#a few liberties if you don't like i can rewrite

[banefulbenevolence]

@hellscaress

🔪 / my durge? - totally an accident, she swears

'Or what, you'll stab me?' The words hung heavy as she answered the question. He stares at the knife buried in his middle, and then lifts his gaze to look at the aptly named Dark Urge before him. Pain was a distant concept -- perhaps it was shock, perhaps he was simply shocked. Already his brain is racing with what he ought to do and ought not to do. He takes hold of the knife hilt with one hand and shoves his god-bound ally back with the other. "Rhetorical. It was a rhetorical question."

[weirdmageddon]

i love these tags this person is so right

actually, can you imagine if dave was raised by B1 roxy?

i wanna get into this actually

(ok i had to spend a few hours rewriting this because IT DIDNT FUCKING SAVE AFTER FIVE HOURS OF WRITING WHEN MY COMPUTER UPDATED WHILE I WAS AFK so it would mean a lot to show this post some appreciation. i LOVEEE hearing what other people have to say)

even though these things mom does are presented in an extravagant, kitsch, jokey way, her intentions always came from a place of sincerity. she is simply Funnie

but rose reads too far into it and assumes things that aren't there, that her mother is passive-aggressively feigning interest in rose's interests simply because the things she does are so extra. "why do all of this if not to mock me"

im telling you right now if dave lived in this household he wouldn't assume antagonism, he'd go,

don’t forget who LITERALLY patented tangible jpeg artifacts as their post-scratch adult self and scattered shitty scummed up statue of liberties all over the planet. theres no way some of that overboard artful shit wasnt post-ironic / circling back around to genuine funny sincerity

dave's natural state is funny sincerity like roxy. he's had the natural capacity for this type of humor from the start and this is the direction he goes towards when he grows out of his brother's shadow by the end of the comic. dave and roxy share an earnest “so bad its good” type of humor

(lots more under the cut; the length of this meta analysis just got unwieldly with all the pictures and whatnot)

despite the alcoholism, roxy is a supportive mother. she's not the ideal guardian but hells of a lot more supportive of her kid than bro is. if she knew dave's interests she would totally indulge in them with some over the top silly goofy haha shit as a genuine gesture simply because she loves him

rose isn't too keen on it though. but she is more similar to dirk in her natural state of thinking of overthinking shit and assuming the worst, like the tags said

and yes dave got the sweet cuddly yet sometimes backhanded ouppy gene from roxy, probably even moreso lol

roxy's even said rose "sounds like girl dirk"

side tangent here, but this is something i wanna talk about.

i dont think bro should ever be in custody of children ever but if theres anyone who would be up to the task it's rose probably. i know she'd be able to keep up with him. not only does she have a defined personality (dave is more malleable and absorbs his environment like a sponge), if anyone can pick apart B1 dirk's batshit brain and probably be right on the money it's her. lil cal has been pumping patriarchal nonsense into bro's head and rose would be able to bring the fucking facts to the table without losing her own and being a living example of a badass little girl. i also don't think bro would try to force masculine roles onto rose like he did with dave, seeing as she is a girl, so she would actually have more of a leg up and get some passes that dave was never afforded. and rose wouldn't stand idly and accept any bullshit; she is no doormat. and i think this would earn bro's respect

but anyway, from this, couldn't we conclude roxy "sounds like girl dave"?

yeah okay. we havent even gotten into their penchant for funny typos or misspeaks, deliberate or otherwise

so, dave's environment

the sentiment "god you hope you can be as good as your bro at this some day" might have been genuine at the time when he idolized bro but of course he's not able to express that in any sort of sincere fashion because he's in dirk's fucking household. and this level 10 irony shit isnt doing dave any favors

his role models were the Internet and a vague idea of what Bro was like. So he built up his facade based on irony–not the literary definition of irony, as Rose might be quick to point out, but a popular concept of irony based on the idea that things that didn’t make sense actually made sense in some roundabout way. As a master of irony, Dave probably reasoned, he could see in a way other people couldn’t why a world that was scary and didn’t make sense really did make sense, and could therefore convince those people that he was superior to them. And he would wield his knowledge to maintain the appearance of superiority by calling everything ironic and pretending he didn’t care about things that didn’t make sense, and he would use walls of vaguely rhyming words to keep everyone at arm’s length so they wouldn’t discover his insecurities (source)

roxy's style is the embodiment of post-irony. being raised by mom lalonde would be like being raised by joel vinesauce ok

what can i say ….. (getting meta about this actually, hussie got these jpeg wizard wallpapers from a spyware website. link takes some time to load because internet archive)

rose is quick to read post-irony as actually being a joke/insincere, which in bro's case would be true. but i believe dave's natural instinct, outside of the influence of bro, is to read post-irony as genuine, which is exactly how mom serves it. we see this as early as act 3 from him; he understands her motives better than rose does herself:

and in act 6 intermission 2 i think it's pretty clear

but the thing is, it's always genuine from her. dave wouldn't have to second guess it because he's not one to naturally second guess someone's sincerity; that was learned due to his bro being virtually unassailable

there two types of ironies at play here:

seems like a joke, is actually genuine (roxy)

doesnt seem like a joke, is actually a joke (dirk)

you can make the argument that the second is is more psychologically destructive because it makes you question the reality of what is genuine sentiment and what isn't. dave never knew what was genuine and what was irony so he just sort of existed in this sincerity-ironic limbo and always did the opposite of what he genuinely felt on principle even if it always did originate from a genuine place.

"it just a joke bro i was just being ironic i dont actually x" is so much more trust-breaking and psychologically damaging than "wait are you being serious" / "i am being so fucking fr rn davy gravy" / "ok thats actually pretty fucking awesome. giant ass wizard statue" / "RIGHT"

how much about dave would change do you think? his character arc would be completely different for one thing, i think he'd have it good aside from mom's alcohol issues. he'd be left with the sweet and funny parts of him that we see at the end of the comic. the fake coolguy stuff is out, but this remains. this is dave in his element and we see it as early as act 1

he'd probably have no shades growing up in the lalonde residence* either cause those were given to him by bro straight out of the crater as an extension of his own cool image. and john gave dave ben stiller’s aviators for his 13th birthday to replace them so he could “spread his wings”

dave said he was wearing them for the ironies but i kind of doubt it. maybe post-irony but there was some reacharound to it being genuine because dave never put those pointy anime shades on his face again.

*though... it’s kind of hard to imagine him without his shades at all? B2 dave still got stiller’s shades from stiller himself so maybe getting them is a universal constant. i can imagine mom getting him them as a birthday gift cause shes pretty wealthy and probably could buy it out in an auction. but also itd be cool if john still gave him it as a gift

dave is actually a lot more genuine and easy to read than he lets on even when grappling with his upbringing with B1 dirk (again, see this post). this can be seen all throughout he comic but a good example is the evolution of thoughts about his interest in the preserved dead things in his room:

if B1 roxy was dave's guardian he probably WOULD have pursued paleontology because she wouldve indulged him in it and probably find it cool and worthwhile to pursue, instead of allowing dave to flounder under ironic detachment, being poisoned by irony to the point of gaslighting himself into believing he doesnt actually believe he thinks this shit is cool. even if it was indulged in this such a way; a superficially kitsch and ironic appearing presentation, it comes from a genuine place and inspires genuine interest. just read the comments.

basically, i think if B1 roxy raised dave, their relationship would have a surface level appearance of being bizarre or over-the-top but they’d have an unsaid mutual understanding that it’s completely in earnest and just build on each other's funny and absurd gestures of affection. rather than seeing it as one-upping each other, it'd more like collaboration of some silly bullshit that you take a step back and look at full and just say, "fucking incredible"

speaking of paleontology, mom had the proto-ectobiology lab. maybe they'd be able to use the equipment to appearify paradox ghost imprints of the dead shit to create paradox clones of things from the cambrian era??? sounds like a fun mother son bonding activity. and theyd actually put the sciencey shit in the household to use

oh god i know exactly the kinds of music shed listen too also growing up as a teen in the 80s. she on that (post)-punk/art rock/new wave/new romantic mtv stuff. XTC shit fr. this is a B-52S HOUSEHOLD. maybe the associates for the campy melodramatic flair. so he gets to keep the record on his shirt cause he is an enjoyer of the shit in her vinyl collection. dave would still gravitate towards musical expression and music itself but of more variety outside of just rap, with an 80s-90s, even 70s flavor due to mom’s influence. see this for perhaps a glimpse. ​she probably visited new york city a lot for business trips and because the music scene was cool as hell around that time, imports came straight from jfk airport, she probably got in on that a bit and have remnants in the form of vinyls and cassettes. in this way she could be distributing void to dave (influencing him with forgotten / presently irrelevant music). now he can REALLY rave about bands none of his friends have heard of. “hey davy grvay watcha listenin to” (he holds up vinyl cover) “omg snakefinger”

btw dave lalonde would look like this to me

[p0rk-guts]

"Pork you literally posted Charlie a few days ago why are you so Hazbin obsessed rn-" ssshhhhshhsshhs.h........ anyway

VAGGIE REDESIGN! And I changed her name also bc I'm jus like everyone else fr. Meet Verbena :)

BREAKDOWN BELOW!👇🏾+ Exorcist uniform redesign :3

Starting with her name this time. Back when she was still a sinner apparently she was Salvadorian and since she's (apparently?) not a former human at all I decided to take a small creative liberty with her decent and made her Venezualan instead. SOUTH AMERICUH❗❗✊🏾 I'm pretty sure Verbena flowers are native to South America so that's where the name comes from.

Onto the design! I don't have much to say abt her design honestly. It's not egregious, but it doesn't really speak to me either. It looks like simple formal wear or uniform with some strange meaningless accessories attached. And those weird itty bitty shoes that look like they're part of her thigh highs... I'm starting to think all the characters's shoes were a last minute afterthought. All and all it tells us nothing about her character. The hair wings are cool tho so I did steal those

Also the whole deal with her eye is strange to me. Why Is the floating X there??? It's a real physical part of the world, other people can see it. Do pink X's always float over angel wounds? If her arm got chopped off would an X float over it? Was it like. A fucking curse visual placed by Lute as a constant reminder of her disloyalty? Why did Carmilla point out it was an obvious marker for her being an angel???? My brain can't fathom why it's canonically attached to her wound. If she was a sinner I'd kinda understand but. Yeah idk. Weird

Also her missing eye does not look like an empty socket it looks like a purple circle was sticker pasted on to her face. It's very flat. How did we go from this

to this

(IT'S EVEN OVERLAPPING ONTO HER NOSE IN THIS SCREENSHOT WHAT IS THAT THING.)

Anyway. I made her hair resemble Polyphemus moth wings because 1. They have eye looking spots and angels are all eyes and 2. Well. Polyphemus has 1 eye. So . 💀

Her overall coloring however is inspired by a Promethea moth. I could say it's because Prometheus defied the gods and Verbena did a similar thing but the real reason is I made a spelling error while initially looking for a Polyphemus moth reference 💀 but hey they both have eye spots! And Iike their coloring for her way better

I also redesigned the exorcist uniform for her redesign bc I wanted her outfit to have reminiscent elements from it.

I gave way less time to the uniform designs, but I still had some main details I wanted to adress. I don't like how they have no armor save for their helmets. Their arm and leg pieces are made of some flexible material that tears easily. It's not giving soldier it's giving soldier costume from party city. The devil like horns are also confusing to see on an angel and the paradoxical design is never addressed. They can be evil and look imposing, but the horns just seem kinda nonsensically on the nose to show how evil they are. At least to me.

In my designs I gave them actual metal armor on their bodies so you can easily tell they're soldiers and it makes sense for them to battle in armor anyway. I also gave them more light "angelic" colors with gold details bc I wanna use gold as a symbol of angelic nature in my rewrite. I wanted their masks to show completely static expressions with wide grins to show how unnerving they are and to allude to the idea that everyone is happy in heaven, and they're all happy to do what they do.

Verbena's belt and shoulder pads draw visual similarities to the pauldrons and mid section pieces in my new exorcist uniforms to draw a connection between her and her past. The Blazer draping behind her back is also supposed to mimic the visual of folded wings. I also tried to do this with all the gold details in her design. The big hoops and belt we're 80's inspired because I decided to follow how in one of her old designs she died in the 60's (even had the big hoops and everything). In my rewrite exorcists are all former humans but I'll get into that later. Also she's got an eye patch now! Just. A normal one.

Charlie is still taller than Verbena just like in the original and idk how tall Vaggie Is exactly but Verbena is like 5'5 while Charlie is 5'11. Verbena's also got more muscle on her bc unless their muscle mass is hidden magically or they don't gain muscle for stupid dumb idiot lore reasons all the exorcists look way too slim to be military grade soldiers but what do I know

I combined a lot of pointy shapes with boxy shapes bc— more similarly to her pilot self— she can be volatile and fierce but also grounded and impassive. I added the slits to her skirt so she can be a sexy formal lady who can still comfortably throw a few kicks, and the heels— well. Idk I feel like she could slay in heels! She definitely doesn't wear em all the time but yeah. Chunky heels. I like them they're cute. Also she's got her little name tag on bc she takes Charlie's job for her SERIOUSLY! she's uh. Idk what is she. A bellhop? General security/protection? Either way she's locked in.

I imagine she had white irises like Adam and Lute along with brighter more saturated and heavenly colors in her hair (color picked from the Polyphemus moth) that turned darker and more harsh after the fall (color picked from the Promethea moth). Really visualizing her emo phase /j

Also I think the little eyes in her hair can emote with her. In the final design the line kinda makes an eyelid and it'd match her eyelid's movements. Sillay

Alright that's a wrap on my Vaggie redesign! No bonus sketches this time bc they're within the texts! Who knows what I'll do next. Who I will deface. I sure don't. I think I might rename Charlie so there's that. Anywhozies hope you like her <3

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

When the twisted wonderland anime comes out what are the things you hope they do better then what they could do in the game?

To quickly clarify a few things (so new readers and anyone stumbling across this post doesn't get the wrong idea): firstly, we do not yet have any confirmation on what the Twisted Wonderland anime will be about. Secondly, I have previously expressed that I would prefer the TWST anime to be random slice of life rather than another main story adaptation. If we assume that the anime will be another adaptation of the main story, I don't think the anime staff has a ton of liberty in the alterations they can make to the source material. Book 2 is widely known to be the greatest example of Bad Writing in TWST, and it cannot exactly be swept under the rug since it's in the main story. I doubt anyone would be allowed to make massive rewrites to the script or to the series of events; the biggest changes we get are slightly compacted scenes in the manga and the light novel. For example:

Skipping lines that appear in the game. (Ex: in the Book of Heartslabyul, Ace does not joke about sharing a room with Yuuken.)

Combining scenes to save on time. (Ex: In the light novel, Yuuya and Deuce meet Leona for the first time not in the Botanical Garden, which is the case in the game. Instead, the mob student that broke the eggs meant for Ace's apology chestnut tart is a Savanaclaw kid that Leona shows up to reprimand.)

Adding slight details to fill in logical gaps. (Ex: Yuuya in the light novel is granted a NRC uniform by Crowley; the uniform is described to us, the readers. Yuu getting a uniform is never mentioned in the game.)

Continuing from the last point, new details can also serve to flesh out character motivations, backstories, and lore. (Ex: the Heartslabyul light novel informs us that Riddle faces social repercussions for his OB and almost got expelled from school; the Savanaclaw light novel sheds new light on Leona's motivations, and the same can be said of Riddle.)

So basically, the story (again, if the anime does end up following the plot of the main story) would be the same. What would make the anime different from the manga, game, and light novel is largely the medium in which it is presented. I have talked about this at length in a number of older posts, but here is one example of how the manga, uses visual storytelling (as it is primarily a visual medium). A manga chapter is usually limited in length due to it being physically printed and shared in a magazine alongside other manga; there is therefore a constraint on how long-winded it can be, and its limited pages must be used effectively. We need to think about the strengths and the weaknesses of each individual medium and how those strengths and weaknesses affect how it might slightly change how TWST I presented.

An anime is able to incorporate animation with sound in a 20ish minute time slot to tell a tale. It gets the same benefits of the game, but far more freedom of movement. There is, however, also a time constraint to be considered. One complaint TWST often gets is that despite half of its core gameplay (I'm not going to count reading as gameplay) being rhythm games, the music the game has is NOT memorable. While the anime most likely won't have a ton of original songs, I hope that it can at least creatively incorporate some of TWST's scores as background tracks to fun scenes and make them more enjoyable that way. The anime will also be able to... well, be animated!! We won't get just a static screen where a maximum of three characters are crammed onto the screen at once staring back at you. It's okay to have in the game to save on time and budget, but you have to admit it does get boring to look at after a while. But with an anime production, we can get exciting lighting and camera angles that result in cool animation! I hope that this will really help the TWST characters' stories come to life on the screen ^^ One scene in particular that I hope the anime will adapt well is the VDC/SDC performances of RSA and NRC. The game tells us that RSA's performance is clumsy and amateurish, but it still managed to capture people's hearts. The game also tells us that NRC was not able to perform at their maximum capacity because they were already physically worn down from dealing with OB Vil. I want to see these descriptions actually be realized on screen (the Rhythmic/Twistune alone isn't enough), as it could help us better judge and have an enhanced understanding of the situation. I know a lot of fans who, to this very day, still feel that NRC was cheated of the win and shouldn't have lost to such a lackluster performance from RSA, so I'm hoping that a fully animated version might give us more perspective.

[lollytea]

Do you have a beta reader, and as a writer, do you need one in order for your work to be good? Also, as a writer, how do you know if you're doing enough to finally feel good enough with whatever you're trying to work on?

Do you have a beta reader?

Not at the moment, no. I had a beta for a total of one fic I wrote in December 2022. Everything else has been done on my own. You can probably tell because of all the grammatical errors.

Do you need one in order for your work to be good?

If you're asking on behalf on yourself, I will say that you don't NEED one, but I'd definitely recommend it. If you're referring to writing fanfics and you don't have anybody available to beta for you, then there's no harm in posting them without it. As I said, I do it all the time. BUT if you do have somebody who's willing, then yes, absolutely accept their help. Having a second pair of eyes to catch all the little mistakes helps a ton. Their assistance and corrections will also help you learn, and your work will get better as you go along.

If you're talking about, like, writing original fiction that you're hoping to publish, then it's a little less casual than fanfic. If that's the case, yes, try to find an editor.

If you're asking about me personally, then I'd say that I probably WOULD be a lot better at writing if I had one. As I said, grammar and linguistics are my weak points. My stuff would also be way neater and more polished if I had a beta who was given more creative liberties. For the one fic I wrote that was beta-ed, their job was mostly to comb through these big fat paragraphs and add commas, remove commas, etc. They made a few suggestions about rewording some of my sentences, but they also recognized that I was a lunatic who was very particular about the way I phrased things for whatever reason so they mostly focused on the grammar and punctuation.

If I had a beta that I gave full reign to do whatever they wanted, my work would probably improve by tenfold. Shorter, more straightforward, probably more impactful, less rambly. But my stuff is exhausting to deal with from an editing perspective. Massive and wordy and all over the place. I really could not expect somebody to spend their valuable time wrestling with all of that for free.

So I'm fine tipping along in my usual rambly way at the moment.

How do you know if you're doing enough to finally feel good enough with whatever you're trying to work on?

Well, there's no such thing as being "good enough" to make anything. I write for fun. It's not my job. I have nothing to lose.

I'm still learning. And I think I still have a long way to go. It's okay if I'm bad at it in the mean time.

Everything I write and post is just an example of me practising. Trying to figure out what works. What doesn't work. My writing is always getting better, then worse, then better, then worse again, in a constant cycle, but as long as I'm practising, I'm learning.

Don't burn yourself out. Write little bits at a time if you have to. Don't be scared that your idea is too ambitious for your skill level. Write it in your own way, even if you don't feel like you can pull it off. By doing that, you'll steadily get better. And if you want to rewrite it again in a few years when you finally feel like you have the skills to excecute it in the way you want, then you can always do that.

Even if you don't feel good enough for your own standards, you improve a little bit every time you work on something. That's what's matters.

I find it comforting to focus on the fact that I'm still learning, rather than the fact that I'm still not as good as I think I should be.

I don't think any of us will ever be "good enough" in our own minds. We'll never see ourselves as masters. It's an unattainable goal. But so long as we keep letting ourselves write "badly" we'll probably write a few masterpieces in the process.

[onewomancitadel]

A smattering of general updates:

I played Tears of the Kingdom. I didn't really enjoy it. I understand why it was popular though; I'm just not the demographic for these types of video games anymore. I didn't find it creatively rewarding and after a time I sat there thinking 'I would rather be writing right now', and since then I have learnt that writing is made easier by doing things which are not writing, because it makes me miss it. My dad also doesn't really like it but for some reason has played hundreds of hours in it. I don't know either - I think he will take anything called Zelda at this point.

I spectated the Doctor Who David Tennant Special and watched some clips of the new season. I'm not a fan of RTD, and not a DW fan anymore (not for a long time), but it was an interesting study in how studios try to attract old and new fans.

I read a lot of books, and that lie people tell you about all books being good for you is a lie, because a cyberpunk anthology of short stories made me so angry I got heartburn. I think people who say that are saying so because they wish that they could read a lot, in which case I say, yes I think reading is a gift and we should engage with it, however, sometimes I get so physically angry from something stupid/bad I've read because bad writers exist that it gives me actual pain. I am reading Howl's Moving Castle right now and it's very joyful; I am very surprised by the liberties the animated film took! However so far I do think both experiences are worthwhile, and if you enjoyed the Ghibli film, I very much recommend checking out the original book if you want to revisit that world again. The prose is straightforward but a little whimsical, and Howl is very, very funny. I have laughed aloud a few times.

Well, you know I rewatched Dark, and it's funny that during my exile I said 'this is like if RWBY got the ending it deserves' and then, er, I found out it's not renewed yet, and that's still up in the air, which for the entirety of RWBY I have only had one true moment of doubt of such a thing, and that was a while ago.

On that topic, yes, I still ship Jaune/Cinder, believe Cinder's redemption is likely, etc., although there are some more external concerns I would wager now than before. Before I thought it very possible to do without any commercial influence, and it depends what compromises they do or don't end up making or having already made. My analysis of Jaune's arc in V9 may not hold water as much (e.g. if you lean towards the view there were rewrites to cater to growing the audience, or perhaps it's two ideas married? I'm not sure) so I'm going to think about it more, and there always has been a tension in RWBY between what is being expected/baited and what is foreshadowed/said/actually happens.

I figured out how to write again and what was blocking me, so there's that. To talk about it a bit more, since my break I have worked every single day on writing. My key takeaways are that you need a delicate balance of delusion and self-doubt to get anything done - you don't know you can do something until you actually do it - and every excuse I invented for not writing was not the reason I was not writing. I can write with a migraine beginning to set in on an uncomfortable desk where I can't even rest my elbows properly on the end of a bed with no back support without aircon in the middle of summer before I've even taken my hair out from bedtime plaits in my pyjamas. I didn't even expect to get my fic done right before midnight, actually I was like 'well lol that's not going to happen, I'll write anyway though, fuck New Year's' because I wasn't doing anything, and then I finished and looked at the time and was like ooooh. I actually completed my goal! So I'm very proud of that. Anyway writing is breathing, to me, I go crazy if I don't do it, no matter what it is, and every single piece of nonsense advice of productivity was not helpful, ever, but I did figure it out. Also admittedly I got a fire burning under me again because I found out I was actually right about Raven, in which case I took that as a sign from heaven I was on the right track. One should hope.

I am excited about Dune Part Two, yes, although I am trying to avoid Villeneuve talking about the film because I know all the marketing is basically directed at people who aren't Dune fans, and I have to see it for myself to see what it's worth. I enjoyed the first film, and Villeneuve seems excited to direct Dune Messiah, in which case I am willing to do whatever possible to make that happen. Because that's about as complete a story you're going to get in a major motion picture adaptation and it would be So Fucking Good.

[in-my-feels-probably]

hi! can you do an alden x reader relating to the whisperers? i give you creative liberty for the rest! thank you if you do it 🤍

Together

Request: hi! can you do an alden x reader relating to the whisperers? i give you creative liberty for the rest! thank you if you do it 

Hi! I’m so sorry this took so long to get out, thank you for being patient. Thank you for the request. This is my first time writing for The Walking Dead, and for Alden. Just a forewarning, I haven’t watched the episodes I’m referring to in a long time and the story is a little fuzzy, so I’m sorry if it's a little inaccurate or confusing.

I was a little unsure about what to write about since you gave me creative liberty, but I hope you like the outcome. I don't love the outcome, but I didn’t want to make you wait any longer. If this isn’t what you were looking for, I’m happy to rewrite this, or accept another request. Just let me know, and I hope you enjoy it!

(Warnings: swearing, mentions of death, panic, angst, let me know if i missed anything)

—

The past few day’s events had been exhausting, to say the least. 

Mary, a Whisperer who had turned to your cause, warned your group of Alpha and the Whisperer’s plans to attack. It would result in catastrophe if left unhandled, so the group strategically scattered, planning the best course of action to fight back.

Hilltop had been evacuated a few days before, including Adam, the adoptive son of Tammy and Earl, and Mary’s nephew. Alden left the same day as the children, having other jobs needed for him to attend to. You chose to stay and fight, promising Alden you’d find him when it was all over.

Mary was right. Alpha’s attack hit the group with full force. She had led the horde straight to your gates, setting them on fire. You escaped on foot alone, unable to find anyone before you were forced to leave. There was nothing worth salvaging to return to.

Alden, Mary, and Kelly had met up together at some point, with Alden in custody of Adam, unbeknownst to you. You didn't know, at least until later, that Alden had become the sole caregiver to Adam. Earl was bit trying to protect the kids, and he died, according to Judith. Earl left Adam for Alden to take care of. Mary sacrificed herself to lead a horde of walkers away who had come after her, Alden, Kelly, and Adam. She died a hero, saving their lives. Beta found her, killing her before she could escape. 

With nowhere to go, you went to Alexandria, hoping that was where everyone else had turned to after the dust of the attack had settled. You knew you were right when you made it to the gates, being let in and greeted by a multitude of people. But not the one you were looking for.

You said your hello’s, eventually finding Kelly in the crowd. 

“Kelly! Have you seen Alden?”

She nodded, pointing down the street to the house at the end of the block. “He was with Judith last time I saw him. He didn’t look too good.”

“What do you mean?” You asked in confusion, worry setting in on your face. “Is he hurt?”

“No. Just a little shook up, I think. We had a rough time on the road.”

You listened in horror as she explained what happened in the time since you were separated, and all that happened to Mary. 

You placed a comforting hand on Kelly’s arm, giving it a squeeze. “I’m so sorry you had to see all of that. I’m glad you were with him, thank you for looking out for him.”

She smiled, patting your hand. “It was no trouble. He handled it well.”

She turned to find her friends, but you stopped her, brows furrowed. “Wait, sorry. Why is he with Judith?”

“Michonne isn’t coming back. I think Judith and RJ are going to stay with Daryl for a while, at least until they come up with a plan.”

You felt your heart sink at her words, making a mental note to find Judith and RJ later to make sure they were alright. Kelly continued, only growing the pit that had settled itself in your stomach.

“Judith said Alden and you could stay at the house while she isn’t there, since he’s got nowhere to go yet. I know we’ll all probably have to evacuate here in a few days, but it’s the solution for now, I guess.”

“That’s sweet of her,” you said, smiling at the thought of Judith’s kindness. “So you saw him at the house, then?”

“Yeah. But Y/N, I’d be careful. Earl didn’t make it out there.”

You felt sick to your stomach hearing about the death of Earl, knowing how close he was with Alden.

You brought a hand to your mouth, jaw going slack. “But what about Adam?”

“Judith said Earl told her that he wanted Alden to take Adam. Apparently Earl thought he was the best one for the job. Judith found Alden and told him, and he went into the house. I haven’t seen him come out since.”

You brought your fingers to the bridge of your nose, wincing. “Alright. I better go check on him. Thanks for telling me.”

“Come get me if you need me,” she said, patting your shoulder before turning back to her friends.

You took a deep breath, calming yourself, before hurrying down the street. You didn’t knock, letting yourself in. You tried to ignore the eerie feeling you got stepping through the door, knowing all who lived there were either dead or gone, except for Judith and RJ. 

You went straight for the guest room of the house, knowing it had been converted into a nursery after RJ was born. You pushed open the door, only to find Adam in his crib, and Alden, sitting on the floor with his head in his hands. 

You frowned at the sight, stepping in front of him, offering your hands. Your voice was soft. “Alden? Hey, baby.”

Alden looked up at the sound of your voice, quickly grabbing your hands as you helped pull him up, before he threw his arms around your waist. He pulled you tightly into him, hiding his face in the crook of your neck. You wrapped your arms around his neck, gently swaying him back and forth.

“Hard couple of days, huh?”

“Hey,” he murmured into your shoulder, sighing in relief. “God, now I feel like I can finally breathe.”

His voice was small. Cracked. It broke your heart. Adam started to stir in his crib, letting out a wail. Alden visibly flinched, letting out a pained groan. He let you go, heading to pick Adam up, but you grabbed his arm, gently holding him back. 

“Sit down, love,” you said, reaching into the crib. “I’ve got him.”

Alden nodded, backing up to the wall, slowly sliding down it. You placed Adam on your hip, gently bouncing him while you cradled him to you. Alden faintly smiled at the sight, feeling himself ease, if only for a moment.

“You look good with him.”

You tried not to hear the undertones of worry in his voice, knowing he was thinking to himself, how the hell are we supposed to take care of a baby? How can we do it alone? There isn’t even enough time to grieve Earl.

You weakly smiled, softly cooing at Adam, whose cries had ceased. “That’s all him. He’s so cute, I don’t even have to do any work.”

Alden smiled, although it didn’t quite meet his eyes. You sighed, placing Adam back down in his crib, before easing yourself down the wall to sit next to him. You pulled his hand into your lap, intertwining your fingers. He absentmindedly rubbed his thumb in circles along the backside of your hand, looking at you with tired eyes.

“We’ll make it work,” you said, trying your best to make the both of you believe it. “It’ll be fine…we’ll be fine.”

Alden nodded, resting his chin on your shoulder. “I know.”

You sat in silence for a moment, relishing in the peace. But you could feel the tension in the room, knowing there were some unsaid words, waiting to be freed. Yet, you couldn’t look him in the eye and ask. 

Instead, you turned your head, letting it rest against his. “I’m sorry about Earl. I’m sorry I wasn’t there with you–”

“It’s not your fault,” he cut you off, squeezing your hand. “You know that.”

“I do. But still,” you nodded, and there was a pause. “Do you want to talk about it? Kelly filled me in a little, but I want you to talk about it, too. You need the release.”

He sighed, moving to press the heels of his palms to his eyes. You stayed quiet, rubbing a comforting hand along his back.

“You know, after Enid…I just shut down. I said some things I shouldn’t have said to Lydia, even though it’s not her fault where she comes from. Lord knows how true that is, considering how we were on opposite sides when we met.”

You flinched at Enid’s name. Neither of you had been able to fully process her death, or truly move on. Your mutual grief is what had brought you together. You both knew Enid would have wanted you to be happy with her gone. It took you both a while to accept that.

“I’m glad you were with the Saviors,” you said, truthfully. “I don’t care what side you were on. We’ve all done shit we’re not proud of. And, you didn’t do Negan’s bidding. But even if you had, it would have been to survive. Lydia did the same. You were hurt, after Enid…Lydia understands that, I promise you.”

His jaw clenched, and he kept his eyes on the floor.

“Still. Maggie changed my life, letting us stay at Hilltop. I would never have met you if it wasn’t for her. And yet, here I was, being a complete dick to Mary. Judging her on where she came from, as if taking a chance on me isn’t what your people did. She just wanted to help. She wanted to see her nephew.”

His voice broke as he spoke, and he stood, violently wiping under his eyes. 

“I fucking hate them. I can’t help it. But Mary…God, I should have done something.”

Your gaze softened on him, and you stood, pulling his hands away from his face. You wiped under his eyes, much more gently than he had been doing, before holding him still by his shoulders. 

“There was nothing you could have done, Alden. Nothing. She made her own choice, and I’ll be grateful to her every day for it.”

Alden shook his head, but you cupped his jaw, holding him still.

“Hey, listen to me. Listen to me. I’m grateful to her, and I’m grateful to Earl. You and Adam came home because of them,” you said, speaking firmly. “And not just you, but Kelly, too. And all those children. They got to come home because of them. Judith came home. That makes their sacrifice worth it, doesn’t it? They didn’t die for nothing.”

You went over to the crib, picking Adam up again. You gently passed him to Alden, making him focus on you both. Alden softened, looking at Adam with teary eyes.

“He was worth it, wasn’t he?”

Alden let out a heavy sigh, nodding. You nodded with him, setting one hand on his arm, resting the other on Adam’s back. 

“I think it was. We’re all alive, we’re all ok. We’re home. I couldn’t ask for much better. It’s gonna be alright, Alden. We’ll make sure of it, and we’ll do it together, alright?”

He nodded again, leaning over to press a kiss on the top of your head. You leaned into his side, and you both took deep breaths, trying to keep yourself calm. Finally, he broke the silence, his voice firm and full of reassurance. 

“Together.”

—

A/N - Hi! Sorry this is a little short. I feel like I could have done better if I came up with something better for the plot, but that’s my bad. Anyways, thank you again for the request. Hopefully this is alright, let me know what you think!

[godunlap]

NOTES ON EP. 8 ( part 1/? ) 𝚜𝚙𝚘𝚒𝚕𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚞𝚝. absolutely criminal in length, WHAT CAN I SAY, she does it 2 me.

here we go again guys WHAT THE FUCK???? sorry i always have to get that out first. [ i loved it ] not everyone's cup of tea i know but 'twas mine !!!

◌ the overlapping thoughts in the beginning? that's something she's going to need time to gain control over. looking back on her childhood, she didn't hear people's thoughts right away, it all started with persuasion. once the voices did start, they were overwhelming, but it was only a few people at a time, thinking relatively calm thoughts. - then she was exposed to the truth of how her parents felt about her, with nothing to block it out. this added to her parents resilience in keeping her locked up, the voices made it impossible to participate normally in society anyway. so cut back to the present & she's bombarded with several thoughts in times of CHAOS, it's a lot for her.

◌ so much to say about the sam/cate dynamic, VERY much in connection with @riordsam's portrayal because... yeah. but the loyalty displayed in such a short time was !! it says so much about them individually for one thing, but as a duo, i really am expecting so much of them in the future.

◌ the dead student was the final nail in the coffin for g.odolkin i fear. it was a blatant & brutal display of how (in cate's mind) they will never be left in peace & almost always hated & feared for who they are.

◌ now, with the switch up in public perception [ my mind's been going crazy over this thanks to @gadflies always having the most insightful questions at the ready ] this might actually have a hand in shifting cate's perspective. seen as the hero, she'll finally know what it's like to be loved & admired rather than feared. no matter how shallow, fleeting, or uninformed that 'love' may be. that said, i don't believe she'll be a big fan of the narrative rewrite being worked by v.ought because the woods & all their sins are being buried along with it.

◌ more on sam/cate but the scene following/during sam's hallucination of luke was SO INTERESTING!!! "do you want me to help you, sam?" the specific framing of 'help', respecting his choice in the matter but urging him to accept!!! once again zawn gets me thinking, the details of that scene : her hand placement, her choice of words, even body language / tone. she touches his face in a show of comfort, her words reflecting the same. cate tells sam to feel nothing because in her mind, this is the ideal. no more pain, shame, or guilt about anything that happened to them or anything they had to do now. her body language is extremely wary because she knows he's fighting a battle in his mind & she fears the outcome might be him abandoning her or turning against her.

◌ CATE WAS A LITTLE TOO GOOD WITH THE CAMPUS TAKE - DOWN. she went in with no hesitation, the beginnings of a plan & she bulldozed their whole shit. do i love that they went off & killed a bunch of innocent people for the sake of "supe superiority"? hell to the no, but i understand the progression of their characters & accept that this is the route they've taken. i plan to explore it to the fullest extent while taking my own liberties with cate post - finale & gearing up to the b/oys s4.

◌ sorry but the "that's your real superpower isn't it? acting like you're doing something when really you're doing nothing" OOOOF. this was one of the more disappointing aspects of andre's character for me. they built him up in the first few eps like he was gonna get to the bottom of things & free the kids from the woods & then... nothing.

◌ "you're a product to them, i'm trying to save you" in such a short time period cate has completely re - framed the past few years of her life. those people were not doing the right thing, meaning everything she ever did for them was wrong. stripping back the layers of the TOTAL denial necessary for her complacency has taken an extreme toll.

◌ the arm. . . cate had to be stopped SOMEHOW so u know, i get it. cool possibilities for the future !! (lea got my brain going again about a prosthetic arm possibly) I COULD SEE IT, definitely now after sitting with it for a bit. there's a few reasons / implications with this. 1st of all with vought money / tech, she knows she'd be very taken care of. there's also the fact that it might help in terms of safety? in potential combat, there's always the chance that an opponent might not know she lost an arm or even which arm she lost. it might give her an edge, buy her a second or two. then there's the heartbreaking idea that it might give her a new way to connect with people. one hand that wouldn't strike fear or distrust in the hearts of even her closest of friends & family to touch.

◌ my feariest fear is that they're going to go the route of pulling sam back from the precipice while pushing cate fully over the edge. while sam has at least a few moments of genuine doubt, cate showed no hesitation. with every move, she was sure. what i hope is that they realize very quickly that h.omelander is not a friend & they simply lump him in with vought, part of the system that needs dismantling rather than supes vs. humans.

this is INSANELY long, thoughts on cate post - finale will have to follow, also considering an alternate verse sticking with the idea that sam & cate liberate the woods, being stealthy about it instead & hiding out at shetty's to come up with a plan focused on taking down v.ought/godolkin as entities rather than targeting the individuals within the organizations.

[ainyan]

New year fic writer asks #5, please (and a Happy New Year to you!): 5. Which WIP is first on your list to complete this year? Will you post a snippet?

Hmm. I've got some long fics I'm working on - both a new Modern AU Kalicred and my MSQ rewrite AU Woven Souls. I don't know if either will be completed this year, but I can give you some snippets of what I've done, under the cut <3

From Misadventures in Modern Eorzea:

Then she just closed her eyes and laid her head against the closet door, waiting for her racing heartbeat to slow. She had no idea what was going on, or why she was reacting to Thancred like this. Sure, she’d always had a little crush on him, but it was the kind of crush you could ignore, that low-grade appreciation for a smooth-talking, handsome man who was absolutely off-limits. 

Like crushing on your best friend.

“Get over it, Kali,” she muttered to herself. “Yeah, he’s hot. He’s always been hot. He’s also your best damn friend and if you fuck this up, there’s no coming back from it.” Steadier, she pushed away from the door and studied her clothing. She selected a casual sundress, as it was still the tail-end of summer out there and the weather combined with the inevitable effects of a city like a concrete and steel cage meant it was hot and sultry.

Kind of like Than-

Shut up, she bitched at her brain, and resolutely turned her back on her closet, stripping off her lounging clothes and tossing on the dress and a pair of cute sandals. She took her hair down from its messy ponytail and quickly braided it, letting it hang down her back. A few dabs of lipstick, a brush of eyeshadow, and boom. Perfect for a lunch date with her bestie.

Lunch with her bestie. It wasn’t a date.Damn it. Firmly shunting her thoughts aside, she stepped up to the door and through it.

From Woven Souls:

Kal’istae’s room was halfway down the hall, buried between Minfilia and Yda’s. Thancred stood outside of the closed door, staring at it as he fought with himself. He could tell Minfilia he’d checked on her, that she was fine, that all was well. He knew  the Au Ra was excited and nervous - and just a bit frustrated about something - but that she was also nearly ready. It would be fine. It would all work out. It would…

Cursing himself, he lifted his knuckles and rapped smartly against the door.

“Come in!”

Hells. Thancred pushed open the door and stepped in, only to be presented with the back of a Kal’istae in a gown he’d never seen, arms tucked up behind her as she rooted around for the unfastened buttons. “Yda? Is that you? Can you help me?”

She should have known it wasn’t Yda; he imagined she would have if he couldn’t feel the seething mass of anxiety and frustration that was simmering in her breast. In silence, he crossed the room and reached out, quickly and efficiently buttoning up the back of her dress. The pale lavender pearls danced up her spine from the base of her tail to mid-back, where the rich indigo fabric of her dress framed her marginally paler skin and obsidian scales.

Had he known she had freckles on her back? His fingers itched to touch them, trace constellations amongst them, and he folded his hands into fists to prevent himself from taking such a liberty.

He watched as her shoulders relaxed, felt her emotions recede. “Thank you,” she said feelingly, turning with a rustle of skirts. “I’d forgotten how difficult it is to put on a dress; I haven’t worn one that wasn’t a glamour… well, as long as I can remem…”

She trailed off as she met Thancred’s dark eyes, a flush rising in her cheeks. “You’re not Yda.”

He glanced down at himself. “No, I’m definitely not Yda.”

[tea-with-evan-and-me]

What would it take to prove that Evan was more than talking? Since he is so private, I don't think we would ever know this for most relationships. And to be sure, we will never know what he and Frances had (any more than we know what really went on with Haley or Halsey). We can only speculate. I think you make great points about them dating. For sure they did go out in public and went on some trips and maybe that equates to romantic feelings. It might come down to how different people really measure feelings, and at the end of the day, since we can't see into their private life, we don't know. What I have a hard time with is that if Evan really had feelings for her, and given how badly she wanted to be "his" in the public eye (she courted it at every turn) I just don't get why he wouldn't drop her a crumb and let them be a bit of a couple out in public. Even at the VF party, he let his handlers push her off the red carpet during photos, and there is one awkward photo of them. Being a fan of his, it just doesn't seem like the behavior of the guy I have followed and how he treats people he has feelings for. So really I am not anti-Fran. I am just hoping that the Evan I am a fan of would be nicer to someone he has true feelings for. He could have made those 2 years go much better for her by allowing a few actual nice couple photos of them rather than all the sneaky pics. Because when you are in a relationship, it is not just about what you want and need, it is about what your partner wants and needs. So yeah maybe Evan the actor needs privacy but if Fran the normie wanted to be his publicly doesn't that count too? I say if there is love it does.

you said yourself we cannot truly know what evan and frances felt, yet you take the liberty to say that frances badly wanted to be in ''his'' public eye. she never once said this, you simply inferred it from her actions, which is.. i guess that she posted about him on social media and enjoyed making his fans jealous. what on earth does it mean to drop a crumb and "let" them be a couple in public? what would that even mean? they were a couple in public. just because there wasn't paparazzi chasing them, doesn't mean they were not publicly together. he took her to an oscar party and you still find reasons to allege he was ''hiding'' her, so i am very sure that there is nothing that he could have done to satisfy your expectations of what it means for evan to publicly claim a girlfriend you didn't like. evan did not have his handlers ''push'' her off the red carpet in photos; again, you are projecting your own negative feelings. any rational person would look at the situation and see that frances is a normal, non-celebrity girlfriend who likely did feel awkward, who perhaps didn't even want to be in photos with him on the red carpet because of the backlash and multiple hate blogs she had being ran about her. i don't believe for one moment you're denying their relationship because you think his behavior wasn't "fitting" for a loving relationship and the sweetie you know evan to be. you don't know evan, you're not his friend, you never saw the way those two interacted at all. you don't know what frances ''needed'' any more than you know what evan needed. what we do know is that they were in a romantic relationship for 2 years. you honestly sound unhinged to end this ask as though you intimately know what frances needed to be happy, and that evan was somehow denying it to her because he didn't actually love her.

this is the last ask i'm entertaining about this nonsense. this isn't a difference of opinion, this is legitimately some people trying to rewrite history to suit them, and i can't hold a conversation with people who outright refuse to acknowledge reality. i don't believe this way of thinking is healthy at all. dislike frances all you want, but you can't sit here and try and erase a two year relationship over it and expect me to play into your mindset.

[a-girl-called-bob]

(This is in response to some conversation around fan works and 'expy' characters)

@juneegbertfanpage The short answer is, yes! But if you decide to go that route, there are a few things I'd recommend keeping in mind.

First, if your fanfic uses excerpts from the original text or basically follows the original plot, then you'll have to rewrite those bits. This probably seems obvious but you'd really, really be surprised what people think they can get away with. Similarly, if there are some incredibly recognizable setting elements, you may have a hard time making it seem original - it's a lot harder to turn a Pokemon fanfic into an original story than, say, a Star Trek fanfic.

Second, most fanfic relies heavily on the reader's understanding of the original work to skip out on establishing characters. You can't do that if you're going to call your story an original work. Reread the first few chapters and see if you need to put in more early moments to give the reader an idea of who these people are. Also go back over the worldbuilding - unless you're in the business of writing very detailed AUs, you may want to reinforce some background details about the world that you might've glossed over originally because the audience should already know those parts.

Asterisk on that last part: when you're doing this, it could be nice to take some liberties and do some things differently than the 'original' work - after all, you don't need to worry about making anyone OOC anymore, because that's a different guy now! At this point, being consistent with who your characters are later (or rather, telegraphing some of the development they may have) is better than just using whatever your story was originally based on.

Third, if you've already published the story elsewhere in its original fanfiction form, people will likely find both that version and the version you've made more your own. This isn't going to constitute a problem legally (unless somehow you get accused of plagiarizing yourself), but you will be made fun of for being a fanfic author. Assholes will deride your work, regardless of its quality or originality, simply because it began life as a fan work. You and I know that that's bullshit - not only is there nothing wrong with writing fanfiction, but also so many other works out there theoretically *could* have started life as a fanfiction of sorts, and they are still celebrated works. Point is, if the original fanfic version of your story exists online somewhere, it will be found, and people will make fun of you for it; you can't let them get under your skin. Not that that is easy, but it is necessary.

Finally, be warned: independent authors get screwed over at astronomical rates. I've never published a book, so I would defer to any number of folks who've gone through the process multiple times, but overall I'd be careful who you talk to and be doubly careful who you send a manuscript to. When you get toward the publishing stage (after carefully editing your prior work [and getting the help of a beta reader or ideally two - one familiar with the original work and one fresh]) I would highly recommend seeking out the advice of fellow authors - there are certainly dozens of advice posts that have circulated around here, as well as years of discussions on other sites such as Medium, Reddit, and Quora. I'd also look for panels at any conventions you might be going to - most of the science-fiction/fantasy fan cons will have one or two discussions on getting published, at least in my experience.

[shinobi-illuminator]

I finished Arcane and here are a few things I'd like to say...

The Ending instantly hit Me (I wanted to cry so bad around that ending due to feels)

Am I the only one who can relate to Jinx? Cuz part of Me feels like I can at least relate to her in some sort of way

WHAT!? Sky instantly gets killed right away?! I was hoping for some potential between Her and Viktor and that gets instantly thrown out right away?

So far, I really liked the show and some of its characters. I play not have played League of Legends as much as you do but as I've read, LoL came out like long before Arcane sooooo you don't suppose Season 2 is gonna end up much like the Game, right?

Yeah. It’s always ep3 and ep9 that always hits you where it hurts. I now cry when Silco dies.

I’m not surprised with your feelings with Jinx. She’s easily one of the juiciest characters in the piece and she is given nuance to her struggles.

Yep! And I have a hunch as to why. First— Viktor now is faced with a dilemma, his efforts to push progress to save his skin got Sky killed. And he never even knew she loved him until he read her diary. It’s a mirror back to Jayce too after he raid’s the factory and accidentally kills Renni’s son. Both men of progress have now got spilt blood on their hands.

But! Lore wise as a prediction for season 2, we never get to see what Sky’s project was. I think it’s Blitzcrank the robot. Once Viktor survives the nuke, he’ll take what he needs and completes her work for her. Sort of making the son they never had. In lore, Blitz sort of treats Viktor like a dad.

Funny enough I have NOT played League of Legends. Most folks I’ve spoken to who have told me if I love Arcane I SHOULD NOT play the game. But I love the folklore, so I’ve listened in on that to get possible hints on what to expect for later. It’s not one for one. Arcane is a prequel of sorts, but it takes liberties to rewrite stuff to fit as a show instead of a game. Which I love.

All and all, “All I want for Christmas is season 2” 🎵 🎶 — which is coming hopefully next year!

[ggomos-maribat]

D-DAY Chapter 5 | 6 Days Before

They had decided to meet up in Gotham Museum, since Marinette had never stepped foot in the place. Tim had a last minute errand to run, so she took the liberty to explore the place for a bit while waiting. She paused in front of a large square painting, a realistic piece showing a horde of townspeople crowded around a faceless figure.

She buried her hands into her jacket pockets and stared. The paint strokes were immaculate. Each direction led the flow of emotions in the representation of each person. An oil medium, it looked like. The warm colors sweeping around were drowning the villagers in either a sunset or the flames of hell.

Marinette sat down on the bench, absorbed in the painting.

"The Recreation," a woman next to her uttered. She wore a long-collared coat and a pair of reflective sunglasses. "Wouldn't it be nice to have the power to reform the world?"

"That would be playing god." Marinette never broke her gaze.

"But if you had the means to undo a tragedy, wouldn't you take the chance?"

"For such actions, there are always equivalent consequences." Her lip curled in distaste. "Erasing and rewriting reality isn't anyone's decision to make."

"Does that mean you will let Paris live with its scars for the rest of your life?" From the corner of Marinette's eye, she could see the woman smiling a little.

Says the one who kills without hesitation.

"It means that I know people would like to change the past." She lowered her tone. "But I also know people who don't. The events of Paris have caused misery and grief among the people but it has also strengthened their wills. I have no right to take that away from them."

"Besides . . ." Marinette continued, "Even at the hands of the League, I don't think the Miraculouses will be used for honorable intentions, Talia."

"We might," Talia taunted. "Don't you want those jewels to be taken off your hands once and for all? Wasn't the guardian duty thrust upon you at a young age?"

"That is true. I do want to get rid of the burden. I'm too young to handle my current responsibilities." Marinette's fingers tensed around her arm. "But I'm not incapable or stupid. I'm not letting the Miraculouses fall into the wrong hands."

"It's a shame. You don't doubt your decisions." Talia stood up, brushing down her coat. "I suppose I'll come see you another time."

She slipped into the bustling crowd, blending perfectly against the unsuspecting Gothamites. Marinette pressed a hand against her chest to calm her pounding heart. For a minute, she'd thought Talia would pull off a trick even at the risk of causing a commotion, but she didn't do anything but leave her with a few words.

You're wrong, she wanted to say. I do doubt my decisions. Everyday.

She had the power to reverse the disasters that had haunted her city for years. The power to bring back the life Adrien wanted for his family. The power to give herself a chance to live as an ordinary person, who didn't wake up in the middle of the night screaming or hid tears in front of other people.

She could readily offer herself as the sacrifice.

But what about the others? The Parisians who found meaning amidst the distress? The rest of the world that didn't know how much one city had suffered? Was that fair to them at all?

She felt her kwami's reassuring pats from the inside of her jacket. Marinette took a deep breath. Everything's over now, but at the same time, it's not. She was tired. Dead tired. But she couldn't stop fighting because that was all she ever knew in her life.

She looked at the painting again. 'The Recreation', huh? Her jaw clenched. Those people don't look too happy about that.

---

"Want a bite?" Tim pushed his slice of carrot cake towards her, eyes gleaming. "You've been staring at this for a while now."

Marinette's cheeks burned as she broke her staring contest with the cake. "No—no it's okay."

He laughed, handing her a fork. "Come on. You can have some."

She reluctantly accepted his offer, not wanting to admit that she barely had anything to eat that day. As she took pieces off the cake, she was careful not to take too much.

Marinette took a sip of her iced latte. "I should open your gift now."

He arched an eyebrow. "I thought you weren't opening it until we got home."

"I want to see it now."

The sound of ripping paper joined the loud calls of orders from the register, the whir of the frothing machine, and the murmurs of the other customers around them. The inside of the box had strips of paper for cushioning, enclosing a pink French press with a gilded top. Plum blossom patterns swirled on the glass body, with branches of other flowers.

She sucked in a breath. ". . . Tim, I love it!"

He stopped fidgeting. "Really? I, umm, I actually wasn't sure what to get you in return for that jacket you made me. Alfred helped a little."

Marinette took the gift out of the box to inspect it. "You didn't have to return that favor, you know."

"I know, but I wanted to."

She laced her fingers with his from across the table. "I'll make sure to use it all the time."

The smile that broke out on his face was contagious. Every time she was with him, she felt like she could temporarily forget about the world. Ignoring the sliver of guilt she felt, she wished that being with him was something she could always come back to.

"You spoil me." Marinette tucked the press back, placing the box carefully under the table.

"You deserve to be spoiled." Tim sipped on his drink. "You deserve so much more."

He looks sad. Or tired? Marinette noted. She could guess the hidden meaning. "That goes the same for you. You've been working so hard recently."

He shrugged. "WE's busier than usual. Nothing new."

She chuckled. "I'm close to kidnapping you away."

"Is it kidnapping if I'd willingly go with you?"

Damn.

She held herself back from closing the distance between them. She focused on the aroma of caffeine and spices around them, but all her other senses were overwhelmed by him and only him.

"Maybe not," she said weakly. "Where do you want to go?"

He answered automatically. "Paris. Your home." The feather-light touches of his fingers glided along the back of her hand. "Or a faraway island somewhere."

She snorted. "An empty island. How romantic."

Tim grinned toothily. "Only if you're with me."

She should be used to it already: trading bold comments with him with the occasional diabolical and outlandish plans they came up with. But she was still a victim of blushes. Of the skipping of her heartbeat.

"I can get us fake identities," he proposed, "Make our locations untraceable."

"Didn't know Mr. Drake-Wayne would lavishly spend his money like that," she teased.

Tim looked proud of himself. "I should let you know he does that on a regular basis."

Marinette ran her thumb on his palm. If only it were that easy. To drop everything right at this second and abandon all our priorities. It was tempting, really. He had the capability, she had the reasons. She wouldn't have to worry about carrying lives on her back, or look out for her enemies.

Strangely, freedom was the same thing she was offered earlier that day.

But freedom with Tim was much more appealing.

---

Tim stretched on the bed, waking up from the cold. With his bleary eyes, he saw Marinette sitting up and looking out the window of his room. He yawned and nudged her with his leg. "Mari? What's wrong?"

She looked back at him with a tired smile. "Sorry. I couldn't sleep again after I woke up."

He opened his arms to welcome her warmth. She crawled to his side as he wrapped the sheets around them. "Thinking?" he whispered before planting a kiss on her cheek.

She nuzzled his chest. "Yeah. Lots of things."

"Tell me about them."

"Future plans," she mumbled. Tim moved his hand to stroke her head. "My responsibilities."

"Mmm. I have those thoughts too."

Thoughts that were unlike hers. Heavy. Looming at the back of his mind.

He had begun to trust her with his life, but was he trustworthy enough to protect her? He desperately didn't want her to be involved with his family's secret job. He even thought she'd be better off not staying in Gotham. This city eats you up and spits you out as a different person.

She didn't need to be caught up in any trouble.

Marinette snuggled deeper into his hold. "Comfy."

"Only with you."

"Tim?"

"Yes . . .?"

She looked up at him, eyes a stark contrast against the night. "What if I'd have to leave someday?"

"I'll follow you," he assured. Slow strokes of his thumb traced her jawline, up to her cheek. "I'll still be right by your side."

"Won't you be sad?"

"I want you to do whatever you think you should," he said softly. It wasn't like he had the right to be the sole reason for her to stay. He couldn't hold her back like that. "And I'll keep in touch. Or go with you. No one can stop me."

She put her hand at the back of his head and pulled him in for a soft kiss. The brush of their lips deepened into a fervor and when they'd pull away for a brief second, they would find their way back to each other again.

The words sat unsaid at the tip of his tongue.

"Let's get some sleep now." She buried her face on his neck whilst wrapping his arm around her waist.

"Good night," he said softly.

"Good night, Tim." 

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Taglist: @its-maemain@tinybrie@worlds-tiniest-puff-pastry@the-coffee-fandom

[toskarin]

Are there any trends you like/dislike seeing in translations? Stuff that you think isn't talked about enough you wish were more? I'm an amateur translator, so this stuff is interesting to me.

I guess the answer partially depends on which language you're translating to and from? I'll assume Japanese to English for the sake of this, but some of this is more broadly applicable (it's definitely still more focused on East Asian languages to European ones)

also, this is literally all personal taste! I've appreciated plenty of translations that break some or even all of these rules

leaving honorifics intact: this is only really something I'm strongly opinionated on if I can't hear or see the original text. translation always flattens the text a little bit, but in some cases it can be minimized. this isn't always the right choice for every text, but I generally appreciate it

creative translations of yabai: this might be strange after I dropped such a "keep it intact" opinion, but yabai (やばい) definitely feels like one of those phrases that you're better off translating for meaning. the same goes for shikata ga nai (仕方がない), less because it can't be literally translated, but because I personally feel like "it can't be helped" gets clunky really fast

keeping name order: the worst thing about Japanese to English translation, and this is a problem that's always plagued it, is that the order of names gets shuffled around a lot. Chinese and Korean names don't really tend to suffer this same problem in translation for whatever reason, but for sake of uniformity, I tend to like when names are translated in the order they were written

using profanity to convey tone: pairing up another "keep it intact" opinion with another "take liberty" one, I actually like when profanity is used to indicate the rudeness if someone's speech. profanity is infamously difficult to translate, but rude speech is something that's always seemed even more difficult because of the expectation of understanding social norms. profanity in English works pretty well for conveying that sort of "talking with zero respect" attitude, I think. this one's a hard sell because of the way 90s translation would add profanity to make anime seem more like "adult" entertainment, but I personally like the modern trend

appendices: I adore when translations come with a section to explain any nuance that had to be flattened in translation. some people think they're clunky, but I like having them around. sometimes you can get away with a TL note or some creative English furigana, but other times it really just does necessitate a page that goes "alright so there's a pun here I had to replace"

rewriting poetry to keep a rhyme scheme: I'm neutral on this one, but it's cute. I can't say if I think it's "good" or not, but I always smile when I see it

ou > oo: using ou to indicate an ō sound is just something I like because I arbitrarily decided I did

with all that in mind, these are still 100% matters of taste. Soukou Akki Muramasa, the VN I always rave about the translation work on, runs counter to a few of these trends

also, best of luck in translation! you're doing heaven's work and I don't think it's appreciated enough. it really is such an art

[edema--ruh]

Okay so I have a (hopefully) interesting question to ask you! I see right now you’re translating TWYUTD from English to Brazilian Portuguese and I wanted to ask about your whole process. I’m assuming that Brazilian Portuguese is your native language but please correct me if I’m wrong!! Also, this ask is coming from someone whose first language is English and not quite fluent in a second language (although I’m still working on it) and I find translating to be such a fascinating art. When translating, do you go sentence by sentence, taking a more literal approach? Or do you take passages from the original and modify it in order to make it sound more natural in BR-Portuguese? How would you say the story differs tone-wise in BR-Portuguese compared to English? Are there any other features you find different in the BR-Portuguese translation compared to the original English?

This is a very interesting question! Thank you for sending this to me! For starters, I my job IRL has to do with quality control for audiovisual translation (i.e. translation for TV, in the form of subtitles and dubbing). That means I'm more or less used to translation processes and I also majored in Anglistics, meaning I had a few classes on translation. But TWYUTD is soooo long that translating it by myself would be equivalent to writing it all over again -- because that's the first thing you need to know about translating. When you translate a work, you create a new version of it. It's like rewriting the story, only in a different language. In the case of TWYUTD, I'm creating a Brazilian version of the story, I'm not merely transcribing it in a literal way into a different language (does it make sense?) There are terms that simply don't exist in Portuguese, there are words and nicknames that need to be adapted to the Brazilian speech reality, or else the translation would seem really literal and flat and meaningless and that was not my goal doing this. My goal was to make the story available to people in my country who aren't priviledged enough to speak English as a second language, in a way that doesn't stray from the heart of the original story and that is still as funny, enjoyable and comprehensible as the original.

Because of the length of the story, I have assembled a team of incredible people who volunteered to help me translate it into my mother tongue. I translate some chapters myself, but they also translate other chapters and send them to me to read and approve the translation. We created a glossary with reccurrent terms/nicknames/catchphrases so that we could all translate them the same way when they showed up in the story. We have adapted some stuff when it comes to characters' nicknames and reccurent phrases. E.G., we have a cookie in Brazil called "Trakinas", which comes in several different colors. One of the colors is half-white, half-pink, so regarding Todoroki, instead of translating "Icy Hot" literally (which would be something flat and lacking meaning like "Gelo-Quente" or "Frio-Quente"), we call him "Trakinas". There's also an ice cream in Brazil called "Napolitano", which is half-vanilla and half-strawberry, so we also call Todoroki "Napolitano". Those were artistic liberties I took as the writer of the original story and allowed other people to take regarding my work because I wanted people who don't speak English to enjoy the story as much as they possibly can in a way that makes sense to them. I have to admit that translating Bakugou's swearwords is a very complicated process, on the other hand, because Portuguese (as most romantic languages) don't use "fuck" as an adverb. So we have to adapt his speech in a way that still keeps a swearword, but in a different structure in the sentence.

Long story short, we try to keep from literal translations as much as we can. We do a process called "domestication" in the translation field, which means we adapt the reality of the story into our own Brazilian one. I hope this answers your question! ^_^

[holmes-cringe-compilation]

Hey this isn't a submission I just kinda wanted to say this and I have no friends. But I feel guilty for liking Barok as a character. I think he's cool and complex and I don't like how he's racist. But I rewrote him so I usually think of my version of him which isn't racist obviously. But the mere mention that I like his character gets people so mad. I have had some really rude people and I guess that's just the internet but I'm feeling really upset about it. As a fellow Barok Rewriter do you ever feel guilty as well? I don't think rewriting a fictional character condones his actions. I just don't want to feel guilty for liking a not real guy. What do you do to help when you feel this way if you do? I love your work and just want your opinion. Thanks-

hi anon ! thank you so much for sending this in. i love to see fellow barok likers, especially the ones who take the liberty of making their own little barok to rewrite him and rid him of any flaws because let's be real, his flaws are quite.... yikes ! i think that people who rewrite certain characters with awful flaws are perfectly fine, you're purposefully getting rid of bad, possibly irredeemable flaws from a character so you can enjoy them fully. although that isn't to say for other people.

more under the cut !

the thing is, very few people have the same ideas you have with the whole 'rewriting a character to get rid of their flaws' thing. this being said, you may think of a character in your own way that may be different to popular interpretation but others just see what is presented to them straight from canon, barok seems like a character that these people wouldn't give headcanons to unlike characters like phoenix or edgeworth. because of his writing.

you shouldn't feel upset about rewriting barok into something people may like !! you are getting rid of the ugly parts anyways so i see no harm in it, me and a friend did this with barok as he was one of our favourite characters, we added more pizzazz to him and stripped him of his racism and shitty behaviour really.

i think since people haven't given you the time to explain yourself that you don't like the canon barok but you instead like your own interpretation of him, telling them that you don't condone the racism is a first with this !! i find it horrible that some people don't let people have their say in a thing they like or do and immediately tell them off for doing such a thing, that's the impression that i'm getting here. it's exactly as you put it, it's literally just people on the internet being who they are.

now to the question part: do i feel guilty about liking barok ? hell no !! i like a lot of things about him, his fashion sense is so gothic and emo vampire-esque it's so cool (i believe that kazuya nuri said he was designed to be a beauty icon or something along those lines, take it with a grain of salt), i love his personality and for the most part i love the writing he has with his snarky remarks and his objections, the only setbacks however is yep you guessed it, his racist behaviour.

i'm super glad that he isn't as awful compared to the likes of jezaille (is it just me or is she more racist in the localisation ??) but that isn't to say that it's not bad, i very much encourage people to take the good pieces from not just him but any character who suffers from bad writing choice syndrome and to make it into something better and you're right in saying that you rewriting barok doesn't mean you condone his actions !! you're literally doing everything you can to distance yourself from the bad so why should you feel bad about this ?

if you have any more questions, don't hesitate to dm me !! i'm always happy to answer your questions !!