#and gives me the chance to explore characters that haven't existed until I needed them too

[your-ne1ghbor]

A century ago... (IDEA DUMP) (FW Blood)

Not Mag trauma dumping 🤦‍♀️

Alr here are your 2 new characters to the TKoRaT's expanding world:

Aster is not "Star Boy" or the one Asha wishes on.

I feel like the name best suited them, because...well idk it just did for the design I was imagining at one point.

Also this one is like pretty old, like I am between 2,000 or more. Yee they have been around for a long time...

So why did this dude want to grant this random ass guy's wish? They really didn't have a choice to be frank. They were wished upon, they have to do their job, and they also were intriuged. Why did this dude want to defeat "The Great Magnifico"?

Also, Aster I dont think will appear nessesarily in "The Kingdom of Roses and Thorns" in the main story where Asha's story takes place. Only in like a possible prequal? Idk man I am just idea dumping

So STAR BOY does know of them, but not on a personal level. I feel like since he knows the story of Aster, he just wants to not have Asha fall down that path.

(wholesome moments will never end with those two)

There was a few goals I had with this character:

Make him menecing enough

Make them sort of like a bibical angel..dont ask I just felt like that they would look like that for some reason

GIANT EYE

And I just realized they look like a character from the amazing digital circus.

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So the random ahh dude..

Yeah he hurt Mag's pride in .000000001 milliseconds lmaoo

Maybe there is like a place where they learned sorcery? I mean, I'm just thinking this dude learned how to start magic through Aster then turned to some dark ahh magic maybe idk...

I was thinking that maybe it was his brother? But Maggy (Magnifico) in my version would be the oldest in my version.

Yeah yk what? Eugene it is and he is Magnifico's younger brother who had to die. If Magnifico kills him...thats cool but idk if he has the guts at this point of his old life to kill his brother. Or his best friend? Rival? Idk but his name is now Eugene :/

Thats all I got, I am just EXPLORING and IDEA DUMPING. I am not saying that this is CANNON in my story, I'm just looking at other ways to destroy Magnifico and Amaya mentally :3

And now giving them a backstory is breaking my heart like my villains did not deserve this 😭

What is cannon though, is that Rosas was destroyed by a Star, or mainly the star helped do some mass murder on the whole place at least more than over a century ago. How they survived that long is by consuming wishes that gives them new life and live longer (yes I am adding onto what else the wishes do to them yipeee). Still debating if a wish is destroyed, the person dies, but idk yet :3

Funny enough, he doesn't use magic as much as he does now. He was very reclusive with his magic and only used it when nessesary. Never to kill people either....which is the completly the opposite of TKoRaT Maggy is now, same with Amaya :')

[inkbutterflyuniverse]

People should stop hating on something they haven't seen/didn't give a chance just because it's a reboot.

I wantee to make a post about shows that had a reboot and that were judged too soon, before people even watch it, for a long time, and what is happening with the Winx Reboot motivated me. Beware that it's a long post.

I think a good way to start this would be with Monster High.

Monster High was a show from the 2010s. It had a tv show in 2d and a bunch of movies in 3d. Monster High was popular all around the world, people really liked it, the characters were compelling, the storyline were nice and it's whole concept was based around dolls. (I know there's also books but they're so different that I won't talk about them)

In the middle of the 2010s (I would say 2015-2016) the selling of the dolls weren't as great so they stopped everything. In 2018 they tried launching Monster High Gen 2, with new designs and new dolls, but it didn't work.

In 2022, they launched a new show, that is Monster High Gen 3. It still was a story about a bunch of monsters at a school made for them, and the beloved characters were back.

So what was the problem you would ask? Well, the characters were the same but different. Their essence was still the same (Frankie being a Frankenstein creature, Clawdeen a werewolf, Draculaura a vampire, etc..), but their characterization and stories were differents, and so were the designs. So people started complaining about it online. (This Gen also had live action movies but I won't talk about it, as it's about the tv shows).

But in reality, the show was GOOD. People who were fans of the OG show liked it! The show had a storyline, a direction, it knew what it wanted to explore it, and it did it. There was a real plot about Clawdeen's mom that was talked through the episodes, and progress was made as the episodes were airing.

But some people still decided to hate it without watching it, and it's sad because the show deserves some love!

As for now, Gen 3 isn't renewed for a third season, mainly because it's Nickelodeon and Mattel wants to distance themselves from the company, partially because of the Quiet on Set documentary.

So of you haven't see that show, you should really watch it, because it's totally worth it!

But Monster High is not why I wanted to make a post, my main concern is the Winx Reboot.

Recently, a trailer dropped for a reboot that will come on Netflix in 2025. The Winx we know are still here, but some things changed as we saw in the trailers. It's not redoing the Winx in 3d, it's a new series that starts from the beginning.

And people are already hating it, saying that we don't need a reboot, that it's ugly, etc. Everyone can have their opinion, but personally I think a reboot is much needed.

If you ask people about the Winx, some will say "seasons 1 to 3 are good, after I didn't really watched/I didn't liked it" ; some will say "I liked the newest season but I can recognize the problems, I think it was good until season 5/6/7" ; and majority will agree that the designs of season 8 were too childish and that it kinda ruined the show.

The live action series was very different and will not be discussed.

So actually, a reboot can be a good thing, it can fix some problems that had the show (like the reason why Stella was on Earth with Knut. In the trailer of the reboot it's Stella and Flora who are here for Bloom, and I'm very interested in how they knew there was a fairy here!)

I see so many people HATING on the show even before it's out, and it's TIRING. I know it's common to hate on something, you don't want things you knew when you were a child to change, but it's just something else that will introduce another generation to it! And old fans will certainly enjoy rediscovering the Winx under a new light!

You are allowed to not like the designs, to not want to watch it, but hating it won't change anything. The show will still exist and some people will like it, so just ignore it, and stop being a part of the hate campaign I see everywhere!!

On the top of my head, I can think of other shows that had the same issues!

The Disney Channel movies ZOMBIES got a 3d series about them redoing their senior year thanks to alien magic. People are saying "it's ugly", "no one asked for this", "cancel this please", "it's because of show like this one that The Owl House was cancelled" (definitely NOT TRUE, it has nothing to do with it).

In the ZOMBIES Re-Reanimated Series, we can find the characters of the movie living new adventures at Seabrook, we can meet new characters, and enjoy new catchy songs! The actors from the movies are dubbing their animated characters, and those characters were designed based on the actors. Again, you can say that you don't like the style, but no need to hate it.

Also, I watched a few episodes, and it's great! It's two episodes of 11 minutes in one episode on Disney+.

I can also think of the LEGO Friends franchise. The original show had a reboot named "Girl on a Mission" and now it has a third show, with a new generation. The OG girls all appeared in the show once or two, and one is actually the mother of a girl from the new show.

And maybe it's a deep cut but do people remember Heidi? It also had a 3d reboot.

I personally didn't liked it, but I know that it allowed some children to discover her, and I'm happy about this! I don't go everywhere saying that it sucks and that they should give us the Heidi from our childhood back.

And I'm sure there are other shows in the same situation...

This post is a bit long, but I really wanted to express this, because it really bother me.

A reboot is, most of the time, not a bad thing. The idea behind it is usually to make a new generation discover this thing, and sometimes it turns great, sometimes not. But that's okay.

What I wanted to say is that anyone is allowed to not like something, but hating before seeing because it's a reboot from something you really like, is not okay.

People are working on it, and maybe some of those people are also fans of the show, and are grateful to be able to work on a reboot of that show.

So please, please, please reconsider hating like this online, on something you haven't seen. If you didn't liked it, that's okay, but in the case of the Winx Club it's not even out and all I see is people criticizing it. And when some are trying to be positive about it, they are criticized.

[acourtofthought]

I had a post pop up in my "For You" tag and for the life of me I now can't find it though I wanted to reblog it in order to respond.

Basically it mentioned that because SJM said she now recommends reading the ACOTAR series if you've read CC2, there might be hints of spy Elain in HOFAS.

I think what SJM meant with her phrasing is that if you've read CC2 and have gotten to that ending, it would benefit people to have some idea of who Bryce just met and reading the ACOTAR series will fill in those gaps. I think what it also means is that Bryce is about to learn about the history of Prythian and again, if you go and read the ACOTAR series, you'll gather some of that information.

That rightfully makes her statement about Bryce and how knowing that background will help the reader better understand what she's experiencing and learning.

SJM is probably not telling folks to read ACOTAR so they can be prepared for secret ACOTAR character reveals, this is about Bryce's journey. Even though I recently did that Starsword theory, I don't think anything would be revealed with that aside from Bryce either deciding to take it back or leave it with Rhys. Anything important for the ACOTAR characters would not happen until their series.

I don't think SJM was saying reading ACOTAR is a requirement to understand and enjoy HOFAS, she'll still make sure to cover all the need to know stuff. Reading it would simply enhance the overall experience.

Also, we have no idea where the ACOTAR book she's currently writing will pick up and to date SJM has never said you need to read the Crescent City series in order to understand the next ACOTAR book.

It's one thing to encourage (but not require) readers to check out the series that contains information about the world Bryce just landed in but right now, Bryce doesn't exist in the actual ACOTAR series, she only exists in the CC series, having made a visit to their world in her book.

As of SF, Bryce is non existent to them and my guess is she's not going to be in Prythian when the next ACOTAR book picks up.

Now I have no idea how, when or if SJM is going to cover Bryce having been in Prythian, I imagine at some point it's got to come up (maybe the next ACOTAR will start a few months after SF eventually leading into Bryce showing up) but.....

I doubt that when Elain has not had a POV in her own series, when her powers haven't been explored and she has never been given a job within the IC outside of gardening, we're going to have something about her future spoiled in an entirely different series that again, readers of ACOTAR have never been told they needed to or are strongly encouraged to read (outside of the publisher hoping you'll read everything for the simple fact of money). We're not going to have hints of Elain on spy missions when we had no hints of Elain on any missions in SF (Nesta wondering if she had taken lessons in stealth is not the same thing as Elain on missions). We're not going to see her living in the townhouse in HOFAS when that's not happened in the ACOTAR world.

Sure, we can all keep our eyes out for tiny crumbs but there's a good chance SJM is going to write those crumbs in such a confusing way that half the fandom is going to interpret them one way and half the other but nothing is going to be confirmation of anything or proof of what the ACOTAR characters future holds.

If SJM hasn't wanted to give us confirmation of who is ending up with who in the next ACOTAR book on Instagram or her interviews then she's definitely not going to confirm anything in HOFAS.

[cyanocoraxx]

I jus wanna say that I've read thru all yur fics like..a while ago and haven't gotten the chance to say it until now - but I absolutely love how you portray metal and the others. I've read and reread every fic a couple times and auug just...wow is what I have to say

I stumbled upon the fic with Metal like hiding in the dark first about..a few weeks ago? But reading everything afterwards got me through a pretty tough time, the stuff you write is such a pleasant specific in exactly what I want to read about and I thought I'd never find it but I did! And I'm so glad it exists too :] I'll have to read through everything again and give more in depth compliments but I love love love how you show each character dealing with their problems and how some things persist even though they're out of it happening further, even through that all they're managing it the best they can and they're helping eachother with the stuff they struggle with [i.e silvers ear, mechas sight, neo being mute]

I love how they all have their own ways of showing affection towards their siblings too, the way Neo quietly lingers and watches to Silvers jokes its just auaughhg such a breath of fresh air

I DO wanna ask though it was in my head I think in chapter 16?? or so of Damage, where Neo is apologising to the badniks - was one of those responses a reference to Whirl by any chance? It me stop for a second when I read it hshshsh / pos

okay firstly i'm so very sorry for the late reply, you sent this 4 days ago and i was at WORK for 4 days and wanted to take the time to sit down and respond properly <3

thank you. i can't say it enough so just imagine that i'm on my knees sobbing with the biggest eyes right now because the fact that you took time to send such a lovely message is so uplifting and just EPIC..........

in regards to the pleasant specific thing, a lot of the things i covered/cover in my stories are things i see not being addressed in others and i want to try offering something that isn't discussed as often or as in depth as it should be. i often find that, in many stories, a character struggles with a personal issue, disability, or other hardship and then some hero comes along and makes it all just fine or is able to hold their hand through it 24/7. reality doesn't work that way and i wanted to reflect that in a lot of ways.

yes, neo can speak to mecha in their coded language, but not to other beings without sign, which not everyone understands either. being able to speak to mecha is a plus, but it doesn't make neo's life easier. it's frustrating. it's isolating. it means they may need to depend on mecha sometimes. but when it works out and someone can communicate with them freely, it really works out, and there's that spark of hope and community. silver is deaf in one ear and can compensate in some ways, but it trips him up spatially and internally as it should. mecha's ptsd comes up a lot, as it should - yes, mecha has a support system in her family, but nobody can outright "cure" her trauma. it's something she will carry with her, some days are better than others. silver's grief at experiencing loss at a young age isn't fixed by having his brothers come home safe again. it was traumatic and frightening for a young being like him, and that's something that changed his outlook on life and mortality. he was comparatively lucky that neo was able to be repaired, and he knows that. he feels strong empathy for anybody who lost someone who just. can't come back. then we have the other side, which is mecha's lack of empathy and initial emotional flattening. a lack of empathy doesn't mean a lack of compassion and i wanted/needed to explore this. mecha is undeniably one of the kindest characters i created and she can't feel the depth of emotion that others do. wanted to challenge the notion that a lack of empathy means you're inherently a bad person, because by all accounts, mecha wants to do what is right and good and makes sense. neo's psychosis lingers and he worries about coming out of remission. silver's adhd-like mind moves fast and with emotion. MANY THINGS!!!

i love so so much that you picked up on the different kinds of affection as well, it made me VERY happy and i did a little dance to myself!!!!! silver is very physical and verbal, neo is very protective and banters, and mecha tries to understand by speaking and listening closely.

and YES. i fucking love whirl. i don't remember the exact refs i made when writing but there's a couple of transformers bits here and there.

writing the original fic was a long process. i originally started back when i lived in a phsyically/emotionally/financially/you name it-abusive home. i had just come out of a months-long psychotic break caused by the stress, discovered i was a system, all that fun stuff. through the course of the fic i escaped, lived with a few different friends in different cities, went thru the whole trans coming out thing, and by the last chapter i was sitting in my own home with my pet rats on my lap and we were all safe and happy - with c-ptsd, scars, and other shit still with us, but we were finally okay. it really was like coming home and it was the perfect time for the story to end. i think, in a way, writing the brothers pulled me through and to hear that it's helped others is so lovely. i'm so glad. i hope you feel better, and if not, stay resilient, be kind to yourself, always. my inbox is always open. <3

[childlikegoblinqueen]

Writing Notes: Writing Sweet Child vs Stranger Tides OR Riding The Wave vs. Running Up That Hill.

Sooooooooo back in late October of 2022, I was dealing with some stuff and my brain rot was cycling between TOH and Stranger Things S4 (and Russian Doll a little).

I decided as a way of channeling my unstable emotions that I would participate in NaNoWriMo by writing a fanfic set during the summer that the Hexsquad was stuck in the human realm, which if it was Summer 2022 would have coincided with Stranger Things S4 dropping on Netflix.

The thought was, “Hey! What if these traumatized kids watch this show with other traumatized kids and realize they can relate?”

I didn’t plan on writing another fanfic after ….

😬

More below.

But then the idea for Sweet Child began to itch my brain and it went from a short fluffy idea to something much bigger.

With Stranger Tides, I had a very clear series of ready made plot points right out of the gate. I was following the path of Stranger Things Seasons 1-4, so while it wasn't a cross over, I knew I had to hit certain points, which I broke into a few different sequences.

1. The Upside Down.

2. The Gate.

3. The Demogorgon.

4. The Mind Flayer.

5. Vecna

6. The Piggy Back.

7. For the Future (The epilogue).

Without spoilers for those who haven't read it, these were not in the literal sense (mostly). For instance, the first part "The Upside Down" more referred to how returning to the Human Realm after everything that had happened felt to Luz like she was existing in a familiar place that looked like home but felt distorted due to her depression.

It was my NaNoWriMo project, so I knew I needed to finish in a month (I TOTALLY DID! At almost 150K words!) And I wanted it to hit the feel of pop-culture nostalgia while still being distinctly TOH.

It helped that I had insomnia. I also began writing to music.

Stranger Tides was told from the rotating POVs of Luz, Vee, and Hunter -- though Camila got a few chapters as well. There were some call backs to canon from S1 to Thanks to Them... The different POVs allowed me to show how different characters reacted to different situations. It also gave me a chance to explore Vee's feelings of resentment for having to give up her Cabin 7 friends who knew her as Luz because the real Luz had returned. That's where Masha, Ryan and Josh came in.

So, after a month I finished it! It followed a horror/thriller type of pattern. I edited it in December and dropped it over a period of days and was happy.

Until For the Future Came out and I wanted to return to the sandbox of TOH.

While it was supposed to be a one shot fluff piece about Hunter getting encouragement from everyone around him on fatherhood, a few more questions began to pop up in my mind, and Sweet Child was born.

Sweet Child differs in a few ways. First, it's not a continuation of ST, but it shares a few elements. Pop Culture. Music. Media and real world issues popping up. But it's really from one POV. Other than the clips of media, it's Hunter's story about becoming a dad and dealing with a past that won't die, trust issues, family, and a tabloid media that looks to exploit the abuse of his youth.

It's also a bit more of a slow burn. Threads were dropped in Stranger Tides that came together in the end, but since I am not on a deadline (I have to get back to the opening chapter while hitting some plot points I've set out for myself) I am taking my time and REALLY fleshing out the world and the story. I get to take time with the relationships.

I tend to read a lot of horror and thrillers, so I see this word count climb and I get nervous. I worry that if I was to go to the shelf and look at this as a book I would immediately feel intimidated. I worry that readers will see the word and chapter count and not want to touch it.

On the other hand, telling this story is -- like it was for Stranger Tides -- therapeutic and I know how it ends -- and I want to GET to that ending in the best way possible. Which is why I need to just make like Elsa and let it go.

We are GETTING THERE! I PROMISE! I have it all laid out.

Still? I feel like parenthood is a long and winding road. One that fits with character development for so many of the TOH characters I love! So I'm walking that road with Hunter and Willow and all the others. If the story demands me to take a few forks to make the payoff all the more satisfying, I am going to write them out!

See you all tomorrow for Chapter 64!

[anulithots]

~Assuming that you're talking to me and not Anuli, but I'm not sure~

(side note but Anuli using he/him pronouns is kind of cool in my brain??? I don't mind anyone using any pronouns for the fairies in general, although I do appreciate effort made to use fae/faer ones /still cool with the pronouns you used for Anuli though, it's a small thing that I just wanted to comment on.)

And thank you for analyzing Anuli! I'm so glad fae comes across this way... in the 'I tried to write faer this way' sense.

And if you don't mind, I'd like to discuss this a bit, because while I agree with this sentimate, and it's accurate to what is going to happen later on (after @imjusthereforeternity is over) but... it's not the entire thing I want to explore.

TL;DR - Anuli will need outside factors and outside help, but fae will stop faerself from actively following any advice until fae goes through an internal ~character arc~. I'm trying to explore the 'needing to fix the traits you see as evil' concept - and I'm hoping to say that 'it's okay to just... watch it and let it be. As if it were a story. You don't need to control your thoughts or limit your thoughts or change your behavior to become worthy of some 'happy ending'' So the point isn't needing to change to be happy, but rather wandering in this 'lack of happiness' and being okay with it. (Change will come easier then, if you aren't straining yourself fighting it)

I explained it in this post, the question was 'can you give Anuli a redemption arc?'

this was my answer:

Yes. And no. My exploration of the 'wonders that flavor this weird thing called existence' that I wish to metaphysically explore via PROSE... is that there (a) isn't a happy ending and (b) you don't have to have a linear character arc to deserve 'happiness' (or just not feeling bad) I'm going to ramble and unpack this: So Anuli left faer 'whimsical childhood happiness' because of a mistake fae's made. And that mistake has sat with faer, getting worse and worse and characterizing who fae is and fae can't really escape it. Fae is a villain. If fae pretends to not be a villain, if fae let's faer guard down, there will be awful feelings and others who feel betrayed and the overwhelming feeling of 'everything I do will betray them in some way and I can never be myself around anyone because they will hate me and regret giving me any love because I have wasted all of it.' That is faer fear. Faer want - to go home and tell stories about sunflowers with Kamari and dance in the rain with Kamari and make theories about the wanderers nest with Kamari and live faer entire life at home with Kamari... just... life before fae made faer mistake, before fae broke the tether. And this. This 'I want to return to the happiness I felt when I was little' is the sort of thing that can get you addicted to trying to fix... yourself in Anuli's case. If Anuli had a character arc, if fae were to have that linear growth and be a better being who isn't a fallen fairy and has no chance of hurting them or returning poison when they gave faer flowers, then fae could have that happy ending. Anuli faerself is what keeps faer from faer happy ending. And this is the sort of belief I had when I was... around 13-ish/14-ish. And it was both wonderous and absolutely horrific. Because what if you don't do it right? What if you regress? What if you should be happy because they are all happy and they want you to be happy but YOU CAN'T be happy yet, you haven't fixed yourself? Make plans upon plans upon plans. Don't mess up. You can't get worse. I thought I was getting better. Follow the plan to a T. Agonize over finding the right plan, go on day-long searches looking for that 'one special mcGuffin' that will fix everything wrong with me. BE CONSISTENT. WHY CAN'T YOU DO ANYTHING FOR MORE THAN A DAY WITHOUT GETTING EXHAUSTED?! Also happiness is overrated. It's just a feeling. Who's to say that feeling numb can't be a 'I am wonderous right now' sort of feeling? Who's to say that feelings matter that much? That I (someone who has a difficult time understanding and categorizing and dealing with their feelings) should agonize over this abstract world I don't know and try to be happy all the time... when the very attempt at being happy all the time is extremely draining. Even a natural happiness will begin to feel strained and sticky if I try to cling to it for longer than it wants to stay. It's chasing happiness, this abstract feeling that doesn't need to be the benchmark for if you are living a good life, that has you living five years in the future, imagining some fairytale that makes now feel so bland and stark in comparison. In story terms - you're supposed to enjoy the story, where even the pain has a sort of 'this is a new interesting experience' sort of softness to it. It's okay. Life as it is, is okay. It will cycle and change and regress and grow and that's... wonderous actually. Not that I'm against change! I just think - for me at least - it's better to let nature grow and change as it will instead of trying to cultivate it and pull out all the weeds that need to be there and want to be there. Like the Moon! It's the epitome of change. And yet it doesn't keep getting brighter and brighter, it cycles. So Anuli will feel better about faerself and in general 'spiral upward' but it won't be a redemption arc per se per se.

So yes! Anuli does need an outside factor to help faer out, but fae isn't going to listen to any, because fae is actively trying not to, with any time fae's listened to other's advice (like with @osbob-the-existent's art and with @yesireadbooks's advice) ending in Anuli overcomplicating it to faerself... to the point where fae thinks that something very very specific will make faer not a villain, some 'magic answer' will fix faer. (Anuli does not know what this answer is, but it feels tantalizingly close, but reaching for it has its own issues, I'm going to be writing the 'final scene' for this chapter soon! So more on that later <3) As of now, fae can't risk anything not working, so faer spiraling will stop faerself from trying. Fae won't be ready to accept help for as long as fae believes this. So I imagine that Anuli accepting help will come closer to the end of the Land of the Fallen Fairies.

AND SIDE TIBIT: Anuli believes fae is a villain partially because of outside factors (faer thoughts spiraled on it to make faer worldview of faerself), so when fae does leave the pixie archives, fae will get triggered over and over again, because dryad society has a thing against fallen fairies. (which is a whole dilemma in and of itself.)

And especially considering that Anuli will always have these traits and spiral back to understimulation/lack of happiness and fae literally won't be able to get rid of it unless fae changes the way faer mind works, while fae will need some help with getting better, that will come easier once fae gets some space from who fae views as faerself. It will come easier once fae lets faerself be a villain and to not fight against a redemption arc, and to not fight against spiraling deeper. Instead letting faerself wander.

(Disclaimer - this is not meant to be against helping yourself or taking care or yourself or getting the help you need, it's more of a 'chasing happiness and change and controlling yourself to the point where you can never allow yourself to be'.)

Apologies for the long post! I... have a hard time putting these things into words, and so I ramble and ramble, trying to get to the point, and I still end up short. So I write stories and hope that does better than simple words.

Gaze upon my conquests and despair, for all of them lie bloodied and defeated, broken by the one who promised them glory.

'How ridiculous' they would say, 'how overdramatic. It's so simple, you could do this or this and feel better like this. It's so simple.'

It should snap eventually. There was only one ending left after all. All other options weren't meant for a villain.

If only - well, if only so many things - but if only I cared enough to remember Kamari's song, how it flowed to compliment the melodies of all other creatures. How it slipped behind their gentle sounds as if it gave them life. How without faer lullaby, the world returned to death.

No..

Death wasn't accurate.

Death would imply that there was life once, that the life was so strong, so wonderous, that death complimented what once was with its faded colors.

Death would imply wilting petals. Petals that held the last whispers of golden longing, of all the wonder sunlight held.

Death would imply an end to the story, where all the sparkles found therein stick to my insides and alight my darkness with stars.

Here?

There weren't even bones.

[imaginativeamateur]

[Q&A] First Snow Season 1

Welcome to our Q&A Session for my series, 'First Snow'. This is quite lengthy of a series that I wrote for Itachi Uchiha. It is angsty! So if you haven't read it yet, visit my Masterlist. If you read the series, explore the characters' perspectives through this short Q&A Session!

Introducing Itachi Uchiha…

Was it hard to hide all this from Y/N? Do you regret it all?

It was hard to hide all of this from Y/N. I didn’t want to hurt her in the first place, but I was afraid Izumi would use her as a hostage. And the last thing I wanted to happen was for Y/N to be in that situation and potentially be linked to the downfall of the Clan if my plans didn’t work out because I couldn’t promise to be rational when her safety was involved. I don’t regret it, including hiding my feelings. It’s better like that, so she could move on with someone she truly deserves.

Did you ever truly love Y/N?

I couldn’t quite explain my emotions. It’s complicated. Towards Y/N, I did feel a need to protect her, but I knew I wouldn’t be the right one for her because of what I’ve done. However, the months spent with her were the best time of my life, to see her genuine smile every day and to be able to open myself up to someone. Even though we are no longer together and she probably hates me to death, I’m contented watching her smile from afar.

Introducing Y/N Uchiha…

Even after all this, deep down, do you still love Itachi?

Love is such an excessive word to describe the feelings I had for him. At first, it was love, it has always been, though unrequited. But he repeatedly proved that my effort for our relationship was in vain. Rather than staying with him to shower him with love every day like how I dreamt of in the good old days, I’d rather leave Konoha, even if my love for Itachi suffocates me every time I think about him. I’ll learn to love myself and I don’t regret marrying him, at least I’ve tried, I was brave enough to love.

Introducing Izumi Uchiha…

You did this for revenge? What is the real reason? Was it the fact that Y/N married Itachi, or was there anything else behind? Maybe you did not want revenge on Y/N but on Itachi?

If I can’t be the Matriarch of the Clan then no one can. Itachi was merely the tree that I had to climb, and Y/N just so happened to be a branch that stemmed from the wrong spot.

Introducing Shisui Uchiha…

Did you even consider Y/N a friend? Or was it all part of the plan?

I love Y/N as a family member of mine. She’s like a little sister to me. It hurt me a lot to see her going through all of the ordeals that we put her through. At that time, there was no other way. If given the chance, I’d like to properly apologize to her.

Do you ship Itachi and Y/N?

I do ship them, from the start. It annoyed me how those two people, even though they clearly had something for one another, wouldn’t dare say a word. I bet Kakashi Senpai felt the same. I still want them to be together, though.

Introducing Senpai Kakashi Hatake...

How do you feel about taking care of three immature babies in their 20s?

Great question. They made me question my rationality and existence several times. Itachi is too work-oriented and he has the tendency to sacrifice, even if the person he is sacrificing for doesn’t want it. Y/N gives in too much, but she is getting her ground back now. Shisui jokes around all the time, sparking unnecessary misunderstandings, though his advice is good, Itachi doesn’t listen due to previous predicaments.

Introducing Power Couple Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha...

Were you aware of all this? If not, what are your thoughts of your eldest child now? Did he do the right thing?

We were not aware of this, not until he gathered us all together and exposed Izumi on the spot. Itachi did the right thing for the Clan as a whole, but the fact that he disregarded Y/N’s consent was to be critiqued. However, it’s their own business that we, as elders, have no reason to intrude. They are still young and rash, this would be a good chance for them both to mature.

Thank you for the questions @yoonkooksworld and Anonies! Thanks for joining the Q&A! See you in Season 2!

[seyaryminamoto]

I've been browsing your blog for Sokkla research as I feel like it has similarities to what I'm trying to write with Azula and Soren. I haven't begun tackling Gladiator yet, as it looks a little daunting, but I feel I should since I keep hearing so much. I am a little hesitant over accidentally using anything you wrote for my own story. I'd be proud if I could make it as long and epic as yours. It's very personal to me. What motivated you to write Gladiator and keep writing for so long?

Yeah, I saw your post about your crossover ship having potential similarities with Sokkla and I agree that it would, since Soren shares a few traits with Sokka, character-wise. Admittedly, Azula interacting with a character like Soren would present quite a lot of fun possibilities, so it seems to be an idea worth exploring :)

As for reading Gladiator and accidentally using similar tropes… well, I don’t know if it will ease your mind much, but there are several tropes that I’ve run into in many Sokkla fics, mine, other people’s, just… lots of them xD and it’s not really a problem. Storytelling can lead to similar places, but usually, every writer handles their tropes and character development differently.

My plan for a certain, poignant scene in Gladiator’s 96th chapter was set in stone in my head back when I started plotting the fic (like I said in that ask I answered yesterday). The scene in question is one I depicted in some artworks for Gladiator’s second anniversary: Sokka defeats Azula in combat for the first time, pins her down, aims his sword at her, and they just stare at each other before things take a pretty heated twist...

A few months after planning this, I read another fic where practically the same thing happened between them (it’s a Spanish fic, I hadn’t tried reading it yet because it was incomplete, sometimes I still scold the writer in question for never finishing it), only, rather than it happening when they could no longer resist the attraction between them, it happened when they were barely getting to know each other: Azula followed Sokka into a forest clearing, where he was training on his own. Upon noticing someone was hiding in the bushes, he leaps at her and pins her down, aiming his sword at her as well. Of course, he freaks out upon realizing it’s her, she isn’t very happy, and no heated things happen other than a lot of blushing, especially on her part xD

So, as you can see, even if the trope is “Sokka holds Azula down, at swordpoint”, the context was entirely different, the outcome was completely different and heck, the wording and even language we used was 100% different.  I came up with the idea for Gladiator before reading Majesty, later on I found out that someone had written a very similar scene already (and it was a close associate of mine, no less xD). As much as I didn’t feel like I was all that original anymore… I didn’t change my plans because of that. As long as I didn’t pull a Cassandra Clare and copy-pasted the whole scene my friend wrote into Gladiator, where was the harm in trying my own hand at it? I wrote the tropey situation in my own way, with my own words, and it’s completely my own thing.

There was something else that happened with Gladiator, another friend read it and thought I was taking inspiration for my portrayal of Sokka and Azula from a couple in a TV show she loved. Turns out I’d heard about the show, but I hadn’t watched it until she nudged me enough to do it (no regrets!), and after watching it I understood where the similarities were, but the context was all different. More than that, a certain situation (Sokka admitting his love for Azula for the first time, she asks him to say it again) was close enough to what happened between the main couple in said TV show…

… But I actually had been inspired by another couple, in ANOTHER TV show, that had a slightly similar exchange too xD

Therefore, tropes are tropes. I’ve recycled so many tropes in so many things I’ve written that people could probably psychoanalyze me and figure out all my brain chemistry damn easily if they did. I tend to have a very particular structure when writing, too (the original story I wrote and finished had 3 parts, Gladiator has 3 parts too, to name the most superficial similarity only), and I’ve frequently explored similar topics in them. It’s hardly a crime to do it again, but as long as you do it in a unique way, there’d be no harm in testing how some tropes would turn out with Soren and Azula. It could be worrisome if you portrayed Soren reacting to events exactly the same way Sokka does, but that’s not very likely to happen. As similar as they can be, they’re also different in several ways and in the post where you compared them you seemed to see those differences pretty clearly.

Therefore, I don’t think there’s any real harm in trying your hand at certain tropes and situations. If the context is different, if there’s logic to what you’re writing, and of course, as long as you write it yourself, there’s absolutely no need to worry about repeating things other people have done before.

That being said, don’t feel pressured to read Gladiator at all. I’m glad people have recommended it, but I understand if it feels not only daunting but that maybe you won’t be sure what to write if you see all the stuff I’ve done so far. Gladiator is many things, and one of them is my playground for testing Sokka and Azula’s relationship in just about every way I can xD it’s so long that I’ve been free to play with all sorts of possibilities with them, to fulfill all my shippiest wishes for these two. Therefore, if you’d rather be true to your own ideas and not get too influenced by it, it’s absolutely understandable not to read it until you feel comfortable about giving it a shot (presumably, once you’ve plotted plenty of own story and feel like you won’t be at risk of taking too much inspiration from it).

As for what motivates me… well, I guess there were many factors. One of them is that Gladiator was an idea worth digging into, with so much to explore that I was completely overwhelmed by the possibilities and I got completely caught up in it. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted the story to exist, so I decided I needed to make it happen. As it’s practically a full re-write of ATLA’s storyline, I had a chance to just… handle everything on my terms. And that meant the developments I didn’t like from the show could change: I could improve on things I thought needed improvements, I could add things that I felt the show needed, and so on and so forth. There were nearly no limits, really, and as I was absolutely lost in the beauty and glory of my OTP, I couldn’t help myself and I decided to dive right in.

It helps a lot that Gladiator’s kind of a multi-faceted thing: as I’ve been developing my art too, whenever I was bored in class I’d sketch things related to it and then, if I had a chance and the sketch was good enough, I’d finish the art digitally later. I have a lot of music that inspires me, so sometimes I just sit down, listen to it, and I let myself evoke scenes that I want to write or draw. Fact is, the whole fifth anniversary project was a mix of art and music: the songs that inspired many arcs of Part 1, along with images that referenced them.

Lastly, though… I generally know where Gladiator’s going, so I don’t usually reach a point where I’m like “Woah I have zero plans for what to do next”. I plot things for the story whenever I have nothing to do (when I’m traveling places, when I’m showering, when I’m waiting for something? Just, whenever, wherever). If an arc isn’t shaping up to be particularly fun, I try to figure out what to do to make it more interesting and appealing for me to write. Whenever I come up with something I’m hyped about writing, it helps me keep on writing until I get there. Sometimes that’s also a curse because I go overboard and write like… 12K in a single day because I am that hyped about whatever I’m doing :’D happened a couple of weeks ago xD

Anyways, always try to fulfill your own needs with your story, first and foremost. Sometimes your public won’t be 100% receptive to your ideas, but sometimes they’ll actually want exactly what you’re putting out there for them. The magic of fanfiction is that, if someone doesn’t like what they’re getting, there’s absolutely nothing to stop them from taking to writing a story they do want, right? So, why should we try to please other people instead of writing what we’d want to read?

Make your story something you can revisit and smile about, make your story something you can find value in, regardless of whoever tries to undermine it. Make it yours, make it everything you want it to be. Want humor? Set up humorous situations (I mean, your lead couple would be Azula and Soren, humor’s basically guaranteed xD). Want tragedy and angst? You can have it too. You really can do anything, as long as you make up your mind to get it done. Figure out what it really is you want to write, the key scenes, the development you’re looking for with your main characters, come up with plans on how to get them where you need them to be, and once you feel you’re in solid grounds for it, feel free to start writing and always keep on looking forward to the big things you’ve wanted to write for your fic.

[winterscribe]

OC Centric VHD Project

I was considering my project last night and how i want to format it. Also this was supposed to be me musing about D’s part of the project, but Avaleara butted in so he’s two paragraphs down.

Read More Cuz I’m incapable of not rambling.

Like I know there is a novella length (at least) story that is Avaleara pre-torture. I don’t know how structured its gonna be because a lot of it is about establishing the world she lives in, who she was, and her family, which means there isn’t a real linear plot. But I might be able to give it a decent plot if I sit down and try. This part of the project is what I’m working on the most right now since the worldbuilding is needed for all the rest of this massive beast.

After that there is a sort of snippit story about her torture and recovery. Possibly including The Incident, but that might be a seperate short story.

 The incident right now is Avaleara becomes friends with Loki, so close he names her godmother of his children Nari and Vali. Until Odin turns them into wolves and has them kill each other, driving Loki mad and causing him to lash out at Avaleara since he can’t lash out at Odin without risking his surviving children. This was back when I was a huge Loki stan years ago and was inspired by the myths. I’d like to figure out how to rework it, but something like this would be unheard of in the Revant system. I’d cut it out entirely but its kind of central to why Avaleara is so messed up when she meets D. Yeah she has PTSD from the torture but that just gave her a drive to survive, out of spite if nothing else. She eventually reached an almost healthy place, until this incident, which left her crippled with guilt and self loathing. How could she be alive if those sweet boys weren’t? What good was all her training if she couldn’t save them? Any progress she made was destroyed.

After that series of short stories, or however I format them, D finally makes an appearance. It should be a novel length project to take Avaleara and D from (very) wary strangers to a solid, healthy (for them) marriage. I mean I’ve got to deal with both character’s PTSD, which is going to be really difficult with D because I doubt he would even acknowledge or want to work on his. A lot of his symptoms are what keep him alive on his hell world and he needs to go back. Honestly he really doesn’t have the Post part of the PTSD, not until after Drac is dead and that isn’t in this novel. 

I also struggle with characterizing D. I read the books out of order as I got my hands on em, so I’m a little mixed up. Plus I spend so much time thinking about him after he’s had thousands of years of peace to heal, and he’s... not exactly a different person but almost. And then there is all the crack scenarios I come up with for fun muddying the waters even more. I definitely need to reread the books and take careful notes so that I know what is canon. Mostly cuz breaking the rules is better when you know what they are. I know there are some things I’m gonna throw out, or warp. I just need to get a solid feel for the character before I do. And I need to figure out a decent backstory for him. I used to have one years ago but its been so long I forgot the details and never wrote it down. At this point what I remember would significantly change future parts of the story and I don’t think I want it to, so it needs scrapped.

Mostly I think the romance novel part of this is mostly going to focus on Avaleara’s issues, mostly because she’s falling apart not so slowly. But it will definitely plant the seeds for dealing with D’s issues. Also some of his are obviously gonna need worked on before he would even do the whole relationship thing. The one thing they both got going for them is they are both really good with blunt honesty. If you actually get them to fucking talk they aren’t gonna lie about shit and demur. Also one will not hesitate to call the other out on bullshit. 

At one point Avaleara strait up tells D she won’t train him anymore unless he stops viewing his death as an acceptable outcome as long as Dracula dies. She’s teaching him to live, not die. It works because she’s been on the receiving end of that ultimatum. Alternatively D calls her out for pushing away her family. While there are real reasons she pushes them away (mental illness related ones) it doesn't mean she shouldn’t try to accept the help and support they desperately want to give her. It’s nothing she hasn’t heard before, but coming from a man who is the way he is because he’s had no one it packs a much more significant punch.

Eventually they fall in love and have kids. Avaleara’s pregnancy makes D terrified because if Dracula found out there is no doubt he’d do something to the kids. Either view them as a failure (most likely) and kill them, or view them as a success and make their lives a living hell. Neither of which is an option.

Here's the thing about Revant pregnancies- because magic is such an extreme force its highly advised not to use it while pregnant because it can affect development. That’s not a problem for the average person because most aren’t that powerful. 12 months (or thereabout haven't’ set it in stone) isn’t that long to go without, even though it builds up. Its actually really beneficial, because then you use that buildup to heal your body and give yourself the energy to manage newborns. (Also might figure out some sort of transfer ritual but that is still brainstormy) The more powerful the person the more powerful the buildup.So Someone who has spent their life training and increasing their power out of a sense of paranoia is going to have a lot of buildup. Someone like… Avaleara. By the end of her pregnancy she has the buildup to go off like fucking nuke. And Does. On Dracula.

The plan was she’d take out any of Drac’s forces while D dealt with Dracula as was his right, but they got there and Avaleara realized his regenerative powers made him a lot like dealing with [Placeholder], a species renowned for regeneration and only killable through a psychic attack that traced every single cell in every location no matter where in the universe, completely destroying them on a subatomic level. Leave even one cell alive and they’ll come back from it. I haven’t exactly worked out why this psychological attack is different from the ones D can do. Like I have an idea I don’t know how to express it- Something along the lines of one is an illusion that can kill, the other is more like physically reaching into someone's mind and tearing out everything they are piece by piece and destroying them atom by atom, a simultaneous physical and psychological attack. One D can do. The other… he might be able to learn but hadn’t so Avaleara had to do it. She still feels… not guilty but not happy, that she robbed D of the chance to kill his greatest enemy, but at that point D wasn’t willing to let Dracula kill any more of his children so he didn’t care how he died just that he did.

I headcanon that D was forced to reproduce. (not sure if rape or just genetic material) All three children were failures and dracula killed them. D… doesn’t think about them for a looong time until after he has kids with Avaleara. He names them Mirana-Peace, Sorin- Sun, and Anca- grace and tattoos their names on his back with his living children. (For maximum pain those are just the ones that were born and/or lived a few years, but Dracula never revealed the ones that didn’t make it to term. that was one “mercy” he granted his son. D assumes they existed but has no idea how many were terminated)

I’m not sure whether Dracula’s death is going to be the end of the romance novel, a separate short story, or the beginning of the story dealing with the frontier. I’m also not sure how long I want that story to be. It has the potential to be a novel, since I’m talking dismantle the last vestiges of vampire rule and usher humanity into a golden age kinda thing. 

But D and Avaleara’s role in that is rather small. They track down and kill or relocate the last vampires, use data from Drac’s computers to locate shit Humans couldn’t/shouldn’t deal with and destroy it, and that’s pretty much it. Mostly its’ a few particular humans expanding on existing movements now that barriers have been removed. There are a handful that work with D to understand vampiric technology (the weather controllers and transportation in particular) and save it until people are willing to use it. Maybe find away to reverse the genetic fear of vampires. But it is a largely human effort to build a human society worth living in. The handful of decent vampires agree to relocate to the stars knowing that the stigma will never allow them to live peaceful live. Most plan to try to return in a few centuries/millennia if the stigma dies down and they can do so peacefully. (I haven’t decided what to do about dhampirs and mutants. I suppose some will stay and try and carve out a life while others will take the offer to relocate.)

The main reason I want to bother with writing that story instead of just saying that it happened, is I want to explore D’s reason for leaving Earth behind permanently. I mean part of it is definitely that he has a family on Le Shevare, but its still a hell of a decision to leave behind your home planet. I want to explore him realizing there really is nothing for him here, no reason to stay, no memories that aren’t painful. He could choose to stay and rebuild, split his time between worlds, show his children their heritage, and maybe having a dhampir be a significant part of the reconstruction would help end millennia of distrust. But he ultimately decides he’s done. He’s given Earth enough. He won’t live through more distrust and hatred, evil glares and death threats. He’s going home. His greatest enemy is dead and for once in his life he has a future. Vampire Hunter D is retiring to enjoy it.