#katskip

[swaps55]

Afraid to ask but I gotta know- does Sam survive the events of ME3? Which ending does he get?

He absolutely survives. :)

Opus is a story about hope, the happy ending is guaranteed.

As far as which ending...I have a vendetta against the ME3 endings that I have held for 11 years now and I intend to rectify it with Opus. The closest analog will be destroy, and while my goal is to keep the same story beats...everything will be different. Starting with no Crucible. Because everything about it and the catalyst makes my head explode.

[caterva]

Speaking of, here’s some bezi art <: art by my tied-for-best buddy @katskip

[firelightfoxes]

Whomst ears?

(via Merles)

ummmmm is it @sammythesheltie???

[kangals]

In what ways did Lina change, between puppyhood and adulthood?

not very much, honestly! i’ve never had a puppy before so it’s actually been surprising for me how overall consistent her personality has been. she was an active, curious, social baby and she’s (so far) turning into an active, curious, social adult. the biggest change has mostly been endurance, both physical and mental. when she was a puppy it was a bit easier to deal with because she could only be awake for so long before she’d fall fast asleep, and she was also very easily distracted which i could use to my advantage when i wanted her to focus on me and not on other people/dogs/etc in the environment. nowadays she has lots of stamina and can be active for hours (fun for hiking, less fun when i’m trying to have a quiet work day). she also has better focus, which is an unexpected challenge because the focus isn’t always on me - she’ll see a dog out walking, or a toy she wants, or food on the counter, etc, and go into Target Acquired mode. and if i can get her focus back onto me we’re golden, but i’m very bad at that part lol.

she’s also much less barky as she’s gotten older, and more cuddly, which i love. she really couldn’t give a shit about being petted as a puppy but now will seek out contact and affection. she’s really been a super easy dog, all things considered; yeah some bad habits but never fearful or anxious or aggressive at all. 10/10 baby, would recommend.

[isitfurbait]

Pheromosa 🤔

I’ll admit that I’m not a fan of the ultra-beasts designs in Pokemon. True that I have included insects into the pantheon of furrybait, but I am not going to really put this one up there. I’m ignoring the fact that I got this from an article with the phrase “Risks it all for Phermosa,” because that’s just an isolated thing to me.

[fjordfolk]

Corgi or dachshund

neither. both are too short to be trusted.

[doberbutts]

Hello! I have a question about training the puppy who bounces off hips (lovely post, btw). Why not just tell the dog "NO?" Im employed at a dog daycare where I work with an old fashioned trainer who, if I were in that situation, would have me grab its scruff and use my scary voice to curb the behavior. We use that type of intimidation often there since we don't have the time to train every dog not to body slam us, but I am always trying to improve myself as a trainer. Thank you for your input!

Saying “no!” doesn’t really help anything except vent your own frustration if the puppy doesn’t understand what the word “no” means. Remember that dogs don’t speak human. Dogs don’t know the difference between “no” and “yes” like a toddler might (thus why- while toddler behavior is a good basis of understanding dog logic, dogs will never be toddlers because they are dogs and not small children) and so saying “no” or “stop” or “enough” or any of those words doesn’t do anything more than yelling gibberish. She doesn’t know what it means, and so she can’t learn to stop her bad behavior.

As for the second part of your post- I think you’ve answered your own question. This puppy is 6 months old. She’s a happy toddler-age dog that just got adopted from a shelter, where she’s lived for the entire duration of her life thus far. Why would anyone use intimidation, fear, or pain to teach her something she has no idea is even bad? She wants to play! She does not understand that rebounding off of people is a bad way to go about it. She just wants to have fun and to get you to have fun with her.

I’m pretty open with using some more controversial tactics to stop an incredibly dangerous behavior in it’s tracks- handler aggression is something I find absolutely unforgivable and I will make sure a dog regrets choosing that outcome in most circumstances. But a young puppy that just wants to play, that doesn’t know any better?

Right now she’s being prevented from being riled up enough to even attempt it. She’s also being kept leashed in the house so that she doesn’t tear through their hallways and knock everything over in the process. She’s being taught safer games that are far more acceptable, like chasing a toy or tug. And if she does perform the undesired behavior, fun is over and she gets to sit in a no-fun-zone for timeout until she calms down again. She’s learning that it’s totally fine to be excited and want to have fun, but there are rules to what fun you can have and those need to be respected for safety.

That’s a lot better than teaching her that hands and people are things to be feared, or that fun isn’t allowed at all. She’s a dog. She’s not quite able to make that logical leap like we are. She doesn’t know how to play “correctly” yet, because the only interactions she’s had have been at a shelter. It wouldn’t be fair to scare her out of the only fun she knows how to have.

[swaps55]

I was going to wait until I finished it to message you, but I'm so antsy!! I finally got around to rereading and finishing Cantata after starting it over a year ago (such an engaging and thoughtful work, I adore it), and ofc had to dive into the rest of Opus immediately after. I spent half of Opus white knuckled, HAD to know when sam and kaidan were finally going to let go, until it hit me like a truck that you werent going to let them have it until right before Alchera (you absolute DEVIL)

I'm always in it for the pining, its my favorite trope, and while I love the eventual admittance/happy ending, fics always lose me after the characters have their big romantic moment. But with the end of Sonata, you had me absolutely hooked!! Liara's account of the collector attack in Fugue is an absolute masterpiece. I was frozen, or on the verge of tears. Her realization that Kaidan would have sacrificed her and everyone on deck to save Sam was a lightning bolt. And watching Kaidan forced to leave Sam behind was HEARTBREAKING

All that to say I am so impressed in your ability to use your readers' knowledge of narrative events to build suspense. I haven't been able to put this story down. Can't wait to dive into ch4 later and watch Kaidan implode :')

(and If Horizon isnt addressed in Fugue, Ill be back later to beg you to write it)

What an amazing comment to get. Thank you. <3

I've often called Sonata the happiest sad story I've ever written, because the story itself is a blind source of joy until you pull your gaze back and realize where it sits in the timeline.

One of the really fascinating things about fanfic to me being able to depend on the reader already knowing what's going to happen and use it as a tool. Stories like Cantata, Sonata, and Fugue all scribble outside the canon lines, but part of what makes them work is that looming knowledge of what lurks around the next corner.

Which is why eight seconds after I contemplated whether Cantata was the kind of story you could file the serial numbers off off and publish, I decided it wasn't. Cantata depends on the reader knowing who Shepard becomes. The role he eventually plays. Without it, the foreshadowing falls flat and the story loses a lot of depth. Sonata becomes a completely different story when you realize how close it sits to Alchera. And the countdown clock on the second chapter of Fugue is like a slowly tightening noose because you know that happiness is about to come crashing down, and it's more awful because the characters have no idea.

I love, love, love that people are DYING to get to Horizon. Because you know it's coming. You know it's going to happen. It's fanfic, and you know how the canon story goes. Horizon is coming.

I can tell you this. It's going to be awful. Everything that could go wrong does go wrong. Everyone does the best they can with what they have, but everyone has different pieces, or the wrong pieces.

It's a clash of the inevitable, and no one is to blame, but that means there's nowhere to direct the anger, so it goes places it shouldn't, because it has to go somewhere.

It's awful. And I can't wait.