Local writer in search of ideas

AO3 link

Name: esse

Pronouns: they/she

Current fandom: SFTH, especially The Enigma of the High Visionary

Prompts and asks welcome!

General rules below:

🛼🧸🥤

@brightreminder

heya!

🛼 ⇢ describe your latest wip with five emojis

🧛‍♀️👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨🩸☀️💍

🧸 ⇢ what's the fastest way to become your mutual?

I get to know people either through a combination of AO3 + tumblr, or via discord. So I guess the fastest way to become mutuals with me is to, uh, comment under my work semi-regularly? (<- attention whore typing here) And also be reachable on tumblr so I know who you are. Or yap with me a lot on a fandom discord server. I tend to befriend very quickly people who I can bounce headcanons with.

🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love

Will They, Won't They... Aren't They? by @farraday-yes

i said it / i didn't by @obsidian-sys

Good Morning. Show Me the Place Where He Inserted the Blade. and Vince Vaughn Wants To Take You To Paris by FreeFallLand

The Amazing Adventures of the Spectacular SpiderJimmy by morhido

🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction? 

Got obsessed with Character. Not enough fics about Character. Need to write Character. By god I will write something so I can read about Character.

*Character was Shosty!B lmaoooo

🧃 ⇢ share some personal lore you never posted about before

Uhhh in high school I wrote about my friend comforting me after I failed a test and ran away to cry in a toilet cubicle. And then I wrote about it in a writing assignment. And the teacher thought it was so good she showed the whole class. All of it. And I'm pretty sure there's a number of them who read it and thought/knew I was gay, because in hindsight the sapphic enby probably wrote about being comforted by their gal pal through a very gay lens lol

❄️ ⇢ what's your dream theme/plot for a fic, and who would write it best?

Some psychological horror fic of a fairy tale(ish) story being shattered. It's gonna be really cool and challenges allo- and amato-normativity. Probably Ditch...? And it'll be either me or one of my babes because we both hate a lot of soulmate au's for this reason.

Gemmas reconciliation fic exploring family, love, and the impact of trauma through the lens of food. Probably also me because food is love is food to me, and I have so much love for the food I personally grew up with that I want to project it all onto my blorbos.

Post-AEON fic where Andrew picks up vigilantism and kills a bunch of mafioso, crime bosses, kicks some cops' asses and fall in love with a police intern who can't open doors. It's gonna be massive because this AU spans ten years lol but in my head it's both about personal trauma/abuse and also about systemic ones, and Vigilante!Andrew is hard to write. Ironically I think both me and my beloved bastards who love this Andrew a lot can all write it. They (yes they're a he/they now) live in our heads maybe rent free?

My dream fics are all ideas very personal to me lmaoooo I'm not bragging when I say I think I can write it best. It's because no one would know me like I know myself.

*not tagging my babes and bastards without asking first but they would know who they are <3

warning for brief mentions of abuse, vampire media typical level of horniness and blood

I DO I literally have. so much gemmas thoughts yes I am terming this ship gemmas I don't see any other /lh /gen

(for convenience's sake I call Thomas Sr Thomas, And Thomas Jr Tommy)

First off Gemma is definitely not taking back Thomas in the near future.

I think Gemma does still love Thomas; it's telling to me that she calls him her husband still even when they're practically divorced ("my husband abandoned his child"), compared to Thomas who calls her his ex wife ("my ex wife says it's a cult"). Thomas has cut off the last emotional ties, or so he thinks. Gemma hasn't. But Gemma also knows that Thomas isn't a good husband/father material as he is now, and she can't let him back into their lives as if nothing happened. Also I think Gemma acknowledges that it really hurt her when he left, and she's understandably not over it yet.

Thomas doesn't get joint custody, but Gemma lets him come by every two weeks for afternoon tea where he can see Tommy. Only when she's in the room with them, though. She's still paranoid about him taking Tommy away.

Thomas goes to therapy. It's one of the stipulations Gemma has for him to see Tommy. Either go get therapy and work on your issues or don't see your son at all, sir.

Tommy is a lot more enthusiastic about Thomas coming back, Gemma isn't. Thomas improves quicker as a father than as a husband, especially since Gemma is here before he can fuck up majorly as a dad.

Thomas has PTSD from being in the cult as well. He already has a history of mental illness (per my last headcanons), and the cult wasn't good for him at all. Plus he watched his cult leader almost killed a child, that has got to be traumatic. Therapy helps but he has nightmares as well, and an overwhelming sense of guilt beyond things that he is responsible for. (I have thoughts about him and Dillon but that's another story)

Gemma struggles to see Thomas as a victim of the cult after she spends two years being understandably angry at him. It's a fine line to walk, not absolving him of running away but also keeping in mind he isn't the big bad in the story. Maybe some therapy for her as well.

Thomas is quicker to want to get back with Gemma. Once he's out and he sees Dillon for the fraud he is, Thomas is pretty quick to accept the idea that Gemma is the real one who's always loved him and wanted the best for him, not the cult. Sees signs all over the house that she hasn't cut him off entirely yet; his stuff is gone but they're just in boxes in the basement. She gave up on him during those two years but she couldn't bring herself to destroy it.

"I didn't know you still have the one year anniversary jumper." "Shut up, Thomas."

Maybe Thomas courts Gemma again, a year or two post-canon. Start all over. He's a changed man and so is she, but if she gives him a chance, he'd do his best to love and treasure her again.

It's definitely a slow burn situation that stretches out over more than a year. They married young after dating for only a year or two, but now they're dating again. And for longer this time, really test out if they're compatible. I like to think they remarry because I lowkey like gemmas

Thomas comes home after two years away. Gemma teaches her pup a lesson on running away.

(Please ignore how late this answer is alksjsdla life got in the way)

11. Link your three favorite fics right now

I have two all time favorites that pop up in my mind instantly:

"Nature has taught her creatures to hate": The Magnus Archive fic, AU where Jon is taken in by Elias as a kid. Very heavy, very lovely writing, taught me how to write a Weird Child charater.

"you'll need a new name to survive this": Mission Impossible Benji/Ethan fic, AU where Benji is a physical therapist at the IMF and meet Ethan earlier in 1996. I love the characterization, how the change ripples out, their interaction... pretty much everything about it.

"Overcoming": Will/Hannibal Regency A/B/O, with Will as an omega and Hannibal as an alpha. I don't read a/b/o a lot but this is genuinely amazing, and this omega Will is like, my favorite fanfic depiction of an omega. Ever. Fiery, bold, sassy, with nerves of steel. Also some really good secondary gender politics at play.

(I realize you're a twosetter but I'm too long away from the fandom to think of any fics on top of my head :P)

36. How do you write kissing scenes?

With great difficulty

I've never kissed, actually XD But I try to focus on:

How the lips feel (plush? soft? chapped?), how they taste (their chapstick or lipstick? the cocktail they just drank? lots of possibilities)

Is it a gentle kiss, or a rough one? You can pull a lot of mileage out of that alone. Maybe it's a closed lip kiss. Maybe it's a very hot tonguing going on. Maybe A is nipping B's bottom lip, or their teeth scrape together.

How are they feeling? What's the context of the kiss? It can range from a kiss that leads up to sex (in which case, how would the sex look like?), or a comforting kiss, or a big damn kiss after A and B confess to each other, or A is crying and B kisses them to comfort them. Maybe A and B are inexperienced horny high schoolers whose idea of kissing comes from fanfics and movies, and they try and hilariously fail to replicate the hot and heavy actions they read about. Anything!

EEEEK okay okay!! *clap hands together excitedly* I've been having. A lot of Thomas thoughts these few days.

To start with, my general idea/interpretation of Thomas is someone sensitive, deeply insecure and craves approval, making him very vulnerable to someone predatory. Like a cult leader. Mayhaps. In details:

His parents are very much Traditional Family Values™, with a hefty dose of Traditional Gender Roles™. Thomas is instilled with the idea that he needs to be a Man™ since childhood, which includes macho ideas of being invulnerable, unbreakable and strong and, yknow, the likes. He's taught that he needs to be the breadwinner and the man of the house, the absolute authority in a nuclear family.

His father is the type of macho man who is very quick to anger and resorts to violence as a method of control. His mother falls in line and suffers silently, teaching Thomas that the only way to avoid being hurt is to obey his father. Which carries consequences into the future (coughcoughcultleader)

He's a sensitive lad deemed too feminine by his family. His dad tried to beat it out of him when he caught Thomas playing house with his sister's dollhouse. Thomas tucked those interests away by the time he was ten, because it's safer that way. He's also a silent crier because he can't have his dad catching him "being a pansy".

Thomas has PTSD from the childhood trauma, and probably depression as well. At least that's what that psychiatrist diagnosed him with. In general, he also struggles a lot with being his own person, and finds it more comfortable to follow and obey someone else. He is also neurodivergent, although I'm not sure which flavor yet. His dad also tried to beat that out of him.

He refuses to continue therapy after that session/consultation. Refuses to consider that he's "broken". Deep down he knows (thinks) he's a mess and a half, but he tucks that away as well.

He took up knitting in college because he has trouble focusing on words without something to occupy his hands with (he can't listen to podcasts either). Knitting is calming, it's productive, and he likes the state of mind he's in when the whole world becomes just his needles, the yarns, and his project.

Gemma and he met in college at 20-21yo. She's very fascinated by the quiet cutie at the back row knitting like there's no tomorrow.

He is very bad at verbally communicating his affection (see: family who doesn't know how to communicate at all), so his courting method is basically knitting Gemma a huge bunch of sweaters. Gemma never gave any of them away even when it's crowding her closet, because Thomas will cry. You don't like my gift, do you not want me anymore Gemma T-T

Knitting is a secret, because it's not manly enough. He's deathly scared people will call him a pansy if they see him knitting.

Gemma and Thomas marry pretty soon after they graduate, at 22-23yo. Which makes them 30-31yo at the start of the play. They're quite young people to me

He's in the most boring, unfulfilling career ever that his parents pushed him in. Desk job that he hates. He doesn't like his major back in college either.

Gemma is a STEM girlie. Yes, her job has a higher salary than Thomas'. Yes, Thomas is secretly very insecure about it. Yes, she refused to become a stay at home mom and housewife when she had Tommy, and yes, that was one of their biggest arguments ever.

Gemma sees the first two words, and promptly crumples the piece of paper in her hand.

Then she smooths it out and scans it. Reads it again slowly, as her hands close into fists and leave their indents on the fragile paper.

Gemma takes out the trash, one cool morning.