#zerrat

Title: Building a Reprise 14/? Word Count: 11,642 (140,760 total) Fandom: RWBY Characters: Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long Pairing: Ruby/Weiss (White Rose, get-together slow burn), Blake/Yang (Bumbleby, background/established) Rating: Mature (for action this chapter, character injury and portrayals of trauma) Summary: A year after Salem’s fall, Team RWBY have reunited to take on a contract in Mantle. Between Ruby’s lingering crush on her partner and a Grimm forcing hunters to become the hunted, the mission hasn’t quite been the reunion she’d wished for. Things aren’t easy when so much has been unsaid between her and Weiss, though, and it’s going to get worse before it gets better. Chapter Summary: The hunt is on, but Ruby should pay heed - who is the hunter, and who is the hunted?

"Weiss Schnee?"

Weiss wasn't about to allow Damurang the time to fully process the realisation. Her knight lashed forward on a thought, its momentum spurred on by glyphs. The impact was enough to send shockwaves through the ground, motes of shimmering light and white petals spiralling out as Damurang crashed backwards at breakneck speed.

Damurang twisted like a serpent as she flew, silver flashing in her hands. Weiss threw out a desperate hand and the knight's zweihander blurred, deflecting the vindictive parting shot intended for Blake.

But do you have aircon??? D:

2. Is there any specific ritual you go through while/before/after your writing?Music is kind of a must have for me--sometimes it’s very specific songs that feel relevant to a scene, but most times I default to EDM or chill lofi hip hop. Occasionally I go on classical music sprees. During writing I usually need the freedom to hop around and legit write whatever comes to mind--so if you’ve ever seen one of my WIP drafts...well, god bless you. Afterward, I can never immediately edit. I have to close the doc and not look at it for a while so as to avoid just going “THIS IS TERRIBLE DELETE EVERYTHING”.

3. What is your absolute favorite kind of fic to write?Ok...I’m a masochist and therefore a total slut for epics. I love me a long, multichapter, drawn out fic replete with: action, tremendous plot development; character struggles (emotional and physical), and romance. That shit is my jam. But also an intense mental and emotional effort and drain as a writer (putting aside the sheer amount of consistent effort and work needed to see a 50k+ word fic from start to finish, it can be incredibly crippling at times on my ego), so I can’t be writing epics all the time. That said, the works I am always the most proud of by and far and my big, multichapter epics/behemoths.

Feedback culture as a whole is a really interesting ongoing conversation, too

i would frankly love to hear more from those who choose to withhold or generally don’t because i’d want to ask why of course, and then consider what might be changed to patch some of this up

like a small, small thing i’ve found to help with fic visibility here is to always leave a bit with a hook above the cut, a small enough amount that it ‘fits’ the usual post and attention span of someone going through their dash but still draws them in

none of these are in any order beyond what comes to mind quickest

2 - Villains 

Ragyo Kiryuin from Kill la Kill 

I AM GOING TO HELL i know but I love to hate her, she’s 100% my aesthetic but twisted into a form I despise, it’s a thing)

Vita Clotilde from Trails of Cold Steel 

spoilers I guess. sorry. but a badass opera singer witch who fucks with the party because it sounds fun? yes please.

Ultimecia from FFVIII

sure she only has like two lines and has some really weird confusing motivations for her actions but she’s got that #aesthetic and she’s fun to speculate about. had to include her for nostalgia’s sake really

Diva from Blood+

she’s dramatic, she’s cruel, she’s horrible, but also sympathetic. I love her. also one of my favorite villain tropes is one who is a complete foil to the protagonist, and you just don’t get better than the rivalry between Saya and Diva, my favorite vampire queens. (except maybe my other red sister vs blue sister rivalry, Ryuko vs Satsuki, but Satsuki doesn’t count because she’s an anti-hero.)

Queen Beryl from Sailor Moon

well, all of the lady villains from this series really but I’ll give it to Beryl because she’s the original, she’s the only one with a harem, and her manga backstory is A+.

lol there might have been a theme there. can you tell I like dramatic witch queens? special shoutout to Salem from RWBY, who I don’t know enough about yet but ticks like every single one of my villainess boxes.

12 - Who I think deserved better endings

in an effort to not fill this entire list with FFXV girls I’m just gonna say Stella Nox Fleuret

I’m sorry you got written out of your game and replaced with a younger, weaker doppelganger who had no agency or personality. Lunafreya deserved better but Stella deserved to exist at all.

Serah from FFXIII-2

oh yay, we get a game led by the girl who got fridged in the first game, now square can make up for--GODDAMMIT THEY DID IT AGAIN

Commander Shepard from Mass Effect

 she had orders from her boyfriend bioware you fucking dicks (also what was that catalyst bullshit. totally unworthy of my favorite protag.)

Pyrrha Nikos

like yes I understand she was always gonna die, it’s in her fucking name, but also fuck you rooster teeth

Nia Teppelin from Gurren Lagann

why can’t she just be happy

15 - I want to rescue from their horrible narratives

Iris Amicitia from FFXV 

she deserved better!!! she’s the scion of a family known for being royal bodyguards, why can’t she fight??? and then she’s adorable and they make her some bullshit one sided love interest and then offscreen she gets to become a badass BUT WE NEVER SEE IT. fucking goddammit square

honorable mentions for Lunafreya, Aranea, and Cindy

Edea Lee from Bravely Default

that game’s writing blew chunks (esp in regards to its women) but she was cute and sassy and deserved a game that didn’t treat her like crap (once again, dammit square)

the entire cast of FFXIII from both the sequels

listen. I like XIII-2 a little and I really dig Lightning Returns but neither of them are what I would consider well-written. my main issue is Serah (see above) but also Lightning in LR, Fang in XIII-2, and Vanille in both games. Also Fang not getting her own chapter in XIII.

Kairi from Kingdom Hearts

let her be a fucking keyblade master already square

Fran (and by extension Balthier) from FFXII

horribly under utilized in a mess of a game. she deserves better, and so does Balthier. let me have them square, you can keep the rest of the cast

I really got some bad end ff12 vibes--an AU where Ashe uses the nethicite against the Empire and becomes the Dynast Queen, no more than a puppet to the Occuria.

Title: Building a Reprise 13/? Word Count: 12,628 (129,053 total) Fandom: RWBY Characters: Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long Pairing: Ruby/Weiss (White Rose, get-together slow burn), Blake/Yang (Bumbleby, background/established) Rating: Mature (for action this chapter, character injury and general threats of grievous bodily harm courtesy of the operative) Summary: A year after Salem’s fall, Team RWBY have reunited to take on a contract in Mantle. Between Ruby’s lingering crush on her partner and a Grimm forcing hunters to become the hunted, the mission hasn’t quite been the reunion she’d wished for. Things aren’t easy when so much has been unsaid between her and Weiss, though, and it’s going to get worse before it gets better. Chapter Summary: Team RWBY continues the investigation into the SDC connection. The operative proves herself to be far more trouble than any of them bargained for, but she's far from the only danger watching the team from the shadows.

The sound of gunfire and furious combat went suddenly, terrifyingly silent in Ruby's earpiece.

"No, no, no, no--" Ruby cut off, scoping back in on the depot's roller door. The angle of her sniper's nest was all wrong--she couldn't see anything out here, let alone watch her sister's back! "Yang, please say something! Anything!"

Ruby's stomach churned. Despite her plea, there was no attempt at reassurance so typical of Yang, no encouragement--nothing. Yang's feed remained silent, punctuated with the buzz of the storm-degraded connection. Ruby tore her gaze away from her scope with what felt like monumental effort, frantically looking back to her scroll.

Yang's winking portrait in the group call had grown dim. As Ruby looked on, her pulse thundering in her ears, it finally dropped entirely.

Ruby's exhale was strangled, the escalating tightness in her chest only growing tighter. Up here, alone on a stupid rooftop and away from her team--she felt useless! Overwatch had been needed, she'd told herself back at the apartment. The team had needed someone to run point, someone to call the shots.