Lengthy replies to This is How a Kingdom Falls P.1 under the cut! 

docholligay replied to your post “This is How a Kingdom Falls”

OH MY LORD GOD WHAT AN OPENER

rosepetalrevolution replied

Wow, you are pulling absolutely zero punches here from the very beginning, and I love it.

I initially toyed with opening at the battle itself and showing Minako make her choice, but decided against it and I’m really glad you like it! 

rosepetalrevolution said: Just getting straight to the feels, and this conversation between Rei and Minako is spot on. The observation about Rei’s temper and the question about Usagi/Serenity are especially on point.

Ahh thank you. That fight was one of my favorite parts to write.

docholligay said: I never play with Chibs and co so I love this idea of Ceres taking over for Venus but making mistakes, it’s so interesting.
rosepetalrevolution said: I also never think much about the Quartet + Usagi’s senshi, but that is such a nice move to make. The variables give us something fresher than a team that’s fought together for so long, there’s no surprising each other or the reader.
rosepetalrevolution said: Oooh, the Quartet are fleeing? This is intriguing, I’m wondering if this’ll be the last we see of them.

The Quartet are some of my stealth favs, so it’s really tempting to have them play a bigger part than I originally planned. I periodically get really invested in how they work as senshi in Crystal Tokyo, and the differences between them and the senshi we know. I see them having the problem of thinking they can’t live up to their predecessors (a theme of Chib’s generation) and that being precisely why they won’t (or at least, why they didn’t save Chibs here).

rosepetalrevolution said: AND AMI. I wouldn’t have called that, but it makes a lot of sense here. Really excited to see where that goes.

I’m so so glad it seems to make sense, I had such trouble trying to keep Ami at least sort of in character (and I’ve had the same problem with Mako in part two, which I don’t understand since Mako is my ultimate fav). But I think Ami more than anyone would see it as a truly impossible choice, since Chibiusa is a child she loves, and I think she’d feel a moral obligation to save a child, but Usagi is so important to her, Usagi was her first real friend and the reason she has everything, and how do you let someone who means that much to you die?

docholligay said: ahhaahah Haruka in deep self loathing and emotional pain is my DRUG also bitter hotaru yes yes yes give me all of it

>:) 

docholligay said: USAGI NO

said everyone, but especially Setsuna

rosepetalrevolution said: UGH SETSUNA WATCHING THE QUEEN MOURNING, THE SAME EVEN WHEN IT’S A DIFFERENT SERENITY. She’s always too much for me, it’s so great.

I was nervous about writing her since I haven’t before and I wondered how to keep such a wise, complicated person in character, but really it’s just like, what hurts me the most? oh okay. 
on a related note, “Not Lonliness” popped into my head just as I wrote the line about Chibiusa’s still tiny hands and I about started crying.

rosepetalrevolution said: “It had never been Metalia’s doing” YES I LOVE THIS

THIS FIC IS JUST A SECRET WAY OF ME WORKING IN MY SILMIL HEADCANONS WITHOUT WRITING ABOUT SILMIL. Metalia’s why the princess died, arguably, but the queen wrecked the real destruction.

rosepetalrevolution said: “She bit down on her tongue to keep from crying. She didn’t deserve to grieve.” THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE KINDS OF MINAKO, GIVING HARUKA A RUN FOR HER MONEY IN THE BEST DRAMATIC PERFORMANCE CATEGORY.

Alternate Civil War fic idea: Haruka and Mina face off on who can dramatic monologue about their inner darkness better. It’s truly the battle of the ages.

docholligay said: Oh Haruka silently reassuring Mina, oh god, my heart, my soul

This is where I thank you for bringing the brotp into our lives.

rosepetalrevolution said: Oh Mina. That is such a bad idea… But totally something she’d do if she wasn’t thinking straight. She knows what’ll buy her the most amount of time, give her some kind of advantage, even if the plan’s a fool’s errand to begin with

What got to me when writing that bit was that no one actually wants to fight her, but her feelings about what she did make her see it that way

docholligay said: Man, I feel so bad for Minako, everything she does is well and truly fucked I agree with her, she’s doomed either way

Yeah, and I think she’d be fucked over even if she had chosen Chibiusa, tbh, just in a different way. The inners would outwardly be glad she saved Chibs, but there’d be that insidious blame that she let Usagi die that would eventually erupt, and Mina would have the hardest time living with herself.

rosepetalrevolution said: Aww yess, Setsuna worried about volatile, over-powerful NQS. This is what I’m here for this month.

I love how many of us have this take on NQS. There are PROBLEMS with your ruler having the strongest power in the universe.

rosepetalrevolution said: God, they’re all doomed no matter what they do, and Setsuna knows it. There’s no right answer for them, it’s all only a matter of time. It’s so beautiful and tragic.

Pluto really just wants one lifetime that doesn’t end this way. She thought it would be this one. 

docholligay said: God, i love that whole passage between Hotaru and Michiru
rosepetalrevolution said: HOTARU PLAYING MICHIRU’S OWN CARD, YES YES YES LIKE MOTHER LIKE DAUGHTER

This was one of my other favorite parts to write, I’m glad you enjoyed it. 

rosepetalrevolution said: oh shit parent Mako bringing out the gigantic emotional guns, this is exactly the kind of thing that makes me interested in her place in these sorts of fic

that whole bit was born out of a what was originally throw away background info for Haruka and Michiru, but then if they had kids, Mako sure as hell had kids, and there’s no way Mako doesn’t come away from that with a ton of fucked up emotional baggage, since none of her family relationships have ended the “right way.” Her parents died young, she watches her children and grandchildren and so on grow old and sick. She needed Chibs, she really really did.

docholligay said: Haruka knowing that Hotaru will call her a bad parent, oh, what a beautiful touch

There are times when Hotaru would be gracious and call Haruka and Michiru alright parents (sometimes even good parents, she loves them in spite of herself) because there is part of her that understands why they did what they did, but Haruka would always know it’s not the full answer, and she knows in that moment it’s not the answer at all. 😦

rosepetalrevolution said: NOT SETSUNA D: but that’s such a smart move, and a great place to break.

I’d say at least she’s reunited with Small Lady now, but who knows how long either of them is staying dead. (I do. I know.)

farronheit said: holy hell all those civil war fanfics are so AWESOME and jesus christ I LOVE THE CONFLICT HERE where Minako had to choose either Chibs or her Queen and now with Minako and Setsuna being like that…

I am loving everyone’s fics too, and I’m so glad you enjoy mine! Somehow the conflict is the first thing I thought of when I saw the prompt. 

rosepetalrevolution said: This is so fast-paced and spot on, and it changes up its punches in really smart & effective ways. A great balance of tight characterization & action!!! I love it and can’t wait to see where you go with the rest of it!

Ahh thank you!

docholligay said: APPROVE. CANNOT WAIT FOR THE NEXT BIT

THANK YOU. THE NEXT BIT SHOULD BE UP LATER TODAY OR EARLY TOMORROW.