#alesseia main

[alesseia]

finally posting a WIP intro here, lmao

Alesseia is a Filipino-inspired, modern fantasy series that serves as a love letter to middle-grade children's fiction like Percy Jackson and Animorphs. It is my dearest passion project, a story spanning several books that has existed in my mind since 2010 or so. It's changed form in so many ways over the years, but I've kept the heart of it as much as I could.

Feel free to follow this blog if you're interested in it! Tags for the series can be found in my writeblr intro. Thanks for reading!

[ink-flavored]

Pride & Justice: A Wary Truce

warnings: teenage bullying, teenage hooligans doing vandalism, bullying, yelling Banner art by @auroblaze P&J Taglist (Check out my Google form to get added): @elegant-paper-collection @auroblaze @zeenimf @vacantgodling @foxys-fantasy-tales @stesierra @noblebs @thelaughingstag @ceph-the-ghost-writer @damageinkorporated @wyked-ao3 @alesseia

Tips are appreciated!

Pride swung his tail over the side of the bench, stretched out on his back. It was bumpy and uncomfortable, but he’d take it over laying in the dirt. The clouds of smoke swirling from his horns put a gray haze over his view of the starry night sky. It didn’t bother him—stars didn’t hold all that much charm for him.

The one thing Pride definitely held was boredom. He never thought he’d get tired of pushing humans souls along the precipice of damnation, but the impossible inched close to becoming reality. He wanted to do something else—to go somewhere else. His options were annoyingly limited.

Earth sucked, he didn’t want to stay here anymore. If he never had to set foot in Hell again, it would be too soon. Trying to sneak into Heaven again was a recipe for getting dissolved to ashes before he reached the gates—there was no way they’d let their guard down so soon. Pride wasn’t sure he believed it, but even if Justice kept his promise and told everyone he was dead, the holy realm was nothing if not paranoid. So what was left? Purgatory?

Pride raked his hands down his face, pulling at his eyelids and stretching his cheeks. Making that contract was the stupidest thing he’d ever done.

A sweet-sour sting on his tongue interrupted his frustrated thoughts. There was a human around, maybe even a few, who had more than a little pent-up sin. Curious, Pride sat up to survey the park that had become his little domain.

The dim streetlamps that washed the park in gray light shadowed an entire group of humans. Young ones, by the looks of it, rolling toward the playground with excited confidence. They shoved each other, hooted, and cackled—all except one. A meek looking one hung far back in the group, arms crossed over a bulky sweatshirt. Pride folded his arms on the back of the bench, trying to figure out which one of them called his name.

“—gonna do it,” the leader of the group said, a duffel bag hanging off one shoulder.

“You don’t think so?” another taunted.

“No way, man, he’s too much of a pussy.”

One by one, the main group turned around to sneer at their straggler. He balled his fists up, and Pride quirked an eyebrow at the flavor that flooded over his tongue. Icy-hot wrath and tart pride at once.

“I’m not a pussy,” the straggler insisted.

“Then prove it,” demanded the leader. He shoved the bag into the meek one’s chest. “Pussy.”

There came the wave again. Every human in this posse tasted a little like sin—mostly pride, with wrath and envy sprinkled unevenly among them—but the clearly-marked outcast reeked of it. A deep-seated, suppressed anger bubbled under his skin, kept at bay by a sliver of willpower. Pride could help with that.

He slunk off the bench, prowling through the darkness to meet his target. The kid was on his knees in the grass, digging through the bag forced into his arms. All the others in his group watched, arms folded and sneering. Invisible to their eyes, Pride crouched down and peeked over his shoulder to see what all the fuss was about. A metal bat, a few switchblades, lighter fluid, and clunky tools heavy enough to do blunt damage. Even through the darkness, Pride saw the kid’s hands shaking as he sorted through it all.

“Hurry the fuck up,” the leader ordered.

“I’m going,” the kid said, and hastily grabbed the bat from the trove. He stood up, and Pride stood with him. “Now what?”

“Do the honors.” The leader stepped back, gesturing at the playground behind them. “Unless you’re gonna chicken out.”

The kid flushed with sin again, staring down all the expectant onlookers, but didn’t move. His face screwed up in determination, full of potential, but nothing came of it. All that beautiful sin would go to waste. Pride took the opportunity.

He slunk an arm around the kid’s shoulders, leaning in to murmur into his ear. “You’re really going to let him talk to you like that?” he asked. “You’re going to act like a coward in front of them all?”

“Fine,” the kid spat at his leader. He stalked past the group, bouncing the bat in his shaking hand, with Pride hot on his heels. The rest of them followed, closing in so there was no escape. Pride felt the string of his influence waver with every step they took.

“You can’t back down now,” he insisted, feeding the impulse he’d tasted mere seconds ago. “Not unless you want to prove them all right.”

“I won’t,” the kid muttered. He stopped at one of the plastic slides and reeled back with the bat. He stopped at the peak of his swing. The hesitation threatened to snap the thread altogether. Pride went for the kill.

“What would she think, if she found out how much of a pansy you are?”

The cord of his influence tightened to steel. The kid flared his nostrils, spurred to action, and swung the bat down—

“Excuse me, but I don’t think you’re supposed to be here.”

Pride’s ichor turned to ice. He and the humans whipped around at the same time, bearing witness to the most ridiculous thing that could have possibly happened that night.

“And I don’t think,” that stupid, fucking Angel of Justice said, duffel bag dangling from the strap in his hand, “that you’re supposed to have these either.”

“Scram!” the leader hissed.

“What?” asked the outcast, but it was too late.

All the humans scattered like frightened ants. Pride snapped his influence and ducked under the slide. Trying to avoid another dose of dumbass righteous fury, he circled around until he came under the shade of a tree, preparing for a fight. Justice hadn’t moved, though. He zipped up the bag, threw the strap over his shoulder, and only then did he approach the single shaking human.

The abandoned kid whipped his head side to side, trying to find where the rest of the humans had gone. Justice got closer, walking with purpose. He dropped the bat—Pride rolled his eyes—and tried to make a break for it.

“Hey,” Justice said. He barely grasped the kid’s shoulder, which was enough to make him freeze in fear. “Come on, you’re not in trouble.”

“Y-yeah! Good!” the kid stuttered, putting on the weakest show of defiance Pride had ever witnessed. “Because my friends would bail me out, you know.” Pride snorted.

“Your friends? The ones that just ran off to let you take the fall?” The kid flapped his jaw indignantly for a few seconds. Justice crouched down to his level, a sad smile on his face. “I think we both know they’re not really your friends.”

“They are! I’m just—They’re just teaching me how to be cool.”

“Real friends don’t try to change you.” He took the metal bat off the ground and laid it flat in his hands. “Or make you do things you don’t want to do.”

Pride seethed, lashing his tail, smoke gushing from his horns, as all potential sin bled out of his target. The tart flavor slipped off his tongue as the pointless angelic advice took hold.

“I think,” Justice continued, “you should find some people who already think you’re cool.”

“But what about… girls?” the kid asked, so meek Pride almost couldn’t parse what to snicker at.

Justice didn’t find it as funny. “If there’s a girl who wants you to act like someone you’re not, she doesn’t really like you at all.”

Sobered, the kid hung his head in defeat. Justice put the bat down and ruffled his hair, and they giggled together. Pride wished he had organs to throw up with.

“You’re kind,” Justice said. “Don’t let anyone take that from you.”

“Okay,” the kid agreed, hands deep in his pockets. “Thanks.”

The kid shuffled off into the night, not a drop of sin left in the air. Justice was the only thing left in the park, zipping the metal bat back up with all the other unused tools. And Pride’s promise of an interesting evening. He stomped out from behind his tree, hands on his hips.

“That was my catch, you know,” he snapped.

Justice stood and revealed his wings as he turned around, stark white feathers cutting through the night. Pride grimaced as the pinprick headache of an angel’s power hit. Justice made a similar face back.

“You’re going after children?” he asked.

Pride rolled his eyes at such a base accusation. “Oh come on, all humans are children. Your people said it yourself.”

“That’s—” Justice put his palms out to stop himself. “That’s not why I’m here.”

“Yeah, you want to explain that?”

“Gladly. What are you doing here?”

“Uh, what does it look like?”

“I told you to go back to Hell!”

Pride laughed openly at the rage on his face. “You’re kidding me, that’s why you’re here?”

“This place reeks of sin! Do you know how idiotic it is that you stayed on Earth?”

Suddenly it wasn’t funny. Pride set his jaw, tail twitching. “What, like you’re any smarter?”

“Do you really think this—” Justice threw his arms out, gesturing to the park at large, “—is the safest place you can possibly be?”

“You’re the one who left me here, dumbass.”

“And I told you to leave!”

“Yeah, so fucking what? Why should I listen to you?”

“Because this place reeks, like I said.” He jabbed a finger up to the dark sky. “We can sense it from Heaven, and if anyone else catches on to why, we’re both. Dead.”

Pride folded his arms, unimpressed. “Not my problem.”

Justice stared at him like he’d grown an extra set of horns. “Your life is in danger. How is that not your problem?”

“If angels don’t have anything better to do than chase one demon around, that sounds like a you problem.”

Baffled was the only word that could accurately describe Justice’s reaction. He worked his jaw up and down and vaguely circled his arms. His wings half-flapped, like they couldn’t decide if it was better to fly away. Pride watched him struggle with cool disinterest.

“Are you serious?” Justice finally said.

Pride shrugged. “Yeah.”

“I saved your life.”

“Your decision.”

“I’m trying to help you!”

“Not a great choice, to be honest.”

He made a tortured noise, balling his hands into fists by his head. “We’re this close to being caught by Heaven’s entire garrison, and you can’t even accept a warning? Are you dense on purpose?”

Pride flared his nostrils, horns spewing dark clouds of smoke. “Hey, you’re the one who got me thrown behind bars in the first place, remember that?”

“And I defended you in your trial! I’m the only reason you got to tell your story at all! I helped you escape!”

“I didn’t ask for any of your fucking charity!”

Justice stalked up to him in two long strides. “But you got it! Does that mean anything to you?”

“Not a fucking thing, buddy!”

“The life of the only person in Heaven on your side doesn’t mean anything to you? Your own life doesn’t mean anything to you?” He scoffed and took a step back. “No, of course it doesn’t. All you had to do was go back to Hell, and we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. But no, your ego is more important than accepting my freely offered help.”

“You know what, maybe it fucking is!” Pride stuck a finger in his face. “Maybe you’re not half as smart as you fucking think, Justice, because I’m as good as dead if I go back to Hell anyway!”

Pride only realized what came out of his mouth when Justice raised his brows. He clamped his jaw shut, too late to keep any more secrets.

“What do you mean?” Justice asked, less accusatory and more sympathetic. It made Pride’s skin crawl.

Pride chewed on his cheek for a long moment. “I have… enemies,” he finally said. “Having a contract left hanging makes you weak. And even if no one knows you helped me get out, the news that you defended me in that stupid trial has got to be spreading by now. Failing to complete the contract and needing an angel’s help would—” He bit the sentence short, not wanting to imagine it. “I wouldn’t be greeted with acceptance and understanding.”

Justice nodded seriously, but wouldn’t meet his eye. “I had no idea.”

“Yeah, well. Whatever you think Heaven’s going to do to me, Hell would be ten times worse.”

It was eerily quiet. All of Justice’s righteous anger was gone, replaced with pensive silence. Pride took the opportunity to sulk. He shouldn’t have let an angel get him so worked up. After revealing this much, letting slip that he had no choice, Justice would be free to do whatever he wanted. Take him anywhere he wanted—because he’d be dead either way.

“Most angels,” Justice suddenly said, “don’t like me all that much.”

“Like who?” Pride asked. “Honesty?”

He breathed a weary sigh. “Yes, like Honesty. She thinks I’m too soft for my work, too sympathetic. She’s been trying to get rid of me for ages, and it’s… not an unpopular opinion.”

After seeing Honesty’s entire face twitch during his trial, Pride couldn’t say he was surprised she didn’t like him. But most other angels too?

“Weren’t people defending you earlier?” Pride asked.

“A few,” Justice admitted. “Not enough of them can actually made decisions, though. And plenty of others already suspect I’m—” He closed his eyes, and looked pained. “They think I’m a traitor.”

“I mean technically—”

“I know, yes, by helping you I am.” He took a breath. “That’s not the point. The point is I’m already being treated suspiciously. It’s not long before Honesty and everyone else who already disliked me start blaming me outright for letting you escape.”

“Okay…?”

“Okay, so.” Justice stuck out a hand. “Truce?”

Pride stared at him. “What?”

“We stay down here on Earth, together. We lay low as humans, get everyone off our trails, and figure out how to complete your contract. Everybody wins.”

“How is this going to convince everyone you’re not a traitor?”

Justice swirled his hand, annoyed. “We can come up with excuses for that too, come on.”

That was the dumbest idea Pride had ever heard proposed. It sounded like the idea of someone desperate to stay alive, or someone too stupid to consider the consequences. Pride would be the biggest idiot in Hell, Heaven, and on Earth to agree to it.

But was he really any less desperate? No doubt he’d start getting chased around for refusing to cooperate with… whoever came to collect him. And having an unfulfilled contract was a ticking clock on his soul, too. He’d be an even bigger idiot to ignore that.

“Fine,” Pride agreed. He cautiously slid his hand forward to shake. “Truce.”

Justice grinned unreasonably wide and shook hard. “Okay! I guess we’re doing this.”

“I guess we are.”

We’re gonna die, Pride thought. But at least I convinced an angel to defect from Heaven.

And what better victory could he ever hope to get?

[chayscribbles]

themes tag game: the gemini heist

thanks @void-botanist for the tag!!! i shall tag @alesseia @weaver-of-fantasies-and-fables @subtlefires @alecjmarsh @calicojackofficiall @sam-glade @uraniumwriting @eurydicefades @antique-symbolism @akindofmagictoo.

if you've already done this game feel free to ignore, or take the opportunity to do it for a different wip!

bules: bold the themes that appear in your WIP (& italicize those that are loosely covered) then tag 10 people.

addiction | beauty | betrayal | change vs. tradition | chaos vs. order | circle of life | coming of age | communication | convention vs. rebellion | corruption | courage | crime and law | dangers of ignorance | darkness and light | death | desire to escape | dreams | displacement | empowerment | facing darkness | facing reality | faith vs. doubt | fall from grace | fame and fortune | family | fate | fear | fear of failure | free will | friendship | fulfilment | good vs. bad | government | greed | guilt and forgiveness | hard work | heroism | hierarchy | honesty | hope | identity crisis | immortality | independence | individual vs. society | inner vs. outer strength | innocence | injustice | isolation | knowledge vs. ignorance | life | loneliness | lost love | love | man vs. nature | manipulation | materialism | motherhood | nature | nature vs. nurture | oppression | optimism | peer pressure | poverty | power | power of words | prejudice | pride | progress | quest | racism | rebirth | relationships | religion | responsibility | revenge | sacrifice | secrets | self-awareness | self-preservation | self-reliance | sexuality | social class structure | survival | technology | temptation and destruction | time | totalitarianism | weakness | vanity | war | wealth | wisdom of experience | youth

collapsed version for easier viewing below the cut!

main themes:

betrayal

family

greed

guilt and forgiveness

honesty

manipulation

power

power of words

relationships

revenge

secrets

wealth

secondary themes

change vs. tradition

communication

convention vs. rebellion

corruption

crime and law

desire to escape

faith vs. doubt

fall from grace

friendship

government

hierarchy

immortality

injustice

motherhood (parenthood in general but idk why it's not there lmao)

nature vs. nurture

optimism

religion

self-preservation

technology

[pluttskutt]

seeing that "text fic" among the list of wips and wondering what it is!! (@alesseia)

Hi @alesseia ! The "text fic" is my Steddie fanfic AU set in more modern time where Eddie and Steve start texting without knowing who the other one is at first. Robin also features as a main character with her own chapters and I toss in others sometimes as well.

In this AU, featuring a few changes and twists, Steve has adopted Max and is a single father trying his best.

The text fic is named "I'm not always clever with the words I use", and is on hiatus at chapter 53 currently. It features texts between our characters but also written scenes, such as their first date.

Interested parties may find the link here.

[magic-is-something-we-create]

15, 17, and 18 for the icebreaker ask game!! - @alesseia

ohmygod tumblr didnt show me that i had asks for almost two entire weeks i hate it here

Thanks for sending this in, @alesseia!!! (I really hope I'm referencing the correct ask game post,,,,)

15. Why does the story follow the protagonist, as opposed to another character in the story? I.e., what makes them so special?

Oh man, this one is a fun question that is,,,, a Lot more complicated for Millennium Saga than for Whispers.

For Whispers: The story follows Marika and Lorelei as narrators specifically because of their unique and drastically different interactions with and opinions of the Shadow (the antagonist). Marika, specifically, is way more similar to the Shadow than she wants to admit at the start, and honestly, I would not be surprised if she and the Shadow ever got romantic (or at the very least sexual, because dear god I gave them lots of tension there). Lorelei, on the other hand, is like the antithesis of the Shadow's whole deal, and that pisses them both off to no end. And I just thought their lenses were particularly fun to play with for the "henchman vs superhero POV" premise!!

For The Millennium Saga...

Well. There's actually two sets of multiple main characters in the series. And I chose Ember's crew (Gab, Annie, Andy, Isa, and Nimbus) because they've got a rather unique mix of people of all societal classes (pickpocket/manual laborer, whore/seasonal tourist attraction actor, seamstress, mechanic, literal grandchild of an immortal, and an apprentice under an outcast, respectively) that allowed me to explore a LOT of the world they're in and how it functions without forcing the narrative out of the way (ideal for the worldbuilding-heavy story the series focuses on).

And the SECOND set of main characters, for arc two, were chosen because they're the more extreme versions of the above, with bonus extra trauma and outsized impact than anyone should reasonably have. Which they acknowledge, and still abuse. Also it means I get to write a lot of darker things into what is an overall hopeful story without dragging the previous rein-holders through the mud <3

17. What’s the best character dynamic between two or more characters in your wip?

Whispers: Lorelei and the Shadow. I will not elaborate, but if you know, you know.

The Millennium Saga: This is entirely out of left field to people who only know the excerpts and nothing else, but Annie and Xavi are the DREAM TEAM gossip buddies who constantly get into Mega Trouble. If anyone other than me was writing this they'd be a couple but because its me Annie is aroace as hell and Xavi is so gay his dad invented homophobia in a queernormative setting

18. How do you want readers to feel while reading your story? after they finish reading it?

Whispers: constant (hopefully cathartic) pain with an added sobbing session afterwards.

Millennium Saga: awe and wonder with occasional moments of utter existential terror mixed in, with an ultimate hopeful and heartwarming conclusion. But lots of stops for pain between books because this series is monstrous

Thank you again for sending this in!!! If you'd like, I'll happily send you a few numbers as well (and the ask game if it has gone missing/been buried since then) <3

[alesseia]

trying to change my wip to suit my current values and preferences, which involves quite a few things:

reorganizing the character hierarchy such that the characters I actually care about the most (nathan, raven) become the most important characters in the wip, rather than important side characters

fixing the worldbuilding so that it's less "Philippines but with magic" and more distinctly itself as a setting

changing (most) character surnames to be more obviously filipino-flavored because I don't want people to think any of my characters are white even if they have blue eyes or whatever

there's probably more that I'm missing but those are the main ones on my agenda

[alesseia]

Moon + Seraph Pitch Week (Mar 28)

Percy Jackson meets Undertale meets Avatar: The Last Airbender

ALESSEIA

Axel, a young child with no one but their father for company, leaves their childhood home to discover that the rest of the world is magic, and that fate isn't a kind storyteller.

Themes:

love of all kinds (familial, friendship, romance, and self-love)

finding a place to belong when you're an outsider

identity and what it means to be you despite everything

Current Update: Book 1 is being drafted

WIP-relevant Links: WIP intro | WIP tag

Content Warnings:

classism

strong language

fantasy violence

death of minor and major supporting characters

queerphobia (both external and internalized)

[alesseia]

Camp Nano Directory: Alesseia

— Share a bit about yourself — I'm Aurora, a 20+ year-old nonbinary Filipino who's working on a middle-grade/young adult queer tropical modern fantasy series called Alesseia. It's nice to meet you!

— What kind of stories do you like to read? — I am a lover of fantasy and romance, though I would appreciate some representation as an aroace person. I really appreciate happy endings and hopepunk stories, though I won't say no to a bittersweet ending once in a while.

— Goal(s) — Something small, like around 10-15k words! I'm just trying to make progress despite having a lot of my finals during the month of April.

— Camp Project Title — Alesseia: The Dragon's Deed (title subject to change lmao)

— Project Description — A young child, raised on a mountain with no one but their father for company, decides to leave the barrier that surrounds the mountain to discover that the rest of the world is magic. Unfortunately for them, fate has their eyes on their destiny.

— WIP-related Art — gonna show the map of Alesseia that I've created (complete with an image description!)

(link to Camp NaNoWriMo template!)

[alesseia]

7 Lines Tag

Thanks, @thedahliafrog, for the tag 💖 Check out their post here.

Rules: Share the last 7 lines of your WIP then tag 7 people

An early excerpt from Alesseia Book 1 (doing 9 lines because my sentences are really short):

She waves it off. “Nothing to worry about. I’m just tired because I’m hungry. Don’t you want breakfast already?” “Well…” She takes the opportunity. “You are hungry! C'mon, let’s go eat.” Then she tugs Axel towards the kitchen, not waiting for confirmation.

Tagging: @pluttskutt, @iced-ginger-tea, @mrbexwrites, @blind-the-winds, @tate-lin, @yors-truly, and anyone who'd love to do this!!!

[alesseia]

Happy worldbuilding wednesday!! I wanted to ask about the magic in Alesseia—you mentioned everyone has it, but how does it look like at the lowest level? How do the people in caste 6 most commonly use it?

Hello, thank you so much for the ask!! I'm really happy someone is interested in learning about my world 💖 Sorry for answering it a bit late (it's Friday morning in my time as I answer this) but I was busy 😅

Before I can answer your question, I want to talk about how magic works in this world, so buckle down and strap in!

Magic is defined in Alesseia's world as the essence of life, the power that every individual holds. This isn't to say that magic is only found in living organisms (the earth itself contains much magic, which is why Alesseians tend to think of the earth as a living thing) but rather, magic is a semi-corporeal substance that empowers life. Whatever supports magic supports life, as magic is what makes life blossom in this world.

With that in mind, it can be said that every living organism has magic in one way or another. Of course, all humans definitely have magic. If anything, humanoid species are notable for having some of the most powerful¹ strains of magic available.

[1] This is what modern humanoids believe in Alesseia's world. Is it true though? Eh, that's a question that can be answered by reading.

However, magic works differently for everyone; each human has a unique² strain of magic, so not all humans have the same powers. That's why they've sorted themselves into various castes³ depending on the rarity and power level of magic.

[2] On a small tangent related to this: magic is commonly noted to be the unique power of an individual, but that is a bit of a misconception. While each individual has a unique strain of magic in the same way every organism has a unique DNA sequence, this doesn't mean that they don't share magical similarities with each other, or that the outward characteristics (i.e. how magic is expressed) will not be similar. This is a lot of words that basically boil down to "people can do similar magic even when they're not related."

[3] See footnote number 1.

Last notable thing: magic is inherently a natural part of this world. That means everyone can naturally do magic without needing specific tools, accessories, or rituals. Of course, some people may experience difficulties in casting magic for one reason or another, which is why things like wands, potions, and certain traditions were invented to help with casting magic. Some items may even allow them to use magic outside of their capabilities, though technically they aren't casting magic themselves. These inventions may have even brought in new strains of magic that weren't available in the past.

So... How do people in the lowest caste use magic?

The average person in Caste 6 generally has magic underneath one or both of the following categories:

their magic is significantly weaker than others with similar powers (example: only being able to control a few gallons of water at a time)

their magic is too specific to be considered powerful (example: only being able to "communicate" with chickens, not even other birds, just chickens)

Other examples include fruit ripening, flora/fauna identification, healing minor injuries, minor usages of air and earth magic, and lots of other relatively small magical types that are associated with nature.

It's notable that these powers are generally useful in modern day society; the first two examples above are great for fish and chicken farmers. However, they're not considered powerful enough by the ruling families for a higher caste.

Shame, isn't it?

[alesseia]

🎫 Ticket for any WIP/OC lore of your choice.

Hello there, thanks for the ticket 😄 I appreciate any chance to ramble about my OCs!

Hm, I guess the first thing that comes to mind is that their names are actually not their names. I like to imagine that I'm just translating Alesseia's story for an English audience* so I stick to names that are fairly familiar with my target audience!

* yes, like Tolkien. except I never read any of his books, don't plan on doing so, thought of this before I even knew he did it, and am pretty insecure in my skills to make a real conlang lmao

Anyway, if you wanna know the current names:

Axel Viridian -> Ashel Luntian

Avery Bellamy -> Vera Velmonte

Leandro Chasen -> Leylan Chang

Nathan Fowler -> Nalina Kalapati

The given name tends to be a remix of their first name while the surnames are generally based on real Filipino words or surnames. In the theoretical Aleseya conlang I'd make (which I will hopefully make one day), these words would have roughly the same meaning as the original names did.

[alesseia]

3, 6, and 14 for Maya

(for the character ask game!!)

Oh, wow, now that's a character I haven't done anything with and really need to develop HAHAHAHAHA

for anyone else wondering, this is Maya:

and this is her Toyhouse profile page!

anyway, for the actual questions:

#3 - Least favorite canon thing about this character?

Oh, hm, this is a hard one! I quite like the storyline I've thought for her, honestly. I think my main problem with writing her—and hence why I don't write her, like, at all—is that I don't think her cold defrosting ice queen personality is all that endearing to me. I do think that her personality suits the backstory she has and that it contrasts well with the other two, warmer characters that she's normally grouped together with, but I'm simply not much of a kuudere fan. Not sure how to solve that problem though, other than minimizing her involvement in the plot.

#6 - What’s something you have in common with this character?

Not sure! I've always felt pretty distant to this character. I suppose that I've got a tendency to compare myself to others, and this girl definitely does the same since she's got a twin sister who outshines her. Huh, maybe I should find a way to add more similar traits so I can relate better to her.

#14 - Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

Oh god this is hard. I know she dresses in bright orange, but I keep switching between sleek smart casual and funky streetwear. I went with funky streetwear for this moodboard I made because I think it's closer to her:alesse

[alesseia]

wip files game

Tagged by @pluttskutt!! You can find their post here.

Rules: Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigue them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have WIPS.

Okay so one thing to note about my WIPs that literally everything is either related to my original fantasy series Alesseia or an AU of it. Sorry for being a one-track mind 😅 Everything except the first four WIPs are AUs!

alesseia book 1

the two heirs

nathan - homophobia

nathan - birds

bodyswap

shining pearl nuzlocke

white 2 castlocke

high school musical au

kidfic/time travel au

time loop

ravhan soulmate au

ravhan - the noh mask

year of the otp 2023 (which is technically a series of oneshot challenges I've been meaning to write)

warm and fluffy bingo (see above)

Tagging: @iced-ginger-tea, @tate-lin, @blind-the-winds, @mrbexwrites, @yors-truly, and anyone else who'd love to join!! NOT tagging 14 people because honestly not sure who'd appreciate me tagging, but feel free to let me know if you'd like to be tagged here!!

[ink-flavored]

Spice Tolerance Tag Game

hey I make tag games now too

Rules: rank your characters’ spice tolerance from 🌶 to 🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶 (or from 1 to 5, if you don’t want to use emojis). Feel free to add more detail, and then tag others to play next!

I’m gonna start this off with the main P&J cast:

Pride: he’s a 🌶🌶 (2) when it comes to actually being affected by spice, but will intentionally make/order food that’s too spicy for him because he’s a masochist and wants it to hurt. don’t take him to a hot wing restaurant, he’ll start moaning and you’ll get asked to leave.

Justice: he’s a 🌶🌶🌶🌶 (4), so he can handle spice pretty well, but it’s not his favorite kind of food to eat. he’ll eat spicy dishes and enjoy them, but they’re never his number one choice for flavor and he rarely makes things that spicy when he’s just cooking for himself.

Ollie: tragically, she’s a 🌶 (1). every time she’s tried to ease herself into spice, it’s been so bad she couldn’t finish what she was eating. she’s resigned herself to this fate.

Sofía: a solid 🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶 (5), her parents grew up making her traditional Mexican food and often has to intentionally raise the heat of “spicy” food she gets at take-out to make it taste like anything at all. there’s a small stockpile of different hot sauces in the pantry for her alone.

Dante: they can handle up to a 🌶🌶🌶 (3), and have been trying to raise that level for a while. it’s slow going, but Sofía won’t let them give up!!!

Tagging: @foxys-fantasy-tales @noblebs @ceph-the-ghost-writer @auntdarth @damageinkorporated

@srjacksin @wyked-ao3 @alesseia @vacantgodling @void-botanist and anyone else who wants to play!

[ink-flavored]

Get to Know Your Moots Writeblr Interview

This looked fun, and I love answering lists of questions

Tagging: @foxys-fantasy-tales @noblebs @ceph-the-ghost-writer @auntdarth @damageinkorporated @srjacksin @wyked-ao3 @alesseia and anyone else who wants to do it!

Blank Questions for those who join me!

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On the Tumblr Writing Community

How long have you had your writing Tumblr/Writeblr? A fast and loose estimate is fine!

I’ve been on Tumblr since 2014, but I didn’t make this writeblr sideblog until 2019.

What led you to create it?

Mainly because I crave organization, and I felt weird posting my fanfiction to a blog where I didn’t really talk about writing. Plus, I didn’t feel like anyone on my main would have been interested in hearing me talk about my original writing either, and even if they were, it would have been drowned in everything else I reblogged. I wanted to have a place that was 100% dedicated to writing to keep my blog topics more organized.

What’s your favorite thing about the Writeblr community?

I love talking about writing, for one, but I also love how many varied ideas you see in this community. There are SO MANY incredible WIPs waiting to be discovered here, of any genre you can think of, featuring ideas that make you salivate. The world-building some of you people have going on is fucking amazing, and I’m eating it.

What’s one thing you’d like your mutuals to know about you?

I love talking about stories, including yours! Come say hello if you feel at all inclined to!

Is there anything you’d like to see more of on your dash?

More people going crazy and/or stupid about their own stuff. Be your own biggest fan, and others will follow!

The kinds of writing I always enjoy seeing more of, in general, though: poetry (literally any kind of poetry), fantasy (high & urban), sci-fi (hard & soft), crime (bonus points if set during the Prohibition), romance, erotica (bonus points if kinky), detailed world-building (bonus points for fiddly politics, more bonus points if it’s inspired by other cultures than the generic European template), and any of these things in combination with each other!

What tips/advice do you have for someone who made a Writeblr today?

Reblog other people’s work if you want them to reblog yours, always send someone an ask if you reblog an ask game from them, don’t be afraid to self-reblog no matter how annoying you think it is, but most importantly, do whatever you want forever. Have fun.

Lots more under the cut!

WIP it Good

Which Works-in-Progress (WIPs) or writing projects are you noodling about, lately?

Mainly my [currently untitled] urban fantasy anthologies and Pride & Justice. My anthologies are getting outlined for my own make-shift “write as much as you can” challenge I’m doing in parallel to NaNo this year, and I’m basically always thinking about P&J at all times whether I like it or not.

How long have you been working on them?

My anthologies are only officially around… a year or two old, probably? I had the initial impetus to start them ages ago (like, closer to 4 or 5 years ago), but didn’t start working on them as an actual project until relatively recently. Hell, I didn’t have the idea for an erotic urban fantasy anthology until December 2023!!

As for Pride & Justice, it will celebrate its second birthday on August 9th! It’s the only WIP I have such a specific date for, since it originally started as a fanfic I did for AUgust2022.

Do you remember what inspired them/what got you started?

For my anthologies, I’ve always loved urban fantasy, but pretty much all the urban fantasy I could find growing up was lacking in some way (to me). Either the fantasy elements were pasted onto our already existing world—usually “in secret” or with some other excuse to keep the “regular people” from finding out—or it was a genuine fantasy world with more advanced technology, but always a detective story. Seriously, what’s with urban fantasy and detective thrillers? They’re cool, but there’s so many of them…

I craved something closer to a “slice of life” urban fantasy—what would a fantasy world with our current level of technology and manufacturing actually look like? How would people live, what would a city be like, how would things like magic change what a sufficiently advanced culture looks like? And then, of course, the crazy magical sex????? That’s the logic I’m working from with both my anthologies, a sort of “what-if” combined with a slice-of-life peek into urban fantasy lives.

For P&J it’s a lot simpler: the fanfiction I wrote simply didn’t want to be a fanfiction. It wanted to be something bigger, more original, with more room to breathe. I gave it permission to be itself.

How much time, in your best estimation, do you spend thinking about them?

All of the time. Forever. If I am thinking about something, it’s probably my WIPs.

When someone asks the dreaded, “What do you write about,” question, what do you usually say?

I reflexively answer “fantasy, and I dabble in sci-fi and contemporary fiction.” Sometimes I clarify I write both high and urban fantasy, because most people assume high fantasy. I usually also mention I write poetry, and sometimes I’ll mention my Magnet Monday schtick.

What do you want to say (if it’s different from what you do say)?

Well, if people could get really cool about me saying “fantasy romance and erotica” that would be neat. I think we’re still a little ways off from other people’s reactions not being 1) smiling stiffly but politely before changing the subject or 2) making a rude face before changing the subject.

Let’s Rotate Blorbos

Name any characters you created.  Side characters, protagonists, antagonists, characters who’ve never been written, the first original abomination you ever pulled from your ass; whomever you’d like!

List them all? We’d be here a while.

I have an OC Roulette that I spin when I need to pick a character at random for whatever reason, so I’ll just list the ones currently on it:  Pride, Justice, Kindness, Ollie, Sofia, Dante, Honesty, Lust, Xinya, Yu-Qi, Jao, Han Lao, Sita Zhai, Asim, Mira, Cahaya, Priscilla, Henry, Yvonne, Harlan, Hayden, Lenora, Teconia, Seraph, Park, Jamie, Kiran. And the OC Roulette list will surely expand as I come up with more blorbos.

Who’s the most unhinged?

It depends on how you define unhinged, I guess? Yu-Qi could be considered unhinged because she’s a God-Dragon who does not care much what you think of her and does literally whatever she wants, whenever she wants. Priscilla enjoys violence to a suspicious degree, to the point where her husband just sighs and shrugs about it. Honesty is an Evangelical Christian angel with the one and only mission to carry out God’s Word. Take your pick, really.

Who comes the most naturally for you to write?

Can I just blanket say “the protagonists”? Generally, I use the POV characters for a reason, and it’s because I find them the most comfortable to write. I very rarely write multi-POV stories, and when I do switch POVs, it’s usually for one very significant part that the regular POV character isn’t present for or something. So—Pride, Xinya, Asim, Priscilla, etc.

Do you ever cringe at them?

Honestly, not really. Sometimes I get nervous about people accusing me of self-inserting or whatever, but then I remember that those people are stupid and lame. Of course my characters are going to be at least a little like me—I created them. Some will be more similar than others, but I put a little bit of myself into everything I write, including the characters. And even if they were self-inserts, who cares? I can do whatever I want, and don’t need to cater to pissants.

How much control do you feel you have over your characters?  AKA, do they ever “write themselves,” refuse to cooperate, or do things you didn’t expect? To what degree? Are some less cooperative than others?

They fly off the handle sometimes. The most persistent example is from The God-Dragon’s Wife, which was supposed to be about a monogamous couple, but a prominent side character started hassling me to make it a polycule so she could join in. I am now rethinking the entire plot to see if I can make it work.

In general, though, I feel like my characters exist somewhere in between “totally under my control” and “completely unrestrained.” I can drop a character into a scenario and act them through it, and there are absolutely times where I go “nah that’s out of character,” and have to change something. But for the most part, it’s like… observation. If I have a good handle on a character’s personality, arc, and motivations, I can just watch. Wow, look at ‘em go…

Do you enjoy people asking questions about your characters? And do you have a preferred means of receiving said questions? For example, as Asks, as replies, as reblogs, as tag notes, as comments on AO3, etc.

YEAH!!!!! ALWAYS AND FOREVER!!!!!!

Honestly, no preferred medium for questions. Send me an ask, reply in a post, DM me, message me on Discord (if you have it), leave a comment on my website, whatever. I love talking about my characters, and if you also want to talk to me about my characters, well that means I love you too.

On Writeblr Engagement

What makes you want to follow another Writeblr account? Do you follow ‘em as you see ‘em, or take time scoping out the blog to make sure you align with its content? Do you follow based on WIPs, or vibes?

Usually I scope out a blog and see if their WIPs are interesting enough for me to want to see regularly on my dash. Sometimes I’ll see a post from someone looking for other blogs that post [x] genre or [y] content, and if they match up with what I do, I’ll skim their intros (if they have them). I don’t like horror, so I’m not gonna follow people who only post horror stuff. I really like fantasy, so I’m more inclined to follow people who post fantasy stuff. If I see a particularly interesting WIP, I’ll follow the person even if it’s not the kind of thing I normally read. It all depends!

What makes you decide against following?

Genres I don’t like to read and my personal squicks, usually. Maybe the WIPs didn’t grab me. Some writeblr blogs are also people’s main blogs where they post a lot of other non-writing things, and I usually don’t follow those since I’m here for the writing first and foremost.

Do you interact with non-mutuals often?

Sometimes! Usually it’s my mutuals who talk to me the most, so I interact with them the most. As a general rule though, if you talk to me, I’m gonna talk to you back, no matter what our following status is.

Do your mutuals’ characters occupy space in your noodle?

If I know enough about them, yeah! I have plenty of other people’s OCs floating around in my brain from time to time, especially if they’re a regular occurrence on my dash.

[alesseia]

Hey there! I’m Aurora and welcome to my art/writeblr blog 💖 The blog is named after the original world that I created and primarily draw/write for, Alesseia!

Alesseia is a Filipino-coded country set in an original world where magic is widespread and contributes to modern-day technology. The story plays with a lot of tropes present in coming-of-age fantasy. If you like Percy Jackson, you might like my story!

Feel free to ask me anything, including questions on my stories or sharing stuff about yours! You can also include me in tag games, I think they’re a lot of fun.

More about me and my works under the cut:

about me:

they/them pronouns

I’m aroace, but I tend to enjoy romance and sometimes sex in fiction

I currently have a pet hamster named Mocha

my current fandom obsession is Pokémon, especially the Pokespe manga and nuzlocking the games

popular themes in my works are:

fate and destiny

love and relationships of all kinds

queer outcasts finding a home together

messy people learning to grow and be better

happy endings

content warning tags include:

violence (tagged as “violence”)

minor character deaths (tagged as “character death”)

homo- and transphobia, both externalized and internalized (tagged as “queerphobia”)

anything else I feel needs tagging

Please feel free to ask me to tag for something I missed! Also, please note that just because I write about it doesn’t mean I support it. That said, a lot of my non-main-series works (especially artworks) are really just cute and fluffy stuff, haha. I’m very bad with angsty stuff 😅

alesseia tags include:

stuff related to the main/original series: #alesseia main

stuff related to spin-offs based in the original world: #alesseia spinoff

stuff related to its AUs: #alesseia au

other tags include:

art tag: #ashenart

writing tag: #ashenwriting

moodboards: #ashenaesthetics

playlists: #ashenplaylists

answered asks: #answered asks

self-reblog: #srb

And that should be everything for now! This is the very first post on the blog, so there’s nothing else here at the time of this post, but I’ll be getting around to posting soon. Thanks for reading all this, by the way!