#hindsight i should have talked about alexis or king sam because i have more interesting commentary about that

[zozo-01]

💕💕 self-love time! talk about which ones of YOUR creations (edits, artworks, fanfics) you like the most then send to other creators to do the same 💕💕

ahhhhhh, gingerrrr!!! thank you, thank you for this ask!!! i shall try to provide interesting commentary, but alas, w o r d s T-T

in honour of the quinn trilogyyy, why not bring back my quinn and darlin' fic??? well too bad, that's what we're talking about!!! You and Me, For Old Times Sake?

this fic was written shortly after sam's 2022 hbs video, where he mentions prepping skyside for the monarchal summit. as the fandom does, they all decided that quinn would crash it, and instead of rolling my eyes, i said, "wait, hold on. you're actually onto something." a conversation with @softredrobin and their gorgeous artwork later, boom!!! we got quinn and darlin' having their lovers to enemies moment.

of course, my version of quinn in this story is different than canon! quinn. for starters, my quinn genuinely loved darlin' at one point, all be it obsessively. he just wants them to be his and is willing to do everything to remind them who they belong too. he's only violent when darlin' challenges that notion of who "owns" them. we also don't know enough about canon! quinn to see if he loved darlin' or loved the idea of them.

anyone who knows about my darlin' characterization knows that i think of them as a bleeding heart. they hate quinn for what he's done to others, but they can't help but remember the good times once in a while. so when they dance with him, they can't help but try to see the good in him, in hopes that he's changed for the better. if they have to kill him, they will, but that doesn't mean they want to.

it also highlights darlin's habit of tanking (ha, see what i did there?) any kind of discomfort they may face. especially if it means protecting someone they love. "If they let his hands on their body, he won’t be close to Sam." in my mind, darlin' would do anything to have the attention on them and deal with those consequences alone, i.e. dancing with quinn so he doesn't focus on anyone else, until someone notices.

the hardest part of this fic was probably finding a balance between "darlin' reminiscing about the good times" and "darlin' still being in love with quinn". i think it really helped to start with darlin' hating quinn how they were thinking about all the ways they could kill him. (remember, this was back in july 2022 when none of us knew if the quinn plot would be brought back.) but again, darlin's a softie underneath the violence forced on them.

in terms of darlin' POV, me saying that they couldn't let go of quinn was more them wishing things they could have fixed their ending. i've mention that i write darlin's character as a south asian woman, meaning their outlook on life reflects on what south asian woman are taught.

one key and toxic idea that many of us are taught that it's our job to fix others issues. typical "elder daughter trauma" stuff. this includes blaming ourselves for toxic relationships and having things end badly. darlin' has spent countless nights combing through the last few days with quinn and wondering if they said something differently, it wouldn't be like this. of course, none of it was their fault, but at this time, they were pretty early in their healing era.

then we get to the end of the dance, where quinn zips off to do his own thing. (stalking darlin' even longer.) almost immediately, darlin runs back to see sam, which is kind of a growth moment for them. in the past, darlin' in these situations would have run off somewhere and self destruct on their own. but now, they have and can rely on sam being there for the. besides, i can't help but not bring back my favourite southern man, hehe.

the ending ending was a last minute decision to include. for most of this fic, we only see darlin's POV and feelings about quinn, but the final lines were kinda my way to give a lil insight on the other side. in my mind (at this time at least), quinn does love darlin', but is so wrapped up in creating his perfect world (one where they are by his side) that he's willing to hurt them to keep them obedient. he acknowledges he fucked up, but he doesn't care, he just wants them.

i was originally going to make a part two of this fic where we see quinn's POV, but alas, tis was never meant to beee.

as always, i always have to slip in darlin' with a city accent. <333 "‘I swear I’ve seen this man before. Fuck, he don’t look like he’s clan but still…’" honestly, writing city accents are the hardest thing because a) in terms of writing, it can easily be mistaken for a southern accent and b) writing a city accent out can seem awkward and stilted, these are phrases that are only said for a reason.

anywho, once againnn, thank you thank you for your ask ginger!!!!!