culturecannabisclub-blog

[takingasterix]

Queen Guinevere's guard dog (AKA the Court Sorcerer of Camelot)

quick little thing because i got bored and LOVE this concept

[reinedeslys-central]

when it's been so long since you've read a fic that you forget about it and you find it in the search tags and start reading it again

and it's great, if a little familiar, but you've read a lot of these sorts of fics bc you like this tag a lot, so you assume it's nothing

but then the deja vu starts adding up and you start to wonder

and then moments before the great big Plot Twist Reveal happens you're suddenly like ah hell this is the bloody sundial fic again isn't it

smh this has to be the fourth time yet

[mecachrome]

fic writer questions

haiii thank u @bright-and-burning for the tag :') nobody is online so i will Reflect and return with a worse image...

how many works do you have on AO3?

20 (16 on my main account, 4 on my sports account)... and then 15 more on dreamwidth 🥲

what's your total ao3 word count?

175.5k T__T

what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

gurllll. no one needs to see my 11th grade k-pop fic like that

do you respond to comments? why or why not?

i try my best but i have a difficult relationship with my writing so i often block out that i wrote a fic at all after some time and it hinders my ability to acknowledge commenters directly ;__; and then i always feel awkward responding like 6 months late to someone so i just let it go even though i know no one actually minds... i really do appreciate every comment i get though and deeply cherish everyone's kind words and generosity!!!

what's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

i don't really write angsty endings tbh i just write vaguely bittersweet ambiguous stuff... perhaps sharl character study i wrote for a friend's birthday would be up there because the whole thing is just inelegant whump LOL

what's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

for my own birthday a couple of years ago i wrote an extremely self-indulgent k-pop fic with all of my favorite tropes and also coded elaborate interactive html/css elements with multimedia messages and notifications you could tap on and the whole thing was just sweet secret relationship toothrutting fluff 💗 anyway extremely cringe but i enjoyed myself and thought it was mostly cute

do you write crossovers?

i haven't for any fictional fandoms... the concept is fun though!

have you ever received hate on a fic?

not directly 2 my face !!!

do you write smut? if so, what kind?

i'm an ambiguous fade 2 black kind of guy even if i do try my best at times... TT i'm just too repressed 4 this life unfortunately. pwp writers have my major respect it really is sooo difficult to write cohesive compelling comprehensible porn 

have you ever had a fic stolen?

idts but i have had oomfs/people adjacent my circles turn out to be plagiarizers which is always an unpleasant surprise!

have you ever had a fic translated?

yasss shoutout to anyone who has translated my random fics to russian or spanish 🧡

have you ever co-written a fic before?

yes ! i wrote a bnha au for a k-pop ship with my friend once lol she wrote most of it and i kind of just contributed a scene and the concept but it was still really fun, she's a much better writer than i could ever hope to be... also helped friend finish a fic for a fest once because it was overdue and she tapped out so i was up until 6am filling in scenes randomly for her. oh to be 18 again <3

what's your all-time favorite ship?

unfortunately in f1 it is simply landoscar... all-time i don't know!!! actually i do but i don't want to say it. nvm

what's a wip that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

arghhh... all of my 814 wips at the moment honestly. especially my kidfic verse that i'm deeply attached to but tragically incapable of working on TT and the jb81 that i totally gave up on!!!

what are your writing strengths?

this is an oxymoron.... i have never written anything good in my entire life. i love to beta read other people's fic for grammar though that's always fun

what are your writing weaknesses?

poor/stiff dialogue, horrible romantic development, inconsistent scene lengths, completely flat plot, no concept of good writing practices in general, a horrible tendency to purple prose, inability to write any actual conflict, i could go on

what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

ehmmm i had a lot of strong opinions on this in k-pop fandom LOL and then it was funny to see the same thing happening in f1 but just with different languages (so much random french/german dialogue...) but i think there are untranslatable or commonly recognized words that can be sprinkled in verbatim, like in k-pop it makes sense to use certain honorifics that don't have english equivalents but i draw the line at not translating existing terms like "mom" lol... but i have a lot of thoughts on how languages are communicated in fic in general (perhaps too many), like i also overthink how to communicate grammatical structure - so if i'm writing a french character speaking french but presenting the dialogue in english or same with korean in k-pop fic i usually try to make it flow in a way that is as grammatically reasonable as possible, which goes beyond simple semantics but into the actual logic of syntax + verb order... ok i'll stop actually

what was the first fandom you wrote for?

i was writing crasy fanfiction in middle school 🧡 earliest i remember though is probably naruto circa 6th/7th grade... honestly hard to say because i purged a lot of my ffdotnet output out of shame in 8th grade lmfao

what's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?

I Forgor...

what's your favorite fic you've written?

for my sports fics i'm partial to my latest 814 fic because i feel like it's just generally inoffensive and not plainly awful 🤔 in general though i'm attached to some of my like most niche audience_of_2 dw fic that i've written for nugu boy groups with literally 0 fans. like a level of total nobodyness few can comprehend........... we were in the trenches

no pressure tagging @piastrisms @chelemlem @miamimaiden @liamlawsonlesbian if it would be of any interest ! 🥰

[sugaredrhubarb]

Reading with Ru: 2023 oct/nov/dec fic and book recs

Hello hello! Back again with some final recs from what I was reading towards the end of the year. Gonna start with cod because that's where most of my moots are, and then some from other fandoms and published romance I've been enjoying as well.

Just in case this goes outside my little circle, please check the tags of anything I rec; I'll try to mention if I think something is particularly dark, but don't read anything you won't like!

COD

landscape with honey by @ceilidho - (bear shifter!price x reader) starting with ceil because, at this rate, I can't write a list without including her. my friendship with ceil partially started from bugging her asks about bear price, so this one is always gonna be special, but I genuinely love it, ceil writes blatant dubcon really well (as we all know), but I think it's in fics like this—when the hero is just a little off, and the reader is caught between what seems too good to be true and a gut instinct that something isn't quite right—that her writing really thrives. Anyway, I'm okay with a big, burly man hibernating with me in a cozy cabin in the woods for a winter. (side note: we need to be talking about ghost x feral witch reader more)

Mind the Drop by @sprout-fics - (BDSM au, price x reader) more aftercare in fics!!! This wonderful one-shot is based in a universe where people are biologically designated as dominant or submissive. Reader is a sub who is feeling the effects of some missed aftercare, which Price takes notice of and offers his... assistance. Honestly, this is just some really well-written comfort and aftercare from a fun concept.

My daddy didn't love me, so I guess I've moved on to you by @makoodles - (price x reader) clearly, I was back in my Price era, and this fic hits on the central theme of my attraction to him in the first place: daddy issues :) So, if you may want to read 17k of Reader and Price succumbing to their attraction and mutual daddy kinks, this one is for you.

Light On by @peachesofteal - (ghost x singlemom!reader) I feel like everyone was reading it, but if you haven't checked out this lovely story yet, please do! It's nice to take a break from the darker fic, and this one is so lovely while still acknowledging Simon's trauma and obsession. Peaches is an excellent writer, and this sent me down a rabbit hole of single-parent fics and books! I could read so much of this.

Pornstar!ghost by @ghosts-cyphera - ( x reader) lo is on a little break right now, but this is another wonderful entry on the soft side of cod fic. I really enjoy Ghost's charisma and confidence on display here, and every update had me giggling and kicking my feet. (I found lo through her price wife x 141 post, which is also a must read)

okay, so @ohbo-ohno (hopefully) knows I love her, and she wrote a ton and is constantly throwing out mind-bogglingly yummy drabbles, so here are some of my favs from her kinktober and 1k celebration: price x reader breeding (surprise, surprise), soap x reader somno (drugged noncon), 141 x reader orgy, ghoap ft price deepthroating, 141 x free use reader (the dream), kingpin price x reader, ex husband price x reader, gaz x reader a/b/o, and my personal fav I think about all the time ghoap x brand new vampire reader. Maybe got a little carried away, but I adore Bo's work, and she has a unique ability to make everything hot.

And finally, @charliemwrites. When making this list, I was tempted to just rec everything Charlie has posted in the last few months, so if you aren't reading her stuff already, I'm jealous that you get to experience it for the first time. Obviously, it would be a mistake to not start with her current fics: charmed slasher simon (he's a serial killer, so violence warning) and woof woof johnny, which are both so fun and compelling, I get so excited whenever I see a new update. I almost daily think about this dark(ish) Price decides you're his wife post. Charlie also writes just wonderful fluff and lighter but emotional relationships too, and both childhood friend simon and bodyguard!gaz have a special place in my heart

other fandoms

casualties by little fools writing/tianawritesfic - (darklina) yet another person I could rec every single work by. This is a boyfriend's roommate cheating fic with the perfect amount of mean man.

You kept me like a secret (i kept you like an oath) by burninghoneyatdusk - (darklina) I genuinely think everyone should read this; it's modern setting, so no canon knowledge needed. Alina wakes up after an accident and discovers she's pregnant, but she doesn't remember the last year of her life, doesn't know who the father is, and most importantly, doesn't remember the affair that ended her relationship. I could talk about it for ages, but I'm just gonna share my comment on the last chapter: "every action, line of dialogue, description, and internal thought felt deliberate— not a single word felt wasted. you stripped both aleks and alina bare and it felt impossible to not take them in completely. i don't even know how to talk about the therapy sessions and alina's healing. the exploration of her guilt, her past, her anger, her confusion it all felt so earnest and raw. what a gift to read."

Bury Us Both by morriganmercy - (Lavinia Lucia/Nick Bruin) this is sibling incest! For the love of god, don't read it if it's not your thing. I know nothing about The Royals of Forsyth series (books?), but this was recd by someone, and I saw the tags codependency, slowburn, heavy angst, pining, and religious guilt, and now here we are.

bonus! published romance I enjoyed

links are to goodreads

Return to Monte Carlo by Cate C. Wells - set in 1982, fmc runs away from her stifling life with her rich italian husband and his snobby family before discovering that she's pregnant. fun, smutty, warning for miscommunication galore. i saw some comments about the fmc being immature but she's swept into this crazy life at like ~19 so idk enjoy your smut and stop thinking so much.

Between the Devil and Desire by Lorraine Heath - a widowed duchess must learn to get along with a notorious self made rogue when he is given guardianship of her beloved son. I'm a sucker for historical romances and for single parent stories but the combo is so hard to get right and this one did it for me! while sometimes a little ridiculous, i felt the characters actions had clear motivations. watching the mmc's relationship with the son grow was really nice and it actually made sense given his backstory rather than the sudden "guy who hates kids suddenly cares" trope other books do. (warning for discussions of childhood abuse and sa)

Luna and the Lie by Mariana Zapata - say what you will about MZ slow burns but no one else can get me to read 600 pages for one sex scene at 95% in. are most of her character's really similar? yeah. but they're never annoying and i love that they're always good people trying their best. i love all the small details and i love me an older man who is secretly down horrendously bad only to gets worse and worse at not showing it.

Icebreaker by Hanna Grace - people have things to say about this book. do the characters get together early on? yeah. do they hook up in the back of an uber filled with their friends? also yeah (i thought it was hot so). is their very little plot in a 400 page book? sure. i'm here for a good time not to be intellectually challenged. i actually enjoyed seeing their time together and really enjoyed that they just fucking communicated even if there were mistakes along the way. plus big nice hockey player who cares about consent? swoon my little canadian heart.

check the reading with ru tag for more!

[north-noire]

heyo Noire ! :D

thought i'd check in and ask how the Hidden Hands Au is going? its definitely been one of my biggest inspirations for my own writings;]

hope your week has been goingg well^^

Heya alex! :D How's it going? pleased to meet and talk with you again <3 It's been going well! I've gotten the outline down, just haven't decided on how it'll end. I've defined mostly the beginning and middle parts, but it gets very muddy around the time FNaF 1 takes place (and you guys might be surprised with how I'll handle it, haha). But I've been planning character sheets for mostly the Afton and Emily family (mostly just as a frame of reference so I don't have a hard time drawing the characters when I feel like it - plus you guys can finally get a general grasp of how my AU's characters are), writing some writing stubs for the AU (mostly Henry-centric, but ah, I can't help myself), and all that good stuff! There's a lot of concept artworks I've been making too, so stay tuned if I decide to post a few here and there. I'm just deciding where the story would actually begin, and it's quite tricky! So, for now, I'm writing the parts that I feel like writing for now and work my way around the outline with that. I'm quite rusty at writing, but I will try. I haven't written in years, so I'm currently trying to improve and read more so my writing can get much refined for the fic, heh. I want it to be something I'd be proud of! Thanks so much, btw! It means a lot that you see it as inspirations for your own writings! I would love to see your own works too <3 Honestly, I wish it could be a better week, and a lot of things have been going on in my irl, but thank you for checking in </3 I hope it gets better on my end. But I'm really excited to get back into the groove of things when it gets better. </3 Thank you so much for the ask! Hope things are going well at your end too.

[lo-fi-charming]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

got tagged by @milkteamoon! ^^

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? // 176!

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? // 866,977

3. What fandoms do you write for? // Mainly TMA the last few years; previously, I wrote a lot of OPM fic. I'd say those are easily my two 'biggest' fandoms in terms of being actively involved and writing fic for them. I'll also write fic of other things I enjoy though, so I have a lot of one-shots and short series for other things too!

4. What are your top five fics by kudos? // Sticking with TMA fic for this one, so:

What Lies Beyond the Frame (rated G, jmart) — A minor AU where I give Jon a new Beholding power, letting him see through his glasses when he's not wearing them. One of my earliest works for the fandom! I'm actually surprised to find it at the top of this list.

off-the-clock assistance (rated E, jmart) — An AOB fic taking place during the iconic Martin Living In The Archives era. I wrote this after realizing that other TMA smut fics had taught me I actually DO enjoy fisting as a concept, lol.

The Kissing Game (rated T, jmart) — A lighthearted, Christmas-y fic where Jon, Tim, and Sasha get into a competitive little holiday game of trying to catch Martin under the mistletoe. This one was very fun to write and I quite like how I ultimately wrapped it up.

A Friendly Favor (rated E, martim) — An AU where Tim and Martin are friends with benefits! I used to be very into martim when I first got into the fandom... I do still enjoy them, but we all know where my main focus/energy ultimately started going hehe. This one ended up developing into a tiny series of fics in the same setting.

Sizing Up (rated E, jmart) — Wherein Jon discovers that Martin is a size queen. This one was based off a stupid little comic I drew and is probably the closes I've gotten to writing a 'crack fic', though I wouldn't call it that - it's more in terms of the Energy I brought to writing it? Just doing something with a very silly base concept but taking it (mostly) seriously.

5. Do you respond to comments? // I do sometimes, if I feel like I have anything worth saying! Sometimes I'll respond with a simple 'thank you' or variation thereof if someone says something particularly nice though ;w;

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? // Kind of a difficult question honestly... I don't really write 'angsty' endings to my fic, even if they do have a darker tone or a lot of angst in the middle somewhere; I'm not really a hurt-no-comfort guy. I also think it's hard to say whether an ending is angsty because it can kinda depend on the perspective of the character(s) and I'd say generally, when I'm doing things as I intended, even if the ending is a bit dark, that doesn't ring as angsty to me?

If I HAD to choose one... maybe when the dream ends, a very old, Sans-centric Undertale fic I wrote where he experiences disorienting dissociation and deja vu of other timelines post-pacifist ending. It has a hopeful conclusion, but still leans heavily on his feelings of detachment, vague depression, and anxiety from feeling like everything around him is impermanent and repetitive.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? // Hm, approaching this in terms of fic where the happiness of the end feels earned, that'd probably go to The Taste of Midnight, my witch!Jon AU fic where he has to save his town from a disastrous force (with Martin's help). The final chapter, once the plot is resolved, is very idyllic and fluffy - a nice, pleasant conclusion for all the dramatic stuff that happened!

8. Do you get hate on fics? // I've gotten hate on a fic ONCE, as far as I can remember! It was for Deep V (rated E), a fic where Jon is trans and has dysphoric feelings about his chest, but decides he wants to try improving his relationship to it via kink. I made the mistake of openly asking for feedback on it when I posted it, and one of the more well-known assholes in the fandom (which I would learn after the fact), left a very nasty comment on it basically scolding me for even having written/shared it in the first place. Luckily I got a lot of useful advice and more friendly feedback/encouragement from much cooler people in the fandom, which was very nice and helped keep my feelings towards the fic largely positive! A harrowing but imo good learning experience in the end.

9. Do you write smut? // Yup! I have for a long time. It's generally my favorite kind of fic to read as well as write, though my tastes have been refining the last couple of years. I could write a whole big thing on my feelings about smut fic but I'll refrain this time!

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? // I don't think I've ever written a crossover fic! Right now, the closest I've gotten is vaguely contributing too (and loudly supporting the creation of) a Murderbot/Among Us fic my roomie started a year or two ago. Which I need to continue yelling at them to publish... hehe.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? // Boy I sure hope not!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? // Yes, actually! Someone asked for permission to translate my OPM fic The Apron (rated E) into Russian! This is wild to me.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? // Yes, I'm actually co-writing one now with my friend V! It's an edited version of a long-going Jondaisy RP called Open Door (rated E). It's been a fun (if slow-going) project; it's an interesting challenge to go through an RP where we're each playing one character's part and try to edit it into a state that makes it more natural to read for others.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? // Jon/Daisy!!!! You might want to call recency bias, but they are simply Everything To Me that I've ever needed in a ship, actually, it's kind of insane how much of a hold they've taken over me. I look back on my older ships and I enjoy them all very much, but nothing hits the way jaisy does. I fear nothing else ever will... they're my true OTP...

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? // I have quite a few... A lot that I really want to go back to... Probably my most ambitious and least likely would be And Only Space Stood Between Them, which is an unfinished Oban Star Racers fic that would've involved interplanetary space travel, worldbuilding for a planet and alien species that was only VERY lightly explored in the anime, two protagonists/alternating POVs, a huge cast of supporting characters, an overarching plot amidst a star-racing competition, and a developing friendship/romance(?) between Eva and Aikka. I had SUPER big aspirations for it, and only got to the 4th chapter, when Eva first leaves Earth to head for his home planet. In a perfect world I would write this space epic..... It is my dear wish that... maybe someday...................

16. What are your writing strengths? // I've been told I'm good at writing in-character, which I greatly appreciate as feedback and dearly hope is true. I personally think I'm actually pretty decent at naturalistic dialogue, which I often hear is a difficult aspect of writing for folks. I think I'm generally good at pacing too, and I'd like to say that descriptive imagery is a solid strength of mine, though that's an element of writing often subject to taste...

17. What are your writing weaknesses? // I have no idea if it's a real weakness but I often get self-conscious about my writing being boring or repetitive or trite or something, despite people telling me this isn't the case when I've asked. I think it's just a case of, despite how long I've been writing, I'm still relatively young and have a lot to learn; I'm still finding my confidence in my unique voice and what I'm good at.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? // At the moment I only feel comfortable dabbling with the inclusion of Spanish, and only because I've been actively trying to learn it for a year. Even then, I basically only use it if I'm writing something with canonically Spanish-speaking characters. As a reader, it's something I really like to encounter when done well! Especially as a way to explore a diverse headcanon for a character.

19. First fandom you wrote for? // Pokemon!

20. Favorite First fic you’ve written? // (I actually misread this question, then decided to keep my first answer, because I'm so bad at picking a favorite fic! Honestly!)

Anyways, in terms of my first fic: it was a Pokemon fic with no main title. It's about a girl named Kim with a Charmander starter. She visits a pokemon center after adopting an abandoned and injured Growlithe, only to realize the center has been infiltrated by Team Rocket, who attempt to steal the Pokemon being healed there. I have an original, printed version of this fic in my stuff somewhere! I've daydreamed about making a comic out of it while keeping all the original narration/dialogue.

Okay, now I tag my dear friends. Obvs only do this if you want to~

@temporalreplicsimile , @callmearcturus, @zykaben, @ostentenacity

[spacebuck]

Fic Writer Q & A!

tagged by @voxofthevoid, took me a while i'm sorry ;;;

How many wips do you have currently?

a surprising amount!! four actively on the go at the moment, including one collab piece, and a solid 8 more besides that i am going to be trying to crack out over the next couple of weeks even if they're short and sweet. on top of that i have another 7 things planned for my main ship and another 2 or 3 from others!!

aka i am busy and my wips list is huge r i p

Which one are you finding the hardest to finish?

there's something i keep writing and flittering away from then coming back then flittering away from, and it's frustrating because it's a concept i adore and i've put a lot of worldbuilding thought into it, but it's also not my main ship so my brain is tripping a little bit on it because the brainrot is r e a l

What does it usually look like when inspiration strikes for you?

uh. sometimes it's a 2k fic in 2hrs. somethings it's 25k over 3 weeks and a 7 page planning doc. it really depends on what the inspo is jhgfghj

Do you curate playlists for each fic or is your process different?

i honestly.... don't really write to music? there's been one exception really, but if i do need something on i will either play a specific soundtrack-only playlist i have, or a heavy phonk playlist. i'm not really a music person, if i'm honest!

Do you go balls to the wall and write as you go or are you more organized?

it genuinely depends on the fic. like i said above, i have wips that have absolutely nothing planned (like most f my argenthill week prep, i've literally just got the prompt name lmao) and then i have a fic that has a literal 7 page (and running) planning doc mapping relationships, roles, chapters, and a hit-list of unordered scenes that me n my collab partner are ordering as we go

i don't know who's super active anymore hhh so if you see this and you write consider this me tagging you and tell me about your stuff (feel free to link me to your answers to i'd love to read em!!!)

[grassbreads]

Writer Interview Game

I was tagged for this by @torterrachampion . Thank you!!

Since this is my fandom-specific account, I'm going to keep these answers mostly limited to fanfiction.

When did you start writing?

I have been writing my entire life. I was one of those kids that was convinced I was going to write a novel at age 10 (although I never got further than a couple of chapters). For fanfiction specifically, the first fic I ever wrote was a halloween story project for middle school that I turned into D.Gray-man fanfiction. I started writing and publishing fic for real the following summer, when I was 14. (Much like the novels in elementary school, I never actually finished one of the longfics I started in high school).

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

Big time lmao. A *lot* of the original fiction I read is horror, and although I've played around with the idea of writing a horror fic, I'm yet to find a good concept for one. I'm also a huge lover of long multi-chapter fics and elaborate AUs, but I publish mostly oneshots.

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

I honestly cannot remember ever having my work compared to specific other writers?

But as I said, I love elaborate longfic AUs yet really struggle to write them myself (long projects are my enemy), so I would sell my soul to be able to emulate the works of travelingneuritis or oxfordroulette, both of whom I really admire. I've written whole long posts before about how much oxfordroulette's Homestuck fics impressed and impacted me when I first read them like 6 years ago.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

My writing space is anywhere in my apartment :). Sometimes I write at my desk, but more often I'm curled up or crosslegged on my couch or futon. Gotta be cozy and comfy.

What’s your most effective way to muster up a muse?

Since fic is a pretty casual hobby for me these days, I mostly just kinda write when inspiration strikes (hence why I publish roughly one fic per year). That said, rereading canon scenes featuring the characters I'm writing always helps me get their voice into my head.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

I don't know if I write enough to have big recurring themes? I like writing about characters that aren't doing well mentally, but that's both broad and not always applicable.

I suppose it does always make me laugh when I see "Christmas" listed among my most-used tags on Ao3. I'm not even a christian, but I've written two fics set during christmas bc gift exchanges make for good fluff, and with my output, two times puts it in my top 10.

What is your reason for writing?

Sometimes a story worms its way into my brain so deeply that canon just isn't enough. I need to live in that world to a degree beyond what I can get from canon content alone. And when there isn't enough existing fic by others to scratch that itch, or when there isn't enough of the right *type* of existing fic, I simply have to sit down and make my own.

Also, writing fanfiction is fun :).

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

I'd like to think I'm good at characterization, at least most of the time. And I think I'm good at making sure things flow.

How do you feel about your own writing?

I really like a majority of the things I've written, or at least the stuff I've written as an adult. My really old writing makes me cringe a little sometimes, but I look back on it fondly, and I still reread newer stuff like An Act of Trust and Idle God, Idol Gossip for my own amusement.

The brief answer is that overall, I'm quite proud.

If either of you are interested in joining, I'll tag @cinammonelles and @azapofinspiration :)

[aristocraticelegance]

March reads. I'm surprised I even got through three this month. I also had my first DNF of the year, which I probably won't record any thoughts on, since I don't have anything intelligent to say about it.

The Closet, Danielle Bobker (Princeton University Press, 2020). I bought a bunch of books from the Princeton University press annual sale; this one turned out pretty good. It does suffer a bit from the problem of stitching together several loosely related research articles, but it was interesting as a history of 16th-17th century closets and their social role. I liked the sections on court favorites/court politics the most. The last chapter tries to link these early closets with the modern concept of coming out of the closet, which was a little half-baked even if it was heading in an interesting direction.

2. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, John Le Carré (1963/2005). The problem with reading old famous books is that if they're good I start going around like omg have your heard of this?? It's good?? Anyways, newsflash, John Le Carré is a good writer. It's also interesting to see elements that I first encountered in later writers. I would be very surprised if William Gibson isn't indebted to Le Carré in some way. I'll probably hunt down more of his books once I figure out what to read next.

3. Hel's Eight, Stark Holborn (Titan Books, 2023)

I bought this when it came out, and honestly I was kind of relieved to realize I was only a year late in reading it. It's the sequel to Ten Low, which I loved. I probably should have re-read it because I only vaguely remembered how it ended, but Hel's Eight was still great. The two books are a mix of Space Western/Mad Max in space with supernatural horror, or something like that. If you liked Mad Max: Fury Road, you should read these.

Short Fiction

I finally finished New Edge Sword & Sorcery vol. 1, which had some great pieces in it, including "The Pillars of Silence" by Prashanath Srivasta. I mostly read short stories during work breaks, so it can take me a while to get through anything, but I really enjoyed this volume and Vol. 0. It's nice to see a magazine with so much art too.

I also finished issue 143 of Apex Magazine. One of the reasons I don't read a ton of short fic is that my preferred sub genres are pretty underrepresented in contemporary SFF. Apex publishes some good stuff, but I've had a hard time with the last few issues, mostly because of the focus on contemporary-set stories. I did like "Chi Tam is Tired of Being Dead" by Natasha King and the reprints by Eden Royce and Christopher Caldwell.

Finally, I really liked "The Angel Azrael and the Dead Man's Hand" (Peter Darbyshire) in Beneath Ceaseless Skies #339. A Fantasy Western that gestures towards some complex setting/backstory.

[bisexualshakespeare]

latest fic asks: 13. Are there any cut lines/scenes from this work? Why did you cut them? 14. Explain your writing process for this work. 15. What is one question you wish someone would ask you about this work? Ask it and answer it.

My Latest fic: Nymph Butter! Porn arguably with Plot

13. Yes! Initially Elora showed up further into the sex and Boorman was way more chatty. It was also going to have it so only Graydon could hear her through a magical mental connection and Boorman couldn't. It just felt unwieldy if Boorman was going to talk and then Elora was talking but he couldn't hear it and Graydon was going to have to think to Elora and speak outloud to Boorman. Just too much! So I had to throw out a lot of stuff that I had started with that premise.

14. So this is Part 2 of my tanthamore-tober series where I try to fit as many NSFW prompts into a single series as I can so I started with combining the prompts. I thought combining magic and voyeurism made sense as like unintentional magical peeping tom or something. I figured that made the most sense with Elora magically spying on Graydon. Then I thought adding Mirror Sex in with the magic would make sense, often times scrying needs a mirror or a bowl of water or something. And the fact that they're not in the same room automatically makes it long distance! (it's not technically mirror sex though cause the mirror isn't a mirror for most of it XP)

Then I started on the path I said before and started writing some thoughts on how Elora might react to them, how would Graydon feel having the girl he's in love with watch him have sex with another man, how to make this voyeurism consensual, and I just kinda wrote bits of dialogue trying to work that out.

Then I messaged one of my friends (you) about it and they suggested Boorman could be quiet if he was told do in a D/s situation and that really informed how the smut was gonna work. Then Elora and I had a little break down and i had to figure out how she worked in this dynamic. That was a lot of just rotating her in my brain like 'would she fucking say that???'

Once I was happy with Elora's journey then I just added on the bookends of why they're fucking in front of a mirror and voila! Nymph Butter was complete.

15. the first question actually! It's possible I'd want to use the original concept in a new fic but honestly I have so many other ideas it's probably best to throw this into the wind. Here's my excerpts, below the cut because porny

“No! It’s-” It was difficult to answer questions in his mind while also being given a very, very good blow job. “Boorman?” He said out loud. “Are you upset I'm in love with someone else and having sex with you?”

Boorman pulled off. “Oh yeah, devastated.” He said sarcastically. “I don't know how my fragile ego will recover.”

He swallowed Graydon’s cock all the way down.

“Oh fuck!” Graydon moaned. “Yes yes yes.”

Boorman pulled back and let Graydon's dick slap against his stomach. “Will you look at that? Ego recovered.”

Graydon giggled and grabbed a handful of Boorman's hair. He pulled him up for a long hot kiss. He felt Elora’s soft wanting through their connection.

I'm sorry. I should go…

"Wait! Graydon called out magically and to his surprise, also with his mouth. He licked his lips and locked eyes with Boorman. “Are you okay with Elora watching us?”

"Our Semprum Sorceress, a bit of a voyeur is she?"

Graydon could feel her blush through the connection, flush with embarrassment but still turned on.

"Should we stop?" Graydon asked.

"Let her watch. She should know what you like. She can use it when she finally realizes what an idiotic move it is to let a great guy like you slip through her fingers."

Elora’s mind emanated an offended gasp at the ‘idiotic’ comment.

Stay. he thought to her and he wondered if she was getting his emotions through the connection too. Could she feel his longing for her to see him like this, desired and desiring?

[fandom-trash-xl]

Just for reference, who are all of your Frieza Race OCs (if you have multiple)?

I actually do have a decent handful of Frieza Race OCs (though I mainly refer to the species as a whole as Ice Demons or Arcosians in my fics, though I'll refer to them as Frieza's Race just as a general term because everyone has different headcanons for the name). Most of them are female Arcosians and whether or not females exist in the species is debated- personally, my headcanon is wavering a bit in terms of the biology and I may shuffle things but I often needed a defined biological divide for some narrative choices to work in some of my current fic canons.

Anyway, I digress... These are my present OCs in order of creation:

Note, I do consider Kuriza to be half an OC to me since a lot of his character is up to interpretation.

Perma is my oldest Ice Demon OC, dating back to when I still called them "Icejins", though you may see her mentioned in some of my older stuff as Subzero or Zero. She's my Xenoverse CaC and her concept started out as a Frit (Frost x Hit) kiddo! Her design, from what I recall off hand, featured a lot of purple, blue-gray, indigo, etc, basically a color hodge-podge of her two dads. She has the Cooler mask because there wasn't a mouth option I really vibed with, so I just headcanoned it as her allergy mask- she's allergic to dust and you bet there's going to be a lot of that on Time Patrol missions. Later on I may adjust some of her colors if I plan to draw her in full color. Her name's a pun on "permafrost".

As much as I don't want to include him, I have to for the sake of being thorough... Lord Shiver. Shiver sucks. Not saying he's a poorly done OC, he was literally written to be a terrible person. He's Frost's mafia boss father in "Shattered Ice" and he's not really depicted in a good light. He's got blue-gray colorations but I never really plotted out how it looks.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Frost's parentage, we have his mother, Realis. Her name's a pun on "aurora borealis", mainly because my original name concept for Frieza's mother in a fic that never got fully fleshed out was "Aurore" and I wanted the two to match. Essentially, she's part of Shiver's harem (again, reiterating, Shiver was not designed to be a good person), but she gets a bit more elevated privilege on account of being the one gal in the posse "lucky" (read: "unfortunate") enough to be the mother of his child. I think this was the first time I used the idea of little gem "freckles" on the cheeks in my female Arcosian designs (though it started as diamonds and switched to four-pointed stars). She was originally designed with gray scales and cyan gems, though design colorations can change I suppose...

Another one of my big fic OCs is Frigid. I gave Hit a little secretary for his business office and then just sort of ran with it; writing her into the fic was originally to tie into a certain plot point that I won't spoil if you're not caught up on "Shattered Ice", but I enjoy her and I'm surprised I haven't drawn her much. Plus, Hit shipping bonus!! Honestly, I would say more, but she's best experienced within the fic itself. Design-wise, she's got gray scales and turquoise gems.

And then there's also Algid, another one from "Shattered Ice" and another member of Shiver's little posse... She's a bit of a lovesick little yes-woman when it comes to her boss, but she's got some edge to her. Again, description probably isn't doing her much justice, so she's best read in fic. She's got more of a reddish color palette- reason why? I originally intended for her to have a pretty much identically designed Universe 7 parallel that would have been Kuriza's mentioned-only late mother, the red contributing to his maroon gems. I didn't want a good character name and color palette to be wasted completely on a briefly mentioned character- and here we are now, the original U7 Algid not even coming into fruition (totally not because I forgot that part in my notes while writing "Love Like You"...).

[gloriousmonsters]

hi!! obviously feel free to ignore, but just in case my other ask got lost i wanted to send another :) i just recently got into tgcf and have been going through various tags and i really liked reading your posts!! i was just curious to see how you view sqx's gender since rereading? the more fic ive read since finishing the book, the more surprised ive been to find that most of it (at least that ive read so far) really ignores any discussion of either gender id or having sqx be gnc or anything. like, it seems like if its a serious fic people write him in male form and if its a fun fic people write her in female form (and my/hx in female form as well, which is a whole other convo) and regardless of form its all very much adhering to expectations for whatever gender the author is writing, not really any gnc stuff. anyway! sorry, i got carried away, but i guess im really just looking for an insightful take on gnc cis sqx so that i can have some hope restored that there are people who have a nuanced take lol

hey, sorry for the late reply! I got your other ask, I just have been pretty caught up with work and other distracting things the past few days..../week. what is time

Honestly I haven't read much fic for TGCF at all and less featuring SQX, but i'm... sadly not surprised at hearing what you've mostly run into. People don't often seem to be up for any sort of complicated gender stuff on the average day, so it makes sense it wouldn't be addressed in a lot of fics, and SQX's femininity--in whatever form--being treated mostly as a 'fun' thing instead of a serious part of SQX's gender is... frustrating but again, not surprising.

It's been a bit since I last looked at TGCF, but my personal interpretation remains that SQX is a femme man, much as I view Ling Wen as a butch woman--I very much don't want to say it's not as valid or interesting to interpret either of them as trans, but for me personally both characters are most interesting to read as GNC cis characters. That's its own whole struggle, one that the issue of their worshipers essentially deciding what their gender is for them--because they don't conform to the conventions of their own--is painfully resonant with.

(I'll try not to talk more about Ling Wen more on this SQX gender post, but I'll make a last sidebar about I wish people would talk about Ling Wen's gender more in general.I barely even see people acknowledge that she HAS a male form or any of her character as it relates to her being masc/butch.)

SQX clearly enjoys wearing his female form, and it very much comes across as dressing up in clothes that really express how you feel--he's so much cuter, it's so fun to wear a female form (to such an extent that he will try to pester anyone left alone with him for five seconds into doing so, because how can you NOT ENJOY looking pretty??). But to me he never seems dysphoric about his male form--just bored and sometimes hurt by the limitations it imposes on him. Being a man isn't an issue for him, acting like a man is.

And I understand that for some people there's little difference between those things--a lot of people find their gender nonconformity means they're not that gender at all. I feel like another factor is the well-meaning anvil that got dropped a while ago of 'you can't write a stereotype, so all your queer men have to be normal macho and all your queer women have to be normal feminine' which further erased the very concept of GNC-ness, at least when it came to writing fic. I think that's one of the reasons I'm so attached to cis femme SQX--GNC characters, or even interpretations more complex than 'completely conventionally cis or binary, also conventionally (gender) trans' are thin on the ground in fandom.

(a sidebar: writing a guy as a uke-in-all-but-name is not the same as writing a guy as meaningfully gnc. like pursue your bliss and write what you want and all that, but I had the haunting suspicion that there's probably some 'gay twink that cries a lot and always bottoms' SQXs out there and i want to register that it's nooooot what i'm talking about when i talk about being gnc. WHOLE other discussion packed away inside that one. let's skip it for now)

I wish I had something more specific or insightful to say here, lol. You can enjoy looking like a woman and not be a woman. You can dislike being masculine and still be a man. SQX clearly, despite the not-cool reasons for him having it (because the implications of two gods being close, even if they were brothers, was just TOO GAY, we gotta make it straight! are their worshipers those people who genderbend just one sibling to write incest because i have some Annoyed Words for those people. Stop Making It Boring) is very attached to his female form and enjoys wearing it, and while it's not given a great deal of time, there's obviously friction between him and his brother based in the fact that, even while not wearing a female form, SQX just doesn't... act quite like a man should.

(This is pure personal interpretation/headcanon, but he often doesn't see the problem with how he's acting because he simply has an internal sense of gender that doesn't clash with looking like a woman or not acting like a man--gnc gender identity is no less deeply or completely felt than any other. It takes SWD or someone else reacting badly to remind him, ah, apparently not every man would be like this if he had the chance. Which seems fake, but ok)

if there's a conclusion, there's this--to write SQX as either a straightforward male or female character is just missing his whole point. He can be a gnc man, genderfluid, a trans woman--but whatever he is is complicated, despite how untroubled he usually seems by it all. There's tension between what he is, how he's viewed, and the limited means he has to express himself, and while that obviously can't be the point of every fic he appears in, it's always there. And cis gnc SQX remains, in the end, my favorite lens. It's unlikely, but I do hope someone got that boy a cute outfit at some point postcanon, it's the least he deserves.

[nehswritesstuffs]

Ask game! 💋💥💞💫

Ooooh, yay! Thank you~

This got kind of long, so my answers are under the cut!

💋when you leave comments on a fic, do you want to hear back from the writer?

Yes! It's rare for me to not want to hear back, but I know and understand that sometimes you got nothing else to say, since I've been on that end too.

💥find your least kudos'd fic - say something wonderful about it.

That would be TTOU Big Finish Snippet: Workplace Security [AO3] with its all of THREE KUDOS! *paper confetti* I really enjoyed writing something for The Thick of UNIT that was Jamie, Sam, and Bismuth. One of the great things about both Doctor Who and The Thick of It is the side characters and what they can bring to the story. While Doctor Who is able to access all of time and space with its side characters and give us more Human voices to lean upon for anywhere from an episode to a whole series/season, the side characters in The Thick of It give us a sense of just how many cogs are in the system and how big and far-reaching everything is, especially what the ministers and aides are cocking up. It's a reminder of all the banal shit in a government or other large organization and how much of said shit happens and yet you have to carry on best you can. Here we're able to explore all of those concepts in a short audio script fic that has no shortage of Bismuth attempting to figure things out, Sam being a sort of grounding force, and Jamie being... well... Jamie. my next-least at five is the beginnings of a rewrite of an old One Piece fic i haven't touched in years and i really need to get back on that bc i haven't touched the rewrite in more than a few months lol i'm too many dozens of thousands of words into the conceptualization to just drop it at this point

💞what's the most important part of a story for you? the plot, the characters, the worldbuilding, the technical stuff (grammar etc), the figurative language

I'm going to answer this in regards to fan fiction only, since it has factors that don't impact published original fiction and vice versa. A tough one, but I would have to honestly say it's a weird combination of factors that can vary if certain criteria are met. Sometimes I begin to go through a fic where something's not up to snuff and I'll go "I'll entertain this for now" and it's lead to some surprising things. Part of this I think comes from cutting my fandom teeth with varying anime as a teen back in the 2000s. One of the things that I think makes sense when you think about it but we're easily able to take for granted is that one can utilize fandom as experimentation and practicing and figuring shit out. For some people, that's learning how to write a story. Others might know how to make words do things (wording is hard!), but they need practice at worldbuilding and storycraft. Some are trying to figure out how to stay consistent with a character, while on the opposite end of that, there's shit so silly that it can't help but be funny. If there's the right balance, then there are definitely things I can look over, but too many infractions clashing with one another and whoops Nehs out. There's also people who use fandom to practice foreign language skills in general. We see it often with weebs learning Japanese, but it also goes with people writing in English-as-a-Second-Language too. I've seen some really questionably-crafted stories that were rife with spelling and technical errors, but the soul of the story is there, if that makes any sense. They KNOW the characters, they KNOW what they want to tell, they KNOW how to get everything across in every possible way, and probably write really well in their native language, but in English...? They're working on it. And that's great! Part of me wants to branch out into that sort of thing one day, but the problem is that the communities whose languages I'm trying to learn are already very bilingual in English. But yeah... because all of those things were so weird and fluid and just desperately wanted in Anglophone weeb spaces FFN that it made sense to take what we could and encourage others when it came to writing about our anime blorbos. I dunno about everyone else's experience, but I rarely was in the middle of flame wars, so most of my fandom experience tended to be pretty cool. Also, having ESL family helps. It's no joke that it's hard translating everything in your head before you say it--some stuff gets lost in translation... literally!

💫what is your favorite kind of comment/feedback?

In lieu of a mini book report like was common in my teen years (lol), I really enjoy the ones that take something(s) that the reader liked about the story/chapter and picks it all apart. It could just be that they really liked a line or exchange of dialogue, or mentioning how events are going and how that messes with the story, or using context clues to try to parse out what's coming next. Knowing what clicks and whirs and gets into people's brain is so interesting to me and I love getting that information because then that's stuff for me to figure out as well about my writing and how it interacts with folks. Bonus points when someone does it on a by-chapter basis and/or on older stuff! I do also appreciate when someone legitimately corrects me, lol, 'cause Lord knows I'm not perfect.

Anyone else interested in having me answer some questions as I avoid writing actual fic? See what other prompts there are here.

[baladric]

🎈💥🕯️<-- that's meant to be the fandom/social one, the candle emoji is there twice for me (???) and also please don't feel bad for being Earnest it is wonderful and makes me feel more excited about like, being alive in a world where people care deeply about things

see, i agree re: earnestness, it's just didn't know that when it's ME doing it, it's CRINGE? (a;lkdfjalwfd this is a callout for my own fallacious internal voice) thank u and i love u!!!!!!

🎈 Describe your style as a writer; is it fixed? does it change?

ohh this is a good one! i'd say it's a little of both? i notice that my rhythm and diction change depending on what sort of genre i'm writing in or the fandom i'm writing for (my goblin emperor stuff is less florid than, say, my raven cycle fic, and far crunchier than all the unfinished stranger things shit in my docs, which is a lot punchier and quippier [and VIOLENT ;alkdfjwd and ohh what a weird discovery to find that i enjoy writing physical fights]) but! my motivations as a writer stay the same through each piece! anyone who read both my v old king falls am fic and, say, sweet hope (a person that i doubt exists, since these are both WAY too niche) would see that underneath the very different language and social dynamics, the thing i'm really committed to the bit for is healing and vulnerability (and music as essential catharsis). that said, i will always, always abuse the humble adverb a;lkdfjlaw;djsl

💥 Find your least kudos'd fic - say something wonderful about it.

least kudos'd is this charming man, for whom i will say: this is Punchy, Funny and so evocative of the very very important conceit of First Nohecharis Codependency. honestly i'm still very fond of this one!!!

🕯️ Was there a fic that was really hard on you to write, or took you to a place you didn't think it would take you?

surprising probably no one—yes, sweet hope destroyed me. i say in the intro notes to it that it took me 10 months to write, and i'm not lying when i say that a good 2/3 of that time was me refusing to write anything at all because i wrote myself into a corner and broke my own trust in my writing. that story started as a fairly surface level story about fair turnabout—maia, learning to ask for help, and then csevet being forced into a very ugly position that demanded he figure out how to accept help—and it was, to be mean to myself, very fucking contrived and Not Good. i wrote about 25k words of it, looked back at it at the end of one writing session, and then deleted everything but the first half of the first chapter (so that was about 22k words hucked into the ether) and didn't write for about 5 months. it was awful, but my weirdly routine January Writing Frenzy last year yanked a pearl in my hand out of me in a very harried couple of days, and that not only restored my trust in myself, but like. tripled it, at least, and that's when i came back to sweet hope and it became what it is—which, for all the grumbly things i can and do say about it, is still a rose in my mind. lovely and complete and tender, and i do love where it went and what it became. it surprised me again and again, and it made me three times the writer i was, and i'm so grateful for every minute of its conception.

fic writer ask meme!

[starfolk7]

Alright, Lies of P characters coming in: P himself, Romeo, Giangio and Sophia.

Ooh, I got some that I didn't expect! This should be fun! X3

P:

How I feel about this character

Such a sweet boy!! He deserves a loving family, found or otherwise! Give him all the friends, comfort, and sweets he wants! I'm not sure if he can even eat sweets but my point STILL STANDS sdkfshd

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Y'know, I don't really ship him with anyone! I'm sure I'd love to see him with an OC, but I haven't browsed the Lies of P fic tags in a little while, I should do that!

My non-romantic OTP for this character

P and Romeo! I know there's baggage about P related to Carlo and how they're def not the same person, but I really think if they were given the chance, they would grow to be best friends. I will eat up this concept forever skdhs

My unpopular opinion about this character

Not really sure I have one for him! I just kind of go with the flow with P.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

That his dad actually fucking cared about him, but you know why we couldn't have that sdkhsd. Oh and that he could take the broken puppet back to the hotel with him!! Another friend!!

Romeo:

How I feel about this character

MY BELOVED! I don't know what they put in him but I love him so so much. He's such a compelling character ;w;

All the people I ship romantically with this character

I'm a canon x OC girlie with him, not a surprise at this point lmao. Really need to get back to my stuff with him and my girl Adelaide, they're so good!!

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Romeo and P! See above, I think they would be amazing friends! Also Romeo and Carlo, of course! I love to see stuff where Carlo survived in some capacity.

My unpopular opinion about this character

Once again, I'm not really sure I have any?

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

That he didn't die ;; He deserved to be free and help P take a stand against everything going on. I get why that didn't happen, but it's such a compelling idea!

Giangio

How I feel about this character

DECEIVER (affectionate). For real, he had us all played like fiddles and that was so cool!! Really excited to see if we get any more info on him in the future.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

No one, really, but I haven't looked too deeply into the tag for him lol.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Same as above!

My unpopular opinion about this character

Don't really have any, as I haven't thought about it too much.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

Honestly, I think I'm pretty satisfied with how he was portrayed in canon! It was very well done.

Sophia:

How I feel about this character

She's so sweet! Honestly love her a lot <3

All the people I ship romantically with this character

None, really! I get why people pick some ships, but I'm not one of those people. Love that people are having fun with her, though!

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Sophia and P! If she got to stick around, I think they would be great friends!

My unpopular opinion about this character

Also not really a lot, as I haven't thought about this too much.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

That she got to stick around and bond more with P and the others. I understand why she didn't, given the circumstances, but I think it would have been lovely for her to have some comfort, especially after everything she went through ;w;

[kadoodles-on-ao3]

So uh... How do you feel about Nikol's existence?

I technically shouldn't know who that is yet but... I do. And. Well. You can probably guess by how you worded this ask hahaha.

Not surprised at all, if you like them as a couple then good for you and hope you're enjoying the DLC, you don't need me on your side because they're canon so that can satisfy you content-wise plus my opinions are silly and don't matter, etc etc, all I've said before applies here.

Honestly, if anything, the only unique thing I have to add here* is how his design really demonstrates how much Shulk and Fiora look like siblings lmao. There's even a (really cool!) fan mod to alter Fiora's hair and skin color to look more like her (actual) brother, so I'm not alone in seeing this haha.

So, Nikol. He sure does exist. Dude looks just like Shulk because his dad and mom both look like Shulk so what else could he look like. That's about all the thoughts I have haha (at least until I actually play more of 3 and see what he's like).

Non-ask-related ramblings under the cut because it's me, of course I rambled haha.

As I really don't like to nor want to rain on anyone's parade, as well as enjoy talking about the ship I like (because of course), I've made an effort to mentally retrack my train of thought (? idk how else to describe it lol) whenever my NOTP comes up by converting it into an opportunity to talk about my OTP instead of complaining. (See also my comment on What If We Kissed In The Weapons Development Lab where I mentioned going back into my fic and adding more details of Shulk being enamored by Melia whenever I came across Shiora while writing it lol.)

So, Shulkelia kids! I'm personally not one for creating OCs, in general or for media I like. Not that I dislike them or even the thought/process of making them! It just doesn't come to me as easily or interest me as much as digging into canon details and playing around with them. But I did come up with a couple rough concepts for what they might look like and how their parents might decide on their names... if they even would want to have kids in the first place, that is, I'm still unsure about that haha. But fanfiction can be whatever you want it to be and that's the fun of it, so maybe sometime I'll try developing those small ideas into something more (especially if it's something people are interested in reading)! If anything I'm most attached to my little blurbs I wrote about how they and their kids would interact with Reyn and Sharla and their kids, lots of cute potential there :)

(*Well, I can add something more, and I originally was going to do it! Not to contradict my whole don't-like-raining-on-anyone's-parade point, but again I want to stress, my intention with this is I just really enjoy analyzing details and understanding why I react to things in the way that I do. But I did mention to a previous ask that I have in-game writing reasons for why I dislike Shiora, it's not just personal experience from my life outside of the fandom or in observing it. In fact on my first playthrough of the game I was all for it and even saved a bunch of fanart of the two together on my phone, I see it when scrolling through my gallery all the time! It really fascinates me how drastically my perspective shifted after just one small moment at the very end of the game, and then on replaying it everything fell apart like a house of cards to me, wild stuff I can't compare the experience to anything else haha. Anyway if anyone's interested in seeing my take on that aspect of their writing, once again, feel free to send me an ask about it!)