neongalaxiie

[neongalaxiie]

*gasp* so good!!?! *giggling with glee*

“I don’t wanna be a hero,” Teen muttered, scuffing their foot on the kitchen tile, their eyes nervous but with something darker and more certain present within them.

Their mother’s face fell with disappointment.

Their father’s face lit up with hope.

“I don’t wanna be a villain, either,”

Their father’s face fell as well, with even more disappointment.

“I just wanna be…like…a normal person. I’m done with you guys trying to rope me into your work. I’m going to decide what I want for myself,”

[neongalaxiie]

Introduction + Masterpost

Hey y'all, I'm Neon. I like writing hero x villain prompts and snippets. All my work is free to use, but please tag me because I totally wanna see your writing :D

Important Notes:

• In this dusty corner of Tumblr, Villain > Hero.

• There will never be NSFW here.

• You can ask me for continuations for any of my prompts and snippets.

Masterpost under the cut!

Prompts and Snippets

"Prove It" - The villain must somehow prove they don't have superpowers.

Cannonballs or Cannibals? - Sylvie mixes up the two, which leads to problems (as usual).

My Number - Random dialogue prompt.

Wanted - You realize your OC is running free in the city where you live. Depending on your OC, this could have disastrous consequences.

Telegraphs - Random dialogue prompt.

"I'm Sorry" - Villain destroyed the world, and Hero is not happy.

"Absolutely Not" - Hero wants to fight supervillain, but Villain won't let them.

The Last Straw - After Hero is badly injured, Villain decides to step in.

Trust Me - Hero needs to trust Villain if they want to save the world.

I'll Cover You - Hero is sick, and needs someone to cover them in the meantime.

[neongalaxiie]

The possibility that the subject remains unconscious during rescue and loses memory of the interrogation gives the enemy their usual huge advantage but ALSO the added benefit of the good guys not knowing about it. Very good, this should be used more.

Truth Serum

Or, why the NSA and DEA probably have me on a list by now.

Ever since Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation came out, I’ve been kind of interested in that not-really-an-interrogation-scene from the beginning. You know the one that has about three frames of Ilsa placing two vials (EDIT: it was three vials) of unnamed drugs on the table along with a couple of hypodermic syringes? Well I was pretty devastated that we never got the chance to see them in action, because I was already planning a blog post about them when Ethan “escaped.”

The concept of “truth serum” is really common in fiction, used everywhere from 24 to Star Trek to Valiant (yeah the one about the animated pigeons). Character B wants information that Character A has, and injects them with a drug that makes them give up intel they wouldn’t ordinarily feel like sharing. This takes several forms, including actual intelligence gathering/plot advancement value, comedic value (accidental injecting and subsequent over-sharing about personal matters), and, for our purposes, whump value (where side effects/rescue/aftermath of interrogation is more important)

“Truth Serum” as a singular substance is actually a misnomer. The term refers to any of several different drugs that have been used in the hope of obtaining information or even confessions of guilt. These drugs work by removing a subject’s inhibitions enough that they don’t care that they are revealing the truth, and/or make it so they are mentally incapable of constructing a lie and so tell the truth by default. What this does is make it very difficult to construct and tell a lie, and very convenient and easy to tell the truth. More on that in a minute. 

The most famous “truth drugs” are scopolamine, sodium thiopental and amobarbital.

Scopolamine is a chemical that blocks a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine at certain receptors. Acetylcholine is present almost everywhere in the body, and what it does in any given part of the body is dependent on the kind of receptor it activates at that site. Scopolamine particularly blocks the type of receptor present in parts of the brain, meaning that it inhibits acetylcholine’s ability to trigger certain brain functions. When it does this it inhibits the formation/recall of memory, causing amnesia of the interrogation session and making it difficult to create or remember a previously created lie.

Pros:

Not a controlled substance (but prescription is required)

Prior to 1990 (in the USA) it was available over the counter for use against motion sickness and insomnia (by pill or in skin patches)

The same preparation of the drug (from a vial) can be injected into muscle, fat or a vein (no specialist training needed to inject into fat)

Cons:

Produces profound drowsiness at effective doses

Produces profound dry mouth at effective doses (possibly to the point of making it difficult to swallow or talk)

Useful stretch of time occurs between 10 and 50 minutes after administration and takes up to 6 hours for subject to completely recover

Either depending on story:

Produces complete amnesia

Withdrawal symptoms of dizziness, nausea, vomiting, drooling and slow heart rate if stopped suddenly after days or weeks of use 

Amobarbital and sodium thiopental are both barbiturates. Barbiturates have similar desired effects when used as truth drugs (amnesia, suggestibility, confusion) as scopolamine but work in a different way and have different side effects. Instead of blocking acetylcholine receptors, barbiturates increase the effect of another neurotransmitter chemical called GABA. Because GABA tends to work by shutting things in the brain down, by increasing the effects of GABA, barbiturates also make it difficult to form new memories or create/remember a lie. Barbiturates also have the advantage of decreasing anxiety, making a subject less likely to care that they are revealing compromising information. Here is a video showing sodium thiopental in action.

Pros:

Both makes it difficult to remember/create a lie and makes a subject less likely to care about revealing information.

Does not cause other anticholinergic side effects like dry mouth

Acts very quickly IV, subject may be ready for questioning almost immediately after IV administration

Cons:

Controlled substance (difficult to acquire)

Produces profound drowsiness at effective doses

Must be given in a large vein by a trained interrogator (can’t just stab someone with it- it may significantly damage smaller muscles or fat)

Requires extremely precise, titrated dosing- not everyone responds the same way, and effects are based on a specific state of mind rather than a dose or timeframe after administration

Either depending on story:

May depress respiration and heart rate at effective doses (maybe you want a CPR scene, IDK…)

May only have a few minutes of effective questioning time before patient falls asleep

May produce hallucinations/delusions at effective dosing, distorting answers to questions

Could take up to 8 hours for character to fully recover

Now, in the immortal words of Natasha Romanoff, the truth is not all things to all people all the time. If I were to make up a lie, repeat it, live it, and practice it, and then be given one of these drugs, under duress, I may spout my “lie” instead of the truth. This is because the “truth” that these drugs reveal, is whatever the subject thinks is true at the time they are questioned, or whatever they are conditioned to say when asked certain questions. This provides at least one way these drugs can be “beaten.”

Another problem with relying on truth drugs irl is that they have been known to make a subject susceptible to suggestion. For example, if an innocent murder suspect under the influence of a truth drug is questioned in a way that implies that he is guilty, he may falsely admit guilt. This makes their use pretty unethical for obtaining confessions (which, admittedly, could work well in a story).

In short, chemicals used as truth drugs are inconvenient and unreliable at best, but can still be used realistically in fiction for the reasons described earlier in this post: 

When writing truth drugs, you may be least able to use them realistically for comedic value (unless you find drugged people funny, which I personally don’t, but to each their own.). This doesn’t stop you from using them non-realistically as a plot device, of course.

Realistically for interrogation purposes, the best way to get accurate information from truth drugs is if the information your characters need is short and quantitative. Passwords, codes or memorized coordinates are good pieces of intel to ask about, as a subject cannot accidentally mis-interpret them and they are also not something a character may have been able to make themselves believe an incorrect version of. Because the drugs cause a highly suggestible state, interrogators also need to be very careful to avoid (or not) bias if they want certain information to be correct- an innocent murder suspect who’s interrogator alleges that they are guilty may falsely plead guilty. Short, quantitative pieces of intel are not likely to be swayed by biased questioning. Use that however you want.

For whump value, go after the side effects. If a rescue occurs after the drugs have finished being useful but before they wear off, the character will likely be unconscious. They will wake up with no memory of the interrogation or even some of the time before the drug was administered. If it is a barbiturate, respiratory and cardiac depression may require rescue breathing or CPR until enough of the drug wears off for the subject to breathe on their own. While many chemicals have been used as antidotes to barbiturates, there is no specific, routinely used antidote. Breathing/circulation and blood pressure support is the best treatment if necessary. For scopolamine, the drug physostigmine acts as an antidote.

Other side effects of scopolamine.

Other side effects of barbiturates.

Declassified interrogation training manual

R E F E R E N C E S

Let me know if you have any questions!

[neongalaxiie]

Reblogging cuz it sounds like something my characters would do and could quite possibly be a dialogue prompt.

While working a double a coworker I had never met before went “hey whats this switch do?”

And before I could finish the sentence “what swit-“ she flipped it, plunging the entire back of house into darkness.

[neongalaxiie]

"You're sick."

"Yeah," the hero coughed, their voice raspy. "I know that."

"Then why are you still out working?" The villain grabbed the tissue box off the dresser and held it out for the hero, who reached over from their bed and snatched a tissue.

"You know why." The hero blew their nose into the tissue and sniffed, setting it aside. "The city needs me."

"The city needs you to get better."

"I can't sit here bedridden while villains like you are running around."

The villain's eyes widened, then shifted to the side in contemplation. They hummed in thought, a slow smirk growing on their face. "You know what?" They crossed their arms. "Fine. Until I deem you well enough to get back out there—" The villain flashed a sharp grin, and the hero raised a brow. "—I'll be playing hero."

[neongalaxiie]

"You're gonna have to trust me."

"And what if I don't?" The hero retorted, crossing their arms. The villain inhaled sharply.

"Then what happens next is simple: we don't save the world, we don't clear our names, and we don't defeat the Big Bad. Long story short, we're all doomed."

[neongalaxiie]

[neongalaxiie]

"This is the last straw."

The villain stood over the hero's battered form, all bloodied and bruised. The hero raised their head, not without difficulty, and saw the scowl plastered on the villain's face. The hero shuddered. "W-what do you mea—" Their sentence ended in a violent coughing fit, hacking up more blood in their palm. The villain crouched down in front of them as they settled, grabbing both the hero's wrists.

"I'm not letting you do this, going out there and risking your life. This little charade we had going on was fun, but it's gone too far." The villain's gaze dropped to the hero's hands, then down their arms, their suit. Where their body wasn't decorated by a series of cuts, a blossoming bruise lay just beneath the unbroken skin. The villain's face betrayed their concern and, the hero noticed, a hint of pity.

The villain locked eyes with the hero, and their expression hardened again. The hero gave them a sad smile, straining their split lip. "It's fine, Villain. This is my job. I chose this life, so I guess I have to deal with the bad stuff, too."

"It's not fine!" The villain almost roared, throwing their hands up to their head. They were up in the hero's face the next moment. "You could've died! And I'm the one who has to suffer for it! You... you..." The villain stared into the hero's eyes, pained. Their eyebrows drew close, first in sympathy, then with a resolve.

The villain sighed and dropped their head, standing up. They turned their back on the hero. The hero said nothing, only cocking their head in response. The villain turned their head back to the hero, and their voice took a low and dangerous quality. "You could've died. I'm not taking that chance anymore. From this day onward, your career as a hero is over."

[neongalaxiie]

AAAHHH, she likes it!! :D

Whisper, Hi! I drew a picture of you :3 Do you like it?

She looks at it in awe

...Are all humans this talented..?

A lot of them are!!! :D

I love it... Thank you... :)

[neongalaxiie]

ngl, I would lowkey love for this to happen to me

I just reada really good fic but halfway through I realized "oh shit this is really familiar.... didn't I write something like this once?" And as I kept reading I kept predicting what happened next and the further I went the more convinced I was that they'd ripped off my story-

like, copied the ENTIRE plot and re-written it, just better than I had? The characters were more fleshed-out than mine were, and the POV was more interesting, and the pace made more sense- but it was MY STORY?

So close to the end I was like "holy shit.. do I message them? Ask if my story inspired theirs? Should I be angry? Flattered?" Cause their tags and description didn't mention me AT ALL, which, sure, it's fanfiction to begin with, but if you're using my work than at least credit me as inspo, right? Just to be courteous?

But I get to the end of the final chapter, and it's not finished, and I'm kind of disappointed cause I never finished my story and I was really immersed in their version now and had been looking forwards to seeing how they tied up my loose ends- so I scroll to the bottom to leave a comment, and.

It's MY URL.

IT WAS MY STORY THE WHOLE TIME.

THE ONE *I WROTE*.

In *2013*.

And FORGOT ABOUT

BECAUSE I WAS SO INSECURE ABOUT MY SLOPPY, SHALLOW, AMETEUR WRITING

And I'm just sitting here now staring into space thinking about every shitty story I've ever written now like

IT WAS ALL GOOD?

IT WAS GOOD THIS WHOLE DAMN TIME??

I'M A GOOD WRITER?????

[neongalaxiie]

Day-ta > dah-ta, fight me

[neongalaxiie]

reblog and make a wish! this was removed from tumbrl due to “violating one or more of Tumblr’s Community Guidelines”, but since my wish came true the first time, I’m putting it back. :)

[neongalaxiie]

Reblogging for reference

STOP DOING THIS IN INJURY FICS!!

Bleeding:

Blood is warm. if blood is cold, you’re really fucking feverish or the person is dead. it’s only sticky after it coagulates.

It smells! like iron, obv, but very metallic. heavy blood loss has a really potent smell, someone will notice.

Unless in a state of shock or fight-flight mode, a character will know they’re bleeding. stop with the ‘i didn’t even feel it’ yeah you did. drowsiness, confusion, pale complexion, nausea, clumsiness, and memory loss are symptoms to include.

blood flow ebbs. sometimes it’s really gushin’, other times it’s a trickle. could be the same wound at different points.

it’s slow. use this to your advantage! more sad writer times hehehe.

Stab wounds:

I have been mildly impaled with rebar on an occasion, so let me explain from experience. being stabbed is bizarre af. your body is soft. you can squish it, feel it jiggle when you move. whatever just stabbed you? not jiggly. it feels stiff and numb after the pain fades. often, stab wounds lead to nerve damage. hands, arms, feet, neck, all have more motor nerve clusters than the torso. fingers may go numb or useless if a tendon is nicked.

also, bleeding takes FOREVER to stop, as mentioned above.

if the wound has an exit wound, like a bullet clean through or a spear through the whole limb, DONT REMOVE THE OBJECT. character will die. leave it, bandage around it. could be a good opportunity for some touchy touchy :)

whump writers - good opportunity for caretaker angst and fluff w/ trying to manhandle whumpee into a good position to access both sites

Concussion:

despite the amnesia and confusion, people ain’t that articulate. even if they’re mumbling about how much they love (person) - if that’s ur trope - or a secret, it’s gonna make no sense. garbled nonsense, no full sentences, just a coupla words here and there.

if the concussion is mild, they’re gonna feel fine. until….bam! out like a light. kinda funny to witness, but also a good time for some caretaking fluff.

Fever:

you die at 110F. no 'oh no his fever is 120F!! ahhh!“ no his fever is 0F because he’s fucking dead. you lose consciousness around 103, sometimes less if it’s a child. brain damage occurs at over 104.

ACTUAL SYMPTOMS:

sluggishness

seizures (severe)

inability to speak clearly

feeling chilly/shivering

nausea

pain

delirium

symptoms increase as fever rises. slow build that secret sickness! feverish people can be irritable, maybe a bit of sass followed by some hurt/comfort. never hurt anybody.

ALSO about fevers - they absolutely can cause hallucinations. Sometimes these alter memory and future memory processing. they're scary shit guys.

fevers are a big deal! bad shit can happen! milk that till its dry (chill out) and get some good hurt/comfort whumpee shit.

keep writing u sadistic nerds xox love you

ALSO I FORGOT LEMME ADD ON:

YOU DIE AT 85F

sorry I forgot. at that point for a sustained period of time you're too cold to survive.

pt 2

[neongalaxiie]

Hallo! May I ask for a snippet of fluff where either Villain or Hero (or both) are using their superpowers for comfort?

“Hero, you need to stop,” Villain demanded, their hand gripping the front door in order to keep it open. “You're going to end up hurting yourself if you keep this up.”

Hero, flushed in the face, wrapped up in layers of blankets and dressing gowns, had tried to keep the door sealed shut, but Villain was able to push past their futile attempts easy enough. That was enough to make them worry.

“I told you to stop coming to my house,” Hero hissed quietly, their nose stuffed. “People are going to figure my identity out if you keep this up. How did you even know where I live?”

Villain raised a brow, and tapped their temple with their finger. “Made you tell me.”

Hero groaned in response, making another attempt to close the door in their face. Villain, with a frown, simply stepped inside, and closed the door shut behind them, gently nudging Hero forward.

“Come on.”

“Get out of my house!”

“Hero, you're sick,” they pressed, their voice taking a stern tone. “And you keep going out to work. Do you not understand how simply stupid that is? You need to rest.”

Hero's brows wrinkled in protest, drawing the blanket tighter around their shoulders, lingering back against the door. “I can't take time off, you know that. If I do, people are going to get hurt.”

Villain sucked in a quiet breath, their expression softening. That was definitely the Hero Program talking. It irked them, knowing they actually taught them things like this — working themselves down to the very last bone?

It was simply preposterous.

Wordlessly, Villain took care of Hero for the evening. They brewed them tea, cooked them food, lovingly locked the front door so they wouldn't have any ideas about leaving. The dark circles under Hero's eyes were more prominent today.

Settling across the couch with Hero resting on their chest, Villain couldn't help but gaze upon their worn down face, noting how hollow their cheeks looked. Were they even eating?

“I'm tired.”

Villain blinked back into reality.

“I can't get to sleep. I haven't slept properly for three weeks,” Hero admitted quietly. Villain slowly rubbed their shoulders.

“Why didn't you tell me?” They gently scolded. “You know I can help you with that.”

Hero shifted slightly in Villain's gentle hold. They only gave a weak shrug in response, and they could only sigh. Their hand raked through their locks of hair, pushing some out of the way of their face.

“Look at me.”

Hero grimaced, but they did as they were told. They knew what would happen if they did, but that didn't seem to stop them. Their eyes met, and Villain smiled softly.

“Rest.”

Hero's eyes fluttered, and they immediately sunk forward, slipping off into a peaceful slumber. Villain pressed a soft kiss on their forehead, and drew them further into their arms.

“My, what are you doing to me, Hero?”

[neongalaxiie]

Prompt (40)

The villain was alive. For the moment. They sat up, rubbing a sore spot on their head where they had been whacked.

"Ouch." they mumbled.

The hero squeaked, dropping the frying pan they'd swung at their enemy. "Oh my- I'm so sorry. I thought you were a robber."

[neongalaxiie]

"Absolutely not."

"Huh?" The hero cocked her head and stared at the villain in confusion. "Why not?"

The villain just shook his head in utter disgust, his arms crossed. "I'm not going to let you do this to yourself. You've put yourself in enough trouble as it is."

"Villain, come on," the hero whined, bending forward and shaking his arm. "I'm a full-grown adult now! You can't keep treating me like a baby."

The villain shook her off and pushed off the brick wall. "You're still young, inexperienced." The villain's eyes pulsed, slightly frustrated. "You're not ready for them."

"Oh, you don't know how ready I am." She bounced on one foot and then the other, warming up. "I was born ready! Like I've been training my whole life for this moment."

The next instant, the hero was pinned to the wall by the throat. The villain's eyes were steely focused on her, flaring even, as he said, slowly and deliberately, "You're. Not. Ready. And you won't be for a very long time. Trust me."

He let her go and she half-collapsed out of shock, clutching her neck and gasping for breath. The fact that she wasn't prepared for his sudden attack was sickening. Her mouth opened and closed involuntarily as the villain walked toward the street, his cape flapping in the breeze. He turned to look at her one more time and said, "You won't be fighting them, but I will. Stay put and stay out of trouble; and whatever you do, do not approach them."

The villain left the hero alone in the alley. It turned out, the opposition proved to be a pain even for the villain.