Q: Can I draw fanart for AS?

A: Holy shit I love you. Go for it, man.

Q: Why are the chapters so small?

A: Originally AS was an epic one-shot, but around what is now chapter fourteen I decided to cut it up. After much deliberation, the size of each chapter was determined by where I decided was the best cut-off for weekly updates. Past attempts at writing multi-chaptered fics have resulted in burnout and said fics ending up in the trash. The system I'm working with to write/beta/post AS is new to me, but it is making me write more, which is apparently a good thing.

Q: Are your one-shots related to AS?

A: Nope, not in the slightest. They've all been written for fun, and stand alone. References are made to my one-shots, however, such as the memory chip in Todd's brain (comes from Diet), but there will never be anything in AS you won't understand if you haven't read my one-shots.

CHARACTER QUESTIONS

TODD

Q: Was Todd was given the option of being a flusher? (circa chapter eight)

A: No, Todd was never given the option. Becoming a flusher, in my mind at least, is like a roll of the dice. You really can never be sure what you might get. But if you roll enough times, patterns start to arise. Flushers pre-Johnny's return to slavery had a strong tendency to be "quiet, introverted people." Post-Johnny's return to slavery, however, the dice did a little switcheroo and now favor folk like Johnny, also known as the antithesis of introverted. (This probably explains why Edgar is such a popular choice for the flusher position in most fics with him in it.)

Todd was born pre-Johnny, and was apparently thrown into a completely different game. He ended up with a trauma sponge, which suggests a whole other faction of the System, which seems to handle fear rather than hate. While there is still an enormous quantity of fear in the world, fear is (at least in the JV-verse) always replaced with hatred. Those with trauma sponges are expected to live to their normal death, though I'm sure sometimes one or two dies via something very traumatic. But Todd has far exceeded the average life expectancy of the average American male, and so Shmee faded into nothing but a shade still trying to fulfill his role as the go-between for Todd and the System.

Johnny has been a flusher for an extremely long time. I don't know how long, I just stuck in a massive and incredibly vague time skip for the hell of it. The System's need for flushers is much higher than It's needs for trauma sponges, and since it's ending up with people more and more like Johnny, it's been using him as a guinea pig, exploiting every part of him until it's absolutely destroyed. But It's used him up; he's useless, and now It needs a new Johnny. If Squee had been unlucky enough to end up a flusher, than I see him as being almost completely like Johnny.

I think you can figure out where this is going then...

Q: So how old is Todd, really? Is this compared to other males with trauma-sponges/flushers/owners of radioactive pets?

A: By average American male, I mean your everday, out-and-out red-blooded U.S.A. citizen. I think the average life expectancy for men right now is around 78 or 80. So for trauma sponges, they'd live right around there, maybe a few years less because of all the stress on their bodies.

I'm not really sure how to answer the comparison to other trauma sponges. In most fics involving Tenna, it's practically cannon that she and Spooky are a trauma sponge. Tenna's a bit mad, but other than that she appears perfectly healthy. She probably lived to a ripe old age, squeaking Spooky or some reincarnation of him even on her deathbed.

Q: Wouldn't you think that the amount of stress inherent in being a trauma sponge would add up to more than that.

A: Stress kills. There's no doubting that. I think it really depends on a trauma sponges... let's call it sector. A sponge living in hicksville, USA would probably live to his mid-seventies, while someone in hub of L.A. or Chicago or some other massive city wouldn't make it to forty. Todd probably has one of the most stressful sponge positions in existence. I explain (kind of, really need to do some tweaking still) how he's still kicking in a later chapter.

Q: How old is Todd in AS?

A: Shit, I don't even know. As I said, the time skip in AS is massive. I go into detail about the time thing in chapter ten, but he appears to be in his mid- to late thirties, possibly early forties.

Q: How much of AS is you interpreting JV versus and you pulling this out of your ass? It's almost too believable for an AU.

A: Well first off, thanks! Secondly, a great deal of AS is interpretation of JV's vagueness. Original elements are mostly just little quirks in Todd's life, appearance, etc. The general plot of AS is something I really see happening in the JV-verse.

Q: What does future!Todd look like?

A: I see older Todd in general as having shaved his head to a longish fuzz, wearing thick glasses, being covered in lots of scars of various sizes and hilarity in the memory of how he got this one or that, and being six feet tall or so and wiry. Dress wise, I see him wearing whatever type of durable shoes he can get his hands on, jeans, and a high-necked doctor's smock, preferably pink.

Q: What job does future!Todd have? (wtf doctor's smock?!)

A: He's the Earthling Ambassador in Galactic politics. If he doesn't have to go off-planet he goes to work at the Embassy. The smock is just something he likes to wear. Yeah, that's it. Uh-huh.

PEPITO QUESTIONS

TIMELINE QUESTIONS

Q: So this person was alive after their death in the comics? What the hell?!

A: Let me remind y'all this is an AU. I'm having fun. I'd answer this question more in depth but I'm afraid I'll give away more spoilers than normal so I'm afraid you'll just have to wait.