#i may. have a slightly cracky idea for a second chapter

[griefpersevering]

if i wrote a longer version of my postnwh fic where the acadec team slowly try to find out the identity of the mysterious man photobombing their camera rolls would anyone be interested 👀

[anothersarcasticdolphin]

A refinement of my thoughts on a second Aemond 5+1 series:

So as much as I want to write Daemon's bastard daughter Daenys killing Aemond, I'm going to bump those two ideas from the series. They may get written as separate one-shots, but I want to keep the series as a whole consistent and not have a random OC showing up and then disappearing.

Also I kind of want to try and do each chapter across the series in a different POV.

1. Aemond's eye gets infected after Driftmark and he dies. 'Mournful song' I think this would be a one-shot from Alicent's POV. Which on the one hand I find very intimidating - because it would have to be centered around her worry and her gradual mix of denial and panic, where she is almost lying to herself.

2. Training accident with Ser Crispy (morningstars are dangerous) Title TBD. Or it might just be 'Morning(star).' I think this would be a two shot - with Ser Crispy and Aegon each narrating their very different accounts what would basically be the same events. I also think Alicent's POV would be great here, but I want her POV for the first story and I think Aegon could be very interesting as well.

3. Daemon pulls a Laertes during sparing practice. Title TBD. This would also probably be a two shot. Daemon and Rhaenyra would be the two POV characters, and this would Daemon in all his wrathful bastardly glory. He's going to be in love with Rhaenyra. But he's not going to be a good person.

4. Rhaenys uses blood magic to make Aemond kill himself [she's less theatrical than Daemon though] so Rhaena can have Vhagar 'Stolen (back)' This would be a one shot with Rhaenys as the POV character. And I think poor Vhagar may end up being rather instrumental in it all (in more ways than as just motivation), but that's by no means set in stone.

5. The Blacks show up after they find out what's happened to Luke and make what Dany did to KL look like a light breeze. 'Ashen wings.' This would probably be four chapters, and I want to model them after the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Baela as the Conquorer, Jace as War, [TBD as Famine], and Rhaena as Death. Jace is the most wrathful one, Baela vengeful but not quite as much as Jace, and Rhaena with a more detached perspective because she would be almost an outside POV as she wouldn't be in the actual attack on KL (at least at first). Also I want to get the line 'The best defense is a good offence' from Daemon in some form at some point.

So for Famine - Joffrey feels too young. I'm almost tempted to have Corlys be Famine given House Velaryon's control over trade in the Dragonstone/Driftmark/King's Landing area. Also Rhaena could be Famine and then I would have Helaena as Death. But I'm slightly terrified to try and write Helaena's POV.

+1. Aemond hates Aegon's guts for the pig incident and runs off to the Free Cities instead of doing his part for Team Green. 'The tree remembers.' This would be a one shot from Aemond's POV. Helaena is very an important character here. This one may end up being an au where Aegon didn't show up to his own wedding so Aemond married Helaena in his place - if so she and their kids are coming with Aemond.

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Ideas that are being relegated to independent one shots:

Aemond sides with Rhaenyra out of pure spite cause he hates Aegon's guts. This would be kind of cracky.

One of Daemon's less savory 'friends' gets Aemond while he is searching for Aegon. This would be an aftermath fic where the Blacks are on Dragonstone having been presented with the sapphire and are trying to figure out what to do.

OC [Daemon's bastard] kills him over Storm's End. 'A fell voice in the air.' We never got to see how scary Daenys could be in Four Dragons. This would probably be looking at three chapters - Daenys, Aemond, Daemon?. Also Storm's End is likely to be harmed in the making of this fic.

Daemon [+/- OC?] flies around burning stuff and gets the drop on Aemond. 'Hunter (Hunted)' The other candidate for the line 'the best defense is a good offense.'

Any thoughts?

[yumi-michiyo]

For You I’d Burn the Length and Breadth of Sky [4/4] - with extended author’s notes

Rating: M for strong language, adult themes, sexual content

Genre: Supernatural/Drama/Romance/Angst/Family/Tragedy/Friendship/Hurt/Comfort/"Romance"

Pairings: Rachel Berry/Quinn Fabray, Rachel Berry/Noah Puckerman, Rachel Berry/Santana Lopez, mentioned Santana/Lopez/Finn Hudson, Brittany Pierce/Finn Hudson, mentioned Rachel Berry/Jesse St. James, Rachel Berry/Cassandra July, Rachel Berry/Brody Weston

Summary: She already knows Quinn Fabray is more than just a pretty face; she just didn't know it would take a few lifetimes to find out how much more. Post-canon, AU divergence. A oneshot of epic proportions.

Links: FF.net | AO3

On the writing process:

Have I bitten off more than I can chew?

This was a thought that crossed my mind repeatedly as I worked on this chapter. The plot was labyrinthine, the characters' motivations were all over the place, the timelines clashed, the dialogue was confusing. I keep a writing notebook in which I jot down prompts, ideas, plot threads etc., and this was one of the rare times that it didn't help.

I think one of the reasons for the difficulty was that unlike the first two chapters, 85% of the content wasn't planned. The characters (especially Santana) didn't want to cooperate. I only had an idea of what I wanted the endgame to be, and I spent time trying to herd the characters in that direction.

I have always been a multishipper/non-canon shipper at heart, and this was no exception though it does seem I've gone overboard with the sheer number of pairings squeezed into one fic. This chapter, in particular with the Santana/Rachel, drew a lot of inspiration from the incomparable you're just another song and dance by acid_glue234, in terms of the structure and the girls' interactions. This fanfic, out of all the fanfics in my history of fandoms, came the closest to switching my OTP.

There has been a lot of hints and clues about the setting in Rachel's real life scattered through the entire fic. While readers may enjoy picking through the fic to gather them, everything will be made clear in the epilogue.

The original draft of the story had the entire thing ending with Rachel leaving the voicemail, Quinn picking up almost immediately after, Rachel answering, and... fade to black. I don't know whether it's a good thing or not that I decided that since the entire thing had changed so radically, it wouldn't make sense not to add an epilogue.

I love Easter eggs, and sprinkling subtle references to other works of mine. Besides the obvious recycling of names from my headcanons, there are minute details that come from my other fics. They aren't relevant to any plot twists or big reveals; they're just there for my own entertainment as I go through the long, painful process of editing.

After completing this fic (including the epilogue and the letter written by wheelchair!Quinn), I have one more fic in the works before I officially retire from writing Glee fanfic. Honestly, I've covered all the pairings I like and plenty of Faberry tropes in one story: post-accident, future!fic, college friendships, friends turned lovers, post-canon, unrequited...

On Rachel Berry:

Rachel is, in a word, tired. She's gone through a whole lot of living (spoiler: it'll come back to haunt her back in her real life). She's been in relationships with a whole lot of people, done a lot of things without really feeling the consequences, and for the first time, is feeling stuck. I wrote her as being displaced; she hasn't really let her first two 'deaths' sink in.

This iteration of Rachel is less involved in keeping up appearances than the previous two; the first Rachel was genuinely happy to explore the what if's left by Finn's death. The second was a little more cautious, threw everything into a relationship with Quinn, and was broken by it. In this chapter, Rachel does realise that she's not as concerned about 'playing her part' as the previous times. As a result, she's more reckless, impulsive, and callous; notably in her promiscuity and the cold way she treats Puck.

The feel of this chapter is more of Rachel applying meta thought to her 'life', as opposed to 'living'. She is more detached from her surroundings, especially when things get complicated with Santana. I wrote Rachel with the idea of 'introspection' in mind; the time spent living life all over again has given her plenty of time to reflect on the things that have gone wrong in her real life, and we see that she's starting to change.

Rachel doesn't pursue Santana, like she does Finn and Quinn. She only falls for her after a period of soul-searching, and only after giving herself permission to fall. In other words, she makes a conscious decision to love Santana after clearing her conscience (is Quinn real, or 'real real'? Who knows?).

On Noah Puckerman:

Noah Puckerman has never been one of my favourite characters on Glee - I'm one of those people who think that his impregnating Quinn is equal to rape, the bad boy archetype isn't a favourite of mine, and the rest of his antics aren't particularly impressive (not to mention he's one of the victims of the show's writing). My Noah (and the fandom's Noah) is a simple guy who's rough around the edges but has a heart of gold.

Noah's also gotten the short end of the stick in this chapter. Since the story's told from Rachel's point of view, and she's pretty distant and preoccupied with her own problems (and Quinn), little is known about Noah's feelings. I write him as someone who's in love with Rachel despite her many shortcomings and is unfailingly loyal, despite her ignoring him, and the Season Four!Finn stunt she pulls on him.

On Santana Lopez:

Santana, in my opinion, is one of the great success stories of Glee. She goes from Quinn's backup singer/dancer and henchwoman to one of the main characters (rewatching the show reminded me of how much I hate canon!Rachel). I have always loved the strong woman with a vulnerable side trope, and no one embodies the character type better than Santana (and Naya).

Rachel does note that this Santana is softer around the edges than canon!Santana. It's mentioned in the fic that without Quinn, Santana is the unchallenged queen bee of McKinley, and is more secure in her identity and accepting that she is lesbian. For that reason, she doesn't victimise Rachel, or see the need to reinforce the strict social hierarchy.

Another cornerstone of the fic is the friendship between Kurt, Santana, and Rachel AKA two-and-a-half-gays. There was little opportunity to explore the daily, snarky interaction between the trio in the previous two chapters, so I think I might have gone a bit overboard with that. I do love writing snarky dialogue.

I headcanon Santana as being one of those people Nat King Cole sang about:

When I fall in love, it will be forever...

Another of my favourite tropes are people who fall in love without even realising it, and that's pretty much what happens on Santana's part.She doesn't start to move on from Brittany until she sees how happy Brittany is with someone else, and even then it takes a while before she starts to see Rachel in another light.

Santana, like Quinn, is one of those unfortunate people shafted in the hurriedly-cobbled-together ending of Glee. We don't know what she ends up doing with her life. We have no clue what are her likes and dislikes, or her aptitude and quirks. Based on the scant information we're given, I headcanon Santana to be involved in music production and/or songwriting, otherwise a television actress. In this chapter, I stole Sara Bareilles' excellent song Morningside for Santana. Sadly, there is no awesome slow and sexy acoustic version to link to, but I think it would sound amazing.

On Brittany Pierce:

I'll admit the sole Finn/Brittany fic that I have read and loved is thememoriesfire's duck sauce, meet bear cheese. It not only sold me on this pairing as something not cracky, but also showed a realistic portrayal of how these two would interact.

Generally, I don't write Brittany because I'm not sure I understand her, and thus can do her character justice. But Brittany was crucial to the plot, to help Santana open herself to falling for other people, to provide the catalyst to get Rachel and Santana talking again, and to help Rachel make her decision to fall for Santana.

There are several versions of Brittany in fanon, and this is one of the versions I enjoy best; the one who lives on a slightly different plane of reality that only intersects with the one everyone else lives in.