Ramblings and Musings of the Insane, Philosophical Ladybug

... Or maybe this should be called the How Much Like Drosselmeyer Are You? quiz. And it may be added to later.

1. How long have you been a hurt/comfort fan? To the best of my knowledge, since I was about four or five. I *think* the kicker was this awesome Little Audrey cartoon where she thinks she killed a bird with a gun she's messing around with, and the birds are so heartbroken and having a funeral for it, and the bird was only knocked out and revives when it starts to rain. Plot sound familiar? I squeed so hard and thought it was wonderful that the bird was okay. That may have also been the start of my obsession with death, though I still wonder if my maternal grandfather's funeral could have had anything to do with that, since it was around the same time (and consciously, I don't remember it much).

2. What exactly is it that attracts you to the genre? Mainly the character interactions. The situations for each fandom may be similar (at least some of them), but with the characters' different personalities it will always feel fresh and new. And I have to admit, there is something that appeals to me about a favorite character being left helpless and forced to rely on another character. Also, I never get tired of recapturing the joy and squee I felt from that cartoon when the injured person is alright. That doesn't mean, however, that I never write deathfics. As in, no coming back. I have, though most of those end up getting continuations where the person comes back somehow....

3. Who is most likely to be the victim: males or females? Almost always males, and usually ones I am crushing on. If a female is hurt, it's generally to get the reactions of the males she's closest to.

4. Are there any injuries you are particularly fond of inflicting? It honestly depends on my mood. Sometimes I want blood, sometimes I don't. Characters have certainly been shot and stabbed frequently, or gone flying from explosions, or drowned or choked or suffocated. Or involved in car accidents or fallen down stairs. And then there's the good old knock on the head.

... Not to mention my fascinations with electrocution and being encased in ice. And let's not forget mind-control/possession. As well as the emotional trauma of those trying to deal with the injured person, and of the injured person if he/she has done something terrible/been through something terrible.

And when required, I love throwing in artificial respiration. The injured person getting hurt rescuing someone else certainly doesn't hurt, either.

5. Likewise, are there any injuries you are not fond of inflicting? I once made a list of everything I would not do. You know, about ten years ago, the old-fashioned knock-outs and the laser guns were about all I'd use. Everything else I refused to do. I'm still not fond of burns, but I will occasionally use that method if it's necessary (Sephiroth in Shine Until Tomorrow, Duke in Lead Me Through the Fire). I still refuse to break bones unless it's wings, and that's also only used sparingly (Alexander's deformed wing, KH Sephiroth in I Don't Feel Enough For You to Cry.) Ribs can be cracked; I'm not sure if any have ever been broken.

Severed body parts are still a no-no. (The one exception being Azazel Rakesh, though that wasn't done for any hurt/comfort; it was just part of the plot. At the time, I don't think I even realized how fond of those characters I would become.) Scarring used to be taboo, but I've dropped that; a couple of characters have them now, albeit faint ones. (Duke in Lead Me Through the Fire/its follow-ups, Autor in Fall From Grace.) And of course, I am still staunchly opposed to characters turning into anything they're not supposed to: animals, werewolves, vampires, the opposite gender.... The one exception I made was when wings were given to two detectives; I don't like that now. That whole angle was just *weird.* I must have been in some extremely sleep-deprived state when I came up with that one. LOL.

6. What is perhaps the strangest scenario you've done? One of the strangest things I've done has to be Autor's fate in the Phantom Hitchhiker trilogy/timeline: killed by a runaway carriage. Another really bizarre thing was Sephiroth being encased in stone in Sunrise and Midnight. That was intended to be a full-fledged story as opposed to a blurb/series of blurbs (even though it's still only a series of blurbs). As a general rule, blurbs sometimes have more off-the-wall scenarios than fics, since a lot of them never will get fully finished and are written on whims.

Oh, the screwiest one was that Rise From the Ashes/Phoenix blurb with Sephiroth. Yeah, I'm a little embarrassed to even talk about that one. And the afore-mentioned thing with the winged detectives.....

7. Do you anticipate staying with the genre or moving on? Honey, after being with it this long, do you really think I'd stop being interested?

Which to Bury, Us or the Hatchet? was a large inspiration, yet So Long and Goodnight was easier to listen to while writing. XD; Which to Bury was too distracting. LOL.

This is about Azazel and Gunju Rakesh. The canon fandom they were created for is only mentioned in passing, so this will not be posted to FF.net.


( What's the Worst That I Can Say )

Due to my past musings over the Phoenix Wright/FF7 stuff probably not being compliant with the main timeline, and a review gotten today on what was supposed to have been a multi-chapter PW fic, a new possibility took hold. Gah.

Dalton said in an RP testing of this scenario that it would have been ridiculous for Azazel to shoot Miles, because that would certainly make them look guilty, considering that Miles had been going to investigate Fragmented Triangle. And if they'd left things alone, Miles would have not found anything incriminating because Fragmented Triangle was a legal company. All of which is really true; Dalton-tachi still has their grudge against Seph-tachi, and they do dirty things to them, but the company itself is perfectly legal. They're careful to keep it as such.

So ... an idea formed for an Azazel from another world to have shot Miles in order to frame the Azazel from this world. Or maybe it was Gunju 2, angry at all Azazels again.

**headdesk.**

What should I be more frightened by, that we're doing this twistedness in the RP, or that I'm actually considering it as a possible solution to get Something Wicked This Way Comes off the ground again?

Are alternate dimensions too weird for PW? LOL.

I find it way more giggle-worthy than I should that Dictionary.com supports my pronunciation of Azazel! Seriously, there's so many different ways it could be pronounced that it makes my head spin. And I hardly ever get something like that pronounced right.

I'm also still confused over whether the name refers to the scapegoat itself or, like Dictionary.com says, an evil spirit to whom the goat is sent. But the definition from 20000-names.com said "scapegoat" and that's what the name means on Gaia, anyway. XD One nice thing about the crew coming from another planet is that their names can really mean whatever I like. LOL. Azazel's a bad egg, but not so bad he needs to be named after an evil spirit. XD; "Scapegoat" fits him much better.

I finished the Seph and Zack ficlit. X3 After spending a whole evening struggling over a title. XD; Kaze was able to come up with one. ^^

Now to tackle chapter 8 of The Diamond Rose Glass!

A random discussion with rose_of_pollux made me think about Dalton's drinking habits. From there it spiraled to wondering if there was anything that would be so upsetting it would drive him to drink too much. And then I remembered this RP scenario. And the blurb happened. The enemies are unnamed because who they are and why they were there isn't important.


( What hurts the most )

Loose follow-up to Amid the Falling Snow.


( You don't like being second, I don't like being wrong )

Yugi-tachi talks with Dalton about the new enemies at large following Azazel Rakesh becoming a victim of the soul-stealing light that's reminiscent of the Orichalcos.


( We're off to see the wizard ... or not )

This time last year, I was working on my first Seph and Zack adventure fic, Just a Simple Mission. Good times. X3 I've been thinking about it lately, and scanning through some of it to see how the characterization of everybody has evolved since then. For my villain OCs, I noticed the following:

- I apparently changed my mind about Rakesh's build during the writing. When he first appears, he's described as being around Seph's height and build. Later on, he's described as being extremely slender, probably more like Alister in build. LOL. (Even though he's physically stronger than Alister.) The latter is what I've continued to envision. I think it happened because his design is based on The Riddler from Kids WB's The Batman. Annnd I can't find any decent pictures of that design. http://images.wikia.com/marvel_dc/images/thumb/5/5f/Riddler,The_batman.jpg/180px-Riddler,The_batman.jpg Rakesh is not quite *that* skinny, however. LOL. Otherwise Seph would've snapped him in half in no time flat.

- Rakesh calls Zack "boy." **snerk.**

- Dalton wears a gray suit. I can't even picture that now. XD; He's such a tan suit person.

- Dalton is kind of a weenie. Zack pushes the pressure point on his arm and he yelps, "My arm! My arm's gone numb!" I think I did that for a brief humorous/cartoony effect, since the fic was mostly serious. XD; I'm still amused by Zack knocking him out, though. And Maryn biting his arm. Maryn attacks him again in Triplicate, when she stomps on his foot.

- Rakesh seems to be more mischievous when paired with his brother. When solo, he's darker and even more sadistic.

- His uniform was described as dark blue ... but when I drew him, I colored it a lighter blue. XD; I also forgot to give him the gloves.

Browsing through Another Simple Mission recently, Azazel commented that he's proud of his calculating sadism, but he's more wise with it than his brother. And I'd forgotten at first that he can use a sword too, and though he's not as skilled as Gunju, he was good enough to keep Seph and Zack on their toes for a few minutes. He preferred his gun, however, and went into a burst of temporary insanity that started the avalanche.

I still haven't written any published fic with the brothers interacting. XD; It only happens in RPs. I do have part of that snow fic done, but I dunno whether I'll post it here as a blurb before it's finished. If I post it as a blurb, it's the first thing with entirely original characters I've written in I don't know how long. LOL. Only when it's finished will it have the framework with Seph and Zack.

Have the sketchwork done of the cover for God Help the Outcasts. I also have a partially finished sketch of Seph and Cloud tied to the stake and Kala-Ansa grabbing one of Seph's suspenders. XD; Seph is furious. Then I randomly drew a couple of FF7-related artworks, one of Zack clutching at Seph's body from Just a Simple Mission and one of Genesis chilling in Dalton's office. Dalton is amused. I need to scan stuff in.