#Flora’s the one with the shipping knowledge cause that’s funny

[professor-hershel-gayton]

Hi Professor!

Ehhh, are you aware about people shipping you with Randall and Descole (i have not skimmed thoroughly through your blog yet so I don't know much 🧍‍♂️)

Shipping? Like in the mail, or on a boat?? What do you—

For those who are unaware, Descole is Layton’s biological brother. It seems our dear Hershel is very weirded out by this. So weirded out, that he completely forgot the first part of the question.

Maybe next time Randall. Maybe next time…

[wolffyluna]

Fic Writer Meme

 I was tagged by @thou-breath-of-autumns-being and @eldritch-elrics. Answers under the cut.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

135

2. What’s your total AO3 wordcount?

387198

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

There’s 22 of them, using a sensible-ish count. There’s Age of Sigmar, MCU, Dragon Age, Dragonshield (yes, the card sleeves), Dungeons and Dragons, Fire Emblem Awakening, Fire Emblem Three Houses, Guild Wars 2, Warhammer 40k, Heaven Will Be Mine, We Know The Devil, Keychain of Creation, Overwatch, Revolutionary Girl Utena, The Adventure Zone, The Magnus Archives, Silmarillion, Undertale, Voltron, TGCF, MDZS, Nirvana in Fire

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

‘The Heat Talking’ - Overwatch omegaverse. It’s popularity is very explicable :P.

‘A Stained Glass Variation of The Truth’ - Xianle Trio sickfic, featuring Mu Qing have a lot of feelings about looking after Xie Lian. This is one of the ones where I look at it’s popularity and go “[nods] my audience has Good Taste.”

‘Let Bastion Say ‘Fuck’‘ - Overwatch crackfic. I wrote for Overwatch a while ago. Those fics are very much not my best work. And Yet.

‘though shadows fall’ - TGCF HuaLian post nightmare hurt/comfort. (which reminds me, I should really write some HuaLian post nightmare hurt/comfort where Hua Cheng is the one who has a nightmare.)

‘All That Can Be Done’ - Overwatch Genyatta angst featuring Zenyatta dying of a God AI virus.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to, I really do, but... if I reply, the comment no longer shows up on the ao3 homepage. I do intend to reply, but the lure of having comments on my homepage wins out most times.

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

Probably either ‘All That Can Be Done’, the aforementioned fic where Zenyatta dies of a God AI virus and gets killed by Genji, or ‘Always Neater In Morality Plays’ where Sazed successfully poisons and kills Taako.

7. Do you write crossovers? If so what’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I don’t really write much crossover fanfiction?

...Though I am right now doing an rp featuring a character from a historical tv show set in the Tang dynasty accidentally time travelling into an AU version of the Handmaid’s Tale, so, uh, that’s probably the wildest crossover I’ve been involved in.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yes. I’ve received a few “you’re characterisation is bad and you should feel bad” and “how dare you write something to your tastes and not my tastes!”

‘Always Neater In Morality Plays’ got a... bad reaction. Including a popular blogger vague posting about in a way that made it obvious exactly what fic it is and how grody they found it. They may not have linked the fic directly, but, uh, everyone knew. (And I may have also sent an ill-advised ask along the lines of ‘you have the right to vagueblog whatever fic you like, but for the love of peace could you at least check who is following you, so you don’t put ‘oh god, isn’t this fic the creepiest thing ever?’ straight onto the dash of the author?”  And also a chunk of the TAZ fandom blocked me*.

And then several years later I found out ‘snuff’ meant something different than what I thought it meant (I thought it just meant ‘focus on major character death!) which added an embarassing glace cherry on top of that sundae of bad.

*This became sort of funny when some of these people got into the Magnus Archives. “Oh, so you draw the line at graphic depictions of poisoning, but someone exploding into a shower of worms is fine???”

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I do, yes. As for what kind-- well, my ao3 exists and is a relatively comprehensive survey.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nooooot to my knowledge?

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but if anyone wants to-- [makes ‘call me’ gesture].

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, not yet. I’d be potentially interested in doing one, maybe one of those ones where one person writes one chapter and then another person writes the next. At the moment I have a friend who is also interested in maybe doing that, we just don’t currently align on fandoms.

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

[whine] Don’t make me choose between my babies!

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

‘A Shattered Angel And A Broken Fist’. It was one of the earlier fics I wrote, back before I learned that if I wanted to write something long, I needed to have an idea of how it was going to end. I lost momentum and now... I honestly have no clue what should happen next? I have re-read and gone “yep, some stuff should happen. Not sure what stuff.” So while a lot of people like it and it would be nice to finish, its probably not happening.

15. What are your writing strengths?

Hmm, I think I’m reasonably good at dialogue? I’m honestly not sure what my strengths are. I don’t mean this in a low self confidence way, more that I know I don’t have an outside perspective on my writing, and like a fish, I’m not super aware of the water I’m swimming in.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

I have a bad habit of people have conversation in Blank Windowless Voids of No Description.

I also have a less bad habit of trying to fill those voids with a) geology and b) Australian fauna and flora. This causes problems when the pov character has no reason to know geology, and the story is not set in Australia.

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

I am one of those people who pretty much only speaks English, except for the a bit of “Je m’appelle Wolffy. Le chat est petit.” So I don’t write dialogue in other languages. Too much risk of embarrassing error, for not much gain, when you can just use italics or something.

I do have a lot of thoughts about translation conventions in fic where the characters would not be speaking English, and things like whether to live honoriffics. The thoughts are a bit unformed, but mostly revolve around being consistent at least within a fic (no characters being “Your Highness” in one paragraph and “dianxia” the next), trying to avoid the affect you sometimes find in anime fics were every third word is in Japanese, and also trying to maintain character voice. (I occaisionally have moments of “yes, there is an English translation for what this character calls this other character, but it’s not what they canonically say and it’s going to bother me deeply if I only use English.”)

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Depending on how you define ‘fandom’ and how you draw the line between historical fiction and historical rpf, my first fandom was the Bagoas fandom. Not the Bagoas what followed Alexander the Great around, no, the vizier who was around before him.

...I was like twelve at the time, just to make this weirder.

19. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

[whines harder] don’t make me pick between my babies!

[ladyspaceradio]

Ink Chapter 4

Ao3 Link

One Step Closer

Voeld was somehow worse than being stuck at the ass end of Noveria wearing nothing but a bikini. A skimpy bikini.

Abigail almost wished for Havarl again, that’s how shit Voeld was.

The jungle world had been a marvel with its colorful plants and heart wrenching beauty… that surprise surprise, hid a ridiculous amount of danger. Abigail didn’t know why she had been expecting otherwise… aside from Aya, Andromeda was a consistent shitshow.

The whole planet seemed desperate to taste Milky Way blood. From the indigenous flora and fauna to the Remnant and Roekaar; everything had tried to bite, melt, laser beam, shoot or just plain stab her in the face. Even Jaal had commented more than once about the strange amount of hostility they were attracting. When all was said and done, Abigail had been more than ready to jump on her ship and GTFO.

Now she was seriously rethinking her opinion. Sure, Havarl had its share of problems, but not one of those included air so bitter cold it slid right into initiative armor like it owned the place and threatened to freeze her Pathfinding tits off.

The good news was that she was almost done with the death planet, the bad news, she was probably going to another planet that wanted to kill her in new gruesome ways.

At the moment the Tempest crew was on standby, waiting for the Moshae to be released by the resistance doctors, who were stabilizing her for travel. Lexi was also in the medbay learning everything she could from them.

The last few days had been a hellish nightmare. Abigail still had the Cardinal's blood splattered across her. The pukish green color stood out against her white and gold armor. She knew she had to scrub it off eventually...but every time she got close, she was reminded of that hellish place, and the Kett who had seemed to believe so fervently in its horrors. Abigail had shot it dead while it proclaimed to her that she was beginning to be enlightened. To understand that this exaltation was a gift. Abigail hadn’t said a word in response, just put a bullet in its skull.

She had to kill it, because any creature that could condone, willingly inflict and even worship such evil had to die.

When Abigail tired of catching glimpses of her blood stained hands, the reminder of all she had gone through, all she had done and experienced, she ended up ripping off the offending armor and slinging it into the opposite wall where it clanked against the metal hulk of the ship before hitting the ground.

Her naked skin bothered her just as much.

It had been bare for weeks. Not a single image on Havarl, not even a scribble on Voeld, there was nothing. Her skin was just blank as it had been before they came to andromeda. Sometimes she’d awake in the middle of the night after another terrifying dream, and ask SAM if it really happened. If the little red tally had actually appeared, if she truly did have a soulmate. That she wasn’t incomplete.

During the small moments of time she had to herself Abigail wrote many things.

Where are you

I’m Abigail Ryder

Where are you

Who are you

I’m sorry

Where are you

Nothing.

That’s how it always was.

In the end she had given up writing and gone back to drawing.

Worse was the fact that Abigail couldn’t sleep well anymore. Her once dreamless nights had turn into nightmares. On some nights her dreams were of a cold blackness that she was trapped in. There was a bone deep sense of loneliness that seemed to grip her when she slept. In her waking hours she would feel a chill of her soul, the ragged edges weeping to be complete.

But if she wasn’t dreaming of darkness she would dream of foggy places where something, someone, lurked in the distance. Watching, tracking, hunting her. There was a desperate quality to these dreams. The suffocating need to find….something that bled into her. It was these nights where she’d awake drenched in sweat, hand reaching out to grasp at something, these nights scared her the most.

A hand rubbed absently at her sternum, while Abigail sat and thought. It seemed to be a new habit of hers to scratch at the patch of skin.

The night her soulmark had appeared Abigail started to notice this odd sort of rhythm beating next to her heart. At first, she thought it was a heart murmur. But Lexi assured her everything checked out. However the beating didn’t go away, but grew stronger each passing night. If Abigail didn’t know better she’d say she had a second heart buried in her chest, beating stronger and out of time with her own heart.

When she inquired about the oddity with SAM, the AI informed her he felt nothing. Which made her think there was something wrong, till SAM proposed a theory.

“Another soulmark?” Her fingers pressed into the armor hiding her skin.

“It is a possibility.” SAM told her.

None of the Milkyway species had such a mark, which meant…

He’s in Andromeda.

Abigail had sought out an angara opinion on this, and went to the only one available to her. Jaal had been her only outlet for any inquiries about his people, but the angara seemed reluctant to divvy out any information on this subject.

“I'm sorry, I didn't know this was a sensitive topic among your people.” She had thought the angaran would be open about it, like they are with everything else, but Jaal seemed to claim up the moment she mentioned soulmates and their marks.

“No, no, we are, as a people very open about our mates. I just,” He hesitated, gaze dropping to the folded hands on his lap. “I don't have one.”

“Oh.” Abigail shifted her feet. “I'm sorry.”

“It is not your fault.” Jaal assured. “What are your questions?”

She hesitated, part of her wanted to know but another part understood this pain. “Are you sure? I can uh talk to someone else?”

He chuffed at that. “Who?”

He had her there. Straightening her shoulders she began her questions. “How do your soulmates work?”

“When a pair of angara are born from the same star there is a preexisting link to their souls.” Jaal unfolds his hands, eyes looking off in the distance. “Some say that it is a rebirth of old lovers. Reincarnated to come together, to be whole, complete.” Something sad filters across his face as he speaks.

Abigail understood that look all too well. To be a fractured soul, incomplete.

Broken.

“And the soulmarks?” She inquires tentatively, almost scared to break him away from his thoughts.

Jaal blinked his blue eyes focusing back on her. “We dream.”

“Oh?” She leaned forward eager. “What are they like?”

There seemed to be a delayed pause on his part as he stared at something over her right shoulder. “I have never experienced it myself, so this is all….second hand knowledge.” His hands rub together. “Most of the bonded pairs I’ve spoken to say their dreams are vivid realities that they build together with their link. They talk about the love and warmth poured within them. Some can even convey thoughts through them.”

Nothing like her dreams.

“I see...do you know about any soulmark that can cause another heart beat?”

This seems to shock Jaal as he leaned forward suddenly. “Do you feel another heart?” He almost seemed excited by the prospect.

“I...yes.” She presses her fingers to the spot, feeling the odd sensation beneath their tips. Strong steady beats that pumped faster than hers.

Abigail jumped when he threw his head back laughing. “Joyous news!” Jaal clapped her shoulders before pulling her into a hug.

“Jaal, hey-you got to explain.” Abigail stumbled when he released her, a bewildered look crossing his face.

“Is finding a soulmark not a happy occasion for your people?”

“No it is!” Abigail shook her head. “But I don’t-I thought you said angara dream?”

“We do, but our bond links two souls together. Does your soulmarks not do the same?”

“Not like that.” She held her arm up, pulling back her sleeve where the cartoon giraffe lay with big, twinkling eyes. “Our uh human soulmarks allow the transfer of ink between skin.”

Jaal reaches out for her arm, pausing he glances to her face, asking for permission. Abigail nodded offering him the limb which he takes with warm palms. There’s an electric pulse where they touch, all the little hairs stand on end in reaction. Jaal gives a thoughtful hum, fingers rubbing across her skin.

“I did not realize you were so soft.” He traces over the little hairs standing at attention with a curious stroke, watching their movement “Or that you are actually covered in hair….it’s so fine here I didn’t even notice it before”

Snorting at the ticklish touch, Abigail shows off her other arm. “Yeah well... even in the Milky Way Galaxy we were the only aliens with hair. Sort of funny to come so far only to find that’s still true. Guess that makes us special.”

Big blue eyes glanced up at her. “Indeed.” He turned his attention back to the ink. “If you feel the bond, have your soulmark, and dream-.”

“I don’t dream.” Abigail cut him off, pulling her arm back to curl around her stomach, as if to protect herself.

“You…..don’t dream?” He seemed bothered by this.

“Not-I mean I do dream but it’s not the way you described it...it's cold and dark... very hazy… almost kind of foggy so I can’t see anything….and it feels like I’m being stalked?”

His brow dipped together in thought. This was truly something he never heard before between soulmates. “Have you ever seen him?”

“No.” She almost shuddered at the thought, the desperation that clings to her after the dreams, the absolute need, it was like an obsession. “No I haven’t. Whatever it was... it didn’t feel like a person.” She could see his slight alarm at that last bit

“Ryder tell me exactly what you dream about.”

“Uh some nights it's just nothing. Like I’m in darkness and its-its cold….” Abigail wanted to say like Voeld but the angara didn’t seemed bothered by the freezing temperatures there.

“It could be because the two of you keep different sleeping schedules.” Jaal surmised. Which made sense to Abigail. “And the other times?”

“I...It’s hard to see, kinda...like there’s a thick cloud of smog covering everything. And there's this-this desperation to find...something. I don’t know.” She runs a hand through her hair, tousling the thick strands. “It's scary how deep I feel it Jaal, like I can’t breathe from the want.” “I have a theory… what was your first dream in Andromeda like?”

“Blinding,” She whispered thinking back onto the dream. “I remember I was standing on-on Eos, where I drew-” Her hands fly to her mouth. “Where I drew my first picture! Jaal I dreamt of the sunset I drew, but it was kinda murky like I was looking at it underwater.” It was hard to describe the lucid dream, how it was blinding and hazy at the same time. Bright yet dusty. “I remember turning around and there was….something lurking in the distance and then everything just went dark.” “He saw you.” Jaal rubbed at his chin “He must have been so confused when he saw you. Sometimes, when one of a bonded pair becomes distressed during that first dream, it can compromise the link. Not destroy it, but make it difficult to reconnect.”

“What if-what if he didn’t like what he saw?” What if he saw her and rejected her because she was alien?

“Even if he did not at first, your intended has clearly come to terms with it. These dreams you fear are his efforts to re-establish that link. If your mate was dreamless before the Initiative’s arrival to Andromeda, it more than explains why his desperation for you is so terrible. Were I in his place…” Jaal’s face grew wistful “I would tear apart the stars themselves to find my one and only.”

Abigail licked her lips leaning forward. “How do I...how do we get the link back?”

“I do not know Ryder….perhaps one of the elders on Harval might know.” He looked down at his omnitool. “I will contact my family, see if one of them knows the answer.”

Nodding she traces the picture before looking up at Jaal. “If he’s-if he’s angara why doesn’t he reply?” She waves at her skin, distressed.

“Ryder,” Jaal clasps her shoulders in a soothing manner. “My people haven’t used written pen in a long time.”

“Oh!” Her jaw drops open in shock. “They-they don’t? B-but my soulmark was written in ink.”

“Perhaps they acquired a brush….” He thought about it. “I think the elders on Harval have a few and the repository of history should have some. But ink would be even more difficult to obtain.”

“How am I supposed to find them if I can’t communicate with them!” Abigail could feel the cusp of hopelessness rising.

“Do not lose heart Ryder, you will find him.” Jaal patted her shoulder. “I could write a message for you, explaining everything.” Jaal offered holding out his hand.

“NO!” They both jumped at the force of her refusal. “I mean,” Abigail cleared her throat. “Thanks but no... Jaal.” It felt wrong to have someone else draw on her arm, to communicate with her soulmate.

Jaal seemed to understand as he nodded.

“Could you-could you teach me Shelesh?” She asked and he beamed at her. Jaal was a ready teacher, and she was a quick learner. By the end of the night she was drawing across her arm in red ink, the same shade as the line that first connected them.

Soulbond. You. Me. Happy. New. Traveler. Find You.

It seemed primitive sounding, but her arm was only so long, and it got her intent across. We are meant to be, I’m happy to have you. I’ve come a long way to find you. And I will.

She had wanted to add her name, but Jaal pointed out that shelesh didn’t have a word that matched her name or title.  He also didn’t want her to give away too much, for fear that they could belong to the Roekaar.  A thought that had disturbed her for a moment before she decided she would love them anyway, they were meant to be after all.

When nothing came back in reply she wasn’t surprised. Yes she yearned for an answer, craved it in deep within her soul even though Abigail knew there would be no reply. But it was fine because now she knew what she was looking for. She hoped he would be on Aya where they were heading next.

The beautiful paradise hidden by the scourge. Abigail sighed, fingers stroking across her sloppy shelesh, Jaal confirmed it look like a pup had done it and assured her it was legible when she panicked.

Nibbling her bottom lip Abigail wondered what he would look like. Would he be big like Jaal was? Or more like one of the recruits she had seen, smaller? thinner? What of his skin? Would he be purple or green or….

Blue.

A harsh scowling face flashed before her eyes. A smile curved her lips at the thought of those cynical looks. If they were on Aya it meant she got the luxury of seeing the resistance leader again.

Abigail wistfully sighed at the thought.

All the angara seemed to have the same eyes, except him. His eyes, though beautiful like nebula dust scattered across the stars, were so bleak. Something she suspected reflected the man perfectly. His mouth was pressed into a hard line, dipping lower the longer she talked to him till the scars lining his face were stretched thin and taut. He looked as hard and cold as his position demanded of him.

Yet there was something compelling... lurking beneath that emerald blue skin.

Even if he was a pain in the ass to talk to.

Okay… he wasn’t that bad.

In fact the harsh scowl upon his face was far more amusing to her than it should have been. Even when he was growling for her to leave she merely smiled and just couldn’t help thinking how... adorable he was. It was almost cute how completely baffled Evfra seemed to be by her reactions. The man was obviously so used to making others piss themselves with just a glare, that he had no idea how to respond when that didn’t happen. Hell, the resistance recruits and even Jaal seemed amazed at her complete lack of fear in their Leader’s presence.

She had to be missing something because Evfra just wasn’t scary or intimidating at all. Sure he was a gruff and no nonsense leader with plenty of combat experience but there was nothing about him that stuck out to her as particularly foreboding.

Especially once she realized that Evfra acted extra aggressive when she was around, something she only found out about because she had overheard two recruits complaining to each other

“Oh skkut, the Tempest is back on Aya”

“Again?! ….what are the odds that the Pathfinder isn’t visiting HQ this time?”

“Slim to none”

“Skkut I’m still trying to recover from last time”

“Oh right you uh, you dropped a datapad while he was talking with her”

Abigail remembered it, Evfra had suddenly whipped around and snarled a rather vicious lecture at the poor man about carelessness. Once the victim was sufficiently shaking in his boots, Evfra had calmly turned back to her… oddly puffing his chest. She had no idea what he was looking for in her expression but when he didn’t find it he just seemed… oddly disappointed?

Which had her smiling at him. An action that baffled her as much as him.

There was an excited bubble in her gut at the prospect of all the things Aya possibly held for her. She was looking forward to seeing the secret utopia again….

And him.

Hello my Lovelies! I have returned to you, refreshed and burned! Whooh would have thought? Thankfully here were no seagull attacks. AND-

-HERE'S THE CHAPTER YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR! YAY!

Sorry it took so long, there was somethings that needed to be done. My Dad's going in for a colonoscopy Monday, so if you all could say a little pray for a clean bill I'd really appreciate it!

As always thank you for all the love you send our way!

Now a message from @lunamkardas

Awwww Poor Evfra instinctively trying to impress the pathfinder with how much of a big scary male he is...and he doesn’t know he’s doing it.

Till next time: The skins reveal!