#airilymusing

a continuation of 1 2 3 4

The tension is making his skin crawl and sweat gather at the back of his neck, but then A-jie smiles. It's ruined the next moment by a discordant note that causes the entire left side of her face to droop before snapping back. "Only A-Xian can answer that. I am nothing else but Jiang Yanli, if that's what you're worried about, A-Cheng. I am just not all of her."

He swallows. "I want to talk to Wei Wuxian."

"If you'd like," she says, continuing to lead him deeper into the cave. "Keep in mind that if he takes the time to talk to you back, however, that's pieces of me that will be lost forever in exchange."

Jiang Cheng clenches his fists then forces them to relax. "Okay. How long until he's finished?"

@airilymusing replied to your post “[Podfic] A handful of hopeful words”

Glad everyone's enjoying it!

Adam manages to hide the pain---mostly---until after practice. He lets himself move slowly as he drags himself to his car, but it’s okay, he reasons, because no one else is in the parking garage and thus he can indulge in a little self-pity.

This works great until he reaches his car and realizes that Brandon is leaning against the hood, arms crossed and a scowl on his perfect face.

“Why didn’t you tell me you strained your back?”

Adam hoists his bag over one shoulder and avoids Brandon’s glare. “It’s fine, really.”

“Sure,” Brandon says as Adam tosses his bag in the back. “Because a pulled muscle won’t affect your play at all, I’m sure.”

Adam slams the door and straightens, meeting Brandon’s glare with one of his own. “And that’s all you care about, right?”

Brandon’s fierce gaze falters and he opens and closes his mouth.

“It’s all about the team,” Adam snaps. “Make sure Lows is playing his best so the team doesn’t suffer. Thanks, Rusty, message received. You can fuck off now.”

Brandon is around the car and right up in Adam’s space before Adam can take a step back. 

“Adam fucking Lowry, you know better than that.” He’s inches away, eyes absolutely furious, but he’s not touching Adam at all.

“Do I?” Adam snipes. He reaches around Brandon for the car handle. 

Brandon catches his wrist in an iron grip. Still holding Adam’s gaze, he brings Adam’s wrist up to his mouth and presses a soft kiss to the inner skin, just over his pulse point.

Adam swallows hard.

Brandon kisses his wrist again, still watching him. “Let’s go home,” he murmurs. “And I’ll give you a massage.”

A8. What was your first fandom? Are you still in that fandom now?

I’m not even sure how to answer that, since I got into fandom stuff upside down and sideways.

I wrote fanfic for the Disney Afternoon and Star Wars when I was in high school...though I didn’t actually know fanfic was a thing, and I never showed the stories to anyone.

I started going to the local cons out of general interest in nerdy things, rather than having a specific fandom I was looking for. (I did get involved with tabletop gaming at that point.)

At those cons, I discovered fanfic, because - weird as it may sound - there were old fanzines for sale in the dealers room. I actually sought out a few things (most notably original Man From UNCLE*) because I’d read fanfic of them. But I still didn’t really have a concept of fandom except in the broadest of senses.

I didn’t actually seek out a fandom to actively be a part of until I joined Tumblr and AO3, looking for other SWTOR fans.

I guess if passively fanning counts, I’ve been in the Star Wars fandom from the beginning of my doing fanish things. If only actively fanning counts, that’d be the SWTOR fandom. Either way, I guess the answer is yes.

B4. Who is your current favourite author? What is their best story?

Argh. I hate picking favorites. I’m no good at it, and even if I pick several, I always think of something else I should’ve added half an hour later.

I don’t know. Here are some good things. And there are lots more out there.

Coalition, by Pomegrenadier

Overcoming Adveircity, by Brightephemera

Hyperdrive Lullabies, by AkiRah

C8. What is one plot twist you wish people would stop using?

Plot twists for the sake of having plot twists annoy me in general. I’m particularly not fond of plot twists that ruin what came before and/or feel like the writer was just trying to screw with their audience. (I am not keen on an adversarial relationship between writer and reader.)

And it really doesn’t help that “plot twist” has become synonymous with “shocking swerve” out in regular fiction land.

A good plot twist makes a story more enjoyable or differently enjoyable. A bad plot twist is the literary equivalent of dumping week old fish on your audience. No one should do that.

(And things like making sure every relationship ends in misery or death is not surprising any more. Not when Joss Whedon does it, and not when anyone else does it.)

@airilymusing replied to your post “I wonder if there is anyone in existence that spends more time picking...”

My character names are an even split between “carefully chosen for maximum likability and meaning” and “lol I like this random name the generator kicked up but it’s already used so I’ll tweak it slightly”.