#owlpockets

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Our next preview is our codex entry for the Bard Era featuring Leliana and her thoughts on Dorothea with writing by @owlpockets and spot art by @mermaidhugs!

I swear, the more I talk about this, the more determined I am to make sure this piece sees the light of day!

So the Wen Kexing and Gu Xiang piece is a sister story to This Labyrinth, Where Night is Blind - or better known as, the Zhou Zishu and Liang Jiuxiao fic set within Qi Ye's timeline. These past few months I've been really interested in exploring the parallels between the lives the characters lived before meeting one another. While Labyrinth is a look into how Zhou Zishu is both cruel and dangerous to his enemies but also warm and caring to those he loves, the Ghosts fic is intended to be a look at how Wen Kexing can be both a feral creature who literally destroys and breaks his enemies in order to simply survive, whilst also being a protective brother to the young Gu Xiang he has somehow come to care for, all while being just a young boy trying to scrape his way out of the bottom of the pit life has left him in.

It's the thought of how these two young boys/men were thrown into impossible and difficult situations that would challenge any grown adult, let alone those who were barely even children or teenagers themselves; joint with how they both found someone they wanted to shelter and protect from the world they were forced into by no choices of their own, despite knowing that those young children they end up caring for will still inevitably be exposed somehow by the darkness of the lives they lead. Gu Xiang especially in this story's case, as Wen Kexing more or less has to teach her to be fierce and violent - just in the hope she'll one day be able to leave the world of Ghosts and be the Human he always felt she should have been.

☀️ Contributor Spotlight: owlpockets

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Our next preview is our codex entry for the Childhood Era featuring Leliana and Marjolaine's ill-fated first meeting with writing by @owlpockets and spot art by @mermaidhugs!

(popping this here as I’m more active on this blog these days than my main ✨)

Tagged by the always amazing @owlpockets, thanks so much lovely!

Oh god my music taste is all over the place these days, especially given how I don’t really follow radio or internet trends 😂

The End of Love, Florence and the Machine

Florence Welch is probably one of my favourite artists these days, and this song is my absolute favourite of hers since it was first released. It inspires me so much whilst writing, and I love the emotion that washes over you when you listen to it. Especially with my favourite lyrics; ‘I’ve always been in love with you / Could you tell it from the moment that I loved you?’

Look At Us Now (Honeycomb), Daisy Jones and the Six

I have been obsessed with the soundtrack of this album since the Amazon series dropped last month. The team did an abosolutely incredibly job in creating an album that feels like it charted in the 70′s (and feels very Fleetwood Mac), and after finishing the show myself I quickly had to order the vinyl record for this.

I knew Riley Keough would kill the vocals when it was announced she was cast, but I had no idea Sam Claflin would be so good too!

Tango in the Night, Fleetwood Mac

I have so much love for this band and oh my goodness, Tango in the Night is such a fantastic album which often gets overlooked for other albums like Rumors. But there are so many good songs in here, and Tango in the Night is one of my favourites. I used to own this on vinyl too, but I am cursed as every copy I have brought has been damaged in some way :( My mum treated me to the CD version a few years back for Christmas however, so it still gets played often.

This Hell, Rina Sawayama

Probably one of the more recent songs I listen to these days, but I fell in love with this song as soon as I heard it. Really powerful message and honestly? It’s just a bop. I mean, how can you go wrong with lyrics like; ‘The devil’s wearing Prada / And loves a little drama / This hell is better with you’.

Hunter’s Moon, Ghost

Sorry this response is a little late, but thanks so much for sending in a question lovely! 💖

🤲 what do YOU get out of writing?

I've been writing ever since I can remember (fandom works, original works, just comfort writings) and the one big reason why I love it so much is because I can create and write the things I want to.

I love building worlds and characters generally (I create a lot for tabletop homebrewing and the characters I play in both tabletop and video games), and when it comes to fandom works and those things that are already established, I like being able to play in the sandbox and create something for myself, or write something as a response to a thing I either loved in a work I've watched or read, or maybe even something I didn't really like that I wanted to explore through a different angle. I also like to take scenes and ideas that didn't happen and sort of flesh them out a bit more as a sort of 'in the spaces in between' sort of thing - especially so for fandoms like Dragon Age and Mass Effect which provide such a rich space for writers to explore their characters in.

19. any new fics to start next year

Nothing's ready right away. I've got several in progress with a hanwen bloodplay knifeplay fic having the most momentum right now if I can just make it weird enough.

25. favorite fic you read this year

I had saved Alixna, Merinann and Xantissa's "Echoes of those that Were" (dmbj) for my summer trip which included spending 48 hours on various ferries and it did not disappoint.

There were so many short tyk/woh fics I read this year too all bitey and sharp which is what I wanted.

this one is kinda funny bc i love fics that are clearly based on intimate experience in a certain field of expertise and since i did archery in uni, i have tried to write an archery au w/mulitple fandoms and so far this wip is the only one that i've managed not to abandon!! zzs bitchy barebow captain rights

Wen Kexing’s gaze flicks down to glance at the competition sheet pinned to the quiver hanging off his waist, the one that spells out in neat lettering, “ZHOU ZISHU, 19B, BAREBOW COLLEGIATE”.

Okay, so it’s very much not fine. Wonderful.

“Zhou Xu,” Wen Kexing says thoughtfully, rolling the painfully fake name around on his tongue like a mouthful of…something. “Nice to meet you, bale buddy.”

What.

Zhou Zishu glances down at Wen Kexing’s quiver and, yup, “WEN KEXING, 19A, RECURVE COLLEGIATE”.