBY's) Ruby's feelings about weapons, it's likely that a Gem's ability to summon weapons would make her comparable to Velvet Scarlatina.

Portal/Futurama ~ I saw a picture on Google of Bender hitting on GLaDOS. Then I checked and apparently there are no Portal/Futurama crossovers on this site. Somebody, make it happen.

I always thought I might be bad; now I'm sure that it's true

'Cause, I think you're so good, and I'm nothing like you