#badgeramble

[thehomelybadger]

26 Questions about Run at the Cup.

Hi!

Since I just finished off my 33 chapter Arcane/CaitVi Hockey AU fanfiction, I asked folks for any questions that they might have about the universe (or just for me) around the fanfiction. So I thought that I'd pull them all together, answer them in one big post, and then direct folks here.

These questions are mostly pulled from twitter or discord, and are asked anonymously. If you're new to it/have never heard of it, you can check out the fanfiction here:

My asks are always open if you want to pepper me with more questions - I literally love talking about my process and creating stuff. But yeah, let's get the ball rolling!

These questions have spoilers up to the epilogue (chapter 33) of Run at the Cup.

One of your original goals for RATC was to include a sex scene in every chapter, and you later decided that didn't suit the story that it ended up being. How far, exactly, did you stray from that goal?

I think the first disc stuck to the format of smut-a-chapter pretty well, but as soon as I got to chapter 7 and 8 in my planning, I really had to take a step back from the idea of smut-a-chapter. Part of doing that was a friend of mine pointing out that another fic - breakneck - already was a smut-a-chapter offering, and the other part was around chapter 7 and 8 was when we really got a look at the Landsman abuse and I wanted to focus more on telling a story of healing instead of a sexual relationship. It felt the best narratively for Vi to take a step back and appreciate boundaries, and at that point we were 100% of the rails of the original vision. I also had my friend Felix - he drew the art for the fic - point out that the story was way more important than the smut when I complained that sometimes I just wasn’t feeling up to writing smut.

Caitlyn obviously makes a point to never sleep with another hockey player except for Landsman and Vi. Vi rather vocally does not have that rule. Are there any players we see in RatC that she has a history of that nature with?

Ahh, crucially, Caitlyn and Vi both adhere to the rule of no teammates. I actually think both have had flings  with hockey players, but probably not anyone that we spend much time hanging out with. I hint at Sarah Fortune and Vi having a past-tense fling that I never really expanded upon, and at one point I wanted to write some Caitlyn and Evelynn one night stand stuff that never really felt right after I abandoned the whole smut-a-chapter premise.

There are so many characters in ratc, and so many povs, how did you get into each of their heads and give them all their own voice that stayed consistent throughout the story?

So one of my other hobbies - other than hyperfixating on a fictional hockey team - is dungeons and dragons as a forever DM. My rule for creating NPCs is to give them a ‘pillar’ - essentially one solid character trait that I can lean back on when viewing things through their lens. Claggor, for instance, was always trying to teach and never raised his voice. Poppy was always going to be cheerful and loyal. Leona was always serious, except when dealing with Diana. Mylo was never serious, until there was a weak moment. All of those ‘pillars’ helped shepherd me in the right direction - the only characters I didn’t really have a pillar for were the hockey announcers, who’s entire personality can be summed up as ‘hockey announcers’.

When did you realize this was going to become Big™ , or was this all the plan from the beginning?

If I ever knew when anything was going to be big in terms of wordcount, I’d be much more successful at writing. The real time I knew was somewhere in Disc 2 when I had written like 3 10k+ word count chapters in a row. I remember thinking ‘oh, shit, I’m fucked’. What’s crazy about this is that I still feel like I left some story threads on the table - I could write 80k more of just Sumprats shenanigans, easily. In terms of Big as in popularity - dude I have no idea when I knew. I still don't really believe it.

Which was your favorite smut scene to write?

Oh man - hands down the hotel smut scene in the Summer Isles  - though that’s technically cheating, because the smut doesn’t actually happen. But I can see it like a shot in a movie - the slow tracking shot over the discarded clothes with some energetic, strumming guitar over top while we see the bed come into frame, the pan over and continued tracking towards the bathroom - all this evidence of wild sex. If the question is ‘which smut scene that’s actually smut’, I’m going with the phone sex scene - it was good to finally get these characters admitting how much they liked one another.

How did you pick and choose which LoL champions (not from Arcane) you brought into your world? As there are so many available and ones you picked seemed to work so well. Was it 'character is hot/cool and I just want to write them', 'I need a champion that would play hockey/act in x way' or any other way

A variety of reasons! Illaoi was included solely because my wife thinks she’s super hot, but for me it became characters I really liked, characters I could see the personality of, and characters I could ape the kit of in some way. Ahri being charming and evasive, Illaoi’s tentacle-like poke checking, Diana being good in close, and Leona being a hard hitting defender were all nods to the league kits, among others. Basically, when I was filling out the roster and was out of Arcane character slots, I started grabbing characters based on what role I envisioned for them on the team and backfilled from there. I’m glad I did their personalities justice!

I'd love to know, if it isn't a bother for you to explain it, the process behind you deciding each character's position on the ice and skillset. I'm basically in awe of how you took each character from the show/game and made them each a particular type of hockey player. But you might have talked about this already so no worries if it's too repetitive!

It all depended on what I wanted to write for the most part, and I approached it from two angles - what was most interesting for me to write dynamically, as in action wise, and what was most interesting for me to write emotionally, as in what they brought to the Sumprats as a whole. I leaned on a lot of sports knowledge that I’ve accrued over my 31 years around the sun, and figured out what archetypes would be most fun and narratively satisfying to convey. So, as an example - Claggor’s soft and assured ‘we’re gonna get you out’ from the show was a big big reason why I made him an enforcer - the quiet confidence and clear smarts. Poppy being undersized but a major bruiser in the game led to her entire personality and playstyle. Ahri being a winking and confident figure in LoL lore led to her being a flashy and charming person with a lot of scoring - etc etc etc. It came together fairly organically!

If you had to pick another sport as the medium to tell the story, which sport would it be? Ik you were intending on making it a hockey story with lesbians vs a lesbian story with hockey, but do you think the sport and play of hockey specifically were integral to how to told the story/the journey of the characters?

This is such a tough question to answer, because I’m not sure I could’ve told it with any other sport. Hockey is inherently chaotic, and the beautiful thing about it is that it comes down to players - you can have a grand strategy, but sometimes it’s just ‘our player is the best on the ice’ and that’s enough. I think there’s probably a pretty awesome Rugby story in here, maybe - or football/soccer - I can see their roles with Caitlyn as an attacking midfielder and Vi as a sweeper or something, but both of those are far more team focused. Also, hockey is lesser known of the major sports, and I felt like talking about how goofy it sometimes is to folks who might not know about it.

What did you learn during/after writing this that you didn't expect?

Such a good question. I learned that I love writing big casts of characters and I learned that I have a knack for conveying what I see on the page. I also learned that I can tell a story that goes every way possible in terms of POV and style, and that having a bunch of threads to tie up is an awesome problem to have. I also learned that I’m somewhat fragile as a creator, and that taking steps to protect myself from having my feelings hurt doesn’t make me selfish - just makes me human.

If you had to support a team yourself (not including the Sumprats), who would you support and why?

Can you imagine Bilgewater Schooners twitter? Can you imagine how batshit insane it must be? I’d be 100% on board with that franchise.

Why wasn’t there more Grapes content?

You all weren’t ready for it. The world still isn’t ready.

Is there something you wished you could've explored more but didn't get the chance?

So many things. So so many things. This is why RATC is crazy to me in hindsight because I felt like I left a lot of meat on the bone when the fic is like 300k long and is one of the longest CaitVi fics around. SarcastCity and I joked about a whole sequence where Mylo strikes out with a bunch of women, I didn't get into the Evelynn sub-sub-subplot, I barely scratched the surface on MOST of the K/Da stuff that I wanted to do, CaitVi adopted a dog at one point, there was an entire anti-police side of the fic that I just cut because it didn’t really fit into the vibe of the fic (you can still see foreshadowing of it in early chapters), there was originally going to be an entire other side to the water reparations where we’d see grainy footage of Silco and Cassandra arguing about it and that’s how a lot of it was revealed - before I decided to make Powder more of a central figure in the documentary. The entire fic changed in a bunch of little moments. Art is cool that way - it kinda leads ya where you need to go sometimes.

Who was someone that you enjoyed writing a lot that you didn't expect to?

When I put Graves into the fic, I never would’ve expected to fucking love writing him as much as I did. As soon as I wrote his first book snippet, I knew that I needed to stop immediately because if I wasn’t careful he’d take over the entire fucking fic. Second place was every scrap of podcast content - it’s so addictive to write this meta-narrative bullshit about your own world building. It’s just giving you a reason to talk about your own fic in universe and I had to stop myself from writing 13 more Taylor Swiffer sequences. Lastly, twitter was always a blast to get going. Shout out to everyone who loaned me their likeness for that!

You’re a pretty big basketball fan Badger, and knowledgeable at that, is there any reason you chose Hockey besides you also liking it? Like, did you feel the “action” would be better?

There are no sanctioned fistfights in basketball, which was a huge L. In all seriousness, I considered a basketball fic before going with hockey because, while I love basketball with my whole badgussy, hockey has so much more meat on the bone with regard to playstyle and expression. You have hitters, shooters, goalies being weird, you’ve got gum chewing angry people and hockey stadium chants. Hockey is a vibe that I really was excited to convey, and basketball - to me, anyways - has less of a physical aspect to it and it’s a little less entertaining to write about. Baskets happen all the time in ball, but in hockey, a goal is celebrated by everyone on the ice, everyone gets a fistbump, and the action stops while the crowd gets to rewatch it over and over. You don’t get any better than that for narrative drama.

You've talked some about the sumprats superstitions, but who is the most superstitious and what are some sumprats superstitions

Ashe is probably the most superstitious, but all sports players are superstitious to some degree or another - especially hockey people. I think every time Leona tapes her stick up, she has to unwind the first piece once - because that’s the way she did it when she scored her first goal. Claggor probably wears the same style of socks that he had when he was 18. Riven’s skates are a size too small, because she believes it makes her faster. Graves needs Caitlyn to tap his post before every game he’s in net otherwise he won’t play.

What was the hardest part for you, as a writer, to get through?

The entire fic came together relatively quickly, honestly. I wrote it in less than a year and most of the time in big 2-6 hour chunks of my day. I think the most challenging thing from a craft standpoint was the Landsman Scandal - because it had so many moving parts and I was using a character invented solely for that sequence in wewon1, and you needed to like her and buy into her right off the bat. I also needed to balance out how heavy the chapter was with moments that the reader could breathe around - I didn’t want to evoke a desperate, awful thing, but I wanted to inform. It took a few days of serious brainstorming before I got it the way I wanted it, and even then I was making edits in the posting window of Ao3. But in terms of actual hardness to write - the run up to the finals was really tough to get through because I felt like not much was happening narratively and I really needed to work at it to get it where I wanted it. The actual physical typing of the story wasn’t hard, but the games were annoying me a lot - they always felt too slow or sluggish or poorly conveyed. The thing I’m most proud of looking back is definitely the Powder chapter - I wish I had done more of that.

Why is Landsman so hot? Why did you have to make Landsman so hot? Should I speak with my therapist about this?

Oh yes. Immediately.

The story focused on Cait and Vi but as a whole was a story about team dynamics - little pieces like Hot Girl Shit, characters we would consider unremarkable as irl players like Poppy or Mylo, the gradual push of Graves to Ekko as main tendie - that grew into their own stories. Was this a case of supporting cast offering spontaneous great idea opportunities that you went along with, or was it always planned that X character would get X storyline?

I didn’t really set out with these storylines in mind, but one of the things I wanted from the get was this line to be true: “Usually, it’s the people who sit five, six seats from the starting lineup that give you the edge. Our job as leaders is to make sure that when those folks’ numbers get called, they’re ready.” - Vi, chapter 4. I wanted to basically reinforce that idea by having the players grow into something that was stalwart and could be relied upon, and just let the characters kinda swirl around with that idea. I didn’t realise that Ashe would wind up being so important but I kind of fell in love with her as I wrote her game - same goes for Riven’s speed and Darius’ faceoff potential. 

Which supporting character that isn’t Mylo ended up being your fave?

If it’s cheating to say Sevika, then I loved Poppy. Every scene Poppy is in I just had a blast writing, but gum-chewing, constantly glaring, scowling while insisting she’s smiling Sevika really leapt off of my keyboard. If I allow myself to take credit for any one thing, it’s casting Sevika as a coach.

if Vander hadn't died and had become the Sumprats coach instead of Sevika, would Vi still have been drafted by them and how would she have felt about it? 

Woof. It’s hard to see Mel hiring Vander, but say that she did and Vander coached Vi - adult Vi, 32 year old Vi with all she feels towards him - I can only really see it as Vi demanding out. She wouldn’t have the ego to get him fired, but I don’t think she’d be willing to play for him after everything. I also think the Sumprats are nowhere near as good with Vander as a coach - in my head Vander was good enough to drill Vi’s lessons into her head but had no idea how to keep a team intact, and that was Sevika’s specialty - the ‘us vs them’ mentality is all her.

I'd love to hear anything about your writing process. When you do it, how you think and feel about it, etc.

My writing process begins with having a very patient wife who puts up with me being glued to a screen for 6 hours at a time while talking to myself - usually in funny voices or imitating crowd yelling. I also do a lot of my dialogue in the shower where nobody can judge the faces I make - most of Caitlyn’s speech and the podcast dialogue came from me showering and yelling to myself, getting hyped up, and trying to remember lines. I basically do my functional adult tasks with the sequences I want to convey running on my head in a loop, until it’s time to sit down and crank it out. One part of my process that I don’t recommend is that when I sit down to write, I don’t get up until the chapter’s done. For me it’s a straight shot or it doesn’t get done at all - I need the entire flow to work on that one sitting. It has the side effect of my wife watering me and feeding me while I’m glued to banging words out onto a screen, and occasionally I’ll come up for air to refill my water battle and talk to her about her Animal Crossing island or something - anything - that isn’t hockey lesbians, before I go back to my cave.

obligatory question about which scene you were most looking forward to writing

So, chapter 32 was basically in my head the entire time I was writing the fic - everything between chapter 2 and 32 was me impatiently jiggling my leg waiting until I could write the Won’t Back Down song from the crowd. But the more surprising bit was how much I was looking forward to the karaoke scene - I wound up putting it off a few times in the fic until I was finally able to lock it down right after the Landsman Scandal, which felt like a great time to put it - just the idea that we all could use a break - as readers and characters in the story - and then we get one. Also, Pray is a fucking HILARIOUS song and I love that I got to use it.

if caitlyn and vi were to have a dog in this universe, what kind, what would they name it, and what would jinx choose to call it instead

This was actually a cut plot point at one time - the dog adoption sequence. They have a boxer named Bowser who has three legs, and Powder calls him Leonardo because it’s not his name but he squints sometimes like DiCaprio, and one time he ate an entire cheese pizza.

actually, kind of bouncing off my other question, are there any scenes that weren't originally planned that you really like?

Originally, there was no Melvika - it was a Melora subplot. But then I wrote that initial conversation between Mel and Sevika where they meet and Sevika passes her test and I thought to myself ‘oh.’ Every single Melvika moment was unplanned but I loved crafting it, showing this little love story in the margins of the page that was slowly and steadily unfolding.

Did you decide to change any major plot points after you'd started writing?

Two major ones: First and most impactful, there was going to be a riot in the original story that led to the team rallying behind the city - it was going to be this sequence of each of the Sumprats walking into the practice facility saying ‘have you heard, yet?’ that tied in what actually happened. But it felt tonally out of place and I was already really invested in exploring the abuse aspect of the fic, so I scrapped it - it’s a story worth telling at some point but the feel-good underdog sports fic wasn’t the place to explore that space. Another more impactful thing that certainly won’t be surprising to some: Vi’s injury was initially going to be a career ender. When SarcastCity and I started talking around the end of Disc 2, I actually told her that version of the story - that Vi’s knee is busted irrevocably and Caitlyn has to win without her, and the two have to find their way towards one another in a bittersweet finale without hockey to unite them. SC talked me around on that one - made the case that Vi and Caitlyn deserved to play hockey together for years and years, and after thinking about it for a while it really truly felt like I was being sad and dramatic for sad drama’s sake - angst for angst’s sake isn’t something I wanted to play into. So I changed it and it’s a lot, LOT better as a result.

How did you keep everything in order? Did you have an outline?

Calling it an outline is kind of insulting to other outlines, I think - I had an unhinged and fucked up google sheets document that listed the players, positions, and general vibe of their character arc, but I didn’t totally stick to it. I also had a chapter title list that I also changed a lot - I mostly knew my end point was ‘Caitlyn skates for 20 minutes and they come back to win in Game 5 with an injured Vi’ and worked my way to that point.

Thank you to all who submitted questions! If you have more, feel free to drop me a line.

-Badger

#arcane fanfic #league of legends fanfic #ratc #fanfic #run at the cup #ratc spoilers #badgeramble

[thehomelybadger]

Hello! Thank you for the GIFT that is Run at The Cup, it has forever altered my brain 8)

Not sure if you’ve mentioned this somewhere before but:

Could you tell us the significance behind the numbers 6 and 33 (or any other players’ numbers) to the characters but also in a meta sense? Thank you!

I sure can!

So Vi having the number 6 was just thematically appropriate given that VI is tattooed into her cheek, but I wanted to really play with that number. Caitlyn's number being 33 is an allusion to 6, as well - 3+3 = 6. For me, on a thematic level, Caitlyn's self perception is that she needed to be MORE than who she was in order to equal Vi, and Vi's perception was that Caitlyn was greater than her - but in reality, they're the same. 6 is 3 + 3. They're together before they even knew about it.

33 and 6 also just looked amazing in Y3LP's font that he made for the jerseys, and I loved being able to show it off in that specific way.

Thanks for the question, anon!

#ratc #badgeramble #fanfic #fanfiction #caitvi

[thehomelybadger]

Hey Badger I know you're a huge ass nerd and put lots of thought into title symbolism and we're all here to hear u ramble about it so

Do u have any chapter titles that you're really proud of and just waiting for the opportunity to gush about

(Thank you for the opportunity to take a break from writing hockey lesbians to write ABOUT my writing of hockey lesbians.

As for chapter titles - oh man, there’s a lot of them, and I can talk about every one with a decent degree of nerdiness, but I’ll try to keep it contained. Let’s dig in:

The general rule I tried to follow is that Vi’s chapters have a double meaning - a subtext and a context, while Cait’s POVs usually have to do with a feeling/sentimentality, or a reference that’s fairly heavy handed and obscure.

For instance, the Vi POV chapter 1 is titled No Protection, because Cait and Vi were left unprotected in the Zaun Sumprats Expansion Draft - that’s the context. The subtext, though, is that without their buffer both of them are defenseless against each other, and the barriers they put up to prevent themselves from understanding that they were the most important folks in each other’s lives came crashing down. So they had no protection from switching teams, but also they now have no protection against their feelings towards one another.

Teammates (Vi POV, chapter 3) also deals a similar hand - they actually accept that they’re teammates in that one, as in, they both are playing on the same team, but they discuss the idea (Vi pushes it) of them hooking up again while they’re both on the same team (”October, huh?”). VI also begins teaching Caitlyn the way of being a captain, making them a captain team of two. So you’ve got them as teammates, but them being a team, and also them starting to realise they could be mates, too.

I talked a little bit about Nordique (Caitlyn POV, chapter 20) in a previous ask - Acadia (Caitlyn POV, chapter 22) was a similar theme. Acadia was a Canadian colony in New France that was conquered by the english in 1713, and is also the subject of a very cool Mariana’s Trench song that is about losing your childhood and your innocent to the rigours of adulthood, recounting all the simpler times in a chipper tone before singing, sadly, “but Acadia is gone.” Acadia (the chapter in RATC) is the very last time that Caitlyn has any privacy or can hold onto the illusion in the public eye that she was fine on the Lone Stars, and her abuse is fully revealed. In this case it’s kind of a flip side of the Mariana’s Trench meaning - I use the imagery of Acadia as a dark secret that hurts Caitlyn, and it gets conquered by love, support, and her need to speak out to help protect others. It’s a little heavy handed, but I enjoyed the Nordique/Acadia references as a Canadian fella.

The last chapter title I’ll talk about (because this post has gone very long) is Viewfinder (Caitlyn POV, chapter 10). This follows a surface level meaning - this is the first chapter that the documentary present-tense POV is introduced - and we’re now seeing the characters through a viewfinder, but it goes a little deeper than that. This is the first chapter where Vi has realized she’s been a dick, backs off, respects Caitlyn’s boundaries, and also the first chapter that Caitlyn realises that there’s a lot more to Vi than she knew - the hints at the Vander backstory. Viewfinder is thus, a new view that Caitlyn has to find. But even further, I like the chapter title because viewfinders are what photographers compose and focus a shot with. This is the chapter after Caitlyn and Vi affirm that they believe they can win the entire title with this team, stop going through the motions, and decide to put their mark on the league with this season - together. Composing their ideology, and focusing on the task at hand.

Thank you for offering me this chance to brainrot, lepus! I’m always thrilled to answer questions.

#RATC #ratc spoilers #badgeramble #asks

[thehomelybadger]

I have a time-line question for the RATC epilogue. In Ahri's section, she approaches Akali about being on the Placeholders and seems unsure if Akali is into her. In the Vi section, she says that Akali approached her and is aware of the romance potential but isn't sure how it would work. Please help my confused self?

Hi! Thanks for checking out the mess of hockey and gays that is RATC hahaha.

The simplest answer in universe is that Ahri is incredibly down bad and isn't being 100% honest with Vi and Caitlyn - she's probing them for information and framing it as Akali's idea because to admit that she wants Akali on her team and to put that out there means that she has to sort of face the internal music of admitting that she looooves her. That's also why at the beginning of her meeting with Akali that she focuses on the team aspect - putting herself out there first is terrifying.

In writing terms I think that the source of that confusion is that I wrote all of these sections at different times so I probably forgot to reference one when I was writing the other - I could've made that whole thing a little clearer in hindsight. But like with all things in wlw fiction, when in doubt, blame being useless for a hot lady.

Thanks for the ask! I appreciate ya.

#ratc #badgeramble #asks #caitvi #fanfiction #run at the cup

[thehomelybadger]

Badger, you are a gift! What’s great ending to such a beautiful story! Not sure if this question is out of pocket but did you consider Cait/Vi to be potential parents in RATC?

Thank you! I'm so happy you enjoyed yourself.

Yes, I thought about it - I thought about it a lot. Maybe they do become parents in the future - there are lots of ways to have kids and as ex athletes they probably have a long road ahead of them health wise. I think RATC Vi and Caitlyn both would make great parents - but it'd also come with their own hurdles of trauma that they'd need to work through as a part of that.

The reason I opted out of showing that is that exact scenario - I wouldn't want to say 'they have kids the end' because parenting for these characters has baggage attached, and I'd really want to explore that baggage as a writer. It felt like something thematically to tackle at a later date - not in my underdog sports story about lesbians.

I know some were disappointed by the lack of a "baby makes three" ending, and that's okay! I know that a other people were grateful for it. It's one of those things where you can interpret what you want out of the situation - I endorse all versions of RATC CaitVi, because the story is as much yours as it is mine at this point.

Thanks for the ask, Anon! Great question.

#ratc #badgeramble #asks #fanfiction #ratc spoilers

[thehomelybadger]

i’m feeling incredibly blessed with regard to my fandom experience. i’m old enough to remember when fandom was kind of a secretive thing that i kept in my back pocket, and that the friends i made because of fandom were considered inherently untrustworthy by the adults in my life, and to watch that shift and change in myself and in others has been a real joy.

this go-round, i was able to tell stories consistently. writing is back in my life in a real and tangible way, when it’s been absent for over a decade. i don’t need to be burdened with a toxic roleplay group or feel guilt for enjoying the things i like - i can just be.

i have fandom to thank for all of that - fandom and the people in it - and it reminds me that even when i see rancid takes from my fandom or things that i think are kinda gross or even just seeing a person i don’t enjoy interacting with - it’s worth it because so many people share my special interest. i am not alone. and that’s super duper comforting.

#badgeramble #fandom #fanfiction #you all are so lovely

[thehomelybadger]

Out of curiosity, is there a reason the epilogue didn’t end with “End of disc 4”? It was my favorite little thematic element throughout the fic and I was surprised it wasn’t there. (May or may not be asking because I’m wondering if that means there will be more 👀) Overall though thanks for your writing! RATC has been a blast to read!

Oh the answer to this is far stupider than you could ever imagine: Chapter 32 was supposed to end with 'End of Disc 4', but it just didn't because it got cut off in the AO3 posting process (read: i forgot).

I went back and edited it in when I posted chapter 33, to keep the thematic element consistent.

To answer the larger question: RATC is done as a story for sure. I won't be visiting it in its current form again, but I have 3-4 little side stories I want to tell - including one that was voted on on Twitter - that I'll probably dust off when I'm feeling like I need a boost creatively, or when I'm ready to step back into the Runeterra Hockey League's universe.

Thanks for the ask! <3

#ratc #badgeramble #fanfiction

[thehomelybadger]

The latest chapter was amazing!!! But my only hockey exposure is RATC, and googling failed me, so I have to ask. Why "Nordique"?

Anon, I'm so stoked to share this with you because I love talking about chapter titles.

Nordique is the chapter title for two main reasons. Firstly, it means North (as in, "on the north bank of the river"), and secondly, it's the name of Quebec's second NHL hockey team The Quebec Nordiques, a franchise that moved to Colorado in '95 and became the Colorado Avalanche.

The significance of these is that north is always up on a map, which means that Caitlyn is on the up, is in a better place, and is moving forwards. It's also a reference to the north star - a place you can always look to find direction, which Vi and her team give her.

The significance of the Quebec Nordiques is that like the hockey team, Caitlyn will never go back to that state of misery on the Lone Stars - she's irrevocably changed for the better on her current team.

Thank you for providing the opportunity for me to talk a little about my process <3

#ratc #run at the cup #ratc spoilers #badgeramble

[thehomelybadger]

I am SO excited to see Akali also having to deal with the Lone Stars fallout, lol. It's such a cool touch I wasn't expecting at all, and her perspective on the upcoming mess is going to be so interesting. Was she the War Horses' captain? I'm also very curious about when the RHL trade deadline is...

Great questions all! Akali was the captain, yes. We'll cover this more in the next chapter when we see her POV, but she was genuinely so angry when the War Horses didn't protect an injured player that her demand to be traded came after it was clear that the organization had no remorse for trading someone she saw as a sister.

The trade deadline in the RHL is March 16th! The Lone Stars grabbed Akali and may have a chance to grab more if they're serious about a cup run. There may be another familiar face - a named character but not what I'd consider a major player - wearing the badge before the deadline is reached.

I'm so thrilled to get asks about RATC. Thank you so much for your interest!

#ratc spoilers #caitvi #badgeramble #fanfic

[thehomelybadger]

Now that RatC is complete it is time to read it all over again and catch all the little details that I missed on the first go, all (checks my notes) 337,017 words. Sweet Baby Jesus. Joking aside, awesome job, thank you for putting so much love into it and I'm looking forward to reading more stuff from you.

Aww thank you so much, Lupo! Happy re-read <3

#asks #badgeramble #ratc

[thehomelybadger]

Why not put more scenes of Vi beating the shit out of Landsman? At one point this was all I wanted

Ha! It's always really gratifying to see that my villains are effective. Landsman has a special place in my heart - the place I store my vitriol and anger, mostly.

From an in universe perspective, Vi didn't beat up Landsman a lot because she's a protector and not an instigator. For my intended purpose, I wanted to show Vi as someone who had matured from someone who might have popped off back in the day to someone who feels those urges and overcomes them - which is why I included the sequence where she goes to Sevika's house after the Scandal and punches bags for a while - she knows she needs an outlet and doesn't know where to put her anger.

From a narrative perspective, the more you utilize a sequence of writing, the less effective it becomes. I know that all we wanted was to see our hero punch Landsman a whole lot, but if I were to put more Landsman punching, it'd lessen what we did see of it. I opted to use it sparingly and let the other Sumprats get their shots in.

Thank you for the question, Anon!

#ratc #badgeramble #asks #fanfiction

[thehomelybadger]

Hope it’s not too late for fandom end of year question asks but 3 and 27!

Oh man, there are so many really good fanarts. I’m obviously incredibly biased but @lepusrufus‘s incredible rendition of the “Nobody touches her” sequence in Run at the Cup. was a moment that I stared at my phone for five unbroken minutes. When an artist in the fandom takes the time to craft something that came out of your brain, just of their own volition, it really makes you want to sob into a pillow in gratitude.

Best fandom moment of the year for me was starting, honestly. If you had told me January 1st that I’d have an actual following on AO3, I’d have called you insane. Here I am having written half a million words for traumatized lesbians and it’s kind of crazy that one day I just decided that I was going to do this.

It just goes to show that pursuing your hobbies for yourself can really really change the course of what you’re doing and feeling. I’ve been emotionally fulfilled for the first time in... probably a decade? And it’s all off the back of the Arcane fandom. Genuinely incredible stuff.

#ask game #badgeramble #thank you anon #no it's not too late for end of the year stuff

[thehomelybadger]

ratc is great! im curious, are we going to see more of the political situation? the environmental destruction/piltover being assholes etc. also bc i think i mightve missed it, is jayce a politician in your au also? And are we going to see more of him?

Really love your writing, and your interpretation of a modern ruterra. Cant wait to see the next chapter!

We are going to see a LITTLE more of the political side of things, yes! Cassandra definitely left things better than she found them but there was still a lot of work to be done. I didn't want to get lost in the weeds of the political atmosphere of Runeterra so it likely won't be covered in much depth - the fic is about the hockey team after all - but there will be some closure on the Piltover/Zaun situation.

The only mention of Jayce so far in the fic is that Caitlyn made him suit up to play netminder for her whenever she wanted to practice, and the two of them were out all night playing 1 on 1. Jayce will return in the coming chapters and has a small but important role in the story - when Caitlyn needs him, he'll be there.

Thanks for your interest, anon! Modern Runeterra is one of my favourite things to muse on and tackle. :)

#ratc spoilers #ratc #badgeramble #fanfic

[thehomelybadger]

I want to preface by saying that I've been following RatC since chapter 3;

First all, congratulations on making a life-long baseball (aka: the second most boring sport) fan legitimately interested in hockey and secondly, as a fellow writer, I absolutely adore the use of non-linear story telling that you've put in your recent chapters and please keep expanding on it. As a humble fan I eagerly await your updates.

Hey thanks!

Its always been something that intrigues me - the nonlinear storytelling piece of it. I was nourished from a young age on Guy Ritchie films and have always been somewhat impatient as a writer - I want to show you the cool thing, not be stuck in a straight line. My biggest fear is that I overuse it to the point of diminishing returns.

Unfortunately, disc 3 is probably the last time we'll see it much in RATC - as the Sumprats get to playoff time the tension becomes a lot more straightforward. The only real bouncing around in the timeline we'll start to see is filling in the blanks around Vi/Powder's relationship.

Thanks for the kind words! I'm so thrilled that you're having a good time, and hockey rules so I love seeing a new convert.

#ratc #badgeramble

[thehomelybadger]

Hi badger! I just wanted to say as someone studying contract law in college with *far* to many boring cases to memorise - yes. so many times yes.

also, I was sort of wondering if you had some experience in law? because a lot of the contract talk was realistic and I picked up stuff that I learnt in class (which I took a lot of enjoyment in so thank you once again. and for the chapter, it was very very good)

Hello!

No, I have no experience in law whatsoever but I always wanted to be a lawyer before I went to school for film. I do occasionally watch a 4 hour video essay about cases to relax, but beyond that I only really know what I've researched.

I'm always thrilled to see you're reading! You specifically have been such a great source of inspiration - I look at the fanart you drew all the time.

#ratc #badgeramble