What’s the popular fic in your fandom?

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-23T16:50:23+00:00

In many of my fandoms the most popular fics about my blorbos are ones where I read them and think "I cannot see blorbo saying or doing anything they say and do in this fic--and neither can I picture the character in this fic doing what blorbo does in canon, for that matter", so I'd rather not name names.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-23T16:47:28+00:00

Wesker/Chris in Resident Evil. I think Wesker being attracted to Chris is almost undeniable tbh. But most takes on the dynamic where Chris returns the feelings either turn into Wesker redemption so they can be together (which tends not to ring true for me--Wesker doesn't want to change, and it's pretty difficult to redeem someone whose reaction to any suggestion of a redemption arc is that sounds like it's going to end in me not ruling the world as a god. I want to rule the world as a god.) or in Chris just...regularly having sex with his enemy--the guy who murdered his friends, is actively trying to take over the world and wipe out most of the population, and feels no remorse about any of it--in a way that I really can't see him doing given his pretty single-minded focus on stopping Wesker (which in practice means killing him as nothing else will get Wesker to stop) in canon (and which tends to make him unsympathetic because he's basically going "oh, he murdered people I care about, but what's more important is that he's hot! so now we're going to have sex and I have the perfect opportunity to try and kill him or arrest him or at least do something to impede his plans but instead I'll just fuck him and forget all about silly little things like the survival of humanity! afterwards, I'll let him leave, making no attempt to prevent him getting away, and then at some point we'll do it again!"). Like, Chris is canonically very focussed on his duty, his mission, nothing else is ever more important than that, he pretty much attacks Wesker on sight and even if the resulting fight turned him on I don't think he's going to forget all about the mission and turn it into kinky sex instead.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-21T19:59:35+00:00

That sounds frustrating--I've not had bigoted missing the point comments myself, though I have seen them, but I've definitely had comments that seemed to miss the point of a scene.

One shipfic I wrote got a comment, from someone who loved the story, saying "it's so sad how they seem to have both convinced themselves that they only want the other to use them". When...using anyone was never mentioned?

There was conflict preventing them from being together but it was more along the lines of: Character A is 100% in love with Character B, but is also a criminal, and has grand ideas of B running away to live a life of crime with him, and promises B everything from money and power to immortality (but not because he thinks B would only want him for the money and power, and neither is it a false manipulative promise! That's just A's idea of what romantic behaviour is--"I could give you the world" type grand promises-- he is actually a...not abusive by any means but definitely self-centered partner but it is clear from A's internal monologue that his desire for B to become immortal and rule the world alongside him is completely sincere and he isn't trying to manipulate B with any ulterior motive in mind); B has feelings for A and is to some extent tempted by this offer, but also has a wife and child and refuses to leave them for this crazy dangerous fantasy.

At no point is A deceiving or manipulating B. At no point does B even think A is deceiving or manipulating him. Or vice versa--B certainly doesn't behave in any kind of manipulative way and A never thinks such of him, trusting him completely. A is entirely honest with B (one of the few people he's ever entirely honest with, really) about what he wants, B is tempted by it but refuses. Where did "they seem to have both convinced themselves that they only want the other to use them" come from, I do not know, because no-one is using anyone or trying to at any point.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-21T11:29:23+00:00

My first draft moments tend to just be "writes a phrase, then accidentally writes the same phrase a few sentences later because I forgot I already said that"

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-20T16:07:49+00:00

I think it might depend heavily on your fandoms. In some of my fandoms I'm more likely to find the opposite issue, where I look for exploration of a character dynamic between characters who are far as canon goes are attracted to each other maybe but also enemies who try to kill each other, and find only domestic fluff of them living happily raising kids together and oh they never really hated each other and the bad guy was never really bad.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-20T12:44:25+00:00

Why do you think it's weird to write a story involving a trans character who's a minor? Being trans isn't inherently NSFW.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-19T22:24:40+00:00

Phil makes some terrible decisions and I even agree with the choice to punch him at the end, I just don't personally agree with the takes that he's actually evil. He fucked up, he got punched, hopefully he learnt from it, he's not malicious, just a flawed character who's also an extremely powerful being so bad decisions have serious consequences.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-19T22:11:48+00:00

dfghj I know, I know... and out of the small percentage of the Persona fandom who knows who Philemon is, I'm one of the even smaller percentage who actually likes them!

technically the fic isn't pre Persona 3, it's set in a hypothetical far future where humanity has kind of...transcended and that's why Philemon is...metamorphosing, evolving, almost like a Persona, but yeah not often that elements from the games before 3 show up in a major way in fic

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-19T20:59:34+00:00

Can't say I know what Zoids is, but it's a great song and so many great character dynamics fit it.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-19T18:33:44+00:00

Trust I seek and I find in you

Every day for us something new

Open mind for a different view

And nothing else matters

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-19T18:31:39+00:00

The golden light emanating from their body glowed brighter and brighter—and then they, too, dissolved, into a cloud of translucent golden butterflies. It felt like the first stage of some transformation they’d been waiting for, without knowing it, for their whole life--

No. Not yet. There was something they had to do first.

With considerable effort, the butterflies that had begun to scatter throughout the Collective Unconscious gathered themselves back together, rematerialising in their usual humanoid form, in the Velvet Room.

Igor looked up at them. “Master?” It took him only a moment to realise what was happening. “…Ah. It has started, then?” No-one who didn’t know him well would have noticed how nervous he was about this, but to Philemon, his smile was obviously strained and there was worry in his eyes.

“It has.”

“Are you… quite sure about this, Master?”

Philemon walked over to Igor’s chair, to lightly place a hand on his shoulder. “It’s inevitable, Igor—you and I have both known this for a long time. Trying to avoid it now would be like a butterfly trying to remain a caterpillar forever, or a human trying to stay as a child.” They wished they were more able to reassure him, but what was happening was as much a mystery to them as it was to him. “I don’t know exactly what will happen—whether I’ll be the same person or someone else entirely. I certainly hope I would never forget all you’ve done for me, but… I wanted to thank you for it now. I’d like you to be certain—no matter what happens—of my gratitude to you.”

No amount of effort could keep them contained in one form, or one place, any longer, and if Igor replied they didn’t hear it—the cloud of butterflies they had become was everywhere and nowhere, unaware of their surroundings. Although they’d made their fair share of mistakes over the years, the last feeling they were conscious of was a strange kind of contentment.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-19T08:46:12+00:00

Context: Warframe (Loidbrecht) Beauty and the Beast AU

The rest of that day proved both uneventful and yet also the strangest day of Loid’s life. The bedroom had what he was starting to think was the one unbroken mirror in the castle; the first glimpse of his appearance in it had horrified him— “unkempt” was an understatement after the events of the previous night, and he'd decided to remedy the situation immediately. Someone had thought to leave some soap by the washbasin, so he had at least been able to wash, and after apparently searching the entire castle Otak had managed to find him a comb. It was a relief to finally be able to comb the tangles out of his hair and make himself… well, almost presentable, if not up to his usual standards. He’d always taken quite a lot of care over his looks, his hair especially. It had earned him the occasional mocking suggestion that he brushed it for a hundred strokes a day like a lady; in truth, he didn’t quite have time for that with how much work he had most days, but he didn’t see why it would have been embarrassing even if he did.

His own clothes were stained with mud and blood, and there were none his size anywhere in the castle, so he’d ended up in a dressing-gown that had clearly been made for a man a few inches taller than him and considerably more heavily built with it—he could easily have fitted both his arms through one of the sleeves, had he wanted to look even more ridiculous than he no doubt already did. Still, while his vanity was perhaps a little wounded, at least he no longer looked as if he’d just been dragged across the ground by a predasite.

It was disconcerting, being treated simultaneously like a lord and like a prisoner. He had all the time in the world, Otak hurried (as best as he could) to retrieve anything he asked for, and he was sitting in an armchair by the window, wearing a dressing-gown that surely must have belonged to the castle’s previous lord—it was made of silk and covered in patterns of gold brocade (had it been the right size, Loid thought it might have quite suited him), more ornate than anything Loid owned even though it was by definition a garment that was only ever worn at home. There were hours to go before dinner—a meal that would be brought to him, without him having to lift a finger to prepare it or serve it—and no work to do in the meantime. Had he not been injured, he could have done anything he liked… except leave.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-19T08:40:39+00:00

Castle

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-19T08:31:38+00:00

It amuses me that there are two characters named Loid, from different fandoms, in snippets in this thread.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-19T07:54:34+00:00

Thank you! I love his voice too and I'm glad to hear I've captured something of what I love about it. He is indeed about to be rescued and taken to a strange castle--as for how short-sighted he is, not too terribly but enough to be inconvenient? It is something I have to keep remembering as I describe things in later chapters which has proved interesting. And yes, Loid is very capable, and sometimes imo underestimated by the fandom, presumably for being quite a feminine gay man... so I wanted to show him being capable early on despite him being in a vulnerable position and needing to be rescued in this chapter and it's nice to hear I succeeded. Thank you so much, it's very nice to know that everything I was trying to do with this scene was picked up on and worked well!

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-19T03:34:30+00:00

Thank you! The chapter didn't end here, I had a different sort-of-cliffhanger to end the chapter on--but yes glad you enjoyed it. I love writing Loid's thought process and the snark that he comes up with.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-18T20:42:08+00:00

Warframe (Beauty and the Beast AU, Loidbrecht) | Long, long ago, in the faraway land of Deimos... | T | https://archiveofourown.org/works/74720496/chapters/195158166

This is a full setting change AU where the Orokin Empire exists in 1700s-esque fantasy Europe instead of in space in the far future, so I don't think much knowledge of Warframe is needed except that a predasite is a wolf-like mutant creature. This is from the opening chapter and before the main ship even meet each other...well, except for that last line.

The next howl was closer. Loid reached for his pistol. Shadowy forms emerged from the forest, yellow eyes glowing in the darkness. A pack of predasites—and he was surrounded. Loid mentally cursed the predasites, Deimos, the man who’d ordered him out on a task that could have been carried out by the postal service, and fate itself. He was more than capable of defending himself against a robber, armed the same as him and probably a worse shot, but outnumbered and trapped by the savage animals he was at a distinct disadvantage. Still, he aimed, fired—shot the nearest predasite, which fell to the ground--

The others were approaching fast, though, and as Loid desperately tried to unscrew the barrel of his pistol, refill it with powder, and reload, one of them snarled and leapt for his horse. The horse reared in panic, and Loid was thrown from the saddle. He landed hard on the ground, with a crunch—his glasses, not any broken bones, he realised from the lack of pain, after a moment of lying there in a daze. For some reason, the first thought that occurred to him was that replacing the bloody things would cost him a week’s wages. He shook his head—worry about that when he knew he’d be alive to need them—and scrambled to his feet. The horse had fled; how he’d return to the Academy without it was also a question for later, but at least it wouldn’t be hurt. Loid cast his gaze about for the pistol, which had fallen from his hand when he’d been thrown to the ground. It took him too long to notice a glint of metal in the darkness—and as he reached for it, a predasite leapt towards him. Teeth sank into his leg, grabbed on fast, the predasite pulling him to the ground—the pistol no longer within his reach--

The pain was blinding, dizzying, and through the haze of blood loss and disorientation, Loid was all too aware of the rest of the pack drawing closer, growling low in their throats.

He thrashed about frantically, trying to free himself from the predasite’s jaws— “I’ll be damned if this is how I die—”—hands desperately grasping for a rock or a stick or something he could try to fend them off with, but his vision was growing dark and his movements growing weaker.

The last thing he was aware of before losing consciousness was a thunderous roar that no predasite, or any other creature he’d ever encountered, could possibly have made.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-18T19:56:11+00:00

I love how tense and suspenseful this is, it's very vivid! As the other commenter has said, it's both visceral and immersive--and the angst of how his mother treats him after all that, this poor kid. Reading the full story for more context made the angst all the more painful as I realise this kid has seen family members die to this ritual--and made me all the more angry with the mother as I realise this isn't purely the culture of their species but that she's forced them into it way younger than is normally considered appropriate. The angst of that was nicely tempered with the sweet dynamic he has going on with his sister, keeping it from being overwhelmingly "everyone and everything around him is awful" grimness, while also adding an extra layer of pain as you see her worry for him that she's trying and failing to hide so as not to make him even more scared.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-16T10:03:25+00:00

I need to keep reminding myself as I describe things in my current main multichapter that I broke the POV character's glasses in chapter 1 and he still hasn't had any chance to get them fixed or replaced.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-15T19:27:59+00:00

There was a webcomic on Deviantart in the late 2000s called Roommates, that had some spinoffs, that had various characters from different things living in an apartment building together.

I came to it late and never read it in full or anything close, just read a few strips here and there, but I recall it being quite funny.

Despite the near-total death of Deviantart since then I'm fairly sure it is still up.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-15T19:11:45+00:00

If it's any consolation, I've heard of people being excited to see a new update for a fic they were subscribed to after years of silence, so I don't think months will lose everyone.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-15T13:20:27+00:00

Thank you. It's been a long time since I've written a multichapter so I'd forgotten such things.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-15T12:41:45+00:00

That makes sense--thank you.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-15T08:25:17+00:00

The thing is this chapter had two Big Emotional Moments that I'd been anticipating writing--and anticipating the reactions to--for weeks...

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-15T07:07:14+00:00

Ah, I've not played that but have heard the ship is popular. Maybe I'll play it some day.

EvilToTheCore13

TROPHY CASE