#rurouni kenshin fantasy AU

[kristamagness]

Fantasy AU Fanart

[plothooksinc]

TOP FIVE FIC CHAIN

RULES:

Link your top 5 fics you've read.

They don't have to be for any particular fandom.

Ping at least 3 other people to give their recs.

if you get pinged again, just link the next five favorite you have.

Include title/link/fandom/rating(if available).

Tagged by @spectralsleuth! And lord, I devour so much fic and have done so for years so these probably aren't so much my top five as the top five I can think of right now:

Misadventures in Maliciously Misattributed Medication by Serendipity1 TMNT '03. In which Leo gets poisoned with nutmeg and his brothers have to get him home while fending off attack and Leo is unbelievably high.

Thorns by Vathara Final Fantasy VII. What if Aeris found unexpected help before Zack broke out? AU

The Mindsifter by Khrysalis Rurouni Kenshin. Kenshin goes missing and has his mind broken. Finding him is only half the problem.

Hollow Mind by paperxcrowns ROTTMNT. Leo goes missing and has to find a way home while injured, weaponless, and pursued by his kidnappers. Also a little amnesia. Much badassery ensues.

I Started From the Bottom/And Now I’m Rich by x-los MDZS/CQL. Wei Wuxian goes back in time and decides to black widow his way through his enemies. Lan Wangji can only sit there consumed with lust (and confusion???) for the rest of the fic. Or most of it, anyway.

I tag... @consultingjedi, @crows-murder, and @beanbagologist. /o/

[stormears]

Rurouni Kenshin fic...sighs in nostalgia

I can't remember exactly what prompted this, but last week I decided to re-read some old fanfics from an FFN author I used to like in hs. They wrote ~dark possessive~ romances of Kaoru and Kenshin/the Battousai from Rurouni Kenshin, in various AUs. I haven't thought about her fanfics in years, but tbh her fics were certainly an influence on my own. We had quite similar tastes haha

The fics are...well...they're 15-20 years old now. The oldest ones are from 2003! The older ones make me cringe sometimes lol, but so do my own earliest ones. I'm reading most of her work oldest-first, but picked a slightly less-old one that I remembered bc it was a unique AU. And damn, it holds up quite well. The writing and detail is impressive and I was so INTO it and loved remembering bits as I read!

She was pretty big and popular in the mid 00's, but hasn't updated any Kenshin fics since 2020. She's since jumped into Vampire Diaries and...has an active tumblr. She reblogged something 2 days ago. I could say hi to her if I wanted and write a 1000 word essay telling her how how her writing was one of the backbones of my entire fanfic experience x:

For now I'm gonna keep working my way through her fanfic bibliography, this is a fun trip. I'm also making good progress on a Haikyuu fantasy au...January has been pretty great when it comes to fic.

[rubykgrant]

no, because iCarly is ENTIRELY too bonkers to watch if you aren't already into shows like that. yeah, it's "for kids", and the Sopranos is about darker subjects for adults, but iCarly is CONFUSING and WEIRD, it has so many overlapping and inconsistent cross-overs with other Nicks shows that exist outside of their own established continuity, each episode is basically an AU pocket-dimension. The people working on it couldn't decide if they wanted to mock the younger culture of the viewers and the behavior of the fans OR create an accurate portrayal of the early days of internet/social media that gave fans what they wanted, so it did BOTH, which was also incredibly CONFUSING and WEIRD. "Beginner Anime" means "If you've never watched anything similar before, you could probably watch this and get into it" OR "You might not be into anime, but this has similar story elements as other things you enjoy". It doesn't mean "baby show for babies". Is DBZ a good "beginner anime"? Well, not for somebody who isn't into action-comedy. If you like silly characters who also have dangerous powers, both in terms of physical strength and abilities to use life energy/will-power as a weapon, with lots of sci-fi elements of space aliens/robots mixed in, you might like DBZ... but obviously, DBZ is ALSO bonkers. Are you more into modern fantasy, sit-coms, and emotional drama? Fruits Basket might be a good beginner anime for you. Some people might like Coyboy Bebop, or FMA Brotherhood, or Rurouni Kenshin, or Nana, or Cardcaptor Sakura, or Yu Yu Hakusho, or Inuyasha, or almost ANYTHING as a begiiner anime. Ironically, popular ones like One Piece, Bleach, and Naruto are hard for people to get into because they have a lot going on, and they are EXPANSIVE series, so it's daunting to start something that long. That's why people often suggest anime movies, short and sweet, for beginners. Some very well-made ones are from Studio Ghibli, but that isn't limited either. Mature/adult anime movies are out there too, it all just depends on finding what interests you, and if the show/movie is easy to jump into

[betustamorla]

Hello there!

Welcome to my main blog where I mostly post about the stuff I write or writing in general or reblog things from my other blogs.

Here's my Ao3 account.

Here's my garden blog and nature asmr kind of thing.

What I write or might write about (requests are open) and publish:

Naruto: Already two finished Sasusaku stories, one is a series of soulmates AU shorts, and the other simply feelings after the end of Naruto.

Devil May Cry: Already Shorts of Sparda family

Star Wars (only prequels, originals, and legends): In the works, ->Jacen and Jaina go back in time after their last fight. They arrive five years before TPM events start. No release date yet planned.

Tolkien works: Already a short story of Thranduil x His wife. Might expand on it someday.

Resident Evil: In the works -> Two-part story: STARS! Claire Redfield x Wesker (Kind of who will break first, Wesker turns "good" or as good as he can get or Claire follows Wesker) Release Date: End of year (2024) or in 2025

Final Fantasy XV: Already a short novel of Cor Leonis x Princess of Lucis (Noctis's big sister) No evil Ardyn AU

Batman: Already in the works -> Arkham verse Helena Wayne x Jason Todd (Release date: First chapter in August 2024) Here's the blog that I will use to publish some snippets of the past while I finish writing it.

Tron

League of Legends

Chronicles of Narnia

Rurouni Kenshin

Help in any of the "in the works" needed! Any sort of help is welcomed, from proofreading to helping sort through notes to collecting data, to editing. DM if interested!

[ninthfeather]

DONATE FOR FIC: SEQUEL EDITION!

Hey, so the US is once again having major issues, and donating to organizations that can help is one of the most effective things we can do right now. In exchange for a $10+ donation to one of the linked organizations, I will write you a 400- to 500-word fic. If this sounds good to you, read on!

Several other authors are doing similar drives; you can find a list here.

Eligible Charities:

Planned Parenthood: 

National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda 

The Center for Reproductive Rights 

RAINN 

National Network of Abortion Funds 

 About Commissions:

I will only have 6 slots available bc I’ve got chronic health issues, a full-time job, and other commitments. If you would like a commission, please send your donation receipt and request to ninthfeathers (at) gmail (dot) com. You can also submit the donation receipt and request by Discord if you already have my contact information there. Please do not use Tumblr Messenger or my ask box, that’s an easy way for info to get lost.

Your prompt can be as specific or vague as you would like, but I reserve the right to refuse a prompt or to tell you I will not be comfortable with a prompt unless it is altered.

All fics will be posted on Tumblr and to my “Oh Valley of Plenty” collection on AO3. If you would like them posted elsewhere (Dreamwidth or Pillowfort), please let me know.

 Other Notes:

Crossovers and AUs are fine

I do not write actor RPF

No reader-insert/POV/imagine fics

You can request sequel fics or fics set in the same ‘verse as works I’ve already done, but the prompt cannot be “add 400-500 words to (existing incomplete fic).”

I will not fill prompts in a way that would warrant an M or E rating on AO3. If it is impossible to fill the prompt with a G- or T-rated fic, I will reject the prompt.

Pairings are all right but please don’t ask me to write a pairing you know I actively dislike. Neither of us will be satisfied with the resulting fic.

I’m busy and in poor health so these things might take a while to get finished

Every person who’s offering something in exchange for donation receipts is holding donors to the honor system. I’m trusting you not to use receipts that you’ve already submitted to someone else to get a fic from me. Please remember that the end goal here is raising as much money as possible.

Fandoms:

Fandoms I have written for before at length: Fullmetal Alchemist, My Hero Academia, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Fruits Basket, Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy XV, Detective Conan, Magic Kaito, Gundam 00, Kagerou Project, M*A*S*H, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, xxxholic, Persona 3, Critical Role, The Magnus Archives, The World Ends with You, Arknights, Genshin Impact, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Jujutsu Kaisen, Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni, CQL/MDZS/The Untamed

Fandoms I have written a little for or would like to write for: Harry Potter, Final Fantasy VII, Gundam Seed, Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun, Gundam Wing, Scrapped Princess, Persona 5, Bleach, D. Gray Man, Rurouni Kenshin, Kanata Kara, Skip*Beat, Sailor Moon, Pandora Hearts, Vanitas no Carte, Madoka Magica franchise, Fate franchise, Tokyo Babylon, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Batfamily (DC Comics), Team Red (Marvel Comics), X-Men (Marvel Comics), League of Legends: Arcane, MILGRAM (multimedia project), Parties Are For Losers (multimedia project), DIE (comic), Spy x Family, Star Wars

Fandoms I will not write: Voltron, Gundam IBO, Code Geass, Full Moon wo Sagashite, Umbrella Academy post Season 1, The Witcher, things I’m not familiar with

Thank you!

[unforth]

Fandoms I'll write for (in vaguely alphabetical order):

Fandoms in Bold are those I'm currently most interested in/active in/invested in/wanting to write.

2ha (The Husky and His White Cat Shizun)

Babylon 5

Check Please

Disney (almost any of movies, including Pixar; I'm familiar with but won't write for most Disney Jr titles, too)

Doctor Who (9th and 10th Doctor specifically)

DMBJ (books 1 - 6, UN, TLTR)

The Elenium (book series by David Eddings)

Fake

Final Fantasy 7, 9, 10, or 12 (esp. 12)

Firefly

Fushigi Yuugi

Golden Stage

Guardian (show or book)

Gundam W

Hercules

Horatio Hornblower (BBC 90s show version)

Jane Austen (all except Northanger Abbey)

Leverage

Love Nikki

MCU (movies only, have seen most of them; Deadpool also okay, and non-MCU Spiderman; haven't seen Venom)

Miraculous Ladybug (but I've only seen 2.5 seasons)

The Muppets (esp. the original show and movies)

MXTX Fandoms (MDZS, TGCF, SVSSS)

Psych

Rurouni Kenshin

Sherlock Holmes (books or Jeremy Brett version)

Slayers

Star Trek (ToS, TNG or DS9)

Star Wars (movies only, excluding Solo)

Supernatural

Those Years in Quest of Honor Mine

Thousand Autumns

Tokyo Babylon

Voltron

Wheel of Time (I've read through...11? and seen part of s1)

The Witcher (I've only seen s1)

Word of Honor (including Qiye)

Xanth (mostly Bink generation)

Xena

Yuri on Ice

Note 1: I am NO LONGER WRITING HARRY POTTER FIC I'm sorry I tried to separate the fandom from the author but she's just being so awful that I can't in good conscience be involved in anything related.

Note 2: I haven't been "actively" in a lot of these fandoms for many years, and so I can't promise to remember every canon character or event, but I'm always willing to try, especially if it's only for a ficlet.

Otherwise, if it's not on the list, you can still always try. I'm old. I've been a fan of a lot of things over the years.

I am a multishipper and tend to be open to anything except incest and villain x hero (ie Samifer in SPN, Xuexiao in MDZS) - no judgement, you do you, I'm a pro-shipper, I just don't want to write that stuff. But, if you really want to get into the nitty-gritty of what I will and won't write for each, I tried to make a semi-exhaustive list. (read more)

I'll write most ships, and honestly, you can always try me on anything - you won't offend me, I just may opt not to write it. Fandoms are in vaguely alphabetical order.

A few general notes:

I will virtually never write incest (as in literal blood relatives - adoption, raised together, known each other since childhood, none of that is incest) EXCEPT for twincest (idk brains are weird I can brain it for twins, I think because somethingsomething power dynamics)

I don't write RPS except for Yizhan.

Generally, I don't like shipping villains, especially villains x heroes, and especially if the villain committed extreme violence and/or sexual violence and/or massive mental manipulation against the hero in question. (I know that their relationship can be super different in AUs or if events diverge I'm just not personally comfortable with it anyway. See again: brains are weird).

I usually avoid intergenerational shipping (for example, a parent and their kid's friend) because, again, somethingsomething power dynamics.

I'll write underage, but again, I sometimes have power dynamic concerns, and I tend to prefer not to write CANON underage (like, I'll age up or age down characters, but if they're underage in canon I'm often less comfortable with it.)

Other than that - I'll try almost anything. This is NOT a list of what I ship, but instead a list of what I don't ship for any given fandom:

* 2ha: fuck Shi Mei. Not literally of course, but I really ain’t out here shipping Shi Mei with literally fucking anyone. Other than that I think I’m mostly game? Though I don’t remember some of the side characters that well, there were just too many names in that one big reveal about Xue what’s-his-name and Luo something-or-other.

* Check Please: I basically only write Zimbits. I’d try other things, especially with Shitty, but no Kent Parson at all please.

* DMBJ: I haven’t seen Mystic 9 yet so I don’t know those characters and can’t write for them yet; stick to folks in UN and TLTR and I’m probably good for most stuff? Except Wu Sanxing, and the villains, big ol’ nope. I'm also part-way through Sha Hai, and I can write those characters (not Wang Can, haven't met him yet) but again I'd rather avoid intergenerational ships.

* Guardian: I see Chuguo more familial/brotherly, and I haven’t really thought about other ships but idk try me? It’s fun to experiment.

* Leverage: anyone in the team x anyone else in the team, I’m game.

* MCU: No HTP, and I'd really rather avoid most of the villains, but I'm open to basically any hero x any hero. I do ship Thorki.

* MDZS: no Xuexiao or really any Xue Yang ships (though I think I’d be okay with Xueyu). No Lancest, Niecest, Wencest, or Jiangcest. I’m a little reluctant on most Jin Guangyao ships too tho I’ll do 3zun and variations there on. As I mentioned, intergenerational stuff often makes me uncomfortable so tend to avoid older folks x juniors but I’ll ship the juniors together and depending on the ship I’d probably be willing to try?

* SPN: no Wincest or Samifer or Lucifer x anyone. I tend not to ship villains in general. I prefer a ship with either Dean or Cas or both but I’m open to Sam ships too.

* Star Trek: No Gul Dukat or Kai Winn. They should suffer alone. No Voyager or later series, I just haven’t seen them so I don’t know the characters. Other than that...idk try me? I haven't written much shippy stuff for Star Trek so I don't have many strong opinions yet.

* Star Wars: mostly I ship JediStormPilotRose and permutations there of but idk I’d try other just about anything other than villains and LukeLeia. I am not familiar with Clone Wars or the Mandolarian and have only seen the movies (not Solo).

* SVSSS: other than family/relatives (like Tiankang jun x Luo Binghe) I can’t really think of any no’s? Im especially a proponent of Shen Qingqiu/Yuan harem rights. I’d rather not write Shen Jiu or Original Luo Binghe but…eh, I’m open.

* TGCF: …I kinda don’t get Qiurong but I’d be willing to try? But otherwise I think I’m good. I’d even be willing to do Bai Wuxiang ships as long as it’s understood it’s gonna be dark as fuck. No Xianle cousins as a ship. I think I’d struggle with Qi Rong in general but I’d give it a go. No Shicest.

* Thousand Autumns: until I reread and get a better sense of the side characters I’m pretty Yanshen only.

* Voltron: I don't ship Lance with anyone, mostly because his fandom led me to hate him. I also don't really get Lotor ships. I'm mostly interested in Keith, Allura, and Shiro.

* Word of Honor: note I haven’t read TYK yet, but I’m open to virtually anything I guess? I’d prefer no Zhang Chengling x older folks. I favor Caoxiang, Wenzhou and Wenzhouyi. I've also read Qiye; I can't really think of any solid nos for that except maybe Helian Pei, Helian Qi, and/or Helian Zhou x like...anyone. Fuck those guys in no fun ways.

* Yuri in Ice: I don’t really like Otayuri, Yuri’s just too young for me to personally be comfortable shipping him. But the older folks I’m pretty open to multishipping them.

(if you're wondering about ship restrictions for fandoms not listed here just drop me an ask; I just thought these were the ones people were most likely to care about/I was most interested in writing in general).

[secret-engima]

Are you in the One Piece Fandom? Wait what fandoms are you in? Overlord?? Akatsuki No Yona?? (THAT ONE IS A GREAT READ AND WATCH TBH—its so underappreciated!!) Undertale?? (Throws hands up)

Uhhhhhhhhh depends on your definition of “in”. If by “in” you mean “have consumed the canon content enough to know what’s up” then I am in a lot less fandoms than you’d think. If you mean “have absorbed enough of the canon and fanon via osmosis to kinda get the gist and enjoy the fanfic while ignoring the actual source material” then I’m in … enough fandoms I literally can’t remember them all off the top of my head but here’s a list of what I can think of rn:

Transformers (Animated, Prime-verse, Bay-verse, SORTA G1 but only for like- two fanfics and a couple one-shots)

Final Fantasy XV (obviously)

Final Fantasy 7 (this is one of those osmosis ones, the only canon content I have actually owned is the Advent Children movie. Have watched Crisis Core walkthroughs tho)

How to Train Your Dragon (movies only)

My Hero Academia (manga, anime, and vigilantes but I’m not up to date so no spoilers pls)

Katekyo Hitman Reborn (osmosis that led to watching some of the show. The fanfics are better. Hands down. Still glad the show exists tho, otherwise the fanfic would not.)

Harry Potter (solely via crossovers, I don’t tend to enjoy straight HP fanfic, but yeeting Harry into fandoms I do know is funny)

Naruto (I have watched exactly three eps of the original and up to the Diedara mocking Naruto with Gaara’s body in Shippuuden. Everything else is pure fandom Osmosis.)

Boruto (counting this as a separate thing because Naruto fans tend to be mean over the show (????). Which is a shame cause I adore it. Ninja school/youth slice of life with end of the world drama thrown in for flavor? Heck yeah. Also Mitsuki is My Bby Boi™ and I will hear no dissent)

Akatsuki No Yona (anime, slowly collecting the manga, it is The Best™)

One Piece (pure fandom osmosis. Have watched maybe the earliest eps before I got a headache from the animation/voice acting, after that I quit and live in fanfic only)

Undertale (have never played the game, no desire to, have absorbed plot through wiki entries and fanfic osmosis. Mostly I just adore the concept of a character who knows about save points and uses them for good or evil, as well as the whole “different runs” thing and the potential Angst and Hurt/Comfort having a Frisk with multiple runs under their belt could bring. Also Papyrus and Sans are the cutest things and I love them even though I hate skeleton characters as a general rule).

Sword Art Online (this is the anime that got me into fantasy anime. Period. My Fairy Tail fanfic would not exist without this anime making me interested in non-Case Closed and Detective School Q anime. SAO Progressive Light Novels are *chef’s kiss*.)

Log Horizon (anime is fun. I like the more political/economic take that makes it so different from SAO. Also the potential Shenanigans between Adventurers and Landers and the Lander POV potential is cool).

Star Wars (I have watched all the movies at least once barring Rise of Skywalker so no spoilers, am working through older Clone Wars seasons and gleefully have enjoyed Rebels and several of the games. I do NOT write for this fandom as a general rule because I have no desire to get involved in the flame wars, especially since the original trilogy was not my entry point? So I actually really enjoy a lot of the characters and shows outside the original trilogy and apparently my ability to like content that isn’t *raises imaginary holy grail* “the OG trilogy” is a crime against Star Wars and nature and possibly humanity. Let me enjoy my blind jedi and his crew of misfit pseudo-kids you puritans. Also Rey.)

Fairy Tail (anime, have yet to watch the last season, love this show with all my heart).

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood (have yet to watch more than a few eps on the show, for all its on my reading list, so most of what I know is fanfic osmosis).

Fruits Basket (I … actually have not read fanfic of this? But I adore the books with all my heart and am so stoked to see the remade anime).

Case Closed/Magic Kaito (anime and fanfic. Treating these as the same since they’re in the same universe and spot of timeline, just have different MCs and premises).

Detective School Q (My first anime! Thank you youtube for the collection of pirated anime eps I got to binge before they all got deleted. As far as I am aware, there is no fandom still living for this show, which is a shame because it was good).

Rurouni Kenshin (the original anime! Never got past the arc with the burned villain but I still enjoyed it up to that point. No idea what the arcs after it are like. Don’t really care.)

Hobbit/LOTR (read the Hobbit, have watched all the movies. AU fanfics ftw.)

Bleach (this … is pure fanfic osmosis. I blame @wolfsrainrules @north-peach and @akaluan they got me curious. Still a little iffy on the show itself but like- I enjoy the fanfic. I’m a sucker Akaluan’s Dragon Eclipse fanfic especially.)

Princess Tutu (haven’t been in the fandom in forever? But I have a few fav fics and the show is *chef’s kiss*).

Voltron: Legendary Defender (started with the fanfics out of accident and curiosity, then hopped over to the show because the crossover potential it had with TF got me interested. Am currently in the second season so pls no spoilers).

Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes (show, fanfic, I enjoy crossovers. Someone did the world’s most epic TF:P crossover with this show and I have loved it ever since.)

MCU (osmosis that led to watching the movies. I think I liked all of the ones I watched barring Guardians of the Galaxy and Antman. Tellingly, I have made a point not to watch Endgame, Infinity War, GoG 2 or Antman 2. I can tell that the first two are just- no. I haven’t seen a fandom go up in fire that fast in years I have no desire to experience WHY.)

Edit: AVATAR. Why did I forget Avatar: The Last Airbender? hgdhgf. Anyway I like both A:TLA and Korra.

Uhhhh that’s all I can think of atm. I’m definitely missing some but yeah. Brief rundown of fandoms I am able to at least hold a basic conversation about and a brief bio of how/why I know them.

[archaeopter-ace]

Fic Writer Tag Gam

Tagged by @eurazba​ and @im-the-king-of-the-ocean​, thanks!

Fandoms: (I’m going to name all the ones that were ever Major Fandoms to me, past and present. As in, have I sought out at least one 40k+ fanfic for it? Usually these sorts of tag games will ask for my top ten or something, and I never get to lay them all out. Or at least as many as I can remember. Bolded my current interests)

Danny Phantom, Detective Conan, Doctor Who, Smallville, BBC Merlin, Bleach, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, Lois & Clark: the New Adventures of Superman, Buffy the Vampire Slayer*, Good Omens, White Collar, The Dresden Files, Stargate SG-1, Rurouni Kenshin, Spider-Man, MCU, Marvel 616, Loki: Agent of Asgard, Supernatural, Young Justice, Blue Exorcist, Star Wars, Avatar the Last Airbender, Rise of the Guardians, The Flash, Welcome to Night Vale, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, Gravity Falls, Lucifer, Detroit: Become Human, Sherlock, Tales of Arcadia

* Once upon a time I read a lot of Buffy crossovers, and then moved on to straight Buffy fics, without ever having seen any of the show. I did eventually see some episodes, but the vast bulk of my knowledge comes purely from fanfic

Where you post: Sometimes here on tumblr, though I don’t think I have it all unified under one tag, since my-writing is also used for meta talking about my writing...

AO3 is the best place to find the most up-to-date versions of my stuff. It’s a pain to correct typos on ffnet so I generally don’t, though there’s a couple of older fics there that I haven’t crossposted because they are incomplete.

Most popular multi-chapter fic: Internal Affairs with 7593 hits. It is the most-bookmarked Barry Allen & David Singh fic on AO3, whoot! It’s niche, but it’s a good niche

Favorite story you’ve written so far: Hard to say between Autoeponym and Metamorphosis. They’re both part of the same AU, and I’m just really excited about it :D

Fic you were nervous to post: Relative Truth. It was the first work I ever posted that was meant to be taken seriously (as opposed to cracky 100 word crossover drabbles), and it was my first plotty, multichaptered fic. Who knows, some day I might even finish it! ;P It’s only been eight years...

How you choose your titles: If the show has a particular pattern of naming, I try to match that if I can. So since White Collar has double-meaning titles, I went with Relative Truth, playing on the fact that truths are revealed about Neal’s family tree. 

Otherwise, I gravitate towards one-word titles (perhaps a result of the fact that I first started really paying attention to episode titles with Smallville). I further have a fondness for somewhat obscure and/or sciency terms, so Keraunopathy, Inertia, Philae, Autoeponym, Metamorphosis - but in the case of chapter titles in a one-shot collection, it might just be the topic or central thing that inspired it (Ice Cream, Chickenpox, Awake, Slumber, Cockroaches). 

More rarely, I’ll use a longer phrase or pull from an idiom - Cisco Answers the Phone, Henry Allen Has Never Been Rick-Rolled, The Girl in the Mirror, Where There’s a Will.

Do you outline: Yes, to varying degrees. Sometimes I treat it like writing an essay and just lay out my ‘topic sentences’ in order, so I know what happens in each paragraph, and then I have a place to ‘file’ whatever bits of writing I do. Sometimes for something more plotty I’ll have it organized more like a typical outline with different levels, although what usually ends up happening is I’ll start and stop several different outline attempts, and then stitch together what bits I can into a Frankenstein outline that may or may not actually be followed.

Right now, for Don’t Listen to Kafka, I’m attempting my most ambitious, color-coded storyboard to date

Complete: Inertia, my Flash one-shot collection, has finally been marked complete since the odds are quite low that I’ll ever return to that fandom, but the whims of my attentions have surprised me before, so who’s to say. Internal Affairs, the Singh spin-off of that one, has likewise been marked completed. The Haunting of Harrison Wells was successfully written on a deadline, for an event.

More recently, The Girl in the Mirror, Autoeponym, Metamorphosis, Mohs Scale, and I Was a Teenage Troll are call complete, though all but the first are part of in-progress series, so...

In progress: The aforementioned Relative Truth, though at some point I should probably just admit it’s a dead!fic. It’s just really hard to let go completely. 

As-yet-untitled next work in Don’t Listen to Kafka. While Claire might know about trolls, there’s still a gaping baby-brother-shaped hole in her knowledge. Somebody should do something about that...

The bit-after-the-next-bit-which-might-be-its-own-bit-or-might-be-a-separate-fic: Jim’s transformation continues! Barbara knows krav maga! Plans are made! Haemerythrin, the oxygen-binding pigment of marine worms, becomes a relevant analogy!

Some more one-shots in I Was A Teenage Troll AU, because I have a lot of backstory that I haven’t used yet. 

Coming soon/not yet started:

As long was we understand ‘soon’ to be highly subjective and subject to change:

A Gravity Falls x Trollhunters crossover. Man, I love reading crossovers but I haven’t written that many...

The Garage. Told from a Changeling’s POV, who was able to keep working as a mechanic at his garage even after he lost his human form when the Familiars were rescued (because he’d already been outed as a troll years before). The story begins when Jim shows up at the garage with a message for Craig Dunlin.

Hey Brother. What I call the Vermont Half-Brother AU. Written entirely in epistolary form, because I’ve never used a groupchatting app in my life and I don’t think I could write a chatfic between two people convincingly. On the other hand, it’s hard to justify writing letters back and forth when both of them have cell phones...

Do you accept prompts: I like the idea of prompts but I know for a fact that I would not be able to fill them. I’m not a very prolific writer at the best of times, imagining I could fill a prompt in any sort of timely manner is sheer fantasy.

Upcoming story you are most excited to write: Don’t Listen to Kafka. My outline is almost solid enough that I feel like I have enough of a framework to start working on details, and I love working on details.

I tag:

 @rockymountainvixen​ @luvtheheaven​ @kalajorn​

[sister-dear]

For Science! But mainly because I was curious.

All this talk about commenting on author works got me curious so I crunched some numbers. If you'd like to see how reader commenting has changed for a middling author over the past almost-twenty years here you go. This is just looking at stuff posted on FFnet and AO3 because those numbers are easiest to find.

All numbers are averaged and for AO3 I went with unique comment threads rather than total number to give a more accurate comparison. I'm leaving the one Harry Potter outlier in there mostly to show what a massive and active fandom it was while the series was still being written.

The fandoms and quantity of stories included:

2004: Rurouni Kenshin, 5 stories. 2006: Harry Potter, 1. 2008-2010: Transformers, 18 stories on ffnet. 2011: 17 of those same Transformers stories cross-posted to AO3. 2012-2014: Final Fantasy, 2 on ffnet and 3 on AO3, posted simultaneously. 2016: Fallout, 11. 2020: Linked Universe Zelda AU, 10.

Reviews per story

FFnet 2004: 7.5 2006: 568 (Holy Fucking Shit) 2008-2010: 5.7 2012-2014: 2.5

Ao3 2011: 1.3 2012-2014: 1.5 2016: 2 2020: 11.1

Reviews per hit

FFnet 2004: 1.42% 2006: .08% 2008-2010: .44% 2012-2014: .32%

AO3 2012-2014: .13% 2016: .14% 2020: 1.12%

A few things worth mentioning here. My writing has improved in this timeframe. (I sincerely hope. If it hasn't improved since high school I will cry.) Also reviews per hit stats will always, always get worse the older a story gets so those numbers would have been better on the older stories when they were first posted. 

Of course many of these numbers for people will sway significantly depending on the size of the fandom and whether it’s active when you’re writing in it. I do find it encouraging that the stats have gotten significantly better recently. We are heading in the right direction!

[katreal-fic]

Fanfic Author’s Ask Meme

@0dsi tagged me!

AO3 name: Katreal

Fandom(s): Homestuck, Undertale, Final Fantasy VII, Digimon, Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, YuYu Hakusho, Rockman.EXE, Rurouni Kenshin and others only on my FF.net account like Danny Phantom and Detective Conan/Magic Kaito.

Number of fics: 18

1. Fic you spent the most time on: Technically it’s still Digimon: Chaotic Evolutions because I originally wrote this thing on FF.net in *highschool* and then I entirely REWROTE IT and more seven years later. It’s almost done actually, I just...*waves hands helplessly* Homestuck happened.

2. Fic you spent the least time on: I don’t know any of my older stuff, so I’m gonna have to go with Divide by Zero because I’m pretty sure I cranked that out in a manic haze of Dave trying to prove to myself that I can, in fact, write homestuck 

3. Longest fic: To no surprise, it’s Defragmentation, which is currently sitting pretty at 70 chapters and 299,140 words and I’m still only barely in the *first arc* of *ACT TWO* out of three.

4. Shortest fic: Monofell: When Only Stones Remain which was a gift ficlet written for @pc-doodle‘s undertale AU. This one clocks in at around 702 words. 

5. Most hits: Defragmentation - 11,924 hits.

6. Most kudos: Defragmentation - 823 kudos.

7. Most comment threads: Defragmentation - 571 comment threads.

8. Fave fic you wrote: I love both Defrag and Ersatz Abyss pretty close to even actually. Defrag because it’s my self-indulgent mess and because Ersatz is ending up that same way just focused differently and Hal is heckin’ fun to write.

9. Fic you want to rewrite/expand on: I have a few sort of director’s cut changes I wish I could do to Defrag to maybe work on the pacing of early chapters and clean up some plot threads that are a little tangled since I didn’t figure out what I was doing until a decent ways in. Aside from that, there’s a Detective Conan fic sitting on my FF.net account I *was* working on rewriting, but I think I lost the thumbdrive :( This was before I changed to google doc-ing everything.

10. Share a bit of your WIP or share a story idea that you’re planning: 

AKA The last thing I wrote before doing this:  It’s a phantom limb except it’s a phantom everything and you lose so much time as you try to remember what to do, pushing the information through your panicking brain--that you no longer have, it’s all ones and zeroes and electrical impulses up in here baby--and charting the wrecked pathways that once made up your home. Even so you’re still spinning, running, a mouse in a maze with only the vaguest whiff of cheese to guide them.

@0dsi tagged most of the peeps I was gonna tag so uuuuuh @dyradoodles @missbroadwayblues @laurasauras @caledfwlchthat + anyone else who writes fic! I have a few others in mind but I dunno if things are posted or not or whether they’d be comfy doing it so just, if you wanna do it do it!

[lyllyan-weiss]

LONG Character Survey: Lyllyan Weiss

BASICS.

FULL NAME: Lyllyan Aster Weiss

NICKNAME: Lyl, Lily, Lil' Lily.

AGE: 21

BIRTHDAY: 11th Sun of the 6th Astral Moon (November 10th)

ETHNIC GROUP: Auri|Xaela (In Eorzea)/ Human (Out of World)

NATIONALITY: Eorzean (In Eorzea)/American (Out of World)

LANGUAGES: Eorzean, Draconic, basically anything due to the echo.

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: She is Bi. Swings both ways. She loves all.

ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: Biromantic

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Depending on the different routes on the story, she will be either single or taken.

CLASS: Jack-of-all-trades

•Knows everything and knows how to play everything.

• Favors caster classes above everything else.

HOMETOWN / AREA: N/A

CURRENT HOMETOWN / AREA: Shirogane is where her apartment is, but she sees Ishgard as her home that she spends her time in, and then the Crystarium had became home to her as well.

PROFESSION: Scion, Adventurer, Full time hero in both her world and Eorzea. In her world she is a waitress and an artist/animator.

PHYSICAL.

HAIR: Right now it is Brown with Light brown Highlights

EYES: Purple (Right), Green (Left)

NOSE: Small and Sharp

LIPS: Small and full

COMPLEXION: Pale but fair.

BLEMISHES: None.

SCARS: In Eorzea, her scars are battle scars that is more aligned on her back. They do not show up when she is in her world.

TATOOS: The Scion Tatoo on the part where the neck and back meet.

HEIGHT: 5'0

WEIGHT: 130lb (Eorzea)/ 150lb (Her World)

BUILD: Short, Thin and fit.

FEATURES: None really.

ALLERGIES: Rolanberries in Eorzea, Strawberries in her world.

USUAL HAIRSTYLE: Long hair with a half braid in the back in Eorzea. In her world she has short hair that stops in the middle of her neck.

USUAL FACE LOOK: Warm color Eye shadow applied lightly to the eyes and a very nude color for lipstick in Eorzea. In her world, she hardly puts make up on, but usually has dark circles due to being tired all the time.

USUAL CLOTHING: Depending on her mood, she'll go very modest, or wearing a bikini with thigh boots. In her world, she is always modest with usually a t-shirt and sweats.

PSYCHOLOGY.

FEARS: Bugs (Mainly Arachnids, spiders are the worst.) Antilions that hide in the sands. Losing her love ones. Becoming Sin Eater. Being alone. Falling.

ASPIRATIONS: Explore all of the worlds she could go to, but also to make animations that can change the world.

POSITIVE TRAITS: Stubborn, happy go lucky, Compassionate, tries to take care of everyone, protective, loving, friendly, trusting.

NEGATIVE TRAITS: Stubborn enough to push past her limits, usually getting her hurt. She so selfless that she tends to forget about taking care of herself. She can be too trusting of others that she often gets hurt in the end. She usually bottles her problems with the worry of being a burden to others. Very emotional driven (Just ask Ser Zephirin).

ZODIAC: Scorpio.

TEMPERAMENT: Artistic and Motherly

SOUL TYPE(S): The Priest, The Artisan, The Server.

ANIMALS: Cat

VICE HABIT(S): From the definition that I read, her faults are that she feels like anything bad that happens to her or her friends are her fault, and that she sometimes Envy others. But her hobbies that she enjoys are reading, triple triad, drawing, and writing.

FAITH: The Twelve. Even in her world she believes in the Twelve.

GHOSTS?: Definitely

AFTERLIFE?: I hope there is one.

REINCARNATION?: Well so far that we know, reincarnation is a thing, right?

ALIENS?: I doubt the world was made for one type of civilization, plus multiple worlds. Yes.

POLITICAL ALIGNMENT: Uh...Alphinaud does politics for me.

ECONOMIC PREFERENCE: Just trying to survive, man. Stable, I guess.

SOCIO POLITICAL POSITION: Uh... Alphinaud???

EDUCATION LEVEL: Lyllyan herself has had up to some college in her own world. In Eorzea, she has an understanding of Aether and well has learned all the classes, so being able to pick up something new, she can learn fairly quick.

FAMILY.

FATHER: Captain Carebear (Mykel Weiss)

MOTHER: She doesn't have the ability to go to Eorzea so her name is Lynn Weiss.

Siblings: Lucas Weiss(Rafien Dalarain(Deactivated)), Nathaniel Weiss(Random Guy (deactivated)), Olivia Weiss (Never been to Eorzea).

EXTENDED FAMILY: Grandmother(Nana)(Deceased), Granfather(Poppy), Fortemps Family (Rest in Peace Haucherfaunt).

NAME MEANING(S): Lyllyan is based off of the Lily flower. Aster is based off of the Aster flower, and then Weiss is a name given to those with white hair or pale complexion.

HISTORICAL CONNECTION: Um...Ascian? Amourotine?

FAVORITES.

BOOK: If its Manga, It's Rurouni Kenshin. Books would be the 'Septimus Heap' series by Angie Sage.

MOVIE/PLAY: Movie would be 'Wizard of Oz'. Favorite Play would be 'Hamilton'.

5 SONGS:

•'Seasonal Feathers' by Len and Rin Kagamine

•'Drakkar' by Distrion and Electro-Light

•'Light it Up' by Robin Hustin and TobiMorrow (feat. Jex)

•'Stitches' by Shawn Mendes

•'Perfect' by Ed Sheeran

DEITY: Thaliak

HOLIDAY: Valentione

MONTH: November/ 6th Astral Moon

SEASON: Spring

PLACE: Rak'Tika Greatwoods

WEATHER: Rain

SOUND: Ocean waves.

SCENT(S): Cherry Blossom, sweet.

TASTE(S): Favorite food is Bacon so....also likes sweet things.

FEEL(S): Fuzzy blankets, warm cloth, soft.

ANIMALS: She loves all animals! If she had to narrow it down, it would be Cats, Pandas, and Chocobos. Does Pokemon count?

NUMBER: 8 but screw Construct 8

COLORS: Purple, light green, light blue.

EXTRA.

TALENTS: Drawing.

BAD AT: Math. She used to bring her homework to Eorzea to have Alphinaud and Urianger help her.

TURN ONS: Oooo. Funny, kind, calm, generous, but also romantic.

TURN OFFS: Selfish, rude ass hoe, and killing my friends.

HOBBIES: Singing, Drawing, Reading, Exploring, Triple Triad.

TROPES: Mother Hen.

AESTHETIC TAGS: Chocolate and Caramel. Honey. Lavender and Leaves. I think that's how this works???

FC INFO.

MAIN FC(S): Scions of the Dawn. It consist of Dad and myself.

ALT FC(S): None.

OLDER FC(S): We did have an FC on Gilgamesh called Lionheart with the Tag FF8. It was one that we had started the game when we got out of beta, but moved to different server/data center.

YOUNGER FC(S): *Confused Au Ra noises*

VOICE CLAIM(S): ??????

GENDERBENT FC(S): *Even more confused Au Ra noises*

MUN QUESTIONS.

Q1: IF YOU COULD WRITE YOUR CHARACTER YOUR WAY IN THEIR OWN MOVIE, WHAT WOULD IT BE CALLED, WHAT STYLE WOULD IT BE FILMED IN, AND WHAT WOULD IT BE ABOUT?

•So, I'm already making a comic that I want to make as an animation for the story of FFXIV with my character and her friends. This character was specifically built for FFXIV, but it has a twist. Kinda like a Sword Art Online ordeal, but instead of Millions of people playing are stuck in the world, it's just like 100, but they aren't stuck, in fact they are just chosen to go between their world and Eorzea. If they die, they don't actually die, but respawn, even in their own world, but they feel how they die and the only way for them to die in any shape or form is by natural cause like old age or sickness. This would be a 2D animation in the anime style and be a multi episode series with multiple seasons. I even though about branching out to go certain routes so that Lyllyan can end up with all my favorite characters. I would call it Final Fantasy XIV: A World Reborn.

Q2: WHAT WOULD THEIR SOUNDTRACK/SCORE SOUND LIKE?

•With it being a Final Fantasy story, it would have Final Fantasy Music.

Q3: WHY DID YOU START WRITING THIS CHARACTER?

•Lyllyan Weiss was made to represent me and she still does, but also inspires me to be more like my courageous heroic self. Because of this, I have been able to do things like crossing a bridge that's in bad shape to get to the other side without the fear of falling, just to get back to my mom who went to the other side on a trip we had.

Q4: WHAT FIRST ATTRACTED YOU TO THIS CHARACTER?

•She is literally me.

Q5: DESCRIBE THE BIGGEST THING YOU DISLIKE ABOUT YOUR MUSE.

•Just like me, she is stubborn and hard working, but there are times she pushes herself way too much. She hesitates to ask for help, not because she doesn't trust the people around her, but more of trying to not burden them. Others wish she would open up to them and also rest when she can. Raha has to literally force her to rest, and she nearly gets herself killed against the first battle with Rahjit because she kept getting back up to fight even when the others beg her to stop.

Q6: WHAT DO YOU HAVE IN COMMON WITH YOUR MUSE?

•Almost everything. Major thing is that she doesn't look like me, but also I know when to quit.

Q7: HOW DOES YOUR MUSE FEEL ABOUT YOU?

• I feel like if Lyllyan and I were to meet in person, we'd get along just fine. We would play video games all day long if we could.

Q8: WHAT CHARACTERS DOES YOUR MUSE HAVE INTERESTING INTERACTIONS WITH?

•OH BOI HERE WE GOOO

- Leveilleur Twins: Alphinaud and Alisaie are very close to Lyllyan. Alphinaud used to pull Lyllyan out of class to have her hurry up and go through the story, now its chill and play ace attorney. Alphinaud, depending on what route is taken, is definitely in love with Lyllyan and is constantly teased about it by everyone. Alisaie is like a sister to Lyllyan. They have had many nights where the pulled 24 hours playing Sims. Alisaie is who Lyllyan tries to protect the most between the two. She's also the reason why Lyllyan is now Bi. Lyllyan absolutely adores her and if the route is taken, they end up being the cutest couple.

-Leon D'hart: An Alt character that I made that depending on the story and route, he is also Lyllyan's Lover. He is a character made by Square Enix to be the Warrior of Light replacement if Lyllyan did not succeed in preventing herself becoming a light warden. His story with her is a bunch of trial and tribulations, but in the end they do end up married.

-G'raha Tia/Crystal Exarch: The main story Lyllyan's Lover. Great friend to start out and tears were shed when he sealed himself into the tower. He really kept Lyllyan guessing when he was Exarch. When Emet-Selch kidnapped him, Lyllyan was hellbent on getting him back. Now she visits him at the first everyday bring stuff from Eorzea for him, and even occasionally stuff from her world. He is her world as she is to him.

-The Scions: Thancred and Lyllyan are like Big brother, Little sister. He protects her, and scolds her as such. They may act like they hate each other, but the moment either gets hurt, the other is at their sides. Though rumor has it that Thancred had feelings for Lyllyan. Y'shtola is close to Lyllyan, but is usually not around often. Shtola usually is often around to keep an eye on Lyllyan's aether since her amount is quite high compared to the others and her fellow Warriors of Light. Urianger is someone who used to hardly talk to Lyllyan, but started opening up more after the years. He had watched her grow from 15 moons to now 21 as the others, but they seem to be more special to him. Lyllyan swore to protect him if anything ever happened especially after he asked her her thoughts on his new attire. Tataru is a precious angel and if anyone was to hurt her, Lyllyan would kill everyone and then herself. Ryne, even though she is not a scion, she is a scion. Ryne worries about Lyllyan, but is often in awe of her. Lyllyan and Thancred adopted her, and she's ended up calling Lyllyan mom on many occasions.

-Ser Aymeric: Depending on the route, he would be Lyllyan's Lover and he tries to protect her when he can, be it politics or in war. He has a dream to journey with her, and though he can't do so with Lylyan Weiss the Au Ra, there is nothing saying he can't make a character and become a Warrior of Light himself and travel with Sakura Yue(Lyllyan's Alt).

-Zenos Yae Galvus: So this guy commits Seppuku and then shows up at Lyllyan's job as her new Bartender. They end up becoming friends through the job, and the fact that Zenos is bored out of his mind that he can't go kill people,but finding out later that he is back makes Square Enix themselves worried about this guy.

-Estinien: Lyllyan had adopted him as her Edgy Son. He hates it. He reminds her that he is older than him, and she retorts about beating him as a Lalafel. He usually starts brooding after that on a high building that usually takes Alphinaud and Ser Aymeric to get him down.

•I'm only stopping this cause there are so many more characters!!!

Q9:WHAT GIVES YOU INSPIRATION TO WRITE YOUR MUSE?

•Music and Playing Final Fantasy. Mainly XIV, but others do count too, but also reading all the other fanfiction and comics about final fantasy XIV.

Q10: HOW LONG DID THIS TAKE YOU TO COMPLETE?

About...4 hours? Maybe more? My hands definitely hurt from all the typing! XD

============

Tagged by @amandafullmetal

Tagging @ladyramora @ranier-layarte @scholarlostintime @fabledtactician

[hardnoctlife]

About Me

Me: Oh, sweet, I have time to write on my WIP!

My brain: Let’s answer these author-asks instead that NOBODY asked for:

Fandom Questions

1.       What was the first fandom you got involved in?

FIRST, first? InuYasha! First one I wrote actual fanfiction for? I think that was Yu Yu Hakusho.

2.       What is your latest fandom?

Final Fantasy XV (if you couldn’t already tell.)

3.       What is the best fandom you’ve been involved in?

Final Fantasy XV. I haven’t met a person I don’t like! Generally everyone is super nice and supportive.

4.       Do you regret getting involved in any fandoms?

Supernatural, maybe?? Only because they killed it with too many seasons…and there are some pretty weird fans.

5.       Which fandoms have you written fanfiction for?

Final Fantasy XV, Final Fantasy VII, Legend of Zelda, Yu Yu Hakusho, Rurouni Kenshin, InuYasha…maybe some others when I was younger?

6.       What are your OTPs from your current fandom?

Promptis and Gladnis

7.       List your NoTPs from your current fandom

ArdNoct is my least favorite, but everyone is SO shippable…

8.       How did you get involved in your latest fandom?

One of my good friends, Claudia, was obsessed with the game so when I finally got a PS4 I started playing and got hooked! I’ve played final fantasy games since I was young so I was already a fan of the others.

9.       What are the best things about your current fandom?

I know there are dark sides to every fandom, but seriously, FFXV is the most kind and receptive fandom I’ve ever been a part of. I have a discord group chat with several people and we talk all day, everyday about anything and everything and I’ve made some really good friends from it. I wouldn’t trade it for the world!

10.   Is there a fandom you read fic from but don’t write in?

I’m actually not a huge reader of fanfiction (I know, it’s awful), but that’s because I’m too busy writing my own! I do read FFXV fanfiction that gets recommended to me though.

Author Questions

11.   What’s the first fanfic you ever wrote?

It was waaaaay back in high school. I can’t remember much, but I know it was a YYH high school AU.

12.   Is there anything you regret writing?

Eh. Not really. I had fun with everything I’ve done so that’s what’s important, even if my skill was cringy back in the day.

13.   Name a fic you’ve written that you’re especially fond of and explain why you like it. 

Insomnia High School! (Really, my whole FFXV high school series). It’s the first set of long-fics I’ve written in probably over a decade, and I wrote them while recovering from knee surgery, which kept me sane because I’m a super active person and not being able to do anything had me depressed. IHS I’m particularly fond of because it’s a little edgier and I got to feature Zidane from FFIX who is probably one of my favorite video game characters of all time! Also, it’s my longest fic I’ve written, but it was maybe the easiest for me to get through. It really just flowed for me, and even though it’s not my most popular, I put a lot of heart into it. 

14.   What fic do you desperately need to rewrite or edit?

Probably Dawn of the Godslinger, simply because it was the first fic I wrote after a ten-year hiatus from writing!

15.   What’s your most popular fanfic?

Rain or Shine and Everything In-Between. It’s probably my second favorite thing that I have written, and it was definitely the most fun to write out of all my current works.

16.   How do you come up with your fanfic titles?

Uh… they just come to me? Some are pretty straightforward (like Insomnian Academy for the Elite), and then for others I try to pick the main theme and come up with something witty, like Rain or Shine and Everything In-Between, which is meant to reference all the different domestic life scenarios and the ‘slice of life’ vibe. 

17.   What do you hate more: coming up with titles or writing summaries?

SUMMARIES. God, they suck. I’m really not sure why they are so hard, but I struggle with them at times.

18.   If someone were to draw a piece of fanart for your story/stories, which story would it be and what would it be a picture of?

I have been blessed with talented artist friends who have done fanart for several of my works! If I’m being selfish though, I really want some from Rain or Shine or The Long and Short of It All with all the bros being cute and silly.

19.   Do you have a beta reader? Why/why not?

My wife is an editor with an MFA so she is my beta reader/editor (I’m very lucky). Overall, I think it’s important to have someone check your work and give you objective feedback. No one is perfect and there is always room for improvement.

20.   What inspires you to write?

There are endless possibilities in my fandom…it’s pretty easy to stay inspired. But really, I just enjoy it.

21.   What’s the nicest thing someone has ever said about your writing?

I have received a lot of super nice comments… I think I enjoy when people are inspired to write or draw their own stuff because of something I wrote! Also, when people told me they cried or FELT some sort of strong emotion, that’s the greatest compliment.

22.   Do you listen to music when you write or does music inspire you?

Omg YES. Music inspires me more than anything else. I have playlists for just about every fanfic I write! I’ll often listen to a playlist on repeat while I’m writing or throughout the day when I’m brainstorming ideas.

23.   Do you write oneshots, multi-chapter fics, or HUUUUUGE epics?

A little bit of everything! Depends on how I’m feeling and how much an idea takes off.

24.   What’s the word count on your longest fic?

I think it’s around 88,000

25.   Do you write drabbles? If so, what do you normally write them about?

I walk the line between drabbles/one shots, but usually they’re just a single scene I wanted to get out but was too lazy to put into a larger story.

26.   What’s your favorite genre to write?

Probably angst, with fluff/romance being a close second.

27.   First person or third person- what do you write and why?

Both! It just depends on how I want the fic to be interpreted/felt by the reader.

28.   Do you use established canon characters or do you create OCs?

I try to use canon characters as much as possible, but I don’t have an issues creating OCs if the need arises.

29.   What is your greatest strength as a writer?

People have told me they like my dialogue and also the little subtle details/body language I include.

30.   What do you struggle with most in your writing?

Probably pacing, especially towards the end of a fic when I get excited about finishing it. Also, I don’t usually write outlines so sometimes I can dig myself into a hole plot-wise and my wife (editor) has to help get me out. (thanks babe!)

31.   What is your all time favorite fanfic?

Probably “Such Is Us” by surveycorpsjean. It’s what inspired me to write my own OT4 fic for FFXV.

32.   If someone wants to read one of your fanfics, which would you recommend to them and why?

Honestly, all of my stuff is so different it would really depend on the person! But my favorites that I’ve written (in order) are: You’re My Cup of Coffee, Rain or Shine and Everything In-Between, and The Insomnian Academy for the Elite.

33.   Do you leave reviews when you read fanfiction? Why or why not?

Of course!! As a writer, I love when people comment on my stuff so I feel it’s important to do the same for others.

34.   Do you care if people comment/reblog your writing? Why/why not?

If they do, it’s AWESOME and I really appreciate. If they don’t, that’s their choice! I believe in writing for myself, so I’m not going to base my worth as a writer on kudos/like/reblogs, etc. It does give me the warm fuzzies when people leave sweet comments though <3

35.   Rant or gush about one thing you love or hate in the world of fanfiction.

Okay, so, smut. I like it! IF I’m in the mood for it. If I read a smutty fic and I knew what I was getting into, it’s great. However, I tend to not like s*x just for the sake of s*x in my fics. I try to focus on emotion and WHY two characters might be getting physical rather than just throwing something in there because I think it will get my fic attention. When people put in a s*x scene that doesn’t further the plot it’s a major turn off for me. 

[kohquette]

the four hitokiri of the bakumatsu were elite swordsmen and assassins who fought to overthrow the shogunate by taking out high profile political figures, and thus were enemies of the shinsengumi. they’ve been depicted in various media, the most famous probably being Kawakami Gensai as Himura Kenshin in Rurouni Kenshin.

[part of a personal project, reimagining the bakumatsu period in a fantasy au where there be ladies & nb folks]

[drabblers]

Goodbyes aren't always final

Prompt: Butterfly kisses Fandom: Rurouni Kenshin Setting:  Modern AU, Actors. This is an independent continuation for the one-shot: “A Comedy of Romance.”  Characters: Kenshin Himura, Kaoru Kamiya, Megumi Takani  Word count: 2177

Kenshin was smiling and nodding along to something Director Uramura was saying. No, joking about? The other men in the group laughed, too. They all seemed to be having a great time.

Kaoru chugged down her fancy drink, eyeing the group with no small amount of frustration. Should she go there and try to join to their posse?

The head cameraman made a joke – a crude one, judging by his gesticulation.

Kaoru looked aside, all but growling to herself. For heaven’s sake! Why was the ratio of men to women so skewed in the film industry? This always happened at the last shooting day’s goodbye party! And after tonight, she would have no way of getting a chance to talk with Kenshin… or have any hope of seeing him again. No, he was slated to leave early tomorrow morning to Gobi Desert, where his next movie was being filmed, and after that, the next movie and the next and so on.

Well, except if Director Uramura decided that he would need reshoots? Kaoru frowned thoughtfully, before shaking her head. No, Director Uramura had seemed very satisfied with the footage and to her understanding, this particular niche movie had no need to balance the studio’s desires with the Director’s vision. No, this was all privately funded and besides, with Kenshin’s busy schedule, what were the chances that he would have another convenient break between his films and his busy travel schedule to get back to Japan for a few reshoots?

Even the possible voice-overs wouldn’t require them all to be present again at the same time. Everyone could come to the studio at their convenience and record their lines if the footage’s sound was not up to par.

No, the chances were that today was the final time they would be all together.

Kaoru sucked furiously on her straw, only to realize that her drink was all gone. Just typical. She eyed at her empty glass as if it had betrayed her. Then she sighed and glanced at the posse of men. Kenshin had moved to another group, mingling this time with stuntmen with the ease of long practice.

Should she go there? She was a bit more at ease with stuntmen than directors. Or maybe if she just waited, there would be a better opportunity to talk to him?

“Here,” a familiar voice said behind her.

“Ah!” Kaoru startled and turned around, only to come face to face with her personal bane, the demanding assistant director Megumi Takani. But instead of frowning at her like she was disappointed, Megumi was holding out an expensive-looking drink to her.

“Is that for me?” Kaoru blinked.

Megumi raised her finely shaped eyebrow. “No, I always carry two drinks whenever I am at a party.”

“Har, har,” Kaoru muttered and gingerly took the offered drink. “Thanks, I guess.”

“You’re welcome.”

Kaoru glanced at Kenshin’s direction while sipping at the drink. She paused. “What is this? This is actually pretty good.”

“I didn’t ask the name,” Megumi said. “I just asked them to throw together something nice for our heroine.”

“Ah,” Kaoru bit on her lip. “I need to thank them too, for this. I was just about to go and get another drink myself.”

“Liquid courage – I see,” Megumi hummed knowingly.

“What? No!” Kaoru burst out. “I was not trying to pep myself up with alcohol! I am not that bad. I was just…”

“He is just a man, too.” Megumi observed coolly. “Admittedly, an internationally famous, well-liked by nearly everyone in the industry and financially exceedingly well-off man, but still… just a man.”

“I know that!”

“Then why are you so nervous?” Megumi asked. “Just go talk to him. You were his co-star, he isn’t going to turn you down. Besides you two had pretty good chemistry going during the shoots.”

“Yeah, I know,” Kaoru mumbled, looking at her feet. “I just… I don’t want to–”

“Ah,” Megumi paused. “So, it’s like that.”

Kaoru looked up, not quite liking the look her sometime-friend had gotten in her eye.

“I think I have just the thing for you,” Megumi announced and dug around her purse. “Don’t tell me that I don’t like you after this.” She huffed and pushed something to Kaoru’s left hand. It was a flat square covered in folio and…

“Megumi!” Kaoru shrieked.

“We girls, we have to take our chances, that’s what I always say.” Megumi nodded to herself. “It’s not like he would turn you down. You aren’t the only one who keeps looking, you know?”

Kaoru boggled.

“Enjoy your night.” Megumi smirked at her, flipped her hair elegantly and spun around, leaving Kaoru standing there gaping like a fish on dry land, clutching the strawberry flavored condom in her left fist.

That, that Megumi! What the hell! How could she ever think that Kaoru could, that Kenshin would – that there was any chance in the seventh hell that she could go to him on a night like this and propose that they would… Kaoru gulped, feeling the mortified heat rise to her cheeks. Oh god, what had she ever done to deserve humiliation like this in the middle of her first major project's wrapping up party!

Kaoru covered her face with her left hand and groaned pitifully, only to realize that she had just pressed the god-awful condom to her face. Urgh! She shoved her left fist behind her back as quickly as she could and growled, shaking her head furiously as if to wipe the last ten seconds out of existence.

Determinedly, she chugged down Megumi’s drink and grimaced. She needed another drink – a strong drink. Or two. Or three.

She spun around only to run face first into something solid…

“Oro!”

That sound… it couldn’t be. Kaoru gulped and looked up, only to smile weakly. “Um, hi.”

“Hi.” Her one-time action idol, her teenage hero and now her co-star for the last four weeks was smiling at her. “Is everything alright?” he asked gently.

“Yes, of course. Why wouldn’t it be?” Kaoru laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of her head with her left hand only to feel the folio wrapper of the condom to get stuck to her hair. She paled. Oh god. This couldn’t be happening.

“Are you sure?” he asked, more hesitant. No doubt that he, too, was sensing her awkwardness.

Oh, shit! Kaoru smiled wider in panic, lowered her hand and told herself: you are an actress, aren’t you? Now act like you mean it! “How are you? How has your evening gone so far?” she asked, trying to smile more naturally.

“Fine,” he said quickly and motioned to the crowd. “It’s a nice party. Everyone is satisfied. Even Director Uramura seemed happy with the material. He was telling this one that we shouldn’t need any reshoots, that he did.”

“That’s good.” Kaoru nodded and bit her lip. “I was thinking the same earlier. I mean, that we won’t see each other again.”

“Ah.” He paused, and looked down. “Yes, that seems so,” he continued, his voice oddly flat. “This one has to leave early. The plane to China leaves at nine tomorrow morning, that it does.”

“How long will you be shooting? You are going to be without an internet connection or access to normal phone lines, aren’t you? I mean, it’s the Gobi desert,” Kaoru asked, struggling desperately to keep the conversation going.

“Yes,” he agreed blandly, looking aside. “It’s going to be at least six to eight weeks, but it could go on for more. The Chinese filmmakers are strict and they take their historical fantasies pretty seriously. If something doesn’t feel right, they reshoot until it’s perfect.” He spoke with an impersonal tone, his gaze blank.

Kaoru tried to not let it get to her. She truly tried. But so far, in these four weeks of filming, he had always met her eyes and talked to her like he truly enjoyed speaking with her. What had changed? Why was he so distant out of sudden? Had she said something wrong? Insulted him somehow?

She gnawed on her bottom lip. “What about your character? Is it a role you will enjoy playing?”

“It’s fine. Not as nice of a role as this, but… it’s okay, that it is.” He raised his drink to sip on it, only to note that it was empty. “Ah, this one should get another. Please, pardon this one –“ He turned to leave.

“Wait!” Kaoru said and grabbed his sleeve. “Whatever I said to insult you, I’m sorry about it, alright? I didn’t intend to make you feel so uncomfortable. It’s the last night. The last time I’ll see you – so please, don’t leave like this!”

“Oro!” He gasped, and looked at her, his eyes wide. “But you…” He stared at her hand clutching at his sleeve desperately, like a climber clinging to a the face of a cliff. “But didn’t you just say that you didn’t want to see this one again?”

“What?” Kaoru gaped. “No. Never!”

He blinked slowly. “But… you were asking about the Gobi and how soon this one would be leaving, that you were. Said that it’s the last night. Like you didn’t want us to meet again.”

“No – well yes, but–” Kaoru stammered, only to pause mid-sentence. She gasped. Then she looked up to his eyes. “You… you want to meet again? After the Gobi?”

“Well, yes,” he said, looking at her oddly. “You are… this one has enjoyed your company, that he has.” He gulped, but then braved on ever so slowly, trying to keep his words clear. “Actually, one assumed that we were… um, well, we have been spending hours together every night for the last four weeks, that we have been. After work hours. In your trailer, just the two of us.” He added in clarification, as if that would make his words make more sense.

"You..." Kaoru stared at him like she had never seen him before. “But isn’t that something you do with all your co-stars?”

“Err… No.” He frowned. “This one is not like…” He shook his head and addressed her frankly, “Miss Kaoru, you are the first female actor this one has met with after work in privacy in over a decade, that you are.”

Kaoru blinked once, twice, before the dots connected. “You thought we were dating!”

He looked aside awkwardly, reddening all the way to his neck… it clashed terribly with his red hair and something in Kaoru’s chest melted. Gods, he is so cute! She let go of his sleeve and stepped closer to him, her pulse beating a wild staccato beat in her ears. “I, ah… I’m sorry. I didn’t realize. I just thought you were being friendly,” she whispered.

He closed his eyes and swallowed – like a man brazing for rejection.

It hurt, to see him like this. He was the bravest, gentlest, most amazing man she had ever met. He shouldn’t be this uncertain, so afraid for rejection.

Kaoru rose on her tiptoes and pressed a soft butterfly kiss to his lips.

His eyes shot open in shock.

And Kaoru smiled, “Please, forgive me. I was being… slower than usual. Of course, we are dating.”

“Oro? We are?” he asked.

“Yes, we are,” Kaoru said decisively. She slipped her hands behind his neck and kissed him fiercely, pouring all her passion into that one kiss.

He caught up to her agenda late, but when he did – he was an alarmingly fast learner. He wrapped his arms around and kissed her again, and again and again, their tongues meeting in the middle as they kissed and kissed with such passion, such eagerness…

Kaoru’s lungs burned as she finally pulled back, gulping for air.

“Woah,” she said.

Eyes wide, he nodded slowly. With a notable concentration in his gaze, he detangled his fingers carefully from her hair, only to frown, and pull off a familiar folio wrapper…

“Oro?”

Kaoru stared at the condom he had pulled from her hair with disbelief mixed in mortification. “That’s…” She swallowed dryly and then let out a laugh. “Um. Yeah. Megumi gave it to me and said that I should hit on you. That you wouldn’t turn me down.”

He looked at her, a blush rising to his cheeks. “Ah. Um, she is right. This one wouldn’t, err, turn you down, that he wouldn’t. That is, if you wanted to-to…”

“If I wanted to?” Kaoru asked. “Of course I want to! You are the most amazing man I have ever met and it’s not like we were going to wait for marriage for that!”

He stared at her. “Um, yes. That’s… Uh, okay.” He tugged his tie looser and swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. He held up his arm. “Would you… Perhaps we could… um, now?”

“Yes, let’s.” Kaoru grabbed his arm and took off. “My trailer is more secluded than yours.”

He let out a small laugh from her side but followed along. “Yes, yes – as my lady commands.”

AN: Many have asked me to continue A Comedy of Romance and finally, I got inspired to do it. I hope you enjoy this little story. :)

[ninthfeather]

Donate for Fic!

Hey, so the US is kinda having some major issues right now, and I’m currently not healthy enough to go out and do things about it, so instead I am opening what amounts to commissions. In exchange for a $10+ donation to one of the linked organizations, I will write you a 400- to 500-word fic. If this sounds good to you, read on!

Eligible Charities:

Black Lives Matter: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ms_blm_homepage_2019

National Bail Fund Network’s COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/bailfundscovid

Communities United For Police Reform: https://northstarfund.org/give/donate/donate-to-communities-united-for-police-reform/

About Commissions:

I will only have 10 slots available because I’m still having health issues and I’m not going to let myself get overwhelmed. If you would like a commission, please send your donation receipt and request to ninthfeathers (at) gmail (dot) com. You can also submit the donation receipt and request by Discord if you already have my contact information there. Please do not use Tumblr Messenger or my ask box.

Your prompt can be as specific or vague as you would like, but I reserve the right to refuse a prompt or to tell you I will not be comfortable with a prompt unless it is altered. 

Other Notes:

Crossovers and AUs are fine

No NSFW

I’m not a pairing writer. I’m more than happy to write “Character A and Character B interacting” but I cannot promise it’s gonna be particularly romantic, sorry

I’m still kinda ill so these things might take a while to get finished

Every person who’s offering something in exchange for donation receipts is holding donors to the honor system. I’m trusting you not to use receipts that you’ve already submitted to someone else to get a fic from me. Please remember that the end goal here is raising as much money as possible for the people involved in the protests.

Fandoms:

Fandoms I am really qualified to write: Fullmetal Alchemist, My Hero Academia, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Fruits Basket, Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy XV, Detective Conan, Magic Kaito, Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun, Gundam 00, Kagerou Project, M*A*S*H, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, xxxholic, Persona 3,

Fandoms I can also write: Critical Role, The Magnus Archives, Harry Potter, Final Fantasy VII, Gundam Seed, Gundam Wing, Scrapped Princess, Persona 5, The World Ends with You, Bleach, D. Gray Man, Rurouni Kenshin, Kanata Kara, Skip*Beat, Sailor Moon, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Eden of the East, Pandora Hearts, Vanitas no Carte, Madoka Magica franchise, Fate franchise, Tokyo Bablyon, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Batfamily (DC Comics), Team Red (Marvel Comics), X-Men (Marvel Comics)

Fandoms I will not write: Voltron, Gundam IBO, Code Geass, Full Moon wo Sagashite, things I’m not familiar with

 Thank you!