#i'm very much on the fitzloved ship

[kizunarae]

thinking about how Fitz seems so blind to Kettricken's affection towards him in later books. I think he tried so hard in Royal Assassin to block Verity's feelings from overflowing in himself that he just could never consider it afterwards. and it was quickly filed away under Things Too Uncomfortable To Contemplate

[garnetrena]

Realm of the Elderlings Ask Meme Thing

I was tagged by @tragediegh , thanks!! 💙💙💙

Favorite Rote Book: Assassin's Quest and Fool's Errand

Why: I love Assassin's Quest because there's a lot of my favorite parts in the whole saga in it: Fitz and the Fool in Jhaampe, Kettle (who's a character that I love a lot), the stone dragons... It's very epic and I love it.

On the contrary, I love how Fool's Errand is mundane and domestic, especially in the beginning. Once again, Fitz and the Fool in the cabin is one of my favorite moments in the whole series. I also love the persona of Lord Golden.

Top Three Favorite Characters: The Fool, of course (I speak so much of him that pretty much all my friends know him, even if they've never read the books!). Kettricken is another character that I love a lot. And Umbre, even if he's morally grey, but that's why I like him! I also love Nighteyes and Lady Patience a lot, but we're supposed to only say three characters.

Top Three Least Favorite Characters: Galen, Hest and Dwalia

Favorite Ship (of the floating kind): Paragon. I love his character development and his relationshp with Amber is beautiful.

Top Three Favorite Ships (of the people kind): Fitz/the Fool (Fitzloved), Lacey/Patience and Burrich/Chivalry.

Would you rather be Witted or Skilled? Skilled, to understand people better and to reach out with my friends who live far away

If you were Witted, what animal would you bond with? A dog or a wolf, like Fitz

Would you rather live in the Outislands, the Mountain Kingdom, the Six Duchies, Bingtown, The Rain Wilds, Kelsingra, Jamaillia, The Pirate Isles, or the Fool's Homeland? Kelsingra or Mercenia (the Fool's Homeland)

How were you introduced to the books? When I was a scout, one of my chiefs was really into these books and she advised me to read them. I was ~15 and I didn't know it would change my life. I went to the library and borrowed them. And now, here I am!

Share a quote you love: There's so many of them!

"‘I am not the person I was born. Neither are you. I know no one who is. Truly, Fitz, all we ever know are facets of one another. Perhaps we feel as if we know one another well when we know several facets of that person. Father, son, brother, friend, lover, husband… a man can be all of those things, yet no one person knows him in all those roles." (The Fool, Fool's Fate)

"He is not my lover. He is far more than that to me, far more precious." (The Fool, Fool's Fate)

‘Why can’t people love one another and still remain free?’ (...)

‘One can love that way,’ she conceded regretfully. ‘But the price on that kind of love may be the highest of all.’ She strung her words together as carefully as she strung her beads. ‘To love another person like that, you have to admit that his life is as important as yours. Harder still, you have to admit to yourself that perhaps he has needs you cannot fill, and that you have tasks that will take you far away from him. It costs loneliness and longing and doubt and –’

‘Why must love cost anything? Why does need have to be mixed up with love? Why can’t people be like butterflies, coming together in bright sunshine and parting while the day is still bright?’

‘Because they are people, not butterflies.’

(Althea and Amber, Mad Ship)

It was the old naming magic : if I know how you are truly named, I have power over you. If I tell you my name, I grant you that power. (Fool’s Errand)

And the iconic:

Wolves have no kings. (Assassin's Quest)

And I'm tagging: @chonaku-things , @blackandwhitemotley , @elderling-magic , @electropeach , @madou-dilou , @whatevsbla and whoever loves Robin Hobb and feels like doing this ask meme! And no pressure if you don't want to do it, consider it's just me saying hello ✨

[thenightisland]

tagged by the lovely @mellowthorn for a rote Q&A thingy under the cut bc it's long

Favourite RotE Book: assassin's quest and fool's fate are constantly vying for the number one slot and the answer changes day by day

Why: on aq days it's bc that's the book that took this series from "wow i really like this" to "oh i'm going to be obsessed with these for the rest of my life huh." it has, i think, the best ending. it has my favorite chapter (ch 20 jhaampe my beloved). parts of it hit very close to home. on ff days it's bc well ff is insane. no book has ever gotten the reaction out of me that that one did. i do not cry at books; it made me cry seven times. it has such excellent payoff for stuff that was set up in the earliest books (rh queen of playing the long game). most heartwrenchingly beautiful moments on earth just chapter after chapter of them.

Top Three Favourite Characters: i think i am one of the few people whose favorite character genuinely is fitz lol. beloved obv number two. after that the answer also changes every day but i'm very partial to web and kettricken.

Top Three Least Favourite Characters: this may be biased due to me being neck deep in ship of destiny at the moment, but 98% of the men in lst need to be set on fire

Favourite Ship (of the floating kind): paragon

Top Three Favourite Ships (of the people kind): (keeping our venn diagram overlap answers) Fitzloved, Burrich/Chivalry, Patience/Lacey

Would you rather be Witted or Skilled: skilled. it seems so handy with the healing and prolonging your life. and i get traumatized enough by animal death as it is without introducing the wit to that equation.

If you were Witted, what animal would you bond with?: some kind of bird

Would you rather live in the Outislands, the Mountain Kingdom, the Six Duchies, Bingtown, the Rain Wilds, Kelsingra, Jamaillia, the Pirate Isles, or Fool’s Homeland?: practicality says bingtown bc i like being relatively warm and by the ocean and not get fantasy radiation poisoning from where i live but...but kelsingra is so fucking neat

How were you introduced to the books? a friend of mine on here always posted about them and our tastes overlapped so much that despite the fact that at the time i said i didn't like fantasy and wouldn't read it, i figured if this friend of mine liked these books there must be a reason. i read the left hand of darkness bc she posted about it too and when i mentioned reading it to her she was like "lol yeah it's hard for me to separate it from fool's fate" so i thought "maybe it's time to read those books then"

Share a quote you love: somewhat abridged for length's sake, from RA, and was one of those bits i count as early warning sign of my impending obsession lol:

“ ‘Not all men are destined for greatness,’ I reminded him

‘Are you sure, Fitz? Are you sure? What good is a life lived as if it made no difference at all to the great life of the world? A sadder thing I cannot imagine. Why should not a mother say to herself, if I raise this child aright, if I love and care for her, she shall live a life that brings joy to those about her, and thus I have changed the world? Why should not the farmer that plants a seed say to his neighbor, this seed I plant today will feed someone, and that is how I change the world today?’

‘This is philosophy, Fool. I have never had time to study such things.’

‘No, Fitz, this is life. And no one has time not to think of such things. Each creature in the world should consider this thing, every moment of the heart’s beating. Otherwise, what is the point of arising each day?…You create possibilities….I have seen the end of the world, Fitz. Seen it woven as plainly as I’ve seen my birth. Oh, not in your lifetime, nor even mine. But shall we be happy, to say that we live in the dusk rather than the full night? Shall we rejoice that we shall only suffer, while your offspring will be the ones to know the torments of the damned? Shall this be why we do not act?’ ”

also and underrated one from FA:

“Oh, the things we discover and the things we learn, much too late. Worse are the secrets that are not secrets, the sorrows we live with but do not admit to one another.”

i have also thought about "every nuance of his grace as familiar to me as the drawing of breath" literally every day but that's a given if there's a sappy line you can be sure i am thinking about it nonstop without a moment's peace

[lairn]

I was tagged by @gwenllian-in-the-abbey. Thanks, time to review some stats!

How many works do you have on AO3?

6

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

13,400 (is there a non-manual way to do this?)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Realm of the Elderlings and only RotE, haha

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

When you only have 6 works this doesn't say much! Patience in Winter I'd Rather Die Alone Weak Willed Loomings or, A Short Tale of Woe Never Know Peace (surprised anyone even saw this one)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes, virtually always. If anybody takes the time to share their thoughts with me, I at least want to thank them.

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I was just noticing all my stuff ends with a little bummer even if the tone beforehand was more pleasant. But probably Weak Willed.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Unfortunately, probably I'd Rather Die Alone. Or Patience in Winter.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No, very few people read them to begin with! I'd be confused to receive hate, although it's not impossible it would happen.

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

A lot of what I've written is based on prompts. My default would probably be no smut and so far I've only written erotic (sub)text once. But maybe I'd write it if I got a request. It's just not my natural impulse.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Before I had an AO3 I started a NBC Hannibal/Minority Report crossover, haha! I only wrote a few paragraphs, and as soon as Hannibal showed up I quit. Much easier to write Will Graham's voice.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I really doubt it.

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

No, but I've done a little beta reading.

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

I'm not really a shipper. If I see enough fan-content of a ship, it wins me over but not passionately. Serizawa/Reigen is an example. But I do feel pretty strongly that Fitz and The Fool have a queer relationship. I'm more in the QPR camp, but really enjoy the romantic fitzloved shippers' works. And sometimes the thought crosses my mind, "Oh Fitz, you fucked that gold man."

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I don't have any unless that Hannibal story counts. The recent Malta one took so long I thought I might not finish.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Mm, I think I can get a pretty good sense of characters and their voices. I'm not sure how clearly that translates to the page, but the clarity exists in my head.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I like including sense details (sight, sound, smell, etc.) but I'm not sure if they enhance things or are more intrusive. Dialogue feels bad, man.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I haven't and probably won't. If the characters understand it, I'd probably write in English and indicate it was said in another language.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

I wrote an additional chapter to add to the end of One Hundred Years of Solitude for a high school assignment. I think it counts because we had the option to do an analytical essay, but I was so excited about the book that I had to take the creative writing option. Nobody else did I think.

20. Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

Maybe Weak Willed. I feel like it's fun to read and someone did fanart of it!

tagging: @smalltownfae

[smalltownfae]

I was tagged by @lairn (thanks :D)

How many works do you have on AO3?

10 (I had no idea I had this many wow).

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

22,925 it seems.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Realm of the Elderlings and I have a single Nightrunners fic just for myself because not only is the fandom dead, but it's about a character people hate hahaha I do want to write for other books, but RotE is my passion.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. Can You Feel the Skex Tonight? (*cue me pretending to be shocked that the Fitzloved porn is the fic with the most kudos* but omg it currently has 69 kudos XD please let it remain that way. No one do anything) 2. Letters from the Garden Girl 3. A TALE FROM THE MOUNTAINS 4. In the End You Are Beloved 5. Morning Routine

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes. I might take a long time to reply, but I always do. If I don't it's because I didn't see it or I was busy at the moment and forgot and I'm sorry. But, I think that never happened.

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably the In the End You Are Beloved fic (?)

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Hope, the Nightrunner fic hahaha I wrote it specifically to give a sort of happy ending to that character.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

My fics aren't popular enough to get hate.

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Not really. I am never too specific. I did write some, but I write it the way I like to read about it which means it's either fade to black or stuff is hinted at, but I don't like to use many of the words people use to write smut so if I did it it would also be too repetitive, I guess.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

No and I also don't like to read those so...

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

My fics aren't popular enough to be stolen.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

My fics aren't popular enough to be translated (do you see what I mean? XD).

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Not really. A friend beta read one fic for me once, but to be honest I am more of a fan of doing my own thing and let the comments be the ones to criticize it or ignore it. I have more fun that way because I also seldom reread my fics more than once when editing. I am lazy because this is purely for fun. I would put more effort in serious original work, but with fanfic my main goal is to have fun.

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

Fitzloved. Unbeatable so far and I doubt it will ever be overtaken. I don't have that many ships to begin with and my usual reaction is "oh this is cute" and move on. I feel very strongly about Fitzloved though, but it used to be worse when I was reading the books.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

Some RotE fanfics I have started,but I feel like I need to reread the books in order to continue. I hate to be the kind of fanfic writer that must fit the fic into the work according to my interpretation and my vision, but it's just the way I am. I can read stuff that deviates a lot from the original, but I cannot write it.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I haven't been writing much so I feel like I have to relearn it again. The thing is I am more intuitive than objective. I write how I feel it's right and sounds good instead of doing research about grammar or anything. That is a flaw though oops. I have no idea. This is a question for the readers.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

See above. I seldom look up grammar hahah because again I do very little when it comes to editing fics since editing isn't fun to me.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I don't do it. I write in english and portuguese, but I don't mix the two.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Realm of the Elderlings. I never wrote fanfic in my life before that. I used to write some original stories as a kid and a teenager, but my first contact with actual fandom happened very late for me and my first fic was that unfinished Jek x Amber one on AO3.

20. Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

A TALE FROM THE MOUNTAINS because it was the one I put some effort into editing haha I think I reread three times. Also, it is no coincidence that my favourite is the one I took a lot of liberties with since I could do anything with the scraps Hobb gives about Fitz's mother in the series. I do prefer to write original works. That is no secret. I put more effort into it and I like creating something from nothing instead of having to go reread another author's work to see if I am being loyal enough to the source material. Fanworks and original works demand different skills even if some of the work done is similar.

tagging: @whatevsbla