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bi-widower-dads · 2 months

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bi-widower-dads' February Fic Recs: Canon

Thank you to everyone who submitted recs for us! We've done some sorting and collating, and we've got two posts for you: AUs and Canon-'verse - and a whole load of excellent fic for you to get stuck into while we wait for Barduil Month in April! Without further ado, here are the canon fic recs, featuring tags, links, summaries, and all the reasons why the recommenders think you should give these fics a try!

Header image by mod @piyo-13!

(a note about tags and trigger warnings: tags are selected from those on AO3 as being those that best describe the story for the purposes of this event; trigger warnings are supplied by the recommenders and may not be comprehensive - your mileage may vary. We've tried our best to include Tumblr handles wherever we can, but if we've missed yours out and you want it included, just let us know!)

One-shots

Scenes From a Not-So-Clandestine Romance by MasterofAllImagination / @cutlerbeckettt | G | 3258 words | tags: 5+1 things, so much fluff it's sickening, seriously don't even read this

Summary: As the relationship between Bard and Thranduil grows beyond merely that of two allies, they become proportionately blind to how obvious their displays of affection are to their people. Pretty soon their feelings are an open secret shared among everyone in Mirkwood and Dale-- except the kings themselves. (or, five times someone caught Bard and Thranduil secretly kissing, and the one time they did it in public) What do you love about this fic? The author's completely correct that this is just So Much Fluff. It's great, it's cozy, it's a palate cleanser that makes you go "aww" and giggle a little at how oblivious they are.

We'll lay here for years or for hours by bispecimen | M | 5000 words | tags: canon divergence, different first meeting, animal death, hunting, could be considered canon compliant since it still works w future events, dilf vs dilf parenting techniques, canon-typical violence

Summary: "The leaves were rolling, green and healthy. Swirling around the legs of the Bowman as if they were about to bring some magical creature in his presence. But Bard didn’t feel like anything good was about to be brought in front of his eyes. The stillness of the air was suffused with something nocive. This part was forbidden for a reason. The deeper he went, the longer he stayed. He knew, he knew that." What do you love about this fic? Am possibly biased because I did the art for this, but lovely and lyrical!

but the sun is eclipsed by the moon by RC_McLachlan | G | 5288 words | tags: none

Summary: The Battle of the Five Armies threatened to unmake the world, but The Negotiations of the Three Kings might actually succeed. Or, a short lesson on the lifecycle of dandelions. What do you love about this fic? Great writer I've followed for a long time!

more than words can wield the matter by BiSquared / @scary-grace | M | 5422 words | tags: cultural differences, love letters, miscommunication, accidental marriage, getting together, laws and customs of the eldar are somewhat followed, POV Bard the Bowman, post-BotFA, as canon-compliant as barduil gets

Summary: It might be uncommon, but Bard knows it’s not unheard of for humans to share a single night of passion and part ways in the morning – or if not to part ways, then at least never to meet as lovers again. Apparently it’s unheard of among elves, because the first letter that arrives from Mirkwood, two weeks after the elves’ departure for their forest, is significantly less businesslike than expected. What do you love about this fic? The premise is funny enough that it could have come across as crack, but it creates actual narrative tension and a satisfactorily cathartic ending.

The Well-Worn Path of Words by Ias | T | 10,725 words | tags: letters, slow burn, pining, miscommunication, love confessions, epistolary

Summary: It wasn't so strange that Thranduil would call him a friend. And yet the word seemed to draw them closer like a length of string, binding them together, yet still so fragile. [In which Thranduil and Bard begin writing each other letters over the long winter after the battle.] What do you love about this fic? Fantastic epistolary fic from a great Barduil author!

Multi-chapter (in progress)

Language of the Forest by BaccaratBlack | T | 1,095 words | tags: victorian flower language, sort of unrequited feelings, cultural differences, cultural misunderstandings, courtship, secret admirer

Summary: Bard is perplexed by elven courtship rituals. Thranduil is very determined and unaccustomed to not having his way. What do you love about this fic? Who doesn't like a fic with the themes of courtship, flowers and a "secret" admirer?

Multi-chapter (complete)

A Tale of Love and Longing (as told by Galion) by jotunblood | T | 39,288 words | tags: courtship, secret relationship, developing relationship, sexual tension, light angst, post-BotFA, slow burn, Galion POV, Galion is a good friend

Summary: Galion knew all the almost imperceptible ways joy, anguish, and hate could change his King’s face. He also knew-- Thranduil’s denial be damned-- exactly how he looked when he was pining. What do you love about this fic? We see Thranduil's and Bard's relationship develop through Galion's POV and he's the best BFF/Wing Man a King could ask for.

Blossoming Spring by SlytherinImpala | T | 56,210 words | tags: fluff, post-BotFA, snark, slow burn, healing, friends to lovers, scars, movie canon, first kiss, getting together

Summary: Bard and Thranduil meet again as winter gives way to spring following of the Battle of Five Armies. What do you love about this fic? I love the gentle snarkiness between the 2 characters and how they slowly learn to open up to one another. They feel very in character and when they fall in love it doesn't feel abrupt. Definitely worth a read if you love a gentle Barduil slowburn.

Series

The Kings of the North by Evandar | T | 14,240 words | tags: partial fix-it, interspecies romance, fluff, blind thranduil, self-esteem issues, communication

Summary: There is unease in the north, as old alliances must be rebuilt and leadership learned. Bard is confused, mostly by King Thranduil, and King Fili is determined to be the best king he can be. Sigrid, meanwhile, wishes things could go back to the way they were. What do you love about this fic? This was one of the first series I ever read for barduil and definitely played a huge role in getting me into the ship in the first place!

Boundaries 'Verse by Sir_Nemo | T | 30,967 words | tags: fluff, getting to know each other, getting together, family bonding

Summary: Bard has been working for the elves for years, never actually meeting one, until one day he notices an elf watching him work. The elf becomes a constant in his life, and the two of them slowly start warming up to each other. What do you love about this fic? Bard and Thranduil's personalities really shine through in their conversations, which I feel is a core component of the plot, and makes for a very stable relationship that the story can lean on.

#barduilmonth2024 #barduil month fic rec february #fic recs #the hobbit #the hobbit fanfiction #the hobbit fanfic #barduil #bard/thranduil #barduil fic recs #long post

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pocketsizedquasar · 3 months

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7, about your starhab motivations?

7) How did you first get the idea for this story? (WIP ask game)

YEAH! SO! I'm not sure if you're asking more generally about my starhab thoughts (of which i have so many) or about the AU specifically, but i'll answer a bit of both!

as long as i've been a Dick Guy TM i've thought there's some fun & interesting homoerotic nonsense going on btwn ahab & starbuck (though i didn’t get Super Into thinking abt them as much until my partner read mobydick and we both got super gay about it lol)

most notably from the symphony (the whole scene & the conversation they have there, really, but especially "Close! stand close to me, Starbuck; let me look into a human eye; it is better than to gaze into sea or sky; better than to gaze upon God. By the green land; by the bright hearth-stone! this is the magic glass, man; I see my wife and my child in thine eye. No, no; stay on board, on board!—lower not when I do; when branded Ahab gives chase to Moby Dick. That hazard shall not be thine. No, no! not with the far away home I see in that eye!" from Ahab and the response from Starbuck "Oh, my Captain! my Captain! noble soul! grand old heart, after all! why should any one give chase to that hated fish! Away with me! let us fly these deadly waters! let us home! Wife and child, too, are Starbuck’s—wife and child of his brotherly, sisterly, play-fellow youth; even as thine, sir, are the wife and child of thy loving, longing, paternal old age! Away! let us away!"). i have a longer post yelling about all the textual reasons i like them as a doomed/tragic/unfulfilled romance here

less romantic and more strictly narrative reasons aside, I think they're fascinating as foils and how they're both written to be suffering from the same violent & horrific system in very different ways, and how they both cope with it in different ways. i have also (predictably) yelled abt that here (which also goes a good amoutn into the setup/basic concept of the au! and talks more about my motivations for it) BUT the tl;dr of that post^ is i think melville writes both of them as very deeply Isolated people in different ways; some of the isolation is self inflicted, and some of it is a product of the system they're in. and specifically i find Really interesting how Whiteness TM is used as a tool of isolation for both of them

the 'Good AU TM' itself as i've been uncreatively calling it is a lot of me wanting to play with that isolation & whiteness as a system of forced isolation, and like. seeing what it would take to crack that! seeing what it would take to break ahab's singleminded myopic vengeance quest & also what it would take to break starbuck's white-xtian-motivated loneliness.

it's equal parts that, and equal parts just a good ol' fix-it-fic for the canon tragedy, because as much as i obviously adore tragedy, it's nice to have happy ending au's too <3

the basic concept of the AU is picking up from the end of the Symphony, which i read as the sort of last 'point of no return' of the tragedy (ahab reaches out one last time for help--admitting he doesn't want this, admitting he doesn't know why he's doing it / that he feels like he has no choice; and starbuck leaves him & gives up on it -- in an inversion of their relationship up until that point, where starbuck was usually the one begging ahab to stop and ahab the one denying him), and having starbuck and ahab actually like. Communicate TM! have more conversations! and have me pushing them so i can see when they finally break.

this got long because i am incapable of shutting up about any of the Dick-related things but yeah <3 thanks for reading!

Good AU TM is coming. it's currently 20k words (and 6 and a half chapters so far) and i rly should start posting it soon even if it's not finished lmao

#mobydick #moby dick #starbuck #ahab #starhab #captain ahab #ask game #ask meme #ask #focsle #quasartalks #hrrhghghrhhhrhg #long post #they're so . i need to crack them both open like a walnut

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eqt-95 · 7 months

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Just saw your reblog about asking an author about their headcannons and since your supercorp f1 fics is one of my favorites and i would love an update ;) I wanted to ask about how you decided lena’s personality, like even with jack and andrea she is a little closed off until she had a drink. So did she get more closed of as she got older and because of things that happened with veronica and lilian, or was it just growing up a luthor? (i’m sorry this is such a long question, and i hope it made sense)

Anon, first: I am so sorry. You sent this in... April?!?! At least the fic has been updated since then?

Second, you're a gem for asking. I definitely think it started at a young age but it was less about growing up a Luthor and more because there was such a focus on Lex's racing success over Lena's. So from the start, I see Lena as being a little more closed off and likelier to ignore/brush off her own wins because there wasn't celebration for her talents/successes when she was younger.

Re: Veronica, there's a bit more nuance, and I don't want to spoil too much; however, by the time Lena and Veronica date, Lena has already established this feeling of being 'lesser'. So when she opens up to Veronica, the 'thing' that causes their break-up is a reinforcement that she should stay guarded. I'm being a bit ambiguous here for plot reasons. (as an aside: I'm actually really excited about the Veronica+Lena arc in this fic)

This sort of lifelong conditioning to shy away from praise and to second guess her value is why she doesn't push back when Lex presses her to do things (and in some ways, where Lena has been conditioned to think she isn't as important, Lex has definitely been conditioned to think he IS). In the first chapter, he dangles the carrot of ownership, and that, to Lena, means recognition which is something she's craved her whole life.

I think it also drives why she's got it that she's the villain in the F1 stories: since she's never felt accomplished in her family's eyes, it doesn't take much for one or two bad tabloid headlines to feed into the narrative she has of herself: even technological improvements and racing victories don't crack her carefully-crafted facade. So when a bright-eyed, eager, outgoing Kara Danvers comes stumbling into the picture, Lena is naturally confused and bewildered and (more often) dismissive of the accolades.

Hope that answers your question!

#qs with quinn #thanks for the ask anon!#and yes i know this fic needs an update #it's... slowly getting there

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lokilickedme · 2 years

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So I'm reading The House Next Door and YOU. ARE. A. BRILLIANT. WRITER.

Your style is unique and it makes the narrative so fun and interesting. It's one of the best things I've read on this site.

I had a question though. ALL the Tom Hiddleston fics I've read so far have the author going ga-ga, writing odes to his enchanting good looks. It's understandable and expected and enjoyable of course, because that's what fanfiction is, in a way. However, I've noticed you've pointedly avoided this. Or at least, reigned it in. In fact, your female protagonist does not find him particularly handsome. Is this on purpose? If so, what was the reasoning behind it?

@lovelysizzlingbluebird - you may not realize it but you just shifted a somewhat trialsome day into a thing of beauty, complete with soft pastel rainbows and sparkly crystal dewdrops. My ADHD squirrels are whistling a happy tune and the voices in my head are singing (each is doing a different song, but I can live with it). I no longer have a tenuous chokehold on my immediate need and uncontrollable urge to throttle someone. You’ve singlehandedly managed to divert a prison sentence and kept my children from having to be raised by their clueless father, and for that everyone in this house thanks you <3

Oh, also I’m unreasonably thrilled that you’re enjoying The House Next Door :D

In answer to your question about why I don’t write “ga-ga odes to his (TH’s) enchanting good looks” - first let me start by saying this cracked me up, and then follow that with a thank you for noticing. I suppose the simple truth of it is that while I do find him attractive, I suppose I just prefer to focus on the relationship growing from a conflict or shared goal or plot device rather than the shallowness of a female character thinking “omg he’s hot, I think I’ll fall in love with him because gorgeous”. Maybe some of that comes from being older and knowing from experience that a face is nothing to build a future on?

I do know that I’m drawn to odd faces, goofy smiles, and unusual looks...and his face is just off-kilter enough for me to find it appealing in an unconventional sort of way, but I think there’s more important qualities to be focused on and my female characters are usually too distracted by whatever’s going on in their lives to pay premium attention to a guy’s hotness factor, aside from maybe noticing it and then moving on to whatever drama is afoot. Thus the long list of OFCs in my fic lineup who find the characters based on Hiddleston “odd looking” (Anja in Chemical), “in dire need of growing into his face” (the narrator in Golden Boy), “tired and drawn but still holding onto the memory of beauty” (Jack in Jack Montague), “Men’s Vogue model gone slightly to seed” (Greta in The Department), all the way to “quite ugly” (Lyra in The King’s Heart), and “like an entirely different person than the character he’d played” (Anna in Body Double) - I’ll stop there but it does seem I have a tendency to not be that impressed with his looks lol (sorry Tom, it’s nothing personal). For me it’s all about the persona...the face is a pleasant bonus but not strictly necessary.

You probably wanted an entirely different sort of answer than what I’ve spewed here - sorry this is all I got, but it’s honest :D

#longwinded replies #as always #I do find him attractive just not particularly handsome #I like that his face is interesting #that's what does it for me

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racingliners · 5 months

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It's been a few days since the WIP title game, BUT can you post your favourite and/or most recent snippet of Life In The Fast Lane? And sorry if you've already explained this, but what made you decide to go from rpf to original fiction? :)

Thanks so much!! And I don't think I actually have explained in full why I made the re-write of LITFL an original work, so we'll start with that!

So the short answer that I put on the fic notes is that I stopped writing rpf, which I kind of used as a catch all because there's actually a whole bunch of reasons as to why I decided to make the switch.

The main one being that I genuinely struggle to write rpf these days, I was originally going to re-write LITFL back in 2018 (the first chapter of that is still up on my ao3), but it was no where near as planned out as what my current one is, so it just kind of fizzled out and I just sort of stopped writing rpf a few months later. I can still read rpf, I just have so many mental roadblocks when I go to write something so I figured going down a full OC route would be better for me in the long run.

I also found it difficult when writing LITFL the first time round to weave the narrative around what was going on in F1 at the time, especially in terms of race results, as well as keeping things as accurate as possible in terms of on track and off track "canon", so that combined with all the character shuffling I wanted to do made me feel like that starting with a completely clean slate would be better.

And while it was a lot of work, making up full season results was an awful lot of fun! On the whole, I've definitely enjoyed the creative freedom of working in my own little universe as opposed to giving myself constant headaches about irl F1 accuracy (I've tried to imply as much as possible that my re-write is set in the distant future, I just started it off in 2023 because nothing else felt like a real year 😅).

Obviously I do still want the two works to feel similar enough that you can see where the inspiration came from, which was why I decided to keep all the current teams in the re-write (apart from swapping Sauber out for Audi, which as I said in the Change In Colour ask was for plot reasons).

And as for a snippet, I genuinely cannot pick a favourite because there's lots of little bits that I really like and am proud of, so the below excerpt is from the next chapter (first draft isn't done yet, so it may change a bit when it's posted).

“So we land in Singapore at just after 4pm local time which is…” Sophie paused to quickly do the maths in her head. “8am back home.” “Correct.” Richard nodded, picking up his cutlery. Another perk of flying in first class meant being able to have their meals whenever they wanted. Sophie had opted for asparagus soup while Richard had ordered sea bass. “So if we wake up one or two hours before we land, it’s basically like having an early start,” He paused to let out a long, content hum after his first forkful of food. “Your Mum better not upgrade us all the time, I’ll get used to it very quickly.” Sophie laughed at the thought of her humble press officer going all snobby as she spread a pat of butter on her sliced dinner roll. “Speaking of the finer things, can I not get one hint about where you’re taking us tomorrow?” Sophie pleaded with a small smirk. “Again, I want it all to be a surprise,” Richard pointed at her with the tip of his knife. “You are unbelievably stubborn.” “Well I’m a racing driver what do you expect?” Sophie retorted with a small shrug. At that Richard let out a light chuckle and shook his head as he returned his attention to his dinner. She knew that Richard wasn’t going to let on about the trip, she had just wanted to crack a smile out of him for the first time all day.

WIP title game

#asks #kaossbells #Liz tag #racing writes #Life In The Fast Lane #again; thank youuu!!! LITFL is my baby and I will talk about it to anyone who will listen 😅#sorry if that was too much to read for a Tuesday afternoon dvhdfuv

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not-rude-ginger · 6 months

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Hi-hi! Would you mind answering 🎁, 🦈, 🔎 and/or 💌 for the fanfic writer ask game? Thank you! 🐰💛

🎁 Have a piece of a WIP you want to share?

From an unpublished chapter in Smooth As Ink

He just wanted to make sure Wǎnyín was all right. That was the only reason for this lie. If Wǎnyín was here and safe and Lán Wàngjī was not welcome, he would leave. He just wanted to be sure he was safe. He had a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach. Lán Wàngjī tried to stay calm as he walked up to the karaoke reception desk and waited to be acknowledged. The woman at the desk looked up and blinked twice as she took him in. “I am looking for Jiāng Wǎnyín. He told me to ask for the room number.” Only one little lie. Just so he could be sure Wǎnyín was all right. “Oh, uh, right, let me check,” she reached for the clipboard and checked it. “Ah! He’s in room nine. Can you find your own way?” “Mn.” He hurried deeper into the building, looking for the number or it’s surrounding numbers. Why was it so dark in here? Utterly unhelpful. For a moment he worried that there was no number nine and he was going to be grabbed and escorted out of the building for lying. Then he saw it, the dark number against the white door and he rushed to grab the handle, only just stopping himself from throwing the door open. Instead he carefully pushed it down and cracked the door open, listening. He was not sure what he had expected, maybe some sort of music to match the chaotic anxiety of his own thoughts. Instead of it was a very simple piano tune, sombre and low tone. And a voice, deep and strong, reverberated in his chest. His heart skipped a beat. Was that —? The song picked up and the singing intensified, beautiful and so deep. Lán Wàngjī peered through the crack in the door. Wǎnyín stood in the middle of the room, his back to the door, singing into the microphone, as words rushed by on the screen. He held the microphone cupped close, the reverberation was pitched down to let his own voice do the work. Wǎnyín’s voice was beautiful. It was clear and strong, and held emotion in it. How could he not have known his fiancé could sing like this? Instantly Lán Wàngjī wanted to play for him so he could sing along, so that they could make music together. He slipped inside and tried to close the door silently, so he didn’t disturb Wǎnyín, but the hinge creaked and Wǎnyín yelped, the amplified sound making Lán Wàngjī wince and cover his ears as Wǎnyín whirled around. “Wàngjī! What the fuck are you doing here?”

🦈 Which character is the toughest to write?

Jiang Fengmian!!! He's impossible! He's part of the reason Ink is taking so long because I'm struggling with him so much - more how to write him than not understanding him. His non-confrontational nature makes writing scenes where shit's gone wrong very hard.

🔎 Does anyone beta read or edit your fics?

I probably should have someone to help me edit fics, I'd learn a lot faster if I had someone(s) to edit my work to be a better writer. Closest I come to is bouncing ideas of willing participants to talk myself into narrative clarity.

💌 Is there a favorite trope you like to write?

Answered here - but honestly I don't think I have a favourite trope as such.

#asked and answered #fic asks #smooth as ink

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wolfstarlibrarian · 3 years

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Hey Librarian!

Any modern AUs?

Oh goodness. The Librarian has gotten this ask many, many times and it’s a valid question! However, it is so broad that it’s impossible to make just one list?

All that said, here are a few modern AUs that the Librarian loves but maybe hasn’t listed as often as the ones on their favorites list. Please know that this list is incomplete, so check out the other modern lists below the cut!

Wolfstar Modern AUs: B side

Ever Thus by @wolfstarting “Right, well I’d say it’s about time to put an end to this nonsense, wouldn’t you?” James nodded sagely. “You’ve obviously still got some things to chat through with him, but he will talk to you about it, Remus. He thinks the world of you, you know that. But the important thing is that you do talk because nothing’s going to get sorted if you just sit cry-wanking in your room.” The world is excruciating and enthralling in equal measure. The gang try their hardest to navigate it as real, legitimate adults.

Déjà Vu by @remus-john-lupin Sirius swears he’s seen this guy before, and he’s dying to figure it out.

A Promise by @kattlupin Remus Lupin and Sirius Black are two strangers both seeking solace in solo trips to Paris. Strangers that is, until happenstance sits them together on a plane and their solo trips turn into a romantic adventure together.

Chocolate Cake part of the Just Desserts series by @theprongsletthatlived “Yes, Remus Lupin is gorgeous, smart, funny, and hands down the best lay Sirius has ever had. Sometimes, Sirius just can’t get enough of him—of his plump mouth or the sweetness that seems to radiate out of his pores. He’ll even admit that he does prefer Remus’ company to anyone else’s ninety percent of the time. But—just because your favorite dessert is chocolate cake doesn’t mean you’ll never crave a cookie, right?”

Lost to You Yourself by OfALaurel Sirius Black writes gay porn for a skin mag, and meets Remus Lupin, who does professional readings (audio recordings) of his fictions, and there is flirting, and courting, and love over narratives, cds, and fictionality.

Something Beautiful -orphaned account When Remus Lupin's ex talks him into a drunken tattoo mistake, he goes to his friend and co-worker Lily for help. Luckily her husband's best mate is a tattoo artist who can help with the cover up. Unfortunately for Remus, the tattoo in in a rather compromising area, and he'll have to get over his embarrassment. Luckily for him, Sirius Black is just the man for the job.

There is a Light That Never Goes Out by WolfstarGarden Sirius’ breath puffed a warm tickle around his ear. “You’re gorgeous... I want to take you out, somewhere nice, away from Prongs and Evans. Can I?” Remus opened his mouth, but the yes he had intended instead came out, “Why?”

The Barista, the Burglar, and the Sofa by SeasOfTrees This is the story of twenty-three year old Remus Lupin, an overworked graduate student and underpaid barista, who comes home one day to find an exceptionally attractive man has broken into his flat. Given the neighborhood he lives in, that isn’t a huge surprise. He is surprised, though, when the burglar comes back with a sofa. Alternatively, this is the story of how Sirius Black tries to seduce a man by slowly furnishing his flat.

here's to never growing up by @elixirsoflife A group chat documents the lives of four highly dramatic teenage boys as they navigate their A Levels. Or, like, die trying.

where are we now? by @miraxb

Sirius meets a familiar stranger while visiting Berlin. Everything is different. Everything is the same.

I Am A Mess Around You by @littlemissbennet Modern Setting AU - Remus finds out that a hot, beautiful man just moved into his building. But for some reason, every time they meet a disaster strikes and Remus makes a complete fool of himself. Why can't he act like a sensible person around this handsome young man?

Liebestraum by @quoththethestral

“Do you still have a lot of friends in the area, then?” “None,” Remus answered simply, which felt much easier than explaining at the level of detail that the question actually deserved.

Of Bookshelves and Baby Carriers by @poppunkpadfoot The customer standing in front of him is quite possibly the most beautiful man Remus has ever seen. Like, he looks like a model or something. He has long, black hair, flattened by water, and just the slightest amount of scruff on his face, and… And a baby strapped to his chest. Okay.

Cut Your Bangs part at the Introduction series by @notmycatsname "There’s something about him that catches Sirius’s eye. His voice is a little whiny, almost off-key. Sirius has heard it time and time again in the bands that Lily plays through their speakers at their apartment but it sounds more genuine, almost heart breaking, through his voice. Remus’s voice."

Saving Regulus Black by @toyhto A story in which Remus Lupin meets a dark handsome stranger and they go for a road trip to rescue one little brother who’s probably up to something bad.

We Will Fill the Cracks Together by newskyillusion Remus works in a library and at his parents pub in a small, Welsh town. Sirius Black is doing his PhD on werewolves and comes to a small, Welsh town to do some research.

Find all the previous lists that feature wolfstar in a modern AU below!

The Librarian’s 12 Favorite Fics

Alternate Universe

Accountants + Finance

Athletes

Babysitter Remus

Baking/Bakers

Bartender

Bookshop

Cafes + Artists

Camping + Roadtrips

Coffee Shop

Cooking/Chefs

Dancer

Dating Apps

Hairdressers

High School

Legal/Courtroom fics (Non-magical)

Library

Model

Movie RomComs

Muggle MWPP

Musician/Band

Science Focused Fics

Skateboarding Remus

Social Media

Subway, Underground & Tube

Tattoo Shop

Tech workers/Programmers

Texting Fics 1

Texting Fics 2

Tumblr Mutuals to Lovers

University/College

Video Games

Writers + Authors

Mood/Theme

Fluff 3: Modern AU

Tropes

Famous Sirius or Remus

Neighbors

If you need more just send an ask or check out the Card Catalogue!

#modern #wolfstar #remus x sirius #remus lupin #sirius black #marauders

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athingofvikings · 4 years

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i've always figured that the Protestant Revolution as we know it couldn't happen in the context of ATOV because you've mentioned that anything born past the dates in-fic are no longer possible, i think due to snowball effects and history changing? I figure the Protestant REformation falls under similar grounds; i suppose some kind of shake up COULD happen, since Hiccup's thing is accidentally wrecking static societies, but i dont think it could be like the real Reformation's outcome?

Indeed. The reason I have to keep bringing it up is because there’s a degree of... I call it “prescriptive history,” going on with people. (I’m trying to find a better name for it; an accurate name for it would be “telological bias”, but that hardly rolls off the tongue!)

The issue is specifically that the way we teach history is very often as a story, and in that story there are specific major events that are made into a specific narrative. It’s the same mindset that informs and reinforces everything from the “March of Progress” of evolution, the classic image showing the progression of ape to man, to the idea that “history has an arc that bends towards justice” and so forth. It’s embedded in every classroom history wall poster and every historical video game, especially with the “great inventor/great man of history” trope. The thing is with evolution and with history is that nobody and nothing is working towards a specific outcome. They are acting in their specific moment, doing things that make sense for them in that moment, using the tools they have available that others have made.

Let me give an example here to illustrate what I mean.

Johann Gutenberg is credited as having invented the printing press.

He didn’t.

What he did do was make it an economical proposition, and for that, he gets all of the credit.

Most of the technology that went into this thing had been around for centuries. The lever in the center that presses down on the pad to mark the paper came from a paper press (where they squeezed out the water from the paper) and that came from a modified wine press.

And people had been using those sorts of presses to print with woodblocks for over a thousand years before Gutenberg.

The problem with woodblock printing--or even using metal or ceramic blocks to print with--was that when they started to wear out (think of the soles of your shoes and how the pattern can wear out unevenly depending on how you walk), you were screwed, and you had to make the whole thing all over again. And that was expensive.

It was just easier to have scribes write out books than carve an expensive piece of wood that had to be just perfectly flat with intricate carvings that would only be good for a specific book and would only produce a certain number of copies of that page before it wore out.

And in the 1040s, a Chinese polymath named Bi Sheng invented movable type specifically to address that problem; he made individual stamps that would each print one Chinese character that could be used together as a block, allowing more flexibility. He made his out of porcelain, and they not only had problems with uneven wear as well, they could also crack--and when that happened, you still needed to get another one handmade which might then not fit in with the other handmade stamps without leaving gaps. So still scribes were cheaper and faster.

So all of the technology for the printing press was there for centuries before Gutenberg.

What happened?

Well, a century before Gutenberg was a little thing called The Black Death, which wiped out a tremendous number of Europeans--including a lot of the scribes. And when supply drops, demand grows and prices rise--so suddenly scribes were a lot pricier to hire. So there was incentive to look at the printing press again...

And here’s Gutenberg’s breakthrough that let him get all of the credit.

See this? This is a mold for casting identical letters.

There is a negative image at the bottom (itself derived from a hallmark punch stamp used by metal-smiths as a signature on their work), and molten metal was poured on top of it. So worn out letters could be easily recycled and since they all came from the same mold, they were all the same size and could be easily swapped out with other letters.

So Gutenberg was in the right place and time--a time when the existing supply of scribes was recovering from a massive blow, rendering a new printing mechanism economical, and having access to several technologies that he put together to solve a problem that he faced.

And it spread like wildfire.

He had no idea that, decades after his death, a young reforming priest would nail up 95 issues he had with the way the very centralized and corrupt Catholic Church acted onto the door of a church. How could he? After all, Gutenberg was just looking for a better way to rapidly copy texts that would be more economical than having an expensive scribe doing it one letter at a time.

But because Gutenberg had made printing economical, Luther’s 95 Theses and his followup material could be rapidly spread, instead of quashed like the Catholic Church had done to previous such reformers and their sects.

So without those conditions--like, let’s say, if the Black Death had killed off a smaller part of the population, leaving the pool of scribes larger and not giving them a chance to push for higher wages, and thereby not giving Gutenberg a reason to invent his press--would the Reformation have happened as it did?

I’d say that, no, it wouldn’t have.

And to that, I’d point at steam power.

Hero of Alexandria had invented a small steam engine as a toy back during the days of the Roman Empire, but it wouldn’t become economical to develop into a machine for over one and half thousand years--and that was because Newcomen was building a mine pump that was cheaper to fuel with the low-grade coal being brought up from the mines than it was to import animal feed.

He wasn’t trying to invent a technology that would completely transform the world.

He was just trying to make a more efficient way to pump water out of mines.

But we aren’t taught it like this. We’re taught that Newcomen invented it, James Watt refined it, and boom, trains and steamships!

And if you’re taught about the Protestant Reformation in absence of the context that birthed it, of course you’re going to view it as a historical inevitability, especially if the individual person ascribes a deep theological import to the event.

So... I rambled, but yeah. TL;DR: People don’t do things because it will have an effect in the future that they know nothing about--they do it because it makes sense for them in that moment.

#paragonrobits

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curiosity-killed · 3 years

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hua cheng, the accidental person

okay this is for @bodhimcbodeface because i can’t shut up and make this concise enough for discord. spoilers ahead yeehaw

this is...not comprehensive. i’ve written 11 tgcf fics and am generally a bit fixated on Hua Cheng as a character so. there’s definitely things missing but i tried to hit the main points that i thought of while writing? also obviously this is just my interpretation! i do not expect anyone else to be like “ah yes curio the sage is so correct i have changed my thinking on this” like go live your life with your own versions of hua cheng! this is just the hill upon which i have firmly planted myself and from which i refuse to be budged. as u do.

anyway, LONG explanation of my very niche and very uh self-indulgent, not-necessarily-support-by-canon hua cheng apologism LMAO

tl;dr: (this is really Too Long i’m sorry) I think Hua Cheng reluctantly becomes a person during his 800 years of searching, starting from a point where he views Xie Lian not as a person but as an immutable god and focus of devotion and developing into a person who doesn’t really acknowledge that he’s a person because realizing that you want to live and do things for yourself is scary and overwhelming at times, and he ultimately falls in love with Xie Lian during the novel itself as he recognizes and is in wonder of the humanity of Xie Lian instead of his divinity or absolute judgment.

POINT 1: Hua Cheng doesn’t actually fall in love with Xie Lian till the ox cart

but curio! you say, “my beloved!” he calls him his beloved! and the land of tender!!

shhh. IMO Hua Cheng is more Wuming than Hua Cheng for those 800 years. By which I mean, for most of that time he’s, at his heart, a nameless soldier trying to find and serve his crown prince/general/god. He still views Xie Lian as this perfect and immaculate figure—a sculpture, a painting, a work of art that is untouchable and immutable. And he’s utterly and wholly devoted to that figure but devotion is not the same as love

So Hua Cheng is searching and trying to serve Dianxia all these years and then His Royal Highness finally ascends and is a god again and Hua Cheng shows up in all his glory to give this power and strength and wealth to serve him and—

and he’s met not by a powerful and reckless martial god or an unstoppable calamity but by a young man dressed in bridal robes who lets Hua Cheng lead him up a darkened mountain, who doesn’t lash out with spiritual energy or a sword but instead, only eventually, with the cursed bandage he was carrying back in the darkest part of his life.

and i think that throws hua cheng. like he’s had this image of his god all these years, this divine painting made over and over and over again—and he carries that belief and devotion with him, but there’s a crack in the sculpture and the stone is starting to flake off to reveal a human underneath it

so he puts on an approachable, malleable, unassuming skin and finds xie lian collecting scraps and being a lil awkward, a lil bumbling, generous and kind — and i think hua cheng, after 800 years of knowing everything, having everything — I think he looks at this discovery with wonder

Bc tbc this does not mean Hua Cheng views them as equals. For him it’s like, dianxia has even more to him, is even more than I knew. He’s seen Xie Lian as the flower crowned martial god in all his glory and as the white-clothed calamity in all his horror — and now here he is, wonderful, multitudinous, and human

Meanwhile I don’t think Hua Cheng even views himself as a person really, much less a human.

also i mean. the internet & allo ppl prove time and time again that you don’t need love for horniness so. land of tender’s right out as proof on that

POINT 2: The Live For Me thing

so obviously and undeniably, using one person as a reason for living is....not healthy. Not going to argue that. but my take on it personally is that, when Hua Cheng’s a kid who really, actively wants to die and sees no reason for living, Xie Lian gives him a reason to keep going. he doesn’t have to live for himself—that’s too much, that’s too big of an ask—but he’s been given a command and purpose by the one person who’s been kind to him/whom he respects. it’s a little like... “My life has no meaning but my cat needs me to feed him and clean his litterbox and so I need to keep getting up and taking care of him even if I don’t see a larger intrinsic purpose to my life.”

and i think like...it’s easy to forget that for all of books 2 & 4, Hua Cheng is young. He doesn’t live past 18—he’s still like...a kid. And that’s not to say that teenagers/young adults can’t make moral and rational decisions but I’m going to be honest, when I was that age I contemplated joining the Air Force because of tuition assistance and the snazzy uniform despite the fact that I was a vocal pacifist and repeatedly got into arguments with teachers about school rules and conservative politics. It’s not like. The Most Rational and Mature Age, lbr.

so Wuming is absolutely capable of looking at what Xie Lian is doing and being like “hey maybe war crimes aren’t a great idea” but he is young and traumatized and the one person he believes in, the one person who gave him a reason to keep going, is deadset on this task which tbh I don’t think either of them (or...necessarily...the society in which they live) views as war crimes in the modern sense (which isn’t to say that we as readers should view it any more lightly bc i think the narrative directly and firmly contradicts that idea) but as revenge, as an eye-for-an-eye. so, bad, but character-wise, I think it’s more nuanced than we sometimes consider

anyway back to the fixation on xie lian. i stand by the assertion that in those 800 years, hua cheng wasn’t exclusively focused on xie lian. like was finding and serving him his top priority? oh god yes. undeniably. there is no other version of this story. BUT eight hundred years is like....a lot of time. and i think in that time he started doing things for himself, even if under the guise of serving xie lian. hua cheng is curious and adventurous—he clearly likes to learn even if he plays it off as nbd—and i think he starts to realize that about himself in those centuries even if he doesn’t allow himself to acknowledge or consider it.

POINT 3: Mt. Tong’lu in General

“okay, sure but what about the thousands of sculptures and murals of xie lian, curio. what the fuck about them.”

Yeah. FINE. okay we will DEAL with this. dealing with this is the entire reason i wrote “(like i do) in the tall grass.”

disclaimer: this is probably not supported by canon! i also. Do Not care. My Ghost King Now.

so I have two general avenues I take with this:

going back to the devotion > love — when Hua Cheng reaches MTL, he’s seen xie lian beaten and cast down. what do gods need to survive? worship! we see throughout how important divine statues/portraits/etc. are throughout canon. in this interpretation, the cave is a concentration of all that worship in an effort to support and serve xie lian and hua cheng doesn’t view himself like...as part of it. the sculptures could have been carved by any hand so long as they are xie lian and the worship and devotion that goes into their making can support and bolster him.

my personal favorite version: amNESIA IN THE CAVES —okay i don’t have the text pulled up rn but y’know how Guoshi says Hua Cheng was almost dispersed, in terrible condition, etc., when he reached Mt. Tong’lu. so if baby boy is in terrible condition, barely hanging on, etc., then my immediate favorite option is that he doesn’t, at that time, have even the...uh threadbare sense of self he did in life/as Wuming and is running on only a vague and urgent sense of Something driving him—something he has to do, someone he has to serve—and in that case, the paintings and sculptures are part of his trying to piece together and process his memories as he can grasp them and figuring out who he is/what his purpose is. Is this canonical? PROBABLY NOT. and yet here i am. firmly planted on this hill

Also w/ MTL I think a thing that’s often skated over is the mortals, creation of E’ming, and his ascension. Which is important from a meta lens of Hua Cheng and Xie Lian vs Jun Wu but that’s not the point of this rambling monstrosity and i’m trying not to get too distracted. ANYWAY I think this is one of those times when Hua Cheng does something that he would probably excuse as like “well His Highness would’ve wanted me to” or “His Highness wouldn’t have been willing to sacrifice the mortals” because Xie Lian is still largely his moral compass—but it also is a peek at the complexity Hua Cheng doesn’t acknowledge within himself.

uh i got distracted anyway and no longer know what point i was making here. Hua Cheng Ascension Important....maybe i will remember this at some other point...

POINT 4: Live For Me (Revisited)

I sort of got distracted writing that point but anyway coming back to it now: I maintain that although Hua Cheng’s primary pursuit is protecting and serving Xie Lian he also does develop/realize his Accidental Personhood throughout his 800 years. this includes a lot of things, as previously stated, that are under the guise of serving Xie Lian (I’d put learning the Banyue tongue, finding out about the Gilded Banquet, collecting swords, beating the 33 officials etc., in this category) and things that maybe could be but...are not really (e.g., his friendship alliance with He Xuan, Paradise Manor* in general, the Gambling Den, learning the Wuyong tongue, bullying Qi Rong*, bullying FengQing*, playing with gold foil palaces, etc.)

(*these are ones that like...could be said to be for Xie Lian and I think he might say are for Xie Lian but also have a personal element that is just for him.

Like yes Paradise Manor is a lavish and well-stocked residence fit for a god or crown prince...but it’s also a luxurious and extravagant collection of all the things he couldn’t have in life. it’s like giving a kid a credit card with no limit and letting them run wild through uh. Fuck. A Fancy Department Store.

And sure Qi Rong was awful and turned on Xie Lian in pretty damning ways, but I also genuinely think part of Hua Cheng’s grudge with him is from the childhood abuse and from just...hatred that Qi Rong is around and looks like Xie Lian and gets to be there when Hua Cheng can’t find Xie Lian (which is about Xie Lian but for Hua Cheng).

Similarly with FengQing, sure a lot of his hate is for them abandoning Xie Lian—but he doesn’t even know till Book 3 when they abandoned him, and consider how much more he hates Mu Qing, the guy he blames for kicking him out of the army, etc. Some of it is totally “in service” to Xie Lian but some of it is because Hua Cheng carries a grudge like a goddamn pro and finds catharsis in beating the shit out of immortals who bounce back and can’t stop tripping over themselves and onto his blade.)

#hua cheng #tgcf #tgcf meta #long post #i'm sorry i cannot be concise or clear with my thoughts :<#this is why i write fic #bc i can just mash these interpretations through prose and then they turn out more clearly #....i think #i hope anyway bc this sure as fuck isn't that clear

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soundsaboutrighttumblr · 3 years

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WBL meta: Fighting Mr. 2nd, Ep 1

Just getting some thoughts out and sorted, join me if you wanna:

Topics this meta ramble will touch on: The sexual aggression in Shu Yi’s anger and the misunderstanding/cheating; Shi De’s regret and masochism and still carrying it all alone, that last scene, some minor speculations about DAD.

This all is written under the assumption that Shi De did not cheat, but that somehow Shu Yi came to the conclusion that he did. If alone by seeing him with that woman and child after one year, or if some additional forces might have been at work to convince him so.

Shu Yi’s Dad, the trailers make you look bad, maybe it’s just the way teasers work and you will be abdicated from those suspicions, but for now, I assume it’s you meddling in some way or other, may your intentions be what they will. I still suspect it was you who got to Shi De after 2 years when he first came back, and appealing to his responsibility -and guilt -for Shu Yi, to end it now when he is getting over you, rather than to give him that difficult life with a man at his side.

So there might also have been some strewn in comments to Shu Yi about Shi De moving on with someone else, at the one year past mark, feeding into the cheating narrative, or something more solid, that Dad gave Shu Yi, I just think it must have been a little bit more than just seeing him then, to believe it enough to completely retreat and call it off.

Not much though. Because as the notes about being young and immature say, the distance alone between them makes them unsure. In a way that they might never have been unsure, had they been in the same room, which is important for the last scene in this episode, because here Shu Yi visibly struggles to reconcile the Shi De that’s so earnest in front of him, and that he must remember from before, with the big statements of love and forever and those eyes, that Shi De that really has a hold on him, with the one that clashes with it, the one he build up in his mind over 5 years to get closure and protect himself, the one bastard that cheated and is lying to him.

Shi De has no fucking clue though. He operates under the assumption that his only ‘crime’ is to have taken 5 years instead of months and having made Shu Yi wait. Mind you, he regrets that alone so much it buries him under all the guilt and regret, and masochist that sometimes he is at heart, he rather takes all the general blame for it all, anything that Shu Yi throws his way, than to defend himself in the face of Shu Yi’s anger, because yes, he feels the anger is valid, even if it takes on that tone that his mind protests, his heart still is willing to take all the blows. From that anger that he still thinks is the anger Yu Xin has warned him about, that, even if blown up tenfold, he shouldn’t take to heart, and just has to weather out with determination and staying by Shu Yi’s side, even if it is reasonable bigger than just a minor fight.

He gets really confused by the sexual aggression of Shu Yi’s attacks, though, because doesn’t understand why Shu Yi would take that tone for his anger. For Shu Yi, I think it’s about hurting Shi De in that way that Shu Yi felt hurt by his cheating. Sex with somone else was assumedly used to hurt Shu yi, now he’ll use sex to cause Shi De hurt and degrade him someow, it’s a fuzzy connection but I think one that Shu Yi makes somehow.

The ‘women are better’ speech is as much to belittle and provoke Shi De as it is directed at the cheating situation, which of course flies by Shi De, because he didn’t, doesn’t even know of that suspicion or verdict. The fact that he is so confused by it makes me even more sure, he did not cheat, would never, come one, only you. He actually says that Shu Yi can be mad, but that he doesn’t have to do it that way. So, no, he doesn’t understand what warranted that fierceness, that specific brand of anger from Shu Yi, and when Shu Yi calls it hatred, not anger, that’s not just a slap to the face, it’s a punch to the gut, and damn, Sam that acting, I physically felt your exhaustion, the reigning it in, the picking your jacket and yourself up from the floor and soldiering on.

The same confusion is in that last scene of the ep, about why Shu Yi would take that tone of sexual provocation, why make it that and bring that into their power play. But I think I’ll type an extra paragraph or two on that perfect scene.

The conclusion to this is for me, that Shi De is still so stuck in that carrying it all alone mode, the love, the guilt, the blame, that something HAS to give in the next episodes to let him grow out of it. He might have to break down first, to do so. So yeah, that next episode is gonna be whew.

That Scene.

Maybe it stands out to me so much, because I was about to write something quite similar as fic during hiatus, but I wanted to see what they did first. They practically took that dynamic I had in mind and made it heart crushingly beautiful with their faces and everything.

Shi De choses earnest determination as his weapon coming into this, Shu Yi, after offended shock, again takes to sexually loaded power play. And damn, all that happens on Shi De’s face when Shu Yi comes close, and later touches him. There is so much confusion still, about why Shu Yi would take that sexually charged approach to this, for Shi De again it doesn’t make the sense that it does for Shu Yi.

It is clear Shu Yi is making this a sexual provocation again, and his ‘want me back? Okay.” has a most obvious catch, and Shi De is trying to figure it out while being overwhelmed by having Shu I within reach and still so far away.

I don’t think they’ve let roughness like this into their sexual experience up to this point, passion, yes, but when Shi De hits the desk, you can tell from his face, this feels off, this is new, he can’t place it again, the why.

The moment Shu Yi says ‘give it to me/let’s do it’ is the moment he delivers the push that makes Shi De fall onto the desk, that makes it clear that this is actually less about sex, but more about power play, even if Shu Yi masks it in sexual gestures. He is never prepared to go through with it, I believe, which explains his sudden retreat once Shi De actually agrees. Which is the most disarming, subversive move, and Shi De intuitively knows to take it and break through Shu Yi’s defenses and his act that way.

Shi De is so conflicted, though. Imagine the touch that you want so much, have missed so much, but in that aggressive, instrumentalized way, that feels wrong and still you are overwhelmed with how much you want it and what you’d give for it. Still all the while Shi De is trying to read Shu Yi, can’t understand his choices because he misses crucial information, but is trying to get through to him nonetheless. When Shu Yi caresses up Shi De’s face, Shi De’s puzzlement, and pain, and longing, and being torn and confused… it’s all there, and damn. Wow.

I don’t think ‘giving it up to the other’ means something derogative per se for them, what makes it this utter provocation is that it is voiced as that claim through that anger. Like, do you dare? Do you dare to let me f… you when I am angry like this? When possibly the have never done THAT before? And Shu Yi only expects a no, because somehow it would be a betrayal to everything they did before at least in my head canons. Because the base is wrong. Roughness needs to happen on a base of total trust, and that is just not there in that situation, they are not equal, and Shu Yi doesn’t expect Shi De to submit in that way and give ‘himself’ up.

So when he says yes, Shu Yi is completely confused and out of his depths.

And with the walls suddenly torn down, Shi De dares to make that statement, one that ‘old’ Shi De would have made: I can do anything for you. And he has Shu Yi by his very heart then. The hold and connection might break again in the next minute, but right then, Shu Yi is completely disarmed and in Shi De’s grasp.

And so confused, because all this and his own reaction doesn’t fit into the persona he made Shi De into in his mind those last 4 years. The scheming one who cheated and lied and played with him. The one he maybe built up meaner than necessary to protect himself of the pain. This is the one he remembers too, but pushed aside, the one who talks earnestly about his love, and never seems to waver in that love. They just don’t go together, and Shu Yi is so confused.

I don’t think sex is going to happen from this scene’s continuation. But boy that scene. Shu Yi will probably snap out of it and revert to anger one more time, but a dent is made. There’s cracks in both their composures and way of handling things now, and it will have to break.

And woah, am I hyped for more. Show, you’ve raised my expectations once more. Deliver, please.

Not sure i will ever be done rambling about it, but for now, that’s it.

Feel free to talk to me about it, if you want 3

#wbl #we best love meta #we best love: fighting mr. 2nd #meta

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phoenixyfriend · 3 years

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Fic Writer Interview

I was tagged by @willowcrowned

Tagging: @squirenonny @sergeant-angels-trashcan @the-roadkill-cafe @brawltogethernow

Remember to make a new post!

How many works do you have on AO3?

160, but that number’s going to go up as soon as I transfer some tumblr fics over

What’s your total AO3 word count?

1,721,084

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

Girl Genius, Naruto, Marvel (MCU and comics), Voltron: Legendary Defender, Miraculous Ladybug, Harry Potter, Star Wars Prequels, Hamilton, Doctor Who, Twilight, Attack on Titan, The Good Place, Beauty and the Beast (1991), Enchanted (2007), Hunger Games, Firefly

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Capsaicin, Rattlesnake of the Day, The Universe's Newest Puppet, I Don't Believe You, and Just a Little Death

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I try to respond to most comments of substance (e.g. I recently had someone commenting with a line of emoji hearts on every chapter of JaLD, which was sweet but not something I can actually respond to), but I have a few sitting in my inbox from months ago, including one that’s currently aged 221 days that I keep MEANING to reply to but just... can’t dig up the energy to, because it’s a really nice, really thought-provoking comment, and my brain is mush.

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

I’ve got a few but let’s go with The Colors on our Metal Skin.

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

So many, the craziest is probably... depends on your definition of crazy?

- That's Science! (minor fandom and minor subsection of a giant fandom)

- Your Exit is in Another Castle(many fandoms)

- Storms, Sincline, and a Single Drop of Sincerity (crack ship treated very seriously)

- To Build a Queendom (main character appeared for all of like five issues of the actual canon)

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I got suicide-baited a LOT for SasuKarin fic. So. Yes.

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Not very often but sometimes! I have a lot of headcanons and general musings about how characters have sex, but I rarely have a brainstate to write actual smut. If I write smut, it’s usually queer dom/sub stuff with a heavy emphasis on consent in situations that make said consent complicated.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Sort of but I think it was just a really weird search engine access thing.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I remember! I think someone asked for permission once and then didn’t follow through.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

A few times, but most of them petered out. The most recent attempt at such was Sowing Discord with @purronronner.

What’s your all time favorite ship?

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I think I come back to SasuKarin regularly enough that it counts.

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

So many but let’s say Turn Back the Clock. I had so many plans! I finished the cosplay for an AU version of a character that never made it on page!

What are your writing strengths?

I want to say banter. I love writing banter, and I’ve been told I’m good at it.

What are your writing weaknesses?

I think I have a hard time keeping character voices consistent with canon and within a work, and I'm really bad at juggling really large, complex political machinations even as a reader, let alone as a writer, especially when canon's already giving me trouble. This could be just a thing, and not a weakness, except the fandoms I tend to dabble in are fandoms where complex, large-scale political machinations are A Major Thing.

Also I can't stick to plans, which is probably why I'm so prone to abandoning things.

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

Really hard to balance in a way that adds to the story instead of taking someone out. I started out with anime fandom, where it’s an ongoing struggle to balance where you keep the Japanese and where you don’t, especially when half the fandom is reading one translation that keeps things, and half the fandom is reading another translation that doesn’t.

- You (probably) want to keep the names of people, but do you keep the names of towns? - How do you choose to translate this title to keep the correct rank in implication as well as direct translation? - Everyone knows the name of this attack, so it shouldn’t cause a hiccup in reading to keep it, but what about the less well-known attacks? - This acronym is widely known by the fandom but only works in Japanese, do you use it anyway? - English doesn’t have the same element of including age and politeness when referring to family members, do you want to work out the correct way to represent aneue and nii-chan and sofu-sama as anglophone slang variants, or do you work with the actual Japanese as shorthand and include an author’s note addressing why characters use the words they do?

More recently, I’ve been in Star Wars fandom, where you’ve got both a bunch of sort-of English made-up words (jizz music, transparisteel, flimsi, kriff) and semi-developed conlangs (most notably Mando’a and Huttese), and there’s that element of 'when is it a good idea to use the words you can find on Wookiepedia, and when is it overkill?'

Characters do switch from one to the other, and there are good, in-character reasons for doing so that revolve around culture and childhood traumas and personhood, but where a tv show can include subtitles to translate for the viewer in time with the spoken words, something like that can break up the flow of the narrative in fanfic. So you have to balance where you include dialogue tags to differentiate, or when it would make sense from a character perspective to include nicknames in another language that can be dropped in among the English (e.g. clones using Mando’a nicknames for Jedi could be a matter of the clones claiming a culture that was refused to them, and it’s something you can build a lot of character development into as a choice), when it makes more sense to just write “and then they said something in X language that the POV character didn’t understand,” when it's best to just italicize the parts in not-POV-language, and so on.

Basically, it’s a hard thing to balance and you always risk alienating readers with it, but sometimes it makes more sense for the characters or setting.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter (I know, not surprising).

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I have a few that I'm always going to be fond of, but Red and Gold is one of the ones I'm most proud of.

#Phoenix Answers Memes

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