#I need help determining a certain plot point.

[noxumboots]

Ryley Robinson enjoyers, I have a question!

I'm planning out some...story endeavors, and I'm having trouble with what to do to our beloved blorbo. I won't give any details yet, but I will ask you this:

[pygmi-cygni]

writing tip - research

research is one of the pillars of writing. a poorly researched fic, essay, short story, novel, etc is immediately apparent because of several things:

lack of depth

stagnant plot or development

confusing or inconsistent setting

it doesn't matter what genre you write, if it's original or fiction, whatever. you need to research. depending on the relevance of your writing, the depth of research may vary, but it needs to happen. you do not know everything.

Fantasy

I see a lot of writers and authors use fantasy as an excuse to avoid research. Shut the fuck up. Every good fantasy is based on a real ocurrence or social dilemma. That's why we like it so much.

'but pygmi, fantasy is made up! it isn't real!'

SHUT UP. Even if you don't realize it, your story will have elements that readers are intimately familiar with. If you flub something, it will be noticed.

Besides, just because you make stuff up doesn't mean you can be inconsistent. You'll just have to fill in the cracks with made up stuff, which will even out to being about the same amount of effort. Pick your poison, either way you're gonna feel it.

Research is not everybody's favorite. I like it, personally, I think it's like going on little side quests for knowledge. But I understand if you wanna skip all the business and get to writing your baby. No shame.

Let me give you some pointers to make sure the time you spend researching is relevant and well spend.

Lists! God I love lists. after you have outlined your story and your characters and everything, make a list of all the things you need to have a deeper understanding of. This means determining priorities. - How important is The Thing? Will it majorly affect plot or character development? Is it a focal point of the setting? If the answer is yes to any of those questions, it's important. research.

Big picture, little picture. How important is The Thing (again)?. How much detail do you need to know? Especially when it comes to royalty or a hierarchal system, I see research being misguided. There are so many nuances to royal interactions that I could give a rat's ass. Big picture, general outline. I don't need to know everything, just basic courtesy, terms of address, appropriate convo. done. but if your MC is a coroner? might wanna put more detail into that; you'll be talking about the job a lot. determine how much the element will affect your story and go from there.

Don't fudge it for the plot. You'll have a preconceived notion of a certain job description, and then research it and think 'oh that's actually boring.' Don't muddle up the rules just to fit the aesthetic. It's sloppy, and your readers will notice.

To practice researching, pick your topic and after learning a bit about it, try teaching a powerpoint to your parents or friends. if you feel comfortable enough with that knowledge to do it successfully, I'd say you have a good enough understanding.

Setting

researching location is a big one that often gets overlooked. You don't always need to memorize maps, but get a general idea of the city/country layout so when you say "they drove 20 minutes from A to B" it makes sense, rather than having a reader think "Uh, A to B is closer to four hours, wtf?"

if you are making up your city, make a list of important streets and locations in relation to each other. This will help you keep it straight and organized in your head.

Get a feel for flora and fauna. Palm trees don't grow in Alaska. Don't write an Alaskan city with palm trees.

Weather? what's it like? Let me tell you, Portland doesn't get higher than 102F. rainy, cloudy, all that stuff.

Atmospheric details really add a lot, especially if your audience is from that location. It adds another layer of relatability. Also, use weather/plants/animals to your advantage! symbolism, possible curse, all that stuff.

Eras

Oh my god stop fucking this up. Baroque, Elizabethan, Edwardian, Middle Ages ARE DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER. STOP SLAPPING FANCY CLOTHES ON PEOPLE AND CALLING IT THE OLDEN DAYS.

get an idea of when electricity was widespread in homes. when was the refrigerator invented? did they use the word 'hella' in 1950? this kinda stuff is important for not breaking the illusion of a time difference. If you are writing a period piece and someone is chatting with a neighbor like it's 2015, we'll have some questions.

Unless it's doctor who. you guys can do literally whatever.

Plot and Character Development

If plot and characters are poorly researched, you are limiting the opportunities for growth. In researching your MC's occupation, you may discover a cool side effect that connects to a plot device. Stagnant, stale characters can be spruced up with a more developed backstory.

All in all, research is really important for your story. regardless of how professional it is, tumblr or the new york times. Do your research. As a writer, you are representing the community in your own way. Do us proud.

xox love you

[daisyvisions]

I Wanna Be Your Dog - (k.yh)

➺ Pairing: Rockstar!Younghoon x Assistant!Reader

➺ Summary: Your job as an assistant to the band is simple: handle their schedule, and do what they ask you to do. But how far are you willing to help one member out with a certain ask if it means keeping your job?

➺ Word Count: 3.8k

➺ Warnings: Smut (18+, minors DNI), fem!reader, unprotected sex, creampies, edging, male masturbation, guided masturbation, handjobs, slight fingering, riding, lots of making out, groping, sexual fantasies, mutual pining (?), younghoon is down bad for reader (sub!younghoon if you squint), marking, mentions of hookups, pet name used (baby)

➺ A/N: Finally, my birthday fic for Younghoon is up! I had planned to write for rockstar younghoon ever since this tiktok edit came out last year. This was not the original story I had in mind but I hated how the outline was going and decided to save it for another member and use this plot instead. Title is inspired from the song of the same name by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts because the lyrics fit so well with one particular scene of the fic (iykyk). Proofread once, enjoy 😉

➺ Network & Tag: @deoboyznet @snowflakewhispers @winterchimez @aimeecarreros (thank you for introducing me to the song 😈)

For as long as you could remember, you've always wanted to work in the music industry. There was something about that chaotic world that you thought was magical. You were so determined to become a part of that universe you didn't care where you would end up.

And that is how you became the assistant to one of the hottest acts to ever grace the stage.

At first, you were way too excited to be involved in the day-to-day of the band's schedule; you didn't even care if you had to run many blocks just to get the specific brand of coffee they wanted.

But soon enough, the rose-colored lenses you had on would crack. Not only did you have to take care of the band's schedule and be at their beck and call, but you were also in charge of cleaning up their mess.

Which is the reason you ended up sitting through a one-hour phone call with the band's manager as he practically yaps your ear off about the band's lead guitarist.

"Do you know how many NDAs I had to sign just so these groupies would keep their mouths shut about Younghoon?" Jacob exclaims.

"I know, I'm the one who prints and mails those documents for you." You sigh heavily.

"The board is getting pissed off. It's getting too much! He has a sex addiction at this point!"

"Well, it's not like we can make him wear a chastity belt or a purity ring to stop him! You know how he gets." You reply, trying to hold in your frustration from how long this call has been going.

"They are in the process of promoting their next album and going on tour. If Younghoon keeps this up and the press finally catches on, it will not be a good look for us all." Jacob takes a deep breath and pauses for a moment.

"I need you to keep him in line," Jacob says to you with a stern voice.

"What?! How the hell am I supposed to do that?"

"I don't know, you're the assistant. It's your job to take care of those guys. Do something about it or you can say goodbye to your job."

Jacob puts the phone down immediately without even waiting for your reply. You throw your phone to the side, your heart racing as you feel the frustration consuming you, and it's not even eight in the morning.

You can't afford to lose your job. Not after you've worked so hard to get where you are already. And you will definitely not lose your job just because Younghoon can't keep it in his goddamn pants.

No, you're going to do something about this no matter what it takes.

As you insert the spare key in the lock of Younghoon's apartment, you're instantly startled as a figure appears before you. Her disheveled appearance already tells you who or rather, why she's in his apartment. Great, another day of running into a groupie.

"Oh, Lin, isn't it?" You try to give her a smile. You introduce yourself as the band's assistant.

"Oh—hi," she responds, but her eyes were looking elsewhere. "Excuse me, I gotta go, late for… an appointment," she mumbles.

"Of course, it was nice meeting you!" You put on that people-pleasing voice. Lin nods in return before stumbling out the door. You make a mental note to track her address and send her an NDA later in the day.

You walk further into Younghoon's apartment, already listing out in your head the mess you have to clean up later as you quickly scan different areas of the living room. You find him still dead asleep in his bed, probably unaware that his latest conquest has left the building as you walk closer to sit on the edge of the bed.

"Younghoon? You awake?" You gently shake his shoulder. As you continue to wake him up, you're caught by surprise as he grabs your arm and pulls you into his embrace.

"Hey baby, up so early?" His deep morning voice rings in your ear as his face buries into your neck.

You try to keep yourself composed as you wriggle yourself free, but your eyes widen at the sudden realization that doing so was a mistake as you feel something hard digging between your ass.

"Younghoon, I—"

"So eager for round two, huh? Don't worry, baby, I'll let you take the lead this time." He kisses a sensitive spot between your neck and shoulder as his hands start drifting near your hips. Before anything escalates, you pull his hands away and reach behind to flick him in the forehead.

"Younghoon, it's me!" You shout, sitting upright once more and shaking off that fluttering feeling growing inside your stomach.

"Ow. What the— oh. Oh hey!" He smiles at you. "Where's—"

"Already left. Witnessed her walk of shame just as I was going in," you smirk. "I brought you breakfast; better see you outside in ten minutes, alright?" You slap his shoulder to wake him up.

"Alright, alright, I'll get up," he groans as he turns to his side.

"Aw, all this for me? You shouldn't have." Younghoon slings his arm over your shoulder as he watches you set all the food on the counter.

"Just sit down and eat. We need to talk about something." You shrug his arm off.

"To talk… What did I do this time?" He sarcastically replies as he sits across from you.

"It's not what you did this time; it's what you keep on doing, Younghoon." You grab his plate and fill it up with the food on the table.

"Look, Jacob called me this morning, and he's not happy with your—" You pause, trying to come up with a proper way to address the problem.

"With my… what?" Younghoon takes a big bite from his plate, his eyes trained on yours as he waits for you to finish.

"Your sex addiction." You decide to get straight to the point. "You fuck nearly every girl that bats her pretty eyelashes at you or even gives you a decent amount of attention."

"Hey, I can't help myself, you know? This is the rockstar's life, after all." He shrugs as he takes a sip from his glass.

"Yeah, well, if you don't get that controlled and continue thinking with your dick, it's not gonna look good for the press," you reply.

"Since when have we cared about what the press thought?" Younghoon asks with slight irritation in his voice.

"Please, Younghoon, I need you to keep it together just until promotions and the tour are over. My job is on the line here." Your voice starts quivering. Younghoon sees your eyebrows scrunching and the tiny tear forming at the corner of your eye.

Oh, how he wishes he could kiss those worries away right now and keep you close to him. Seeing you like this whenever you're frustrated or upset makes his heart ache with a feeling he can't explain. It's probably because he has a soft spot for you, ever since you started working for them. And if he's the reason that you end up losing your job, he doesn't know how he'll be able to sleep at night.

"Please?" Your tiny voice calls him back to reality as your soft hands hold one of his. And how could he ever say no to you?

"Alright," Younghoon sighs out. "I'll do it. But it's not gonna look pretty." You chuckle at his response.

"I promise you can go back to doing whatever after the promotions. Deal?" You gently squeeze his hand for reassurance. Younghoon places his other hand on top of yours and squeezes in return.

"You got it, boss."

Much to your surprise, Younghoon does a fairly good job at keeping his word. At first, it was a bit difficult, but he somehow managed to pull through.

He couldn't forget that one time he was almost about to fuck the girl lying on his bed until he suddenly remembered your face and how upset you would've been if you found out what he was doing. He couldn't bear the thought of disappointing you, so he just came up with a lousy excuse for the groupie to leave and fisted himself later in the night until he was satisfied enough.

And since then, that's what he had been doing to get by. He was either fucking his hand or fleshlight while imagining all the different one-night stands he had in the past. But as the days went by, it was getting harder for him to reach that sweet release. Not even watching porn would get him off the way it did before.

He needed to touch and be touched, a pair of lips kissing him everywhere, and moans of pleasure ringing in his ear… he couldn't wait till the tour was over until he could finally ravish someone and forget their name the next day. Sounds like a shitty way to live but hey, this is the kind of life he chose for himself.

Just two more months, Younghoon, what's the worst that can happen?

Sweat starts to form on Younghoon's forehead as he vigorously pumps his throbbing length. He had been trying to get off for a while now, but it seems nothing has been working. This was the worst case of blue balls he has ever had, and if he doesn't cum any second now, he might go insane.

Younghoon starts to dig deep into his memories of past hookups to see if there was one moment he can use to get himself off. There was one memory that seemed to pop into his mind, but not any of the hookups he had remembered. No, it was a memory of you. The day you came into the apartment to talk to him about his problem.

He recalls the smell of your perfume when he buried his face into your neck, the way your ass rubbed against his morning wood accidentally, and how soft your hands were when you held his hand during breakfast.

His cock throbbed in his hand remembering those small moments, playing an imaginary scenario in his mind wherein you didn't stop his hands from traveling to your hips. How he would've pressed himself into you further and continued kissing your neck. How his hands would’ve groped your breasts tenderly as he whispered filth into your ear and you would’ve moan his name in response.

"So pretty…" he murmurs to himself as he bucks his hips up, thinking how beautiful and kind you've always been to him even if he tends to be an asshole at times.

He moans at the thought of how soft your lips would feel against his own, remembering the time you drunkenly kissed him on the cheek during that one after-party a few days ago. He had to quickly turn away from you to hide his cheeks turning pink.

God, he knows his abstinence from sex has gotten so bad to the point that even the smallest gestures from you are enough to send the blood in his veins right down to his cock. He's never been this hard in his life, and he can't tell anymore if it's because he's blue-balled or because he's thinking about you.

Either way, Younghoon was all up in his head that he didn't even hear his front door being unlocked as you let yourself in.

Your visit to Younghoon's tonight was unplanned. He had forgotten his lucky leather jacket in the studio a week ago, and you took it upon yourself to get it dry-cleaned for him.

As soon as you got the call from the dry cleaners, you thought it would be nice to drop by his place and surprise him with his newly cleaned jacket and bring his favorite food for a late night snack. After all, you wanted to show him how grateful you were for keeping his word.

"Younghoon?" You call out his name. You knew he was home after spotting his keys and wallet on the console table. You try to call his name again but still no response. He must be asleep. I should go check on him, you think to yourself.

Younghoon? He hears your sweet voice ringing in his ear. God, he must be down so bad if he can start hearing you call out his name, as if you're right close by. He can already feel himself closer to the edge as he hears his name once again, pumping himself to the point of no return until his door suddenly swings open.

"Younghoon, I— Oh my god!"

"Shit!"

You both catch each other by surprise.

You tried to look elsewhere, but the image of Younghoon jerking himself off is now burned into your memory, and you don't know what to do. Younghoon, on the other hand, whimpers from the loss of his orgasm.

Had you been delayed by a second or two, he would've released his load onto his stomach, relieving himself of stress. But now, he's on the verge of crying as he feels himself getting incredibly pent up.

"I'm so sorry, I'll just go—" You turn around quickly.

"No, wait!" Younghoon's voice stops you from closing the door. You couldn't help but turn around and face him once more. He looked like he was in pain, his eyes becoming watery as he deeply breathes in and out.

"Help me…" He cries out to you.

"W-what?" Your eyes widen. He can't be serious, right?

"Please! I can't— been trying. I can't do it." A tear falls down his pale cheek.

"Please, it hurts so bad…" He whimpers once again.

"Younghoon, I can't—"

"Please! Just this once. We'll never speak of it again—" He pleads like his life depends on it. And with the way he's looking at you like you're the only one that can help him get out of this sticky situation, how could you say no to him?

"A-alright." Your feet move towards him even before you replied, your body already deciding for you on what you need to do next.

You sit beside him, placing your hand on his thigh as you glance over his hand gripping his cock. You feel your core pulsate at his pink tip peeking out from his fist. But you try your best to completely ignore whatever intrusive thought you have and place your hand on top of his, gently holding it as you look into his eyes.

"Just this once, okay?" You hover above his cock enough for your spit to fall onto the tip and move his hand slowly up and down as you guide him through his orgasm.

This wouldn't be the first time you've seen his cock. The first two times were by pure accident and from afar too. But nothing could've prepared you from seeing his member up close.

The way the veins are protruding from how rock hard he is at the moment, wondering what it must feel like to fill you up to the hilt. You try to think of anything deemed unsexy as you stare at his manhood, but that ends up failing as you start to feel your underwear slowly getting wet by the second.

While you're too caught up in your own thoughts, Younghoon couldn't help but stare at the way you looked at his cock, all slack-jawed and dreamy-eyed. It was like you wanted to do more than guide him, like you were ready to devour him any moment from now. As if a dark cloud of lust is slowly taking over you right before his very own eyes. And that was turning him on a lot.

He subconsciously reaches out for you with his free hand, his fingers holding onto the back of your neck as he pulls you in for a kiss. Your lips are even sweeter than he had imagined, making his heart beat so fast from how soft they feel on his own. Younghoon knows this moment won't last forever, so he decides to just enjoy it while it lasts.

You instantly moan from the feeling of his lips on yours, holding his wrist as you lean forward to press yourself against him. You pull his hand away from his cock and replace it with yours instead, the softness of your palm wrapped around his length making him hiss in pleasure. You start to grip him harder, controlling the pace of your hand jerking him off.

Younghoon groans into your mouth as he slips his tongue inside. His hands grabbing onto your hips before pulling you closer to him to straddle his lap. You continue to jerk him off as his hands start caressing the sides of your body.

"Please…" he whines into your mouth.

"Tell me what you need, Younghoon—" You kiss his cheek before moving down to his neck.

"Wanna touch you— fuck— Can I touch you? Please let me touch you." His eyebrows knit in pleasure as your lips suck a particularly sensitive part of his throat.

Too busy with lightly sucking on his skin, you grab one of his hands and guide him to the front button of your pants, signaling him to remove the article of clothing from you for better access. He wastes no time helping you out of your jeans and having you back on his lap.

His fingers slowly sliding beneath your underwear, groaning at the sensation of how wet your folds are. He's honestly amazed at how you're able to get this wet without being touched; it motivates him to slide his fingers between before finally circling around your sensitive bud.

You let out a soft whine as you feel your knees turn into jelly. All you could think about right now is to sink yourself down onto his member and ride him into the sunset. Somehow it was like he could read your mind as you feel his hand pull your underwear to the side and the other pull you by the hip to align your entrance right above his tip.

"This okay?" You look down at him.

"Y-yeah, more than okay." He stutters.

"C'mere." You lean down to kiss him, slowly letting yourself sink down to the base of his cock.

Both of you let out a breath you didn't know you were holding until you finally sat on his lap. The feeling of Younghoon being fully sheathed inside you already has you seeing stars, and you haven't even moved yet. He swallows your moans as he starts bucking his hips up, holding you in a tight embrace as he fucks himself into your tight hole.

"You're beautiful, you know that?" He mumbles as he pulls his lips away from yours to get a good look at your face.

The way he looked at you as if you had a halo around you was making the butterflies in your stomach flutter like crazy. You knew the effect he had on you, especially when he would randomly flirt with you. But for some reason, the effect of his words felt different.

It was like he was confessing something he had locked up inside of him for a long time, making you blush like an idiot. Your eyebrows knit in pleasure as his thrusts start to become faster. Your walls are gripping him like a vice; he knows he's bound to reach his peak anytime soon.

"Let go for me, Younghoon, you can do it." You whisper in his ear.

As soon as you say these words, a sudden burst of warmth blooms inside you. His hips relax onto the mattress as he comes down from his high, but his hands guide your hips up and down his cock, helping you reach your own release.

He must've been so pent up, you think to yourself as you feel him still incredibly hard inside you. The tip of his manhood nudges that sweet spot deep inside you so good you feel yourself nearly falling over the edge.

"K-keep going, baby—" He breathes out. "Use me."

You take control of your own movement and bounce on him like there's no tomorrow. Your fingernails raking the sensitive skin on his chest as you chase your own high. Younghoon can feel himself reaching his own high too the more you keep this pace up.

Everything about this moment was making him absolutely dizzy. Your walls practically choke holding his dick, his first load already dripping out of you and coating his balls, and the way the squelching sounds echo in the room as you use him for your own pleasure?

He will never look at you the same way ever again. You've officially ruined him for anyone else after this.

"Younghoon, I'm gonna—"

"C'mon baby, cum on me. Fuck— make me yours." He mumbles as he feels close to the edge with you.

After a few more bounces, the rope inside you finally snaps, making you cum so hard you feel like you're going to faint. Younghoon's second release follows right after yours, but this time his load is more than the first. You both know for sure that as soon as he pulls out, a waterfall of your mixed juices is bound to rush out of your hole. So you just decide to keep him close longer as you both try to catch your breath.

You lay your head on his chest, listening to the sound of his breathing pattern slowly regulating as he rubs his hand up and down your back. You both bask in the silence a little longer, secretly savoring the moment before you have to part ways.

"Younghoon?" You lift your head to look up at him. He hums in response.

"If— if ever you need help with this at a different time…" You pause for a moment. "I'd be happy to volunteer." You feel your cheeks burn up at the thought of doing this with Younghoon again.

"Yeah? You wanna help me out?" His eyes widen, his heart beating faster again knowing this wouldn't be the last intimate moment with you.

"Yeah, just as long as you sign an NDA about it." You jokingly reply. He chuckles and kisses your forehead.

"Well, get ready to print a lot of those—" He grabs your ass and gives it a good slap, making you yelp in surprise.

"—because you have a lot of catching up to do."

[quillsandblades]

What could be the reasons for Hange's death?

I’m not best at doing these analysis posts, but I’ve had this in my mind for a while now and it needs to get out.

As a sort-of writer, I know there’s always reasons to kill off a character, especially if they're well-developed and play a crucial part in the story. So what could’ve gone through Isayama’s mind when he decided to kill our precious Hange? Here’s what I think.

First of all, reading the manga I really felt like her death was forced, staged. It didn't seem right, didn't seem to fit. Now I don’t know if the rest of you felt this way but I sure did. And that's why I'm gonna talk about why I think Isayama killed her.

There are four points in this post and each explains a potential reason:

1. To make the readers cry

Many characters are killed just to give a truck load of emotional damage to the readers. And sometimes authors enjoy it — don’t get me wrong, we love the characters, it’s just what even is a good story if devastated readers aren’t sending you death threats for killing their fav fictional pookie? Such characters often possess some or all of these qualities: Lovable, witty, humorous, determined, has big goals/dreams, you get attached to them easily and if they have a love interest that you’re invested in, and they both got plans to *ahem* live peacefully once a certain war is out of the list of duties, it’s over for you (IFKK 😭).

And who do we know that holds nearly all these characteristics, and died?

Maybe Yams was in killer mood the day he wrote chapter 132. I wonder if he’s doing the evil laugh somewhere, thinking how we’re suffering every day.

2. It’s crucial to the plot

These kinds of deaths aren’t in the author’s hand, and they really hurt us sometimes. I have a few characters very close to my heart and I hope I never have to put them to death cuz I may not have the willpower to write ahead if I do. It happens when you get dead-ends (yes you can get dead-ends even in fiction as well, at least that’s what I think because the setting or world you create has to have some limits), when the rules you have set up to make that world start to cage you in. And sometimes there’s no option but to kill them. Their death is important, it’s a key point, or maybe it’s part of what their personality demands. It’s needed, and it hurts.

But coming to Hange, I can safely say that’s not the case. Her death could’ve been avoided. In the manga she barely managed to get much time. Yes the plane made it, but it’s Hange we’re talking about and she has a big brain. She could’ve made a less harmful plan to stop the Colossal titans right there, I don’t doubt her intelligence at all. Or someone could’ve helped. The part about titan shifters saving their strength was a flimsy excuse Isayama, cuz taking out a Colossal isn't such a back-breaking task for the Shifters - they’ve had worse and done better.

3. Some other character needs to take the spotlight

This happens when our character is in the way of someone else’s glory. They need to be taken off the stage so the next one comes up.

For Hange I’d say, that was Armin. I think Isayama might have wanted to give the stuttering blonde kid a glow-up, and I gotta say it worked well. I’ve seen countless posts where Armin back then and as commander is compared and people are like, ha! Y’all used to laugh at him cuz he was a timid, scared little thing but look at him now, Commander of the scouts and such.

I’ve seen him get a lot of hate for not being strong enough, not being confident and such things. So what does Isayama do? He takes that character and upgrades him to Commander. I think he’s wanted to do this for a long time, to show just how much potential the kid has, and take it as a character development. He was chosen over Erwin and then Hange. He couldn’t be Commander after Shiganshina cuz Hange was named successor. He got his chance in ch 132 and took it. The only way to make Armin Commander was to kill Hange and so we had to part with the crazy genius we loved. (I don't hate Armin though, it's Isayama's fault not Armin's)

But here’s the thing, she could’ve still come back. Battered and bruised, and Armin would still be Commander as the title was already handed over. Then why go all the way and kill her? Here’s why.

4. External reasons

This and the 3rd point, In my opinion, are the main reasons for Hange’s death.

The external factors here include her relationship with Levi. The man has a HUGE fanbase and he’s shipped (and shippable) with so many characters it’s concerning. And the most popular ships are Ereri (this one doesn’t even make sense) and Eruri. As a character that’s so popular among fans, I don’t think Isayama wanted to confirm anything related to his love life as that would only create rifts among fans or even drop his popularity. By keeping it vague he kept the fanbase up. But what has Hange living got to do with it?

Well, we all heard her ‘Let’s live here together’ confession. It’s probably the most romantic thing anybody said to Levi canonically and no one can deny it gives hints. Then comes Levi's double meaning statement of ‘Unrequited titan love�� and I’d say that pretty much sealed the deal. ‘Devote your heart’ was the cherry on top and now if Hange returned they both would be so canon.

But for the sake of argument, let’s say all of that meant nothing romantic. But if Hange’s still alive we all know she’d never leave Levi alone in his impaired state after the war. She’d be the one pushing his wheelchair around and since they’re already veterans and very close friends, Levi would only tolerate having her around him at all times. So if someone’s gonna say that all of those ‘confessions’ meant nothing, then these facts are proof enough that after the war Levihan had all the chance of being canon. So if Hange had lived these two would have been a sealed deal - but that isn’t possible in reality due to Levi’s popularity.

So, Hange dies and Isayama avoids a ton of mess for himself.

All of this is entirely my take on breaking down my fav character’s death, not saying it’s 100% legit. Just a harmless analysis.

[comicaurora]

Hey red, what's your opinion on some modern writing that's very lamp shady? And do you have any advice on how to avoid "Well that just happened" dialogue?

It's an interesting question!

The thing is, lampshading exists for a reason, but it's not the reason it gets used a lot of the time. Writers might lampshade a narrative choice they're insecure about, while characters lampshade because the things they go through in a typical story are kind of bonkers, and we might expect them to notice. If a character signs on for a simple mercenary expedition and ends up discovering they're the long-lost prince of a kingdom they've never heard of, that's weird and they probably feel weird about it. If an ally is determined to 1v1 their super overpowered nemesis with no help from their friends, those friends might have opinions about how dumb that is.

This is a form of lampshading that doesn't break immersion because it's entirely in-character and doesn't lean on the fourth wall. There's a difference between a character noticing how weird their life is and a character pointing out how cliched a recent experience was. In the latter case, the character is treating their life like a story, and while it IS a story, they shouldn't know that.

There's a spectrum here, with "complete sincerity and taking every turn of the plot at face value" defining the 0-point and "complete self-aware uninvestment" at the far end, but healthy levels of lampshading live somewhere in the middle. Characters at the 0-point accepting everything that happens without question can feel just as weird as characters that won't stop pointing out the TVTropes entry they're currently living. It's about what it makes sense for the character to find disruptive or noteworthy. A hardened badass probably won't see the need to point out how bonkers a recent fight scene was, but a newcomer to the Cool Bombastic Adventure scene might be really excited when they pull off a cool special move and want to point it out.

I think this is why the recent D&D movie worked for a lot of people, because while the main characters all lampshade their lives to varying degrees, the way they do so makes sense for all of them. Edgin is a bard and storyteller so he has a slightly meta perspective on a lot of things, purposefully avoids playing along with certain narrative conventions and sometimes responds to other people's dialogue by critiquing their dialogue instead of just responding normally; Holga doesn't really care to understand how the world works and so keeps pointing out that they should just use magic to solve their problems, which is probably the most popular lampshade in the whole genre; Doric and Simon don't get a ton of time to shine character-wise, but they'll both occasionally poke holes in the pretense of the story they're in. The thing that makes this all work is Xenk, who plays absolutely every moment completely 100% straight and is entirely immersed in the objectively ridiculous setting of D&D. Same goes for most of the villains, except for Forge, who's probably the wackiest and most self-aware character in the entire movie, but in a way that makes him feel callous and disregarding of the people around him, like he's uninvested in the world not because he knows he's a fictional character but because he has too much money and power to care about anything. The ways each character does or does not lampshade their surroundings make sense for who they are as people and reinforce their characterization and place in the world instead of undermining it.

I recently watched a couple episodes of Stargate Atlantis and noticed something similar - the main character and, to a lesser extent, the rest of his associates from Earth have a tendency to make wry observations about his objectively bizarre life and the eccentricities of the people around him, which helps contrast against the extremely serious and businesslike Cool Space Warriors they keep accumulating, which helps make them feel (a) distinct from each other and (b) relatable considering all the weird stuff that happens. And the protagonist switches off the quips as soon as things start looking perilous for his team, so you never get the impression that they aren't invested in the story they're living, and as a result the various quips and lampshades come across more as a habit or a coping mechanism than a disruption to the narrative itself.

So basically I think you can get away with a lot of lampshades as long as the character doesn't feel like they know they're in a story.

[gaybananabread]

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ Perfection is Relative ˖ ݁݁ 𖥔.

~Soooo I’m in my rewatch-comfort-shows era, and Helluva Boss is next. I can’t wait for the newest episode, so I’m trying to get the insanity out with this. For anyone who happens to read this, I hope you Enjoy!~

Lee: Moxxie

Ler: Millie

Summary: Moxxie is second-guessing himself and stressing out about his appearance. Millie notices and decides to lovingly remind her husband what the word “perfect” truly means in this life.

Warnings: spoilers for Helluva Boss and fluffy couple romance (few kisses)! This is a tickle fic, so if you don’t like that, scroll away!!

Moxxie had always had confidence issues. Be it moral dilemmas, other’s perceptions or just general life itself, he would second-guess himself and shy away. However, there was one thing he could always trust himself to nail: his presentations.

Whenever Blitz had a performance-based job, Moxxie put his best hoof forward and found a rare spark of assurance and self-confidence. His outfits were on point, any makeup was flawless, and he got into the metaphorical zone. Nobody could ruin that for him, or so he thought.

At the summer camp, Moxxie had spent a good few hours designing his persona and the look of it. He was actually pretty proud of it. That was, until those teenage girls and everyone else at the camp insulted his appearance and disregarded his existence.

Millie and him had already discussed how it made him feel, and while he was incredibly happy for and proud of his wife, he couldn’t get those thoughts out of his head. It bled into his everyday planning, making him critique every little detail about himself. Like that morning, where he’d spent half an hour adjusting his bowtie position.

“Maybe a bit lower to point the focus…” Moxxie mumbled to himself, loosening his bowtie once again. He’d left the bedroom door open, too focused on the mirror to notice. He didn’t even notice as his wife peeked in, nor he did he catch her small, knowing sigh.

“Honey…what’re you doing?” Millie came up behind him, resting her hands on his waist. She’d noticed his extra self-consciousness lately, but she hoped it was something he’d work out. It was apparently deeper than that, though, so she was at the ready with support and a - hopefully - helpful conversation.

“Adjusting my bow. It’s not really symmetrical, and I want it to send a certain message about me.” His words were a bit rushed, giving his wife a peek into the swirling storm of his mind. She wasn’t happy with what she saw.

“You really don’t need to worry, Mox. You look amazin’ already.” Millie gently grabbed his chin, turned him and kissed him. He sighed at the affection, pulling away after a second. Moxxie felt bad about kissing her; he wasn’t good enough yet. Millie deserved the world, and he couldn’t help but feel inadequate.

“If you say so, Mills. Just let me fix up a few more things.” Moxxie tugged at his collar, adjusting the bow and tugging his hair into place.

Now, Millie could’ve just left her husband to finish getting ready. However, doing so would’ve meant letting him think he needed any of the extra glitz and ritz he was putting forth. He was handsome and wonderful enough as-is; she was determined to get that through to him.

With a suppressed smirk, the female imp grabbed his chin once again, her tail snaking around his waist. Moxxie was oblivious to her true plot, just suspecting she wanted attention. “Millie, just gimme one seco- EEP!”

He cut himself off with a squeak as Millie’s claws skittered across his neck. Down below, the pointy tip of her tail was dragging along his side. The smirk was no longer suppressed, her adorable tooth gap showing in the playful grin.

“Mihihillie! Whahat are youhu dohohohoing?!” Moxxie squirmed and wriggled, trying to slip away from his wife. Millie wrapped her free arm around his waist, securing him while adding more wiggling fingers to his stomach.

“Gettin’ you outta your head, Mox. You got too much judgmental crud about yourself up there.” Millie placed a fluttery kiss behind his ear, making him squeak once again. Her fingers were still going at it, dragging the pointed claws along his belly and neck while her tail teased his side.

Moxxie instinctively folded like a lawn chair, his giggles squeaky and scratchy. His wife’s arm was the only thing keeping him from dropping to the floor.

“Mihihills! I cahahan’t- KYAAhahaha!” The sharpshooter kicked his hooves, each impact making a small clack against their wooden floor. Millie couldn’t help but coo at this.

“Aww, there we go, sugar~” She purred, chuckling against the warm skin of his neck. His careful bowtie placement was all messy now, skewed and crooked from Millie’s evil affection. She was hoping to get him all nice and messy before she stopped. He needed to see how amazing he was at his least dolled-up.

While his giggles were certainly music to her ears, she was looking for something with a bit more gusto. Millie wanted to really make him laugh.

Quickly spinning her husband around, she pushed him down onto their bed and grabbed his thighs. Moxxie’s eyes went as wide as saucers, but before he could say a word, her claws were wiggling into his sensitive skin.

“NAHAHAHO! MIHIHILIHIE PLEHEHEASE!” Moxxie’s precious giggles quickly rocketed up to loud, screeching cackles as Millie targeted his worst spot. He thrashed on the bed, ruining his hair and untucking his shirt in the process. She was quick to take advantage of that, slipping her tail underneath the fabric to tease his stomach once again.

“O-OHOHO MY SAHAHATAN!” Small tears of mirth gathered in the corners of his eyes, his cheeks stained a deeper, purple-ish red. The blush was adorable to Millie, though his tears showed she had gone far enough. She stilled her fingers, kissing his smiling lips.

“Ihihihi… oho cruhuhums…” Moxxie took a few deep, giggly breaths as he tried to regain his composure. That attack had come out of nowhere, but he didn’t exactly hate it. “Whahat was thahat for?”

“I already told ya, hon. You’re bein’ too hard on yourself.” Millie rolled off him, lying down beside her husband. He sighed, shaking his head.

“I juhust…I dunno, Millie. It’s just not enough. I need to be perfect.” She brushed a bit of his unruly hair back in place, humming. “I think you look pretty damn perfect right now, Mox. You’re only perfect when you’re you.”

Moxxie felt himself tear up at that. Millie was just…so herself. He thought she was perfect, so…maybe she was right. Leaning forward, he kissed her lovingly, his tail wrapping around hers.

Millie smiled into the soft embrace, cupping his face with one hand as the other held him close. He was so adorable just then: rosy cheeks, loving eyes, messy hair and love-drunk eyes. She could gaze at him for eternity and never tire of his most natural beauty.

“Uhum…what were we getting ready for again?” Moxxie asked as he pulled away, finally remembering that they had planned on going somewhere. It did kind of spoil the moment, but he genuinely couldn't remember.

“Well, I think…Blitz called us in? Somethin’ about a pop-up client.” Millie sighed, knowing that their boss was probably ready to kill them for not being there yet. She didn't regret a damn thing, of course; Moxxie was more important than work.

“Shit…you wanna get ready together?” Moxxie shrugged, offering the small moment. Millie looked him over one last time, taking in her perfectly amazing mess of a husband before nodding.

“Sounds good, Mox. But no spendin’ forever on silly things, got it?” She booped his nose for emphasis, wiggling a few sneaky fingers on his side. Moxxie giggled and jerked away, playfully glaring at her.

“Gohot it,” he agreed, sticking his tongue out with a smirk. Millie rolled her eyes before hopping off the bed as well, joining him by the mirror.

Moxxie looked into the reflective glass, seeing himself in near complete disarray. But, with Millie’s smiling figure by his side, loving every bit of him unconditionally, he couldn't help but like what he saw just that much more.

[morallysuperiorlips]

Struggling With Your Worldbuilding? Here's Some Help!

Alright, so. Worldbuilding. It's either your favorite thing in the world, or the bane of your existence. Either way, I'm here to help.

Worldbuilding, for me is a very long, tedious, and never ending process. Like everything I output, I base a lot of my things on vibes and aesthetic and personal feeling. It's all innate. However, I can't teach innate so let me tell you about the "routes" I go on when I'm mapping a world.

When it comes to worldbuilding, whether you're writing fanfic or something original, I found there are two roads you can go down when building up your lore:

Character-Based Worldbuilding and Fact-of-Life Worldbuilding.

Character-based worldbuilding is exactly how it sounds--it's a matter of feeling out the character and seeing what it is they like to do and how they function. From there, you might find "oh they like to do X, I want them to do X in the plot." From there, you can determine how X would work its way into your world, and from there you continue to ask yourself questions to further build your blocks upward.

I find it's really helpful to start with a character and find things you want to see them doing, then spark the road of block-building questions by kicking off with a "okay, how can I get this to work?" And this can go for a major plot point, or something as trivial as a side scene. And prepare to KEEP ASKING QUESTIONS because things will continuously pop up as you think about it and consider different angles, etc. etc. etc.

Fact-of-life worldbuilding can come from little puzzle pieces and inklings of things you want to see built into any given world and basically doing the same as above and crafting upward. This can go for a major plot point or some background lore that doesn't see much of the light of day but is there to help build a more lived-in world.

Still unsure of where to begin? There's also room to look at a story and think "what am I writing? What aesthetic/vibe do I want out of this?" and once you can answer that, do some visual intake to jump start your brain.

Look up things that are in line with the vibe you want. Watch shows that follow an aesthetic you crave. Read books in a similar bracket. Take notes of the things you've seen and push and mold them together in a way that reflects what you're going for.

FOR EXAMPLE, my WIP is heavily noir-esque, gothic, dark, so I took in a lot of content that catered to my desired vibes. While doing that, it helped me build into the "routes" I have.

I watched certain scenes of Attack on Titan, and as I witnessed the titans obliterate everything, I decided "Okay, I want the eldritch beasts in my world to get big enough to obliterate everything, what do I need to do within my world, that fits the setting and isn't directly copying AoT that can make that happen?"

When I watched Bridgerton and saw these women in flowing dresses in a regency aesthetic, I said "I want to put my protagonist in that aesthetic in this story, with a modern, darker, twist, so what needs to happen in the universe to get there, why would that aesthetic exist in a modern society?"

When I watched Hunger Games and saw all the capital people mingling around one another at the Victor's Ball in Catching Fire, I said "I want a scene like that in my fic, what needs to happen in universe for that to make sense?"

Likewise, I witness a lot of dumb shit irl, or am apart of certain things, or hear certain things and just think "I want that in my story, how do I need to build my world to get these things to fit?"

It's a lot of trial and error and cutting and reshaping. The world for my current WIP took me 10 years to build up and to this day I am still chipping away at it and changing things about it.

Side note, but I also always encourage working both major plot worldbuilding and trivial worldbuilding, because oftentimes major plot worldbuilding can lead to trivial worldbuilding and vice versa, and you should never knock the background shit. It gives readers stuff to theorize and speculate about aside from the plot, which I think is always fun. And again, that helps provides a very lived in world, which should always be the goal.

As always, have fun and go fucking write something today <3

[rahabs]

Was there anything you liked about Veilguard?

The hair was an improvement over Inquisition's notorious fifty shades of bald. Emmrich had a lot of potential and was easily the best of what turned out to be bland, underdeveloped batch of companions that the game makes you coddle and affirm at every turn (or, in Taash's case, an insanely childish companion that I felt I had to babysit constantly). Davrin was also fine. The architectural design was beautiful to look at, even if the cities felt empty and stale. Some of the armour was nice, and an improvement on Inquisition. I wasn't a fan of some aspects of the CC (but that's more my general dissatisfaction with BioWare constantly issuing massive overhauls to the designs of elves and qunari, so it's not Veilguard-specific), but it was also a marked improvement over Inquisition. Combat was... fine. It got dull after awhile, but it was just your standard stuff. Nothing offensive. Solas' voice acting was great for the .5 seconds we got to see him. Some of the other characters were voiced well.

As I've said, my main issue just lies in the sterile, corporate writing--not just the companions. My dissatisfaction also extends to the general culling of roleplay options (and some of the reasons why they were cut--namely, because a certain head writer was against players being able to do things he personally didn't approve of, and yes, it's common knowledge as Weekes was vocal on social media about it for years), the rampant lore issues (which BioWare has always struggled with in this franchise; lore consistency is not Dragon Age's strength), the coddling and hand-holding (not just for companions but for all major plot points; it's like the game thinks we're all stupid toddlers who need everything spoon-fed and told to us in the most simplistic terms, leaving no room for nuance or discussion), and just how... demeaning a lot of this game felt, I suppose? Someone pointed this out once and it stuck with me, but this game feels more like it was designed for "lonely people who really like found family fanfiction and project way too hard onto interactive media." Everything's just constant affirmation, constant "how-are-yous" from Rook to the companions; you cannot disagree with a companion or risk hurting their pixel-feelings, even when the companions are objectively acting like arseholes. It kills the roleplay aspect BioWare has always been famous for.

Editing this response I gave to someone else on this post, because I should have expanded originally:

[…] I think part of the reason Veilguard fails is that, unlike DA2, in trying to cater to that “found family” crowd and recreate the feeling people got with DA2 especially, the writers forgot a crucial aspect of what makes found family dynamics work, or what makes them feel worthwhile to the audience: the conflict.  Part of the impact with DA2 is it takes time—literal years—for Hawk to help build that dynamic, and there are serious differences of opinions and many arguments, whether between Hawk and one of the companions, Fenris and Anders, Isabella and Aveline, Fenris and Merrill, Anders and Merrill, Aveline and Merrill, Sebastian and Anders, Hawk and their sibling (whether Bethany or Carver), et al, etc.  Can you imagine if Fenris and Anders had had one minor disagreement and Hawk held their hands and went, “I see you’re feeling a lot of big emotions about this, are you okay, maybe you should try getting along and seeing things from his point of view?” and that was that? Because that’s essentially what Veilguard does, and it’s part of why the game rings so hollow and the found family dynamic seems so contrived: it feels unearned. It is unearned.

In the end Rook feels more like a therapist to a bunch of whingey thirteen-year-olds than a leader of professional adults, and the sterile writing as well as the writers' deeming determination to coddle their audience just makes this M-rated game feel G-rated, and not in a good way. In the risk of going into spoilers, I'm not going to rant about the Executors (though know I hate them so very much) or about the whole thing with Southern Thedas (yes I'm mad, because it's so unbelievably lazy), but so many aspects of Dragon Age's lore was just... watered down to the extreme in this game.

Also, the fact that they turned the Antivan Crows, of all things--you know, the same Antivan crows who purchase and recruit child slaves, who kill them if the deviate, whom we've spent three games going "man, you guys are kind of nasty, aren't you" at, etc--into this soft, fluffy, weird little uwu family unit really stood out to me as a symptom of this game's overall problem, which is, again, the infantile writing and the overall issue of over-sanitisation. Everything has to be uwu family friendly and nice and no one can ever have bad thoughts or do bad things or be mean! Good vibes only! I mean, we spent years being told about Tevinter and its legacy of slavery, particularly in Minrathous, and there's none of that in this game. Just more good vibes because can't risk anyone being upset or encountering challenging narratives!

Also, a petty grievance: BioWare also failed to improve on the issues with the dialogue wheel from Inquisition, meaning you'll choose an option and then Rook says something completely different. Again.

I'm just so thoroughly disappointed in it.

[moonpetrichors-blog]

hi lovey 🫶 i was thinking about another lo’ak idea for a request and this is what i came up with! so as we know, the sully family had to learn sign language while living with the metkayina clan.. so i was thinking the reader would be metkayina and would take it upon themself to help teach them (at this time the sully’s know certain phrases) and lo’ak is drawn to the reader and asks for private lessons but in actuality he’s pretty good with signing so the reader is like “ur already pretty good but ig so 🤷” and in that lesson lo’ak kind of makes his feelings clear and asks to learn how to say something like “you’re ethereal” and once he learns, he signs it to the reader? idk i just love how you write lo’ak so i just thought of anything really 🤭

🦕

Teach Me

Tags: Lo'ak x Metkayina!Reader, Oneshot, Fem!Reader, Fluff, Private Tutor, Crush Blush, They’re Both Oblivious, Shy Reader

Warnings: None

You caught the eye of Jake Sully’s second son, and he has made it a point to try and woo you. When you try and teach his family the way your clan communicates underwater, he asks for private lessons, knowing full well he has already excelled in sign language far beyond his siblings. A few more lessons couldn’t hurt, right?

Your requests are always such a delight to see :) Lo’ak tryna finesse the reader into private tutoring sessions just to spend time with them is such a Lo’ak thing to do lol ALSO YOU’LL NOTICE THAT IVE TAKEN A LIKING TO ADDING A BONUS TO THESE

* ˚ ✦ 1453 Words • Read below the cut

╭┈─────── ೄྀ࿐ ˊˎ-╰┈➤ ❝ [05/01/23] ❞

Ever since the Sully family arrived at your doorstep seeking asylum, your father, Tonowari, had entrusted you with teaching the children your ways so that they were not entirely useless.

You did not appear to mind. When you locked eyes with Toruk Makto's youngest son, he captivated you. He was considerably different from your people, with golden eyes, darker skin, and even being a half dream walker! It was alluring, even if your brother didn't find Lo'ak's unique traits as attractive as you did.

You brushed your burgeoning feelings aside so you could do an excellent job of showing him your ways of life. Tsireya, your sister, had previously taught the Sullys about breathing techniques and diving, but you still stepped in whenever you could. You would've been more involved in the lessons if you weren't so timid around Lo'ak.

He figured you didn't like him as much as he liked you, which stung a little. However, that did not deter him. No, he was determined to get your love! (Little did he know.)

During one of your lessons with Tsireya and the Sullys, you were discussing how you employed sign language to communicate underwater. Of course, you were as far away from Lo'ak as possible to avoid becoming a blundering fool.

The Sullys certainly understood a few basic phrases, but you thought it would be incredibly beneficial in the long run if they knew it fluently because it could save their lives one day. You never know what sea creature you'll have to converse with!

By the end of the lesson, you were eager to get out of the water and rush home so you wouldn't have to interact with Lo'ak; you couldn't stop stuttering whenever you were near him! Eywa, on the other hand, had other plans for you.

Lo'ak softly tapped on your shoulder before you could depart, and you could already feel the tips of your ears burn from the contact. Lo'ak didn't notice, but that didn't matter because he was plotting something. One that he believed was brilliant.

He smiled at you. God, his smile was lethal. “Can I get more lessons with you? I need to work on my sign language a bit more.”

He scratched the nape of his neck shyly, clearly hoping for you to say yes.

You sighed, unable to say no when it’s him. “Okay, sure. We can do some private lessons aside from the main ones.”

Lo'ak cheered inside his head. What you didn't know was that he was already pretty proficient in sign language, and that his request for additional lessons was only a pretext to spend more time with you. Others called that manipulation, he called it chasing his dreams.

...

It was difficult for you to concentrate on teaching him at first. He was so attentive to everything you said that it made you feel so self-conscious! You'd take notice to the way he looked with his hair down, or how mesmerizing his eyes were every time you tried to teach him new terms. You could lose yourself in them for hours.

Snap out of it!

You'd think he was aware of the influence he had on you, because every time you'd lose concentration from gazing at him, he'd simply smile. Maybe your eyes were playing tricks on you, but you swore his cheeks reddened when you stared at him. What was he blushing about? He's the one who makes direct eye contact with you every time you speak!

...

You felt foolish. You were foolish.

After a few days, you realised Lo'ak had duped you into thinking he needed the extra support. In your opinion, his acting skills when feigning to not understand what a phrase meant were atrocious. When you confronted him with the fact that he was already pretty fluent, he sulked.

“I’m still not sure if I’m doing it right, though. Just a few more lessons, pleaase?”

He was going to be the death of you. “You’re already pretty good, but I guess it won’t hurt to help build your confidence more.”

Lo’ak grinned, but you could feel your palms getting sweaty at even the mere thought of having prolonged interactions with him.

...

Here you were, sitting on the beach with Lo’ak as he manipulated you into weeks worth of lessons with his stupidly gorgeous puppy dog eyes. Again.

You improved your interactions with him, this time concealing the effect he had on you. You shook your head, ignoring those wandering thoughts and concentrated on his lesson.

“Okay, show me something you’ve learned.”

Lo’ak beamed, and signed with his hands, “Y/N, I want you.”

Okay, you lied. You certainly did not grasp the capacity to conceal his effect on you. He had this smug look on his face once you registered what he had signed, while you fanned your heated cheeks, claiming it was simply the weather. You concluded he was having difficulty asking for something since 'I want you' sounded a little broken.

Yeah, that’s all there is to it.

You laughed nervously. “You definitely still need to work on your sign language. You didn’t even finish your phrase!”

Lo'ak grumbled. From your perspective , it appeared that he did so because he did not accurately sign what he meant to express. But really, Lo'ak was particularly annoyed because you didn't pick up on his blatant hint.

He recollected himself. “Okay, how about this. How do I say you’re ethereal?”

Compliments. That’s a new one. Nonetheless, you showed him how to sign it.

“You’re ethereal is a little bit hard though, so you’d need a bit of practice with the hand movements for that.”

Lo’ak nodded, very focused on the motions of your fingers.

...

You were disappointed to realise that this was your final private lesson with Lo'ak. You were standing near his marui, too indolent to enter the water. Lo'ak had finally mastered sign language, and you were overjoyed to know you were the reason for it. You requested him to show you some phrases right before you concluded your lesson to ensure he sounded like a true Metkayina.

“Okay. What’s something you’re confident you can say?”

Lo’ak was incredibly anxious. With shaky hands, he signed, “you’re ethereal, and I want you to be mine.”

If Eywa could read your thoughts, you wished she’d take a shovel and beat you six feet beneath the sand. Your cheeks were impossibly dark, and you knew what Lo’ak signed couldn’t have been a mistake. Not with those difficult hand movements.

Curse you for being so stupid. You chastised yourself in your mind for honestly thinking his sign language was broken weeks prior. His skills were perfect, you were just too oblivious to realize that he was saying that he wanted you!

Lo'ak sat there patiently, gazing at your immobilised form. His self-assurance was eroding as you sat there, unresponsive. You coughed sheepishly, your cheeks still blazing, before he could retract his statement.

“You’re ethereal too.”

He felt his entire body heat up. He was not expecting you to sign it back, and now you were both sitting there like startled morons, looking like you had been baking in the heat for hours. You were neither smooth nor subtle in your flirting.

“So you don’t hate me?”

That shook you out of your daze. “What?”

“It’s just that, before these lessons you avoided me all the time. I thought you didn’t like me back.”

Your jaw was on the floor. All shyness disappearing, you practically bellowing across the beach. “Since when? I’ve liked you for weeks!”

“Oh.”

Ensue silence.

Lo'ak had to conceal his visage due to the blush on his cheeks. He could try to hide his face from you, but he couldn't prevent his tail from swishing excitedly. You giggled at his reaction, but the embarrassment of how direct you were hit you a moment later.

You two exchanged glances before laughing at each other's expressions. Lo'ak inched closer to you, intending to plant a soft kiss against your heated cheeks.

You immediately swiveled your head to see what he was doing, and he kissed you on the lips by accident. Lo'ak felt like he was going to burst into flames, not intending to do that.

It was now your turn to bury your face in your palms, your heart practically bursting out of your chest. You couldn't believe what had just transpired!

Ah, young love.

Bonus!

“No. Fucking. Way.”

Jake screamed for his wife to come over. Neytiri ran quickly, abandoning her unfinished basket. Something terrible must’ve happened!

“What’s wrong?”

Jake wiped a tear away, dropping his binoculars. “Our son has finally become a man.”

Neytiri threw her basket at his head.

[yingfelis]

Hey! I want to request if you don't mind, Fu Hua x Mantis!Reader, basically this reader I really like that fic lmao, thank you anyway!

Hellooo <333 ofc I actually hadn’t read that one yet until you requested this and it was so cute I loved it

I hope you don’t mind any sort of plot holes or such cause I actually haven’t really finished the ER/PE story yet 😓 (also sorry if the ending seems kinda rushed)

I found you, you found me

Fu Hua x Mantis Reader

You had been in the moths much longer than Fu hua due to getting caught up in honkai attacks at a young age.

When both of your parents had died the moths was the only place left for you to go

You dedicated everything into fighting because in truth what else was there for you to live for?

Due to this you became a mantis at a young age, not caring for the risk of the outcomes, you were one of the few who volunteered and one of the even fewer that survived

But you couldn’t feel anything, your already dull life seem to grow even dimmer.

You lost taste in food and anything that affected the normal human senses seem to dwindle for you

However that does mean you can actually be near and interact with Kevin without feeling his coldness. (This makes him secretly happy)

Everything just felt empty though, no matter what you would do in the end it got you nowhere, life was simply a chore and fighting was all you knew how to do.

Then she had to walk into your life, a broken yet determined girl had suddenly came crashing into your life…. Well technically it was you who came crashing into hers, literally

Being flung through the battle grounds and crashing into the raven haired girl was not part of your usual routine but here you guys were.

Honestly it was just a simple clearing out mission nothing too big but you being you couldn’t feel an injury on yourself until it was too late and a sharp pain took over your body

A large honkai beast took notice of this weakness and immediately rammed into you sending you flying. You would had probably gotten more injuries had a certain young girl around your age appeared in your way and help break your fall

As you got up and were about to apologize/say thank you, you instead had to grab the other girl and duck as an attack was hurled at you two

Snapping out of it you both immediately got back into battle, on the battlefield you two were warriors, not human.

However after the battle, that same girl managed to find you again. She introduced herself to you

“Hua…” you said testing how her name rolled off your tongue. It was surprisingly easy and something just felt right about it.

Hua nodded her head with a small sound of confirmation. “And you? Who might you be”

“Call me Y/n” you said bluntly and a look of realization came across her face.

“Yes, I believe Kevin had mentioned you to me just before this” she said, which didn’t surprise you much. Kevin was fond of you due to you being unaffected by his current state and also one of the few who had successfully became a mantis.

“Mhm, Dr. Mei had mentioned another mantis would be in this mission. If I’m not mistaken we must be around the same age then.” Hua nodded in confirmation as silence fell upon you two.

Hua, not knowing what to do, studied you a bit and instantly noticed your injuries that you seemed to pay no attention to. “Are you going to treat your injuries soon?” She asked, pointing them out

You looked dumbly at her before looking down at yourself. “Ah… I had forgotten about these. Perhaps I should, but it would take too long.”

“So you’re just going to go untreated” a hint of concern was present in her voice

“Perhaps, I’ll see what I can do for myself though-” you felt a hand grab your arm as you were dragged away

“Come, I will at least apply the necessary first aid needed” you dumbfoundedly followed Hua as she led you away from your previous spot. She made you sit down as she grabbed a box filled with medical supplies.

You both sat in silence as Hua begins to clean and bandage up the wounds that were littered around your body.

It was a comfortable silence and you couldn’t help but to feel relaxed and warm at this feeling of being taken care of

Wait….

Feel?

That isn’t right.

After that interaction you found yourself meeting with Hua more often. Whether it was coincidence or your own body unconsciously leading you to her you wouldn’t know

At the very least Hua doesn’t seem to mind the company so you’ll continue to stick around her.

Though this got some teasing from Elysia and intrigued looks from a few others. Your almost instant connection with Hua felt almost like second nature.

You’re not sure why, and Hua doesn’t seem to understand the extent of how out of character this is for you but you can’t help but want to stay with her and protect her from everything. Even her own mind sometimes.

Yes, perhaps jumping in front of an attack with an already unstable body that was on the verge of breaking due to overuse in battle was not the best idea you’ve ever had.

But in your defense, it was aiming at Hua and her getting hurt right in front of you es just unacceptable.

As you awaken in a hospital bed, your eyes immediately noticed the sleeping figure laying their head down next to you.

“Hua…” you mutter, unable to not keep her name from escaping your lips. It was such a pleasant feeling, to say her name, you could do it a millions times if it meant the warm feeling inside of you would remain

Hua stirred before her eyes cracked open. They seemed dazed for a moment as she processed everything

You were awake, her body snapped up, eyes looking at you in shock. You stared back with an unreadable expression like always

Hua simply relaxed a bit as her hand gripped the bed sheets tightly. “You’re awake, thank god” her voice was quiet with a bitter yet relieved expression

You nodded and took the hand she was gripping onto the bed so tightly into yours, loosening the grip of it. You didn’t like it when she did that all agitation and stressed, you liked it when she was relaxed. Hua knew this

“Even now you’re still focused and worried about me… why? You could have nearly died due to my ignorance.” Hua was frustrated, why did you always do this, why for her, what did she do to deserve such protection from you?

“I didn’t want to see you hurt” You responded calmly, almost like it was as obvious as what color the sky was

This only made her more frustrated. She stood up “you think I want to see you hurt too!? Y/n what you did was reckless and idiotic, had your body not mange to pull itself together you would not be here. The mission would have been a failure and I—…”

Hua’s voice died down at the end as she looked down

“I could have lost you too… and it would have been all my fault-”

Hua found herself not being able to continue as arms wrapped around her abruptly pulling her close. It was a bit of an awkward position due to you still being bed bound but it was warm

“Y/n! What-” “I’m sorry hua please forgive me”

She looked at you in shock as there were silent tears in your eyes. Why? Why were you shedding tears for her? How were you shedding tears? This all confused her

“Hua, none of what happened was your fault. I was so scared to see you hurt, I wanted so badly to protect you. I didn’t even know I could still possess these emotions or any emotions. But you still make me feel them and I latched onto it.” You didn’t even let her get a word in before continuing again.

“You make me feel things I never would have thought I could possess again. In this soulless life I found comfort in your warmth, so please don’t think badly of yourself.” Hua was in no way a love expert but even to her this sounded like a confession. It comforted her in a different way then normal, it was so warm.

So warm that the icy cold exterior she had melted immediately as she cried in your arms. You started to panic fearing you had done something wrong. “Hua? Hua I’m sorry please don’t cry.”

You tried to brush the tears away gently cupping her cheek only for her to lean into your touch… and upwards. A soft pair of lips met yours and you froze, the only thing you could manage was to close your eyes.

As she pulled away you both stared into each other’s eyes. A small blush dusted her face as your mouth was hung open in shock. “I have never once liked seeing a comrade put themselves in harms way. You are no exception to that fact. In fact, you are the one person that I cannot lose.”

Your eyes softened at her words. You let Hua curl up against you as you held her. Leaving a kiss on her temple. “I won’t leave you Hua, I never will. A moth cannot stray from it’s light, and you burn too brightly for me to loose you”

After that, you two were officially dating, though never stated out loud it others it was obvious.

When it came time for the previous era to come to end and the current era to begin, you were along side Hua.

However due to the complications it was decided that while you both were to complete the same task it would be in different areas.

This sadden Hua but you brushed it off “no matter how long it will take I will come back to you, whether you have forgotten me or not will not stop me from being by your side.”

These words brought her comfort as she knew you had meant those words. Entrusting Hua’s care to Fuxi and Nuwa. You two had to part ways

Eventually, Fu Hua’s memories of you had faded until they were completely destroyed in the fight against Sirin. This had broken her in a way she couldn’t understand.

In times of need she found herself longing for the comfort of someone familiar she couldn’t remember, she found herself unconsciously seeing certain fighting styles that made her lost in thought

You were someone that took on many identities over your lifetimes. Fading into the background was normal for you, you had done that a lot during your time with the moths.

Leading others to the goal while remaining undetected was much easier than actually being the leader.

However eventually someone had taken notice of your presence. A man by the name of Welt, Welt Joyce, the first Herrscher of Reason.

Then boom you were sucked into the chaos of Anti-Entropy generally assisting them from time to time while still keeping your identity mostly hidden from others.

You helped them make better tech using your knowledge from the previous era which basically had made you Einstein and Tesla’s go to test subject lab partner

In exchange, they kept your identity a secrete, help you fulfill the goal of passing on your knowledge to the correct era, and finally, gave you tabs as to how Fu Hua was doing.

Despite the many years that have passed your memories of your light was something you treasured. Even if her journey didn’t include you in it, it doesn’t matter to you. Knowing she’s safe is enough for you.

Only after the whole HoS and HoD incident was when you two finally reconnected. Fu Hua had obtained some of her memories back and that included those with you. At first it pained her a bit to know she had no idea of someone she had treasured so deeply before.

She didn’t know how you were or if you were even alive. Had you change? What were you doing for so long? Had you kept you promise or did you forget about her by now? It was all confusing to Fu Hua

Due to the injures she had sustained in the battle with Dominance, Fu Hua was referred to a few days of rest (despite saying how she was feeling fine)

She was getting an examination with Tesla and Einstein when they had told her how they were expecting a “lab partner/a stoic idiot” to show up soon. They said how they would like her to meet said lab partner, which confused her a bit but she didn’t questioned if.

“Doctor Einstein, I had gotten your signal. Was there something you needed to discuss-…” You paused at your eyes took in the very familiar face and body of your (past?) lover. You stood in shock as Fu Hua looked back mirroring your expression.

Einstein ushered doctor Tesla out as she gave you a knowing look and felt you two alone.

You blinked “Hua..?” You asked trying to see if she had recognized you. Which the answer was obviously yes. “Y/n” the name had rolled off her tongue so easy. Yes, it felt right

At that confirmation, the room grew silent. Fu hua didn’t know what she could say to you. Not like either of you two were big talkers before anyways.

Then, when the silent tears rolled down your face that reminded her so much of her memories of that night she stood closer to you and cupped your face.

Wiping your tears she was greeted with the realization of how the roles were reversed now yet it still felt so right.

“Hua… I found you”

“You found me, y/n”

Fu hua gently held you as you basked in her warmth, like a moth to a flame, you had been guided to her once more.

[y-rhywbeth2]

Lore: Tieflings

Link to Disclaimer and other lore babblings

Featuring: The two types of tiefling (Orin belongs to one of them, actually) The other races' equivalents to tieflings Various ancestors of tieflings The 2e tiefling trait chart that I miss with all my soul My inability to be 100% neutral about certain 4e changes Tiefling Homelands, such as they are

---

Tieflings belong to a category known as the Planetouched; mortals descended from beings native to the outer planes. TIeflings are descended from the evil-aligned Lower Planes and at this point can be split into the newer Asmodeus tieflings and the original "generic" tieflings. (Other races have produced fiendish planetouched. Tanarukk are orcs of fiendish descent; Elven-demon hybrids called the fey'ri, or daemonfey; Dwarven descendants of the offspring of devils are maeluth; and wisplings are halflings of demonic descent.)

The original, generic tieflings are humans with a fiend or an evil deity from one of the Lower Planes in their family tree.

They appear as regular humans, usually with only one or two odd traits giving away their ancestry. Black feathers growing from their shoulders, glowing red eyes, a tail, making plants decay in their presence... wings...

The bloodline begins with the half-mortal child of a fiend or deity (a cambion, or a bhaalspawn, for example). They go on to have offspring with mortals and the child is a tiefling. The tiefling grandchild's line may continue to dilute with human blood until it seemingly disappears...

...until suddenly, possibly hundreds of years later, a family's new baby is born with six fingers or a tail or something and the village is talking about drowning the "devil" in the village stream. With a lack of understanding of what's happening, and a lot of fear, the family themselves usually reject their own child. There are only a few places in the Realms where a planetouched birth isn't considered an aberration (I'll talk about them towards the end).

The outlook for tieflings is... not good.

"Occasionally a tiefling is born to someone indifferent to its appearance, determined to redeem it, willing to exploit it, or evil enough not to care about its nature, and these tieflings are most likely to survive to adulthood." - Races of Faerûn

Even if their physical traits are not obvious, tieflings become aware from an early age that they are different, as the essence of the Lower Planes in their blood tries to compel them and they often have "strange needs, desires or urges." They can ignore these urges to be any alignment they so chose. Unfortunately, as the world around them hates them, they tend to grow up to be bitter and mistrustful; they're not terribly inclined to help people they expect to run them off in an angry mob. Some of them embrace their impulses, seeing as they're just going to be seen as monsters anyway.

Their ancestry can be from various categories:

Deities: Beshaba, goddess of misfortune is one of the more known ancestors of tieflings. Her descendants are marked by white hair and deer antlers growing from their heads. Mask, god of thieves is another ancestor; Maskarian tieflings cast no reflections. Bhaal's tieflings show no outward signs, but have inclinations towards violence and an obsession with death.

Baatezu; Devils, the Lawful Evil fiends of the Nine Hells. Erinyes (fallen angels with black wings), gelugons (ice insects) and pit fiends (giant scaly red monsters with horns) are the most common ancestors. They enjoy strict hierarchies, complicated plots, rules and contracts with lots of smallprint.

Tanar'ri: Demons, the Chaotic Evil fiends of the Infinite Layers of the Abyss ("If there's anything you don't like, you'll find it here."). The most common demonic ancestors are Mariliths (giant sexy snake warrior ladies with six arms and swords) and Succubi (who were strictly demons, until 5e decided the devils needed a soul-stealing sex monster even though they already had those and they were the exact same thing as a succubus (Brachina)). Where devils enjoy playing with contracts and mind games and the slow descent into corruption, demons are pure hunger/lust and chaos and usually go for the fast track to corruption. Orgies and mindless over-the-top violence, both at the same time, if possible. ["Devils and demons hate each other" is the biggest understatement the universe knows, and the two have been at war since basically the dawn of time. It's called the Blood War and it will never end. They are instinctually driven to destroy each other, and this is also built into their tiefling descendants.]

Other: Fiends who fall into no other category. There is actually a third category - Yugoloths, the Neutral Evil fiends, but they don't seem to make tieflings that I've seen. Night Hags are a common enough ancestor, and tieflings descended from them often have blue/violet skin, likened to the colour of bruises. Rakshasa are another one; cat eyes and occasionally fur turning up on them.

3.5e gave them a set of traits they all shared: higher reflexes; a boost to their intelligence stat (for some reason?); the ability to see in total darkness; to create areas of pitch black supernatural darkness; they were less affected by the cold and electric shocks, and their flesh and skin was slightly fire retardant. Sometimes they had an affinity for certain animals, or had wings.

Back in 2e, Tieflings were all unique and could manifest some of any number of random traits. Behold! The chart!

And then, amongst the various shit that went down as the setting was burned down around us all in 4e, Asmodeus - Archdevil of the Ninth Hell, Ruler of the Nine Hells - killed the god Azuth and elevated himself to godhood. He "defeated" the Tanar'ri in the (eternal!) Blood War and celebrated by having a circle of warlocks known as "the Toril Thirteen" to create a new strain of tieflings descended from him to remind the world to fear him. This would be fine, except he did this by ruining overwriting all the pre-existing tieflings so that they would now all be descended from him and ALL have their varied, often subtle, appearances be changed to be red skinned people with goat horns and tails regardless of if that made any FUCKIGN sense. How do you overwrite a Night Hag or Mask or.the goddamn Mulhorandi pantheon The hells and Asmodeus have zero - ZERO, connection! He has no claim-.

*ahem*

Asmodeus exerts no control over "his" tieflings, however, they are simply marked by his power. People do not like them any better than the originals, but less of them are getting killed at birth now due to being born into families of other tieflings.

The ancestry of these tieflings does not dilute over time. The child of an Asmodeus tiefling is another tiefling.

By 15th century DR (5e) the Blood War is back on and the original tieflings have begun to re-emerge in Toril, but the majority are still the Asmodeus type.

-

The generic tieflings are rare enough that the majority can go their entire lives without meeting another of their kind. Asmodeus' tieflings are uncommon, but prone to being found in small groups.

Tieflings are "persecuted and feared in most of Faerûn." (Though the gods don't give a damn, and are happy enough to manifest to them in dreams in tiefling form to the delight of the religiously inclined)

There are, however, places where they are more common.

Back before it blew up (4e!) Thay had an unusually high tiefling population. "Thayan tieflings [were] usually the grandchildren of powerful wizards, birthed as part of some power scheme, and usually [spent] their lives as slaves or pawns to both sides of the family." Obviously, these tieflings became Asmodeus tieflings due to the ritual. Afterwards the lich Szass Tam decided to turn everybody undead. Some living people returned to Thay, once it was habitable again post-Spellplague (despite still being full of liches and vampires), so there may be some Thayan tieflings remaining. TIefling descendants of the refugees of Thay can also be found in the surrounding countries. Aglarond, mostly, since Rashamen has a decidedly negative history with Thay. Mulhorand is another land with a tiefling population. Mulhorand is Ancient Egypt. Not like fantasy-equivalent to Ancient Egypt, like they're actually the descendants of Ancient Egyptians who ended up in Toril (side effect of ancient wizards kidnapping people from other worlds to enslave). Mulhorandi planetouched are the descendants of the local gods, who once ruled the country themselves when it was first founded, and the mixture of aasmiar, genasi and tieflings is significant enough to make up 2% of the total population. In the case of tieflings, that usually means their grandfather/ancestor is Set, Anhur or Sobek. Historically the priesthoods of Mulhorand enjoyed bickering, which would've been annoying as the descendant of their god/their god's enemy, but the pantheon has told them to knock it off nowadays.

Mulhorandi tieflings have their own naming conventions, taking surnames based on their ancestor; Zia or Sia preceding the god's name. Ziasobek or Sianhur, for example. In the North, Neverwinter was once host to a cult dedicated to Asmodeus (the Ashmadai) that lead to a rise in tieflings, and since that offers an opportunity to blend in with their own kind the city attracted more tiefling immigrants, and as such has a fair sized population now.

I'm also taking a third option: immigrants from the outer planes would be unusual, but tieflings are out there and some of them may decide to move to Faerûn for some reason.

Sigil is a city at the centre of the universe built into the inside of a giant ring at the top of an infinite spire that has no beginning or end. It's also the nexus point of the universe, is covered in portals and its markets have goods from everywhere in known existence. It's population also comes from everywhere in existence, so tieflings are not such an oddity. Culturally it's rather like a fantasy parody of corrupt cockney Victorianesque(?) London, if the entirety of D&D moved there.

Tieflings can also be found living in the Lower Planes themselves, usually as canon fodder in the Blood Wars.

[noperopesaredope]

Clones Post War AU (An Order 66 Didn't Happen AU)

(I made a sideblog for this)

At the end of the Umbara Arc in Clone Wars, Rex said “We’re clones. If the war is over, what then?” I thought this was interesting, and I love me a good “Order 66 Never Happens AU” where the clones get a happy ending. So this is my take on not just what the clones might do after the war if it didn’t go the way it did, but also a speculative AU focused on what a potential post-war clone culture and society would look like. Might also add a bit of an overarching plot, but this is mainly focused on worldbuilding. Still, I did make an underlying plot, so I’ll share it at some point during the write outs.

It kind of became a bit of a beast and I’ll likely be adding new stuff all the time, so it might explore a lot more than what I initially planned and have a lot more plot/story stuff under the surface.

Part 1 (this post) will be covering the main plot of the AU/set-up the premise.

(This Post is Long, Ya'll)

Set-Up

The Discovery of Retteyo (or New Kamino)

So basically, at a certain point in the war, possibly a year or 2 in, an Acclamator-class assault ship with 15,000 clone troopers, a Jedi Master, their padawan, and 170 regular personnel crashed on a small, remote and unpopulated planet that was rarely visited: Retteyo. The Jedi Master perished in the crash, alongside 2,500 clone troopers and 150 of the regular personnel. This left the padawan, 12,500 clone troopers, and 20 regular personnel completely stranded on an unfamiliar planet. The vast majority of those on board may have survived, but most of the ship (or at least the most important parts) did not. They had no way of communicating with the Republic, no way of calling for help, nothing. It was a somewhat bleak situation with little hope for escape.

Still, they were all determined to survive, and so the padawan and a few of the higher ranking clones held an emergency “meeting” together and decided to prepare for a long term encampment. Retteyo was far from safe, with 17 of the regular personnel and 45 clone troopers all perishing in the first few weeks, but it wasn’t completely uninhabitable. In fact, it was quite habitable, just about as dangerous as some of the less safe locations on Earth. There weren’t a huge amount of dangerous animals or extreme climate/weather, unlike most other planets we see in canon.

Most of those who perished died of either infected wounds that hadn’t gotten treated soon enough, and others died while exploring unfamiliar and more dangerous terrain on foot. The group did not make the same mistakes twice, and eventually began to figure which areas were safe and which weren’t. The battalion managed to organize themselves enough to make plans for what they were going to do, and got to work on making a good liveable environment.

While a lot of the flying vehicles were unusable, many of the ground terrain vehicles still worked well enough, they just needed a bit of fixing up, which happened over the course of about a month or so as they gathered materials from the ship’s remains. This really helped them better navigate and settle on Retteyo, and they made a pretty well functioning camp, all things considered.

After the first year, the leaders of the group realized that this might be a permanent situation that could last years, and they started planning out a permanent settlement. They began taking apart the ship properly, and used both it and some of Retteyo’s natural resources to construct buildings.

A Plot Device

Due to the nature of this AU, I wanted to create a reason that clones would keep getting made even after the end of the war, since I want to make them a proper society and their own species in a way. So, here comes the big, dumb “this is purely for the plot and not important right now” thing. One day, during Year 2 of being on Retteyo, two clone trooper scouts ended up in some unfamiliar territory and discovered a field of strange, giant flowers about the size of a basket.

One of the clones ended up cutting himself on something, and the blood dropped into the center of one of the flowers. It closed, and began to glow, pulsing with energy, before opening up again, and a small baby was inside. It looked exactly like the clone trooper when they were a baby, and they showed it to their fellow trooper, who was shocked and amazed by this. They marked the field down on a map, and went back to base, where they showed everyone the baby and privately explained the situation to their commander.

Fast forward 3 years, and the war is nearing a close. Recently, the Republic has been having a bit of a problem. Well, a few problems. And all of them are centered around the clone troopers.

To explain the biggest problem, let’s talk numbers for a bit (I spent way too long on this).

Mama Mia, That’s a Lot of Clones!

It’s highly debated how many clones were created during the war, as they stated at the start of the war there were about 3 million units. This at first appears to be the amount of clone troopers, but then you realize it said units, not soldiers. We don’t know how big a unit is. Some say that it refers to a single squad, which is 5 soldiers. Others say that a “unit” is equivalent to the size of a company (US military), so about 250 soldiers or so. If it refers to the first option, the war would start with 15 million. If it refers to the second option, it would be 750 million, which is far too much in my opinion, so the first option is more likely. 

3 million is still on the table, since perhaps units could honestly just refer to individual clones, but they did say that 200,000 units were ready when Obi Wan arrived, and that’s not nearly enough for this particular war. So I’m going with 15 million.

We also know that the Senate ends up paying for 5 million more units, which is apparently extremely expensive and could push them into debt (then again, 5 million is a lot more than 3 million when you really think about it). If we go with the idea that a unit is 5 soldiers, then that’s 25 million soldiers.

It’s likely that they have also ordered more clones before, so let’s go on the lower end and say they’ve already ordered about 2 million units in total (1 million to 5 million would be too big of a jump). They probably wouldn’t order that many more clones after the 5 million units, or at least would order very few compared to that.

If we go with the idea that a unit is one soldier, that means that about 10 million clones were made during the course of the war (still feels like too few for me). If we go with the idea that a unit was 5 clones, that is 50 million clones in total, which feels a little big, but considering that the Republic controlled more than 1 million planets, I think that’s actually a pretty reasonable amount. If every planet had an equal number of clone troopers on it to protect it, they would only have about 50 soldiers for the entire goddamn planet. Taking into consideration that there would be plenty of planets that had no clone troopers due to not needing them, and other planets who had thousands of clone troopers, as well as the clones not guarding planets and actually just fighting the war, 50 million is pretty reasonable.

In many wars, less than 1% of soldiers die. One of the deadliest wars killed about 2% of soldiers. However, I will be EXTREMELY generous and say that 3% died in combat since this was such a crazy war and the clones were seen as very expendable. I’ll continue to be generous by saying 3% died of causes outside of combat, like disease or getting eaten by a giant worm, since we tend to see a lot of clones die in really weird/random ways and I feel like a lot of them died that way. This means that 5% of clone troopers died during the war. This isn’t even considering how many clones were still too young to be in combat. I’ll still count all of them as soldiers, which will still prove my point.

5% of 10 million is 500,000, so that would be 500,000 clone casualties (which feels WAY too small despite being on the bigger end of the spectrum) and 9.5 million clone survivors by the end of the war. 5% of 50 million is 2.5 million, so that would be 2.5 million clone casualties (feels about right) and 47.5 million clone survivors by the end of the war. I believe it’s the latter.

That is a fuck ton of people. Like, that is bigger than the population of Argentina. That is almost the population of the world in 1000 BCE. That is 14% of the population of the USA, which might not seem like much, but it’s still a lot. If you replaced 47.5 million people with clones, then 1 in every 168 people on Earth would be a clone. 47.5 million is probably bigger than the population of some planets in the Republic. It’s big.

And in this AU, since the Republic wasn’t exactly sure when the war would end, they ordered 500,000 more units a few months ago, so there are about 2.5 million more clones on the way, making the population of clones 50 million again, almost the size of Sudan and bigger than Spain. Again, a massive population. Also, since this is an AU, I could make it so the war lasted for a lot longer and a lot more clones were made, but I’m still going with the idea of the war lasting for 3 years (unless I want to change that up a little bit).

So now, the Republic has millions of clones who will have basically nowhere to go/nothing to do when the war ends. Some suggested they keep the clones as the official Republic army and spread them out to do stuff for the Republic, but that’s still not the best solution, and the biggest problem is that these mf will grow old at some point and not be able to fight anymore. And since they aren’t even dying in battle anymore (even when they were, it still kept their population pretty big), most of them will grow old. And they still have all these younger clones who might not get to fight in the war at all.

So they basically have a ton of clone troopers who they will have no use or place for unless they figure something out soon before the war ends.

The Whole Clone Thing is Weird

But this isn’t their only issue. I saw a post a while back wondering why nobody in the entire Senate questioned the ethics behind the existence/use of clone troopers and how they are essentially property of the Republic. I thought that was interesting, so I decided to implement that into the AU. While not many questioned the concept of clone troopers early on in the war, overtime, some civilians began raising concerns. 

One civilization (an original creation of mine) whose people were considered non-sentient only a couple of decades ago and used to be enslaved was deeply disturbed by the concept of creating living beings in order to force them to fight, conditioning them into serving the Republic and even altering their DNA to make them loyal.

A few other civilizations (also original creations) who are hiveminds (based on bees and ants and whatnot) ended up fighting alongside some clones, and quickly realized that they were individuals who saw each other as family and shared a deep connection with their fellow clones as a whole. Many of the bee and ant people saw themselves in the clones, and became almost offended at the way clones were talked about and treated as mindless robots just because they had the same DNA and looked the same.

There were also at least 2 civilizations who were disturbed on principle and disliked the use of clones not for personal reasons, but for general philosophical reasons and the basic fact that they think slavery is weird and gross, especially this kind.

These civilizations all ended up having multiple meetings together discussing the issue and their reservations, with a few even somewhat wanting to back out of the Republic out of disgust with the Republic’s actions and okay-ness with this. This was an underlying point of contention that could get extremely problematic soon.

Overtime, a movement around the rights of clone troopers began to pop up, and while it wasn't a huge problem for the Republic, it was becoming one, and they wouldn't be able to ignore it forever.

Clones Are Dissatisfied

On a related note, some clones have begun questioning their place in the Republic, especially after many heard about the Umbara incident. While it wasn't a conversation that was had out loud, some clones were becoming concerned and secretly wanted more autonomy. They weren't questioning their loyalty to the Republic by any means. Almost all of them, including the ones who were dissatisfied with things, were willing to fight and die for the Republic. They simply felt that perhaps they would like to be treated like people whose lives matter.

After all, while they were protected by most of the same laws as other sentient beings, they were still the legal property of the Republic. It’s also hard to say if they really had a choice to leave. While one might point to the episode The Deserter as proof they couldn’t leave, Rex did say that they took an oath, and real world militaries do hold similar standards once you’ve joined. However, it’s unclear whether this oath was truly voluntary, or just out of formality. 

Did any of the clones truly volunteer to join, or were they signed up at birth? While it would be extremely unlikely due to their programming, if a clone was in training and wanted to leave, could he? When is this oath taken? They start training from childhood, after all. They likely took it then, because when else would they? Can you really hold an oath like that against someone when they were essentially manipulated into taking it as a young child who probably didn’t know any better?

While the clone troopers appear to be held to the same standards as US military members, which isn’t quite as big of an issue, they are still property, and are essentially enslaved. They aren’t even paid for their work, merely provided for, and being given basic essentials is literally the bare minimum. We basically all know just how messed up the treatment of clone troopers is, and the clones agree. This is a problem for the Republic.

So, as a whole, the Republic is having some clone problems.

Retteyo Becomes a Thing

Around this point, a fleet of Republic ships end up going to Retteyo, and there, they discover the blossoming civilization of (mostly) clones. They are all shocked, the fleet admiral quickly contacts the important Republic people, explaining the situation. At first, this doesn't seem great. But the Senate realizes that this could solve their issues regarding the remaining clones. So they decide to let the formerly-stranded group remain there and prepare the planet for a bigger colonization. While the main focus right now is the war, they shall be making plans to turn the planet into a new home for the clones once the war ends.

Eventually, as the war comes to a close, the Senate announces the new plan with Retteyo to the whole Republic. It’s a bit controversial, but I’ll get into all that in another post. Because the Jedi were once peacekeepers/ambassadors and they worked closely with the clones, they were designated to help with this operation. They would help this new society develop/prepare it for the arrival of new clones while also helping all the rest of the clones transition to this new planet. 

Due to pressure from the clone rights planets, the Senate eventually decided to give the clones rights and declared them no longer property of the Republic. Now, they were free sentients and citizens of the Republic.

At a certain point in the process, as many of the clones arrived on Retteyo and settled in, certain discussions were had amongst the clones as a whole, and the major clones in charge created a proposal: Retteyo becoming a sovereign nation. This was a bit controversial, but after a lot of tense discussion and complications and political BS, the Republic Senate agreed.

It would be a pretty big process and the Retteyans would need to start actually forming a government and their own society. It was a pretty big task in the grand scheme, but the clones eventually became more self-sufficient at creating their society. They did need help with creating new buildings and having everyone settle in, but the clones didn't actually need much help with developing things like systems of government and bureaucracy. Not every clone was good at that stuff, but some clones managed to put something together everyone could agree on.

Overtime, this society flourished, gaining its own spot in the Senate after a few years and becoming a fully recognized society.

As younger generations of clones grew older (basically while some of this stuff was going on), they began to realize that one day, all the clones might die out, especially since Kamino kind of cut them off and Retteyo probably could afford it anyway. The idea of losing their entire civilization was horrifying, and the whole Prox Flower was revealed. While it wasn't the same as Kaminoan cloning stuff, it would be able to keep their population afloat. So a massive program/government branch was started to continue populating Retteyo and keeping their culture/civilization alive.

Underlying Plot

While this AU mainly focuses on just describing the evolving culture of the clones and their new planet, I think there is definitely an underlying plot within it that I mention in subtle ways. I may even use OCs to tell more about this plot as a whole, especially in case I want to make a fanfic for it all. It’s hard to leave out this plotline, so I decided to write it out as part of all this.

One of the major underlying conflicts in this AU is the generational gap between clones. In a way, there are sub-generations, but there are 3 primary generations covered in this AU. 

Gen Vet

Gen 1, also known as the “Gen Vet”, is the generation of clones who were actually able to fight in the war and see the conflict, or were at least old enough to do so. This generation is split into two primary parts: The oldest gen, who were made and trained before the war even began, and the younger gen, who received training from the Jedi and thus have a slightly different perspective on personhood. It’s like that post where

Gen Trainee

Gen 2, also known as “Gen Trainee”, is the generation of clones born on Kamino who never got the chance to participate in the war. There’s also a slight split in the generation as a whole. 3 splits, in fact. For example, the older Gen 2 are slightly more likely to side with Gen 1 and relate to younger Gen 1, since they were almost a part of Gen 1. 

The middle Gen 2 are more rebellious and have unique opinions on the whole situation, and while they grew up with Kamino training and were raised under that type of environment, they are able to stray from the mindset more and have opinions slightly similar to that of Fives, where they hold certain loyalties and a militant mindset, but also believe in standing up for themselves and being their own people. 

The youngest Gen 2 are those who were toddlers/babies when the war ended and don’t remember much of anything about Kamino or have that particular militant mindset, but are aware that they were the last clones created by Kamino, and thus have a small superiority complex over Gen 3. Most of Gen 3 does not care, though.

Gen 2 is probably the most diverse and unique of the 3 primary generations, having a variety of different perspectives on things, but many are more progressive.

Gen Rebirth

Gen 3, aka “Gen Rebirth”, is the generation of clones born on Retteyo. Some are technically the same age as the youngest clones of Gen 2, but are considered different as a generation. They are the older of Gen 3. The younger of Gen 3 are all born after Retteyo becomes independent.

Gen 3 is the most distant from the war era of the Retteyans, and thus may not have the same values and beliefs as them, but various values have been passed down nonetheless.

~~~~~

I may add more details on the plot later, particularly the underlying plot, but that's all I have for now. Next post will be out some point soon!

[strategicallyignoringmytodolist]

Here's my S3 theory. (I'd be thrilled to hear yours as well.)

I am writing this now so that when S3 finally drops in 24 billion months or whatever, I can look back at my notes and feel very smug and smart. Or laugh at myself for how wrong I got it.

My point is, dolphins. Or rather-- that terrible yet well-written cliffhanger:

At the very very end of S2, as Aziraphale was going up the elevator to Heaven, I'm pretty sure he knew he was going to have to work under cover to prevent the end of the world. Certainly after watching the recordings of Gabriel and what happened when HE protested, Aziraphale would realize that the bureaucracies of Heaven and Hell were determined to get to a final battle.

The Second Coming, from what (admittedly minimal amounts) I've read of it, doesn't have quite as many plot points as the arrival of the Antichrist. Jesus is supposed to show up in a burst of dramatic weather, all the humans who have ever lived are going to be immediately tossed into Heaven or Hell, and... That's about it? (I was actually raised Catholic, but I didn't pay much attention in Sunday school, and as an adult I don't really interact with religion. This isn't my best trivia subject, in other words.)

Anyway, at some sooner-rather-than-later point I think Aziraphale is going to decide to let all the angels and demons who want to fight it out with flaming swords have their go, and he is going to focus on preventing everyone else from getting hurt while that happens. Maybe the final sorting of goodies and baddies is going to involve processing all of humanity through some massive portals. And maybe Aziraphale is going to use his new position of power in Heaven's bureaucracy to change where the portal exit point is. There have been sooo many references to Alpha Centauri in the first two seasons, and that's presumably where Beelzebub and Gabriel went at the end of S2. I bet they would be willing to help with portal setup and receiving refugees on their end.

I'm not entirely certain what Crowley's role will be in S3. I can totally picture Aziraphale coming to him and saying, "Let's run off to Alpha Centauri together, only I've got several billion humans I want to bring with me." Maybe Crowley will have to help with portal setup down in the basement offices of hell. Or maybe he will need to convince Jesus to join Team Save Humanity (Crowley was friendly with Jesus once upon a time and did show him all the kingdoms of the world, after all.)

I think there are going to be some funny bits with the Nazi zombies from past seasons and all the other people who are being raised from the dead.

In the original book, Adam said that Heaven and Hell were a lot like his gang, the Them, and their rival gang, the Johnsonites: They were always trying to beat one another, but it wouldn't be any good if one of them actually did win. Having a rival gives you something to do, after all. I don't think there can ever be a final resolution between good and bad. They're kind of like death -- baked into the system. It's going to be a stalemate.

I also suspect that God is playing a many-layered game. All the demons and angels are helping to judge and deliver consequences to humans for their use of free will. But maybe God is watching all the angels and demons to see whether they understand that being on a team doesn't mean that you can't make your own moral decisions and act outside the party line.

Ultimately I think the battle will end and the human refugees will return to Earth. Our favorite supernatural couple will buy a flat with a garden somewhere, and that's where the story will end -- in a garden, just as it began.

[probably-writing-x]

Devilish

18+ Minors DNI

Summary: Rafe was always going to have that devilish side when it came to you, how could he ever say no to his angel?

Warnings: Smutttttt with essentially no plot, female masturbation, oral sex (fem receiving), some dom/sub traits, unprotected sex (wrap it before you tap it folks)

Author's Note: This is my first time writing smut so please go easy on me and let me know if there’s anything I can do to improve !! My requests are always open if you have any ideas <3

"Alright, time to get up," He breaks the silence between you from behind you, where he was laying with his arms wrapped around you, one underneath you around your torso and the other one higher on your chest, locking you in place next to him.

You groan and shuffle back into him a little, "Five more minutes."

"Five more minutes normally turns into me being an hour late for my shift, darling," He points out, kissing the exposed skin of your shoulder a few times in a line.

You hum at the contact, dreading the inevitable feeling of him pulling away from you, "Who needs to work, anyway?"

Since he'd stopped accepting his father's money, Rafe was determined to make things work for himself - which meant full time jobs and budgeting, two things Rafe was not ever used to.

He shuffles back from the bed and climbs out, standing stark naked in the room that was littered with your clothes from the night before.

You whine and turn onto your back, sprawling yourself out in the white sheets, the bed feeling empty without him there. You watch as Rafe rummages through his drawers for a pair of boxers and socks, grabbing his top from the back of the chair.

"You know... you could just stay," You point out, trailing your finger over the edge of the white sheets covering you, tracing how they dip over the curves of your naked body.

He turns around to face you, halfway through pulling the top over his arms, a smile curling onto his face at the sight of you - a sight he would never get bored of. Rafe was so sure he could spend every day in that bed with you, just the two of you, and he would never tire of it.

"Don't tempt me," He shakes his head, running the tip of his tongue over his lips.

You move your hands to trail a fingertip over the sharp lines of your collarbone, "Unless..." Your hand dips to your chest, underneath the thin sheets, "I find a way to keep myself occupied."

"(Y/N)..." His voice trails off, as if he doesn't want to disturb the angelic sight in front of him.

You drag your hand down lower, the delicate touch of your fingers leaving goosebumps in the absence of contact. Eventually, they reach below your belly button and you watch Rafe swallow the lump in his throat as he fixates on the movement under the covers. When your cool fingers reach your heat, you can't help the hum of relief that escapes your lips - though perhaps a little louder to make certain that Rafe heard you. You let your middle finger toy slow circles around your clit, your ring and index finger dipping down to brush over your folds.

"(Y/N)... don't do this," There's a warning tone to Rafe's voice, a slightly darker look casting over his face as he watches every single movement you make - part of him wishing he could rip the covers off and watch every second of it with a front row seat.

You let your eyelids flutter shut and push one finger just past your hole, whimpering slightly at the contact you'd been craving.

"Look at me."

His tone his harsh now, not a request but an order. You open your eyes and make sure you're looking directly into his, sure that you can see a growing tightness in the front of his boxers. Rafe's jaw clenches tightly, a thick look of desire clouding over his eyes at the sight he was sure he would have dreamt about.

You don't stop playing with your slick folds, a slow and lazy pace but one that still has you stifling moans. Rafe loved it when you were vocal, but he loved it even more when he was the one drawing every single sound from you. Your breath catches in your throat as you apply more pressure to your clit, picking up your pace just a little.

"Pull the covers down," Rafe states, a heat in his voice beyond the cold request.

You smirk, knowing how far you can push the boy to his limits, "Do it yourself."

He shakes his head and tugs the t-shirt off from his arms, throwing it aimlessly to the floor. There is not a single person in the world that could make him melt like you did, make him so transfixed that he forgot about everything else in the world.

He kneels on the bed below the spread of your legs and reaches his thick, long fingers up to pull down the cotton cover, letting it dip to reveal your breasts. Rafe ducks down and kisses each one of them, soft, letting his breath dance over your hardening nipples. He feels your hand stop moving beneath him, reaching to grip at his biceps instead.

"Did I tell you to stop?" He glances up at you, eyes glazed with a dark lust.

You fight back a moan and move your hand back down to your pussy, rubbing slowly at your clit once again and still holding Rafe's bicep with your free hand.

He keeps moving further down your torso, his knees nudging your legs further apart.

"You stop when I tell you to stop, angel."

Eventually, the covers fall to your waist and he pulls it quickly over the rest of your legs, leaving you completely exposed underneath his gaze. It sent goosebumps all over your skin, the cold of the air giving nothing to the tingling heat he had his control over.

His head is mere inches from your heat, his eyes following every single move of your hand, transfixed on the way your middle finger dips into you slowly, curling at the angle he knew drove you crazy.

"Good girl," The words come from deep within him, his breath fanning over your skin as he presses soft and lingering kisses to your thighs. The closer he gets to your pussy, the harsher his kisses become, sucking and biting at the skin on your upper thigh until he knows it will leave a permanent mark - a reminder to himself for days to come that you belonged to him and only him.

"Rafe, baby," You whimper, "I need you."

"I know baby," He assures you, large fingers sprawling over your thighs and gripping them in his hold.

With that, he tugs your legs towards him just a little until his face is practically buried between them, nose nudging your hand away from yourself so his mouth can take its place. With both of your hands now free, he uses both of his hands to guide them up above your head;

"Keep them there for me, darling."

You grip onto the back of the headboard, needing to ground yourself into the feeling as his tongue flicks over your wetness, like he's lapping at the juices. He lets it dance over your clit in the way he knew drove your crazy, the right amount of pressure that left you craving more. He was practically ravenous with it, dipping his tongue lower into your pussy and toying at the entrance, feeling every part of the desire you had only for him.

"Rafe, don't stop," You whimper, turning into a moan as he draws up the rough pad of his thumb to your clit, rubbing it in fast circles as if he knew every part of what your body was craving, "Fuck, don't stop."

It's like a growl that releases from him, vibrating over your pussy as his finger doesn't give up in its relentless torture.

"I need you to hold on for me, okay baby?" He encourages in the second that he lets himself be pulled away from your vulva, "Want to watch you come undone on my cock."

You see the way his hips drive themselves a little into the mattress, craving the indescribable feeling of your pussy stretched tight around him.

"Now, Rafe," You manage to mumble out, breathless and heart beating rapidly, "I need you, now."

Who would he be to say no to you? To that heavenly tone and the way your eyes practically plead with him.

He draws himself away from your pussy and brings his thumb, now dampened by your juices to the 'o' shape of your lips. You take it in and suck it clean, letting him drag it over your bottom lip as he watches you with the concoction of love and lust only you could give him.

"My angel," He grins, hooking a leg underneath yours and flipping you over in one swift motion so that you can straddle his hips, "Be a good girl and ride my dick for me."

You line your pussy up over his thick, waiting cock and take it in one hand, letting the tip graze over your hole before pushing yourself down onto it. It forces a whimper from your lips instantly, pressing your hands onto his muscular chest to brace yourself. Rafe grunts at the long awaited feeling, letting you adjust to his size before guiding his hands to your waist to move on top of him. You drag your hips slowly up and down, knowing by now it wouldn't take long for either of you to reach your high and wanting to savour the feeling for as long as possible.

Rafe sits up and sprawls his hands over your back, pulling you into him tightly, "Fuck, you were made for me, angel."

You moan and throw your head back as you draw your body up and down, up and down. He takes the opportunity, sucking on the exposed skin of your neck and leaving a mark to match the one he'd already painted on your thigh.

"Do you want to cum for me, darling?"

The words drive you crazy, whimpering in agreement when your words fail you.

"I need your words, angel."

"Yes, fuck, yes, Rafe."

He smirks against your neck and lifts his hips up from the bed to pick you both up and turn you over, laying your back lay flush against the sheets once again. His hands grip your waist and your nails dig marks into his biceps as he picks up the unrelenting pace. His cock feels like it pushes into you further with every thrust, catching the spot that made your eyes roll to the back of your skull.

"Okay, cum for me, baby," He whispers into your ear, sending a shiver down your spine as your high draws closer.

You slip one arm down from his arm and twist at the discarded sheets, arching your back away from the mattress and drawing you closer to him as your head drops back against the pillows. You release the built up scream from deep inside you as your climax tumbles through you, toes curling from the release.

The sight is angelic to him, Rafe watching you come undone around him, from him. He grips your hand from the sheets and holds it high above your head, thrusting into you through your high, drawing it out like he never wants it to end. His groan rumbles in the hot air between you as his high follows soon after yours, releasing his thick load and painting your walls.

"Fuck," He groans his pace slowing down, still pushing his cum into you as his gaze drops to watch the way he draws in and out of you.

You bring your hand up and brush your fingers through his short hairs, drawing his gaze back up to his eyes, "So you might be late to work..." You giggle, your throat scratchy.

Rafe grins and drops his forehead to your shoulder, "You'll be the death of me, (Y/N) (Y/L/N)."

You hum against him and rub a hand at the back of his neck, another thing that you knew drove him insane.

"Likewise, Rafe Cameron."

[jessequinones]

Writing Advice: Lore Chapters

I’m sure we've all read them before, an entire chapter dedicated to just lore, they aren’t normally fun to get through and you might even skip them (don’t worry, I won’t tell). However, despite the hatred for these chapters, why are they common? I think these chapters are common because we writers tend to get stuck in our lore and we forget what's important, and what's made just for us.

You see when creating a new story, there’s gonna be a lot of lore. However, much of the lore which gets created isn’t needed for the reader and trying to figure that out is a bit challenging. This all depends on how much of a world-builder you are. If world-building comes naturally, then you could create everything from the flora to the weather system which will help determine what your islands look like.

If world-building isn’t something you enjoy, then the lore you create might just be enough for your story but that’s it, however, there’s still gonna be lore that’s not necessary even if world-building isn’t your forte.

You’ll need beta reader's help to determine which part of the lore feels necessary and which feels filler but let’s continue.

Lore chapters are most of the time created as an afterthought. When a writer forgets to add in some lore, and they go back to a spot where it’ll be prevalent, stick it in the book and move on. You can figure out when this happened because if you skip these chapters, you won’t miss much. If you, the writer forgot to mention some lore, and none of your beta readers are confused, you probably don’t need to add in the lore if no one else asked for it.

Lore chapters also aren’t what people tend to care about when reading your story. In fact, from my point of view, people only start to care about the lore at certain points. One, if there are blatant lore mistakes. While reading a story for the first time, the reader will get a basic understanding of the lore. Just enough to follow the story, but not so much where they’re an expert. If there’s an obvious plot hole within the lore, they’ll notice and care about the lore a bit more as even from their basic understanding, some parts of it aren’t making sense.

Two, when they’re invested in your story. If you have dedicated fans, who read each of your books, talk about your books, make fan-fiction, art, etc. Those fans will start paying more attention to your story's lore. These fans are great, but sadly, don't make up the majority of your reader's base. These fans might not mind the lore dump chapters as they’re already invested so if you want to write for them, go all for it. If you still want to keep your average reader engaged you might want to change a few things and I got a few things you could try.

Spreading out your lore: This will take practice because it’s also easy to figure out when the author adds a paragraph of lore that can be easily skipped through. However, having lore sprinkled throughout your story will do a better job of keeping your readers engaged with your world, instead of having it all in one chapter.

Try to avoid big paragraphs of text: If you have a paragraph that takes nearly half of the page if not more, a lot of readers, myself included will probably skip over it. I’m not dyslexic, but I need separations in my paragraphs. Reading a wall of text does tend to make me start to blend words together and I won’t absorb anything. While there’s no rule on how big a paragraph should be, I’d try not to make mine no more than four sentences long, keep in mind a sentence can be as short as three words, or twenty.

(Now for a wall of text after I said I try to avoid them).

Try and explain the lore over multiple chapters: If it’s important to know the history of your story, and world, don’t put all of that history in one chapter, spread it out, and even retell it a few times to make sure there’s a better chance your readers will know what’s going on. While it’s the reader's fault, if they skip over sections of your story and get confused. They won’t blame themselves for what they did as they’ll believe they were justified in skipping parts of your story. I’m not saying you need to change how you write to appease these readers, but try having the lore be told in a few chapters might help. The best thing about this method is even for readers who don’t skip over lore chapters and would've read the same lore a few times now. They can skip over a section they already know and won’t have to worry about missing anything important because they already know it. This kind of writing is a bit more advanced as you have to juggle between people who skip lore chapters and people who don’t. Beta readers are great at figuring out where to cut or add your lore.

Make those chapters interesting: This might seem a bit harsh, but lore is history, and not everyone likes history. When they read lore, they're reading history and not what’s going on in the story. It doesn’t matter what kind of lore you have, or how important it is, if it feels dry compared to every other aspect of your story, people will skip it. Not to mention if it feels like the plot of your story gets halted in these chapters, people will skip them because they want to continue with the story. Beta readers are a great way to figure out where the lull is coming from and tell you what they found exciting leading up to the lore dump. You can figure out where to go from there. What I normally do is have character growth in between those lore chapters. Have the characters discover something about themselves, have a relationship grow, or even have it break during these sections. Just add something in the background to keep the reader engaged, but make it where they can’t skip over the lore because if they do that, they might skip something else.

Try not to have lore chapters near the end of your story: If your story is building up to fighting the big evil, and there’s a lore chapter just slapped in the middle...yeah, that's not great. Even if it’s really important. If the readers are gearing up for a fight, or whatever the ending is and it gets paused...readers won't be happy with it. These lore chapters are normally important because it’s where the main character will discover something that’ll change the outcome of the climax of the story...but if it’s halting the buildup, it doesn’t matter how important it is, people will skip. Think of it like riding a roller coaster, if the coaster is slowly reaching its highest point, you don’t want it to stop just before it gets there and have it explain to you the history of said coaster.

Overall, there are multiple ways of dealing with lore-heavy chapters, and again, beta readers are your friends. If you’re unsure if the lore chapter you have is needed or not, send out different versions of your text, one without the lore-heavy chapter and one without and see what the reaction you get. If the people who didn’t have the lore-heavy chapter were able to follow along just fine, but those who did have the lore chapter said they skipped over it and were still able to follow along, unless you really want to keep the lore, you probably don’t need it.

[wetcatspellcaster]

Out of curiousity, do you have any tips for outlining and how to recover from burnout? 🫣🫣 I haven't been able to get words on a page for two months now.

hey anon!! I'm sorry to hear that.

unfortunately, I'm not the best person to ask about burnout, as I tend to try pushing through it and my current state of being (bad) tells me how well that's going for me lmfao. in response to that, my only things I can say is:

there might be a reason why you haven't been able to write for two months, and that's ok. sometimes the well runs dry and you have to wait for rain. two months is not very long and is not a personal failure.

when trying to get over burnout, i tend to pick something low-stakes, silly, and fun to begin with. either a sillier scene for a longer piece, or a piece that's disconnected from my other /serious/ projects. do something that doesn't feel like work.

As to outlining, I have a lot more advice there! so below the cut!

Outlining tips.

the way I outline my work is as follows:

I put all my big plotpoints in a document - the non-negotiables (e.g. in Pieces this was the soul jar, the nature of what ascendency is, the major character death, etc). these are the things that the story needs, to have internal consistency. if you don't have an end at this point, that's so totally fine, but it often helps if you do, because having an ending guarantees the most internal consistency of all.

I tend to outline the start first, and write to a point where I begin to get the tone of the story (in Pieces, this was up to Chapter 7, and the library, I think you can tell because there's a shift in action in this point), and then once I'm there I begin hammering down the specifics of the big plotpoints I mention above.

My outline is always literally bullet points. I start with bulletpoints of the story and its progression, and then as I begin to write in a chapter format, I might make smaller bullet points going beat by beat in a scene.

I try to give myself as much flexibility as possible, beyond the 'internal consistency' point. So while I may have bullet points for the story progression, I do not hammer down a chapter-by-chapter necessarily, because often as you are writing you find the natural breathing points/cliffhangers that will do that for you. If something ends up being longer, I am happy for it to become a chapter - same if conversation etc. that need to happen end up being too short to stand-alone.

Another type of flexibility is the ability to embellish and ad-lib. I typically outline in 'x happens' or "y talks to [side character]", or in lines of dialogue I want to include if I've been struck by inspiration. But the action is not necessarily determined (unless I've been struck down by visions) until I'm writing it. A classic was in Pieces I knew I need to have romance scenes in between plot happening, so I'd be like "something sexy happens" or "another confrontation here". Another example is I knew Orin was going to confront Astarion in an Honest Lie, and she had some goals (wanted to see if he was weak enough to be manipulated, etc.) but the holy water was added last minute when I realised I wanted more horror. Give yourself breathing room to embellish in the moment so you can have fun with it.

My final piece of advice is: know when and when not to stick to your outline! Pieces was my first popular fic as it updated, and a lot of the comments were positing things I wasn't doing. I kept to my outline then, because I knew that trying to change to please others would just fuck the story, bc the story had always been written with a certain ending in mind. So I just had to tunnel down, even if it made people unhappy - at least then, the ending wouldn't feel cheap.

BUT if you are having doubts or... if you're bored, which is the biggest writer killer, then maybe there's a way to spice up your outline. I know sometimes it's unavoidable (Iron throne, I'm looking at you), but try not to do the whole "I am writing to this one fun scene at the end"... you will probably get bored before you get there. Try to make every scene fun for you to write, if you can!!! Be silly with it, as well!