#confabulatrix

Tagged by @iwritesometimes!

Look at the most recent 20 (or however many!) fanwork titles on your AO3 account and answer the questions below. Acts of Service A Tolerance for Pain Bajur Adding Shadows Words of Affirmation a pillar I am, upright Twice the Thunder Housed By Your Warmth Work for Idle Hands Rite of Movement Woven Walls Shun the Light Early Retirement It Looks Ugly, But It’s Clean Tread Softly Rum On the Fire if I was born as a blackthorn tree Absent with Leave Unconventional Methods If You Can Find It  You, Too

1. How many are you happy with? Nominally, all of them. 

2. How many are…not great?

I wish I’d come up with a better theme for the titles of the three spinoff stories from “Acts of Service”. But individually I still think they fit their respective stories. 

3. How many did you scramble for at the last minute? lololol so many. “Woven Walls” came out of the end of the story; I was sure I’d just use a Hozier line until then. 

4. How many did you know before you started writing/creating, or near the beginning? Acts of Service, Words of Affirmation, Twice the Thunder (thanks to @bisexualwinry), Shun the Light, Tread Softly, Rum on the Fire, Absent with Leave, You, Too. 

5. How many are quotes from songs or poems? LOLOLOL the question my friends is how many are from Hozier songs? the answer is EIGHT. Four others are sourced from non-Hozier songs. and “Tread Softly” is from Yeats.

6. How many are other quotes? “You, Too” is a play on the “You either” line in Pacific Rim: Uprising that heralded the blessed polyamorous moment that inspired the fic, but I don’t know that that counts. 

7. Which best reflects the plot of the story/content of the fanwork? how long do we have here 

honestly on review, I often do the thing where the snippet of lyric I quote is meant to invoke the context of the line, which is more directly tied to the story, hence “Adding Shadows" (to the walls of the cave) for an action scene set in a cave, or (it’s a wonderful life) “If You Can Find It” for a Hansen-Pentecost blended family trying to scrape by on a planet that’s trying to kill them. I am not subtle. 

out of the handful that aren’t quotes, “Acts of Service” is like... the whole fic. Right there. Again, I am not subtle. 

8. Which best reflects the theme of the story?

I mean, “Acts of Service” again. tbh I try to match these to a mood when I can’t match the theme per se. “Woven Walls” has the lyricism I was going for and the suggestion of people putting up whatever flimsy barriers they can to protect themselves from vulnerability. “Unconventional Methods” for a bunch of misfit benders trying to train Avatar Chirrut to take down the Fire Lord when nothing they’ve learned is really applicable. “Tread Softly” for Hawke and Fenris tenderly nurturing a future for each other, oh no I’m crying about it again 9. Which best reflects the character voice of the story/pov of the fanwork?

basically all the Cara stories. particularly “A Tolerance for Pain,” “Work for Idle Hands,” and “Housed By Your Warmth”. and “It Looks Ugly, But It’s Clean” features a very bitter, grim, and goal-oriented Hawke.  10. Which is your favourite title?

I thought this would be really difficult, but I just love “Woven Walls” so fucking much 

YOU COULD HAVE JUST ASKED ME HOW TO USE A FRENCH PRESS

So what line, and what fic? We could make this a goddamn meme.

So in that one really angry DA2 fic that hardly anyone has read because there’s nothing shippy and it’s in second person, Hawke goes “I think he’s in shock,” and today I realized Anders could have said “A little shock will fix that” because he was literally about to defibrillate the guy 

fuckening. what. oh my god can we kill her.

no, Hannah whyyyyyyyyyyy

Well damnit, now I gotta get it!

All they’ve done was mention it twice, but Estee 

Right there with you. Fuck.

FUCK THE GOVERNMENT, AMIRITE

@roguewen replied to your post “The filing season is about to start and the government shutdown means...”

god. i'm so sorry. this sucks so much. *hug fwiw*

   This might be a longshot, but have you tried Flonase? They market it for allergies but it’s a localized steroid and it’ll help with all kinds of head congestion