#tesseractingrey

[mikaikaika]

my streamer’s team is playing your streamer’s team in the hoplite event rn <3 i feel like our children are on a play date

My streamer is pure vibes mode his ass is NOT in it to win it. He's there to karaoke to white girl music and flirt with his Italian soulmate <3

[agentverbivore]

SBS Meta

@tesseractingrey replied to your post “(1/2) Hi! I just read your fic “side by side,” and I loved it. It kind...”

1. Do you think fitzsimmons could’ve taken the 12 years they took in canon to get together if they had dæmons, or do you think being able to know themselves better would mean they’d always get together earlier? I know they did in your fic, but do you think there’s any way they could’ve followed the canon timeline with dæmons?

No, not in the way I conceive of either the ‘verse or the characters, that’s why I wrote them in the way that I did - one of both Simmons and Fitz’s greatest faults in canon early on is that they suppress their emotions so strongly. In the dæmon-verse, they each have a second being that is the embodiment of their inner selves and feelings, and as such I think that both of them would only be able to repress certain feelings for a certain amount of time. 

The dæmons naturally bring certain parts of their relationship that were previously ignored or unnoticed to the fore, and so they can’t ignore them for twelve years the way they do in canon. Sarama and Caedmon won’t let it - although Sarama would always be the one who broke first, because Caedmon (being a facet of Jemma) has a tighter lock on his own responses than Sarama does. In this way, the two dæmons mirror how in canon Fitz came to a realization about his feelings before Simmons did.

2. How do you think writing about them with dæmons affected your ability to convey the characters’ views of themselves and their internal struggles?

It was a really fun challenge! Of course, Sarama and Caedmon, although derived from Fitz and Simmons respectively, actually have their own distinct personalities, so establishing that was important right at the outset. Although each human and dæmon might agree about many things, I had to figure out the types of things they might disagree about (etc.), and then also figure out how that’s even possible (it is) for two beings that are derived from the same soul.

The toughest part about writing about them with the dæmons is honestly just remembering that the dæmons are always there - there’s so much of Side By Side that, of course, features the dæmons, but there’s also almost just as much where the scenes revolve entirely around Simmons and Fitz interacting with each other. I had to always keep in mind what the dæmons were doing if they weren’t immediately being described at any moment. Sometimes, I didn’t realize I’d forgotten to do that until editing, lol, and I had to write the dæmons back in. 

As for the characters’ views of themselves and their internal struggles specifically, in some ways, writing with the dæmons around is easier - Caedmon is more likely to call Jemma out on her own behavior, for example, than she might on her own. The dæmons sort of force this kind of self awareness that neither of them has in canon. And honestly, writing Jemma and Caedmon outright arguing is just a fun, straightforward way to dramatize her internal struggles about how to deal with her unpredictable, illogical, and unwanted romantic feelings towards Fitz. Having her shouting at a lion is a lot more enjoyable to write than just trying to elucidate an internal monologue!

3. Why do you think giving characters dæmons is such a popular AU to write?

I think it’s popular for 2 simple reasons, one of which I just described above - it’s so much easier to dramatize internal struggles when a person can literally talk it out with a being outside of themselves. 

The second reason is the same as the reason why I think HDM is so popular as a universe in general: Humans don’t ever want to be alone. With a dæmon, we’re never alone - it’s like having a pet that is always around, and that is anthropomorphized so you can actually talk to them, and they talk back. What kid or teenager wouldn’t desperately want that? I know I did as a kid - I was also an only child, so I was drawn to any universe that provided the characters with a constant companion. The basic concept of course remains popular for millions of readers of all ages, so it’s often woven into fanfic. 

I hope all this is helpful - good luck with your paper!

[mikaikaika]

sorry my kid set your kid’s tower on fire 😭 this is such a funny match

They know they're not gonna win it's fine 🥰

[mikaikaika]

I don’t really go here (twitch dot tv outside of tubbo these days that is lol) but I’m thoroughly enjoying the twitchcon liveblogging and the pangkey rpf agenda 🙏🏻

I'm so glad you're having fun enjoying the yaoi!!!

[agentverbivore]

(1/2) Hi! I just read your fic “side by side,” and I loved it. It kind of helped me pick the topic for this huge English paper I want to write — I read the golden compass freshman year and didn’t like it but now looking back, the concept of dæmons is so cool and I want to write about it more. I haven’t started writing it yet but I was wondering if I could talk to you more about how you decided to portray the dæmons and/or maybe quote part of your fic in my essay?

(2/2) I want to explore the concept of inner vs outer self, and so I thought it could be interesting to cite other people’s takes on the concept. I don’t know exactly what I want to write yet though, but I wanted to make sure it was okay with you if I cited what you wrote. Again, I really enjoyed the fic!!

aw thank you so much, I’m so glad you enjoyed Side By Side! 

and that’s awesome it helped you pick a topic for your paper! 

you’re welcome to ask me any questions about my portrayals of the daemons that you have, haha, I’ve spent way too much time thinking about them, and I still do, even though I finished posting the fic (eek!) almost 3 years ago now. 

I know I sort of fell behind on updating Of Doctorates and Dæmons, but once I finish posting all of the bits that were already published on my tumblr, I do actually have a new bit of headcanon I intend to write & post in it about Skye and her weasel dæmon, Mo, through which I came up with a bunch of ideas about dæmons and human gender & sexual orientation. I just haven’t had time to jot it all down anywhere yet.

and, you’re also more than welcome to cite SBS in your paper - but if the paper’s topic is primarily about dæmons as a representation of the inner self and how that might impact one’s presentation of outer self overall, I’m positive there are academic papers out there about Philip Pullman’s work that would have interesting things to say about that, too! besides, I didn’t create the concept of dæmons, I just riffed on his creation and added modernizations to the concept, which were also influenced by a different fanfic to begin with. :-)

in any case, good luck on your paper, and thanks for sending me these messages! it really makes me happy to know anyone’s still reading this ‘verse that I love so much. <3

[tit-spoilers]

thank you for reblogging all these phan edits tonight omg. Sorry for spamming your notes a bit with reblogging most of them myself LOL they’re just so good

DO NOT APOLOGIZE reading your tags has been lovely!!!! I need to eat my quota of edits every day, they are like a nutritious meal to me. And I'm happy to have other people appreciating them along with me, it's very fun!!! <33 and the edits are SO GOODDDDD gah you are so right. Where would we be without edits 😌

[dreamhot]

if you are comfortable sharing, what is your alt tumblr acc? i’m just curious about your opinions on heatwaves that you said you posted on there haha it’s a fascinating fic from the perspective of its cultural impact and i think although it is certainly ooc for actual dnf it was an incredibly well written piece of writing if you treat it as OCs in a dnf au <- how i originally read the fic bc i wasn’t in the fandom yet

ahaha my alt is @drodcast :] the hw discussion might be a bit of a scroll now (idk how much has happened since then cos i only use that blog intermittently hehe)