Tell me a time when Lyssa - Had A Bounty Put On Them
Is there still a bounty on them? If not, how was it removed?
Oh, the bounties for Lyssa? Lyssa's bounties? The bounties placed specifically on Lyssa's head? Yeah, those bounties.... lol
So, Lyssa's dad is a POS who took her with him to the Key when she was a kid instead of leaving her with someone who would....actually take care of her. She never officially joined the CF, she never put her name in the Reckoner's system, never took jobs with the CF, and only ever worked for Vlad on non CF jobs. That...is relevant but ended up not mattering.
A few months before the start of the game/start of Follow Me Deeper Into the Unknown, Lyssa's failure of a father lost millions of credits worth of replacement parts for the Key. How? She don't know. Lyssa doesn't actually care. That was never her responsibility. She hadn't even lived on or been to the Key in years at this point. But her Dad promised Jazz and Naeva that Lyssa would get the parts back and reached out to her for help.
She told him to pound fucking sand.
Then she finds out Naeva got impatient and airlocked her Dad. Oh well...except Naeva also bought his story and now thinks Lyssa has run off with Millions of credits....
So she has bounties on her head. Yes, plural.
There is the Crimson Fleet in-house bounty placed on her. That is up to 500,000 credits for anyone who can bring proof she's dead. There's a bonus if someone can bring Lyssa back alive but no one is crazy enough to try that...
Then there is the Tracker's Alliance bounty that keeps getting taken out on her. It grows the longer she's alive (the Wanted trait). as of Follow me it was up to 17,500 credits...until Walter got S-E legal to put pressure on the TA to drop it. But if Walter stops helping that one will come back as well.
All because her POS Dad is a liar and a failure...
She's got a few actually...Fox is/was more known by friends and acquaintances for being impulsive but Doc was just as guilty *shrug*
Her first big regretful impulse was running away from Akila City in 2313 without telling anyone. She'd been accosted in Coe Plaza by estranged family who tried to drag her off and it freaked her out enough that she decided to flee to the Northern Akila University in (unnamed northern city on Akila) and see if she could get work there before starting school in the fall. She was going to tell Fox and Sam but then her and Sam had a big fight while he was still zoned and drunk and...when he left she threw a bag together and took the next shuttle North without even a note. For a large chunk of her life she regretted that decision because while she was free, it isolated her for years until Fox and her reconnected in New Atlantis while she was in her Master's program.
Then there was the time she jumped on the back of a barn-sized terrormorph in Londinion back in 2328. It did the job and sure it's a story but it made a hairline fracture caused by being swatted by said massive terrormorph in the ball of her hip joint worse. It's a nagging injury that healed but...when the weather is just right or she pushes it too hard it flares up. She's still pretty bamph but that injury slows her down...
She regrets not going with Fox and Becker to evacuate family and friends out of New Atlantis in 2337. She can't shake the feeling she'd still have her twin and friend if she'd gone with them.
She regrets impulsively stealing a ship in Libertatia and fleeing to Denabola I-b. Learning what Jacob said about her was too much on top of her lingering grief over the last 5 years worth of Hell. But it scared her niece and nephew and caused problems for the Liberated and she just wishes she had better control over her emotions.
🌟 - is there something you’ve written that you’re so stinking proud of, something you’ve researched to a ridiculous degree, or a great dialogue exchange, that nobody has ever asked or commented on, but you’re just dying to talk about? I’d love to hear about it! 🙏🏼💜✨
Unique Cargo comes to mind. It's the second story in the Starborn Sagas series that introduces little Ruby (my current avatar pic). I put a lot of thought into what kind of alien DNA she had, did as much reading on the xeno as was available and even went out and found some in game to see what they were like in action, and I put a lot of thought into how that might affect the little girl.
I included various interactions with her as she got more comfortable with the family and had this rapid fire back-n-forth question sequence a la Uncle Buck that I thought was funny.
And my core readership really enjoyed it and enjoy Ruby. But if you look at the numbers...it is one of the lowest touched pieces in my ao3 profile. The fic that comes after in the series, Stowaway Savior, has double the hits and it stars Ruby and her older brother Goose. I do go over some key points about Ruby again, because its always good to have a refresher between stories, and that apparently makes it so people don't get curious to go back and read about the family finding her.
I worry that comes off as complaining, which I'm not. I've been very fortunate with the traction my fics get and it's not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.
Are you accepting asks for the fanfic writing emoji game?
💔🏆🤡✨
I am! And because my answers are long with excerpts in them today I'm going to throw it under a cut to save everyone's feeds lol!
💔 Is there a fic of yours that broke your heart?:
I talked a bit about that here but as I think on it more there is a fic I've yet to upload that when I was reading it, getting it transferred into scrivener and prepped for edits, that broke my heart and it's a WoW fic starring like all my toons...
The scene that broke my heart is centered on a human paladin, Gideon, who was being treated for wound at a druid camp inflicted by another alliance member who...gods if I explain all that we'll be here all day. He was badly wounded and then this happens
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The light of the lanterns outside shined bright, bathing the floor in light. The room was empty now except for Gideon, who sat in his bed, knees hugged to his chest, crying. Despite all the druids had done the pain in his left eye would not subside. Instead it grew, slowly changing from a dull ache to a nagging burn. Deep down he knew he should call for help, tell one of the druids of his pain, but instead he sat in darkness believing he deserved it for all his sins. He did not deserve to be helped. A voice in his head told him it was wrong for him to have survived at all. He deserved death for all he’d done. Death was the only way to atone for the lives he ended.
Two figures moved passed the door, one’s hooves clomping on the wooden floorboards. As they passed the lankier of the pair stopped, standing in the arch. Then she hurried inside, sitting on the edge of Gideon’s bed and lifting his chin gently with her ungloved hands.
The lantern light half illuminated Awiti’s face, Gideon seeing concern etched on her soft, blue face. Her warm orange eyes tugging at his heart, “What’s wrong? What are you feelin’?”
He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out, him sputtering before folding back down, holding his face. He sobbed louder now, now afraid and embarrassed.
“Cloverhoof, bring a lamp over, will you?” Awiti called to the other druid in the hall.”
“No,” he whimpered.
“Yes,” Awiti sat him up, “is it your gut or your face?”
“Eye.”
She set to work unravelling the bandages, careful not to tug or jerk him around. Cloverhoof joined, a bright oil lamp in hand. The tauren gasped, covering his muzzle with his free hand. Green, glowing pus leaked from Gideon eye, the whole thing now black. His socket was swelling and the cut around the socket was bright red, streaks forming on his cheek.
“I thought Moonwillow touched him with nature’s cure,” Awiti looked to Cloverhoof, “there shouldn’t be any poison left.”
“It isn’t perfect,” Cloverhoof said as he sat the lamp down, “we can stop it from doing more harm. Hold him steady, I need to cleanse his wounds again.”
“Just leave me,” Gideon protested.
“No,” Awiti sounded scared, “no we be takin’ care of you.”
“I must warn you, Gideon,” Cloverhoof leaned in, hands beginning to swirl with nature magic, “this will hurt. You may lose your eye. You must stay strong.”
Gideon let Awiti lay him back into the bed, holding his head in her lap as Cloverhoof touched him with Nature’s Blessing. The pain became searing, Gideon screaming in agony as Cloverhoof bathed his body in a rejuvenating spell. The tauren dug into his belt pouch, pulling a jar filled with a milky cream that smelled like honey and dreaming glory. He hissed as the tauren coated his cut with a thick layer, his breathing becoming erratic.
“Keep strong,” Awiti stroked his head. He stared up at her with his working eye, vision blurry from tears, and saw she too was crying.
Cloverhoof touched his eye with another nature’s cure and Gideon screamed again, his vision going white before passing out.
-
I woke that back in 2020 and when I read it over a month ago I cried for that scene. Gideon had his issues up till this point but he did not deserve what he believed he did.
🏆 What's your most popular fic?:
Starborn Saga is my most popular fic by a country mile. It has double the hits from the next on the list and way more comments and kudos too. It was also my first fic uploaded to ao3 and my first time sharing my work so publicly, which made it quite overwhelming and daunting when I was in the midst of getting it edited and up.
🤡 What's a line, scene, or exchange you've written that made you laugh?:
One of those scenes I talked about here.
Another scene is from Ranger and the Deputy near the beginning.
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Delgado bobbed his head side to side, irritated with Diego’s rambling but not wanting to show it, “You ever had tequila?”
“Once. Anja got a bottle in the tavern and served it to celebrate a milestone a few years back. Everyone got a drink with a shot in it; I remember it was pretty sour,” she shook her head and sat the small glass on the table, “In New Homestead we brew vodka, rum, and gin in house. We serve it at our tavern but only the locals really drink it; the tourists all complain that it’s too harsh.”
“Harsh?” Diego lowered his hand, no longer ready to hurry the group into their first shot.
“Apparently you aren’t suppose to be able to taste them when mixed with lots of juices or soda?” Kitty shrugged, “I’m not sure. I just know that tourists will order a mixed drink and complain that they can taste it and it’s bad but…it’s fine? I mean it’s alcohol, it’s not going to taste like candy and sunshine.”
Diego threw his head back and laughed hard enough to draw attention from other tables, “Is New Homestead brewing moonshine?”
“We don’t exactly have room for a lot of extra equipment,” Kitty explained, “they could probably stand to filter the vodka a few more times, that one can make me shudder something fierce, and sometimes the gin tastes like the floor cleaner smells but again it’s alcohol, it’s not supposed to be nice, it’s meant to get you drunk.”
“¡Mierda! You poor soul,” Diego was wiping tears from his eyes, “It doesn’t have to be that bad.”
“Diego, they live under the ice,” Del reminded him, “they’re making due.”
“They shouldn’t have to, they belong to the fucking United Colonies. They aren’t some LIST settlement!” Diego exclaimed. He pointed at the salt shaker, “Okay, Kitty, you saw what I did, copy that. Once we have that we lick the salt, take the shot, and bite the lime once you swallow.”
“That seems like a lot for a shot,” she tilted her head to the side with a quizzical look.
“It allegedly makes the shot taste better,” Delgado picked up his shot and looked to Diego, “or you could just shoot it and not be a pussy about it.”
“I didn’t order your family’s tequila,” Diego shook his head, “it don’t go down smooth without it.”
Delgado held Diego’s stare for a beat and then threw the shot back unceremoniously. It did burn a bit, the aftertaste wrinkling his nose for a second, but it was fine. He sat the shot glass down and looked over in time to watch Kitty swallow and set hers down as well. She looked completely unbothered by the cheap tequila, wearing a toothy grin at Diego who grumbled about them being no fun before licking his hand, shooting his shot, and biting down on a wedge of lime. Kitty reached over and took one of the lime wedges and bit into it, clearly curious to what it might add to the taste.
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the idea that New Homestead is akin to some backwater isolated village where they are brewing just the roughest hooch because it's what they know and this young lady being so used to it just makes me grin like a silly person. Add to that the fact that Diego and Del are both former outlaws turned rangers in this fic and yet Diego is scandalized by the idea...and then way later you can see Diego's response after getting to actually try New Homestead liquor.
✨ Give you and your writing a compliment. Go on now. You know you deserve it. 😉:
I gave compliments here yesterday.
I am passionate about research and worldbuilding and I believe it shows in my writing. I like adding the little details that make the world feel more lived in and I find fun in weaving game mechanics into the world in a way that makes sense or works outside of a game setting.
