Chapter Text
The rough draft of this story was written in a period of ten days. I was in a mood, and coming out of a depressive period that started in the winter and lasted most of the spring (there was a long stretch where I cried myself to sleep more nights than I did not). Depressive turned to manic late May/early June 2024, and I wrote the rough draft of both this, and my one-shot Asami Alone, all at the same time.
It’s not a head space I usually inhabit, nor a writing pace that I can sustain long-term. I’ll be blunt: it is difficult being a trans woman, especially in these hateful times. Constant low-level stress (with the occasional stress spike added in), combined with financial stress, combined with loneliness, equalled a head space that I am glad I am out of.
So, between the two stories, I wrote over 30K words altogether, most of which were written within the first week. I slowed down for the last few days as I finished the rough draft of this story. Also, I had to take a bit of a break from writing, at least for a little bit. I have not forgotten Greatest Change, and do plan to finish it, it was just I got the insane urge to write this and absolutely had to do it, and I managed to keep up the energy to finish Uncivil Wars, which I refused to postpone (but more about Uncivil Wars when I conclude it next week), and that was most of the writing energy I have had over the summer.
Plus summers are generally busier, with more time spent away from the keyboard, for obvious reasons.
All of the rough draft of this story was written while listening to a cover of Carnival of Rust on repeat. Like, literally. It was the only song I listened to for an entire week. Barely talked to my kids. Might have had one D&D session, but instead of enjoying it, I was wishing I was writing. Basically only worked and wrote.
It’s funny. I cannot remember what made me think that I should plot out a short, violent western, but it took me approximately 30 seconds to do so. This character kills that character, then another character kills the first, and so on. I had the order of deaths written right from the start.
The only thing that changed, as Denadareth knows too well, is that originally more people were supposed to survive. It was originally going to end with Caitlyn holding a dying Vi in her arms, while Korra and Asami rode offer together, unconcerned by the carnage they left behind. Still dark, of course, but not “pretty much everybody dies” dark.
But that didn’t seem right. I cannot say “anyone might die” and then always save Korra and Asami. I had to be stronger than that, both for the sake of the story and for my own growth as a writer. So, soon into the writing process, I teased the idea to myself that I should just kill everyone, with maybe one exception. Kai got to be the exception (though I considered an ending where he went into the wrong bank and found a very cold Zhu Li (with murderous henchmen) waiting for him).
And though that made for a much darker story, it seemed far better. I didn’t want an easy, meaningless happy ending for them. This just wasn’t that type of story.
The one part of the story I wrote completely after my initial burst was the backstory chapter, which goes into the heist and how it went wrong. It was so much fun to write the Krew having absolutely no problem blowing people away, including Asami’s double taps to the back of the heads of the two bank guards at the door. The Temple Gang was cold, and I loved it!
It took a little while for me to figure out the name for their gang. Fire Ferrets has been done so many times. Same with Krew. So I just did some word associations, and when I thought about Air Temple Island that led to The Temple Gang.
I managed to give them their on-brand interactions, I think. Korra and Mako still squabbled, Bolin was still a lovable idiot, Korra and Asami still had their quiet, tender moments together.
Hmmm... I almost forgot to mention the other side. I enjoy writing Caitlyn, almost as much as I enjoy writing Asami. They have a lot of similarities, canonically, between their heights, looks, money and girlfriends. I have long considered Asami to be high-masking, and somewhat autistic. Caitlyn is just plain autistic. Maybe she masks with high society, but I have my doubts.
Korra and Vi are similar, as well, of course. I enjoy writing them both, but it is Asami and Caitlyn who I relate too most (not the money or the looks part (I know my girlfriend will object to this statement, which is part of the reason I love her), unfortunately, but I’ve got the height and the autism!).
Finally, as far as characters go, there was Jinx. I really enjoyed writing Jinx, and found it disturbingly easy to do. She is a walking stream of consciousness, mostly aimed in a dark direction. So any wacky, out there thought I might have while writing Jinx, I could just write it and keep it in the story, because it would probably work! She’s just that all over the place.
Which leads to the final reason this story was so dark: Arcane, itself. Saving some of the characters would have given this story a more Legend of Korra vibe, and that is not what I was in the mood for. Arcane is dark, and Arcane is tragic, just like this story. I’ll be blunt (skip the rest of this paragraph if you do not want season 2 speculation), of the three girls (Vi, Caitlyn, and Jinx), I expect at least one of them (Jinx) to be dead by the end of the show (if not sooner), quite possibly two, and perhaps all three. Arcane is daring/dark enough to do that, I think.
I have not watched any of the leaked stuff, so no spoilers!
Finally, back to Asami... While this story had a dark Asami, I hope it still seemed somewhat like her, just turned bad. She is still smart and thoughtful, and still an absolute menace in a fight. And still generally quiet, and completely loyal to Korra, no matter what.
But also so casually murderous here.
Also, if you remember Asami’s vision in chapter four, that vision lays out 100% the order of death in the story and how each character dies. I’m so sneaky! :D
Speaking of her visions...
Are they real? Are they just remnants of childhood trauma? The only way you’ll ever find out is if I write the sequel for which I have a bare bones idea. Considering how many other projects I am not writing currently, but definitely desire to resume, I don’t think the odds are great that I make a sequel for this. But the idea is there.
Positive reaction, in the form of kudos and beautiful comments would, of course, make that sequel more likely. As the song goes, I ain’t too proud to beg. ;)
Despite the dark nature of this story, I hope there was some enjoyment to be had.
Thanks for reading! See you soon.