Trabia Garden

Titles are something I've always struggled with when writing fanfiction. I thought I'd take a look back at the fics I've posted this year and note down exactly why I chose the titles I did.

What I'm hoping is that, if I force myself to think consciously about why I choose story titles, the process might become a little easier in future. And, hey, even if it doesn't help, it might be an interesting exercise.

In reverse chronological order, my fic titles for this year:


( Rambling about why I chose fic titles. )


I've kept an eye out for patterns during this title analysis exercise, and what I've deduced is that I like ironic titles and titles with dual meanings or dual relevance. And, er, absolute copout titles where I just grab the first half-relevant word I can think of.

In retrospect, my entry into the Metaphor: ReFantazio fandom may have been slightly disconcerting. I started out with two cute fics about the most popular pairing, so it's possible people were expecting my third offering to be another cute protagonist/Strohl fic, rather than 'all the party members have to bang in order to give each other superpowers'.

People who don't know me already, I mean. I don't imagine the unromantic everyone/everyone fic surprised anyone here.

(I got so excited when I thought up an excuse to get everyone to sleep together! I originally considered 'the protagonist has to sleep with everyone who joins the party', but then I realised that 'each party member has to sleep with the next person to join' had more potential for a fun variety of dynamics; it means nobody really has a chance to get used to it, and some of them are going to feel a lot more awkward about the prospect than others.)

Now that I think about it, I write about characters having unromantic sex pretty frequently! This year alone, I've written multiple fics about characters having sex for non-romantic reasons. Hold on; I'm going to tally these up. (None of these are very explicit.)

- Power Exchange (Metaphor: ReFantazio, everyone/everyone, having sex to transfer magical powers)
- New Experiences (Death Note, Light/Ryuk, having sex to prove you can)
- Above It All (Danganronpa, Togami/Kirigiri, having sex in an effort to gain the upper hand)
- Closing the Circle (If We Were Villains, Oliver/everyone, having sex with other people to distract yourself from the person you're in love with)
- One Lucky Resident (Scrubs, Cox/Elliot, having sex to get the idea out of your system)
- The Fourth Temper (Severance, Mark/Helly, having anonymous sex as part of a workplace ritual, NB consent issues)

Six??? Six fics about characters having sex for non-romantic reasons this year? Oh, wow, I write about this a lot more than I'd realised.

It might actually be seven. I'm not sure whether to count Regrets (Final Fantasy XVI, Clive/Joshua, NB incest); Joshua is genuinely attracted to Clive, but Clive only acquiesces out of a sense of obligation to him.

It's a fun concept, in any case! When two characters aren't actually attracted to each other, they're unlikely to end up in bed together organically, which is always an interesting challenge to overcome. I enjoy writing about characters having awkward and tense interactions, and forcing them to have an 'uhhhh, hey, I know this prospect probably hasn't crossed your mind, but we should have sex' conversation is a great source of those. I'd say 'I should write this sort of thing more often', but it turns out I already write this sort of thing a lot.

It's time for another roundup of dreams!


( Some recent dreams. )


As ever, I tend to assume my dreams are mainly just of interest to me, so there's no obligation to read my dream roundups (not that there's any obligation to read my other entries either!), but you're very welcome to if you're curious.

I've finished Final Fantasy XVI! Here's my last batch of playthrough notes.

I've been watching a Let's Play of this game with Ginger, in addition to playing it myself, and it's reached the point at which Clive is chained up nude in a cell. 'You see, I understand why Cid might chain him up,' I said, 'but why would he strip him naked?' Ginger considered for an instant and said, 'Because he was chaining someone up and just went onto autopilot,' which I am immediately adopting as canon.


( Notes up to the end of Final Fantasy XVI. )


Final conclusion: Final Fantasy XVI is a good game, very polished. The battle system is fun; the worldbuilding is interesting. There are some pacing issues (if you want to see everything) on account of the number and distribution of sidequests, but it'd be hard to name a game in this series without pacing issues.

I didn't love the characters, which is a shame, because the characters are my favourite part of most Final Fantasy games. I did think minor characters were nicely fleshed out, though, which is important for a game that's ultimately about the value of community; you need a lot of memorable side characters if you want to pull that off.

It's not what I look for in a Final Fantasy and would probably end up moderately low in my ranking of the series, but, disregarding its name, I've enjoyed my time with it. I definitely liked it a lot more than I expected to from the trailers.

More thoughts on Final Fantasy XVI! I've just finished the batch of sidequests that becomes available at the start of the quest 'Across the Narrow'.


( Notes on Final Fantasy XVI. )


This batch of sidequests feels like a tour of all the people we've met throughout the game, which makes me think it'll just be plot from here on. I'm ready for it. Of course, there's always the possibility I'm just going to get plunged into another fifty fetch quests after this mission, but we'll see!

Why am I writing Clive/Charon fanfiction? I don't know. I can't explain it. I woke up at four in the morning and suddenly knew I had to write this. Every time I visit Charon's shop in-game, I somehow come away more convinced that these two are friends with benefits.


Title: Business or Pleasure
Fandom: Final Fantasy XVI
Rating: 14ish
Pairing: Clive/Charon, references to Cid/Clive and Cid/Charon
Wordcount: 1,200
Summary: “Now that you’ve taken up the mantle,” Charon says, “I wonder just how many of his duties you’re planning to take on.”
Warnings: References to past sexual assault.


( Business or Pleasure )

In everything but the eikon battles, which are big on visual spectacle, Final Fantasy XVI feels like a toned-down Final Fantasy. The character designs, the characters' personalities, the body language, the environments: everything is more muted and more realistic than I tend to expect from the series.

I think the more realistic body language is very cool, but I have mixed feelings on everything else. I'll be honest: I've never picked up a Final Fantasy game because I'm in the mood for realism. That's not a problem with the game, exactly - there's nothing wrong with trying something new, especially in this series, which is famous for constantly reinventing itself - but it does cause Final Fantasy XVI to jar slightly with my expectations.

I'm in the mission 'Onward', looking for a trader's pass to cross a border.


( Notes on Final Fantasy XVI. )


Even if I think Final Fantasy XVI could afford to be a bit more ludicrous, I'm still enjoying my time with this game! From the trailers, I wasn't sure whether it would be my thing at all; I'm glad I gave it a chance, even if I don't imagine it'll end up ranking among my favourite Final Fantasy games.

More adventures in Final Fantasy XVI! I've just met, uh, Lord Byron, which is probably going to be a confusing statement for anyone who hasn't played this game.


( Notes on Final Fantasy XVI. )


I love this mechanic where widows who've developed a big crush on me from rumours of my exploits can send me presents. Not enough games have 'strangers develop parasocial relationships with you' as a feature.

Riona: I can sort of envision Clive, Jill and Cid having a threesome.
Cid: I'm going to book a private room in this brothel for our strategy meeting.
Riona: ...
Riona: I'm going to have to write this, aren't I?

For context, I've only played up to the second major timeskip, so I apologise if this fic is inconsistent with any later developments! Look, I couldn't exactly hit the brothel strategy meeting and not write this immediately. I'm not sure you book your strategy meetings in a brothel if you're just planning to talk strategy.


Title: Talking Strategy
Fandom: Final Fantasy XVI
Rating: somewhere between PG-13 and 15. So... 14? I'm rating this 14.
Relationship: Clive/Jill/Cid
Wordcount: 2,200
Summary: “Right,” Cid says. “Plan’s all in order, and we’ve got the room for a while yet. How will we pass the time, I wonder?”
Warnings: Brief allusions to past sexual assault.


( Talking Strategy )

Here are some more notes on Final Fantasy XVI! I've just reached Martha's Rest.


( Notes on Final Fantasy XVI. )


On an entirely different note, a conversation exposing the shipping differences in our household:

Tem: I think I'm drawn to M/F pairings where the characters make each other better people.
Riona: I'm now at five fics about the 56-year-old cop and the woman in her twenties he unlawfully imprisons.
Tem: This is a real shipping low point for you.
Riona, fondly: There's a possible outcome where he can stab her to death.

I've occasionally seen people pulling out 'what if your real-life friends knew about the terrible, immoral things you ship? obviously they'd ostracise you' as an argument in fandom wars, which is always very funny to me because... they know? They know, and the main consequence is that they occasionally lightly make fun of me.