End of year book ask: 3&4!
Happy new year!
Happy New Year to you too 🎇 Thanks for the ask!
3. What were your top five books of the year?
In no particular order:
4. Did you discover any new authors that you love this year?
I would say Tove Jansson, since I’ve gone on to purchase other books of hers since reading The Summer Book; but I actually discovered her last year with Notes from an Island (1996), a straightforward memoir about life on an oversized rock in the Finnish archipelago (a life which The Summer Book novelizes, though it’s still highly autobiographical in places). So I’ll say Maggie O’Farrell. She weaved so much story and heart and history around one poorly documented incident in Hamnet, and I was just impressed with her craft on every level, to her word choice and period-specific varnish. She’s made me itch to read Shakespeare and reach for some late Tudor non-fiction, to say nothing of grabbing another novel of hers!
Your art brings so much joy! Thank you for sharing!!
aww, thank you for telling me so, Piña! I’m very grateful, what a nice thing to hear on a tiresome weekday :3
ask game! give 5 boring facts about yourself and pass it on (no pressure!)
hello! i was wondering if you had any recommendations or advice on how to improve on writing milwank in my fic? you're really good at it and i am in awe. any recommended reading etc would be so appreciated!! hope you have a nice day :)
That’s very kind of you, thank you for reading my stories and telling me what you like about them! I’ll try to distill 15+ years of personal interest, family involvement, and academic study into some broad channels to check out (with the caveat that I’ve never been in the military or lived anywhere near a combat zone):
Nothing beats first-hand accounts, for starters. I read nonfiction, autobiographies, and memoirs, from a variety of veteran nationalities. But it doesn’t matter the war or the conflict or the branch: military experience shapes not only perspective and thinking, but also—particularly important for writing—the words one uses and how one uses them. Read or listen to enough veterans and it becomes clear which phrases and jargon are actually common currency and which are the stuff of Hollywood and bad listicles on the internet.
thank you so much, this has made me smile every day that I’ve been away :3
Could we ever tempt you to make some Echo/Riyo art?
sorry friend, where Riyo is concerned, I must invoke the old fandom right of OTP. peace and whatnot to y'all though x
ashamed of myself for not having found your blog earlier. Can’t wait to binge your art and reblog everything LOL
go forth and wreak havoc on my notes. this is the way <33 (and thank you for love on my latest foxiyo piece!)
You're a Hunter x Rafa shipper?? THAT'S SO RARE THESE DAYS (I found ur old posts lol)
hahaha, I was and probably still am, though I’ve not yet seen the latest TBB episode where, apparently, Hunter x Fennec makes an interesting argument :p
So recently I fell into the soapghost pit (both my legs are broken but it's okay leave me here, if I die I'll die happy) and it's not *entirely* your fault because you were just one of a few blogs luring me to the ship, but you ARE entirely responsible that the only fucking thing I've been able to listen to these past 48hrs is Sleep Token.
Hope you're happy with yourself (cause I sure am)
I just wanna say that the lightbulb finally went off when you reblogged that Chief player. As in: Oh.💡OH. THAT'S WHERE THEIR ART STYLE COMES FROM. I think that's gotta say something amazing about how your art channels the energy, eh? :D
you’re so on the money, you’ve just won the Fantasy Football payout :p yeah, helmeted, plate-padded jocks with incredible hair have had me by the throat since I was a wee dough ball, and now they guide my pen. i am so chuffed my man Mahomes gave me away >:D
It’s good to see The Best Senator getting screen time and being lore accurate.
Riyo Chuchi screentime has increased by 100%!! And a very unobjectionable 100%, too; I will absolutely be reframing “none of my headcanons got jossed” as “she was lore accurate” >:D
Tbh, it really was fandom’s Riyo that showed up, because canon!Riyo was no longer supposed to be Pantora’s senator at the time of RotS. Whoops. Time to fix that with fanfic for you, Filoni…
otp asks for rexsoka—20,22,25!
I’d really like to answer this, but what I feel for Rexsoka these days is just … you know that line of dust you get between a broom and the pan? It’s that.
I’m so sorry, nonnie. Happy to answer anything for Foxiyo, Sevfika, or, if you still want to throw me a bone but see me leap for it, Bocody or Howzer/Eleni/Cham :p
5 and 7 for Sevfika :)
them ❤️🔥 thank you for the ask!
5. What is their love language?
Fi: “What language do I love? English Basic. So flexible, so fun, so capable of sucking its own cock. Mando’a is only good for pissing people off — especially Sergeant Kal, because I get a kick out of speaking it in his shitty accent.”
Sev: “I love … silence.”
But no, for real, the best thing about Sevfika is probably the irony.
Sev — words of affirmation
Fi — physical touch
7. Who is more sentimental?
I am glad this question asks who is more sentimental, not ‘who is the sentimental one’ — because, imo, there’s a strong textual case for Sev being tender-hearted, it’s just been perverted by his upbringing. I think Sev was just dying to be able to wear his scars like Atin.
[Sev] said he was going for 4,982 kills, one for every commando lost at Geonosis, and he wasn’t joking. He never was. He never said “five thousand,” either, and even Skirata rounded up the figure. No, Sev was exact about it. War was personal for him. (Chap. 12, Order 66)
Delta’s hard man, indeed … makes you think twice about the significance of his armor detail, I guess.
(Probably best to page @kungfuslipper on this.)
Anyway, Fi is meant to be the more sentimental of the two. He keeps a diary, ffs (see: Triple Zero’s prologue). His sincerity and emotional attachments spill over into his observable life; his flippancy can’t keep a lid on it.
Fi holds onto things: a Geonosian pike, Hokan’s armor, his own dented chestplate, glimmik recordings, a particular hairstyle (that Darman knows he’ll miss when the med-droids ruin it). He even holds onto things he doesn’t have: a lover, a life—and people around him notice. If I were a betting biscuit, I’d wager that, of the commandos, Fi’s feelings are brought up most by other characters in the books, usually in the context of trying to protect them. Darman even worries that Fi is prone to obsession.
Moving onto my thots about their relationship specifically…
Fi’s is a heart-first crash into Sev—he wants to fall in love. Maybe not with Sev, sure, but that it happens in spite of everything only fascinates Fi more. I say again: he keeps a diary.
Meanwhile, Fi is something which happens to Sev. It takes Sev a while to realize he’s feeling feelings for the cocksucker, and he’s in no hurry to start signposting them with actions or stuff.
Now of course, I figure Sev becomes more sentimental, unconsciously and then consciously, as Fi sweetens his blood. (And especially once Fi “dies”.) Souvenirs of and for Fi; namedropping Fi around Delta without his balls flinching; maybe even getting a tattoo too flamboyant even for Fi, because who’s still the got the biggest? :p
OTP asks for Foxiyo: 6, 20, 25, 26
:3333
💜 thank you!
6. When did they realize they loved each other?
I think the moment of truth for both of them would be the Senate hostage incident (S1 Finale). They can’t have known each other long, but the possibility of loss sharply illuminates the depth of the feelings they’ve developed for each other. You only feel the blade on its way out, it’s not the bullet, it’s the hole, etc. etc. Fox will never lose her again, and Riyo becomes determined to really live.
Later, many happy years later, Fox would say he’s always loved her. The Lights Themselves couldn’t reach far enough to find a time when he didn’t or won’t.
Riyo would say she knew from the moment he first removed his helmet. Fox doesn’t like this answer much, but she sticks by it ;)
20. Who holds a grudge the longest?
Within their relationship, I suppose it’d be Fox. Riyo has actual years of emotional intelligence on him; furthermore, I headcanon that she comes from a happy home, where it was understood that keeping score was a good way to make sure both partners lost.
Not that Fox has much to begrudge Riyo for, personally; and he can never stay mad at her for long. Her friendship with Commander Tano (talk about a grudge) would not have helped their relationship; but I see any fallout from that as part of the larger sepsis that is Fox’s character regression towards the end of the war.
25. Who’s the most stubborn?
They would both say the other :p
Fox thinks (not entirely without reason) that he knows best about most everything. And he’s not used to being told ‘no’ by someone he respects, given how he has to sleep, eat, and shit with that rank he’s got.
Riyo is harder to pin down, but she has a spine as tall as those Talz spears she keeps around. We see it in action; her two canonical appearances climax in moments where she refuses to back down. And again, returning to headcanons about her background, a privileged only child is going to be accustomed to having her way, because it’s been largely frictionless.
Not that Fox is not a polite and thoughtful partner, but Riyo is probably more diplomatic. Functional compromises are her job, and damn it, Fox he is not leaving this room until they reach one!
26. How do they comfort each other?
Hand-holding. It’s the one mundane thing that every other couple can do whenever the feeling strikes them, but which they have to strictly guard against. It’s a grounding claim: Riyo belongs to him, perhaps more than he belongs to himself, and Fox belongs to her, in the one way she’s not ashamed about.
(Fox also claims he can do anything with one hand tied behind his back … because that’s where he’s holding onto Riyo >:3)
for the relationship asks!
29 + 37 for foxiyo
3 + 8 + 29 for rexsoka
14 for sevfika
Thanks for the triple threat ask! :D
Foxiyo:
29. What is their sex life like?
Poetic. Epical evenings when schedules allow, and hook-ups as perfect and pocket-sized as a haiku when they don’t.
37. What do they like the least about each other?
What they perceive as recklessness.
Riyo would launch Fox’s stims and smokes into orbit, if she didn’t think he’d just fly his damn bike into the atmosphere after them.
Fox would keep Riyo locked forever in a silk-lined box or strapped to his chest if he could. (That he keeps her under constant protective surveillance would be Riyo’s least favorite thing, if she knew about it.)
Rexsoka:
3. Hot and Steamy or Soft and Tender?
Hot and steamy, like a gym bag left in the car on a summer’s day.
8. What’s one way their personalities compliment one another?
Ahsoka is hot-headed; Rex is patient and open-minded. They are both a special brand of bonkers.
29. What is their sex life like?
Like shaking the aforementioned car.
Sevfika:
14. Are they an introverted couple or an extroverted one—AKA would they prefer to go out to a party or event together or would they rather stay in?
They are cut down the middle. Fi would spend every other night at roller disco, even though it turns Sev into a human version of the claw machine: difficult, grabby, and sharp-tempered. Why leave the house unless there’s some game promised, particularly of the bang-you’re-dead variety?
When Fi convinces the Oyu’baat to install an old arcade shooter, Sev becomes much more social, if only because he needs someone to beat.
