@investmentofmyheart but I’m *only* writing about the Grishaverse over here. A lot. I’m a professional at Kanej. Inej is my favourite. I’m real subtle about that.
I’m Liz. I think about SOC/The Grishaverse constantly. For some reason expanding on those characters and that world has become the key window into myself. Kanej has intertwined with my psyche. Those are my characters. So important. I don’t have to answer to you. But I very much will if you would send me asks. Anyway, look at what I try and write:
My AO3
I just started writing fic this year, and am very much a U.S. (not on purpose) uni student with many a chronic diagnosis, so you’re going to cut me slack. You will get all the fanfics eventually, maybe.
Active, In Progress:
- It Takes a Murder
“Inej Ghafa has been sailing for just over five years, longer than she was even stuck in Ketterdam. Now, though, something beyond friends and lovers and her messiest jobs has brought her back to stay…for a long time: two children she liberated from a slave ship. She can’t sail with kids this little and frightened, and she can’t let them go. What ensues is what “parenting,” “settling down,” and “being adults” looks like for Inej, Kaz, Wylan, and Jesper. How do they navigate what pain having toddlers around brings up in each of them? How can Inej choose kids, her man, and staying put in this city without losing herself to it?”
Upcoming (?):
- It Takes A Murder Prequel: (Kanej’s relationship from the moment CK ends to the last visit before ITAM starts). I’ve actually had this in the works the longest. I have an entire timeline, I have decided on every visit, numbered every day. I know when they reached what milestones. I just need to get it together and write the last uh 90% of it. Guys the title is absolutely brilliant on my part, just you wait until I publish it.
- Unnamed Grishaverse Bridgerton AU. It will happen and it might be published as eight separate works. It will be more grounded in actual regency history than Bridgerton and it will be set in a Ketterdam that is under the “Ravkan Empire.” I will definitely do the first four or five couples because um they’re more interesting. If I go all the way out to all eight “seasons” it will be a miracle. Sorry to Adrik and Leoni, I’m rooting for you kids, but they’d definitely come last, and I don’t have the work ethic. I don’t have a title for this one and I’m so proud of my other titles that honestly I am ashamed.
- SOC3 fic. This is canon-compliant, 2 years after ROW, the (living, sorry) crows thrown back together and conflict leading to a bigger scale than just a “crooked kingdom.” Political Plot driven, but also aiming for the same amount of romance/relationship focus as in the books. I am most intimidated by this because I am genuinely trying to write my take on what a third official instalment would look like. So I’ve unduly pressured myself. The title I have for it is so damn good though.
Wylan - the approachable one. Subjects are of course math, chemistry and music. His favourite one is music and he leads at least two choirs. The teacher who is always dressed comfortably, always seems to have time for you, always relaxed and not strict at all, but somehow you learn a ton with them. Learning with Mr. Hendriks is fun. He makes sure that every student feels welcome and that they know they can always come to him with any problem (they do).
Kaz - the scary one. Subjects are politics and history. Incredibly competent in the classroom, can answer every single question ever asked. Students do not dare to approach him outside the lesson though. There are rumors. Everyone's on time for his class, everyone has done their homework. You do not cross Mr. Brekker. Once a year out of nowhere he pulls the most elaborate heist for which you need everything you have ever learned in his class. You don't know when it'll happen. There are bets about what it'll be this year. Noone ever predicts it and when it happens, it is the most memorable day of your entire school time.
Nina - the fun one. Teaches various languages and runs the school library. Easily persuaded by students into any shenanigans. Coaxes them against her colleagues. Regularly gets into bets with them, gives out dares to make Mr. Brekker say something or prank Mr. Helvar, gives out stickers for the winners. Most of her lesson is just chit-chat or spontaneous excursions to the outdoors to proof a stupid silly point someone made. Students are shook when they find out how scarily skilled she is and not only is she fluent in 6 languages but apparently has military training and broken a man's neck with her pinky once??
Matthias - the strict one. Teaches PE/sports and history. Also religion, if that exists as a subject where you live. The opposite of Mrs Zenik. No fun there. Super high expectations. Hands out bad grades like it's Christmas if you do not perform well. Students can NOT believe it when they find out that he's married to Mrs Zenik. He does not understand their confusion. Yes, I'm her husband, what's there to laugh about? Now get back to running if you want to get anywhere in life.
Inej - the cool one. PE/sports and hosts a bunch of extracurriculars in self-defense and fighting. Mad respect from students just from how competent she is. Rather strict, but in a way that everyone knows she cares about your success and well-being. Will demonstrate an exercise again, explain every detail until you feel safe enough to do it, encourages students to grow above themselves, always reminds them to check their safety first. If you get praised my Miss Ghafa ... you have earned that. Everyone knows she's married to Mr Brekker. Noone dares to ask about it. It makes sense and it makes her a whole league more intimidating.
Jesper - not actually a teacher. Just always there. Known only as "Mr. Hendriks husband". Referred to himself as his trophy wife once and it stuck. He loves it. Students love to ask him about gossip on the other teachers and trying to figure out if what he's telling is true or not. Absolute oversharer. Is like the school's service dog.
Needless to say, the fact that all of them are friends and sometimes you see them all gathered at the waffle place ... it never stops to baffle their students. Oh and only wait until they find out that their loving, soft-spoken Mr. Hendriks is the richest man in town and owner of the van Eck business and apparently there are rumors about the disappearance of Jan van Eck years ago.
I will object to the fact that Jesper is left out even if it’s brilliantly funny. He’s literally the most educated of them all. Would he be a terribly organised teacher? …no. But I always hate addiction or ADHD stopping him from being treated as much like an adult as his friends/family…as it for some reason did at the end of canon. Put him in, coach.
I think he’d teach sciences. He’d be the fun labs and projects teacher that never seems to have a normal class but actually leaves an impression on the kids.
I also. Am inspired. And now want to write the equivalent of an Abbott Elementary SOC au lmao-
Not crazy. I still think Nikolai would be the more flirty and happy-go-lucky one and Kaz would be the smarter, more fidgety, more pessimistic one. But they are very similar. Angsty ideating gifted kid drama queens.
I think the matthias hate is so forced, people forget that all the crows have their flaws, and they're all morally grey. And I think that people assume 19 is a very big age, that after 18 a switch just clicks and every mistake after that is unforgivable, when that is simply not the case. Ofc, this is NOT to say that his hatred was justified, not at all.
But let's say, in these times, teenagers have so much access to different forms of media, people from different cultures, etc.— it's privilege in a way to know how the world works and look beyond prejudice and stereotypes, and to form opinions of your own.
Matthias, on the other hand, lost his parents when he was young, and was quite literally raised by a dictator. And YET, he believed that the Grisha received a fair trial and a chance to explain themselves. He did not know how deep corruption ran, and how it would come to intertwine with his faith. He was groomed into submission marketed as 'duty', and he still managed to unlearn it, and in doing so experienced a love so profound and soul-consuming, that in his last moments all knowledge was a distant memory, save for the love he felt for Nina.
Somewhere in Ketterdam, however underground they need to be, there are obviously gay bars. And there you will find Jesper, Wylan, and Kaz, their straightest, most touch-averse, most unenthusiastic friend. He’s an ally. Because he does complain about going out the entire time but hey he’s complaining there with them.
so like, if kaz hadn't believed wylan when he said he couldn't be insurance and hadn't taken those precautions to not actually have wylan on the boat, then wylan would have straight up just died
