#In my brain they're just grossly misunderstood

[getaapologist]

There is light at the end of the tunnel! I tentatively have everything mapped out, every important moment, and most of them at least slightly written (a couple fully written) or some snippets of dialogue noted down that came to me over the last few days. I just have to bridge the gap between the scenes and think of more ways to include side characters because I think that's a lot of fun.

It's one version of events that is so unlikely and inaccurate and destroys the plot of the movie for the sake of a few characters. But that's what this is all about, I guess. I do have to confess, Lucius just isn't around. It was intimidating to try to include all of that when I was going to change so much anyways. I love his character. If it wasn't for this crazy, copper-haired emperor I might be writing about him. It could be fun to let him find affection again after having him essentially starting over again. (But also who am I to get in the way of Ravi? Let's be serious. Am I the only one that felt that connection?)

Figuring out how I want to portray Geta has honestly been the most fun. What his weaknesses are, what he likes, how he would handle stressful situations (maybe not so well). And Caracalla, I like to think he's much smarter than what we've seen. It's just clouded over by the illness he's suffering from and his desire to keep himself free of responsibility in light of how hard ruling is after their father died and left it to them.

And Macrinus. Macrinus is MY instrument to get my character close to the twins. He just doesn't know it. As much as we very obviously hate him and think he is monstrous, I adore Denzel Washington and his portrayal of Macrinus is so nuanced and honestly just a delight that I couldn't resist including him quite prominently, at least at first. His mannerisms are so fun in the movie.

I think I'll be able to post it, I just don't have an exact timeframe. I will definitely let you know when I do. I'm hopeful I can just blitz it and post all parts at the same time so there's no waiting and pressure on my part. Or I could be very impulsive and just start posting as soon as my resolve weakens, or if I see that one gif of Geta, you know the one. My true weakness.

*also I have seen the gifs of Quinn's ass in the Geta tags (somehow in multiple scenarios???? what is that movie?) and it has been noted, please don't send it to me or put it in my line of sight, that would be terrible, absolutely awful, please, no, don't...

[impossibleprincess35]

[20 Question Fic Writer Tag]

Hey, I got tagged twice. Thanks @yourfavoritefridge and @miserableandmagical94! <3

How many works do you have on AO3? Only nine, ten tomorrow, but I feel like I'm a n00b as I just got back into writing fic this past spring.

What is your AO3 word count? 376,550

What fandoms do you write for? Mainly Star Wars. I'm kind of obsessed at the moment. Like, I've gone down the SW rabbit hole and I kinda love it here.

What are your top five fics by kudos? Asphodel: 168 The Echo and the Stain: 50 Peace: 42 Hard Candy: 25 La Cantina de Bloomita: 21

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I totally do. I cherish every kudos, every bookmark, every subscription, and every comment on my stories, because no one is obligated to interact at all. The fact that people take the time to do it? I want you to know I see you and I appreciate you. You could be doing a billion other things with your spare time, but you chose to read my new chapter? and then you took the time to tell me what you thought?! I adore you.

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? In Vain. Obi-Wan goes to Kalevala in search of something to feel close to Satine in the wake of Order 66. I remember writing it and being like, "Well, this is fucking depressing."

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Peace. Satine gives birth to Korkie with Obi-Wan right there with her, and it's just fluff and love and newborn baby sweetness.

Do you get hate on fics? Occasionally, I get some kind of comment that implies that I have grossly misunderstood the Obi-Wan/Satine characters, and I just shrug it off. Some people don't like my version of their year on the run because they're annoying eighteen year olds, and I suppose all of us were our best selves at 18? And some of the feedback I've heard on Asphodel makes it sound like I've turned Satine into a Space Thot or something, like she's DTF with everyone in the galaxy. For the most part, though, the feedback I've gotten is amazing, so I keep doing what I'm doing.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yes, I dabble in the smut. In Asphodel, it's very much a romantic thing. There's occasionally a little bit of gratuitous smut, but I'd say 95% of the time, the smut scenes are pivotal to the story and give you more insight into their characters and how emotionally tied to one another they are. Maybe I could illustrate those emotional ties through dangerous experiences, but that's what I'm doing in my year on the run story, so.. romantic sex it is. ;)

Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? I haven't attempted this yet. I feel like my brain would explode if I tried a crossover.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? No, and I fear this ever happening. I'm mean and vindictive. My Aries moon is a bitch.

Have you ever had a fic translated? No, but this would be so cool. What a huge compliment, right?

Have you ever cowritten a fic before? Nope, haven't done this yet, but I'd be open to it in the future.

What's your all-time favorite ship? It's a tie between Steggy (MCU) and Obitine (SW). I'll just admit this right here and right now, at the end of Endgame, I sobbed. For two hours. TWO HOURS. My husband has video of me in the car leaving the theater and I'm crying like a crazy person because Steggy got their happy ending. I was so deep into that "doomed by the narrative" ship that I never thought it would happen, so when it did, I basically lost my mind and embarrassed myself in front of all our friends. But I own it. I will love them forever. I'm almost as crazy over Obitine.

What's a WIP you'd like to finish but doubt you ever will? Shhh, don't say that. I'm finishing them all.

What are your writing strengths? I'm really not sure. I mean, I like my writing. I like my stories. I write for me, so it's all good. Someone wanna tell me what my strengths are? Maybe it's the details. I think I'm detail oriented.

What are your writing weaknesses? I'm long winded. If I could cut my chapters back to 3K words a piece, I think my stories would hit a wider audience and I would probably sleep better at night, but c'est la vie.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? Never say never, but it's unlikely. For me to sit and try to figure out the linguistics of Mando'a alone, look, I'm old. I got 2 kids. I'm a class mom. I have a job. I have a caffeine dependency. I have migraines. I'll leave that to the pros. I'm just over here fucking around trying to let Obi-Wan and Satine have a few orgasms and some romance before the galaxy goes to shit around them, y'know?

First fandom you wrote for? Ever?! I used to write Hanson fics when I was in middle school with an Angelcities website, and I was in a little online club called Hanson Hoes. "Do not cite the deep magic to me, witch. I was there when it was written." (Aside from that, definitely SW.)

Favorite fic you've ever written? It's gonna be Asphodel. It's my baby. I love it so much and I'm so proud of it.

Now, for who to tag.. here we go! @jelly-opal and @scottysketches! (If you've already done this, please disregard. My bad.)

[someone-you-do-not-know]

Howdy 📯 You got a minute to talk about nonsense with me? (it's fun, I promise :D)

For some reason, I got a feeling that you've already been asked this, but I shall ask you nonetheless

/You can imagine us both on a talk show, if you want/

Birds

Do you have a favorite birb? (Or any favorite animal for the matter?)

What inspired you ✨ to create Birdbrains? Specifically, Gilbert's au character. Because I know that that guy has always been associated with birds, but in the same time he only has Gilbird in canon. And you need to do a lot of research for every chapter to be able to portray a believable ornithologist. You captured his persona perfectly ✨ 👌, I had a friend who liked ornithology and they're always spraying people with random bird facts, it's so funny 😂

Speaking of which, is it hard to do research? There's so many details you put into these, it's so impressive

Was there any moment when you for a reason decided to just come up with your own fact? Were there many? 😈 or not?

Your bits are hilarious, how much time does it take to come up with a joke?

And lastly, what is your favorite bird fact? 🐦

Thank you for answering, here's some sweets 🍭🍬🍫 :)

I think you're severely overestimating my popularity, no one's asked me these questions before.

I do have a favourite bird! And a favourite animal too! My favourite bird is a raven! And my favourite animal is a bat – not any specific kind of bat, but the very concept of them! I also really like snakes. I am perfectly aware those are all... edgier animals, but when I was in third grade, we had to do a project on our favourite animal, and I didn't want to do a cat or a dog (or a horse), so I settled on a bat. Maybe I was always a little edgy?

Look at the pretty raven, it's so clever and pretty.

Just as I wrote in the tags for the first part of Birdbrains, I really did look at a duck for a little too long. Then I thought about the Bad Friends Trio and how they're always portrayed as these cool guys who everyone likes... And Gilbird... And then it clicked. I was struck by the insane thought "wouldn't it be funny if the BFT were bird watchers?" Then I of course had to have spamano, and I always liked prucan – how to make them connected? platonic romerica and North American bros, of course. Why they would meet? Well, hunting and birdwatching take place in the same areas... And in some odd 20 minutes after looking at a duck, the outline for Anatinae was formed in my brain. The Gilbird – Gilbert connection is what carries this entirely, that and the fact that Gilbert is actually not awesome, he's a losernerd who's not afraid to show it, and that makes him awesome. I'm SO glad you say I captured the ornithology spirit, because I don't actually know any bird watchers or ornithologists. 🥲

The research is part of why I haven't managed to write the next part (fruk being idiots who are hard to write is the other reason). For every single main part of birdbrains, I read through the wikipedia page for the chosen bird, spend time to figure out the subfamily for the bird, research symbolism and actual bird behaviour of the bird in question... It's a lot. For most, I've had 4-5 dedicated pages open for research purposes. While writing Cyanocoracinae, Youtube even began recommending me videos of blue jays, because I had watched a few videos to learn what their calls sounded like. It's a stupidly large amount of research – and bald eagles have no excuse for how hard it was to find their subfamily. Subfamilies are apparently a little bit of a strange label in the first place, but at this point all main parts has to end with -nae, because I think it has a nice ring to it.

So far, I don't think I've come up with my own facts. Misunderstood things, grossly simplified the difference between ravens and crows, and taken symbolism, jokes, and metaphors way too seriously – sure. Pheasant bashing is purely based on how fucking dumb all the pheasants I've ever seen are. Those birds want to die. But I try to stay true to reality, in case there's an ornithologist Hetalian out there. I don't want them to get mad at me for not knowing my stuff. XD

The jokes though. I'm glad you think they're funny! The jokes aren't that hard to come up with. Most are puns, after all, and some of them I think of while researching. Generally, I just go with whatever would be sillier. I live off of the silly.

My favourite bird fact is a bit hard, because there's so many in my head at this point. But last year when I went to Jungfraujoch in Switzerland, I learned about the alpine chough (there's just something about black corvids), and how it nests at a higher altitude than any other bird. Their eggs have adapted to this low oxygen atmosphere, and has a smaller loss of water too. Not to sound like Gilbert, but they're really cool.

Thank you for the candy! <3