#otp: amor fati

[fishandships]

Blessed Yule! 🕯️ may the Sun's return find you surrounded by warmth and light!

[fischotterkunst]

Luchino + C6? :3 you mentioned him and his area of expertise a few times in relation to your work before, so I picked this because I imagined a situation where you/Rosario tell him about your day at work and.... idk some people that aren't really open about learning new facts about some species he's really passionate about or something, haha. so in short just.... a different kind of bonding moment together but this time getting to let off some steam together I guess? I just thought this may be something a bit different haha

Expressions meme (closed!)

oh this is GREAT i love that idea so much i had to add Rosario ranting as well - this is one of my own biggest pet peeves at work (people asking me how to get rid of an animal that is SUPPOSED to live where said people decided to also live)

[fishandships]

SCREAMING OMG THIS IS INCREDIBLE........A MASTERPIECE........i love that Rosario brought their bird even omfg and Luchino is holding all the plushies he's gonna buy for them i love it

tysm you made my day ;w; 💚

The silliest idv ship ever………. @fishandships

[touchstoneaf]

@sagan-starstuff sent me a quiz. Used to love these! What's the origin of your blog title? The X-Files episode, "The Sixth Extinction: Amor Fati", where Mulder tells Scully, "In the end, though my world was falling apart, you were my *constant*. My *touchstone*." And she says, "And you are mine." (and then i died, and haven't recovered in over twenty years. So. Yeah.)

OTP(s) + Shipname: MSR (Mulder and Scully, The X-Files), CLex (Clark and Lex, Smallville), Spuffy (Buffy and Spike, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), TenRose/Timepetals (The Doctor and Rose Tyler, Doctor Who), Ineffable Husbands/AziraCrow (Crowley and Aziraphale, Good Omens), XenaGab (Xena and Gabrielle, Xena; Warrior Princess), Cangel (Angel with Cordelia thank you very damn much!), Imzadi Forever (Riker and Troi, Star Trek TNG), and of course, the OG, Spirk aka K/S (Kirk/Spock, Star Trek TOS, though I favor the triad with Bones a lot of the time). There are more I haven't written about, which is my threshold for OTP status, that i equally adore, such as NickGregLove (Nick and Greg from CSI), Sonny and Brenda and Luke and Laura from General Hospital (those were the days!), Sarah and Kyle Reece (the Terminator, talk about ruining my life from a young age), Lessa and F'lar (the Dragonriders of Pern), and various other incredibly questionable ones, lol.

Favourite colour: blue, preferably a sky blue alongside a bright, happy yellow, like a kid coloring sunshiney skies with crayons.

Favourite game: I dunno, i'm big into this one right now where you shoot the colored balls, but they hit this spinny thing and it's always in motion. OG games: Mario Bros 1, Mario Bros 2, The Legend of Rygar, Milon's Secret Castle, Tetris (NES), Arkenoid, Asteroid (Atari), Terminator 2 (GameBoy), JewelMaster, Cool Spot (Sega Genesis)... and then i quit. Oh, PC: Snood, Penguin escape, Magic: The Gathering, the original one). Games you play without a screen: Magic: The Gathering, DnD, PENTE!!!, double solitaire, Apples to Apples, Bananagrams.

Song stuck in your head: Probably something by Sleep Token, they have me in a death-grip right now because they work for my TenRose series. Or "Beautiful World" by Take That, for the same reason.

Weirdest habit/trait? I too cannot have any fingernails long enough for me to see white, lol. In science class in HS they had us scrape our nails and look at the crap under 'em with a scope, and, just. NO. (not necessarily weirdest, maybe. When i was younger and living with a very controlling father, i used to eat paper off my books, but that's a past thing.)

Hobbies: writing all the time. Lots of other ones, mostly involving collecting stuff, otherwise. Drawing, esp maps and weird fantasy creatures.

If you work, what's your profession? Foster Youth counselor

If you could have any job you wish, what would it be? Geologist or talk-doc (practicing psychologist)

Something you're good at: writing, drawing (depending on what it is, lol), procrastinating. EXCELLENT, god-tier at procrastinating!

Something you're bad at: remembering to do somethign if it's not literally in front of my face.

Something you love: writing, fangirling, my kids, cats, horses, Dionysus and my other Greek deities, hanging with my magickal peeps, chocolate, salt and vinegar stuff, sour stuff, Love as a universal energy, music (esp with amazing lyrics or incredible drumming/bass)

Something you could talk about for hours off the cuff: whatever i'm hyperfixated on at that moment. Usually some pairing or other. Lately i'm also back on my "Secretariat was impossible wtf" bullshit, because that horse was BAFFLING. (i don't even support horse-racing, it's awful, but holy fuck that animal.)

Something you hate: unfairness/injustice, current US policies and a lot of past ones, racism/sexism/homophobia/anti-homelessness crap, capitalism... all the 'isms (except for the 'tism, which i have and consider a superpower, lol).

Something you collect: oh, that's a list! books, movies, music, games, money from places, bottle-caps, fandom crap, t-shirts from concerts/nerd stuff, just whatever. All the things, lol.

Something you forget: easier to write down what i don't forget. Probably because i forgot it, lol.

What's your love language? infodumping, lol, quality time.

Favourite movie/show: LOOOONG LIST. See above re fandoms. Movies-wise, The Abyss (director's cut), Fried Green Tomatoes (and the book ofc), Apollo 13 never fails to make me bawl, The Terminator, Aliens (three of these have Michael Biehn in them because i was obsessed with him as a hormone-rattled teen), hmmm, surely many many more.

Favourite food: sour-ish things like pastrami and corned beef and saurkraut, pesto-related things, various types of chips like dill and salt and vinegar that fit in that category, and sour pickles only if they're so sour they turn my face inside-out. (I haven't been fully satisfied by a pickle since i was a kid at Knott's Berry Farm)

Favourite animal: Cats, horses.

What were you like as a child? ye standard neurodivergent undiagnosed kid: shy, awkward, bullied, intellectual, obsessed with whatever.

Favourite subject at school? english/composition related ones and art

Least favorite subject? i couldn't do geometry to save my soul. loved algebra, tho.

What's your best character trait? my compassion

What's your worst character trait? i am not patient enough with my kids and i hate that. fighting the triggers is a daily, sisyphusean battle

If you could change any detail of your day right now what would it be? that i have to do literally anything that's not writing, lol. Realistically, tho... my inability to get anything done housework-wise. (if i could hire someone to take over my house-elf duties, i'd be so excited!)

If you could travel in time who would you like to meet? I dunno; lots of amazeballs folk in the past. If i thought he existed, Jesus, so i could tell him what assholes so many of his so-called followers have turned out to be, maybe?

Recommend one of your favourite fanfics (spread the love!): Probably something Spuffy from Elysian Fields

anyone wanna play?

[knifeknifebaby]

I really want to be held by one of my F/Os and feel warm, safe, and secure in their arms this Christmas Eve night

[burberrycanary]

👻💍

👻- 2 or 3 sentences from something you haven’t posted yet

She knows he’ll be able to hear.

He’ll hear the lap of the water against the sides of the tub, the way her heartbeat changes and the breathy exhales that he has always wanted to draw from her even when he had been conflicted about so much else.

Diana touches herself under the water. The motion sends ripples out across the surface.

He could be anywhere in the house and hear this.

—from The Careful Boundaries We Draw and Erase (ADOW, Bishmont)

💍- your most underrated story

This is a tough question since I’ve recently gotten lost in a maze of writing fic that I know no audience exists for just because I like Matthew Goode in some obscure role. (So these stories are equally obscure but rated about as they deserve.)

So I’ll go with Amor Fati, which is a fluffy fix-it to explain in Watsonian terms why on earth Matthew and Diana go horseback riding. ADOW has moments where ticking off genre boxes feels very Doylist—genre is as genre does, and this is ADOW performing one of its most throwback romance genre tropes just ‘cause.

As much as I like how the horseback riding scene is shot (and it is beautiful) and adore the sexualized breathing mixed into the audio track and Matthew’s joy in seeing Diana happy, which you can pry from my cold dead hands—it’s all lovely stuff—but seriously, show. What the fuck?

Diana is at the start of destroying a career she’s spent her entire adult life building; she’s on the run from people who want to coerce or hurt or kill her; she has pressing things she needs to deal with. But, no, hey. Let’s go horseback riding. Some part of me was haunted by the need for an in-universe and character-based explanation that connects this genre-driven moment back to the specific story being told with these characters.

I called this story Amor Fati, to love one’s fate, because both Matthew and Diana here are struggling to accept these fated changes that are irrevocably transforming their lives, love and magic, which come with such risks and costs.

Rakasa butts up against Diana’s shoulder with a snicker and Diana presses her forehead against the horse, whispering hypnotic reassurance in the same soft voice. “Shh, yeah, I know, I know. You weren’t made for a pen.”

&

Diana doesn’t take the step back that he expects, which means that he should. He should, but he doesn’t.

But it was also a way for me to nudge this conventional genre moment within ADOW’s storyline towards something that made emotional and psychological sense to me for the characters in this situation, rather than being a half eyeroll, half guilty pleasure moment I accepted as simply fated within the genre.

So I think this fic was me solving a pain-point for myself (and for @village-skeptic) that most people don’t view as being a problem in the first place :)

But hey mutual pining and UST are two great tastes that always taste great together and are at the heart of Amor Fati.

Thank you for the asks!

Send me a writer’s ask →

[natsora]

Year-End Writer’s Roundup: 2020

Tagged by @crackinglamb​ @asaara-writes​ Thank you!

Tagging @lauraemoriarty​ @barbex​ @1esk19​ @inquartata30​ @cassandra-pentughasst​ @obvidalous​ @agentkatie​ @jt-boi-n7​ and anyone who wants to do it. No obligations

Word Count: 395,587 I’ve keep track of this. Mostly because I was asked this same thing last year. Let me just check and.... Ok I know it’s a large number but I wasn’t expecting that. There’s just a few more days in 2020, so it will grow a little more before the close of the year. 

The Top Five by hits:  The top 3 are my long fics that I’ve started last year. It’s my epic project with @seokanori​, she has been, and is always, amazing drawing me cover after cover, week after week. It’s truly an amazing feat. 

The other two are two of three of my She-Ra fics. The erm... the rate those fics gather kudos and hits are quite something to behold. 

The Persephone Arc - Gen fic fRyder & Femshep, Mass Effect Splintered Minds - F/M fRyder/Harry Carlyle, Aro Main Character, Mass Effect The Lost Childhood - Gen fic, Femshep’s origin story, Mass Effect Fractus - f/f Catradora, She-Ra Cephalalgia - f/f Catradora, She-Ra

New Things I Tried This Year: I’ve started writing for a new pair, Lexi T’Perro / FRyder in Maybe Something There.  I’ve also started writing for a new fandom, She-Ra (The Long Road Home). I’ve got a shit load of ideas for it, just no time to devote to it. 

Fic I Spent the Most Time On: Always Been You , that’s for sure. That’s the bulk of my writing this year. It’s this and another long fic (Uppercut) which I’m still writing and not yet publish, you’d probably read it next year after Always Been You is done. 

Fic I Spent the Least Time On: Hmm... I guess the shortest one shot I’ve written? Sleep would fit the bill. 

Favorite Thing I Wrote: It has to be Ace. It’s a deeply personal fic and it brought me surprises I’ve never, ever, ever, ever, ever expected.  And Always Been You. It’s OTP fic. I can’t help but love it. 

Favourite thing I read:

@wickedwitchofthewilds‘s Chasing Ghosts and Send The Pain Below - She has the ability to make me care of her OCs

@jt-boi-n7‘s Amor Fati - It’s Cass! It’s angst! It’s so much angst T_T

@inquartata30‘s The Darkest Timeline Snippets - So dark, so angsty, why wouldn’t I like it?

Writing Goals For Next Year: I want to finish Uppercut. Get to work and finish the Adopted Kid AU for Cass/Trev, the OTP is not done with me. THEN! I want to get started on the sequel for Cetus and Lost Childhood. It wouldn’t be concurrently written, I’ve learnt my lesson on that, but I think, THINK, I can swing at least two longfics next year if this year is any indication. 

[wexarethewalkingxdead]

[5] female characters [5] male characters [5] otps [3] bromances [3] episodes that make you cry [2] quotes [2] holiday themed episodes

TV SHOW MEME

[5] female characters 

Carol Peletier (The Walking Dead) 

Det Alex Eames (Law & Order: Criminal Intent) 

Abby Griffin (The 100) 

Sara Sidle (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation)

Devon Adair (Earth 2)

[5] male characters 

Special Agent Fox Mulder (The X-FIles) 

Rick Grimes (The Walking Dead) 

A.D.A. Rafael Barba (Law & Order: SVU) 

Marcus Kane (The 100)

Gil Grissom (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation)

[5] otps 

Carol & Daryl (The Walking Dead)

Marcus & Abby (The 100)

Goren & Eames (Law & Order: Criminal Intent)

Barba & Benson (Law & Order: SVU)

Mulder & Scully (The X-Files)

[3] bromances 

Rick & Shane (The Walking Dead)

Chandler & Joey (Friends)

Brian & Stewie (Family Guy)

[3] episodes that make you cry 

“On the Beach” - ER Season 8, Episode 21

“The Body” - Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 5, Episode 16

“Wild at Heart” - Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 4, Episode 6

[2] quotes 

“It seems to me that the best relationships, the ones that last, are frequently the ones that are rooted in friendship. You know, one day you look at the person and you see something more than you did the night before. Like a switch has been flicked somewhere. And the person who was just a friend is suddenly the only person you can ever imagine yourself with.” - Dana Scully (The X-Files Season 6, Episode 8 “The Rain King”)

“Scully, I was like you once. I didn't know who to trust. Then I... I chose another path... another life, another fate, where I found my sister. The end of my world was unrecognizable and upside down. There was one thing that remained the same. You were my friend, and you told me the truth. Even when the world was falling apart, you were my constant. My touchstone.” - Fox Mulder (The X-Files Season 7, Episode 2 “The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati”)

[2] holiday themed episodes

“How the Ghosts Stole Christmas” - The X-Files Season 6, Episode 6

“I’ll Be Home for Christmas” - ER Season 8, Episode 10

[mrslittletall]

for that prompt thing: write literally anything focusing on ds1 crestfallen. SOMETHING. ANYTHING. he doesn't get enough attention despite being one of the more memorable characters and it breaks my heart 💔 poor guy deserves more love

I wish you would write

I actually already had an idea to write a small thing about Crestfallen, but that motivation went elsewhere. He is a difficult character to write for, because he basically has given up. There isn’t much to do with him, so I can understand why nobody wants to write about him. However, while not the main focus of the fic, check out “Amor Fati” on AO3. It has an arc about Crestfallen Warrior and we get a really interesting insight in his character. Also, that fic is really good.  Maybe one day I write about Crestfallen... maybe one day... for now, my writing motivation is low even for my OTPs. 

[fishandships]

i said i would post some mildly spicy so here it is ahhhh

from a "draw the otp" meme on twitter, originally by @/emtfira .....it fit too perfectly, i couldn't resist //>.>//

[fishandships]

Rosario would send this to Luchino and he'd reply with a wall of text as long as their arm about how amazing this snake is and how much he loves them (the snake and also Rosario)

just to illustrate that i've always been Like This, i found this cherished memory photo i took in... /checks/ 2019

[fistful-of-fandom]

The X-Files: 07 x 02 The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati

[fishandships]

Happy Year of the Snake, everyone 🐍 i don't know what this year will bring, but i plan to look for happiness wherever i can, so expect a lot more of these two since they've been one of my most reliable sources of happiness for what will be four years now.

[fishandships]

Happy birthday, Luchino! you mean more to me than i have the words to say, but i tried to let my art do a bit of the talking for me 💚

[fishandships]

i was rewatching the CoA7 shorts with my bestie and it reminded me that i REALLY wanted to draw this.......(it's the car makeout scene from...uh...one of the Fast & Furious movies, i forget which one 😅 )

not pictured: Frederick screaming in the passenger seat >:P

[fishandships]

„Amore mio, come with me, would you?”

He carefully takes his smaller lover's hand to guide them to the bath.

Luchino chuckled as he prepared the bathroom, making sure it was just right for Rosario. He added bubbles, a bath bomb, a few cute rubber ducks and even lit a few cinnamon scented candles to set the calm mood.

this is SO sweet oh my gods Rosario would love this kind of gentle pampering, especially if Luchino stayed to keep them company and maybe even read to them ahhh ;w; i love this so much i had to do a little doodle of the scene