the trick is to keep breathing

Same As It Never Was

Fandom: FFVIII
Cast: Rinoa, Squall, Quistis, Laguna, Ellone (starring with Kiros, Watts, Zone, Ward, and Angelo)
Ships: Rinoa/Squall, Kiros/Laguna, Laguna/Squall, Quistis/Rinoa, Quistis/Squall, Quistis/Rinoa/Squall.
Rating: R (individual chapters PG-13 to R)
Warnings: Well, PLEASE reference the list of pairings for all relevant warnings!

Other Relevant Tags: oh shit it's a long final fantasy fic get in the car!, the fandom hell bus has arrived honk, no I am not going that way, sqwhale, incest, no seriously this fic is freaking long we are not kidding, meta, magic meta, suddenly bechdel, we ship everyone/kiros

Notes: Co-Written with justira, this is the fic that blossomed from our innocent desire to write some incest into one of the most epic and awesome projects I have ever worked on; it will likely be around 200K and 2011 by the time we're done with it.

Thanks: to renay, katmillia, and safety_caesars for beta, critique, comments, and cheering. ♥


Summary: Rinoa's gone public as a Sorceress and is campaigning for Timber's independence, Laguna's steering Esthar's re-emergence, Galbadia won't give up, Squall's dealing with the political fallout as Garden Commander -- and in case no one has enough on their plates, something's wrong with the Sorceress-Knight Bond. When terrorists attack Timber in the middle of Squall and Rinoa's argument over where the new Garden should go -- Timber or Esthar? -- they decide to take a break, hoping that if they can sort out the politics in their separate spheres, they can come back and sort through the quietly desperate mess of their private lives and repair their Bond.

Sorceresses still make the world nervous and Galbadia won't let Timber go; Esthar needs to come out of hiding and Garden needs to decide its place in the world. Four lives are unraveling -- but maybe, between them, they can find the answers...

Same As It Never Was on AO3

Look, guys, this week has already been a veritable shitbasket of awful presents from Mother Life, but there's one thing I am totes looking forward to more than sleep, yes that is a true statement (as this thing will stand in the way of my sleep for like a month or two) and that thing is:

DOINK 2010: a brand-new round of Final Fantasy Exchange ♥ ♥

Seriously! I am watching these prompts roll in and plotting as to which diabolical pairing I'm going to adopt as my own and write 20,000 words for this time. This year: there are really good prompts, guys! I DO NOT LIE.

Also: SWEET NEW FORM. I do not think I could praise this form more if it were giving me a neck massage at this very moment. This form is as sexy as Shemar Moore. This form is as awesome as espresso. You know you want to sign up just for the form.

We have ff_exchange and ff_exchange for your pleasure this year; introductory post for signups is here.

If you want to help/participate but don't want to play, there are two really awesome ways you can sign up to be part of these shenanigans! The first is to sign up to be one of our non-participant pinch hitters - there's no commitment; you're just adding your name to an email list of people we will appeal to in cases of emergency: you decide what you do/don't do. The second is to sign up to be an on-call beta volunteer; there will be more about that coming soon, but let me know if you're interested so I can specifically point you that way. :)

GUYS. When we decided to do a 2010 round I was like "ohgod" and "what the shit were we thinking" but now that is it here I am bouncing around like the world's most hyperactive kitten. This only proves that I am not all there in the head (I IMMEDIATELY REGRET THIS DECISION) but I kind of don't care because yay! FFEX!

In celebration, I'm going to go back to last round and read a bunch of things I didn't get to read (seriously: I don't think I read anything except my own gift; sorry to everyone I love who wanted comments, lol) and post some recs to show just how awesome we are. YOU are; it's fandom that makes this thing so fantastic *single emo tear* I AM A GIGANTIC LOSER, AND DON'T CARE.


More on Awesome Weekend of WineCon and recs tomorrow, but I wanted to get this out tonight.