#I'm actually at 2014 but I needed time to write this XD

[feyhunter78]

Fey's 2000 Follower Celebration!!!!

Description: It's Gabi's first day of first grade, and it gets Miguel thinking about when he first arrived in this universe. Pink Pastels Masterlist

“Papá, come on we’re going to be late.” Gabi pouts, tugging on the sleeve of his lab coat, her bright pink backpack sitting snuggly on her shoulders, her dark hair pulled up into a ponytail with a blue hair tie.

“I just want to make sure you have everything Mija.” Miguel says, going over his mental checklist. Lunch? Check. Pencil bag? Check. Name tag on her shirt with her name and classroom number? Check. Colorful tag shaped like a car that indicates she’s drop off and pick up only? Attached securely to her backpack. He knows she has everything; he packed her bag the night before, but he can’t stop himself from worrying.

“Come on, I want to get to school, I want to meet my new friends!” Gabi tugs harder, heading towards the door.

He chuckles. She’s so unlike him in this aspect, she isn’t afraid to put herself out there or go up to kids she doesn’t know and try to make friends. She relishes the challenge, and he almost envies her confidence.

“Okay, okay, we’ll go.” He says, ruffling her hair affectionately.

She smiles up at him, grabbing his hand and pulling him out the door.

He lets he chose the music on the drive there, sings along softly to the Spanish songs she’s chosen, glancing up at the rearview mirror every so often to look at her.

Gabi is staring out the window, memorizing the route—just in case I make new friends, and we want to walk to school together—she told him in a very matter of fact tone.

He can’t imagine ever letting her walk to school. Of course, the streets are safe, he’s made sure of that, and she’d be walking with other kids, and most likely a parent, but his stomach churns at the idea of anything ever happening to her.

“Gabi?” Miguel asks, struck by a sudden need to confirm that she knows just how loved she is.

“Yeah?” Gabi replies, looking away from the window and towards him.

“You know I love you, right?” He asks, a smile tugging at his lips when he sees her smile.

“Yep, more than the sun loves the sky.” She says cheerily, easily, without a single moment of hesitation.

He bites the inside of his cheek to keep the tears from welling in his eyes. He spent so long searching for her, so long trying his best to be a father worthy of her. To never doubt that he loves her, to never wonder and fear as he did growing up.

“And guess what, Papá?” She says in a singsong voice.

“What?”

“I love you more than the moon loves the sea.” She says, beaming at him, her tone filled with that pure honesty that you can only find in children.

And here comes the waterworks.

Miguel manages to stop himself from crying by the time they pull into her school’s parking lot, and Gabi is already unbuckling her seatbelt.

“We’re here! We’re here!” She’s jiggling the door handle, which he would usually ask her not to do, but she’s so excited he can’t bring himself to correct her.

He turns off the car and slides out, opening the door for her and helping her out.

Gabi hits the ground running, already seeing her friends from kindergarten. She bolts forward, the sound of his name being called by another parent taking his attention away for a split second.

It all happens so fast, he looks away then hears the sound of brakes squealing, and someone shouting. His heart races, all his senses going into overdrive. Gabi is wrapped in the arms of a woman in a pink dress, Gabi’s cries filling his ears.

Miguel is there by her side in a second, pulling her from the woman. “What happened?”

“I didn’t see the car, I forgot to look, Papá I’m sorry.” She clings to him, burying her face in his lab coat.

“My goodness, I’m so glad I grabbed her in time.” The woman says, one hand pressed to her heart.

Miguel looks up, for a moment. She’s shorter than him, most people are, with a lovely figure wrapped in soft-looking fabric, her hair styled in a way that frames her face but still keeps it from getting in her eyes.

“Thank you, Ms?” He realizes he doesn’t know her name, he meant to go to Meet the Teacher Night, but he was called away.

“Y/N, Ms. Y/N Y/L/N, I’m Gabi’s teacher.” You say, giving him a bright smile.

“Ms. Y/N, thank you, I’m glad Gabi has a teacher with quick reflexes.”

“Oh yeah, I’m like a cat.” You joke.

He smiles, and he feels Gabi giggle against his coat.

“Like a cat, that’s silly.” She says, pulling herself away from him to face you.

“Oh really? Well, I have a lot more silly sayings ready for the school year if you’d like to hear them?” You tell her, bending slightly at your knees to look her in the eyes.

“Yes, please.” Gabi says, sniffling.

“Okay, but have to hold my hand, and no more running in the street.” You warn playfully, holding your hand out to her.

“Okay!” Gabi says, grabbing your hand, her fear vanishing as she wipes away her tears, her smile back in full force.

But Miguel can’t brush off his fear that easily, and his fingers catch on Gabi’s backpack.

She turns to look at him. “Oh, Papá, I almost forgot.” She lunges at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Bye, I’ll see you later!”

He crushes her to his chest, burying his face in her hair. “Bye Mija, be good.”

She wriggles out of his grasp and grabs your hand again, before waving goodbye and letting you lead her inside the school.

Miguel remains on his knees for a second, watching as you both disappear inside the building, before he stands and brushes himself off, heading towards his car.

He drives to Alchemax in silence, pulls into the parking lot in silence, and walks to his office in silence. He sits at his desk, boots up his computer, and tries to force himself to concentrate. His desk saver is a picture of him and Gabi on her fourth birthday. She’s got icing all over her face and hands, and she’s reaching for him, one tiny hand covered in frosting finding its mark on his cheek. He’s smiling, she’s laughing, and he remembers how when that picture was taken, he was so afraid everything would disappear, and he’d be left with only photos, and videos once again.

 “Hey Miggy, just wanted to check on you.” Monica’s voice floats through the crack in the door she’s made by opening it without knocking, a terrible habit she has, but he finds it less annoying on days like this.

He gives her a weary smile. “It’s easier than last time, but still hard.”

She gives him a sympathetic grimace. “I’m here if you need to talk.”

He thanks her, and she closes his office door, her heels clicking on the tile of the hallway as she walks away.

Miguel smiles as the screen changes to a picture he took. Gabi is three, curled in his lap, head resting on his arm, Oso tucked underneath her arm.

He remembers the adrenaline that rushed through him when he got the alert. How he activated the program that transferred all commands to Jessica and Peter, and left them with a quick goodbye.

This universe’s Miguel was dead, Gabi would be placed in his mother’s care, unless Monica fought hard enough for custody, which he now had no doubt she would’ve done, no matter how chill she tried to portray herself as.

It was the perfect opportunity; one he would not waste. So, he left, took Lyla and his meager possessions, studied all he could about the old Miguel and became him—to an extent.

It was dark in his apartment, quiet, Gabi was asleep, Margo from next door asleep on the couch, some random telenovela playing at a low volume.

Miguel switched it off as he turned on one of the lamps, gently shaking her awake.

She jolted awake then relaxed, giving him a sleepy smile as she patted him on the shoulder and made her way down the hall.

He stood in Gabi’s doorway, almost afraid to go in. Would she recognize him, would she reject him? Somehow be able to tell he was not the father she knew, or would she love him as much as he loved her? They were blood, she was his daughter, and he was her father no matter what universes or canon events separated them.

Miguel gathered up his courage and stepped inside. Her room was different, a forest green instead of pink, with white accents, and glow in the dark stars on the ceiling. She’s still in a crib, she’s three now, soon he’ll need to transition her to a toddler bed, but when he leans against the railing, gazing down at her, he finds he wishes she would stay this little forever.

Her eyes slowly open, and she smiles at him, ever observant his daughter is.

“Hola Mija, lo siento, ¿te desperté?” He whispered, reaching into her crib and gently brushing her cheek with one bent finger. Trsl: Hello daughter, I’m sorry, did I wake you/wake you up?

She grabs it, then grabs more of his hand with surprising strength, pulling herself up into a sitting position.

That’s new.

“Papá’s back.” She said sleepily, cuddling Oso closer.

“Yes, I’m back.” He said softly. “And I’m never leaving you again.”

“Can I sleep with you?” She asked, letting go of his hand to reach out to him, silently asking to be picked up.

“Of course, Mija,” Miguel said, scooping her up and supporting her back with his hand.

“Yay, night Papá.” Gabi whispered, already falling back asleep.

He didn’t sleep that night, just stayed up watching her, marveling over the fact that he got another chance to be with his daughter. He wouldn’t mess it up this time, no matter what happened, he would not lose her.

Gabi is having a great first day at school. She got to pick the music on the way to school, survived running in the street, and her teacher is the nicest person ever.

Ms. Y/N is so beautiful, like a princess, Gabi thinks, and you answer everyone’s questions about yourself, even the silly ones like who your favorite Wild Kratt is and if you have a boyfriend.

She notices that you look a little sad when you answer that one, and it piques her interest. Gabi likes to think of herself as an amateur detective, her and Oso have solved many cases already. Like the case of the missing sock—the dryer ate it, or the case of the monster in the couch—her papa snores when he falls asleep watching TV.

She is also an expert in emotions and drama, Tia Margo says so herself when Gabi figures out the plot to their favorite shows before she does.

So once the school day is almost over, and you come around to her desk to collect her first day worksheet—really, it’s a few questions about her and some really fun things to color, not work at all, which she likes—she asks why you looked sad.

“Sad? Did I look sad? Oh, don't worry, I’m not.” You reassure her, taking her worksheet and adding it to the pile in your arms.

“My papá is single, if your boyfriend makes you sad again, you can marry him instead.” She says confidently, packing up her colored pencils and pens.

“Oh—that’s very nice of you to offer, sweetheart, but I think I’ll stick with my boyfriend.” You tell her, seeming a little bit embarrassed.

She likes when you call her sweetheart, and when you smile at her, and tell her how pretty her drawings are. She wishes you were her mom, not just her teacher.

“Okay…but if you change your mind! Let me know first because Ryan’s mom is single too, and I don’t want her to try and take my papá from you.”

You laugh at that and shake your head affectionately. “You have quite the mind, don’t you?”

“My papa says I’m very smart.” She says proudly.

“And he’s right.” You squeeze her shoulder then move onto her tablemates.

Maybe she’ll ask Lyla to help her come up with a way to get your boyfriend out of the picture? There are plenty of ways, she’s seen them on the telenovelas, but she doesn’t actually know how to find someone’s evil twin. She’ll definitely have to ask Lyla about that.

Gabi isn’t worried, though, the year has just started and there’s plenty of time for you and her papá to fall in love.

Tag list: @miggyoharaswife, @badbishsblog, @imisshim2much, @wanderlustingcastaway, @lynn-9703, @sleepyamaya, @erensbbg, @sweetea85, @ilovemiguelohara, @natthernandez, @stxrrielle, @ihateuguys, @jenniferdixon05207, @blep-23, @luvisaaxoxo, @minimari415, @emerald-09, @violet-19999, @kenchosaikuo, @groovycass, @youcantseem3, @lovefks, @nightshxdex, @dusstory, @aesniri, @munsonssecretblog, @kirke-is-my-name, @starbearieee, @chatoicboy, @act1839, @needsleep3000, @totally-not-georgia, @witchy-lizard, @cxmeiloorun7, @justrandomlolidk, @chimpkinnuggies, @alicefallsintotherabbithole, @loser-alert, @wwwellacom, @ryantryan6969, @lollipopin, @blakeaha, @youcantseem3, @a-cult-leader, @verexi, @purpleskiesandroses, @they2luv1naia, @sophiaj650, @idolautism, @rheannajrs, @merakiq, @rexs-wife, @sukaretto-n, @twilight-loveer, @f1shb0nez, @callsign-blue, @marcelineormars, @sxnasbitch, @111gltzpzy, @lucilavenxoxo, @ray-rook, @elizamelody, @soapbar99, @trashieboii, @erissco, @gardenof-venus, @vlads-dracula3

TL 2: @yaoisenpaiii, @the-occasional-artist1125, @polireader, @mvchmp, @shadowxfheaven, @hxlytrin, @melomichuwu, @weirdothatwritess, @ash-aragami, @deguzu, @angelarcheangel, @nekotaetae, @milohatesspit, @lollipop974, @miggyyyyohara, @itzsab, @namjooningera, @hana-1235, @amberpanda99, @joceymoo, @tfamidoingwithmylife, @itsashree, @battinsonwhore05, @namjooningera, @tortilla-chips-and-allioli, @fluffy-koalala, @fandom-ash, @angelarcheangel, @yuuotosaka3, @latersgaters-steven, @ariparri, @wanda-maximoff-enthusiast, @lycaninelizard, @angelarcheangel, @yuuotosaka3, @allysunny, @lollipopin, @allysunny, @loves0phelia, @caslistener

[drkineildwicks]

Okay before we go any further I really need you to read through sharpened teeth by @ghostpebble it took me all day to read and involved several turns about the parlor house and had me gnawing on my coffee cup it's good but it's intense

Saying that, you should never give me even a hint of Villain Dad Obake, I will grab that and never let go and I love love LOVE how that recontextualizes the whole of Season One and what it means for Season Two (although it does make me question what happens in "Fan Friction"--Obake, my dude, how much trust did you have that Hiro would save the day you're not getting dad of the year by leaving your adoptive daughter on an island slated to explode)

Anywho, big drawing is stuff that actually happened in the fic, although Obake's described as having a tie there and I put him in his usual outfit--since Baymax sits between them on the couch I couldn't help but picture Hiro giving Obake the stink-eye like this around Baymax X'D

As for the rest...I told you don't give me this kind of AU I will tackle it like Hobbes tackles Calvin I've been having a lot of fun picturing what the implications of Obake adopting Karmi means XD

Some transcripts because I know my writing can be hard to read:

Directly beneath big art piece in the bottom left-hand corner:

Karmi: Dad stop scaring my guy friends. Obake: Who, me? Hiro: YES YOU.

Upper right-hand corner:

Karmi: Isn't it great that my dad and your aunt get along?

Below that:

Obake: No honey I'm going to be home late. Yes it's Krei Tech. Yes Krei is an idiot.

Below that:

Professor Granville: Mr. Kane this is Professor Granville, I'm leaving a message to arrange a PTA meeting-- Obake: Time to be unavailable again.

And in the bottom right-hand corner:

Karmi: Bye Dad! Off to my internship! Obake: My little baby off to destroy people.

Yes that's a Mulan reference, only really intended to do that and the big drawing but I kept thinking on this AU and I want.

In other news Obake I really need to know how you're handling the logistics of having a minor attending college because from experience the college needs to keep in touch with the parents how are you doing this when Granville would recognize you.

Also yes those are corded phones--yes they come from a tech-savvy world where everyone would be using smart phones but I come from a generation that translates corded phone as quickly reads as phone and after drawing generic-phone in the sketches I went no wait that's funny and left it.

Anywho go read this fic already why did you click on the keep reading before reading the fic seriously.

Big Hero 6 © 2014 Disney

Done in Adobe Photoshop.

[trsf-theblog]

S5.E4 "The End" Musings

Okay, okay, I thought of something to discuss! I've got the boys playing on my TV as I (attempt to) write and it's the 2014 Croatoan episode. This is one of my favorite episodes. But I have thoughts! And questions! So why not share them :)

It's never clarified in the show, but I always assumed that Zachariah didn't throw Dean into the future so much as...craft one that served his purposes. My reasoning!

Chuck: Chuck as God ditched once the apocalypse was averted in the OG timeline (end of Season 5). I don't think he'd stick around in the Croatoan verse. Zachariah obviously didn't know Chuck was God, which is why I think he threw him in. (side note: this could also be because the writer's hadn't decided Chuck was god yet, but since we're going with canon, it is what it is :D)

Future Dean's Behavior: It's not out of character for Dean to be cold, hardened, and angry. It worked so well for this episode. But the fact that like, the second thing out of his mouth is "Say yes to Michael" just had a liiiittle too much of Zachariah's influence. It was very convenient, serving the angel's purpose. Perhaps too convenient. Not to say that Dean didn't go through a lot. Oh boy, he did. But I always felt even a broken Dean would have had a couple things for 2009!Dean to do, and saying yes to Michael wouldn't have been the first (and only) one.

Multiverse: the show never clarifies how time travel works, so it's hard to say if Croatoan 2014 was an offshoot of the timeline. A possibile future, but not the only one. I like this theory more than there being one fixed future. Which is why I think Zachariah either rooted around for the perfect one (he's kinda too lazy for that...), or picked one close enough and made some tweaks.

Angelic Pocket Dimensions: The show did make pocket dimensions as an angelic power canon (at least archangels). Zachariah may have the ability, or may have asked Michael to craft what he needed (I'm not entirely sure it's Michael's style, so this may be a little wiffle-waffly)

Dean Suspects its a trick: Dean even asks Zachariah if this is a trick, and that douche only says "the time for tricks is over". Convenient, now that your last trick is over :D It's just too fitting for Zach's normal tactics for it not to be at least somewhat of a manipulation.

Anyhoo, nothing particularly solid, just my thoughts as I watched through it over the years. It actually took all those years before it even occured to me that it wasn't just a manipulation, and it could have been meant to be a real future. Why is this important? Omg, it's totally not XD Just the musings of a writer who may, or may not, be including this episode in TRSF (which means I may, or may not, need to define the guidelines of throwing a human into the future and/or crafting one around him). But I'm curious what other fans' take on this episode was! Do you think it was a legitmate future, untouched by Zachariah? Or a full pocket dimension instead? Something in between? Gimme your thoughts on how this one worked! And any other musings. I may or may not need the inspiration in the future XD (The way, waaaay future. Oh god, Season 5? We have soooo far to go. But let's just pretend we don't for the sake of some fun conversation :D)

[stormcried]

name—  Mika!

pronouns — he / they / them

preferred comms — Here or discord c:

name of muse — Drake Jackson Conningway: my oldest and most written muse on this hellsite

experience in RP — Been roleplaying since 2012, but I didn't get TOTALLY get involved with the actually RPC until around late 2013- early 2014 (which is when Drake was first born! :D)

best experiences — honestly? My best experiences was meeting one of my closest friends on here that I still talk to this day meeting them in 2018. This was after a VERY terrible drama that happened that involved me and I had to recreate due to me not wanting to be involved with it. But, these friends saved me from a dark period and I'm so utterly grateful to them.

pet peeves / dealbreakers — Consistent negativity. Only I don't mind people venting on the dash and needing support, shit I do it! But, It kind of irks my anxiety / depression / etc when all I see is negativity post after post. I tend to follow less towards those kinds of people. Also drama hoes. You know the ones. The ones that only seek validation by smearing other people. Fuck those people.

muse preference ( fluff, angst, slice-of-life, found family ) —  I honestly LOVE anything pertaining to angst, drama and slice-of-life. I actually have more of a preference to tragedy and angst and dark shit. But, my favorite part about it is having Drake heal through those dark moments with happiness and bliss and happy tears c:

plot or memes — memes mostly, but I'm getting better about going for more plot based stuff now!

long or short replies — Long replies. I am a WRITING HOE. I love just tying and typing giving the characters emotion and feel and how they really feel. So; long replies are my bread and butter. I usually at the least do two paragraphs minimum ^^;

best time to write — night time. I'm very distracted during the day and usually I like to knock out replies dead into the night xD

are you like your muse —  Yes and no. Drake is very close to me because I've been writing with him for so long. It's taken me 9 years TOTAL to make him a VERY fleshed out OC with emotions, cadence and backstory, so to say he's one of my closest characters in the world. I actually plan to make a novel with Drake one day!

tagging: whoever wanna do this <3

tagged by @rubctosis

[justaduckarts]

oh i totally didn't realize i hit anon on autopilot but hi!!!!! YES PB AND NIGHTMARE CHICA.....springtrap and moon of course!!! i love them ur honor 🥺 kissa them on the foreheads!!!

avery 👏🏼 our 👏🏼 beloved 👏🏼 also the sibling shenanigans in GOU......the perfect blend of annoying but willing to murder for their younger sibling asdfghjk very valid of him

honestly working haunts is a lot of fun, i've been doing it since 2014!! i've only ever done one theme park style haunt though, cause i primarily work interactive theater haunts which give a lot more freedom with scares a lot of the time! i hope you get to work one at some point, half the fun is really just enjoying being scary and committing to the bit!!! i've genuinely met some of the kindest people working haunts (which is another thing you totally nail with moon and the other nighttime animatronics!! i've seen the same guys make grown men almost cry and then turn around and drop character to get someone who was having an anxiety attack out of the attraction to give them space to breathe; it's incredibly endearing!)

augh sorry for the long ramble asdfghjk but YEAH i've really been enjoying your fics!!!!! there's such a wonderful balance of tension and fluff and SPOOKS.......and again, all of the side characters are really fun and interesting!! i cant wait to see where DLNS goes next 👀👀👀

AAAAA HELLO!! You were the anon! Oh I like your username a lot! Oxymorons my beloved. PB! NC! Moon <3 <3 <3 SPRINGTRAP! (I love writing him as a gentle dad type. He does everything he can to show that he's nothing like the character he was modeled after :') ) They all deserve the forehead kisses, yes!! (Really wanna have Foxy and Monty more present in a story some day... Some day.)

AVERY! And aaaaaa The sibling shenanigans! I don't know if I've shared this before but a lot of Alex's relationship with you is based on my own relationship with my little brother (surprise, I'm the big sibling who annoys my younger sibling XD) Absolutely it'd be hands if my brother ever needed help (even though I'm a little fella)!

Oh, wow! That's like nine whole years of haunts! :0 That's amazing! They do seem like a lot of fun, I'm glad you enjoy them! And I'm glad that you've had so many positive experiences there! People interested in spooky stuff seem to be surprisingly wholesome most of the time, I love that.

No, please, ramble as much as you like! I love rambles! :) I'm so so glad you're enjoying them! Actually, before the DCA stuff, I used to mostly write horror. Wild that I mostly write fluff now XD The side characters! I try to make the world feel a little lived-in so you get better immersion. <3 I can't wait to share where DLNS is heading! Actually I'm working on the next chapter as we speak :)

[koka-mi]

YAAY I'M GLAD YOU LOVE READING MY YAPPING xD

YES IT WAS PRETTY INTERESTING!! Idk if I'll watch it again but I didn't dislike the whole time I was watching it though I can't remember a lot xD I remember a few bits though! also you went to catholic school?? :O BFHDSJ THAT'S INTERESTING I ACTUALLY DON'T KNOW HOW THAT'S LIKEEE I'm homeschooled for religious reasons (and a lot of other reasons) and yet I've never gone to church actually :0 I'm not complaining tho my mom used to go and she hated it xD

I HOPE ONE DAY YOU AND YOUR 3DS WILL REUNITE..funny thing is 2020 was when I got my current 3DS and I remember it being used so I might've taken yours by accident whoopsies BAHSDBHASBDH (I got my first 3DS in?? 2013-2014-ish but I broke it bcz I raged at mario kart 7 xD rainbow road I hate you grrr)

ALSO YUMMYYYY I WISH I COULD TRY THAT ITALIAN FOOD!! :O hope you can have it sometime again ! fun fact I'm actually half italian (my dad was italian) but idk..any italian :'D I know like..ciao (hello/bye) and uhh salve! (how are you) and uhh buongiorno (good morning) annd I can ask where the bathroom is :p (Mi scusi ma dove si trova il bagno?) (I'M NGL IDEK IF I GOT THAT RIGHT I'M JUST DOING THIS OFF OF MEMORY :'D it's likee excuse me where's the bathroom I don't even know why I know that I just do)

YES COVER GROUPS ARE SUUPER COOL!! HOW WE PRACTICE IS WE VOICE CHAT THROUGH SKYPE AND DO IT THAT WAY :D the manager plays the music (off vocal/karaoke) and we have our lines in front of us on the screen and we sing in our colors and when it's black/bold because that means everyone sings! (My color is electric blue :3) It's not perfect but def better than using discord bcz the audio glitches out a lot more there I find :'D I remember trying to practice with a few of my friends on discord and our audio was ALL over the place. There's actually not much point in practicing unless we're planning on singing live online for whatever reason :p IT'S JUST FUN IG!! AND I'D LOVEE TO SHOW YOU MY COVERS ONE DAYYY I just need to scavenger hunt for some of them bcz I don't have my own channel for my covers yet even though I've been doing this for nearly 5 YEARS. So I have to find the cover groups I was part of--plus some of the covers got taken down rip BUT I'M SURE I CAN FIND THEM!! IN LIKE GOOGLE DRIVE MAYBE >:D

and yea I actually like getting my eyebrows done!! It's very relaxing for me :3 just sometimes some of the hair that's getting cut off gets close to my eye....and it kinda hurts BUT OTHER THAN THAT IT'S COOL!! and about the movies the first one was about these two boys and one of the boys had a mother who was doing.uhm.Not Family Friendly PG Clean deeds and she got arrested like 80 times and one day she stood in jail for longer than her son anticipated so he just had to survive on his own along with this other boy who had no parents like TALK ABT A DEPRESSING MOVIE....the second one was abt this girl who got pregnant really young (like, 16?) despite saying she wouldn't and idk there was more to that one but I don't remember a lot just that it was sad. And the last one I literally can't remember a single thing BASBHDASBHDF BUT YEAH IDK WHAT THE MOVIES ARE CALLED BUT THEY SOUND VERY DEPRESSING..

ALSO EEEE I CAN SHARE IT IF YOU WANNA,,,,IT'S NOT GREAT AND PRETTY SHORT BUT I HAD FUN WRITING IT :3 I CAN SHOW YOU THE DOODLES TOO BUT THEY WON'T BE VERY HIGH QUALITY BCZ MY ANDROID TABLET'S QUALITY ISN'T THE BEST SHADFSFN I also have to like.type it up on my computer or tablet so I can send it in DMs bcz I'm not going to share the chicken scratch that is my handwriting plus it'd probably just be more comfortable to read that way!! :] EXPECT ME TO POP INTO YOUR DMS ONCE I'M DONE TYPING IT OUT AND YOU CAN SEE WHAT YOU THINK THERE !!!! :D

I HOPE YOU SLEEP WELL!! AND TELL YOUR SIBLING YOUR SUPER COOL ONLINE FRIEND SAYS HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! >:3 I HOPE THEY ENJOY THEIR BIRTHDAY YAAAYYYY :D AND TY AGAIN FOR LETTING ME YAP TO YOU HEHE :3

(also I can literally hear that gif you sent all I can hear is the ccs ed...that song is so CATCHYYYY)

HIII KOKA HOW HAVE U BEEN JUST IN GENERAL FEEL FREE TO GO ON A WHOLE YAP !!!

HII OMG HIII RAVEN IN MY ASKBOX LET'S GOOOO!!!! >:DDDDDDD KYOKO PLSUHIEEEEU!!! I LOVE THAT PICTURE SOSO MUCH I THINK ABT IT EVERYTDYA!!!!

I'VE BEEN DOING VERY WELL THANK YOU!! :3 AND I WILL TAKE THAT YAP INVITATION AND RUN WITH IT!!!!

SOO today went very very nicely I think!!!! I stood up until like 5am-ish so I woke up suuuper late today xD ohoh and I watched this uhh christian movie. I don't even remember what it's called--the last miracle or something???? I DON'T EVEN REMEMBERRR but it was okay?? I dunno I only watch those movies bcz my great grandpa make me feel like I have to :p I haven't had to do any super religious stuff since I was around 7-8 y/o though xD watching christian movies isn't really the norm for me luckily !

I also took a nap which surprises like nobody AND I PLAYED SOME ACE ATTORNEY ON MY 3DS AS WELL AS SOME RAYMAN AND IM@S ON MY VITA SO THAT WAS SUPER SUPER FUN!!!! :D

my mom also got some italian food today so that was super cool!! AND IT'S SO GOOD I love italian food it's up there with japanese food for me yummy yummyyy !!!!

ALSO ALSOOO I got to practice with my cover group a little bit! not everyone could show but majority of us could :D and that was super fun~! I think our manager (saying that makes it sound so professional BUT IT WASN'T REALLY BAHBFHADSB) was losing patience with some of us though xD none of it was directed at me but a few of the members were falling behind in their lines--the rest of us reassured them that it was okay though!! :] a video was also recorded but I'm not allowed to share it sadly </3 maybe I can share my own parts sometime tho!

hmmm what elseeee...my mom did my eyebrows today so that was something!! she was also talking about these three DEPRESSING MOVIES WHILE SHE WAS DOING IT :'D THEY WERE SOOO SAD AND I WAS JUST LIKE MOM WHY ARE YOU TELLING ME THISSSS but tbf they do sound pretty good--I dunno if I'd watch them myself tho I'd probably cry BSAHDBASFH

ANND I wrote in my journal today!! :3 but it's not anything about me it's a short kyosaya story :D I may share it but I'm not suuure..it's not anything super special--I also doodled little kyosaya drawings around it !!!!!! I love kyosaya I love kyosaya I love kyosay

UHHH THAT'S ABOUT IT I THINK!!!! MY DAY WENT VERY WELL AND I AM DOING SUUUPER GOOD~!! TYSM FOR ASKING RAVEN YOU'RE SO COOLLLLL

[siarven]

Hi! I have a question about Dream's Shadow, if that's cool. (Or multiple, I guess.) What's been your favorite part of writing it so far? What inspired you to create the story initially? Are there any (non-spoilery) things you're excited to get to? It's a very cool WIP!

lskdjfdls i am so sorry for the incredibly late response, i saw your ask, went !!!!!!! but it was late and then it was marked as read and i forgot about it again :c thank you so much for your interest and the ask!!! i really appreciate it, even if my brain is stupid sometimes

ANYWAYS

my fave part of writing it has been all the worldbuilding in later drafts, and also just ... having seen how it develops, really? how i refine the world and society and dig in a little deeper in some areas, or how characters have changed through the drafts, or who the characters have become :'3 i've been working on it (on and off) since nanowrimo 2014 and it's come so far and it's changed so much, kinda just like me ... and it's really cool to see that in the story and the worldbuilding and the characters too? :'3 i really don't like editing all that much, but rewriting is Fine Actually, and i love rewriting scenes in a way that makes them Sparkle afterwards, or giving them the certain Something that makes it hurt so much more hehehe (especially on rereads)

so basically, i guess what i love about it is how much it shows me how i have grown as a person <3 but strictly speaking, writing wise.. i don't know, i love every part of the actual writing, i love shaping the words and brainstorming and dialogue and description and creating the worlds and the characters :'3 just not editing. but we are working on that. XD

initial inspiration ... it's so basic, actually? but it's also sort of a spoiler, so i will leave out that part xD it was literally just this kinda very basic "image" of a parent sitting at the bed of their child, who's in a coma after a car accident, and the ghost of the child has their hand on the parent's shoulder, and it's mainly a story about grief, in a sort of bittersweet-sad-beautiful way. And at some point the ghost-child figures out that they can create dreams for their parents, and that they can fly bc they're a ghost, and there was a demon, and the family cat could see (and help) them.

(One day i want to go back to that original concept, it feels like something that might work as a graphic novel?)

At that point i wasn't a very good writer yet though, so I could never have pulled it off in a way where it wasn't boring. So the second draft shifted it into its own fantasy universe, the characters changed a bit, it escalated somewhat.... and now it's still a story about grief and ben is still a ghost and the parents are still grieving and the cat can still see him... so the heart is still there, but it's also sort of shifted, because now it's ava's story too, and it's grown a lot around this initial seed :D

that's another thing i really love about writing. because you take a seed and then the story grows out of it, and who knows if it's a flower or a tree by the end?

Things i am excited to get to ...

So, i am in the 6th draft now. a friend finished her beta read in ... july? i think? and i haven't gone back to it since then due to various reasons (but mainly uni and No Time To Write). previously i'd hoped that i could finally leave it be structurally, and just do line edits and stuff (my beloathed kjdjfd). turns out the first act is still too slow and needs some reworking. and all reworking i'd done previously hadn't done the trick, so i guess shifting things a bit isn't enough!

but thankfully my wonderful friends @ettawritesnstudies (and @thehollowbetween and @lady-redshield-writeswith research) helped me figure out some stuff with how i can solve the issues, maybe. and what i'm most excited about is that this will include the addition of early days sound recording technology now, and possibly also early stages photography (like daguerreotypes maybe?), because it fits into the world and story and plot so seamlessly as though i'd planned it from the start (particularly with the mcs' mother being an engineer/inventor)!

so basically there are some scenes now that offer a view into the past of my characters through really old recordings that degrade as you listen to them, because i have gotten very :hypereyes: at that kind of tech and the wonderful(ly evil) things i can do with it. :3

I am VERY excited about diving deeper into the research and then figuring out how to rework the story, and then actually writing the sixth draft for nanowrimo this year :D

So... sorry for the ramble, thank you so much for the ask and your interest, and i hope you have a wonderful day :D

[hoxooster]

So what are your ships? Ever since you talked about aro/ace!Clover i've been really curios.

Well, I never thought that I'd be asked this question point-blank, but here we are.

Like I've said before, most of the ships I have are memes from the old days--the Golden Age--of this fandom. (Yes, that ask is still in my askbox and I still keep forgetting to answer it. I am so fuckin' bad at this. XD)

My main one, most obviously, is Wolfhox. But the reason why I ship them comes with a huge asterisk. I did not start as a Wolf x Hoxton stan, but actually a Dallas x Hoxton one. See, I first started playing PD:TH completely solo, 'cause I had just gone through the worst experience of my life because of another person, and I couldn't play L4D2 anymore without it causing me pain. Now, no matter which of the games I play, the Dallas bot is always super gay for me, and it didn't take me long to start maining Hoxton (I started as a Chains main). So, I shipped the two of them together until-- *Awkwardly does a drumroll on my desk.* I met Wolfee. Now, I was fucked up after the Bad Times, so I was weird for the first few months of our friendship. (This is putting it VERY mildly, but I don't feel comfortable with going into the particulars. References to this time is all you'll get from me.) But, that brass motherfucker just wasn't fazed and continually chose to hangout with me. So, over time, he got me to notice Wolf more and to really enjoy how he and Hoxton gel together. My best friend got me to ship those two idiots.

My best friend. Wolfee. Of all fuckin' people.

The secondary one is Ballas, Ballast, Dain, or Bain x Dallas. I was never really hardcore into this one all that much, hence why I don't call it MasterGuide or NaviMind or whatever the hell else people call it now. That's also because I haven't cared about the Lore since before Golden Grin came out. Pretty much all I know is that Shit Got Weird and that there's multiple endings (this isn't true, I DO know more than this, but I'm a sarcastic ass). I was asked to do a writing prompt some years ago that I never finished, then Tumbles deleted the ask randomly one day, so I haven't felt the need to touch it again. But the basic premise was very much smexy times. Dallas was taunting Bain by being lewd on the security cam footage, until Bain finally got Dallas to agree to meet him in-person. They then meet up at a motel and have blindfolded sex, 'cause this was back when the Crew didn't know what Bain looked like. Maybe I'll finish it, maybe I won't. I mean, I recently posted that short 'uh oh, Wolfy is mad that his boyfriend is in jail' fic that I wrote back in 2014, so...

And, of course, my one-sided, Jacket is infatuated with either an aromantic or asexual Clover ship. When Clover was first revealed, it was actually really popular to headcanon her as being asexual for awhile there. I don't remember why, but it was a Thing here for some time and it has stuck with me ever since. That being said, I lean more toward her being aromantic, 'cause I understand that a lot better, being aromantic myself, and her dialogue is very pointedly sexual and flirty. Like, it sounds like a joke that she's continually forcing, which I also understand 'cause I do the same thing. (It gets me in trouble a lot.) Anyway, for a rehash of my headcanon: Jacket in PD2 is a copycat of the in-universe videogame character of Jacket. He's delusional and tries to equate his world to that of HLM's, so he becomes infatuated with Clover and conflates her with The Girlfriend. He confesses to her in an unintentionally insulting way ('YoU re-mInd me of HOOK-er.') and he has to apologize and explain what he means. She tells him that she literally can't return his affections, and he accepts this and is totally fine with it. They never get together and their relationship stays as platonic coworkers, but he remains affectionate towards her and goes out of his way to defend her if they work on heists together. It's respectful and real--'cause even though he's delusional, he's still copying a character that was canonically respectful to a woman, so he wouldn't 'go off the script' from that, in my estimation.

So, those are all my serious ones.

✨NOW FOR STRAIGHT-UP MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEMES!✨

Dallas x Money - this is because of Bruce. I dunno if he's still on this site, 'cause he had a bad habit of deleting his Tumblrs and making new ones back in the day, so I lost track of him. Since I dunno where to find him to ask for permission, I'm just gonna put up the links to his original art posts, rather than repost them here: [X] and [X].

Chains x Coffee - this was from an AU idea that me an' a former friend of mine had, where Chains, after retiring from heisting, opened up a coffee store chain called "Reality Check". In the AU, his store becomes popular enough that it actually serves as legit competitor to Starbucks, hence why it becomes a chain of stores. However, because of how that friendship soured and broke, I am no longer fond of this 'ship', but I still think about it from time to time.

The Dentist x The Diamond -

Jimmy x Coke / Scarface x Yayo -

And, of course, other minor ones, like Bodhi and his love for the ocean, Bonnie x Alcohol, Sangres x Tequila x Hawaiian Shirts, Dragan x Exercising / Dragan x Meat Sandwich, et cetera et cetera. Y'all get the idea.

I would give a rundown on how I think that the Crew interact in-general, especially in regards to friendships and dislikes and so on, but this post is already waaaaaay too long.

But, yeah. Those're my ships. Cheers.

[cablecurrent]

*Holds a mic very close to ur face* can u tell me more about ur ice skating experience cuz i really enjoy reading about it in ur fic and i wanna know if there are any things that are cool or interesting but dont rly fit in the fic format (or would be more fitting in a, just a random example, very anticipated prequel)

Wohooo, I actually only did ice skating for two short years, which is a giant shame, bc I loved it to bits. BUT, I've been doing artistic roller skating for 18 years, which is similar to ice skating but on roller skates! I skated seriously mostly on a national level for 12 years, before quitting bc of college, but I still do it regularly as a hobby. At the moment I'm part of a synchronized skating team and we're going to our first competition soon which I am very excited about!

So most of the skating terms and choreo ideas that are in the fic come from artistic roller skating, but that's fine bc they're the same haha. And for the rest I use google and my limited experience as a figure skater. Anyway, you asked about cool facts, so lemme write some down!

Satoru Gojo and Yuzuru Hanyu (the absolute GOAT of figure skating) share the same birthday at 7th December!

I had a lot of trouble with figuring out the time period where the story takes place, so I settled for a little bit in the future. The years written above the past arcs, as well as the locations, are the actual seasons and locations the named competitions have taken place in, but I fucked with the specific dates bc I had to fit them around the characters' birthdays :>

The minimum age for skaters competing in seniors is 15 (but only if you turned 15 before July 1st) which means that Satoru and Suguru both became eligible for seniors in the same season. (Though right now the ISU is discussing raising the minimum age to 17 but for the sake of the story, I will keep it at 15)

The competition where Suguru beat Satoru were the World Championships of 2014 in Nice, France when they were both 16 years old (this is ridiculously young for men's figure skating bc most seem to peak at a later age but they're both special grades lmao so it's a bit handwavey :>). Suguru dropped out a year later at 17

In this story stsg are the only two skaters who have consistently landed a quadruple axel (equaling 4,5 airborn turns o.o) in competition. After Suguru quit Satoru remained the only one able to do it for the next ten years.

(The element difficulties in this fic are slightly exaggerated compared to real-life figure skating, but only slightly :>)

Suguru's signature jump was a quad Lutz + quad Toeloop combo bc my opening jumps always were double Lutz + double Toeloop and I needed to project xD

you differentiate between edge and toe jumps depending on whether you use the edge of the blade or the toe pick. Edge jumps are the Axel, Loop and Salchow, while Lutz, Flip and Toeloop are all toe jumps. Satoru likes Axels, Salchows and Toeloops bc they put less strain on his injured ankle, but for the sake of maximizing difficulty, he usually did the other jumps anyway. Suguru's favorite jump is the Lutz.

I wanted Maki and Yuuta to be in pair skating at first, but decided to put them in singles in the end bc it fit their characters more

Yuuji, Megumi and Nobara are ice hockey players and their team captains are Todo and Yuki

I have not decided what Toge and Panda are doing ^^'

Ice dance is considered the "nerd" sport on ice bc it's (for most people) not as interesting or high-stakes as pair skating or singles, but the ones who did it know that it's actually more exhausting than the more "jumpy" categories and very very hard bc of the level of perfection needed in every movement. Dance is also a part of artistic roller skating that I'd like to explore more in my personal life.

And lastly: Figure skating and ice dance use different boots and blades. The ice dancing boots have shorter shafts and the blades are also shorter. This is for increased agility for quick turns and stuff. I have not yet decided if I want to make stsg buy and break in new skates though, so this detail might be ignored.

[intheseautumnhands]

4 17 18 25

( writing asks ) And then the end of the work week made me forget I'd ever done this one, whoops.

I got babbly, so I stuck it under a cut. :D

4. Tell me about your favorite will-never-finish-it fic? Why won’t it be finished?

Most of the stuff I thought up for a long time never actually got started, and a lot of them I still absently hope to get done someday, though a lot of them are unlikely. XD

The main one I can think of that I started, and don't think I'll ever go back to at this point, is the MCU fic I was going to write for polybigbang one year. Clint/Bucky/Steve/Natasha, starting after Winter Soldier and more or less ignores everything that happened or was revealed after -- I started it a couple movies later, but I ignore a lot of later MCU if I write it. Clint has a habit of picking up strays, people who need a place for the night or a little bit of help, and isn't going to let the collapse of SHIELD stop him; he doesn't realize the latest one is Bucky until he tells Natasha about him, and that starts a whole chain reaction. I wrote a fair amount for it, for me -- about 8k altogether, plus some rough outlining -- and while it was never a plot-heavy story, I had a lot of thoughts about the emotional arcs and interpersonal conflict.

I'm just less interested in writing the MCU overall lately, and if I ever did, I feel like it'd be easier to start fresh with things that were never more than an idea. Plus, the more canon gets added, the harder it gets to just go, "I am wiping out like seven years of movies for this fic and pretending they don't exist", without going totally OOC for this version of the characters. XD I'm not even sure I could really accurately write the versions of them I was back in like 2014 anymore. But I did like it, and I kind of wish I could make it be more than an overly-long set-up, a handful of scenes, and a series of increasingly ridiculous notes about missing scenes.

Also, it has this, which I never finished the rest of the scene for, but sort of want to rescue and put in something else if I ever go back to MCU fic, because I really liked this:

...because see, the problem isn't that Natasha has one-sided conversations at him; that would be fine. Clint would know how to handle that, but that's way simpler than what's actually going on. No, Natasha has ten-sided conversations at him, and all ten are her own sides, and Clint's never sure if he's supposed to have a voice in them too, or if he's supposed to stand here like a handball wall and let Natasha bounce all of her many points of view off of him til whatever's set her off into this state settles in her brain.

It's what he ends up doing, though, every time, because he doesn't know what he'd tell her. She never really says it, but he gets the feelings these conversations are even more of a minefield than she can't help showing. One wrong step, and she'd shut down, and he doesn't know if she'd ever open up to him like this again.

And if there's something worse than Natasha having cryptic, complex, intricate debates with herself using him as a prop? It would be knowing he'd been allowed to be that prop, and see this unsure part of herself that she keeps so carefully clamped down, and did something to prove that he didn't deserve to see it at all.

There's more of the fic that I actually like than I expected for like eight years ago, but that part is one of the first I wrote and still one of the bits I like the most.

17. What’s your overused word/phrase that you have to keep an eye out for when you edit?

"Just" and "a little". Everyone just barely does things in my fics and I need to be ruthless with it when I go through drafts. XD Also, my first instinct 90% of the time is that you are not in love now, you are fucked. "[love interest does something cute/characteristic/charming/attractive/affectionate] and [they're] so, so fucked" is my personal version of the italicized oh; it's slipped through at least two or three fics I've put up and been cut out of several.

And everyone smiles, shrugs, and leans against things too often in most of my first drafts.

18. What’s your favorite word to slip into stories if you can?

I can't actually think of one! I like too many words to show that kind of favoritism. XD

25. Freebie! What question do you wish I had asked? Answer it here!

I don't know if that's supposed to be general or off this list, I will go with off the list cause I am too tired to come up with something. XD Let me go with this one, cause I have a small ramble:

What fic is on your back burner, waiting to be written when you feel your skill matches its potential?

I'm cheating a little, cause it's not a fic but a genre. Social media fic; I love reading it, I have one or two ideas for them, but I feel like making social media sound remotely natural is hard enough when using it in real life for me. XD I'd love to write one someday, I even tried to start one at one point which never got finished, but I don't know when I'll feel up to it (or be in a fandom that works for it again, although I do have some urge to write TUA social media fic despite the time period, mostly around Allison's career).

(For a specific fic, there is an AU fic for Hadestown I keep thinking about, half-inspired by Pippin, where Persephone and Hermes keep manipulating new people to replay the story to try and fix things, focusing on the repetitions where it goes wrong, and I don't know right now if I could do that justice, even if the main reason I'm holding off is time and wanting to finish some WIPs before I start a new one.)

[alwaysupatnight]

001: for The Walking Dead (because I'm sure someone's beaten me to FDtD, but if not, them too! XD ) and keeping with the fandom, 002 for Bethyl

haha Okay that took longer than I expected. :P But thanks for asking, @sandalaris!! The rest is under a cut because this got long.

001 | TWD

(Just fyi this is pretty much just gonna be me screaming about Beth and Daryl XD)

Favorite character: Beth Greene!!

Least Favorite character: Dawn Lerner!! She killed my bff!!

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): bethyl. That’s it. I don’t have any other favorites. I hate everyone. Lol Okay fine maybe Richonne.

Character I find most attractive: I think Lori is pretty.

Character I would marry: Daryl

Character I would be best friends with: Beth and maybe Glenn

A random thought: They shouldn’t have killed off Carl

An unpopular opinion: C@rol is too much like Daryl’s mother to be in a romantic relationship with him

My canon OTP: BETHYL IDGAF

Non-canon OTP: I don’t think I have one…? Unless you count Bethyl but we’ve already established idgaf if they’re not actually canon XD

Most badass character: Michonne because the katana

Pairing I am not a fan of: Daryl and anyone who is not Beth Greene

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): BETH GREENE. HER DEATH MADE NO GODDAMN SENSE

Favorite friendship: Beth and Merle. I know they didn’t really have any interactions on-screen but I would’ve loved to see it. They would have gotten along great.

Character I want to adopt or be adopted by: I want to adopt Daryl. Lol He needs some love okay.

001 | FDTD

Favorite character: my beautiful stupid son Seth Gecko XD

Least Favorite character: Carlos, Sex Machine, and Sonja

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): sethkate. Also Kate/Rafa because they were precious.

Character I find most attractive: Okay but Monica was actually really freaking gorgeous?? Except of course when she got her eyeballs removed and implanted into her hands… she was less gorgeous then

Character I would marry: Seth even though he’s trashy af lol

Character I would be best friends with: Kate and Kalinda who would also be bffs with each other okay. Maybe Richie if he wasn’t so infuriating because I do actually find him hilarious and we both have shitty personalities XD

A random thought: Richie has a brain barrier like Bella Swan

An unpopular opinion: I can’t think of anything right now lol

My canon OTP: SETHKATE

Non-canon OTP: Maybe Kalinda/Scott because I’ve always thought they would be really cute. Also kinda into Dakota/Richie ngl.

Most badass character: Kate post Amaru (but also pre Amaru too lbr but specifically with her sword skills)

Pairing I am not a fan of: Seth/Kisa. They’re just too much alike in personality. They wouldn’t work out imo.

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): Freddie in season 3. WHY WAS HE JUST SITTING THERE HUGGING HIS WIFE AND KID WHILE KATE WAS LITERALLY ON THE FLOOR BLEEDING TO DEATH?!?! SCREAMING ABOUT IT

Favorite friendship: Kate and Kalinda is one I would’ve liked to have seen lol In canon I liked Seth and his culebra bff. Ugh why did he have to die!! :(

Character I want to adopt or be adopted by: Seth. Haha but I would also actually marry him so I would not be a good foster mom XD

002 | Bethyl

When I started shipping it: I think it was when episode 4.13 aired. But I had already been looking into it after 4.12 which was their bottle episode and it was THE GREATEST. But yeah, the “white trash brunch” and “oh” were what finally got me. lol

My thoughts: I haven’t been in the fandom for several years now and have barely touched the fanfic with the exception of one or two. I just can’t do it anymore tbh. I’ll never ship them the way I did back in summer of 2014. But I still love them with my whole heart.

What makes me happy about them: How Daryl was really able to open up to Beth and how she was able to help him heal a little bit.

What makes me sad about them: That we’ll never know what happened to Beth’s body. That Daryl will go on living and never being whole. I haven’t watched since 2014 so idk what is even happening on the show anymore and I don’t really care tbh.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: When people would write “that girl is gonna be the death of him”. OMFG do you know how many times I had to read that?? IN PRACTICALLY EVERY FIC OKAY. IT GOT SO OLD. Also when people would portray Daryl as some illiterate hillbilly. lmfao not right

Things I look for in fanfic: I don’t read fanfic for that fandom anymore. But I really loved the fix-it fics and basically all the modern aus. Idk I read practically every fic I came across back in the day. There wasn’t too much I wouldn’t read at the height of my obsession.

My kinks: Beth being alive

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:  Welp.

My happily ever after for them: Beth isn’t actually dead and comes home and Daryl gets to have his young wife back

Who is the big spoon/little spoon: Daryl is totally the little spoon are you kidding me? lol As if that hug from behind wasn’t proof enough. My boy needs all the comfort.

What is their favorite non-sexual activity: haha idk I haven’t thought about these two like this in forever. But I guess Beth singing and playing instruments and Daryl listening and finding peace through her presence in his life. Beth was actual sunshine.

[twilight-deviant]

So I never saw the Timeless movie but enjoyed your feedback on the show while it was in progress and agreed with you much of the time-- is the movie worth watching ? I'm scared it's going to be rushed, sloppy, and ly@tt garbage

First of all, thank you for valuing my opinion enough to ask. I haven’t rambled about Timeless in awhile, but I’m flattered you enjoyed and remembered my feedback when I did. ♥

Sadly, I have to report that Timeless finale is a movie disliked by Garcy fans, Riya fans, and gen fans alike. Pretty much the only way to like it is if you’re the target audience: Lucy/Wyatt shippers. Or maybe if you’re a very, very casual fan.

Full disclosure: I have not actually watched the Timeless movie. Like you, I feared it would abandon everything Timeless stood for, everything we loved, to waste its last moments on Lucy/Wyatt fan service. Aaaaaand I was right. Good call me on not watching it live. It might have broken my heart. I got the information later through friends and research. And tbh, hearing everything second-hand was actually hilarious. Yes, it was upsetting, but the writing is SO BAD, I actually laughed. Out loud. I may have cried laughing. It’s just… so bad. XD

I spent months dreading a worst case scenario for the movie, and when the time came, it was every bit that. (And then some? Somehow?) But when it got here, all of my fears turned to hilarity. I was RELIEVED. After months of being afraid, I finally felt free. I thought “This is what I was afraid of?” Because toxic shippers in the fandom got everything they wanted, just the way they wanted, but it is HORRIBLE! Because what they wanted was BAD. It watches just like the badly written fanfiction they demanded. Which is ALL this movie is: badly written fanfiction.

To quote Claudia Doumit when she read the script: “It feels like a fan wrote the movie.” Perhaps she means that in a positive way, but if a professional is writing “like a fan,” spoiler alert, it’s never a positive thing. It’s a “basic” thing.

Timeless movie is SO BAD that it is the least rewatched episode of all Timeless. Delayed returns on it are borderline embarrassing. Few people except Lucy/Wyatt shippers wanted to subject themselves to it a second time. Not to mention that support for Timeless and a third renewal fell into steep decline after the premiere. It seems not many people want more if this is the “more” we might have to look forward to.

imo, Future television writers should study this movie for direct examples of what NOT to do. It’s every worst case scenario, presented to you at breakneck speed. You barely have time to get over one absurdity before the next one hits. Not gonna lie. I’ll give kudos where due. I am legitimately IMPRESSED that writing managed to get every single thing wrong. Do you know how statistically impossible that is?!?!

Timeless movie really sort of took all the negatives, low points, disproportionate focus on romance, and bad writing of S2 and ran with them. That’s what it is. Concentrated S2, minus any good parts.

Basically, if you are a fan of Flynn, Lucy, Rufus, Jiya, Jessica, Emma, Connor, Denise, good writing, feminism, no plotholes, Riya, Garcy, or TIMELESS, please do not watch the Timeless movie. Save yourself. If your first (only?) priority is Wyatt and Lucy/Wyatt, go right ahead. It was made just (only?) for you.

Though obviously, I can’t/won’t stop you from watching. You may still want to form your own opinion, and if so, you have my full support. I hope that you find something appealing to make it worth your time. I especially hope that if you don’t, it doesn’t ruin Timeless for you, as it has other people. I still may watch it myself one day. I may. But not for entertainment purposes. Really just to mock it from a more informed standpoint. I’ve considered live-blogging the event. lol.

As is though, I basically know the entire movie through aforementioned friends and research. And I will summarize below the cut on the ways this movie failed Timeless and its fans. (PS: This is by no means everything. There’s just SO MUCH and I got tiiiired thinking about this monstrosity! Anyone is free to add on whatever I didn’t cover.)

[Spoilers]

Future Lucy gives the journal to Wyatt, the writer’s attempt to take something that has always been Flynn/Lucy’s thing and make it a L/W thing. (Somehow, we’re supposed to ignore that this Lucy already would have given her journal to Flynn in 2014. Conveniently, illogically, she has it again. So she can give it to Wyatt.)

Future Wyatt announces that Jessica was lying about being pregnant. Right out the gate. Great. Now, they get to kill her. Don’t worry, writing will strip away her entire character first so we don’t feel guilty when an “evil Rittenhouse agent” dies. It’s fine to kill a woman who was brainwashed from childhood, but let’s not kill a baby. We’ll just erase it instead. That’s different because reasons.

Writing introduces a new stipulation that people can coexist with time travel, but staying too long will kill them. This will come in handy later.

Also the new, updated Lifeboat will conveniently be able to do whatever the plot needs. Coexist? Sure. Autopilot? Suuuuure. Able to jump multiple times on one charge as if it had a nuclear core like the Mothership? Why not?!

If you thought Rittenhouse wasn’t scary anymore in S2, well hold onto this writer’s beer. Gone is any intimidation or purpose they once stood for. Now that Emma is running things, all that matters is stealing art and money from the past. Caution: Never go full two-dimensional evil.

Wyatt decides Jessica has to die and he’s the one who has to do it. But after half an argument from the team, he gives in and agrees not to. FLYNN will clean up Wyatt’s mess instead! Because suddenly, all that matters is he loves Lucy. Not his family. Not stopping Rittenhouse. No, he has to do this so that Lucy can be with Wyatt and Rufus can be alive.

Flynn tells Lucy that the journal can be unreliable. Despite this, he goes to 2012 and dooms himself because he believes, without a doubt, that Lucy’s heart will always belong to Wyatt, something he, ya know, got from the journal. And that neeeeeever changes. I mean, some guy said it was unreliable, but his name escapes me right now.

When 1x06 first aired and we heard the story of how Jessica died and how it was very much Wyatt’s fault, painting him in a negative light, I thought to myself (almost three years ago), “Wow. If we ever get a flashback of that night, writing is going to retcon all of that so hard so that it doesn’t look like Wyatt’s fault.” And lo! It’s Jessica’s fault now. She made Wyatt get jealous on purpose. She made him drink too much. She MADE HIM let her out of the car, per text orders of Rittenhouse agent. Poor Wyatt, what a victim. (Periodic reminder that Timeless hates women.)

Writing in the scene with Jessica’s death is so bad that we’re actually left with no alternative BUT to believe Wyatt was the original killer that night. Rittenhouse agent tells Jessica to get out of the car. This saves her life. No other person is seen on this road (save Flynn later) that could be the killer. And what’s the other course (the original timeline)? Without instruction, Jessica would have stayed in the car. And died. Wow, I can’t believe Wyatt killed Jessica in a drunken, jealous rage, but also I can. Also also writing just told us he did. If Rittenhouse wanted to make sure she was okay, they would tell her to stay in the car with her soldier husband, no matter what. That would save her. But what do they do instead? Hmmmm…….

Flynn kills Jessica and hurries to the Lifeboat, feeling the effects of coexistence taking affect. Set course for any time but this one, am I right? Wrong. Nah, better just die. Flynn sends the Lifeboat back to 1848 for the team and stays in 2012 so he can see his family one last time and then die. Because true character development is letting your five-year-old die violently two weeks before Christmas when you still have the life and power to prevent it.

Why does all of our correspondence end the same? Reply, reply, and then *crickets* Notice me, senpai. TToTT

For some reason (I mean, I know the reason. It’s bad writing by an idiot), dead Flynn’s fingerprints do not pull up when police find a John Doe on the beach. Despite the fact that he worked with the NSA and his prints would be on file.

I can’t with this woman:

Anywaaaaaaay, Rufus returns in a way that breaks all time travel rules thus far established in the show. Even though the team was traveling in 1848 with Flynn, suddenly it’s reset so that Rufus was there the entire time. Which, even if writing wants to claim that’s SOMEHOW possible, is still illogical because to overwrite that timeline, the characters’ memories would have also been overwritten. However, they remain perfectly intact with everyone remembering Rufus died. (Except Rufus, of course.)

Flynn dies because he stayed in the past too long. The writer would then go on twitter and pretend the matter was out of her hands, even though she’s the one who set the condition. She WROTE the rule that killed him, SO she could kill him. (This was previously not going to be a condition on coexisting time travel. Source: Interviews in which it was suggested that had Timeless been renewed for S3, Future Lucy and Wyatt may have stuck around for a few episodes.)

Arika would also say on twitter that, in her opinion, Flynn didn’t deserve a happy ending, to the uproar of many.

Writing tries to claim that Flynn was always the person who killed Jessica in 2012. Deer lord at the plotholes.

And the holes keep comin and they don’t stop comin. ♫

It’s Christmas now. For some reason. When the team returns to the bunker, there are Christmas decorations everywhere and we’re told that it’s Christmas in present day. Even though it was May yesterday.

There are more than a dozen ways to save Flynn at this point, but Arika doesn’t like him and just wants Lucy/Wyatt to bang. So you can bet none of them will be used. Also because she’s an idiot, the woman claimed on twitter that Flynn can’t possibly be brought back because he died while time traveling. Uh-huh. First off, what? He absolutely can be saved. Secondly, tell me how Rufus died again?

The characters acknowledge Flynn for a minute (in a toast give by WYATT, of all people) before promptly forgetting he ever existed until the end of the movie. When they need him again.

When Rufus wants to get intimate, Jiya tells him that she suffered some form of abuse while stranded in the past. That’s it. We will never talk about this again. Forget it ever happened. They brought it up just to scar Jiya even further and then ignore it. Anyone who tells you Timeless loves women is lying. Timeless wants to torture and torment women. FOR NO REASON!

Emma is the only person who cares Jessica is now dead. Because it sure as shirt wasn’t going to be her husband who like two days ago was desperately trying to get her to come home to her “family.” (Remember kids, women are just baby makers. If there’s not a baby in there, she’s garbage, and a minute spent mourning is a minute you’re not banging the next lady.) Emma plots revenge on the team, and honestly, by this point, I say let her do it. They’re horrible people.

Lucy boldly says she won’t be Wyatt’s second choice. So she can forget she said it in 10 minutes, when she’s suddenly fine with it.

Rufus is alive again, but all of his memories after 2x03 are conveniently erased. In his timeline, Lucy/Wyatt have been together this whole time, and he’s their biggest fan. He actually, canonically, verbally says that he’s “Team L/yatt.” That’s great because otherwise we’re left with a Rufus whose last words on the subject are:

“You are so worried about your stupid Lucy-Jessica soap opera that you forgot that there are other people here. Who matter to each other. Who love each other. If anything happens to her, Wyatt… I don’t think I can ever forgive you.”

Yeah, we can’t use that in the Lucy/Wyatt movie. Better erase the black man’s memory since he’s no longer serving his purpose: head cheerleader of the white couple!

Because Rufus’s memories are gone, all S2 development in the Riya relationship is gone with it. Damaging them even more after Jiya spent 3 years in the past (becoming hardened and almost a different person) and then watched him die. Don’t worry, writing will address none of this.

Rufus compares Lucy/Wyatt to Aragorn/Arwen. As a Tolkien nerd, I’ll throw down over this alone. IN WHAT WAY?!

There’s a pregnant woman in labor because leave no cliche unturned. Wyatt delivers the baby because what did I just say about cliches.

Lucy’s hormones go all a-twitter when she sees Wyatt holding said baby. Outside? In weather they admitted earlier is deathly freezing? (I mean, the mother might want to hold her own baby, but no. She has to get in line. Lucy absolutely HAS to have an epiphany that she needs Wyatt’s babies.)

Lucy decides that since Wyatt’s mistreatment of her was technically from another timeline, she can let go off all self-respect and tell herself he didn’t mean it. Also almost everyone else is dead or has their memories erased, so only they will know. Now Lucy can be with Wyatt and no one will judge her? Yay?

Despite Emma’s big speech in 2x10 about abandoning the pillars of “old Rittenhouse” and striking out on her own, she still backs down immediately when Denise makes Benjamin Cahill tell her to knock it off and surrender.

Emma dies at the hands of some deus ex machina random sniper. Letting us know the writer could no longer pretend she cared about any of this and just wanted to make Lucy/Wyatt bang. Are they banging yet? Bang now! Will this convenient and corny mistletoe move things along? Are they banging yet?

So Denise saves the day. In the most anti-climatic way. Meaning Rufus was never actually necessary and could have stayed dead. Actually, none of the team was necessary. Nothing in these episodes was necessary. All it took to end Rittenhouse was Denise and Ben. Roll credits.

Lucy decides NOT to save her sister Amy. Even though it’s what she has been fighting for since episode 2. Her reasoning? She says that trying to save the people they love has negative effects. (Let’s get one last jab at dead Flynn by saying, “Look at all the awful things that Flynn did in the name of saving his family.”) This is said in spite of the fact that Amy is SUPPOSED to be alive, and leaving her erased IS an alternate timeline, carrying the potential of being more catastrophic than SAVING HER and setting the events right.

PS: While in the past, Lucy JUST SAID, “What’s the point of saving history if we don’t save the people in it?” And then saved a stranger that was supposed to die. Writing for this movie does not care about consistency, only what’s relevant in the moment. And clearly the writer wanted Amy to stay dead.

Leaving Amy dead creates this lovely paradox:

Writer is too ignorant in time travel to understand that current timeline is erased, Lucy is now with Noah, and that is our endgame. Movie proceeds with Lucy/Wyatt ending.

The Mothership is dismantled for no reason. So now the team is stuck with ONE time machine for any future situations. Remind me again. Remind me. Why… did we have the Lifeboat in the first place? Oh yeah, Connor kept it in case the crew of the Mothership was ever stranded. And it came in handy after the Mothership was stolen. Right, who needs two time machines? Scrap her, boys!

In a flashforward to 2023, we see that Lucy is teaching at Stanford again. And she just got tenure! Which is a throwback to the Pilot, but completely ignores that it is not what Lucy wanted for herself, only what Carol influenced her into doing. Lucy’s dream job was to teach at a small college in Ohio. (Source: 1x14 conversation with Lindbergh.) But who CARES WHAT LUCY WANTS?! Certainly not a writer who barely knows the show upon which she is the showrunner.

Lucy is a thoroughly horrible fake feminist now. At her job, she teaches a general history class, but only talks about women in history. When a male student brings this up, Lucy says, “I meant to get to the men, but we just didn’t have time.Maybe in the spring, okay?” So he gets to sound sexist for valuing his education. Oh, wow, thanks. Feminism isn’t about ignoring men and acting like they’re not important. It’s about EQUALITY! Label your class as “Women’s History” if that’s all you’re going to teach. Also what if they don’t HAVE YOU next semester, Lucy?! They’re going on to their next classes completely unprepared. Remind me again how this woman got tenure? Because she didn’t get it in the Pilot due to her unconventional teaching methods. Somehow not adhering to your own course description is the secret to success?

Lucy and Wyatt have two twin girls named Flynn and Amy. There are so many bad fanfiction cliches I want to cry. TToTT Why are you making me cry? Never. name. the. second. generation. after. characters. that. died. It’s. THE. corniest. thing. Petition. to. stop!

Jiya and Rufus started “Riya Industries.” That’s right! They squeezed not one, BUT TWO fandom ship names into this nightmare. If you needed further proof no one was taking this movie seriously, here ya go.

2023 Lucy does take the journal to 2014 Flynn in the bar in Sao Paulo, but everything about it is wrong. Not only do Rufus and Wyatt accompany her, but the conversation leads to Lucy telling a man who just lost his family that he can change the past but will never save his family. Also he’ll die. And he should just accept all of that but still do what she says and sacrifice himself to save a world that hates him. And the entire conversation takes place in about a minute. I mean, people had a hard time believing Flynn would buy into Lucy’s story and do what she said after 2x08 premiered. Now? NO EFFING WAY!

A clip (deleted scene from Pilot) of 2016 Flynn at the end shows him about to raid Mason Industries and start us over again. In other words, he is stuck in Hell loop for eternity. His family will die in 2014, he will do horrible things he hates to save them and the world from Rittenhouse, and he will die unnecessarily to save the world. Then Lucy will go back in time, give him the journal, and start him on this quest all over again, knowing full well that he is a good man and this will destroy his soul. But she doesn’t care (actually smiles as she approaches him) because he “did bad things” and the writer thinks he deserves this. Even though Lucy is the one who set him on this path and one can EASILY argue it is all her doing and Flynn was nothing but her tool. Don’t worry, she gets her happy ending.

The movie closes on a young girl designing specs for her own time machine. Motives unknown, other than general interest, same as Connor in the beginning. The writer thinks this is an AMAZING open ending, leaving plenty of groundwork for more Timeless when fans get it renewed for a third time. (It is not. No one cares. You killed Timeless and flew all its plots into the ground.)

In conclusion, yes, worst case scenario on every single plot point. Timeless does nothing to prove or even suggest it deserves a third chance. I personally am left wishing it had never been renewed after the initial cancellation following S1. Let it stay dead now. Forever. It has done nothing to deserve yet another chance.

RIP Timemess.

[zombolouge]

Ah you are too kind!

(cont) Maybe it's because I'm only at the beginning and I take things reeeally slowly, but still, it'd be nice to be able to fix this. One huge question though: how do you write from a child's perspective? For example, in the story I'm writing, Link is 10 in the first few chapters. I'm having trouble with conveying his thoughts across, since they either sound too mature or too childish. I keep saying 'his mother' whenever she does appear, and after a while it gets repetitive - but I don't think I'd use her name since Link wouldn't call her that. So how to go about writing from a third person child perspective? Thank you so much for your tips!

Ah, yes! I went through this same thing when I started writing again myself. I wrote a LOT when I was younger, then stopped for about 9 years before I came back to it. (I started writing again in 2014, seriously about a month later). Then it was like picking up a rusty bike and trying to make the wheels go. There are several things I wrote that will never see the light of day because they were terrible. But that’s all part of the process! So don’t feel bad if it all feels like a disaster at first, because it gets better. In the beginning, your main concern is to just try and write as much as possible, and to finish things. Once you get that down, you can start making things better through editing and more critical thinking. ^_^

Okay, so I can certainly share what helps when I write longer fics, though this process doesn’t always work for others. When I wrote Tearing Down the Heavens, it started as a mish-mash of scenes that I had half-written that I was stringing together. I think by like chapter ten I had already gotten overwhelmed trying to do that, and I opened a word doc and just made a list of the “important plot moments”. Over time this grew into a true, blue outline. 

I don’t think I could write such longform fic without the use of an outline. Some writers can, and some writers even find that an outline completely ruins their creativity, but for me it’s a necessity. Sometimes my outline is incredibly detailed, including lines of dialogue or descriptions or notes about backstory and themes. Other times it’s not more than a line or two about a scene. For instance, the first chapter of A Hundred Years in the Making has a very detailed outline, where I wrote out almost all the dialogue between the King and Vallus. I ended up changing it as I wrote the scene around it, to make it flow better, but the base was there. In contrast, my notes for the portion where Link is traveling to the castle were vague (I actually only put “Write shit about Link’s feelings while he’s on the horse”, which is not particularly helpful notes to myself, but there you have it). I also don’t tend to flesh out the outline all at once. For instance, I may know that I want a certain thing to happen, but I don’t know how I want it to play out or any other details. So I’ll make a note in the outline that says something like “Character tries to leave, gets caught by other character” or something. Then, as the earlier chapters get written, I may add more context, so I could end up with something like this (I’ll use some of the older outlines for Facing Down the Void for this example):

“Autumn wakes up in a panic, convinced something is wrong. 

- Solas is trying to leave, she races through the cold night air to find him and confronts him. He is hurt, miserable to be back around her and torn about what he must do, so he is cold to her. His attitude breaks through her calm, and she starts to cry as she yells at him, demanding to know why he’s leaving again. She doesn’t understand, he doesn’t want her to, but the sound of her voice breaks his heart. He turns and makes his confession, kissing her even though he knows its the worst thing that he could do. She is stunned, and finally lets him go as she processes thing.”

That eventually turned into a pretty complex scene that I wrote very early on and edited several times before it was published.

The reason why I find outlines necessary is that I have trouble writing something if I don’t know where it’s going. I need to have at least a general idea of what I’m building to, or it takes me about 8 times longer to write a chapter. It helps me do proper foreshadowing, and it helps me understand character motivations and growth arcs better. For instance, in As Bright as the Stars, I knew that Saeyoung was going to lie to try and hurt Nicky from the get-go. I had been setting that betrayal up from the start of chapter one. If that moment had been a surprise, however, if I hadn’t planned it, then it wouldn’t have the proper groundwork laid before it. Twists and turns in the plot are what make a story gripping, BUT, they can’t come from nowhere. Your reader should look at surprises and say “I did not see that coming, but I should have”, not feel like it came completely out of left field. You should be able to point to your previous chapters and say “see, there is the proof that this could happen”. Otherwise the shock is cheap, and people tend to lose interest. 

Outline will help you map out events, get foreshadowing in place (important for pretty much all types of stories, including things like slow burns), and understand the characters better. Because when you outline, you are forced to think “what would this character do in this situation”, which then makes you think about the character and think about how they react to things and how they think. Although your story is still going to throw you curve balls, and you shouldn’t be afraid to change an outline when needed. In As Bright as the Stars, I didn’t realize that Vanderwood was going to be such a huge part of it at first until I wrote her first chapter and realized “oh shit I have feelings about this character that need to be told”. I then paused writing the story and worked on my outline to expand it to include this new revelation. So things will still happen that weren’t planned, but at least you have good starting points to handle them better. 

I’ll be honest, though, part of my process is pretty much nonstop consideration. If I am not actively writing, I am usually thinking about writing, or thinking about characters, or word choice, or themes. I’ve written entire scenes in my head on my morning commute and then hurriedly outlined them once I arrived at work. I’ve spent actual hours thinking about something a character did and trying to figure out WHY they did it, to understand that character. So don’t feel bad if a good chunk of your “writing time” is just sitting around and thinking about it, because you have to work those things out at some point before the words will start to come. 

Flow!! Okay, so one of the best things for flow is reading it out loud. You will, in fact, feel like a moron reading your own work out loud to yourself, especially at first. But hearing the words spoken into your ears will trigger different processes in your brain than just reading them. This can often highlight points where there are problems, or where the word order doesn’t work. This goes double for actual dialogue, which should be read out loud until you feel like you have become the characters. If a scene feels weird, it’s usually because your making a character say or do something that doesn’t feel like something they should say or do, which will throw everything off. 

Another thing that I find helpful for both flow in general and dialogue is to map out a scene in very specific, very bland details. (ESPECIALLY FOR ACTION OR SMUT, THIS MAKES THOSE SCENES SO MUCH EASIER). So I would open up my outline, or an empty doc, and write something like this:

“Character A (Jeffrey) opens the door. 

Sees Character B (Heather) arranging matches. 

Jeffrey: Oh, I’m sorry. I wasn’t aware...(pauses, curious) What are you doing?

Heather glares. “I’m arranging matches.”

Jeffrey: “Oh.” (pause) “Why?”

Heather (upset): Because it’s what Sebastian would have wanted!”

Jeffrey closes the door slowly.”

I can then look at that outline and turn it into a scene because I have enough notes to go off of, and I know what’s supposed to be happening at any given time, so it lets me focus more on the descriptions rather than the ideas. I wrote up a quick example scene based on that outline (it is rushed, so forgive me if it isn’t a masterpiece XD)

“Jeffrey placed his hand on the cold door handle, already feeling the weight of the other room bearing down on his shoulders before he had even turned the brass. The house was quiet, and the room was quiet, but he was certain that there was unhappiness beyond the threshold. Still, it was a door, and what purpose would doors have were they not meant to be opened? He twisted his palm, pulling the knob along with it, and pushed the wooden boards forward to reveal the room beyond. 

He was surprised to see Heather within, standing in front of a table with one hand on her half-cocked hips. She didn’t look up as he blinked at her, taking in the silent scene with all the dignity that he could muster in such a situation. The house was silent, so he had presumed that it was empty. His error had been the source of his ominous premonitions, knowing that the room had held misery without knowing why. Heather’s presence had that effect on them all lately. 

He cleared his throat, wishing that he could be a thousand miles away from this position at precisely this moment. “Oh, I’m sorry. I wasn’t aware...” his words trailed off, flat and lame in the deadened air as she shifted, moving just enough so that he could see the stack of matches on the table before her. She lifted one in her long fingers, the tip of the match the same ruby color that was smeared across her fingernails. She held it aloft, inspecting it for something, judging its character like a redheaded soldier that had been stripped and homogenized before being shipped off to war. She then took it and placed it atop a second stack of matches, piled in a tower that shuddered with the weight of the new addition. “What are you doing?”

She narrowed her eyes into a sullen glare as she looked at him, clicking her tongue before offering the obvious. “I’m arranging matches.”

“Oh.” he nodded, a compulsory action, as though this made perfect sense. He should have left it, should have mumbled some apology and retreated from the room, but his damnable sense of curiosity burned too brightly in the back of his throat to clamp down on the question before it came tumbling out. “Why?”

She rounded on him, her hands clamping into furious fists that stuck to her sides, the matches in the tower tumbling across the table in careless disarray. “Because it’s what Sebastian would have wanted!” Her voice wavered between madness and grief, and he winced at the force of it, seeing the tears that he had unleashed. It was too much, too great a burden to bear in this moment, on this day. He felt sorry for her, sorry enough to furrow his brow in a voiceless apology that would do less to disturb the fraught air than words would. He felt sorry, but not sorry enough to reach an olive branch across the divide between them. Instead he backed out of the room, shutting the door with the slow deliberation of someone who knows he could have been a better person if he had just left it open. Her cries of frustration followed him out, and he knew that he was a terrible man.”

I think I spent about ten minutes on that little scene, and that was mostly because I had the blueprint of that outline to go off of. I knew what the characters were doing, and I had notes about when it was important for them to feel a certain way, so it was easy to create a bunch of flowery prose around it (well, not EASY, but certainly easier than if I had just tried to plop it out onto the page from nothing). Now, I usually write out all my dialogue in this manner before writing the full scene, ESPECIALLY important dialogue or dialogue involving more than 2 characters. Just write it out like a script, with the name of the character followed by what they said, and that’s it. Maybe a note or two of what they did or how they said it, but only if it’s really important. What this does is let you focus on what they’re saying and if it fits their character, without getting bogged down in irrelevant descriptions or worrying if you’ve used the word “said” too many times. It also makes it easier to read out loud to yourself to check how it sounds. The dialogue should always be able to flow and sound good on its own, with the rest of the text removed. If it doesn’t, then there’s a disconnect in the way they are speaking that will interrupt the flow of the whole scene. 

Okay, now on to your more specific question. Writing children! 

So one important thing to remember is that children are not stupid, nor do they think in baby talk (or talk that way). They also don’t tend to think of themselves as juvenile, because in their minds they already know enough to be basically an adult. This is especially true for a 10 year old, who usually wants to be out in the world experiencing things on their own, unless they’ve experienced something in their past that would dictate otherwise. They think they know everything, and that parents are just being dumb when they restrict them or make them follow rules. 

One thing about writing children is that they tend to be a bit more literal than adults. You won’t get a kid saying a lot of cutesy babytalk, but you will get them being point blank enough that it can be adorable or comical. It is also important, when writing a POV from a child’s perspective, that they will be lacking certain knowledge or ways of expressing things, but they won’t know that. So, for instance, if I were to write the scene of Link from Ocarina of time seeing Ganon taking off with Princess Zelda (just before she throws the Ocarina), I might try something like:

“He saw the horse thundering across the bridge, massive and domineering. He couldn’t quite see who was riding it, but he felt a sickening feeling in his stomach all the same. Anyone who rode a horse that mean couldn’t have been a good person. 

His fear was confirmed when the rider yanked the reins of the beast, causing it to rear up above Link’s head. He felt like an ant, hapless and waiting to be crushed under the foot of something dark and nameless. The horse returned to all fours, flaring its nostrils, and Link could see that man - Ganondorf - was astride the saddle, Zelda clutched in his metal-clad arms. The Gerudo smirked, and it made the feeling in Link’s stomach coil and writhe like a snake. A furious snake that was trying to flee from the scene, trying to force the person around it to move away, but Link stayed rooted to the spot, his feet as still as tree trunks. He could have gone his whole life without seeing something so evil as Ganondorf smiling, the glint in his eyes like poe-fire. It made him feel small and insignificant, a spec of dust in a whirlpool. It made him feel sick, and if he had been able to move he might have turned and wretched into the grass beneath his boots.

Ganondorf dug his heels into the horse’s ribs, and then everything happened in a flash. The horse surged forward, straight towards where Link was standing, and he had to leap out of the way to avoid being trampled. He felt something big and heavy bump into him as he was in the air, and the breath disappeared out of his lungs with a short wheeze. He hit the ground, and he thought he heard someone yell his name as he blinked, trying to clear the daze. Everything felt fuzzy, like reality had become a vague humming sound in his ears and nothing more. The sound of hoof beats turned from thunder to drums, and then faded slowly as the horse galloped away. Link tried to breathe, unable to keep himself from trembling as he did so.

Zelda had been right. That man was a terrible man.”

So, in this little snippet, I tried to keep things more simplistic than I normally would have. I avoid phrases that are overly flowery, and get to the point a bit quicker. I also avoid saying “Link was terrified”, because a 10 year old might not have the experience to know what terror feels like. They also may not want to ADMIT they are scared, especially not in the moment when adrenaline is high. Instead, I went for describing what he feels, so that the reader gets the idea. Additionally, when he gets hit, I made it more vague. If Link were an adult, I would have changed “He felt something big and heavy bump into him as he was in the air, and the breath disappeared out of his lungs with a short wheeze. He hit the ground, and he thought he heard someone yell his name as he blinked, trying to clear the daze. Everything felt fuzzy, like reality had become a vague humming sound in his ears and nothing more.“ to “He felt a blunt object slam into his side, just below his ribs, driving the breath out out of his lungs on impact. Shock rolled through him as his dodge carried him into the ground, the princess yelling his name as the horse retreated. He was dazed from the blow, and as he floundered on the ground he tried to shake away the humming buzz that was affecting the clarity of the world around him.” The difference here is that Link would have known he was hit by something, and where, and he would have had the words and understanding to know that he was in shock from the blow, and been able to take better effort to try and restore himself. 

Okay, so on to your final question, about what Link calls his mother...you’ll want to avoid using all forms of the name, because that would sound weird. If you feel like he would call her “mother”, than you should stick to that. If you feel like it’s getting repetitive, you can try changing up sentence structure to add variety, but be careful you don’t do it too much. Depending on the scene, you may not need to continue listing her, and just revert to “she”. 

For example: 

“Link’s mother smiled, as warm as the sun above them. “Come, sit with me.” she pat the grass beside her, and he ambled up the hill to join her. She was still smiling, and he tried not to look sullen. He must have failed, because she folded her hands in her lap, giving him a knowing look. “You’ve been bickering with your father again, haven’t you?”

“No.” he sounded like a spoiled brat even to himself, and rolled his eyes as he gave into her ability to know everything he was thinking before he had to say a word. “He’s just...he’s so...”

“Stubborn?” She quirked her eyebrow skyward, and he laughed and nodded, feeling the anger in his chest dissipate as she brushed his hair off of his brow. “He can certainly be...firm. You know that he means well, don’t you?”

So, in that, I only had to mention “mother” once, but you still knew exactly who I was talking about (I think, at least lol). There are also other ways to indicate things, but you definitely want to avoid things like switching from “mom” to “mommy” to “mother”. In this instance, “Mother” is the stand-in for her name, so you would treat it as such. You ALSO wouldn’t switch to her actual name if you’re in Link’s POV, because he wouldn’t think of her that way.

Oh boy, I rambled for waaaaay too long. Hopefully this helped??? Haha, I am very sorry that this is so terribly verbose, I got carried away. 

If you have follow-up questions, feel free to let me know. And if anybody else has different questions, you can also feel free to let me know. ^_^ And of course, this is not a hard-and-fast rulebook. These are just the things that work for ME, which may not be helpful to anyone else. Everyone’s process is different, so don’t feel too frustrated if you try this stuff out and it is utterly useless XD

Thank you so much for thinking of me, and I hope that at least some of this is usable to help you get your story written!!!!