#i think this is technically not quite non-canon compliant since i don't think there can be such thing as a Terra AO3 since i believe

[oltammefru]

Hc: Heidi definitely wrote reader self-insert X "extremely thinly veiled Kal'tsit character" fanfic at some point. Meanwhile, Closure, who is extremely active on Terra's analogue of AO3, has definitely encountered and read some of it before.

After Heidi joins the RI landship, whenever Closure and Heidi talk, Closure would always sneakily work in quotes from Heidi's fanfics into their conversation, tormenting Heidi with the question of "does she know does she know???" until it reaches a point where Heidi is like 99.9% sure that Closure knows.

[allsassnoclass]

hazel!! hiya!! could i hear about 2, 7, 14, 37, & 45 from the ask game? -💙

@igarbagecannoteven hi megs! thanks for asking!

2. Go to your AO3 “Works” page, to the sidebar with all the filters, and click the drop-down arrow for “Additional Tags.” What are your top 3-5 most used tags? Do you think they accurately represent your writing habits?

Christmas (15)

Established Relationship (14)

Fluff (10)

Canon Compliant (10)

Alternate Universe - College/University (9)

Okay so. I have 95 fics posted on ao3 between my two pseuds. I wouldn't say that "Christmas" accurately represents my writing habits since those are from ficmas (and one shazam fic), and while I'll probably do one christmas fic a year in the future, I don't think I'll be doing a full ficmas again. I do feel like established relationship and fluff both fit! I find getting-together fics more difficult to write, so my short fics especially are usually established relationships, and I do like fluff! i like canon compliant stuff, especially for non-rpf fandoms, and while i think i'll write less college/university fics in the future now that i'm out of college, i know that the mashton college au accounts for a lot of those and i do have plans for quite a few other college fics.

7. Any worldbuilding you’re particularly proud of? i'm going to say the sorcerer/prince au! i feel like i did a good job of introducing this entirely new world in just a short little fic. i think the worldbuilding blended into the narrative really well.

14. Are there any tropes you would only read if written by a trusted friend or writer? in this fandom at least, since I have trusted writers here, soulmate aus are something that i'll only read by people i know will do it in a way i like. soulmate aus are something that i've gotten a bit more particular about as I've gotten older and read more fic. also, there are some aus or tropes that immediately lend themselves to smut (fwb, omegaverse, etc) and if i see one of those marked T or M i'll only read it if i know the writer and can trust that they rated it correctly. remember friends, it's not about the amount of sexual content in your fic, it's about how detailed the sexual content is!

37. Promote one of your own “deep cut” fics (an underrated one, or one that never got as much traction as you think it deserves!). What do you like about it? going to be controversial and promote when i watch the world burn despite the fact that when i first posted it i wasn't feeling the best. she deserves better! i know that she's not going to get better, because it's an apocalypse au and those aren't very popular aus, but I guess I wasn't expecting it to be as badly-received as it was? which is hypocritical, because i myself don't usually read apocalypse aus and looking at the tags and such on this one, idk if i would've read it, but i do thing it's good! it's a bit of a different style than is usual for me, but i think it works really well for the subject matter and i think there's a nice emotional quality to it.

45. What’s something you’ve improved on since you started writing fic? mmmmm good question! on a technical level i'm not sure what i've improved on, just because i'm constantly always trying to improve but it's always in the back of my head since fic is for fun, but on a personal level i've improved at ensuring that fic stays a fun hobby rather than something ugly and stressful and disheartening. i've gotten better at really listening to myself about what i want to work on, rather than forcing myself to work on fics i don't have motivation or inspiration for, and i've also gotten better at not looking at my immense number of wips as a bad thing. it's okay if i don't finish them! that's fine! i still do struggle with these things (there are a few fics where i'm like "aw man, i should finish that for [insert fic event] which is rapidly approaching" but i've also acknowledged that right now i simply don't want to write, i want to read, and therefore many of these fics won't be written in time for those events because i won't force myself), but i'm getting better, which is good!

Questions for fic writers

[paintedrecs]

Since you've semi-recently gotten into "Gargoyles," do you have some fanfic recommendations for it? (And yes, you can include your own fics if you want. We don't mind.)

Hahaha honestly I don’t have a lot of other recommendations - when I was close to finishing the show, I got impatient and checked the David Xanatos/Owen Burnett tag on AO3, which <em>literally had six fics in it</em>. I was surprised and disappointed, and I spent a few days idly writing a fic in my own head. Since there was nothing out there for me, I had to create my own content.

At one point, I told @mad-madam-m​, “I'm talking myself out of writing a Gargoyles fic that 1 person (me) would read.” She replied, “Why would you talk yourself out of that.” I said, “.....huh, fair point I guess.” A few days later, I’d posted an 11k fic.

The funny part is that M, who had not seen the show at that point, has now written 10 Gargoyles fics (going on a 30k+ 11th) to my 4. So really, she played herself.

I’ve poked around in a few other Gargoyles fics - basically scrolled through the whole tag and checked for anything that sounded like it had sufficient Owen in it - but I’m...kinda picky about my pairings, and I’ve gotten weirdly attached to the rarest possible dynamic in this fandom. (Polyamorous Xanatos, married to Fox and dating Owen, but without any romantic/sexual OT3 trio action.) 

And I’m also very picky about how people write Owen, because there’s this odd tendency to separate Owen Burnett from Puck, treating them as different people/personalities. Owen IS Puck. Puck is Owen. Just because his face and name changes doesn’t mean he does. 

I wrote nearly 37,000 words to try to properly convey my love for this incredibly complicated, fascinating character. (Each subsequent fic was because I felt like I didn’t quite do enough in the last one. I still have a few more in me, if I can ever get around to writing them.)

So...my recommendations...really are just my fics and M’s. Sorry!! It’s sad for me, too. :(

Here they are, though, if anyone’s interested. 

My Fics

Then Fate O’errules (30k)

This two-part series has my original Owen POV fic (11k), and an 18k Xanatos POV follow up, since M wanted to know what Xanatos was thinking during all of their relationship drama. (These fics are, incidentally, the first time I ever used the E rating. Gargoyles is an oddly inspiring show.)

I’ve left this as a complete series, since it covers everything I wanted it to, and I consider it a full story.

However...I’ve been dipping back in with timestamp-style fics, so everything I’ve written for this pairing all fits within the same universe: canon-compliant, with the very slight and (I think) fully believable addition of Xanatos being romantically/sexually involved with Owen.

But a Dream (5k)

Technically this has an unhappy ending (unusual for me), but it fits between chapters of my longer series, so it’s just a glimpse of a tougher point in their relationship, when Owen was stubbornly breaking his own heart and Xanatos was massively failing at communication. I honestly really like what I did with the snapshots of their dynamic here, regardless of the angst.

Spirits of Another Sort (2k)

Another quick timestamp between episodes, because I couldn’t stop thinking about Xanatos putting so much effort into trapping a trickster, when he already had a far more powerful one at home. I also have a LOT of emotions about how incredibly desperate Puck is to stay with Xanatos, as Owen. I love exploring their love, as messy and complicated and painful as it is.

[Pending fics: Another short timestamp, from earlier in their relationship, set in the dojo. An outsider perspective on this unusual Xanatos family dynamic from David’s dad, Petros. And, if I ever manage to go back to it, a fairy tale AU that I fully outlined months ago.]

Mikkimouse’s Fics

To my incredibly great fortune, M ended up liking the Xanatos/Owen dynamic as much as I did, so she’s written a few lovely fics for this pairing, now bringing the grand total in the AO3 tag to fourteen.

The Course of True Love Never Did Run Smooth (2k)

M and I had a conversation some time ago about A Midsummer Night’s Dream, because how can you talk about Puck (and Oberon, the douchebag) without bringing up that play. M then produced this very wonderful snapshot from later on in the Xanatos/Owen relationship, when they go to a play together and run into unexpected emotions. It’s very tender and true to them. I love this one a lot.

Important Questions (592 words)

Xanatos gets drunk. Owen is indulgent.

Explanations (195 words)

A very short, very sweet glimpse of the Xanatos family. I love seeing Owen’s softer side, especially with young Alexander.

Lord, What Fools These Mortals Be (5k)

While all my fics are tightly focused on the Xanatos family - primarily Xanatos/Owen, with Xanatos/Fox and Alex in the mix - M has really run with the wider Gargoyles world. She’s particularly great at writing Elisa, who’s one of my favorite characters in the show (which might not be visible from my fics, since uh...Owen doesn’t particularly like her, and I’m largely writing from his perspective).

M has a fantastic grasp on Elisa, though, and has fully sold me on the idea of Elisa and Xanatos eventually becoming really solid friends. This fic has achingly great Xanatos/Owen pining, but it’s mostly about Elisa (sniping at Xanatos but grudgingly getting along with him because he’s frustratingly brilliant and ridiculously charming), and it’s A+.

New Friends and Stranger Companies (3k)

Another stop along the “how the effff do Elisa and Xanatos become best friends??” journey, with Xanatos showing up at Elisa’s apartment after the events of The Gathering. There’s some Owen/Xanatos and Fox/Xanatos, but it’s mostly about Elisa & Xanatos starting to see (to Elisa’s dismay) how much they have in common. There aren’t many people in the world who know what it’s like to be a human hopelessly in love with a very powerful...non-human.

It’s messy and complicated and Elisa begins to really get a sense of the kind of guy Xanatos truly is, beyond his immense wealth and evil plots and fondness for messing with her easy-to-mess-with roar-happy winged boyfriend.

Concerns (200 words)

Some episode timestamps, because this really is the kind of show that inspires you to fill in the gaps. First, a brief exchange between Xanatos and Owen after they’ve discovered Goliath and Elisa (their two biggest harassers and meddlers) are off on some Avalon World Tour, leaving them free to do whatever they want.

That Shrewd and Knavish Sprite (2k)

And an exchange between Hudson and Owen during The Price, when Owen got his stone hand and Hudson turned out to be a lot more perceptive and difficult than the extremely easy to predict Goliath. Also an introduction to another unexpected friendship I’m super on board with: Owen needs friends, and Hudson makes weirdly perfect sense. (They’re definitely not there yet in this fic, but I’m hoping for a sequel.)

Gargoyles Three Sentence Fics (575 words)

Some of M’s early explorations of Elisa and Alex, whom she wrote wonderfully even before watching the show.

Ill Met By Moonlight (5k)

An Elisa & Xanatos friendship? Weird, but it works. An Elisa & Owen friendship? ...Not really going to happen.

One of the things I really like about this show is that it has all these different layers of relationships. Xanatos can be deeply in love with both Fox and Owen, but that doesn’t mean that Fox and Owen are going to feel that way about each other. They get along and definitely grow closer over the years, especially with all three of them being Alex’s parents, but they’re different kinds of people who live different lives and who both happen to have fallen in love with the same man.

Similarly, Elisa and Xanatos becoming best friends doesn’t mean that Owen and Elisa will ever be close. You don’t have to like all your friends’ friends - being an adult means recognizing and knowing how to navigate those complexities.

So here we have Elisa waking up tied to her least favorite person in the world, a sentiment that Owen has no interest in refuting. But they can still work together, and Elisa can still feel and express concern for Owen when she realizes he’s not quite as put together as he always appears.

(Also really great action writing. M is fantastic at that.)

Gentles, Do Not Reprehend (1.2k)

Along with Elisa, M has really made Alex her own. She’s working on a 30k plus Alex-centric story that I am super excited about, and this is an initial window into some of how that will look. I lovelove the unusual and wonderful Xanatos Family structure, and M does such a great job of building it out in funny, emotional, believable ways.