hollyand-writes

[hollyand-writes]

I'm still a bit jetlagged, but just to let you all know I am now safely back home (in the UK) from my US business trip. Got home a few days ago. Hope you've all been well. ❤️

[hollyand-writes]

Unfortunately I have to go to the USA on a business trip – I fly out on the first leg of my journey today – and given what’s currently been happening at the border to foreign tourists and immigrants, I will be on a phone that won’t have tumblr or discord on it.

I don’t believe I’ve got anything on any devices anyone can object to, and I’m (obviously!) not a threat to anyone’s country or trying to emigrate outside of the UK – but I am a brown foreigner, so 🤷🏾‍♀️ gotta be more cautious than usual…

I may not be back online until I’m back in the UK in nearly a fortnight. But I will try to get in touch with someone in fandom (if I can) to let them I made it past the US border safely. It’s crazy that we’re even having to consider that right now.

[hollyand-writes]

Hit a milestone a few days ago: gathered a total of 5,000 kudos across 58 works for Dragon Age 2 posted to Archive Of Our Own on my “hollyand” account 🙌  56 fanfics written and 2 artworks drawn! 😁

I just wish I wasn't so busy all the time (especially now I've started this new job) so that I could come back to fandom and write/finish off my fanfics...

Anyway – thank you to all of you kind and generous people who have supported me and my writing over the past 11 years (and a bit), you’re all awesome ❤️

[hollyand-writes]

Not all lovers are soulmates, not all soulmates are lovers

[hollyand-writes]

White people aren't safe from ICE, even if from Germany with tickets to go back there, if they visit Mexico first.

She was supposed to go home on the 15th of February, had flight tickets home. US taxpayers are paying for ICE to continue to detain her in the country today because they decided she was going to make money tattooing.

They put her in solitary confinement for nine days.

For maybe she would do some tattooing for money. Maybe. She had tickets to return to Germany weeks ago.

Our own rules are simply "ship them back". But they won't. They aren't.

[hollyand-writes]

Words: 600 | Rating: G

Merrill swaps out her outerwear for autumn, and Isabela notices Carver noticing.

Written for @flufftober 🧡

Kofi commissions are also open, check my profile ☕

[hollyand-writes]

Is anyone else ever genuinely shocked when you find out you have an impact on someone’s life? A coworker can be like “I’ve missed seeing you” and I’m just like “???? you?? missed me????? My presence has an effect on your daily experience???? I affect things??? W h a t ? ? ?”

[hollyand-writes]

Jason Schreier: "NEW: After the release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, dozens of BioWare employees were told they were temporarily assigned to other projects within EA. This week, a twist: those temp assignments are now *permanent* transfers. And BioWare has shrunk. Story: [link] Dragon Age: The Veilguard was undeniably divisive, but to many who worked on it, it was a miraculous accomplishment to even ship a complete game after EA forced live-service into it, then reversed course. Now, their reward for the long hours and hard work is layoffs and transfers." [source]

Bloomberg article:

"Electronic Arts Slashes BioWare After ‘Dragon Age’ Sales Miss The studio has shrunk to less than 100 people following the release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard Dragon Age: The Veilguard missed EA’s sales expectations by 50%, leading to cuts at the studio"

"Hi everyone. Today we’re diving into the cuts at Electronic Arts Inc.’s BioWare. BioWare magic Late last year, after the release of the new role-playing game Dragon Age: The Veilguard, dozens of employees at developer BioWare were given some staffing news. Moving forward, they were going to be loaned out to other teams within their parent company, Electronic Arts, where they would work on various upcoming games like Iron Man and Skate. The logic made sense. BioWare’s next game, a new installment in the popular sci-fi Mass Effect series, was in pre-production and did not need the entire studio. There were no other internal projects for everyone to work on. Instead of getting laid off, they would stay employed, working on other projects until Mass Effect was ready for them. But this week, the group was informed that the loans had morphed into permanent relocations, according to people familiar with what happened. They were no longer BioWare employees who were temporarily on assignment elsewhere; now, they worked for whichever EA subsidiary had borrowed them. If they want to work at BioWare again in the future, they would have to look for job openings and re-apply. This was an unwelcome development for some of the employees, who now find themselves on brand-new teams at studios they’d never planned to join. Some had come to BioWare to work on storied role-playing game franchises and found the idea of working on action or sports games less appealing. But at least they got to keep their jobs. During the same reorganization this week, around two dozen other people at BioWare were laid off, according to the people familiar, who asked not to be identified discussing nonpublic information. Writer Trick Weekes and producer Jen Cheverie said on Bluesky that they were among the veteran workers who’d been cut."

"BioWare is now down from more than 200 people two years ago to less than 100 today, according to the people familiar. A small team will remain to work on the next Mass Effect game — led by company veterans who oversaw the development on the original trilogy as well as on 2019’s Anthem — in hopes of expanding as the game gets further into production. The company announced the reorganization on Wednesday, saying it planned to “become a more agile, focused studio,” without mentioning the job cuts and the relocation of staff permanently to other studios. A spokesperson for EA declined to comment on specific numbers. It’s been a rough month for EA. Last week, the company’s shares plunged 18% after reporting preliminary holiday-season results that missed estimates and lowering its forecast for the fiscal year. The poor results were largely due to the underperformance of EA’s latest soccer game but the company also said that Dragon Age: The Veilguard reached 1.5 million players, missing sales expectations by 50%. What may be most surprising is that EA, which has a long history of shuttering studios after a failure, is keeping BioWare around. The once-revered RPG studio, founded in 1995 by a trio of doctors, released a string of beloved titles throughout the 1990s and 2000s, including the first two Baldur’s Gate games, Dragon Age: Origins and the Mass Effect trilogy. But the studio has failed to release a hit since 2014’s Dragon Age: Inquisition. Mass Effect: Andromeda, released in 2017, received mediocre reviews and was widely criticized for its bugs and uncanny animations. BioWare then pivoted to a live-service shooter with 2019’s Anthem, which was roundly panned and killed after less than two years. Both games were plagued by management issues, brutal deadline crunches and a belief — called “BioWare magic” — that everything would work out in the end."

"With the single-player Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which had its own turbulent development cycle and was rebooted multiple times, the studio hoped to win back lapsed fans. Despite generally positive reviews, the game proved to be divisive among players, with some criticizing the writing, art style and linear level design. But many observers and staff blame EA for the situation they put BioWare in — canceling an early version of Dragon Age in favor of one that would be required to have a “live-service” multiplayer component with recurring revenue, only to then reverse course, reverting once again back to the single-player format. It would be difficult for most game-makers to release something great under those conditions. Now, BioWare studio head Gary McKay and Mass Effect executive producer Mike Gamble are essentially looking to reboot the company as they plunge forward on their next game. It will be a long road ahead, and what emerges will be a very different BioWare. But at least for now, the studio will continue.""

[source]

[hollyand-writes]

April 2025

Just before the graphic artist Rebecca Burke left Seattle to travel to Vancouver, Canada, on 26 February, she posted an image of a rough comic to Instagram. “One part of travelling that I love is seeing glimpses of other lives,” read the bubble in the first panel, above sketches of cosy homes: crossword puzzle books, house plants, a lit candle, a steaming kettle on a gas stove. Burke had seen plenty of glimpses of other lives over the six weeks she had been backpacking in the US. She had been travelling on her own, staying on homestays free of charge in exchange for doing household chores, drawing as she went. For Burke, 28, it was absolute freedom.

Within hours of posting that drawing, Burke got to see a much darker side of life in America, and far more than a glimpse. When she tried to cross into Canada, Canadian border officials told her that her living arrangements meant she should be travelling on a work visa, not a tourist one. They sent her back to the US, where American officials classed her as an illegal alien. She was shackled and transported to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) detention centre, where she was locked up for 19 days – even though she had money to pay for a flight home, and was desperate to leave the US.

[...] As she sobbed holding the iPad, Becky found herself surrounded by other inmates who wanted to comfort her. A woman called Lucy offered to let Becky use her phone credit if money hadn’t appeared in the account within a few hours. Rosa, a Mexican woman who spoke barely any English and had already been detained for 11 months, offered Becky a Pot Noodle she had been able to buy from the commissary, the shop where they could purchase luxuries. At 8am, Becky finally curled up in her bed to sleep, with Rosa praying in Spanish in the bunk below. [...]

[After her father finally went to the press, got exposure, and her case became a priority for ICE after almost two weeks] [...] But her ordeal was not over. She was taken to the basement of Seattle-Tacoma international airport for a security check. While every item in her bag was swabbed and dismantled, she was subjected to a full body search. “I was in this very loud, weird, industrial space with pipes and conveyor belts and lights and sirens, being told to open my legs. I was silently crying, watching all my stuff being torn apart as someone else was searching every crevice of me.” She boarded the plane before any of the other passengers. “I found my seat, threw my bags on it, and went into the toilet and sobbed in the cubicle, with the British Airways classical music surrounding me.”

--

Read the entire article. What they put her through. The stories of the other incarcerated. The hellverse. Every paragraph was a new punch in the face.

[hollyand-writes]

Around the Deep Roads

[hollyand-writes]

Sign Up for the 2025 Handers Gift Exchange!

Schedule:

March 23 - April 5: Sign-ups

April 6 - 9: Matching & Assignments Sent Out

April 10 - June 8: Creation & Posting Period

With additional check-ins on April 12-14 and May 3-5. Participants may post any time during the creation period dates, not just at the end. See rules and frequently asked questions on this post.

[Sign up here!]

[hollyand-writes]

Hey there! Sorry I hope it’s okay to ask but is everything okay with Smutquisition? You’re the only mod I saw was still active on Tumblr so I wasn’t sure where else to ask or if there’s somewhere that folks are putting updates!

Hi there, sorry for the late reply! The other mods are definitely around, tbh they’ve been running the event more than I have as my new job is still kicking my arse 😂

I understand we had a delay because we needed to get a pinch-hitter, but the Smutquisition 2025 collection should be open now!

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/2025_smutquisition/works

[hollyand-writes]

Introducing the 2025 Handers Gift Exchange!

Welcoming any and all Handers fans, @handers-time will be hosting yet another Handers Gift Exchange! For those unfamiliar, a fandom gift exchange is an event in which participants create fanworks to give to one another, based off their prompts, preferences, and ships! Then giftees will leave comments on any gifts they receive and the love for Handers will be shared.

Schedule:

March 23 - April 5: Sign-ups

April 6 - 9: Matching & Assignments Sent Out

April 10 - June 8: Creation & Posting Period

With additional check-ins on May 2-4 and May 23-25. Participants may post any time during the creation period dates, not just at the end.

Sign Ups Begin March 23, 2025.

Rules & FAQ under the cut:

Q. When will assignments go out, and when is my gift due?

A. Assignments will go out on or before April 9, 2025. You can post your gift any time during the creation period, but they absolutely must be posted by June 8, 2025.

Q. Will there be check-ins?

A. Yes. Mods will be checking in with participants the weekends of May 2-4 and May 23-25. If you are struggling to complete a gift or haven’t started by then we would strong encourage you to flag this to a mod so that we can arrange a pinch-hitter if necessary. We understand that life happens, so we won’t hold it against you if you need to drop out - we just want to be sure that your recipient still gets a gift!

Q. How do I share my gift?

A. All gifts should be posted on AO3 and on tumblr. Gifts should be posted to the 2025 Handers Gift Exchange collection on AO3 (link to be shared). Your recipient should be clearly tagged. Tumblr posts should tag in the handers-time blog so that we can find it to reblog it.

Q. How big should my gift be?

A. Fanfic should reach a minimum word count of 1,000 words. Fanart should be at least a clean sketch or completed lineart, depending on how you view your artstyle. Extra gifts (treats) - written as optional add-ons after you’ve completed your main gift - can be much smaller with a minimum word count of 250 words. There is no maximum word count for main gifts or for extra gifts.

Q. Is this an anonymous gift exchange?

A. No, but please do not tell your giftee until you have officially posted your gift. The reveal will occur the moment you post it!

Q. Are there any rules about commenting?

A. Yes. You must comment on any gift made for you. For a full gift, this should be a comment of at least 3 sentences in length. For extra gifts (treats), it can be less.

Q. I don’t want to sign up to the exchange but I’d like to produce extra gifts. What do I do?

A. Lovely to have you! We share the complete list of requests after sign-ups publicly - you can keep an eye on this blog for it. Anyone can create an extra treat - you do not need to be a participant of the full exchange. Extra gifts have a lower minimum requirements (250 words, or sketches) and you can produce as many as you like.

Q. I have another question.

A. Please send an ask to the handers-time mod and we'd be happy to help.

[hollyand-writes]

I started a new job last week and that's been keeping me really busy. I'd been self-employed for a loooooooooong time before that, so this is a very new experience for me 😂 Hopefully once I'm a bit more settled into my new role, I'll have more time for fandom again 🙏🏾

Anyway, today is the deadline for assignments to be submitted for the Dragon Age Smutquisition Exchange @dasmutquisition – works will be revealed next Monday, so if you need more time for your assignment, reach out to @jarakrisafis or @tightassets for an extension ❤️

[hollyand-writes]

Happy Lunar New Year! 🎉🐍🎊🌑

Ahhhhh thank you very much – sorry that I’ve been offline for a few weeks and missed this! Hope you had a good Lunar New Year too, and hope the Year of the Snake is a good one for you! 🐍

[hollyand-writes]

中国新年快乐 2025 !

Wishing you and your beloved ones a healthy, prosperous and joyous year ahead.

[hollyand-writes]

Last day to sign up to the Smutquisition Exchange, everyone! Sign-ups close tomorrow morning at 10am UK time – details are in the post above ❤️

Smutquisition 2025 sign ups are open

We are a go!

You have until the 29th of Jan 10am GMT. Nominations are remaining open for the next week in case of latecomers. If you are nomming Rooks please do so in the format of Male Elf Rook, Female Dwarf Rook, Nonbinary Qunari Rook, etc. (If you don't I will just put them all through as Dwarf requests) And here's some handy code for use in your description box. You can use it to hide Veilguard prompts. Just take the spaces out of the html.

<details ><summary >Veilguard Spoilers</summary > Your prompts go here</details >

And by 'can', what I really mean is please use it to hide Veilguard prompts. (But not your DNWs, don't hide those!)