March Q&A (Answers)

General

Anonymous asked: For the patreon q&a: how would the story unfold romance wise if our mc was already dating the ros? Like Li and Speaker reconnected or they met Kana in passing one day and slowly broke down their barriers? How would the events so far unfold differently?

For most of them, I think it would have only changed minor things. If you were already dating Sebastian, for example, he’d have been there when Seer had the vision and you would have had his help from the start. Same with Li, they would have been there from the start instead of having to be called in. Azalea was already there from the beginning, so nothing would have changed there. Kana would have actually been very useful for some of the early on fact-finding, and Speaker probably would have figured things out a lot faster.

The only one that would majorly change is Rory. I… don’t actually think Rory would have been willing to commit to a relationship before they got Changed, for reasons that they’ll talk about soon. But if they had been, then obviously Speaker/Seer would have figured out who RK was very quickly. And in this instance, maybe wouldn’t have met the rest of them at all…

Though obviously, if you were already in a relationship, it would remove all the building romantic tension :) Az wouldn’t be as shy, Kana and Sebastian would have let down their walls, Li and Rory would have gotten over their reservations… plus, all the ROs have some secrets/backstory things that they haven’t yet shared with Speaker, and those would likely already be known and not show up dramatically later on in the series.

Jeremiah Gigremosa asked: What was the hardest case speaker and seer have done?

Actually, that’s not something I’ve really given much thought before! I like to leave a lot of the past stuff to headcanon, unless it will be directly mentioned in the story. It also depends on what kind of difficult you mean: the Erick Whitley serial killer case, for example, wasn’t very physically taxing, but what it lacked in difficulty it made up for in trauma!

But I think my favorite difficult case that I have planned out, and one that could be considered the hardest, was the one where Speaker got kidnapped. That’ll be mentioned in more detail at some point in book 1, but essentially Speaker got kidnapped when they were 14, in a small town in Ohio by people who weren’t supposed to even be involved with the vision they were there for. It turned out that the vision that Seer saw was actually of a local vampire family rescuing them from the kidnappers!

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NSFW

Anonymous asked: #q&a What are the RO's sexual fantasies?

I’ve mentioned this before on tumblr, but Rory has always fantasized about having sex on their motorcycle. Pull over on an empty stretch of highway (somewhere secluded and out of sight of the road, but still out in the open) and either bend Speaker over the seat, be bent over the seat themself, or maybe have Speaker sit on the bike while Rory goes down on them. All are good options.

Sebastian sometimes fantasizes about sex in unusual places. On the roof. In the stairwell of his apartment building. In the porch swing in Speaker's backyard. Not necessarily always public places, but sometimes he’ll be doing something innocuous like working at his desk, and he’ll just have the sudden mental image of Speaker being there and what they could do.

Kana would never admit it, but I think they fantasize about using their compulsive voice in the bedroom. Fully consensually, making sure Speaker is completely okay with it first obviously, but like… whispering things that Speaker has to obey. Having them completely at their mercy, and knowing that’s where they want to be.

Azalea doesn’t know this is a fantasy she has yet, but I think she’d be really into bondage if given the opportunity. Being tied up, yes, but especially if she were the one in control. And she’s already demonstrated that she can have remarkable control over vines and use them to hold someone in place… 

Liam/Lily, believe it or not, doesn’t have many sexual fantasies. Or at least, not specific ones. Like, they fantasize about sex sometimes - and they’d hate to admit it, but Speaker has always featured heavily in those fantasies - but they’re fairly vanilla, all things considered, and mostly a lot of “I wonder what it would be like” fantasies. As for what they may start to fantasize about after they actually get to learn that, they haven’t told me yet ;)

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Spoilers

Maisie asked: can we get any hints about the cliffhanger in the latest update? i'm dying to know more. also, how would the ros deal with being separated from mc for a few weeks / a month or so? (nothing angsty! maybe someone has a job or is visiting family or whatever, and their partner can't tag along.)

Hmmmmm hints, let’s see.... The vision Seer is having at the end up Chapter 2/beginning of Chapter 3 doesn’t come from the same source that they usually do. It won’t be the only one she has in Chapter 3. And she’s not the only Seer seeing it right now ;)

As for the other question, I’ve actually answered that already here on tumblr!

Ignits asked: I guess this is a bit nsfw question but I can't quite understand how Li feels on this so I wanted to ask. Li does realize that the Speaker is flirting with them and has a thing for them. They encourage it at first and don't mind going to bed with the Speaker but dating is a no no? I thought that they would be afraid to date to not destroy their friendship. How in their eyes does going to bed together have no impact on it as well? Do they disconnect sleeping together from any feelings then?

At this point in time, Li kind of assumes that Speaker’s flirting doesn’t have any real intention behind it. That’s why they haven’t actually acted on it beyond flirting back; they assume you don’t really mean it.

Their offer of a “friends with benefits” relationship comes from that same assumption. That their feelings for you are one-sided, that you don’t feel the same way about them (beyond a physical attraction), and it’s sort of a “I know you’ll never love me, but I’ll take what I can get, even if it doesn’t mean anything to you”. There’s some deep, deep denial there, not of their own feelings but of the idea that you could ever return them, and a few self-esteem and abandonment issues they need to work through as well.

And that denial, and those feelings, are there regardless of whether you enter into a physical relationship with them or not. The crux of their route, and the conflict within it, is helping them realize that happiness and love and a relationship with Speaker are things that Li can have and deserves to have.

Aonith asked: What exactly is a Guardian? What do they do?

Guardians are peacekeepers. Envoys or ambassadors, I guess you could say. There are some supernatural beings out there that haven’t… integrated, for lack of a better word, into human society. Old, strange, and very powerful beings (like Gwyn, whose last interactions with humanity were when they were part of King Arthur’s court, almost 2000 years ago). Guardians are the ones who interact with them, who keep humanity from trying to turn on these outsiders and wipe them out, and in turn keep the outsiders from deciding to burn down civilization and build a home in the ashes. It’s a delicate balance, but an important one.