#ryuzo: i'll help out

[ornstein]

I wish you could also redesign your blade twin's clothes and weapon set any time in the story. But hey, at least you can still switch your protag over your blade twin for fun.

[starfolk7]

For the character ask: Messmer, Ryuzo and Gabriel :)

YOU DKHSFDS oh lord HERE WE GO

Messmer:

How I feel about this character

BITING HIM (affectionate). For real, I'm going insane over Messmer and his backstory, my little gremlin brain is already cooking up fic for him and it's A Problem. He absolutely Did Commit War Crimes but also mmMMMMMMMMM

All the people I ship romantically with this character

I love doing OC ships, so I love seeing Messmer shipped with people's OCs!! I've seen some lovely art and fic snippets in this vein and it's giving me so much life. I have something going with him and my OC Anya, but it needs a little more time to marinate before I start writing it (read: I have to finish the DLC first I have so much to explore pls help sdfhdf)

My non-romantic OTP for this character

I suppose him and Commander Gaius! I mean, they were friends in canon, anyway, so it's not exactly much of a stretch skdfdhds

My unpopular opinion about this character

Not sure if this is unpopular or not, but here we go: Messmer has pathetic tendencies for sure (helloooo mommy issues lmao), but like hell is he going to show them in front of most people or in any situation where he needs to exude authority. Not exactly a good look when you're reigning over the Land of Shadow and have troops to command. I think some people forget that he can roast a bitch alive if he wants to. That said, I'm all for him letting his walls down around someone he trusts, especially an S/O <3

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

That we could marry him instead of fighting!! Please!! Or at the very least recruit him to help us out, I'm dying over here!

Ryuzo:

How I feel about this character

It's been a while, but every time I hear about him I'm still nibbling on him in the most affectionate way!! What a disaster of a man, I fucking love him <3

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Once again in my canon x OC corner playing in my sandbox lmao. I haven't written anything for him and my girl Aiko in a hot minute, maybe I should change that <w< Altho honestly, any ship with him is bound to be interesting and have depth, so I'll read pretty much any ship with him!

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Ryuzo and Jin! They can be either platonic or romantic in my head, sometimes a secret third thing. Really they're very versatile lol.

My unpopular opinion about this character

He should have been allowed to live and wrestle with his guilt more. That's my personal opinion on the matter, though I'm not sure if it's unpopular!

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

That he got to LIVE. Let him get drunk on some sake and mope about his decisions before he has to get his shit together and man up about his mistakes. We love to see a sopping wet mess of a man go through the wringer!!

Gabriel:

How I feel about this character

*rattles him* This is where all of my Catholic guilt is stored I am SO unwell about this wreck of an archangel I LOVE HIM sdfsdskh

All the people I ship romantically with this character

*holds up my Canon x OC sign* I know it's not like. A super popular way to ship him, but I think it's really cool that me and a handful of other people are exploring this kind of ship with our own OCs! I'm throwing an atheist cyborg at him on my end (fucking love Charlotte lol), so honestly there's a lot explore here and I'm glad I'm not the only one that's doing it! X3

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Okay here me out. Gabriel and V2, if they ever got to meet. They both hate V1. It makes sense in my brain sdfkdsh

My unpopular opinion about this character

He's not a total pathetic mess! War criminal? Yes. Conflicted about his place in the universe, especially after having his ass handed to him by a machine multiple times? Of course. Going through the most horrible and existential point of his existence? You bet. But totally pathetic and useless? I think the fuck not. There's a reason Gabriel went undefeated for so damn long, and he didn't get to that point by being completely useless. It involved dedication and control. I love the memes about him, don't get me wrong, but some out there get the memes twisted up with his true personality.

Also, personally I don't think he would ever have a thing with V1 unless it was grossly one-sided and probably toxic. I know that's not popular but this is my personal opinion and people are 100 percent free to ship what they want. The GabV1el shippers are living their best lives and I'm happy for them! Just not my cup of tea, is all, though I do enjoy the memes about it.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

The story isn't finished yet, so it's kind of hard to say! I'm more for sitting back and waiting to see how it ends, then I can sit here with wish fulfillment. Either way, I'm both excited and terrified to see how Gabriel ends up in canon. It's gonna be a wild ride and I do not have enough seat belts. I'm probably gonna cry over it, too sdfsdfd

[mazandaroga]

From the pick a fic send an ask post: Blue Hydrangea and numbers 1, 7, and 9. And for Muryoku numbers 1, 5, 7, and 9.

Ahh, thank you for the ask! (I honestly thought I wouldn't get one lol)

So, about Blue Hydrangea:

1) ANY DELETED SCENES FROM THIS FIC THAT DIDN'T MAKE IT INTO THE FINAL STORY?

Two, actually! And those are:

- Jin and Yuna fucking on the day they met. They would go in the back, in one of the rooms, but I thought it was too soon, so I deleted it all and swapped it for what you have now.

- Not really a deleted scene, but I was planning to make Ryuzo more jealous of Jin and Yuna, but I decided I didn't want a love triangle, so I deleted all his envy/jealousy/whatever you might call it monologue. Now we have this polyamorous relationship. Which I still need to work on sshhh

7) WAS THERE A SCENE/PART YOU ENJOYED WRITING MOST FROM THIS FIC?

Oh, definitely! I thoroughly enjoyed writing Jin and Yuna's first date at the hotel restaurant, and Yuna confronting Ryuzo in the backroom of the club. I loved the banter at the first date, and with Ryuzo, I loved to write Yuna so dominant and demanding. It feeds my soul.

9) DID/DO YOU HAVE ANY RITUALS OR HABITS WHEN WRITING THIS SPECIFIC FIC?

Hmmm, with Blue Hydrangea not really, but it does help to be horney 24/7 because this fic is straight up porn with fluff in between. I promise I'll end the fic when Muryoku is over.

Now onto Muryoku!

1) ANY DELETED SCENES FROM THIS FIC THAT DIDN'T MAKE IT INTO THE FINAL STORY?

I am about to crack my knuckles because it is A LOT

- Jin and Yuna were supposed to kiss already in chapter 6. But no, it was too soon. It's an enemies to lovers, don't forget that, I told myself.

- They were also supposed to kiss at Kukai falls. But nope. It didn't feel right either.

- This was an idea/scene I wrote, but deleted a full 1k words, and that was that Nagao was supposed to be a Tengu, but it wouldn't fit. Because I was like 'What if Nagao was an Tengu? Why didn't he attack/plan sooner? Why now?' and I couldn't come up with answers to those questions, so I scrapped the whole idea/scene. So yes, we could have a Tengu!Nagao.

- Speaking of yokai, Tenzo was supposed to be a Sarugami? But I also deleted that scene, because it made no sense (like if he was, he could have fought Jin at the beach). Tenzo is just a good mortal human.

- A whole scene of Taka admiring Ryuzo while he was bathing naked.

- A full sex scene between Shimura and Goro that might not be deleted and is saved in my docs because I am a disgusting little goblin so you guys only have the short bit

And there probably more, but those are the ones that popped up in my head right now.

5) IF YOU WERE TO GO BACK AND CHANGE ANYTHING A SCENE, A WAY ANYTHING WAS WRITTEN, A PIECE OF DIALOGUE ETC. WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE FROM THIS FIC?

I would change that there was more scenes with Jin and Shimura? I think I didn't develop their relationship enough. Sure, Shimura LOVES Jin, but I think I didn't write enough that Jin HATED to be locked up all those years, and he didn't have enough discussions with Shimura about it. So I want to work on that in the future if possible and believable, just them being a father and a son.

7) WAS THERE A SCENE/PART YOU ENJOYED WRITING MOST FROM THIS FIC?

Every damn time when Jin changes into his oni, it's always a blast of him going berserk and murder left and right. But my true favorite of him going on a full murder spree was him at the Mamushi farmstead. I wrote that chapter in 2 days. I loved it so much.

Another favorite of mine is Jin and Yuna at old Yarikawa, and their talk in chapter 6.

And this is a personal favorite of mine, that others might not like as much, but the whole chapter 9. Yes, the Shimura chapter. I re-read it so many times when I am sad, and I LOVE that chapter. It's where we find out about Chiyoko being a Kitsune, Shimura's past and his sexual orientation, which he got ridiculed and beaten for, his lose of family, finding love in Goro and ajdkss I LOVE IT SO MUCH Q.Q

9) DID/DO YOU HAVE ANY RITUALS OR HABITS WHEN WRITING THIS SPECIFIC FIC?

With this fic, yes! I do have habits:

- I write mostly in the morning/noon, because that's when my brain works.

- When writing love scenes, I listen to this or this whole playlist of Violet Evergarden. (That whole playlist helps me with every love/fluffy/whimsical moment)

- But when it comes to fighting scens, I watch a lot of action, and here's two examples:

Sword of the Stranger - Final battle

Eren going Berserk

And to that I listen to basically any of Samuel Kim's edition of the AOT OST. My favorites are Eren's Transformation and Eren vs Jaw Titan theme. So yes, when you read any action scene, imagine me blasting this for 3 hours on a loop.

- And I always hve a snack and a drink when writing, because I will be sitting on my chair for hours because I like to update every week for my readers. So sleep? Non-existent.

(@serene-faerie I am tagging you because I think you'll like to read this abou Muryoku)