#[[ even in a 'bad influence' way as it is with Rick ]]

[moraleimprovebeatings]

Also,as someone who really loves Luke's character,I feel like this is also a tragedy for him,in a way. TL;DR - Hurt people hurt people,and Luke probably learned to excuse and/or normalize fucked up shit due to living in a bunch of different clusterfucks.

Disclaimer:this isn't to excuse Luke's actions or to diminish their severity,it's just that his terrible deeds are a fundamental part of his character as a sympathetic villiain when it comes to both words,not just the latter one.

Luke's life was extremely turbulent. First,he was raised by a mother who not only couldn't properly raise her kid,but she also yelled about his terrible fate while her eyes had a supernatural glow. To top it all,Hermes didn't give any sign,no matter how much Luke prayed. An unpleasant way to get introduced to the divine,I'd say.

Because of May's "crises",Luke ran away from home. There,he had to deal with all of the crazy stuff homeless kids/teens have to,besides the monsters wanting him as breakfast. Perhaps it was during this time he learned about how dangerous the demigod life was,plus desensitization to violence - at least,the beginning of it. Another amount of time Luke prayed for help,but none came until he was 14. To top it all,Hermes said growing up in the streets "builds character".

Camp Half-Blood itself. It surely beats living in the streets(being protected from monsters,training,regular meals),but it's far from flawless. The place has a blasé attitude towards violence and death. Besides many demigods(especially unclaimed ones) going on suicidal missions just to get claimed and/or a smidge of the godly parent's affection,people get slaps on the wrists as punishments for maiming and killing other demigod campers during Capture The Flag(no desserts). If Luke wasn't indifferent towards murder before CHB,he surely became. Now that I think of it,Sally is the only one who deserves credit for Percy's moral code when it comes to authority figures. After all that happened,Kronos appeared and decided to manipulate Luke. TBH,I think the failed quest was just the last drop. Luke had way too many reasons to get angry at the system,two decades of trauma(he was 19 in TLT,but I'll round it up). Kronos was a bad influence to Luke,using his ressentment to make Luke undego several kinds of decay - including moral.

Using seduction as a weapon on young teens isn't such a dealbreaker for me,as a Luke fan,and even that is part of the tragedy of Luke Castellan. Not only he had to grow up early and his ideas of youth are warped,but there's also the infamously small demigod lifespam. Besides,Luke's exposure to the good parts of the mortal USA moral code might very well be limited(not to mention he himself was unprotected by society). On a tangent,him falling for Annabeth is stupid - whether it's canon or not (I don't want to debate it). Rick wrote them as having a sibling relationship,makes a big deal about a "family promise",then decides to make a love triangle? Way to trash an emotional arc. Now,back to the main topic. Luke being a manipulator and victim of manipulation at the same time is a great way to show how "hurt people hurt people".

hey not so friendly reminder that silena was 18 at MOST in tlo (she was friends with annabeth, and percy mentions that beckendorf, who was logically around her age, was leaving for college). luke was around 18 when he was still at camp, and silena implied that he dragged her into the spy mess in that time frame. it’s also IMPLIED that he was in some sort of relationship with her that wasn’t necessarily platonic: 

“Before…before I liked Charlie, Luke was nice to me. He was so…charming. Handsome.”

this is a direct quote from the book, and, doing the math, silena was at least four years younger than luke. she could’ve even be five, but four is…bad enough. which means luke, not only manipulated her into becoming a spy with the pretense that this way, she could protect her loved ones but was also hitting on her so that she’d go along with said plan more easily. he was a literal eighteen-year-old dude while silena was like, an eight-grader or a freshman in high school. let that sink in. silena, as a likely fourteen-year-old, was in a relationship with a legal adult. 

Later, I wanted to stop helping him, but he threatened to tell. He promised…he promised I was saving lives. Fewer people would get hurt. He told he wouldn’t hurt…Charlie. He lied to me.”

not so friendly reminder that she was a child victim of gaslighting. please think of this before accusing her of being selfish just because she found luke hot. like, no. no please stop. she was a scared teenage girl who wanted approval and grasped for the first sign of it. she was a scared teenage girl who wanted to protect her siblings, her friends, and eventually, her boyfriend—but didn’t know how. until luke. but because she trusted luke, she later found herself trapped in a cage. please, this shit is no joke. luke knew exactly what he was doing—which is disgusting.

not so friendly reminder that drew tanaka was also a young, teenage girl when her sister died. she suffered through the trauma of not only loosing a sister, but also realizing that the one person she looked up to the most was the spy. that silena had been the one who ultimately killed many by giving away nearly everything that camp half-blood had planned. not so friendly reminder that she dealt with her trauma in the only way she knew how: anger. she was angry at silena, at the world. she’s suddenly faced with the responsibility of becoming camp counselor. and all because of what? because in the end silena decided to be a martyr after everything she’d done? after all this time, her sister had been a fraud as well? how can someone so young deal with that, honestly? she was a child and was forced to act like an adult, be everything her older sister couldn’t. most important of all, she couldn’t let aphrodite or her siblings down.

okay? 

neither of these girls where shallow. they weren’t selfish. they were just doing what they thought best. and i’m still so so so angry that the existence of drew is canon but was only left as a vain, self-centered, tyrannical antagonist that stood in piper’s way as camp counselor. she is literally There and rick decided to…idk what type of misogynist fuckery he decided to do. and then there’s silena. what happened to her is messed up, complicated, and something that is common in abusive relationships. yes, luke was literally abusive. yes, he literally took advantage of her. 

like. no one can blame these two sisters, so please, for the love of all that is holy, stop reducing them to something they’re not. please. they were both traumatized. they both went through shit. and they both deserved so much more.

[anotheroceanid]

don't be shy, post the long text

Since you asked, I'm posting it here xD

I hope this make sense.

The Aspect of Gods In My Fics or Why There's No Aspect of Gods in My Fics)

For context:

This covers all my fics and aus, though I currently have only posted TTG and WTHB. Unless I ever state otherwise, this is always my approach to the theme.

I first read the Riordanverse books as a kid, and then the only books available were the og PJO series, Heroes of Olympus and The Kane Chronicles. Only when I was much older I would find out about the new series, and I decided not to read them because I don't really like interacting with new canon content of media I enjoyed as a kid. I had bad experiences. The only one that I interact a little more is TOA, but just from a fandom perspective (I've read fics about it, but they were all Perpollo). Therefore, as I do not have any knowledge over these series, I'm not considering them here. Mostly because I might be the person to bend canon the most, but I make sure I really know canon to do it. Since I don't know canon of those stories, I never engage with them "seriously".

More or less in the same topic: in my fics, I don't consider the existences of multiple pantheons. The only gods that exist are the gods I'm writing about (mostly because I feel counterproductive unless I’m writing crack fics). This is another talk, thought I might've mentioned it every now and then. I just feel like the actions of the characters actions lose impact if there's a whole new apocalypse happening the next week with another pantheon. Like, I don't like shared universes. In general. Polly, Barbie and Max Steel all belong to Mattel. I don't need them all together in the same universe.

Most important of all: this ain’t an attack to Rick or the canon. This is just me being a silly ficwriter and picking what I think makes more sense when I’M writing my NON-PROFIT stories in my own free time. It's literally not that deep.

So, before anything else, let's touch on the subject of fading, because fading and the aspects are, in my vision, two elements that bleed into each other.

Fading, in canon, happens when a god or a monster is forgotten by humanity (or when their domains are diminished, like happened with Pan). What I will say know sounds terrible pessimistic, but I don't like mortals having this deep influence in the gods existence.

As I'm considering the gods as being the only gods, then they exist much before humanity. And I'm pretty sure Prometheus didn't make us powerful enough to do anything that damaging against gods. We can be annoying or amusing? Yeah, pretty much. But to the point they need us to remember them to exist. Nope. Not at all.

I do like that gods can fade, but in a more "they've been so emotionally damaged that they ceased to exist" way. Like, Pan saw all the things that he loved being destroyed, that must been affected him beyond the "destroyed realm" level.

Now, about the aspects. First of all, I want to remember everyone that there wasn't an unified Greek in ancient time, and while they shared similarities they were not all the same. Their gods were not the exact same. Or their cults, etc.

When I'm reading stories with Roman vs Greek aspects, I let suspension of disbelief do it's magic. But not when I'm writing, because I start to think: what about the other hundreds of aspects? It's not like religion was unified for either Greeks or Romans. And while one can use the excuse of "they also changed by what modern people think of them", because again… Who's deciding it? Who's "modern people" in question? Because the world is waaay to big to pick one place's point of view and stick with it.

In a way, I do think that the gods changed with time, but they lived thousands of years, they interacted with multiple people and their culture, of course they'd change. We as human change from school to collage, why can't they change after living through literally everything? (Also, it's interesting that even if they changed, they're the same to their core, but I won't enter in this topic here.)

Their interactions with mortals might have affected them somehow, but not so deep they have different personalities that clash with each other. Humans can worship them in different ways, I simply think the gods care more about being honoured and worshipped than how it's done. If it is something they find offensive, then okay, they'll turn against you. It's not like most mortals spend enough time with gods to pick up their whole personalities.

Then, if the gods are always the same in my fics, why there are two camps? I'll need you to hold my hands when I tell you this: the gods will be gods tag doesn't exist for nothing. They'll do things just because they can.

Demigods are wild cards. There's only so much control you can have over them. Having a two sets of demigods that historically hate each other is kinda useful. "Oh, they're fighting and praying for us? Kinda annoying, so many voices in my head. Time to separate them again. Now with about half the population from before. Oh, these things happen. Time to set them apart until it's needed again."

Also, this removes the "we're roman/greek demigods" from the equation. Some are greek demigods because they were found by a satyr. Some are roman demigods because they ended up with in the Wolf House somehow. Nobody is Greek or Roman (my brothers and sisters, most of you were born in 20th century USA), but it's fundamental that these identities exist just so they can hate each other. Especially for the Romans, as their identity as Roman is fundamental so they can keep sending their kids and grandkids to a military colony.

When Thalia says that her father came back "different", it's totally dismissive because: one, she was a child, and two, a child who barely knew her father at all to pick up his personality and set in stone "he was different". This makes Jason story even more tragic, as his fate was decided entirely by the gods. He was not born Roman, he was made one because it was beneficial to Hera.

Instead of making them have multiple personalities based off aspects, I prefer to keep them unified because it feels more consistent when I'm writing, but also keep them accountable. The whole "oh, I didn't know, it wasn't me" don't stick out to me. They have a personality, the stories as we know were written by mortals that had their own interpretation, some are more accurate than others. It's not that deep.

Of course, some mortals were particularly creative and their versions became really famous. This don't change what really happened or the gods personality. Using Medusa as an example, I always follow the myth in which she was born a gorgon, the fact that there's a version she was a priestess of Minerva won't change the fact that she was born a monster (and that Poseidon liked her that way).

Finally, I also prefer keeping them with one single aspect because I don't want them removed from the narrative. In the Trojan War (the Trojans also had their "own" versions of the gods, btw) they picked their side, no headache made them absent. They had kids in both sides, so? For me, having them actually picking sides is simply more interesting.

That's it.

I said it was long.

[countlessrealities]

@petalsxfallen sent:

"There's the birthday boy!" The gem exclaims playfully, ruffling his hair once she made her way towards him. Handing him a small chocolate cake. "Happy birthday, dude! I figured me and you could go on an adventure. One you get to choose. I'll pay for whatever. Oh and I also got you this."

She handed him a large wrapped off. Filled with various cool weapons she thought he'd like along with a badass videogame that definitely included a lot of violence.

Morty grins widely at Petal. He's not too fond of people ruffling his hair, mostly because they usually mean for the gesture to be condescending. The Gem and Rick are the only exceptions to that rule, even if he doesn't always welcome his grandfather's attempts, because the old bastard tends to rub his skull too hard for comfort.

"Oh geez, t-thanks, Petal!" The boy exclaims, obviously hyped at the idea of going on an adventure with his friend.

The one they had last year has been amazing, even if they both ate far too much sugar, and he can't wait to have such a great time again. Besides, Petal gets him the best games. Having to play them only when his parents aren't home.

"T-There's this new space amusement park I-I've wanted to go to. I-It's really cool an-and has a lot of fighting games! Y-You'll love it, an-and it will be so much fun!"

[topazy]

Teen spirit

Pairing: Carl Grimes x reader

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of blood

Chapter: 6.07

You silently prayed, holding onto the silver cross Carl gave you while Maggie slept in the bed in the RV. She was in so much pain, and eventually exhaustion had taken over her. The thought of losing her terrified you.

Rick crouches down beside you and gently squeezes your shoulder. “Do you remember the night at the prison when the gate fell down and the walkers got through; it was at the same time everyone was sick with the flu?”

You wipe at your eyes, which now feel sticky with tears. “Yeah?”

“Me, you, and Carl stopped the horde from getting to the people we love.”

“I don’t understand,” you admit.

“You needed to be brave that night, just as you have so many other times. When you shot Ron... Maggie needs you to be brave now.”

“I’m scared I’m going to lose her.”

“I know, but the doctor in Hilltop will take good care of her.” Rick lowers his voice. “It’s not just your sister that needs you; Carl does as well. He’s trying to be strong, but everything that’s happened since we arrived in Alexandria... I know he’s struggling.”

You turn your head and nod, “Okay.”

Rick kisses your forehead and goes to join Sasha, Abraham, Eugene, Aaron, and Carl at the front of the RV, but just as he does, the campervan comes to a sudden halt.

“What’s going on?”

“Enemy close,” Abraham says calmly.

You stand up to look out of the front window to see a group of men with guns standing around a man who is laying on the road who looks as if he’s had a bad beating.

Rick goes to open the door, but pauses and hands you a gun first. “YN, stay here with Maggie. The rest of you are with me.”

You crouch down, trying to keep out of view while watching. It’s hard for you to hear everything that’s being said, but Rick and the other man in charge have a standoff, but surprisingly no bullets are fired.

—

Carl tilts the blinds to look out of the window, watching as Walker stumbles through the field next to the road. He closes the blinds and looks at Aaron, “Why didn’t you stay back and defend the place?”

You were sitting further up the RV at a small table with Eugene trying to help him look for another route to Hilltop from your current position, but you still had a view of the bed your sister was in, including those sitting next to her.

“I owe her,” Aaron answers, looking at Maggie. “Why did you come?”

“I owe them, plus I need to keep Y/N safe.”

You start to grow nervous when Eugene stops mumbling to himself; you’re afraid there is no other route, and the only other options are to return home and hope for the best, or fight with the men from the saviors and hope for the best. But Eugene finally breaks his silence. “I think I’ve got something.”

—

“Do you think you could do it?” Abraham asks as he drives the RV along the new route. It was only the two of you sitting up the front, so you weren’t sure where the conversation was coming from since you’d been sitting in silence.

“Do what?”

“Do what Maggie and Glenn did with Carl?”

You laugh at his words, “I’m too young to think about marriage and babies.”

“I may have agreed with you at one point, but now in this new world?” He sees the expression on your face and chuckles to himself, “I’m not saying you get Gabriel to perform a ceremony the moment we go home, but if what you have is special, then never let it go. No matter how old you are.”

You knew Abraham was just trying to distract you from being upset, but you did appreciate it. “The last thing anybody needs is a drunk behind the wheel.”

“You always had a smart mouth on ya, I was starting to miss hearing your shit talk.”

Growing up the way you did, your mother and father always drilled it into you to be polite, respectful, and never swear, and even during the apocalypse, you were afraid something bad would happen if you did. “My daddy would have said you were a bad influence.”

“That’s funny because Glenn said the exact same thing to me last week.” He clears his throat. “Tell you what? Once this is all done and dusted, I’ll teach you how to drive properly so the next time I’m drunk driving, you can take over.”

“Deal.”

A few more moments of silence pass until Abraham turns the corner and you see another group of men with guns blocking the road, “bitch nuts. Y/N, don’t get too close to the window.”

Everyone gathers to stare at the men; you gulp down. If they decided to attack now, it wouldn’t take long for all of you to be dead. Unless Abraham managed to speed away, then our group would easily be overpowered.

“Do we make a stand?” Sasha asks.

“Yeah,” Carl looks at his dad. “We end it.”

“No, we can’t. This is a trap; the moment we step out of the RV, we are dead.”

“With one of us behind a wheel that’s five on sixteen,” Rick adds. “We’re gonna play it our way, how we want.”

Abraham slowly backs the RV up, and when he doesn't, one of the men starts firing into the sky, causing you to flinch, feeling as scared as you did when the men ambushed you, Daryl, Rosita, and Denise.

You start to feel yourself panic, but a hand reaches out and holds onto your wrist. Carl keeps hold of you until you’re far enough away that the gunshots start to fade into the distance.

—

“Wait, dad, something's not right.”

The saviors were now toying with your group and had set traps up blocking the different roads. They had a row of walkers chained together blocking the road, but it wasn’t until now that you noticed what Carl was so freaked out about.

“Oh my god, that’s Daryl’s.”

One of the walkers had a piece of Michonne attached to the side of its head; the others had clothing that belonged to other members of your group.

Rick goes to stab one of the walkers in the head, but men appear on either side of the road and begin firing at you.

“Everyone into the RV now!”

Carl and Sasha cover Rick while he breaks the blockade of walkers by cutting off their arms, making space for Abraham to drive through. Once you make it back onto the RV, you immediately go to Maggie’s side and notice how much worse she looks.

—

You place your hand on Maggie’s forehead. “She’s burning up.”

“She’s going to make it,” Carl says, trying to reassure you.

“The Saviors are messing with us for fun. They’ve made sure we know they have our people; they aren’t afraid of walkers, but yet they aren’t killing us.” Each time Abraham drove so far up another road, there would be another blockage preventing you from going any further. They even hung a man and set fire to one of the blockades in front of you. “These people aren’t scared of anything.”

Seeing Maggie start to stir, you take hold of her hand. “Hey, it’s fine. It’s going to be okay.”

“I heard gunshots.”

“It was the Saviors, but it’s fine now.”

—

The odds were staking up against you, but Eugene came through with a plan. The saviors were waiting to see the RV appearing on the road, so if you waited until nightfall, you would have a better chance of traveling on foot without being seen while he still drives the RV to make them think your group was still on the road.

“Maggie, we are going to get you to the doctor soon,” you smile. “You and baby will be okay.”

Her skin was pale and sweaty, and you didn’t actually believe what you were saying. You had a feeling something terrible was about to happen.

After making a stretcher out of what you could find in the RV, all of you aside from Eugene start to go through the woods. Maggie, being her stubborn self, insisted she walk to Hilltop, but it wasn’t going to happen. You and Carl take out the walkers that get too close while the remaining four people take a corner of the stretcher.

You’re unsure of how long you’ve been walking for when you notice something shining on the ground. “Wait up,” you whisper, bending down to inspect the familiar jewelry. You pick it up but then quickly toss it, feeling the wetness on it. “Rick, Rick.”

He looks over at you with a panicked look in his eyes. “What is it?”

“We need to go back.” You hold up your hand so he can see the blood on it. “Rosita’s earrings; she was wearing them when she left Alexandria—”

Before you can say anything else, you are cut off by multiple people whistling. This whole thing was a trap, even the way the jewelry was laid out was so easy to find. The Saviors just wanted to torment as many people as they could.

“Go! Go!”

You take off running through the woods until a bright light blinds you, and you’re suddenly surrounded by saviors and different vehicles, making it impossible to run away from them. All of them were whistling.

Holding your gun, you stand with your back to Maggie, prepared to shoot anyone who tries to hurt her.

The man called Simon, who Rick spoke with earlier, appears and points his gun at Carl, ordering all of you to hand over your weapons. This was the first time you’d ever seen Rick look terrified, and that’s how you knew you were screwed.

—

“Y/N,” Carl’s face turns pale as he notices the blood soaking through your shirt.

“I know.”

Between running and being forced down onto your knees by the saviors, the stitches from your stab wound had pulled, and your wound was now bleeding.

“Hey, hey,” Abraham gets your attention. “Show them no goddamn fear.”

You wanted to be brave like them, but you weren’t. You felt completely helpless while you watched them force Maggie onto her knees.

A van door is opened, and Michonne, Rosita, Glenn, and Daryl are dragged from it, then forced onto the ground beside the rest of you. Simon gleefully knocks on the RV door, “Alright, let’s meet the man.”

Through teary eyes, you meet Carl’s gaze. The two of you were on opposite ends of the line-up. You were now kneeling on the ground between Glenn and Rosita.

The door opens, and a dark-haired man with a wide grin walks out, “Pissing our pants yet?”

Satan in a Sunday hat.

“Boy, so I gave a feeling we’re getting close.” The man walks back and forth along the line, sizing everyone up while holding a wooden basketball bat that had barbed wire wrapped around it. “It’s gonna be pee-pee pants city here real soon. Which one you pricks is the leader?”

“It’s this one,” Simon points to Rick. “He’s the guy.”

The man sighs, “Hi, you’re Rick, right? I’m Negan. And I do not appreciate you killing my men. Also, when I sent my people to kill your people for killing my people, you killed more of my people. Not cool. Not cool. You have no idea how not cool that shit is. But I think you’re gonna be up to speed shortly. Yeah. You are so gonna regret crossing me in a few minutes.”

You silently start to pray again, taking hold of the small silver cross between your fingers.

“You see, stick to whatever you do; no matter what, you don’t mess with the new world order. And the new world order is this: And it’s really very simple. So, even if you’re stupid, which you very well may be, you can understand it. Are you ready? Here goes, pay attention.” He points his bat in Rick's face, “Give me your shit, or I will kill you. Today was career day. We invested a lot so you would know who I am and what I can do. You work for me now. You have shit; you give it to me. That’s your job.”

While Negan continues to taunt your group, your eyes move along every single person who you know is considered family. Everyone was crying and shaking aside from Abraham and Carl.

Negan keeps repeating that he wants half your group's supplies, but that wouldn’t be enough.

“So if someone knocks on your door, you let us in. We own that door. You try to stop us, and we will knock it down. Understand?” Negan mockingly puts his hand up to his ear, “What, no answer?”

Negan reminds you of the governor.

“You don’t really think that you were gonna get through this without being punished, now did you?” Negan shakes his head. “I don’t wanna kill you people. Just want to make that clear from the get-go. I want you to work for me.”

Just like the governor wanted you all the live together at one point.

“You can’t do that if you’re dead, now, can you? I’m not growing a garden, but you killed my people—a whole damn lot of them. More than I’m comfortable with. And for that—for that you’re going to pay.”

An eye for an eye.

“So now, I’m gonna beat the holy hell out of one of you.”

The crazy bastard introduces his baseball bat as Lucille, Negan is crazy. He stands in front of Abraham and seems amused when Abraham holds his gaze and rises up on his knees. Chucking Negan moves down the line and points at Carl, “You had one of our guns.”

Carl says nothing.

Negan crouches in front of him. “You got a lot of our guns. Shit, kid, lighten up. At least cry a little.”

He starts to walk back up the line and stops in front of Maggie. “Jesus, you look shitty. I should just put you out of your misery.”

The second Negan lifts the bat up, both you and Glenn yell for him to stop. Glenn tries to reach Maggie but is pinned down to the ground by a savior.

“Nope. Nope, get him back in line,” Negan says, sounding like an unimpressed parent. “Don’t any of you do that again. I will shut that shit down, no exceptions. First ones free; it’s an emotional moment; I get it.”

You press your palm against your side in a poor attempt to stop it hurting so much, which Negan notices. He laughs, “Jesus Rick, you could have at least made it harder for me. Half your camp looks as if it’s dying off already.”

You want to cry but don’t allow yourself to, not anymore. Giving Negan the satisfaction would be more painful than the wound itself. He points to your side with his bad, “What the hell happened to you?”

“One of your men stabbed me.”

“One of my men stabbed you? A kid?” He kneels down with a smirk on his face. “So you know I have men that can and will fight for me. What does that tell you?”

“It tells me you have men who take the easy option and stab a little girl rather than actually putting up a real fight.”

His smile disappears. Negan just stares at you for a few moments until he suddenly stands and looks back over at Carl, who was glaring at him. “I’ve been trying to put two and two together, but I think I now get it; this is your little girlfriend.” He turns back to look at Rick, “And this must be your kid; you have a similar evil eye.”

“That’s enough!”

“Do not make me kill the little future serial killer; don’t make it easy on me. I gotta pick somebody, and everybody is at the table waiting for their order.”

Negan starts whistling while trying to decide who to kill.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Plot

Rick Riordan's Writing Tips

Rick Riordan:

How I craft plot has changed radically over the years. With BIG RED TEQUILA, I did very little plotting in advance. I simply began writing, then went back later and tied up all the loose ends, of which there were plenty. With each successive novel, I've done more outlining in advance. Strangely, this has made writing no easier — it's only made the process harder in different ways. My attitude about plot and how one develops effective pacing is evolving, but below are five points I stand by:

RICK RIORDAN'S TOP 5 TIPS ON PLOT

Don't write the parts the reader would skip anyway.

I'm paraphrasing the great Elmore Leonard here.

Most readers, from time to time, have skipped over portions of a chapter to get to the "good stuff."

For instance, many readers will skip a long paragraph of description so they can find the next line of dialog.

One trick for keeping the reader's interest is to zoom in on the content they want to see and leave out the rest.

Writers, especially beginning writers, tend to over-explain.

Distinguish between mystery and confusion.

It is good to keep the reader guessing.

It is bad to keep the reader confused.

The key to successful plotting is giving the reader sufficient information to keep them interested and engaged, but not so much information that they no longer care about what will happen next.

The plot should be built in layers of compelling questions –

"What will he do?"

"What is his secret?"

"Why does she hate him so much?"

The reader should always have at least one question in mind, and be dying to find out the answer.

Get going!

Beginning writers tend to believe that they must "set things up" before they get into the real meat of the novel.

They want to introduce characters, history, and setting before they start on the central dilemma.

Chapter one is often limp, because of this.

Even worse, some writers are so hesitant to get to the point in chapter one that they put off the action even further by writing a prologue.

The problem is, until we know the dilemma, we won't care about the set-up. Get to the point!

Often manuscripts are better if they start with chapter 2, as Lawrence Block once rightly pointed out.

Identify the moral dilemma driving the novel.

The successful novel will haunt a reader because it deals with some ethical or moral dilemma that makes the reader wonder what he or she would do in the protagonist's place.

Action may hold a reader for a chapter.

A surface dilemma like a kidnapping or a romance may hold the reader for fifty pages or more, but only a moral dilemma will hold the reader for an entire novel.

The protagonist must exert influence to solve the problem, and the antagonist must exert influence to stop the solution.

The book must be about conscious choices, carried out in active terms.

It must be about conflict.

A book about random events happening to passive people will not be compelling.

Coincidence is taboo – things can't just happen.

There must be a cause and effect.

Source ⚜ Writing Notes & References

[misguidedasgardian]

Wildcats (Part XXVIII)

XXVIII. While you were gone

MASTERLIST

Summary: As you were being taken…. 

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Zombie apocalypse AU, living dead, zombies, guts, blood, guns, cursing, threats, hostage situation, hostage exchange, dark themes, might miss some important warnings, but you know what this is about

+18, MINORS DNI

Notes: Alright let get this party started! what will happen in this chapter and the ones to follow will be very OCC for many characters, but, this is my party, and I really want to make this work! muahaha

Daryl was in some sort of crossroads, he had two paths ahead of him, one, was influenced by his new friend Aaron, and his experience in Alexandria, said path, led him to help other survivors, people who he could deem worthy, to become as lucky as he had become, and bring them into Alexandria, where they could be safe, and become part of his family. 

The other was influenced by his brother, Rick, and by all the awful things he had been put through, by the worst kind of people this sick world had created. That path led to not looking for more people, not helping anybody, and not bringing them inside the walls. 

But then there was you, you brought in someone who kicked your ass and shot you in the shoulder, and he had turned out to be a brilliant addition to the community. Daryl even started to feel safe with the man, and even more? to trust your security in his hands too.

So when he encountered three people in the woods, two women and this guy, even after they pulled a gun on him, he came back for them and offered them help. He offered them to go back with him to Alexandria, because they were running from people like he had encountered before. Bad people

The debate of who were bad people and who were good was long gone, for Daryl, his family was the good, and anybody that tried to harm them were the bad, as simple as that.

But again, when they pulled the gun on him again, even after he helped them hide from those guys, he was debating again.

He should have let them die, get caught by that group.

They took his bike, and they took his crossbow. He thought twice about fighting them, the thought of you in his mind, not because you’d think bad of him for killing them, but because he didn’t want to risk it, of getting himself killed and never seeing you again.

The very thought terrified him.

Now he knew what being in love was, what being loved felt like, and he was not going to throw it away.

He walked back to the town, a bit defeated, but with a renewed thirst for revenge now.

This is the second time they encountered these guys… he knew they belonged to the same group the guys in the bikes did.

This is something they will need to take care of. Find out more about.

He walked back to where the truck was, he hoped you were doing better than he did. But that took him a while, hours, several.

“Daryl!”, he turned back quickly when he heard Carol calling for him, “DARYL!”

“What’s wrong?”, he asked frowning

“They took her!”, she said quickly

“Wha’?”

“Some guys, they took (y/n)!”, his world stopped spinning in that very moment. 

“WHAT!?”, he said, looking all around, already esperate 

“I saw it as they took her, they were four of them”, she said. Daryl’s heart seemed to have dropped to his very feet, “when I got to her, she had ran out of bullets, they were four of them, couldn’t get a good shot”, she said urgently, “they said they worked for Negan”

As Daryl didn’t know what to do, Carol went into the truck and grabbed the walkie. 

“Team A”, she called into the walkie talkie, “Team B here”

“Yeah, Team A here, what’s going on?”, asked Rick

“They took (y/n)”

“What? repeat that”

“The saviors took (y/n)”, she repeated into the walkie

“We are on our way to yours”, he said, “Team C and D, stay in your tasks”

“Team D here, negative”, said Abraham, “we found a crate, and we are coming to you”

“Team C here”, said Glenn, “us too”

“Rendezvous on B”

“Which way they took off?”, he asked, looking everywhere, to every direction, and road

“It was a while ago”, she said, “From that school at the end of the street”

“DAMMIT!”, he tried to get into the truck, but Carol stopped him.

“You will never catch them in this can!”, she said, “we need to wait for the others”

“Hey!”, called a voice they didn’t recognize, so they both turned quickly, Carol pointing her rifle at the man who had just spoken, “I know who took her”, in front of them was a thin, tall guy, with bear, long hair, and blue eyes, young…

“Who the hell are you!?”, Asked Daryl, grabbing his knife, Jesus put his hands up, with one he showed him your ax

“My name is Paul Rovia, but my friends used to call me Jesus”, he said, passing him your ax, “I met her in that gym over there”, he said, pointing, “there was only one way out, so she decided to surrender to those guys before they found us both, and they took her”

“Surrender?”, asked Daryl with your ax in his hands. Carol didn’t stop pointing the gun

“A group that called themselves the saviors took her”, he said, “have you met them yet?”, he asked

“A couple of times”, he mumbled, sharing looks with Carol

“I have to assume you are part of a community”, said Jesus, “I am too”

“Do you know where they took her?”, Carol asked

“No, not sure”, he said, “but she helped me, so I will try to help her”

“Our people are coming”, Daryl warned. But Jesus wasn’t going anywhere. 

In an hour the four groups gathered in the truck

“Who the hell is that?”, asked Rick, as he pointed at a tied up Jesus sitting in the open back part of the truck

“I’m Paul, but my friends call me Jesus”, he said, untying himself quickly, Daryl and Carol just looked at him impressed

“They took my… (y/n)”, said Daryl, “they freaking took her”

“Alright, which direction did they take off in?”, asked Alex

Carol pointed.

“Making of the truck? colour?”

“I don’t know, it was… white?”

“Make? no?”

“the one with a T in front…”

“A Toyota”, he mumbled

“It had a mounted machine gun in the back”, she said

“So it has to be a Tundra or a Tacoma with that weight…”, he said, “and four people you say?”

“Tell us what you know”, Rick demanded out of Jesus

“They took her, because they want to know where she came from”, he said, “they want to know where her community is and once they know… they will extort you for supplies, guns and food”, he said, “They came to my community, killed a 16 year old boy”, he muttered, “and we give them half of everything every month”

Rick placed his hand in Daryl’s shoulders, who was about to lose it

“We are going to get her back”, he promised 

“I know”, he said, nodding, rubbing his face, “I wasn’t with her, four guys we could have easily taking them down!”, he said, angrily

“You can’t do that, not now”, said Alex, who was taking control of the situation, “the fact is they took her, and we need to get her back, do you know where these assholes have their base?”, he asked Jesus

“I… no… not personally…They will keep her alive”, assured Jesus, “because they will use her as a ticket to get into your community, you wouldn’t refuse her at the door, would you?”

“No, never”, said Rick

“So we need to get ready”, muttered Alex

“We need to get her back!”, said Daryl

“Do you know how in the movies there’s this heroe that they torture for information? or this unreadable, badass villain? They never break? well, that’s just fiction, all of them start singing before the pliers even touch the tip of their finger, and this is a fact, she will talk, I’m saying this because we need to be ready for when she does”, he said firmly, “there is no blame to her, but… they will come when she tells them”

“Daryl is right we need to put every effort into rescuing her”, said Rick

“Never said the opposite, but we need to leave people in Alexandria who knows what they are doing”

“They aren’t ready”, said Michonne

“Where’s Smith?”, asked Alex, looking around

“Send him back home”, said Rick, “to warn the others”

“Fine”, he said. “You said that not you personally, you might know some people who do know?”, Jesus nodded.

“Look, I don’t know you guys, but you look like decent people, she could have… well… try to kill me, but she didn’t, she could have let those guys find us both, but she protected me, so I’m going to… go on a leap… I’m from a community, called the Hilltop…”

They regrouped in Alexandria, from where they were preparing to go to the Hilltop, as Jesus spoke to Rick and Deanna about their chances to trade and other things, and to speak to people that might know where to find you. Daryl was spiraling quickly, at the lack of urgency (to his parameters) of the rest of people around him. He wanted to grab his bike and took to the road, looking for you, building by building, but he did not have his bike. 

If he had his bike he could have catched up to them, if you never split he could have killed the assholes, if he…

“Hey”, said Alex, when they were preparing the RV to go to the Hilltop, grabbing onto Daryl, he tried to jank his arm back but he didn’t let go, “she brought me back to life���, he said, Daryl looked back at him, “I was ready to cash in, I was losing my mind, all alone, in that city of the dead, and then you came along, and even if I beat her up, and shot her in the shoulder, she decided and convince you all to bring me here, she gave me a purpose, a life worth living”, he said, “We will get her back, even if that’s the last thing I do, I will bring her back to you”, he promised, and Daryl looking straight into his eyes, noded

“Yeah we will”, he said. You were right about him, and he was right to remember that, the example you had set, he couldn’t lose hope to still find decent people. 

They spend two days negotiating with the Hilltop, they spend the next two… trying to hatch a plan. Daryl spent all that time pacing, listening, being a thousand miles an hour. 

In the Hilltop, they discovered that a big group of saviors operated in a satellite station. Instead of attacking it, in fear that they might hurt you, they waited, as a group of saviors left the premises. 

It had been four days and Daryl was about to start climbing walls, especially when they discovered that the Satellite station wasn’t even the Savior’s main community. It was just an outpost. So the quantity of men that they had was still a mystery to them. It took them a day to capture the saviors, the trickiest part was catching them alive, and another day to squeeze the information out of them, especially the one that you were not in there, in the outpost, you were somewhere else.

That’s how they found out about the Sanctuary, where this Negan person lived. 

Daryl, Alex, Rick, Rosita, Sasha, Abraham and Michonne, were the ones to pursue your tracks, the others had gone back to Alexandria to prepare it for whatever was to come, either saviors, hostiles or whatever. 

Daryl was right next to Rick when he spoke in the walkie, when they were finally going to know for sure if you were alright, he knew you were still alive, there was no doubt in his mind, but he needed to hear your voice. The walkie that the saviors had, and he heard your voice, you were alive… and when he heard you, he felt like he could breathe for the first time since he found out they took you. 

Alex had taken control of the situation, leading each step of the process that required the abstraction of the saviors, and the way to make them break. He didn’t like to do it, he thought it was behind him, but he’ll do it for you, he had to, so he did it. 

During all this time Daryl knew he had the full support of Rick and the rest of the group. And that made him extremely happy, together him and his family, could do it all 

And now, they were getting ready to take you back, in Alexandria, with Jesus, and Smith, and the rest of them. 

“I want Sasha in that roof”, Alex said, pointing in a map they had drawn, of the layout of the place, “I want the toughest of us in the playground dealing with the exchange, so…”, he looked around the table, “Rosita”, he called, “I want you with our RPG right here”, he said, pointing to the other side, “Tara will assist you, twenty steps”, he said pointing at her, she nodded, “we need to make sure we have that distance, that’s the range of the explosion, if anything goes wrong, we secure (y/n), and then we blown them up”, he said, she nodded, determined, “Sasha I trust you”, he said, “I want the scope on the leader, or whoever is holding her… nobody else”, he said, “If I raise my left hand in a fist, you blow ‘em up”, he said pointing at Rosita, “if my hand is open, you shot whichever of the two”, he said to Sasha, “now, down in the playground, Daryl”, he called, “I want you to be the one to receive her, only if you manage to keep your cool, hostage exchanges are delicate, a wrong look, or a gun a degree too high and things can get very sour very quickly, think you can handle it?”, he asked, Daryl nodded.

“Yeah”

“Our objective is to get her back, no casualties”, he said firmly.

“What about after?”, asked Rick

“We will sit tight, wait for them to leave before we move… It can get tricky, they know we know where they are, but they might not know where we are, the fact that they hadn't come makes me think she really managed to keep the location of Alexandria a secret”, he said, ”which its formidable, on her part”

“Yeah but if we get her back… let’s blow them up”, said Rick, Alex looked at him

“I understand why you think that”, he said calmly, “but because of what we know now, we know there are much more of them, if we take, what? twenty out? they will retaliate, this is how you start a freaking war, and Alexandria is not ready, we let them go”, he said, “hear what she has to say”, Rick didn’t like it, but nodded, “this is a big operation, we need to act cautiously, we deal with them later, when we know more, right now, she is the priority, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make a show of strength”

He looked around the table, everyone nodded, this Smith guy was smirking and nodding, understandably. Alex didn’t like him, not at all, but… he had spent the same amount of time here as he has, so it wasn’t like he had something over him.

“Now… I want Abraham, Daryl, Rick, Michonne and me handling the hostages…”, they organized the whole thing, making Daryl a bit more relaxed.

The priority was you, taking you back home, he believed Alexander, he believed Rick, and he trusted them.

They spent the rest of the afternoon polishing every detail, everything that could go wrong, and they recruited more people from Alexandria, those who could hold guns at least…

Denise, Rosita and Carol sneaked a sleeping pill into Daryl’s water, who had not slept in days, barely a couple of hours each night, and they needed him sharp in the morning, so at eight he fell like a log, the women knew he was going to hate them in the morning, but that is something they were willing to deal with. 

He was the first to wake up, at six he was already preparing himself, not aware of what happened to him the night before. 

He spend every second of his days thinking about you, he knew you were alive, he always knew, you were tough, tougher than you looked, tougher than he wanted to admit, a badass, so he always knew, he was going to hold you again, it's the mere second that led him to it that almost drove him mad. 

He knew the kind of sickos that went about in this fucked up world, he knew, how bad you could have it, surrounded by men, by armed men, he flinched just thinking about it… 

But now, he was getting you back, today, and if you were hurt, he was going to kill every single one of them.

Everyone else was on edge too, so they were ready at seven sharp, and they departed to the zone where they took you, to set everything up. Alexander was creepily calm, making sure everyone was in position, Daryl, already losing his patience, draw out of the van one of the saviors, as did the rest

They were particularly nasty, this men, so he could only guess what kind of people the others were

“Oh I bet they did a number on her”, laughed one

“Shut up”

“You’re trading five of us, for whatever is left of her”

“Shut the hell up, if you don’t wanna lose all your teeth”, he had been held at gunpoint, he had been robbed of his crossbow and motorcycle, they had took his girl, and he had been forced to hear shit for two days, he was done, weirdly rested, but so done.

The meeting point was that esplanade, between a highschool and its gym, and there is where they stood while they waited for the saviors to come. 

They heard trucks soon after 8:45, you all guessed they wanted to get this over with as well as they did.

There were five vehicles on their part, each with four men. As Alexander predicted, but they were only six, on the ground, next to their hostages. and being supported by Morgan behind them, who had insisted, and then they had three more on the roof, Tara, Rosita and Sasha.

Simon got out of the truck first, with a sickening smile on his face

“Well hello there”, he said, “a pleasure to make your acquaintance”, he said

“Where is she?”, asked Rick

“Wow! I’m sorry, I like to know who we are dealing with first”, he said, “I’d like to know who had the balls to attack my compound and take my men hostage”

“I’m Rick Grimes”, he said finally.

“The name is Simon”, he said, with a big, unsettling smile.

“You took our person first”, said Rick. Alexander was watching the entire entire interaction, he also watched each of the men, posted in the back of their trucks, and around. 

“And where is it that you hang your hats, Rick?”, asked Simon

“That is of no concern to you, I want to see her”, he then took out his Colt Python and pointed at his hostage’s head. 

“Wow! no need for that”, at the words of his leader, all of his men went out of their trucks, big automatics in their hands, in a violent demeanor.

“Yeah, there isn’t”, said Rick, at his words, dozens of people appeared on the sides of the buildings nearby, holding guns as big as the saviors’, all of them pointing at the hostile group. Rosita appeared with the RPG in her hands, as did Sasha pointing with her rifle 

“...But that doesn’t mean we can’t make a show of strength”

Simon did not like this at all.

He opened the back of the truck he had arrived in, and grabbed you. Your head was covered with a sack of some sorts, and Baer got out of the truck behind you, so he was going to be the one to handle you during this negotiation. 

Simon took out the sack and Daryl sucked in a breath when he saw you.

You were barefoot, with dirty cotton pants and a single plain white t-shirt. Your arms were bruised, that is what they could see, your face too, only in the cheek, a bandage around your left forearm, everything about you screamed that you had been through hell… 

Rick was so mortified that he didn’t even move. 

You were going through things of your own. you never liked being barefoot, nor walking barefoot and now when your feet were on the concrete floor you winced. 

“Let’s go princess”, mocked Baer, “look what’s happening because of you, uh?”, he kept going. Grabbed you roughly by your arm, and dragged you forwards.

“I expected nothing less from a stuck up bitch”, of course Arat had to be there right behind you

You took a long breath when you saw all the people, your people, there, they had come for you for your rescue. Daryl’s figure stood out amongst all others, and he was there.

“Tell me something, which one of them is your boyfriend? uh?”, he teased, looking at the group ahead of you. 

“Shut up”, you growled, he squeeze your neck more, teased a gun into your head, draw his mouth too near your ear

“See? You do need a strong man to protect you”, he said, “I count at least five over there, look at them, taking five hostages for your exchange”

“I’m sorry that I do have a group that gives a shit about me”, you said simply, “and Baer, if you don’t cut it… I’m going to have to kill you”, he laughed in your ear, as did Arat, making you flinch

“You keep telling yourself you can sweetheart”, he mumbled

When they saw you, you could see it, their horrified, surprised faces. Rick tried to keep it cool, but you could tell, even from a few meters away, he was trying to keep it together, trying to contain his now famous anger. 

“Let’s do this”, invited Rick

Simon was not pleased, not at all, but he signaled Baer to bring you along, and the three of you walked until you met right in the middle. like 10 meters between you and your group.

Abraham and Daryl were flanking Rick, the two toughest guys, to assert dominance you’d gather, and then there was Alex and Michonne. 

Daryl brought one, Abraham another, as did Alexander, Michonne with her katana, and Rick had the leader.

It took everything in your power not to release yourself from Baer and run towards Daryl, and you could tell he wanted the same thing, the very same thing, your eyes never left his not for even a second. 

“A big mess you made, Rick, just to get her back”, said Simon

“Shut up”, demanded Daryl, pushing the man he was guarding forwards, “let’s trade already”, Simon looked at him, smiling, and then he looked at you

“Him? Really?”, he asked, “damn”, he muttered.

“Simon?”, you asked, he looked back at you, “I really hope that someday soon, you find yourself, barefoot, in a desert of legos”, you offered with a smile, he frowned. 

Simon nodded towards Baer, and he pulled away his gun and pushed you forwards, you didn’t think about it any longer, you took shaky steps, slow steps, as you passed the five guys on your way, once you were into “Safe” territory, crossing about 5 meters, you jumped into Daryl’s awaiting arms.

“Are ya’ alright?”, he asked, caressing your cheek with his thumb, “did they hurt ya?”

“I’m alright”, you whispered nodding. He placed his hand on the back of your head and drew you in for a hug. You then split, and it was Michonne’s turn to hug you tightly, and then Abraham, who took out his army jacket, and gave it to you, leaving himself in just a tank top. He caressed your face, your bruised cheek and mumbled something about a cocksucking bastard, and then he placed Daryl and you behind him and Alex, who only looked at you and nodded, they protected you with their bodies.

Rick watched your interaction with eagle eyes.

“I notice my men don’t have their guns”, said Simon, “they were carrying heavy artillery”

“I notice that she doesn’t have her gun, her silencer, her pants, her jacket, her boots”, said Rick, stepping up until he was face to face to Simon, his hand on his colt Python, “we did the exchange, grab your men and get the hell out”, Simon laughed

“Want to end the party so quickly?”, he asked

“There’s gonna be plenty of time later”, Rick threatened

“Oh is that so?”, asked Simon. They shared defiant looks.

While you looked at your man, you noticed he had your ax in his belt

“Oh, my ax”, you said, grabbing it

“Jesus gave it to us”, he whispered. As you had your ax in your hand, you looked in front of you, until you found Arat, standing next to Baer, you showed her your ax and she wiped that smile off of her face.

You did promised you were gonna put it through her skull, so…

It was a small exchange, but Daryl grabbed you softly by the hip, to keep you right next to him. 

Simon and Rick measured each other, then Simon looked at every single one of the people present, analyzing the situation at hand.

Yeah he had taken twenty of his men with him, the rest of the men in the outpost, and still wasn’t enough. He had miscalculated, they had a freaking RPG

“I looked forwards to see you in your nice community”, he said then, Baer smirked by his side, as they took a few steps back

“I looked forward to seeing you in your crappy satellite outpost”, said Rick then.

“I’ll see you soon”, threatened Baer pointing at you, and you gave him your finger.

“Who's that?”, asked Daryl

“Let’s just say I found my long lost member of my Atlanta group”, you whispered. 

When they got in their trucks and left, Rick finally turned to you, he cradled your head with his hand and kissed you on the forehead

“Are you alright?”, he asked, looking at you all over, “did they hurt you?”

“I’m… fine”, you said, it hurt, everything hurt, but…you were fine, you wanted to go home

“We can’t stay here, group one! go!”, he said, many of the Alexandrians disappeared. You recognized many of… civilians, neither of them knew how to shoot, but you guessed, they could just hold a gun and pretend they did know, that was brilliant.

They did all of this, for you… 

“Thank you”, you said, to RIck, and to Daryl, to everybody. And from one second to the next, all this feeling washed over you, like a bucket of iced water. Now that you had been rescued, your legs began to fail you, you were freezing because of your naked feet.

“Hey”, called Daryl softly, grabbing onto you

“Alex get her out of here”, demanded Rick, and Daryl grabbed you, and he and Michonne and Alex walked back to the HUMVEE. You with Daryl on the back, and you left.

You didn’t even realize when you started crying, tears flooding your eyes as you hold onto Daryl for dear life. 

“You r’alright”, he whispered, hugging into you, rubbing soothing circles in your back, “ain’t nobody touching you or hurtin’ ya’ anymore, ya hear?”

But you couldn’t stop, it was like a well had been opened, specially when you still feel the burn in your arm, that had been quickly bandaged before they delivered you.

“Everythin’ will be alright”, he kept saying it, hugging you tightly against him. The relief you felt by being in his arms again also contributed largely to your tears, you had been suppressing all of the fear you had felt these days 

He placed your legs over his, as with one hand rubbed your freezing feet.

Alex stopped the car on his tracks, the three occupants of the vehicle looked at him, impressed. He turned to look at you

“We can only imagine what you have been through”, he said, “The next following days you will face a side of you that you never thought it existed”, he said gently, “you will need to recuperate control of yourself, of your body…”, he said, “you will pass through stages, of grief, of rage, of anger, of sadness, of regrets”, he said, “but if you tell me yes, right now, I will turn this around and I will chase them down, and kill them all”, he said, firmly, but at the same time, softly, you calmed yourself, looking at him.

“No”, you said, “not yet”, he nodded, and started the vehicle again.

“Cry everything you need, cry it all out”, he said. And you just sniffed, against Daryl’s chest. 

Everybody made it back to Alexandria.

But despite that, with how everything went down… left a sense of worry, not only inside of you, but with Rick as well… it had been too… easy… everything went well, and you wondered why you felt so…

Uneasy.

PCN: I made turns and turns around this chapter, didn’t know how to make it more “emotional”, really, didn’t know how to put Daryl’s emotions into here, I hope I didn’t disappoint. 

Daryl doesn’t know what to call you haha, he had said twice “my…”, and then your name, he refuses to call you his girlfriend, the old school southern redneck in him wants to call you only “his”, hahaha

taglist❤️: @crazyunsexycool @capricxnt

[aroaceleovaldez]

Your blog is the only blog where I feel safe enough asking this question. What do you think of Percy Jackson fans who feel as though they and the series have a moral superiority to Harty Potter ? Obviously, Harry Potter and its author are laden with questionable and sometimes straight-up hateful takes and views. But the way PJO fans constantly compare the two, its authors (even though RR is far from flawless), and the two MCs (ignoring how the two both share similarities in the fact that they are both traumatised, abused, angry teenage boys). I'm sorry that this ask got so long, but this has been annoying me for a while now.

This is an interesting question - for one, fandom fights over superiority is a concept that has been around for ages and has never been constructive. PJO and HP fandoms have been fighting in that exact way (and it has gone both ways!) for literal decades (remember, PJO turns 20 this year) so this isn't new, it's just taken on a moral flavor. Let's go over some things though (but please keep in mind i never got into HP and never read the books or fully watched the movies so my knowledge of HP is primarily pop culture absorption/secondhand from my family and friends):

Are either series perfect? No. HP absolutely is full of hateful sentiments and JKR is a hateful person and I do not respect her for that. Disney's marketing recently has absolutely fully leaned into trying to put Rick above her as a moral paragon and emphasizing how progressive he is and his support of diversity in middle grade series, despite some failings to reflect that in the actual text. Are Rick and JKR equally bad? Definitely not. Rick has had tangible good influence on adhd/dyslexia awareness that very directly impacted people like me as a neurodivergent kid going through school in the 2000s. JKR meanwhile has directly negatively impacted trans laws internationally very recently.

Rick absolutely isn't perfect, but he's vocally supportive, has made a lot of effort in the past to be inclusive, and still attempts to do so. Most of his issues simply stem from his own unaddressed internalized bigotry/biases and his research on varying topics not being great (plus poor management decisions such as not hiring a sensitivity reader actually fit for the story he's trying to tell). But he's not hateful. JKR is. JKR is very vocally hateful and bigoted and this is absolutely reflected in her work as well even in earlier HP. They are comparable in that they are both middle grade authors of easily two of the most popular middle grade fantasy (or specifically hidden world fantasy) series out right now. They are not equivalent in the slightest in their bigotry or tangible damage.

In terms of Percy versus Harry, I personally don't think they're very comparable. They share some similarities, but mostly just in that they're both the protagonists of their stories and thus serve protagonist purposes. Beyond that their use within the narrative is pretty different functionally. Their worlds' magic systems are not comparable. The hidden world aspect in both their universes isn't even comparable, since in PJO the "hidden world" aspect is very different from most hidden world fantasy formats because the entire point is that it's functionally not a hidden world. The characters themselves are very different as well - Percy's personality and the way he behaves and reacts to his environment is absolutely nothing like Harry's.

Most of the anti-HP-in-general sentiments stem from wanting to cut off JKR's notoriety, which I think is valid to want to do. And I do think there are a lot of issues with continuing to support JKR's work especially in ways that functionally promote her work or support her financially. Obviously, we will never be able to scrub HP from the cultural zeitgeist. It's just not feasible and I'm very anti-book burning so I do think it's important to acknowledge the role HP has had in pop-culture alongside acknowledging its harmful materials. HP is a text you absolutely can't death-of-the-author your way out of because a lot of the vitriol is baked into the text and worldbuilding in very overt ways - and there are plenty of other pop-culture staple novels like this. But fandom in general, at least true fandom and not mainstream fandom, is so obscure most of the time that I don't think, so long as people are not ignoring negative themes of the source material and are being thoughtful as they navigate engaging with it, that it is an inherently bad thing for HP fandom to just exist at all. It's never going to just stop existing no matter what people do. And HP fandom are not the only ones who should be thoughtful about how they engage with their source material - PJO fandom is not exempt from examining some of the problematic aspects in our own text and figuring out how to be respectful with those topics. It's just a lot easier for PJO fandom to tune it out without it being noticed because there's less of it and it's (at least sometimes) less overt. Honestly if HP fandom decided to go more down the path of a fandom like Warriors or Miraculous Ladybug, where the average sentiment is more along the lines of "Oh god no don't read/watch the source material it sucks/we stopped paying attention to it year ago and it's not relevant at all to what we're up to. We're over here functionally rewriting everything from the ground up/doing our own thing" I would very much support them in that endeavor. I do think there is merit in limiting promotion of the HP source material as much as possible, though.

Hopefully that all makes at least some amount of sense.

[fandomwe1rd0]

Rick C137 x Reader dating Headcanons!

This one is for the Rick simps! I usually don't do stuff like this, buttttt I like making headcanons soooo, also all of these are sfw! I don't think I'll do NSFW unless it's like- by super popular demand- But I doubt it.

I feel like he would be a very jealous person, if he saw you hanging out with some other person, he would start getting possessive and would probably throw a sulking fit, then when you ask him he won't tell you, but it would be obvious why. He's like a giant man-child sometimes, in canon he's a very jealous person

He would be very physically affectionate with you, but he would probably tense up whenever it's returned, he's not uncomfortable with you or anything, he's just autistic as hell and is uncomfortable with physical touch in general.

He would be pretty protective of you, he's just protective about people he cares about in general. But there's also the added paranoia of what happened with Diane. He would kill anyone who touches you, and would badly hurt anyone who DARES to insult you. He's a weeee bit overprotective.

He would really value your time together, and his love language would be a mix of quality time and acts of service, he would just want to spend a lot of time with you, and would do nice things for you, but he would downplay it like it's no big deal, even when he does big gestures.

He would definitely call you names like baby, sugar, etc.

He would definitely be a bad influence, like if you said that you'd prefer not to drink, he would probably be like "C'monnnn baby, don't be lame." and would do stuff like that.

He would be extra affectionate when drunk, since he has less filter when he's drunk.

Whenever you cancel a date, no matter how good of a reason you may have, he would be EXTREMELY salty, he really values quality time and would be super sulky and stuff.

He would probably wanna take you on adventures but would leave you out of more dangerous ones, since he cares about your safety, even though he'd probably be bad at showing it.

He would probably want to cuddle and stuff, but wouldn't want you to cuddle back, because, as mentioned before, he likes giving physical touch, but doesn't like receiving it because he's autistic and we love him for it :)

He has a massive soft spot for you, and you're probably the only person he would act soft around since he's less guarded when it comes to his romantic interests

He would have trouble showing appreciation, but he does love and appreciate you, he's just not ok. He would also have trouble apologizing, even if he screwed up royally, but he would feel guilt at times, but probably wouldn't at others

He would sometimes go on weird, unhinged rants, for example, if he ever proposes to you, it would definitely be in an unhinged, but weirdly sweet rant, and you would probably feel flattered and terrified at once.

He would definitely say "Rick and [Your name] 100 years!" Since he says that in canon when it comes to his favorite people [Morty, Birdperson]

His flirting would get explicit pretty quickly, it'd be fine if you guys were alone, but he definitely would do it in front of your family and friends and stuff, either because he doesn't realize that that wouldn't be the time, or he simply doesn't care, your pick.

He would rarely, if ever compliment you, not because he doesn't love you, but because he's like physically incapable of showing affection through words, because he's traumatized and we love him for it.

He wouldn't say "I love you." a lot, because he has trouble with love due to *cough* Diane *cough* but he would show that he loves you, in his own unique way.

If he ever moves in, he wouldn't put in any work or do any cooking, he'd just be extremely lazy and would probably leave dirty laundry and beer cans everywhere.

He would be uncomfortable with PDA if you initiate it, but he would probably initiate it at times

You'd be the only person (Besides like, Morty) who can calm down when he's upset.

You'd be the only person who can talk him out of doing stupid and dangerous things.

[starlightshadowsworld]

I hate how Luke's allowed to be morally grey but Octavians just supposed to be unquestionably evil.

Despite the fact they are about the same age and were used by powerful beings to further their goals.

Luke was used by Kronos to cause all out war and awaken.

Octavian was used by Gaea to separate the Romans and Greeks into all out war, allowing her to awaken.

Luke has killed and tried to kill multiple people... but Octavian ruined some teddy bears so we know immediately and on sight that he's unredeemable?

I'm not trying to say Octavian didn't do some bullshit, he absolutely did he still caused an all out war with the Greeks.

But than so did Luke.

And I know it's because Luke had development, we got to know him and who he was.

While Octavian is rather cartoony and a 1 dimensional bad guy. Which sucks honestly because he has so much potential.

A phrase I say a lot when talking about Heroes of Olympus to be honest.

All we know is he has a vendetta against the Greeks and wants to be Praetor, that's it.

And he dies in a way that kinda mirrors Paris's death in the Trojan war.

Nothing about his past, nothing about who he is, his friends, his family, what it means to be a legacy.

Nothing.

Octavian goes from a cunning, ambitious and crafty guy to falling apart by the final battle. His laugh being described as "brittle and quite insane."

And calling anyone that doesn't stand by him a traitor.

Man goes through a whole Macbeth arc behind the curtain and I'm supposed to ignore this?

Also Octavian had the potential to be a great foil to Jason.

Given how Octavian, at least at the beginning stands by tradition.

While Jason is trying to change traditions, and change the system that Octavian wants to enforce.

Jason is terrified of breaking rules and Octavian followed them to the letter. While also bending them to suit him.

It's also, according to his wiki hinted that Octavian knew that he had to die to defeat Gaea.

Which puts a whole other perspective onto all of this, especially if he was being influenced by her.

And still tried to sacrifice himself to end her.

Oh jee don't that sound similar.

Only Rick can make 2 characters a mirror image of each other and than make one horribly underdeveloped and like they shouldn't be compared.

The fact that doesn't even just apply to these two is something.

[cheemscakecat]

Y’know, I don’t usually talk about ships I dislike, but this is one I haven’t seen criticized.

So the Gravity Falls fandom is riddled with bad ships, ranging from “Ah yes, let’s ship the victim with the demon that abused them” to “Incest between 12 year old twins is so great”.

Which would explain why all the effort of criticizing ships is going to those infamous ones and not any others that might be less ugly by comparison.

Heck, that note to Mabel in journal 3, saying Bill would have thrown Dipper’s body off the water tower was probably the creator’s way of saying “Stop shipping Dipper with the demon Dorito.” She’s terrified of that thing from trying to get Stan over his fear of heights, and Bill ended the letter by asking if she wanted to join Dipper at the bottom.

StanChez is the lesser evil ship I’m talking about specifically. But keep in mind, I’m a Gravity Falls fan, not a Rick and Morty fan, so my knowledge of that show is from video essays and osmosis.

It’s not on the same level of awful as saying Ford and Bill should be a couple after watching the man get chained and electrocuted.

Or well drawn incest between the two main characters, who are based on the show creator and his sister.

But StanChez is toxic. And I’d like to explain why on Stan Pines’ behalf, because he deserves better. And I also don’t think they’d get along for more than a few days.

Reason 1: Rick is a different level of Criminal

People seem to gravitate towards this ship because Stan and Rick are both criminals and bad influences on those around them, but it’s more surface level than you’d think.

The most we know about Stan’s kill count is that he killed a llama and Bill. And in his words “that llama had it coming”. Other than that, his main crimes are swindling and conning, with tax evasion through false identities.

But if a state full of angry people goes after him, his response is to run away and start a new fake identity. Not attack the people he conned or the police. And even though his bad products gave people rashes, they never crossed over into something truly heinous.

He also tries to befriend other criminals and attacks them out of self defense, and not intent to kill. Stan knows how to fight, but his intention is very rarely to kill, and that’s a healthier mindset to have.

Rick is in the habit of ruining versions of earth with his experiments, and then running off to take his own place in another dimension instead of staying to try and help. That’s not running away from a minor con like Stan, that’s leaving billions of people to die, over and over again.

Rick is also in the habit of killing people who are an inconvenience to him, whether they pose a real threat or not. He’s so used to killing on sight that he doesn’t bat an eye at making Morty take someone’s life.

Stan is a different kind of bad influence than Rick that isn’t as heinous. Not by a long shot. Dipper and Mabel may have to go on a character arc where they stop swindling people, but they’ve never been taught to kill or maim. They’ve never watched Stan murder people and ignore their distress when he does it. Or been forced to bury a body.

Dipper and Mabel may become worse because of Stan, but it’s nothing so serious that they’ll never recover. But Morty? Morty is in a very toxic situation where he’s been traumatized and started to go numb inside.

Reason 2: Stan’s self esteem

Stan has a lot more in common with Morty than you’d think. He was always “the dumb twin” and “the screw up”. Sure, his Ma tried to negate his father’s terrible words, but one of his parents still made him feel hated and useless.

For goodness sakes, it was Filbrick kicking him out as a high schooler, telling him to come back when he made a fortune, that set him on the path of greed!

It’s also Filbrick’s terrible parenting that made Stan try to be tough with Dipper and favor Mabel, the way Ford was favored.

Stan’s self esteem is much lower than it looks on the surface, and prolonged exposure to Rick would only make it worse.

You see, Rick doesn’t explain what dimension they’re going to, what to look out for, and what’s safe before bringing Morty on an “adventure”. They’ll get there, Morty will start asking because he doesn’t know, and Rick will drunkenly call him an idiot and barely explain. But Morty is supposed to be the stupid one for it.

Rick also favors Summer, Morty’s sister over him. Even though he’s been dragged along on these traumatic adventures much longer.

Say what you will about Stan being a bad influence, but at least we know he does it out of generational trauma and still cares about Dipper. Instead of being harsher on him for no reason, Stan sees it as teaching him to be tougher by making him do chores.

Rick is just playing favorites. And he’s also well known for talking down to Morty’s dad Jerry for being stupid. To the point fans only recently started to see through it and respect Jerry as an embarrassing but happy normal person.

If Stan started hanging around Rick, he’d be talked down to and compared to his smarter twin once again, but this time by the “smartest man in the multiverse”. He doesn’t need another toxic influence to stomp on his self worth.

Reason 3: Think of the children

Stan never replaced anybody. Yes, he had the wax Stan, but he wasn’t calling it Ford. My theory is he was practicing what he’d do with Ford once he brought him back, and the wax funeral was him remembering that Ford might have died.

Stan is known for letting the kids go off on their own, but he also tried to convince them that the supernatural wasn’t real to protect them.

And when he saw they were in danger, he fought the undead to protect them. Most of the time, he just doesn’t see that they’re in danger because they’re off on their own.

He cares about Dipper and Mabel and Soos and Wendy. Heck, he even gave Gideon a pep talk in the shrink ray episode. Do you honestly think he’d be okay with cloning one of them if they died? Or worse, stealing some other Stan’s family in another dimension?

He was looking for his Ford, not a random one from some other timeline. If Dipper was thrown off the water tower, or Mabel snapped away by Bill, Stan wouldn’t be able to forgive himself. And he wouldn’t be able to replace them. The same goes for Ford, Soos, and Wendy.

So imagine him finding the Morty cloning facilities at Rick’s Citadel. And Rick trying to gaslight him into thinking it’s better to leave the evil Ricks to clone and kill as many Morty’s as they want, because it keeps them distracted. Or finding out about Rick replacing himself in other dimensions without telling the family?

Y’all remember that Dipper asked Ford how he knew Bill, and he said:

“I’ve encountered many dark beings in my time, Dipper.”

I bet the reason why Ford was erased with other memory tubes is because he found out about the cloning and got angry with Rick. Because despite his issues with Stan, he still remembers the little boy getting mistreated by his father.

Needless to say, Stanley wouldn’t be approving of all this either, once he knew Rick was a monster. But if Rick wouldn’t listen to “the smart” twin and erased the interaction, he’s way less likely to listen to poor Stan. Because he’s well used to talking down to people when they confront him or disagree with him. And if he’d do it to his own family, he’d sure as heck do it to Stanley.

So yeah, those are my reasons why StanChez is a bad idea/doesn't work. This isn’t going to become a series or anything, I just thought it was worth explaining.

[bengiyo]

I am curious for your perspective on the way the OF creators are interacting with fans and have even admitted to editing the show based on fan reactions. It strikes me as an unusual level of interaction and capitulation, though of course TV is a live medium that is nearly always responsive to reactions to some extent. My preference is for a lot less of this kind of thing, but I know you have experience with direct interaction with media creators and have found it enhances your experience sometimes. What do you make of how these dynamics are showing up in OF and the effect it’s having on the show?

TV and Critic Background

So, I am actually the worst person to talk to if you think the creators should be quiet about their work, because I really enjoy talking to directors, producers, actors, cinematographers, and especially editors about their work. I often go to film festivals just to talk to the creators about their processes.

I've also been in the TV space a really long time, and I am used to this kind of behavior. I don't think a lot of folks who are in BL are used to being in the process of TV itself, and I think a lot of people have let the Netflix binge model inform the way they view TV. TV is not like movies. When you get a movie, you are seeing the end product of filming, editing, test screenings, re-edits, etc. TV is usually only an episode or two ahead of the viewers.

It's extremely normal for a show to respond to feedback when characters test well. The 100 did this with Jasper. He was supposed to die in the pilot when that spear entered his chest, but he tested well with audiences so they revived him.

Fun Fact: This is why Kiseki: Dear to Me didn't just move their release schedule up when episode 8 was leaked early. They probably weren't finished assembling episode 9.

I followed Sense8 through its entire development process all the way from rumors and then J. Michael Stracynski's posts about it, to the things Lana and Lily said about it, to the commentary from the cast.

I have a special hatred for Rick Behrman over Star Trek.

I absolutely hate Russel T. Davies because of Cucumber.

I bailed on Supernatural because of the way the writers condescended to us at comicon after killing Kevin.

I know some fans are upset about the idea that scenes they wanted to see got cut, but I was there for Noah Galvin opening his fucking mouth to talk shit about other actors at ABC who were playing beloved gay characters and that subsequently getting The Real O'Neals canceled. The show had a very short second season and I feel forever salty about that.

What does this mean for Jojo and Ninew and Den?

I actually think Jojo, Den, and Ninew are fine. I don't think they usually poopoo on valid reads from what I've seen, and mostly they're having fun with the fans, too. I just don't think people are used to the creators being so honest about how feedback affects the editing process.

I think this is the first time we've had a big show in a while where the creator was fairly active on socials about the show. Aof and Au are usually pretty quiet when their shows are airing, and only give small tidbits while they show is airing. Jojo is silly and likes to play with fans. Den is feisty and has a gay agenda to pursue.

Truly, I don't think Jojo and friends are that bad about anything with this show, because they're mostly just laughing and stating things that are obvious to people who pay attention to how the sausage is made.

Shipping

That being said, the biggest struggle OF is having is shipping. The FK girlies are so loud and their heavy breathing has likely influenced the way Jojo and friends decided to write Ray. The FB girlies are so into them that it's made Jojo and them dial back some of their Top content because the audience hates him so much. Only Boston and Nick feel like they've made it through the shipping gamut intact because Neo and Mark aren't bringing a bunch of preexisting shippers to the table.

Coming off of episode 10, you can see this plainly with the nasty4nasty dynamic with Boston and Nick. The emotional core of their dynamic feels true, even down to the way their moments in the store mirror their first interactions again. Boston came in for service about his phone and intentionally showed Nick something on it.

I don't think Jojo has ever had to work with multiple acting pairs that were big branded pairs prior to this, and this is only his second time really dealing with that. With Never Let Me Go, Pond and Phuwin weren't that big yet, and he wasn't threatening their ship with anything complicated. OF is challenging for people who just watch BL as fap material and have to deal with their faves not being easy people to parse.

As usual, we go back to that post that goes around all the time, thought I think the OP deleted it:

"Never ever be normal about fictional characters but please GOD be normal about the people who play them, I am begging you" -tumblr user mantorokk-writes

[opalimagines]

Bad Influence

After your first week at school, a teacher warns you about your friendship with Rick, and you realize just how the people of Blue Valley see him. Takes place early season three.

Rick Tyler/gn!reader

Warnings: tiny reference to sickness/vomiting

Notes: There was a request for Rick keeping snacks on hand for a speedster so I've been working that into a few parts of the series :)

"(Y/N), if you could stay for a moment..."

Surprised to hear your name, you stopped in the doorway and looked back at Mr. McFarlane, who was standing near his desk. You turned to Rick and smiled. "See you later."

"Yeah, sure," he said, readjusting his bag where it hung from his shoulder. Rick gave you a nod and continued down the hall to his next class. Usually, you would walk with him since your class was on the way, but apparently Mr. McFarlane had different plans.

You moved further into the room again, playing with the loose end of your backpack strap. After sitting at a desk for 45 minutes, you were itching to at least walk a bit before having to do it again. "So, am I not doing as well in class as I thought?"

"No, no. Your work so far has been excellent." Mr. McFarlane sat on the edge of his desk with a sigh. "Myself and a few other teachers are...concerned about your friendship with Rick Harris."

"It's Tyler, not Harris." Rick had mentioned how he used to go by a different last name before he found out who his dad really was. Some of the teachers hadn't gotten with the program yet, which made you feel bad for him. You were going through something similar—having to go by Swift in public instead of Garrick—but at least you had the name of someone who loved you. While Harris was also Rick's mom's name, his uncle had soured it. "Why is there concern?"

"I know you're new to Blue Valley, but Mr. H–Tyler is not. He has a certain reputation for behavioral issues, and I would hate to see a bright student like yourself get involved with someone who could be a bad influence."

"I–"

"Excuse me?" Since school began, you'd been nothing but respectful to your teachers, just like your father taught you. At that moment, you weren't really feeling it anymore. "You obviously don't know Rick very well at all. He's a good person and a good friend, and I'm not going to stop being friends with him just because the teachers here want to be judgemental towards certain students."

"I need to go or else I'll be late to my next class. We wouldn't want Mrs. Thomas to think I'm being corrupted by a bad influence."

Without waiting for him to say anything else or dismiss you, you simply walked out, bumping right into Cameron Mahkent as he approached the door. You stared at him a moment before giving him a nervous smile. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it," he said before entering the classroom.

You couldn't help the shiver up your spine knowing that he was Icicle's son. But that didn't do much to stop your annoyance at Mr. McFarlane as you quickly headed down the hallway towards your next class.

"Ugh, I think I'm out of snacks."

You continued to dig through the front pocket of your bag just in case, but you were pretty sure you'd eaten your last package of crackers when you first met Rick at The Pit Stop that evening.

"Here..." Rick opened up his backpack and took out a candy bar, handing it over to you.

"You don't have to give me your food. I can go run and find something."

"It's fine," he said, turning back to his homework. It wasn't like he actually ate that type of candy bar anyway—he was more of a nutty buddy guy—but you didn't need to know that he kept his own stash for you. After all, he'd feel pretty bad if you crashed while hanging out with him.

You smiled at him and opened the wrapper. "Thanks." As you took a bite, you flipped through the assignments in your binder to find the next unfinished one, and you rolled your eyes when you saw the subject at the top. "Mr. McFarlane. What a jerk," you mumbled.

Rick glanced at you as you pulled the packet out and started writing on it. "You never told me what he wanted to talk to you about." You were acting strange the next time he saw you afterward, but you'd avoided saying anything.

"Because it was stupid." And because you thought it would hurt him, but you suspected that it wouldn't be much of a surprise. "Apparently, you have a bad reputation and 'behavioral issues', and our teachers think you'll be a negative influence on me."

Rick put his pen down. He'd seen this coming. Beth and Courtney had both gotten the same talk. A tiny part of him hoped that things could get better with the new school year, but obviously not. "What do you think?" he asked quietly.

"I think it's complete bullshit." Rick had never heard you curse quite like that before, and he realized you must have been even more upset by this than he thought. You turned around in your seat to face him, your knees pressing into his outer thigh.

"You're one of the sweetest people I know. And you're so smart. I mean, you taught yourself chemistry so you could decode your dad's journal! That's not even mentioning how you went to fight Eclipso without your hourglass because you knew your friends needed you. You're a great friend, Rick, and I don't care what anyone else says. You're not a bad influence. The JSA is lucky to have you."

Rick smiled, willing the warmth that rushed to his cheeks to go away. "I think you're the only person that's ever called me sweet, but...thanks."

"Don't get me wrong, Beth is still the number one sweetest." You didn't turn around again, instead leaning back against the arm of the couch. "But you're very close."

He laughed softly as he went back to his work, but you didn't find yourself as motivated anymore. "You know what...." You closed your binder and shoved it into your backpack. "Do you want to take a break and grab something from Richie's? I can run us over there. Then maybe we can do some work on the hourglass."

You had taken him on runs a few times—because all of your teammates really needed to get desensitized to it—so he was mostly used to traveling at high speeds by then. The first couple of tries hadn't been so pleasant.

"Sure," he said, placing his notebook on top of his bag so he could stand.

In a blink of his eye, the two of you were at the corner where the coffee shop mural was, just out of the way enough to not be accidentally seen by anyone. And he was only a bit queasy as a result.

"Feeling okay?" you asked as you let go of him.

He took a deep breath. "Yeah, I'm good."

"Alright, let's go," you urged, crossing the empty street. "I would kill for a banana split right now."

Rick followed you with a little smile and a shake of his head.

[rickfucker]

What positive influences do you think a really good, loving relationship would have on Rick and his behavior? 🥺

i must feed my children before the premiere >:)

You’ve probably heard the phrase, “hurt people hurt people.” I think that a lot of rick’s negative feelings towards love (other than the obvious) have to do with feeling constantly rejected. Not just romantically, but from his friends and family, as well. He may be charming and charismatic, but he’s also cold, rude, argumentative, and a walking red flag. It’s clear our rick hasn’t had a significant relationship since his wife (or birdperson), and I have to assume that’s the case across the multiverse.

For you to make it past the hard exterior he portrays, you’d have to be damn patient. When you’ve been around long enough, he will push you away, because he expects that you’ll do the same eventually. Better to leave than to be left. When you refuse his behavior and the fact that you won’t stop until he has an honest conversation with you about why, he gets annoyed. Then angry. Then, confused.

In fact, I’d say those couple emotions cycle consistently when you do nice things for him, or look at him with affection, or compliment him, or are honest when he inevitably asks you why you even like him. His god complex and insecurity are constantly at odds with each other. Obviously you want to be with him; he’s a genius sexpert who can take you to space, for fucks sake. But in that same vein, he’s paranoid that it’s the only reason. 

& actually to answer the ask, your kindness towards him & patience with the relationship slowly make him realize that he’s a gigantic asshole. He already knows this, obviously, but now he feels something about it. He feels bad. When he snaps, yells, insults, or generally hurts your feelings, and then gets drunk to tell you he’s sorry, you forgive him. He harbors this guilt because he sees his behavior as something he can’t or supposedly doesn’t want to change. The more his partner reassures him that it’s okay (i mean, the pain in this man is palpable) and that you’ll be around when he’s ready to unpack all that, the safer he feels in the relationship. It translates to the other relationships he has, too, as he starts to really take note of the way his family (inconsiderate and like him as they can be) hasn’t given up on him, either.

Some of the most important things a person needs when recovering from trauma are feeling safe, having a support system, and confronting the negative self beliefs your trauma has instilled in you. He’s unlovable, he’s a failure, he only wants what he can’t have. These are things he thinks about himself subconsciously, and as love and comfort overtake what was once a lonely, pointless waste of space, he finds himself wanting to finally confide in you.

I think the thing about feeling safe for the first time in a long time is that all of worst feelings you were able to push down and away (due to the focus being on surviving the situation and not your own brain) become impossible to ignore. Those feelings need to go somewhere, and even though the happiness and comfort of a loving relationship terrifies the shit out of him, he doesn’t want to be miserable anymore. He didn’t realize how absolutely miserable he was because he didn’t know it could get better.

I have a lot of thoughts about trauma and the process of healing. Rick will never be the perfect man, he’ll probably never go to therapy long term to learn all of those sick coping skills, (he’ll probably still drink bc autism) but he likes himself more as the person who’s trying to be better than the person who refused to. Mostly because he loves seeing you happy because of him.

[blowflyfag]

WRESTLING ALL STARS: Heroes and Villains : JUNE 1996

A LOOK AT THE LADIES! Female Managers are the New Trend in the Sport.

By George Napolitano

[Woman is rumored to be returning to WCW as we go to press. That would put her right smack in the way of Miss Elizabeth.

Will Miss Elizabeth’s surprise return establish her as the First lady of Professional Wrestling?]

Have you noticed how many female managers there are these days? It’s absolutely mind boggling. What was once a profession dominated by men has now been overrun by women! 

Heading the list in Sensuous Sherri. Sherri has been managing much longer than her counterparts, and in her illustrious career Sherri has guided quite a few men to super-stardom! Sherri began her managerial career in the AWA, and men under her influence have won titles in the AWA, WWF and WCW. Sherri was the first person to notice that Shawn Michaels had what it takes to be a champion. And even though her “Boy Toy” didn’t win a title while under her guidance, Michaels credits Sherri with instilling in him the moves, style and attitude that have catapulted him to the top. 

Goldust, the bizarre character who is the new WWFIntercontinental champion, didn’t get to be the champion on his “gay” mannerisms and good looks. The Director, Marlene, had quite a bit to do with directing the bizarre Goldust to the #1 position. It’s believed that Marlene orchestrated Goldust’s entire look and persona, even going as far as directing Goldust’s intimidating “Crush” on Razor Ramon. Now that Goldust has the IC title his Director must be given due for orchestrating the entire thing. 

[Sunny’s gym attire drives males nuts. Whenever she keeps the opponents from concentrating, she helps the Body Donnas: Skip & Zip]

The person emulated by many of the new breed of women managers is the sexy, alluring, beauty known as Woman. Woman has been around for quite a few years. Before maturing, she was known as the Fallen Angel. She was brought into the sport in the mid eighties by Kevin Sullivan. Later, she became known simply as Woman, and she was instrumental in taking Doom to the top. After her success with Doom, Woman gained notoriety as Ric Flair’s manager, and this arrangement lasted a couple of years. After a short time in retirement, Woman returned to the scene and she immediately helped the Sandman win the ECW heavyweight title. Although she is still with the Sandman, there is a strong possibility that Woman could soon be Macho Man’s new lady. 

[Bad Girl: Miss Alexandra is a real hell-cat who is part of Damian Kane’s Bad Crew.]

No one can deny that Sunny of the Body Donnas is the driving force behind her team’s success. Although the Body Donnas have yet to win a title, Sunny has created quite a bit of excitement in the WWF. RIght now Sunny wants to help her team to the WWF tag team title, but if Skip and Zip are unsuccessful in their title quest, look for Sunny to dump them and hook up with someone who will produce a championship. 

Kimberly, the Diamond Doll, began her career as Diamond Dallas Page’s main squeeze but after a falling out with DDP, Kimberly wound up in the corner of his arch-rival, Johnny B.Badd. If Page ever changes his evil ways, KImberly could be back in his corner. 

[Freaky Francine loves leather, as does the tag team she manages, the Pit Bulls.]

Beulah and Francine from ECW are two of the new breed of women managers. Both are young, beautiful and daring. Each has a tag-team title to their credit. Beulah with Raven and Richards and Francine with the Pit Bulls. Both of these ladies would think nothing of jumping in the ring and lending their men a helping hand. Using this approach, however, both Francines and Beulah have suffered broken bones and bruises, but this hasn’t stopped them in the least from helping their men. 

[The lovely Miss Patricia has taken the Warlord and Rick Martel to championships. Can she do the same for The Border Patrol.]

The “Brooklyn Babe” Miss Patricia is another relative newcomer to the managerial ranks. Although PAtricia hasn’t been around that long, she still has two championships to her credit. The Babe was in the corner when the Warlord won the USA heavyweight title, and she was also in Ric Martel’s corner when he won the USA belt. Presently, Miss Patricia is doing her thing in the USWA where she is managing the Border Patrol. 

[Sherri was the first person to notice that Shawn Michaels had what it takes to be a champion.]

Bad Girl: Miss Alexandra is part of Damian Kane’s Bad Crew. She’s a real hell-cat who’s been known to do anything imaginable to assume that her Crew comes out on top. With Bad Crew now a part of ECW you can bet that it won’t be long before Miss Alexandra gets the recognition that she craves.

Destiny is another in the long line of beautiful and daring female managers. Destiny has been guiding the career of Damien Storm in the NWA and she is also Jerry Lawler’s female attendant whenever he wrestles in New Jersey for the NWA. 

Last, but certainly not least, is the latest addition to the managerial ranks, the lovely Elizabeth. On January 24, after more than five years away from the wrestling scene, Elizabeth returned to the sport at the Clash Of the Champions in Las Vegas, Nevada. Elizabeth was at ringside to manage her former team “The Mega-Powers”: Hulk Hogan and “Macho Man” Randy Savage in their battle against Ric Flair and the Giant. 

[Sister Sherri (left) had her wedding to Colonel Park disrupted by the colonel’s “cupcake-on-the-side”: Madusa!]

In the early eighties Elizabeth was all the rage! She was instrumental in helping “Macho Man” Randy Savage become the star that he is today. The two eventually married in center ring at Madison Square Garden during a Summer Slam card, but their story book romance eventually crumbled. Afterwards, Liz left the sport, while Randy continued on to even greater heights. 

Elizabeth’s appearance at the Clash caught the wrestling world completely off guard. Although it had been rumored for months that Elizabeth was going to return, no one really believed that it would ever come to pass. Now that Elizabethe has climbed back into the ring, everyone is wondering if that was only a one-time thing or a sign of things to come. 

From this it is obvious that the female managers are giving their male counterparts a run for the money. With the success that these female managers have enjoyed we should be seeing even more join the ranks in the coming months.

[marinerainbow]

I know that the fandom isn't big, but after rewatching the movie, I have something to share with the... 5 people who like this movie XD

Happily N'Ever After Headcannons

Actually, considering how little lore we have for this world, I guess this is more of a 'if I directed the movie' post? Or me just projecting my love for hidden lore onto this movie? XD

Alright, let's get the biggest plothole out of the way; how come some characters seem to know what's going on (Rick, possibly the prince), while others don't (Frieda, Cinderella, etc)? Well, I think that since the Wizard lives above the castle, I'm guessing that the royal family, and those connected to them like the servants, know that their fates are intertwined with Fairytales and scales, and that these stories have played out over and over again. Some know more than others, but still.

The royalty of Cinderella's story, in particular, knows most I think. The royal portrait we see the bad guys throwing swords at shows the prince flanked by who I'm guessing are his parents. And it looks like they are passing onto him the same instruction manual that he's practically glued to. When you connect this to how... Dead eyed the other royals are (Rapunzel in particular. Did anybody notice how she's just... Staring off into space all the time? Only showing emotion when her prince shows up?), my guess is that since these stories have played out so many times, some of the characters have basically become brain dead- or are on auto pilot at best- and the King and Queen saw this in their son, and tried to make it easier for him to stay on track. Even though they knew that the wizard would ensure he married his Cinderella.

We don't see much of the bad guys in this movie. However, since that one troll said "I've never seen that before!" When Frieda summoned her beacon, I'm guessing the majority of them are aware of the rules of Fairytale Land. Or at least that they keep finding themselves repeating history. Since these villains can get gruesome ends (especially since these seem to be Grimms Fairytales. If you know, you know 💀), my guess is that their endings make it really stick with them. And maybe since they aren't dead eyed, they're the ones constantly trying to change their endings (being more aggressive, trying new tactics, etc), but since they couldn't temper with the scales like Frieda, none of them were successful before.

So tldr; the royals know what's going on because they're neighbors with the wizard, the majority of Fairytale Land is suffering from numb braincells since their lives are being carried out for them, and the villains are trying to fight the scales that are literally tipped against them. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's move onto other aspects of the movie.

I know the wizard barely has 2 minutes if screen time, but I like to think he's one of the Grimm Brothers. I mean, it's right there! No Fairytale Flip Media is complete without utilizing the Brothers Grimm being the guys in charge. But if that's the case, where's the other brother? I think he might be on our side of the world. Maybe The Wizard was meeting his brother in Scotland? Maybe his brother is making sure that the Fairytales are still loved- and in turn, alive- by us? That's what I'm thinking.

That could explain how Fairytale Land has some modern influence/technology. The Dwarves' defenses and the witches' motorcycle-esque brooms, for instance. The second brother brought some technology from our world to Fairytale Land at some point, and The Wizard just had to make it roll with the stories... Which shouldn't be too far fetched considering he was completely cool with Ella staying with Rick in the end (assuming he didn't reset her story as usual).

It is hard to say for sure whether everyone is immortal, or the stories are passed down onto the next generation. However, I'm thinking that, as long as your story doesn't end with your death, you won't die (I mean, Jack survived being squashed into a pancake. I know this is a kids movie, but I need to make lore here-). And if you do die, you are ressurected for the sake of the story repeating itself.

The Wizard does have other assistants outside of Munk and Mambo. The Fairy Godmother is one of them. However, since she gets Cinderella confused with Pinocchio at first, I'm thinking maybe she's in charge of all the 'magic fairy' roles in the stories. As such, she's kind of... Got her mind wrapped around other stuff 😅 not to mention she's pretty old. Overworked, probably as old as Fairytale Land itself, is it any wonder she spends her downtime singing and dancing with mice?

There aren't much, but these are all I got so far about the world itself rather than the individual characters. I hope you guys like these! (And for those who love them just as much as I do, don't worry. I'm gonna make a HC set for the three big Bad wolves too. They were the highlight of the film next to Frieda)

[glitteringcrab]

Rick and Morty unresolved plot points (I think)

Cocky Morty

Rick: Just don't get too big for your loafers, Buster Brown. A cocky Morty can lead to some big problems. Can be a real bad thing for everybody.

Morty: Oh yeah? How's that?

Rick: Uhhhhh...I...I'll explain when you're older.

By the end of the episode, the blatantly obvious cocky Morty to us viewers is Evil Morty... However, Rick C-137 didn't know that and wasn't referring to that.

Which means there has been a previous incident (or incidents) where a Morty went sorta rogue and, like with Evil Morty, all hell broke loose.

The "I'll explain when you're older part" initially comes off as... I dunno. I mean it's the sort of thing you tell a child when they ask about the birds and the bees (which is obviously unrelated here).

Or, when a child asks a difficult question which has a complicated answer which requires years of wisdom, experiences and insight to understand.

I get the feeling Rick was avoiding the question because he felt Morty would NOT like the answer. And, given Rick's (and Ricks') past and his narcissistic tendencies, I wouldn't be surprised if he is at least partially to blame for the reason the answer would not be easy.

Now, we've seen Morty Prime getting sliiiiightly unhinged when the "right" (wrong) circumstances present themselves (purge episode, the time he shot Rick in blind fury in the citadel, death crystals episode, narnia episode) and I've read a theory that there is something inherently wrong with Morty, and that Rick's constant criticism is keeping it in check. That Mortys HAVE to stay with their heads down, because otherwise they'd be dangerous.

However, I don't think that's true. I feel like if that's what Rick was going for, that would be gaslighting. The idea that abuse is good for the victim, that the victim is irrational for not liking being abused is pretty manipulative. And Rick is absolutely abusive. He constantly belittled Morty (more so in the previous seasons), made fun of him, manipulated him out of his netflix dream, is currently forcing him to sell drugs, and... well, the worst episode for me was the vat of acid. I kid you not, I felt literal disgust for Rick during that episode. That episode was like a punch in the gut for me. The abuse is always so absurd it's played for laughs, but in that episode I did not find it funny at all. The pettiness and cruelty of it felt way too real.

Morty Prime does seem to be in danger of veering off to the wrong path, but if that happens, I think the reason would be Rick's influence, worldview, and the fact that Morty Prime is constantly exposed to danger and violence. Not the lack of constant criticism on Rick's part.

Back to the matter at hand: what would a cocky Morty do? What is a cocky Morty? As I understand it, a cocky Morty is a Morty who thinks he's better than Rick; or otherwise, a Morty who thinks Rick is less (less clever, less capable, less valuable) than a Morty. Or conversely, a Morty who thinks Rick can be defeated by a Morty. A Morty who thinks Rick SHOULD be defeated, and who is willing to try. It's not a Morty who becomes narcissistic enough to think that he, Morty, is a super-powerful god; it's a Morty who understands Rick is NOT a super-powerful god, but a human being who has as many failings as everybody else and can be treated as such. A Morty who holds Ricks accountable.

I think a cocky Morty is simply a Morty who doesn't let himself be abused anymore. A Morty who stands up to Rick and stands his ground. My guess is that the majority of Ricks would not tolerate that and retaliate... And given the "big problems, real bad think for everybody" part I think it's safe to surmise that said cocky Morty would be QUITE CAPABLE of wrecking as much havoc as Ricks do. E.g. imagine a Morty who discovers the Morty Factory and decides to try everything in their power to stop it-- if said Morty has even 1/10 of Evil Morty's capabilities, then all hell would break loose, with many Rick casualties. Or, to not go to such extremes, a cocky Morty who constantly stands up to their Rick would lead to a progressively more aggressive Rick who would try to re-assert his dominance in increasingly cruel ways. Not fun for anyone involved.

2. Morty factory - it's complicated

When confronted by Morty Prime on the matter of the Morty Factory, Rick C-137 said "it's not the whole truth" (to which the answer was "liar") and then he added "it's complicated".

When Morty Prime insisted on wanting answers right then and there, Rick changed the subject by breaking free and attacking Evil Morty's guards.

We never found out what the "complicated" and "the whole truth" part were. Sure, we saw Rick's downloaded brain, but that held no answers (other than his tragic backstory). We saw that he did not agree with what was going on in the citadel, but we didn't see exactly WHAT was going on- or why.

Evil Morty's parting words were "you can't outrun your past, Rick".

I can understand why Rick C-137 would create the Central Finite Curve (so that Rick Prime could get trapped inside) but if the Morty Factory was simply a byproduct of other Ricks' actions, why would Evil Morty hold him accountable? The Central Finite Curve traps Mortys in Rick universe, sure, but the Morty Factory would have occurred one way or another. Although, from the moment the Ricks banded together, they'd all find out about the Morty brainwaves thing, and therefore the demand for Mortys would soar; so I guess Rick IS kinda accountable.

Still, I feel like there is something more that might have happened, and that we don't have the full picture yet.

3. One True Morty

Initially I thought this was a (hilarious) joke (and it could very well be simply that), but... it's oddly specific. Given that this is a universe where there are clones of Mortys... I dunno. There could be more to it. It could be an actual person.

4. Oh man, he built it again

What Rick C-137 said the moment he approached Rick Prime's Omega Device:

Originally I thought it was referring to the weird trippy base Rick Prime had in Season 6, Episode 1:

But then I remembered that Rick C-137 hadn't really destroyed that. He had run off to help Domestic Beth and Space Beth. Theoretically it self-destructed afterwards, but I don't think that's what Rick C-137 was really referring to. Also, if you look at the screenshots, it looks quite different.

Rick C-137 also didn't seem surprised to hear that Diane had been wiped across all dimensions (he even said "I don't wanna talk about this" to Morty and Evil Morty) AND he had already heard the name "Omega Device".

The conclusion I'm getting is that Rick C-137 had already destroyed Rick Prime's first Omega Device... Which Rick Prime improved on, since it can now "fire more than once".