#I may or may not post my other favorite script moments

[kaytheday]

There is something that will always get me about this scene. We already know Dallas cares deeply for the two because of his actions towards them. We know he views Johnny and Ponyboy like his own brothers because of the way he acts with them. Dallas is the one to get them out of town and give them a place to stay. He’s the one who’s taking them to the movies, taking them out to eat, the whole scene with Johnny and the knife, spending time with them, etc! We can see through his actions that he views Ponyboy and Johnny as his own little brothers.

Though, we assume he must feel this way because of his actions, he never says this. He never verbally admits it.

However, in the instance above, he feels the need to actually come out and say that he views Ponyboy and Johnny as his brothers. He states that he sees them as his family and would go so far as to die for them.

My question is why? Why did the tough street-smart no-nonsense hood Dallas Winston, who would never stand for being accused of caring for another person admit that he cares very deeply for Johnny Cade and Ponyboy Curtis? Enough to die for them?

If anybody else heard this sentiment from him, it might ruin his street credibly or motivate people to use Johnny and Ponyboy as leverage. So why did he say it?

Perhaps… he was saying it for their benefit? Dallas, who had been accused so many times of caring about nothing and being selfish was just trying to reassure Johnny (who had just killed someone) that everything was going to be okay. Perhaps he remembered how scared he was at fourteen and was trying to make sure Ponyboy knew that he had someone looking out for him and taking care of him? Possibly unlike what Dallas had when he was that age. He was trying to be that person for them.

I don't know, maybe I'm overanalyzing this instance but I do think it is interesting considering what we know about Dallas's character. This is one of my favorite lines in the musical.

[felassan]

Sylvia Feketekuty: "To celebrate DA day, I've made a bluesky account that I'll keep active for a few days to talk about my work on Inqusition or Veilguard! After a few days I'll lock the account, because I'm not a social media person. Happy to talk until then though. I want to say straight off: the reception to Emmrich, Manfred, the Mourn Watch, and the Grand Necropolis has been heartwarming for all of us who worked on those people and places. Thank you all very much!" [source, two]

Rest of post under cut due to length and spoilers. [Post Two, Post Three]

Sylvia Feketekuty: "In the meantime, I do want to talk about a couple of things I saw floating around regarding Emmrich: 1. Emmrich being 52 or 50. I think people got 50 from data mining a character file, but we can't do a ranges in those files. As in, I couldn't input 50-60, it had to be a whole number. I put down 50 as an early ballpark, then went more accurate in later audition scripts. 2. Fifty-two is a old number I threw into an early document before his art or character was totally final. (And which caused another developer a headache because they thought it was accurate, I never updated it. Sorry about that.) 3. "Wait, how old is Emmrich then?" Once I saw his final character art, I felt more mid to late 50s. MAYBE early 60s. But unless we specifically state a character's age in the game, it's all malleable. I honestly would just adjust it to your impressions unless stated otherwise. 4. I've also seen comments on how weird it is for Emmrich to act like there's an age-gap in the romance if your Rook is around his age. And you're right. 5. The reason is because Rook WAS younger when those scenes were written and worked on. I felt it'd be odd if I never addressed the May-December aspect, especially as it hooks into some of Emmrich's worries. 6. By the time that shifted, it was really too late to change without catastrophic repercussions to the excellent cinematics and music and other things that depend on line delivery and timing. 7. To be clear: you can feel how you want about the age gap coming up at all! But that's how the discrepancy came about. 8. "Is there a way to reconcile Emmrich acting like my Rook is way younger than him if they're not?" Great question! I have several suggestions: -Accept it's an error. (True, but unexciting) -Emmrich considers a gap of 3-5 years scandalous. (Funny, albeit a bit cartoonish.) -The Mourn Watch has perfected swapping out organs, and Emmrich is nervously hiding that he's way older than he looks out of vanity. (Untrue, but funny.)" [source thread]

User in reply to point 6. above: "I'm personally glad it was too late to change because their argument about it is genuinely my favorite scene in the entire game! 😭💕 It's such an important moment to me" / Sylvia: "Thanks! That one was one where I was all sweatily trying to balance things out, with tone, with pacing, etc. Really glad it came together for you. (Cine and the actors did heroic things there to get it feeling just so!)" [source]

More snippets:

Emmrich's favorite ice cream flavor? Rum raisin [source]

Lots of people on the dev team shared the vision of having a bunch of gothic weirdness in that pocket of Thedas [source] (Necropolis/Nevarra)

Sylvia "especially liked writing the Mourn Watch origin, it was fun to write a fellow nerd for Emmrich to chat with" [source]

Sylvia poured some personal worries and fears into writing Emmrich [source]

On Vorgoth and their nature: "I'm a little leery of saying anything, partly because I'm cowardly avoiding publicly defining anything more until/if I ever need to. And partly because I did want them to be a fresh unknown. Sorry!" [source] "I'm glad you like Vorgoth, but I'm afraid I don't have much for you that isn't in the game. I deliberately wrote them so as to leave room, if we ever revisited them, or for Vorgoth to remain mysterious, if we did not. I'm sorry if that's not a very satisfying answer!" [source] "I will say, it was fun to throw in a few lines about Vorgoth's art collection. Their passion for it is sincere and deep. (I wanted all the Watchers to have a little non-death related hobby or interest, because they can be so singularly focused.)" [source]

Dwarven Mourn Watcher is a rare origin combo for Rook so Sylvia wanted to call it out [source]

On the outcomes of Emmrich's quest: "I tried really hard to make the options equally viable, and more up to the player's interpretation or preferences of what it would mean for Emmrich in their view. It's been interesting seeing reactions to it, which hinge sometimes on various single lines pushing people one way or another!" [source]

"The Grand Necropolis is always eager and ready for a new member of the Mourn Watch to grace its ranks." [source]

User: "I loved Emmrich's view on death and what his personal quest ultimately went on to say about the nature of death itself, and how the beauty of mortality lies in its impermanence and unpredictability." / Sylvia: "I really wanted to dig into those themes, and everyone in cine and art and level design and editing and the whole team honed in exactly on the vibe. The floral stuff especially, I was so thrilled when I played through the Memorial Gardens' with the art and lighting in." [source]

User: "I experience thanatophobia and that first conversation w/ Emmrich was so affirming and helped me describe my own anxiety to others" / Sylvia: "Thanks, the thanatophobia was, as you may've guessed, a personal experience for me too. I'm glad it was something that helped a little." [source] "I suspect that phobia is way more common than people think, and part of the reason Emmrich talks about it was to express that sentiment out loud. I find it helps sometimes just to acknowledge it." [source]

What languages does Emmrich speak other than Trade? "I think he'd be familiar with Tevene, since there's surely many, many old texts about magic written in that language. Kind of like a doctor that knows latin through their work. I also named that MW alphabet "tomb-script", though I'm not sure if it has a spoken component or not since it never came up in-game. If it does, he'd be able to speak that for sure." [source, two]

User: "Playing as a Mourn Watch Rook has been an absolute delight!!!" / Sylvia: "Thank you so much, I really liked writing those branches of the dialogue. Since Emmrich's so focused on necromancy, it was fun having a Rook who could be both casual and knowledgeable about it." [source]

User: "In your opinion, what outcome do you prefer for a romanced Emmrich (lich/non lich)?" / Sylvia: "Interesting question! To be honest, I'm afraid to answer it properly in case anyone takes my answer to be a canonical one. I really wanted either path to feel equally interesting/correct for whatever you decide fits your Rook's relationship with Emmrich. (We're also in the strange waters of meta-reasoning. I GAVE Emmrich his fear of death-Sorry Emmrich!-which makes me feel a little culpable for that, even though he's entirely fictional. And that might prey on my mind when trying to decide. A very odd experience!)" [source, two]

What music genres would Emmrich be into? "Classical music is very much playing to type for Emmrich, but I feel it's also correct. He'd enjoy a nice concerto or an organ recital. Or, if he's feeling daring, a bold new Orlesian opera! But I don't think his tastes are too outré in that area. That said, I saw someone post something like "Leave Emmrich alone, let him attend the Depeche Mode concert" while listening to Depeche Mode's "Violator", for the first time, which made me laugh. (Great album. If he could get over the shock of synths, Emmrich might enjoy "Waiting for the Night".)" [source, two]

When writing Emmrich the devs wanted to try and hit the gothic romance vibe [source]

Does Emmrich mix his own fragrance/cologne? Does he ever vary it by the season? "I think Emmrich goes to some of the many perfumers that have set up shop in Nevarra City around the Necropolis, just because he trusts their judgement and expertise. I hadn't considered him varying it by season, but that's very fun! I certainly think he has more than one bottle of scent." [source]

User: "How does Lich Emmrich have sex?" / Sylvia: "I don't mind the question! But my answer's a bit boring: I generally stay at arm's length on the more explicit romance stuff, just because if it's not stated or shown in-game, I don't want to bring in a canonical answer that might affect what people imagined. My general preference for romantic scenes that get physical is to leave blank space somewhere, so players can imagine what happens next. It's not the ONLY way to do it, I think there's legitimate artistic reasons to go more explicit. But that's how I approached Emmrich (and before him Josephine.)" [source, two]

User: "The scene with the fade glow where he touches your hand haunts me in the best way" / Sylvia: "Aw thank you. Our animators and audio people made that scene way better than I could've hoped! They took such care with everything there. I want to say that little eye-peep from Rook was added in by one of them, which was the perfect touch." [source]

User on Emmrich: "i’m curious whether you think he’d prefer dogs or cats (or both, or neither)" / Sylvia: "I think he'd consider cats and dogs a little too noisy and messy for his tastes. Not like a nice, quiet plant or skeleton! (Weirdly, I actually had a scrap of banter going over this exact subject at one point. It got tightened down to the exchange with Harding about the pig he used to hug when he was a kid.)" [source, two]

Sylvia was trying to tease Nevarra with the Tevinter Nights story Down Among the Dead Men [source]. "It was really fun to tease the Necropolis, so to speak, in TN, and I'm grateful we got to actually let players through its gates at last." [source]

User: "if Rook chooses to save Manfred and keep Emmrich mortal, what would Emmrich wish to become of his body once he did pass on?" / Sylvia: "Good question. I think he'd want to remain active and useful in death. A guide for other Mourn Watchers, or posted as a mystic guide somewhere dangerous, or perhaps an oracle in the library." [source]

User: "when and how was it decided that Emmrich would be romanceable? I remember reading that he would not be a romance option." / Sylvia: "I'm not sure where that came from, because I pitched him and then shortly after that we decided the entire cast was romanceable. That was fairly early on in the development of Veilguard, as I recall it. (Could've been a crossed wire?)" [source]

Trick Weekes: "Sylvia wrote the fantastic Emmrich "the Vol-carnage" Volkarin and everything that happens in Nevarra while dealing with a lead writer whose attitudes about corpses and undead are... not dissimilar from Taash's." [source] / Sylvia: "I still remember when you gave the very accurate feedback "I think we need to give players whose Rooks aren't into corpses some roleplaying choices to express this" and I was all "Ohhh yeaaaaaah." (Thank u Trick, you were right)" [source] / Trick: "Specifically, being able to express this without locking themselves out of the content! (For non-Sylvia folks) Given my issues with corpses, Emmrich as a whole was SUPER Not For Me, so I gave one caveat and then said, "For the rest of my critique, I will be impersonating his target audience." [source]

Sylvia on the secret origins of Manfred: "After I pitched Emmrich, I started jotting down notes and thoughts on his plots, his quirks, all that kind of stuff. It was very early on Veilguard, anything was still possible. We were chatting in the writer's room about it one day, and I think we'd just seen some early concept art for Emmrich. And our lead writer Trick Weekes joked that Emmrich looked like a man who'd have a skeleton named Manfred. And I laughed and went "Yeah he does!" And then I thought about it. It's wild in retrospect, but that one comment spurred a train of thought that led to the core of Emmrich's arc. He may've ended up a very different character without it! tl;dr: I stole it from Trick." [source, two, three, four]

"I got to play with a pretty free palette when defining the way Emmrich and the necromancers view death and spirits. But I tried to keep it within the confines of existing lore. That's one reason why that scene where Emmrich talks about Manfred to Harding goes into "the eternal question" of whether a soul actually returns with the dead or not. Nevarra has distinct beliefs, but I thought it'd be interesting if its people argue over their interpretations of those beliefs." [source, two]

"the other writers also suggested a bit later on that the big choice dig more into Emmrich's philosophies. Initially, it was more personally focused on his fears, which made it 'relatable' but pettier. Without that correction, I think it would've been weaker, I totally needed the team push." [source]

"I have a few guides to graveyard symbology, and it's so packed with references and meaning." [source]

User: "Did any of your own fears & experiences, make it into the writing of Emmrich? If yes, is it information you’re comfortable sharing with us? If it’s too personal to give any details, that’s fine as well. Also, across the other games, who do you think Emmrich will get along with best?" / Sylvia: "some of his fears are absolutely personal. The reflexive-compulsive panic over death is something I'm very familiar with, and I wanted to explore that through him. Because I suspected it was not uncommon, and worth examining. The question of who he'd get along with from the other games is surprisingly tough! Because without asking the other writers about their characters, I wouldn't know for sure. So I can only really speak to Josephine with surety. That said: -I think Josephine would be polite, and grow to like him, but would never entirely be over the ostentatious necromancy. -I think Emmrich meeting Sera would be the funniest match." [source, two, three]

"Peter Cushing was also one of my go-tos as an example of what I wanted Emmrich to be." [source]

"(Huge shout out to all the animators and level designers making Manfred run, quite literally. Like 95% of his personality lives in his movement, I think they nailed it.)" [source]

On Emmrich: "I tried to put a lot of passion and sincerity in his love for the dead, and I admit the Necropolis was THE big place I wanted to see in Thedas myself ever since reading about it in a codex." [source]

User: "Thank you for letting him have that cemetery dream date!" / Sylvia: "Having the date in the cemetery was one of the first things I wanted when thinking about the romance." [source]

"Josephine was the first time I was entrusted with a new character and a new romance at once, and that'll always be special to me." [source]

User: "How much input did you have in Emmrich's appearance in the podcast?" / Sylvia: "In the podcast, none myself. I believe it was handled by a third party but reviewed by a few people at BW, I don't know too much past that. (We did provide a descriptor and character rules. Stuff like "Emmrich never swears" and "always says amongst" and broader, more thematically useful things.)" [source]

User on Emmrich: "Are you planning any other external-media stories for him?" / Sylvia: "Thanks very much, The Flame Eternal has a special place in my heart for being the first time Emmrich got to be center stage in a story. (And very flattering to hear about the cross stitch. That's so cool!) I can't speak to any external-media plans, I'm afraid. That's not an implied hint about anything existing or not, it's just literally outside what I'm allowed to chat about. It'd be fun to do something like that again though!" [source, two]

"I must give full credit to Nick Borraine, Emmrich's voice actor. He got the compassion and tenderness the character needed right away." [source]

"And glad him being closer to your age resonated, I really wanted someone older out on an adventure. No reason that has to stop at any age IMO." [source]

User: "do the mourn watcher/nevarra in general raise their pets after they die to keep them around? like a dog skeleton with a whisp in it?" / Sylvia: "To be honest I hadn't thought out this one, but it's a very good question. I'm not sure how common that would be, or even if it's permitted to have pets running around the family crypt. (I definitely thing people would WANT to do it.) You know, I think I'm going to have to leave this one in the vague quantum foam of the future. I think I'd want to not only double check existing lore, but answer that in-game (or in a book or etc.) if we ever need to. (Hope that's not too much of a cop out. Sometimes I like to leave questions I'm not sure about alone, because until it's in an official game or story, it doesn't quite count.)" [source, two, three]

User: "as someone who shares emmrich's anxiety about mortality, getting to spend time with him, and in the grand necropolis and with the mourn watch, was genuinely soothing" / Sylvia: "Thank you, I'm glad he was a comfort. It's a familiar fear for me too, and I'd hoped he would connect that way with people very much." [source]

On the giant ribcage 'ceiling' in the Necropolis: "sadly, even I don't know all the mysteries of the Necropolis. (Which is to say it's a very cool bit of art but has no stated origin yet. Could be a large dragon, a giant...or something weirder!)" [source]

On TN story Luck in the Gardens: "It was nice change up, writing in first person and with someone so rascally. I've got an enduring affection for the Lords after writing Hollix, the scamp." [source]

User: "I just love his genuine enthusiasm for everything he does. If the other party members had fan clubs Emmrich would be the president of each and I love that for him" / Sylvia: "Thank you! I really wanted him to embody a kind of expansiveness and generosity of spirit, to stand in contrast to the eeriness of his abilities." [source]

User: "What was your inspiration for Josie?" / Sylvia: "My girl! When I came on to Inquisition, there'd already been work done on setting up the spine of the main plot, and figuring out the overall cast. But one of the advisors was a little murkier. It just said "Diplomat" on the white board. We knew we wanted someone in that position, but not who. So in a game where you were out exploring, killing demons, etc., but also had a big organization to run? I immediately wanted to make a Diplomat firmly there for you. Somebody you could hand the keys to the entire Inquisition to while you were out, and know it'd be in good hands. I also thought it'd be fun to have someone from Antiva, since that area wasn't covered yet by anyone in the cast. And I needed her to be polished, smooth, but heartfelt, because of that aforementioned trust. And that was the core of Josephine! Her voice actor, Allegra, brought her to life with such lovely charm, and hearing those early sessions also helped me further hone her tone." [source, two, three, four]

"Our music supervisor Ron Dazo hit it out of the park with Emmrich's music IMO. And so glad you liked Hezenkoss! Just very fun to write as a character." [source]

User: "Did any specific watcher raise MW Rook?" / Sylvia: "Good question! I kind of left that one alone because I wasn't sure if I wanted to let Rook define that themselves, or leave it open, and also I'd have wanted a full conversation on it. In the end that was a little out of scope so I left it unsaid. Which is to say that it COULD be Vorgoth who helped raise your Rook. And that stands until/unless we give a definitive answer (or let you choose from a range of answers) one day." [source, two]

"It was such a pleasure for all of us to finally get to explore the Necropolis, I am very glad we got to throw open the gates." [source]

User: "I was wondering if there were any Mourn Watch details you wished you had more time to explore? I was so struck by some of the ethical implications in your stories" / Sylvia: "Geeze, now that's a question. I mention it with Emmrich, but there's some resentment over the power the Watchers hold as THE mortalitasi of the Grand Necropolis, between them and the other orders. There's something to that situation I liked. There's also questions of how they select people for the order. What their standards are, how closely they work with benign spirits. And how they cultivate those relationships. How deep does that go? I also mentioned in a codex "the lives and bodies of those who tamper with the undead of the Necropolis are forfeit unto the Mourn Watch." which is pretty chilling. What's that punishment like, exactly? And in general, writing about anything weird or unexplained in the Necropolis brought me much enjoyment, and it would be fun to dig around how the Mourn Watch deals with (or what they want out of) all these mysteries and entities." [source, two, three, four]

"Geeking out with Emmrich about spooky stuff was a delight to write." [source]

"I liked writing someone older this time, it was something different for me and rewarding in some unexpectedly different ways. (And thanks especially for the nice words on DAtDM - I was very excited to introduce people to the Mourn Watch there!)" [source]

"Ah, tomb-script. I named it but it was our concept artists who went developed it with the hexagon shape-language of the Mourn Watch, which I loved. Conceptually: I think it's used purely an occult or sacred language. Something for the graves, or books on magic, but not everyday things." [source]

"Some trans people kindly offered their help with some feedback on some of the romance lines and others, which absolutely made them much better." [source]

"Trick Weekes actually wrote a ton of the banter where Emmrich inquires into qunari artifacts and customs, and Taash talks about what it was like to grow up under a scholar. I really dig the dynamic they unearthed between the two there." [source]

[harryssyndrome]

Manic | h.s

summery: he may be a popstar but he’s also a manic the world doesn’t know.

word count: 2.6k || Masterlist

Posted on: November 18th, 2024

This is going to be a short series if you guys like it! Here’s the prologue and chapter 1.

The darkened room was quiet, save for the soft hum of a playlist that had been playing for hours. It was a familiar sound, one that Harry Styles had heard countless times before. The music, meant to soothe and distract, did neither. It never did anymore.

Fame had always come easily to Harry. It had been handed to him on a silver platter after years of hard work, but after so long, he was tired. Not physically, not yet, but mentally. The adoration, the constant need to be the center of attention, it had become exhausting. He didn’t need the spotlight anymore. It was empty. Unfulfilling. All he really craved was something real. Something that felt tangible. But everything felt like a performance, every encounter, every interaction, a scripted scene in a play that had gone on too long.

He should’ve been happy. His name was on the lips of millions, his face splashed across billboards, and his albums charted at number one. And yet, Harry felt hollow inside.

His gaze wandered aimlessly over his phone screen. Another night of scrolling through social media, his thumb moving slowly, mechanically, as he half-heartedly browsed the posts. Then it caught his eye.

A video.

Not just any video—this one was different. A fan edit, yes, but it wasn’t the usual over-enthusiastic nonsense. This one felt… raw. Real. The video was of him, sure, but the energy was unique. The girl in the video was singing along, dancing in her room, her energy infectious. Her eyes sparkled with an unrestrained joy, her movements filled with an innocence he hadn’t seen in a long time.

She wasn’t pretending. She wasn’t trying to be cool or act like she wasn’t completely immersed in the moment.

No, this girl—YN—was different.

The video switched to another post: a selfie of her holding a cardboard cutout of him, beaming at the camera with a grin that was all enthusiasm and giddiness. The caption read: “Just me and my favorite person in the world ❤️ #harrystylesforever.”

Harry watched, transfixed, as if he couldn’t look away. There was something magnetic about her. Something about the way she adored him, but not in the way others did. There was no ulterior motive in her eyes, no agenda beyond the sheer love of his music.

For the first time in a long time, Harry felt… noticed. But not for his fame, or his status. No, this girl—YN—saw him for what he truly was. And in a way, that felt like a breath of fresh air. She wasn’t enamored with the star. She was enamored with the man.

Harry scrolled further through her feed. She had an entire shrine dedicated to him. Posters, merchandise, photos of places he had filmed music videos, concerts she’d attended. The more he scrolled, the more he realized that Kate’s world was revolving around him in a way he couldn’t quite comprehend.

It wasn’t just admiration. It was obsession. Pure and unfiltered.

And he couldn’t stop watching.

Her life was laid out in front of him, piece by piece. She posted about everything. Her favorite coffee shop. The books she read. Her friends. Her artistic creations. His song covers. Every little moment of her life was shared with a world that admired her for the very same reason she adored him.

And Harry couldn’t get enough of it.

There was a pull in his chest as he clicked on her live video, her face lighting up the screen as she spoke, her joy so pure and unguarded it felt like a drug. She laughed, her voice a melodic sound that made his heart beat faster.

“I can’t believe it,” she said, practically giddy. “Harry Styles liked my post! Do you know what that means to me? It’s like… it’s like he knows I exist.” Her voice wavered with emotion. “Like, I don’t even know how to explain it, but it’s like all of my dreams are finally coming true.”

Harry’s lips curled into a slow smile. He wasn’t used to feeling this way—this sense of control. This… pull. There was something about YN, something about the way she expressed her adoration for him, that was different from all the others. She wasn’t just a fan. She was everything he had been looking for.

And the best part? She had no idea he was watching.

He rewound the livestream, watching her over and over again, each time growing more captivated. And then, he noticed something.

In the background, through her window, the faint outline of streetlights and buildings could be seen.

It was just a glimpse. But it was enough.

The thought was sudden, almost like a seed planted in his mind. She was close. So close. It wouldn’t be hard to find her.

And that thought… that thought lingered.

YN woke up the next morning to an onslaught of notifications. Her phone buzzed incessantly, each new one making her stomach flip with excitement. She rubbed her eyes, still groggy from sleep, and grabbed her phone.

A notification from Instagram.

@harrystyles liked your post.

She blinked, staring at the words. Her heart raced. Was she dreaming? She clicked on the notification, her pulse quickening when the page loaded.

It was real.

Harry Styles, the Harry Styles, had liked her post.

Her hands trembled as she swiped through her feed. Was this really happening? The man she had adored for years—the man she had spent countless hours watching, listening to, obsessing over—had noticed her. And not just in passing. He had liked her post.

“I can’t believe it,” she whispered to herself, her voice barely audible as she scrolled through the comments.

Her followers were going wild.

“Oh my God, YN, he liked your post!”

“What? Harry Styles actually noticed you?!”

“You’re a legend, girl! This is everything!”

YN’s breath came in shallow gasps. This was bigger than anything that had happened to her before. She had posted countless videos, countless photos, all for this moment. And now, it had happened.

Her heart was still racing when she opened Instagram live. Her fingers hovered over the button. What should she say? How could she even begin to express how overwhelmed she felt?

She hit record.

“Guys,” she said, her voice trembling with excitement. “I don’t even know what to say right now. Harry Styles liked my post. Harry Styles.” She laughed, shaking her head as if she couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of her mouth. “This is insane. I feel like I’m dreaming.”

She paused, looking directly into the camera. “Do you guys have any idea what this means to me? Like, this is—this is everything. This is all I’ve wanted for so long. I can’t even—”

Her words trailed off as she swiped through the screen, her eyes wide. She had just noticed the comment. A single heart emoji.

From Harry.

“I—” YN’s voice faltered. “Oh my God. He commented. Harry Styles just commented on my livestream!.”

She stared at her screen in disbelief. There was no way this was real. But it was. And it felt like the world was shifting under her feet.

Harry Styles had noticed her.

The next few days passed in a blur. YN couldn’t focus on anything other than the fact that Harry Styles had seen her. He had liked her posts, commented on her videos. He had made her feel seen. Not like a fan, but like someone special.

And Harry—Harry couldn’t get her out of his head.

Every notification, every new video she posted, he consumed it with an intensity that bordered on obsession. He started following her more closely, paying attention to the smallest details in her posts. Her likes. Her comments. Where she went. What she did. Everything she shared, Harry took in like a starving man at a feast.

It didn’t take long before he started devising a plan. He could feel the pull, the magnetic attraction that drew him to her. He could feel her energy from miles away, even through a screen.

But that wasn’t enough. He needed more.

He watched her live videos, listened to the way her voice wavered with excitement when she spoke of him. He watched her laugh, heard the way her voice carried when she spoke of her love for him. And in that moment, Harry knew he had to make her feel something deeper.

Something darker.

He began to calculate. Every post she made, every comment, every moment of her life was a clue. Her routines. The coffee shops she frequented. Her favorite spots in the city.

She wasn’t just a fan.

She was a piece of a puzzle.

And Harry was going to put it together.

YN felt like she was floating in a dream, a haze of disbelief. Every time she checked her phone, she saw the same thing. Harry Styles. His name was there in her notifications, like a light guiding her through the madness of her obsession. He had liked her posts. Commented on her videos. Even sent her a heart emoji—his emoji.

She was on cloud nine, and she couldn’t help but smile whenever she thought about it. Her followers were ecstatic. Everyone knew. Everyone was talking about her. YN, the girl Harry Styles noticed.

It wasn’t just the likes and comments. It was the way he watched her. She could feel it, like a weight on her chest. When she posted something new, she checked her notifications more than she should. And there it was—always there. Harry’s eyes on her.

Her room, the one she’d carefully decorated with Harry memorabilia, felt like a shrine, but not just to him. It felt like it was for him, a window into her life. A way for him to see her.

Harry had stopped just liking her posts. He had begun watching her live streams, something YN had been dreaming of but never truly expected. His presence was palpable. She could almost feel his gaze through the screen, like he was right there with her. The thought sent shivers down her spine.

But what did it mean? Was this just a phase? Was Harry really paying attention, or was it just a fleeting moment for him? She wondered if she would wake up one day and realize it was all a dream. No. No, this was real. He had to care.

In the dark of his bedroom, Harry sat back in his chair, phone in hand. His eyes flicked over the screen, watching YN’s every move. Her excitement, her vulnerability, her eagerness to please him. Every post, every comment, was a step deeper into the labyrinth he was creating.

He had started by watching her like any other fan. But something about her had drawn him in. The way she spoke. The way she laughed. The way she seemed real. Not a pretend version of a fan, not just someone fawning over his fame, but someone who truly adored him. No one had adored him like that in a long time.

She was his escape, his secret obsession. Her life was a mosaic of small moments that, when pieced together, painted a clear picture. He could see it all now—the places she went, the routines she followed. She was so predictable, so easily found. And that’s when the dark thoughts started creeping in.

He wasn’t just content with being a distant figure in her life. He needed to be closer. He needed to own her adoration, to control it.

The first step was simple.

Harry sent her a message.

A direct message.

He’d done it casually, almost nonchalantly. He commented on her latest post, then slid into her DMs under the guise of admiration, complimenting her style, her energy. It was a gentle nudge. But the more he messaged, the more it became clear. She wanted him. She needed him. Her responses were quick, eager, every message dripping with excitement. It fed him, fueled the fire inside of him.

They exchanged pleasantries at first. She gushed over how much his music meant to her, how he had been a source of inspiration. Harry watched it all, reading between the lines. She was enamored, yes, but there was something more. She was a fan, but she wanted more. She needed to be noticed.

And he could give that to her. But first, he had to make her feel something else. Something darker.

One night, when the world outside was still and quiet, Harry did something that would push his obsession further into a twisted reality.

He didn’t tell YN. He didn’t send a message. There was no warning.

He simply showed up.

YN’s apartment building wasn’t far from where he was staying. It took him only a few hours to figure out where she lived. It wasn’t hard. The clues were always in plain sight.

When he arrived, he parked his car a few blocks away and walked quietly to her building, his heart hammering in his chest. He wasn’t nervous. He wasn’t scared. But there was something thrilling about being so close to her.

Standing outside her window, he could see her inside, oblivious to the fact that he was watching. She was sitting at her desk, the soft glow of her computer screen illuminating her face as she scrolled through her phone.

Harry stayed hidden, just out of sight. His breath quickened as he watched her. She’s mine, he thought. She just doesn’t know it yet.

He waited until the apartment was dark, until the only light that remained was the dim glow of her bedside lamp. She was ready to sleep.

When she finally stood and moved toward her bed, Harry crept up to her window. He didn’t knock. He didn’t need to.

His fingers wrapped around the ledge of the window, and with a single, practiced motion, he slid it open.

The soft creak of the window didn’t alert her. YN was too lost in her thoughts to notice anything. She was just getting ready for bed, unaware that the man she idolized, the man she felt was just a part of her dreams, was standing in the darkness outside her window, staring at her.

Harry’s breath caught in his throat. The view of her room, her soft silhouette against the dim light, her hair falling over her shoulders, her delicate features bathed in the soft glow—it was like a dream. But it was real. He was here. Watching.

He reached into his coat pocket, pulling out a small vial, the smell of her perfume still lingering on it. He pressed it to his nose, inhaling deeply. Her scent filled his lungs, and for a moment, he felt closer to her than he ever had.

He watched her move to her bed, getting under the covers. His body tensed, heart racing as he took a few steps forward.

The feeling was intoxicating. This was no longer about admiration. This was about ownership. Control. Harry had to make her see him. He had to make her crave him the way he craved her.

He stayed for hours, watching, as YN shifted in her sleep, her body curled under the blankets. He wanted to touch her—just one touch—but he couldn’t. Not yet.

He caressed the glass, the smooth surface cold under his fingertips.

“I’ll be back, and then we’ll be together..” he whispered softly, barely audible.

And then he left.

As Harry retreated into the shadows of the night, his mind raced. He had tasted it now. The power. The control. He had planted a seed, and it would grow.

The game had just begun.

[ckret2]

Why do you ship billford? i want to hear all ur handcanons and reasons hehehe

ALL of them? My friend I do not think you comprehend the magnitude of the task you have requested. I can tell you some of them.

Here's a post I already wrote listing why I like them, and here's a post about what Ford thinks about Bill, and I just made a post about what Bill thinks about Ford because I've had it typed up on discord for ages and decided it needs its own post.

So, some headcanons:

⭐️ While most people who ship it headcanon that they had a romantic relationship of some kind pre-betrayal, my default headcanon is that they DIDN'T have a relationship—mainly because I enjoy making Bill, specifically, miserable, and I like headcanoning that Ford violently lost interest in Bill at the EXACT moment Bill developed a sincere interest in Ford.

Meaning that Bill "LOOKS LIKE MR. BRAINIAC FINALLY GOT SMART" Cipher destroyed his own chances five seconds before going "no no wait I actually want to keep this one," and that's SO funny. I made a graph!

⭐️ From Lost Legends we know that Ford used to date a siren. In the original Greek mythology, sirens didn't woo sailors by singing prettily; sirens offered knowledge about distant and future events. Sailors wrecked their ship upon the sirens' shores and starved to death at their feet just to listen to them sing about the secrets of the universe.

What I'm saying is: Ford has a type.

⭐️ This is a mutual monsterfucker 4 monsterfucker relationship. They look at each other and go "wow you're such a weird-looking alien" and they're attracted to each other BECAUSE of that, not in spite of that. I don't want any of this "oh how could I be drawn to something so strange..." shame out of Ford, as far as I'm concerned his first crush was Mothra, a floating triangle is nothing.

⭐️ Consequently, this means that if you take an AU where Bill gets stuffed in a human body, rather than making things easier, it ironically means that any PHYSICAL attraction Ford had for Bill instantly evaporates. A humanized Bill could be the sexiest damn thing in the room and everyone else in the vicinity is going 🥵💦 but Ford's going 😐. If they hook up with Bill in a human body it's in spite of Bill's current appearance and it's because Ford knows that, underneath the body, Bill's still Bill. You could hand Ford a perfect Tumblr Sexyman supermodel and he'll be fantasizing about a three-tiered pyramid with more teeth than a shark.

⭐️ Bill WILL play Dungeons Dungeons & More Dungeons with Ford, voluntarily, for fun. However he always wants to DM and he's brutal.

⭐️ I think that the majority of the Henchmaniacs used to be like Ford: young, naive, USEFUL aliens that Bill was trying to manipulate into getting access to their universes, probably by trying to get THEM to build portals. None succeeded, but they got far enough along that either they chose to join Bill, they were forced to flee their dimension and join Bill—or, due to Bill, their home no longer existed, so they might as well join him. I think that every one of them was once his ✨favorite✨ person. I think he sealed the deal in winning their friendship & loyalty with a calculated, scripted display of vulnerability—the exact same one he tried to use on Ford: I liberated my constricting, flat world; I want to liberate yours...

He may have dated some of them, too, especially right after they joined. Because he wouldn't have recruited them unless he thought they were JUST ♥ LIKE ♥ HIM. They're special, they're important...

... and after a few years, Bill realizes they're not that much like him after all and loses interest, and they sink down into the rank-and-file with the rest of the Henchmaniacs. The Henchmaniacs are FULL of people who were once Bill's Favorite—his best friends, his confidants, his lovers—and most of them are desperate to catch his eye and be that important to him again. They gave everything they had to Bill only for Bill to get bored.

So when he shows off the human who enabled Weirdmageddon and invites him to join the gang, they know EXACTLY what they're looking at: Bill's newest favorite. They know how this goes, he'll be gaga over this earthling for the next 5 to 500 years and then Ford will be just another regular Henchmaniac. The fact that Ford doesn't seem eager to join is no problem. Ford isn't the only soon-to-be Henchmaniac whose world Bill ended; some of them had to be talked around into joining, too.

⭐️ I think that, if you took Bill with his canon personality, didn't give him any character development, and then made him GENUINELY fall in love with Ford, and had him SINCERELY try his hardest to be a good, loving, healthy partner... he would still be toxic as hell for Ford.

Part of what draws Bill to Ford is that he sees SO much of himself in Ford—some accurate, some just projection. (You who crave power and fame and fortune like I do; you who also hunger to be all-knowing; you who would also sacrifice your world and your family and everyone you know and love to get what you want; you with an ego the size of the moon, oh, you deserve an ego the size of a star.) And so he assumes that what Ford really wants is what BILL would want in Ford's shoes.

And if Bill was Ford, what he'd want is to REALLY be the man who changed the world. Bill thinks he's fulfilling all Ford's wildest dreams if he gives that to him. Naming Ford the orchestrator of Weirdmageddon is the most generous gift Bill could ever offer.

Even if Bill is Really Really Trying and accepts that okay Ford doesn't want his world invaded: his idea of showing Ford love will be pulling the strings to get Ford fame & fortune. Teach him secrets of the universe that he can publish in a dozen groundbreaking scientific papers, arrange meetings with politicians and celebrities, get him a Nobel, get him an Oscar-winning bio pic, get him a billion dollars, get him EVERYTHING Ford's ever imagined as a marker of success and then double it.

When Bill's manipulating Ford, he offers praise and approval in little drops periodically leaking from the faucet, to keep Ford thirsty for more. When Bill's LOVING Ford, he just breaks the fire hydrant and lets it flood the street.

But the thing is, that's not good for Ford. That'll never make him truly happy. Ford's only ever learned how to measure his success by external markers, but the more external markers he collects the more he'll feel like he hasn't Made It yet. It's even possible that knowing Bill's helped him get this far will make him feel like he hasn't really EARNED it. He could have the whole world handed to him and he'll feel just as dissatisfied as he was on the day he first summoned Bill.

And Bill, even if he's trying his HARDEST to do this right, wouldn't be able to understand why this isn't working. A trillion years old and the only way he knows how to show love (or to receive love) is by showering someone in praise and gifts and favors. If that doesn't work, he doesn't know what's left.

[ghostintimates]

pinned post!

⚠️ 18 + NO MINORS PLEASE!!! CONTAINS “HARD KINKS”⚠️

tip me if i turned you on 🤭!

i try to post pics or gifs of me every other day

you may know me from my previous blog by the same name :)

autistic, mentally ill, and hyper sexual with a sex special interest !!! (you should objectify that)

SUPER dom leaning switch/verse at the moment

asks are VERY ENCOURAGED!!! you can send DMs too. but beware for both methods: i will answer at my own pace, which isn’t always right away.

how to refer to me, kinks, and tags under the cut :)

they/he, genderfluid transmasc. you can use any language to describe me for the most part (ex: dick, tits, cunt, hole, pretty, hot, etc) except i don’t love pussy or handsome.

you may call me mx, sir, or mommy if you’re feeling subby 🤭 whore, slut, any variation of boy, and similar things if you’re feeling dommy 🫣 and ofc you can always call me ghost :)

Love ✅

t4t <3

monsterfucking (but i’m very picky)

cnc

orgasm control, denial, edging

clowns

object insertion

bdsm

hierophilia and blasphemy

degradation, shame, humiliation

praise

exhibition

oral (giving 🤤)

tickling

heart beats

uncommon stimulation (ears hhhhggggg)

intox

Sure 👍 *

*these aren’t my FAVORITES but i do like them

pee stuff sometimes (holding)

anal

pet play (when others are pets )

feet (not in mouths though)

furries

breath play (giving only)

fauxcest

boots

ageplay

NO ❌ *

*HARD LIMITS/DISLIKES but not a DNI because those don’t work. i block at my own discretion.

scat

vomit, excessive spit and drool (i’m emetophobic)

mind control and hypnosis

hucow

raceplay

detrans

breath play (receiving)

gore

Tags

boo(bies) - photos and gifs

moanuscripts - my writing

ghost’s ouija board - asks

ghost doodles - my drawings

ghost moaning - my text posts

ghost vents - technically vents but i’m often posting to hear people’s responses

scholastically sexy - *NOT MY OWN POSTS* sex ed

scripting - *NOT MY OWN POSTS* things to help me talk

[nataliescatorccioapologist]

I visited the WGA library to read Yellowjackets scripts and wanted to share some of my findings! (Pt. 1)

So as some of you may know, scripts for the latter half of Yellowjackets Season 1 have already been released to the public (you can find 1x05-1x10 here: https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1FctrMniXqWRFJOe-rX6dSgvmXEO2KyLE?usp=share_link) and the Pilot script is pretty easily accessible on the internet if you look it up.

However, I have never been able to find the scripts for the rest of S1. An old draft of 1x04 can be found on Script Slug but A LOT has been changed from this script to the final product (Van is dead, Nat actually killed her dad, Javi is called Cody?!). It’s an interesting read for sure but it seems the actual final script of “Bear Down,” along with “F Sharp” and “Dollhouse,” are not accessible on the internet. So I headed over to the WGA Library and checked out those three scripts to read! It was super interesting (highly recommend going if you’re in the LA area!). I was not able to get any pictures of the scripts due to the Library policy, but I took lots of notes and saved some of my favorite lines!

I’m going to start with 1x02 and make two separate posts of 1x03 and 1x04 because otherwise this post would be way too long!

1x02 “F Sharp”

•The episode starts with Misty’s POV of the crash, and there’s this line that I love:

“Across from her, Lottie reaches forward to desperately clutch Laura Lee’s hand in the aisle. Their shared terror making it all the more clear that, in this moment, Misty is all alone.”

This shows Misty’s longing for companionship and affection. Even in what she thinks might be her last moments, she is utterly alone. I think this moment is part of what tips her over the edge into obsession in her relationships with Coach Ben, Crystal, and Natalie.

•In the final product, we don’t really see what Nat’s POV of the plane crash is (other than her nightmare in 1x03 but I’m not sure if that actually happened or not?) but in the script she gets knocked unconscious and buried under a bunch of luggage and equipment and the other girls have to dig her out.

•Misty and Taissa are the ones to pry the exit door open for everyone to escape.

•Jackie doesn’t even try to save Van in the script, she just immediately runs over and tries to drag Shauna away from Van from the get-go.

“Jackie runs after Shauna and starts clawing at her, trying to get her to move toward the exit.”

•After Shauna and Jackie make it outside the wreckage, Jackie and Shauna “begin fighting angrily in the dirt, Jackie clearly still desperately afraid to remain so close to the fiery wreckage” as Shauna tries to go back in for Van.

•And I just thought this descriptor was a cute little addition; after Misty chops off Coach Ben’s leg, we get this line:

“And as we realize this little show called ‘Yellowjackets’ is sick, unexpected and awesome, we smash cut to—

MAIN TITLE”

•“Laura Lee trying in vain to hold and comfort a struggling, hyperventalating Javi.”

A nice little moment of Laura Lee comforting Javi as he’s trying to find his dad.

•”Jackie: For the record, I was trying to save you. I thought…

I was going to lose you. Jackie bites her lip, a little teary. Shauna glances at her and nods, I know—but we also get the sense that Van isn’t the only one judging Jackie right now.”

A little Jackie/Shauna moment. You can see how much Jackie loves Shauna, but Shauna is still conflicted over Jackie’s choice to leave Van behind.

•Some things Caligula says when Natalie breaks into Misty’s house:

“Hello, pretty lady!”

“Hells bells! My dogs are barking!”

Love this.

•The information Misty has in her secret file: articles and magazine covers about the crash, press clippings, a local wedding announcement for Shauna and Jeff, Taissa’s campaign flyer, and a brochure for Natalie’s rehab clinic.

•When Nat asks Misty why she has all of this information, Misty says:

“You guys are the most important people in my life.”

Just another reminder that Misty’s whole existence revolves around the Yellowjackets, even after 25 years.

•Nat is hyper focused on looking at Travis’s drivers license in the bar scene when Kevyn walks up to her. She totally ignores Kevyn, just focused on Travis’ picture. She is described as looking “pale” and “like she’s seen a ghost.” Just shows how hung up Nat is on Travis and how much that relationship fucked her up.

•Misty says “Holy macaroni” when she sees Coach Martinez’s body. Insane.

•Okay brace yourselves for this one guys, in the script Coach Martinez is STILL ALIVE when they find him impaled on the tree.

“The coach’s eyes pop open. He suddenly grabs Travis. Eyes wild with pain and fear, the coach tries to speak but only makes raspy sounds as blood bubbles at his lips.”

“Travis: Dad! Let go!”

Travis’s dad won’t let go and there’s a scene where Travis is trying to claw him off of him, then the tree branch cracks and Travis shakes his dad off of his arm, “knows it’s his dad or the both of them” and the tree branch falls.

Wow. As if the scene that ended up making it in the final product wasn’t traumatic enough, Travis has to actively let his dad fall to his death when he’s still alive and desperately clinging to him? Ouch. I’m glad they cut that scene honestly poor Travis.

•Shauna is holding Javi and comforting him during and after this scene.

“We see Shauna still comforting Javi, we can’t hear what she’s saying but her body language is very giving—a maternal streak she didn’t know she had.”

Love the nod to Shauna’s maternal nature here. She’s naturally very nurturing and caring, but after she loses her baby she becomes more cold and distant with her other child, Callie, in fear that she will lose her too. I just love seeing the before and after here, we get to see what Shauna was like before all of the trauma. Shauna wants to nurture Callie, it’s a natural part of her personality as this scene with Javi shows, but she can’t get too attached after what happened in the Wilderness.

•In the adult timeline, there’s another deleted scene in which Nat drives to Shauna’s house and spies on her from outside.

“She seems to be fighting an impulse to get out of her car, but her feelings are unclear. Does she look uneasy? Vindictive?”

Another hint the conflict between these two that we still haven’t seen yet? Maybe this is lingering resentment from Shauna challenging Nat’s leadership as the new Antler Queen?

•When Nat hands Travis her flask to drink from after the whole Coach Martinez incident, there’s this line:

“She wants to tell him there is nothing he could have done. How guilt like this is poison, and if he’s going to blame himself she will punch him in the face”

I think this is clearly a nod to Nat’s own guilt around her father’s death. She knows that Travis is likely tearing himself apart inside because she did the same thing after her father’s death. She blamed herself, as Travis is doing now. Also love the punching him in the face line, it’s very on-brand for Nat and honestly wish she had punched him in the face a few times when he deserved it.

*1x03 and 1x04 notes to come!*

[gothamite-rambler]

Posting on AO3 and Tumblr

Hey everyone! I haven't been posting my usual longer script flash fics here because I've been busy moving and concentrating on writing a lot of them on AO3. Many of those fics work better as one-shots over there. I hesitated to post them because I was worried they wouldn't belong on AO3; it felt weird to write them like script fics. Heck on here I switched formats for a time, ashamed of my writing style, and I didn't think they deserved to be there. Even when friends recommended I share them, I felt inadequate and kept posting here instead.

But with the help from my friends I finally worked up the courage to do both, post on here and archive of our own. I love writing fanfiction and it's fun exploring the batman mythos. I'm still working on handling the hate comments, but... I'm getting there sorta lol. 😊

For me, my longer fics tend to bog down the feed here, and I don’t mean that negatively! While it may sound like I am, I was just too focused on the numbers, worrying about getting the most kudos and comments. I was fixated on this odd idea of becoming 'famous' instead of writing what I genuinely enjoy for myself and the readers who might come across it.

Sorry for rambling! I plan to continue posting script fics here that are connected to my works on AO3, but they’ll be shorter. You can find links to my current AO3 works in the master list, although some of the links under it may be dead.

Current fics on ao3:

Batfamily Adventures: Jim Gordon

Burden of Blame

I'm a poison... I couldn't save them - Nightwing Fic 

The Ties that Bind: Cassandra Cain and Jason Todd Becoming Friends 

"Okay, but how were you able to taste heroin?" - Remember that one time?

There some not posted W.I.P. I have ready to post on ao3 as well:

JayRose Flash fics: How they met, them keeping it secret and finding out they want to give a monogamous relationship a shot with each other and see where there love takes them.

Dimensional Crossroads: A fanfic where portals open around the world and Gotham, leading the main Batfamily to encounter alternate versions of themselves, their friends, and those they’ve lost.

Harley Quinn's Redemption Arc: Harley Quinn, while admittedly insane from the effects of jumping into the Joker toxin, is making amends and bettering herself as best as she can. She's not a hero or a licensed therapist anymore, but being an anti-hero street therapist works for her. Now, she's attempting to repair her relationships with former foes, especially Jason. Her girlfriend Ivy doesn't fully support her working with the Bat Family, but she will still be there for her.

Timbern Fics: These stories center on Tim Drake and Bernard, exploring their unique dynamic. Tim struggles to keep his superhero life separate from his love life, but Bernard isn’t one to shy away from a chance to fight bad guys. Together, they make the perfect couple—who knew romance could be so action-packed?

Tim Drake Fics: This series delves into Tim's journey as he copes with the tragic deaths of his parents. It captures his internal conflicts with villains who complement his persona, his occasional hair-trigger temper, and the way his intelligence and tendency to overthink often come in handy—at the most unexpected moments.

Duke Thomas Fics: Follow Duke as he adjusts to life within the Batfamily, carving out his own niche while embracing the unconventional nature of his new home. He’s not your average hero, and some of his moves—and perhaps even his strategies—are inspired by his favorite animes. Just remember, he doesn’t mess with the spirits!

Cass Fics: In these stories, Cass shows off her badass side while embracing her role as Bruce's favorite (and only) daughter. The series explores her deep bond with her "baby brother," Jason, as she navigates her own anxieties and issues. And who says dating life can’t be enjoyable?

RobStar Fics: Join Dick Grayson and Koriandr on their path to rekindling their relationship. With open communication and maturity, they tackle villains and share tender moments. Will marriage be in their future? You’ll have to wait and see!

Spoiler vs. Kite-Man Fics: Inspired by a headcanon I had after watching Kite-Man, Hell Yeah, this series humorously explores the unlikely dynamic of Stephanie Brown and Kite-Man. Though Stephanie initially dislikes Kite-Man, their odd relationship shifts as she lets him escape and he proposes a rivalry. She even gets to meet his fiancée! FML, indeed.

Jason Todd's Pre-Return to the Batfamily Fics: This series dives into Jason's tumultuous journey before rejoining the Batfamily. During this time, he battles Tim in a brutal second fight, keeps Damian’s identity a secret from Bruce, reconciles with Dick, rescues Bruce, and ultimately decides to stop killing—all while forming his own team.

Talia al Ghul: A Good Mom Fics: This series portrays Talia as a mother first, villain second, in her relationship with Damian. After making mistakes with both him and Bruce, and following her brush with death, she is determined to be a better mother, even if it annoys her son in the process.

That's what I have so far off the top of my head! You can check out many of these stories on my pinned masterlist. Thanks for reading, and if I muster the courage to post them on AO3, I’ll share the links soon.

[campgender]

i was scrolling your “life is in your home too” tag, which I love btw, and saw a post about how you learned to be a good dom from experienced expert doms by reading how they dom and some of their best scenes, do you think you could point me in the direction of some resources for me to study that too? thanks in advance, if not, thanks anyway!

(post referenced is here - link 1)

first of all tysm for this ask (+ your incredibly kind follow-up), it was a delight to receive + i’ve been wanting an excuse to talk about a lot of this for a while so i very much appreciate the interest!

as always please keep in mind that i am Just Some Fem, nothing is universal including when it comes to D/s & i can only speak to what works for me. i try to focus on starting points rather than specifics but ultimately my advice will always be limited by what i needed to hear & wasn’t told, which may not be what’s helpful for a different person. with that being said, here’s some suggestions!

i’ve posted a previous reading list (link 2) with relevant recs; particularly the practicality + sex writing sections have the kind of thing you’re looking for. specifically, The New Topping Book (2003) is a solid starting point; i definitely have my issues with it (haven’t read it recently enough to recall many specifics but i have the sense of general pervasive racism & ableism) but it did a good job at making me think & i appreciate the supportive tone they were going for

another book added to my tbr since then is Coming to Power (link 3), released by SAMOIS in 1983

other authors whose sex writing has been influential in my life: Sandra Cisneros, Natalie Diaz, Joan Nestle, Judy Grahn

the fic At The End of His Rope by Letterblade (link 4) is genuinely some of my favorite sex writing of all time & accomplishes the incredibly impressive feat of representing a broad array of dom styles & changes over time in the same piece

my “impurity culture” tag (link 5) houses the building blocks of my sexual ethic

i’ve found many of those foundations by poking around the incredible bodies of work original & archived @newsmutproject @woman-loving @gatheringbones

for me, studying sex is the same as studying poetry – reading for craft is a different process than for pleasure (not that there isn’t a great deal of pleasure to be found in such practice, especially for sadists – perhaps that’s why as a child i never resonated with Billy Collins’ “Introduction to Poetry,” like i love tying poems to chairs & beating them idk what to tell you). so, keeping in mind that these are suggestions not requirements, here’s how i read for + work on craft:

there is no such thing as too much journaling. this can take whatever form you prefer – voice memo, discord message to yourself, the noble notes app, your own personal sexy red string corkboard, a vast & stunning array of other approaches i can’t even begin to imagine. i personally have an elaborate web of spreadsheets & google docs lmao. what matters is developing a collection of ideas you want to play with + a practice of continually reflecting on past experiences.

pay attention to structure, not just content. find a scene you think is disjointed and pick at the seams, brainstorm better transitions. then find a scene that flows so smoothly it carries you with it and figure out what makes it work.

rewrite a scene you’re drawn to or affected by to suit your own preferences. i first did this when i couldn’t shake “Interlude 3” (link 6) from my head after reading The New Topping Book; you can read my variation on the theme here (link 7) if you’re interested.

write or think through a scene fantasy you have from negotiation to aftercare. obviously it’s very difficult if not impossible to fully script a scene in advance; the purpose isn’t planning something you’ll later do but rather getting used to coming up with ideas to get from one disparate moment / act to the next.

revisit a scene you’ve read, written, thought about, etc and list the physical & mental acts that are required / expected of the sub (eg, kneeling for 10 minutes; making eye contact; counting to 30, etc). then rework the scene for a sub who has the same interests & goals who cannot do 20% (or 50%, or any) of these acts.

revisit a previous scene and list the places where you think a sub might safeword & why. then rework it with the sub safewording somewhere that isn’t any of these places.

i also recommend keeping in mind that like… for me, reading about ethical sex can often be a very distressing process for the same reason that it’s liberating: because it proves that things i’ve experienced are not the way sex has to be. i’ll tell this story in its fullness one day but the first time i read S/HE by Minnie Bruce Pratt i literally had a flashback to events i’d repressed for years, it was devastating, i’m so grateful for it. hell, in the process of compiling resources for this post i cried twice editing this quote (link 8) because between reading that book the first time & now someone did “respond with scorn or ridicule” when i safeworded. so i would really encourage folks to approach this kind of work with as much grace & comfort for yourself as you can muster or borrow – if it’s really fucking hard, you’re not alone in that, & it’s okay to take your time + pace yourself + seek support.

your + others’ interest is definitely motivating me to actually write posts i’ve been tossing around for months so thank you again & feel free to keep an eye out for more shut-in sex tips in my new “tomorrow sexting will be good again” tag. would love to hear your thoughts on any of this post / these or other books / whatever really lol. wishing you all the best & i hope today is kind to you! 💓

[rinasunny]

The Lavatory scene in Red Eye's final shooting script and the movie

One of my previous posts was about how much the first script draft of Red Eye differed from the final product. The draft discussed in this post is more or less final. This draft has all the changes made after Rachel and Cillian were cast as leads and after the test screenings. But there are still some features which didn't make the cut into the final product. I'm not gonna analyse the whole script here, but shippers' favorite scene - the lavatory scene. Yeah, you can always rely on this scene to bring some juicy stuff.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Okay let's start from the moment Lisa enters the bathroom alone.

Frankly speaking, for now, I prefer the movie version. Especially the line "Okay, get up" instead of "Oh my God..." Wes Craven said in the DVD commentary about this moment:

This was tricky, between making her totally collapse, but not have her totally pathetic. And she very quickly gets herself under control.

Next, there is an interesting description of Rippner:

Also, the message on the mirror was meant to be revealed slightly earlier, but whatever.

I'm not sure about Rippner's lines here, because half of it is barely audible in the film. Also quite ironic that the underlined part is not in the movie at all.

Okay, now really important stuff starts kicking in. Rippner practically spills out the fact that he is ATTRACTED to Lisa right at her face. The script makes it clear, that she now knows this and tries to use his attraction (and his regret) to persuade him to give up on Keefe assassination plan. Funny enough, she almost succeeds until he notices her scar. Personally, I think "You're beautiful..." line (and hair brushing) should have stayed in the final cut. Not only for the sake of the ship, but for the fact that without it Lisa's "You don't have to do this" sounds really naive.

Some of you may argue that this is all relevant for the movie, they just made it more subtle. Well, Movie-Lisa's best guess that Movie-Rippner might be attracted to her is the way Cillian looks at Rachel. On one hand many people point out that they do have chemistry and sexual tension, on the other the movie on its own leaves watchers to wonder whether the characters had any romantic feelings towards each other or not. And I probably stumbled upon a comment on YouTube, which interpreted the "You don't have to do this" line more as "You're so pretty, why do you have to be evil?" (or something along these lines)

Also I think that clarification would make Lisa a more nuanced character (by the fact that she tries to manipulate a villain into giving up on his villainy).

Also, as you may have noticed, the scar was meant to be on her neck, makes sence, given her backstory (He held a knife to my throat). I guess they moved it down just so Rippner wouldn't notice it earlier (though the script also mentions, that Lisa was meant to wear a sweater). I, personally, on the back of my horny mind, think he wasn't looking for scar when he gazed on her breast ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°).

A little note: Script-Lisa looks away saying "No" while Rachel looks straight into his eyes, but starts trembling instead.

By the way, Rippner wasn't meant to slam and choke her just yet.

I guess he just let her out to wipe out the messege. Here Lisa gives up on conving him.

Only after he finished wiping he starts to choke her. Also, pay CLOSE ATTENTION on what Rippner's lips do here ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°). Yep, he almost kisses her.

I guess the changes movie made here were for the sake of pacing.

Another important difference: Rippner fixes both their outlooks to be more presentable. Lisa protests a bit.

I guess the movie crew decided they don't need to fix their look that much.

Also, I prefer the movie's "Peachy" instead of just "Good", though both lines are in the movie lol.

On the final note, I guess "Thanks for the quickie" line makes a bit more sence given we have Rippner's crawling lips there ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°).

So, these were the differences of the lavatory scene between the script and the movie. Hope you had as much shipping excitement as I did.

P.S: The link to the script. If you're a fan I strongly suggest to download it, it may easily become a lost media, like an earlier draft.

[cursedcrazy-starkid]

Little detail in NPMD that’s living rent free in my mind (spoilers ahead!)

I know the fandom has been obsessing over figuring out the lyrics to everyone’s favorite chaotic™️ scene but I wanna acknowledge something in the choreography that caught my attention💃🏻

Okay so first off MASSIVE PROPS to Lauren for choreographing this so amazingly. If you pay close attention you’ll notice that each of the Lords in Black has their own cute little 8 count dance related to their character (some more clear than others).

Pokey💙

switching back and forth between his hand and the mask (I’m assuming representing him wanting to block out every voice that’s not his own).

Nibbly💗

need I explain???

Wiggly💚

I’m assuming the arm motions are supposed to represent his tentacles

Blinky💜

also self-explanatory

Tinky💛

… okay honestly this one tripped me up but it fits the vibe

Okay so this alone was a cool discovery, but THEN I noticed that the Lords in Black cycled through each other’s choreography throughout the scene. After a million watches that I absolutely don’t regret I’m pretty sure I figured out the pattern to be: Wiggly➡️Tinky➡️Nibbly➡️Blinky➡️Pokey🔁 in a looping order. There were a few discrepancies in this pattern (I think possibly either due to choreography mistakes or maybe it was just to make the choreography look more symmetrical?) but this was the order that most commonly persisted:

Anything in parenthesis is what I think they were supposed to do because it’s a simple switch that fits the pattern (Corey never did Tinky’s dance but did Nibbly’s for 2 cycles, Lauren had Nibbly and Tinky’s reversed).

Anyway this may already be a thing because I definitely need to get caught up on Hatchetfield lore but I’m wondering if there’s any significance to this order?

It almost matches the order that we were introduced to the Lords in Black in (Blinky being the one out of place):

Wiggly (Black Friday)

Blinky (Watcherworld. NMT Season 1, episode 1 part 2)

Tinky (Time Bastard. NMT Season 1, episode 2 part 2)

Nibbly (Honey Queen. NMT Season 2, episode 1)

Pokey (Yellow Jacket. NMT Season 2, episode 4).

It almost matches reverse order to when we were first introduced to all of the dolls in The Witch in the Web: Pokey➡️Blinky➡️Tinky➡️Nibbly➡️Wiggly. Nibbly and Tinky are reversed, which could maybe be connected to Lauren reversing their dances in the order but I feel like that’s too far of a reach:

It also almost matches the order that the names are read from in the black book (again reverse order and Nibbly and Tinky are switched):

^creds to whoever typed out the script cause my digital ticket expired by the time I realized I wanted to double check this

It makes sense that invoking the names ends with Wiggly since it’s been implied at multiple times that he is the most powerful and terrible of the Lords in Black but other than that I’m clueless.

One moment that perfectly matches the pattern in the dance if you reverse it is the one real picture we have of the dolls from Nick’s Twitter:

If you start with any of them and go backwards it matches the (most consistent) pattern from the dance perfectly: Nibbly⬅️Tinky⬅️Wiggly⬅️Pokey⬅️Blinky

There’s more stuff that shows up in the choreography throughout the dance that intrigued me but this post is already way too long and I’m guessing with my luck there’s probably 0 significance to the order that the dances were done in buuuut yeah I’m driving myself insane on this so if anyone has any insight let me know!

Nerdy prudes must die🤪

[cellarspider]

16/30 Chemically inert

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⛬

We return to a movie whose biggest enemy is its own script, Prometheus. This is the second post today, because the previous one was so awful and I had very little context to add beyond anger.

So, now we come to a scene that made me wonder in the theater: what the fuck is going on with straight people?

A tangent is required at this moment, before we get back to pondering this question. Some of my friends like to watch their favorite science fiction shows with me, particularly if they have to do with genetics. Orphan Black, for example. This is because it is understood that I will regularly call out “Pause!”, and then they get to sit and listen to me alternatively praise or sputter over the fictionalization of my field of study. 

“Look. Their genetic material pre-dates ours. We come from them.”

Pause!

This is, probably, meant to hammer in the premise of the movie to a lay audience. However, the way she phrased it left me confused for a good long minute, trying to figure out what the fuck she meant. We don’t speak of any extant species as “pre-dating” another, even if they look exactly like their fossilized ancestors: all modern organisms are modern organisms. They have been continuously evolving the whole time they’ve existed. What we talk about is species diverging from each other. We didn't come from chimpanzees, or from neanderthals for that matter: we diverged from them.

(https://news.wisc.edu/naledi/) 

If I were to try and explain what she actually means by this: The particular Engineer they sampled from possess genetic sequences that are present in our evolutionary precursors, but have been lost in humans. That, and/or the Engineer possesses no sequences that are specific to modern Homo sapiens. 

To which my response is: no shit. They’re eight foot tall, completely hairless humanoids, surrounded by advanced technology. This is not Futurama.

This still doesn’t answer all my other logistical problems with when they got involved on Earth, which I already rambled about at length. 

But now we get to the real mystery of the scene: why are straight people?

I’m asexual as a rock. No, not that rock. But I’m not sex-repulsed. Sexual media and art is fine by me, but Hollywood does such a shit job with romantic chemistry that I thought I was for quite a while.

Shaw and Holloway are a couple. We know this, because they are a pair of female and male adult humans who work together in a movie. They have held hands and smiled at each other. Honestly, if Holloway hadn’t called Shaw “baby” soon after they woke up from stasis, I wouldn’t have known. 

Admittedly, this may be due to the fact that my “flirting or not” radar is hilariously non-functional most of the time. I have been on dates before without realizing it. Multiple times. It’s that bad.

This is the scene where we are supposed to see how they are romantic together, and how they grapple with their present situation. Holloway froze a rose in the cargo, along with a bottle of champagne. The fact that he has already been drinking heavily will surely make this especially fun, I’m sure.

Shaw, at least, acknowledges “[t]his is The most significant discovery in the history of mankind,” though I’d argue whichever early hominin first saw the big bald bastards already called dibs on that. I appreciate the gesture toward understanding the enormity of this situation, but her behavior hasn’t demonstrated it so far. Holloway’s, however, is even worse, and I think we are supposed to take Shaw as the more staid and reasonable one because of this.

With this and her further evidence that the Engineers made humans, Holloway immediately says “Okay. I guess you can take your father's cross off now.”

Yes. This is what you should say, when you’re in a long-term relationship with a religiously devout person who lost one or both of their parents at a young age. Definitely.

I get what this is trying to do, thematically. This movie is about the creation of life. We have a religious character squaring her faith with a piece of information that is incompatible with the literal text of her religion’s doctrine. 

Funny enough, we have a lot of religious people who work in biology already. Unless your religion was created last tuesday, there is literally no way it won’t contradict with some aspect of what modern science has discovered. People create the mental space for the supernatural, either merging or separating it from their field of expertise. Or they may not believe in the supernatural at all, instead subscribing to belief systems that provide an ethical and behavioral framework for their lives. 

A lot of scientists who are religious state that their religion is part of why they study the material world: Out of a love for the world, a call to aid others, or because the act of learning is seen as divine in itself.

This is also the kind of conversation that, frankly, two lunatics who believe in ancient alien contact with Earth should’ve had a long time ago. ‘Hey, you believe that big men from space were talking to the Sumerians, how’s that fit in with the whole Christianity thing for you?’

But no, he’s going somewhere hilariously baffling, via a direct route through the state of Wildly Insensitive as he barrels along the Clunky Dialog Highway.

“But here's what we do know: That there is nothing special about the creation of life. Right? Anybody can do it. All you need is a dash of DNA and half a brain, right?” “I can't.  I can't create life. What does that say about me?”

He FORGOT HIS LIFE PARTNER WAS INFERTILE.

“Ellie, that's not... I didn't mean… I wasn't talking about…”

Have you ever been so drunk that you made your girlfriend feel like Natasha ‘I’m a monster comparable to the Hulk because I was sterilized’ Romanoff in Age of Ultron

This is, as with most of the most thunderously clunky dialog in this movie, a plot point. There are ways they could’ve done this differently that I will get to at that time

But you know what’s even more baffling about this? Apparently that didn’t kill the mood.

It makes the next scene where Janek seduces Vickers with a jumpscare accordion and “Are you a robot?” almost make sense.

Or, frankly, Idris Elba and Charlize Theron are acting wizards who somehow managed to strangle some chemistry out of that scene.

Next time, the not-so-little death!

⛬ 

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Citations for alt-text rambles:

https://archive.org/details/abbott-and-costello-meet-the-mummy 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nepenthes_cultivars 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecce_Homo_(Garc%C3%ADa_Mart%C3%ADnez_and_Gim%C3%A9nez)#Failed_restoration_attempt_and_internet_phenomenon 

https://youtu.be/cZyj6GECjZ0 

https://youtu.be/nRr1t80TayE 

http://www.totheescapehatch.com/2012/06/escape-by-playing-stephen-stills.html 

https://www.discogs.com/artist/236968-Stephen-Stills 

Overflow Ramble 1 

I want it noted at the start here: I try to use screenshots where everyone looks as dignified as they can without losing objects or gestures I want to comment on, because otherwise it breaks flow. I could not find a screenshot where Shaw wasn’t stickin h leggy out real far, or making this extremely weird face. I tried. The movie defeated me.

Medium wide shot of Shaw sitting on a couch (loose pillows that don’t have velcro surfaces to keep them in place if the ship rolls), with Holloway in reverse shot, sitting on the other side of a coffee table (no lip to catch rolling objects), with a rose sitting in a cup between them. Shaw is about to stand up, and has just the most goddamn weird expression on her face. 

In the background is a side table (does have a lip, not tall enough to do anything), with a lamp (might be magnetized/gripped to the surface, doesn’t look it), a pile of books (falling hazard), a stick of incense burning in a cup (falling AND fire hazard), and, as previously noted during Vickers’ introduction, there’s the required Cultured White Person African Art Pieces just sort of. Leaned on a tiny little shelf in the background (how have they not fallen over already). Finally, a tropical hanging pitcher plant can be seen hanging behind the lamp, probably a Nepenthes cultivar. Did David keep these alive for two years? 

There is a bewildering buttload of Nepenthes cultivars, with an active enthusiast community in Japan. So, SO many of the cultivars are called ‘[Adjective] Koto’ (cite 2). Like, to the point where someone was clearly breaking out the dictionary to find more words for Koto. Decorous Koto. Effulgent Koto. Effulgent Koto again, there’s two of them. Elfine Koto. Emotional Koto. Felicitous Koto. Feminine Koto. Feverish Koto. Igneous Koto. Immobile Koto. And that’s as far as the Kotos go, apart from Zonal Koto. Somebody in 1984-1994 was literally going A-Z on Kotos before they suddenly stopped at I, turned around, and went back up to throw in Gerontic Koto and Ferny Koto.

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[sunlaire]

different anon. but experiencing something similar as someone who watched the terror bc of my dash and got sucked into reading articles, listening to a podcast, reading scripts. i’ve heard a) not to read the book version of terror for uh, reasons, and b) that the book erebus is pretty good? do you have any other recs for someone getting started?

YES OKAY! so I've been working my way slowly through this post, it's a recommendation of not just Franklin Expedition, but other polar books. I have to read Erebus yet but the other two they have listed for the FE are really good! "May we be Spared to meet on Earth" is a book full of letter written for and by the members of the expedition. It puts you right there with them. You get this private glimpse into who they were and for me that's my favorite part of learning about this stuff.

But listen, if you perhaps are interested in reading about a different expedition, I REALLY recommend "Madhouse at the End of the Earth." The book is fun. There were so many moments that made me actually laugh. And there were parts that overwhelmed me and made me cry. And it's written with so much attention paid to who these individuals actually were, as people. what they were feeling and thinking. It blew me away. (I desperately wish someone would make an in depth show about this expedition. It would be beautiful 😭) and because it was such a fun read, I think it's a perfect book to break into other eras of polar exploration. Sigh, I'm this close to rereading it actually. My mom has been listening to the audible version, and she said its very good, so if you're into that <3

[drdemonprince]

In numerous cases, masking is actually yet another tool of our oppression: rather than allowing us to pass through the world as neurotypical, it restricts us to an even narrower realm of expression than non-Autistics get to enjoy. When we’re masking, we might believe we’ve unlocked the guidebook to seeming normal and likeable, but actually, we’ve just located the muzzle that was already on our mouths.

There are times when a person must mask for their own safety. Black and brown Autistics use masking to protect themselves from violent white supremacy and police killings. Autistics interfacing with the medical or psychiatric system often have to mask to be treated with respect. It’s perilous to be openly Autistic while we are at work.

Sometimes, masking is necessary. But the fact that it is necessary does not make it good — and the fact masking may bring us some short-term relief doesn’t mean it’s compatible with any of us leading an actually liberated life. To get free, we must escape the social conditions that demand that we mask, as often and as fully as we can.

When it comes to making friends, collaborating, or meeting new people within an even playing field, masking puts many of us at a sharp disadvantage — but by being a little bit more openly freaky and nonconforming, we may discover that the right people actually like us more.

Take a look at this fascinating observation about communication and social “energy”, courtesy of the Social Skills subreddit:

Like the OP of this Reddit post, I used to communicate by attending to content, not energy. I would practice conversations in the mirror, and learn conversational scripts from TV shows like Hannibal and Mad Men (not the best training base, I know). If somebody asked me a question about how my day was going, or what my favorite book was, I thought really long and hard about what the optimal answer was, and how to translate that answer into something pleasing or socially acceptable.

Everything I did and said was meticulously gamed out. And I failed at socializing. Because what most people picked up on was the gaming. They got a calculated, distant energy from me, and that made them wary. People could sense that I was uncomfortable, and they didn’t want to bother me or intrude, and so they gave me a wide berth.

I know that my hyper-analytic, sarcastic self will never appeal to everyone, and in contentious situations, I’m quite comfortable being disliked. But in order to bond with the people I actually might like, I had to learn to relax enough to be present and receptive to other people’s energies.

You can read the rest of the essay for free here. (You get three free reads per month if you create a Medium account).

[novainthevoid]

for YOU, I choose the star sanses :3c (yes all 3, you can also just choose one of them if you want lol)

Ink

First impression: Honestly it's been so long since my first introduction to him that I'm not even sure how I felt back then. Given I dressed up as him for Halloween the year he was created, I'd say it was pretty good.

Impression now: Still good, surprise surprise. He is my biggest blorbo ever. Love the little guy.

Favorite moment: Kinda hard to say given the nature of his story being unfinished and largely inside asks buuuut. I'd say either him playing with/creating Buggy or him being a nuisance (affection) towards his dads.

Idea for a story: Magical Girl Ink, Eldritch Horror Ink, exploration of the development of the Star Sanses as a group with Ink still being his chaotic neutral self (I like going the route of them being friends first, coworkers later).

Unpopular opinion: This is a hard one... I'd say, though its less of an unpopular opinion and more of a reminder to people, Ink is capable of change. The nature of his story being mostly unfinished means that his character is in a state of perma-stagnation in canon, but he has the capacity to grow as a person still. This can mean a lot of different things, both good and bad growth, but it is certainly possible.

Favorite relationship: Star Sanses (shocking I know) as well as his relationship with him and his dads! Ooh and his relationship with any potential kids... honestly I love all explorations of relationships involving Ink.

Favorite headcanon: There's the classic (AuDHD), but some slightly more obscure ones include: he's aroace (canon, obvi) but romance favorable. I think he's highly motivated by curiosity and would be fascinated by relationships and willing to try one (if that person's script/story is finished ofc)

Dream

First Impression: Another one that I don't remember learning about for the first time, but I know I've had an interest in him for a long time. He has so much potential as a character! I was always a bit averse to his canon though tbh.

Impression now: I love him. He is everything to me. Again, so much potential as a character. Ironically, despite Ink being my all time favorite, I have written way more stories from Dream's perspective than Ink's. He's just easier to write as a perspective djdjdj.

Favorite moment: This is an even harder one than Ink because while he does have more canon moments, I do not like his canon lol. No hate to anyone who does, it's just not for me. A favorite moment for me to write/think about for him relates to his first time making connections after the Apple Incident, whoever that may be.

Idea for a story: Dream being on the run from Nightmare (ie the first few years post the Apple Incident) and the eventual change from just trying to survive to fighting back.

Unpopular opinion: He can be both badass and tired and so incredibly kind. I like versions of him that are a little more reserved, a little more angry, a little less nice, but I fully believe that he is kind. It's not a Dream to me if he isn't kind.

Favorite relationship: Nightmare and Dream but specifically an exploration of their relationship pre-Apple Incident or in an alternate universe where the Apple Incident doesn't happen. The breakdown and/or mending of their relationship is just so good. Also, of course, the Star Sanses. They're friends to ME. They make each other better.

Favorite headcanon: Kinda shown in unpopular opinion but my favorite headcanon is that he has learned a lot of street-smarts from living on the run from Nightmare for a long time. Also, I headcanon that the Apple Incident happened a lot later than in canon, at least closer to like age 16 or so. I just cannot deal with it happening when Dream and Nightmare were six.

Blue

First impression: "Ooh a Papyrus!Sans, cool. But he's even more hyperactive than Papyrus? Reminds me of [best friend who dressed up as Blue to match with me dressing up as Ink]."

Impression now: HE IS THE MOMENT. Not a shocker given I love Papyrus but I love Blue. I think he has some fascinating interpretations and that he can be done in so many ways to distinguish him from Papyrus.

Favorite moment: Hmm. Completion of the trio of Difficult To Pick a Canon Moment. This time because it is so so hard to find any canon information on Underswap. I love the way he is portrayed in Ask-Error, so I'll pick that!

Idea for a story: How Blue Joined The Star Sanses (my personal idea currently is that he ended up in the OT somehow and met them at a council meeting). Furthermore, any explorations of Blue that help differentiate him from Papyrus.

Unpopular opinion: Less unpopular nowadays but I was around for early fandom so the frustration I feel towards this idea persists: just because he is incredibly nice, kind, energetic, and optimistic does not mean he is stupid. Also, more relevant to modern times but I cannot see him leaving the Stars to join Nightmare's Gang, no matter how badly he is treated. I can see him wanting to help them, but not join. Like Dream, this is just my personal opinion on it though! No hate to anyone who likes those stories. Keep reading and writing y'all!

Favorite relationship: Him and Stretch when its not just about Stretch being overprotective. I don't mind Stretch being overprotective, I just need him to have more characterization than that please. Also, of course, the Star Sanses.

Favorite headcanon: He's the voice of reason in the Star Sanses. Anywhere else and he would likely be the menace of the group but when its two immortals with abysmal levels of socialization, especially with mortals, even someone capable of the Skeleton Brothers levels of chaos can become the voice of reason. He still loves his friends dearly though, and participates/incites problems on occasion.

[twisted-wonderland-shenanigans]

Twisted Wonderland Monster!AU: Picky, picky, picky!

So something that occurred to me and has been something I'd discussed regarding mini!Yuu in any of the AUs they may get put in: what are the boys to do with a particularly picky eater?

In the monster!AU and one more AU I've got in the works, the boys, staff, and researchers might struggle to get the tiny toddler to eat...well, anything! Forget trying to get them to eat their veggies, it's going to be a challenge to get them to try anything new or different.

Totally not based off of how my own parents struggled to get me to try new things.

"If you don't eat most of your dinner, you won't get any dessert," Trey once told them.

Despite their best efforts, Yuu stubbornly picked and poked at the food on their plate, shredding whatever was for dinner with their fork to make it seem like they'd been eating it. At least they ate the quick scrambled eggs that Trey made them as a last resort to make sure they had something in their tummy...

"Here comes the magic carpet~! Nyoooom~!" Kalim tried, making silly sounds and moving the spoon with a bite of food through the air. Certainly made mini!Yuu laugh at first, but the moment the spoon got close? Mouth clamped shut and hands covering their lips.

At this point, everyone was at a loss. They don't want to punish or force Yuu to eat, or the little one would resent the very foods that were good for them. Was it a matter of texture? Smell? Are young humans only able to eat certain foods at that age?

In the end, the most surprising solution came from our favorite Magicammer: Cater! Despite not having younger siblings of his own, he managed to figure out a way to get the toddler to eat:

By flipping the script on them during lunch one day!

"I don't want it," Cater said, pushing away his untouched bowl of pasta.

Little Yuu stared at him in disbelief, their own bowl of pasta having been pushed away earlier. "You have to eat it," they told him, tiny hands reaching out to pull it back in front of him.

"Nah...I want something else," he said, peering into the bowl with a frown.

"No!" Yuu protested. "It's good for you."

"Looks yucky..."

"It's yummy," Yuu told him, unaware of the stares from the other students in the cafeteria. "It's food."

"Mmm...think I should just try a bite?" he asked, giving Yuu a doubtful look.

"Yeah!"

"Well, okay." Shrugging, Cater took a fork and--scooping a small bit of noodles out--he took a bite. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Yuu fiddling with their own fork. "Hm...oh, that's good!"

To the amazement of everyone else, Yuu took a bite of the pasta they had initially refused to eat...and smiled, digging into the rest of their lunch. "See? It's yummy!" they proclaimed.

"...how did you know that would work?" Riddle whispered quietly. "I couldn't find anything during my research to find a solution."

"Found a post on Magicam that a mom shared. Figured I'd give it a shot!" came the response, the hippogryph student patting Yuu on the head with a smile.

Since then, whenever mini!Yuu would be picky about food, the boys and staff would try this method. Most times, it worked, though others Yuu simply couldn't tolerate something due to the texture or flavor. This was fine, and they simply moved on to something else for Yuu to try and find what they like until the day the child decided to try something on their own.

(Based on the YouTube short below!)

[beryllineart]

How2Draw Comics: Story

Last time we learned about conceptualizing our characters, settings, art style, etc. Now we actually have to put our characters in a situation, drive them from point A to point B through a story.

There are many different ways to do this. I'm assuming you have, if not an outlined story, a situation you want your character to experience. If you don't have a story, make your character order pizza but something happens and they have to rescue the pizza (and the delivery guy, I guess.) The first method I'll discuss is my least favorite- the Script Method.

You write a script for your story, listing pages and panels as you go along. I hate this. It feels too limiting, and panels are actually one of the most limiting and intimidating things to a beginner comic artist. Yet most tutorials encourage you to draw your panels first and then squish or stretch your drawings to fit, and that's what the Script Method is based off of. I draw my panels while I do my drawings, or even after I do them.

If pacing your comics is one of the most difficult things for you (what size do I make my panels? Is there too much dialogue on this page?) then I suggest the Storytelling Method.

You do not have to make a full short story or book. Usually I just say something like, "boy is making cake. girl walks up behind him and hugs him, kissing his floury cheek. she walks away, licking her finger. she has stolen some cake batter and he didn't notice." In my head I can see a more detailed story there, but you can tell a story without a bunch of flowery prose.

You may be wondering how this helps with pacing your comics. Well, I have actions associated with dialogue, meaning I know which drawings will have which dialogue, automatically creating a nice balance. Additionally, I know what to prioritize. I know that the panel introducing the manor will be large, because I used the words "large and imposing" to describe it. I know that when I set the ballroom scene in this story, I also need to set the scene in an establishing shot. And I know that I'm going to have Bernice's appearance on the food table be surprising, taking place after she tugs his shirt or something. (This will probably make more sense once I actually make the comic)

The final method is a very flexible one for those who aren't into words and just want to draw- the Children's Book Method.

This particular example is mind-mapping, but you can also do a more organized version by storyboarding (placing each drawing in a square and giving a short description for context). I call these collectively the Children's Book Method because the basic idea is that you don't repeat your drawings like you would in a comic. Instead, you draw those things that feel the most interesting and most dynamic, the things that are most important. (like keyframes in an animation) Children's books illustrate one scene at a time, providing context for many different moments in one picture (and some text). They are less sequential than a comic because they only have one picture per page.

I usually have a mix of the storytelling method and the storyboarding end of children's book method. And usually I tell myself a story only in my head, without writing it out, because that's all I need. And I'll admit, sometimes the stories play out in my head like a movie, which is probably why the script method works for people. Sometimes you don't know which is the most effective way to tell yourself a story until you try to draw the comic and see what is giving you the most trouble.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me! I know I'm kind of rambly and don't make much sense, so if you need clarification or other tips, I'll do my best to help.

Next is Panels and Pacing: Drawing the Comic (which will probably happen in multiple posts, but this art block will make it nigh impossible for a while, why doesn't it just go away?)