#author asks

Oh man… I don’t even have the space lmao. Lemme see… something I really wanted to work in but just did not have the space for is that Touya and Keigo have TALKED about Tokoyami like wayyyy before he hunted them down. Touya is well aware that Keigo has had feelings for a while and teased him over it relentlessly. To the point of prying out a lot of his most shameful fantasies.

While I don’t like to play the “who loves who more” I think Touya and Fumi have a much more healthy and organic relationship since it doesn’t come with all of the baggage and guilt that Keigo’s relationship with Fumi carries. Keigo has a lot of therapy to go through and I think Fumi’s reverence for him is carrying them through a lot. On the other hand, Touya is something new and entirely unexpected. They’re on more equal footing.

I don’t think Touya expected to fall in love with Fumi at all. He just thought Fumi would be fun to mess around with for a while and fell FAST and HARD before he realized what was happening (because he definitely would have tried to hit the breaks if he realized he was catching feelings). He resigned himself to it after they got attacked because he’s possessive AF and the second someone hurt Fumi he realized that little bird was HIS.

If you want something more light-hearted, Touya does all of the household chores. Not out of any agreement, he just doesn’t trust Keigo to do anything (because doing laundry and grocery shopping was not on the commission’s curriculum vitae) and Fumi works like 10-12 hours a day. When Fumi first moved in they argued about it, but Touya just sneaks in while they’re gone and collects their laundry and cleans their room anyway (this is how he gets his hoodies back lmao). Touya doesn’t trust the stupid birds to feed themselves either, so he makes sure the kitchen is stocked with easy microwave food, the fridge is full of chicken livers and he also fills up Fumi’s stash of snacks in his room.

I fell asleep before I saw this come in, so I’ll include some pet tax at the end of this ;)

5. What’s something you learned while researching a fic?

Oooooh I learn so many things. And I add to list with every new project. So, my current favorite is that, in the USSR, people would make records out of discarded xray film, and they’re known as “bone records” which is delightfully evocative :)

Now for research things!

So, first things first: I do the amount of research I do because I love it. Everything can be a vehicle to learn something new, and I love learning.

I often start with a basic overview. Just to get the lay of things as I build a plot. So, Wikipedia, decent tv documentaries, Crash Course on YouTube, Missed In History Class podcast, even things like Horrible Histories and History Minutes if they come up. If I have a friend who has a niche in the area, I’ll ask them for guidance or to talk at me for as long as they want. I have a friend who will send me voice memos explaining her current research. If I’m writing a shorter fic, this is where my process stops.

If it’s a longer story, once I have a sketch, I move onto deeper material. So, JSTOR and other academic resources, reading full books on the subject, full length documentaries or series docs, archives and historical orgs that hold primary materials. I can get really granular. For a fic a few years ago, I actually emailed two universities and a state historical society to see if they could send me anything (they all did and it was AMAZING).

Everything I find, then gets rearranged into an outline to match the plot. Details that fit for character, or plot, or world building are added in as things for me to keep in mind. Anything that doesn’t do work for what I’m trying to build goes into a “discard” pile (which means, I hand onto it until the story is finished, just in case, but I don’t expect to use it at all.)

thank you so much!

3. What are your top three most commonly used tags on AO3?

In Order: (1) Alternate Universe, (2) First Meetings, (3) Falling in Love

10. Is there a character or ship you'd love to write for, but haven't yet?

If there is one out there, I don't know about it. What I write about, what I have in front of me right now, is all stuff I'm loving right now, and I hope continuing to work on new ideas and new ways to tell the stories in my head will lead me to more discoveries, characters, pairings, etc. :)

13. Do you have an 'official' creative writing background such as a degree or previous experience publishing?

I have duel degrees in Journalism/Nonficiton Writing and History (war history, specifically). Before Covid quarantine, I worked for magazines writing brand features and profile pieces (my first assignment ever was interviewing Peter Facinelli, aka Carlisle Cullen). My fiance has a degree in creative writing, writes fantasy fiction in his spare time, and we talk shop a lot around the house. I have never been published, but not for lack of trying; essentially, the experience was so miserable that I gave up, adapted all of my original plots for fanfiction, and started posting them in the hopes that, maybe, someone would actually read them.

So... Yes. To all of the above. Apologies for accidentally posting my CV...

23. What’s a story you’d love to write but haven’t even started yet?

That list is a thousand miles long, y'all. Screenshots of my Notes App for proof of purchase/concept/insanity:

yay! thank you!

17. How many WIPs do you have and how many do you expect to finish?

This is a hilarious question. To me. Not anyone else, probably, but definitely hilarious to me. A few years ago, a commenter on my fanfics referred to me as the "Fic WIP Nightmare" of the fandom because I would start more before I would finish. It's just how I work, and it's been ~15 years of writing fic so I'm not changing any time soon lol.

But, here is a list of all the WIPs I have (posted and unposted) off the top of my head as I sit here on the couch:

A Tale of Bygone Years | HR | Will be finished by October

Modern Gomorrah | HR | 50/50 chance, but I sure would like to

Mazeru | HR | Will be finished by EOY

As Good A Reason | HR | Will be finished by September

The Will of The Many | RWRB | Finish by EOY?

River of the Gods | RWRB | I would like to finish it... we'll see

Let This Cup Pass | RWRB | 50/50 toss up, but there is hope

The Long Road Home | RWRB | 50/50 split

Sweet Enough | RWRB | 30/70 split... the writing sucks bad, y'all.

La Sangre de Los Reyes | 911-LS | Maybe... it's so good in my head...

Our Kind of Traitor | HR | Yes, definitely. It'll take a while though.

Darkness Shapes Itself | HR | 50/50. Scared of fandom reaction tbh...

Shatter The Luck | RWRB | Will be finished, but for myself mostly.

Bleak Midwinter | RWRB | 50/50, but it's a fun daydream sometimes

Curse-breaking for Cretins | RWRB | Will be finished for myself only.

Like that person said in 2022: Fanfic WIP Nightmare

Okay sorry I was. VERY distracted by that. Ohhh my gods. Do you secretly have access to my mind and/or search history. Bc like. How are you always hitting the nail on the head.

Also toga!!! Yay!!! I love her so much. And now that youve put toga and hawks flying together in my brain you better pay up! Jkjk, but also if you dont then I will be forced to take matters into my own hands <3

And keigo. Stop talking like that buddy :D ur freaking me out :D its gonna be fiiiiiiiine :D nothing bad has ever happened or will ever happen again :D those tags cant hurt me they arent real :D *holds onto "angst with a happy ending" for dear life*

dw im being silly. No genuine anxiety, just anticipation for whatever youre cooking up. Be as horrible as ur heart desires bc I will eat that shit up. I just may also whine and complain and cry while you do it but shhhh its part of the fun

Don’t you know I’m in the van outside reviewing ur search history every weekend??? Gotta get my inspo somewhere!! No, but I think you’ll like what I have planned for Toga. As for what Keigo is up to, we’ll just have to see what comes in the future *folds hands like a super villain* I promise we will earn EVERY tag.

Sorry if this has been answered already, or if I missed a translation in the text itself.

Thank you!

(I really like WWYP btw <3333)

Sooooooooo I'll post my answer below the cut, for the sake of those who don't want ✨ spoilers ✨

I need you to know that I'm delighted when people ask me about this

Ty so much anon! It’s always interesting in fandom when you’re into the really niche characters and you find the other handful of people out there also searching for crumbs. Toko fans are really out here like: