#and giving her an actual backstory and occupation

[spicyraeman]

Milena "NOVA" Nováková

Night City's no. 1 Underground Chrome Artist

[little-miss-dilf-lover]

hi bestieee i love ur work so so so so muchh!!!!

i just wanted to request a tan x reader where the reader gets her period for the first time since her and tan started dating, and her cramps hurt like hell and he takes care of her (like in my head their backstory on how they met is that they r both assassins and they just started hooking up here and there when they bumped into missions etc etc but inevitably ended up in a serious relationship cuz they fell in love, so that’s why he might be surprised to see her in this state and doesn’t know what to do at first cause she always just brushes off the pain during missions and is super tough IDK)

idk honestly anything u write is amazing and whatever u wanna do with this idea is perfect to me

a lot of fluffffff and i’m sorry for such a long request

tyvmmmmm

hii bby!!! thank you thank you :( omg I love this idea sm!! thanks for requesting, hope you like it💌

VULNERABILITY (period comfort)

tangerine x female reader

word count. 734

As a contract killer, you’ve learnt to keep all vulnerabilities hidden - never display weakness. And because of your occupation, you held that ideology with you throughout your life, never once letting someone know when you were in pain - in case it gets used against you.

Though, things were different when you and Tangerine started to date. You tried to be more open, but it was a hard habit to break, often finding yourself downplaying your hurt.

When you used to bump into each other during separate missions, way back when, you'd keep your poker face on, pretending you weren't in raging agony when your paths met.

You and Tangerine decided many months ago that you wanted to give an actual, serious relationship a go, steering from casual hookups to proper dates and heartfelt touches. It was one of the easiest decisions you made. 

-

It was midday, and you were already wishing it was nighttime - wanting to sleep away the pain in your tummy without feeling like a coward. 

You were curled up on the sofa, blanket tightly wrapped around you, mindlessly watching the tv ahead as you clutch the sick bowl in your arms. You had the bowl there only as a precaution, feeling like it was better to be safe than sorry - to avoid cleaning throw-up from the rug.

The door knocks, and you groan at the interference, placing the bowl to the side as you make your way over. You pull the door ajar and meet your boyfriend's face on the other side, smile lit up wide.

"Was in the area. Thought I'd pop by," he says casually, crooking his neck to see you through the small gap, smile fading. "What's goin' on? You alright?"

"Yeah," you dismiss. "Just cold in here."

His brows furrow - his features telling you he didn't buy it. "Not gonna invite me in?"

You softly sigh at his question and reluctantly pull the door open, stepping aside. You didn't want him to see you like this - see you so unput-together, see you vulnerable.

He nudges the door open more, allowing him space to get past, and his eyes immediately soften - taking in your foreign, sluggish state. 

"You okay?" he asks, his tone cautious. "What happened?"

"Nothing," you shrug, avoiding his fixed gaze.

"Darlin', that ain't nothing. I've never seen you like this," Tangerine continues, placing his hands on either side of your face, forcing you to look up at him. "What's goin' on?" he asks again, eyes narrowing.

"Period," you mumble, closing your eyes as you melt into his delicate touch.

"Aw, love," he coos, stepping forward to pull you into him, holding your face in the crook of his neck. "Why didn't you say anything?" he asks, stroking down your back with one hand, the other holding behind your head.

You shrug off his questioning and pull from his grasp, wiping under your eyes with the back of your hand. "I don't like it," you admit, walking away.

He exhales heavily, kicking off his shoes and then follows after you, halting once he sees you curled up on the sofa - knees tucked up, head buried between. His footing slowly carrying himself over to you. "Love," he coos, crouching beside you, placing a hand over your upper arm. "How can I make it better? What can I do?" 

"Get me some chocolate?" you sniffle, a soft laugh muffling. 

"As much as you want," he snickers, standing with a faint groan. 

He returns from your kitchen a few moments later, bars of chocolate in hand, tea in the other, a hot water bottle wedged under his arm. He places the mug and chocolate on the coffee table in front and sits beside you - careful not to bump and knock you as he lifts your head to rest on his lap. 

He lifts the blanket and slips the hot water bottle inside, angling it at your lower stomach, propping it against the part giving you trouble. He brushes slow, loving strokes over your cheek, thumbing over your apple when he sees your eyes flutter closed at the contact. His other hand extends behind you, reaching for your lower back, and he repeats the motion - soft, gentle strokes over your sore skin, easing your pain. 

"Thank you," you sleepily murmur, nuzzling your face into his lap.

"Course, my love."

— — — — — — — — — — ☆ — — — — — — — — — —

[deathbxnny]

hello!! the anon who requested aihoshino!like reader, sorry for being vague, ill give more details :]]

so basically i want to reader to be very beautiful and captivating with some sort of tragic backstory and self destructive behavior

for the tragic backstory part; basically a physically and mentally abusive mother and an absent father. as for the self destructive part; basically looking for love in the wrong places

thats all thank you!! :]]

-----♡

A/N: Thank you so much for the additional information! This definitely helped alot, so I hope that I can finally do this request justice!<33

Content: Platonic relationships, fluff, mentions of past child abuse, teen reader, angst

Reader has no set pronouns!

((Not fully proofread))

-----♡

》Silverwolf

Silverwolf knew of most of your past and acknowledges it in her treatment of you. She is never harsh or mean, never goes as far as treating you differently from anyone else either. She feels like it's best to just treat you normally and not talk about the past anymore.

With that said, she often allows you to hand around her during missions or off days. It's her way of silently keeping an eye on you. She noticed your self destructive tendencies and tries keeping you from them in her presence, yet she never tells you, that she knows.

Silverwolf also slowly begins growing protective of you overtime. She doesn't let anyone hurt you or come close to you much, always keeping you at her side while she works. She plays it off as just needing more help or assistance, when it's really just for your safety. She also makes sure to give you some compliments here and there, so that you begin to learn better forms of affection.

-----♡

》Kafka

Kafka becomes quite protective of you fast and takes you under her wing the moment you join the Stellaron hunters. She finds you so adorable and cute, which often ends with her spoiling you with nice clothes or accessories. She gives you teasing, yet kind compliments and gives you all the time you need to adjust to your new life.

She however doesn't let you slip into any self destructive behaviours and therefore keeps you from people she deems as unfit for you. She's patient and tries teaching you better ways of handling these negative urges, but she does it in a fun and playful way to not trigger you.

She eventually makes you into her little "assistant" during missions, just so that she can keep a very close eye on you at all times. She protects you during battles and takes you to nice places often during breaks. She honestly takes care of you well, despite how her occupation can be.

-----♡

》Blade

Blade at first avoided you, after hearing about your hardships in life and your self-destructive tendencies. He didn't want to make them worse and also struggled with his own issues in that regard. Yet eventually, he did have to complete missions with you and realised, that it was maybe not as bad as he thought. Not that he'd ever admit it.

He doesn't treat you any differently from anyone else and spares you the pity, knowing how frustrating it can get overtime. He somehow indirectly influences you to deal with your self-destructive habits in better ways. Like training with him. It may not be the most friendliest or healthiest option out there, but it helps get the frustration and anger out. And that actually helps.

Blade doesn't really notice it, but he subconsciously always seems to keep an eye on you pr protect you one way or another. He does it automatically, but never acknowledges it much. He brushes it off to you just being a weak kid he needs to protect due to work... when it's really because you've become a soft spot for him deep down.

-----♡

A/N: There you go! I hope this was okay and thank you again for the request and additional info!<33

[candyistoosweet]

Now since I see how much you're interested in hellcrew...Who's YOUR fav character???

Oh my fav hellcrew characters are A LOT! Almost all of them!! Well I just can't pick only one, so I'll just text it down with ranking◝(*'◡'*)◜

1. Kelly Duffy

2. Cian Lynch

3. Seamus Wrynn

4. Seraphina Shaw

5. Lucien Delaney

6. Sullivan Sweeney

7. Julius Doherty

8. Octavian Doherty

9. Devlin Doherty

10. Duvessa Doyle

11. Killian Lynch

...Haha, I'll explain in order! First off, Kelly is my fav cuz...I don't know I love his design so much! I love how he looks, and...the lack of infos or stories about him makes me feel more attracted to his mysterious aura I guess?

Next, Cian! Well, Cian is definetely at the top tier since he has so many best traits out of HC casts, don't you think? He's good with kids, cooking, social, looks handsome....so many great characteristics to tell! Definetely #1 or #2!

Seamus...I love himmm I love his aura, I really appreciate how he shows his personallity!! His face and hairstyle is also very calm and interesting...only if his way of describing 'love' as his photos weren't so twisted, I could've just gave him #2 tier, honestly.

Sera...Actually @gracilissart 's artwork of his characters and their introductions are favorite out of three creators' works in the Hellcrew project. I'm a straight girl and Sera makes me into lesbian time to time LOL🫣 I love her design!!! 8/10.

I can explain. I can explain about Lucien...I like the way how easy it is to say out his name. Lucien...And also, his job occupation is the same dream job I want! A pediatric psychiatrist! At least his JOB doesn't describe what he is like...does it? 5~6/10.

Sullivannnn!! His nationality reminds me of mine! He's part chinese, and my nationality is korean which kinda relates as the same asians. I also love how tanned his skin is compared to others, it gives unique vibe!! 7/10!

Despite how much fanarts I draw out of him, Actually Julius doesn't reaches to the highest tiers. I love his design, backstories or the way he kills, but maybe his personallity is the reason I'd say? I love him!

Octavian Doherty. Oh gosh, I won't lie, his first design before looked a lot alike Jason The Toymaker, the creepypasta. But since his design and settings changed a lot, I like this new version 10000 times better!! I just cannot understand what he talks when he texts, that's affecting his middle tier. 6/10!

Devlin? Oh he's nice...Yeah...But I don't like the way he've treated his girlfriends before, 4/10.

I don't know anything about Duvessa, just except that she's Killian's favorite woman, her hairstyle, and her eye color!! But at least she gets along with Sera and she's pretty so...I'll just place her above the worst fav tier. No rate comments yet since I don't know her yet!

Killian....Well, I know he's the best and all, but I just don't think he's my type character...Notvtrying to say he's bad character. He's still awesome, there're already too many characters who attracts me better than him, which shows him below them as the result...7/10!!!

Thereee's everything I'd say for now. I bet you guys have been shocked of how high rate I gave Lucien, but....🫠 I just admire his job. Don't blame me, it's one of my dream job ᕙ༼ ≖ᴥ≖༽ᕗ 

Characters:

Julius, Killian, Cian, Duvessa, Sullivan, Octavian, Kelly - @sanityshorror

Devlin, Lucien - @scarfaxia

Seamus, Seraphina - @gracilissart

[ninjagirlstar5]

I love it when the wheel lands on a character and gives them a drastically different talent from their original counterpart. Cause here we have Emma as the Ultimate Firefighter!

This one was interesting to tackle cause Emma is a pretty feminine person, but has a swapped talent that has a lot of dress codes and regulations for safety reasons as being a firefighter is quite dangerous. And it turns out through my brief research, Emma's OG design goes against a lot of regulations for firefighters: you can't wear giant earrings but you can wear tiny stud ones or very small hoop earrings, you're not allowed to wear makeup, if you're going to keep your hair long, you have to tie it back (and it's recommended to put it in a braid-bun or a ponytail), contact lenses are prohibited, and I had to try and tie in the firefighter uniform with how Emma dresses in her OG design. So here's what I came up with for Emma: I tied her long wavy hair back into a hair bun, she can't wear contact lenses anymore so her eyes are no longer aquamarine but are instead her real gray eyes, her round earrings were too big and hung from her eyes so they had to be changed to smaller stud ones, and since she wore a coat in her OG design, I decided that she'd have her jacket on her instead of being loose around her waist like Shinji's (although his looked like a one-piece suit in his sprite). I removed her makeup, gave her a shirt underneath her uniform, gave her pants and boots fitting for said uniform, and some fire-resistant gloves, not only as part of her uniform but also to...well, hide some certain scars that she wouldn't dare show to anyone unless it's someone she trusts. Just in case, you know? Her hair gets to remain blonde, though, since you are allowed to dye it but only a natural color...Which doesn't mean much when you live in an anime world like Danganronpa where hair and eye color can range from black to white to literally neon green, but hey. Regulations are regulations. I gave her uniform a blue, yellow, black and gray color palette with dashes of dark red on her boots and she is done.

Next up is Sora!

So, in Emma's backstory, she's living in poverty, her mom is basically out of her life and her sperm donor of a father is the worst EVER. That's still the same. However, when Utsuro blessed her with Divine Luck, on her return home after being forced to steal alcohol for her shitty father, she sees that her own house had caught on fire while she was away. She would later find out through the authorities that the fire happened due to a stray cigarette landing on some trash and the dirty environment went in flames in the blink of an eye. Two witnesses, who were a foreign couple from England, just so happened to see this and called the fire department but by the time they arrived, the only occupant inside the house had already died. Emma is...relieved that she will NEVER have to see her father again, but at the same time, she had NO idea where to go and has essentially became an orphan in a blink of an eye. However, that concern is quickly washed away as the two witnesses approached her and asked if she was alright, which is when she broke down crying. Realizing that she was in a horrible condition, the couple decided then and there to take her under their wing and adopted her. While living with them, she finds out that her adoptive father was actually an ex-firefighter that had to retire due to a career-ending injury and ends up getting inspired by him to become a firefighter herself. Something that both of her new found, loving parents encouraged and supported, even as they pray for safety in such a dangerous career. Like OG Shinji, she worked as an apprentice, which was quite easy thanks to her father's connection to the firefighting community, and she's made something of a name for herself in her career. However, like in her OG backstory, while she may not be in an acting career anymore, that doesn't mean that she wouldn't come across racist co-workers, which is what causes her to dye her hair blonde to try and fit in more. And Emma would mostly be surrounded by adults in her firefighting career, so she wouldn't really have many friends her age and some people may put her on a pedestal due to the work she does as a firefighter, saving lives and all that, which only isolates her from her peers even more. Poor Emma, she just wants to be treated like a normal girl.

[glitchedsins]

My entry for @cawthorntales' Malcom Landgrabb BC

Name: Derek Williamson Age: Young Adult Pronouns: he/him Orientation: Bisexual

Occupation: None/househusband*

Traits: Active, Loyal, Ambitious Orientation: Bi Aspiration: Super Parent

Favorite conversations: Interests, gossip, deep thoughts, deception. Types of personalities/characteristics: Cerebral, Hardworking, Family-Oriented, Rascals. Favorite Hobbies: Cooking, Gardening, Fitness and Baking. Small backstory under cut (will post full backstory later)

Derek has a bit of mischievous background but he's left that all behind and now enjoys a quiet life in Sulani. Derek appears to be frightening at first but he's known by his friends to be real gentle and sweet and can even make the best food out of rations. Most important of all he's a protector and good at keeping secrets, a trustworthy friend and that's what everyone liked about him he's the kind of guy who's shoulder you can lean on.

Honestly, Derek's on the show mildly out of curiosity. Maybe he's getting a bit bored of his cozy life, but one thing's for sure is that he does want love. He doesn't consider himself a romantic but he does enjoy the idea of having someone to come home to, or someone coming home to him. Someone he can cook meals for and serve breakfast in bed and sprinkle them with kisses whenever possible. He is also looking to settle down and have a family, he knows life isn't perfect but he hopes to give his future children a somewhat perfect life.

Derek's actually been married once during his Military days, he's not really sure why he got married maybe it was peer pressure, either way it wasn't the best of marriages but he did his best as a husband. His wife was murdered shortly after he caught her cheating on him some years ago, and that investigation… well it interfered with the last heist him and his group ran, needless to say he's got a lot of guilt on his chest.

[baileypie-writes]

Hello. How about those sunshine villain friend!Reader headcanons, but this time with Star Twinkle Cures?

A/N ~ Sure! Hope you enjoy!

~The Star Twinkle Pretty Cure With a Sunshine Villain Friend~

~~~💫~~~💫~~~💫~~~

Fandom: Star☆Twinkle Pretty Cure

Fanfic Type: Headcanons

Reader: Gender neutral, a villain, heavily implied to be an alien

Relationship: Platonic

Characters Included: Hikaru Hoshina/Cure Star, Lala Hagoromo/Cure Milky, Elena Amamiya/Cure Soleil, Madoka Kaguya/Cure Selene, Yuni/Cure Cosmo

Genre: Fluff, a pinch of angst

Word Count: 1,899

Warnings: Spoilers for Yuni’s backstory, possibly OOC Elena, Madoka and Yuni.

~Masterlists~

~Star☆Twinkle Pretty Cure Masterlist~

~~~💫~~~💫~~~💫~~~

~Hikaru Hoshina/Cure Star~

~~~⭐️~~~⭐️~~~⭐️~~~

~ Hikaru wants to befriend everyone she can both on Earth and in space. So she couldn’t care less that you’re evil. Sure, you were working to practically destroy the universe, but she thought you were worth getting to know, and hopefully, change! You sure made it easy being your friend too. It was hard to believe that someone as sweet as you was a villain!

Hikaru: “A Notraider? No way! You’re joking right?”

(name): “Nope! I’m a Notraider!”

Hikaru: “Wow! I would’ve never expected that! You’re so nice!”

(name): “Haha! My team often says I’m too nice!”

~ Most encounters the you two share outside of battle is purely happy and kind. Neither of your jobs are ever brought up by her, as she only wants to have fun! If anyone else tries arguing with you, she’s quick to scold them. You’ve been nothing but kind(minus the attacks on Earth and space), so you don’t deserve to be ridiculed!

Madoka: “Why is (name) here?”

Hikaru: “Because they’re our friend!”

Madoka: “But they’re, you know…”

Hikaru: “What? The nicest person ever? Yeah, they really are!”

~ Hikaru believes that there must be a reason as to why you chose your path. And she’s determined to find out. But instead of pushing you for info, she just talks to you like a friend. She hopes that if she gets close enough with you, then your backstory will slip out!

Hikaru: “So, where are you from?”

(name): “Nowhere special. What about you? Have you lived here your whole life? It sure is a nice town!”

Hikaru: “Yeah, it is! But you totally changed the subject!”

~ Whenever you help the Pretty Cure or innocent bystanders out, Cure Star’s overjoyed! It’s proof to her that you’re not all bad, and that you don’t actually want to hurt others. She always gives you a big hug afterwards, thanking you for your support.

Cure Star: “Eee, (name)! You were so cool! You really helped us out back there!”

(name): “Of course I did. You’re my friends!”

Cure Star: “See guys, I told you they’re not acting! They really are nice!”

~~~⭐️~~~⭐️~~~⭐️~~~

~Lala Hagoromo/Cure Milky~

~~~🚀~~~🚀~~~🚀~~~

~ After finding out that you’re a Notraider, Lala was very confused. Your personality didn’t match with your job. Yuni even nearly convinced her that your kindness was fake. But after getting to know you better, that possibility never crossed her mind.

Lala: “You really think they’re faking ~lun?”

Yuni: “I’m positive. There’s no way a Notraider can be that nice.”

Lala: “I don’t know… it seems pretty real to me, but you could be right ~lun.”

~ She mostly just does what Hikaru does; not mentioning your occupation outside of Pretty Cure related business. It does make it easier to have fun. She often finds herself forgetting until someone brings it up. She gets quite annoyed when that happens, as she sees it as the happy moments being ruined.

Lala: “If you hate (name) so much, then you can just go away ~lun!”

Yuni: “Oh, well excuse me for not wanting to be around the bad guy!”

Hikaru: “Lala! Yuni! Please cut it out!”

~ She especially gets along with you better if you’re also an alien. She’ll ask you about your planet, curious about your origin. If you don’t want to talk about it, she’ll talk about Saman instead. While she wants to know about your home place, she doesn’t want to be pushy.

Lala: “This is how we greet each other in Saman ~lun!”

(name): “Oh, cool!”

Lala: “How do your people greet each other ~lun?”

(name): “We do this!”

~ It throws Cure Milky through a loop whenever you help her and her team out. It doesn’t make sense to her as to why you’d help out the opposite side, but she’s happy nonetheless. And she’s always quick to thank you afterwards.

Cure Milky: “Thanks for saving me ~lun! But be careful next time, because I nearly hit you with my Milky Shock ~lun!”

(name): “It’s no problem! And I definitely will. That looks like it hurts!”

~~~🚀~~~🚀~~~🚀~~~

~Elena Amamiya/Cure Soleil~

~~~☀️~~~☀️~~~☀️~~~

~ Elena is always positive about embracing differences. So even though you’re from the opposite side of the battlefield, she still makes an effort to be kind and respectful to you. Even if you’re fighting face to face, she never shows any distain towards you. After all, you’re sweet and kind, so it’s only right to match your energy.

(name): “Good morning Elena!”

Elena: “Oh, good morning (name). How are you doing?”

(name): “I’m pretty good. How about you? How’s your family?”

Elena: “They’re all good!”

~ Another reason as to why she’s so kind to you, is because she feels bad for you. Every Notraider has a similar reason as to why they chose their path. They either have a hatred for their own planet, or other planets. And there’s always a sad backstory as to why. So Elena knows that’s most likely the case for you. So she hopes that becoming your friend will help heal you, and hopefully help you turn a new leaf.

Elena: “Do you ever wonder why (name) chose to become a villain?”

Madoka: “Yes, at times.”

Elena: “I mean, when you think about it, there has to be a good reason. Remember Tenjo? What if they had a similar life that made them choose to be a Notraider?”

Madoka: “I never thought of that. That could be the case.”

~ She really has a way with words. So she tries using it to her advantage. You’re given many talks by her, trying to make you switch to the good side. She desperately wants you to leave the dark side, but that doesn’t show in her words. She remains calm and collected, even when you reject her offer for the millionth time.

Elena: “It just feels like a waste for such a kind person to be fighting for such a bad cause.”

(name): “I honestly think it’s a necessary cause.”

Elena: “Are you absolutely sure though?”

(name): “Yes.”

Elena: *sigh* “Okay then.”

~ When receiving help from you, Cure Soliel is not only happy, but very proud. The fact that you care so much about your friends and the innocent, that you’d fight your own side for them fills her with hope and gladness. It’s just another reason for her to believe that you can be changed.

Cure Soleil: “Thanks for getting my siblings to safety, (name)! That was so kind of you!”

(name): “You’re my friend, so of course I’d save your family, silly!”

Cure Soleil: “Not such a bad guy, are you? Haha!”

~~~☀️~~~☀️~~~☀️~~~

~Madoka Kaguya/Cure Selene~

~~~🌙~~~🌙~~~🌙~~~

~ Madoka is always a logical thinker. So she was not a supporter of you at first. It didn’t matter how much nice energy radiated off of you. You were evil, and that was that. But of course, your kindness wore her down, and she couldn’t help but be your friend.

Elena: “I thought you said you weren’t gonna get close to (name)? So why are you hanging out with us if we’re with them?”

Madoka: “I don’t know. I just always seem to end up in their company.”

Hikaru: “Awww, is someone becoming their friend?”

Madoka: “I suppose so.”

~ While she likes you, she’s still always careful not to reveal any important information about the Pretty Cure to you. While you may be nice to them, you’re also nice to the other Notraiders. So there’s a pretty good chance that you’d share that information to help them. So she never lets anything slip. You’re not allowed on the spaceship either. She’s always gentle and kind about it, though.

Madoka: “Sorry, (name). But this as far as I can allow you to go. We have some important Pretty Cure business we have to discuss.”

(name): “Oh, I see. That’s fine! I have a meeting I have to go to anyway! See you!”

Madoka: “Good day.”

~ Madoka isn’t one to prod into other people’s business. So while she wishes you’d turn to the good side, she just leaves it alone. Besides, some of her other friends are trying to persuade you themselves. Why add more stress and pressure? She even talks to them about getting off your back sometimes.

Madoka: “I know you want to get (name) to join us, but don’t you think you’re being too… um… pushy?”

Elena: “Yeah, I guess I kinda am. I’ll try to tone it down.”

Madoka: “Great. I think it’s for the best.”

~ Cure Selene is always taken aback whenever she receives help from you. She knows you’re dedicated to your job and its cause, so it confuses her as to why you’d fight against it, even if it was for a moment. It warms her heart when you tell her the reason, though. It truly makes her glad that she became friends with you. You’re genuinely a kind person.

Cure Selene: “Won’t you get in trouble for this?”

(name): “Probably. But you’re my friend, and I don’t want you getting hurt!”

Cure Selene: “You’re truly one of the kindest people I’ve ever known, (name).”

~~~🌙~~~🌙~~~🌙~~~

~Yuni/Cure Cosmo~

~~~🐾~~~🐾~~~🐾~~~

~ Yuni refused to let herself like you. You work on the same team as the alien who turned everyone on her planet into stone. You may have had nothing to do with it, but she didn’t care. She was even convinced that your kindness was fake. She thought there was no way a Notraider could be a walking ray of sunshine. She never talked to you, and she minimized eye contact as well. If she knew your location, she’d stay far away from it.

Hikaru: “Hey Yuni! Do you wanna go-“

Yuni: “Will (name) be there?”

Hikaru: “Yes, but-“

Yuni: “Then count me out.”

~ You, being the kind person you are, tried your best to respect her wishes. However, a certain pink-haired girl didn’t. She always found a way to make the two of you bond, whether Yuni liked it or not. So, while it took way longer than it did for others, your rays of sunshine eventually peeked through the cracks of the wall that she had put between you.

Hikaru: “Yuni, (name), will you two go get some donuts for while we’re working?”

(name): “Um-“

Hikaru: “Thanks! Bye!”

Yuni: “She didn’t even let us respond.”

(name): “That’s Hikaru for you!”

Yuni: “Haha! I guess you’re right!”

~ Even after breaking the ice, she’s still a bit distant. A part of it is because she feels awkward from how she acted previously. But even so, she’s still nice. She now understands that the fate of her planet wasn’t your fault, so she lets go of her hatred. You’re friends now, so there’s no need to blame you for something you didn’t do.

(name): “What’s your planet like?”

Yuni: “…”

(name): “Ah! I’m so sorry! I forgot!”

Yuni: “It’s okay. Do you still want to know?”

(name): “Oh, yeah!”

~ Cure Cosmo only grows closer to you after you help her or the innocent during battle. She’s proud of you, though she’d never admit it. Your powers combined obliterate the threat with no problems, so the fact that you’re also a great team together is another reason to like you even more. A small celebration with donuts always follows your victories!

Cure Cosmo: “We were so awesome! Hey, why don’t you join the Pretty Cure (name)?”

(name): “Haha! Nice try! But I’m very dedicated to my team.”

Cure Cosmo: “Eh, you’re loss.”

~~~🐾~~~🐾~~~🐾~~~

~~baileypie-writes

[liliesmultiverse]

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ nepo baby OR intro!!

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ reality info!!

it's currently december 20, 2024

a woman named Carmen Leala Ramos won the 2024 U.S. presidential election. she is puerto rican, a lesbian and married to a transgender woman.

world peace. all countries are at peace with each other and no wars will ever break out between them.

equality. all genders are seen as equal by everyone and all have the same oppurtunities as each other. all religions are respected as are all races & sexualities.

the world. the world is as healthy as it possibly can be and everyone works together to take extremely good care of it. climate change & global warming aren't a thing and there isn't any kind of pollution (esp. light pollution). all animals are completely safe and none are being hunted or going extinct by human cause. natural disasters happen way less and all countries always have medical & other resources available. no country is suffering from poverty, overpopulation or hunger. taxes and inflation don't exist and the economy is in a wonderful state all over the world.

there is absolutely NO beauty standard because everyone is beautiful in their own way and shouldn't change themselves to 'fit in'

criminals of any kind are extremely rare to the point that most jails are actually empty.

healthcare is affordable for everyone and there's a day dedicated each month to giving homeless people free health check-ups. abortion is legal everywhere.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ about me!!

name: liliana amore evans

nickname(s): lily, lils, lil, anne, annie

age: 20

date of birth: september 10, 2004

birthplace: new orleans, louisiana

ethnicity: italian, french & irish

height: 5'4"

occupation: actress, twitch streamer & youtuber

sexuality: bisexual

pronouns: she/her

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ my backstory!!

i was born on september 10, 2004 in new orleans, louisiana to christopher robert evans & my CR mom. i am the younger sister of my two CR siblings and the older sister of walker lee evans. i am the goddaughter of zachary alexander bagans & scarlett ingrid johansson. i've loved acting ever since i was little thanks to my dad & godmother and landed my first role when i was 7 years old. i began streaming on twitch & posting on youtube when i was 14 in my free time.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ my filmography & roles!!

tv shows:

shameless ; maisie 'maze' gallagher, carl's twin sister (2011-2021)

grimm (1 ep.) ; april granger (2012)

stranger things ; isabella charlotte 'bella' harrington, steve's little sister (2016-?)

the originals (s5) ; hope andréa mikaelson (2018)

legacies ; hope andréa mikaelson (2018-2022)

a million little things ; sophie dixon (2018-2023)

pretty little liars ; imogen adams (2022-?)

bridgerton ; hyacinth bridgerton (2023-?)

movies:

a walk among the tombstones ; lucia (2014)

aloha ; grace woodside (2015)

wonder ; miranda navas (2017)

the greatest showman ; caroline barnum (2017)

godzilla: king of the monsters ; madison russell (2019)

godzilla vs. kong ; madison russell (2021)

all too well: the short film ; her (2021)

scream ; freya tatum riley, daughter of dewey riley & gale weathers (2022)

scream vi ; freya tatum riley (2023)

teen wolf: the movie ; evangeline 'eva' hale, derek's daughter & eli's twin (2023)

damsel ; princess elodie (2024)

nosferatu ; ellen hutter (2024)

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ my dad!!

name: christopher robert evans

nickname(s): dad, chris

age: 45

date of birth: june 13, 1979

birthplace: boston, massachusetts

ethnicity: irish-italian

height: 6'0"

occupation: actor

sexuality: straight

pronouns: he/him

spouse: my CR mom :)

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ my younger brother!!

name: walker lee evans

age: 15

date of birth: january 5, 2009

birthplace: new orleans, louisiana

ethnicity: italian, french & irish

height: 5'9"

occupation: actor

sexuality: tbd

pronouns: he/him

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ my future husband!!

name: aaron perry johnson

age: 34

date of birth: june 13, 1990

birthplace: liverpool, england

ethnicity: english-mexican

height: 6'4"

occupation: actor

sexuality: pansexual

pronouns: he/him

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ my best friends!!

[blarrghe]

so far veilguard has not really hooked me, which is very new for me with a dragon age game. I'd say it's because I'm growing up and developing less obsessive habits, but I played the sims for like 6 hours straight the other day. I'm not very far in so this crit will be very minor and I'm still giving it the whole game (probably twice) before I actually put down Opinions, but I think I'm getting the vague sense of that "shallowness" that I am trying to avoid actually seeing people complain about already...

The biggest thing for me right now is something I'm going to throw to "pacing" or maybe "narrative buy-in" because, while it starts pretty much exactly like Inquisition, it somehow does even less to grip me and make me believe the threat. Inquisition already had the weakest plot so far imo, but the big bang at the beginning put a very visible mark on the sky from everywhere you went, and there was a lot of urgency in the makeshift refugee camp that was Haven. There's no urgency at the lighthouse. There's not even really urgency at the Arlathan forest camp. There's definitely no urgency in the cities, even though Treviso is under occupation and Tevinter just suffered a demon attack. Again, maybe that will change, but even though the maps are smaller I feel like the few beginning areas are still giving me that hinterlands effect where I can just get stuck wandering about doing minor sidequests and chatting with my companions and the TWO ALL POWERFUL ELVHEN GODS are just like. somewhere. chillin. I guess. Every time someone in my party casually says "the gods must have promised them something" or "the gods must be involved in this" I'm like. Oh right. That's what this game's villain is. Ok. At least in Haven we met Corypheus and he said a sick ass line?

So the big bang at the start is kind of anticlimactic. Solas is fine, just stuck in my head. Varric is fucking fine?? Like it's nice that he's not dead, I guess, I had real suspicions he'd die in that opening scene from the trailer and while I would have been sad it would have been a very good gut punch to get me motivated. By the time I was playing I did not really believe he'd be killed there, but he's just... idk. Sitting on a bed making little comments when I walk by (which I never really do because he's like, over in a room you don't need to go into unless you want to change your appearance). It's. Fine. Again, I'm sure story stuff will pick up and he'll have something important to say at some point. But right now it's. well it's boring. sorry.

I am enjoying the companions, but other than Harding whom I liked already they do not have their claws in me yet. I am the biggest defender of "quirky" female characters but Bellara's couple of personal dialogue scenes so far have fallen so flat for me. She's cute, don't get me wrong, but something in her scene being starstruck by Neve felt very unnatural, as did her emotional outburst and then reveal about her brother. It's a fine character backstory, it's not her voice actor or writer's fault (ok, I think actually maybe it is a little her voice actor, for me. sorry again.) but I just. Meh. And I mean, I might come to really love her. I came to love several other DA characters I did not like the first time around (including some polarizing fan favourites like Anders, Zevran, and Leliana, and some more universally disliked characters like Wynne and Vivienne)

I'm really... not loving the Crow content so far. Why are they good? Why is it portrayed like a cool, good underdog thing that they "rule Antiva"? I don't mind playing with Crow pride as I'm playing a Crow, but last I checked they're literally the mafia. And I enjoy the telenovella style family drama, I do, but it does seem a little... well. it's very telenovella, which is a fucking stereotype, yknow? idk. It feels, and here's that word, shallow. Also Lucanis' cousin is so obviously in cahoots I might just stab him before we figure it out.

And a lot of this actually goes back to Rook. I have seen the complaint that you are shoehorned into plucky hero, and I had this complaint about Inquisition with Responsible Hero and made it work by building a very Responsible character and I am invested in him, so that can work. Hawke also was distinctively Hawke and that's a fan favourite (although you can play a red hawke and it is notably different from purple and blue, but you can't exactly be whoever you want). Anyway, I made a pretty sassy Crow Rook, because I tend to like a sassy rogue (they're a mage, but, you know, spellblade) the first time through a game anyway, but the lack of control over tone is real and I think it's half of why Bellara is not hitting. Like why would she tell me any of this stuff I'm literally just some cool kid with tattoos and a criminal past she met the other day. I honestly miss the heavy mantle that Wardens and Inquisitors have with their companions. Rook's just some guy in the least just some guy way and it's weird.

Anyway. I don't know. There are things I really like. The combat is obviously very fun, and I like the definite missions and kind of streamlined quest approach. I like Varric's foreshadowy narrations that let me know things might actually pick up in the later acts. I like the more definite "act" structure, which was of course the most well-reviewed part of DA2. I see the potential for a cool story, especially with these trips into Solas' past, and I'm sure there will be new lore revelations for dwarves, too. But overall it's just. I don't know. I can put it down. I can put it down for days and days, and I'm 12 hours in to a game that probably has like a 30-40 hour playtime depending on how much you sidequest. I should be more hooked. I am also only 12 hours in. It will probably get better. But also. 12 hours! I've been home alone with it for almost a month!

[importantdestinydefendor]

My Death Mark OC is done!

This is Hagihara Rina. She is a very timid and shy person.

A small profile:

Age: between 35-40

Height: 5'4 (162 cm)

Weight: 119lbs (54 kilos)

Occupation: part-time florist at "Myazakis Flowerfield"

She is the middle child of three children. Her older sister is called Nao, and her younger brother is called Yasu. Her parents are called Hagihara Toshiro (her dad) and Okabe Kaori (her mom). They have been divorced since Rina was an early teenager. Her father left with Yasu, and Rina and Nao were homeschooled since then.

She loves to nit, sew, and everything like that. Takes care of some specific flowers in the shop (for example: she grows her own daffodils). She has worked at the flower shop since she was a teenager. The owners of the shop are the elderly couple Daichi and Jun Myazaki, and they act as her adoptive grandparents. Her favourite colour is anything between pink and red and her favourite flower is the daffodil.

Uuuuuuh I think that is all I wanna say for now?? Since I actually plan to write a fanfiction for her (not in the scale as Firelight AU is turning out to be). So there is not much backstory I can give here except for the divorce part. Finally, I have a character that doesn't have a green/grey/brown/blue-palette! I am not the biggest fan of pink or red personally, but I wanted to draw a character with pink being their primary colour for sooo looong! And I actually finally have one! WOOOOO!

Also I made up her weight based off of my own height and weight ratio + taking in her current mental state (which is just a shit show) and converted it from cm to pound. I wanted to compare it to Yashikis weigth and hoo boy! His weight doesn't really match his height (he weighs around 137lbs (62 kg)) which is as much as I do in real life! And I am tiny comapred to him! (He is 5'11 (180 cm) while I'm 5'3 (162 cm)) So that took a few years of my life. But that just shows how good his character design is as you can really see his lankiness. (And I'm getting off track, this is about my OC not Yashiki. Move over, old man!)

ANYWAY! Tell me what you think in the comments! (Close ups under keep reading)

[feartoxinjelloshot]

honestly i am not a fan of how this drawing turned out BUT i did invest some time into it so i would be amiss not to post it for posterity if nothing else.

context:

so, i spent a long time ruminating on what to do with the league of assassins in my au. obviously, a lot of the canon material concerning it is staggeringly racist, not to mention just kind of stupid overall, so i knew that i wanted most of it to go out the window off the bat. at the same time there were certain aspects of it that i knew i wanted to retain - the immortality, the lazarus pits, talia's original antihero stuff, damian being a weird little knife child, etc - so eventually i decided that the "league of assassins" as it were doesn't really exist; ra's has simply operated im plain view for long enough that people who were paying enough attention went "hey, what the hell, he has a guy lined up for everything, surely he's running some kind of secret evil shadow organization?" he's not. he's really not. he's just been alive long enough that he has a lot of personal favors owed to him at this point. his actual "organization" is like, at maximum three people who owe him life debts at any given time. he's also not really evil per say. he's just really weird.

what ra's is actually doing (amidst some good old garden variety ecoterrorism - if ivy can do it so can he, and it was a core aspect of his motivation for several decades) is acting upon the pathological obsession he has with the lazarus pits. the lazarus pits in my au are a mix of the birth of the demon and BTAS lore surrounding them: they are natural deposits that must be manually dug out from underground wellsprings to be used, but they are also deeply connected to earthly magnetism and can be located via complex leylines and other ambiguously supernatural means. ra's, from his first discovery of them, has been dedicated to obsessively cataloguing and "deciphering" what he perceives to be the grand mystery of the natural world we live in, and that once he "solves" it, he can show the truth to others and the planet will be transformed into a paradise. (you may note this is not dissimilar to the riddler's pathos concerning patterns - more on that point later probably). this also has ties to his mortal occupation as a physician. he has a strong lingering investment in finding new ways to cure ills, and sees death as the ultimate ill, and therefore he wants to find a way to universally cure death.

now, a lot of this is directly informed by his backstory from birth of the demon, which happens to also contain the sole appearance of the other character in this image, Huwe (we aren't given another name for him to my memory, so i'm forced to assume that's his only one). huwe was an enemy-turned-ally of ra's who eventually became immortal alongside him up until the mid 1800(???)s, where they had a fight that ended in ra's killing huwe by stabbing him with a fire poker. i thought the dynamic between them was really interesting and underutilized in that comic so i decided to bring it back - it goes pretty differently in my au but i have not worked out the specifics to any degree of clarity yet so i will leave that for another post.

there is also more going on with talia and damian in this au, but this is getting long and they aren't even in this post so ill give the cliffnotes version: talia was raised to be more or less a 'warden' of the lazarus pits and she is immortal like ra's, albeit much younger chronologically. she has a vested desire to lead a "normal" life and live and die as a mortal. after having damian, who is ostensibly supposed to be her successor, she sends him away to live with bruce as a form of achieving her dream vicariously through him - as long as he remains mortal and lives as he wishes to, away from the inherited responsibility of the pits, she can bear the weight of it knowing he's out there somewhere. ra's's side of this is a whole other thing about immortal loneliness and his family being the only ones who he can relate to at all after all that he's done and a weird amount of parallels to the joker of all people but this is getting WAY TOO LONG.

TL;DR ra's (long hair) is a strange immortal doctor and the other guy is huwe, his totally-not-gay-and-also-immortal friend.

[scaredyspooks]

Olivia (Liv) Gale

Name: Olivia Gale Aliases: Liv Age: 27 Nationality: American Polyamorous or Monogamous: Polyamorous Sexual/Romantic Orientations: Asexual / Panromantic Relationship Status: In a relationship with Clara Quillen Occupation: Masseuse and holistic healer (definitely not a witch nope >.>)

Height: 5'6" (167 cm) Physique: Soft, a lil chubby. Eyes: Grey. Hair: Dyed cherry red, slightly wavy, falls just past shoulders. Defining Features: She has a rose tattoo on her neck, and a full zodiac themed back piece.

Personality: Liv is the definition of the mum friend. She needs to make sure her family (this includes her friends) are safe, happy and comfortable - occasionally to her own detriment. She's very patient and caring, and is always willing to offer a listening ear or a shoulder to cry on. She also gives amazing cuddles that include back and head scratches, and she'll try and knead out any knots she finds in your back and shoulders while cuddling.

Backstory: Liv's backstory actually isn't too bad. She's the eldest sibling in a large family, she was raised by witchy hippie parents, and spent a lot of time in the outdoors. There was a point in her teenage years where she lived on a commune, but that didn't have any negative impacts on her. None at all. (It most certainly had negative impacts and was not a fun time, but she's not ready to accept that just yet).

[bredrawz]

Which oc of yours has the most character lore?

(Also hiii I'm so glad you liked my artfight drawing 😋)

vikki and glume have the most lore out of my ocs (for all my current ocs)

even ocs within their universe arent as fleshed out! all the ocs and some of their spoiler-free info are on my art fight page, but all of my current ocs are linked into one universe so heres a ranking of how much lore each character has:

1 - Vikki

this girl definitely has more lore considering her ghost seeing abilities adding onto her character

1 - Glume

being the main protagonist of the universe she almost ties with vikki with how much lore she has. but since vikki has supernatural powers i think shed be considered to have more but these two are at a. lose equal tbh

3 - rose and edric

will not give any info on their roles in the story but they definitely have their own story i have thought out

4 - nancy and eleanor

youve seen nancy on my art fight but she has a supporting story as she was the previous wife of edric, but she doesn’t have too much lore and is just simply mentioned in the comic (thats as much as ill say regarding her). as for eleanor, you’re all just hearing about her today but to prevent spoiling my own comic before its even published… ill just say she has a backstory lol

5- eli

i hate him but think hes so silly at the same time. hes not spoken too much about in the comic but does have a few appearances, i’ll definitely make minicomics with him but despite not much being said about him in the book he actually has a history with glume and an entire profile on their equivalent to twitter where he posts about being an “alpha male” unironically. no, he cannot name 5 soap brands.

6- mark

hes a dead sassy asshole who has a backstory of his life that isnt really explored in the comics besides a small summary since he isnt too important plotwise. but again, along with the other characters with little appearances i might make minicomics oitside the book for him.

7- summer

little is explained about her life besides her occupation and a reference to how she died

8- violet and kevin

more character new to the public but they have a bit of lore and these kids wont be featured in the book but if theres a book two i might add them in. honestly they were made after i finished writing out the full story, i just wanted to expand the universe for funsies yk

9- anne

i feel bad this queen is so low on the list since i love her but i havent thought of a proper backstory for her. all i have is shes glumes sister and is used to kinda bring out glumes character more and is a supporting character. her backstory wouldnt even be relevant in the story as shes a background/sligh side character, but she still deserves one (all the characters that remain vague on lore do)

10- the bathroom ghost

no this is not hanako, in fact, this dude is not even close to being as cool. i cant say much but theyre bland and you only hear about their death. theyre yet another character that is new to the public.

if you actually listened through my ramblings about my ocs congrats, heres a cookie 🍪

if you’re interested in the comic tumblr is the place to be since i’ll probably talk about it most here

for those curious about the current state of Paranormal (my comic), i’ve decided to do all the bases traditionally. i filled two sketchbooks with a rough draft, but now im working on the actual comic itself on a new sketchbook. its fairly small so once i finish it, ill transfer that book to digital, then get new ones of the same size, and work on the comic segment by segment. honestly itll make the process seem smaller than it is so ill get done faster (i think idk). but so far im moving fast and the style changed again. i might post a sneak peak on here.

feel free to ask questions regarding Paranormal, the characters, or even specifically one character youre interested in.

okie bye :p

[supersoakerfullofblood]

hi!!! hopefully you are having a good day!!! but a quick question-

how can i give insight to a character's backstory without it look liking a word-dump?? especially if the whole story have a diary entry format.

Very good question that honestly really depends on your personal style, but here's what's worked for me.

The best advice I can give is to stop thinking of your character's history as "backstory." That's one of the words that's become so loaded in popular writing discourse as to not mean anything solid anymore, like "worldbuilding," "theme," "protagonist," etc. Words like that are helpful once you've made your own definition for them, but with so many voices in Youtube tutorials and social media posts all saying similar but different things for what these mean, it's best to find a word that better suits how you view the concept. For me, that word is "history," because like how the present is founded on actual history, our characters are only the product of their history. Characters, like people, rarely if ever operate in the present tense.

So--revealing history without the dreaded expository dump. To answer this, we first have to look at why expository dumps are so uninviting. Here's an example of it done poorly (I'm writing this as an example, not taking someone's writing to like, diss on them hah):

Cheryl took the elevator up all five floors of the haunted house, which groaned as she went, the elevator left untouched since the house's last occupants moved out. When they arrived at the penthouse suite, Doctor Gastor explained that the last residents here thought they were wizards and practiced daily at arcana. Their names were Abigail and Horace--he had renamed himself after a demon had told him his true name, so he claimed--and they wintered in this remote, northern sphere to avoid Italian summers. Horace was wealthy, Abigail poor, but he had found her in poverty and saw something of the occult in her movements, so he stole her away one summer, and the two found more in common than they would've thought, for they married the next year. Cheryl paced the floor, picked up and dusted off a book titled in runic chicken scratch, and opened the cover."

This isn't the worst example I could think of, but it has the hallmarks I'm looking for. The first issue with this expository dump ("Doctor Gaston explained... next year") is that it shatters the flow of the passage. As a writer of narrative fiction, the goal of every sentence is to lead smoothly to the next sentence. To do this, we always have to be thinking of what the reader wants to read after a given sentence. If one sentence is about an elevator groaning in a haunted house, the reader probably wants to know how Cheryl reacts to it! Is she scared of ghosts? Does she believe in ghosts? Is she scared of elevators? If so, what does she do? Move to hit a button on the elevator to stop it? If scared of ghosts, how does she internalize this? If not scared, how does she internalize perhaps how Doctor Gaston is shivering? (Is he shivering?) These are all places the reader's mind wants to go to after that sentence. Instead, we get this history about some old wizards (if I had the patience, I would've made it longer to really make it intrude on the narrative, but I don't have the patience). If this is the first time the reader's hearing about the wizards, they probably won't care about them. This synopsis of their story interrupts what the reader actually cares about, which is whatever Cheryl cares about in the moment. To fix this interruption, Cheryl could find the book of runes maybe in the chapter before this, because that gets the reader invested. The reader, just like Cheryl, wants to know why there's a book of runes in the haunted house. So Cheryl asks Doctor Gaston about it, which legitimizes this exposition, because it's also what the reader wants to know.

Another major fault of info dumps is when they don't relate to the character at all. Cheryl's history (let's say she's a girl from the country who wandered into the house on accident) has nothing to do with wizards. Maybe in the narrative, she learns to cast some spells, which makes her care about wizards, but at this point, she doesn't. If Cheryl has nothing to do with wizards, or little to do with them, then why should the audience care? When writing a character's history, you should only include the parts that matter to the character. And this written history should never be too long, because you never want to stunt the flow of the piece (what "too long" means is up to debate and your discretion and style).

Also, exposition only works when it feels genuinely embodied by the character speaking. Is Doctor Gastor explaining the wizard history, or is that the author talking? Some of it sounds like Gastor (the bit between the em dashes sounds like what he would say), but the rest sounds like Gastor is only a mouthpiece for the information I want to put out.

So, solving it. One trick I like to do when giving exposition is to make the exposition into its own mini-scene. You don't want to write, "Carmen was friends with Piper, and they went to the dance once as friends." Instead, give it some space on the page:

She and Piper were the only girls in their group who had gone quiet at curfew. Beatrice’s only crime was in whispering comments in the early hours, short things to guide the group’s banter, never loud enough to warrant arrest. “Not really, no.” “That’s nice.” Carmen nodded and drew his eyes across the crowd. “Did she sleep well?” “Beatrice?” “Yeah.” “I guess.” The path turned up the steep hill on which the dining hall was built. “I don’t know. I don’t think anyone really slept well.” “Oh.” “It’s just uncomfortable, you know?” “The girls?” She raised an eyebrow. “And the boys aren’t?” “No, they are.” He laughed, and Piper was dragged to the same laugh at Homecoming three months ago. She had requested for the Melpomene band’s recent concert recording to be played after the next pop song, and surprisingly, her request was approved. Carmen laughed as their poor performance boomed from the speakers, laughed at the disruption of a dance, and Piper laughed too. But within the minute, the concert’s strident ballad was supplanted by another chart-topping pop song. But for those forty seconds, music was displaced, and the dancers stopped; city walls fell; Piper had broken something for forty seconds, held power for forty seconds. She said now, “It’s just weird, being here. It’s all too happy. Too clean.”

Exposition can work really well in brief flashbacks. And note how the exposition starts: a mirroring of "laugh" because the image is fresh in the reader's mind, so I take them on a sort of dream logic to the past. Note also that this is planting the seeds for some relevant character-building: Piper's growth into an independent woman--"Piper had broken something for forty seconds, held power for forty seconds." Here's another example from my current WIP:

He thought of Brynjar the day he had given him the knot. It was the spring of Óskar’s sixth year, and Brynjar had taken him to the docks one morning to watch sailing men fix fresh ropes on their karves and clip pulleys to sails to tie them to the boats’ sides. “Never doubt a weaver woman,” Brynjar said, annunciating each word. “They keep everything afloat.” “‘Floating,” repeated the young Óskar. “If the ropes aren’t strong, a boat’ll flip and spin. Like this!” He lifted Óskar above his head and spun on his heels, and Óskar cackled. The father set the son on his shoulders and smiled. “Yes, we need those ladies.” Óskar felt his father’s shoulders raise, and he knew the man forged something witty in his mind. “It means, Óssie, a man is only as good as his woman. And you can tell your mother I said that.” Eldrid, Óskar’s mother, would leave in her sleep later that year, and the witches would say she was sick, and Brynjar would spend some nights looking through the cracks in his home, remembering the gray wife he woke to that morning. In his memory, Óskar did not know whether this new recollection of his mother’s passing tainted his father’s speech or if he really did turn somber, but all the same, a short silence paused the scene at the dock, and Brynjar coughed to break it. His voice was low now. “Dangerous,” he said, looking with eyes like the beads of a raspberry at the men on the dock, looking through them. His jowls lowered like curtains, forced low with the hill of a frown, and in the memory, his skin blued and bloated. “It’s dangerous out there, Óssie. Be safe.” He sniffed. “Be well.” “Óskar?” Ingrid stole him. He breathed back into the world and saw now that the road had turned down and the rock wall had turned in, and they approached a strip of sea.

In addition to providing a character's history, this also fleshes out the world: the importance of women and boats, the dangers of the sea. Before the flashback, Oskar is thinking about a knot, so he thinks about the day he got the knot, which makes him think about sailing boats. At the end of the flashback, he thinks about the ocean ("looking through [the sailors]," so probably at the ocean), thinks about his father's skin if he drowned, and back in the present-tense, uh oh, Oskar is nearing the ocean. It all flows together; we're guiding our reader.

But these are only small exposition dumps, and sometimes, we need to convey much more information. You can subtly convey much more information than you realize through dialogue and description, because how a character talks and acts is guided by their histories. If a character is short-spoken, they may have had some interpersonal trauma that you can flesh out more when the time is right:

“No,” Sylvia whispered, trapping Chloe again with her stare, desperate. “I can’t sleep over.” “Why not?” Jane asked. “Mom says I have to be home by seven.” She looked down at her empty plate, at the crumbs from one slice of pizza. “But you haven’t asked her,” Jane prodded. She shook her head. “I did before.” Still in disbelief, Jane asked, “What did she say?” “She said I have to be home by seven.” She blushed. “And I can do whatever till then.” “Oh,” Jane said. She slunk back in her chair. Chloe turned back to her parents. “Can you call Jane’s mom?” “Sure thing.” “Thanks!” She swiveled back and, fingering the fruit Phoebe scrambled on her plate, decided to eat it later. She grabbed a second slice from the box. Moments passed as they ate in silence, Sylvia watching her plate, and the muffled television played something in the living room. Mom and dad laughed. “I should go,” Sylvia said. She bumped the table as she stood, reciting, “Thank you for having me.” Jane looked at the clock hovering above the front door. “It’s only six-twenty.” “I need to go home.” “Oh.” Jane stuttered. “I’ll see you next week!” Chloe said the same. “Thank you. See you.” She opened the door and slipped through. It clicked behind her. Chloe and Jane paused their gnawing and looked up at each other, sharing a thought. They hadn’t heard a car grumble on the gravel, didn’t hear anything drive by at all, and neither of them knew how close she lived. They scraped their chairs from the table and crept to the dining room window like characters in a Jones Bones movie, Jane thought. But when they pulled back the curtain, she was gone. No cars drove on the street, and the sidewalk was empty. A golden glare shrouded the street and surrounding houses as the sun lowered behind a roof.

Throughout this book (The Ghosts of Glass Lake, available now ;)), it's implied that Sylvia has a controlling and/or abusive mother. In this scene, Sylvia is curt and direct. You can almost feel the urgency behind her words, how she bumps the table as she stands, and how it almost sounds like she's rehearsed this exit. It's also implied that no one came to pick her up--she walked home, but neither Jane nor Chloe know where she lives, and neither does the reader. Maybe she walked home for miles because her mother didn't pick her up. You can get a lot of meat from implications!

But still, there are times when you just need a lot of dense exposition, usually near the beginning of a book when you need to describe the setting. My best advice, if you ever need to do this, is to keep it as brief as possible, and to pay extra attention to pacing/flow/tempo/whatever-you-want-to-call-it so it doesn't distract, doesn't feel like a chore:

The seventh and eighth graders of Carmen’s church spent one Saturday every winter at Camp Catechism. The campus set its roots in northern Michigan, breathed easterly winds from Lake Huron, and sparked to life as batches of middle schoolers arrived on midnight buses. Cabins formed a bivouac in a birch forest, and one mile to the east lay the lake and the curve of its horizon. It was frozen now, and the limbs of trees wavered slowly under snow, ice eating at chipped, white bark. The chapel the middle schoolers sang in now was a wide A-frame built and reeking of old wood. A low stage headed the room from which stood a pianist, a drummer, and a guitarist, a stage from which Roman Richards would soon discuss Ephesians. The dining hall was a short walk from everywhere and displayed from a wide window the canopy of the burdened forest, ossified waves, and the sun glinting unbearably against it all. Cups of hot chocolate were filled and refilled on a counter at the entrance of the dining hall, and campers drank these violently, abrading their throats as adolescent drunks. Boys and girls separated into two large halls subdivided into tight rooms for each youth group, everything barred entrance from the other sex. As a general rule, phones were banned, as were drugs, candles, and cursing, though the popular boys forged unique methods to circumvent these restrictions, and anyone caught with contraband was witnessed a martyr for a greater sense of vagrancy. Still, most campers lived within their rules, their obligations, just as they always had at church, and any rule breaking (“sin,” as Roman Richards claimed) was relegated quickly to myth, to rumors spread away from pious ears. As such, Carmen and his contemporaries were only loud ostensibly, never committing to a biblical criminal record. This was not to say that anyone at Camp Catechism was reserved—they spilled everything about their lives to their youth group leaders, but no one yet could articulate exactly what they meant, exactly what they felt, and scantily of dreams, ambitions, or desires.

And as all good exposition does, it flows well back into the narrative. The last paragraph above is a bridge between the camp description and a look into Carmen's inner life.

You may also find halfway through your narrative that you need to dump a bunch of character exposition, and you need to do it urgently. My trick for this is to make chapter A flow into the exposition, chapter B be an extended flashback scene, and chapter C to pick up where A left off. For example, if you need to talk about a character's relationship with his father but haven't done that yet in depth, find an easy way to transition into a flashback chapter that does just that. It's an enlarged version of the flashback tool I talked about above!

Now, all of this is what's worked for me, and I write third person distant POV narratives. It sounds like you're writing first person close POV haha. So I don't really have any examples to help with, but the general advice to 1. Keep the pacing/flow/tempo/etc. so exposition doesn't distract, and 2. Write exposition only about what matters to the character, preferably only what matters to the character in that moment, then you should be a-okay. Exposition is only as bad as it distracts, and these are the strategies I've found to distract as little as possible and to use the exposition to meaningfully build my characters as much as possible.

And again, this exposition dump problem doesn't have hard and fast solutions. Every author deals with it in their own way, and I'm sure with practice, you'll find what works best for you and what comes naturally to you, just as I'm always discovering and refining what works for me. The advice in this post is, I think, a solid place to start from :)

[twsted-princess]

(Art made by @hallowed-delights mwah mwah mwah)

"If you've been experiencing any symptoms of dullness and idiocy then please, give the doctor a call."

Bio

Name: Venus Radix

Nicknames: Dr. Radix, Miss Radix, (Sinclair @terrovaniadorm) Queen Duck, (Guan Zi Xin @silent-dragon) Miss Math, (Lady) Vee, (Nero @rosietrace) Blasted woman, (Saber) Miss Know-it-all (Vanya) Pain in my ass (Ace)

Voice Actor: Kikuko Inoue

Gender: Female (She/Her)

Age: 19

Height: 5'11

Sexuality: Biromantic/Demisexual

Race: Human

Homeland: Rose Kingdom

Birthday: 11/23

Starsign: Sagittarius

Family: Mother, Father

Occupation: Student, Substitute teacher/tutor, Doctor, Smartest student in NRC for three years in counting

Based off: Dr. Veritas Ratio

Professional Status

Dorm: Celestellaron (@geminiiviolets)

School Year: 3rd

Class: 3-D

Best Subject: Math

Club: Gaming (only shows up for chess)

Dominant Hand: Left

Favorite Food: Karnıyarık, Apple crumble

Hated Food: Anything overly sugary/greasy

Likes: Mathematics, The pursuit of knowledge, Like-minded people who also love knowledge, Books, Historic art/civilizations, Sculptures, Baths, Having a clear mind and a productive routine, Ducks

Dislikes: Anyone who doesn't match her intelligence, Idiots, Fools, Wasting her time, Wasting her patience, Students unmotivated to learn

Hobbies: Studying, Reading, Bathing, People watching, Debates, Chess, Modeling for statues/portraits, Tinkering with puzzles

Talents: Able to throw a piece of chalk at lightning fast speeds and enough force to leave a dent on someone's forehead from at least 180 feet/60 yards away

Unique Magic: Χρυσή αναλογία

Akin to the Golden Spin in JJBA Steel Ball Run, via spinning an object/target/herself she can create serious damage or manipulate anything around her.

Backstory

One of- no. The brightest mind in all of Night Raven College. A radiant and glorious star deeming with knowledge, brimming with potential. She's not just the single most smartest student in the school having received top scores for every single year but she's also a skilled doctor. Starting at the tender age of sixteen she worked alongside her father, performing the first open heart transplant to be done at such a young age. Since then she has become a recognized member of the medical along with the educational fields. Holding many conferences, writing novels, teaching a new generation of eager minds. However when you get to actually know her she can be................insufferable. Sure she's a genius and beyond talented but God is her ego a problem. She's just......annoying. But she'll make you feel stupid.

[daughter-of-sapph0]

watched the first episode of the acolyte, and god it's stupid.

my thoughts below. spoilers or whatever...

okay so positives first:

>live action high republic is cool as hell. finally, something that isn't original trilogy or post empire, the most oversaturated and overrespresented eras of star wars. I'm not the biggest high republic fan, I've only read light of the jedi. but I think the setting has potential for some amazing stories.

>the character designs are also amazing. everyone looks super cool. also nice to see people of color given representation in star wars. it's so cool to finally have a black woman as the main character.

>...

>that's it

.

okay now for negatives:

>it looks fuzzy. idk how to describe it, but it looks like there's a layer of static over everything. this is really obvious with solid flat colors, especially in background shots. it just looks blurry. I've seen supernatural gifsets from 2012 with less grain than this high budget star wars show.

>the plot is incredibly stupid. Osha (yes, her name is osha, like the occupational safety and health administration) is framed for the murder of a jedi, but she says she didn't do it. it turns out that it was her twin sister Mae who everyone thought was dead but is secretly still alive. evil twin is literally the oldest most cliche trope ever. and of course they made a point of giving mae and easily identifiable mark on her forehead so you can tell her apart from Osha

>the dialog is so unnatural. "okay, so we need the audience to know more about Osha so they sympathize with her. how can we do that? let's have Yord explain oshas backstory... to Osha!" okay? Why The FUCK Are You Explain Oshas Own Backstory To Her?! "your family died in a fire, and the jedi order took you in when you were 8 years old" She Literally Knows That Already Because It HAPPENED TO HER!!!! In What Universe Would Any Person Speaking In A Natural Way Talk Like This?!??!?! you know that meme of the guy screaming about megamind 2 for megamind to use the dehydration gun? that's me right now about this fucking scene

>everyone is so bland. you can tell their personalities immediately. Osha is kind and helpful. Sol is loving and a father figure and has attachments to Osha. Yord is a himbo. Jecki is as close to a "mean girl" as a jedi can be. and Mae is just pure evil.

>like, incredibly evil. holy shit. Osha has a dream sequence / force vision and sees a young Mae and Mae is singing a creepy rhyme about how they're twins and inseparable and shit and when Osha asks if she killed the jedi Mae goes "yes! I'll kill them all" and her eyes turn fully black and I'm not even making that up!!! I actually laughed out loud at how stupid it was. I know star wars is goofy, but holy shit

>Yord is naked for a short scene for no reason other than comic relief. Jecki makes a marvel quip about it.

.

I want to like this show, mainly because I know the fandom menace hates it. like, having representation of people of color, and having a black woman as the main character is great! but it literally feels like some corporate executives are trying to check all the diversity boxes, and then forgot to write an interesting show.

and I know that if I give any valid criticism about the show, stupid idiots on twitter will go "yeah! and also it's too woke!" and think I agree with their horse shit opinions.

but like legit, I was sorta excited for this show, and now I'm just too tired to even care. it's not often that a show loses my interest completely after the first episode. and I'm pissed, because high republic star wars has so much potential to be cool.

.

tldr, star wars would be so good if it was good.