#That trope when a character who's usually grumpy/repressed is too tired to do it

[sinkko]

That relatable moment when ur bf is an autistic bird botany demon😅😅🙄

[trulycertain]

fic writer interview

Tagged by @skogrr Thank you very much! It's a while since I've done one of these, and I've missed them.

Name: Tru/"Oi you" Fandoms (that I write for): Dragon Age, mostly. Still the fandom of my heart. Mass Effect, Deus Ex... uh, accidentally GreedFall? I don't know how or when that happened. Two-shot: Hmm... The actual last two-shot I wrote was Terms & Conditions, a very silly Dorian/Inquisitor modern AU where Gal is the guy Dorian hires to stop his late father's house falling apart. Recently? I suspect that's going to be Driftwood, which can stand on its own as a sort of weird post-canon first-meeting AU, but is trying to tempt me to continue it. (Vasco ends up going looking for Tír Fradí, which has disappeared - and finds it. He also finds De Sardet as a highly avoidant tree god of the island, post-Bad Ending, who transformed against her will. And he ends up falling in love with her anyway.) Weird tree gods! Pining by literal pine! An eventual happy ending! More grumpy commentary by Vasco!

Most popular multi-chapter: Either An Unquenchable Flame or Distraction, probably - both juggernaut pairings, the former close to the game's release and the latter with some fancy forbidden romance, so not so surprising. But surprisingly, Prague, 10:42 PM has done really well, considering it's for a small fandom (Deus Ex) and a rarepair age/rank-difference pairing that I thought would be a one-off experiment? I get it, guys. I like sad repressed stoics too.

Actual worst part of writing: Editing - which can be fun, but that "over and over" stage when you're about to post, especially in a longfic if you fear you've lost the spirit of the thing and the character voices and you can't see the wood for the trees. And when I have to remove a whole scene which Jenga-unbalances the fic, and then I have to redux from the top. Basically, most things to do with pacing. How you choose your titles: I like double-meanings and one word titles. If that fails: quote from a song. If that fails: quote from poetry, but very rarely. Do you outline: Only a little. A bulletpointed list of events or noted-down major lines of dialogue, that's usually it.

Ideas I probably won’t get around to but wouldn’t it be nice: Uh... oh god. I blame so many people for some of these.

Post-Destroy ending where John is attempting to build a shed on Rannoch because that's the kind of thing retired people do, right? and Tali is far better at it than him, and it's just... disgusting fluff.

Actually, just reduxing the early John/Tali stuff with a bit more nuance and a stronger style.

Eva and Kaidan, and their mutually wary first meeting. ("Wow, that's a lot of pomade." "Wow, that's a lot of death-glare.")

AU where Gal and Dorian never met in DAI, and after everything went down, Gal tried to fade into the shadows and leave. He ended up working in Tevinter as an occasional informant/odd-jobs guy the way he was pre-Inquisition. He ends up being a gardener for a bitter, wry magister who seems to hate the entire Magisterium, has recently lost his father to political scheming and murder, and wants to take down the entirety of the remaining Venatori with one staff and maybe his teeth if he has to (hi, Dorian). But first, Dorian's going to drink his own body weight in whiskey and be a recluse for a while and start thinking about time magic again. Gal is trying to keep his head down and should definitely not be falling in love with said magister. Who's someday going to end up at one of the more southerly ports, come across a statue of the great Inquisitor, and go, Oh.

Stuff on Jensen's PT and rebuilding himself post-augs. More of Proprioception, basically.

Mer-AU where Marie De Sardet is still a diplomat attempting to make new connections, just not a human one, and it's a disaster. An awkward disaster. Highlights include her being framed as the beast trying to drown their best captain; her attempting to wobble about on brand-new legs and Vasco's coat while everyone assumes the dear captain has had a few too many; her asking Vasco if his "fascinating markings" glow; them getting into a duel, and her (fondly) getting punted off the side of the ship going "Woo-hoo." OK, I wrote a bit of that, but only a 1k doodle I'll probably never return to.

Non-Naut court AU where Marie gets promised to Bastien D'Arcy, because he's a bit of a layabout but he's also rich, popular at court, and amenable to bribe - [cough] suggestion, and the D'Arcys have prominent trading links with the Alliance. Instead she falls for his far less of a social butterfly, tired, worried-numbers-guy brother Léandre, who's pretty damn uncomfortable around Nauts because he's well aware he nearly got sold to them and he is not the favourite.

Straight-up role-reversal AU (another thing where I've put down 1k that I'll probably never return to), where Marie's Naut name is Paz, and she's a fed-up second-mate who's tired of noble idiots and feels a little strange and conflicted about her mark (and has context for it, because they make frequent crossings to Tír Fradí). Also a little more jaded, without the love of her mother, and not nearly as much of a tryhard as Vasco in canon; she ended up here because she had nowhere else to go and the Nauts were like "Ooh, free kid," and she's well aware. She gets stuck escorting the D'Arcy brothers to Tír Fradí for their new venture and is not looking forward to it. Except one of them is intensely bright and wry and keeps asking questions about the ship and noticing shit he is definitely not meant to notice, and they keep ending up in strange conversations, even if he seems really, really wary and uncomfortable about Nauts.

Some vague stuff about Vasco's thoughts on Jonas and that whole side quest, considering he's also a sea-given and implies sea-given take some shit in the Nauts, and also how damn difficult it must be watching a sea-given's parents endeavour to get their kid back when he knows full well his didn't do that for him.

Actually, just more Vasco POV in general, even though he's damn hard to nail down. I've written much pining for him from Marie's perspective, and I'd like to try things from the opposite. This guy's idea of wooing someone perfectly normally is to panic and then recite Baroque poetry. You know he's sappy as hell in the privacy of his own head, even if he's trying not to be.

Jean and Síora having the "I'm a sad healer who just lost my mother and I'm trying so hard not to crumble under the weight of assisting the leader" mutual talk way too late at night around the campfire and maybe him crying on her shoulder a little, with mutual kindness and the beginnings of attraction, and her finally getting past his jokey-smug facade to understand him.

More stuff about Jean's past in general, and how he wanted to be a doctor before he was dragged away from it by looking after Constantin and being nobility.

Síora and Eseld and the ways they changed over the years; something like an exploration of grief and growing her own will and the ways they very differently view the renaigse. Also maybe more about the en ol menawi magic, if I can worldbuild well enough?

I'd also love to do a GreedFall soulmark AU - it's generally not my kind of trope, I'm not into biological determinism type tropes - just because names and aliases and assumed identities are such a mess in GreedFall and it's a repeated plot point. That said, I feel like it's been done so beautifully in this fandom before that I wouldn't have much to add.

Callouts @ me: So. Many. Commas. So much over-explaining everything. If they get out of the car, your readers do not need a five-page manual of "and then he undid his seatbelt and leaned over to grasp the door handle, and then pulled it, and then stepped a foot out before he almost thought better of it - but no, he was going to get out of this car. The other foot joined the first, and he nearly banged his head on the doorframe."

Best writing traits: People say I have a head for finding small-but-important moments. I'm also told I write likeable protags. People have more than once said my writing makes them feel safe or makes them smile, and I really couldn't ask for more than that. I'll take those.

Spicy tangential opinion: I don't think I have any, really? Oh god, that makes me sound so very boring. Oh! Um. There should be more tree body horror in fandom. And body horror in general. *thumbsup*

No pressure tagging: @artemis-crimson, @eridanidreams,@rainypixel, @aphreal42.

[melonoverlord]

Ask meme for the Benny boy

Which parent do they look the most like?

Most of the Spiegelmanns look more like their mom, but Benny really takes after his mom with her hair, eyes, and nose. The only thing he inherited from his dad is his godawful eyesight.

Is there a name they were almost given (either by their parents or during character creation)?

Reuben was named after his grandma's youngest brother who was killed in the Holocaust when his family still lived in Poland. However, there were three other boys that his parents considered naming him after: Gavriel and David, his grandma's dad, son, and brother respectively. But eventually his parents decided Judith, Daniel, and Reuben sounded better together as siblings.

What were they like as a kid (if they’re currently a child, what would they be like as a teen)?

Benny just became a teen, thank you very much. But his childhood could really be split into before Judith died and after Judith died. While Judith was still with the family, he was usually an unwilling part of his siblings schemes since he was a baby and therefore had no autonomy, but he liked getting to run around with his brother and sister and play with them, especially when he got to throw things.

Once Judith died and Daniel was more or less his caretaker, Benny acted out a bit more to get attention from his very tired and busy brother, and also got really into basketball as that would become one of the only consistent things in his otherwise chaotic life. So he became a jock due to trauma.

What’s their drinking tolerance and what kind of drunk are they?

Like his siblings, he's kinda a lightweight, just a little bit more sturdy than his brother. About two and a half drinks in, he's very anxious and apologizing for everything he's ever done to annoy you and is just a touch weepy. When he's older, drinking night with the gang turns into making sure someone is always there to pat Benny's hand and tell him he's okay.

Where do they like to be touched?

Benny thinks he much too cool for touch and will shrug off anyone trying to give him a hug or anything 'goopy' as he says it, but if you catch him on a good day you can put your hand on his shoulder like a proud papa and he will soak it up.

What’s their favorite position (top/bottom/switch/pillow princess/etc.)

Reuben doesn't have any sort of relationship until he's well into his twenties, but by then he's a true switch who doesn't care what he's doing as long as both he and his partner are having a good time that both of them enjoy.

What are their kinks?

Because of spending his youth being a very unfortunate Straight Boy, as Reuben grows into his adolescence and young adulthood being a very repressed straight young man who doesn't want to think about any type of sexuality so he doesn't come across as pushy or annoying and again doesn't have a real relationship until his mid-twenties. Therefore he's more vanilla than his siblings, but by god he'd be turned on by confidence. He likes watching people do what they're good at with happiness and feeling comfortable and he would want to worship them.

How do they feel about adrenaline (roller coasters, extreme sports, etc.)?

He's a little idiot jock boy who loves to scream and feel like he's the king of the world. Let him go very fast on a roller coaster but make sure he has his glasses somewhere safe so they don't fly off.

What is their fight or flight response?

He usually argues first, apologizes later, and he gets very fiesty when he's upset. It's kinda a combo punch with fight and flight. He will stand up against whatever is making him mad and then immediately run away to avoid consequence.

What’s their pain tolerance?

It's not incredibly high, but since he's been doing sports for most of his childhood, he's at least learned how to take a couple bruises before showing pain. However, he is still a little shrimpy so it's not as much as it could be for a jock.

What character archetype are they the most like (the Innocent, the Hero, etc.)

Orphan. He's just got a big brother and big pseudo-sister to look out for him and he wants to be special so so bad.

What TV-Tropes trope would they be?

'Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today'? Even though he doesn't have to because as everyone will eventually find out, he's aggressively straight and likes to flirt with any girl he comes across even if they're always objectively out of his league. And he also wears basketball shorts 24/7.

But somehow we love him anyway.

What John Mulaney quote/bit do they most embody?

'No one cared about my opinion when I was a little kid. No one cared what I thought. Sometimes, people would say, “What do you think you’re doing?” But that just meant “Stop.”'

With the exception of love interests and immediate family, who are they closest to?

Currently Ashi’s the closest thing he has to a best friend, but she’s more like his big sister. Eventually he'll become best friends with the other Resident Straight with no Chi in the Library, Sarita. No one really knows how that friendship comes about, but between them bonding over being Chi-less, being jocks, and thinking that Ashi's super cool, they'll get along like wildfire.

What is their moral alignment? What would have to happen for it to shift?

Benny teeters between Neutral Good and True Neutral. He cares about people and doesn't want to see harm come to anyone, but also he's a thirteen year old boy with a tumultuous home life. He wants good things for himself and doesn't know why he just can't have them. However this puts him at the tipping point to go either into Chaotic Good or Chaotic Neutral depending on what morals this kid is taught.

Are they a morning person? What are they like before 8am?

Oh dear god, if you try to get him out of bed before 10 he will either not move, swat you, or give an incoherent mumbling of annoyed gibberish. He is the definition of "Liam: Grumpy teenager who just woke up."

What are they like when they’re tired?

Benny rarely has a filter to begin with, but when he's tired that filter is out the window. He will say whatever comes to mind regardless if its something that should be mentioned at the moment. He also will fall asleep anywhere, even under Ashi's sink on one occasion when they were playing hide and seek and he just... decided to take a nap.

What are they like in arguments?

Poor Reuben suffers from a condition called “Foot in Mouth Disease” where he says the very wrong thing at the wrong time in arguments, which causes the argument to escalate into places he absolutely did not mean to go.

What is their dominant hand?

Right

Out of 10, how happy are they? How happy do they think they are?

In a rare turn of events, Reuben is actually happier than he thinks he is. He thinks he has the worst lot in life because his brother's doing who knows what, his sister's dead, and his parents are imprisoned, but really when he thinks about it, his brother has sacrificed everything for him, Ashi and her mom have helped take care of him when they lived next door to each other, and all things considering, Benny's life could be a lot worse. So he thinks he's a 4/10, but is really a 7/10.