Thunder and Lightning Appreciator

Well... welcome to my corner of the hellsite! Happy to have you. Please feel free to send me messages and asks; my inbox is always open (although it’s bursting at the moment and I tend to reply with about as much speed as you’d expect if we were communicating by pre–industrial transatlantic letter) and I don’t mind repeating myself in the slightest. An admirer could never bother me.

😘

So, there really is no underestimating or underselling how passionate I am about Ice and Fire and Alis Aquilae, generally, which is the collective name for my planned Bellonaverse. Words, quite simply, fail me whenever I try to convey the depth of my obsession.

Let me just say this. If, for whatever reason, this project is abandoned, it will be for one reason and one reason only: I am dead. Mourn me. Remember me fondly. Because nothing but death itself could keep me from finishing it—and, indeed, it may very kill me. I am committing acts of hubris in this endeavor from which I may never recover. But goddamn it, kitten, we are finding this Northwest Passage and exploring Darrow’s southwest passage, too.

The good news is that the bulk of I&F is already rough–drafted. When I first started posting, about fifteen months ago, I thought it was closer to being done and that I’d only need to do some final touches on each chapter before I published it, and… yeah. No.

🤡

Extensive rewriting and revising and polishing has delayed progress significantly; I never thought it’d take more than a few months to finish this, tbh, and it’ll be two years, come July. And, hell, I’m not even halfway through; fourteen—out of 150? To say nothing of the supplementary fics that I’ve planned for AA, written from the perspective of other characters that will complement the main trilogy; these will be about 100k–150k apiece. 

Which is not exactly… inspiring.

😬

I also completely underestimated how distracting feedback would be. It’s difficult—almost impossible, really—for me to focus on I&F itself when I have so many wonderful comments and messages and asks that I could be answering instead, because I enjoy discussing my fics far more than I enjoy writing them, if I’m honest.

It’s the instant gratification of it all. And, y’know… the praise kink. It’s kinking. 

(If you’ve sent me an ask or a message or left a comment on I&F that I’ve yet to answer, please know that I cherish each and every one and fully intend to respond. Don’t worry about being overlooked or forgotten. But you’ll have to be very patient with me, unfortunately, because I am swamped.)

That said, I’ve decided to change the paradigm a bit. What I’m going to be doing hereafter is batches of twenty–five; so, I’ll write twenty–five chapters, release one (or maybe two) a week, go on hiatus while I write the next twenty–five chapters, and so on. The first batch will be much smaller, only eleven, as I’ve already posted fourteen. 

Hopefully, this will increase my productivity to a more satisfactory rate and give y’all some consistency in your lives. Really, it’s cruel what I’ve done—all this suspense, these empty promises of updates and responses and sex so torrid that a single read will permanently alter your brain chemistry.

They should try me at the Hague.

At my current pace, I should be able to wrap up I&F by the end of 2026 and get started on the sequel, which is still in the conceptual phase right now. At the very least, though, this series will be ongoing for the next three years.

So. Here’s hoping that y’all don’t get too sick of me. 

You can expect Chs. 15–25 of I&F to start getting posted in late June. I’m gonna chain myself to it. I may or may not release Ch. 15 on its own, as it’s 95% done; right now, I’m inclined to save it for the group. 

But... you never know. I have been known to lie.

Thank you for the ask, for your patience, and for being such a good sport as I edge you. What can I say?

In typical Cassius fashion, he’s taking his damn time.

Stay tuned. 

Update, 3/9 : I lied. Ch. 15 is live.

Update, 6/27: Ch. 16 is live. Unfortunately, progression has not gone as swimmingly as I’d hoped and weekly updates are… not happening. Biweekly updates every Friday morning (EST) are what I’m currently aiming for. At the moment, I&F is likely to stretch deep into 2027.

Update, 7/11: Ch. 17 is live.

Update, 7/27: A few days late, but Ch. 18 is live.

Update, 8/9: Ch. 19 is live.

Update, 8/29: A week late and several thousand words too long, lol, but Ch. 20 is live.

Update, 9/21: Yet again, over a week late, but Ch. 21 is live.

Update, 10/27: After manyyyy setbacks, Chs. 22 and 23 are finally live.