#we'll see if i have enough energy for it after my god of war fic is done! XDDD

[arlenianchronicles]

Hello! I read your Dark!Maedhros AU a couple days back—thanks for replying to my tags about it and sharing it, it’s super cool! I hope you don’t mind me gushing about it? If it were a fic, I would leave a comment to show my appreciation, but in lieu of that I figured I’d send you an ask. I hope that’s alright (humble apologies if you’d rather just delete this).

The plot beats are so riveting and well thought out, also so in line with the heavy vibes and themes of canon! I love how it centers on Maedhros’s deterioration after so much trauma and loss—it’s heartbreaking, and imagining Maedhros on Morgoth’s side is terrifying! At the same time, the way you get him there is so painful and angsty!!!

I was really invested in the story, all the way from the initial loss of the twins and Maglor’s death. I could see it just getting worse and worse! Especially once the war was won for Morgoth. I think it’s such a clever twist/manipulation on the Oath that he would convince Maedhros that he’d basically fulfilled it by allying with his greatest enemies. That’s just so!!! Ah—scrumptious angst! Also I don’t know how you did it but the way you’ve crafted/told this story, it’s really got me thinking about how it must feel to be immortal, to be cursed to keep going and going. I feel like this AU really leverages the relentlessness of Elvish immortality, especially as it relates to lasting grief.

I love the idea of the twins being captives in Maedhros’s twisted, dark fae vibes court (which, that concept? Inspired!). The way his love has been twisted into something covetous feels so on-theme and so tragic! It’s like he’s been consumed by the thing that he lost/can’t have.

It was super exciting to see that you shared the entire plot breakdown/some of the best most gripping scenes. I read it all last week and knew I needed to send you an ask about it because it’s just such a good AU idea! Apologies if you’ve already answered this somewhere, but do you ever plan to write it out in full/post it anywhere? No pressure if not—thanks for sharing this AU, it’s amazing!

Hi there! Thank you so so much for your ask!! No need to apologize at all, I love receiving asks and comments (especially when it comes to my work hahaa It's just so much fun to see other people's reactions!) I had a big smile on my face while reading your thoughts loll So please feel free to gush as much as you’d like about the AU! :DDD

I’m really happy to hear that you were invested in the story, even when it was just an outline XD Maedros’ deterioration was lots of fun to figure out; the poor guy just can’t catch a break! And being immortal in this situation would definitely be painful, like, just being forced to watch the world deteriorate into a hellscape under Morgoth’s rule … It’s not a theme I thought of when I first started drafting this AU, but it’s definitely a welcome surprise! :''''D

I’m happy you like the dark fae concept for Maedros’ court! It’s one of those other things that I didn’t initially plan on, but once I started writing it out in my previous replies, it all just clicked (and I actually have a painting of his court coming soon, so keep an eye out! XDD)

Thank you so much again for sending me your ask, and for taking the time to read through my outline!! I love all comments, both in asks and tags <333 And please don’t apologize, it’s okay!! I currently don’t have any plans to write this AU out in a fanfic – the section with the twins isn’t fully outlined, and I usually get stuck while writing if I don’t have an outline to work off of loll ^^;; I’m also working on another fanfic at the moment, but once that one’s done, I could definitely look into working more on my dark!Mae AU! Thanks again!! <333

[golddragon387]

Fanfic 20 questions!

Thank you to my brainrot bestie, my comrade in delusion, @resplendent-chungus for tagging me.

1. How many fics do you have on AO3?

12 at time of writing, which is certainly more than nothing!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

72,197. Again, non-zero!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

That I've published, RWBY and Steven Universe. That I haven't... Miraculous Ladybug, Sunless Sea, Dark Souls, Discworld, Samurai Jack, Fullmetal Alchemist, Fire Emblem, the Locked Tomb...

A lot of things I've had thoughts on, I've written down those thoughts in prose somewhere. Maybe I should dust some of those off and share them. Hm.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Drabble Roulette (Steven Universe) is in my number 1 spot, but seeing as it was a shortfic collection I took part in with several friends, I'd hesitate to call it mine. With apologies to Chungus; we all did a short fic every week based on the same one-word prompt, and God we kicked ass.

Stress is Bad for the Baby (RWBY) is my number 2; it's a fun little oneshot where Yang crashes her airship while out on a mission and calls Blake, who is on maternity leave and antsy, about it.

Sleeping In (Steven Universe) is my number 3, a oneshot based on that "wake up sleepyhead" vine which I though was funny at the time. I'd still stand by it, even if the prose isn't exactly up to my current standards.

You Can Always Call On Me (Steven Universe) is my number 4, this one is (surprise surprise) a oneshot, which was based on my (at the time positive) reaction to the sequel series, SU Future. ...We'll just say there's a reason I stopped writing for that fandom after the finale, and leave it at that.

There is a Hell (RWBY) finishes out my top five, and is a fanfic of a fanfic, written for my aforementioned good buddy Chungus. give it a read, after you've read the fic it's based on, I Can Almost Hear the Hounds, then yell at us in the comments! We appreciate it!

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yeah. I like attention and I like talking about the thing I made with the people who read it. I comment on the things I read too, when I've got the energy.

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

The aforementioned There Is A Hell, for sure. Pure Whump. Nobody is having a fun time at castle Evernight.

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Shit, I don't know... the majority of my stuff is oneshots, so there's like four angsty ones and six happy ones, I think? This question is better for someone more prolific.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No.

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

Yes and it is also unpublished. We'll see if that ever leaves the Mind Hole, too.

10. Do you write crossovers? If so, what's the craziest one you've ever written?

One of my unpublished WIPs is a massive crossover shoving the RWBY characters into basically the plot of Star Wars, featuring Ruby as Luke, Yang as Han but with Leia's personal history, Blake as Leia but Han's personal history, Weiss as a very reluctant imperial traitor, and Salem as the evil Emperor of the Galactic Empire. It's planned to cover the equivalent of the Original Trilogy. I really don't want to publish it until at least the New Hope-equivalent is done.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nope, not popular enough for that.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

See above.

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

No, though I've made overtures to a couple of friends but aside from the prompt roulette fic mentioned above, it's never panned out.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

I'm not a huge ship guy... I'd call Connie & Steven from Steven Universe a very formative ship for me, however, and Ruby Rose & Penny Polendina from RWBY is the biggest thing I'm into right now.

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

Gosh, what isn't, for me? I have more words in unfinished, unpublished works than I do published ones by an order of magnitude. The big one, though, is a little something I like to call Another Stranger Me. Let's do the time warp again, baby.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Word choice/diction, and flow. I love prose and I love writing prose.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Finishing what I start. Help me ADHD medication, you're my only hope...

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

Not fluent enough in anything to be confident in it, though I don't usually mind it when I read, if it's done right.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Steven Universe, yup.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

Out of my published stuff? So Much For Stardust (RWBY). Now that's what I call an angsty oneshot!

Thanks again to chungus for the tag. Since I see mercy got you, I guess I'll tag... ah, @h-a-d-i-t-h-i, @loveluckylost, and @tunafishprincess. Have fun, gang!

[iturbide]

I love how this whole chain went from:

grab your mini pitchforks -> grab the popcorn

really fast. Anywho, other than that jazz, how are you doing overall?

I will gladly take popcorn over pitchforks any day (the pitchforks are their own brand of entertainment, but the popcorn is always fun)

Other than that I'm doing okay, though! Still really excited that the Lodestar.sys zine is out (I still think my piece in there is one of the best things I've ever written), but besides that most of my energy is spent keeping track of kittens so other things have been put on the backburner:

I mean. Look at these little hellions.

don't let Hubert's murderous look fool you, Ferdinand is equally naughty

With them in mind, my bookbinding experiments have been put on the backburner for a while; I'm about halfway through my test copy of Crown of Shadows, though -- the signatures are all folded and stitched, the textblock has been sanded, the endpapers are attached (though I want to give the whole thing a final sanding to get things nice and even), and the covers have been cut to size -- and I think it's coming together really nicely so far! I'm thinking about kicking into it again this weekend, since I'd like to get a few copies of Proof of Life together to use as a testing ground for some cover stuff I want to play with before going all-out on the hardcover.

After Crown of Shadows (which I might make another copy or two of, just to keep trying my hand at the flat back book format, we'll see) I'd really like to do a copy of Heart of the Moon with a rounded back, since that one's so much bigger: Crown of Shadows clocks in around 41.5k words and I managed to fit it into 6 signatures (a little big for a flat back, but still reasonably in range for it), while Heart of the Moon sits at 60k and looks like it'll need 11 signatures total, making it a good choice for experimenting with rounding.

(Once I have a little more experience with different formats under my belt, I'd really like to start binding more of my favorite fics and trying to get in touch with the authors to gift them copies of their works; I'm starting with mine since they're just for me, so it's fine if they go sidways...though I guess if anyone would want a hard copy of something I've written, let me know?)

Aside from there, I've been thinking about picking up a video game again but haven't done it yet (again, in part because of kittens who are Too Interested in the TV sometimes). Choices are between Legends Arceus again since I still want a shiny Hisuian Zorua or two, Horizon: Zero Dawn since I picked that one up a while ago and still haven't finished out the damn intro, the latest God of War because it's all Norse mythology and I'm predictable, or Three Houses to finish out that Azure Moon playthrough and go back to Claude because I love and miss him...but I haven't committed.

Instead I've just been playing stuff in the background and occasionally paying attention. I had a craving for Retro Anime recently and picked up Detective Conan again (I love this comedy murder show but it messes me up sometimes, there are some heavy episodes). Also finished Spy x Family and I'm sobbing I love them and October can't get here soon enough because then I get both the second half of Spy x Family's first season and Season 3 of Mob Psycho 100 which I am so stoked for you have no idea. And lucky for me, Nona the Ninth comes out in September, which should tide me over until the new anime I yearn for arrives.

Writing has been stalled basically since the start of the year and continues as such. I'm still stuck with just chapter 7 of last year's Chrobin Week to finish, and I have a bunch of other ideas that I'd like to start exploring, both for Awakening and Three Houses (since I'm desperately missing Claude), as well as an original piece that I've been rolling around for years that's come back to the forefront recently. We'll see what if anything comes out of any of that, but it might just end up being a sparse year on writing.

Anyway yes that's my long-winded status update ramble