Trabia Garden

It's only been three weeks since the last one, but it's time for another roundup of dreams!


( Dreams from December and January. )


It only occurred to me while editing this entry that I've had multiple dreams about erectile dysfunction lately. It's... it's not a topic that's often on my mind, if I'm honest.

I still haven't written up a post about our New Year's Eve karaoke! (Of course we did New Year's Eve karaoke.) I must get around to that at some point.

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.

This fic startled as an idle question in my mind. Life Is Strange 2 and The Coffin of Andy and Leyley are both games about siblings on the run. What would happen if those siblings met?

When I started writing, this was swiftly replaced by a new and more urgent question: how could I get Sean out of this situation alive?


Title: Crossroads and Crosshairs
Fandom: Life Is Strange 2/The Coffin of Andy and Leyley
Rating: 14
Wordcount: 1,800
Summary: Sean Diaz meets Andrew and Ashley Graves, another pair of siblings on the run. Something is wrong with these siblings.


( Crossroads and Crosshairs )

On Tumblr, I reblogged a post inviting people to ask my top five of anything. Cinder_Quill asked me for my 'top 5 fictional characters who make the WORST decisions'. This was a pretty fun list to make, so I thought I'd reproduce my answer here!


Oh, man, I love so many characters who make bad decisions! I'm just going to pluck some out of the air.

I'm not sure whether your question was 'who are your five favourite characters who make terrible decisions?' or 'of your favourite characters, which five make the worst decisions?', so I'll give you two lists.


Five terrible decision-makers who I love, emphasis on 'who I love':

- Sean Diaz from Life Is Strange 2. Look, I cannot blame this kid for going on the run with his nine-year-old brother. He was panicking, the police were coming, and a police officer had just ruined his entire life, so naturally he was unwilling to stick around and encounter more of them. It was a deeply understandable decision, but it was nonetheless a decision that fucked a lot of things up.

- Ellie from The Last of Us. I started loving Ellie in the first game, which was before she started making really terrible decisions. But I still love her after her desperate 'if I kill enough people, I'll feel better, right? right???' quest of the second game, and that definitely means she qualifies for this list.

- Jack Shephard from Lost. Jack is a grieving, angry, unstable mess who's been thrown into a leadership position when he's barely clinging on to any form of reason with his fingernails. He has a lot of intense feelings, a gigantic saviour complex, poor self-control and no ability to delegate. Everything he does is a) guaranteed to blow up in his face and b) absolutely fascinating to me.

- James Sunderland from Silent Hill 2. Look, if your dead wife tells you to come to a town, and then the town is full of monsters, you turn around and leave. I feel like there was another big terrible decision he made too, but I can't - I can't quite remember. That's weird. I wish I had a recording or something to jog my memory.

- Light Yagami from Death Note. Light is very smart, but he's also very proud, and he loves using his own intelligence to convince himself that the correct course of action coincidentally happens to be the thing he really wants to do. Yes, if he kills these people in this way, it'll make him look suspicious. But that's what he wants! It's all part of his ingenious plan to catch L, and totally not just because he wants to send L a personal 'fuck you' message. The 'fuck you' is coincidental. This is a very smart move.


Five terrible decision-makers who I love, emphasis on 'terrible decision-makers':

- Seifer Almasy from Final Fantasy VIII. One of the first terrible decision-makers I ever developed a fondness for! Seifer, you can't assist an evil sorceress in taking over the world just because you think it's cool and romantic and you really want to show up your rival at school.

- WD Gaster from zarla's Undertale fancomic Handplates. Gaster is an expert in doing terrible things while convincing himself that there's definitely, definitely no other course of action. He's awful and I love him.

- Chloe Price from Life Is Strange. Chloe is an absolute disaster in a way I find refreshing from a female character. Playing Life Is Strange is a struggle because I want Chloe to like me, but everything she wants me to do is terrible. I don't want to steal money or shoot people or hang up on my distraught friend, Chloe!

- Aaaaand Jack Shephard and Light Yagami again. Fascinating characters. I could watch them making ill-advised decisions all day.


Honourable mentions to the other characters who crossed my mind while I was working on these lists: Mike Munroe, Jeff Winger, Mondo Owada, Dr Cox, Keiichi Maebara, and Lightning 'look, I don't expect punching a god in the face to go well, but I reeeeeally want to punch this god in the face' Farron.

If you'd like to ask my top five of anything in the comments, incidentally, go ahead!

When I have a fic idea, I’ll usually scribble it down in the back of my diary. It’s time to switch diaries again, so I’m going to carry on the tradition I started last year!

This post lists all the fic ideas at the back of my 2022-23 diary. If I’ve written the fic, I’ll include a link to it. If I’ve started the fic, I’ll share a snippet. If I haven’t started it, I’ll write at least a hundred words on the spot.

First of all, here are the fics I’ve written in full. Fandoms: The Book of Mormon, Life Is Strange, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Do Revenge, Person of Interest, Lost, The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope. There may be spoilers for these canons below the cut.


( Written fics from my 2022-23 diary. )


Next, let’s look at the works in progress (or at least the works that were started; I’m not sure they’re actively progressing). Fandoms: The X-Files, Silent Hill, Hypnospace Outlaw, Final Fantasy VIII, Lost, Animorphs. There may be spoilers for these canons below the cut.


( In-progress fics from my 2022-23 diary. )


Finally, it’s time for the fic ideas I haven’t touched and now have to write something for. I’m a little intimidated by this category, but let’s see how it goes.

Fandoms: The Book of Mormon, The X-Files, Beacon Pines, Person of Interest, Community, Lost, Scrubs, Silent Hill. There may be spoilers for these canons below the cut.


( 2022-23 fics I hadn't started... until now. )


I’m glad I started doing this! Most of these will probably never become full fics, but it’s good to at least make a start on these concepts, rather than letting them languish eternally in my old diaries.

Can't believe I'm posting a new fic four days after my writing wrap-up for the year, thus rendering my wrap-up inaccurate. Outrageous.

Anyway, here's a Life Is Strange/Life Is Strange 2 crossover in which Sean meets assorted first-game characters in prison. It occurred to me a few years ago that Sean could theoretically end up in a prison in Oregon, and this idea has haunted me ever since.


Title: To a Flame
Fandom: Life Is Strange/Life Is Strange 2
Rating: 15
Wordcount: 5,200
Summary: Sean makes some interesting friends in prison. It's possible 'friend' isn't the right word for some of them.
Warnings: Canon-typical dark themes.


( To a Flame )

At the end of 2021, I wrote up all the fic ideas I’d been scribbling down in my diaries over the years. I’m about to switch diaries again, so I found myself thinking about how to continue to archive these concepts in the future.

Therefore, here’s the start of a potential annual tradition! When I finish a diary, I’m going to write up the fic ideas at the back. If I’ve written the fic, I’ll include a link to it. If I’ve started the fic, I’ll share a snippet (or everything I’ve written, if I’ve barely started). If I haven’t started it, I’ll write at least a hundred words on the spot.

Let’s see how this goes!

I’ll start with the ones I’ve written in full. Fandoms: Life Is Strange: True Colors, Deltarune, Uncharted, Horizon Zero Dawn, Doctor Who, Persona 5. There may be spoilers for these canons below the cut.


( Written fics from my 2021-22 diary. )


Next, let’s look at the works in progress (or at least the works that were started; I’m not sure they’re actively progressing). Fandoms: Bravely Default II, Life Is Strange: True Colors, Exit/Corners, Persona 5. There may be spoilers for these canons below the cut.


( In-progress fics from my 2021-22 diary. )


And now we reach the scariest category: the fic ideas I haven’t touched and now have to write something for. Fandoms: Undertale, Life Is Strange: True Colors, Until Dawn, Danganronpa 2, Doctor Who, The Great Ace Attorney, Zanki Zero: Last Beginning. There may be spoilers for these canons below the cut.


( 2021-22 fics I hadn't started... until now. )


And that’s everything! I hope I keep this up in future years; it’s a nice little exercise. Maybe some of these fics will actually get finished? Time will tell.

I finally finished Life Is Strange: True Colors! Here are my thoughts on episode five.


( Spoilers for episode five of Life Is Strange: True Colors. )


Even if there are things I wish this game had done, I liked the characters and I had a good time playing, so I'd consider True Colors an overall success! I'm constantly impressed by the game's nuances of facial expression and body language, too.

I hope I end up writing more fanfiction for this game. I'm already playing with a few concepts.

I've just finished episode four of Life Is Strange: True Colors!


( Spoilers for episode four of Life Is Strange: True Colors. )


I can't wait to play episode five. Which is unfortunate, because I'm going to have to wait to play episode five.

Tem visited earlier than anticipated, which means we were able to make more progress in Life Is Strange: True Colors! I think we've almost finished episode three; we've just played through the scene in Charlotte's studio.


( Spoilers for (most of) episode three of Life Is Strange: True Colors. )


I wasn't sure what to expect when I heard True Colors was being made by Deck Nine instead of Dontnod, but I'm having a great time so far! (A great and extremely stressful time, as is traditional with Life Is Strange games.) Looking forward to finishing episode three and seeing what developments and regrets lie beyond.