#mostly i just meant to do a couple bulletpoints and then

[thecat-inthehat]

You know, one thing I don’t think I’ve seen almost anyone talk about is Fordola’s narrative role as the representation of Ala Mhigo’s stolen and indoctrinated youth.

This isn’t really a dissertation, or a hard thesis with cited sources, more just ... some musings. Garlemald is a near-textbook fascist nation (by design) that constantly expands itself via colonization and occupation. Expansionist fascist nations need more soldiers to do this, so they indoctrinate the youth of the nation to serve their own ends and dismantle the rebellion before it even really starts. Youth are promised the world if only they’ll believe everything they’re told, and fight for the overlords when needed and pulled away from their roots. Garlemald is, like most fascist nations, enthralling and able to pull people in and keep them in. There’s a strong sense of purpose, a chance to feel as though conscripts are making “a real difference”, and a charismatic leader at it’s head.

The most overt of this is the Crania Lupi, made by van Balesar -- a regimen filled with Ala Mhigan youth who are bitter and resentful that they’re still seen as “savages” and are willing to do anything to get the respect of the Garleans. They’re used as enforcers and rebellion-quellers, often by beating up their own kinsmen, who then ostracize them for their actions. It’s the perfect set up to drive a wedge between the younger and elder generations, and weaken any sort of uprising that might be brewing.

Fordola, being the commander of this unit, is more the symbol of what Gaius was trying to achieve than anyone else. She’s given enough power to feel important, but knows it comes with a cost, and dire consequences if she fails, much like her peers. She keeps digging herself (and the Lupi) deeper and deeper in a way to try and meet the moving goalposts, and hates herself and what she’s doing every step of the way. She knows that she’s betraying her people, her heritage, but she doesn’t see any other way out because she’s so thoroughly been pulled into this whirlpool of fascist ideology. Even her name is so overt about this -- it’s a Garlean last name: Lupis.

In terms of her character, she’s extremely unlikable. She’s angry, she’s brash, she pushes people away and tries to goad them into hating her, much like how she hates herself. She hates the world for putting her in the position she’s in, but also she hates the powers that left her where she is, and has no frame of reference to move past it beyond simply following Garlemald’s orders. She isn’t nice. At all. She’s marginalized and oppressed, but given just enough power (with very specific rules on who she can use that power on) to leave her unwilling to completely leave the place she’s built up.

The most recent short story highlights how she doesn’t feel Ala Mhigan or Garlean, and also how she knows she’ll have to sign up as a Garlean soldier in order to allay suspicion on her friends or her family. She’s being looked down upon by her elders for going along with the Garleans, but then also looked down on by the Garleans for being “barely better than a savage”. She’s desperate for a place to call her own, to be accepted, wanted, relied upon, like so many of her peers.

She’s only nineteen, and has been coerced and reeled in by the people above her into this horrible meat-grinder of a system. Of course she won’t be easily likable or understood, or even a good person. There is so much that she, and by extension her generation, have to unlearn and relearn. At the end of the day, yes, she’s responsible for her own choices and the places that she’s landed herself in. I’m not denying that. But the level of which she, and by extension her generation, have been taught to follow Garlemald’s footsteps is ... staggering. In a way, we never really need to see who her friends are, because she so thoroughly represents her entire generation of Ala Mhigan youth that never had the chance to leave, like Arenvald.

I’m not saying you have to like her. There’s plenty of reasons why not to do so. But... I dunno. It draws a little too close to home for me to just write her off as irredeemable or a complete failure of a person, because that’s essentially condemning an entire generation to doom and robbing Ala Mhigo of their future. The whole point of the Crania Lupi arc is that the kids that were supposed to be the future were stolen and pitted against their own people, and that means that they’re going to come out traumatized and ugly in how they react to things, which Fordola isn’t shy about showing.

[lilolilyr]

Tagged by @ongreenergrasses, thank you!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Way over 300! Tho it feels like it's been at 300sth so long by now, it'll be weird to look at once it hits 400 :D

Btw, funny how this tag meme asks for so much stuff that can be looked up by just... looking at my Ao3... without asking for any commentary by me? Lol

Anyhow, rest under the readmore bc this is 20 questions and Long!

Personal post - do not reblog

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

995596 - just a few more ficlets or 1 longer fic, and I've got a Million! Hey, maybe I should try to write one with... 4404? (I'd need to ask a calculator xD) words exactly... not rly a hardship with how many drabble exercises (exact wordcounts, 100 is the most used, I also do 200, 500, longest was 10000 exactly lol) I've already done... we'll see!

Over 400k for this year alone, and over half of that is my actual writing (not translations etc), I'm so proud! Last year I only barely hit 200k and that included a lot of translating work

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?  

Again, one could look this up in my works filtered - sorted by kudos? But all three of my incubus!jaskier witcher series are in it, part 2 of the series is highest with 1091 kudos, then a Venom halloween oneshot, and 'Belonging', a fluffy snake-crowley piece from my ineffable spouses series (yes, sth with under 1k words - 666 to be exact - is in the top 5... my poor longfics lol)

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

...I try to? But atm I have 202 unanswered (and I always click 'mark read' on replies so these are all comments on my own fic) even tho I told myself I'd not let it get past 200, and now I'm doing a tag meme instead of replying to anything so ummmm

Edit: 203 unread now

But I do love love love all the comments I get! And while atm it's still semi-manageable, if it ever gets to the point where I really can't manage to reply to everyone cause it's too much, i'd rly take that as a compliment lol :D I'd still try to reply to the longer and/or more thought through comments tho :)

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

*thinks* I have an MCD fic? But not only is that very much a case of ~posting a draft version that's barely in complete sentences insgead of taking the time to turn it into a real longfic~, I also just killed off the mlm couple I only semi care about and left the wlw couple with a happy/hopeful (rly don't remember) ending, so... hm idk whether that counts for angsty ending

Apart from that... I dunno, I just prefer my babies to be happy and fluffy? *.* i remember a mirror milippa in the mirrorverse one where in the end Michael is worried about lying to Philippa about her identity... there are some angsty TOG and Gomens ones but I think they end happy-ish (my memory is. Bad. but looking through my 'angst' tag I just saw a lot of h/c and 'angst with a happy ending')

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

They're all happy???!?

7. Do you write crossovers? If so what’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Ahahahahahhahahaahaha

Check this out

I need you to know that all the works in that collection take part in the same universe (or rather, multiverse), and are alltogether just scratching the surface of my gigantic headcanon multiverse that I've been building in my mind since I was like 10

Actual crossovers other than that I don't remember writing

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yeh but I only remember clicking 'delete comment', as it should be

Recently I've just gotten a bunch of 'you Need to continue this' and 'omg why isn't there more' or 'this shouldn't end' type comments, not hate, probably not meant maliciously, but So Annoying (maybe espesh bc I don't want to just hit delete on these, but I also don't want to pretend it's fine, but I also don't have the energy for a fight, and trying to explain why that behaviour is entitled and annoying and that I write what I want to write and nice comments should praise what I actually have written, and hoping that they understand and don't get mad is... hard.)

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

Check out my rated E and rated M in my works

Mostly femslash lately, but I did also write other smut in the past

Most is a bit dominant/submissive play, but I do also like good fluffy smut with feelings! Best in combo, really :D

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not in the sense of pretending someone else wrote it (that i know of), but posted to other sites without my permission - writing 'don't repost to other sites' etc did Not help, they even copied those tags lol, so I just let it be, choosing my battles wisely etcetc, I'd prefer for my fic not to be cross-posted by others bc then I can't edit or otherwise influence the fic anymore and don't see everyone's reactions to it, but as long as it's not someone pretending they wrote it, I only semi care, not enough to fight it tbh

PSA: I Only post fics to Ao3 (and WIPs/prompt fills to tumblr&discord at times), if you see them somewhere else that's Not Me and you'd do me a favour by checking them out on ao3 and kudosing&commenting there instead :)

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yup, one to Russian a while back, a floreleine (Gunpowder Milkshake) one to Korean just today actually, and I translated a bunch to German myself

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I made a TOG fic together with @cinnamonplums, well mostly I wrote and she made the art :D

Trying to remember whether I ever actually co-wrote anything... don't think so?

13. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Don't make me choose!!!

Atm Milippa is OTP bc I'm busy writing them for @discoveryfemslashfortnight (this is not a post to reblog for the fortnight), but I'm also still rly into Floreleine, Bering&Wells and Andromaquynh and Andronilynh, and I read a lot of Mirandy lately

All-time favs I'm not rly active in atm but will always be dear to me are the ineffable spouses, clintcoulson, heistwives, gosh so many more I'll stop here tho xD

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

A Heistwives Kinda Job immediately comes to mind

I also rly want to finish at least one cohesive original-ish storyline for the lverse that I already linked for the crossover question above, but I just have so much backstory (it's been over 10 years!!!) and it's... hard...

And everything else that's still WIP and untouched for more than a few months will probably have the same fate lol

Also have a few that haven't even seen the light of day at all, most recent a Mirandy ~what if Andy had been pregnant when Miranda hired her and how would it change the entire storyline~ bit - I wrote it in bulletpoints in one go as quickly as I could, I know I had the finished product in my mind, I don't remember anything now and don't feel like going through the bulletpoints painstakenly filling in the blanks

15. What are your writing strengths?

Writing one-shots quickly in one go

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Forgetting everything about a fic if I leave it in a draft for a second too long

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

There are many ways to go about it, and I think they all work (depending on the fic and the length and relevance of the dialogue)

I tend to leave single sentences as is, and for longer and important sequences use cursive and 'they said in xylanguage'.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

The Hobbit apparently? I remember thinking that fic was so long lol, it's 3k

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

Kat/Ana from Reef Break, they have Such Shippable Chemistry, and it would totally fit Kat's player personality to bang both siblings (she's canonically friends with benefits with Ana's half-brother)... but the ship has one (1!) fic on Ao3 *cries*

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

TOG Andromaquynh longfic In Your Stead has had the title since last year and probably for a while to come! I loved the story idea so much I really worked with several drafts and only! worked on that fic until it was finished so I wouldn't get distracted & forget about it, and the result was wonderful.

Tagging, if you want to do it, @sarah-fiers @purlturtle @cookie-sheet-toboggan @ussjellyfish @onaperduamedee @startrekgeorgiouery @rosalie-starfall @lonely-night @banashee @xvnot15 and everyone else who sees this

Questions to copy:

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?  4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? 5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? 6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending? 7. Do you write crossovers? If so what’s the craziest one you’ve written? 8. Have you ever received hate on a fic? 9. Do you write smut? If so what kind? 10. Have you ever had a fic stolen? 11. Have you ever had a fic translated? 12. Have you ever co-written a fic before? 13. What’s your all time favorite ship? 14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will? 15. What are your writing strengths? 16. What are your writing weaknesses? 17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? 18. What was the first fandom you wrote for? 19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to? 20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

[ais-n]

hi!!! firstly i just want to say i LOVE ICOS with my whole being. i read it for the first time in high school abt 5 years ago and read it again over quarantine last summer and it drew me in and wrapped me up wholly, i couldn’t put it down. i love the story and characters so much.

i also love writing very much and have always written small stories, fan fiction etc., the past couple weeks i’ve felt inspired to write fiction of my own, a novel of sorts with my own original plot and characters, and i wanted to ask you for some advice/ words of wisdom.

how did you plan out the characters you wrote? or did you more just let them write themselves? and did you plan out chapter by chapter how the plot would unfold before writing, or again let it happen as you wrote it? i’ve found it easier for me personally to let things happen as i write, and that the characters do things and say things i never planned for, was wondering if you felt the same or if you were more organized lol.

also what platform did you use to write on?

sorry for the long post, i hope you’re doing well.

Aww thank you, that's so sweet! I'm glad you like it :)

Side note, before I forget to mention - I just made a subreddit for my writing/stuff which will include ICoS things... I'll be adding more info on there this weekend hopefully, and I'm sure I'll do another post over here too but the link if you want it is https://www.reddit.com/r/aisylum/ It may be a place to find some other stuff in the future if you think of anything. I was thinking of doing an AMA or Q&A type thing over there too. Obviously, always feel free to ask here too <3 I love either place. Just wanted to mention while I'm thinking of it :)

I'm so happy you've been inspired to write - good luck and great job! I think that sounds absolutely awesome and I bet your story will be fantastic :)

We kind of did a bit of a hybrid.... I really wish I had the original bulletpoint list for what the book was originally going to be, but "Sonny" and I had opposite ways of looking at things. "He" would delete things as we went, and I would squirrel it all away until later lol So "he" deleted a bunch of bulletpoints/early info as we went because neither of us actually expected anything to come of any of it, so I also wasn't super anal about keeping track of things way early on. I might still have some documents buried somewhere with info but offhand I don't know where.

Anyway so I kind of am more like you in the way you write, but I will sometimes make the effort to try to plan a bit, especially if there's a cowriter. For ICoS for example, we had a rough outline planned of what was going to be the story, we started writing, we let the characters/plot/etc go where it needed to go, that meant things we hadn't planned from the start came in. The original story was basically mostly Evenfall, then skip Afterimage and Interludes for the most part but not entirely, and then we didn't really have a hugely detailed end initially from what I recall but we knew generally what was going to happen, so some of the stuff from later Fade would probably have been in the bullets. But when we got to the end of Evenfall, whatever was our next bulletpoint just did not feel right; we knew all the other stuff that starts Afterimage would happen instead.

For my long ongoing LGBTQ+ fantasy series I'm working on, the first book is finished but I'm editing it to change/add some significant stuff. I have a whole bunch of info on that which I've compiled over the years, so to an extent I have a general idea of plot things that will go down in the rewrite and also in the future into the other books, but a lot of details and even bigger points are left untouched. I prefer to let the characters/story/world/plot go where it wants to go, and I just have general points that I know make sense or have to happen eventually, and I look for how to fit them in as organically as possible to the way the story is going. If that makes sense. I will occasionally try to really work out exact storyline bullets but I get so bored so quickly that I never finish.

Because I like world-building and character development, I actually find it more fun and more useful for my organizational skills (any that exist, anyway, lol) to be aimed more toward that. Rather than focusing on the story and what the plot will be and what character will say what in which chapter, I prefer to dig into the past of the characters, dig into the world, the magic system or whatever is relevant, and have that info all squirreled away somewhere if needed. That way, as I'm going forward with writing the characters/story more organically, if things are going around what I initially thought the plot would be, this gives me something to then pull from for inspiration on how to incorporate this new plot/etc into the world more seamlessly, and make it feel more at home. And if you have all that info on characters, it also makes it easier to throw in things that flesh the character out more, and that can all lead toward character development in the future.

Boyd, for example - when we first had the valentine thing come up, it was just going to be a thing that happened that showed their miscommunication and how fucked the Agency was. But then it didn't make sense to me for it to just be a thing mentioned once and never again. So then that added to Boyd's story; now he was a valentine, so if it made sense or it was relevant, that was a thing that could or should come up. As the story progressed and the world grew, and with that the Agency and other factors were more fleshed out, it became more and more relevant. Then, by the time Fade came around, it was fully integrated into Boyd's story because by that point it would be weirder if it weren't - and because it made total sense in the characters' perspectives and the different organizations' perspectives and the story as a whole for the things to happen the way they did. But all of that, of course, then informs Boyd's mental health, physical health, and overall stability. Which then affects how he interacts with the world and other characters, which then affects the plot to an extent because of the choices he would make that may be different now, in the context of these life experiences, compared to prior to those life experiences. If the valentine thing never happened in Evenfall, a lot of Fade would be different. When we had that coming up in Evenfall, we didn't know another book was coming at all, let alone 3, let alone that it would end up having such a significant impact on the story and character development. But that's just kind of an example of building on things as you go, which is what I tend to do, personally.

As for the program - in the beginning we just used Word I think, and talked on AIM or something. It's been so long I don't totally remember. But for most of it we used Google Docs because that made it easy to share and write/edit at the same time.

Also, haha never be sorry for long posts - as you can see, I will almost always go longer ^_~

Hope you're doing well too! Thanks for your interest :)

[springday-aus]

Ghost!AU with Jungkook

—

moodboard link

Group: BTS 

Member: Jeon Jungkook

Other Characters: mentions of ghost!Yoongi and neighbor!Taehyung

Genre: fluff, platonic bc he’s literally dead 

Type: Bulletpoint AU 

Word Count: approx. 1.5k 

A/N: totally late bc Halloween, but better late than never 

Jungkook died in an embarrassing way

not like, on the toilet embarrassed

more of… he forgot to drink water while he was playing some video games….

so……... dehydration

even though he died in the 21st century, dehydration is probably the stupidest way to die 

so he died fairly recently

around 5ish years

recently enough to still be roaming around earth

especially in the apartment he died in

the nice landlady tries to rent it out to other people and while the price is lower

(primarily bc he DIED in there)

people just keep leaving

it’s not Jungkook’s fault but also his fault

like he doesn’t mind having other people

but the other people………. don’t really wanna live with him

lowkey he gets hurt whenever people move out

bc when the landlady asks

they always say there’s a chill that brushes by and it freaks them out a bit

(homeboy is just trying to walk from place to place)

and then how things move without them moving them

(it’s more convenient for Jungkook if people have coasters under their glasses, just saying)

and how in the evenings, the electronics would turn on

this is actually Jungkook’s fault bc he’s in the habit of playing games at night and watching tv until late

so when a tv turns on its own and flips channels and you know that no one else is in your living room……………….. people move out the night that he starts turning on shit

yeah, when your shit starts to turn on by itself…… I would be moving out too

that’s paranormal activity shit

and most don’t wanna mess with that

Jungkook isn’t intentionally pushing people out

it’s just an accident bc he just forgets he’s not alive

Yoongi, the ghost from two floors up, says that it’s because humans tend to fear the unknown

he’s got a point too

that’s why humans fear death—they don’t know what happens after you die

there was one guy who ended up “living” with Jungkook for the longer time period

Namjoon was a good guy

he’s so great that after seven months of moving here, he moved out to live in a bigger space with his partner

Jungkook was upset but he was happy for him, even though he hasn’t spoken a word to him

so that was his current situation: another empty apartment that the landlady is trying to rent out once more

this is where you come in

you rent out this place and within a week, you’re moving in

Jungkook stays in the corner a bit, just observing you

he makes note of your pictures, knick-knacks, and other supplies

it’s about another week or so until you’re settled and established some kind of routine

he doesn’t mind you

you’re consistent

it’s about another two weeks or so until he makes his presence known

one night, you were working on an assignment late at night with the tv on

you just picked something off of netflix and let it play

it was just the soft sounds of the television and the typing of your laptop keys

and then

you felt it

there was shift in the temperature and a chill brushed against your neck

even with your hoodie on, you shivered from the cold

and moved from your spot to grab a heavier blanket 

when you came back from your bedroom, you didn’t notice how one of the throw pillows have slightly shifted over

by slightly, I mean moved over to the other side

you didn’t think much of it and shrugged it off, thinking you might have moved it earlier

the sleep deprivation was getting to you

to Jungkook tho, it meant acceptance

small, but still meaningful

again, you didn’t think much of it

until it was happening for a solid month

even during daytime

so……….. you asked around the building

they didn’t really say much, just that a lot of people tended to move out because of some of the stuff that happened there

it wasn’t until you met Taehyung that you found out about Jungkook

he was pretty close with him, since they were close in age and bonded over video games and dogs

when he died, he actually attended the funeral and it was…. upsetting to see such a young man die

Taehyung: “you know, most people tend move out about a month after moving in”

Taehyung: “they all seem freaked out and the landlady even called a shaman to check out the place because it was deemed as ‘unliveable’”

You: “well, has anyone found evidence that he’s still there?”

Taehyung: “I don’t think anyone could handle it if they found out”

You: this is a bad idea but oh well

so you may or may not have bought a ouija board (you did)

and you try talking to him

you set up candles and a picture (which you got from Taehyung himself)

once the sun sets, you officially start

Jungkook thinks it’s hilarious so he plays along

You: “hello spirit of Jungkook, I’m (Y/N) and I wanted to ask if you are here”

after a couple of minutes of no response, you sigh, feeling ridiculous

You: well, this is stupid

and then

it moves

your eyes widen as your hands push towards the yes

you didn’t actually think you would get an answer so you were at a bit of a lost

You: “is it okay if I’m living here?”

he moves it towards the no

you let out a sigh of relief

You: “cool, so you aren’t a murder ghost, great”

he’s laughing but you can’t really hear him

although, you do hear a faint sound of wind chimes—even though you are very sure that none of your neighbors even have wind chimes

so you “talk” with him a bit more and eventually, you head to sleep

You: “thank you for not killing me and please look away when I’m in the bathroom or changing”

if Jungkook wasn’t dead, he was very sure there would have been blush on his cheeks

so you two live side by side peacefully

you were wearing a lot more hoodies to avoid the cold breezes that pass by

if you forget where something was, most of the time, they show up in front of you in courtesy of Jungkook finding it

when you often forgot, he would help you with

one time you didn’t push the cook button for the rice cooker

(he saved you from throwing the whole batch out)

sometimes you even leave a small bowl out for him like an offering

and, yeah, he can’t eat it but he does appreciate it

it goes like this for a while and you’re both content

and then Halloween comes

at previously midnight when Halloween begins

there’s another cold breeze that passes by and you wake up, dazed and confused

and, in the darkness, there’s a shadowy figure you spot at the end of your bed

and suddenly you’re awake, sitting up in your bed

you wrap yourself a bit tighter in your blanket as you hear your name being whispered

Jungkook: “I didn’t mean to wake you”

You: what. the. fuck.

Jungkook: “go back to sleep”

the last thing you hear is soft singing from an angelic voice before you drift back to sleep

you wake up the next morning

putting on Halloween movies, putting on the Monster Mash, and prepping candy for the kids that stop by your apartment

it wasn’t until Jungkook makes an appearance that you remembered what happened last night

and I mean APPEARANCE

you physically saw him in your kitchen

and screamed

he was just as startled as you

but you haven’t even seen him until today

(expect for the pictures Taehyung showed you, which is the only reason you recognized him)

Jungkook: “did I not mention that on Halloween I can physically appear?”

You: “NO BITCH YOU DIDN’T TELL ME”

Jungkook: “well, I’m telling you now” :(

after you calm down from the miniature heart attack, you get to spend a day together

well, mostly on your part since you can actually see him now

he’s just more…… visible

it’s fun, it’s like a longtime friend coming over and spending the day with you

so you spend the night watching more movies, dressing up (at least, you did), and giving candy to the kids

you learn more about him and it’s a super fun time for the both of you because it means actual conversations

like how good he is at singing

(it’s very clear how much he loves music)

how often he likes to play computer games

his cleanliness

how much he likes the romantic comedies you put on

his weird obsession with trying different ramens

Jungkook: “I had like 6 cups in a row once”

You: “well jesus, no wonder you died”

Jungkook: “stop making fun of me” ​😭​

he’s not sure how long he’ll be here, but he’s glad he’ll be living with you while he’s here

and when midnight comes and you’re falling asleep as Hocus Pocus plays in the background

you hear it 

“good night, (Y/N), until next Halloween”