#you know I have a tma au. obvi

[fancifulplaguerat]

Okayyy I want to analyze that introductory conversation between Georgiy and Daniil because I’m running in circles in my room right now it’s such clever character writing I want to talk about it !!!!!!

Classic Daniil obviously appears in Town-on-Gorkhon in desperate circumstances, so I find it notable that Georgiy first claims that the Kains are not only familiar with Daniil’s work, but “aware of the difficulties you were experiencing and well-prepared to do our utmost to support you.” That Georgiy tells Daniil this directly before the ‘Simon is dead’ reveal and Georgiy’s request for Daniil’s help reads like an attempt to establish an immediate quid pro quo rapport between Daniil and the Kains. In particular how Georgiy—having professed to know the dire nature of Daniil’s situation—does indeed introduce a quid pro quo: that he will reveal the secret to Simon’s longevity, provided that Daniil helps the Kains:

Georgiy Kain: Immortality is the greatest secret humanity is forbidden to possess. Still, my brother managed to break the seal that locked it away from everyone else. > How? > Well, fine! In any case, I came here to see a mystery, not a person. I am willing to sell my soul to you if you help me reveal it. How can I help? * Georgiy Kain: I will tell you who my brother was, and who he has become, if you find his murderer. For now, let me bring up the fact that Simon lived one hundred and fifty seven years without being susceptible to any kind of disease—no influenza, no pneumonia, no hemorrhage, no organ failures or malignant growths have ever plagued him. > Yes. I believe in that. >I came here to witness the possibility of such a phenomenon; but immortality…

Here I want to take a detour about that “How can I help?” I know Daniil has a fanon reputation for being an impassioned dickhead to anyone who has the displeasure of speaking with him, but across routes he appears collaborative when not in the throes of frustration or anger. I.e. with Rubin: “If we act deliberately, and with calm mind, we can prevent this epidemic. Stay strong, I won't leave you on your own.” He’s always struck me as quick to and even overly-trusting; one dialogue that particularly interests me in this respect is with the tutorial Executor, who notes, “He who trusts everyone is asking to be deceived,” to which Daniil can reply, “Yet he who trusts no one is deluded. I know that from experience.” I would argue trust appears important to Daniil and his collaborators, given that he tells Victor “I hope we will be able to work in the atmosphere of mutual trust” and Artemy, “I have good reasons to trust you. I count on your integrity.” That trust is shown beside that apparent willingness to collaborate in the Haruspex Route in particular, Imo, when Daniil says, “Come no, Artemy… I’m sorry if I came across as condescending. I only want to help. Remember how you helped me when I was running circles in the dark?” and “Then help me out, Artemy, and I’ll help you back.” I find it particularly important that Daniil apologizes for potentially being condescending, which particularly suggests a desire to work as equals to me.

But I feel this dialogue especially effectively introduces Daniil’s perceived sense of responsibility. He basically professes his philosophy in this department, telling Georgiy “Categories like ‘time,’ nature,’ and ‘fate’ deprive man of responsibility for what goes on around him. I was taught to avoid this worldview.” This implies to me that Daniil has an internal locus of control and potentially views his reality as largely influenced by his own action. (In particular joined with comments like “I always follow my principles” or “I do not trust anyone blindly. That goes against my principles.”) I gesture to this dialogue a lot but I think it’s pretty pivotal to his characterization, and is of foremost importance in Georgiy’s tactic to ally Daniil with the Kains (and consequently set him on his narrative path) given how much Georgiy hammers into that poor sod’s skull that Simon’s death happened on his account. But I want to briefly digress, because even though Daniil says this, Daniil’s decision to go to Town-on-Gorkhon is one “to follow what he believes to be a sign of divine providence.” Daniil also tells Yulia, “I would have told you that I’d been brought here by the hand of fate not so long ago, naïve man that I was…” Which. I have no entire answer to this but it strikes me juxtaposed to that previous trust quote with “I know that from experience,” as though Daniil has undergone some sort of shift in his worldview OR (which I lean towards) he was just that desperate he believed it was fate. Again, I have no further insight on that, but. Intrigue.

To return to the main event:

Georgiy Kain: It could be that my mind is clouded by sorrow, but I cannot escape the feeling that your arrival is no coincidence. Your choice was made for you, my dear doctor! Let us not blame… fate for it. > So Simon wasn't aware I would come? Georgiy Kain: Even though we were uncertain of when you would arrive, my brother was looking forward to meeting you! The tragedy may have been a consequence of the actions he took in preparation for your arrival. Somebody has taken a powerful piece from the chessboard; a piece upon which your position here depended. It is doubly regrettable that Simon was playing on your side... > So you presume the queen knew of the blow and sacrificed itself for a pawn? But why? > My sincerest condolences to you. Is there anything I can do to help? Georgiy Kain: To grant you victory over death! Was it not your ultimate aspiration? To help you, Simon seems to have played a very dangerous game with… fate itself. He went out of his way to provide you with a body of evidence. > What did he do? > If that is indeed so, I feel obliged.

Firstly, Georgiy potentially appeals to Daniil’s sense of collaboration with that insistence that Simon was anticipating their meeting—perhaps strengthening that previous claim that the Kains would “do their utmost” to help him. He proceeds to again emphasize that Daniil’s arrival is tied to Simon’s death and thus assign responsibility to Daniil, and I think it’s a clever writing move that Daniil can respond with a reciprocal Chess metaphor. Not only does this suggest Daniil is picking up what Georgiy is putting down, figuratively playing his game, but the dialogue also shows Daniil assuming responsibility by framing Simon as having sacrificed himself for him.

And Georgiy’s next line makes me fucking crazy the way he positions Simon’s death was directly for Daniil’s benefit, to provide precisely what Daniil needs to save himself and his lifework. That second dialogue option also reinforces Georgiy’s tactic to me, how Daniil explicitly says that he feels personally responsible to help the Kains if Simon died for his sake. Georgiy continues in customary Kain Brother Manipulation of treating Daniil like the chosen one, which—to be fair, given Simon’s dialogue, he very much is. Georgiy says: “I am convinced that if there is anyone at all that can help us solve this puzzle, then it is you. This mission calls for someone as astute and inventive as yourself,” in appeal to Daniil’s intelligence, but Georgiy again reinforces Daniil’s personal responsibility with “If Isidor was an instrument of fate, then Simon’s murder is a message that fate intended for you personally,” and twists the knife with “I repeat: everything that is happening here is happening on your account.”

JUST. ACK. The way this entire dialogue functionally communicates some of Daniil’s behaviors and philosophies while being the catalyst for his narrative makes me want to shovel sand in my mouth.

[areyougonnabe]

Fic Writer Questions!

tagged by @palamedessextus !!! thank u i love to procrastinate on writing by writing about writing

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

110 on my main account (+ 4 on my sneaky sock for Crimes™ lol)

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

614,551 on my main account which is. hm. a lot

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

obvi the main ones are the terror (50 fics) and good omens (35 fics). beyond that: TMA, the OA, doctor who, LOST, red dwarf, what we do in the shadows, the aubreyad, legends of tomorrow, banished, MCU, bbc ghosts, jeeves & wooster, russian doll, true detective, twin peaks, fleabag, & it's always sunny.

so technically 19, but wow a LOT of those are because i am a fiend for crossovers. (true detective x red dwarf... twin peaks x hannibal... the OA x lost.... russian doll x doctor who...) and many of the others were one-offs for yuletide. i'm pretty monofannish when it comes to writing!

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

lol they're all going to be for good omens... let's see

1. "it's a new craze" - the podcast fic. imho this fic is the definition of "The Claw," a.k.a. the phenomenon that sees some fics plucked out from the fray to become super popular. i'm not denying that it's good! i still think it's pretty clever! but its popularity was probably as much a function of timing as of quality

2. "what a way to make a living" - the uber driver fic. honestly still pretty proud of this one, it flows well and is structurally interesting and genuinely very funny and the perfect length. i had a blast in good omens fandom writing comedic fic, this one

3. "dearly departed" - another one i'm still very happy with. my first ever finished multi-chapter fic & the story that proved to me i could sustain a plot and original characters and also that people would actually enjoy it. so a pretty big deal!

4. "blame it on my juice, baby!" - the fake love potion one. i wrote this fic while delirious with horrible fever cooped up in a tiny council flat airbnb bedroom in london. i think it's still pretty strong although since writing it i've developed a severe aversion to the "meddling friend engineers a get-together" trope in fic & so cringe a bit when i read it back, lmao

5. "greatest hits" - the one with the original songs! the songs are still good.... the fic is ehhhhhhh i guess.

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

i don't respond to comments on most of my gomens fic anymore because 🤷‍♀️ but i do try to reply to everything i get on my terror fic/smaller fandom stories! my replies are usually very lame but i do like to take the time to thank people for reading.

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

i usually don't write angsty endings because i'm a weenie BUT the one exception is probably my terror/TMA crossover which cannot be said to end well by any means lol

7) What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

dearly departed has a very lovely ending... i will also plug my OA fic heat rises which is GREAT and has a GREAT ending and nobody read it because nobody watched the OA. i'm fine it's fine

8) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

as mentioned above, yes, compulsively... award for craziest simply has to go to It's Always Sunny In Another Dimension which is, yes, an IASIP x OA crossover. i apologize for nothing

9) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

not that i can recall, [bubbe voice] tenks gad!!!

10) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

i do i do.... when i first picked up fic writing again after college i thought smut would forever totally beyond me but after some very kind encouragement from friends i tried my hand at it & was off to the races.

i would not say i am an expert at it by any means but i have a lot of fun with it, & people seem to generally appreciate it, so i will keep going!

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

also no, phew

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

yes, a bunch of my gomens fics have been translated into chinese and russian, which is so so super cool!

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

yuh, i had a few legendary cowrites in GO! the slow show metafic with cherry @fremulon and the shitscript crossover extravaganza with hallie @kalelraejepsen !!! both tremendously fun experiences

14) What’s your all time favorite ship?

that is a very tough one. if you go by my ao3 bookmarks it's aziraphale/crowley, which might be true still tbh... but i dunno. maybe ten/rose because that shit never leaves you.

15) What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

in terms of fic i already started posting, there's my one terror WIP with amnesiac tozer that i swear i WILL finish one day... and same goes for my good omens music & lyrics AU, which i fully expect to pick back up and finish off when i inevitably return to the fandom for series 2.

as far as stuff that never made it out of drafts, i started a hodgson-centric fic a few weeks ago that i got like 4k into before realizing i need to seriously refine my approach. so hopefully after exe fest i will get around to that!

16) What are your writing strengths?

well i am funny. so i've got that going for me. other than that ummmm i don't know. i don't think of myself as a particularly good or strong writer bc i really am just here for a laff. i think i can turn a phrase well and get the most out of imagery; i'm good at coming up with compelling story concepts and weird gimmicks, i guess?

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

i fundamentally don't know or understand how People Actually Act And Feel so i have a hard time getting realistic or interesting reactions and conflicts out of characters. my plots (when my stories have them at all) are very powered by external events, i wouldn't call myself a character-driven writer by any means. for the same reasons i struggle with voice and dialogue beyond superficial signposting via vocabulary/syntax. also, sustaining a long story/finding enough Stuff To Happen to fill it up/having the patience to keep writing... is something i need to work on for sure.

18) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

i'm a lame american who only speaks english so honestly i don't really have thoughts!

19) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

i distinctly remember hand-writing in my notebook two or three pages worth of a story about what happened to the main precog in "minority report" after watching the movie when i was like seven. the first fandom i actually wrote fic for and posted it online was probably doctor who circa 2010 ish? but my warrior cats RP career predates that by a few years and i did a LOT of writing there. oh warriorsforest39 dot proboards dot com you are missed....

20) What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

SEX GHOST AU! SEX GHOST AU!

tagging folks :))) @laissezferre @titleleaf @theburialofstrawberries @girdedheraround @flanneryoconnorfanfiction @wreathedwith if u want!!