#i've written enough abt these two i'm giving them their own tag lol

[lovevalley45]

#fictober23 day four

"Do you know what this means?"

original fandom (follow up to this prompt)

word count: 608

Josie felt like she did after that first transformation as Rhiannon drove them home, which meant the ancient laptop to the noggin hadn’t caused her headache. She thought she’d tired Rhiannon out, scampering around the depths of the woods. 

But in the driver’s seat, her roommate sat with a big grin on her face. “That was amazing.”

“Yeah, I need a shower, and about two pots of coffee before I can function again,” Josie said. “But sure, amazing.”

“Josie. Do you even know what this means?” Rhiannon asked. 

“It means you don’t have to worry about me destroying the furniture in the apartment again?”

“No. Well, yes, but no. This is a big break-through.”

Usually, she loved to sit by and pretend she understood the lingo Rhi threw at her about her research on her lycanthropy. But now, she slumped further into her seat. “Can we not talk about science right now?”

“Fine.” She glanced over at Josie. “How are you feeling? As a friend, not a researcher.”

She smiled faintly at the distinction. “Uh, to my friendly, normal roommate? I feel tired. Every part of me kinda hurts. My head feels like shit. But at the same time, I’m kinda relieved. Like I can still live a somewhat normal life.”

“What do you mean?” Rhiannon asked. 

“I don’t know, part of me worried I’d have to move out alone to a cottage in the woods in the middle of nowhere to never hurt anyone,” Josie said. “I thought that would be my life.”

“I never would have let you do that,” she said. “I wouldn’t have let you hurt anyone.”

“I’m my own person. It’s not your responsibility to watch over me.”

“I didn’t mean it like that.” She sighed. “I would never try to make you feel like you were a threat. If I thought you were, I wouldn’t have insisted on coming with you into the woods last night.”

“You sure thought I was when you hit me upside the head with a laptop.”

“I said sorry,” Rhiannon groaned. “And I obviously didn’t know it was you at the time. All I saw was an unexplained beast in our apartment and I panicked.” 

Josie rubbed the spot of her head where she’d been thwacked. There was no mark, of course, but she still remembered.

“I don’t just see you as some kind of specimen. You’re still my friend,” she continued. “And I wanted to help you. I wanted to… understand what you were going through. Not make you feel alone.” She shrugged. “It’s just that my methods also satiate my own scientific curiosity.”

“As long as you’re not writing your thesis on me, it’s fine.” Josie shot her a look. “You’re not, right?”

“No,” Rhiannon said. “My advisor would never take that seriously. Think of it as a side project. That really, I don’t have much time for.” 

“But that’s time we get to spend together,” she said. 

“Exactly! Even if my feet are killing me trying to keep up with you.”

“Four paws beat two feet,” Josie said, a proud grin on her face. 

“I guess so.” Rhiannon fell silent. “You wanna swing by a McDonalds to get breakfast? I’m starving.”

“I think I’m good, that squirrel really filled me up,” she said.

Rhiannon winced. “Ew.”

“I’m kidding. No squirrel can deter me from the allure of a hashbrown,” Josie said. 

“Well, you’ve ruined my appetite now.” But there was still the hint of a smile of her face.

“Damnit.”

 If she couldn’t get her hashbrown, at least Josie could find comfort in the fact she didn’t have to do this lycanthropy thing alone.

[bottombatch]

Fanfic Writer Questions

thanks for the tag @optiwashere!

If you're reading this, consider yourself tagged! But here is one more for the road: @collegeoflore

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Apparently I have 20? That's news to me lol. I would have guessed like 10 to 12. I've used this AO3 account for a while, I guess.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

62,119 words, according to the statistics.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently, only Baldur's Gate 3. Before that I was writing lightcanon for League of Legends.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. And They Were Roommates

2. To Muzzle a Gith

3. Misfit and Nomad

4. I Thought About You

5. Workouts in a Winter Hellscape

Damn. Some of these are callbacks.. Not too surprised, though. These either have popular ships or popular fandoms. LoL lightcanon in 1, 3, and 4 make sense to me, even if I'm embarrassed by the writing in them. Continually shocked by To Muzzle a Gith. I guess Shadowzel is that popular? I don't know. I have so little desire to write for them again and the writing in it makes me cringe, tbh. Same with #5 LMAO. You couldn't pay me enough to reread the fics I wrote in highschool.

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes, always! Well. If someone comments on something really old I might not? But only because im scared they'll ask me to update it lmao. But in general, yes! I love talking and hearing what people liked!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

If I'm including the 20 QOTD Challenge fic (and i am because this is my post), I'd have to give it to Nerves, ch19 of that challenge. I mean, its a flashback scene about killing a childhood friend (and maybe lover) for a crumb of an uncaring goddess' attention.

It's pretty much the only piece of angst I've written that doesn't have some overtone of hope to it. I'm hoping to work it into my act 1 rewrite because I like it so much.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

To me, its Savoring Seconds from the challenge. It's bittersweet but after everything those two have been through... It's the happiest I can envision them ever being. Maybe that's just my bias tho :P

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No? Do most people get hate on fics? I haven't had anything of the sort. Hard to imagine what that would even be like..

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes, I do. Outside of To Muzzle a Gith, I think I write pretty tame stuff? More emotional than anything.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

A Common Song was really the only crossover, but even then.. it was really just a League of Legends fic with a cyberpunk2077 au. It had some good ideas tho.. maybe I'll return to it some day.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I've noticed?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not really. I've helped with brainstorming before but that's really all.

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

This.. is tough. I change fandoms too often for something like this 😭 If I had to pick a bg3 ship... Laz/Karlach. Is it cheating to say my OC ship? Probably. But fuck you, its MY post. I've cried multiple times on the bus just thinking about these two, no one else had quite the strangle hold on me. (I was thinking abt Karlach's funeral btw).

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

A Common Song. I was cooking on some of those ideas but I was FAR too ambitious lmao

16. What are your writing strengths?

I'm... Not totally sure, to be honest. Its hard to read your own stuff and see what's uniquely strong. If you have any thoughts, please let me know!

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I don't think my writing has much rhythm to it. I'd like to work on that. Also my grammar is shoddy at best. English classes were always my lowest grades :,)

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

For fantasy languages I think it's fun! It can add a lot of depth and creates a lot of insight to a characters culture. Dabbling with Drowic for example was a lot of fun.

But like, a real language? Naw. I don't know any other languages so unless it was a phrase I knew a character said in canon.. I wouldn't want to risk a shoddy google translate.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Uh. It was either Invader Zim, Mass Effect, or SAO? I'm not totally sure. This would have predated AO3, when I was in middle school or something. I've tried to find those fics but I think they're genuinely lost.

Probably for the best lol.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

Currently, it is Snowfall. Once I post it, I think it'll be the act 1 rewrite.