#elemental master of the storm probs

[aikainkauna]

Fanfic trope meme

Apologies to those of you who see this for a third time, as I’ve crossposted it to both LJ and Pillowfort. Feel free to comment over on there (or my other posts) if you like. And of course, feel free to grab this one and do it yourself, if you like.

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Grabbed this meme from a couple of people on LJ. It's... well, apparently about fanfic tropes. Some of them more terrifying than others.

I have written:

-Hurt/comfort (Yeah, baby! Most of my fic is this.)

-Body swapping (Sort of? Souls slipping into each other's bodies for a bit? Jaffar feeling what Yassamin feels? Sex swap, I've definitely done.)

-Soulmate identifying marks (tattoo, red thread of fate, etc) (I have! The Throne of Solomon. And maybe The Past Forgotten counts, in its way. I may have written more, but I forget.)

-Snowed-in cabin/isolated together for extended period of time (The Jaffar/Pwinzezz Cavefic!)

-Found families (I guess the Samarkand gang counts for poor old Fadl? Even if Jaffar *is* his brother, so technically it is his family. But he does have his religious congregation and Zainab, and is... well, he always does seem to be seeking something, so he's the kind of guy to go for this trope.)

-Fairy tale/mythology AU (And not just when I am  writing in *actual* fairytale/mythology fandoms. Which I am doing most of the time, what with Thief of Bagdad being a 1001 Nights fanfic anyway. So I'm writing fanfic about a fanfic of some age-old RPF (fantasy AU!) about historical figures from the late 700s/early 800s...)

-Enemies  to friends to lovers (Yes, please! Aplenty. I'm surprised that  enemyslash/FoeYay/Hero(ine)/Villain(ess), whatever you want to call it,  isn't mentioned on this list.)

-Characters swap roles AU (Uh... I've written sexual switching in some isolated chapters? Like when Laura  briefly doms Torsten in The Fall of Angels, to help him get over some traumas?)

-Friends to lovers (With RPS, Veidtbone in particular, and Theta/Koschei. This also seems to happen whenever I write femslash.)

-Magical  connection (telepathy, etc) (Doctor/Master basically ruined me for all  my other ships what with their telepathic ability. So that now, it feels less interesting for me to write love/sex that *doesn't* have telepathy.)

-Fake dating/fake marriage accidentally turns into feelings (see next trope)

-Royals/political marriage turns into feelings (These last two are pretty much the same thing in ToB, as I've had Yassamin marry Jaffar a couple of times--like The Past Forgotten and The King's White Falcon, but without him laying a hand on her for up to a year, until she finally grows a brain and realises how loveworthy he is after all.)

-Seemingly unrequited pining (Emphasis on the "seemingly." Jaffar's unrequited   pining is painful enough in the movie, so there's no point in making him  suffer any more.)

-Accidentally fell in love with the mission target (Well, *kind of,* what with Torsten. Lars-Erik was definitely his mission target in the original film, and at the start of Because The World Belongs to the Devil, he made no bones about having wanted to kill Laura Erika [the teenage girl version of Lars-Erik in this AU, to those of you just joining in] when she was born.)

-They break up (but then they get back together) (With Jaffar/Fadl.  Fadl's stormed off in a huff at least twice in the past. And Doctor/Master is always the same old on-off car crash, isn't it? Although this is not a favourite trope of mine, as the setup would usually necessitate them being an existing couple in the first place,  and I tend to not write canon or "plausibly lovers" ships because   they're already happily together. What do Two and Jamie, Holmes and   Watson etc. need me for? They're already as good as married. Let them have their happiness.)

-Supernatural creature/human romance (Sort of. I've written Time Lords/humans, humans/djinn at least. And surely wizards count as supernatural romance, anyway?)

-Reincarnation/'25  Lives' AU (What's with the 25 lives? Is this some big fandom thing again? One of the darkest, most fucked-up fics I ever wrote was the Master killing the Doctor during sex and fucking him as he regenerated around him. As you do. And there's reincarnation in one of my Jaffar/Pwinzezz fics,  but I won't spoil it for the new readers by telling you which one it is.)

-Selfcest (possibly due to time travel) (I am scratching my head trying to remember when I wrote this and in which fandom, but I have the distinct feeling I've written it. I've certainly whacked off to  that World Of Simm!Masters clusterfuck what with the pink dress so many  times I... I think I broke two clit buzzers during that time. I've certainly drawn it. And drawn some Connies on Connies. And then there's, of course, Sarosh the Sexbot  who's a clone of Jaffar, looks-wise, but he is very distinctly just a robot, not a living character as such--not the sort with which you could  have a real, interpersonal dynamic. My problem with selfcest, in general, is that I like having that character dynamic--and that requires  the characters to be different from one another. If it's two characters  that are too similar--if they fulfill a similar role in the canons--it's hard to create a dynamic between them and to make it   interesting.)

-Polyamory (Swinging away ALL the bloody time with the Roses!Jaffar and Yassamin, and Torsten/Laura. Sometimes I miss the monogamous 'verses.)

-Amnesia (I've got a post-movie "Jaffar comes  back from the dead" WIP I'll probs never finish, because it doesn't seem to get off the ground. If I wrote this trope, I would have the characters gradually regain memory, though; complete mind-wipes are   horrid. I did have Handy lose the majority of his cognitive/motor/Timey skills in No More  and that was the main reason I had to... well, I'm not going to spoil it if someone hasn't read it yet, but it wasn't the cheeriest of fics. The Past Forgotten *sort of* has this, but I don't want to spoil as to how that happens.)

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I could write:

-Daemons (Why the archaic spelling? I have written djinn, so I almost put this in the 'have written' section. I can't remember if I actually *have* written real demons, because I might have. Surely, Torsten counts...)

-'Everyone is evil'/mirrorverse AU (Well, mostly, if I want to explore "evil"   characters, I write about those types of characters in the first place, without having to turn anyone evil. Devilry is the 'verse for that. Hell, usually it's the other way around; I try to look for the human elements of the baddies, or at least explore their logic--what makes them tick, what makes them the way they are. So, IDK, I could've also   put this in the "unlikely to ever write" section.)

-And they were roommates! (This would be terrible and also hilarious, whatever characters ended up becoming my victims. Even if I'm more interested in those hurt/comfort plots, overall. And I have always found it *impossible* to live under the same roof with other people because I need peace and quiet and solitude too much. So this is almost a bit too much like the sorts of negative RL experiences I don't really want to get more of in fic.  But I *could* write it as a comedy for cheap lols, especially if the stress were resolved by hot bonking, ASAP.)

-'They  all work in an office' AU (Otherwise, I would've put this in the "just  no" category, but... the Barmakids were civil servants. So I *could*   write Jaffar and Fadl drowning in paperwork--"WHY DID WE EVER introduce paper into THIS EMPIRE?!?" and cursing their fates and Jaffar restraining Fadl from braining Harun al-Rashid with a paperweight. Same with Lina doing Zainab's books and trying to hold back The Fist of Death when Fadl carelessly drops a piece of his lunch over her perfectly calligraphied accounting.)

-'Falling for a coworker/teammate is a bad idea' except this is fiction so it works out (Maybe. Just maybe. But it'd also be in a medieval ToB context.)

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I will probably never write:

-'Groundhog  Day'/karmic time loop (I just never got the appeal of this. Sounds like the sort of thing experimental writers would like? The sorts who really  like filling in bingo cards and challenge lists?)

-Vampires/werewolves  AU (I'm not that big on either. Super-unpopular opinion coming up: I prefer sex to the sublimation of it that vampires are often all about; bloodsucking in lieu of sex, and/or being seen as way better than sex just always feel to me like a cheap cop-out from writers who are disappointed in sex, or afraid of it. I've never grokked it any more   than that stupid, stupid "chocolate is better than sex" quip from women who don't know what masturbation is--yes, it fucking well is sex, TYVM! I much prefer to make partnered sex better than it is IRL by adding supernatural stuff like telepathy to *that*. Immortality alone is interesting to explore, as are Gothic themes, but all the usual themes that vampires *specifically* usually represent just... either hold little interest for me, or then, I can explore them in other ways.)

-'Pride  and Prejudice' AU (I don't hate Jane Austen, but it's not my fandom. That kind of society stuff and being witty over teacups in bonnets has never really been my thing--if anything, I usually have my characters exist in their own bubble, isolated from society and its restrictive mores and social stresses.)

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JUST NO!

-Coffee  house AU/food service AU (AUGH! Please, no coffeeshop AUs for me; the world is full of them already. Maybe I could write it as some terrible, short parody? Or doodle it? But no more than that.)

-Hogwarts AU (Haven't read HP. Young Adult isn't really my genre. I know, I know; I've just lost all my WLW cred.)

-High  school/university AU (I've done Time Lord Academy-era stuff with Doctor/Master, but I expect this means a sort of American high school/university AU with jocks and cheerleaders and shit. Hell, no. Again, the exact sort of horrid society stuff I would rather have my characters escape from.)

-Adopting/raising a baby (Erm, not unless you count Jaffar/Yassamin adopting a cheetah? They do have kids in some 'verses but there's none of that everyday baby stuff that this question/trope probably implies. I'm squicked by   babies, sorry.)

-Unusually specific occupation AU, like, the Author clearly has the same job (It worries me that this is, by virtue of its inclusion here, apparently seen as normal and acceptable..? When it's crap fanfic, inserting yourself into something that should be about the *established* characters instead. Jesus, I don't want to go in expecting a fanfic, and then find out it’s your diary instead! Unless you're Anaïs Nin. And even if you really *do* want to write about yourself, then just... write original fic? An autobiography? A blog? Write an OC that has your job. Don't do this false advertising where you insist it's fanfic when it's not. That's a dick move towards your readers.)

-Loyalty kink (see next trope)

-Alpha/beta/omega (Too creepy. I can write about piss, shit, incest, necrophilia and cannibalism, but not these last two. Any more than I can glorify the Nazis I've written about; I either take the piss out of them, as with Strasser, or just step outside of their politics and bring them into the land of happy sexings like with von Kolb, with the aim of dragging him out of that madness and leaving it behind.)

-Hot single parent(s) (Please. Rundvik: "You love children." Torsten: "I loooooathe themm.")

-Unrequited pining (Too much of an emotional squick. Has to be requited. I write fanfic to fix things, to avenge wrongs, to set things right. I don't write them to make the characters more miserable than they already are. Unless it's for temporary, character-development purposes, that is.)

[adhdvane]

really long gbf ramble about my wind team under the cut

okay but in the last week my wind line up changed dramatically from

to

bc tia got a 5* uncap and i got valentine grimnir, and wind favored gw is like literally tomorrow,,

but honestly shit man valentine grimnir is like actually absolutely perfect for my specific set up. like i can see him being real low tier for certain set ups, especially early game. because you basically need a set up with some form of charge bar boost for him and frequent multi hit skill damage to speed up his cyclone lv gain (which tbh the 30 hit damage is only really going to happen when the boss is only one enemy which oops lol hl yggy, medusa (normal and hl), and baal are all not just one enemy but oh well). plus you want some form of damage cap, especially skill damage cap increase. i could probably have better skill damage cap increase (which is really what i should work on now), but as of now i do have sk lv15 qinglong spear malus, and 5* tia’s skill that boosts skill damage specs based on allies wind crests. what does suck is one once tia reaches 5 crests crippling storm becomes surpercell, which is great but it no longer gives wind crests to allies. HOWEVER BACK IN NOV I DREW ELIL, AND SHE CAN APPLY WIND CRESTS AND HAS A SUB AURA THAT BOOSTS WIND ATTACK BASED ON NUMBER OF CRESTS, SO DRAWING HER HAS FINALLY PAID OFF. Now unfortunately tia doesn’t have the most amazing multi attack, though i have 3 points in her em support skill that boosts her multi when not debuffed, and two in her trip, i also don’t really want to try and reroll her over mastery because she got 8% skill damage cap and 6% debuff resistance which both help even though they aren’t that high (and i’d rather try to reroll val grimnir bc he got da and that’s useless for him since he’s guaranteed to trip). Scathacha doesn’t have a multi at prob bc her sup skill boosts her multi when wind atk is applied (which is 100% uptime with her being lv 100), +5% trim from em and +12% double from over master (which also gave her a 12% skill damage cap) (AND I GAVE HER A WEDDING RING BECAUSE I LOVE HER AND WANTED TO RAISE HER DAMAGE CAP, I actually skill have one em star to fill, but bc it’s the last one it requires 28 points but im not 100% where i want to put it bc i have everything i wanted maxed taken, the 2 attack nodes, 2 def nodes, and 2 da nodes are all empty and the only ones left, i guess i could prob put it in da just bc soooometimes she does only attack once... but idk if maybe putting one in def or in just attack would be nice...). I don’t have too much problem Multi atk as Solider class with my class bonus of +10% trip, and +4% da and +2% da from master bonus and +5% trip in em (i didn’t bother putting any in da bc of bullet management, and once i could take bullet crafting off i put it into weapon spc damage bc my grid is still tia bolts and i’m using all 34 stars as of now bc atk, hp, def, skill damage, debuff success, ca I & II, total party hp, ta, damage cap, and one in skill damage II). But anyways, because I have the class champion weapon, John Doe, I don’t have to bother taking the reload skill because I reload on my ca. i take mis mist to hit def/atk down cap with tia, open fire & guerrilla tactics. now with guerrilla tactics when active if i dodge an attack i do 4 hit sup elemental damage to random foes (which helps val grimnir out) plus it boosts my chargebar gain, which when I wasn’t using tia in my part was necessary for starting the never need to reload cycle, since with the chargebar gain and then using open fire to fire all 6 of my bullets, it basically be like i just did two turns of trip attack (getting all the benefits of the bullets used) and gain an instant ca for the actual first turn of combat. then the second turn use the three round bust to use my three bullets and then be guaranteed to trip on the second turn of combat and get ca for third turn (but also ca doesn’t just reload my bullets it gives 30% charge bar boost so there’s no worry about making sure i have boosted charge bar to reach ca before using all my bullets for the rest of the fight, unless i get unlucky and a boss drains my charge bar, oh well). But the other important this I did to John Doe was the second skill i picked. Gunslinger’s Divinity. it’s basically a similar effect to guerrilla tactics, 4-hit sup elemental damage to random foes at the end of turn. except you don’t have to dodge, you just have to not take damage. both of these 4-hit superior elemental damage triggers also tend to be about 1 mill damage when triggered. but more importantly, when you’ve only got one boss enemy, with these it’s infinitely easier to hit damage one target 30 times to increase val grimnir’s cyclone lv. since his attack is 3-hit damage to random foes... 3 times... that guaranteed 9-hits. now idk how ca damage is counted since like if you don’t skip the animation it’s clearly multiple hits, but i do think it count’s because i’ve had his cyclone lv go up when the hits would not have added up to 30. though it also makes me wonder if poison damage counts as well, bc one of my parabellum bullets is poison (which i can always switch out to flame if i ever feel like it like bc maybe a boss is immune to poison but not burn). But anyways aside from the extra hit damage synergy, the other great synergy val grimnir has provided is his ougi buffs. bc man it might suck that his ougi does no damage, except it the buffs it provides are wonderful, yeah keen and the wind crit are obviously good, especially when you get holy rays of purification on the field and just goes into constant crit mode without even a single last storm harp in your grid. but the shield, yes only three turns, but with scathacha out on the field that isn’t just a shield it’s bonus wind damage for everyone... bonus wind damage for all 9 OF VALENTINE GRIMNIR’S HITS. bc each hit of the 3 hit damage count as separate damage instances and bonus damage, and supplemental damage apply to each one. and with 3 stars in his charge bar gain em node and tia’s 3 turn chargebar gain boost it makes up for his 35% slower charge bar gain, esp if he’s triple attacking every single damn turn. not to mention once you get holy rays of purification out, and you can just start focusing on building up 7 cyclone level’s for divine tempest, with the supplemental damage and skill damage cap increase i’ve got, the 20-hit, 150% wind damage with a cap of ~80,000 per hit becomes a damage cap of ~220,000 per hit and becomes a ~4.3 - 4.5 mil nuke that i can set up every ~4-5 turns (which can also make the debuffs indefinite if they land each time). and so that kinda makes up for his lack of ougi. he just needs times to set up and the right team. and one enemy bosses. like godsword alexiel, who i can almost solo now. (i can solo hl medusa no prob now, i’d done it before but it’s even easier now. baal is a bit of a problem child tho bc he’s special),,, wonder how he is for Gilgamesh, but i’ve only hosted the hl tier 3 summon raids like once for each bc i’m scared.