Just Some Random BS

I have decided to shamelessly rip off follow in @cutekittenlady's footsteps in having a masterpost which will have all of my fics in one place. For everyone new to Hamefura, this'll be a helpful place to reference my fics. Here goes.

That Night In A Safe Haven - Hiding in a safe haven awakens some bad memories for Mary, and Catarina needs to comfort her.

Six Interesting But Ordinary Weeks - Catarina spends six weeks with Maria after graduation in her hometown, and obliviously makes things better for the common folk there as well.

A Pact Between Mother And Son - Keith makes his intention to marry Catarina known to his mother. His mother declares her support for his efforts. Then they gameplan.

Fight Like A Lady - Part 1 of the Sword Saint Chronicles. There's a sword duel tournament at the Academy of Magic. Catarina enters it hoping to get to face Geordo in a duel to gauge her swordfighting skills against him.

Tears Of A Saint - Part 2 of the Sword Saint Chronicles. Catarina and Geordo go on a date to get a dress and accessories for an upcoming school ball. In the background, a sore loser from the duel tournament plots his payback.

A Lady In The Lion's Den - Part 4 of the Sword Saint Chronicles. Catarina gets an invite to Sorcier's most prestigious Under-18 duel tournament, and finds out some surprising things along the way.

She Is NOT My Kissy-Kissy Girlfriend! - Geordo over the years begins to realize his feelings for Catarina. His mom, The Queen, trolls him mercilessly about them.

Dumbass & Dragon - Catarina gets kidnapped by a dragon. An awkward teenage dragon who has no idea what he's doing. Absurdity at its finest!

Catarina Claes MUST DIE! - A girl from Catarina's old world isekais into Sorcier. She remembers Fortune Lover and how much she hated Catarina. The preconceived notions she has carry the potential to cause disaster.

Under The Silverlight - Catarina and Geordo attend the Silverlight Festival, Sorcier's winter festival with romantic elements. They have a lot of fun, and other festival-goers witness them and begin shipping them bigtime.

Picturing A Wonderful Birthday - Keith's first birthday with House Claes, but he's still unsure about his place in the family. Catarina aims to answer that question once and for all.

The List of Geordo - Geordo, annoyed by his rivals, comes up with a new tactic to combat them. He thinks it's funny, but fails to realize some may take it the wrong way.

A Rose Blooms In Sorcier - Sorcier's all-women festival is coming up. Mary, Sophia, and Maria all want Catarina to attend with them. They jockey with each other for the upper hand.

Flip The Script - Part 5 of the Sword Saint Chronicles. Catarina is encouraged by her friends to audition for a play the Theater Club is holding, but she screws up by signing up to audition for the male lead. Or does she?

The Sword Saint's Battle For Honor - Part 6 of the Sword Saint Chronicles. Maria is the (unintended) victim of a prank performed by a stuck-up first-year student. Catarina stands up for Maria's honor.

A Parent's Worst Nightmare: An Omake to Catarina Claes MUST DIE! - Events from Catarina Claes MUST DIE! told from the viewpoint of Catarina's parents, Luigi and Miri Diana.

The Catarina Claes Birthday Extravaganza - Part 3 of the Sword Saint Chronicles. Keith screws up in planning for Catarina's 17th birthday. Thanks to some quick thinking by everyone, they figure out how to work through Keith's mistake.

Hell Comes To Sorcier - Catarina gets kidnapped by a demon and Geordo sets off to rescue her. Along the way, he finds out some things about Catarina, while a sinister force tries to take advantage of the situation for herself.

Naked Posed The Duke's Daughter - Catarina offers to be a nude model for the Academy's Ladies' Art Collective. Everyone's going to have a reaction to that.

Into The Haremverse - A magical experiment at the Ministry of Magic goes wrong, and Catarina finds herself traveling to the future, where revelations are made to her.

My Next Life As A Planeswalker: All Routes Lead to The Multiverse! - A biomechanical monster's attack at the Academy of Magic causes Catarina to awaken powers which seem to go against the laws of magic. Her awakening results in things that will change Sorcier forever.

And that's my fics for now. I will update this when I post up new fics.

This is a decision I've mulled for a long time, and after some thought, I've made a final decision.

As of this moment, I consider myself retired from fic writing. Unless something drastically changes, I am through writing fanfiction. This was something I was hesitant to post, particularly because I knew it would disappoint people, but I figure it's better than never saying anything and leaving everyone hanging.

Unfortunately, this means that the Sword Saint Chronicles is now dead. I did not intend for this, particularly because I'm always one who believes in finishing what I started, but at this point, barring any drastic change, the series will not be completed.

To explain my decision, let me give a little background on my adventures in fic writing and about me.

You see, prior to writing fanfiction, I had a lot of things going on in my life. I spent time with friends, I played the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game, I played a lot of video games and pinball, and I attended a lot of conventions. I had plenty going on. In early 2020, I discovered Hamefura by chance while browsing TVTropes, and seeing that, the premise interested me. I then read some manga scanlations and was even more hooked. Then I found out an anime was coming and got excited. Now when this originally happened, I didn't think I'd get too much into the fandom. But then COVID happened, and suddenly I was working from home, and most of my pastimes were now a no-go due to things being on lockdown. Because of that, and because of the stress of this sudden change, as well as (unfounded) concerns about my job, I began to immerse myself into Hamefura. It was a major reason I got through the pandemic sane, and seeing new episodes on Saturdays was a highlight of the week for me.

Then one day, I began thinking of potential fanfics to write. Now that I suddenly had time, I decided to jump in and write. I started off with That Night In A Safe Haven, which turned out well. Afterwards I then did Six Interesting But Ordinary Weeks, which people seemed to like but now I can't stand. I read that and cringe. But I kept it up because it's a reminder of how much I improved.

Then I came up with the idea for Fight Like A Lady, which I consider to be my first true "hit" fic. And then things went from there and I kept writing. I had the time, and I had ideas, and also a sounding board in the r/otomegame Discord, so I kept writing.

I've gone places I never imagined with my writing. I saw fics which got their own entry on TVTropes, but never in my wildest dreams did I ever think something I wrote would make it. Then I wrote Catarina Claes MUST DIE, and at the conclusion, someone found it worthy enough of warranting a TVTropes page. I was honored. And moved. I actually got emotional from it. I told my best friend that I think I now know what it feels like when a baseball player gets the call that they've been elected to the Hall of Fame.

And so I continued to write, and things went on. But then the pandemic lockdown began to let up, and I slowly began to do more of what I'd used to do. In July of last year, I went back into the office and began working from there instead of my home. And then this past winter and spring, I worked a ton of overtime. Suddenly, the time I had to write was shrinking, and unlike when I first began, I started to be somewhat annoyed at writing because it was taking time away from my preferred pastimes. But I still had ideas and wanted to write them.

Eventually, I began my most recent (and as of now my last) fic, My Next Life As A Planeswalker: All Routes Lead To The Multiverse. And I found while writing it that my interest in the Hamefura fandom was not what it once was. I went through and finished the story, but at the end of it, I knew I needed a break. Unfortunately, that break will be permanent now. Simply put, I've got a lot of other things I want to do, and with work, my interests, and the like, I just don't have the time to really dedicate myself to fic writing.

If you're disappointed, I understand. I totally get it. But I wanted to be upfront and let everyone know what I've decided. If things change, or I get the itch to write again, I might jump back into it. But as of now, I don't think I'll ever get back into it.

I want to thank everyone that's read my stories, left kudos on AO3, and commented on them. Your comments, praise, and criticism were what fueled me, and I can't thank you enough for them. Its your noticing my stories that made this such a rewarding experience.

Thanks for taking the time to read this as well. I'm glad to have gone through this and learned things about myself, but I feel it's time to move on, and again, I'd rather let you all know what's happening.

Left to right: Catarina Claes, Jace Beleren, Ajani Goldmane, Chandra Nalaar, Kaya, Teferi, and Sienna Nelson. A group pose of the planeswalkers in my crossover fanfic My Next Life as a Planeswalker: All Routes Lead to The Multiverse!

Special thanks to @daawnilyart for this piece for my 40th birthday. I'm touched. And scared. Personally, I'd wouldn't let Henrietta Garland near string, much less a knife.

Today I posted the most recent chapter of My Next Life as a Planeswalker. During it, I had Catarina, her friends, and others awarded a medal called the Star of Sorcier. I'm posting this up here so that you can make use of this as you see fit if you wish.

First is the medal itself. Credit to @daawnilyart for the design:

The Star of Sorcier is the highest military honor that can be earned in Sorcier. It is earned when one takes actions that are considered valorous and above and beyond what is expected. Estella Morel for example earned hers with her quick thinking allowing Sorcier to establish control of the skies, which prevented heavy losses among the Ornithopter squadron, while Catarina and her friends earned theirs due to all the work they put in teaching magic to the volunteers among the Academy of Magic's students and the Ministry of Magic's staff, as well as taking leadership and fighting fiercely during the battle itself.

When one is awarded the Star of Sorcier, they gain the following privileges:

-A monthly stipend paid by the Parliament of Sorcier -Use of the post-nominal abbreviation "St.S". So for example, Anne, who was awarded one, would be referred to formally in print as "Miss Anne Shelley, St.S". -If awarded to someone not in the Sorcier College of War, they are granted automatic admission, provided they meet the criteria. Their children are also afforded automatic admission if they meet the criteria. -An increased military pension should the recipient serve in the military and qualify for a pension. -Automatic invitation to royal celebrations and events as a guest of honor, including coronations and the Sovereign's Birthday. -Though not mandatory, if the recipient is wearing the Star on their person, active soldiers and military officers are highly encouraged to salute the recipient, regardless of rank. A couple chapters from now, that'll come into play.

Also, I think people making OG Katarina more sympathetic than she appears can also be due to:.

1. OG Katarina is a teenager + a bully, and I’ve seen other fandoms often try to push the idea that such characters are sympathetic in fan works because they’re “kids that just need time and patience to mature” to become good, or explain their behavior using the character’s backstory and actions to show them in a sympathetic light. (This point isn’t limited to OG Kat specifically, more like her being part of a trend I’ve been noticing)

2. Hamefura Katarina’s biased perception of her due to reincarnating into her. We see our Kat feel bad for OG Kat at times because of the way the original game creators wrote her to suffer for the sake of the game’s plot, so it’s like we feel inclined to see her way of thinking and thus… sympathize with OG Kat as a result.

Personally, I don’t mind how people decide to interpret OG Katarina or how they write her in AUs, because the nature of the series allows for endless creativity in that particular subject. But I can’t say that it’s a topic I’ve ever been invested in beyond reading a few interesting fics, as I’m not one of those that ever saw OG Kat as more sympathetic than she appeared either.

Thanks for stepping in and answering.

I'm not sure I'm the best person to ask this question to, simply because I don't take much interest in OG Catarina or the Fortune Lover story.

I've always seen Fortune Lover in Hamefura as something that frames the overall plot of the story. Nothing more, nothing less. Because of that, I take absolutely no interest whatsoever in trying to interpret that story, or interpret the characters and their actions. It just doesn't hold my interest. Only one fic which had OG Catarina as a significant presence ever drew my attention, and that was Through The Looking Glass by @luki-fanfic, because, well, it's the best story ever written in this fandom.

So whether people are making her more sympathetic than she really is or not, well, I can't really comment, simply because I view Fortune Lover as merely a part of what frames the plot for Hamefura. Luki did a good job making you feel sorry for OG Catarina, but still made it clear OG Catarina has issues.