#dwc asks

Another DWC has wrapped up and I know we're all feeling it, so now is a good time for all those questions we had while reading the stories!

Ask IC or OoC questions about my stories or OCs! Tell me what your favorite story is and why! Tell me what you liked best about a particular story! Tell me what you'd love to see in future DWCs! Ask or say anything!

ANON IS ON!

I think my favourite one to write was the Punish / Infinite. When I had initially seen this list right before we were beginning, I had a list written down with the prompts and who I was assigning them to. I had an incredibly loose idea about what I could write. Punish / Infinity became something I wasn't expecting and it was a result of discord and in-game roleplay that made it happen. I love how time and conversation and presence can completely change the course that I thought I was on.

I also think that what I wrote for Punish / Infinite wasn't really just for Laeynna. It was also for me. I have been in a lot of need for something that could help me centre myself and I think dissecting that notion through Laeynna's thoughts left me feeling very at ease and very much tranquil, neither of which are things that I feel often. I found it a very enjoyable experience and something much-needed. It was incredibly rewarding.

Now, onto this second thing...

It would be very difficult for me to pick favourites, because in earnest, I enjoyed everything and none of these pieces that any of us wrote are comparable. So, instead, I will pick pieces that are most vivid to me this morning.

Restless / Faith - Tycil

Placate / Graceful - Jace

Beauty / Cruel - Zenith

Punish / Infinite - Mae'Thyn

Restless / Faith - Tinnaire

Punish / Infinite - Avalear

Linger / Gaze - Keranna

Restless / Faith - Lukel

Placate / Graceful - Eluvianna

Placate / Graceful - Vaelsnipe

Beauty / Cruel - Veilos

Mentions for @tycildawnwhisper, @jacelandon, @zenithnightbane, @tumbleeintonothing, @kharrisdawndancer, @dawn-blossom, @keranna-zerine, @lukel-sunshadow, @eluviannaa, @vaelsnipe, @veilosdaigoa

I feel like this comes up so often where I get to confess that Laeynna as she is in this moment, this growth and evolution of her character was not at all what I had in my books for her. It almost feels like it's as much a surprise to me as it might be to anyone else. I am a heavily adamant believer of organic roleplay and development. I really don't pre-plan things in general unless it's a case where I'm making a character alongside someone else and we have an established storyline that we want to tell together. (I don't have a lot of those and I don't exactly do that often.)

There are, of course, other exceptions to this. All it would take was someone saying they were open to working on a storyline or something like that and I would likely be open to it. (Good example being this introduction of the Light, which was an idea brought to me by Nara, who knew I was struggling in playing Laeynna.)

Laeynna is such... What is she. So much of her story has become unpredictable to me. Maybe that comes from over a decade of me being convinced she was going to have the most absolute horrible end that she could have. Not necessarily because that's how I planned it or because that's what I wanted. I just always assumed that was what would happen.

I haven't expected anything that has happened with her since my return in DF. It's a journey that I'm just as much on as everyone else who is a part of it or witnessing it. Of course I think about how things can grow and proceed, and I think about how I want things to go and proceed, but I know how fluid things often are and can be, and I know I have to remain open-minded to all of those possibilities.

It's been a unique pleasure to write the pieces I have for Laeynna and to see how much more to her there actually is. I think, even as her player, I underestimated her too.

This is completely on me for not playing him more, and for not really pushing him out there. I've talked a bit before about how difficult it is to play him because I feel like I need to tread carefully with how he can treat other people and what other players would want to interact with. I think if I lean too hard into Soryk being unpleasant or barbaric and cruel that is probably not fun for other people to play off of and it may not provide enough of a 'yes, and' hook approach to roleplay, which I try to subscribe to.

For me, it's all about that balance of being true to Soryk's character, but being able to bend him and compromise his portrayal, so that he can be interacted with and not immediately lead to aggression and hostility. (For all that I do very much enjoy negative interactions, I prefer it with a bit of out of character communication and some build-up rather than Soryk randomly saying something stupid and making a stairway of enemies in seconds.) This is easier for me to do in situations where I have more time to think about how he says something or how he looks at someone. In short-form roleplay that's a considerably higher challenge for me, so I'm still figuring it out.

I really, really enjoyed getting to write more for him this week. In general, I just enjoyed getting to think about him and what I want to do with him (which I still don't exactly have a clear-cut answer on, admittedly). I'm glad I got to show different sides to him because I know that his times of visiting Cakes have largely consisted of him eavesdropping on everyone else, and refusing to not pay for his coffee. It's not a very good insight into who he is or how he operates.

As he meets people, he will speak up more. He just really isn't the kind of character who was made to randomly walk up to a group of unfamiliar people and start conversing. I'm sure in the future, given that he's been there a few times now, outed himself as someone who neither likes cheese nor chocolate, he can interject with unsolicited commentary about conversations he's listening to.

I'd like to share him more. I'm glad that you've enjoyed what I got to share about him this week. That really means a lot to me.

Considering in my shy of twenty years of playing Laeynna that I never considered she and Ankalei would even reunite sometimes it feels surreal to write about, to think about. I agree that it's a shame it's not something people will ever get to see in-game, so I'll only ever be able to portray it through the writings here and maybe that was a mistake on my part.

Prior to Laeynna and Ankalei I did not make characters who are related to other characters I play (for the above reason) because I'm honestly playing WoW to play with other people and not myself. (And yet, this DWC week actually inspired me to make another character related to a character I already play, so I have learnt nothing, apparently.)

I would love to continue writing for Laeynna and Ankalei as they continue this journey of reuniting and making up for lost centuries of time that they were apart. It comes down to if I have a reason to write for them, so hopefully I'll be able to continue rolling out some ideas to make that happen.