#I always forget what a marathon these are when I'm not doing them oof haha

[palestporn]

Gamzee: Seduce???? You guess????

He's smaller than you--you got warned all the time coming up how you gotta be careful, being big like you are. You're real slow and soft when you reach out and take his hand and coax it over to rest on your throat.

His claws are filed like yours, but they're not dulled--he's got them sharp as his sickles, sharp enough you lose a hard breath when they touch you, even though you put them there yourself. He goes still too, and when you look up at him and lean your face against his knee his claws twitch against your neck.

"He's never wanted me a night in my life," you say, and fight the prickle of his claws and the growling whisper in your skull, and close your eyes. "Seems like maybe it's you I should've been looking for."

"He-- Oh," says the Second Coming, and chokes on the words a little bit. "What, never?" And then before some bruise on your soul can drive a wince out of you at that, "Well, I mean. I already knew he's an idiot, so."

Dangerous shit to say about the Sufferer Redeemed. But he said it, not you, and it sends an echo of a laugh ringing around your thinkpan. You can't hold back half a laugh of your own, and he looks surprised like he didn't realize you could find shit funny, and then pleased like it's something worth doing to win a laugh from you.

Well shit, motherfucker, maybe you can make this work. A real conciliatrix plays "moirail" a lot closer--you're sure the fuck not that. It's not his business to soothe you back, and not his interest to care your opinion on shit. Just something for him to be kind or cruel to, calm himself down. Maybe talk some shit out at. Maybe say things you wanted to know.

"I'm not really...supposed to go to the quadrant hivesuites," says the Second Coming, thoughtful now, looking you over. "I didn't think we had any blood colder than teal."

He touches at the place on the rim of your ear where a purpleblood's half-fins would've used to be. Feels weird, a touch on the scars there, and your ear flicks away before you find presence of thinkpan to stop it--his claws slide to your cheek, so close by your eye you don't dare to blink, and then drop down to touch your neck again and linger this time on what used to be empty gillslits, scarred now, sealed shut.

His gold and jewels are cool, but his hand is hot on your pulse. Sudden urge to turn and sink your fangs in is hungry and powerful. You close your eyes again instead, and keep on smiling, and overhead you hear him give a low, thinking growl.

"He...wouldn't touch anyone colder than teal," he says slowly. "Especially not pale. He's got some kind of fucking baggage going on about it. So either the old man's hiding more from me than I thought, or this is the dumbest, globesiest assassination attempt in the history of the universe." His claws dig in just barely. "So, how about you tell me exactly what's going on."

Gamzee: Tell him...

==> ...You've got no clue, you just wanted someone to want you. ==> ...His ancestor lets you stay; you don't know why he's so kind. ==> ...His ancestor locked you away; he's scared of something in you. ==> ...If he keeps touching you like that you'll tear his frond off. ==> ...Everything.

[START OVER]

[naralanis]

20 Questions

Thanks @silv3reyedstranger for the tag! My meeting can wait, this is more fun lol

How many works do you have on AO3?

44 (my wife's saying it's bad luck, so I guess I better make it 45 soon)

2. What's you total AO3 count?

601,330 which is weirdly way more than I expected but also way less? How dare AO3 not count all the words I've never posted, this is homophobia

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I got my start in the Devil Wears Prada and Harry Potter fandoms, and then the supercorp gifs pulled a bag over my head, tossed me in a van, and made me hyperfixate on a really bad but really gay show, so. I've also written for Xena Warrior Princess and ATLA/ATLOK, but I've never posted for those. There is an errant OUAT SwanQueen one-shot out there, courtesy of some insane people I love.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

In order, they’re Perhaps, For the Better, Perfect, The Date and, surprisingly, The Wrong Way. I didn't expect that last one at all, to be honest.

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

I do appreciate every single one (they’re a writer's main source of nourishment) but I am terrible at responding to each and every one. There will be times where I'll go on comment-replying marathon and then I forget about it for like, a year. My bad! I do love all the comments and I re-read them all the time when I'm feeling kind of shit. They bring so much joy to my heart and occasional (happy) tears to my eyes.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably Unshackled, but I'm not sure if that counts because the happy ending came in part two. But for the people who didn't know there was a part two… that was probably the angstiest I've managed! I love angst, but I have to have the happy ending, whether I'm reading or writing it.

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

Oof, I don't know. I try to have happy endings to most things. I think the one that jumps to mind is i don't know how to dance so slow (to keep up with you). I don't think it's necessarily the happiest ending, it's just this whole fic plays in my head so clearly, almost like it's a movie, and it just gives me the good feels. It's short and sweet, and it makes me happy.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I think if I wrote more I'd get some lol. I used to get some trolls here and there, especially flames back on FanFiction.net. A couple on Perhaps, but the Cissamione peeps were awesome helping me deal with them. Nowadays everything's pretty chill.

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

*points at The Adventures of Soft Butch Hermione*

Not to mention all the stuff I don't post. Smut has to be just right to make the cut. Nothing too crazy, but ya know I have to sprinkle some praise kink in there.

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

Nope, and I don't think I ever will. The most I've done is borrow other characters from within the same universe (see Luthor Motor Racing AU), usually as a joke/easter egg. I'm usually not a fan or crossovers (writing or reading), but there are a handful of exceptions here and there.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

HAHA yeah. A couple of times. Usually found on Wattpad, or translated into Portuguese and posted to some Brazilian site without my permission. Side note, why is it always Brazilians. I'M ONE OF YOU, PLS

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

Yeah! To Russian, French and Mandarin (with permission) and Portuguese (without), at least as far as I know. I'm totally cool with translations, just like. Ask me first, give me the credit for the original work, and send me a link! I love to see translations of my stuff, especially if it's in a language I can speak.

13. have you ever cowritten a fic before?

@shadowdianne and I had some incredible back-and-forth a few years back, but it never really went anywhere (although I maintain our ideas were FIRE). It was a frankly amazing take on Narcissa as a character, with some sprinkle of a Narlily friendship and Cissamione endgame. We both had other stuff going on, so it never really developed further, but I still have the docs with all of our ideas and frankly hilarious commentary.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

Don't make me pick just one, I can't.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

At this point, all of them I think? Brain's just not braining that way.

16. What are your writing strengths?

It used to be world-building and environment descriptions, but to be honest I haven't flexed those writing muscles in ages. I think I can tell a lot with not much real-estate. I also think my readers/fellow writers would be better at answering this one lol

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

The writing part.

Jokes aside, it's actually stringing a plot together. I write by vibes.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I technically speak four languages, but I always worry whether whatever foreign language dialogue I insert sounds genuine enough to sound like a native speaker, so I always ask for a second (and a third and fourth) opinion anyway.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter, on a little known (to Americans) social media platform known as Orkut, and then on FFNet. Then I deleted all traces of that and had a fresh start with Devil Wears Prada.

20. Favorite fic you've ever written?

It's like asking me about my favourite child. Right now it's while all of the lines are blurring, which is a WIP but I just have. SO MUCH. To add to it. AND  I DON'T HAVE THE TIME OR BRAIN CAPACITY but I. Love that plot in my brain. Maybe one day.

I won't tag anyone this time around, but writer peeps, feel free to take it and run with it!