#let’s get real fic writer asks

[kiwiana-writes]

ok i don't think anyone asked for this one yet and i'm curious

💘

💘Is there any posted fic you want to rework/re-edit/re-write?

Not enough to actually do it 🤣 but if I hadn't been so impatient to post it, Empty your heart of its mortal dream aka fae prince Henry would have been a LOT longer. I feel like I could have done a bunch more with that concept haha.

[Let's Get REAL fic writer asks]

[mxanigel]

🎈🕯️ for the writing ask!! (Sorry if you’ve already answered either!)

Thank you for the ask! <3 (original list here)

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

It's slowly been changing over time. I once wrote omniscient third-person past tense POV with thoughts all over the place. Now I'm all about limited POV, either third or first person, using present tense, and I try to limit character thinking such that the narrative itself is essentially following their thought processes (if that makes sense). I used to just write whatever came to mind; now I'm constantly checking myself for filter words and whether I'm repeating myself too much and how well I'm handling bread crumbs I've left -- intentionally or accidentally -- along the way in the narrative. Maybe that's growth as a writer, maybe that's perfectionism at play, perhaps a combination of both. 😅

I suppose what's changed least for me is that I write best when I'm listening to music and how strongly I associate particular tracks with certain scenes and/or characters.

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

"An emotion I won't name" for sure between pushing me out of my comfort zone and helping me reconcile my own non-binary-ness. I wrote the first chapter as a standalone one-shot to explore scenes the game couldn't after Anders got to 100 approval with a label of "love" in Awakening. And then I fell so hard for Neri that I had to keep exploring their journey. I even requested my first art commission thanks to them! This particular piece still gives me so much joy and has been my desktop background ever since I got it.

[rexxdjarin]

(@lady--kenobi) 🍭 and 💋

Let’s get REAL fic writer asks

PERSE🥰 hullo bby

🍭why did you start writing?

I’ve always written in some way. I did creative writing in high school and college and have written fanfiction for various fandoms I was interested in for over 10 years. I think writing gives me an escape. A place to make anything possible and to explore the minds and intentions of characters because let’s face it irl you might never know what others are truly thinking or feeling. And, I say this all the time, I’ve had lots and lots of issues with relationships and coming to write for the SW fandom and Rex specifically has allowed me a way to organize my thoughts about what my perfect partner would be and I can make him that man whilst helping figure myself out. It’s been a huge comfort to me 🥺💙

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

I don’t necessarily always have to! Just a thank you in some way is nice. A comment back explaining thoughts behind a certain part I liked as a reader is cool, but not required. Sometimes just DMs back and forth are a better way to thank each other and to build that friendship☺️

[mischief-and-tea-by-the-sea]

🌿 💞🕯️💌

🌿how does creating make you feel?

Alive. Powerful (in some ways). Really good about myself because I'm utilizing my imagination and creativity and all of those things I learned and worked toward in my writing classes/degree. I feel really good about myself when I'm writing - like I'm fulfilling part of what I'm in this particular life for, which is storytelling.

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

The characters are definitely the most important thing, I think. I like to get their voices right - their voice, mannerisms, their expressions, the specific tone and lilt of their voices. Everything else - the plot, the worldbuilding, the settings - those are secondary to the characters. The plot (or scenario, if it's not something huge that requires a full-out PLOT) drives the characters, but I mean, the plot can change from story to story, so it's really still mostly about the character. I'd be lying if I said the technical stuff wasn't a top important thing - I'm an English/writing major, and all those grammar and spelling and punctuation things are hella important to me. Those keep me honest and make me slow down and pay attention to how I'm writing. Figurative language fits in with that, too, though, because it's all the stuff I absorbed in trying to become a better writer, either by reading or by what my awesome professors passed along to me.

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

I just answered this one here!

💌share something with us about an up-and-coming work (WIP) that has you excited!

From Too weird to live, too rare to die, a prompt fic for @kleenexwoman that is a Justin Hammer/Loki (in canon, post-Endgame, everyone lives) bonkers fic:

-------

Still humping the American Dream

Tony closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose between the thumb and index finger of his left hand.  He took five deep breaths.  Counted to twenty.  Took five more.  Counted to ten.  He opened his eyes, the right one pale amber and couldn’t see nearly as well after his snap that ended the war with Thanos. 

Justin still stood in front of him, hands defiantly on his hips, watching him. 

“Anthony, I’m not here to just take up space and piss people off,” Justin said in that affable tone that still managed to dig underneath Tony’s skin and threaten to give him hives. 

“And yet you do that so well, Justin,” Tony snarked as he felt the threat behind his eyes indicating a headache was imminent.  He winced at the harshness of his tone, even with this pain in the ass he never expected to see again, much less share a living space with him. 

Still, they’d made peace with Loki when he returned with Thor and Bruce to help them handle Thanos, and as it turned out, the guy wasn’t so bad in the long run.  Tony liked his sass and sense of humor – always had – and he was pretty handy to have around. 

Perhaps he could make himself get used to Justin Hammer, too.  The guy wasn’t dumb, and since they’d released him early for good behavior and some other reason Tony had already forgotten for the moment, he’d dropped some of that pretentious peacocking that paralleled Tony’s own, which to be fair, he’d been happy to mostly give it up since it got tiresome after a while. 

“Who?  C’mon, Tony, I’m a big boy.  I can take it.  You can tell me who else I’m pissing off besides you,” Justin cajoled, his big grin stretching across the angles of his face.  He’d been trying, but Justin wasn’t stupid; he knew he’d fucked up by trusting the wrong guy.  Didn’t help that he kept trying to compete with a guy known for his genius and his ability to stare any problem in the face, punch it once with his intellect and creations, and boom, no more problem. 

“Pepper for starters,” Tony blurted out, “though she doesn’t live here, and she’s kind of gotten over the idea of you being around Morgan since the kid actually likes you and trusts you.” 

The expression on Justin’s face burst with a sappy fondness he used to reserve for his nephew alone, and he schooled it quickly when Tony had to dial back that initial Papa Bear concern that his kid was around several former villains these days.  Respectfully, he tried to look serious, to take Tony’s comments seriously. 

“To be fair, your kid’s awesome and one day’s gonna run circles around us to make the world a better place,” his words came out clear and heartfelt, and Justin thought he noticed that Papa Bear pride seeping into Tony’s features. 

Note to self, praise that adorable little big-eyed bunny, and that’ll keep Stark from wanting to shoot your nuts off.

“Yeah well.  That’s the truth of it.  Oh and Nat’s still keeping an eye on you.  Everyone else...you’re a somewhat clean slate with.  Not like you’re the only former bad guy in residence,” Tony remarked and went back to what he’d been working on when Justin wandered into the kitchen, namely working on agility and firm (but not too firm) grip with his new arm by making and rolling out pie dough. 

“You want some help?” Justin asked when it seemed like Tony was having trouble with one of the cookie cutters he was using to cut out star shapes (to go with the crescent moons).  He held up both hands when Tony just tossed a glare his way.  “No problem.  Just...offerin’.  As for Natasha, eh.  Sam mentioned it took her a little bit to warm up to Loki, too, so I’ll just...be patient.” 

Justin was in no rush to be liked, and he really didn’t expect to be.  It wasn’t even that he was being a martyr or self-deprecating or living on his low self-esteem.  The prison counselor got him to see where he’d fucked up way before he’d actually chained his personality to impressing the military and broke Anton Venko out of custody. 

Piece of shit and his dumb fucking bird.

------

Thank you for the asks!

Let's Get ((REAL)) fic writer asks

[aobawilliams]

Hewwo!!! ✨💞💝💋 please!!!!

[Let’s Get ((REAL)) fic writer asks]

✨What's a fic you've posted you wish you could breathe life into again and have people talking about it? (or simply a fic you wish got more credit)

Uuummm not so quite breath life into again but maybe Before the coffee gets cold - the sisters and the flowers have water like I knew they'd be fairly niche but they're still some of my favourites (even if I am aware they're far from perfect)

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

I think fairly equally the plot, characters and worldbuilding? Like they're the most important to me, but to different levels depending on the kind of story it is.

💝what is a fic that got a different response than you were expecting?

Hmmm very hard to tell 🤔 maybe what it takes to survive because I was expecting more Shinsou Defenders to get mad at it but I think they didn't find it (or there's less Shinsou mad fans than I thought) but beyond that I kind of knew what to expect from the fics I've posted.

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

Yes!!! I love when they answer my comments, that's such a nice feeling, that's how you make friends! (Not to say every author who answer your comment is a friend but you get what I mean, you gotta start somewhere)

[rainbowcaleb]

Are we really calling 2.4k words a "ficlet" these days?? What do we call 100 word fics now???

You may have misunderstood that post of mine :)

The original snippet was posted as a WIP / teaser on a ficlet friday.

The fully finished, full-length fic was linked in the reblog for those interested in reading the full fic.

the snipped I shared was not a full 2.4k, I was just saying where I was in the WIP status.

afaik the old standard is 100 words exactly is a drabble. I mean, I've been writing since the ff.net days and am still not 100% on the "lines" between drabbles, ficlets, and fics. But in all honesty I chose "ficlet friday" 'cause I like the alliteration and all other days I've posted have been shorter, I just wanted to share this particular WIP on that particular Friday

[mcfiddlestan]

Let's Get ((REAL)) fic writer asks

🌈🎉🤍

🌈 is there a fic that you worked *really fucking hard on* that no one would ever know? maybe a scene/theme you struggled with?

I struggled the entire time trying to get through Ghosts That We Knew, the conclusion to the Picture Perfect series. I honestly hadn't planned to write a whole ass trilogy. Dark Side was the only one I had an idea for, and then halfway through, people wanted more. So I started planning the sequel, Come Back to Me. I'm not a fan of duologies. Trilogies just make more sense. So I started thinking up plots for the third entry. Where could Tony and Loki go after marrying and having two kids (one through a relationship, the other through a surrogate)? What kind of problems would they face? I had no idea, lol. I knew I wanted to insert another kid (Audrey Maria or "Audi"), but I also wanted to show that after 8 years and 3 kids, even the most in-love couples have bad times. I'd gotten about halfway through and just blanked on where to go. It didn't help I was having outside issues -- my RP partner (whom I was in love with) and I were having issues, I was stressing about school, and my dad was having health problems at the time. Oh, and I was struggling to RP too. But I was able to pull something out in the end. And everyone seemed to enjoy it. 😁

🎉how often do you celebrate completing & posting a work? how often do you give yourself the credit/validation that you seek from others when you post? (if you don’t, you should!)

Umm....I'm not sure what "celebrate" means?? I might give myself a mental high five? Say yay? LOL

🤍what’s one fic of yours you think people didn’t “get”?

It's not a fic that's completed, nor is it posted on AO3 anymore, but it's Fools Rush In. It was Frostiron set in the Matthew Perry/Salma Hayek movie. First time I was writing fem!Loki and even tho I only published like 4 or 5 chapters, I got complaints that Loki was "too feminist" and "obsessed with her dad's [Odin's] opinions about what a woman her age should be doing." To be clear, Loki was a 28yo grad student who'd been adopted by the Odinsons as a baby and at 13, chose to search for her birth parents who were teenagers when she was born. She was the youngest in the Odinson clan (Thor and Baldur being older) and the oldest in the Laufeyson family (Helblindi and Býleistr were much younger). And the only girl. So Odin certainly had a lot of opinions about her needing to be settled and married, not living with her bestie (Natasha) in an apartment in a big city.

This isn't the reason the fic is incomplete, tho! I removed it, along with four other fics, from AO3 and ff.net bc I'd reached a block on all of them and I felt bad just letting them sit there unfinished. I do hope to complete them someday. But we'll see. Here's a banner I made for it, when I still thought Olivia Wilde was a good choice for fem!Loki. I do not anymore.

And this one was made by a fan (@/tomhiddlesdarling), and as much as I loved it, I'm not big on Eva Green.

Thanks for asking!

Let’s Get ((REAL)) fic writer asks

[sugareey-makes-stuff]

Hi! Questions from The Let's Get Real ask game

🌿💝

Hiya dear friend! Just getting back to this now, and you asked some excellent questions! Here ya go:

🌿 How does creating make you feel? I'm going to try to reign this answer in, but the short one is creating makes me feel like myself and I'm comfortable in my own skin. It's like breathing, and I try to work on a thing on a daily basis as my non-negotiable. 5 minutes of doing a thing every day adds up to make something super cool. I think I've been wired to tap into creativity since I was a kid and I've used creativity as a way to reach milestones but also as a coping mechanism during really difficult times. It's definitely something I can't turn off? And hey, creating lets me throw down ideas or stories in a more accessible or tangible way, and it's a form of self-expression I can always rely on since it hasn't failed me yet.

💝 What is a fic that got a different response than you were expecting? I'm going to mention 2 fics, since that's what happens when one writes for multiple fandoms! If we're talking about from HP, I think things will always back to Little did I know (Perciver, T, 2.5k), since that was the first official fic I published back in 2021 after a really long writing hiatus. I figured if I had 3 people read and liked it, that would be cool. But the amount of love the story got (and is stilling getting), and the fact it's one of my most bookmarked AND kudosed works to date is kind of insane. I'm grateful because I think that's the reason why I kept writing again. I could have easily bowed out, but I didn't! For Teen Wolf, The Walls Came Crashing Down (Sterek, T, 4.2k) was such a wild card. First time writing whump, and the recipient wanted lots of angst. I threw in lore, blood, and uhhh...for a short ficlet/one shot, I guess people really liked it? I honestly was unsure how I felt about the fic when I initially posted it since whump is not what I usually write. But it paid off because the person squeed, and honestly, it was refreshing to write something different from the usual, you know?

Thanks for the asks! ___ Want to ask a writing q? Send them over for the Let's Get ((REAL)) fic writer asks!

[genavere]

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

Let's Get Real Ask

KILI!!

sdfhsdoihsdf, I JUST ANSWERED THIS INDEPTH!

I EVEN MENTIONED OUR FAVORITE DWARVES!

Anyway, I won't go into a FULL explanation like I did before, but characterization is the most important factor for me in a story. If you don't have characters who you actually care about, nothing else really matters.

How many romance novels have we dissed because the characters are just so...bad? You can't root for them if you don't care if they live beyond the next page or not.

But, if you want my full blown answer on this, you can check out this answer.

And don't worry, I literally posted it probably around the same time you sent the ask...so I will let it slide this time.

[ectogeo-rebubbles]

💝 ☯️ 💌

Thanks for the ask!! <3

💝 what is a fic that got a different response than you were expecting?

Well I was DEF not expecting for my fic latent attraction to inspire an in-universe theatrical review of the Midsummer Night’s Dream performance that Garak and Bashir attended near the end of the fic! I’m still so insane about that! <3 So yeah, please go read the outsider POV garashir ficlet in the form of a theater review, The Human Condition, by @sapphosewrites! <3

….Another unexpected response that happened on that same fic was that someone in the comments of ch14 drew out a diagram to show how they imagined that one of the big misunderstandings in the fic occurred! 😂 This is one of the few fanarts related to my fics that I’ve ever received haha, and oh how I cherish it so! <3

☯️ how do you think engaging with each other through tumblr, twitter, comments, kudos, creates healthy fandom experiences? How do you deal with that if you're not a social person/experience social anxiety?

I truly love to chat with fellow fans over ao3 comments, DMs, etc., it's literally what keeps me inspired!! I love the collaborative nature of fandom, the way we're just all egging each other’s self-indulgences on, and infecting each other with insane ideas back and forth, and, sometimes, when the stars align, those ideas spill out and become fics, art, amvs, etc, and that’s just beautiful!!! I just really enjoy the social aspects of fandom

💌 share something with us about an up-and-coming work (WIP) that has you excited!

Well, I’m working on some post-Second Skin garashir smut (smut of the angsty character study variety), and I’m pleased to say that, in the current draft of the fic anyway, Julian does get to play a little bit with Garak’s tits <3 ^_^ (I have many more WIPs - and more to say about this one - so anyone can feel free to ask this particular question again haha)

(for this ask game)

[kiwiana-writes]

Oh, fic questions!!

✨️ pleaassee!

✨What's a fic you've posted you wish you could breathe life into again and have people talking about it? (or simply a fic you wish got more credit)

Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Time until the end of time aka the Schitt’s Creek afterlife fic I co-wrote with @ships-to-sail - we put SO MUCH into that fic and I’m really, really proud of the result.

I don’t know if I have an answer for RWRB! The question kinda lends itself to longer fics and the only one of those I have is Much Ado, which did pretty well for itself — but if you haven’t read it yet you absolutely should, cause there are three more parts of that series coming this year before I call it complete 😉

[Let's Get REAL fic writer asks]

[mxanigel]

💌 and 💞?

Thank you for the ask! <3 (original list here)

💌 share something with us about an up-and-coming work (WIP) that has you excited!

Okay so this is going to be me rambling about Shion~ I've already drafted multiple upcoming chapters (thanks in part to too many listen-in meetings, recent work travel, and not being able to sleep). But the characters are going through a point from canon that's pretty grimdark, and I get to explore their grief and anger and how those events shape their feelings for each other. It'll feature honest conversations about what it means to love another person and feelings expressed in actions not just words and literal sleeping together. There's a particular scene that relates to the original motivation for Shion's entire existence, so I'm thrilled (and terrified) to share it. I've rewritten it three times at this point, ahaha...

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

Characters come first for me! I enjoy worldbuilding to escape to somewhere different and ensure consistency and create situations in which to place those characters, I like exploring how others write and options for my own writing style through their stories, and I do a lot of editing for Day Job so I'm picky about how grammar is handled (and when I choose to break grammar rules). But I want what I read and what I write to be character driven. For characters to operate within the agency they have, not be mere Vessels For The Plot. If that's how they start, great! But I long for character growth and evolution and conflict pushed forward by those characters being or learning about themselves.

[exhuastedpigeon]

For the writing asks:

💝

🎈

thanks for asking Kristen :)

💝what is a fic that got a different response than you were expecting? Answered here :)

🎈describe your style as a writer; is it fixed? does it change? Typically I write character driven stories, both when writing fic and writing original work. I like the human aspect of stories. Plot is obviously important, but to me the characters are the most fun to write and so I usually focus on them. How are they reacting to the plot? How has the plot changed them? Etc.

It does change depending on the story, but I'm primarily a character driven writer.

Let's Get ((REAL)) fic writer asks

[mischief-and-tea-by-the-sea]

✨🎀🕯️

✨What's a fic you've posted you wish you could breathe life into again and have people talking about it? (or simply a fic you wish got more credit)

Given how few comments I get, I'd say "All of them" LOL but no. I'd love to see more people talking about the whole Hemispheres series, which isn't finished - isn't even close, but still. It's my first jump into long-ass fics/series. But there are also fics like Of everything that stands, the end and the Feed the soul art and music, it will live forever series (especially the Justin/Loki fics in it that started the whole mess going) that I'd love to get more attention to them.

🎀give yourself a compliment about your own writing

Biggest compliment I think I can give myself is that I am fucking funny. Even at my grad school thesis defense, my three professors who were handling the defense remarked at how humor seemed to come naturally to me in delivery and everything and they were surprised because humor (in poetry) is difficult to craft. So I love throwing humor and snark and the many Easter Eggs (for humor that, sadly, I'm not sure if everyone catches sometimes). It's something I'm good at - much better than endless angst and whump, which have their place definitely but I can't seem to maintain that for long.

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

I'm going to say Behind Blue Eyes and not because the subject was difficult (it's a Loki/Emma Frost fic, relatively more of a comic focus, I think, involving telepathic manipulations of perception as well as shapeshifting). I started this one not long before the 7 year writers block hit me. I started this in 2012 or 2013 and I didn't finish it until 2020 after the writers block finally ended. It was agonizing not to be able to progress with it because of the block, and at one point because of changing laptops, I thought I lost the fic entirely (thankfully, I didn't) where I would've had to start it all over, and that probably would've ensured it never got finished. It also was the start of my realizing that I liked shipping Emma with other people than Scott Summers, and quite frankly, by the time I did finish this one, I realized that I was moving away from shipping her with Scott (not that I hate him or anything - I just started to think of healthy and unhealthy relationships, and that wasn't one, unfortunately - can't be healthy when your dude continues to compare you to, and find you lacking, his dead ex who unfortunately keeps coming back).

THANK YOU FOR THE ASKS!

Let's Get ((REAL)) fic writer asks

[kuwdora]

💞💌✨

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

Ohhh I got this ask several times, so I can answer it in multiple parts! Err, I might ramble a little...

As a writer I come at everything from character. Plot stems from the character, and the world building also (mostly) spins out from the character.

This is why I can write 15k or 25k and not actually have a beginning, middle, or end. I get so caught up in the process of understanding how the character is inhabiting the world and figuring out what they want. What they need. It takes me so long to narrow things down and cut things out because I’m so far inside a character’s head.

Sometimes approach a story from a “what if x happens to Character A?” (I have a like two trope-y yennskier things I want to tackle this year that start with this question). But 7 or 8 times out of 10 I’m starting with what a character is feeling and doing and rolling around in the why. All my feelings start and end there. ❤️

✨What's a fic you've posted you wish you could breathe life into again and have people talking about it? (or simply a fic you wish got more credit)

Oh, I could probably just randomly pick any of my witcher stories at this point but maybe I’ll single out Learning Curve which on the surface is just porny cuddles and softness, but I spent a lot of time working through some TWN Yen thoughts about how she is coping from season 1 and 2 events. Her upbringing and relationship with Aretuza and Tissaia and how that impacts the way she fucks up with Ciri and what she wants to try to do and be better.

This Yen also has a magical disability which throws an emotional/psychological/logistical wrench into her plans about how to teach Ciri, too. Sure, Yen got her powers back from Voleth Meir, but what if there was still a physical/magical consequence for using up so much of her chaos in the first place? The wear and tear on her body can’t just go away, even if she can get her magic back.

I want to write more about Yen and magical disability and explore teacher/student dynamic with Ciri and when/if it can cross into a mother/daughter dynamic that I felt more acutely in the books and games.

💌share something with us about an up-and-coming work (WIP) that has you excited!

Ah!! Yes, okay. My puppetskier story Coin Operated Boy will feature Shani for a few scenes. It’s going to be sweet and endearing and funny. But!! Let me share with you the first meeting between Shani and Jaskier. This is not in the puppetskier story because I’m writing and publishing this in a very non-linear order but I want to share anyway cause I am EXCITED.

Some context: I’m casting a young Jessica Sula as Shani, and this Shani is going to be maybe a little genderqueer. And when Jaskier first meets Shani, he’s a little hungover and has been going through some things so he’s not at his best.

I’m enjoying writing Shani and Jaskier’s dynamic, mostly from a point of view where Shani actually doesn’t know who Jaskier is as a performer or professor because she’s been too busy doing her own thing. Jaskier hasn’t always been around for her to meet first or second-hand. The intergenerational friendship is a big deal to me to explore and tease, which is largely a contrast and parallel for when Jaskier was first setting out on his adventures with a monster slayer.

Bedside Manner Shani & Jaskier warning for implied alcohol abuse ~1800w

A gentle boot kicked Jaskier awake. Gulls. Clop of hooves. Distant yelling and chatter. He didn’t remember falling asleep down near the harbor.

Stabbing pain gouged Jaskier behind his eyes. He refused to open them to see what kicked him. He tried rolling over, his chin knocking into the corner of something, and instead he folded his arm and turned the other way. Horseshit wafted in the air, mingling with the scents of fish and piss. Maybe he should get up after all.

The boot kicked him again, but not with the heavy intent of harm.

“Hey.”

Jaskier was cold and stiff and he pulled his sleeves down. Pulled himself away from the repeated kick. Gentle, but still annoying.

“What,” he muttered.

“Wake up.”

The voice was bossy, but warm. Jaskier’s stomach clenched in pain and he scrunched his face. Last night hadn’t gone as planned, judging from the aches in his body. He remembered making it to a cot at some point to sleep off the drinking game, but he was outside now. His mouth was sandpaper dry. Coppery-taste on the inside of his lip and cheek and the faint taste of semen in his mouth.

Why did morning exist and why was someone bothering him?

“No,” Jaskier said and pulled the collar of his coat up to protect him from the sea breeze. He kept his eyes shut and feet shuffled beside him. The creak of wood beside his ear was like an anvil being dropped on his head. “Fuck.”

Jaskier rubbed his face which did little good to improve his situation. He opened his eyes, had a fuck-all time clearing the gunk from his vision, and regretted the daylight immediately. He blocked out the sun with his hand and hazarded a glance upwards.

A child peered at him from the cart that Jaskier was leaning against. He squinted at the street urchin, bronze skin with large brown eyes and curly, cropped hair that seemed to be an unnatural shade of red. Cherubic. Precocious. Someone looking for opportunity.

“I don’t have anything worth stealing,” Jaskier said and thought about getting up and decided against it when the needles inside his head told him not to move.

“Got that right. Saw three fellas feeling you up before I came over. Lucky you still have your boots,” the boy said.

“My boots are shit,” Jaskier said.

“Which is why you still have ‘em, I guess,” the boy agreed.

Jaskier sighed and his head lolled back, closing his eyes, and trying to find the will get to his feet.

He felt an odd pressure on the top of his head and tried to look up but something rolled down the side of his face and into his lap. It was a piece of fruit.

“Bwuh?”

“Hungry?” the boy asked.

“Eh,” Jaskier said and wiped off the fruit with his sleeve. He looked up at the child. “Not so keen on taking a…pear? from a strange child on the street first thing in the morning.”

“It’s afternoon,” the boy said.

Jaskier looked around again and supposed that was true enough.

“You pass out here often?” the boy asked and Jaskier picked at the stem of the pear and shrugged.

“Here, there. I am a man of the city,” he said and turned the bruised pear around in his hand.

“Did you vomit before or after you passed out? Think that’s your piss or someone else’s?” the boy asked and looked over his shoulder at the cobblestones Jaskier had slept upon.

“What?” Jaskier asked and frowned, looking down at his trousers and the ground and his head jerked back up. He hadn’t been sick—or remembered being sick, but that was beside the point. The scratch of a pencil was loud in his ears, inciting a new round of pain. He knew the tell-tale scribbling when he heard it.

Jaskier kneaded his eye and leaned forward, bracing a hand on the wheel of the cart and dragged himself to his feet. He got himself a proper look at the boy who was less of a boy and more of a gangly adolescent wearing a well-fitted green tunic. Clean, well-fed. Maybe not a street urchin, but still looked like a child.

A wave of vertigo passed over Jaskier and he braced himself against the cart, watching the boy write something in his notebook. “What’re you writing?”

“Patient notes,” the boy said.

“What? Huh,” Jaskier said, his hands moving before his brain caught up, and he swiped the notebook from the kid’s lap. Name, age, weight, symptoms were left blank but the child had written down a brief physical description along with a few notes under medical history. He read: Patient has a likely history of alcohol abuse. Damage to his liver suspected. Inquire about family history??? The words swam in Jaskier’s vision. He really should go lie down after drinking some water.

“I’m a medical student,” the boy said. Jaskier squinted at him. He looked too young to be at the university.

“You look too young to be at the university,” he said.

The boy grabbed the notebook back and twirled the pencil around in his hand. “I’m almost fifteen. What are you, 10 stone?” he asked, looking Jaskier up and down.

“Right,” Jaskier said. “Good luck with that,” and turned around and began making his way back to the town. The more he moved, the more wafting smell of fried fish was going to make Jaskier hurl.

“I’m not done yet, hold on,” the boy said and Jaskier gave the urchin a sidelong glance and he held out his notebook again. “Do you have a headache?”

“Splitting,” Jaskier said.

“Nausea?” the boy asked.

“Sloshy,” Jaskier said.

“Sensitivity to light?”

“I am quite hungover, thank you so much for your concern,” Jaskier said and turned a corner and slipped the pear into the palm of a old woman sitting on a stoop.

“Ohhh, I do have something for that,” the boy said. Jaskier almost didn’t bother stopping but the hopeful note in the boy’s voice seeped through the nausea. The promise of relief was too much to ignore. He turned around and the boy had leaned against the side of the building and was digging through his shoulder bag. “9? 10 stone? 9 stone just to be safe,” the boy said.

Jaskier wandered back. “I don’t have any coin for any tinctures you have there.”

“I don’t need coin. I only need to finish my report after you take this,” the boy said. He muttered something to himself and held out a large glass bottle at Jaskier. “Drink that water first. All of it.”

“You’re kind of bossy for a kid,” Jaskier said and uncapped the bottle, giving it a wary sniff.

The boy shrugged and uncapped a light green vial and poured a little on his finger and gave it a lick, nodding at himself and then handed Jaskier the vial. “It’s mostly ginger,” the boy said.

“So why should I trust you? Especially if I’m not paying you for this little remedy here.”

“I get extra credit for helping the stupid and poor,” the boy said. Jaskier frowned. The fucking nerve of the kid. Jaskier has now upgraded him from child to nuisance kid.

“Some bedside manners you have there,” Jaskier said.

“We haven’t covered that unit yet,” the nuisance kid said.

“Ah, well then,” Jaskier said. “To your education,” he said and raised the vial in a toast and tipped it back. It tasted…green.

He frowned and dropped the vial in the boy’s open shoulder bag. He tongued the roof of his mouth. “You make this yourself?” he asked. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Shani, and yes I made it. What good would it be if I had someone else do my homework for me? That’s how you’re supposed to learn, by doing it,” Shani said.

“If only all students were as sensible as you. Good job,” Jaskier said, and plucked the notebook from the bag and went flipped through the pages. Patients A through D were people Shani must be picking up from the streets, judging from the notes.

Jaskier helped himself to the pencil but Shani grabbed it and the notebook.“It’s not very nice to dig through somebody’s stuff.”

“Fair enough. What else do you need from me?” Jaskier said. His stomach rumbled loud enough that Shani’s eyes widened slightly. “Let’s keep moving away from the fried smells, eh?” he suggested and began walking, motion Shani to come along.

“Alright. What’s your name?” Shani said, flipping to a page in his notebook and following after Jaskier.

“Julian Alfred Panktraz,” he said. “P-A-N-K-R-A-T-Z,” he added helpfully.

“Age?”

“Timeless.”

Shani made a noise and Jaskier glanced over, watching him write down refuses to disclose age.

“Any other symptoms I should know about pertaining to your current health?” the nuisance kid asked.

“I’ve got an itch on my left toe that won’t go away—probably because of my boots. I seem to have lost most of my coin in a drinking game and I’m not quite sure whose company I enjoyed last night, but the memory problems are probably because of the drinking. I have trouble sleeping because I can’t seem to work out the third verse of my current ballad, but that’s more symptomatic of inherit heartbreak and loss of a decades-long friendship. Or maybe the heartache is from the terror seeping into Oxenfurt because of the war that’s happened—or the war that’s likely to come. No one seems to care how Oxenfurt has changed. The people aren’t like they were before. I don’t know why everybody else can’t see it. I mean, I know why…pretending something isn’t happening is easier than acknowledging the truth. I don’t know how to tell the story of what’s happening because… Fear isn’t easy to… to deal with when you’re alone,” he said, stymied by the next wave of nausea.

Shani paused his scribbling, clearly not knowing what to make of that.

Jaskier rubbed his face—his lips felt funny—and and shrugged. “You asked.”

“Oookay,” he said.

Shani closed his notebook and nodded at Jaskier. “I think I have everything I need. How do you feel?”

Jaskier patted himself down. Still nauseous, but not actively feeling like he was going to vomit. “Better. Top marks for you,” he said and Shani grinned.

Let's Get Real Fic Writer Asks

[aobawilliams]

💫

[Let's Get ((REAL)) fic writer asks]

💫what is your favorite kind of comment/feedback?

Those that comment on the story!! Moments the reader liked, things they've noticed/guessed on the story, especially when they point something that's clearly a "wink wink this will be important later" moment!!

(Coincidentally that's the kind of comments I try to leave when I'm reading a fic)