#It's my self-indulgent AU and I CAN CHOOSE TO MAKE THESE CHARACTERS HAPPY

[wolvenjay]

Scarecrow Week 2024 - Day 3 Farm-Life Family

[tippenfunkaport]

Introducing MAYbe I’ll Make This, the easiest month of prompts you’ve ever participated in happening this May 2023.

It’s a chance to share all those ideas you’ve been toying with that you might draw or write someday with no pressure to actually commit to finishing anything!

Participation can be as little as sharing a few words or a single sentence or as involved as a sketch or plot summary, it’s up to you! 

What’s the point?

To fill our fandom tags with fun new ideas and stimuli to get everyone’s creative juices flowing. For fan creators ourselves, it gives us a chance to talk about our ideas with no pressure to deliver. And who knows, hopefully seeing people excited about our ideas might give us extra inspiration and motivation to maybe even work on them someday!

Here’s how it works:

Throughout May, post anything from a few words to a snippet from an idea you’ve been kicking around that you MAY draw or write someday and tag the related fandoms, if any. (Ideas that you've started, have actively in progress or have even started but abandoned are also welcome!) A few sentences about a fic you might write, a sketch you’re still figuring out, or even a long infodump about the AU of your heart, share as much or as little as you want!. It’s not a commitment to make anything, just a fun excuse to talk about your ideas. 

Don’t have any ideas of your own? No problem! You can still participate by boosting the ideas that others post, asking questions and expressing your excitement about the ideas that appeal to you. 

Anyone from any fandom is welcome to participate as well as original writers so please spread the word!

We’ve got 30 days worth of prompts to get you started that you can interpret anyway you like… or ignore entirely and do your own thing. Do all 30, pick and choose, do them out of order, whatever you want! The point is just to have fun and share your ideas! 

That’s it! Just a super chill, low effort way for us all to celebrate those ideas taking up space in our brains that we aren’t quite ready to commit to making yet (or maybe ever). 

Notes

Participants retain all rights to their ideas and first dibs on the writing / drawing of them.

Want feedback on your ideas? Encourage brainstorming? Happy to let someone else take your idea and write it themselves? Add a note to that effect to your post so people know what kind of interactions are welcome. 

Please be supportive of others' ideas and keep overly negative opinions to yourself (especially if they did not ask for feedback). If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all!

You’re welcome to tag your posts with “MAYbe I’ll Make This” or link back to this post to explain the challenge but your host (me) won’t be sharing every post related to this challenge. This is just something I wanted to do for my own purposes to share all the ideas I may never get a chance to write but I’m opening the prompts list to anyone who might like to do the same. 

Questions? Drop me an ask! 

May 2023 Prompts

No Plot Just Vibes

Lives In My Head Rent Free

Sometimes One Must Torture The Blorbos For Enrichment

Completely Self Indulgent

I Just Want Them To Be Happy 😭

Canon Divergent

Inspired By A Movie

Galaxy Brain Of Me, Honestly

No One Wants This But Me

All The Tropes!

Where We’re Going, We Don’t Need Canon

Idea Fueled By Spite

Shameless Excuse For Hurt / Comfort

Inspired By A TV Show

Slaps Idea: This Baby Can Fit So Much Projection!

Yes, I’m Cringe But I’m Free

One! More! Time! 

Totally OOC But Hear Me Out… 

Role Swap

Inspired By Someone Else’s Au

I Hurt Myself With This Idea

Old Tropes, New Tricks

Pretend I’m Good Enough To Pull This Off

It’s Really Just All About This One Scene… 

Crack Treated Seriously 

Seriousness Treated Like Crack 

I’ve Actually Started Working On This

Yes It’s Been Done But Not By Me So

More Of What You’d Call A Character Study

Casually Slides in My OC

Inspired By A Book

[bettsfic]

hi betts! thx for writing free ride, its one of my fav. i sent this bcz of your a/n at the end of chap 2: "I don't know where communist frat boy Sejanus or lowkey yandere Lucy Gray came from but they are here and they aren't leaving." im always afraid of characters running on their own when i try to write a fic. im afraid they wont be in character anymore if i let them be. so i try to be careful and meticulous, but instead it stops me from writing. have u ever tried to stop charas when they run on their own because they end up not in character? how do you do characterisation when you write a fic?

whenever i get an ask about how to stay IC, in my heart i'm wiping a cartoonish drop of sweat from my brow and stepping in front of a mountain of comments accusing me of OOC.

it's interesting to me that anxiety about writing OOC comes from a proprietary feeling toward existing characters. both our own proprietary feeling which grants us the interest in writing fanfic about them, but also the reader's proprietary feelings which lead them to go "he wouldn't fucking say that."

there's a paradox there, though. many of us write fic to be self-indulgent. self-indulgence means prioritizing the ideal. the ideal sometimes means taking characters away from their canon selves in order to fit the story we're writing.

my whole motivation for Free Ride is wanting to see how coriolanus would be different growing up in contemporary american capitalism. canonically, he's a tyrant. but we have no idea why or how, in canon, north america became panem. panem is not a free market economy; there's not even evidence coriolanus knows what capitalism is. controlling commerce is one of his greatest anxieties. the idea that the capitol could be once again cut off from necessary imports is what leads him to make virtually every decision he makes in both tbosas and thg. so i think he would detest the idea of a free market, but he would never be a socialist.

which is all to say, a lot of the fic i've written these past few years have been kind of "what if" character studies in lieu of writing meta. with that being the goal, i'm less concerned about the characterization of anyone else. suzanne collins set me up well with developing characters who have a strong voice; ultimately, when people say "he wouldn't fucking say that" i think they mean "he wouldn't fucking say that in that way." in the case of tbosas, with the film and book being so different in terms of characterization, i feel there's a bit of leniency anyway. i'm writing book coriolanus with movie lucy gray and sejanus.

also, i think part of the fun of fanfic is selling your characterization. "yandere lucy gray" is a kind of thesis statement and the fic, i hope, backs up that interpretation. sans fearing for her life, i think lucy gray would be a bored twentysomething who feels like a big fish in a little pond and is eager to indulge in the kind of intensity she craves. canonically, i think you can argue they bring out the worst in each other. consciously, i'd gone into this fic eager to see how coriolanus would develop in this particular circumstance. unconsciously, lucy gray and sejanus's voices developed on their own around the premise.

there have been a few situations where i wrote characters in the entirely wrong direction before catching myself. i think i had about 40k of Digging for Orchids written when i realized i'd written xie lian wrong. i imparted on him my own interpretation of a happy ending. i can't really wrap my head around ambition or the drive for fame, so initially he came to accept his fall from grace and moved on from acting. but i remembered that canonically he's a god and his story is about ascension. in a modern au, household name fame is what would make him happiest. so i had to go back a ways and write in a different direction so i could give him the ending he deserved, even if it's not something i would ever choose for myself.

which is all to say, it's important to acknowledge that what you want for your story and what is "right" (in this case, IC) may sometimes be at odds with each other. sometimes what you want is more important, because that's why you're writing in the first place. but sometimes you can have what you want and also stay IC. in the case of Free Ride, i could write you a paper on the choices i made about coriolanus's characterization. i have dozens of annotations in my copy of tbosas interpreting his canon behavior in a modern context. but my only support for communist frat boy sejanus is that i think it's very funny and also the movie totally mangled his character so i feel slightly more justified in making him who i need him to be for the story.

write the story you want to read. once it's written, you can go back and figure out if some piece of characterization isn't sitting right with you. in writing, all things can be fixed. and if you don't feel like fixing them, you don't have to. it's your story.

[boxfullaturtles]

1,10,11,14,16,37,39,42,43,60,65,75

smoly hokes dude okay,,

1. Do you prefer writing one-shots or multi-chaptered fics?

I think I actually prefer one-shots. Shorter, faster, telling a tiny story rather than a lengthy one. I actually struggle with multi-chapter and it's been years since I finished writing one. Hoping to change that with Adagio...

10. Cltr+f "blinks" on your WIP & copy paste the first sentence/paragraph that comes up

They were eyes that never blinked, never faltered, and captured every moment.

Kinda cheated and dropped the "s" so I would have something to actually share lol. Not telling you which WIP this is from either >:3

[the rest under the cut because this got so long,,,]

11. Link your three favorite fics right now

Uh uh uh b-but I don't I mean I have a lot of favorites I don't have like a tier list this is a lot of pressure um,,

Okay for strictly TMNT fics, I guess I really love Little Scraps of Wisdom by clandestineClairvoyant because it's just. The softest damn thing and I love the characterization of the turtles. Dawning of the Hour by that brilliant bastard Faiakishi has been killing me slowly and I adore every agonizing second of it. And The Lemonade Leak by TurtleSoupSwimmer keeps yanking the rug out from under me just when I think I've gotten shit figured out. Also shout-outs to basically everything Dandy writes but in particular Tapping Out because I relate to that fic so hard and it makes me feel Seen, Violet Neon Nitro by TractorTeeth because fuck me does it scratch that Mad Max itch in my brain box and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the descriptions in it, and The Last Ronin Discord Shenanigans for giving Ronin a happy ending and some very interesting and well written character interactions.

But if we're talking not just TMNT? Then Poor Wayfaring Stranger by lithos_saeculum is one of my number one fics; a FFXV fic and I don't mind if it never gets finished because it's already 60 incredibly well written and amazing chapters that I have reread multiple times. The Good Mourning / Ghost!Jake AU by corruwuption is a Micoverse fic gut punch that I adore and it's written so well and just!! Ahhhgg! Ghost Jake wrecks me every time. And Audience: 822,000 and Homeland Security by WerewolvesAreReal is just. It's my favorite Leverage fic and it's so in character and silly and I absolutely love well-executed outsider perspective fics.

14. how do you write emotional scenes? Do you ever feel what the characters feel? Do you draw from personal experiences?

As an extremely emotional person who cries about anything and everything, yes and yes. I definitely put myself in the character's shoes. Although this sometimes has a habit of backfiring as I start writing myself into of the character and then have to go back and edit everything. Oops. But yeah I also draw from personal experience where I can. Different people experience different emotions different ways, everyone reacts differently. But having gone through Some Shit helps me understand certain things better.

16. How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Share one of them?

Uuuhhh something like...eleven? Or twelve fic ideas? I think? Haha can't stop, won't stop lmao heLP

Man I dunno which ones I haven't shared anything about yet...I guess my extremely self-indulgent, almost everybody lives, future au crossover thing that would be a multi-chaptered nightmare of a beast and will likely never be written. I should just mess with that for funsies sometime.

Anyway, here's a sketch thing I never finished based on it. Like I said. Very self-indulgent.

37. How do you choose where to end a chapter?

Eh, vibes. Usually when I'm writing and I feel like I'm near the end of a chapter, I just get a feeling. Like "aw yeah, this is the moment". Once in a great while there is a pre-planned cut off point, a scene I know I want to end a chapter on, but that's an infrequent thing.

39. Share a snippet from a WIP.

You really just want all my secrets, huh?

42. What's the last fic you red? Do you recommend it?

Oh man, looking at my history and everything I've read recently has just been updates from fics I already subscribe to. I haven't had a lot of time to try and read something new... Looks like the last thing new thing I read was a one-shot of 2003 Leo called Oh Shoot by halogalopaghost. And yes, I do recommend it! A very good study in 03 Leo being a fucking dumbass. :)

43. Do you take a sadistic joy in whumping your characters, or are you more the "If you hurt them I would kill everyone and then myself" kind of person?

Do you even know me!? I delight in whump and suffering! I have a Bad Things Bingo Card for a reason! My turtlesona is Goretello! Mad scientists, unethical experimentation, body horror, and non-consensual body modifications are my bread and butter! I am an unashamed edgelord gorehound horror lover!

60. Have you had a writer you admire comment on your fic? What was that like?

It was like: "ajkdhsfjald omfg this really cool, very talented, very awesome person liked what i wrote omg??" because I am a child. For real though, it's always really flattering to see someone whose talent you admire respond to something you've created! It feels good and it makes you like your thing just a little bit more, I feel.

65. Tell us about what you're most looking forward to writing - in your current project, or a future project.

There's stuff in "Adagio in Green" that I am really looking forward to! Things ramp up rather quickly and I'm very excited to get to the stuff I have planned! Not gonna lie, it gets a little bit...how do I put this...well, I think I've mentioned already that I plan on giving these Rise boys the Farmhouse Arc they were robbed of in the show. That's not the only thing the show's cancellation robbed them of and I'm wedging so much of that shit into Adagio it's almost stupid.

Okay last one...

75. What scene in [Fanfic Name] took you longest to write? What was difficult about it?

Uh well, buddy, you didn't provide me a fic sooooooo guess we're going with "Adagio in Green".

It wasn't just a scene but the entirety of Chapter 6, the chapter that's going up next week, gave me A LOT of trouble. I deviated from my outline (and I'm still deviating from it because of chapter six) and it threw everything out of whack. I couldn't figure out how to get things going. It either felt too rushed or too stagnated.

I feel better about it now that it's actually finished, but I'm still nervous about it.

Actually, I get nervous about every update I post,,,

[lavenoon]

Specialty as a fanfic writer, let's go!

(Here I am taking that post very literally, so I'm gonna choose a specialty that is relevant specifically to it being fanfic, because I think it's an interesting way to think about it instead of just general writing, and I hope to explain myself well kfdjhgskñjgh)

I am assigning you "never forgets the fun! "

(And here I'll say, I really need to learn from your example on this one fjkhgkjsh)

Because Luce, literally following what you come up with is so much fun!

And that's what fanfic is! Fun! A hobby! Something that can be frustrating at times, but also is supposed to make us happy! And I just love that about what you make, because it's so clear how much you enjoy it. And just for the sake of clarity, you are an awesome writer! These are not mutually exclusive, of course, and in fact I think these aspects work so well together for what you do! You have so much fun creating your story, you know your characters so well, that placing them in a dozen variations of the same premise is absolutely no problem and I would (and have) read each and every one of them! You care so much about the connections between characters and the themes you explore and you have a blast while doing it too! And I have a blast witnessing it!

When someone makes an offhand comment and you suddenly go "Oh?", I just can perceive the little lightbulb turning on above your head and I just know we are in for a treat! Because what you make is just so genuine and heartfelt that the enthusiasm is just contagious! All the things you explore, be it by drabbles, or multi-chapter arcs, or your comics (comics are literature too and no one can change my mind on that XD), and the way you just opened a gate for other people to have fun with your AU too, it's just all so wonderful! The possibilities are endless and they're all there waiting for you to choose which ones inspire you the most!

What you make just represents the spirit of fanfic so terrifically and I am all for it, all day every day!

(and... if I'm being a little sappy for a moment here, I've always been just a bit too selfconscious about truly indulging and having fun so freely and trying stuff like this at all and I have some trouble coming out of my shell sometimes, so following along with AU and all the discord shenanigans has just made me feel the tiniest bit better about joining in on the fun, so you get a very heartfelt thank you from me for that <3)

I was gonna say the post said "on anon" but yknow, if you had sent this in on anon that would not have been anonymous anyway GFHDJS <3 That being said...

I'm blaming the fact that it's early but I really am just a little weepy and it took me like three times of reading to finally formulate some thoughts but most of them are just blubbering and or happy keysmash

Wanted to say that I just can't not explore things - but I realize I could. But where would be the fun in that? Fun has me in a chokehold and I'm never even considering not to indulge!

It makes things hard to follow and I'm self-conscious about that at times, which may make the weepiness partly out of relief/ reassurance. Always happy to hear that it's fun to follow along wherever my adhd brain takes me, and it is fun to explore - I love doing it!

I write fanfic for my fanfic, and apart from those bouts of "oh god no one's gonna be able to follow this mess of an AU" I'm so so happy to do it! There are so many different ways things could have gone, and I'm a huge sucker for the "soulmates in the 'in every universe, I'd choose you' way" trope - they choose each other, again and again and no matter how they meet, it turns out okay! Even the (discord exclusive (so far) because I wasn't confident enough to post Glamrock stuff before) version of AU where Robin works for Abra Fez with the Glamrocks - they still get to have fun with their boys! There's a happy ending! (and lots of shenanigans on the way gfhdsj)

The dynamics change and that's a lot of fun, and yeah I really just. Have to agree with your judgement - except I think fun would never let me dare forget it gfhdjsk

I love seeing what other people come up with - fanart and fanfic and the agentsona shenanigans, I always intended for this AU to be a sandbox to play in! I do it at any given moment, and it's so much more fun with other people enjoying themselves too! It can be silly, it can rely on so much suspension of disbelief, as long as it is fun! That is the most important part, and I'm glad to deliver!

(Also very glad to coax you out of your shell - it can be scary to be self indulgent when you feel so observed! Cringe culture is dead but its effect lingers! But I'm always gonna be very vocal about my support for self-indulgence because it is so much fun, that's even more dynamics to explore! It's nice, it's fun, and hurts no one - so I wish you heaps of self-indulgence in your future <3)

[magicalink]

Hi! I have a question: I've been reading your works —which are awesome by the way— and seen that, in some cases, you've put pictures of Lumine to "represent" the reader (or Y/N). And I wanted to ask: these Lumine pictures should be thought to think of ourselves as her, or no? Thank you! —☆ Anon

Hii! It makes me so happy that you like my writings! 💕 About your question, I use any picture that represents for me the mood of the story, but I tend to choose pics of Lumine and sometimes Aether mostly bc since they are supposed to represent us as the Traveler in the game, they have become kind of a self insert to some extent for some of us, even if we are nothing like them physically. The pics are just to set the mood and you can imagine reader to be however you like. Honestly I don't even imagine the reader as myself most times, I even imagine the protagonists of different AU's differently.

I try to mantain the reader a bit blank by not describing hair, skin, eye color,etc but since self indulgent some things are fixed like female, shorter than Scara, having hair, having all bodyparts, being able to see and hear, etc. But when you read you can feel free to imagine the details to your own taste, I've liked to do that since I was a child when reading books or fanfiction 💕 And if you can't do it with your imagination, there are some google extensions (I dont remember the name right now) that you can use to replace certain words for others in your browser when you read.

I designed some outfits for the main character of "Y/N's marvelous adventure in Teyvat"! Soon I will upload them so you know what clothes reader is using for each nation. I also have a doodle of how I imagine reader for thst story: has some similarities with me but I wanted to make her different. Also if you want drawings of reader with specific body characteristics I was planning to draw them by request if someone is interested. I only draw traditionally, I don't draw digitally but I could also make images of reader generated by AI to stop using other people's real drawings, since many people don't allow repost even if it's with credit. I only post art of real people with credit and if they don't specify in their bios that they don't want reposts even if it's with credit. This makes me sad because sometimes I wanna share with you the fanart that inspired a certain fanfic but I can't because I don't wanna disrespect the artist's will. So to fix this I've been learning to create AI generated images of the Genshin Characters made with official art from the game, and as you may know Hoyoverse has the policy thet Genshin characters are free to use even commercially by fans.

So soon I'll add images of our naughty catboys to the fics 👀

Have fun while reading and imagine the protagonist however you like, similar or different from you, it's your choice!💕

[fonulyn]

3 fic questions:

1: Which fic took you the longest to write?

2: Which fic did you have the most fun writing?

3: Which fic was the "fine! I'll do it myself!" fic?

ohhhh these are so hard :'D but let's try!

...and I'm gonna apologize in advance because two and three are gonna have so many answers, but I've literally written over 200 RE fics so it's impossible for me to choose 😅 i'm sorry and bear with me.

only the courage to continue counts (Piers/Leon, re4 au, past!Krauser/Leon)

this one was easy lol. it took me a long long time mostly because it's 93k, which is like three times as long as my next longest fic. simply getting out that many words took a while! also, I almost gave up after chapter 4 because literally no one was reading it and I wondered if it's worth it to keep going. had a good cry about it, lol, and angsted about it for a bit. but re4 is my favorite (surprise!) so I decided it'd be worth it. and honestly? I think it was. it's a good fic. I'm happy with how it turned out. ...but i don't think i have another this long fic in me tbh, i just can't do it alone.

2. this is trickier because there's so many :'D first, the entire pinnacle of self-indulgence series because it's what I return to when I want something low-stress, no expectations, where I can just have them be as domestic as I want. it hasn't always been tons of fun, because sometimes i use it to vent other feels, but it means a lot to me.

smooth talking, Nivans, very smooth was also tons of fun, making Piers put his foot in his mouth repeatedly just because of how into Leon he is? :'D it still makes me grin lol.

also the other maybe-a-little-cracky-ones; maybe he's born with it (the is Leon a true blond??? fic), the prettiest agent with the prettiest hair (the Piers stress-braids Leon's hair fic), and how to accidentally get adopted - a guide by Piers Nivans (Piers accidentally keeps calling Chris "dad" and gets sorta adopted by him and Leon) - idk i guess I really enjoy writing stuff that's not exactly very serious :'D

i also had a shitton of fun writing three words to last forever, even if two of its three endings have major character death in them lol. but i've always wanted to do a choose-your-own-ending fic! so it was super fun! if i had the energy i would love to do another where you get to choose different paths, but they all lead to the same ending eventually.

others I had tons of fun writing include winter lovin' (there's snow one like you) where Piers and Leon vacation in Finland (yay!), you're feeding the fire within me where they get a dose of Rebecca's new Super-Viagra (a sex-pollen fic lol), driving deep into your heart which is a completely random au where Piers is a motorcycle racer :'D, carpe diem (seize the day) which is a smutty genderswap fic, and fall in love so easy where Leon learns he enjoys being called pet-names.

i'm just gonna stop now because otherwise I'm gonna end up listing twenty more. but honestly, like I said before, I've written 200+ RE fics so :'D this is hard lmao. I genuinely like most fics I've written. and I genuinely enjoyed writing most of them. I'm sorry this is such a non-answer :'D

3. this also has the potential to become a mess like question number two lmao. the vast majority of what I write is "fine! I'll do it myself!" fics. like, almost every single Piers/Leon fic I've written belongs in this category since, well, if I don't no one will :'D also a lot of my Krauser/Leon are things I wanted but didn't find (although I gotta give a shoutout to the pair in general, there are a lot of quality metaltango fics out there that I could never do).

aside from that, after scrolling through my fics, I realized most of the fics I wrote after not finding what I wanted to read are ...porn :'D lmao I often go look for something specific, don't find it, and have no choice but to do it myself!

as examples, I am the light that shall lead you to darkness (Wesker/Chris dubcon, I just wanted Chris to get nailed lmao), without hope, without fear (Jason/Leon monsterfucking, and I gotta say, I'm still bummed the pairing didn't take off at all it's got all kinds of potential goddamnit [also I keep wanting to write another of these two but ehhh] but i won't rant more here), on an all time high (Leon/Queen Plaga, I just... had a major need :'D), lost control (Leon/Lickers, what can I say, I had a major need lmaooo), kiss before the fall (Jake/Piers, this pairing deserves so much more love ok), ravishing (Chris/Jill, I just wanted Jill worshipped ok, and there's another similar one rattling in my brain but I haven't gotten to writing it, idk if i ever will).

so like. smut :'D apparently I have specific likes and have to cater to myself lmao.

OKAY BUT now I'll shut up for real. thank you for the ask! gave me a perfect excuse to reread my own fics lol. and I'm sorry for such non-answers :'D I just can't choose lol.

[lightningandfireinmybones]

was reading a modern aemond/nyra’s daughter fic & it just proves to me how your fic is now the golden standard to judge other fics by. because as i was reading that fic it just made me realize how well fleshed out & true to F&B your characters are. basically that fic makes aemond look like an innocent cat who has never done anything wrong ever. they also made it seem like aemond did nothing and was just attacked out of the blue by nyra & daemon’s kids also OC wasn’t even there when aemond lost his eye. and i remember you saying that even in a modern AU aemond would still lose his eye in the same way he did in your fic which just fits so much better. because again it’s another way that connects aemond & his future wife. also they make the OC be closer to helaena and aegon than she is to her siblings. which personally i could never see the daughter of daemyra do. picking the man who stole her mother’s birthright over her brothers she would gladly die for? yeah no way. also they make daemyra out to be horrible parents and listen i get daemon might not be father of the year but in your fic it was so clear that he loves valaena more than anything and she loves her dad no matter what he does. they also make it seem like nyra would choose power over her daughter’s happiness which anyone who has read f&b knows nyra would never do. in conclusion your murderous violent unhinged aemond/valaena, jace and luke being the best brothers to their feral sister and daemyra being great parents to their daughter works the BEST.

P.S: just know if there were fanfiction awards you would get the best fic in existence.

LMFAO thank you bestie🖤🖤

My work is littered with my own favorite tropes all I can say is that it is incredibly self indulgent, I did unhinged aemond bc I like unhinged characters and the loving family bc i think it’s sweet and would have done it whether or not F&B supported it, glad to have found someone who likes the same stuff I do🥹

(And i will continue to stand by my nonsense even if season 2 of hotd contradicts everything and grrm himself appears to tell me I misjudged,,, let me have my murderous couple and her doting family)

[s-el-fships]

6 and 8 as a general question about all your selfships, and 1 and 2 for Veronica!

6- do you have any alternate timelines or universes in your self-ship? what are they like?

yes! of course some of my alternate timelines are timelines where characters didn't die-- a couple of my f/os are unfortunately dead in canon (but let's pretend the power of love saved them okay? lmao;;; )

the one i keep mentioning as a drabble i'm working on is a more villainous/darker au. kind of as a vent piece, but there's of course self-indulgence in there as well. that's sort of the name of the game with f/os though, i guess! :0

i also like to think about what it'd be like for them to be in the real world with me vs my self inserts in their worlds! it's nice imagining they're out and about with me, or just chilling with me, checking on me, etc. i suppose that counts as an alternate universe in a way!

8- does your f/o seem to match a "type" you might have? how so?

i've been told that some of mine definitely fit the kind of "type" i seem to have. haurchefant is definitely in line with that! i saw someone say that he and sidon were the same genre of character, and i definitely like sidon, so.

edelgard and veronica are both the same kind of genre i think, too, which edelgard does mention in heroes! girls who ultimately just... really need someone by their side, and with support they can leave behind the darkness within them and do the right thing. while of course the villainy is a lovely aspect in some ways, the idea of being able to help them just... makes me really happy, and i don't want them to feel lonely anymore. perhaps a bit overly sentimental?;; (also edelgard has an axe and that's really freakin' cool)

ryuko is a similar genre too i think, but she's kind of like. a variation of the genre. she's someone who needs love and support as well, but her concerns are more self-motivated as opposed to a desire to do good or control others. they all learn a lot on their journeys and i think they're all amazing! <3

eula is another kind of variation on that genre too? spent so much of her life feeling scorned and hated, yet chooses to the do the right thing anyway after others finally give her a chance to. she's strong but still keeps a front up, but once you get to know her you understand her way of thinking more. i think that's really cool too!

if you'd like me to elaborate on anyone specific i'm happy to, but i hope the introduction here was fun, lol

🌟1- does your f/o have any special nicknames for you? what are they? do you have a favorite?

it took her quite a while to keep from just calling me "summoner". so it makes me happy when she just calls me by my name honestly. sometimes she'll hit me with a "dear" or "darling" and it makes me so happy. it's so sweet ;v; she's a bit formal with her pet names still, so it's cute when she tries new ones.

🌟2- do you and your f/o share any hobbies? what are they? do you see one another as rivals, collaborators, something else?

our hobbies are more complimentary than shared, if that makes sense! she enjoys reading the things i write, and i like making cookies and the like for her when we have tea together. we draw together sometimes as well, which is always really fun!

[triple-starsss]

just wanted to say thank you sooo so much for this au. ive been insane about team sss for the longestttt time and all the stuff i can find of them is shipping (<hcs them all as aro + romance repulsed) SO THANK YOU!!!!! THIS AU IS AWESOME RAHHHHHH

yeah i COMPLETELY get that. i personally find exploring friendships and other dynamics that arent romantic to be far more interesting - probably because i dont understand romance too well and i just find it to be a little restricting at times abskdj

this is more of a personal gripe with how people choose to portray a character in the franchise as aroace/aspec but majority of the time when i do see it - they're in a qpr that just feels blatantly romantic and its frustrating!! its like the label is being thrown around for the sake of it when you can go so much further with it yk? (obviously no hate to people who do portray em that way !!)

like i do indulge in ships with these three time to time - no doubt about that. it's fun seeing how others show the relationships between the two (plus gives me a better idea of my own characterisation for each) but when its like majority of the content you see of em, it gets a little tiring.

its why im a teeny bit hesitant to add espilver in this au - even then like i said before, it would be very lowkey. I do personally enjoy the ship (WITH VERY. SPECIFIC CHARACTERISATIONS) but even then for me its like a mutual wow.... that guy is so cool... than anything blatantly romantic (once again my inability to properly grasp romance strikes again ABJSHS). With blazamy its simple as hell though like fuck it those girls LOVE eachother LOL.

BUT RAGH THANK YOU. it makes me beyond happy knowing that my very self indulgent au resonates with someone else too absjhs <33

[jaggededges123]

How do you choose whose POV to write in?

What’s your most self-indulgent wip?

What’s your favorite writing compliment you’ve gotten?

How do you choose whose POV to write in?

it is rarely a conscious choice lol most often my brain spins up a line to start with and i'm like "k" and i just go with that. but, with longer fics i end up thinking about it a bit more, and i'll take care to arrange the alternating povs or to choose just one that i can use for the specific things that i want out of the fic (when i want realizations to happen, if i want to conceal a character's motivations or make them more opaque, sometimes just if i think it's more important to see a specific character's inner mechanisms more than the others).

What’s your most self-indulgent wip?

rn like all of them lol, i am fully just rolling with my id until i get out of the throes of new fandom feelings. as for the most, though, probably my roleswap au. i am really just. dumping everything i got into making that one make me as happy as possible

What’s your favorite writing compliment you’ve gotten?

it's too hard to pick a favorite, people have been so kind to me in the past and continue to be so kind to me to this day 🥺😭💖 but i will try to pick just a few that have stuck with me for a long while lol.

[emotionalwizard]

...Gonna do it for one of my home-crafted blorbos. Self-indulgence below the cut.

I choose Billy Bob AKA "Hawk Stormeye but PLEASE don't call me that. I don't know what my parents were thinking," modern day marksman, trickshooter, show-off, ten-gallon hat cowboy twink.

(Sketch by my lovely boyfriend <3)

1. Massively! I tend to latch onto an idea and seek out a variety of media influences. Billy Bob was cultured from Belbo from the Hobo Hobo Funni Show, Clover from way back when Undertale Yellow was just a demo in 2016 (and a mod for Rivals of Aether), the Hermit mod from Slay the Spire, James Anderson AKA Marshall from the game Outlaws, and the protagonist of the Doom mod High Noon Drifter.

2. Billy Bob's typical genres are action, comedy, and horror oriented. In those, obviously, he excels. In settings where action isn't really a major factor, he'd be a sterling romantic.

3. Politicking. He has quite literally brought his Colt 1911 Single-Action Army revolver and openly carried it into a diplomatic function. When arguments arose, he fired a warning shot. He's a bit low on patience when it comes to that sort of thing.

4. Billy Bob is fortunate enough to exist in the internet era. While he doesn't do a lot of media, he does appreciate a good comedy or cartoon. He'd probably find Adventure Time and such fascinating and own a Garfield mug.

5. As of right now, the main theme of Outlaws, A Teaspoon of Gunpowder from Undertale Yellow, I Tell Ya What! from Hobo Funni Show, Mr. Weebl's Honk, and, slightly less seriously The Frenzied Firearm, G U N (Paper Maper: The Origami Korigami Cover), etc. Highly emotional individual, usually pretty over-the-top chipper. Can and will take a life.

6. N/A

7. Technically speaking, as a second-generation Welsh immigrant, you could claim he was always cosplaying the Man With No Name at all times. He'd probably make a decent Link, though.

8. Yes. It took him a while to realize the full immensities of his love of cowboys.

9. Fix-fic. So much.

10. Last game I played was Dusk, so he'd be right at home.

I actually like to roleplay as him in various games. Most notably, Doom's Hideous Destructor Mod (pair of revolvers and either the double-barrel or the bolt-action rifle and you're good) and Teardown (shotgun, what looks like a revolver, and a hunting rifle, all mapped to the 3 key).

11. I have an entire AU version of him for my boyfriend's magical girl setting. In that setting, his "magical girl transformation" turns him into a lightning-themed cowboy with a six-shooter. Bullets that carry an electric charge, fired from a hard-light six shooter with enough force to blow through an inch of steel sheet and not stop and enough charge to leave any survivors stunned. It's also a whip because that's his signature non-gun weapon and that kind of this is pretty normal for the setting. He's also just straight up fast.

12. N/A, not familiar with it.

13. Mudsdale, Tauros, Herdier. Probably also wants a Rapidash.

14. There's a few options, off the top of my head. Fighter gives him the best ability to fan the hammer, artificer matches up with some of his hobbies, which include smithing and shoeing, and ranger has a homebrew option from Pointy Hat specifically for cowboys.

He'd probably want to play a ranger or rogue. Something dex-based. High Charisma.

Or bard. And he'd sing at the table.

15. Depends on what you mean by "standard slasher movie." He's not exactly the type of character to get "final girl" status, so if the main metric of survival is authorial bias and I'm not writing it, he'd probably get screwed by the author for being bisexual, promiscuous, and trigger-happy.

If "standard slasher movie" just means "He's been chucked into Dead By Daylight, but the Entity forgot to frisk him for weapons," then he's going big game hunting.

Michael Myers was temporarily knocked out from a full cylinder dump from a S&W Model 15 .38 Special, followed by a fall from the second floor, and that was scattered shots across his upper torso. Sure, he's tough, but a bear can generally survive the same encounter just fine. No bear is surviving 5 consecutive headshots from a Winchester .308.

16. Drop-in uncle for the younger characters. Token white guy.

17. Banjo & Kazooie and the Duck Hunt Duo. He may also like Zero Suit Samus.

18. Strikes me as a Donkey Kong main.

19. Horrifyingly hard to kill red shirt.

20. Charmer and hitter.

21. He's absolutely the type of revenant that crawls out of Hell after holding up the Devil... and immediately goes back to living it up on Earth.

22. Firebender, if he has to be a bender. He strikes me as the type who wouldn't HAVE bending, but would make up for it in other ways.

23. Step one is to make sure his guns can still be maintained and utilized somehow. If magic exists that renders ammo a non-issue, he's going to over the moon to be the first known Gun Wizard. After that, he'll likely go looking for ways to return home while making sure not to hand out his name. "That's how the aos si getcha, 'ccordin' to mah pa!"

Probably not all that noticeable in the grand scheme of things. Just another adventurer with a somewhat unusual weapon.

24. Trick question! If played by a human actor, we're getting a full Tim Curry "I Am Also a Muppet" experience or they don't get the role. Otherwise, VERY Muppet.

25. It's a bullseye. A gun might send the wrong message, and it would be vetoed by the censors.

26. If he's singing in a musical and it isn't something written by Johnny Cash, then something it probably wrong. That said, whatever it is, he's EXTREMELY into it.

27. God, it's hard to choose, but I'll have to say he's the red herring. "The Best Gunslinger This Side of the Mississippi" with a known hair-trigger temper and open-carry license in the same building as someone with gunshot wounds? Seems too likely to be false.

28. Lemme fetch a generator... "Blazeheart," I guess? Definitely the type of cat to mooch off humans and scare gators off your porch.

29. Well, normally, he'd crack a joke and say that he'd be a human in any universe, and a beast-tamer all the same, wink wink nudge nudge, but if he HAS to give a real answer in the next five seconds or lose his brain privileges, he's a squirrel.

Pop Culture and Fandom-Themed OC Questions

I came up with some pop culture-y OC questions because I like silly OC games. Some of these are more general, while others are for a specific genre or piece of media. Go ahead and reblog to use for your own OCs!

Was your OC influenced or inspired by any particular fictional character(s) when you made them?

What genre (not counting the one they’re in) would your OC thrive in?

What genre would your OC do badly in but it would be hilarious or interesting to watch?

What media does your character enjoy? (For characters in settings that aren’t modern Earth, could be media from their home setting or what they’d like in a modern Earth AU)

What song(s) do you associate with your OC?

Alternatively, do you have any OCs you associate with the song(s) I just sent you?

If your OC had to cosplay as a fictional character, who would they choose?

Has your OC ever had a crush on a fictional (to them) character?

If your OC wrote fanfiction (or if they already do), what type? (fix fic, ship, crossovers, AUs, smut, etc.)

How would your OC do in the last book/movie/tv show/game/etc. you read/watched/played?

If your OC was a superhero, what would they be like? (powers, title, general vibe, etc.)

What animal would your OC have as their His Dark Materials daemon?

What Pokémon would be on your OC’s team and/or what would be their preferred type?

If your OC was a Dungeons and Dragons character, what would their class be? And/or: If they were playing D&D, what kind of character might they play? (these aren’t necessarily the same thing)

How well would your OC do in a standard slasher movie?

What stock character would your OC be stuck as in a sitcom?

Who would your OC main in Super Smash Bros?

Who would your OC play in Mario Kart?

If your OC was in Star Trek’s Starfleet, what would be their role/position? Or, if that doesn’t really fit your OC: why would they get kicked out of Starfleet?

What role would your OC play in a heist story?

What kind of classic horror monster (vampire, werewolf, alien, etc.) would your OC be?

What type of Avatar The Last Airbender-type bender (or non-bender) would your OC be? Any bending specialties?

Your OC gets isekai’d to a bog-standard fantasy world. What does your OC do and how badly does it go for that world?

In the Muppet version of your story, is this particular OC a Muppet or the one human?

What would be your OC’s My Little Pony cutie mark?

Your OC is stuck in a musical episode. What song(s) do they sing? (And how thrilled or annoyed are they about being stuck in a musical?)

In a murder mystery, what role would your OC play? (e.g. detective, sidekick, wacky suspect, rival investigator who gets in thew way, red herring, true culprit)

What is your OC’s Warrior Cats name?

Gun to their head, what is your OC’s fursona?

[ten-cent-sleuth]

1 for questions for fic writers!

What fic of yours would you recommend to someone who has never read any of your work? (In other words, what do you think is the best introduction to your fics?)

Ooh, this is a tough one. Of all the questions, you sent this one! 😂 (I kid, of course; I am happy to see you in my inbox again, thank you for the ask!!)

I want to say Committed to the Cause because it is my pride and joy, it is for my #1 “I keep returning to this fandom please help me” ship, and it is a shining example of what and how I like to write. One tiiiny problem: it is not published yet, so you can’t actually read it. Alternatively, Of Graves, Of Worms, and Epitaphs is another WIP I have poured my heart and soul into; it shares CttC’s exemplariness of my style/taste but shows a different side because CttC is a total AU for Philinda (from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) while G/W/E is a S8 fix-it for GSR (from CSI; I wanted to include it for you, Mouse <3) (…sorry if you don’t ship GSR hwjfhdsjg). One tiiiny problem—can you guess what it is? xD

Not a Servant’s Dream is another AU but Addams Family meets Jane Eyre. It’s a good starting point because it’s fun, wholesome, and not too niche for the general fandom public but still makes clear my whumpy inclinations and my writing idiosyncrasies. However, it is also, uh…not published ksfhrjshgsj.

I would say my Mediatorverse is a practical introduction to my fics because the reader a) can choose from multiple fandoms to start with and b) will immediately see how self-indulgent my writing gets and how feral I am about my comfort characters, so if that ain’t their thing, they can dip early on. But of course: it is not published. :))

Basically, I tend to keep my projects close to my chest until they’re absolutely ready for the world. 😅

However, that would make for a rather unfruitful answer, so I present to you:

Never Lack, a SkippyPants one-shot, with a sequel in the works but uhh don’t hold your breath;

Nature’s Impossibilities, an MSR one-shot that I wrote for @/xfilesfanficexchange; and

Inextricably, a Lizzington one-shot, though this may be a controversial ship, w e l p.

All of these well demonstrate my wheelhouse, I’d say. Inextricably is likely the best demonstration of it, but it’s also likely the most Sus due to Lizzington lol and to some mature themes (it’s arguably the darkest of my AO3 fics, though not at all from everything I’ve written, including CttC and G/W/E). Nature’s Impossibilities shows what I can do when prompted (ily hyper-specific prompts, ily fic exchanges, ily fandom events), while Never Lack shows what I can do when completely unprompted (à la “the fic nobody asked for”). They’re both sorta conversation-heavy character study (not exactly meta character study, more like “Character B gets to ‘study’ Character A” kinda) type fics, so they’re on pretty equal footing as entries into my wheelhouse.

And I’d like to add A Galling Yoke merely for the virtue of being a multichap. It’s not quite finished yet but it’s the closest I’ve ever gotten (other than with one-shots). It’s got whump, it’s got angst, it’s got casefic, it’s got plot/world weaving (just a term I use in my head for a part of my process, idrk how to explain it though rip), it’s got lovey-dovey stuff, so lots of my trademarks. However, since it doesn’t have as many of the “magnifying glass” hijinks as I like to get into with my fic writing, I’d hesitate to call it the best introduction to Me.

Gracious, this was a long, low-key incomprehensible answer. Very sorry! In short: for a launchpad into my brand of fanfiction, I would recommend my fic Inextricably if you can stomach it, and if not, two fics would work, either Nature’s Impossibilities (this option for more weightiness/poetry/whatever) or Never Lack (this option for more random blorbo mania).

[snellyfish]

Indulge me in angiekork, tell me how it be cause I'm interested now

I sat on this ask out of embarrassment for like three weeks I am so sorry AS MUCH AS I LOVE TALKING ABOUT THEM I GET SO SHAMEFUL ABOUT IT AAAH THEY MEAN SO MUCH TO ME. I’m so glad you’re interested 😭 I think their potential dynamic is SUCH a tragic missed opportunity they could’ve had in the games HOLLA!!!!!

Here’s a comprehensive list that I love revising every time I send someone it, enjoy my brain worms!!! This time with doodles attached :]

He’s a literal anthropologist and obsessed with other cultures, and Angie is the only foreigner in the entire class, with some absolutely BATSHIT culture; it only makes sense that Korekiyo would (or should’ve) take an immediate interest in her, with a notepad in hand.

Kiyo has his sister’s voice in his head. Angie has Atua’s voice in her head. (whether they’re both alters or tulpas or just delusions--they’re very similar) They both grew up lonely (Angie stated she was in her freetime events, and Kiyo ONLY had his sister...and we know what happened to her) and had to cope in EERILY similar / same ways; being that both of these “voices” were formed as a way to deal with said loneliness. They would ABSOLUTELY understand each other in this regard if they were to properly get to know each other. (Kodaka knew they’d be too powerful if they interacted and that’s just the cold-hard truth)

Either way I really don’t think Kiyo would dismiss Angie’s Atua ramblings as a crazed religious nutjob, like the rest of the class does, but as a curious case of what the mind does to cope, AND as someone he can relate to.

Dynamic of two generally creepy characters who are both painfully NOT self-aware AT ALL. Absolute outcasts in their class and likely able to be the only ones to truly “understand” each other as stated previously. Both absolute wildcards; unpredictable in their own ways. Angie wants to steal everyone’s blood, Korekiyo wants to steal everyone’s nerves, it all works out!! Also dynamic of Tall And Stoic And Kinda Mean™️ and Short And Bubbly And Optimistic™️. AS WELL as the dynamic of Fucked Up™ and Cinnamon Roll™. They are simultaneously opposite’s attract AND very similar in that they are both self-unaware ritual/seance creeps that no one else wants to hang out with due to being terrified of them.

Going off the stories in his freetime events and how much insane things he’s done and experienced just for the hell of it, as well as his (technically non-canon) actions in the manga where he just goes along with whatever people say to do just for the experience alone;; (AS WELL AS HIS LOVE HOTEL EVENT LITERALLY JUST BEING “OUT OF CURIOSITY”) -- he would absolutely delve facefirst into Angie’s eccentric culture; going along with any of its rituals and practices, initially just to study it but with his picture perfect memory of a specific seance circle…he’d surely stick around. Shoutout to blood cults!!!!!

Kiyo sees the beauty in all people, despite how “ugly” their actions and existences as a whole may be – Angie, through God, says everyone deserves forgiveness and grants that forgiveness immediately. Kind of a matching theme of looking past people’s flaws not in a “I’m choosing to ignore it” way but in a “that makes you the beautiful person you are” way I suppose!

Going with the commonly accepted idea that Kiyo was abused by his sister, and Angie just wants to make everyone happy and has a certain natural charisma to her, able to comfort basically anyone as we saw in the game;; – she would absolutely try her damndest to help him through his trauma. She has very unconventional ways of getting him to cheer up, yet with how inquisitive he is of all human behaviors, nothing she does would ever fail because she’s just so damn weird and interesting; really gets the anthropology gears turning in his head.

I KNOW I JUST POSTED ABOUT IT HAHA AND IT’S WHAT MY ANIMATIC IS ABOUT BUT In a postgame VR AU where they’re all alive, Korekiyo would eventually try to recover from said trauma, leading to him apologizing to Angie for killing her; which she’d genuinely forgive immediately because of her religion and ideals, + she’d understand everything he went through as well and why he did it due to her extremely nurturing personality. Fun angst and comfort to be had there.

The idea alone of Angie being the only one not scared of Kiyo in the class and he’s kinda like “how do I deal with this” because none of his threats of nerve-tearing affect her, and he ends up being scared of her in return. Powerful. Effervescent. The other day my buddy said Kiyo is scared of Angie in the same way an elephant is scared of a mouse and I haven’t stopped thinking about it.

ON THAT SAME THOUGHT he would end up giving up any threats to scare her off and just kinda lets her do whatever, he will threaten to murder someone if they look at him funny, meanwhile Angie’s just crawling all over him like a monkey trying to do a TikTok trend and he’s like “this is fine actually I’m used to it.”

This fanfic that lives in my head rent-free where Kiyo casually gives blood sacrifices to hear about Angie’s culture.

[miss-kittyy]

Rewriting Briarlight and Longtail’s Deaths

So I am disabled, like very disabled, I am %50 of the teenagers ever diagnosed with my special combination of pain disorders, and I also unfortunately hyper fixated on warrior cats, which is bad news for me because warrior cats is super ableist, and to add insult to injury, the fandom can also be pretty ableist.

My biggest problem with the majority of “anti-ableist” AUs is that they “fix” the ableism stemming from the narrative and able bodied characters by making the disabled character less disabled, this so bad for many reasons. I’ve talked more about in other posts. The justification that real life disabled cats are less doesn’t make it not ableist, since when was warrior cats meant to be realistic? If you’re making an au where the disabled cats function like actual disabled cats you also have to make all the cats genetically accurate, and retcon Lionblaze lifting a tree.

My problem with warrior cats is not that the disabled characters cannot become full conventional warriors, I’d like it if they got to choose what duties the perform instead of being crammed into the medicine den, but I don’t care about Cinderpelt not being able to complete a marathon. Most of the fandom seems to think the issue is that the disabled character are not useful enough, instead of the way that able bodied characters deny of them agency and make remarks like “you wouldn’t want to return to a life like her’s would you?”. Disabled people do not need to be “useful” to be worthy and empowering.

It’s very obvious that most of the fandom just wants the disabled cats to be more palatable to abled bodied people, so I’ve decided to make my own rewrite instead to hopefully make myself feel better. A lot of these things are inspired by my own experiences and not every disabled person is looking for the same things in representation, this is totally self indulgent.

The goal of this AU is to highlight the many unique and valuable aspects disability and how being disabled does not infringe upon anyone’s worth, ever.

- Longtail doesn’t die in the storm, Briarpaw is still injured, but he’s found besides her, trying his best to help her cling to life.

- after Briarpaw begins to recover he stands up to Millie and other cats insulting her quality of life, he says her journey will be hard, but it is one worth taking.

- She asks him why he’s an elder, and he decides to request to have his warrior ship restored as Briarpaw is dreading the life of an elder.

- On his first patrol the cats accompanying him insist on speaking to him in an incredibly infantilism tone, and whispering amongst themselves over what he can or can’t do, without consulting him,

- He initially gives up on patrolling after that insufferable experience.

- Briarlight begins to create marks and blobs on the wall of the medicine den using crushed up dead herbs she asks him to retrieve some berries for her, and he complies.

- Jayfeather shows him how he navigates the territory with the help of some of the sighted cats, and Mousefur is quick to volunteer as his guide. He finds her company surprisingly empowering. He realizes that it was not his blindness which was limiting his abilities, but the other cats attitudes.

- Mousefur and Longtail return with mouthful of berries and herbs, Briarlight describes to him what she’s drawing on the side of the den and he helps he mound the materials into paint.

- The cats begin to pop into the medicine den to see Briarlights painting and soon Jayfeather has to kick her out occasionally so they’d stop crowding him, she’s given the walls of camp to decorate instead.

- She begins to illustrate Longtails stories of the old territory and Bloodclan, and this new form of storytelling becomes a tradition amongst Thunderclan.

- because more young cats are aware of the clans history it becomes harder for the dark forest to recruit them, unfortunately, Blossomfall’s resentment towards her sister means she never cared to listen.

- Ivypool is still recruited and trained like in canon, given her relationship with the dark forest was much more emotionally charged and manipulative than just plain lies.

- at a gathering Longtail meets Grasspelt who inquires about Briarlight, Longtail is surprised about how little he knows as the she-cat had mentioned how well they got along as apprentices. Despite Millie nagging him not to tell him the truth about her daughter he does anyways, but puts much more emphasis on how well she’s doing than Millie expected. Grasspelt thinks this sounds really cool and decides that he is going to see her and her paintings, and that nobody can stop him. Longtail makes sure to put any opposing cat in their place, but Briarlight is a very respected Clanmate, so most warriors don’t say anything.

- Briarlight is nervous and doesn’t want to come out of the medicine den at first, but when Grassheart darts into the den holding berries and flowers for her to paint with she quickly warms up to her visitor.

- Grassheart is happy to tell Briarlight that he’s never been able to be a “functioning” warrior, and that he has always imagined that his spirit is shaped different, the medicine cat says his body is normal, but he’s never been able to keep focus in a fight or react as quickly as he should be able to while hunting. (He’s autistic because I say so)

- As dusk nears he’s visually hesitant to return to Riverclan and when Longtail inquires on why he says that he hasn’t felt so “here” for a long time. On the way back he wanders off and comes back with a chipmunk, when returning to Riverclan territory his father, Mintfur, is shocked to see his catch. After talking with his family a bit he realizes that it was the noise from the river that was making him so tense and dissociated, Brackenfur, who was escorting him, notices that he keeps rubbing himself on the ground and wincing.

- For the next couple moons Grasspelt returned to Thunderclan to bring Briarlight plants that only grow in Riverclan territory, he begins trying to fish from the quite lazy stream in their territory and soon both him and Briarlight have got it down.

- Longtail notices the sadness present whenever Grasspelt left and exclaims that it’s rather stupid that he’s living somewhere so unsuited for him just because of words long repeated.

- Grasspelt confesses that he feels the same, but knew he wasn’t supposed to say anything. Briarlight tells Longtail that her and the Riverclan warrior had been thinking of each other as mates for moons.

- Longtail accompanies Jayfeather to the next half moon meeting where he proposes his addition to the warrior code, “no cat should be confined to laws which harm them due to an inherent physical or spiritual difference.” (Cats don’t really know how brains work, so they see mental disabilities as a difference within a cats spirit)

- A moon later the leaders meet to discuss this proposition, it is accepted and Grasspelt makes the journey to Thunderclan for the final time.

- Grasspelt is renamed Grassspirit when becoming a Thunderclan warrior, unlike prior renaming of disabled cats this is a celebration.

- Grassspirit spends most of his time taking care of the elders and kits, he’s incredibly compassionate especially with kits and is able to solve many problems within the nursery.

- When twigkit and Violetkit arrive in Thunderclan Briarlight and Grassspirit help raise them, after Violetkit is taken Briarlight and Twigkit paint her on the side of Thunderclan camp.

- Briarlight still gets sick and her illness progresses without any treatment, Grassspirit notices her trying to hide it and when Longtail finds out he’s very upset. Jayfeather frantically treats her, expressing his frustration that she didn’t tell them sooner, the second Millie steps out she breaks down and explains that she just wanted to deal with it herself, and perhaps if she were successful Millie would finally treat her like an adult.

- Longtail gives Millie a stern talking to, he tells her that Briarlight is a warrior of Thunderclan and as her clanmate she should show her some respect.

- Millie is inherently very reactionary, as she had not realized the full extent of her suffocation, but eventually after a couple moons her and Briarlight begin to rekindle their relationship, like adults.

- Blossomfall sees how Brairlight wasn’t basking in their mother’s attention like she imagined, and feels the urge to seek out an actual sisterhood after ignoring Briarlight for moons and moons.

- Briarlight isn’t really mad at her sister, and understands why she felt the way she did. Jayfeather suggests that Blossomfall help Briarlight with her painting, Blossomfall seems put off with the suggestion of being her sister’s assistant.

- The interactions that follow are less than ideal, Blossomfall commends Briarlight’s able friends (Thornclaw, Poppyfrost, Alderheart, etc) for being so nice to her, as if that’s not what friends do. She seems very sad the entire time, sighing when her sister dragged her legs around with her mouth to sit more comfortably, even though she was completely fine. When watching her paint she comments that it’s good she has “something to keep her busy”, and finally she expresses her view, of Briarlight’s injury and her (Blossomfall’s) suffering being all worth it because of her talents, as if her life was not worth living to begin with.

- Briarlight tells her that if that’s truly what she wants she’s going to have to put more effort into understanding and respecting her way of life, and that she won’t apologize for their mother’s actions.

- When Blossomfall has her kits they take a liking to Auntie Briarlight, and Blossomfall seems to have reflected on their past interactions, trusting her sister to watch her kits. Briarlight teases a bit, a subtle way of telling her not to rush things, but they do begin to feel like something close to sisters.

- Right before Briarlight’s Nieces and Nephews are made warriors Longtail dies of Greencough. Throughout the entirety of his sickness he kept his sense of humour, his mean streak, and his immense love for what he had made of his clan.

- At his vigil Grassspirit began whaling like a bird in new-leaf, he insists that the vigil is too sad, and that Longtail wouldn’t want everyone moping around, for Starclan’s sake, his life was good. Standing amongst them, Longtail’s spirit can feel every cat in Thunderclan standing around him, singing the song of a life well lived.

[byakuyasdarling]

I’ve recently been thinking about an AU where S/I actually does die during Chapter 3, instead of just “appearing dead” and unconscious at first as she is in her canon.

It’s hard to measure how Byakuya would react. I mean, that whole “I almost lost you” moment is his realisation that he did love her, and how integral she has been to his life for so many years… but for that realisation only to be had once it’s too late, once she’s died? Kinda hard.

I think, he may at first just go into blatant denial. Like: “She wasn’t important. She was in the way.” etc. But he feels something else, but refuses to acknowledge he’s lost in any way. And, the further he repressed her in his mind, the stronger he feels her presence (or lack there of) every now and again. I would imagine this manifests as reoccurring dreams, where she’s over his shoulder, out of sight, and she just repeatedly tells him that she loves him — nothing else. It’s rather haunting to him.

His normal character development would still occur, but he does maintain that lack of care for people individually. In D//R3 he calls the survivors his friends, that wouldn’t happen in this AU; he wouldn’t have any degree of care for anyone. He would become even more intolerant of To//ko, to the point of being infuriated.

Since Kom//aru can see ghosts, I do think she initially had a small dose of it when meeting Byakuya for the first time back in UD//G. Just: “Wasn’t there a girl behind you just a second ago?”. To which he’d simply be puzzled, and brush off. Kom//aru will only put together who she was when seeing the ghosts as per canon, and telling To//ko it happened once before when she saw Byakuya. To//ko will begrudgingly tell Kom//aru who the ghost was when she provides a description — feeling a little bad for S/I (because character development).

Eventually, when rescuing him, Kom//aru tells him who is behind him. Though he meets her abilities with a great deal of skepticism, he chooses to indulge her, and perhaps himself. He rests his own hand atop his shoulder, searching — maybe a little too desperately, maybe making it too obvious he has weaknesses too. But when he thinks he felt something, he looks back at Kom//aru, who is now giggling.

“She looks really happy you’ve finally noticed her.” …

“Sure… She is…” …

“I’ve only seen her twice now, but she’s always been trying to care for you, to finger comb your hair, things like that. She’s disappointed she can’t do that.” …

“I made her wait too long…” … “Can you speak with her?” …

“Well, I can try… She can understand you, I’ll just repeat what she says back.” …

“I’ll indulge your “powers”, however, if word gets around about this — it’s your head.” …

“Cool it! Cool it! I promise.” …

“Tch. I can’t even believe this…” … “Ask her to say something first.” …

“Umm… alright.” … “She’s laughing, she said: “don’t mind him, my ‘Kuya has always been a little irritable. He’s lucky he’s cute.” Haha.” …

“… I miss you.” …

“… I’m sorry this seems… so personal. She says she wants you to play piano again, she’s sad you quit.” …

“I couldn’t play again. Not after she… left.” …

“She says she never left. She always will be here. She wants you to be happy — anything. Even without her, she wants you to enjoy life.” …

“That sounds like the platitudes she always said…” …

“She wants you to play her favourite song again.” …

And then, Byakuya breaks into his regular self, tired of vulnerability, with a plebeian no less. She could have made it all up, just to make a fool of someone “superior”.

“Enough of your games, this is tiresome. I’ve indulged you enough… Let’s leave — I expect silence.” …

“Wait!—“ …

“Quit it.” …

Though his family is gone, his manor is in tact. He considers what he’s been told — there’s no harm in trying to play piano, right? Nothing to it. Nothing important… He swore he felt her, he swore he felt her pitchy singing — something he adored despite it being technically flawed.

“I love you. I really do.” …

He then just sits there. Alone. Silence. In the shadows of a few bookcases.

He never truly reconciles with those events. Though, his haunting dreams of her stop. Sometimes it’s just like the times before she died, sometimes it’s just repeats of him alone, sitting in silence in front of his piano. He himself dies a few years later during a mission. An act of carelessness and lack of focus that loosing S/I had brought to him. At least the lovers can live happily now in another life.