#As long as we do plotting behind the scenes to figure out details

[cherri-balms]

♡﹕𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓, 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓! — PROLOGUE

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A/N﹕YAY I FINALLY FINISHED THE PROLOGUE FOR MY FIRST SERIES!

This is the first full fledged fanfic I have written in a long time, I hope anyone who finds this finds it enjoyable, I had a fun time writing this prologue chapter and I currently have around a 10-12 chapter vision for this series as it stands, but if this proves to be something you guys like I will be happy to extend the series! I do plan to create a tag list, if you would like to be added shoot me a DM and I will add you to the list! As always any replies will be made through our main acc @caravan-mad!

This prologue pretty much gives most if not all the information about the reader aside from important plot details. I wanted the reader's demon form and time period to be as ambiguous as possible and limit the use of Y/N, the reader in this story has allegories to butterflies.

Not all chapters will have warnings nor does this one, however the full fic will contain dark content and will be under the dead dove do not eat tag.

Some content will include but are not limited to: Unhealthy relationship dynamics, N.SFW, Unrequited love, Yandere themes, Dubcon, and pretty much any tag youd find listed in Hazbin Hotel tbh

𝐄 × 𝐌/𝐅 × 𝟐.𝟔𝐤 × 𝐎𝐧𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 × 𝐀𝐎𝟑

♡﹕Bored at work performing repetitive choreography and pleasing faceless demons, you find yourself reminiscing on life, death, and limbo.

♫ envy baby ~ ♫

“Lights clear? Sounds clear?” 

“We’ve been fucking over this Steven! We’ll know it’s clear when they finally stop tuning our shit-” 

“Anne chill, we still have six minutes till airing. Don’t waste all your energy on the roadie.” 

“That crowd doesn’t seem to be getting any quieter does it…” The little imp’s observations were now only being met by eyerolls and silent treatment by the two drummer girls as the completed instruments silenced in countdown. 

Lights crew above, sounds crew from behind, and effects team surround. The way every single backstage member of your cast would run and scurry around you to get their various tasks done always made you think of little mice, rats even, so worked up making sure everything was in perfect position before those curtains had a chance to stop separating you, from them.

It was cute enough to make you laugh as though you were still a highschool girl.

“Broadcasting live in 60 seconds!” Dark blue scene lighting begins to fade your entire surrounding to a pitch black, and among doing so freezes your little mice into statues all around. Only the tiniest crack in the fabric ahead illuminated the space with a sharp vertical line down the curves of the figure that stands as the adorning center piece of this particular attraction. Roaring bass brings about a quake to the stage beneath your feet, queuing time for you to give your puppies a treat.

“Awwwe~ Did we leave you waiting long?” The volume of pure passionate devotion always rang to your ears louder than any electrical speaker could achieve. 

The wave of the new future adorned in electrical inventions was something you’ve always been prepared to face; why even in the faint blur of the overworld it was all the grown ups could ever yap enough of! No, that wasn’t where that bitter taste came from.

In the full truth of things, you just never knew you’d stick around long enough to bear full witness to its infection of mankind.

Oh come on. Who are we kidding right now?

“Hi. I wanna people save, all right? ”

You’ve never been more liberated.

“You’re in m-my way!!”

Your eyes have but a second to adjust to the flood of bright neon before life hits play once again. The choreography you, and and the other 4 devils fanned out beside you have programmed into your bodies for the past months flow across the stage with ease. among the camera men you can make out the mass of waving pen lights stirred ablaze after the long anticipation, oh how you love they always use the color dearest to your heart…

“The tightrope falls, broken by others”

Once you felt the rushing high of the stage the first time around tolerance for it subsided immediately after. You’ve seen the looks on those poor saps down in the front row, each one hyper fixated on every movement you make wishing they could be you, or be up here with you.

And of course, you all flash them bright smiles, longing gazes and praise them with verses of purity more fitting for the angelic souls looming up above. Customer service is the utmost desired, as they say!

“What a lady, she’s gonna jump

towards the light and shatter humiliatingly”

Actually, can you even remember when your first performance was? How old were you even? All of this came from a cheap shot of gaining a few quick pennies back in the day. Landing yourself a handsome and rich husband with the filth you wore on your back was the first childhood dream you found dead on arrival, but what you were cursed in status you were blessed with the cuteness that made kittens hiss in envy. To say you had “the voice of a goddess” would mayhaps be a bit too presumptuous, but who were you to refute the compliment when it came your way?

Well, maybe trying to parse through finding the day your career debuted or took off was a fool's errand, but the moment it ended certainly still remains as a burned film stuck to your mind. You stopped caring about the “Oh woes me~ what did I do to deserve this~” a long time ago. Still, the punishment you received in death far exceeded what you ever did to earn in your eyes, more so than your sentencing of eternal damnation.

“High and without care I’m lonely, lonely”

Right on que, as always every time you reach exactly 32 seconds into your first song the intrusive memory flashes the same images of the past over your current reality it almost feels as if you were stuck suffering that fate again each time.

You wish there was more to say on the matter of your demise, but there’s only a brief two second window between staring down some heckling loud mouth making a scene in the crowd and a bomb beneath the stage going off before your soul is falling down under the earth’s crust as a blazing comet onto the asphalt below.

And two days before your 21st birthday too are you serious?! UN-Fucking believable!

“From their idle words, the clown becomes a prisoner”

The only thing you wanted to do was scream in the immense burning agony you were suffering until the whole world knew the kind of pain you were in, but each time you cried not even a croak could get past your scorched throat

Even after the blazes subsided and your charred cocoon was all that was left behind, the inferno decided your vocal chords were going to be its payment.

…. That was it?

This was your payout…

And after all that work…

“It’s the same love as always, no way I’d have regrets”

Surreal didn’t even begin to describe what became of the following weeks, months, you haven’t a clue. The construct of night and day seemed to mean jack in the bizzare wonderland of maddness holding you, only so much telling what shade of putrid red in the sky was darker than the same shade of fucking red from two hours ago! What a productive way to spend your newfound endless time!

Every aspect of this place made you absolutely sick, enough so to have you still praying you just were drugged and having the worst trip of your fucking life, but the horror in maddness is the consistency that lies between the lines. You’re certain that damned illuminated “WELCOME TO HELL!” sign and the stranger you befriended in the mirror was that line that made you finally cave.

“Hey, it's a amazing.”

Honestly, you couldn’t say what specifically led you into the epiphany you had, all of a sudden one day you heard a sudden snapping sound in your conscience, and like that everything made sense to you. Why your life was snuffed before you could emerge from your cocoon, why your makers deemed this your new home, and why that bomb taking your life just wasn’t enough to deem your afterlife a hell.

There was a certain liberation that came with hell that you were never going to get being the glowing little diamond you were in human society, through terrorism, cannibalism and bloodshed one thing would remain a constant throughout devil society. No one would ever give a damn about anything.

Hell became your fucking playground by the time your first extermination came around, and keeping on the move while broke as shit was a cakewalk this time around, but your first encounter with an overlord after catching your foot in the grave in the casino humbled your inflating ego. Chaos for society did not necessarily mean chaos without hierarchy, and going without a voice to call your own put you at an extreme disadvantage.

“LA-LA-LA!”

The crescendo of the opener is right around the corner, for the leading front and center of your group your vocals and choreography had primarily remained reserved for backup. The primary color of lights among the crowd made the obvious clear with who the majority of these demons were here to see, your manager was aware of this more than anyone else.

Your fans tended to be aware of this for a majority of your shows, your parts in particular tended to stand out even as mere background vocals.

“I’m ready for this this lover baby! 

My garden of love is in danger from a drawing hand. 

Truly, this this lover’s crazy! 

In the garden of harm, the bud of a human is a lie-ai-a!”

Sinners rejoice once the solo everyone was edging towards drops with the bass of the loudspeakers and the flares of the strobes above. The pitches your vocals were now capable of hitting and the frequency you were able to synthesize between notes wasn’t just inhuman, it was impossible for any singer whose notes carried on oxygen.

Your manager always made it a note in the writing room or when creating your setlists that overfeeding wolves with delicious treats would dull the taste over time, your solo singles often did well enough to prove this didn’t need to always be the case, but whenever it came to the business decisions you always put your full trust in him. Where you are standing right now is more than enough proof in your eyes that he knew exactly where and when to move his pawns, and in doing so he turned you into a valiant queen.

“Ah! I love you and even things about you I probably shouldn’t love 

I love you too much, on a count of one and two 

Lie-lie loving you, such words 

and doing such things, you’re in m-my way!”

Survival was of the least of your concerns after so much time had passed, but survival was all you could find yourself able to do in your forced retirement. Where you yearn for character in sound you were able to temporarily find when turning to radio, but living vicariously only quenches so much before greed starts cozying up within.

Plausible excuses for your laziness were wearing thinner by the day, even the last sane smolder of human morality trying to keep itself sparked wanted nothing more than to argue you weren’t supposed to be living to the fullest in hell, but the mute silence in your throat was beginning to phase your memory of the voice your inner conscience called its own too, and you'd sooner go mad trying than wither away again a fucking waste.

“Here comes the love maniac who never misses,

Stack up all the whining,

Fall in a high-fi love lie-ai-a!”

Overlords were still beings that had you nauseous upon first glance, your first meeting of one of these overlords had you vowing to never end up in the claws of one again, should you find yourself in a deal you can’t unbind yourself out of. Pride stuck thick to the roof of your mouth and there was nothing more you wanted to do than stick to your morals and prove use on your own, but reality had pelted you with stones throughout your entire afterlife.

You were going to need to write out a loan before you’d find yourself with any ounce of power to call your own, not like you didn’t have options for whom to choose! Even so, you needed to keep a steady head and an even sharper nose. In your ponderance you'd come to realize there was only really one option for you to go to this whole time. Maybe that gambling kitty taught you a valuable lesson on staking bets in the long run.

“Copy their acting and keep the truth hidden

Stacking three and lonely, lonely 

You’re surely a clown, a prisoner”

A bet on the future was what you were going to stake it all on.

“Copy their acting and keep the truth hidden

Stacking three and lonely, lonely 

You’re surely a clown, a prisoner”

Everything about how the world operated changed so rapidly from the days walking in the sunlight to your eternal party in the redlight, the wave of the future had finally hit with the promise for a solution to everyones problems. There couldn’t have been any better timing, if technology was going to be the way of the future, who's to say you couldn’t prove what was achievable? Like that, you had your sales pitch. The hardest part on your end was complete.

“Hey, it's a amazing.

LA-LA-LA!”

“So you were a singer in life and lost your voice in death, and just what the fuck made you think I was the man to go to for this?” Those were the magic words you were waiting for, with his composure shaken it wasn’t long before he was the one asking the questions and allowing the ball to move into your court. Your fingers dance on the illuminated tablet laying on the table once again before you flip it over toward his direction.

~Have your inventions not made it to that level of advancement yet?

Hook, line, and sinker. You had a hunch a passive aggressive challenge toward the ego would be what ultimately won you over with any overlord you chose, but the speed in which he stood from his desk and held out his hand, it felt almost too easy.

“If it’s a new voice you wish to invest in, consider your stocks opened, Monarch!” Finally…

“I’m ready for this this lover baby! 

My garden of love is in danger from a drawing hand.”

“Now for what you have to offer me,” You don’t care. “I hope you weren’t planning on extorting me out of a generous gift and then making the big bucks with it, hm?” These overlords just love to hear themselves go on.

“Truly, this this lover’s crazy! 

In the garden of harm, the bud of a human is a lie-ai-a!”

“I suppose I could just issue a royalty for your voice, after all you wouldn’t be making a sound without my tech. Lucky for you, I’ve been having fleeting thoughts of entering the music industry. So why not invest in each other instead~”

“Ah I love you and even things about you I probably shouldn’t love 

I love you too much, on a count of one and two”

Being owned by an overlord in the end wasn’t so bad, or maybe this is the fated “stockholm syndrome” everyone seems to be crying about these days. Either way, the biggest price you had to pay in the end was just having someone else do all the “business” part in show business.

Naive maybe, but rosey eyed you weren't. For all that he’s done you still fail to see how your end of the deal has in any way repaid what’s given, which can only lead to one thing down the line. You were going to have to give him your everything.

… Yet, how could you find yourself ungrateful to someone who fulfilled your afterlife dream and still continued to provide for you?

“Lie-lie loving you, such words and even such things, they’re in m-my way!”

The audience went absolutely ballistic at the final group pose signifying the end of your opening set, some of the really hardcore fans in the front row you swore passed out the second eye contact was made.

Yet when you turn your chin upward to the VIP section after performing your tricks so well, all you’re met with is a turned back and a schmoozed up producer instead of a tasty bone.

“Thank each and every one of you for coming to see us tonight!!” No, you only wanted him to come out to see you.

Only you.

Hey, Vox?

Can you just turn your stupid flat head this way?

[peculiar-potato]

Among Us animated series trailer analysis post!

(+ a theory on who dies first and who the impostor might be!)

here’s the trailer if you want to watch it yourself :)

This is going to be pretty long, whoops.

~~~~

Firstly, overall impressions on the tone/artstyle!

I mentioned a lot about the art style and everything in my first analysis post, but I just want to reiterate that it’s fun and I like it, and I like seeing how they take details of the game and translate them into the show.

From what I can tell the tone seems pretty lighthearted, well, as lighthearted as a murder mystery can be. It’s a little silly but in a charming way- but with a slight hint of dread. Kinda what I expected.

I think there’s still probably a little way to go before the show is ready considering there were no voice lines in the trailer, and it seemed more like “these are the characters look how fun they are” then actual plot/scenes, but that’s okay I actually really like that we’re not really seeing any glimpses of the plot or voice acting yet!

Anyways, now to the actual trailer!

So opening shot here is The Skeld. We already kinda knew it was going to be set there, but confirmation! At the moment I don’t think the planet/moon/asteroid thing behind them is important, it’s probably just to fill up the background, but who knows, it could be something!

Maybe impostor(s) come from there or something… or maybe it’s just a rock in space.

(My theories get better I promise)

With this image, we finally have an answer to my question from last time- what kind of pizza do the beans eat?

I noticed immediately that there was prosciutto and arugula (a specific kind of bitter lettuce) on the pizza, and with a little googling and a few subsequent suggested searches, I managed to find recipes for fig and prosciutto pizza with, you guessed it, arugula and cheese. (There were multiple kinds of cheese it could be- goat, gorgonzola, mozzarella to name a few)

So those round things are figs. Who would have thought?

Next up we see our first glance of the additional room they added to the Skeld for the show- the kitchen! And the first glance at a depiction of an impostor!

Yellow and Brown seem like good buddies. I wonder how long that friendship will last when impostor stuff starts happening.

My guess is the depiction of the impostor here is a bit more figurative- Nobody really notices them (expect one bean, but we’ll get to that later), and they just kinda seem to be lurking around being scary. Feels more like, idk the idea of an impostor than the actual impostor? I don’t know if I’m explaining that super well.

Maybe this is like the impostor checking out the crew before they start actually impostoring. Idk.

Also, seems like one shadow (although who knows honestly). Maybe it’s a sign of there just being one among the crew? …or maybe I’ve flipped the other way and am interpreting this too literally now.

Regardless, the impostor(s) do/does certainly seem very alieny.

(Alternate impostor conspiracy theories- impostor switches between crewmates/they’re all impostors (which would kinda defeat the purpose tho) or everyone’s just paranoid and there is no impostor (I feel like people would get disappointed by that though so they wouldn’t do it)).

After that we head to navigation.

Here, Red is slacking off playing video games (oddly enough with a human in them- as someone pointed out in the Innersloth discord server, which has some interesting implications. To expand on that myself, it seems like a kind of ancient-civilization human, which is interesting. I tried to figure out what game this is with a reverse image search but I couldn’t, I wonder if it’s a real game or something one of the devs made or something else.)

Anyways Red receives a call from a shadowy figure, presumably a boss of some sort, and scrambles to look like they’re doing what they’re supposed to. The image looks kinda similar to how they’re animating the impostor, but this could be an intentional red herring or just how they’re showing an unrevealed character or an “everyman” type being. Regardless, vaguely ominous.

As for navigation itself, I like the vibes honestly. I want to go there. I love the little headslug bobble head and a lot of the details in the background. Can’t assign everything there directly to a task, but it does have the three consoles and the chair. Also I noticed the bright yellow sticky note- like the “dum” visor cosmetic! I wonder what those papers on the floor say.

Next we’re in the cafeteria. (You can tell by the coloring of the wall, this is probably the vent near weapons)

A couple things I noticed here!

First of all, everyone’s very nonchalant about Lime venting. That seems to mean it’s established that Lime is an engineer like the role in the game (honestly I’m a little surprised a new role was included here!) and that the crew knows this and doesn’t think Lime traveling though vents is a big deal. Will this extend to other crewmembers? Will this put suspicion on Lime as things progress? Who knows!

Also, small thing here, but Cyan signs Orange’s waiver (on the clipboard they seem to carry with them everywhere) simply as “Cyan”. I assumed they would just be going by colors the whole time and not have names or anything, but this kinda confirms that.

(By extension, maybe colors aren’t even codenames or anything for them lore-wise, maybe their names are literally their colors. Also makes me think there may be just one of each color in the entire series if they sign simply as a color. Then again, here I am over analyzing small details again.)

We follow Lime through a vent and into the reactor, which is being watched on the cameras by Purple.

I don’t have a ton to say about Purple, they just seem to be doing their job here. I do find it interesting that the shadow blocks out the reactor camera and then makes it malfunction (is something going to happen in there?) but it may just be a kind of moving the trailer forward type thing.

Also, side note, what’s Lime’s deal with the reactor? They run up to it and snuggle it with hearts floating above them. Engineer really loves their engine I guess haha. I know people have to have already been meming this.

Next is a scene in the medbay.

They do seem to have the medical scanner in the background there, so I wonder if that visual task will ever come into play.

Also I see the MIRA logo on a poster in the background, so my guess is they are somehow under/related to the MIRA corporation.

Green is blushing as Blue checks their reflexes. I remember Blue’s character being described as very attractive, so it could be possible that everyone gets that way around them, or it could just be Green. Idk I’m not here to navigate the minefield that is shipping beans.

White is busy swirling around wine(?) until of course, the impostor shadow thing creeps in as with all the other scenes.

This time, however, someone notices. White.

My guess is White is going to die, and they’re going to die pretty early on.

I was already kinda suspecting White was going to die first simply because of how their character is described. Rich, here because they won some kind of contest, seems to be a bit of a jerk. Feels like the kind of person who would die first idk, just a vibe I’ve had for a while.

Also, I was thinking that 11 is kind of an interesting number, especially considering there were 12 original colors. (Side note, my guess is they’re waiting to include Pink alongside Coral and Rose as “the pinks” or something if they add the new colors in a later season). I feel like maybe they wanted a main crew of ten (because that is what the original lobby size is and thus what a lot of people associate with the game), but needed someone to die early to set up the plot so they needed up with 11.

Now, White being the first and only one to notice the shadow creeping around, and to immediately look terrified and be overtaken by it on screen? My guess is they’re the first to go.

One could also argue that this is an indication of them being an impostor, but idk that feels too obvious of a way to reveal that. (Also I have a different theory as to who it could be). My guess is we won’t know who the impostor is as the audience for a while.

Finally we have this image. I have quite a bit to say about this one!

First of all, I just love this image in general. Makes me so happy to see all the beans!

Anyways, the impostor shadow thing comes in and covers the “not” in “we’re not dead” and I love that I think that’s fun. Also, again, love the falling apart blinds (why are there blinds on a spaceship?) and the balloons duct taped to the window.

We also see them eating the aforementioned fig and prosciutto pizza. There are also a lot of red spheres on the table, which I haven’t quite figured out yet. Fruits of some kind? Or decorations perhaps? Maybe all red gumballs? Whatever they are, Orange is holding one. There’s bologna or summer sausage or something near Brown, and a gray disk in front of it. Not sure about that either, looks kinda like a giant coin, or one of those round lights you tap to turn on and off. Red’s reading what seems to be a rule book (they really don’t seem prepared aha), and there’s also an image of a crewmate on the other side. I can’t tell if it’s supposed to be Pink or Tan.

Blue has a piece of paper with a skull on it which looks pretty ominous, and Brown is holding a knife, but I think those are just red herrings related to their professions. Blue’s a doctor and Brown’s a chef, and Yellow is also holding a cooking implement.

Also, once again, no sign of an emergency meeting button. (Unless the weird gray circle is related somehow?)

With that I was almost ready to wrap up the analysis…

but then I noticed something.

Idk if it’s just me but this image is giving the vibe of the Leonardo Da Vinci painting The Last Supper. I don’t know where my mind pulled this from, but I just kinda looked at it was like… wait this looks familiar. At first I thought it was just my brain making connections, but when you look at the two images right beside each other, it seems like a pretty deliberate parallel.

If it is intentional… Orange is in almost the exact same position that Judas (the betrayer) was in in the painting.

Just saying ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Maybe the red gumball thing made them an impostor /s

Also, just spitballing here, not really part of the theory, if Orange is working against the crew (either as an impostor or an accomplice), and they’re apparently affiliated with HR… what kind of implications could this have for the lore as a whole? Red’s probably just talking to their boss or something, but it feels ominous- what if MIRA (assuming that’s who’s in charge here) is in on the whole impostor thing?

But again, this is also kind of obvious of a hint, so I’m slightly skeptical of it.

Anyways, lots to think about with this, as you can tell I’m pretty excited.

[ladysomething]

The most recent chap of where you go, I go was incredible, you are truly the most talented!!!!! I could literally fill up your inbox talking about this fic, I love it so much and I literally don’t have all the words to express how obsessed I am with it!!! And your other f1 fics!! Everything you write is so amazing!!

I love how much tension/suspense there is in wygig, and I’m having so much fun trying to figure out what I think is going to happen later in the fic based on the hints (or at least what I think are hints lol) you drop in each chapter, and just based on how each new chapter unfolds. Like, in the most recent chapter, Max made the comment about how he’s seen an omega go through mate withdrawal before, and I think that tells us a bit more about what Kelly was going through. And the way Christian seems weirdly informed about Max’s plans and intentions with Charles’ could just be Max being close to his boss, but combined with the clear distaste and distrust Max has for Charles’ current team, I am incredibly excited to see what’s going to happen once they make it to a racetrack. And then in chapter 3, Charles’ dad told Charles that alphas presentation can be triggered, and then in ch4 Max says that his path to this moment started when he was 13 and presented as an alpha? Did Charles’ trigger Max’s presentation 👀 I can’t wait to find out! youre so good at weaving in hints, that I never actually know when something is a hint though, it’s never obvious and it keeps the fic so exciting.

And I also love the way seemingly tiny details show up again (like in chapter 2 when Charles throws the flowers over the balcony and max makes note of the empty vase in ch4), it just makes your writing seem so thoughtful and cohesive.

and I’m not a writer at all, but I love learning about the behind-the-scenes process. So I’m v curious if you don’t mind sharing some details about how you keep track of everything you have/haven’t revealed, how you decide what hints to drop or details to mention, how far advance do you plan all of it, etc.? And it’s probably way too early to share anything about wygig, but if you have any fav bits of foreshadowing or tiny recurring details from any of your other fics then I’d love to know what they are!! Only if you don’t mind sharing ofc <3

this ask got way out of control, i am so sorry, I just admire the hell out of your talent and cannot contain my excitement for your writing

this was the best thing to wake up to this morning.

I'm going to answer below the cut so I don't clog people's feeds because I want my answer to be as long as your beautiful ask!

firstly ... there are a LOT of hints, even in the first four chapters. you can probably safely assume that if it made you go "hmm" then it's going to come up again at some point.

I love the examples you came up with! I will confirm that they are all hints, however .... the conclusions you drew were not all correct. some were, but some weren't. you'll just have to wait to find out which is which 😊

I LOVE that you noticed the vase thing! whenever I read stories I'm always so bad at picking up on those details, but when I write them they're all so deliberate so I'm always amazed and delighted when people see them.

in terms of how I keep track of everything ... well for this story I have the amazing and gorgeous @saiyanwitcher helping me. this story wouldn't be half of what it is without her. I would say like 1/4 is me remembering details, 1/4 is her remembering details, and then 1/2 is the very detailed outline we have. it's 10 pages long.

here is a heavily redacted screenshot of ch 1 in the outline.

from there, I just kind of ... put it together and write. and then make a note of little details that need to be revised.

in terms of how I decide what hints to drop when, I would say there's a mix of reasons. some of it is just what the plot and characters demand, but then other times it's just my instinct, and other times it's just sheer experience. I've been writing for a long time - you kind of learn along the way what makes sense and what doesn't. but I also read a LOT, and when I read I take fairly extensive notes of things I liked and didn't like, and that always informs how I write, too.

in terms out far in advance things are planned, I would say it really depends on the story. WYGIG for example has been quite meticulously planned since SaiyanWitcher came to me with the idea of an omegaverse fic. so we know pretty much everything there is to know about the fic and how the plot progresses.

I like to have written a few chapters before I post, because sometimes when I start to write the vibe changes and I need to be able to go back and adjust little details. It's also why I don't like to immediately post what I've written and instead like to have a few chapters in the can - it means I can go back and add in more/less foreshadowing, depending on how the later chapters are playing out.

but also, sometimes things just happen. I'm writing ch 8 at the moment, and only yesterday SaiyanWitcher and I were like "hey what if we do this for ch 9" so now there's a new extra chapter bc we had an idea and it fits and we want to do it. so that wasn't planned in advance at all haha. sometimes you've just gotta go with the flow!

ok now ... in terms of fave parts of foreshadowing for WYGIG. unfortunately it IS too early for me to share most of them.

BUT! one I've only seen a couple people bring up is Max's aversion to Charles reciprocating the bite - I love that one.

I also just asked SaiyanWitcher what hers are and she said the Mercedes mechanic (a great choice), and Pierre (another GREAT choice). Though he's less foreshadowing and more of a recurring plot point lol.

from my other fics ... tbh I don't think I've ever really done as much foreshadowing in them as WYGIG.

in saying that, one really does stick out .. minor spoilers for if you haven't read Give Me That Fire but I LOVED dropping all the hints about "the final night" that happened that broke Max and Charles up for good. I knew from the first sentence I wrote for that fic that it was all leading up to that reveal and how careless Max was about Arthur, and seeing people theorise about what had happened and then being horrified that the truth was so much worse than what they expected was so bloody satisfying.

also there weren't really any major plot twists in the brocedes fic that had foreshadowing, but the slow reveal of their backstory juxtaposed with cutting forward to lewis at the lestappen wedding was also a personal favourite. that fic was by far the hardest thing I've ever written, and took one of the biggest emotional tolls. so the slow build of the horror at the piece by piece reveal of what lewis and nico had done to each other ended up being a very big personal achievement. I adore that fic, even though it's devastating.

now, I think I've yapped enough!

thank you so much for your beautiful and thoughtful ask, it's made my weekend. I'm so delighted that you're enjoying WYGIG so much and I hope that you continue to love it!

[just-a-carrot]

Yo yo yo Carrot.

I did do research on character design a bit ago. I was just wondering if there were any specific tips/things you kept in mind while designing any of your characters. I have a general idea of where I'm heading but I figured it couldn't hurt to try. No need to push yourself though.

(Orlam has a white shirt because he's basic :). It's perfect character design. )

hhhhh... i can try 💦

behind the cut because this got long

i think the problem is i never have any specific things in mind. for the life of me i can't even think back to how i came up with any of the characters i've ever come up with. usually they are like a mish-mash inspiration of various ideas tumbling around in my head, often influenced heavily by sheer vibes and/or music i'm listening to and/or media i've consumed or images i've seen

for me i think the biggest thing i've noticed is that i develop characters incredibly slowly lol. like i have a really hard time jumping into a new story with new characters that i haven't spent a long time thinking about (i.e., literal years). they all start from like a small random kernel of an idea or inspiration and then they grow and develop as the rest of the story starts slowly turning into random scenes into my mind, and i continue to learn new things about the characters even while actively writing (i think i've said before but some of the biggest themes and plot points in OW that feel like core parts of the story i didn't even come up with until i was actively in the midst of writing it, like, post writing arc 1 and even arc 2; arc 4 in particular like i had not planned 80% of what happened in that arc until i was writing it laksjdfa)

and i feel like a big part of this is because i'm actually really bad at designing/developing characters at the drop of a hat and can only figure them out through long periods of thinking and writing

2018 vs 2023

2018 vs 2023

i first drew the OW characters in 2018, but i'd had the idea for the general story (arc 1) even before that. from what i can remember when trying to come up with what they'd look like, i would try to think about their vibes from their role in the story. iggy is somewhat soft, awkward, and anxious, so i guess my mind developed a somewhat nerdy disalarming look for him with kinda muted colors (we don't talk about the fact that his shirt/overshirt combo makes no sense laksdjfads). orlam i knew i wanted a kinda scraggly little guy with greasy hair (sooper sekrit never-before-heard!ow lore: i actually did originally design him with a ponytail but it changed to a rattail while working on arc 1)

i'm quite bad when it comes to fashion design in general so i often come up with fairly plain-looking outfits. but some of the things i like playing around with the most are things like height dynamics and color variety (i always try to use a diverse range of hair colors for instance, as i feel like it's one of the big things that can instantly differentiate characters in a group)

you can see this in easter too i guess:

admittedly with easter it was a bit different in that tho i had some mental images in my head of generally what i wanted the chars to look like, some of the details and choices got limited because i had to use a sprite generator someone had made to create the sprites for the game (because it was an RPG maker game and i wasn't good/still am not good at creating animated sprites). so their final designs were a bit of a mix between my original ideas and my ideas translated into sprite generator options, hence some of the... odd design choices lakjdfsd

going back even further to characters i designed for other stuff like novels and stories, though my art style was different back then i feel like a lot of the same types of design choices can perhaps be seen LOL:

also please enjoy this old old old old OLD carrot!art from 2005 of three chars i created as a child that i thought were the coolest things ever...

i feel like i've lost the plot here a little bit LKAJDSFLKADSF

though i guess this is simply because i can't really explain what my head does when it comes up with characters. i don't have any sort of formal training in character or game design. i do have an art degree but that was more formal stuff (and i was often told that my personal cartoon-esque style of artwork and the stuff i drew in my sketchbooks was Not Creative). so i don't really have any set sort of guidelines or rules or even strategies that i use for coming up with characters. they tend to just kinda form over time in my mind according to my own aesthetics???? like i create characters that i would like to write and draw. i create groups of characters because i really really like group dynamics. i create characters with varying heights and body types and vibes. i create lots of short loud-mouth snarky asshole characters ldkajfsldkadlfafLDJFADFAD

if you have any more specific-type questions i can try to answer them but i think this might be the best i can do for just talking about my general mindset for characters... 💦

[nagisadelune]

Headcanon: Meeting Artem in University

(Definitely not edited)

I've been kind of on a roll with Artem headcanons recently because I keep looking at his cards (as a simp for him). Either way, I have another headcanon about him for you guys, and it's actually your first "encounter" with him.

I know that Hoyo already has a story set about how you/Rosa/MC first meet Artem, but I feel like this could happen in the actual storyline outside of the cards (?). Also, there is a tiny spoiler from the game about Artem's relationships with certain characters, but I don't think that it ruins too much about the actual story. Either way, I hope you enjoy this headcanon!

For the timeline and setting, assume that you are Rosa and that this is during your time in university, so imagine this being set a few years above the official start of the game.

⭐⭐⭐

"How do I improve this part of the paper?" Rosa asks the older woman across the desk from her. The tension in the room feels thick as Rosa begins asking questions regarding the quality of the paper. She needed this paper to be perfect.

After a brief reread of the section, the older woman explains, "You need to elaborate more about the details that you interpreted. Your evidence already discusses a lot about the observations of the scene, so you really need to get deep with your analysis." Rosa nods understanding the explanation, already plotting out how to rewrite the essay. Before she could ask another question, her advisor decides to end their meeting, "It's almost five, and I have another person coming in after you. I'm afraid we have to end our discussion here." Rosa looks confused as she glances to the clock in the office and realizes the time.

In a rush to clean up and leave, Rosa bids her farewell to her thesis advisor, "Thank you for your efforts, professor. I'll be sure to adjust my paper with your feedback." She bows towards her advisor before carefully leaving the building. As she walks towards the exit, her heels click against the ground, and she continues thinking about the discussion with the professor just earlier.

While she's lost in her thoughts, a male on the other side of the hallway sighs, thinking about his current workload. Noticing the girl who just exited the office, his eyes follow her figure. Her medium-length brown hair flow behind her as she briskly walks down the hall, and her fingers seem to be counting something. Her concentrated eyes don't detect a certain campus celebrity watching her intently while standing still. She quickly walks past the male, and his eyes follow her figure getting smaller down the hallway.

He barely manages to break his gaze on her when he shakes his head, but it seemingly breaking a trance he was just in. He approaches the office door and knocks on it, the hard wood against his knuckles echoing in the hallway.

"Come in," the female voice inside answers as she pours some hot water into a cup. The male outside grips on the doorknob before twisting it and entering the room. "How were classes, son?" she asks when she sees his familiar figure in the room. He carefully closes the door to avoid the loud thud when the door completely closes before slipping his backpack off.

"They were okay, but it's just been a long day since it's getting darker earlier," Artem briefly explains to his mom before sinking into the chair. The seat is still warm from Rosa which shocks him at first, but he slowly settles and enjoys the warmth. While waiting for his mom to sit down with him, his eyes wander on the room before landing on the large monitor on the desk. He notices a student's essay displayed on the screen, reading the name: Rosa (L/N).

"It is getting darker, so you shouldn't forget to take care of yourself this winter," his mom reminds him as he only half-listens to her, humming in response. His mind wanders as he recalls the focused girl walking down the hall lost in thought. Although they never physically interacted with each other, she already left a strong impression on him.

"Did someone check in with you about their thesis?" he asks, still looking at the computer screen. "The new semester just started, and someone's already finished writing theirs?" Surprised at the pace, he looks at his mom trying to see what she has to say about it.

With a sigh, she replies, "Yes, that's a student's completed thesis. She wanted me to look over it since she wanted perfect it." Artem nods, understanding the situation. Although it surprises him that someone already decided to finish their thesis, it's understandable to finish early to revise. "Not only that, she works really hard to make sure that she does well on these papers," she comments again, finally sitting down in her chair. Her fingers grips the string of the tea bag as she moves it up and down in the water.

"How is this thesis though in your opinion?" he asks in curiosity. His mother eyes him, noticing his new found curiosity and internally chuckles at her son.

"It's just a draft, so obviously there are some things that she needs to change up. However, considering that, it's coming along well for her," she explains before setting the tea bag down. In response, he nods before seemingly reading the paper himself. "Why are you so interested?" she finally questions, trying to figure out what her son is thinking.

"She just caught my attention on my way here; that's all," he mumbles softly while still skimming the lines of text. She scoffs softly before taking a sip of her fresh tea.

Yeah right. Only caught his attention.

⭐⭐⭐

Again, this is probably going to be proven wrong by Hoyo, but I like to think that this is Artem's first time ever seeing you lol. Either way, I hope you liked this one! Don't forget to follow if you like this, and I'll see you in the next one!

[dude-why-3]

Hiii, I'm here for Aruani writer game!

1, 2, 5, 7, 9, 14, 15

Hi Anna, thank you for the ask!! I'm sorry it took this long to answer but here we go:

Share your favorite part of your latest fic. And since the latest is chapter 11 of wpts, it would be this paragraph:

"What?" His eyes search hers for a few seconds before he says, “We’ll be alright."  Annie’s eyes narrow at his statement. “I know." Armin presses his lips together. He searches Annie's face, takes in her eyes, the black circles that seem to have gotten bigger in the past few days, the way she bites her lips and chews on the inside of her cheeks. The way she digs her nails into her palms, he's concerned she'd soon draw blood. He hesitantly reaches his hand out and brushes his little finger against hers. Annie sighs heavily, letting her shoulders slump and fist unclench. Armin’s eyes trail down to her palm, finding that she's only left a few marks. He sneaks his hand into hers, gives it a slight squeeze, interlaces his fingers with hers.  "We'll be fine," Annie repeats his words, her voice barely above a whisper.  "We will be." He gives her hand another squeeze, and this time Annie reciprocates it. She gives him a small smile before returning to her water droplets, her hand not leaving his.

2. Share your favorite part of your first ever fic

Thing is, I no longer have the original document of my first fic and I have deleted it off of the face of the internet, so I can't really do this one. But it was the scene where Armin and Annie were trying to get closer and he told her he really liked ducks and that they reminded him of her. It was written in 2020 and I think it's the thing that started the whole duck thingy lmao. I later recycled the scene in 'Who painted the sky?' so there's that.

5. Write about Armin and Annie's first meeting (in an au, i'll let you guess which one hehe):

He hears rustling from behind, and for a second thinks it’s an animal, but then the sound of shoes against dirt makes him reconsider. He gazes at his bare dirty feet as he continues his work, dreading whatever interaction might follow. He can only hope it’s just a passerby. That thought disappears when he hears a quiet, whispery voice calling his name. He doesn’t have to turn around to know it’s the mayor’s daughter. He keeps his head low, acknowledging her with a nod but not raising his eyes. Getting in trouble for even daring to be in her immediate proximity is not something he's willing to do today, so he keeps doing his work, raising the scythe and slamming it back onto the ground, dragging it towards him.  The girl doesn’t move one inch, her eyes burning holes in the back of his head. Suddenly, Armin is very aware of his scrawny figure, unprotected by the shirt he's abandoned by the side of the property when the sun got too unbearable. Eventually, he sighs and raises his eyes to her level. 

7. What was the inspiration behind your shortest fic?

My shortest fic is "The stars are beautiful tonight". The inspiration behind it is a winter night with a clear sky and thousands of stars. I tried putting the stars into constellations and then this idea came to me.

9. Which of your fics is your favourite? Why?

It must be Long ago, before we were born, not only because it's inspired by my favourite song from my favourite singer, but also because I wrote while being around my favourite people, so this fic is something really special to me. Also, I really love how I wrote it! Every word fits in its place so perfectly and it feels so intentional and I like the suspense I created in the beggining, when you don't really know what going on.

14. Tell us a detail you wrote that nobody commented on yet

It's a quite important plot point and I'm still hoping someone will figure it out lmao, so I can't do this one, sorry :3

15. Write a hurt/comfort/angst moment between them:

Annie storms out into the hallway. "I got no one!" she berates, her voice almost breaking, as she turns to face him. "I can literally count everyone who gives a shit about me on my fingers!" "Do it then!" Armin says. Annie holds out her hands, her palms facing him, her fingers extended outwards. Then, slowly, one by one, she lets her fingertips touch her palm, her hands forming fists. Her eyes, glassy, pierce through him, going right through his heart, breaking it in tiny little pieces. His eyes widen, and then they narrow.  "Zero," Annie says, her hands now trembling the slightest bit. "I got no one." Armin reaches out and takes her hand in his, caressing it with his fingertips before straightening one of her fingers. Her eyes narrow in confusion.  "You've got me."

[deliciouskeys]

For the Writer's Ask Game, 12, 13, 14, 23, amd 21 for The Selfish Gene, if you please. :)

(Writers’ ask meme) Thank you for asking! ☺️ Some long answers towards the end, hopefully at least semi-coherent!

12. Are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you?

I never disliked this per se, but I have grown much more interested in people being in / getting into long term marriage-like relationships, parenting together, domesticity in general.

13. Are there any tropes you used to like but don’t anymore?

Hardcore noncon sex used to be a real staple for me. I still like noncon nonsexual situations, but have grown to prefer the party with less freedom / being whumped to be the instigator of sex, or at least having a mutual carnal interest develop. Which is still definitely dubcon.

I’ve grown indifferent to age difference as I’ve grown older. Likely because I was into “old guys” in my teens/20s but have since lost that prism.

14. Are there any tropes you would only read if written by a trusted friend or writer?

I’m pretty bad about clicking into everything (whether the tags sound like something I love or terrifies me or mildly weirds me out, just to see what it is). I’m more likely to fully read things written by friends in the realms of: high concept AUs, characters endowed with non-human characteristics, niche fetishes (agere, complicated bdsm), and major character death.

23. What’s a trope, AU, or concept you’ve never written, but would like to?

For The Boys fandom, I’d love to be able to pull off a Caligula fic. What HL threatens to do when talking to Starlight with the door closed? Let’s say something happens to trigger him, and he actually goes through with it. Now we have some kind of postapocalyptic hellscape where HL has installed himself as a despot. He’s not thrilled about no longer being seen as a purely heroic figure, but he’ll take being worshipped and cowered in front of as a vengeful, jealous demigod. Maybe he still claims to be a savior, if presumably not every country in the world has fallen into ruin. I haven’t worked out fully in my head how dark I’d be willing to go. Does he have some of our faves (Maeve, Annie, Billy) under lockdown in a demented harem of sorts? After just saying I was over the noncon trope, I think I’m getting right back into it here 😅. The most interesting part of this kind of fic, to me, would be any/all of these characters being manipulative and managing to bring out a very different side of HL behind closed doors. So even though ostensibly now he’s shown his true colors to everyone, it doesn’t mean he won’t revert to being way more cajoling and uncertain and needy because…. yeah, he still wants that genuine love, despite how many acts he’d have committed in this fic to make that virtually impossible. But I could see clever characters stringing him along a la 1001 Arabian Nights until they can think of how to actually overthrow him.

Is there a lot of plot and logistics? Yes. Am I necessarily interested in writing all of that out in detail? Probably not. But depending on how season 4 unfolds, I may become more inspired 🙂

21. If you wrote a “missing scene” in The Selfish Gene, what would it be?

This is a fic where many days are skipped between most chapters, but I think I cover everything I want to for HL’s pov. I initially wasn’t even going to provide any Billy pov in this fic, but HL was just too unreliable and unstable a third person closely aligned narrator not to do so periodically 😅. So a scene I’ve skipped but perhaps shouldn’t have is Billy going to visit his aunt during the period when HL is still under house arrest. My hc is that she doesn’t have Billy’s phone number because he refuses to provide it and used to change it a lot anyway, but she is up to date on what the tabloids have been reporting and had half a mind to figure out the exact address and visit him herself.

I want him to go visit her embarrassed and despondent. He hasn’t fully shared everything he knows about supes and HL in particular with her, so in that sense she’s less informed than MM. But with Aunt Judy, Billy can be a bit more open about just how freaked out he is about having a child, now that it’s dawning on him that he’s made a decision that’s going to change his life profoundly and irrevocably. Aunt Judy is savvy and pragmatic and comforts him without getting too maudlin about it. Tells him he’s going to do the best he can and that it will get him through. He contemplates taking Terror back with him to NYC but decides against it, because he doesn’t want to spring that on HL as a surprise in a confined space (aka he hasn’t fully opened up to HL despite living together for months). Aunt Judy probably finally insists on getting Billy’s phone number and promises not to contact him unless something dire happens, and promises not to tell his mother.

Why didn’t I write this scene? Honestly, one of my hurdles is writing intensely British dialogue 😂 (my self serving hc is that Billy dials down the diction differences when he’s talking to a septic like HL). But there’s at least allusion to it coming in the next chapter 🤞

[cheralith]

‘vogue’ happened on my ‘for you’ page suddenly yesterday night, but only now i had the time to properly check it out and enjoy it. i’m a big fan of ‘the devil wears Prada’ too, so spotting the details and cameos you added in it was really fun for me, i smiled all the time while reading it! that’s how much i enjoyed reading it! <3

i’m not a person to leave such a long comment on a fic unless it’s ao3, and i didn’t want to cloak in or occupy your comment section with a bulky comment such as this TT so i figured that leaving this message here was the right choice. please bear with me (and you don’t have to answer! i’m already grateful if you read this comment, truly!) because i absolutely loved it. for the sake of being brief, i’ll focus on the last scene but everything of this work was truly a masterpiece that i’ll come back to —i’ll stay tune it since you say it will be a series!

It's so... fresh. Your glasses were hiding such a view, like curtains to a window that unveiled the utmost rare and breathtaking sights. […] Geto studies it like an artist to a blank canvas, devoid of anything yet holding just the perfect amount of space-wanting, waiting to be filled with anything and everything.

omg… the way i absolutely folded! ꒰ᐢ⸝⸝•༝•⸝⸝ᐢ꒱⸒⸒ i loved the way you described here because —and maybe here is my sleepy head talking— the way is written really makes you understand just how focused geto is on y/n. the way he greedily yet patiently takes his time to study the face, the delicate way you described it… weak to my knees ! absolutely weak to my knees !

He eyes how you turn towards the building one more time, doing your usual adjustment of your glasses (it's a habit you often do in times of nervousness, he's picked up) […]

it’s kind of embarrassing how i was smirking here because sir… did you just implicitly affirmed that you do look at y/n?? it was such a nice detail to read because it implies that he does look at her enough time to link the action to a proper feeling, an expression of sorts. but maybe i’m just looking too much into it?? maybe i’m saying nonsense?? i don’t care, i’m delulu and sleepy!! ໒꒰ྀི´ ˘ ` ꒱ྀིა

i don’t want to take any more space (it’s just a sentence after all) but i absolutely loved the way you described how geto felt ‘irritated’ from the ‘hauting’ image of y/n’s face in his mind! it was a nice touch! now on my last point —and then i’ll disappear on thin air!

It’s instead, the person that’s wearing it. Because somehow, the eerie sketch of the model's face that he had drawn years ago...... somehow replicates your own face perfectly.

that was a very good cliffhanger. as a (somewhat) writer too i can only imagine and theorize the hard work you’re probably doing for this story —the behind of the scenes basically, and if you wanted readers to stand on their tiptoes and get curious about a possible plot twist (it’s called like this right? my first language isn’t english TT) … let me tell you, you absolutely nailed it! because i’m both standing on my tiptoes with my jaw on the floor.

i can’t wait to see what you have in store for this ff because you got me hooked. and the last part only further points to a possible connection between suguru and y/n which i can’t wait to discover more about! even though they both don’t seem to realize as of now —well, actually now geto does but just to a superficial extent, thanks to that sketch.

i’m sorry for the long comment because sometimes i feel like i’m saying nonsense and repeat myself over and over again so it might come off as annoying or rude TT god or whoever was on charge really didn’t blessed me with the power of synopsis, which i can only apologize for. just thank you for writing this, it was really good and i can’t wait to read more from you! thank you and take care of yourself!! i’ll patiently wait and, once you’ll feel ready to update a second part, i’ll be here reading it and enjoying it! (/genuine, no pressure! in this household we appreciate the hard work writers put in their works and respect their time ofc!)

have a good day/night ! ໒꒰ྀིᵔ ᵕ ᵔ ꒱ྀི১ 💗

one of the things i absolutely struggle with is just writing too much and on my end, it seems a little tricky and questionable, but for those on the other sides of things, it just means more cake for them and this very much applies to comments as well, so anonnie, NEVER apologize for long comments!!!! it shows your appreciation for the work and as someone who's on the receiving end for it, i hold so much love for comments like these!!! and your english is nothing less of wonderful!!!

i was praying someone would catch the little glasses bit! it's been the little motif i had incorporated in the first chapter as a symbol of the reader's shield from the new world of her work so i was pretty proud of blending it into the chapter. it also ties in with suguru finally noticing our little assistant for more than just a coatrack—just the first stepping stone of what i have planned for these two huehue •̀⩊•́

other than that, thank you again for enjoying my writing and i'll treasure ur kind comments dearly <33!

[capitolhost]

GENERAL

more mentor/mentee things: maybe caesar is helping your character to get a breakthrough in the industry.

more caesar emotionally adopting your kid/being a DAD: just close connections with e.g. victors or young people in the capitol. he's totally taking young people up under his wing every chance he gets, as he has long forsaken the wish to have a family himself.

more relationships that aren't eternal love: i'd love some more flings for caesar as he's slept around a lot during his younger years. we can definitely work with staying friends, or becoming enemies, or even rekindling their relationship post war. just a lot of different types of relationships.

caesar fathering an illegitimate child: this is a bit more a whimsical idea, but caesar sleeping around a lot in the early years of his hosting career might have led to a whopsie. i'd be up for exploring that plot, especially if he's unaware of the child for a long, long while (post war orphaned teen appearing on his doorstep?)

PRE BOOKS

for victors: any kind of recruiting your victor to the cause of the rebellion, whether it's caesar trying to figure out your character or beginning to speak more plainly with them.

for victors: talking behind-the-scenes about strategies employed for the interviews of their tributes (e.g. what topics should caesar ask about?)

for capitol residents: friendship, enemies to lovers, flings (especially in caesar's early years), colleagues, people who try to sabotage his career, people who want to get on his good side, people who try to get information on current games from him to get a sponsoring advantage

DURING THE BOOKS: BEFORE THE WAR

for haymitch: caesar and haymitch talking before the interviews about the love confession in the seventy-fourth interview

for rebels: during the seventy-fourth games, talks and hopes about the katniss and peeta angle. possibly some conspiracy talks, such as the rule change.

for capitol rebels: the time after the seventy-fourth games and the changing mood in panem. hopes arising, plans being pushed into place.

for victor rebels: conspiratorial action before the war, such as revealing to victors what plutarch's plan for the quarter quell is.

for victor rebels: once they arrive in the capitol for the third quarter quell, conversations about going back into the arena.

for rebels not in the arena: further plans and conspiracies during the seventy-fifth games, possibly gathering in pairs to discuss what they saw on screen or caesar checking up on them or further plots made for the escape attempt. for any capitol rebels also talking about the fear of discovery during the upcoming rebellion.

DURING THE BOOKS: WAR TIME

for peeta: mockingjay timeline anything! interviews, talks before or after the interviews, caesar visiting peeta as often as he can, caesar living his double agent role by trying to give peeta more details without being noticed.

for all imprisoned victors: caesar and them doing propos together. caesar trying to help them while he's still in his double agent role (e.g. slipping in food). them communicating (or trying to) when they are both imprisoned. them being rescued together by the rebels.

for people high up in the rebellion: before caesar gets caught, he is providing information to 13 as often as he can (including just mentioning he's still alive). some bad quality zoom calls to update them on what is happening once he is in thirteen, he will help out the rebellion by being at meetings and providing information on the capitol—especially when they attack it directly.

for everyone in district thirteen during the war: caesar and them meeting in thirteen, possibly surprised at his part in the rebellion in case they don't know yet. caesar doing propos with important rebels together (e.g. katniss or finnick). caesar just hanging out™ with some of the people in thirteen. possibly some hostility by those who don't trust him regardless.

for alma coin: enemy-enemy threads where alma and caesar are bickering, caesar refusing to help her rebellion all that much, and the rare moments when he does (e.g. by providing crucial information on the capitol).

for any nurses in district thirteen: caesar is the charming and slightly annoying patient. some hospital threads where your muse is doing their medical job while he's being a dramatic annoyance charismatic person.

for katniss: caesar is at the mansion before snow dies. maybe katniss and him discuss the bombs that fell, and katniss has someone to theorise with. this idea comes directly from her passing out in a wardrobe of clothes after talking to haymitch⸺could be caesar's room and he finds her there (or she runs straight into him), meaning katniss gets the conversation she sought with haymitch elsewhere.

AFTER THE BOOKS

for any people living in the districts post war: caesar has a new show where he reports on the rebuilding efforts in panem and would visit your character's district. he might interview your character, or, if they know each other better, he would visit your character beforehand and have a nice conversation. this is the first time he'd even be able to visit your character's home, so he would stay for as long as he can to chat and help out.

above, but specifically for the victors: caesar has a fatherly relationship with a majority of the victors. he'd want to check up on his emotionally adopted kids ever so often, so he might stop by during their birthday as well or when an important event happened (e.g. post annie giving birth).

for katniss or peeta: as mentioned at the end of mockingjay, katniss and peeta are working on their book to write about people they have lost. caesar might stop by and provide some more tributes and victors.

for victors or anyone otherwise involved with the games: i picture there being an anniversary celebration to remember the horrors of the games. caesar would be present during that time and he'd be meeting your characters and talk with them.

for anyone in entertainment post war: caesar would still be around! outside of the above-mentioned show i can totally picture him exploring other venues once a few years passed and he's feeling healthier. maybe your character is a singer and he's hosting the singing show plutarch planned. things like that & obviously need heavy plotting beforehand.

[lake-archive]

You Need Some Company On The Way Home!

It has not left my head still so I am just getting it out of my system. Rinne, stop being in my headspace for crying out loud! Why do I want to hold his hand so bad? Who do I want to feel his embrace so bad!? I need help aaa!

AO3 Link

Fandom: Ensemble Stars

Characters: Original Character, Rinne Amagi

Pairing: Rinne Amagi/OC

Summary: Sometimes we encounter people when we least expect it. No, literally, they had not expected to bump into Rinne this late. But here they are!

Tags: Established Relationship, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Genderqueer Character, No Plot/Plotless, Major Original Character(s), Fluff, Romantic Fluff, Romantic Gestures, Fluff without Plot, Holding Hands, Dark, Secret Relationship, Implied Relationships, Pet Names, POV Third Person, POV Third Person Limited, POV Original Character, One Shot, Short One Shot, OC x Canon

Words: 1,303

Ann was grumbling to themself when finally being able to leave the building. They let out a deep sigh, then shaking their own head before looking up at the sky. They were looking at it yet it would not take a closer look to realize that it has gotten late. Sure, the days had started to get shorter, no denying there, so this was about to be expected. But even then, when comparing it to the time they had managed to get out this was pretty late. 

It would not be so annoying if it had been the weekend or something. After all, they were enjoying themself when walking around in the dark a little. They found it oddly comforting, taking a stroll with the cold air breezing into their face. It was one of the few joys they had. And yet it was not something they could get to enjoy for long. Because they had to return home rather quickly, get ready for bed and get out of it rather early. Why? Because of morning classes. Really, the life of a student is nothing but stress. All because they refused to take it a bit slower with their studies. Then again, why should they? The quicker the better, or so was their mindset. Even if they worked themself to the bone here, in their head it would all be worth it once finished. 

That didn’t make this any less annoying. But what could they really do about it by then? Nothing, exactly. They had to endure it no matter what. So a dull walk back home wasn’t so bad in the end, ri—

“Huh? Now look who we have here~” A voice echoed into both of their ears, making them flinch on the spot for a moment. Who would approach them like this!? They didn’t exactly know nor could they really figure it out at first… Yet things became clearer when just shifting their gaze a little, spotting an all too familiar redhead from the corner of their eyes. A tall male who had both hands in his pockets and was walking over to the brunette in a rather… Relaxed fashion. All while having the widest, shit eating grin on his face Ann had ever seen. And that face was all too familiar to them… Rinne Amagi, because of course it is. Who else would it be? 

He had only gotten closer so even if they were trying to escape it was useless now…Then again, not like he meant any harm to begin with. Especially not with their little ‘secret’ going on behind the scenes, a secret between just the two of them. But details at the moment… “What’re ya doing out so late, huh? Going somewhere?” He asked, keeping up a rather upbeat attitude, to say the least. 

They nodded slightly after greeting the tall male, simply because of manners and all that, then responding with: “Yeah, home.”

“Home? Tch, and here I thought you were headed somewhere fun at this hour.”

“I… Have classes… Early…” They responded with a sigh… Then again, were they really surprised here? 

“Yeah yeah, Miss Goody–Two–Shoes is hitting the books. As always~” It was hard to say if he was purely teasing or not. 

And yet it made them become all red, though at the brink of growling. They were never sure how to react to him sometimes. “It’s a job!”

“Yes yes, message received. You gotta be boring sometimes~”

“Guh… Rinne… If you talk… Keep talking I meant, then—”

“Kyahaha, just messing around a little! I kinda got ya!” He interrupted them, laughing out loud as he put a hand on their head and started to ruffle their already messy hair, much to their own embarrassment. “My work’s not always that exciting either. Though I don’t know why others make a fuss if I run late, yeesh. Let a man take his time.”

They were about to argue yet in the end decided against it. They had better chances to reason with a brick wall to be honest. No need to waste their energy here most likely. And besides, he kept the flow of the conversation going yet changing the subject quickly all the same.

“Anyway, you sure you should be walking home all by yourself? It’s late.”

“So?” They asked, crossing their arms for a moment. “Don’t say… Uhm… What I think…”

“Babe, I know you can punch hard and all of that, but that doesn’t make it any less dangerous.” He reasoned, his face twisting the moment he pointed out Ann’s punches however. Oh Rinne had gotten to know that first hand, the hard way, even if it was an accident. He’d rather not experience it again, that much they could tell. “Should’ve asked a friend. Or better yet, could’ve called me ahead of time!” 

“I… Will be ok…”

“Huuh, that’s what they all say y’know. And before you know it some creep shows up from the corner and tackles you down! Do I have to go on?” He said this in such an exaggerated tone that it was hard to take him seriously if at all, making them even stare rather blankly at him. 

“I got nothing…” They responded with the said expression still on their face. That was how it went in their mind though. They were just some student walking down the streets with no money and living in a (run down) apartment complex. What value would they have? Not to mention that their clothes weren’t exactly provoking anything, that old, black sweater and those baggy jeans were worth nothing after all. They didn’t get any of that logic, really.

And yet, that response made Rinne grumble for a moment, they could hear it, and he was looking down at them with some type of glare. It made them look up at him in confusion. Did they say something wrong now? It was not often he would make such a face after all so they were wondering, even if they had remained silent during that time. Then again, they both might know what the other meant and there was no need to communicate that with words.

Thus it should have really been no surprise when he suddenly took one of their hands and literally latched his own onto it, the grip ever so tight. And yet it had caught them off guard, because of course it did. They were never used to such gestures after all and never knew how to react either. Even if this was not the first time something like this happened, they just could never get used to it. 

“Alright, enough buts from your mouth! I’ll walk you home!” He suddenly insisted, them feeling the heat on their cheeks increasing. 

“Wait wha— But I—”

“I said enough buts. Not gonna take the risk.”

For a moment he seemed surprisingly serious, at least for the usual Rinne Amagi standard, making them stare a bit in disbelief. When he was serious, he sure was serious. And yet he could change that attitude like some switch all the same. That or he was a master at masking things like these. 

Because before he knew it he had pulled them closer, right next to him in fact, and they once more got a glimpse of his grin despite it being so dark, they could easily make it out. And even if not, his tone made it all too audible. 

“So… Where’s that place? Let’s get ya home safe and sound!”

That man is a handful and sometimes Ann couldn’t figure him out… But somehow, it was moments like these which got them hooked and perhaps oddly swoon. Yeah, Rinne really is something else. And yet, despite all the bashfulness and trouble… They were not exactly complaining.

[thetypedwriter]

A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske

A Marvellous Light Book Review by Freya Marske 

I finished A Marvellous Light three days ago and I’m already struggling to remember what I had to say about it. That does not bode well for Freya Marske’s debut novel. 

The book is another take on magical folk in England, this time in the early 1900’s. Marske has some interesting ideas about how magic works and the society around it, but none of the details truly blew me away or gave me a breathtaking new view on magical storytelling. 

Marske’s magicians are secluded amongst magical families who keep magic to themselves and their bloodlines. You get a few bits of the society interwoven throughout the plot, like their version of the government called the Assembly, and the police force called the Coopers, but overall, it’s your standard take on magical people in old-timey London. 

The setting itself was small. We don’t see a great variety of locations and those that we do see as readers are often contained to homes or cottages. This is one of the first criticisms that I picked up on. 

Our two main characters spend most of the novel traversing between one minuscule setting and the next. One gentleman goes by the name of Edwin Courcey, a pale, cowardly, bookish young man from a well-known magical family. 

The other half of the duo, Sir Robin Blyth, finds himself mysteriously and yet inextricably tied up in a magically evil scheme even though he doesn’t have a single drop of magical blood himself and didn’t know magicians existed before his current job of working for the liaison’s office. 

By taking on the job after the absence of a previous employee, Gatling, and becoming unbusheled (aka, now knowing about magic), Robin finds himself the target of strange, powerful men who are looking for an item called the Last Contract. 

For his ignorance on the matter, Robin is cornered, attacked, and cursed with a spell that causes him immeasurable pain and also awakens the power of foresight within him, allowing him to see bizarre and complicated visions with no understanding of their importance. 

Thus begins Edwin and Robin’s journey to lift Robin’s curse, find out what happened to Reggie Gatling, uncover the bewildering truth behind the Last Contract, and perhaps even find love and camaraderie along the way. 

When I write it out like that, the book sounds solid and like it has multiple perplexing mysteries going on simultaneously that would entice and engage the reader. It…doesn’t. The book is so slow and meandering that the mysteries, while promising at the premise, are so painstaking in the delivery that the book becomes a slog to get through. 

After I finished reading, I was able to sum up the book into 5 distinct events: Robin finds out about magic and is cursed, Robin and Edwin go to Edwin’s family home and are tortured by sadistic siblings, Robin and Edwin almost die in a hedge maze before Edwin inherits an estate from a deceased, old woman, and Robin and Edwin figure out the Last Contract and confront, Walt, Edwin’s bully big brother and a leading force looking for the Contract by any means necessary. 

Again, it sounds like a lot, but the book is nearly 400 pages. So in between those five events, you have nearly 80 pages of just…meandering nothingness. You have a lot of scenes of them dining on toast, sipping tea, looking at books, and, most erroneously, multiple sex scenes of gratuitous length and detail. 

Now, I don’t mind sex scenes in adult fiction. They’re fine. Sometimes they’re even spicy. However, I could not figure out the point of the sex scenes in Marske’s book. This book isn’t Fifty Shades of Grey, it’s sole purpose isn’t to titillate or arouse like that book is.

 And it wasn’t even one sex scene, it was several very long, very detailed sex scenes. But then she would immediately delve back into the plot and want you to take it seriously as a reader. The combination didn’t work for me. I found the long, drawn out sex scenes boring after the first page or two and the takeaway was just to…have a long sex scene? I didn’t get it. 

So while the plot was decent in its idea, the execution took so long in the interim and was filled with such pointless fluff that it made the book tedious from one major plot point to the next. 

The characters themselves were…fine. I can admit that I would understand people liking them. Edwin, cowardly and bookish, but so smart and stubborn. Robin, fiercely loving, jovial, and athletic. 

The characters had a decent amount of characterization, but I was never sold. Edwin was the most interesting because he was the most nuanced, but everyone else fell into the category of good or evil pretty concretely. 

Because of that, I didn’t fall in love with any of the characters and the developing romance between Edwin and Robin didn't hook me because it was so fast and they were all-in without having any real moments to make it seem realistic to me. 

I’ve been pretty harsh on this book overall, but it wasn’t the most terrible thing I’ve ever read. It was a mediocre magical fantasy with some decent characterization and interspersed action. The writing itself was a little too verbose for my taste, but Marske’s writing style fits the tone and mood of the story she’s trying to portray. 

She sets up the end in a satisfying way that resolves most loose ends, but also executes the premise for book two clearly to hook the reader. As much as I can see why people might like this book, I don’t plan on reading any sequels. 

Recommendation: Every aspect of this book has been done better elsewhere. Want magic and fantasy? Read Harry Potter. Want detailed sex scenes? Read Docile. Want a mystery adventure? Read Dark Rise. Want a too-long story with imperfect characters and sex scenes randomly sprinkled in? Perhaps A Marvellous Light is the book for you. 

Score: 6/10

[bonesandthebees]

Hello, I've never submitted an ask here before but I've been very obsessed with Stars for a very long time and I'm only now able to articulate some of my thoughts/questions. I've been lurking for a while as well

What I find so interesting about Stars is how vivid and realistic you make the relationships seem. It feels as if I've been thrust into Wilbur's head and I'm experiencing things the way he's experiencing them. I feel his distrust and yearning for Phil and his grief for Tommy and what they once had

I'm wondering how much of what you write is very intentional/planned out versus how much is intuition? Like with the arc that Wilbur and Philza's complicated relationship takes, did you plan out specific steps in how the dynamic evolves or did you kind of play it by ear/write what felt right? I'm sorry I can't phrase my question any better than that

I'm just incredibly interested in the process that you use to write Stars since I'm a fellow writer and I'm always curious about how other writers do things

oh this is SUCH a fun question

firstly, thank you so much!! I love writing relationship-centric works because I think there's just so much more interesting stuff you can do with it outside of having some insane plot. of course plot-based stuff isn't bad, but relationship driven stories are soooo fun for me to dive into and stars is kind of the ultimate relationship driven story for me.

now onto your question. I'd say it's a mix of both, but definitely leans more towards intuition. I didn't have a specific point in my outline where I said "and wilbur now trusts phil enough to lean into the hand on his shoulder" or something like that, but I do have certain 'beats' I try to hit with relationship progression. like I knew that the conversation where phil tells wilbur about his own childhood was going to be a turning point where wilbur was going to start coming to him for his problems after that because he then knows that phil understands him. but a lot of smaller details I add in just by feel. like way back when phil decided to drop the 'prince' part of wilbur's name when addressing him was something I figured just felt right. the first time he called wilbur 'little bird' was the same way. I never planned for that to even be a thing in the fic. I just was writing that scene and I thought what if phil called him by some kind of endearing nickname? one that could also be taken as condescending? it feels like we're at a point where that can happen and the readers won't know what the intent behind it is, if it's genuine or not. and that's where little bird came from.

other details I decided on as I wrote just by feel! phil using his wings to shield wilbur for the first time when they spoke. or in the latest chapter, phil telling wilbur to call him phil and not philza. that was a little trickier because I'd known that at a certain point I wanted wilbur to stop calling him philza and switch to phil, but I just wasn't sure when it was going to happen. then in that chapter it just felt like the right moment, so I went for it.

the way I decide when to listen to my intuition is a mix of just putting myself in wilbur's shoes and deciding if it feels right, but also I have to think about the impact it'll have on the story as a whole. are we at a point where a relationship shift can happen? is this going to reduce the impact of something else happening down the line? there have been a lot of times I've debated adding a new shift into the relationship, like some sign of affection of some kind, but I've decided against it because I feel like we're not there yet. even if the characters could feasibly interact like this and it would feel realistic to their relationship, I know it would reduce the impact of some other shift later in the plot, so I decide to hold off. it's a careful balance to strike which is both really fun for me, but very nerve wracking sometimes too because I feel like I'm constantly walking on a tight rope. but that's why I like writing so much! it's a constant challenge!

hope this helped!! ty for this question it was super fun to think about

[skittidyne]

12 and 18 for the writer ask meme?

12. Is there a trope you haven’t written yet but really want to?

i suppose there's a couple, but overall i've hit most of my targets! i do want to write sloppy drunk sex, if that counts as a trope? and i'd love to try my hand at a royalty type type that has ladies in it (shoves blood will have blood under the bed) so i can have fun with the devotion of ladies in waiting...

18. What is a line/scene you’re really proud of? Give us the DVD commentary for that scene.

OKAY SO WE'RE GONNA GO BACK IN TIME FOR THIS ONE BC IT REMAINS ONE OF MY CROWNING ACHIEVEMENTS

(uh. pedestal spoilers ahead. a fic that is 11 years old...)

throughout the ENTIRE fic, there was the warning of the dark-haired monster, and later on, we had nick's famous black hoodie. (separate things, but related in what i pulled off - bear with me!) pedestal was sparse on physical description, but what we did know: that nick wore a black hoodie, that nick had black hair, that the narrator looked like his little brother, and that lola dressed like a goth and had black hair.

this was set up in the 10s-20s of a 160 chapter fic.

fast forward to after nick goes evil - we catch a handful of incriminating glimpses of a figure in a black hoodie. the narrator is repeatedly warned about the dark-haired monster, too. the narrator, and the readers, assume these to be the same person*.

cue the finale.

lola is the figure in the black hoodie; she's one of the big bads. seriously, that reveal - the foreshadowing of a GOTH TRAINER but everyone was sooooo focused on nick, readers and narrator a like - still fills me with golden light. i can't 100% say with certainty that it was planned from the beginning, since pedestal was written so long ago and had zero outline for most of the fic, but i am good at accidental foreshadowing like that. or maybe my subconscious hoards details like that to pop up in my conscious mind later. i don't know how it works, but i love it!

it didn't get as much reader attention, but at the very end, des (pedestal), the narrator's starter, watching the approaching moral event horizon - i'll just put an excerpt here.

"You are going to stop the dark-haired monster?" Des questioned, voice low and even more frightening.

I looked back down at Lola. Pitch black hair, always had that dark of hair. She had been behind this all. She had twisted Nick, put him up on the white thing's pedestal just to help him fall again. He had died because of her. "I am."

"No." Des shook his head and took a step towards me. He reopened his eyes and they were hard. Resigned. "I am."

"...What?" No. I wasn't going to let him do that—but in my surprise, he had taken a couple more steps towards us, until he was so close I could have reached out to touch him.

I started forward, intent on wrestling him back if I had to, but he told me simply, "My color eyesight is not very good."

I paused, set back by his bizarre and random statement.

Des turned on me and physically pushed me out of the way, placing himself between Lola and I. "To me, your hair looks as dark as hers. I will not permit you to do this, Trainer. Not to her, not to anyone. Can't you see what she is trying to do?"

as i said, it didn't get as much reader attention, but given the comparison with nick's brother (and a very lively art community, so there were canon character designs), the narrator could've been the dark-haired monster, too. not black hair, but dark brown - and what does it matter to a starter pokemon?

i'm still very proud of pedestal, and those plot twists are still high up on my heart pedestal of Written Things To Be Proud Of

[ask me more things here!]

[junypr-camus]

🎃🌧

🎃 pumpkin: do you have any favorite brainstorming techniques? how do you like to gather ideas for your wip?

The overall plot and aesthetics of Seranid came to me in a dream (I just wish all dreams were that productive). Most of the details, however, were pulled from things I read/learned/watched. Seranid's history and problems are partly based off of America's, for example. I was reading A People's History of the United States when I first began writing, and a lot of the ideas in that book leaked into mine. A big part of my life involves planes (and I also love Top Gun), and so there will be several dogfights in Seranid's skies.

A lot of my characters are inspired by people I know. Generally not people I'm very close to, but people who have unique viewpoints or mannerisms. I take the interesting bits and create a character out of them.

When I'm trying to figure out a plot point I generally sit down with a piece of blank paper and start asking myself questions about how things fit together and scribbling them down. But honestly, a lot of my ideas just come to me when I'm doing something else (lots of shower thoughts lol).

🌧️ rain: share a sad or emotional scene from your wip!

This is going to be a long one...

For context, Terry was led to believe that her father died from a rare heart disease. Camus brings her into his memory and shows her that this is not true.

Bright lights. Sharp corners. A stark, sterile room. In front of me sat Camus: bound, gagged, afraid. Beside me stood Camus: face closed off, hands behind his back, clenched, but untied. I circled around and watched the two men. One was sharply defined, the other composed of fragments, of thoughts. The professor who sat before us was younger, sharper, shoulders not yet weighed down by years of regret. There was an anger, a fire in him, that raged and consumed, never satisfied. Was this the man my father knew so well? And then I saw him. The face that I could scarcely remember, had it not been for the photos and recordings. Yes, he was bound, but he was alive, staring at me from just beyond the one-way glass. I willed myself into that room, longing to stand next to him, to speak to him. But he was just a memory, unaware of my presence. He looked straight through me as he mouthed four words. “Take care of her.”  Then the nurses, seven of them, came, each carrying a hypodermic needle. Seven needles for seven necks. Within moments, it was done. The seven Resistance members were no more. The nurses retreated out the door they came.  I crumbled, in front of the shell of the man that was my father, the person I had barely been able to get to know. My hand brushed his unfeeling leg, then the chair, and finally came to rest on the ground. I closed my eyes and let the tears roll down my cheeks.  Camus knelt beside me, took my hand in his and pulled me close. When I opened my eyes, blinking away the tears, we were back at the Resistance base. Watching my father’s death reopened the scars on my heart, tearing the stitches that the years had placed there. The ache of a lifetime of absence filled my chest, making my breath come in sobs. But when Camus wiped away my tears with his sleeve, what pained me the most was the thought that this would happen to us and everyone who had helped us. We had been running for our lives and not until now did I realize what that meant. We were trying to outrun death. If we stood still for too long we would be the ones sitting in those chairs.

[toa-kirhan]

First time watching ToH S1E5 (Covention). Thoughts below:

Detailed thoughts:

... I’m really starting to understand why everyone’s so into this series now. If I was impressed by the episodes that came before this then I can’t wait to see what else this series has in store! This episode brought a lot of plot points together in setting up the overarching story so there’s a lot to discuss here.

The coven system explains the distinction between wild and ‘proper’ magic, why Eda is such a wanted criminal, and why she’s the ‘greatest witch in the Boiling Isles’. The coven system seems to work in tandem with the magic schools to control and regulate what magic witches can learn, keeping them mixing types of magic, and thus, becoming too powerful and challenging the Emperor.

While we don’t see the Emperor, the way he rule the Boiling Isles says a lot about who he is. From the Conformatorium to the covens, its clear that the Emperor is a controlling figure with their own preconceived notions of how society in the Boiling Isles should be organized and how magic should be used, given that he’s willing to have people arrested for things as small as writing fanfiction and placing 1 trillion snail bounties on the covenless.

From what little we see of it, the Emperor’s Coven, looks to be a paramilitary youth wing meant to recruit the best witches and turn them into ideological zealots willing to do anything to advance his cause. For that reason, they’re the only ones trusted to retain all their magical powers. I have a feeling that the EC and Lilith are going to be the main antagonists that our heroes will be fighting over the course of the series.

We only get a glimpse of Eda and Lilith’s relationship, but it’s clear the two aren’t on the best of terms. While their two wildly divergent paths in life are already a clear indicator of that, the way Lilith snapped at Eda’s prodding shows that there’s a lot of friction between the two. However, Lilith still cares about her sister, given that she didn’t turn her in (at first), wants her to join the EC w/ her, and willing to talk things over about her curse (which she knows about?).

Based on both of their comments, Lilith has completely bought into the Emperor’s ideology and thinks that what she’s doing is for the best for her sister. Meanwhile, Eda(lyn) has completely rejected the rigidity of the coven system in favor of being her own witch, even if it comes at the cost of becoming a fugitive from the law (which she seems to be doing quite well).

The ending also gives us a scene between Lilith and Kikimora, who seems to be a Lilith’s personal retainer, keeping track of her actions and giving her instructions from the Emperor. Apparently Belos has promised something to Lilith for capturing her sister.

This episode also gives us Amity’s motivations: she wants to be part of the EC and has been training her whole life for it. As I thought, Amity’s academic and magical prowess is a key part of her self worth because the EC only accepts the best of the best. Every humiliation that Amity experiences and honor that she misses out on represents her dream, her lifelong goal slipping away from her into the hands of those she views as undeserving.

Amity needed Willow to give her the top student badge, needed to hear Luz admit that she wasn’t a witch, and couldn’t stand herself cheating because if she was beaten by someone who hasn’t worked for as hard and long as her, if she wasn’t actually the best witch, then who was she?

When Amity hears Luz agree with her, she doesn’t know how to respond and can only sit and watch as Luz uses her own form of magic. While she is quick to dismiss Luz’s progress, Amity ultimately decides to let Luz go and put this incident behind her. I can only imagine how Amity will respond when she sees Luz next.

General thoughts:

So does Eda just set up shop in Bonesburough every weekend bc she knows the guards can never catch her? Iconic.

Once again, Eda realizes that her perspective on things is different from everyone else’s and is willing to walk back her opinion on covens to avoid bumming out Willow.

Eda’s list of weakness grows: first shiny things and now purple prose.

Setting the episode in a convention hall was a clever way to work around Luz’s ban from Hexside.

One trillion snails! Just think about how many that is! Do they give you one trillion of the same species, or are different species worth different amounts of snails?

Eda’s list of crime grows: misuse of magic, demonic misdemeanors, petty theft, and refusing to join a coven.

Unfortunately Eda, master of disguise, wasn’t able to keep the guards (and her sister) off her trail.

So there are 9 main covens? I can make out plant (green), abomination (pink), illusion (teal), fortune-telling (purple), and construction (brown). I’m guessing the others are telepathy (blue), fire/elemental/wood/owl (orange), sound/music (red), and light/alchemy (yellow).

So the eyeball eater from the first episode is a baker?

Glyphs are temporary tattoos! Cool!

Fuck it up Nose Girl!

The Emperor and his minions bring a bad name to the plague doctor aesthetic.

King is a true con-goer taking all the free swag.

Why Amity step on King’s cupcake :c

Amity accuses Luz of “giving witches a bad name,” but is she just projecting her own insecurities onto her?

So what’s the actual punishment for being convenless? Does the Emperor have a way of sealing away all of a witch’s magic?

Is Amity already part of the abomination coven? Gus seems to already be in illusion, and Willow will probably just/has already joined the plant one.

Eda’s been waiting a long time to have this fight with her sister.

So did Eda make Hooty? I’m certain that she made her staff.

[unpopular-opinions-by-kayls]

Anatomy of a Scene

Hidden Figure’s

The movie Hidden Figure’s is about an three African-American woman who are geniuses, and are the intelligence behind one of the most renowned operations known in history. This operation is that of astronaut John Glenn being launched into space. The plot of this movie is that while these three women were changing history, they did not have equal rights to those who were white. These woman were fighting for rights as African Americans in addition to being women, whom also didn’t have the same equal opportunities as men. There is a specific well known scene in this film that is full of emotions and gives me the chills every time I watch it. Katherine the main character is confronted by her boss Al, Al asks her in a serious accusatory tone where she goes everyday, because he cannot always find her when he needs her. When Katherine responds telling him it is to the bathroom, Al doesn’t believe this answer. Katherine both deeply upset and agitated explains to him her circumstances in how there are no colored bathrooms in her building and how she needs to travel 1/2 a mile away walking to relieve herself. Al’s questioning of her is the final straw in Katherine and allows all of her frustrations to flow out. Katherine continues on distraught, telling Al how she is not equally paid, she is not allowed to use company bikes, forced into a specific uniform, working long hours, and treated like she is an alien by her coworkers. In this scene the room is filled with Katherine’s coworkers and they of course are all staring at her. What is crazy to me is that the coworkers almost seem unaffected, they don’t show sympathy in their emotions. They don’t feel guilty for their actions. In this scene you could hear a pin drop with the silence surrounding Katherine as she is now able to finally get it all off of her chest. The room is very bright, and you can clearly see everyone who surrounded her. In Katherines monologue the camera is right on her face and when she looks at her coworkers when speaking on the fact they they won’t even share a coffee pot with her, the camera gives a view of the room of coworkers, like we are all looking at them now. All of which contribute to the dramatic effect in everything she is saying, which in turn creates this powerful and emotional scene. This scene contributes to some of the major themes in this movie: inequality, adversity, and discrimination.

Bridesmaid’s 

The movie Bridesmaid’s is about a single woman who does not have her life together in any kind of order. This woman who is played by the hilarious Kristen Wiig, makes it her mission to ensure that all goes perfectly for her friends wedding that she is the maid of honor for. In doing so, the movie takes on a wild adventure up until the day of the wedding. The film takes a fast pace, and was filled of many scenes that had viewers non stop laughing. One specific detail of the movie is that it’s predominantly women, and they are all hilarious in their own ways. For the time this film was created in 2011, there weren’t many comedy movies that had a full female cast. The movie is full of raunchy jokes, and so much humor, but does have its moments were it is about real life problems and emotions. Kristen Wiig’s character plays a very relatable role, that allows viewers to connect with. The movie as a hole takes a dramatic approach to relatable situations, like Kristen Wiig’s character  finds out that another character steals her idea in taking their friend to Paris, and has a massive meltdown. Kristen Wiig throws chocolate from a fountain everywhere, destroys decorations, and more. The situation Kristen Wiig was is an easily relatable situation with relatable emotions, but in normal circumstances people don’t lash out or react that way. Due to her character reacting the way she did, without holding back its dramatic and is comedy gold. Details such as her going wild in that scene all contribute to the humor in this film, and there’s a thousand more scenes like it.