Time for a short look behind the scenes of my fic The Sins We Share. This fic is a NSFW sequel to the evil ending in my fic Wings of Deception, which has its own commentary here.
Not much to say about this one, tbh! It's just a horny fic. After their victory, Chilka wants to bang on Procyon's throne and defile it because it's ~symbolic~. This is my favorite interaction:
He is so pretentious. 🤣 Chilka is the smart one. He sees through the world's bullshit. In the anime, it's funny to see him standing up high talking about how unfair life is in flowery language.
I'm very happy with the conclusion names: Embers of a Fallen Kingdom and A Constellation of Us. The endings are very similar. Whether it's good or bad depends on how MC sees the situation. Favorite lines: "You're a trinity of broken things finding solace in each other." and "You're a constellation of fallen stars, bound by darkness and by blood."
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Click here for a write-up on my thoughts on Fairy Ranmaru lore!
Time for a look behind the scenes of my fic Embers of Rebellion. This fic is NSFW-optional.
Episode 1
This fic exists because Homura is my favorite fairy. I wanted to put him in the limelight. ❤️🔥 I could see the enemies-to-lovers trope working well with him. This fic is set post-canon.
I invented the rebellion against the Fairy Queen, Procyon. We know that as the Fairy Kingdom fell apart, clans started leaving the kingdom. Even after she apologizes to everyone, there should be fairies who are unhappy with how Procyon rules. While she's a respected figure in fairy society, there's no way it would be that easy to get everyone to forgive you. Thus, the rebellion was born. Lily is based on my friend Lily and her OC, who super hates Procyon. 😂
Et Fran de Muse is a location in the anime that hasn't shown up in any of my fics yet. It was fun to weave it in, even if it doesn't play a huge role. I'm unsure how Japanese universities work, so there are surely inaccuracies with what I wrote... Please ignore that!
At the end of the ep, we meet Homura being irritable and beating up bullies, which he does throughout the Fairy Ranmaru anime.
Episode 2
MC gets to know Homura a little. What better to bring people together than trial by fire? MC gains Homura's respect in this ep.
In the anime, the heart worlds are based off famous artworks and art styles. Since I wrote the bullied student instead of leaving it up to the player, I was able to base the heart world on a real painting: Nighthawks by Edward Hopper. The theme of this painting is isolation, symbolizing how ostracized the student feels.
I also had fun with the monster design that represents the student's attachment.
Episode 3
This is an investigation episode where MC investigates Homura's past. Originally I wanted to make it more gamified, with MC having to navigate a maze-like palace. As if it was a first-person dungeon exploration game with a set layout. This ended up being too complex. I scrapped that idea to make it less frustrating for players.
I had a LOT of fun making silly rooms in the palace. Did you see them all? My favorite one is the Winter Tri-Angels merch room, predictably.
The fairies' parents aren't named in the anime. I named Homura's father Kazan, meaning volcano. I named Uruu's mother Mizuha, which can mean water + spring season, or water + feather. I looked up Japanese names with water in them, but not going to lie, my choice of Mizuha was influenced by the character in To Your Eternity. It's a pretty name!
💔 Major spoilers for ep 3 below. 💔
There are 2 bad endings in this episode. One is MC getting caught by the guards due to not trying to be stealthy. MC gets to see Procyon's harsh side in this bad ending, and it ends the story. The 2nd bad ending is achieved by pissing off Homura too much during the reveal. You can still continue the story after that one.
Episode 4
It's a date episode, though Homura will start off cold if MC pissed him off last ep. I just love cute fluffy dates!
In this episode, MC has a major choice: Tell Homura the truth about who MC is, or continue lying. This choice has a huge impact on the rest of the fic. Homura will feel incredibly hurt if MC tells the truth. Honesty is the best policy here, but honesty requires courage. If MC decides to keep up the facade, the date continues. This can lead to optional smut under false pretenses.
Episode 5
The truth always comes out. If MC decided to lie to Homura, he finds out the truth anyway, before MC can get ahead of the narrative. He confronts MC along with the rest of the Bar F fairies. Homura believes MC was manipulating him to benefit the rebellion, and that what they had wasn't real. 💔 This leads to a fight, which then leads to one of two bad endings.
If MC was honest with Homura, then he will side with MC and hide MC from the other fairies. Even if MC is a traitor to the crown, Homura cares about MC too much to let anything happen to MC. This leads to another sweet episode with optional smut. In the end, MC can choose to either flip sides, or stick with the rebellion. Unsurprisingly, Homura would prefer MC to flip sides. But he'll try to protect MC even if MC refuses to change sides. Even if MC gets stripped of magic and turned into a human, Homura will still love MC.
Click here for a write-up on my thoughts on Fairy Ranmaru lore!
Time for a short look behind the scenes of my fic On Snowy Nights, I Dream of You. This fic is a NSFW-optional sequel to Wings of Deception.
Episode 1
It's ice skating. Not much to say here. I was looking forward to making a winter-themed fic. I also wanted to write about a snowball fight and keep track of points, but Glimmer is bad with numbers. As always, each love interest has their own personality and written interactions.
A small Easter egg is that you're supposed to get kicked out of the rink if you act rowdy. I've had trouble getting this to trigger though. Glimmer tends to prevent MC from doing anything bad. The model has been struggling with positivity bias. My beta recently had humans finding it funny that she melted the ice from underneath them!!! What in tarnation?
Episode 2
I love writing about the remaining fairies mercilessly teasing MC and their love interest. It's just very funny to me. 😂 Most of the fairies take you back to Bar F, where they all live. Takara takes MC to a luxurious hotel instead. He's classy, and the one with the money. Because Uruu is the biggest rule-follower, he is initially hesitant to have sex with a female MC. After all, fairy law forbids it. He will quickly cave if MC insists though lol.
I enjoyed exploring each fairy's wishes for the future. Writing about them has truly made me appreciate each character more. I wonder what Chilka would want to get up to in the future. He wants to carve his own path, but he needs to relearn how to live. He's the most confused of all the fairies, though he knows he wants to be with MC and Ranmaru. I imagine that he will reconnect with the expressive arts in some way, and find meaning through that.
Takara is also conflicted. He wants to reclaim his rightful position as Chief of the Metallum Clan. But really, that was his late mother's wish for him. I think it's probably not something Takara wants for himself. Second to Chilka, he's the fairy that is the most irreverent about Procyon's Laws. I'm very interested in a fic that explores these feelings and Takara's journey of retaking the Clan. I don't want to be the one to write it though, since then I'd need to think of a detailed plot!
I wrote the fic for a Glimmer winter challenge. There was a bingo card, and the type of bingo you got gave you different badges. You had to have certain things in your fic to fill a spot. But the thing didn't have to play a big role in the story. I was just one away from getting the snowglobe badge, so I shoved in one line about a snowstorm at the end. Lol. Work smarter, not harder.
obsession really is a great litmus test because wdym men are saying shit like "nikki is acting like my ex", "its just like dating a girl with bpd" yall saw your partners lose their minds and themselves in your relationship and you just laugh about it now? something tells me she wasnt the issue
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Click here for a write-up on my thoughts on Fairy Ranmaru lore!
Time for an episode-by-episode look behind the scenes of my fic Wings of Deception. The fic is a retelling of the Fairy Ranmaru anime. I adapted it to an interactive format and simplified some things. I added my own scenes, and an evil ending.
Episode 1
The customer has an emotional crisis related to MC's fear/trauma. I emphasized the customer can be any gender and any age, but I think Glimmer makes them a young adult woman almost always. 💔 Oh well.
The conclusion is titled Compassion. It's what the fairies are showing towards the client. Compassion is also an important concept in Buddhism.
Episode 2
The episode is called Dukkha, named after the Buddhist concept of suffering. Suffering comes from attachment. The episode centers on relieving the client of their suffering by releasing them from their attachment.
I had to give MC a cool magical transformation, of course! That one was a bit tricky to get working, but I'm very happy with the result. Glimmer would rush through that scene at first, with minimal detail. I ended up writing a detailed version Uruu's transformation and telling Glimmer to use that as an example. For the catchphrase, I do something similar with Homura's catchphrase and weapon flourish. I was worried these details would get Glimmer confused between MC and the others. It worked surprisingly well though!
In the anime, entering someone's heart plays out somewhat differently. The areas are all based on famous artwork or art styles, which is unfortunately hard to enforce when the client's issue can be anything. Glimmer isn't creative enough to weave in famous artwork on its own, even though I told it to. I was able to do it with my fic Embers of Rebellion, because the client is static instead of dependent on player input. More on that later.
"GO! TO! HEAVEN!" is one of my most favorite phrases ever.
Episode 3
This is a fanservice episode for me. Every anime needs a beach episode! I love designing outfits for the fairies.
I forget why I put in the spa. Maybe it was just that I wanted to be at a spa lol. I spent way too much time thinking of fitting spa treatments for the fairies. It was a struggle to figure out what Takara would want to do there. Other than flirt. In the end, I couldn't come up with any spa treatment that fit his personality or clan. I went with deep tissue massage in the end. Pretty normal, and probably something he would pick just to pick something.
The conclusion is called Impermanence, another fundamental concept in Buddhism. Existence is constantly changing... A happy day can turn bitter. The reverse is also true.
Episode 4
This is largely a flashback episode. I had to fight Glimmer because it kept mixing up past and present. We don't see much of the idol era in the anime, so I fleshed it out in my fic. My favorite scene is the fanservice scene, of course!
In the anime, the idol group is called Winter Tri-Angels because three fairies are involved: Procyon, Betelgeuse, and Sirius. The names come from the Winter Triangle, containing the stars Procyon, Betelgeuse, and Sirius. These three are some of the brightest stars in the sky. But wait a minute. In my fic MC is there too, so there are four stars! Winter Tri-Angels doesn't fit as a name anymore, since it's based on the real Winter Triangle. I couldn't find another star group containing those three stars and more. In the end, I decided to call the group Winter Diamonds in my fic. A triangle has three points, and a diamond has four. Diamonds are also a nice way to refer to an idol group. I named MC's past self Antares because it's a name of a star and sounds good.
At the end of this episode, MC can choose to side with or against Chilka. It's a stretch to make Ranmaru able to go either way, since he is a Procyon loyalist in the anime. But I think there could be a universe where he reluctantly joins the dark side, if two of those he cared about most decided to.
Since this fic follows the events of the anime, originally I only planned one ending. As I was writing, I realized that some readers might want to turn to the dark side. The coolest part of Glimmer is how it lets players choose what they want to do, after all. So I decided to create an evil route too.
The episode is titled Fall for two reasons. It's a reference to Chilka's name ('chiru' meaning for blossoms to fall). And It's a reference to Chilka, and possibly MC and Ranmaru, falling into darkness.
The conclusions are titled Kleshas (mental states that cloud the mind and lead to bad actions) and Samma Kammanta (morally ethical conduct in Buddhism).
Bonus pun: In Japanese, 'attachment' is 'aijyaku' and 'love' is 'ai'. Aijyaku can also mean love. Love is very much a theme of Fairy Ranmaru. When Sirius/Chilka says he doesn't need vast quantities of love anymore, he just wants to be loved by one person: He also means that he doesn't need vast quantities of attachment anymore. That's why he brings this up when talking about quitting Procyon's attachment-gathering scheme. Translating it to English loses some nuance.
Episode 5
The episode is titled Liberation. Liberation/Nirvana is the end of the cycle of suffering and rebirth (samsara) in Buddhism. I forget why I didn't name the ep Nirvana. Maybe I liked the sound of liberation better. Or maybe it's that nirvana is a very specific concept, whereas liberation is more general. Chilka thinks he will be liberated from the Queen and his past if he kills her... But he won't achieve nirvana that way. There's a subtle but meaningful difference between 'nirvana' and the English definition of 'liberation'.
Even if MC has chosen an evil path, they still get a few chances to change their mind. After all, the other fairies care about MC and don't want to kill MC. There is major character death in the evil route, as MC and co. have to kill the other fairies. To this day I'm not sure anyone but my betas and I have done the evil route... No one has commented about it yet.
The conclusions are named Nirodha (the end of craving/desire in Buddhism, a good thing) and Three Poisons (a bad thing). The three poisons are ignorance, attachment, and hatred. They are said to be the main things keeping people trapped in samsara. In the evil route, MC, Chilka, and Ranmaru are also thematically like three poisons on the world.
Episode 6
Episode 6 is entirely different depending on what path MC chose in episode 5.
For the "good" ending, episode 5 is a cute and fluffy date at a Japanese festival. It can be platonic, since romance is optional in this fic. I wanted to go to a traditional Japanese festival, so I made it happen! Each fairy is written to have their own habits or details at the festival. And there are more outfits! A yukata is a cotton or linen kimono, worn in the summer.
In the evil route, MC and co.'s path of destruction continues. Chilka is able to bring out the worst in humans by using magic in the anime. I think this is the opposite of releasing attachment: He's deepening unhealthy attachments instead. He teaches Ranmaru and MC how to do this in the evil route.
The conclusion names for the final episode are Beginnings ("good" route) and Endings (evil route).
I'm not even a Buddhist lol. I went heavy into learning about it for this fic though!
Named my HoF Nesryn because I was scrolling my Pinterest names board and decided I liked it. Pinterest says it means "wild rose" but the internet is giving conflicting information. However given Leliana's vision and Alistair's gift, it fits and in my dragon age universe that's what it means, with the "ryn" part meaning rose. So Nesryn and Alistair end up naming their daughter Sabryn, which means "rose bud."
I got a suggestion to write commentary for my Glimmer fics. It didn't occur to me that people could be interested in the thought process behind my fics. I think the best place to start, is to discuss the Fairy Ranmaru lore I have in mind while writing. I try to follow canon, but I've simplified some bits to minimize reader confusion.
What is Attachment?
Fairy Ranmaru has aspects inspired by Buddhist philosophy. Though, I believe the creators aren't intentionally trying to say something Buddhist. It's like Evangelion, where the creators said they used Christian elements mainly because it looked cool. Not to convey a specific religious message.
People tend to think of attachment as a positive thing. In Buddhism, attachment is a negative thing. It is the root of suffering. Attachment refers to grasping, clinging, or fixating on something. It’s the mental and emotional habit of holding tightly, fearing change or loss. People attach because we want things to stay the same: to hold onto a perfect moment, a person we love, a version of ourselves that we’re proud of. But life doesn’t work that way. Everything is impermanent: our bodies, relationships, jobs, and even our emotions. When people cling to what can’t stay, they suffer. Being able to let go of those attachments will free you from suffering and help you towards enlightenment. (Source: Various websites about Buddhism. I didn't save links because I didn't expect to write commentary.)
Fairies can collect attachment from humans, releasing them from harmful attachments. Attachment helps fuel fairy magic. According to Takara, it's used like human money in the fairy world.
The message of releasing humans from harmful attachment is muddied in the show, since the fairies 'ascend' people who have 'wicked souls'. Most of the time, the fairies are smacking around a bully. They don't smack the attachment out of their client (usually), even though the client shows attachment too. This is the main reason I think the Buddhist elements are for funsies rather than something very serious. In my fics, I cut out the wicked soul element to keep the messaging simpler and more focused.
Attachment is also a little punny. In Japanese, 'attachment' is 'aijyaku' and 'love' is 'ai'. Aijyaku can also mean love. Love is very much a theme of Fairy Ranmaru. When Sirius/Chilka says he doesn't need vast quantities of love anymore, he just wants to be loved by one person: He also means that he doesn't need vast quantities of attachment anymore. That's why he brings this up when talking about quitting Procyon's attachment-gathering scheme. Translating it to English loses some nuance.
Fairy Religion
So are the fairies Buddhists then? Kind of. We know the fairies have a religion, because the Lux Clan is in charge of religious rites. We don't know the details of that religion. In the show, before collecting attachment, they pray or show respect to a 'Holy Mother'. I think this could be the Fairy Queen, though it's not proven. Most of the fairies are unusually loyal to the Queen, even when she does fucked up stuff. There has to be a reason they venerate her so much, right?
More things supporting the "Fairies are Buddhist" belief:
The Ten Laws of Fairies are loosely modeled after the Buddhist Ten Precepts for novice monks and practitioners. (Note: Different-sex relations are largely prohibited, but the Fairy Queen decides who can get together.)
In the ending song (warning: NSFW-ish imagery), the fairies make mudras, or sacred hand gestures with meanings in Buddhism.
Fairy Elements
At the start of Fairy Ranmaru, we're told there are five clans. However, near the end we find out there is a sixth element. Houjou is a "Fairy of Loam". In other words, he's an Earth elemental fairy. I made him an Arbor fairy in my fics to keep it simple, since we know nothing about the Earth clan. The fairy clans and elements are based on the five Chinese elements.
Notice anything? Lux, or Light, isn't one of those elements. Word of God says that Chilka is a Tenebrae (or Darkness) fairy. That is also not one of the Chinese elements. There are scenes throughout the anime where we see Jyuka's, Uruu's, Homura's, and Takara's parents. We never see Ranmaru's or Chilka's parents. Do they even have parents?
What's going on here? I headcanon that Ranmaru and Chilka are artificially created fairies, made to serve the Queen. We see them being her bodyguards when younger, and they were her choice to start an idol group with. They are especially close to her for whatever reason.
So there are at minimum seven fairy clans, and probably even more we were never told about. Good news for people making fan clans!
Lux Power
Glimmer tends to be very boring and uncreative with its default suggestions for how to use Lux powers. It's always just blasts of light. I've written in better suggestions for creative uses of Lux power.
I believe Lux fairies are illusionists as well as combatants. In one episode, Ranmaru is seemingly devoured by scorpions. But Chilka stares suspiciously at where Ranmaru once stood. Soon enough, Ranmaru reappears, standing in a different spot. Did he come back from the dead? No, he's tricking our vision. Light is the foundation of vision. Our eyes capture light. The way light refracts into our eyes is then interpreted by the brain, forming what we see. By controlling light, you can control what people can and can't see. Power over light is a great power indeed.
