#rena rambles

Update 1/8 and January-February Posting Schedule

I liiiiiive (insert Mushu meme here) lol. I have been gone for a very, very long time.

This will be rambles. If you want my posting schedule for the next few weeks, please scroll to under the cut.

Around a year ago, I was feeling very confident about getting back into writing. Hence posting Seaside. I just got a shiny new job with a regular schedule that I could write around. I'd just reread the JJK manga and fell in love with it again. I'd assembled a team of sorts of people that I thought would help me make writing and publishing a bit easier. I was feeling confident as hell. They were going to help me with my research, outlines, editing, and formatting on AO3. And they didn't do any of that. They completely ghosted essentially from the word 'go'. No explanation. Nothing.

Which was... really disheartening. I had just put up another WIP because I (apparently wrongfully) assumed that my workload was about to get easier. So, I added even more onto myself. But my schedule was pretty full. I work full time hours and am also trying to write my own original works that I hope to someday publish in paper format.

To make matters worse, Godhead was shared via anti-shipper forum on another site that ripped it to shreds; I was sent a link by one of my longtime readers. The comments were full of people accusing me of supporting rapists and grooming and all sorts of other stuff. They also accused me of intentionally and maliciously mischaracterizing Gojo to make him look bad - like it isn't an AU? Kind of par for the course for a dark-fic, so I wasn't surprised. I had just hoped that with JJK already being darker source material that the fanbase might be a little less puritanical. But I guess there will always be weirdos lurking to white-knight for fictional characters. Nevermind that my works are always thoroughly tagged and rated accordingly.

It was whatever until somebody managed to find one of my gmail addresses (fake name and no personal info, don't worry) from my now-deactivated LJ account and sent me something like THIRTY messages saying that they had reported me to the police. Like, holy shit. I'm not even that big of an author. I don't even write stuff that's that dark. Why? What the actual fuck is wrong with people??? God, I hope it was a bot. I deleted that old address, since I only really used it to make alt accounts on gatcha games when I was in high school, and hadn't touched it in years.

This happened around the middle of last January. And, needless to say, it really turned me off of fandom for a bit. My husband very kindly recommended maybe stepping back and taking some 'me' time, which I agreed would probably be for the best.

I intended to take a month or so to get everything ironed out. Got back into a few old series that I missed. Binged InuYasha all the way through. Twice. Replayed all the Dragon Age games. STILL haven't beaten BG3, even after playing for over a year. And I started writing anonymously. I have a few stories (3 finished and 1 WIP) posted anon, which I'll be slowly de-anoning over the next year or so.

In that time, I am VERY grateful to all of the people who checked on me. I had one message that was like "Girl you ghosted again". And yeah, I did. I'm so sorry! And I am also so very thankful for those who have been waiting for me to come back - whether patiently or impatiently. Lol. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for both the kicks in the pants and the well-wishes.

To say that last year was tough would be an understatement.

I felt really, really guilty. I haven't responded to comments or asks because A) I didn't feel like I deserved them after I once again dipped and B) I didn't want to get any hopes up that I'd be back anytime soon. I wanted to wait until I was 100% certain that I would be ready to commit and stick with it. So, I'm responding now.

I have a new alpha and part-time beta now. They're part of our Dungeons & Dragons group, so they can't ghost. Lol.

Back into working on my JJK fics, I'm having a blast reading my old outlines. Sometimes, I curse at Past Rena for being vague, but I also get a kick out of rediscovering old plot points that I'd meant to include.

Here's part of my barebones outline for Seaside to give you guys some context to the madness. Lol.

*Gojo is in the kitchen, shirtless (hubba-hubba), cooking something in a skillet.* -“Y-you learned to cook while I was gone?” -“Well, it was either that or starve.  Or let Mayu stuff me full until I exploded.” -Whatever is in the pan sizzles and pops out, burning him. *They both rush to cover the pan with a lid at the same time.  Their hands intertwine. Reader pulls away abruptly, while he moves the food off of the burner.  (food subplot very engaging)* *And he sweeps her up in a bridal style hold, pressing his forehead against hers.* -“Welcome back,” he croons, nudging my nose with his. -I wait with a bated breath as he gets close enough that I can almost feel his lips brush mine.  “I’m home,” I more breathe than speak. -I’m home. -For good. *(Mike Tyson now kith meme)* *(Insert sexy times here.  Some missionary, maybe cowgirl, some freaky fish sex.  The works.)* <>  *Reader wakes up to Gojo humming her mom’s lullaby as he cuddles her.  She agrees with him that it’s not her mom’s song anymore; it’s theirs.* *Fin.  (fish pun)*

So... that's essentially what I'm working with for my smaller stories. Genuinely a lot of fun to read, coming back to it with fresh eyes. REARRANGED, on the other hand, is a monster to sift through after a break. It has character sheets for every side, main, and original character; rigid timelines in which the events take place within the story; actual weather and geographical data on Tokyo, Japan from October 2015; and a comprehensive list of cool places I want to visit, so I can live vicariously through Reader-chan.

It's so much to go through. I'm drowning in paper. Throw me a life raft. Lol.

Aaaanyway, with that out of the way, here's my posting schedule for the next few weeks:

(I was going to start this week, but my old lady dog needs to have arthritis lasered off of her bones so that we can get her doggy ACL repaired. I hate being an adult)

Rena's mostly-concrete posting schedule is as follows:

I am always so excited to hear from other Young Justice ’98 fans!!! It is genuinely one of my favorite comic series, and definitely one of my favorite YA comic series, and I absolutely adore those three girls in particular!

Now, I’m tempted to just say porque no los dos, as I do poly ship Cassie, Anita, and Cissie. But I also personally ignore Anita’s parents being reborn as infants and shenanigans leading to her and Cissie being kinda step-sisters ish. Because I may love YJ 98, but like all comics, they sometimes make #mistakes.

However, I know that’s a bit of a copout answer, and especially if someone doesn’t just ignore the weirder bits of the ending of YJ 98, that might be a harder ship to take (even though I think you can do a LOT with Anita/Cissie, given probably Anita deserves better).

I think if I had to pick between the two, I would ultimately choose Anita/Cassie. There is a lot of establishing work with Cissie/Cassie and I do love their relationship a lot, but I think there is something very powerful about how Cassie was more accepting and respectful to Anita when she was joining the Young Justice crew.

To be clear, Cassie should have done more to stick up for Anita. That said, her most important relationship in the team at that time was arguably her relationship with Cissie, and Cassie was willing to call her out on her behavior toward Anita. Which is big for teenagers in these kinds of situations.

[Young Justice (1998-2003) #33]

This same storyline also leads to one of my favorite f/f ship tropes which is when there’s one girl catching another (and it failing but hey it’s the thought that counts lmao)

[Young Justice (1998-2003) #34]

To be fair to Anita, Cassie’s a demigoddess who just got backhanded by a werewolf at full force so there was going to be little that could be done to soften that blow lol

In any case, I think there’s a lot of interesting development that could happen from this point on with Anita and Cassie. I would argue it would be far more interesting and eventful for either of them than the relationships they did get pigeon holed into after this point so...

Blue - Rena speech

Orange - ??? speech (can only be heard by Vi)

Through the window, a cascade of water can be seen gracing the streets below. It begins as a gentle pitter-patter against the calm glass, however it quickly amplifies - becoming a stampede of heavy droplets.

Two individuals enter the comfortable, warmly lit room. The long haired figure holds a few bags of various snacks, while the shorter haired of the two carries a collection of sugary drinks. They set the drinks on the table, taking a can and opening it with a crrrrsshh.

“I cannot thank you enough for allowing me to stay here temporarily. You have truly been a life-saver. Metaphorically and literally.”

“Well, duh! What else would I have done, left you out in the weather? Besides I haven’t had a sleepover in agessss!”

“A… sleepover?”

The shorter haired-one hesitates. They had not thought of it that way. Nor can they recall having a sleepover ever. Lost in thought, they stare at their drink.

“Oh come on, Vi! Lighten up! You basically never hang out with people, this will be fun for you!!”

The voice calls out to them, and the simply roll their eyes, adjusting their mask to take a sip of their drink.

The long haired girl sits near them on the sofa, watching the other with an almost playful curiosity. She did not expect the person who broke their own window by throwing a book through it to be so… composed and polite.

Wanting to add a bit of excitement to the situation, the long haired girl stands from where she was sitting, approaches the console on the shelf, and practically chucks a controller at the other.

(yes, I give my plushies goodnight kisses, they deserve it ò///ó)

Finally, I have at least one piece of merch of my main blorbos! :,D (Mike plushie is not official but who cares, he's perfect anyways <3)

Also random storytime moment: when my dad saw me with marketable plushie Mike he was cooking some kind of bread (питка/ pita) and said that he would try to draw him on the bread and he actually did it! (he said that he gave him one antenna because he thinks that Mike is an alien). In the meantime, when my mother saw him she couldn't stop laughing saying “His face, he just looks so silly” X,D

Here’s a lil life update for my mutuals who have been following me on here since I was like… 12

1) got another dog. We now have 2 dogs

2) starting my PhD in biomedical sciences come the summer

3) currently battling cancer and now half deaf due to said cancer but soon to be in the clear yeehaw