1. Ave is smol (5′2 and 105 lbs), but she has a personality that doesn’t match whatsoever. She occasionally overestimates things that she can and can’t do. She’s stubborn like nothing else, but also very trusting and very loyal.
2. She has ADHD, but doesn’t give it any thought.
3. Too sweet. Too nice. She can be easily trampled over.
4. She loves watching musicals and really crappy but classic comedies- Elf, Napoleon Dynamite, Nacho Libre, etc.
5. Will fight lots of people if provoked, but she can’t really, but she tries.
About Mun:
1. I’m really good at panicking.
2. I’m also really into musical theater.
3. a Nerd.
4. I’m studying to be a Clinical Psychologist.
5. I write like I’m running out of time (yes, I love Hamilton).
As someone who champions a Shadow Company muse I kind of find your take on them a little... degrading? :/. Sorry, like I feel bad for coming into your inbox just to say that, but... all the SC muses I know are so complex and layered, and this verse just sets them up to be 100% the villain. Like... you're completely entitled to your headcanons and such and I am SO grateful you explicitly said this doesn't apply to any SC muses, but yeah... I wouldn't expose my muse to this. He's not a monster :/.
[Normally I try not to make anyone 100% evil for the sake of it. It does need to be worked on, but that was a barebones kind of thing, not really getting into anyone’s headspace to figure out why. For all I know atm there were several SC operatives who still called him Jay and tried to help him as much as they were able. I don’t want to give the wrong impression that I was saying everyone on SC is bad and evil or something, because they’re definitely not. Every unit has its bad people though. Sorry you were offended, I’ll try to work on it and post a thing later that does get down to the fine details to figure everything out.]
Man, this could be a real long list, although I have to say that cliche as it sounds one of my biggest inspirations is the fact that I just love to write. I always have done, ever since I was little and before I jotted stuff down I used to have the most intricate mental stories for all my toys and barbies as a kid. I just love creating characters and worlds and stories, it’s my escapism I guess. Aside from that though, my family inspires me, the experiences I’ve had so far. My boyfriend encourages me to make time in my life to write and that’s an inspiration in itself. And my friends inspire me so fucking much it’s unreal. I know so many writers who are so much more talented and gifted than I am, and its an inspiration swapping ideas and headcanons on skype. I wouldn’t have written half as much for Camp NanoWriMo had I not had that kind of support.
2. Things that motivate you
A big cup of tea or coffee and an empty desk with just my computer and notebook mostly. I always write to music for both motivation and inspiration, so that’s important too. Headphones are my favourite because I can totally cut myself off from everything else. And I need space to think and muse and I’m fortunate that even though we live together, James gives me the alone time I need to put pen to paper so to speak.
3. Name 3 favourite writers
I could sit here and gush about writers of some of my favourite books, but I’ve done that on this blog before. So instead let me tell you about three of my favourite fanfic/RP writers, who are quite literally writing goddesses who I admire so so much. First up, there’s UrgentOrange on fanfiction dot net, who is essentially a writing machine who puts so much thought, planning and research into her work. Her writing has such beautiful tone and atmosphere and she writes some of the best combat scenes I have ever read, published or not. She’s a lady I look up to immensely. Then there’s @hissingthroughmyteethmun Sara, who is RP powerhouse. I’ve watched her blog grow and grow and she’s been such a positive influence in our CoD writing community. She’s also so so talented and her characterisations are always so exquisite. Her characters, canon or original have so much depth and sense of self and replying her is always a joy. Finally, there’s Kelly, a.k.a @paxoftheshadow or @simonfuckingriley to name but two of her muses. Kelly is a beautiful fucking writer, like her work always has such great pace and she always strikes a balance between dialogue and emotion that I wish I could do as well as she does. Her characters are so strong and well put together and despite being her writings own worst enemy, she comes out with some pieces that never cease to blow me away with how beautifully written they are.
13. Hardest character to write
In the CoD fandom, right now I have to say Nick LaVoie, just because my muse for him hasn’t been very strong for about a year now. I hate that, because Nick is one my treasured first muses, but I just can’t quite bring myself to write him at the moment. Outside of RPing, pretty much any of my viking characters in my newest novel are a pain for me to work on at the moment. I’ve done so much research and reading on their history and mythology and yet setting a tone for the characters is something I’m still struggling to get started with.
17. Favourite AU to write
I’m torn here, because for Lara especially, she has two AUs that I absolutely adore. The first is her viking!AU, which is essentially me using viking!Lara to help me with my novel. Although I love that verse to death, right now the werewolf!AU is my favourite simply because it was my focus for Camp NanoWriMo and me and Kelly have put so so much work into it behind the scenes on skype. I haven’t felt so inspired in bloody years as I did during NanoWriMo and I have the wolf verse to thank for that.
22. Favourite story you’ve ever written
Caught in the System, forever and always. I’m sure in the future I’ll write something much better and well evolved and developed, but right now… CITS is the best I’ve got. I’m immensely proud of that 200,000+ word behemoth of a story and I continue to be so humbled by the support and beautiful compliments its received over the years. The fact that people started to RP CoD characters thanks to CITS is still something that just… boggles my fucking mind. So yeah, CITS is my baby and someday I WILL finish it.
30. Hardest part of writing
I read somewhere that starting was the hardest thing about writing, but fuck that. I have so many word documents of around 1000 words that I had no problem starting. I think the biggest issue is bloody finishing your writing. Like, you’ve written a one shot or a chapter, but you need that perfect ending to round everything off or to construct the perfect cliffhanger. It’s agonising and I always spend way longer worrying about how to finish a piece than I do trying to start it.
20. Favourite character to write
Lara ‘Bones’ McCoy. She’s my favourite and also the easiest character I have to write. I’ve just spent so many years working on her to a point where sometimes it feels more like I’m working with her nowadays as crazy as that sounds. There’s a lot of myself in Lara, she’s not a self insert in the slightest, but I’ve poured a lot of my own experiences, beliefs and morals into her that she’s a deeply personal character for me. She’s not perfect and I’ve worked damn hard at crafting her to be that way that as much as I love every other character and muse that I write, Lara will always be the one who comes to me the most naturally.
34. Alternative pairing for CITS?
I’m going with CITS because I know that’s what Kel is really asking me here :P. But if it isn’t obvious, my alternative pairing and dare I say OTP for CITS is Lara and Simon Riley. A pairing that was never really supposed to happen. When I designed CITS, Lara was always supposed to get the hots for John MacTavish. It was intended to be a story of their love and how that wound around the plot of MW2. And then one night after a couple of JD and cokes, around 4am I decided that Lara sleeping with Riley could be a cool angle. Hell, back then I didn’t even think I was about to write a love triangle. I just wanted Lara to fuck up under the pressure of her new job and I wanted to hand my antagonistic Riley a small victory in helping pull her down. And then the pairing just grew and grew, to a point where I started to wonder whether I should make Riley and Lara CITS canon instead of Lara and Soap. It was a tough decision breaking them up after more than ten chapters of relationship building and in truth sometimes I regret it. So yeah, if I was ever to write an alternative CITS, it’d be skeleton ALL the way.
33. Alternative ending for CITS
Man, this is a tough one, because anyone who knows me and knows CITS knows that I like to stick to canon for the big stuff such as character deaths. I tweak and I rearrange, but one of my favourite things about CITS is the agony of killing the characters I care about most. There was a reason why I spent hours building up Meat and Royce only for them to die in the favela and although those scenes were difficult as hell to write, the payoff was worth it. Would I stop myself from killing of Ghost, Roach, Nick and Scarecrow in Loose Ends? Probably not, because I need those deaths to drive the story forwards. I need Lara and the others to feel that pain along with my audience. So as a cheat, I’m going to go for a Riley and Lara ending to CITS. Their romance doesn’t change the end of the game, similar to how your romance option in Mass Effect does effect the over arching plot, but the emotion at the end would be very different still and that could be interesting to explore.
36. One-shot or multi-chaptered story?
Multi-chaptered stories all the way. I ramble too much (as this entire post demonstrates) to write proper one-shots and they always feel too short and succinct for me to get my teeth into writing wise.
It all happened so fast. Too fast. A blur of movement and confusion that was all over before she could blink. They should never have even been caught in this situation, caught up in a firefight that should never happened. It was all supposed to be so routine, exfilling out from a hot zone and mission that had all gone to plan. Their truck had been hit, they’d been forced on foot, fighting their way from cover whilst men screamed into their radios for any kind of air support they could find.
Rose’s combat skills were rusty, she knew this. She knew her way around a firearm, but firefights like this one were dominated by semi automatic rifles that were no longer her strong suit. It was like being back at Sandhurst, the work of a foot soldier and not an intel operative. She was used to slinking through the world with a fine dress and a pistol, not fighting for her life amongst all of the dust, sand and heat back in her fatigues.
She’d made a mistake, one that she would have chided herself for if she’d had the opportunity. She’d strayed too far out of cover, tried to push too fast. By rights she should be dead. And yet, something had pushed her to safety, thrown her to the floor with such a jolt that it had felt like a train hitting her.
Pax.
He was bleeding, his fatigues already beginning to saturate with blood. The sight immediately sent Rose into panic and the feeling alone made her feel so small. She crawled back towards him on her elbows, her head down to avoid the spray of bullets before. Reaching his side, the only words she had tumbled from her shaking lips unchecked.
“Why did you do it? Tell me.”
Because this should have been her, lying there on the ground and faced with the consequences of her own mistake. Her body should have been torn and bleeding, not his. She knew his reason, even before he spoke, but it did nothing to quell the confusion in her mind. She’d always known that this might be something he would do... but seeing it? Seeing it hurt in a way she couldn’t entirely deal with.
“You fucking stay alive.” More unchecked words fell from her mouth, the rare slur almost foreign on her lips. She didn’t have the time or ability on measuring herself now, couldn’t waste any of her concentration as she checked his body, ripping open his fatigues to look at the wound. Her shaking hands checked for any remnants of a bullet, her training telling her that if it was still there she couldn’t apply pressure to stop the bleeding. Relieved when it at least was clean, her hands reached into her pack, grabbing a wad of gauze and pressing it to the wound, crimson seeping between her fingers.
“Don’t you dare close your eyes.” Her voice was shaking despite her best efforts. She needed to check his pulse, give him morphine. But he needed a medic, not her. He needed someone to save him, not a bumbling wreck who could barely hold her own stream of thoughts. “... You aren’t bloody doing this to me, Paxton. You hear me?!”
“Pax is fucking everything to me, mate. I ain’t into this mushy shit, believe me, but he’s the baby brother I never wanted but ended up with anyway. I don’t have much in the way of family, got two foster parents who gave me everything they could back when I was little. Quinn’s up there obviously and so is Rags. And then there’s Pax, my rival in a lotta ways. That used to be what defined us back in the day. We used to bring out the worst in each other, bitch and bicker like little kids. Winding him up is still one of my favourite past times.
But me and Pax, we’re on the same level. Quinn has got that whole mature, educated thing going on and Rags has always been a bit of a kindred spirit. But me and Pax are so alike, too alike sometimes. We both came into the military with a lot to prove and one hell of a lot of anger. We both figured that we didn’t need anybody, were fucking lone wolves surrounded by pack animals. We both wanted to aim high and be the best we could be, but we weren’t cut from that typical officer cloth neither. SC gave us both the same opportunities and we both owe every bit of loyalty we’ve got to Shepherd for what he’s given us.
Only difference between us is that I got here a little before Pax, so I’ve had a little more time to cool my heels. I met Quinn, started to mellow out and see the world differently. I made my own family, started acting like a pack animal myself. Pax is getting there too, he’s started openin’ up more, acceptin’ more. He’s got a lotta love in that heart of his, no matter how much he tries to hide it by being such a grumpy wanker. I’m glad he’s finally found a place where he can be himself again and I’m really glad that I’m one of the few people who’ve helping him feel that way.”
“This may be the first time I have ever actually seen you in public.”
There is something to be said for the sight of the liberated soldier, sour as ever even under the early spring sunlight. Tilting her cranium just so, the Russian almost lowered her shades in stereotyped disbelief, before remembering why she wore them. Adjusting her purse, she glanced around the street for a moment.
“May I buy you lunch? I feel like something should be done to commemorate this moment.”
Perhaps the Lieutenant would prove less biting company in a more relaxed atmosphere.
