#i have some dialogue written between the pairing already and i love their interactions

[befuddled-calico-whump]

🕸️ What’s a whump idea that’s gathering dust at the back of your brain?

Another one that I have basically plotted, but can't seem to actually write is an alternate history, early-1900s crime fic centered on an artist who works for a crime syndicate. It would also be my first attempt at an overt romance, despite whump being at the forefront

[thenextdawn-temporarilyclosed]

One Of Your Kind (CH. 1)

Ch. 1 | Ch. 2 | Ch. 3 | Ch. 4 | Ch. 5 | Ch. 6 | Ch. 7 | Ch. 8 | Ch. 9 | Ch. 10

Word count: 2.7K

Summary: Your dream has always been to be a movie director, and your studies have been doing great.. until you get called to work in America and you’re forced to speak a language you don’t know.

Warnings: none

Pairing: Jenna Ortega X Fem!Reader

I’m finally starting to write my series! I hope you’ll like it🖤✨

———

A/N: Reader is italian, but every thought and dialogue will be written in English to make reading easier and smoother for everyone.

September 2019

Finally getting some freedom after highschool, you started your road to making your dreams come true. Living in Italy with a family that never supported you, is hard, really hard: you never had their economical support, so you had to work really hard and study even harder to get the scholarship you have always dreamed of. You wanted to be a movie director, you wanted to work in the movie industry and realize movies, tv series. The scholarship luckily covered the entire lasting of your studies, but before actually getting to work and start your career, you had to do your “training”, that is going on movie sets and watch how everything actually worked. You were a really good student and you were a really quick learner, the best in your class.

You started off easy in your country, traveling from Milano to Catania to go on sets. You didn’t really work there yet, you wanted to learn how things worked you had to observe. The actual movie directors made you hold the equipment all while you observed and learned how to handle situations, how to act around actors and how to interact with them. They also taught you a lot and gave very useful tips.

Your family completely disowned you, they wanted nothing to do with you, they didn’t want to have to pay for your studies so you were on your own. Luckily you had always found opportunities where you didn’t have to pay, or everything was paid already for you. However you even had a small part time job to help you pay house rent. Your dreams were coming true, yes, but your social life is feeling the effects of it. Between work and training, you never had time to meet people, make friends, fall in love… so in all meanings you were alone. On a good note, you never made people suffer because of your constant traveling: you knew that if you had a girlfriend, you’d make her suffer because you were never in your hometown, you were always traveling and whatnot, when on sets you had to keep your phone on silent, and it was HOURS before you could even pick it up again.

With COVID happening, your studies and training was interrupted. Even your work. You were in deep shit, to say the list. You didn’t have a job, and you couldn’t pay rent. Luckily the owner of the apartment you lived in was comprehensive enough to understand the situation and give you time, until you found a new job. You sent job applications here and there to work as a student and as a “equipment holder” on sets, you didn’t even see WHERE the filming would take place, you just needed to work, do something that could help you pay rent. 9 months passed before you actually got a call back, well- it was more of an e-mail.

THE Megan Park, one of your favorite actresses, was having her debut as a movie director on her new and first movie, The Fallout, and she was willing to have you as her student.

“Hello (Y/N)! Your e-mail where you say you have been looking for movie sets to help holding equipment has been forwarded to me by a few people. I also saw that you’re wanting to be a movie director and that you will doing whatever you’re asked to do just to be on a movie set and learn. I’m more than willing to pay for your flight from Italy to Ohio and have you as my student. I look forward to your response!”

You didn’t really understand English really well, so you copy-pasted the email onto a translator and read it. Great, you had a job! But it was in… Ohio? AMERICA? You were freaking out. It was a great opportunity, sure, you have always been wanting to go to America, but as a tourist, not as a student… you reflected at least a couple hours on it. America has always been your dream, but you were scared. Will people understand your crappy English? Will you find any friends, will you actually learn what you want to learn?

You chose to take the opportunity and reply to her letter, though explaining your problem with the language. You used a translator and sent her this response:

“Hello, first of all I would like to thank you so much for looking at my application. I really love your works and I’m more than happy to accept your invite, though I have something to say, and I hope it won’t be a problem. As you know already I’m Italian, but I don’t really know English. I mean I know the basics, but it takes me some time to form a sensed sentence and to understand what I’m being told. I know this can be seen as a malus point, but I hope it won’t be a problem.”

You got her reply after just half an hour:

“No it’s not a problem at all! I’m really glad you decided to take the opportunity even with your difficulties. I’ve seen your résumé and I get that you’re a fast learner! I believe that you can learn English as fast as you learn how to be a movie director. Within the week I will send you the details of your flight, I look forward to meeting you!”

Just like that, the next week you were making your way to the airport, with a luggage that was heavy as hell for just a month and a half, but you really had no idea what to take. Was it hot, was it cold? You had clothes for both occasion. It was summer there as it was August, but you thought that maybe at night it was colder. However you got to the airport, until you were in Italy, you had no problem. Megan had booked you a flight in first class so you had as much comfort as you could for a 15 hour long flight. However your problems started on that plane… the staff was entirely speaking English.

On the fourth hour of flying a flying attendant came to you. “Good morning miss. We hope you’re having a good flight. Would you like something to eat?” What was that she asked? And why did she speak so fast? You didn’t understand anything at all. “I don’t… speak english very well” you said, with a really noticeable Italian accent. The flight attendant excused herself and sent you someone who actually spoke some Italian, and she was your savior for that flight, but the fact of being all alone in a country of English speakers, scared you like hell.

After those long, tiring 15 hours of flight you finally arrived in Ohio and followed instructions to the exit. You didn’t know what to look for, but in the mail with the details Megan told you that she would send someone to pick you up, and that the driver would be holding a sign with your name on. It took you a while, but you found the guy and he loaded your luggage in the car before driving you to the set. The landscapes of Ohio were incredible to say the least. The movie would be filmed in a school so you didn’t have to go in the countryside, but the short road trip from the airport to the set was really relaxing and beautiful.

When you arrived on set, you were immediately lost. People gave you weird looks because they had never seen you, but you took a look at the mail Megan sent you where she told you where to go, and followed the indications that led to her office, though you never made it there, because she saw you going that way and intercepted you. “(Y/N)!” You heard someone call you and turned around, only to see Megan coming your way. She hugged you and you reciprocated the hug awkwardly. You knew Americans were confident with other people, but you didn’t expect them to actually hug people they’ve only talked through e-mails with. “It’s good to see you!” She said. Luckily, greetings you could understand. “It’s… good to see you too” you spoke really slowly, trying to make sense out of your sentence. Megan smiled “so you do speak English” she said with a smile. You had to reflect on her words before actually speaking. “A little” you said, mimicking it with your fingers so that Megan actually understood you.

The first days on set were really hard to say the least. The actors hadn’t arrived yet, and this is part of the reasons why Megan made you come before they started filming. She wanted you to familiarize with the rest of the stuff, to see where the equipment was and she even told you what you were going to do and how you were going to help her, and gave you a daily to-do list, rigorously translated in italian, to make you feel more comfortable. You talked with her through a translator for the first period of time so that it would be easier for you to understand everything and you had to say it was really helpful, she put you at ease and you couldn’t be happier.

But of course there had to be problems there, too. Because eventually you had to talk to other people, other staff members. Even though you told them you didn’t speak really good english, they insisted on speaking english and not wanting to use a translator. They used technical languages, names of the equipments, and you understood none of it. You had tried looking for the names on the internet, and you did find them but when in a sentence, and when they spoke fast, you didn’t understand what they were asking you to do.

Even when the actors and actresses arrived and got comfortable with the set and the staff, the higher ups always got mad at you for doing stuff wrong, but you didn’t understand what they asked you to do, it wasn’t your fault. People would make fun of you, calling you stupid because you didn’t understand them. You had hoped to make friends with the actresses since Megan told you they were your age, but the rest of the staff told them that it was useless, because you didn’t understand english. It’s not that hard to communicate, people just have to be patient. When filming started, a lot of times they would have to start shooting scenes all over again because you had done something wrong. It had gotten to the point where Megan would receive constant complaints about you. She had to do something.

To make things easier for you, Megan sent you texts translated in italian.

Megan: Vieni nel mio ufficio, dobbiamo parlare. [come to my office, we need to talk.]

You didn’t answer her text, but you went to her office, scared as hell for your work, for your place, for your future as a movie director. As soon as you walked in, she gave you a small smile. “Hello” you said as you sat down in front of her. “I will try to talk slow for you. Is this okay?” She asked. Luckily, you could understand when people were talking to you slowly- only Megan did this. Everyone else refused to. “I’ve been getting a lot of complaints about your work. They say you make things wrong, that you don’t listen and you don’t want to listen. Is that true?” She asked you. You gulped and thought of your words before speaking. “I don’t understand what they ask me. I try to tell them to speak slow but uh-“ you thought of your words. “They don’t want to speak slow. So I don’t know what they ask me and I make things wrong. I am sorry.” Your english was very, very bad and your pronunciation made it ten times work, but you made it work.

Before Megan could reply, you spoke again. “If you want one other student, I can leave. I do understand.” Megan shook her head and smiled. “You can stay, I understand that it’s not your fault. Those are idiots. From now on you’ll only talk to me, you’ll only follow my orders, you’ll work under my direct command so I can make you the movie director you want to be. Okay?” She said as she made her way towards you, putting a comforting hand on your shoulder. She also wrote that down and translated it to make sure you understood, she probably was the only one to make you feel at ease there. “So, are you making any friends? With the actors, I mean” she said, still talking slowly as the two of you walked out of the office. She wanted you to improve your English.

“No, I didn’t” you said and sighed, looking in front of you. “How come?” She asked. You looked at her in confusion, what did “how come mean?” She looked at you and laughed at your confused face, before apologizing. “I’m sorry. Why? Why did you not make any friends?” You smiled slightly. “Oooh so “how come” is also used to ask “why”?” You asked, and she nodded. “Your staff talked bad about me to the actresses. So they don’t talk to me” you shrugged and went on with your walk with her. From that day on Megan made it her mission to get the actresses to come talk to you.

You only did what Megan asked you, and slowly but surely, your work was amazing. She asked you for tips, she asked you what she could do better. At first you were scared to do so, but after a while when you had more confidence with her, your tips revealed themselves useful and she actually improved her work thanks to you. She let you check the screens, use effects, filters. She let you be an actual director, teaching you lots of stuff and you couldn’t be more grateful. But just recently, she has been trying to get you to work closer to the actresses… especially to the one playing Vada. Her name was Jenna, you learned. And according to Megan, you two could really get along.

The two of you hadn’t really talked yet because Jenna was of course too busy talking with her co-star, Maddie. But today, she had wanted to try some equipment on and understand how it worked, and Megan had given you the job to help her put it on. She stood still as you did your job and didn’t speak a word, knowing what she knew about you, she’d probably make fun of you, so you stayed quiet… but she was the one wanting to make conversation. “Hi” she said as you walked around her while setting up the equipment. “Hi” you replied back pretty quickly. This was the only thing you could understand pretty quickly. At some point Jenna had figured out you were around her age, and seeing people make fun of you because you barely knew English, wasn’t good. “You’re (Y/N), right?” She asked and looked at you and you nodded, avoiding her eyes.

“I’m sorry about what they say about you. Don’t listen to them, they’re idiots.” She said, speaking too fast for your likings. “I’m sorry, I don’t speak English very well.” You said, and she smiled slightly, before saying the same things, but slower. She was the first person after Megan who was willing to talk to you even if it meant taking hours just for a sentence. “They are idiots..” you spoke lowly, not wanting them to hear “you’re Jenna, right?” You asked just for confirmation. She nodded and shook your hand.

“It’s nice to finally talk to you, (Y/N)”

A/N: I’m sorry that there’s not many JennaXReader interactions in this first chapters, but I promise that there will be more in the next one. I really hope you’re gonna like this fic

[kandisheek]

FIC REC WEEK 23 – POST-CA:CW

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: sheron

The thing I love most about sheron's fics – other than the amazing characterization, fantastic dialogue and pacing – is how most of the emotional journey of these characters happens between the lines. It's a really subtle and beautiful way of writing that I enjoy to no end, especially in their Post-Civil War fics. And I am really impressed by the way they manage to juggle the hurt feelings on all sides without it ever turning into something vicious or mean. All the characters are redeemable and sympathetic, and I adore that.

Here's some of their work that I think you should check out:

Evidence of Things Unsaid

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: G Words: 3,996 Tags: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, First Kiss

Summary: The Avengers (and ex-Avengers) are forced to socialize at a PR event. Why is there never a monster around to attack New York when you need one?

Reasons why I love it: The team dynamics in this one are absolutely flawless. I love how potent the still lingering hurt is, and how it manifests itself in each interaction. And of course, the Stony is immaculate – I especially love the glass breaking scene, it feels so symbolic and true to their characters. I love this fic to death, and I bet you will too!

Better in Time

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: G Words: 6,498 Tags: Presumed Dead, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Reconciliation

Summary: Tony doesn't call until there's live footage of Steve going down in a hail of bullets. Steve misses his call.

Reasons why I love it: Yes, yes, yes, YES, everything about this is yes! Near death experiences bringing MCU Avengers closer together since 2012, I love it! sheron writes them so well, I will never not gush about their characterizations, and this one especially just makes me so happy. I love this fic, and you should definitely read it, if you haven't already!

your eyes have their silence

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: G Words: 2,780 Tags: Established Relationship, Trust Issues, Angst with a Happy Ending

Summary: There's been a break-in at his private workshop. "The access was through the authorization code of Captain Rogers," FRIDAY says and Tony can't breathe.

Reasons why I love it: Aaaah, this one hurts so good! I can absolutely see how Tony arrived at his conclusion, and it's so painful to see how much it hurts both of them when he asks the question. The angst is superb, and the moment of forgiveness is made all the sweeter for it. I love this one so much, you absolutely have to read it!

North (Northwest to Nowhere Remix)

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: G Words: 7,100 Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Pre-Slash, Hurt Steve

Summary: Steve and Tony end up lost in the middle of nowhere, and Steve is struggling with an injury he received during their escape from AIM. What else could possibly go wrong? Unsurprisingly: a lot.

Reasons why I love it: Tony has fallen so deeply for Steve that he can't get up, and Steve is a self-sacrifing idiot, but what else is new? I love the hurt/comfort in this, and Steve and Tony being protective of each other is always lovely to see, especially when it's as well-written as this. I love this fic, and I bet you will too!

Exit Wounds (The No Exit Remix)

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: G Words: 2,375 Tags: Hurt Steve, Protective Tony, Hopeful Ending

Summary: Tony gets trapped together with Steve in a collapsed HYDRA facility, which makes it hard to avoid him.

Reasons why I love it: This fic gives me that really satisfying feeling of finally getting at an itch that's been bothering you for hours. It feels long-overdue, and I love the way sheron characterizes them here, both still so hurt and yet willing to overcome their differences. This fic is wonderful, and I highly recommend it, if you haven't read it already!

[serenpedac]

Hii, can you recommend TWC writers? I'm new to the fandom so I dunno many writers (for any detective).

Thank youu 💓

Hi anon! Welcome to the fandom ^^ This was a great ask, it was fun to get a chance to talk about the amazing writers in this fandom! 

Some notes:  If someone writes for multiple pairings, I mention the one that is my favourite of theirs first. This list only has writers who post their work on Ao3, since that’s my preferred place to read fic. Some of the people on this list are not (as) active in the fandom atm, but their work is still very much worth reading! One final caveat is that there are many other writers that I love, but argh, this list was already getting very long haha

Alright, enough rambling, here’s a list! I hope you’ll have fun reading <3

SerialChillr (@serial-chillr) – Detective/Mason, Detective/Nate – Amazing writing, obviously, but I wanted to highlight the way Serial writes relationships. The gradual development of intimacy, opening up, ah, just everything. Also, excellent smut!

firebreathing_bitchqueen (@thee-morrigan) – Detective/Nate, Adam/Nate, Detective/Ava, Detective/Morgan, Detective/Felix – First of all, I love Katie’s N-mancing detective Holland. Self-reliant and sarcastic, she plays off of Nate really well. Other than that, Katie’s prose is always a joy to read and her writing feels very immersive!

cryptidlibrarian (@vryptidart) – All pairings (ignoring gender options), including Detective/Farah and OC/Nat – What I love most about Salt’s writing is how they bring their stories and characters to life, whether that’s in their stories that expand on the world of Wayhaven or in their various AUs. Their stories always feel imaginative and vibrant!

aeruh (@sealriously-sealrious) – Detective/Felix – This writer currently only has one TWC fic online (though I saw a WIP snippet for another one), but oh, the way they write F is so good! Nuanced and with a great character voice. I’ve also read a few of their works for their other fandom, which were also very good, so I’m happy to recommend them.

Arcane_Apparition (@agnt-sexysuavewell) – Detective/Nate – I’ve some catching up to do on this writer’s fic, but ones I have read have been wonderful. The feels! The turns of phrase! I also feel they have such a good understanding of N’s character. 

evil_bunny_king (@evilbunnyking) – Detective/Nate/Ava (poly as well as LT), Nate/Ava, Detective/Nate, Detective/Adam – Listing my favourite pairing here was a bit of a struggle, as all Bunny’s writing is gorgeous. The atmosphere, the beautiful prose, the insight into different characters and their relationships to one another. Masterful writing!

forest_creatures (@whalesfall) – Detective/Nate, Adam/Nate – Again, beautiful prose, but I also really like how their writing goes into a slightly darker direction at times, focusing on the vampire’s need blood. Because, let’s be honest, there’s something very sexy about drinking someone else’s blood. Seeing this writer return to the fandom when book 3 came out made me very happy!

plasticdodecagon (@wayhavenots) – Detective/Nate, Detective/Morgan, Detective/Ava – Great dialogue! Seriously, PD’s character interactions are so well-written, whether they are lighthearted or more angsty, they always feel very realistic. Just a heads up, I think she has a couple fics here on tumblr that are not on Ao3.

Lykegenia (@lykegenia) – Detective/Nate – Lovely writing that just flows wonderfully  and is a delight to read. The relationship dynamic between Nate and her detective, Leah, is so good, but what I love most is how she captures Nate’s character.

shahrazade (@ava-du-mortain) – Detective/Ava, Detective/Morgan, Detective/Nat, Detective/Morgan/Ava (LT), Detective/Farah – Very varied writing, from angsty snippets to sweeter ones to horror, and all of them have some very poetic turns of phrase in them. Also, Nairuz captures all members of UB really well!

narrativefoitrope (@narrativefoiltrope) – Detective/Mason, Detective/Nat, Detective/Ava – The soft angst of Erin’s Winter/Mason pairing hurts so so good! They explore what a detective choosing to remain human means in such a heartbreakingly intimate and thoughtful way. On a more general note, I really like the dynamics of all their pairings (narrative foils indeed).

Ejunkiet (@ejunkiet) – Detective/Mason, Nate/Adam, Detective/Nate, Detective/Ava, Detective/Morgan, Detective/Falk – My favourite thing about EJ’s writing is how the trust and intimacy comes across so well. There is some excellent smut in here, always with feelings shining through, whether those feelings are spoken (or even acknowledged) or not. I very much admire how EJ makes me feel those, ehm, feels!

qbrujas (@queerbrujas) – Detective/Nate, Detective/Morgan, Detective/Nat, Detective/Ava, Detective/Felix – Stunning prose that always feels so intense. As in, the emotions are felt very strongly, pulling me along, and I’m here for it. Silv also has great interpretations of N in general.

natehsewell (not on tumblr anymore?) – Ava/Nat, Detective/Nate, Detective/Ava, Detective/Adam – The kind of writing that makes my heart ache, because it’s so beautiful. It’s like poetry that makes you want to read it over and over.

In case you’re interested in recs for individual fics, here and here are my End of Year Fic Rec Lists from the past two years. 

As a final, gentle note, I’m sure these writers would be overjoyed to get a comment if you’ve read and enjoyed their writing.

[themelodicenigma]

***Long post, oh boy.

It is interesting that I've gotten some Asks about Fang and Vanille circulating on Twitter because of FFXVI. Lol I have seen the posts, and also the resistance of it from those who feel like it's looking down on Dion/Terrance (which I kind of agree with, let them have their spotlight).

Overall, we really just shouldn't care too much about that.

A lot of the fandom drama is just bleh at this point (really always was), and when you've seen SO much for years, it's easy to tell what is what. I mean, I'm now seeing people fighting over Jill/Clive of whether they're romantic or not, or if they align more with Clerith or Cloti. Lol Just why.

However, as for what some of ya'll requested from me about Fang and Vanille, to talk about how they're different from Jill/Clive or Vaan/Penelo—I mean, that's easy.

Jill/Clive? It's a random line in her young profile at the beginning that mentions Clive and Joshua "love her as a sister"—the same beginning that immediately has an NPC say Jill/Clive make a "handsome pair", show hardly any typical sibling action, dialogue, or contextual connotation between Jill/Clive in any scene (where they barely really interact until the Moon screen), and the interactions they do have don't really naturally fit into the box of "these two love each other as siblings or Clive views her as a younger sister". Apparently, it's also BOTH the ENG and JPN that mention a sibling relationship. Either way, the game also straight-forwardly writes them as romantic, so it doesn't matter even if it was true or not—unless you're trying to argue he thinks of her as both, there's no doubt they're romantic. Like, seriously, if you haven't finished the game well....trust, you'll find out they're romantic.

Vaan/Penelo? Well first, as far as I'm concerned, the BradyGames guide from years past is the one that carries the assumption that they're "brother and sister". Otherwise, the game, Ultimania, and even the Archive Ultimania only mention they're "like family"—in which case, this is obviously in reference to their orphan past where they were already childhood friends. Reks (Vaan's brother) went to war and Vaan's parents died, Vaan stays with Penelo's family as a result, and then soon after Penelo's parents ALSO died, and then now they BOTH were orphaned along with a bunch of other kids and grew up together working for Migelo as a group of orphans. It's not written for no reason or something that is not true—they're like family. And of course, you know that's a descriptor of a bond, of closeness—YOU can assume it defaults and is limited to a sibling relationship, but technically that's not true, and very often isn't. So, it doesn't even contrast their romanticism (which is hinted at in the 1st game, not just the 2nd), not to mention, it's not even a focus between their characters in the story. The friendship is really the focus, while the family aspect is more expressed for Vaan through dealing with his actual brother's death. The family in relation to their past and part of their bond is definitely a thing, don't get me wrong, but it's hardly emphasized within the game and a center for what they express about and to each other. That'd be the friendship, you just also happen to have romanticism applied eventually as well.

Fang and Vanille, though? It's the major focus of their characters, the family concept flows through them intentionally, consistently, and is also specific to being as sisters. Not to mention, it then is applicable to ALL things shown between them and EXPLAINS their behavior towards each other. In the Games, FFXIII and FFXIII World Previews, Ultimanias + Other credible guides like Piggyback, VA interviews, novelizations—this never stops being true for them and something implemented more than you'd EVER see between Clive/Jill or Vaan/Penelo. And it all "coincidentally" flows together as a whole for the family/sister application.

FFXIII World Preview - their introduction on the relationship chart is "same family surname". Even before the game's release, the family connotation is applied to them. While we learn the REASON in-world is because of them being from the same village, this more than obviously is for the purpose of serving the continuous family connotation THROUGH Fang and Vanille specifically to emphasis this, as supported by all other points below. Also, just a small thought, why choose this to introduce the characters mysteriously, and then later have a plethora of familial confirmations, if it's something that isn't representative of exactly what it foretells?

FFXIII Ultimania Chart - "relationship like sisters", enough said. Unlike Vaan/Penelo, it specifies WHAT family relationship they have. They didn't pull back from "same family surname", they took it steps further. The relationship chart is informative of something about the characters, and obviously the content can show something more than just the chosen moniker (e.g. Aqua/Terra/Ven aren't just "fellow pupils"), but it also isn't something that is FALSE information unless the content TELLS you it's false. It normally doesn't, and certainly didn't for Fang and Vanille, as per below.

FFXIII Scenario Ultimania, Archive Ultimania, LR Complete Guide - literally, everywhere, ESPECIALLY in writings relative to Fang, who is the older sister, protector, and most concerned over the other—this also correlates to why Fang's character centers around Vanille's more than the other way around (more on that later). Her descriptions really capture WHY she is the way she is towards Vanille and why the center of her character is protecting Vanille and keeping her from turning into a Cie'th. The FFXIII Scenario Ultimania even directly says in Fang's profile "Vanille is not just a childhood friend from the same hometown" and guess what works alongside this description: "To Fang, Vanille is an irreplaceable family member", "grew up like sisters", "they have a bond beyond family", “Since the original Final Fantasy XIII, Fang has always strived to protect Vanille, considering her as her own family", etc. etc. etc. Family, family, family. Being friends is absolutely a thing, don't get it twisted, but the family aspect not only in retrospect to growing up together, but in HOW they see each other, is consistent, ESPECIALLY for Fang. The Lightning Returns Complete Guide is from Piggyback, who is known for having the developers involved in the conception of their guides as well, and Toriyama himself is quoted in the book saying Fang considers Vanille as family.

FFXII Scenario Ultimania Stories - As a bonus, in Benny Matsuyama's short stories for all the characters, including separately in both Fang and Vanille's stories—in both stories, he doubles down on the same things as above, describing how Fang has this strong conviction and vow of protecting Vanille, who is like her younger sister, and wants to stop her from becoming a Cie'th. While Matsuyama's canonicity through BentStuff is a complete other conversation, there is the consideration of the fact he's reiterating something that has already been applied as opposed to making it up, not to mention, his novella and the character he created in the FFXIII Ultimania Omega were made canon, and he's in the staff credits for Lightning Returns.

FFXIII Ultimania Omega Interview - even Fang's VA mentions how "To Fang, Vanille is like a younger sister", and relates that to why she relates to Fang since she has a younger sister too, and thus understands the strong conviction Fang has in protecting Vanille.

The FFXIII Game - now I don't think the game itself specifically mentions them being "like sister" (at least in the dialogue, as I've gone through the script of the cutscenes), but the family aspect is something they carry pretty heavily, especially for the group. Vanille's narration talking about family and the regrets of not keeping them as close as you should, Vanille introducing the idea of "On Gran Pulse, everyone is family", Fang and Vanille emphasizing that their village is a close-knit family when arriving to Oerba, Fang assuring Vanille "we have a new family now" and the Ulti Omega doubling down by saying that this line clearly shows how Fang sees the group as her family, and of course, Fang trying to sacrifice herself to fulfill her promise to "protect her family" when the group faces Orphan. Fang's worry and conviction to protect Vanille, and extending this to her expanded family, is shown greatly.

-Zero Promise- Novelization - the novelization is the treasure trove for Fang and Vanille's context as character, their family/sister relationship (along with friendship, of course), and their past. It even features two direct parallels between Lightning and Fang for the sake of showing how Fang views Vanille like a little sister. Even Vanille, in the moment they became L'Cie at their village, tells Fang about how despite being orphans, they were raised together, and were family. There's also the additional context of Fang being like the "woman/adult" while Vanille is like "the child", emphasizing the child-like personality of Vanille by how she always slept next to Fang (also with other kids in the village, before they became L'Cie) from her fears of loneliness, and Fang recounting this of her looking after her being a "crybaby". Naturally, all of this does naturally fit within a context where there's an older sibling and a younger sibling. There usually isn't, but if there are concerns over canonicity—Jun Eishima, the author of this novel (and the FFXIII-2 novels), was hired directly by SE to write her novelizations and to have them published through SE individually, had them featured in the World Previews of both FFXIII and XIII-2, had another short story called -Episode i- featured with the Xbox 360 release of FFXIII, AND was the Story Advisor for the actual FFXIII-2 game. So, it's safe to say she's an authentic additional party to the series as an author, even more than Matsuyama.

-Episode i- Novelization - this short story features the group slightly post-the ending of FFXIII. The story shows the groups conviction for saving Fang and Vanille from the crystal stasis, which sets up this same conviction expressed from all of them (especially Snow and Hope) in FFXIII-2. More importantly, how this conviction is shaped by the familial bond they created with Fang and Vanille, and they remark how this meaning came from Vanille's famous line: "On Gran Pulse, everyone is family".

FFXIII-2 World Preview Book - continuing the trend, Fang and Vanille are described as "like family" once again in the relationship chart. And at this point, we already know HOW they're like family: sisters.

FFXIII-2 Game/Novelization - This first point is really kind of a bonus that is congruent to the comparison of Lightning and Fang, but in FFXIII-2 when Serah meets Fang for the first time, she talks about how Fang reminded her of Lightning. There's also the "Daughters of Etro" moniker they gain through prophecy and the "Legend of Cocoon" Noel speaks on—this is obviously congruent with the concept of them being family/sisters to one another, it just throws in the context of a connection to Etro. Interestingly enough, the ENG localization also recounts the legend through Noel as them being called "the sisters", as well, though this line of dialogue in JPN from Noel is still "the daughters". This meaning is also talked about within the novelizations Fragments Before and Fragments After.

FFXIII: Lightning Returns Game - And of course, Fangs conviction to protect Vanille is STILL the center of her character, to the point she leaves Vanille in order to accomplish this. Lightning will remark this, wondering what made Fang leave since they have "a bond beyond/stronger than family". At this point, it's obvious why family is the foundation of this descriptor, but also how it works as a nice descriptor that comments on the strength of this bond, and how it is stronger than the already strong bond of family bonds.

And the most important thing as demonstrated above? They don't stray from this—they build upon it. There's no deviation, there's no making it false, there's no "this is a lie and it's actually romantic". This IS the characters and their relationship—perhaps the most important difference between them and Clive/Jill or Vaan/Penelo. Within all this, there is no "coded/subtext" of romance, when all things expressed in the game fits within ALL that is provided above and is congruent to one another for the same conclusion: Fang and Vanille are family, are sisters, and very much so care a lot about each other. As you can see, it was given in a multitude of ways throughout the existence of all 3 games and corresponding material relative to them. This especially for Fang—a character who is older, has grown up taking care of a younger character in a family setting, and whose main priority is protecting them and looking after them: this doesn't just fit in the sibling/parental [hogosha] box, it is THE box itself. Are there stories that deviate, that subvert this and make it romantic? Absolutely, I've seen them myself. But, it's a deviation for a reason, it's "different than what it appears as" for a reason—because it's not what is natural for a romantic relationship to develop. There's a reason Fang is consistently compared and paired with Lightning, who is also not only just a sibling to Serah, but also a hogosha [parental figure]. I would make the same argument for Fang too.

One thing I've seen actively in the way is the very typical urge to use our personal interpretations more than the content to understand something. The bar for romanticism is REALLY low in how people perceive things, and that's a wider conversation on how media itself was the influence on this, kind of negatively if you ask me. Glorification of romanticism and sex is a thing. Like really, it's what part of me understands HOW people can see Fang and Vanille as romantic, but also, WHY I know they also should be able to see it as platonic, too. I believe this is an important aspect of talking about perception and media. However, we can't be blinded by it—logically or emotionally. There's not a single thing they've done that can't be understood through the lens of what the material has given you to understand it. Use the lens of the information, not your own personal interpretation if you want to KNOW Fang and Vanille. If you want to ship the hek out of them despite this, fine—I don't care about that specifically, but it would be nice if people recognized and also talked about who the characters actually are outside of their headcanon. That way, when things that are just misconceptions are said, people who know better can say something.

Fang originally being a man? Actually, they both were in a sense. And, not only is it a "coincidence" that the construction of Fang's character is centered on her "wanting to save Vanille", but also that one of the reasons Fang was turned into a female was to AVOID the feeling of romance between Fang and Vanille. Interesting how that little detail is left out by those mentioning this (one could even argue it's slightly homophobic, but that's a whole other convo). Either way, it makes sense as to why the center of Fang's character is her conviction to protect Vanille—it's what she was created for, and we see HOW they chose to execute that: to protect Vanille, her younger sister, her family.

Fang and Vanille being like the Ragnarok legend? It's pretty easy to understand what was/wasn't used with the Lif and Lifthrasir comparison. They're a duo, seemingly the last of the Pulse civilization, and associated with Ragnarok—that's where the similarity ends and how far it was utilized, obviously as based on the above. Something done in media all the time is the utilization of concepts, but not ALL details are 1:1. Happens all the time, and when the storytelling is directly referencing the concept itself (like True Love's Kiss or an Act of Pure Love), it's actually a specific point to SUBVERT from romance and apply it differently.

Vanille talking about never sleeping alone? This is literally linked to the "child-like" aspect of her character—of her fears and sadness of loneliness, and quite frankly the trauma of being orphaned. She's never slept alone, and Vanille recounts this in lieu of herself and ALL the orphans (before they're L'Cie)—it wasn't just Fang in her recollection, but Fang is the one she is closest to and relied on the most. Sleeping alone = fear of loneliness. Fang recounts the same idea in lieu of Vanille's "crybaby" personality—"Vanille would always cry, waking up from a bad dream, holding on to Fang and begging her not to leave her alone. She had always been like that, since they were children."—and naturally, this coincides with Fang's role of taking care of her since they were kids. Surely we're not confused on how that fits with a sibling dynamic more naturally than a romantic one? Then lastly, what is probably even the inspiration of this from the -Zero- Promise novel, is the wholesome/sad scene in the FFXIII game when Vanille, after making a deal about Sazh not invading her sleeping space, sneaks over to sleep next to him, crying, and Sazh allows it, calling her a kid. I mean, it's literally outlined three separate times. Nothing to do with romance, it's about Vanille's character. Unless, you really think Vanille was coming onto Sazh as opposed to dealing with trauma. Knowing the internet, I'm sure that's a ship somewhere, but it ain't it.

Fang lifting up Vanille's skirt to see her brand on her upper thigh? That is, to see if she is close to death, being a Cie'th? The very thing she's been stressing about the entire game up to that point? In this, we can also include the ability of Fang and Vanille hugging or holding each other's hands when they're sacrificing themselves. Basically, physical intimacy.

Boy, this one is a rant for me, and it's hard to be nice about it.

The L'Cie brand is practically almost like a wound, and they're constantly in s state of worry of it getting worse, with it being their ticking time clock towards losing themselves to becoming Cie'th. This is one of Fang's biggest concerns for Vanille along with protecting her.

Now, take their outward personalities that reinforce they're not one to make a big deal about seeing skin, their close-knit familial upbringing + being sisters within this environment—supplemented by the info that supports Fang being the older sister whose main concern is Vanille's safety and turning into a Cie'th + Vanille, who is the younger sister and like a "child", them both being females, and how Fang wordlessly moves Vanille to do this while Vanille has no protest, which can be reminiscent of a mother/child, which "coincidentally" flows with the above, etc. If you seriously can't understand in any way how this interaction fits within the information of the above, platonically, and doesn't showcase anything relative to "this can only happen if they're fucking"—then there's not much else to be said other than, maybe expand your understanding of human interaction and personalities in media (not even just JPN, either)? That's the nicest and most understanding way I can put it. Take in anything, where a sibling dynamic and their capability of interaction isn't just bickering and tussling with one another. Please. It's super easy, and has been done before or even further in so much other content, all across JPN media. There's SO many characters with strong sibling relationships. For SE games, also look at FFXIII itself—Lightning and Hope, Hope and Vanille (the beginning), Sarah and Vanille even share a moment when they meet, Lightning and Serah's interaction at the end of XIII-2, etc. It's everywhere. Yuna and Rikku's hug scene in FFX, Aqua's general intimacy towards Ventus in the KH series, etc. There's not a single thing Fang and Vanille has done that isn't covered under what has been given about their characters, and it's not even like, that much. I mean, Elsa and Anna between Frozen 1 and 2 show more I'd say. "B-but, but, hugs in Japanese media are always—". Nope, go read, watch, anything, please. Now, there can be a certain conversation of expectations between say, a female and male (and even this isn't absolute), but between females? Showing physical intimacy and closeness, not only in real-time of the story but also in key art? Super common. Easy.

There's even a conversation for the sake of how Fang and Vanille specifically are the way they are because of this upbringing, so Fang not making a big deal about even checking Lightning's brand despite being a stranger, Vanille and Serah sharing a moment while being strangers, and even how quickly Vanille physically came to comforting Hope at the beginning of the game—it's more about their personalities and familial/close-knit characterization.

Like, c'mon man. There's "I can see this happening between a couple but also know it can happen without it", and then there's "there's no 'heterosexual' explanation for this". One shows understanding and wisdom, the other, either just uninformed or purposely ignorant of the fact that, yes, they give you an explanation. Over, and over, and over again, in multiple sources, in multiple ways, as shown above. Realize the whole "I would never do that with my sister" is not evidential of what CAN and HAS been done for other sisters or sibling characters. I mean, if you're sincerely not use to seeing all types of physical or descriptive expressions that can happen between this configuration of characterization, I'm not sure how you'd make it through most JPN content to be honest and not tell the difference between what's sexual or platonic, or even American content like Four Brothers, The Outsiders, Frozen, etc., without believing all the siblings (blood related or not) are all having sex with each other. Also, I think it's interesting to note that most physical interactions are initiated by Fang, the older sister, who's main priority is protecting and looking after her younger sister—it certainly matches the same energy you'll see from older sisters in JPN media who show love and comfort to their younger sisters.

Fang would "be everyone's enemy/tear the sky down" just to save Vanille and this is like "Snow's language" towards Serah? I mean, have you seen Supernatural? XD Also like, again, ANY JPN content with an older and younger sibling, whose sole motivation and characterization is protecting their younger sibling? It's called conviction (as we covered, Fang was created specifically to have for Vanille), and considering Serah and her happiness is Lighting's "reason for living and her greatest reward", who Lighting has "the same beloved feeling" for that is the same depth as Snow, is what, "coincidentally", Fang herself uses to motivate Lightning to keep going when she contemplates giving up, who Lightning does turn against Cocoon for in order to save, and who is THE most important component to Lightning's agency in the 3rd game and is the key to her character arc—I'm sure Lightning isn't far off from what Fang is. Again, there's the novella equating them, and also, Serah being reminded of Lightning when she finally meets Fang—this conviction to protect and save your loved ones is something, really, all the characters show. It isn't just Snow, nor is it just Fang. And, Fang just so happens to have this conviction in a way that has been repeatedly linked to "protecting Vanille, her younger sister".

Fang and Vanille having a "bond beyond family"? First, notice how family is still the basis of this bond, the conventional relationship type that is the most versatile AND the top signifier of closeness. So "bond" here isn't relationship type, it's in the same vein of the "reason for existing", "irreplaceable", "unbreakable", "most important thing", etc. descriptors that you get to show how a relationship goes beyond just a type, which all the above is beyond simply being family. The logic of romance being "beyond family" also doesn't make any sense because it literally is it's own sector in family—I mean, the conventional point of a romantic relationship is TO become family. Also for this specific phrase, funny enough, I've only ever seen it used platonically or specifically with no romanticism application, e.g. in Boruto, Sakura tells her daughter that her and Naruto became "more than family". It's like literally the same Kanji phrasing too (家族以上 - kazoku ijou). I haven't even seen it used in a romantic context, but I'm sure it very well could be. It's also funny that, Lightning says this about Fang and Vanille, of how Fang would "never just leave Vanille all alone", but "coincidentally" (this is getting fun, huh), Hope says Sazh had mentioned practically THE SAME THING about why they wanted to believe Lightning wasn't in the crystal, that Lightning wouldn't "just up and leave Serah like that".

Vanille's VA says she hopes the games will show how Fang and Vanille "have a bond more powerful than friendship"—I mean, yeah? They're family, something stronger than friendship. Bond-wise? Absolutely. They have a bond BEYOND even that. See the above, how is this specifically and only romantic? Keep in mind, this is also the same interview where Fang's VA directly says "To Fang, Vanille is like a younger sister", seeing herself in Fang because she has her own younger sister, and relates of the feeling of "protecting small children" that comes with this. Like you know, "coincidentally", like how Vanille as a younger sister is also "childlike" in disposition and a "cute, crybaby" to Fang. Neither this phrase or "bond beyond family" are inherently romantic, and they're very applicable to other multiple relationship types because it's for the sake of describing the strength of a bond.

Fang and Vanille still live with each other at the end of LR? You mean, two people who have lived together since they were children as a close-knit family, have a whole arc involving them separating and reuniting in BOTH games, and are thrust into a new world with the two still being each other's closest family? A world of which is also still very different than the one they came from? You mean two people like THAT would still live together? I am shocked and dismayed. I feel a little sassy here because, c'mon. I'd also like to point out that the idea of "never being apart/leaving each other's side" is congruent with their history, but also is something expressed in the storytelling of Vanille's fear of loneliness, in which even WAY back in the FFXIII novelization Zero Promise, she expresses to Fang “We might be orphans, but we were raised together. We’re family. We can protect everyone together. We’ll be together forever… no matter what happens, we’ll never be apart.” when being turned into L'Cie. So, it's very fitting, but also still within the context that is repeatedly there.

Let the material speak for itself. Which it does. A lot. And you don't have to do much other than just finding it and absorbing it. I feel like, there's STILL more that I could say, but this is the brunt gist of understanding Fang and Vanille.

[supermacaquecool]

Odd pair commentary now

Okay, I'm not sure when I started writing this, I have the vague inkling of wanting to finish it for the first Survive week? Or is it just because I wrote a lot of Ryo fic for it? Beats me.

...

So yeah, I went to check my twt and I posted the first excerpt (the one above) I wrote for it on Jan 26th of last year lol It was around those times.

I remember a mutual had brought the topic of ships and how Ryo is likely the second most shippable Survive chara lol At any rate, it got me thinking I wanted to explore their dynamic. This funny interaction was the seed from which the whole thing sprouted lol Before I started the game myself (I knew plenty of spoilers already, though) , I knew from a certain drawing on twt that they cook together in Truthful, so I had been looking forward to seeing that a lot. I think the fact they're the same age and Ryo helps her out brings a sense of equality to their relationship that Aoi doesn't really have with her juniors, much less Shuuji. So I thought it could be fun. Incidentally, the way the affinity dialogue plays out where Ryo shows up to help her crackled me up really hard lol The way she ends up bossing him around much to his chagrin and the way he swallows his pride are pretty priceless lol

Another scene I really like with them (the other one I know of???) is that one that takes place when they're about to head to the northern shrine, and Takuma and Aoi show up late bc they got sidetracked with repairs LOL I loved the way Ryo chewed her out for not prioritizing lol So this is kinda inspired by that, tho he gets frustrated at her here for not asking for help (or expressing herself, period LOL). Now that I've written more, I have noticed that I like writing other characters finding my fav annoying, which is just unbelievably funny.

So, it was fun writing those points of friction between them, Aoi disliking Ryo's rude attitude and Ryo finding grating that she clams up lol It was not the cause for huge conflict, but it gave way to some fun smaller instances of awkwardness. I'm very fond of Ryo getting admonished for speaking rudely to her only to nearly call her a dumbass five seconds later lol

Aoi's reticence to rely on others takes the bulk of the scenario:

Ryo cranes his neck over her shoulder to take a peek at whatever she was doing on the counter.

This was a fun, physical way to get accross the way he's basically having to force brute his way through understanding her, since she isn't really communicating. She's clamming up so much to the point it makes Ryo nearly lose his patience near the end. Aoi doesn't really budge much in this fic, it's all Ryo and Labramon having to do the heavy lifting to bridge the interaction which is also funny. All the things she goes out of her way to cover their bases and not trouble others causing her to be cumbersome to be dealt with lol I'd like to write them scolding each other more, plus the mutual annoyance they learn to tolerate as they grow to trust each other more lol The way they're nearly opposites in the way they choose to deal with social interaction makes them very funny in my head lol Rude boy and proper girl, get on each others' nerves, now! Despite that, I think they're likely to feel real kinship with each other as the only competent caretakers and cooks of the group lol It's just a matter of growing comfortable with each other, so that's what I'm aiming for portraying.

As per usual, Ryo's pov is very fun to write. His brusqueness marred to his keeness are a blast, so I mostly think of this one as a fun little snapshot at how their dynamic could play out.

Ryo sighs, catching her drift. Despite all their talk about how charging to the factory will mean facing the Last Boss, some part of her doesn’t believe it’ll be over yet. Not like he can blame her. He doesn’t buy it either, that they will be done with all of this that easily. Really, given how things turned out in the waterways, preparing for the worst isn’t wrong but…

Highlighting this paragraph bc I didn't explore this aspect much, but that's another common ground for them: their catastrophizing LOL They could either make each other's anxiety worse or really bond over it. If I were to write them together again, I'd probably want to explore that territory.

[undead-potatoes]

So! Tell me about Aurora! Did they have a life before the Urge came calling? How has their journey been through the game? Are they romancing anybody or do they have any other significant bonds?

I hope you don't mind, but I decided to split this into two posts. You asked about her journey through the game, and suddenly I had written 1400 words that didn't fit with the rest. So uuh yeah, here's the first and the last question at least!

I'm still a little unsure about her life before the Urge. There's the few "canon" things we're given through bits of dialogue (like murdering their parents as a child), but I honestly don't tend to get too caught up in canon if I want to do something different.

She had a lot of nightmares as a child (thanks dad), and it made her a very skittish and nervous child. In combination with minor Urges which made her say and sometimes do off-putting shit, I imagine she wasn't exactly a social butterfly. Like once she probably bit someone when the Urge overtook her, but bc they were baby urges and she was like 6-years-old it didn't really do much but alienate her.

But I think she was otherwise a good kid, doing her best and loved by her adoptive parents, even if they probably worried about her a lot.

I kinda like the idea of her being slightly older, someone who briefly escaped her heritage due to Bhaal's death before he returned in full, and the Urge became too strong to ignore. To have the Urge hovering around in the background her entire life, but always being able to repress it, until she suddenly couldn't.

Idk there's just something to the tragedy of being so close to escaping your predestined fate, when in reality it was always going to end like that, on way or another. You never truly escaped anything, you simply just delayed the inevitable.

She could still have murdered her family, still living with her adoptive parents and possible siblings, or maybe she had her own family by then. Either way, Bhaal would have wanted them out of the way.

The Urge building and building, sending her flip-flopping between moments of bloodlust and lucidity filled with fear, until the Urge took her away completely.

(Would the Urge even work like that for any of this? Who cares, just gonna do as Larian does, my city now).

TL;DR: I don't even know, it's still stewing in there.

- - -

Though I've watched like every Durge related video on YouTube, I haven't actually played very far in Aurora's playthrough, mostly bc I'm waiting for Larian to stop breaking the game with every new patch 🙈

Meaning I haven't actually had a lot of time with her interacting with the companions and gotten a good feel for where they're at.

Wyll and Shadowheart are possible candidates for some at least surface level boding. Like Wyll's whole "self sacrifice for the good of others" thing, and with Shadowheart they both have been brainwashed and forced into cruelty in service of an evil god.

And Karlach bc I love her and I said so.

Maybe some more interesting dynamics will pop up once I really get in there with her 🤔 (Larian fix your shit already, I want to plaaay)

There's also Jay who's already wrangling every other companion and their problems, so I'm sure he'll have some fingers in her pies too eventually (it's what he does, after all).

-

The only solid relationship to have formed in my head as of yet is her romance, and bc I'm as original as a pair of earbuds from AliExpress, she eventually starts a thing with Astarion.

He initially sees her as an easy target, a shy and possibly meek person quite literally removed from the others at camp (a deliberate choice on her part), but it doesn't go quite as he had planned.

I've written a whole post about it that's hanging out in my drafts, but tl;dr: he tries to bite her, but she wakes and angrily sends him away. She later comes to him one night, panicked after the Murder At Camp™, and he (begrudgingly) agrees to help her with the body. This begins this weird partnership where they keep each other's secret, and she lets him drink from her as thanks for helping her.

Their relationship is a bit rocky at first, like they don't hate each other or anything, but there's a fair share of bickering and such. She can be a bit blunt, and is too impatient and exhausted from the urge to deal with his very obvious mind games, tiredly telling him "stop trying to seduce me, you already have what you came for".

When he offers to sleep with her at the party, she thinks "why not". They're already putting each other at risk, so might as well have some fun with it. He might have tried to bed her sooner if she hadn't been so blunt and unapproachable, but it did also give him some time to rethink his strategy. Based on finds with the freecam during his party sex scene, he has set up a lil spot on a blanket, with wine and maybe some food, in an attempt to seem more genuine, which admittedly she does find a little cute.

Ultimately it's all the bits in between, the quiet moments after feeding or sex that gives them an excuse to talk, and they realize they enjoy each other's company a lot more than they first thought. She vibes with him a lot more when he's being genuine, something she sees more of when he's fed and generally less guarded.

She've kept her distance from the others bc of the urge, in fear of either harming someone, or being discovered through the tadpoles somehow. It puts her on edge constantly, but Astarion already knows, and she knows he doesn't judge her for it, so she's more at ease too.

Aurora can become ride or die pretty fast, especially in combination with other intense personality traits (hello devotion), and I think maybe Astarion picks up on that and thinks he can use that to his advantage. At least until he too accidentally catches feelings and becomes pretty ride or die himself lmao. Great job idiot.

Which is also when her more self sacrificing nature goes from something that could be to his advantage, to something that actively upsets him. Stop it! Stop sacrificing yourself for others who probably don't even deserve it! Stop putting yourself in situations that could take you away from me for no good reason.

They're note super lovey-dovey either. Like sure there's romance and tenderness there, but there's also some clash of personalities ("stop being an asshole" "stop trying to be such a bloody hero"). Nothing too bad but there's definitively something for them to work on.

This became the Aurora and Astarion post, sorry about that (not really). I hope to have some better answers to these in the future, my brain is still cooking (unfortunately it's a slowcooker).

[flameohotwife]

2022 Writing Year in Review

Yeah, I know it's 2023 already. I'm just now finding a smidge of time to get to the asks/ask games/etc. that I've gotten bc the holidays have been so busy. Thank you @benwvatt and @chocomd for the tag!

1. Number of stories posted to Ao3: 13! one of those was started in 2021 though with the last chapter of it posted in 2022, so 12 fics (+ one chapter) written entirely in 2022

2. Word count this year: 105,816 according to ao3

3. Fandoms I wrote for: Avatar: The Last Airbender/Avatar: Legend of Korra (which I tag most of my adult kataang stories as, especially if they include cloud-babies or spice, to be safe, even though I know it is between the two series. But tagging adult kataang as only AtLA seems to invite the pedo-accusations, despite the fact that we KNOW Aang and Katara grew up and had babies together which means they did the deed at least a few times, but ya know... that's a rant for another day.)

4. Pairings: Aang/Katara

5. Stories with the most:

Kudos: Unspoken, Undeniable (rated T)

Bookmarks: Growing Pains (rated E)

Comment threads: UU and then GP, because they are both multi-chap stories. After that, though, it was Free as the Wind (rated T) which is still *technically* 2 chapters although I only decided to split it in two at the last minute since it was so long for ease of reading. It is more of a one-shot in my head still.

Word count: UU, definitely, at 44,409 (51,354 if you include the epilogue)

6. Work I’m most proud of (and why): Probably UU, because it was the first ever intentional multi-chap that I planned out, wrote out, and finished, all in the span of this year!

7.   Work I’m least proud of (and why): Probably Silence and Sparrowkeets (rated T). I wrote it for kataang week theme quiet moments/healing, and while I still do like a lot of elements of the story that I incorporated, it just falls a little flat for me for some reason.

8.   Share or describe a favorite review you received: Some of my favorite reviews this year have been from @kataangisforlovers and @chocomd, because they always manage to see the underlying themes I'm pulling in or the things about the AtLA world that I'm trying to expose (often having to do with canon racism). I cannot express how much I have valued their input, both on ao3 comments and behind the scenes.

9.   A time when writing was really, really hard: omg, so many times. I have had a harder time separating from my daily life stressors in order to immerse myself in my writing. Part of that has been guilt over what I *could* be accomplishing instead of writing. And I have been more productive irl. There were also a few times where fandom drama really felt like it was imploding and I wasn't sure I *wanted* to write anymore. And interaction has definitely been lower this year. Overall though I still have things to say about kataang and their relationship and their family and Aang and Katara as individuals with a lot of trauma, so I keep writing when I can.

10. A scene or character you wrote that surprised you: Absolutely hands down the entire second chapter of Free as the Wind. I've said it before, but I did not ever want to go there as an author. It's been done so many times and there are too many cultural elements that I was afraid of misusing or appropriating or being accidentally insensitive about. So I did NOT want to write that ever ever ever. But once I started with the "sneaking off" prompt, thinking it was going to be a sweet and probably a little spicy little one-shot, the characters took me in an entirely different direction and I wound up writing myself into a corner where that was the only way out. I'm still half waiting for an angry comment or dm one day, telling me how I messed it up.

11. A favorite excerpt of your writing:  It's long, but I love this mashup of dialogue and introspection from chapter 5 of UU:

“I could sense them still looking at us,” he explained in a whisper. He turned them out of the palace walkway and they continued down the streets of the Inner Ring and out towards their home. “I’m sorry if that was too much, I just wanted…”

“No, it wasn’t too much at all,” she interrupted, trying desperately to quell… whatever it was that was making her body tingle and her heart race and her mind spin. She felt her heart dropping down to the soles of her feet at the realization that this was all for the press. You need to get your feelings back under control, she scolded herself. This was pretend and you know it. “I didn’t realize they were still watching us—good catch.”

“Earthbending,” he said simply and shrugged.

“I know,” she said, feeling incredibly awkward. How was she going to go back to being just his friend when they were alone, now? To go back to not expecting him to kiss her hair or wrap his arm around her or press his body so deliciously against hers… 

They finished their walk back to the house in silence. It wasn’t uncomfortable, but it was different. She wasn’t sure where they stood or what he was thinking, and she was afraid to ask. He walked her to her door, and things started to feel almost normal again when he leaned down for a hug. “Thanks again, Katara. For everything,” he murmured in her ear. She shivered.

“Anytime, Aang. Goodnight,” she said as she walked into her room and closed the door. She exhaled heavily and pressed her forehead against the ornate wood, not knowing that Aang was doing the exact same thing on the other side.

12. How did you grow as a writer this year: I think I learned to show more, and to be more descriptive of the scenery and surroundings. I'm still working on it, but I think I did better than last year!

13. How do you hope to grow next year: I hope to be able to add more metaphor, symbolism, and overall meaning into said descriptions. I am also hoping to branch out and write out of my comfort zone a bit (maybe something that is not kataang/aang/katara centric? Maybe original fiction? WHO KNOWS). I was hoping to use fic-writing to kind of run the rust off the rails of my writing skills and get back to writing original fiction or creative non-fiction, which had been my life's dream and something I studied for a bit in school, but that takes a kind of bravery and vulnerability I'm not sure I have in me, yet.

14. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc):

@coyotelemon was my beta for UU and absolutely pushed me to grow in ways I could not have without her help. The number of times she had to write "PAINT MOAR" in the comments of my googledoc because I had completely left out the details, and the number of ideas she came up with when I was stuck show the sheer impact she had on this work, and I could not have done it without her <3

15. Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year: Absolutely. Ties That Bind (rated G), my Katara Week piece for the prompt "Katara and her family" included a lot of elements of parenting and connecting with family that I have experienced in my own life. But pieces of my life show up in all areas of my writing.

16. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers: I don't think I have any *new* wisdom. Just keep reading, keep writing, and keep experimenting with those elements you love from your favorite stories. Don't be afraid to research and take risks. And find your people who will help you and cheer you on when you're feeling discouraged.

17. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year: I'd really like to write that kataang/cloud-babies mixed race fic. I have bits and pieces, but as I've stated before what's really holding me back is research. Fingers crossed!

18. Tag some writers whose answers you’d like to read: I know it's 2023 now, but if you're so inclined... @coyotelemon, @shameaboutthedilettantism, @anervoussapphic, @itsmoonpeaches, @juicypersimmon, @cats-and-metersticks, @northerngoshawk... or anyone else who wants to do it!

[istibaethoriel]

✨💔🍦❌🥺

:D (as many as you want also obvi)

✨ Give you and your writing a compliment. Go on now. You know you deserve it: THIS is the hardest one oh man…I mean, I love writing dialogue and I pride myself on trying to keep the character voice as close to canon as possible when I’m writing fanfiction. I really enjoy the challenge of writing something that I feel like I can hear being a line in a game or a novel or whatever medium it is I’m writing for. With original stuff, I just love chatty characters so getting individual voices to the point where I hear them in my head is a lovely feeling! 

💔 Is there a fic of yours that broke your heart? : YES. I love breaking my own heart and writing angst and sad hurt/comfort/maybe we never feel comfort again fics is one of my favourite things to do honestly. As far as some of my saddest, I loved Tamlen/Mahariel back in my DA days and this Some Mistakes Can Never be Unmade is one of my favourite fics I’ve ever written for that pairing. I did just write a Shakarian fic for a friend that also falls in this category, though.  There are others I love but mostly it’s Sad Elves.

🍦 What’s the sweetest fic you’ve created so far? Oh man, so, I have written sweet fics but I always feel a vague sense of guilt around them. I worry I’ve made things too saccharine or too corny because I have two gears and those are Devastation and Adorable, the dichotomy of man. My favourite is a double oc dragon age fic here, two city elf thieves in love.

❌ What’s a trope you will never write? : Oh man, this feels terribly boring of me and the tropes I dislike are myriad(though for some reason I cant think of one off the top of my head right now)  but my least favourite is anything and everything to do with babies. Maybe it’s just because I am a lesbian but it gives me the ick. That and like the whole ‘I can be Better and Resist Revenge’ Um no, my characters will always be like ‘I am Not better give me the Knife’. I feel like loads of narratives are dogged by a ‘turn the other cheek’’ trope and it gets mishandled. Not that I don't think it has it’s place and cant be done well, it absolutely can, but you probably won't catch me writing that kind of story unless the conditions are insanely perfect for it. 

🥺 Is there a certain type of moment or common interaction between your characters that never fails to put you in your feels? : Oh man I am a sucker for the whole Character A is desperately hurt but still checking to see if Character B is okay and just keeps struggling to get up and won't stay still and admit they’re injured it DESTROYS me. Hence Mass Effect III endings leaving me in absolute emotional shambles. This and seeing a character who has no idea they’re already dead/lost/betrayed and is just…confused.

Thank you so much for the ask! :D this was so much fun to do!

[neocityjs]

Clingy - LJN

Pairing: boyfriend!jeno x reader

Genre: a lil angst, fluff

Warnings: established relationship, Haechan is a bit annoying in this one I’m sorry (Haechan best boy)

Words: 3k

Summary: hurt after hearing your boyfriend and his friends calling you clingy, you decide to show them how not clingy you can be.

A/N: everything is fictional, including the characters’ traits. English is not my first language, therefore I’m sorry for the errors.

Movie nights with your friends were your favorites.

Well, it’d be more correct for me to say “with your boyfriend’s friends”, since you didn’t know them before meeting Jeno. But that doesn’t matter, because in no time you managed to bond with everyone, especially the clumsy yet adorable kid, Jisung, and the loving caffeine addicted boy, Jaemin.

Movie nights with your friends consisted in you eight – even though today you were only seven since Mark was out with some of his friends – sprawled on one couch –  don’t ask me how, but all of you always manage to fit in since no one wants to sit on the carpet – with a blanket covering you and some snacks passing between. Those represented some of those moments you swear you would cherish for all your life.

Tonight seemed to be no different. Jeno had come picking you up at 7 p.m., you spent some time together, walking around, talking and giggling like usual, and you dropped at his house where other five – well, four boys (Jaemin lost to rock paper scissors so he had to go shopping for snacks) – were waiting for the both of you. Donghyuck always got to choose the movie you would watch, not without complaints from every one of you, yet at the end you’d always like what he picks, but Donghyuck doesn’t need to know that.

And there you were, all sprawled on the couch – though not in a very comfortable position –. You had already seen the movie which was playing loudly on the TV, hence you decided to pay more attention to your boyfriend instead. You were all cuddled up with him: he was hugging you, stroking your back from time to time. Your head was on his shoulder while your hand rested on his chest. Sometimes you couldn’t help but leave a furtive and quick kiss on his jaw, praying no one would notice you. He’d smile at you – gosh his eye smile UWU – and then he’d hug you closer.

About one hour after the movie’s beginning, you felt some physical needs pressing, so you quickly excused yourself and got up from the couch.

“Should I pause it?” Renjun asked, the remote already between his hands.

“No, don’t worry. I’ve already seen it anyway”

You made your way to the bathroom only to find out that the toilet paper was missing.

You sighed. Boys.

So you went back to the living room, where everyone was gathered.

You were about to open your mouth to ask where they kept the spare paper but something odd caught your ear. You backed up, hiding behind the wall. You obviously knew that eavesdropping was not by any means honest, especially if it was a conversation between your best friends. But you were almost certain that they were talking about you, your name dropping from one of the boys’ mouth.

“Enjoy being free while you can” Donghyuck joked with Jeno. You furrowed your brows.

What was that supposed to mean? You peeked your head cautiously, not wanting to be seen.

“You’re just jealous you don’t have a girlfriend” Jisung laughed at him, to which the boy responded with a sharp stare.

“Seriously, Jisung? When you haven’t even had your first kiss?”

“Ya ya ya! Shut up and don’t fight you two” Jaemin intervened, throwing a popcorn at them.

A brief moment of silence followed. You still didn’t understand what they were talking about.

“She’s just affectionate, that’s all” Jeno finally spoke, at which you held your breath.

So they were talking about you being clingy with your boyfriend. And this response from Jeno meant that he didn’t mind it, right? Or else he would have agreed with the boy. The thing is, you never thought about it: you supposed that a little kiss every now and then was a way to show your love and affection to him, plus he never complained about it, or never backed away.

“I know, but don’t tell me you don’t find this suffocating sometimes” Donghyuck continued.

Okay, now he was seriously getting on your nerves. What the heck did he care if you were clingy with your boyfriend? This was something between you and Jeno, and he wasn’t allowed to interfere with it, especially in front of everyone in the room. You thought he was making fun of you by now.

At this point you expected something to come out of Jeno’s mouth, anything that could have proven Donghyuck wrong, but he said nothing.

And silence means consent.

How did you know this? Well, Jeno wasn’t one to back out from speaking his opinion, especially with his friends. Especially with Donghyuck, for God’s sake, this guy was constantly bickering – though not with malicious intentions – with everyone.

“We shouldn’t talk behind her back like this” affirmed Jaemin with a severe stare. Jeno looked down: you didn’t know it but he was feeling suddenly guilty, agreeing with Jaemin. Everyone then went silent, the only sounds that could be heard being the dialogues in the movie.

You pressed your back against the wall, processing what you just heard.

Why didn’t he ever tell you? Why did he act like he loved it while, actually, he hated it? Then you thought about every time you held his hand in public, or hugged him, or kissed him, and then your thoughts went to five minutes before, when you were hugging him on the couch. You started feeling sorry.

Maybe after all it’s true, and he didn’t tell me anything because he didn’t want to hurt me.

But well, now it hurt twice as much since you weren’t aware of what your friends and your own boyfriend thought about you. Maybe every one of them, except for Jeno obviously, thanked God they hadn’t a girlfriend like you, who was suffocating and clingy.

And it was at this moment that your guilt turned into anger.

You just wanted to show all your affection and care to your boyfriend who you loved with all your heart, but apparently you were only bothering him. And Donghyuck - oh Donghyuck – you were so angry at him right now. What was the point in making fun of you in front of everyone when you weren’t even there? At the same time, you took a mental note to thank Jisung and Jaemin, the only two people who stood to defend you.

Okay, tonight you were proving everyone how not clingy you could be. Indeed, you were going to interact the least possible with Jeno. He wanted space? Good, you were giving him tons of it.

You eventually went to the toilet using one of your tissues since you were not asking any of them where the hell was the toilet paper, you washed your hands and went back to the couch.

But this time you didn’t hug Jeno. You simply forced a smile and sat next to him with your arms crossed. You tried not to be too obvious, you still didn’t want them to know that you heard everything, but you were sure your face was saying otherwise, and the confirmation arrived when Jeno asked you “Is everything ok?” full of concern.

You just called me clingy and let Donghyuck make fun of me. Yes, everything’s amazing.

“Yes, of course. Why?” you replied, using all of your acting skills in the process which, by the way, were very poor. But apparently they worked, because Jeno smiled at you and shook his head. “Nothing”.

But if you were successful at lying to him right now, then by the end of the movie he understood that something was wrong. You were avoiding all of his attempts of skin ship because “it was too hot”, but then you were grasping at the blanket like there’s no tomorrow. You were also laughing at everything remotely funny that came out of Jaemin’s mouth while you simply ignored all of Jeno’s attempts of making you laugh. Hell, you didn’t even argue with Donghyuck when he murmured something about Jeno being the most unfunny guy he ever met. Oh and you were playing and laughing with Jisung who was sitting next to you.

In short, you were avoiding him.

But he decided to shrug these thoughts away. Maybe he was being paranoid, he thought: you were just enjoying your friends’ company, plus it wasn’t written anywhere that you were allowed to talk and give attentions only to him.

Little did he know, this was just what you were trying to do: shower everyone with attentions except him.

Eventually the movie came to an end, and while everyone was pronouncing their goodnights and heading to sleep, you just remained there, with your phone between your hands, scrolling mindlessly on your Instagram feed.

Usually you and Jeno would have gone to bed together, sharing your thoughts about the movie you just watched, or simply talking about everything and nothing at the same time. But not today. He wanted space? You were giving him space.

Jeno already stood up to make his departure, but soon noticed you weren’t following him like you always did. “Are you coming?” he asked you, stopping on his tracks.

“I’ll just reply to a few messages and then I’ll go to sleep too. Don’t wait for me, you can go”

“Y/N are you sure everything’s okay? You’ve been acting quite weird. Are you alright? Did something happen?”

“Of course not, Jeno. Nothing happened” you replied rather coldly. Then you sighed. “I’m good, don’t worry for me” you added, softly this time. Although you believed he deserved it, you didn’t want to be too rude to him.

He nodded, and without saying anything more, he left.

At this point you started feeling a tiny bit guilty, still you couldn’t simply pretend nothing happened: their words hurt you and even if you really wished to just forget everything, you couldn’t. You just couldn’t, it was stronger than you.

By the way, you had no intention of sleeping with Jeno tonight, so you grabbed the blanket all of you once shared when watching the movie, and struggled a little bit to find a comfortable position. Eventually, after some tears escaped from your eyes, you drifted into a restless sleep.

It took a couple of hours for Jeno to realize you were not in bed with him.

He just fell asleep, a part of him believing that later you would have joined him. But when he woke up, he immediately sensed that something was off. Still sleepy, he touched the other side of the bed only to find it empty, and immediately stood up. It was 3 A.M, why weren’t you sleeping? What the heck were you doing? Did someone kidnap you? At this point he was surprised of how paranoid he could be.

His thoughts came to an end when he saw you, on the couch, with a blanket shielding you from the cold, all curled up. He didn’t see the dried tears that stained your face, though.

Sitting slowly beside you, not wanting to scare you, he gently shook you, not sure himself if it was the right thing to do. He was just so confused, he genuinely didn’t have any idea of what was happening. But he knew one thing for sure: you had been acting cold with him and he wouldn’t had moved until you confessed what was going on. Was it something he said or did? Was today your anniversary or something and he forgot it? Poor boy absolutely couldn’t find peace unless he knew what he did.

Soon you opened your eyes, still heavy from the – lack of – sleep.

“Hey” he murmured softly.

You considered pretending to sleep but nah, as I said earlier, you weren’t a good actress.

“Hey” you replied, stretching your limbs a little bit.

“I got worried since you weren’t sleeping next to me” he chuckled awkwardly. Sure thing, he didn’t know how to handle this situation since this was the first time you were acting like this.

“I… umm… I just fell asleep here” you replied looking at your hands, which you were scratching due to the nervousness.

Another lie.

Then silence.

“Y/N look at me” his voice suddenly changed, turning colder.

You swallowed, a knot forming again in your throat, as you forced back the tears that were trying to escape. You didn’t want to give in so soon.

But how could you, when he was getting angry at you? You should have been angry, not the opposite. And you know what? He was right, you were taking it too far. He didn’t deserve this. Look at how nice he tried to be all night, you managed to anger a calm and patient man like him. How stupid could you be at this point?

With a quivering lip you turned your head, facing him. He was watching you intently, with a serious frown on his face. Your grip on the blanket got tighter, almost ripping it with your nails.

You stayed silent. Then he spoke.

“Why are you being like this?”

You swallowed. What should you say? Were you even allowed to say anything at this point?

You tried to open your mouth to say something, but as soon as you tried your eyes were filled with tears, rapidly falling on your skin. You just couldn’t take it anymore, so you just faced away and buried your face in the pillow, trying to muffle your sobs. You didn’t want to look so pathetic in his eyes, although by now you thought you were being beyond pathetic.

If earlier there was any anger in Jeno, now every hint of it dissipated at the sight of you crying, curled up on the couch. He suddenly felt guilt taking over him. But the amount of confusion and frustration was bigger, so, as much as it pained him to see you cry because of him, this didn’t prevent him from trying to find out what had gotten into you. He was honestly so tired, he just wanted to sleep with you on his side.

He gently, almost scared, touched your trembling frame, and when he noticed there was no sign of rebellion from you, he lied down and hugged you tightly from behind.

And you kept on crying silently, a loud sob escaping occasionally, as he murmured sweet nothings into your ears, shushing you gently and telling you that everything’s fine, I’m here with you. Just let it out.

When you finally finished crying, he placed a soft kiss on your neck, then another on your wet cheek.

“Wanna talk about it?”

There was no point in lying by now. So you faced him, face full of concern and arms still tightly secured around you. And you just let out everything, from how you overheard their conversation – including how sorry you were for doing it and promising it would never happen again -, to how you were hurt by Donghyuck’s words but mostly by Jeno’s lack of words.

On the other hand, poor Jeno didn’t have any idea this could have affected you so much, and because of this he didn’t even think this could have been the cause of your sudden behavior. He just listened everything silently, surprised, just like a kid to whom the newest things are explained.

“I just got so angry at you for not defending me, and for letting Hyuck make fun of me. So I wanted to distance myself from you as much as possible to have my revenge” you openly confessed, hiding your face in his chest.

“I’m really sorry I took this so far. I should have talked instead” you add.

“Well, that’s true” Jeno replied, “but I can’t say I’m in the right either. First thing, we shouldn’t have talked about you like that, plus I’m really sorry I didn’t say anything to Hyuck, I understand this hurt you a lot”

“But do you really think I’m that clingy? Because if so, all you have to do is say the word and I’ll try to respect you space more” you asked, looking up at him with watery eyes.

And if your ears were sharp enough, you could have heard the sound of Jeno’s heart shattering.

Now he was the one who was on the verge of tears.

“Y/N please don’t ever say such a thing. You don’t have to change anything about yourself. I love you because you are you, including your touchy and loving nature. Besides, don’t look at me this way or I’m seriously gonna cry” he added whining, causing a smile – a real one – to appear on your face.

“Now it’s a lot better” he affirmed, tracing your curled up lips with his thumb.

“Can I kiss you or you’re still mad at me?” he asked.

“I don’t know, I was thinking about making you suffer a little more” you joked.

“Oh my God, you’re unbelievable”

“I think so too”

He raised an eyebrow. “Maybe I should kiss that annoying attitude of yours away”

“I don’t know, should you?”

“I’ll take that as a yes”

And with that he kissed you, the fight of moments ago long forgotten. A slow and gentle kiss, a mixture of emotions being shown: remorse, love, affection. It was a way for the both of you to say “it’s all in the past now”.

After you parted, one thought snapped in his mind.

“Wait, how will you manage the matter with Donghyuck? I can talk to him if you want” he pointed out, concerned. He perfectly understood if you were angry at the boy in question, but he also wished all of you to be as bonded as a big family, his family.

“There’s no need, I’ll just confront him by myself, beat him up until he asks for forgiveness and then forgive and hug him”

Jeno looked at you, almost scared. “What…?”

“Just kidding” you said, laughing at his funny face. Still hugging, you made yourselves comfortable enough to sleep.

“Or maybe not”

[fatefulfaerie]

Answering The Asks I Didn’t Get Because These Are Awesome Questions!

😅 What's a story or scene you've created that you're a smidge embarrassed exists?

Open Your Eyes

It’s so bad it hurts. It was the first Zelda fanfic I ever wrote and hoo boy I could barely read the first “chapter” just now

🥺 Is there a certain type of moment or common interaction between your characters that never fails to put you in your feels?

Love confessions! I swoon!

🤡 What's a line, scene, or exchange you've written that made you laugh?

“Welcome to Baumer Inn,” the young woman said to the completely drenched pair of people that approached her desk. “How may I help you?”

“We’d like a room,” Link said.

“Alright,” the young woman said, scanning a large book with all sorts of markings. “Double or single?”

Link said “Single” at the exact same time Zelda said “Double”, the accident making them look at each other and making the young woman look up from the book, her gaze alternating between them.

“There’s no use in taking a double if I’ll be keeping watch the whole time,” Link argued.

“That’s where you are wrong,” Zelda said in reply. “Because you won’t be keeping watch, you will be sleeping and resting in a bed.” Zelda looked to the receptionist and said. “A double, please.”

“It’s my job to protect you,” Link insisted, before also looking to the receptionist who, after crossing out what she thought their final answer was, now sat in wait for them to come to an agreement. “Put us down for a single.”

Zelda’s head shot to Link, her hands on her hips.

“Who among us is royalty?” She asked with a brooding frustration.

“Is it not me?” Link asked rhetorically and quite sarcastically.

Zelda straightened her arms and balled her fists.

“You absolute…” Link raised a brow as she sputtered through her anger. “Disrespectful...ill-mannered...sea urchin!”

“Sea urchin, huh?” Link asked rhetorically.

“Are you sure you guys don’t want to agree on the single?” the receptionist said, interrupting Zelda’s inhale. “Seems like all you need is to pound things out.”

Zelda widened her eyes at what she just heard, and Link reacted similarly, his mouth popped open at just the insinuation. He cleared his throat and pulled rupees from his pouch that he tossed onto the desk.

“The double will do fine.”

“As you wish,” the young woman said, handing Link the key, “room twelve.”

Link nodded and began to walk up the wooden stairs. They kept silent until the door latched close behind them.

From Chapter 28 of In Calamity’s Grasp

😈 Has there been a point in a story where you did something just to be playfully mean to your readers?

I was way too excited about the ending twist in Ten Thousand Years Ago let’s just say that...

✍ Do you have a beta reader?

No, but I’d like one! No one has ever shown interest but then again I’ve never asked? I don’t want to be a bother 🥺

🛒 What are some common things you incorporate in your fics? Themes, feels, scenes, imagery, etc.

I try to incorporate imagery bit sometimes I get so lost in the dialogue I forget! I definitely incorporate a lot of romance and squabbling about misunderstandings. I also put my characters through a lot of trauma and difficult decisions to inspire empathy and deep thought, respectively, in my readers.

🎢 Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

A Moment Beyond

✨ Give you and your writing a compliment. Go on now. You know you deserve it. 😉

I do...good?

💋 First kiss fics. Love em or hate em?

I think if you are reading this, you already know the answer.

🎶 Do you listen to music while you write? What song have you been playing on loop lately?

I do! Music is one of my biggest inspirations. Lately I’ve been listening to this playlist!

🛠What tools/programs/apps do you use to write?

Google docs, Scrivener, my fingies, and my sometimes working keyboard. Sometimes I use my phone if I NEED TO GET SOMETHING DOWN and I’ve been using pen and paper for my poetry lately.

⛔ Do you have a fic you started, but scrapped?

There was a time travel one I’m not gonna touch and then a couple I’m just gonna do as oneshots. Oh yeah and thing I scrapped when Age of Calamity was announced…

🙋‍♀️ Do any irl people know you write fanfic?

Yes! Many of my Zelda Dungeon friends as well as my parents and close friends. Also some of my cousins. I used to be a lot more ashamed of it but now I feel like everyone knows.

🍦 What's the sweetest fic you've created so far?

A Tender Moment

🍷 Do you drink and write?

I don’t drink alcohol at all actually. It just doesn’t taste good and even if it did my medication reacts badly. As far as drinking in general I probably need to drink a lot more water have I drank any today?

🍆 Do you write the spicy stuffs? If so, what's your most popular nsfw fic?

Not really because I still have ✨0 frame of reference✨ so this is the spiciest thing I’ve written: Moonlit

🌞 Do you have a preferred time of day to write?

Not really just whenever I’m feeling it

💌 How do you feel about comments and feedback?

More. Please give me more.

❌ What's a trope you will never write?

Sex scenessss

Cause I have no idea how that works

💲 Would you ever open commissions?

I want my content to be accessible to everyone with an internet connection. A lot of stupid things are behind a paywall and I want my content to serve as art, education, and entertainment. Additionally, writing fanfiction is enough of a legal grey area without getting money involved.

🏆 What's your most popular fic?

In Calamity’s Grasp has the most activity but I can’t take full credit or even any more than a third of the credit on that because my co-authors @pastelsandpining and @aurathian ABSOLUTELY KILLED IT.

The next one after that is Honesty

🎃 Do you write fics for certain holidays? Which is your favorite holiday inspired fic?

I do sometimes! My favorite is Disguise

🎯 Have any of your readers accurately guessed major plot points? Care to share which?

I don’t think so? Unless they just didn’t tell me they did

🎨 How do you feel about fan art of your stories?

More. Please give me more.

📈 How many fics do you have?

Mathematical measures do not operate in such terms

🦅 Do you outline fics or fly by the seat of your pants?

Both?

👀 Tell me about an up and coming wip please!

Uhh...cows?

😈

🤗 What advice would you give to new fanfic writers that are just getting started?

Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and get hurt, it’s part of it! And never let anyone else (even yourself) stifle the eternities that your imagination can stretch. Oh and don’t be too hard on yourself when you hit snags or get burnt out! Also drink water! Also I love you!

🤩 Who is your favorite character to write?

🤲 Would you please share a snippet of a wip?

Link was just sitting at the shore, near a pitched tent and a campfire, looking out at how the sun dawned. Grante stared a tad before he braved walking forward. 

“I didn’t know I was selling clothes to the Hero of Hyrule,” Grante said once he got close enough for Link to hear him, the half-Sheikah half-Hylian crossing his arms. Link looked behind him to see who it was, and was seemingly unimpressed, turning back to face the sea.

“I’d prefer not to be called that,” was all Link said.

😬 Which of your fics would you be most horrified for friends, family, or coworkers to stumble upon?

Open Your Eyes just because it’s so distant from how much I’ve grown as a writer

🎉 What leads you to consider a fic a success?

Unfortunately, traction. I’ve gotten better over the years at not letting numbers get in my head too much but still a bit yeah

✅ What's something that appears in your fics over and over and over again, even if you don't mean to?

Zelink undertones

📚 Would you ever want to turn writing into a career?

I’m currently pursuing an MFA in creative writing so god I hope so. Ideally I’d love to either be a novelist or be in the writing room at Disney or Nintendo!

Wait maybe I should learn Japanese

💔 Is there a fic of yours that broke your heart?

A Moment Beyond just because there are some scenes that hurt so GOOD

💥 How do you feel about criticism?

More. Please give me more.

🤭 Do you have a favorite tag to use when posting your works?

#totk

🥰 How do you feel about reader interaction? Are you open to receiving questions about your fics?

More. Please give me more.

[fireemblems24]

Ao3 Ship Thoughts

To sate my desire to read Three Houses fan fiction and jump in on the shipping comments that have upticked recently, I decided to see what ships were the most popular on Ao3.

Some of it's exactly what I expected, and one in particular is just . . . what, why?

Ao3 is probably the closest you'll get to truly determining which ships are the most popular, or at least have the highest number of passionate fans. So I was curious to see who the top ships were. Here's the ones listed, in order:

Sylvain/Felix

Dimitri/Byleth

Edelgard/Byleth

Ferdinand/Hubert

Claude/Byleth

Dimitri/Felix

Dimitri/Claude

Felix/Annette

Caspar/Linhardt

Hilda/Marrianne

If I exclude the Byleth ships, Dimitri/Dedue, Byleth/Seteth, and Ingrid/Sylvain take up the three missing spots.

Byleth's Ships

I'm shocked. Really, truly shocked that Byleth/Lord is popular. Never wouldn't guessed. I am, of course, being sarcastic. If someone asked me to list who I think would show up in the top 10 most popular ships, the first three I'd list would be Byleth/Lord.

What I find more interesting is that Byleth/Seteth is the fourth option for Byleth. AO3 writers, I officially bow to your taste. It pleases me quite a bit that, if you're not going with one of the main lords, you all want Seteth. This I can agree with.

As for the Byleth/Lord ships, I feel kind of mixed on them. Every lord interacts with characters who have more depth than Byleth, but I still get the appeal. I'm going to deep dive into all of the lords relationships with Byleth later, but here's a quick summary.

Edelgard/Byleth is shoved down your throat so hard it's nearly impossible to ship Edelgard with someone else and even shortchanges her potential to have deep, non-romantic relationships because Edelgard puts Byleth on a pedestal that no one else can reach by her own dialogue.

Byleth's character arc works well alongside Dimitri's. While the relationship is pushed and fanservice-y scenes exist, the game leaves enough breathing room to see Byleth as a mentor/therapist/teacher figure, and Dimitri has no shortage of deep, meaningful relationships with others should you not want to do the whole self-insert thing. It's a good balance.

Claude and Byleth are the opposite of Edelgard and Byleth. They read almost more like friends than lovers. It's a breath of fresh air, honestly. Claude/Byleth seems like the healthiest possible romance for Byleth/lord because the lord in question here doesn't seem as dependent. That said, it lacks lacks romance and shipping fuel. I may complain about fanservice, but the Byleth/Claude dynamic does show why scenes of holding hands in the rain and teasing about badly drawn images might actually come in handy.

Edelgard's Ships

I'm not surprised, at all, that Edelgard has no popular ships outside of Byleth. Dialogue consistently shortchanges Edelgard's relationships with others by having her verbally, repeatedly put Byleth into a special "other" that no one else can reach for her.

Though, I guess I'm a bit surprised at the extreme lack of Edelgard/Hubert. I feel these two have a lot of shipping fuel and their supports left things unresolved. I've come across the sentiment in fandom many times that ship where things are tied off nicely with a bow leave less to explore and aren't as interesting, so I am bummed out no one seems interested in fleshing out Hubert/Edelgard more.

The outlook for Edelgard fanfic and me seems pretty limited. I don't like Edelgard/Byleth for various reasons beyond this scope of this post. I was kind of hoping there were some Edelgard/Hubert or Edelgard/Dorothea character study stuff that could help me get past how much Byleth gets in the way of Edelgard's character growth, but it seems fanfic writers only want to write about her and Byleth, which is a bummer.

On that note, I'm also surprised but also glad that Dimitri/Edelgard isn't a big thing. I thought it might be because tragedy of childhood friends turned enemies by events out of their control is popular. These two seem wildly incompatible though, so I'm glad people seem to agree.

Claude's Ships

Ok. Claude/Byleth. Expected. I'm feel positively towards the ship since they seem mostly good for each other even if it's not getting my heart all fluttering.

I'm surprised there's no Claude/Petra or Claude/Hilda. Those two are my personal favorites for him. I would've given Claude/Petra the edge given how they can uniquely relate to each other, but Hilda's scene in CF really gave Petra a run for her money. Even more so that Petra and Claude have obligations to two different nations and Hilda has no such complication.

But whattttt???? Claude/Dimitri? It's in the top 10?? More people ship Dimitri with Claude than Dedue?? I thought lord/lord might be popular, but I honestly thought Dimitri/Edelgard would take it, not Claude/Dimitri. They never really talk. So I'm a bit confused about this one. Though, intrigued by the idea.

Can I take a wild guess this partly stems from Claude having no real other viable M/M ships outside of M!Byleth and fics that plays up the chapter I'm about to play in AM (Dimitri saving Claude) or "what ifs" VW routes where Dimitri doesn't . . . you know.

I am really curious about this dynamic though. Because I like Claude - a lot. He's a character I want to get attached to. From experience, the fastest way for me to like a character is to give them a significant relationship I enjoy with a character I already love and the new character gets absorbed by proxy. So, fans, please, tell me more about this Dimitri/Claude. I am curious.

Dimitri's Ships

I am as unsurprised by Dimitri's being one of the biggest repeat offenders on here as I am by Edelgard being Byleth or bust. If Edelgard is written to fanservice the player by making the self-insert her one and only, Dimitri is fanservicing the player by being a shipping magnet. The writers knew what they were doing and who they were trying to appeal to with these two characters.

Dimitri/Byleth is a given. The game plays up the romance angle, but it's not at the expense of Dimitri's other relationships.

What I'm more interested in, though, is Felix/Dimitri. Between angsty CF stories, post-AM slow-burns, or fleshing out missing scenes from their shared childhood, there's just a lot to work with and a rich context to use their relationship - spun romantically - to explore each character. Felix and Dimitri's relationship is layered, complicated, heart breaking, and potentially healing. The fact they're two incredibly attractive guys doesn't hurt its popularity either, I'm sure. I'm not surprised it ranked that highly.

Claude/Dimitri surprises me. If two lords were going to get on this list together, I would've put bets on Edelgard/Dimitri. Since Claude and Dimitri's relationship is fairly unexplored, I'm really interested to see more about what exactly this is about. Don't get me wrong. I figured people would pair two main characters who are that good looking together, I just didn't think it would rank that high.

I am, slightly sad, that Dimitri/Dedue isn't a bit higher, but happy it seems to have some steam. I get it though. Dedue's not as flashy as some of the others on the shipping list and their relationship is so full of fluff by their A support it lacks the angst Felix/Dimitri and Dimitri/Byleth can draw out nor is as much of a play around with "what ifs" as Claude/Dimitri is.

Non-Lords/Main Characters Ships:

This list, more than anything else, shows AO3's penchant for writing M/M and F/F works for better or worse. Whether this phenomena stems from lack of representation, fetishizing by the fanbase, deeply ingrained gender roles making fictional M/F ships either less appealing to many fanfic writers, or M/F romances often getting assumed leading to less substantial writing compared to friendships - I don't know. Probably all of it.

There are a few surprises here for me. Felix/Sylvain is that popular? I figured they'd make the top 10, but #1 is surprising. Though, looking through the first page of the tag, it's true Felix/Sylvain have fics just for them, but it also seems like a common pairing in Dimitri/Byleth and Dimitri/Claude fics. It's the same story with Caspar/Linhardt, who I honestly didn't expect to see. They had a fair number of their own fics, but it seems many CF fics put them together rather than focus solely on them. Felix/Annette also balances being the main focus and an adjunct pairing. Marianne/Hilda seemed to have less fics where they took center stage and more they were one of many ships listed.

Ferdinand/Hubert having a lot of fics isn't surprising. I don't really care too much for it personally, but I can see the appeal of it.

I'm surprised Catherin/Shamir is nowhere in sight. Likewise, Rhea is absolutely nowhere. Kind of sad by the lack of adult characters in general. Especially Rhea. I think it's a pretty big sign of how the writing's treated her that such an important character is totally absent in this list.

Not surprised at all to see Felix also get so many ships. He, like Dimitri, seems designed on purpose to ship with many characters. I do really wish Dorothea and Seteth would get more attention though.

What do you guys think? Anything that surprised you? How do you feel about any of these ships and there popularity or lack thereof? Are there characters/pairings you wish got more attention? Any popular ships you despise (spill that tea)?

[shadowdianne]

Fic writer review [Or a fic writer tag game if you prefer]

I was tagged by @naralanis and I can already see her grin all the way from where I am xd Thank you, dear, for the tag, let’s see what are my answers, shall we.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

*bursts out laughing* Adding both pseuds I have… 535 according to the account info but by counting them all I’m reaching 541 so I’m guessing it’s counting some drafts I need to re-find.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

I seriously hated you for this one xd I was going to do it by hand by I decided one-third there that I value my mental stability a little bit more xd according to the stats page back at a03 that number would be 1257884. It may be wrong. I think there should be a few more numbers up there but the majority of my works are one-shots so *shrugs* There’s also the fact that counting my ao3 things only is shaving off like half of it Xd Anyway, can we laugh at the fact that I’m a pain in the ass and that I’ve written a lot? More than I should have, that’s for sure

3. How many fandoms have you written for?

Trick question because I haven’t crossposted everything I wrote back in ffnet and I actually erased some fics from my account back there so the numbers are a little blurry there.

When I had the entirety of my work posted both in ffnet and a03 I had written for: Twilight (Bella/Alice) Glee (Faberry and there were a couple Pezberry and I don’t fucking remember the pairing name for Santana and Quinn), Harry Potter (Hermione/Ginny, Hermione/Narcissa, Hermione/Bellatrix) OUAT (SwanQueen and several oneshots focusing on the mad hatter and the blue fairy solely back at ffnet that were written in Spanish and never translated), I actually had a veeeery old au prompt of Frozen (Elsanna in where I wrote them as non sibilings), Rizzoli and Isles (Rizzles), Dishonored 2 (Emily Kaldwin/Alexi Mayhew), Lara Croft and Wonder Woman, Supergirl (SuperCorp/Supercat) I had a 100 one -or maybe two??- (Clexa), The Shannara Chronicles (Amberle/Eretreia [Or Princess Rover], Rwby [Blake Belladona/Yang], The Worst Witch (Hecate Hardbroom and Pippa Pentangle), The Half of it, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (Madam Satan/Zelda Spellman) and… I think that’s it(?) I may be forgetting some but probably nothing important if I’m not remembering it lol.

4. Top 5 fics by kudos?

Ah, we are going to go there, uh? Xd My works are not the kudos and comment getting type Xd So I was quite surprised when I went to check this.

1: Cracked it I wrote this one back in 2017, it was a prompt done by an anon: Lena is nerding with one of her projects at home, mumbling mostly to herself because she’s stuck and Kara casually mentions how to solve the problem like it’s nothing. I really had some fun with this. It was back when some us, SQeeners were fully doing the jump between OUAT and SuperGirl (I mean, there had already been some crossover as for fandom is related but this when the girls were actually getting their conjoined voice within the fandom)

2: Dateless I honestly needed to check what this one was about but I think I can see why this one shot has the amount of kudos it has. It’s a short and sweet idea and responds to the Teachers Au that went SO well with SQ. Everyone thinks they hate each other and try to set them up with other people whilst they, in truth, are dating. I don’t remember if I wrote them as married rather than dating but despite being from 2017 as well is one cheeky enough to be cool Xd I probably would edit some lines now *shudders*

3: After you I truly didn’t expect this one to be top 3. Makes me think of a lot of things, if I’m being honest Xd. After you was a one shot written almost feverishly as an answer to the fabulous drawings that Sejic did of both Lara Croft and Wonder Woman back at 2018 or something. It’s just Lara and Diana being himbos but not at all with each other.

4: How about… How about is one I remember perfectly, it was my answer to the ending of the Half of it film. I had SOME thoughts about it, let’s just stop there Xd I really liked the film itself but I think and I thought at the time that my response to wishing for a final scene at the very end of the credits responds to me being in a different personal moment than the characters. I really wanted to explore my feelings about it and so I wrote about them finding each other again after some time passes. It was also something I wrote after quite the hiatus so I took it as something I could write about without focusing too much on the why.

5: Come to me

Ahh, SuperCorp Xd I remember this one actually. A friend of mine and I were talking about descriptions, and she mentioned quite off-handedly how she wanted a fic in where Kara’s back was described. I complied… more or less.

Fun tidbit, despite the big volume of my work is obviously set in ouat there’s only 1 SQ fic there as you can see, the others are either SuperCorp or the random one shots I created for Wonderwoman/Lara Croft and The half of it. *sighs in deep thought* I’m also not going to look too much into how almost all of the fics were posted and written back in 2017. Nope, not at all.

*Small voice screaming you peaked in 2017 and everything else is garbage jumps back and forth*

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

I tend to always respond, yup. I truly value comments. I might have gone for spells of time in where I didn’t have the mental capacity to check in old fics because I truly didn’t know what to answer but I treasure every single comment and you all who comment know that I can start to ramble in the answers xd -sorry about that- I really really REALLY love interaction.

6. A fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending:

Ok, Nara, come on, this one is a catch for me. I’ve written angst in far too many fics to remember the angstiest one :P I have the most recent one, though, that is the easy one to think about: Goodbye.Written for @delirious-comfort. I’m just going to say “Kisses with their last dying breath” as an idea of what awaits inside but I’ve written about death and loss and angst quite a lot. There were some I wrote back to SQ with Regina needing to kill Emma during the Dark Swan arc that, to this day, I still love and some others in where Regina is the one that dies, again and again, trapped by magic while Emma watches. I have the loss in mental destruction form and… I REALLY like my angst y’know xd

7. Do you write crossovers?

Not counting Lara and Wonder Woman not really! I think it comes from the fact that I loooove worldbuilding as a whole and some pairings would require all my focus into making the world perfect which in turn would make me self conscious on the OOCness of it all.

8. Ever received hate on a fic?

*snorts* I’ve received hate due to the pairing I’ve written about, how I’ve written about it, the amount I’ve written, how slow or quick I can be, the usage of some tropes, the lack of usage of those same tropes… Let’s just go with: yuuuup.

9. Do you write smut?

I’ve written smut, yeah! But I can already see the pointed looks of some so let’s elaborate Xd I write smut when asked and sometimes when not asked but there’s a part of me I like to call a terrible tease that prefers writing the beginning of a scene, taunt it, focus on what happens before the sex scene per se as I find it more enjoyable to write. The process of escalation is always the best for me to see what can I do it by using both dialogue and descriptors tbh, so I tend to tease more than show.

9. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

A few weeks ago I’d have said: Maybe(?) But trying to follow the trail of some other fics that had been stolen from some friends -I think it was me trying to find more about the page that stole something from your Nara!- I found some pages in where my fics had been reposted. In some it was stated that the person posting the fic wasn’t the author but I had never been contacted in order to see if I’d say yes to such a thing and in some others the page was locked up but I could still see someone was pretending to be the author. I did the thing and got some of those down.

Pointed note: Ask me if you want to post or translate or anything. I will look into you and answer you if you seem honest about the thing. But despite every joke and self-deprecating comment those 500 and then some fics represent MY time so very kindly I say fuck off to those who wish to steal from me and if I catch you… you don’t really want to see me angry, trust me.

10. Ever had a fic translated?

I’ve given permission to some, yeah, but never heard it back from them so I’m guessing it didn’t stick.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic?

I’ve written series alongside other authors as @stregaomega for example. And some others that are unpublished -looking at you @carsonnieve - I’ve also done collabs… but fics co-written in the sense of two authors same chapters I don’t have anything posted I’m afraid :P

13. All-time favourite ship?

*snorts*, I guess the obvious answer is SQ uh? And I do think they were the ones that allowed me to read and write SO much. The one I feel more strongly about, however, is Bering and Wells from Warehouse 13.

14. WIP you want to finish, but don’t think you ever will?

All of them counts as a valid answer? But if I only could finish one that would be Arcadia. With A forgotten Promise second and the one I did as an Assassins Creed AU third. (I don’t remember the name so there’s no link, sorry xd)

15. Writing strengths?

Uhhhh, you REALLY want me to say that? I don’t fucking know!! To me everything I write is garbage. I always try to go for the feelings so I guess. Dunno xd I’ve been told I’m good at worldbuilding and to be honest is what I enjoy the most.

16. Writing weaknesses?

Everything Xd Pacing? What I hate the most sometimes is dialogue, I would count it as a weakness but I’m always far too focused on description rather than dialogue. I don’t think it’s a bad thing per se but it’s something that I don’t do as much.

17. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

I’m conflicted. Always. Majorly because I think that having bilingual characters in fanfiction is portrayed and expected in a way that I don’t feel it’s honest with how bilingual people -us- talk. So if I go by what I know I do I think it’s not what readers hope to see when it comes to that and if I go for how canonically is hoped to be found I don’t think it’s logical. But that’s me and my overthinking Xd If I have the option I like to do it.

18. First fandom you ever wrote for?

Belice! Or Bella/Alice. Worst first fic ever but oh, well, I’m always saying that :P

19. What’s your fav fic you’ve written so far?

Uhh… Don’t make me do this XD Agh, I don’t know. I’ve always been very vocal about Metallic Ink because I let myself enjoy the process of creating a magic system almost out of zero and that was fun. Despite hating some of the writing process and that I’d do it differently now I think I’m going to stick with that answer. Or anything that had any steampunk-based undertone. To be honest I like more thinking of concepts, I had one in where Emma was a thief and it involved the robbery of a ring that was Regina’s one way ticket to freedom I then later repurposed that I adored thinking about so let’s go with…. Yeah, I love having the option of changing things up a little and focus on how characters would fit in different aesthetics for this one Xd

Annnd… these are four pages, gods. I’m just going to tag @waknatious @carsonnieve @stregaomega here and see what they do- Enjoy the questionnaire ladies :P

[sapphirelycoris]

𝑨 𝑩𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝑩𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝑨𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒈𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 & 𝑨𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒕: 𝑰

Rating: Teen

Warnings: Suggestive lines, pining (like a lot because Enji's a simp), enemies to lovers style writing, weird 19th century type dialogue but I think it's still readable. Please tell me if I missed any.

Ship: Enji Todoroki x female reader (she/her)

Word count:  2,707

Music: Pride & Prejudice Music & Ambiance

Author's note: I know some of the character's relationships with others are kind of weird but I casted them according to personality. For example, Ryuko reminds me of Charlotte Lucas and Nejire reminds me of her little sister, Maria. I just kind of threw names around haha... A NSFW and continuation soon to come. God, it's been a while since I posted anything on this blog.

Written/created for: @pleasantanathema's Through Ink and Quill | A Classics Collab

Summary: A Pride and Prejudice inspired piece, featuring Enji Todoroki as the male love interest. Loosely following the plot of the actual novel with a few twists on the actual story's dialogue, characters, & events. When you meet Mr. Enji Todoroki, he was the last man in the world you'd ever want to be around. However, as your paths cross more and more, you see that your first impression of him was inaccurate.

"The world works in mysterious ways. He doesn’t know what happened and when it began. Suddenly, Enji cannot stop longing to be in the same room with you. To go one more moment without you seemed like a sin or some unbearable divine punishment for his greatest flaw: pride."

𝑉𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝘩𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠, 𝑡𝘩𝑜𝑢𝑔𝘩 𝑡𝘩𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑦𝑛𝑜𝑛𝑦𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑙𝑦. 𝐴 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑏𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡𝘩𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑛. 𝑃𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑠; 𝑣𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝘩𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝘩𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑜𝑡𝘩𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑡𝘩𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑜𝑓 𝑢𝑠. -𝐽𝑎𝑛𝑒 𝐴𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑛

The world works in mysterious ways. He doesn’t know what happened and when it began. Suddenly, Enji cannot stop longing to be in the same room with you. He dreamed about the sight of your eyes, glancing at him with mild contempt. You occupied his thoughts, both innocent and indecent… He was going to go mad if you didn’t share the same affections that he did. He didn’t want you. Not at all. He needed you by his side. To go one more moment without you seemed like a sin or some unbearable divine punishment for his greatest flaw: pride.

When he blatantly insulted you at the first gathering he attended and saw you laugh about it with Ryuko, for once, he felt uneasy. The same woman he had slighted was now the one who controlled him. He noticed the way you looked embarrassed at your family’s antics. It disgusted him that he was obsessing over someone with that kind of background.

It certainly shocked Enji when you stood him up at Sir Yorio’s gathering. How dare you! For him to stoop down and offer to dance with you, only for you to reject him, was truly offensive. A woman far below his social status, refusing to stand up with him. The nerve. 

Every single snarky quip that left your lips swam around in his mind. Your sharp tongue was attractive. The moment he saw you with mud on your dress, walking from your home to Toshinori’s country estate, he was taken aback. For some reason, he couldn’t get rid of that image. The sun hit your face perfectly, creating an enchanting glow that accompanied your delightful countenance. 

“Ms. (L/N).” Your name rolled off his lips so naturally. 

The regrettable moment you had to leave Toshinori’s estate, he helped you into the carriage which would take you home. Something transpired, far beyond his comprehension. Your hand fit so perfectly in his, he couldn’t help but want it to stay there forever. The missing piece to a puzzling man such as himself finally found its way to its rightful spot. It seemed you wished for the same thing. His grip was secure, he felt safe, and you were trapped, staring into the most beautiful cerulean eyes. At the same time, Enji could drown in your eyes forever. The confused look you gave him was endearing when he refused to let go. 

His actions also startled him. Why was he so stuck on you? He flexed his hand, imagining that yours never left as he watched the carriage shrink, moving further from the manor and into the distance. When was the next time he would be allowed to see you? What was it going to take to cure this infatuation?

≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

The next time he saw you, was under more unfortunate circumstances. He was riding downtown with Toshinori when he spotted your little party. Unlike his friend, Enji looked unhappy when he saw who you were talking with. You briefly exchanged eye contact with him before he had a clear look of disdain displayed on his face. 

Keigo’s eyes followed yours. He tipped his hat, but Enji made no attempt to return the friendly gesture. He hurried away on his horse without saying a word. The encounter was certainly unusual. Keigo looked discomforted by the interaction. You wondered what could have transpired between the two men that caused such tension. 

That night, at your aunt’s home, you sat down and heard what Keigo had to say about his reunion with Enji. He told his side of the story. He painted Enji as the villain in his narrative. Seeing as how you already found the man so disagreeable, you couldn’t help but believe Keigo’s words. He was much more forthcoming than his old friend; he didn’t seem capable of telling a lie. This new story caused you to see Enji in a new light, only deepening your dislike for the man. 

≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

Toshinori was a man of his word and held the ball that he promised your sisters. Enji was less unenthusiastic than he usually was. Knowing that he’d get to see you there was the night’s one redeeming feature. He was excited at the thought of getting to lay his eyes on you once more, and it sickened him.

Many of the officers were attending the ball. While linking arms with Toshinori and walking around the ballroom, you searched for Keigo among the redcoats the officers wore. Instead of finding him, you found a pair of familiar blue eyes that looked at you with well-hidden passion and yearning. Enji wanted to tear you away from Toshinori’s arms and have you all to himself. He had many selfish desires, and he usually got what he wanted, but you were the exception. 

Women fawned over him, trying to get a taste of his money. Even Rei tried being overly friendly with him. He cared little for them; he wasn’t looking to fall in love. He was not in search of a wife. Enji was quite content with the life he had. Everything he wanted was in his grasp. But you? You were so close yet so far. There was an uncomfortable amount of emotional space between you and he wanted to close it. Being in the same room wasn’t enough anymore. He wanted to touch you, feel your skin, claim those alluring lips for himself. He wanted to see your whole being without any pesky fabric in the way. If only he could rip that dress off of your body after forcefully pulling you into a vacant bedroom. 

He made his way over to you, but an officer blocked his view. He informed you that Keigo would not be in attendance. Part of it was because of an assignment he had to do, but he also wanted to avoid a certain man… Your younger sisters drug the officer away, leaving you alone in the middle of a crowded room. 

Fortunately, you spotted Ryuko, who was standing alone in the corner. You went to inform her of everything that had happened lately. An unwelcome guest interrupted you. 

“Ryuko, may I introduce you to my cousin, Mr. Tobita?” While remaining civil, you introduced them to each other. He took your hand and led you to dance. As it turns out, the man can’t dance. He went the wrong way, bumping into another lady. It was embarrassing, to say the least. 

Enji watched in amusement as he saw you struggle to keep a smile. You made eye contact with him again, almost sending him a look of desperation. Dancing with him would be better than your current situation. He simply smirked and waltzed around the room, observing everyone. 

While you were busy venting to Ryuko, the very man you were talking about came up to you. The two of you exchanged glances and bowed. “If you are not otherwise engaged, would you do me the honor of dancing the next with me?” Enji’s odd invitation made your eyes widen slightly.

There was no way out of it. You tried coming up with an excuse, but nothing came to mind. He smiled slyly as you fumbled over your words. “I- well I hadn’t... yes. Thank you…” With no escape, you were trapped. He walked off, and you lingered behind for a minute.

“You’d be a fool if you didn’t take him up on his offer. It’s a great compliment that he singled you out.” Ryuko commented. 

“The last time he singled me out was to slander me. Hateful man…” you hissed before going to follow him. 

As the music started to play, you studied Enji’s face. It was the first time you’d ever really taken the time to analyze all of his features. You hated to admit it, but he was handsome. Unusually handsome. 

Finally, your hand had made its way back into his. Even if it was only for a brief moment, that feeling would stick with him until the end of the night. The two of you danced around with your words, conversing back and forth when the time was appropriate. You simply couldn’t bear the silence. 

Couples pranced around the dance floor elegantly, stepping where they needed to. You two moved in sync, never letting your eyes wander. There was a burning passion for the man that you couldn’t get rid of. Whether it was burning hatred, lust, or love, you couldn’t tell. Hostility and tension seemed to be all that came out of your encounters with him. The sexual tension was the one thing that kept you from completely despising Enji and you hated it. 

In an attempt to rile him up, you remarked on Keigo and the last time Enji saw you. “The last time I was in town, I was forming a new acquaintance.” A sly grin spread across your face as the words came out. 

“Mr. Takami’s friendly personality is what allows him to make friends so easily. Though his ability to keep them is debatable.” 

“How unfortunate he must be, to lose your friendship, a loss I am sure he will regret for the rest of his life.” You mocked in an airy and hushed tone. Before Enji could snap back, Mr. Toyomitsu came over to hint at a marriage between your sister and Toshinori. The two of you glanced at the smiling pair before dancing again. “Didn’t you say that you rarely ever forgave? That your hatred, once set in stone, was set indefinitely? Surely a man such as yourself is careful when breeding such hatred.” 

“Of course I am.” Enji scoffed. 

“And I presume you do not let prejudice blind you?” 

“No. What is the purpose of these questions, if I may ask?” He grumbled, disliking your inquiries. 

“Simply a means to figure out your constitution.” You laughed, “Trying to get a good idea of your character.”

“And your findings?” 

“None. I have heard of you on different accounts by different people with different views of you. You shall remain a mystery until I comprehend you.” 

With the dance ending, Enji remained silent. Once the music faded, he supported your hand as you lightly held it over his. “I request that you do not attempt to perceive my character right now. It would do us no favors if you judged wrong.” He claimed as you left the dance floor.

“I may not get another opportunity, so I might as well try while I have the chance.” 

Enji placed himself right next to you and leaned to whisper in your ear. He lowered his voice, making sure only you could hear. “I would by no means suspend any pleasure of yours.” His finger brushed against your arm as he walked away. All the heat in your body rushed to that spot. You wanted his warmth against your skin, you didn’t want him to go. 

And yet, you were standing alone in the corner of a crowded room, fixated on the man who you swore to never like. 

≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

Much had happened over a short amount of time. You had rejected Mr. Tobita’s marriage proposal and got an earful from your mother. Keigo got engaged to a rich young lady, and Ryuko had gotten engaged to Mr. Tobita. Enji and Toshinori’s party had left his estate, and your sister was disheartened. Everyone had such high expectations for her and Toshinori, only for him to up and leave. 

Now, you were on your own adventure. You, Sir Yorio, and Nejire were going to visit her and Mr. Tobita. They lived in a small house on Lady Chiyo’s property. Greenery grew on the stone, adding to the natural feel of the house. It was a quaint little grey structure with a clear blue sky in the background.

As soon as the carriage stopped, Ryuko and her husband rushed out the door to greet you. They showed you to your rooms while Mr. Tobita kept on about Lady Chiyo’s house and how grand it was. It seemed he was more in love with Chiyo than his own wife.

“Are you happy here?” You asked Ryuko as you watched the other three walk around the garden.

“I am quite content with my situation. I barely see him during the day. He sits in his book room, walks to Lady Chiyo’s every day, and-”

“And you prefer to sit in your own wing of the house.” You finished. Whether it was what she was going to say or not, you stated your mind. Ryuko smiled wistfully, “Yes.” 

≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

While you and Ryuko were walking through the woods, along with Nejire, Mr. Tobita came running after you. He was clearly out of breath but told you his news, anyway. Enji and his cousin, Kugo, had arrived. He urged you to make your way back to the house, since they wanted to visit with them.

“Pleasure to finally meet you Ms. (L/N).” Kugo smiled.

“Oh? ‘Finally’, sir?” 

“My cousin speaks of you often.” He informed.

“Ah…” You sighed, looking over at Enji who met your gaze, only hungrier. 

Enji’s eyes never left you, though. There was a protective aura emitting from him. Just in case Kugo spoke or acted out of line, he was ready to come to your aid at any moment. He rested his knuckles against his mouth. Instead of addressing anyone else in the room, he was intently watching and listening to your conversation. 

“Pray tell, why is Mr. Todoroki staring at me?” You asked Kugo, having enough of being watched over like you were some kind of prey, “Have I done or said something he finds offensive?” 

The man stood up from the sofa and meandered over to the table you were seated at. He had no control of his own actions. It was quite an impulsive move, and now he didn’t know what to say. “How is your family?” He choked out. 

“Well.” You replied, “My sister has been in town for quite some time. Have you happened to see her?” 

“No.” Enji lied, “Unfortunately not.” 

“As you can tell, Mr. Todoroki and I are not very close.” 

“Really? I find that hard to believe.” Kugo exclaimed.

“Truly? I believe in first impressions, however, Mr. Todoroki’s good opinion, once lost, is lost forever.” Your words caused him to turn around, and he saw your smiling face, making a joke of him. 

≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

The grounds of Lady Chiyo’s property were breathtaking. When the weather allowed, you took advantage of the sprawling greenery and went out for as many walks as you could. Without a cloud in the sky, an endless sea of blue, and shining sun, you wasted no time in getting outside. It was much more productive and enjoyable than sitting in the house.

A beautiful little trail, hidden by the estate’s magnificent trees, was the path you found yourself walking along. You looked up to admire how tall the trees had grown. They stood proud and provided you with shade. The birds sang a lovely little tune, supplying you with a unique sound that rivaled that of the best musicians. 

Enji came trotting through the path from the side. He halted his horse once he saw you. No painting could do you justice, even one made by the best painter in the world could compare to your beauty in person. The sight of you admiring the picture in front of you made his heart pound. Though you said nothing, he believed that you, taking the time to simply look at him, was the greatest compliment he would ever receive. 

And for those few precious minutes, he drank in your appearance. He was hopelessly in love with you. Being in your presence was the best part of his day. He found himself looking forward to seeing you. He always prayed for you to cross paths with him. Even if he simply caught a glimpse of you, suddenly it brightened his entire day. 

Unfortunately, he had other things to do. Enji spurred his horse forward and trotted away. Your presence in his life was much bigger than he expected when he first met you. And somehow… he didn’t mind it. He hated yet loved the feeling of being in love.

[djmarinizelablog]

A Conversation with the Author of City Comma State, kippielovesyou/ForcedSimile

Had a short interview with the author of City Comma State, @kippielovesyou/ForcedSimile and asked her if I could share our conversation online---she said yes!

Did you know that Hange and Levi in her work was based on Spongebob and Squidward's interactions?

Read the entire transcript below:

-------------------------------------

djmarinizela (D): if i may ask, where and how did you learn to write so good? what inspired you to write city comma state?

kippielovesyou (K): i don't mind at all! it's genuinely just years of practice. i've been scribbling stories since kindergarten (i had a long standing multi part series in first grade about all my classmates). i think one thing is certain: having a strong understanding of characters whether you borrow them or they are your own is pretty key.

a lot of points [in Isayama's story] could have been better thought out or tighter. however, we all love his characters. a weak plot (or in the case of city comma state: no plot) can be ignored or forgiven if everyone loves the characters

i'll be honest, i spend a lot of time trying to understand why a character does things or reacts a certain way. and yes, sometimes, that means i act out scenes in my car while driving. it's embarrassing...

there's a lot more to it, but to me that's the most important thing

as far as how city comma state came about: i wanted to do a slow burn romance centered around levihan, but I also wanted to show how all these characters care about and support each other. i knew in the confines of the AoT world, anyone could die at any moment and that didn't work with the softer feelings i wanted people to enjoy. how can you enjoy the friendship between mike and hange if he dies? it's possible, but it upends all the warmth we were enjoying. so i wrote an AU. i wanted to keep levi with a rough background with many walls, and i wanted hange to have her own issues that they can work through together. and i love the idea of them adopting/supporting the 104th kids without the fear of sending them out to war

D: your answer is so profound and helpful, thank you so much! I can honestly say you pretty nailed it when it comes to character development---everyone has a character arc in your fic! [my next question] is about the gender discourse in your story. I know you started City Comma State pretty early in 2014, but even back then, the nonbinary identity wasn't widely known before. How were you able to flesh out the discourse on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum and play it out on the dialogues and backstories?

K: it's pretty funny, a lot of the LGBTQIA+ has always been discussed i my family. we've had gay, lesbian, trans, gnc, bi and asexual people in my family for generations, as far back as the 20s (that we're aware of). hange's gender being debated made it a prime opportunity to write such an experience, some of which is borrowed from my own life. when i read older chapters i see certain slips in dialogue where i could have made an effort to be more neutral. we're in such a binary society that sometimes even if you feel in between, it slips in. in fact, i'm sure some people might take issue with the fact that i stuck with she/her for hange. i'm not sure i'd make a different decision today. i like this version of hange the way she is, and i hope hange's nb/gnc status comes across in more than just pronouns. hange's full identity is so much more than that and that is what i wanted to explore. and i think no matter where you fall on the whole LGBTQIA+ spectrum, you are more than just the label you've chosen. yes, in this story levi is bi/pan. but i don't think he ever says that explicitly, and he avoids labels. it seems fussy to him, which feels levi. discourse would not be his thing. i think even having a debate about whether or not he was bi or pan wouldn't be something he would want to engage in, he just wants to do what he wants. instead it's heavily implied. i think we forget since so many of us experience this discourse online and want to label things that there are people who don't want to involve themselves in it. it goes back to how would this character act. for instance, based on how levi is in canon, i can see many ways to interpret his sexuality. there's cues for a lot of different takes. but levi doesn't seem like the type that would need a definitive label in order to be happy. there's many ways to interpret hange's gender (and i've written several takes, some where they're more insistent on their pronouns), but i think hange's more excited to explore life than worry too much about much about how they're addressed or how someone talks about them. maybe another character might be more caught up in labels but hange and levi not so much

D: No, don't be sorry, I am more than thankful for your answer. I really appreciate it! I don't get to have these kinds of conversations with other writers, so I am grateful for your insights.

K: a really funny anecdote for you: i loosely based the idea of my levihan off of spongebob and squidward. you know, since they start out as neighbors and hange is more invasive than levi is used to

D: that's.... a stretch. but thanks for the tidbit! was the annual star wars contest also something that you do in your family? that part as well as all the geeky references won me over tbh!

K: it was an extremely loose inspiration! but hange mowing her lawn in the middle of the night so levi wouldn't be mad at her is on par with a spongebob move. and um...my family, while they can be a little nerdy, is not nerdy enough to do the star wars tournament! i made that up entirely

i just imagined hange having eccentric family, so they have very unusual traditions that none of the children question

i'll be the first to say a lot of city comma state is unrealistic and a little bit of a domestic fantasy. there's a lot of problems with money, employment and such that hange and levi SHOULD have but that's a little too real and not what i want to be the focus of this story. like hange landing a job that gives her a day off and she doesn't suffer a severe pay cut as a result? unrealistic. but i have other things i want to tackle. plus, in canon we have humans that turn into giants and 3D maneuver gear which would probably kill its user in real life. i think making certain parts of this fanfic a little idealistic is okay

D: are there other works that influence your writing? or authors that inspire you to write?

K: There's too many influences to count. reading is so important and even things that are bad are helpful. i actually was trying to read a YA series that seemed really cool and i had to stop reading because so many things were so annoying (I won't reveal which, since i think it has a small but dedicated fandom and i don't want to rain on their parade, it is purely a taste thing to some degree). instead of being upset and thinking that I wasted my time, i took note of what made me stop reading (that is a long list of things i didn't like so i won't bother to outline each one). even if it's something as small as a fanfiction that you had to click out of, ask yourself why you stopped. Especially with fanfiction: you already like these characters, what you're looking for is usually pretty specific (a pairing, an au, a specific scenario, etc). why, when this author has ticked all your superficial boxes, did you stop reading? and when you love something as yourself why. Ask yourself why you love the source material even! do you really love the plotlines and the world or do you love the characters? Is the dialogue strong? something to also pay attention to: people in general. how do they speak, gestures, facial expressions. really listen to how people talk (Youtube podcasts are really good for this!).

i think people would be surprised, a lot of what i really like to read is very all over. from surrealist novels, to classic literature, to science fiction aimed at children (i'm finally reading animorphs after almost 20 years!). and what i write for original fiction doesn't reflect what i'm probably best known for.

D: thanks for this, Kippie! looking forward to reading more of your works!

K: i'm still amazed at the response! writing is so solitary to me and i don't really look at my numbers. it never occurred to me that people would be discussing my fic!

-------------------------------------

If you haven't read Kippie's Levihan fic yet, here's the link to get started: City Comma State

[catboycafe]

I Will Now Express Every Thought I Have About Pacific Rim: The Black 

⚠️ spoilers for the whole thing baby

I actually forgot Pacific Rim: The Black was premiering today until I saw it in an article this morning! When I first heard about it months ago, I was decidedly not sold on a Pacific Rim anime. Uprising burnt me the fuck out and I don’t have a lot of trust left in me for new entries to the franchise. But I had heard rumblings of Raleigh and Herc being referenced after going into #pacificrim and I decided I may as well check out to see what was up! I binged it in 4 hours and it sure was a whirlwind, I’ll tell ya

The Plot

I really enjoy the setting and initial concept! We’re so use to seeing Kaiju/Jaegar shenanigans play out within these major cities with helpless civilians everywhere that spending so much time in a lonesome desert and these destroyed civilizations was really cool and indicative of the changes Pacific Rim has undergone in the last few years. I also looooved the Desert Settlement from the beginning!! It seemed really homey and picturesque; I wish we’d spent more time with the other survivors and got to see more of their day to day aside from farming and sitting. 

I also found the first episode set up to be really tight and well written! I was hooked during the initial flashback, Hayley and Taylor’s fight was really poignant and well acted, and the reveal of Atlas Destroyer felt really huge and epic!!

But once we left the Desert Settlement and the plot started actually moving along, the pacing becomes suuuper rough. We spent way too long in Bogan with Shane and Mei; there’s only 7 episodes and we spent, like, 3? 4? within the confines of that camp and I felt it weighed the plot down. Boy is introduced in the 2nd episode and, because the narrative spends so much time on Shane’s evil machinations and Mei’s back story, we still don’t know anything concrete about his origins or purpose 3 episodes later! That felt frustrating to me

The story beats overall were very predictable. I was able to pick up on Mei’s backstory via her dynamic with Shane in their introductions, so her memories felt too built up and too hollow once they were revealed. The same with the reveal of Boy’s Kaiju form; he was in a big green test tube in a PPDC base - I assumed immediately he was a part-kaiju experiment and again his reveal felt hollow, especially after the glacial pace of it’s development. 

Even when events weren’t predictable, they lacked weight. The appearance of several Kaiju Breaches in “Boneyard” felt very cheap for some reason; I wasn’t scared and I didn’t feel tense about these odds mounting against the protagonists. This was just happening and I was just watching. 

The Art Direction and Animation

I’m very obsessed with all the new Kaiju we got from this; I love how Copperhead is rendered, they’re a joy to see on screen!! The Rippers are also very cute and deserve little plushies...i love these neat little dogs. Boy’s Kaiju Form is very intimidating with an interesting color palette and I loved seeing him next to Copperhead’s highly saturated design!

That’s unfortunately all that I liked however; All the human character design is unmemorable to me. Every character looks exactly like another easily identifiable anime character from a different property (Hayley looks exactly like Zero Suit Samus to me, for example. And Mei kept reminding me of both Bernadetta Fire Emblem and Motoko Kusanagi from GitS. The list goes on). 

I can sort of understand why they’re so bland? A franchise going from Live Action to something as heavily stylized as anime is probably a really difficult transition and these designs are probably meant to be more lowkey than more unique anime designs in order to help that transition. But realistically stylized designs can still be recognizable and unique! These feel uninspired and bare bones.

 I have no problem with the switch to CGI animation that modern anime is doing because I know it’s a lot cheaper to produce and it can still be really unique and striking! But The Black’s model animation felt very stilted and inconsistent. I don’t have a lot of knowledge about animating so I don’t think I can accurately describe what I disliked? Wooden is probably the best term. Character movements felt wooden and things like hair and clothes felt plastic. 

Impacts also had very little weight. The fight between Tayler/Mei and Copperhead reminded me of when you’re in a dream and trying to punch something, but you can’t punch hard. It was simply too floaty and too soft. The final showdown in “Showdown” was better, but not by much. It was very immersion breaking seeing these Giant Robots and Giant Monsters unable to throw a real solid hit!

Characters

My favorite character was unequivocally Joel Wyrick. We love Joel Wyrick in this house! Joel’s character has real charisma and charm. I love his flirtations with Loa, how his cocky disposition is juxtaposed with his drinking problem and later insecurities over his lost memories, and his genuine kindness shown to Mei, Taylor, and Boy. No one ever plays with Boy, they just run after him and drag him around...but Joel has this moment in “Escape from Bogan” where he kneels down to Boy and helps him collect rocks. It was sweet!

So of course, when Joel dies for absolutely no reason 5 minutes later - pissed! I was pissed! I yelled “COME ON” aloud in my studio apartment! I was genuinely so excited to see him interact more with the rest of cast then, poof. No More Joel.

His death felt like it was for shock value to me rather than actual narrative development. Why kill him when we still don’t fully understand his and Mei’s relationship? Why were they so close? Were they childhood friends, or just coworkers that happen to become friends? Why did he specifically know all the details of Shane’s abuse towards Mei before she did? 

What did his death accomplish? It made Mei sad...ok? She was already...very sad. Her running away from Shane already had consequences - the consequences of Shane coming after them for revenge in the future. Why did Joel have to become a causality? 

His death is ultimately tied to Mei’s character arc which is, unfortunately, my least favorite :c I find Mei to be a really one dimensional character with a personality, backstory, outlook, and motivation that I’ve seen done a million times before with a million other characters. She feels very out of place in the franchise as a whole - Pacific Rim is, at it’s core, a story about connecting with others. Her self-centric arc and lack of desire to connect outside of drifting really alienates her from the story at large and it frustrates me how long The Black’s narrative spends on her. 

Hayley and Taylor were otherwise very interesting in the pilot episode, but become similarly one dimensional at the story chugs on. Taylor’s unflinching (bordering on unhealthy) faith in their parents was really interesting next to Hayley’s complete acceptance of their parents’ death. But once the two of them make up their differences, they lack an interesting dynamic and become very passive protagonists.

 Taylor especially has no personality - how would you describe Taylor? He’s...brave. He’s the older brother. He’s a leader? He’s nice? There is nothing noteworthy about him at all, which is sad considering I think he has the potential to be a really interesting way to explore the original movie’s influence on The Black’s story.

Hayley’s grief and self-blame are more interesting than Taylor’s...nothingness, but she still falls into this one-note trope of being the naive, excitable little sister. I guess I feel abnormally frustrated about this flat character writing because Pacific Rim’s incredibly unique cast has always been an inspiration to me! It feels sad that this new iteration into the series is full of what feel like stock characters. 

Then we get to Boy. How come Boy can’t have a person name? It’s specifically written in a dialogue between Taylor and Hayley: “I’m not going to call him Chad or Barnaby or one of those names for a baby brother you wanted as a kid,”

Why?

He’s by all accounts a human child when they find him. Yes, he was found in a big green test tube - but he walks and acts just like a human child. The only difference, seemingly, is that he is non-verbal and engages in strange/annoying behavior (running off, eating bugs, etc). So he isn’t deserving of a name?? I don’t know why that makes me so mad, it just does. it’s like they refuse to treat him as a human even before they find out he’s a Kaiju  - it’s super weird! How can the story sell me on the three of them becoming found family (like they’re seemingly trying to do) if the protagonists won’t even treat this kid like a kid??

Misc. Thoughts

The callbacks to Stacker, Herc, and Raleigh were cool! I also like that Herc is a major plot point! We love Herc Hanson and it’s what he deserves. I also find Loa’s connection to Horizon Bravo very interesting...and the fact we’re getting Kaiju cultist lore! Love that! Love that!

Fucked up that the only two dark skinned characters were: 1) removed from the story 10 minutes in with no call back yet, 2) Killed after having 1 line of dialogue and fridged for the character development of the blonde white girl. I really need to know what the deal with those 4 characters leaving in the beginning was about - I absolutely thought we’d see them again by now, but no dice

I don’t know how to feel about Ajax and have no clue what their purpose in the story is. They’re cool, but whats the point? 

If Mei and Taylor are paired up together romantically, I’m putting Craig Kyle and Greg Johnson in the time out box. Very tired of seeing random hetero romance B plots in stories that can’t even get their A plots together

Overall, it’s kind of subpar! It has the foundations of a really interesting story, but the pacing and characters really took me out of it. I’m interested in Season 2! I know season 2 is already ordered and I’d love to see how things continue to develop, see if the character writing gets any better - but I’m not too hopeful unfortunately. I really really love Pacific Rim after all these years and I’m happy to still be getting content and world building! There’s just sooo much I would change about this however. At least fanfiction’s free! 

Thanks for reading all this, I have ADHD and just go on and on if u let me. hmu if You Too have thoughts about Pacific Rim: The Black and have no one to talk abt them with