Trial by fire 👀👀👀 1 through 6 LET'S HEAR IT
HIII DEAN :3
1: What inspired you to write the fic this way?
WELL, the fic that inspired the whole IDEA behind the fic was an aideku fic called Scents and Sensibilities—it's linked at the beginning of TBF—which had a scent-matching system via sending tokens and my brain immediately jumped up and started RUNNING with it. I started to wonder about the world-building around it, how the rules of a system like that would work, how societal changes would come into play and affect it—and then I went "Oh this would FUCK as a mobrei fic". So I wrote it as one! :D
As for the plot itself; one of the things brought up in Scents and Sensibilities was the fact that Aizawa would often get tokens that smelled young. Like, criminally young, that he would then report to Nezu and have him hunt down. But, since I like problems, I went "What if. You COULDN'T smell someone's age like that? What if you were going in COMPLETELY blind and you go to meet your potential mate that you've been pining for since you smelled them and they were a kid. How fucking devastating and fucked up would that be?" The concept GRABBED me by the balls and did NOT let go and now here we are :D
2: What scene did you first put down?
I tend to always start writing my fics at the very beginning, so the answer to this question is going to be "the very first scene in the fic" 99.9% of the time. I can't write in choppy bits it flows linear or it doesn't flow at all 😭
3: What’s your favorite line of narration?
Definitely this one:
It was a scent like a blackened thunderstorm, like shattered glass and electric wind, black clouds and whispering leaves. It welled up like the tide, pushing gently at Arataka's senses and flooding him slowly. Sweetly.
And there was something sweet there, as well. Something vague, something hidden, something that Arataka wanted to swallow whole, gluttonous.
It was the sense of being pressed down into wet peat, red leaves in his mouth—the sense of a thumb pushing a seed, so small and insignificant, into the dirt with the hopes that he would grow.
It was loving.
It was suffocating.
Hands cupped around him, urging with a very quiet desperation. Wide eyes watching him drown.
Please.
Please.
Please.
—
But THIS one is a close contender for secret reasons :3
—
Arataka was afraid of rejection.
He'd sent out return tokens before, and none of them had ever been reciprocated. No matter how little he'd actually wanted a reply (one scent had been a lovely blend of cashmere and molten metal, just enticing enough for him to dare sending a token back, but there had also been a hint of something…violent, beneath the rest of it that he made him wary), it still stung him to not receive one.
4: What’s your favorite line of dialogue?
Probably this one:
Arataka dug his nails into the plaster, rooted in place. Eyes wild, he croaked, “That's a dirty trick.”
:3
5: What part was hardest to write?
THE CURRENT ONNNNEEEEE I love canon a lot but going back to rewatch the episodes and translate them into the world I've created is so time-consuming 😭 I mean it's fun but also really annoying lolol
I'm currently writing the Tunnel scene and trying to figure out if the dialogue and actions feel in character, which is HARD because Reigen and Mob's relationship is still new and a bit awkward in the fic when this scene comes up so I'm stopping every other sentence to be like "Okay but WOULD they do this?? Is this in-character for the dynamic I'm portraying??" and then I cry lmao
6: What makes this fic special or different from all your other fics?
It is self-indulgent GARBAGE but I've really gone ham with the worldbuilding because I ADORE worldbuilding and asking questions and answering them—and this is my first fic where people have been GENUINELY as interested in my worldbuilding reading it as I've been writing it, it's been SO much fun (≧▽≦)
Plus it's been the first time I've really gotten to play with the idea of potential reverse grooming. How much agency do you really have in a world ruled by instinct? Do you, as an adult with the heavy, collaring instinct to be submissive towards certain other people in your society, have as much—if ANY—sway over a child with the heavy, clawing instinct to dominate people like YOU? Where you are at an inherent, biological disadvantage, even as someone who is PHYSICALLY bigger and stronger in the moment? And do you, as a child, REALLY have an advantage at all, even if bodily you have every advantage? An insecure, ungodly powerful Alpha boy with a myriad of problems that need solving, and a regular, powerless Omega man drowning in overwhelming guilt with literally every OTHER advantage over you—words, experience, the pretty much sole ability to help you held over your head... What kind of dynamic does that even create? What kind of relationship?
I really like fucking around with power dynamics and flipping them on their heads but this is the first time I've twisted it around THIS much and I'm having the time of my fucking LIFE doing so ❤️🔥
