James_D_Fawkes

(CiP)[Hereafter] Interlude A (EB): A Better Class of Villain

Did you think he was going to go unmentioned and unseen for the rest of the Singularity? Not a chance. Give Chekov his gun.

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Upcoming Changes (October, 2025)

So with the economy bouncing around more than a toddler on a sugar high, I think I need to revisit the prices again, less than six months later. If things keep going like this, I might need to revisit them again at some point in the relatively near future. Because so many things are fucked up right now and they're only getting further fucked as we go.

A couple of video game companies could take note, because all they keep doing is increasing their prices, and it's reaching the ...

[Hereafter] Chapter CCXII: Cross Country Road Trip

Crawler ga...!

Ahem. A couple of things that might have been a bit overdue, this chapter, like Taylor being confronted by... Well, I'm sure a lot of people would say "the obvious," here, but the audience does have some information that she doesn't, don't you?

And a certain someone may wind up making a bit of a nuisance of herself in the future. We'll see. I have a couple of different ideas for how it might go down.

We're about due for an interlude. Not next chapter, but the ...

(CiP)[Hereafter] Chapter CCXIII: Unexpected Assistance

Not married to this title, but considering who's going to show up in this chapter...

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[Hereafter] Chapter CCXI: Dance Partners

There are so many Servants at play here that it's getting hard to keep track of all of them, much less give them all something to say and do.

Victoria...does not come off as very likeable in these last few chapters, does she? Well. Some of that has to do with the fact that she is very much stuck in her younger body, despite her mind being four years older. Some of it is just...Victoria being very opinionated.

This Singularity is approaching the end. We're solidly in Act 3 now, so ...

(CiP)[Hereafter] Chapter CCXII: Cross Country Road Trip

The end (of the American Singularity) looms in the not too distant future.

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[Hereafter] Chapter CCX: Airing Secrets

It was almost destined to happen once Taylor started encountering more people from Earth Bet who knew her, especially when they were people who actually went through and survived Gold Morning and even more so when they were people who Khepri controlled and forced to fight. A confrontation was inevitable.

And fun to watch.

We're closing in on the end of the Singularity. There's still a little ways to go and at least one, maybe two more interludes for us to get through. There are st...

(CiP)[Hereafter] Chapter CCXI: Dance Partners

That's a metaphor.

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[Hereafter] Chapter CCIX: Reuniting with Ritsuka

I looked at the map of the PRT bases on the wiki, and the dot in Indiana looked close enough to be Indianapolis, so I stationed it there. I needed some place for the team to stop and rest, and that was as good a place as any.

Also, if a certain director in that city happened to be named as a reference to certain trio of slapstick comedians from the mid-20th century, I certainly couldn't say, but you certainly might not be wrong to think so. Certainly.

This one's more of a cooldown...

(CiP)[Hereafter] Chapter CCX: Airing Secrets

It was inevitable once more capes who knew Taylor started showing up.

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(CiP)[Cunning and Ambition] Chapter 2: Certainty and Second Thoughts

On another Haphne binge, and the absolutely criminal lack of good fics for them (that I have not already read at least once) has convinced me to pick this story back up. We'll see how far it goes.

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[Hereafter] Chapter CCVIII: Oathsworn Hound

Ah, Cu is back, and his dynamic is just as much fun to play with as it was back in Fuyuki. Don't worry, Taylor, I'm sure you weren't the only one to feel the way you do about his "return," such as it was.

This is one of my favorite things to do with Taylor, but it's also one of the most frustrating to get right. She can have some really creative solutions to different problems, as last chapter showed, but finding the line between her being creative and her having a direct line to my bra...

(CiP)[Hereafter] Chapter CCIX: Reuniting with Ritsuka

How long have the twins technically been out of the main narrative now? Too long, methinks.

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[Hereafter] Chapter CCVII: Rampaging Hound

"Wow, Cúchulainn is strong!" should be one of the takeaways from this chapter. Seriously. "Irish Heracles," indeed.

Ever since I decided upon having Berserker Cúchulainn here - his normal Berserker version, not Cu Alter - I had it in my head to have a chapter like this with a scene that went essentially the way it did. The particulars evolved, of course, over the course of the story, such as where it happened and who else was involved, but this was a fun bit of his lore that I wanted ...

(CiP)[Hereafter] Chapter CCVIII: Oathsworn Hound

Can you really trust your enemy's attack dog?

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[Hereafter] CCVI: The Battle of Rock Island

Like with last chapter, I was disappointed with how little I could focus on individual battles and give them the proper weight they needed, but things being what they were, it was unavoidable.

I tried to do justice to everyone here even so, but I'm not incredibly confident in how well I captured Fionn's personality in particular, and Diarmuid wound up fairly mute, all things considered. Talking in battle is a sin only great lords get to commit, because they like to hear the sound of the...

(CiP)[Hereafter] Chapter CCVII: Rampaging Hound

You'll never guess what this chapter is going to have in it.

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[Hereafter] Chapter CCV: Crossing the Mississippi

Into the action we go!

I've gotta say, one of the things I was disappointed about most with this chapter and next chapter is how little I got to focus on the individual fights. Because Taylor is paying attention to each and I have to cover them as much in sequence and their simultaneity as I can, it made it hard to give them all the weight I could have if it was one, individual fight, even if it's a bunch of people all fighting one enemy (like with Herk and Caenis, the DGP, Altera, or C...

(CiP)[Hereafter] Chapter CCVI: The Battle of Rock Island

As it turns out, this chapter got to be called that instead, so I guess the last one gets to remain "Crossing the Mississippi."

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[Hereafter] Chapter CCIV: On the Verge of the Assault

This chapter is largely transitional in nature. We're building up to the action that will be the next couple chapters, so there aren't really many exciting moments in this chapter. That doesn't mean there aren't any or that nothing important happens, just that it's a pretty calm one.

Check that speech, though. Goddamn, I'm proud of that. It came out really well and it's my favorite part of the chapter.

Also, a familiar face has returned. Who could it be?

EDIT: Moving down al...

(CiP)[Hereafter] Chapter CCV: Crossing the Mississippi

Master effects are scary...

I also thought "The Battle of Rock Island" might work as a title. What do you guys think?

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[Hereafter] Chapter CCIII: Campsite Web Weaving

This title goes here, this time, because this time, it's actually appropriate for what happens in the chapter.

This isn't an action-packed chapter, much like most of the recent chapters, because we're still setting up the big conflict to come. By the time things kick off, I imagine everyone — including me — will be anxious for the actual fighting to start. For now, however, this is largely a "time passes" chapter, but I used that to give a few characters who haven't had the chance t...

(CiP)[Hereafter] Chapter CCIV: On the Verge of the Assault

We're about to transition into Act 3, but for now, we need just a little more buildup and preparation before things really kick off.

Thinking about maybe doing a few sidestories to cover some bits and pieces of what the twins have been up to in the meantime, but not sure just yet. We'll see.

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[Hereafter] Chapter CCII: Lines of Communication

Aisha's power really is scary, Nightingale really is insane, and the mystery of who exactly is trying to kill Aisha continues. And as a side

Aisha's power really is scary, Nightingale really is insane, and the mystery of who exactly is trying to kill Aisha continues.

And as a side note, Taylor has an idea for how it might be possible to cripple Berserker Cu at a critical moment. As for whether or not it'll work, well...

We're moving into Act 3 of this arc. We're in the final...

(CiP)[Hereafter] Chapter CCIII: Campsite Web Weaving

This time, this chapter title is more appropriate to the content. And this is also the correct chapter number this time, too.

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[Hereafter] Chapter CCI: Inside Woman

I never said we were done with the surprises, did I? This chapter covered a lot of important details, including some things that a lot of yo

I never said we were done with the surprises, did I?

This chapter covered a lot of important details, including some things that a lot of you might not realize are actually important right now. There was a lot of information dropped in that conversation between Grue and Tattletale, and some of it was very, very subtle. It also answered a few ...

(CiP)[Hereafter] Chapter CCII: Lines of Communication

This one will be a bit slower, but we're getting closer to the end of Act 2 and the start of Act 3.

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Upcoming Changes (July, 2025)

Let me start off by assuring everyone: if you are already subscribed and a paying patron, nothing should change for you. You will continue at your current membership level and price. These upcoming changes will affect only new members and those who change membership tiers.

With that said, it's been years since I adjusted the tiers at all, and the better part of a decade (since the AEoSaS days, in fact) since prices were touched. Things have changed since then. Inflation...

[Hereafter] Interlude AL I: Ghost Stories

We sure are getting a lot more interludes in this Singularity than we usually do, but there's just so much stuff that simply can't be covere

We sure are getting a lot more interludes in this Singularity than we usually do, but there's just so much stuff that simply can't be covered entirely from Taylor's POV, so I guess it can't be helped.

If you're wondering how a certain someone is doing...any of the stuff she's doing, some portion of it gets covered next chapter. But to add a b...

(CiP)[Hereafter] Chapter CCI: Inside Woman

Couple of things I didn't get to in the interlude that will show up here instead.

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