Introductory post

[yvannairie]

Template borrowed from eatingcroutons 

Name: Van
Age: Old enough
Pronouns: Null/void, they/them

Role in fandom: Fangirl whisperer, meta writer, AU-machine.

More formally, I'm primarily a non-narrative fiction writer whose hat is good character analysis and coming up with interesting connections within the text. I've got an interest in fictional politics and military, and when I'm not breaking characters down to their traits and motivations, I primarily do "backend" headcanon type of things -- working out what directives, codes of conduct and cultural norms apply to any given setting.

In the Transformers fandom, mechanical proficiency has kind of turned me into a natural scientist, and I talk a lot about how robotic life functions, including coding stuff. I also love working out the properties of "magic shit" -- finding the obscured rules of systems that are clearly internally consistent, but we just don't know why.

Outside of non-narrative stuff, I'm primarily a script writer -- so my fanfic writer hat is "awesome dialogue", even if I say so myself. I also generally love script writing, script revision and treatment writing, which means I'm good at plot and scenario workshopping. All of that combined also gives me the superpower of Really Good AUs. I can make anything compelling.

Current fandoms: Transformers (particularly Prime), Ace Attorney, Sonic Series, Sengoku Basara, Xenoblade Chronicles and the Final Fantasy series. I'm fully expecting to be dragged back into Kingdom Hearts or Homestuck. Minor obsessions include Cookie Run and the Remedyverse games. Currently deep down the Infinite Dendrogram novel series hole.

Favorite characters: Big Dumb Puppy Dogs -- Frye Christoph (Xenoblade X), Maeda Keiji (Sengoku Basara), Bulkhead (TF), Apollo Justice (Ace Attorney), Shu Starling (Infinite Dendrogram) Gods that are bad at personing -- Ashikaga Yoshiteru (Sengoku Basara), Furude Hanyu (Higurashi) and (Xenoblade 2 spoilers) the Aegises Cholerics with control issues -- Mythra (Xenoblade 2), Wheeljack (TFP), Isurd (Xenoblade 3), Detective Alex Casey (Alan Wake 2) Assorted tragic assholes -- Ardyn (FF16), Tony Stark (Marvel 616), Impactor (TF), Malos (Xenoblade 2), Godot (Ace Attorney) Little guys who can Do No Wrong -- Reeve Tuesti (FF7), Tails Prower (Sonic series)

Ships: I am, in my heart of hearts, a multishipper, and unless I have some Deep Personal Squick that stops me from being able to enjoy a ship, I can probably make it fun for myself and onlookers. I gravitate towards drift compatible/"two people more than the sum of their parts" type of relationships and rival romances, but I also like "you see me as I am and I am morbidly attracted to that" type of relationships. The badwrong goes as deep as the goodright, pretty much.

Some of the "yliterally every iteration of this works for me" OTPs include Wheeljack/Bulkhead (TF), MasaYuki (Sengoku Basara), Yoshiteru/Keiji (also Sengoku Basara), Wrightworth (AA), Taion/Isurd (XC3) and Shu/Sechs (Infinite Dendrogram)

Fandom history: A lot of this has never been written down and my memory is notoriously bad, but I can recall having been active in fandom as early as 2005, although what exactly (other than my eldest love, Sonic) I was into back then I can't remember. I've been bouncing around mostly independent forum scenes (remember back when almost every site had a forum? Those were the days) and I even had a LJ back in the day, although even before creating my account, I was active on multiple anonymous kink memes.

I made my full move to Tumblr around 2013, and then went through some of the worst years of my life, so this is kind of a rebirth for me.

Other fandom platforms: Fanfic and eventually formal meta will be posted on my Ao3 account. There's also my Tumblr and Pillowfort and a dA but I haven't uploaded much of my newer art there, it's mostly to follow other people. Following me on Twitch is also worthwhile.

Real life stuff: I'm a third of the way through a century at this point and I've only really put the version of myself that I am right now together after discovering in my twenties that I am non-allistic and have OCD. I'm a fresh flower in the garden of life, as it were. Before that, I'd been studying art (I actually have a vocational degree at animation and game design) and had some aspirations to maybe be a writer/director one day, although at this time my day job is as a machinist, and I am definitely never going back to working in art.

I'm a big ol' sadist and a weirdo with empathy issues, but my overhead governing traits are being analytical and being truthful. I'm really good at putting things in order -- it's my way of retaining continuity over my life. I spend a lot of time thinking through stuff and its implications, and I'm good at coalescing thoughts into something usable, which means I'm good at giving tailored advice. I may be bad at opening up, but I try to always at least make sure that what I think I feel isn't left ambiguous.

Non-fandom hobbies: Dancing is nice. Animation is nicer. I tend to read a lot of non-fiction -- I'll read technical guides and take courses for the fun of it, and if Wiki Walking counts as a hobby then count me as a practicioner. I also did martial arts for a long time, and I currently do yoga on and off when my body allows it.

And I think that's all! Pleased to get to know you guys, I hope we'll all get along and make some Fun Stuff.