#Castlevania ship exchange

[eurydiceauxenferswrites]

Hello!

Hey friends, this is the blog where I post my matchup exchanges, because I don't want them to get buried under a mountain of all the random junk I repost on my main blog!

Atm I don't have a ton of rules as I'm unsure if I'll ever be doing this on the regular, but I'll probably set up a list of rules and guides if I do more.

If you want to do a matchup exchange, you can find the rules here!

(Thanks to @perseephoneee and @witchthewriter for the format I shamelessly stole from them.)

[sepublic]

Reminder that even if Dracula did know how to steer a ship, he can’t because the captain made sure to spite him by tying himself to the wheel with a cross. So I want y’all to consider the image of the captain mocking and roasting Dracula as he struggles to control the ship via the weather, letting out small talk to mock and belittle his otherwise intimidating presence. Dracula was exposed with all of Whitby to watch his clumsy attempt at sailing and judge him for it. As Castlevania puts it, in an exchange between a captain and a subordinate of Dracula who considers murdering everyone on the ship to use it for himself:

"Sailing a boat cannot be hard."

"If it wasn't hard, then why would sailors exist? Why would ships need crews?"

This logic ends up being convincing, and has the entire crew spared as a result. I wonder now if that entire bit was inspired by the writers questioning Dracula's logic in killing the Demeter's crew; They do reference Whitby at the end of Castlevania!

[c-h4nn]

I love your fic and I’m glad you had annoyance by Olrox story in castlevania and I’m glad you are writing the story of his lover and not jumping to ship him with a white person Alucard it so frustrating to me cause I believe that the period of his life is fascinating but will never see animated. Though I gotta say as someone who Algerian Mizrak story is confusing to me cause there a lot of things that don’t make sense but I don’t think the creators care a lot about the portrayal of middle eastern characters which is so unfortunate but no surprise I’m used to it.

Thank you!! I love Olrox and all his complexities, but I actually don't think he is good Indigenous representation. At least, not in the way the show has designed and written him with what feels like just surface-level research. That's partly why I've latched onto him and his past lover - there is so much potential there for a beautiful, respectful, and distinctly Indigenous exchange of love, which is far more interesting to me than whatever is happening in the show LOL.

I'm not a fan of mizrox or Mizrak due to the way he treats Olrox. It's an exhausted dynamic, and it isn't entertaining for me to watch when my community and many other Indigenous communities have endured his same rhetoric for 500 years. However, I do think Mizrak has similarly been served injustice by the writers. It's shallow and stereotyped research that was put into these two characters that do deserve more for the sake of a compelling story and for the history and cultures involved!

[miss-ingno]

So @justacoyote did this last year, and I thought it was fun and wanted to give it a try! And then time passed and now I'm late as usual xD

How many works do you have on AO3? currently 210

What's your total AO3 word count? 1,133,881

What fandoms do you write for?

Primarily Guardian, Granting You A Dreamlike Life, and Grimm

Plus a couple on-and-off or exchange-only fandoms like Dreamcatcher's Deja Vu, Disney's Descendants, Naruto, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Eldest Princess On Top (Zhǎng Gōng Zhǔ Zài Shàng), Castlevania (Cartoon) and Assassin's Creed (early games).

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Partners in Crimes (RTAH RPF, Freewood, Fake AH Crew AU) at 907 kudos

Blindfold (RTAH RPF, Freewood, Fake AH Crew AU) at 858 kudos

The Dwight Timing (RTAH RPF, Jeremwood, Fake AH Crew AU) at 653 kudos

Take No Prisoners (Take No Shit), (RTAH RPF, original AH OT6, Fake AH Crew AU) at 581 kudos (my first and oldest work for ragehappy fandom /o\ and it shows lol)

Just Let Me Know If You Want It (It's Strictly Physical), (Dragon Age II, Fenders, omegaverse smut) at 561 kudos

Devil's Deal (Disney's Descendants, Jaylos + Harlos, pre-canon) at 515 kudos

As much as I loved my time back then in RTAH fandom, I do hope to eventually get a fic more popular unrelated to H*ywood, considering what was revealed about his irl behaviour.

For funsies, my top-kudoses Guardian work is Seas Cannot Be Measured (Weilan, outsider pov, kidfic) at 364 kudos. The second work I posted in my current fandom :D!

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Yes, because I like engaging with other fans! And if someone takes the time to leave me a comment, even a short one, I want to at least thank them because it means a lot to me <3

What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably All Our Memories, They're Haunted, a Deja Vu MV fic in which Yoohyeon slowly descends into killing all her friends.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

This one's hard! I write a lot of fluffy one-shots where the point is the happiness? Like, Days of Splendour is literally about Weilan getting their happy ending wedding.

Similarly, Pivot is a fix-it ending for Critical Role season 1, in which Vax doesn't die and Gilmore gets to date him, too.

And The Fringe Benefits Of Being Family is fluffy future kidfic snippets in which Weilan get to be parents while their girls grow up.

Do you get hate on fics?

I once got a backhanded compliment on a fic where the commenter asserted they didn't usually read this ship because the shippers are all sus for shipping it and did it wrong, but my take passed their sniff-test. But they'd keep a close eye on my next work for this ship, just in case.

I vaguely recall getting a comment once and then immediately deleting it, but I can't for the life of me remember why. Probably for the best?

And there was that ask I once got that sticks in my brain because it was HILARIOUS. It asserted that because I have a recognizable style and used things like. Grammar and paragraph formatting for pacing, my writing was dry and boring and the worst and I just was copying myself with every new fic. I screenshot it and had a good laugh with friends over it :D

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes, and a lot of different kinds! Sometimes I want to explore certain kinks, like tentacles (What Lies In Darkness, Weilan with eldritch!Shen Wei) or D/s (Good Vibrations, Dom!ZYL with sub!Shen Wei). Other times I just want to explore the relationship between the characters (Special Occasion, Weilan birthday blowjob) or worldbuilding (Long Night In Longcheng, Weilan canon au with dragon!Shen Wei).

Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I love crossovers! I sadly haven't written too many, though. I have some old WIPs for a Naruto x Batman Beyond and a YGO! x SG-1 crossovers in my pile I occasionally return to, but nowhere close to finished. And I'm seriously considering writing a Guardian x Grimm crossover at some point lol

Malum Purificatum, Guardian x Assassin's Creed II (AKA Weilan meets Ezio)

It's You And Me (Amongst The Stars), Critical Role s1 x Stargate SG-1, in which Pike & Grog meet SG-1

Sink Your Teeth In (To The People You Depend On), Jurassic World x MCU, raptor!Darcy Lewis/Owen Grady, unfinished WIP

A Trickster's Pact, ragehappy x MCU, Freewood

One Fact Changes All, YGO! x HP, Tendershipping, my first and oldest crossover, unfinished and abandoned

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

The closest I got (that I'm aware of) is someone copying the exact premise of my fic in a beat-by-beat way without crediting me for the inspiration. It was memorable because it was my most popular fic at that point and the fandom didn't have a similar premise before.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Recently someone Furimmer translated my story An Intimate Touch into Russian! First time someone found my fic worth it to translate, I'm so happy still just thinking about it :D (It's also interesting to see they chose a different snippet to highlight in the summary, ha! That one seemed to resonate with them more. Can't blame them ;) )

Have you ever co-written a fic before? I have! @itskaysno is a wonderful co-pilot <3

What's your all-time favorite ship? Weilan (Guardian), Nick/Renard/Juliette (Grimm), and Jane/Uma (Disney's Descendants). I tend to be a multishipper, but these never fail to get me in the feels :D

What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? Of my posted WIPs: Hey Baby (I Think I Wanna Marry You), Shipwreck Isles, Your Prince Is In Another Castle, and Triple Duke Coup. Probably Ghost of a Chance, too, unless I get inspired by writing different YGO! fic to pick it up again. I'm 50-50 on whether I'll find motivation to finish Let Your Hearts' Melody Entwine With Mine

Of my unposted WIPs, if I've moved on from the fandom, I'm unlikely to put them up. That's why I posted a deluge of WIPs when I left the ragehappy fandom, because I couldn't see myself picking them up again, but I also regularly regret not e.g. having posted certain Naruto fic way back when I was writing them. Now the quality just doesn't hold up to my current standard, but I'm not going back to edit them, either.

What are your writing strengths?

I think I'm pretty good at dialogue and fighting scenes! I practiced writing fighting scenes a lot because they used to be one of my weak spots, and now I'm comfy where I'm at skill level wise. I like pitting characters against each other, too, though I still have room for improvement in that area.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Environmental storytelling. Character conflict that lasts longer than a handful of scenes. 15k+ longfic (I'm terribly at keeping myself motivated to write them and then never finish). Slow burn and character/relationship development that takes a while to get to (keeping characters consistent but still having them change is hard to juggle! Especially since I have a tendency to write scenes out of order)

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

If it's a language I know, I'm comfortable with it! It needs to be done for effect, though. Unless we're talking prefixes/suffixes and other addresses of respect/relation that just don't translate well (e.g. yifu, shixiong, xiao/lao, -kun, -senpai, etc.) but reveal information about the exact way characters relate to each other.

First fandom you wrote for? Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (back on German fanfic site Animexx). It was a self-insert OC portal fic where she ends up with Seto Kaiba xD I think I named her Leia or similar? I forget.

Favorite fic you've written?

The fic I'm writing for FFFX rn is a serious contender for top spot, if I manage to pull it off the way I imagine it.

I'm still pretty proud of Two Of A Kind (Guardian, Ya Qing/Zhu Hong & Shen Wei) and Safe In Your Hands (Weilan, post-canon with smut). The older a work is, the more I tend to see the flaws in it :') so my answers usually tend to be pretty recent stuff!

@itskaysno @ganglylimbs @elenothar @the-marron @sasamelons @sailorbryant @yilian0203 @treemaidengeek if any of you (or anyone else!) would like to do this, too, feel yourself tagged <3

[hydroflex123]

the story of how a parking ticket led to my DnD party destroying a city

I need to tell someone this story

so we are playing a escape from hell campaign and my players are currently on the the sixed layer of hell called Malbolge.

the PCs where a aarakocra barbarian, a goliath fighter, a owlin ranger/artificer and a bearfolk barbarian

they had recently stolen a devilish airship with a crew of prisoners and had visited a large city of mostly cultists. They had landed there airship outside the city walls and when they returned they saw a devil flying away from the ship. so naturally they immediately attacked it and because I have given them op magic items it wasn't much of a problem to take him down.

That was until one of the goliath who stayed in the ship yelled at the others that this devil is part of the city guard and only given them a ticked because your not allowed to land a airship at a random place next to the city. so I make the players role for perception to see if they hear it, the owlin shooting at the devil heard it but the aarakocra strangling the devil didn't so in order to make him stop the owling shoots the aarakocra which distracts him from the devil and he starts attacking the owling the fight didn't last long but it was long enough for the devil to escape. so when they saw it had escaped they panicked because they where still loading some heavy objects into the ship and they didn't want do ditch it in order to make a run for it so they started to discuss what to do. discussing took so long that a group of devilish city guards managed to arrive at the scene and arrest them the luckily with some high deception checks they managed to convince the guards that a npc named Meowsma (a cat devil the party enslaved) had attacked the guard so they take him away.

But they don't want to leave him because of how useful he is so they start planning a rescue operation they go back into the city and figure out that he is kept in a dungeon underneath the citadel in the middle of the city they don't want to fight all the devil guards so they decided to create a distraction luckily a few sessions before the owlin had gotten in contact with the elder evil Zargon the returner and had been given a task in exchange for power. the task was to take a magical artifact named the eye of Zargon and planting it in the middle of a large settlement. so that's what she did and after that a fountain of ooze started to bubble up from where she planted the eye and from this ooze huge aberrations started burst out of the ground and attacked the city some of them causing madness in the cultist population this distracted the guards and allowed them to save meowsma easily.

But that's not what two of them did the owlin and the aarakocra decided it was a much better idea to rob the local magic shop whish would probably be undefended with all this chaos and only the bearfolk and the goliath went to save the npc. the players didn't know where he was exactly and the bearfolk rolled low so he starts to randomly throw doors open until he opens one that was a throne room with a angry archdevil looking at the devastation true a window. the other opened a door with a large transmission mirror (think magic mirror from castlevania anime) and after messing with hit got into contact with another archdevil on the other side wo asked for the first archdevil and eventually walked true the mirror to go looking for him eventually they think to check the basement to see if the dungeon is there it is and they find the npc free all the prisoners and steal the magic mirror which was that archdevils only way home.

Because of the chaos running back to the ship is not a big problem the other two PCs steal a bunch of magic items and fly back and they fly the airship away from the burning city with two arch devils trying to destroy the aberrations.

mission success

[shadowsong26fic]

Coming Attractions

First Monday of the month (and year) so, here we go!

And also throwing in an Open Question Night, as usual--my askbox is always open, but tonight I'll be keeping an eye on it. Anything I've posted about here or on AO3 is fair game. I do take prompts, but no promises on how quickly I'll fill them, lol.

This past year was a pretty slow year for me, writing-wise, so I'm not going to so much do a retrospective, haha (though I will check back on my resolutions from last year, of which I think I met zero).

But some things (outside of Formal Resolutions, which are coming below) that I'm planning to work on this coming year:

BSG

The Other Battlestar--I really really would like to get started posting it finally. I know I've been talking about it for like...two or three years now, since I started falling back into this fandom properly, lol.

Selkie AU/Backup Plans AU--I did some foundation stuff for these in Year of the OTP back in 2023, and I like them, and someday I'd like to revisit them (maybe for GBB? IDK; Backup Plans is probably out of scope, but maybe I could do something in the Selkie AU)

GBB--or alternatively I'll come back to Percussive Maintenance or The Blood of Angry Men, lol. We'll see.

Star Wars

SWBB is taking a hiatus this year, but even if it wasn't, I wouldn't be participating. I might do some one-shots, especially if that ends up being one of my matched fandoms for pod_together, and I really would like to get back into Precipice/Protectors at long last. Again, we'll see.

Les Mis

Picking up P&J and getting to Provenance; and actually getting enough down on Acheron to start posting. Those are my goals here, haha.

Original Fic

No real specific plans here, other than trying to post at least one thing to RF each month.

Other Fandoms

Well, the new WoT season is coming out in March, we'll see if it awakens anything in me (whether the BSG crossover I have partially sketched out, or some of the stuff with Taim and Logain I had in my head way back in the day...

Also at some point I will sit down and watch Castlevania: Nocturne; I'm not sure if I'll actually like it as much as the original series, but it'll probably get me back into working on Incinctus.

Also also, I do plan to do pod_together again this year, whether it's AtLA again or something else, we'll see. I don't have any current plans to revisit one of my longform fics that I have partially plotted out but it could happen.

And there's always the possibility that something new I stumble into will awaken something in me, but. These are much lower priority than the above.

Last, putting this in this section since it covers a few areas--I may or may not try to finish the 2023 Year of the OTP list, or start the 2025 one? Haven't decided yet. If I do start the 2025 list, IDK if it'll be five ships again, lol...that was a lot.

Okay, I think that covers things! Time for Resolutions, haha

2024 Goals:

Get back into Precipice; post at least three chapters of Protectors and at least one Preludes one-shot. [Nope]

Write at least 10k of origfic content. [Nope]

Participate in at least two challenges/exchanges. This one I actually did! SWBB (which was like pulling teeth all the way through) and pod_together, plus I was a beta and ran GBB.

Start posting The Other Battlestar; complete P&J; and start or post at least one other non-challenge fic project. [nope]

Complete the Year of the OTP fills. [nope]

Bonus Goal: Write at least one holiday fic (Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween, New Year’s, etc.) and post on the appropriate day [nope] Bonus Goal #2: Update origfic archives [nope] Bonus Goal #3: Post at least one AU Outline. [well I did start writing one? but never finished/posted it, haha...]

2025 Goals

(much smaller and simpler than last year; trying to ease back into things after a fallow year)

Post at least one orgific piece to Rainbowfic each month

Write and post at least one fanfic (or chapter of a longfic) each month

Participate in at least two challenges/exchanges.

Bonus Goal: Write at least one holiday fic (Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween, New Year’s, etc.) and post on the appropriate day Bonus Goal #2: Update origfic archives Bonus Goal #3: Post at least one AU Outline.

ETA:

FULLY unrelated to writing but. I got my own doggo this fall! Her name is Ruby and she's perfect and I love her. And dog tax:

[monochromatictoad]

2, 3, 11, 13 and 20 for the fandom ask meme :3

2. a headcanon you weren't sure about at first but have come to like!

Kakuzu and his relationships with the other Akatsuki members. I remember thinking he hated all of them, because you don't get to see him interact with pretty much anyone in the Akatsuki outside of Hidan. But he probably did love them, and appreciated some stability after living in the run through the Shinobi Wars.

3. a character that fandom has helped you appreciate

Isaac from Castlevania. My first experience with Isaac was the Netflix series and I couldn't stand him, but once I delved deeper into the gaming portion of the fandom, I found that he's actually a really neat and interesting character!

11. if you're a writer or artist, what fic or piece of art are you proud of making?

The bad part is, I'm bad at naming my fics so um... I have three in particular that I'm proud of!The game over scene , the wip Wednesday rewrite, or the Bernadette inspired fics!

13. your favorite type of fandom event (gift exchange, ship week, secret santa, prompt meme, etc)

I like prompt memes and WIP Wednesdays! (I need to actually try a prompt meme)

20. your very first fandom!

Technically, pokemon. However, Naruto was the first one I actually looked up online.

[punchsomeoneforme-willyou]

Tag Game

Got tagged by @wanderingaldecaldo - thanks so much :D

A. Three ships

- femV/Judy Alvarez (cyberpunk) - FemShep/Jack (mass effect) - Iorveth/Roche /witcher

B. Last Song

Metal Cover of ‘we don’t talk about Bruno’ by SKAR

C. Last Movie

Either Ecanto or Ready or Not - had a friend over last weekend and cannot remember which one we watched on which day.

D. Currently craving

nothing in particular tbh, except maybe more time in the day

E. Currently reading

Crier’s War by Nina Varela (we’re ignoring the around ten books I started at some point and then put aside because I was no longer in the mood for them

1. Favorite color

GREEN

2. Last Series

Castlevania (please don’t ask me what the last series I actually finished watching was, because I have no idea)

3. Sweet, Savoury, or Spicy

Food: sweeeeeeeet

4. Currently working on

Painting: I for once only have two active wips, one is a screenshot study of someone else’s V and another is a Rorveth piece (that I started over half a year ago and somehow never got back to), I also have a mass effect gift exchange piece to paint, but haven’t started yet - my wrist is slightly fucked and I’ve been resting it.

Tagging (with no pressure) @heartoferebor, @advena87 and @justleaf and as usual anyone else who wants to.

[deadlyglacier]

20 Questions tag~

I was tagged by @mythicamagic thank you senpai~<3

How many works do you have on AO3?

40 right now, plus 1 that is still hidden because of the SOFA Exchange event.  (I’m still a lil fish.)

What’s your total AO3 word count?

486,920!  That’s so amazing to me!

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

InuYasha - A Feudal Fairytale (18)

FullMetal Alchemist (18)

Mass Effect Trilogy (3)

Let’s Play (Webtoon) (1)

Kingdom Hearts (1) But I hope to write for many more fandoms in the future!  I have ideas for fics for Castlevania, Skyrim, Fallout 4, Last of Us Part II, and more!

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

#1.  Stardust FemShep/Garrus, Mass Effect Trilogy, Rated Explicit. A retelling of the Shepard/Vakarian love story, with lots (and LOTS) of sexiness, from Garrus' point of view. Starts from before the Omega-4 and will end sometime after the end of ME3. Trying to stay as true to the game as possible, while adding some things happening off camera and a new ending.

#2.  Flamingo Sess/Kag, Inuyasha, Rated Explicit Kagome's method of beating the summer heat attracts a certain demon lord...

#3.  Hawk Sess/Kag, Inuyasha, Rated Explicit Kagome and Sesshomaru discover they have a mutual attraction for each other after a battle and a slight comedic incident brings them together. At first their relationship seems entirely sexual, but eventually evolves into something real. What will this romance mean for Naraku? Or even the future?  *TRIGGER WARNING FOR CHAPTER 6! MAJOR VIOLENCE AND TRAGEDY* Very, very loosely based on "A Mere Digression" by elle6778

#4.  Daisy Sam/Charles, Let’s Play, Rated Mature Sam wakes up somewhere unfamiliar with a splitting headache with no memory of the night before. Takes place right after the S2 finale.  First chapter was my prediction for what would happen next, and then three other “wishful thinking” chapters happened, lol.

#5.  Chemistry Ed/Winry, FullMetal Alchemist, Rated Mature A look at how the relationship between Ed and Winry developed after Brotherhood ended.  Cute, sweet, funny, and hot (eventually—y'all that know me know I gotta have some NSFW in there).

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I try to respond to everyone, especially when a fic of mine has just been posted, but sometimes I just forget.  If I haven’t responded to your comment, please know it’s just because I’m a big dumb and forgot!  I love getting comments, and I reread them all the time!  I just feel like there’s a time limit to when I can respond to them--if I let too much go by, it’s awkward if I reply.  Gah, but that’s just me getting in my own head, I guess.  I’ll do better!

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Oof, definitely Psychology, a fic I wrote for RoyEdOTPoly this year.  The prompt I got was dark, and I didn’t see any way around an angsty ending.  Read at your own risk!

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Well, aside from the last fic, I try to write happy endings for all my fics!  But, if I have to name names, I’m torn between Zoology (another FullMetal Alchemist fic, RoyEd, for RoyEdOTPoly this year) and Stardust (my Mass Effect fic, which is long, but so worth it, in my opinion).  Both are very fluffy in the end!

Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

Argh...  I don’t really like crossovers, to be honest.  I actively avoid them when looking for fics to read.  But that doesn’t mean I haven’t thought of writing them myself.  (I’m a total hypocrite, I know.)  I had an idea for an Inuyasha x The Sims fic, years ago, that I never did anything with.  The premise was basically Inuyasha and Kagome would get trapped in the game somehow (via the jewel or magic or something), and they’d be controlled by Souta, Kagome’s friends, Hojo--all sorts of different people who think the fact that Kagome and Inuyasha are in the game is just some kind of silly mod.  I probably won’t write it, so if anyone is interested in that crazy idea, have at it!  You have my blessing. <3 I also have a crazy crossover idea for what I call an “Ultimate OT3″ of mine that I’ve mentioned to my friends, but I haven’t actually written down yet:  Sesshomaru/Alucard/Sebastian Michaelis.  So be on the lookout for that!

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I wouldn’t call it “hate” so much as “mansplaining,” but I have gotten a couple of comments that made my eyebrow twitch on Stardust--both on AO3 and FFN.  Just dudes (and I’m fairly certain they were dudes, just from their tone) trying to explain why a certain plot twist wouldn’t work, or tell me how to save Sidonis in the actual game (which I already knew, that person just didn’t read what I wrote). I’ve also gotten a comment on one of my more controversial fics, Hippology, on FFN, where the person asked me if I thought my summary was K-Rated (which, admittedly, it does need to be for the site, and mine wasn’t--because of a single word).  I changed it and messaged them saying it was fixed.  Going to that commenter’s profile, however, proved to be fairly enlightening...  They’re nuts.  They have another profile, too.  Read at your own risk.  Yikes. There’s also a team of people on FFN who make it their life’s mission to report stories with rule violations.  I’ve gotten a comment from one of them as well.  These people are not mods, they just like to pretend they are--one of them even made their name look official!  “CU Administration,” gtfo dude. I also recently got one of my fics removed from FFN.  It wasn’t even one of my sexiest ones!  They put me in timeout for 48 hours, and when I was finally able to publish something new on the site again, I posted Hippology (my centaur smut), and it’s still up as I type this.  (Wonder how long it’ll take them to notice?)  And since the fic that got taken down was a SessKag fic, I’m thinking it might have been a petty SessRinner who reported it to the “authorities” of FFN, because another friend of mine got hers taken down not long after mine, and it was also SessKag.  Just my tinfoil theory, anyway!

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Yes, yes, yes.  It’s practically all I write.  I do all sorts of smut, from romantic, sensual stuff, to specific kinks, to monsterfucking--all that good stuff.  Can’t change me~<3

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

God, I hope not!

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I don’t think so.  No one has asked me if they can translate one, anyway.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not yet!  I’m open to the idea, and I’ve had little discussions with my fic-writing buddies about it, but nothing’s come out of it just yet.  Keep your eyes peeled!

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Oh, now come on!  I can’t pick just one!  But I’ll give you a top 3 (in no particular order, because they change places a lot, depending on how obsessed I am with them at the moment). Inuyasha:  Sess/Kag FullMetal Alchemist:  Roy/Ed Mass Effect:  Garrus/FemShep

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I have a couple of stories that I deleted from my original FFN account that I’d like to re-write and re-post on AO3, but I don’t think I’ll ever get around to it.  There were a couple of Inu/Kag fics I had in-progress, and then a Koug/Kag fic.  I recently rewrote and reposted my SessKag fic from years ago, Hawk, on FFN, AO3, and Dokuga!  So maybe all hope isn’t lost.  I’m even writing a sequel for Hawk! All the stories I have in-progress right now I plan on finishing.  At some point, lol.

What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, without a doubt.  It’s my favorite thing to write, aside from smut, of course--which is another strength of mine.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Descriptions, ugh.  I try to do them well, but I always feel like they get stale.  So I keep them somewhat vague, because in my mind, I think readers will fill in the gaps themselves whether you describe something immaculately or not--they’ll see what they want to see, and that is totally fine in my book!  Or maybe I’m just making excuses, lol.  I’ll only describe something in a lot of detail if I want the reader to focus on that--usually an outfit, accessory, or weapon--otherwise, I leave it up to their imagination (I don’t want manipulate it too much, I suppose).

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Wildly unnecessary unless that author speaks the language as well, or if certain words already exist in the fandom’s translations (ex. “youkai,” “alkahestry,” etc).

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Inuyasha, and the fic(s) I wrote in the beginning were terrible.  I want to burn all traces of them off the face of the earth.  I was in middle school.  I was young and stupid.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I gotta go with Stardust.  It’s the longest fic I’ve ever completed at more than 160k words.  I was so immensely proud when I typed “The End,” and I was able to say to myself “I did it.”

I tag: @glassesmcfancyhair @willowsrain 

[eurydiceauxenferswrites]

Anon Matchup Rules

If you prefer to stay on anon for matchups, I’ll need you to send me two asks.

(A) matchup(s) for me, based on the information below. You have the same options available for what I can give in a non-anon exchange. Since anon asks cannot include pictures, if you want a moodboard back provide me a link to them somewhere else.

Your own information (see the general matchup rules for what I’ll need) and what fandoms you want.

Sign both with the same tagline so I can keep track of who is who. I won’t start your matchup until you’ve sent me mine, as a form of guaranteeing both are done. If you have other questions feel free to send those to me as well!

My Information:

Basics: Hi you can call me Eurydice! My pronouns are she/her and I’m heterosexual on the ace spectrum!

Personality: I’m a major perfectionist, but I’m proud of how hard I work. I’m passionate about what I do, for fun or for work. Sometimes it’s healthy but sometimes it can spiral into self-hatred, or at least self-consciousness, when I don’t live up to my own high standards. I can be a bit obsessive, autistic hyperfixation go brr. I like to talk about the things that interest me. I talk a lot, I’m more than a bit socially awkward, I tend to ramble and I can be more than a bit oblivious to subtle social cues or the feelings of other’s. I’m very emotionally expressive when I speak. I have a temper, I’m impatient and stubborn and can get surly, but I’m working on it. I’m proud to say I’m actually really good in a crisis, something I’ve learned from first hand experience. Although I’m pretty ass at leadership, lol its a skill like anything else, and I don’t have a ton of practice (I tend to be a bit of a loner). My sense of humor leans on the drier, cynical, more British side (I make a lot of deadpan jokes and sometimes people take me seriously which is always an embarrassment). Also fun fact: I have sensory processing disorder, which leads to me having chronic insomnia, needing subtitles on everything and being a majorly picky eater (woo, fun). 

Love Language: My giving love languages are acts of service, physical touch and gift giving. My receiving love languages are acts of service, quality time, and physical touch (although I am stingy to whom I give physical touch to, I’m not a touchy person). I’m comfortable showing affection to my friends but when it comes to romance I’m way less confident. I don’t like admitting my feelings and I try to act more aloof and chill (although I am very much a secret romantic and absolutely never chill). I couldn’t flirt if my life depended on it I’m way too straightforward.

Hobbies/Activities: I’m pre-med and a chemistry major so a solid portion of my life is taken up in school and I also work as a volunteer EMS/at a free healthcare clinic/peer tutor (I do enjoy all of it but ngl it can be exhausting). In the spare time I do have I like to participate in theatre on and off stage (I take musical theatre and classical singing lessons! I’m actually really proud of my voice; I’ve even won competitions!), I can’t dance for shit though, three left feet. I also play D&D and other TTRPGs. I’m also a big nerd about history, American comics, and folklore, mythology among other things. For extra nerd points, I speak Latin! My musical tastes leans vintage like my clothing taste: I’m no genre snob but I prefer swing jazz, musical theatre, jazz standards, classic rock, etc (I also have a soft spot for classical). I also love whodunnits and Britcoms. 

Background: I’m an only child. Preferences: (Keeping it vague because I want you to match me more based on who you genuinely think is most compatible rather than just pick my fave). I prefer nice guys/heroic types (kindness is nonnegotiable), and I also have soft spot towards former villains/douchebags turned heroes (self-honesty and active character development is hot tbh). Appearance-wise I prefer more masc presentation. I also really love Rescue Romance. 

Icks: I don’t like yandere/dubcon (except in the context of like, my real matchup rescuing me from such a scenario). I don’t want an abusive partner.

Categorization: ♉️ ☀️, ♈️ 🌕 ♑️ ↗️, ♈️ ♀. ESTJ/ISTJ (I’m hella ambiverted), choleric-melancholic. My feminine archetype is The Boss.

Appearance: I’m 152 cm/5’0 and like 95 lbs soaking wet, my friends have called me “throwable,” which I’ll admit is pretty correct. I have big olive doe eyes, which I am very proud of, and a big Grecian nose, which I am very self conscious about. I actually find a lot of twins in classical Greco-Roman sculpture! I also have curly brown hair and fair (olivish?) skin. 

Aesthetics: My favorite color is red, any shade from carmine to burgundy. I’d describe my personal style as “Girl Reporter” because I wear a lot of vintage 40-60s pieces or inspired pieces but it’s also very academic and comfortable and practical for walking around all day (I basically think of it like “would a well characterized Lois Lane/ gender swapped Indiana Jones wear this?”). If you’re looking for aesthetic in a more generalized way though, this is a board of the stuff that vibrates at the same frequency as me.

Dream Vacation: I lived in Sorrento last summer for a few months for a classics study abroad and it was absolutely amazing. I love southern Italy, the food is incredible, the landscape and the architecture is gorgeous, the weather is perfect, the beaches are so refreshing and most especially I love all the history and the culture. Pompeii was absolutely incredible to see, I also got to see so much theatre and art and I adored it. I also went to Greece on a similar shorter trip with the same department that summer and enjoyed it too (even though I prefer Neopolitan food lol). I love the ancient world and I want to see the rest of it someday, and not just the Greco-Roman parts. I really want to see the Hagia Sophia and Ephesus and Petra and the Valley of the Kings (and I could go on like this for ages), someday! 

[fairydust-stuff]

Favorite Castlevania ships 

Sypha x Trevor

Alucard x Greta (Its honestly better Dracula, Lisa in my opinion) 

Morrana x Striga 

 Hector x Isaac 

Serious I’m so happy two great main character couples that make sense. One interesting  villain couple where they get to surivive and ride off into the sunset together.

 And then the morally grey  duo who are still messed up but working on their relationship not technically cannon but I really don’t care sub textually these two have basically exchanged vows. 

[diabolikmosquito]

Just-Watched Thoughts on S3

Alright time to write this while I’m still here recovering so I can go to bed already. I might add more/clean this up once I get some proper sleep. Tagging it but putting Castlevania Season 3 spoilers under a cut just in case people haven’t got tags hidden and such. Here goes-

Overall I’m honestly just kinda shocked? I think it’s because a lot of things were easy to predict (that the cult might be trying to bring back Dracula, something was up with the Judge, Hector was obviously gonna fall for Lenore’s bs, etc.) so when things happened I didn’t see from a mile away.. 

When I was only like an episode or two in, things actually felt a little stunted to me? Something about it felt like “This is what people liked from before, right??” particularly with certain action or such, but I feel like it picked up pretty quickly from that. I’m still kinda in winding-down-emotions mode so I can’t really definitively say what storylines I liked and which ones I disliked for the most part. I liked Isaac’s, and the design of the... Hivemind Magician? Was all pretty sick. It felt like the first thing that was actually a massive challenge for him, and nearly overtook him, but he overcame it and even came out of it thinking through what he wanted for the future. It’s a nice change from seeing him steamroll anything that came his way. 

I like that Trevor and Sypha’s storyline ends up with them not getting their heroic grand time like they did last time. Yes, there were sacrifices made, but before it still felt grandiose: they’d worked together to kill Dracula, something the world didn’t even think possible for the most part. This time, they sacrificed a lot more and ultimately didn’t win a thing other than their own lives, and were helping a hidden monster in their process of killing other monsters. What a crushing thing for them to have to go through, and I think Trevor’s conversation with himself before (and later with said monster, ironically enough) about missing parts of his old non-heroic non-adventuring life was pretty somber and interesting. 

The whole Lenore/Hector route was exactly what’s expected from the beginning, but it was done well for what it was, and I don’t think they were trying to fool anyone with the direction it was headed. Carmilla’s plot was.. eh, more or less not much seemed to actually happen, but it did introduce us to the awesome vampire sisters so I’m more than down with it. I wish we got a little more about Saint Germain’s whole deal with that portal and such, who he was looking for and how he knows they’re still alive in there, but I assume that’s a next-season kind of thing. I’m gonna ramble if I write anymore so here’s a more concise/clear list:

Things I liked -  Trevor and Sypha’s chemistry! I thought it was good the first couple seasons (which apparently puts me in the minority?) but they felt much more compatible as a couple this time around. The little exchange about the “taste for rougher things in life” is wonderful, and I definitely snorted when she sleep-bapped him in the face. - The tidbits of funny dialogue! Seems to still be a show specialty. Some of them were understandably a bit funny (using “Nope! speedwalks away” in place of “shut it” is pretty good), and others weren’t funny but I just found it hilarious (e.g. Morana’s repeated fancily-stated things that boiled down to “... Lenore, seriously, TMI”) - The soundtrack! Not really any surprise, despite it not being the famous Symphony of the Night tracks people clamored for trust me I totally get that and despite it still not being released even from season 2 much less 3,  it was very nice to listen to.  - The vampire sisters! While it was obvious from the beginning Lenore was the “cutest/nonthreateningest-looking of the scary bunch but actually the scariest” one I liked the energy they all had, especially Striga and Morana and their relationship. I liked that we got to see Carmilla’s attitude bouncing off of other vampires who (while respecting her skill) also called her out for it from time to time. - The references! I’m sure there’s more and I’m a dumbass who only spots the obvious ones, but... the fact there’s demons that’re exactly ones out of the ol’ Symphony of the Night game again, like the Malachi and Fire Demon. It’s so dumb but I love shit like that, especially since they obviously stray far from the game canon and don’t have to do that but do it anyway. - Some of the action scenes. I cannot mention what I like without mentioning the parts that made me go “... Okay, yeah, that was badass.” You know the ones! When Cho busted that sword with her hands, when Sypha chopped that angel-like demon into pieces. ... A lot of the stuff Sypha did, actually, I’m glad she got some more epic moments to kick ass this season. I thought the earlier action scenes of the season were just alright, but by the last fight it was definitely starting to feel like that awesome dynamic fight style we saw in season 2. - The fact Dracula saw an opportunity to return and didn’t want to. Not much to say here other than the obvious - I feel like that’s extremely fitting, and I’m glad they made it clear without bringing him back and having him be angry/regret it or something like that. Without any dialogue, even. - The ending.. somewhat. It destroyed me a little on the inside, but I actually like that nobody really had a happy ending. Particularly if there could be another season, it feels really fitting. I’ve seen some people complaining “They ended up where they started! Trevor and Sypha are back on the road, Isaac’s traveling with his army, Alucard’s alone in the castle and Hector is a slave” but I couldn’t disagree more. Of course if you boil it down to the words themselves, it’s “the same,” but did ya see the sheer trauma literally everyone was put through? Obviously some had it worse than others (and we’ll fucking get to that) but nobody came out unscathed. Everyone’s now had some belief challenged or retreated further into a fear/mistrust that already existed - previous events planted the seed for it and the hell the cast went through gave it growth. 

Trevor and Sypha are going to have to challenge their goal they’d been following since working together/getting together: they can’t just go headlong adventuring and fixing people’s problems, because things like this can happen. Their new allies and the entire town were slaughtered or trapped somewhere, and the man they’d trusted and been helping this entire time was a serial killer, particularly of children. Alucard is drifting into a state of consciousness not unlike his father before he met Lisa, but potentially in a worse place since he’s witnessed and felt true kindness, but has retreated away from it even so due to the betrayal he’s suffered at an already-fragile time for him. Isaac has to reconsider what he’s going to do once he has his proper army, and even if it’s worth it to get his revenge or to carry out Dracula’s original plans. Saint Germain.. I mean, he’s in psychodelic hell searching for that person and presumably a way out, I assume it’s tragic. Hector’s learned a hard lesson in trusting and is going to have to figure out if his freedom is worth risking pain or death. Likewise I think the characters grow this way. Even if it was a happy ending, or an ending where everyone “wins” some small victory somehow, I think it’d ultimately have been worthless if nobody was fundamentally changed by the end of the season.

Things I didn’t like - The sex scenes. I’ve seen a lot of people like “If you’re gonna put in gratuitous sex then actually include Trevor and Sypha??” and I’m gonna have to disagree with that. While I love the ship and all, I’d like to give the benefit of the doubt and say sex scenes weren’t thrown around randomly or just to flex the rating - they were only tied to actual story, hence why I’m down with the bedroom stuff of the show’s main ship only being alluded to. However, I gotta say that the long broken-up sex scenes mixed with battle/action was not the way to do that. I think I know what they were going for (it definitely drove my anxiety up having those scenes back to back with intense action/violence, I can tell ya that!), but it just wasn’t a good idea. Yes, they were obviously made to be uncomfortable (particularly since I’m pretty sure one of them was dubious consent at best?) but that was reflected well just in a few key frames/actions - it didn’t need to be drawn out and mixed with the action. It made me want to skip through (I didn’t out of fear I’d miss battles, which isn’t really good design) and I’d like to bet parts of the finale are unwatchable for some. For the record, yes you could say “well they got into an adult-rated show, deal with it,” but the fact of the matter is up until now sexual violence/discomfort wasn’t heavy-handed and in-your-face like this. Non-sexual violence was definitely all over the whole series, but it’s still a bit like whiplash considering. Also, the fact people think the scene with Alucard was at all chill. I see it from a story standpoint (though I honestly think their motivations were weak and there’s other ways to betray someone/get their guard down), but I think the people going on about “power bottom” and this and that are forgetting that the absence of a no is not a yes, particularly with someone severely emotionally damaged after spending months alone not only without a support group but without any contact, immediately following the death of his father by his own hands. I’m no expert but I don’t think that’s someone in the proper state of mind to consent to anything sexual, even if there were a couple weeks or whatever of spending time with these new friends. He very well might’ve been on the way to a stress disorder before they turned his world upside-down and frankly I’m wondering how he’s going to be faring come the next season (assuming there is one.) That’s more of a fandom gripe than the show itself I suppose but it’s worth a mention. - The pacing. It’s hard to pinpoint it, but something about it felt off, especially in the first half. The best way I can describe it is when you pump the gas and brakes because your brakes aren’t working great and you’re loosening them up - maybe it was necessary to get things going, but it’s a bit destabilizing/odd for anyone in the car. I think it’s what contributed to that stunted sense I got until things picked up a little more. You can see it more in just how packed with stuff the latter half is, some things which could’ve been planned a bit better through the whole season. - Sumi and Taka. I honestly felt that they wanted to get in a way to have a punch-in-the-gut arc with Alucard (not a bad idea, I am one for tragedy), wanted to kill off some characters who were actually important, and decided to do these both with one stone. I don’t think they were successful on the second part, because these two absolutely contributed to the stunted feeling I had about some of the season. They had a good start in terms of backstory, and the idea of two people working together to fight vampires without having some big legend tied to their name to drive it (e.g. Speaker magicians, Belmont legacy, Alucard’s heritage), as well as a connection to/fleshing out of one of the nameless generals, sounded like a great concept. A great concept, but it was rushed I felt, to the point that their motivations for turning on him were so packed and squished in they just weren’t believable if we’re supposed to believe these two were sane. They had some sort of mental/trust issues due to their backstory - that’s fine, and could contribute some emotional problems. However if their distrust in Alucard had been given more time to fester and grow, more little comments of Alucard’s brushing off their attempts to learn about specific things, and more cues from him that could be misinterpreted by them as him causing trouble and lying (not just them not believing him by itself), it would be more believable that the past and misinterpretations of the present get into their head and poison their thoughts of him. You can plant a seed of doubt but just like any other character bonds, it has to be given time to grow. Alucard’s rapid bonding with them could be attributed to his loneliness, trauma, and need for a support system, but you can’t make that excuse for Sumi and Taka’s motivations going from “Hm.. I wonder what he isn’t telling us” to “We need to emotionally gut him and then kill him” basically overnight. Edit:

I forgot to add a conclusion last night, so I guess the TL;DR is season 3’s a good 7.5/10 for me, -1 for the overall pacing, -1 for missing a bit of the punch from before, and -0.5 because the last few episodes jumped me with a bat and I let it happen.

[onthesandsofdreams]

Tag game!

I was tagged by the awesome @pennywaltzy, thank you!

Author Name: GlowingMechanicalHeart in all my platforms save for Dreamwidth, there I am ladyofhimring.

Fandoms You Write For: Marvel (mostly Iron Man-centric), Saint Seiya, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, BBC Sherlock, Tolkien (most of his works), ASoIaF, Harry Potter & the first Fantastic Beasts movie, Star Wars & Rogue One, Netflix’s Castlevania, Wonder Woman (movie mostly) and a little Doctor Who.

Where You Post: AO3, Tumblr, FF.net & Dreamwidth (the last two not as frequent tho)

Most Popular One-Shot: Third of His Name. A humor fic where Viserys (sane) manages to take King’s Landing and Sansa ends up as his Queen.

Most Popular Multi-Chapter Story: My Sunday Six series.

Favorite Story You Wrote: Fate be Changed, the first on my Rickard x Rhaella series; about Betha reminding Aegon that he’s the King and his word is law and using the pact of ice and fire to send Rhaella North. And I also love A Crown Exchanged, about Torrhen Stark surrendering to Aegon and ending betrothed to Visenya.

Story You Were Nervous to Post: “Hollow Crown”, it’s a kinkmeme prompt about Daenerys being jealous of Sansa, the story is solely based on the books and ignores the show absolutely, but considering how it came close to the show ending, a Dany “stan” tried to get me to delete this story here in tumblr.

How Do You Choose Your Titles: I re-read the stories over and over and hope for the best. On some I borrow parts of quotes or song lyrics.

Do You Outline: I’m only outlining for the The Rhaella Stark Chronicles series, because I want to know where I’m going. Other than that? Not so much, unless the fic is going to be gifted.

How many of your stories are…

Complete: 97 of them are, out of 110 fics (at the time of filling this tag game). 

In-Progress: 13

Coming Soon: Oh boy! Starting Monday, it’s Cassian Andor Appreciation Week and I wrote a fic for each day. So, mostly Cassian fics this week. Oh! But I’m also filling a prompt from the ASOIAF Rare blog, so stay tuned for that (Rhaella x Rickard). 

Do You Accept Prompts: Yes, I do. But not at the moment. Because in all honestly, I need to finish the ones I have pending, and that will only happen after the WonderTrev week (first week of August). So yeah, prompts are cool but it will take me a little while to get to them. Note: Please if you request, let me know if it’s a Sunday Six by adding “ss” to the request or if it’s a long fic by adding ‘rf” (for regular fic). Thank you. Second Note: Only accepting “Sunday Six” request at the moment.

Upcoming Story You Are Most Excited to Write: I’m trying to write the first DameRey for my “My Heart Knows You” series. And I have some ASoIaF Rare Ships that might be getting a fic too and I’m excited about those.

Tagging: @thefeatherofhope, @thedropletsparkled, @caroh99, @mllekaren & @xfeathered-serpent

[i-prefer-the-term-antihero]

Sign ups for the multi-fandom Valentine’s gift exchange are still open!! (but closing soon!!)

I know I said signups would close yesterday (the 9th), but I’m going to keep them open a little longer!! A few people who wanted to sign up still haven’t done so, so I want to make sure everyone who said they wanted to join has a chance!!

However, I will begin working on pairing people up, so if you still want to join, please hurry!!

I’m going to list the fandoms mentioned so far below in categories. (I am not in all of these fandoms, and some fit into multiple categories, so I apologize if something’s in the wrong place!)

Main fandoms listed: Pandora Hearts, Vanitas no Carte, MCU/Loki, Tangled/Tangled the Series, Black Butler, How to Train Your Dragon, Jacksepticeye, (General) Disney, and (general) Marvel/MCU

Other anime/manga listed: Code Geass, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, Yona of the Dawn, D.Gray-Man, My Hero Academia, Noragami, Voltron, Fullmetal Alchemist (and Brotherhood), Mo Dao Zu Shi, Bungou Stray Dogs, Aldnoah.Zero, Castlevania

Song/Band/Music Fandoms: Sound Horizon, Kagerou Daze, BTS

General tv shows/movies: Danny Phantom, Riverdale/Southside Serpents, Divergent, Maze Runner, Aquaman, Harry Potter, Teen Wolf, Star Wars, Supernatural, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, and The Dragon Prince

JSE video games mentioned so far: Subnautica, Monster Prom, Undertale (as well as Deltarune), The Last Guardian, Detroit Become Human, Life Is Strange, Sally Face, Cuphead, Stories Untold, Bendy and the Ink Machine, Little Nightmares

General Video Games: Pokémon, The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, The Witch's House, Alice Mare, Persona (all games), Persona 5, Code: Realize, Kingdom Hearts, Sonic the Hedgehog, Mystic Messenger

Also, two things have been added to the “other” category in terms of what people can make: “poetry” and “small ‘plushie’, artwork....if can be shipped”

FYI The person who first put down poetry is in the MCU/Loki fandom, and the person who put down plushie (and poetry too, because she asked if anyone else put something down for that category!) is in the fandoms: Jacksepticeye, Game of Thrones, Marvel/MCU, and The Walking Dead.

If you are interested in receiving either of these things (or can make them too!) please let me know!! And let me know if there is anything specific you’d be interested in receiving as a plushie or poem!!

And if you are interested in the plushie, let me know what country/state you live in so I can figure out if you live close enough for her to ship it! (Only one person can receive the plushie, of course—and this person can make other things—but it was such a unique thing I wanted to see if anyone in her fandoms was particularly interested in receiving that sort of thing!)

And, related, I’ve gotten a couple questions about whether you can buy/ship things, and, I’m not going to rule it out completely, but I’ve found that in general people on this site live far away from each other (like internationally), so it could get expensive, and most people probably won’t want to just share their addresses, so...

Once again, if you have already signed up and would like me to add any of those fandoms, or other things to your sign up, or edit your sign up in any way, don’t hesitate to let me know!!

Also, if you have already signed up and are willing to be a second valentine in case I don’t have enough people per fandom, please let me know!!

And if you said you’d sign up, or were thinking about it, but have decided not to join, please let me know!!

Also, I’m likely going to be participating myself, so if for whatever reason you don’t want to be paired up with me—either as my valentine, or me being yours—(the main reason I’d guess being that if you’re my valentine I will know who you are, and so you won’t be my “secret” valentine) please let me know!!

(Did I say “let me know” enough times?? 😆)

Feel free to mention this event to any of your friends who you think might be interested!! Spread the word!!

You can sign up here!!

I look forward to pairing everyone up!! 😄

[kalira]

Fandom Year in Review (2020)

I’ve posted my final story for the day (and the year!) and now it’s time to consult my spreadsheet and put together some numbers. . .

I posted 130 new stories to AO3 this year!

Those stories were for 17 fandoms, 7 of which were new, and 39 ships! Of those ships 12 were new.

I posted a total of 562,810 words to AO3 this year!

I wrote 95 works for 15 Fandom/Multi-Fandom Events!

. . .I intended to give myself fewer deadlines this year than last year. It was not super effective. I also recorded and posted 6 podfics for events.

I also ran one event solo and co-modded another! (Which is ongoing into 2021.)

Fandom Event breakdown:

1 for @kkgweek​ (2019) 1 for @fandomtrumpshate​ 25 for Trope Bingo (Round 14) 4 for Smut Monday 5 for @kakaobiweek​ 1 for @madatobigiftexchange​ 4 for @the-umino-hours​ exchanges (several different ones) 9 for @kakayamaweek2020​ 5 for @kakairu-mini-bang​ 10 for @sakumoweek​ +2 podfics 16 for @kakashiweek​ 2 for @foundersweek​ +4 podfics 6 for @the-umino-hours​ Iruka Winter Bingo (ongoing into 2021) 5 for @nejihinata​‘s NejiHina Week 1 for @12daysofsterek​

~

5 of the new stories are minific collections, which along with updates to existing minific collections (of which there are 10), account for a total of 165,934 words.

They are as follows:

Avatar: the Last Airbender~ Zuko/Sokka: 1 minific - 458 words

Castlevania~ 36 minifics - 6,587

Chronicles of Narnia~ 11 minifics - 1,463 words

Greek Mythology~ 6 minifics - 712 words

Kamisama Kiss~ 20 minifics - 4,218 words

Naruto~ Hashirama/Izuna: 9 minifics - 2,240 words Hashirama/Mito: 12 minifics - 2,361 words Hashirama/Mito/Izuna: 1 minific - 440 words Kakashi/Iruka: 77 minifics - 23,815 words Madara/Tobirama: 41 minifics - 12,461 words Madara/Tobirama/Indra: 7 minifics - 2,790 words Orochimaru/Minato: 6 minifics - 1,950 words Sakumo/Orochimaru: 366 minifics - 98,370 words Sakumo/Orochimaru broken: 22 minifics - 5,869 words Tobirama/Indra: 9 minifics - 2,200 words

Naruto total: 550 minifics - 152,496 words

Minific total: 624 minifics - 165,934 words

~

I also started recording and posting podfiction this year!

I posted 25 podfics, totalling 4 hours and 6 minutes, this year!

That includes 18 of my own works and 7 belonging to other authors.

Fandom and ship breakdown:

Castlevania (Netflix) - 1 ~Trevor/Alucard - 1 (1 by Kalira)

Good Omens - 2 ~Crowley/Aziraphale - 2 (1 by Kalira | 1 by other author)

Hikaru no Go - 1 ~Shindou/Touya - 1 (1 by Kalira)

Naruto - 21 ~Gen - 3 ~Kakashi/Gai - 1 ~Kakashi/Iruka - 7 ~Madara/Tobirama - 4 ~Sakumo/Orochimaru - 3 ~Sasuke/Naruto/Sakura - 1 (15 by Kalira | 6 by other authors)

~

Fandom & Ship Breakdown!

Under a cut because this is quite long enough now. . .

The Addams Family - 1 ~Gen (crossover) - 1

Alice in Wonderland - 1 ~Gen - 1

Antique - 1 ~Jin Hyuk/Sun Woo - 1

Captain Harlock - 5 ~Harlock/Yama - 4 ~Yattaran/Kei - 1

Castlevania (Netflix) - 2 ~Trevor/Alucard - 1 ~minifics, assorted gen with Trevor/Alucard and Dracula/Lisa

Chronicles of Narnia - 1 ~minifics, assorted gen

Flight Rising - 1 ~Gen - 1

Good Omens - 1 ~Crowley/Aziraphale - 1

Harry Potter - 2 ~Harry/Draco - 1 ~Gen - 1

Hikaru no Go - 1 ~Shindou/Touya - 1

Kamisama Kiss - 2 ~Tomoe/Akura Ou ~minifics, assorted gen and Tomoe/Akura Ou

Marginal Prince - 2 ~Red/Henri - 1 ~Sylvaine/Haruya - 1

Mary Stayed Out All Night -2 ~Mary OT3 - 2

Naruto - 106 ~Gen - 16 ~Gai/Iruka - 2 ~Hashirama/Madara/Tobirama - 1 ~Hashirama/Mito/Izuna - 1 ~Hashirama/Tobirama - 1 ~Iruka/Genma - 1 ~Kagami/Danzou - 1 ~Kakashi/Gai - 1 ~Kakashi/Iruka - 25 ~Kakashi/Obito - 5 ~Kakashi/Sakura/Tenzou - 1 ~Kakashi/Sakura - 1 ~Kakashi/Shisui - 2 ~Kakashi/Tenzou - 11 ~Kakashi/Tenzou/Iruka - 3 ~Kiba/Sakura - 1 ~Lee/Sakura - 2 ~Madara/Tobirama- 5 ~Madara/Touka - 2 ~Neji/Hinata - 5 ~Neji/Lee - 1 ~Sakumo/Kari (OC) - 1 ~Sakumo/Orochimaru - 16 ~Sasuke/Naruto/Sakura - 1 ~Tobirama/Indra - 1

Teen Wolf - 2 ~Stiles/Derek - 1 ~Gen, crossover with Addams Family - 1

Tiger & Bunny - 1 ~Keith/Agnes

Voltron: Legendary Defender - 1 ~Shiro/Keith - 1

~

I have written and posted so much this year and had so much fun! I'm not done writing for the day/year yet, but my next post to AO3 will be tomorrow and in next year! I have so many plans, and some ongoing deadlines even, so keep an eye out!

Happy New Year!

~Kalira

[myfriendpokey]

receipt king

What's the difference between a paid game and a free one? In my opinion, one of them costs money, although various qualifications could be made. But maybe what's important is not the fact of purchase but the moment of purchase - that singular, legally recognised and binding moment where you hit the buy button or put the coin into the slot. Since after all the ways in which you really engage with, or even claim, a videogame can be spread out, blurry, diffuse.

Maybe it sits on your hard drive for a year before you play it, or in a notepad file full of steam keys, maybe you played it on and off in sessions too split up and individually indistinguished to solidify into a single instance. You can "own" both a paid gameand a free one but it's hard to feel your relationship to the former is not somehow more solid - maybe because it's founded on that moment of exchange, and not just the more transitory moments of lived experience. Experience comes and goes but purchases can be logged, tracked, indexed.

Maybe all the people who keep buying  reissues of Chrono Trigger for every platform it comes out on are just laying a more 'real', economic foundation to support the expanded dream-Chrono Trigger that exists in their heads…  Holding on to the receipts!

 ***

For a videogame to be sold is for it to exist in a network of exchange relations with, say, chairs, fruit, labour... And the implication is that these things can be compared but also that the comparisons can be quantified. A game is cheaper than a cup of coffee - or four times more expensive than a new movie, and both of these give us a picture of how it fits into the spaces of our life.

It also lets them take on a sort of objecthood-by-proxy, as another in the catalogue of commodities, which is increasingly important as the actual ontological status of a videogame gets ever more uncertain. Are you buying a program, an installer for a program, a temporary access pass for a program stored online, a program which runs using a server which remains in the company's control, a set of new assets, are you unlocking a set of existing assets which shipped with the game and were just stuck behind a paywall?

Emilie Reed has written about videogames in a museum context - with the expectation there that they get reframed as "singular objects", to fit the needs of an institution which has historically trafficked in singular objects. Maybe we can also think about this movement for objecthood in the context of the market - and that, since for at least forty years videogames have been a market artform, this movement was reflected on the aesthetic level as well. When people talk about a videogame as a "world", as a closed, alien space of object relations to be examined and explored at will, are they talking about the bare digital structures of the Game or about the mysterious opacity of the Object? Perhaps the unknowable heart of the  commodity is the true "bonus room", ha ha ha 8p

 ***

(I remember when Mountain was something of a critical talking point, and at the time I maybe crassly wondered if it was the production values - since there were plenty of glorious trainwrecks games making basically the same nonsequitor joke but it somehow only merited attention coming from a paid game with stylised graphics and lotsa assets… Now I wonder if it was specifically the saleability of Mountain which generated that fascinated reaction, as the dismissal of not-games wrestled with the deference thought due to the commodity. Which makes all those posts about the zen qualities of staring at it seem much funnier in retrospect.)

***

Anyway.

The free game / paid game thing is something that interests me because it's basically something I grind up against all the time, when I'm making things, and slowly need to come up with the vocabulary to deal with. The dream is always to "just make things" - you'd work on what takes your fancy and then figure out at the end whether it worked as a saleable product or not, which environment to release it to. But the problem is that even speculating something could be a paid game is enough to drastically change how you view it. What works in a free game absolutely does not in a commercial game, and vice versa.

I don't think anybody at all would have played Magic Wand if it came out for free, for example - that game could get away with being tonally muted and laid back because it took place within the bubble of objecthood that comes with being sold, and those qualities are experienced much differently in a free game.

A free game is one with no immediate comparison points - it could end after 5 minutes, after 50, it could demand your time and energy to no return... it lacks the "guarantee" of a pricetag, the guarantee of existing in some stable relationship with other objects. A commercial game could be the barest early-access WIP, or just some printed screenshots in an envelope. But the fact that it was sold at all grants it some of the enclosed legibility of the object, while free games conversely exist in the world of pure experience, which I think Hegel memorably described as a bloody head flying at you through the dark. Dreams, hallucinations, memory, etc.

 ***

So maybe we can think of commercial status as part of what Michael Brough calls the "grain" of a work, part of that network of processes and feedback which we either glide with or grind against while producing a thing. To make a free game paid is to change how it's read. The gaps which your attention span could easily skip over in a free title become unbearable contained within a fixed, sealed object. You begin to draw the contours and to fill in the gaps... The game becomes more ornate, detailed, denser within this narrowed scope, with a kind of symbolist langour and inertia seeping into the whole thing - the inertia of the product.

It may be hard to make a videogame into a narrative but to be sure it's harder to turn a product into one, a product which necessarily has something circular and static within the very foundation. The presumed audience for a product is like the little dude in the middle of the panopticon - everything is arranged panoramically for their benefit, necessitating a certain vagueness of temporal relationship, while a free game is arranged for the less predictable, less reliable, eye of the attention span as it moves through an unknown space. I like making both types of games and don't mean to imply one is either more mature or more subversive than the other, whatever those terms mean in this junk-ass consumer format. But it's not quite a matter of pure preference, either.

***

Archiving games can be notoriously difficult and I imagine this goes double for free ones - it's one thing to document, say, the NES library which at least has some kind of fixed scope for inclusion, trade magazines to consult, physical copies to track down... and even then there's always the frontier of, yknow, bootleg Dendy cartridges, nobody knowing when Mario came out, stuff like that. At least in principle it can be boiled down to a finite list of titles and release years. Who wants to deal with the messier and more nebulous task of recovering all the RPG Maker projects that briefly got hosted on Rapidshare in 2007? And even then, would it make sense to organize these games by a similar neat list of release dates?

Commercial games can afford the pretense that they "happened" at a singular point in time and that this singular point takes priority over the broader mulch timeline in which they were stumbled across, played, looked at, made fun of. It's not that you can't make a similar claim for the release point for freeware - it's just that it might mean a different thing, and I think it can be valuable trying to think of those games as something other than "commercial games that happen to cost $0". If to be released for free is to  engage with a fundamentally different context and set of assumptions - to deal with and work around a kind of vanishing experiential quality, rather than the fixed objecthood of the product - then it's hard to work out how to talk about and memorialise that without converting it into its opposite.

I've always wanted to write about more freeware games but how do you do it? Pick out a handful to talk about and avoid as much as possible the question of dealing with the endless churn? Elevate a few to ambassador standing? To pick a random RPG maker game and say "Crystal Masters 2 came out in 2008" can be to imply, like, a launch party, or some immediate impact, or that anybody at all paid attention or cared - which in turn can distort the actual expectations of how these things would be recieved that to some extent affected their aesthetics and structure. It’s still better than nothing, and I’m being pedantic – but it's hard not to think about it when at times it feels like the only way this stuff can be written about and preserved is as a set of attenuated best-ofs, by either becoming a product or by being treated as one.

I think if most of my games have been commercial lately it's less a question of expecting to get money from them and more because that sometimes feels like the only way they'll still have some kind of trail left in 10 years. I always liked the idea of making time capsules and just hiding them away in a rabbithole somewhere for people to find. Right now it feels like the types of videogame spaces I'm most comfortable in - the kind least hung up on ideas of importance - are archival ones, digging through the debris of the past, curious about what they'll find. In reaction I guess to what feels personally like increasingly calcified, unliveable contemporary or franchise-oriented spaces of culture it can feel freeing to think about the other ones, of things instantly forgotten or which barely existed at all. Blind albino cave salamanders - - 64!!

(images: castlevanias ii and bloodlines)