I’m sure it’s come to everyone’s attention that my update schedule has kind of slipped a little.
... Alright, maybe more than a little. A lot!
But I swear I’m still working on this fanfiction! I’ve been enthusiastic about it since the first word went down on the word document and that enthusiasm’s carried over to now (146969 words later!) as well! The same goes for CaiRai as a ship in general.
However, I’ve been busy -- with school, mostly, but I also started RP blogs @dragoonspride and @rigeliia (that’s totally not a shameless plug; if you have an RP blog on tumblr and wanna come write with me, though, I won’t object... ;D //shot) and got into Final Fantasy XIV, which is also really absurdly awesome. But mainly, school saps my energy to write things at length, so I’ve just been sticking to my video games. This will probably remain true for the next week or so, because I have finals next week and then the week after is Christmas and I haven’t done any shopping yet.
But I felt that I ought to give the people who’ve been waiting the acknowledgement they deserve, because I really appreciate all the support that people’ve been giving me as of late! I promise I’ve been reading all of it (no, really; I have email notifications for asks on here, comments on AO3, and reviews on FFN!), and it’s just -- wow! I had no idea people liked Of Masks and Mirrors so much! Rest assured that even if all of you hated my guts for daring to write it, though, I’d still be writing, haha -- it’s a fun story that has a fun ending in the works. Or maybe not-so-fun, depending on how you want to look at things.
Anyway, without further adieu...
guest said, on September 20, 2015 || FFN
The story is very well thought out. From the character interactions to keeping the characters in character. I am in absolute suspense to see what Lightning's and Caius' Focus is together. What more will they encounter in their adventure ahead? They are stuck with each other until then which I personally couldn't be more happier.
So begs the question why there are not enough reviews for this story!
I’m glad you like it, and I hope you’re still up to stick around for chapter 21! I’ve tried my hardest to keep everyone in-character (which given the sheer number of characters up to this point, is pretty difficult since their voices are all fairly unique!) and I’m glad that in you eyes I’ve succeeded! It’s a massive undertaking, to be certain, haha.
I’m in absolute suspense to tell you (general you) what their Focus is! Even being so many chapters ahead (I’m in the mid-30′s in terms of writing; I like to have a bit of padding, which is why I haven’t updated yet), I haven’t reached that point yet, but rest assured that question will be answered before the end!
chiquita-gurlie said, on September 22, 2015 || FFN
I am absolutely immersed in your story! The lack of reviews is shocking... there should be more! So finally, Lighting and Caius move forward to try and complete the Focus. I always like a slow burn kind of fiction that makes sense. I love some of the tension, the discomfort, and dislike in previous chapters. Our duo has found some kind of common ground to work together and get going on their forced Focus. Oh goddess, I like your the way you forced it onto them... together.
Look forward another update.
Yup, twenty chapters after they got it... Haha. And I love slowburn fics as well; while it’s oh-so-tempting while writing to just have them kiss already (wait, is the fact that I haven’t had them kiss yet spoilers...?), I do feel that it’ll ultimately be more rewarding in the end~ :) I’m glad you’ve enjoyed the tension so far! Rest assured there’ll be more in the rest of the fic... Though of course I remember that it’s a CaiRai fic, so it’s the shippy sort of tension... Naturally.
Glad to have you around!
Ellis Bane said on November 13(!), 2015 || FFN
It's been awhile since I've looked for an FFXIII-2 fic and I wish that I looked sooner so I could find this story. It's interesting to see the progression between Lightning and Caius' from the beginning to now. So I can't wait to see what else is in store.
Well, you’re here now, and that’s what counts -- yes? Good to know you’re eagerly awaiting the thrilling (alright, maybe not thrilling... The pace of this fic is overall pretty relaxed compared to many of my other works due to its sheer length) continuation!
Anonymous said on Debember 8, 2015 || Tumblr
I need you to continue writing that Cairai fanfic because the feels are killing me. Please update soon! <3
I’ll be sure to hook you up with a fix soon! :) Actually, in fact, I hope you’re fully braced for chapter 21...
S.I said on December 9, 2015 || FFN
Amazing as always! Keep up the awsome writing and please update soon!
Thank you! I’ll definitely try to! :)
nina said on December 9, 2015 || AO3
Omg omg omg!!! I need more!!! It's getting so good. Thank you for crearing this story that has me hooked!!!
No, thank you for enjoying my story and thank you for taking the time to drop me a comment! It means a lot, really!
Now that that’s taken care of (thank you all for your kind words and continued support) I guess I’ll point out my goals for an update schedule going forward! I’m not going to consider this binding, because I’m pretty shit at getting to things on schedule, but going forward I’m goign to try to update once ot twice a month if I can. There’s bound to be things that come up during my next semester of school, though, and I’m going to be preparing to go to college next autumn! (Gah, I wish I wasn’t... I want to take a year off, but alas.) So don’t hold me too stringently to that because it all depends on how much time I can find to write between school and everything else.
Chapter 21 will definitely be published by Christmas. Happy Holidays, everyone~! It’ll be my gift from me to you!
Hello, I am so in love with your cairai story right now. I am impressed that you already wrote 20 chapters so far. Now I have something to look forward to for the cairai needs I have. Your writing style itself is something particular that I like. It's not awkward, or filled with cliche phrases. I was browsing through your works though, and I noticed some M-rated stuff. Will you ever bump the rating, or write something similar for your cairai fic when the time comes? C: either way, I'm happy
Hi there, Anon! It’s good to hear that haha; I’m kind of in love with it too honestly (if you think just three chapters in is great; a few chapters in are gonna be treats ahaha); I am also impressed that I have 20+ chapters done; this is my longest writing project to date and I’m quite frankly wondering whre this stamina ran off to when I was participating in NaNoWriMo. And I’m glad you like my writing style!
To answer your question: I have some plans for including a scene of that nature in the fic, but it won’t be during Act 1 (yes the scope of this fic is so huge I actually divided it into Acts; I haven’t started much in-depth planning, but I have a general idea of what I wanna accomplish there) and it all depends on how the dice fall given that I envision Caius and Lightning to be somewhat closed-off to the idea of sex (for different reasons, Caius’s is tangentially plot-relevant so no spoilers there but if Lightning was so caught up with work that she started spending less time with Serah, then imagine her romance life; yikes! Deader than 700AF!).
The rating will likely definitely be bumped as time goes on but if that happens during Act 1 it wont be for explicit sexual content; it would probably be for graphic depictions of violence. But even if Of Masks and Mirrors doesn’t get a sex scene, I’ll probably end up doing a smutty one-shot for CaiRai at a later date.
