#and that’s why it was never as simple as ‘they’re not the real version of [insert character]’

[sunshinemakesmesleepy]

I’m not the same person I was four years ago. Not even by a long shot. The jump from 17 to 21 was huge. Not even from a stand point of life experience or emotional intelligence, but before I got to college, i was always on guard. I never felt safe, and I never really was safe. I was sick and I was paranoid, I was easily started and angry and emotional but also incredibly repressed. I was a shell of who I was and yet some how that shell managed to craft meaningful and life saving friendships and connections that got me out of the death trap of a house I grew up in, and out of the clutches of two incredibly toxic and flawed parents who maybe once wanted the best for me, but quickly realized that they weren’t willing to put in the effort to help me achieve that. And so up until I escaped, I wasn’t me. I was whoever I needed to be to survive. I look back at pictures and old journals and even art, and I don’t recognize myself. I see glimpses but it’s all incredibly ingenuine. And yet people learned to love that version of me, outside of my house hold, and so in a way that version became real, to an extent. But it wasn’t vulnerable. Even if it was honest at times. It was shallow and impenetrable and ever changing. It wasn’t me. It was a tool I used to keep me, the real me, safe. And I learned to live like that. To even enjoy it in the moments that could be afforded

After my brief stint in college, after dropping out and cutting my remaining bio parent off, after leaving and starting over and rebuilding myself from scratch, I look like an evolution of a version of my younger self I had to leave behind in the name or survival. I show my new friends and my new community pictures of how I was back then, as a teenager, at 17, and they don’t recognize me. They’re horrified. They say I look sick and sad and miserable. They can’t find the light in my eyes. They ask why my smile never shows my teeth. I say I was never happy enough to get there genuinely. And I never got the hang of trying to fake it. I tell stories of who I was and what I did and they furrow their brows because it goes against everything they see in me now. The bright smiles, the flash of teeth, the bleach blonde hair, thick and curly round my head like a halo. They look at my heat straightened dark hair, carelessly cut into a blunt bob, patchy on the sides from a once unknown disease, and frown. I ask if they think they could have loved me back then, and they say of course. But I was easier to love in some ways, as a soft spoken terrified teenager, uncomplicated and unexceptional. Now I am a full person, with complexity and insight, and so it feels like if they could love me like this, as flawed and honest, of course they could love the palatable simple quiet version of me that once was.

But to walk back into the embrace of people who’ve only loved you as you stand behind a mask. Who say through the cracks of your armor much less than what you they thought. Who don’t know the depth of your genuine happiness and joy, your real smile, the way you talk for hours without fear. To do that feels more so like the potential for rejection, that the preference of a fake mask versus the real thing, might just be the thing that destroys you. And when you’ve walked the line of life an death too many times to count, that’s saying a lot.

But then my sister, seeing me in person for the first time in years tells me that I look healthy. Radiant. Like the sun. My brother too. My old friends, mothers and fathers who took me in as their own. Over and over again, they say: you look bright you seem happy I am so glad you are not suffering as you once were let me get to know you now; and while I am afraid of their rejection, their distaste in my future honesty, I am even more so enamored with their compassion and their kindness and desire to get to know me now as I am.

I came back different, but I didn’t come back wrong. I am not who I once was but that is okay. My soul at its core has not changed and those who know that hold me close and tell me they love me as I am, no matter what version no matter what time, no matter who I will be or who I have been, they will still love me because I am still myself. Even if I am different, even if part of it is nothing more than a lie, that lie is still a part of me and so it still means something. Even if it’s false. Fabricated. A means to an end. Protection from outside forces.

Let me get to know you now. I promise I will love you despite anything.

And against my better judgement I agree. And I never regret it

"You don't know me. I'm not the same person anymore."

"That's okay. I'll get to know you again."

[klobexia]

maddie original is probably not that great of a person considering literally everyone else to exist in her favored sim spends most of their time shown either agonizing over how to escape the deterministic hell of her creation or accept how to live within it and cope to the best of their abilities.

but hey, the other sims that she passes up on for not serving her purposes prove that free will and humanity among UI is actually real when granted autonomy without constraint, it just won’t seem that way in the sim that forgoes autonomy to be specifically curated in order for her and every other UI in the sims shitty lives to play out in a precise way that allows a version of her to meet her dead loved ones again (and then lose them again).

the sim we start in most likely doesn’t change at all from her initial loop around reality as a flesh and blood human, only once she repeats her mistakes from the prior sims ad infinitum with little to no alterations does she realize she can’t just set things up the same to meet her ends and expect them to be different in the ways that she desires too.

the her in the final sim-inside-a-sim we see has to have an option to make different choices from the start in order for anything to change, even if that means some of her loved ones may not be saved or even exist. she just has to trust that the life she has matters anyway, human or upload, original or reconstructed.

[luna-azzurra]

Writing a Morally gray character

Think about their backstory, what shaped them into who they are? What do they believe in? And, most importantly, what pushes them to get out of bed every morning and keep going? These characters aren’t simple good or bad. They’re caught in the middle, in that murky, complicated space between black and white. That’s where they get interesting because they’re constantly wrestling with themselves, trying to figure out the right choice, or if the “right” choice even exists for them.

You need to show this internal battle. Imagine your character being torn between what they believe is morally right and what they actually want. This is where the real drama comes in, it’s like watching them juggle their principles with their desires in real-time. They’ll mess up, and they’ll make decisions that are sometimes questionable, but that’s what makes them human and relatable. One way to really highlight their complexity is by putting them in situations where there’s no clear answer. You know, those moments in life where everything’s kind of a mess, and you’re stuck trying to figure out what the hell you’re supposed to do? Your character should face situations like that. These gray areas create tension because readers won’t know which direction the character will go, and honestly, your character might not know either.

And don’t forget, growth is a huge part of writing a morally gray character. People aren’t static, they change based on what happens to them, and your character should too. Maybe they start off with a strong sense of morality but, over time, that starts to shift. Or maybe they start with shaky ethics and slowly become a better person as they learn from their mistakes. Growth can also go the other way, they could spiral downward, giving in to darker impulses. Either way, they need to evolve, just like people do in real life. That’s what keeps the story fresh and unpredictable. The last thing you want is a character that stays the same the whole way through.

Also, please, no stereotypes. A morally gray character doesn’t have to be a brooding anti-hero with a tragic past (unless that’s your vibe, but even then, switch it up). Give them quirks that make them unique. Maybe they have unexpected motivations, like they’re doing something shady for a cause they genuinely believe in, or they’ve got a weird sense of humor that throws people off. Whatever it is, make sure they feel like an individual, not just a copy-paste character we’ve all seen a million times.

Even when your character makes decisions that aren’t exactly clean-cut or heroic, the reader still needs to understand why. Show their vulnerabilities, why they doubt themselves, why they hesitate, and why they ultimately make the choices they do. It’s all about making them relatable, even when they’re walking that fine line between right and wrong. People might not always agree with them, but they should at least be able to see where they’re coming from.

And remember, every choice your character makes should have consequences. They don’t exist in a bubble. Their decisions should ripple out and affect not only them but the people around them. Maybe they make a selfish decision, and it ends up hurting someone they care about, or they try to do the right thing, and it blows up in their face. One last thing, just because your character lives in that gray area doesn’t mean they don’t have any sense of right or wrong. They might have their own personal code they follow, even if it doesn’t line up with society’s morals. Maybe they justify their actions in a way that makes sense to them, even if other people wouldn’t agree. It’s all about exploring that space where they’re not totally good, but not totally bad either. That’s where things get really interesting.

Think about where your character is going. Is their journey going to push them to become a better version of themselves? Will they fall back into old patterns and never really change? Or will they stay stuck in that moral gray zone, constantly torn between doing what’s right and doing what feels right for them?

[verstappenverse]

Call Me When You Breakup (Role Reversal)

Pairing: Max Verstappen x Reader

Summary: You’re with the wrong person, and Max knows it. So do you. He won’t ask you to leave but he’ll be here, hoping, aching, waiting. Just… call him when you do.

Authors Note: Okay so when I was writing Call Me When You Break Up, I genuinely couldn’t pick whether Max or the reader should be the one in a relationship bc I loved both versions too much, so… I wrote both. Figured I’d share this one too in case you needed a little comfort after the first one! (Spoiler: this one ends has a happier ending, promise 💕)

1.6k words / Inspo / Masterlist

Max knows he's in trouble the moment he sees you with him.

It shouldn’t hurt like this. Shouldn’t feel like something inside him is being wrenched apart, piece by piece. But it does. Because that’s not where you’re supposed to be.

You should be with him.

Instead, you’re laughing at something your boyfriend just said, your hand resting lightly on his arm, and Max feels like he’s suffocating in plain sight.

Because he knows that laugh. He knows your real laugh, the one that starts low in your chest and crinkles the corners of your eyes. This one is polite, forced, paper-thin.

You're fading right in front of him, and he doesn’t know how no one else sees it.

"You’re staring."

Lando’s voice pulls him back to reality, but Max doesn’t bother denying it. What’s the point? Everyone knows. They’ve always known.

Lando follows his gaze across the restaurant, shaking his head. "You really gonna keep doing this to yourself?"

Max exhales sharply, gripping his glass tighter. "What choice do I have?"

Lando scoffs. "I don’t know, maybe tell her how you feel instead of sitting here like some lovesick idiot?"

Max wants to. God, he wants to. He’s rehearsed it a thousand times, in the car, in the shower, in those sleepless hours past midnight when he’s certain no one will hear his heart breaking. But it’s never that simple.

Because you’re in a relationship. One that looks fine from the outside. One that checks boxes. One that convinces everyone… except Max, that you're happy.

But Max knows better.

Because he’s seen the way your boyfriend talks over you when you’re excitedly telling a story. How he interrupts, how he subtly corrects you. How he walks ahead without waiting, and rarely looks back to see if you’re still with him. How he only reaches for your hand when people are watching, when it can be seen, posted, admired.

But still, you stay. And Max doesn’t understand why. Because you were meant for him.

You know it too. He sees it in the way your eyes linger on him a second too long. The way your laughter always falters when he looks at you like this, like he’d burn the world down if you asked him to.

But you never ask.

And Max? He’s stuck waiting.

We’re so meant for each other. When will you wake up.

The words sit heavy in his chest, but he swallows them down. Because as much as he wants to say them, to beg you to choose him, it has to be you.

Call me when you break up.

He thinks it almost every time he sees you. It sits there behind his teeth, aching to be said. A quiet, desperate plea. Because he can’t say it first.

You have to want it. Want him.

Until then, he’ll keep watching from across the room. Holding his breath. And praying that one day, you’ll finally stop pretending.

And come home to him.

It gets worse before it gets better.

Max tries to move on. Tries to shove the feelings down, bury them beneath podium celebrations and mindless distractions. He flirts with women he doesn’t care about, lets them kiss him in the shadows of clubs, lets them wrap themselves around him like temporary bandages, but their lips never feel right.

Because they’re not yours.

You’re the only person who’s ever made him feel like he doesn’t have to win to be worth something.

He tells himself he’s fine. That if he says it enough, he’ll start believing it.

But then he sees you again.

You’re sitting alone in the paddock, scrolling through your phone, and you look exhausted. Not just physically, but in the way that sits deep in your bones. Like you haven’t been happy in a long time.

Max doesn’t think. He just moves.

"Hey."

You glance up, startled, before a slow smile spreads across your face. "Hey, Max."

It’s stupid, how much just hearing his name in your voice makes his chest ache. How his whole world rearranges itself around that one sound.

He sits beside you, close enough that your knees brush. "You okay?"

You hesitate just for a second before nodding. "Yeah. Just tired."

You’re lying. He knows it. You know he knows it, but you don’t elaborate, and Max doesn’t push.

Because this isn’t his place.

Not yet.

So he swallows the things he wants to say. Swallows the part of him that wants to take your face in his hands and ask what happened to the girl who used to give him hell just for fun. The one who could make him laugh with a single raised eyebrow, who used to challenge him just to see if he’d rise to it.

He forces himself to play the part. The best friend. The one who listens but never crosses the line. The one who waits in the background, hoping that one day you’ll finally wake up.

But waiting is hell.

Especially when he sees it clearer than ever that you’re not yourself anymore. Not the girl who used to light up every room, not the girl who used to challenge him on everything just to make him laugh. You’ve gotten quieter. Like the wrong love dimmed your light.

And Max? He wants to be the one who brings it back.

He wants to remind you what it feels like to be loved loudly. To be listened to. To be challenged and adored in equal measure. He wants to be the arms you fall into, not because you’re tired, but because it finally feels safe. He wants to fight with you and for you, and he wants to laugh until you can’t breathe, until your face crumples in that way that only happens when you’re so happy you forget to hold it all in.

The call comes finally at 2 a.m.

Max is half-asleep when his phone buzzes, the screen lighting up with your name. His heart lurches before he even picks up.

"Hello?"

Silence.

Then—

"Can I come over?"

Your voice is raw, like you’ve been crying, and suddenly Max is wide awake.

"Yeah," he says immediately, already sitting up. "Of course."

You don’t offer an explanation. You don’t need to.

Because he already knows.

You show up at his door twenty minutes later, eyes red-rimmed, wearing the same clothes from earlier.

Max doesn’t ask what happened. He just steps aside, letting you in.

You sink onto his couch without a word, pulling your knees to your chest. Max sits beside you, close but not touching. Waiting.

It takes a minute before you finally speak.

"It’s over."

The words send a jolt through his chest, but he keeps his expression careful. "Are you okay?"

"I don’t know." You let out a bitter laugh, shaking your head. “I feel like an idiot... I should’ve left a long time ago, but I was scared. Of being alone. Of starting over."

Max swallows hard. "You’re not alone."

Your eyes flick to his, something unreadable swirling in their depths. "I know."

A beat of silence. Then—

“Were you… waiting for this?”

The question slips out of you like a confession, small and uncertain, but it lands like a thunderclap between you.

Max doesn’t blink. Doesn’t deflect with a joke or pretend he didn’t hear. His eyes stay locked on yours, steady and unflinching, like he’s bracing for impact.

“Yeah,” he says, simply. “I was.”

“Max—” you breathe, voice thick and trembling.

But he cuts you off gently, a hand lifting like he’s physically trying to slow the moment down.

“Don’t,” he says softly, eyes searching yours. “Don’t say anything if you don’t mean it, not because you feel guilty, or because you’re hurting, or because I’ve been stupid enough to love you this long.”

“I think part of me always knew,” you continue, blinking hard. “That I was supposed to end up here. That it was always going to be you. But I kept talking myself out of it. Because you were safe. And I didn’t think I deserved safe.”

“You deserve everything,” Max says hoarsely.

You nod, a few tears finally escaping down your cheeks

Max is still watching you like he doesn’t dare breathe, like if he moves too fast, you’ll disappear again.

You reach for his hand, threading your fingers through his. “I don’t want to pretend anymore. I don’t want to waste another second pretending I don’t feel what I feel.”

His grip tightens instinctively. “What do you feel?”

You swallow hard, but your voice is clear now. Certain. “I’m in love with you.”

Max exhales like he’s been underwater this whole time and finally broke the surface. His hand rises to cup your jaw, thumb catching a tear before it falls.

“Say it again,” he whispers, eyes shining.

You smile through the tears. “I’m in love with you.”

“I love you too,” he says. “I’ve been yours since the beginning”

And then you’re kissing him.

It’s not perfect. It’s messy, a little desperate. There’s hesitation in the way your lips press to his, like you’re testing the waters of a dream you never let yourself have. But Max doesn’t hesitate.

His hands find your waist, anchoring you to him, pulling you into his lap like he’s afraid you’ll vanish if there’s any distance between you. His fingers slide into your hair, and he kisses you like it’s the only language he’s ever been fluent in.

Like he’s been waiting forever.

You gasp softly into his mouth, and he slows down, gentling it, letting you set the pace. Letting you feel safe. Loved. Wanted.

When you finally pull back, your foreheads rest together, breath mingling in the small space between you. Your eyes stay closed, your voice barely more than a breath.

“I’m sorry it took me so long.”

Max exhales, brushing your hair back behind your ear with a tenderness that makes your throat tighten.

“You’re here now,” he says, thumb ghosting across your cheek. “That’s all that matters.”

[oc-ology]

How to get past the fear of OC posting

People should create for the sake of creating but people post to engage with the community. However, posting can be intimidating and anxiety-inducing for a lot of people. It’s easy to say “do it scared” but much harder to put into practice. So, I’ve put together a few steps that lead up to doing it scared. These won’t work for everyone and this is meant more as general advice.

Step One: Why are you scared?

The first step is to figure out what about posting is scary for you. Oftentimes, it’s not as simple as “what if my post flops” or “what if people think I’m cringe”. Once you’ve figured out the surface-level reason, dig a little deeper. If your post flops, does that lead to you doubting the worth of what you’re creating? If you’re worried about what people think, is that because you’ve experienced judgement before or are worried your inbox will be flooded with criticism?

Identifying why you’re scared will not only help you understand yourself better (yippee!) but you can also then work on the source of your fears and anxieties at your own pace.

Step Two: Find ways to lessen your fears

One way of working through anxiety online is to find ways to mitigate the specific source of your fear.

Some fears have easier solutions than others. If you’re worried about people criticising your work, you can turn off anonymous asks (as most people are less likely to be haters when there’s a name attached to it) or turn asks off entirely, as well as limiting replies to those who have been following for a week. This way, if someone does want to be an unpleasant individual, it’s a little harder for them to do so.

A lack of engagement is a little harder to remedy. Here, the only real solution is to try and divorce the idea that engagement = worth. Remember why you’re creating an OC. Because it’s fun! It’s an act of creation! Because you want to find a community…? A community or OC friends will never just drop into your lap. You need to seek them out yourself. Look into discord servers, forums, tumblr networks (are they still a thing?), fandom events and exchanges, and most importantly: go out of your way to send asks/questions to others and build friendships with them! If you’ve got social anxiety like me, this is going to be a big challenge. Which leads to the next step…

Step Three: Start small

It doesn’t matter how small your first step is - so long as that step is forwards! If you’re nervous about OC posting, find the smallest thing about them and post it with the expectation of getting no notes. That’s right, I want you to go in and expect it to flop. Anything over one note is an automatic win. This first post isn’t about engagement - it’s about getting over the initial fear of posting. 

It can be tempting to just go right out the gate with elaborate explanations of backstory, lore implications, power levels, everything. But the trick really is to start small. Most people scrolling tumblr aren’t going to read a few thousand words on something they’re not invested in yet. TL;DR is a curse that I’m sure we’ve all fallen victim to. 

Instead, break up information about your OC into small pieces that can be posted one by one and have some kind of visual piece with it. People are usually more drawn to images than text. For example, which of these two things are more visually interesting?

What Perseus keeps in his bag:

Amulet

Tinderbox

A broken blade

50ft of hempen rope

25gp of silver powder

Waterskin

Rations (cheese, bread, sausage)

OR

Obviously this comes down to personal preference but a lot of people would find the illustrated version to be more interesting. You don’t need to be an artist to do this either! You could make a version of that example in photoshop or a similar program. Picrews, moodboards, edits, game screenshots and photography can all be used to add a visual element to your posts.

Step Four: Why am I still scared?

Fear is not easily stamped out. Anxiety is definitely the kind of thing that lingers. These steps aren’t meant to immediately make OC posting not-scary. That’s something that will only come with time as you get used to it. Again: Do it. Do it scared. Gradually, it’ll be less terrifying and in the meantime, you might be able to make a few friends who also want to talk about your blorbo.

[writingwithcolor]

Author with cultural disconnect: How do I write without making it seem as if I hate my own heritage?

Anonymous asked:

I’m a white-passing Asian author, and I’ve never felt all that connected with my heritage. My current story centers on a fairy (re: fantasy-world POC) child and ends with her realizing that her parents are toxic af and her human best friend’s family takes her in. This is the perfect opportunity to sort through my own issues with my heritage and finally convince my monkey-brain that it’s okay to not know how to cook Vietnamese food or celebrate tet or speak Vietnamese… But I also realize that if I’m not careful, this could easily slip into “Hey, I hate my heritage and so should you!” So how can I stop that from happening?

Writing for yourself first, not an audience

I ask you a simple question: why put pressure on yourself to have any sort of non-offensive messaging for a story that hasn’t been drafted yet and is to convince your monkey brain it’s okay to exist as yourself?

That seems like the fastest way to stop the story from being actually cathartic and instead a performance art piece when you already feel hung up on performing as “properly” part of your culture.

As I said in Working Through Identity Issues and Other Pitfalls of Representation, not all stories you write need to be for public consumption. Especially stories you’re using for your own self-processing and therapy, because you’re trying to get a cathartic moment that is rewriting your own story.

At what point does the public need to be involved in that?

I do understand the compulsion to want to post—I have definitely posted some Questionable™ material in my drive to get validation for feeling the way I do, wanting people to witness me and say “same.” It’s a powerful urge. Sometimes it’s worked, but most of the time it’s just made me feel horrifically exposed.

But you really do not have to post in public to get any sort of validation. Set up a groupchat with friends if you want the cheerleading and witnessing—people who will know your story and give you good-faith interpretations and won’t accuse you of anything. Honestly I’d suggest setting up this groupchat anyway; as someone who just got one again after quite a few years without it, my productivity has skyrocketed from being around supportive people.

Let the monkey brain have its monkey brain moment and shut off the concept the story is for the public. Shut off the concept of performing for an unknown audience. It’s for you. Be authentic, no matter how bad it would look to outsiders. They’re not reading it. Part of getting catharsis, sometimes, is being the worst version of yourself, somewhere nobody else can see it.

Deciding to publish the work

If, after you do write it, you find that you actually do want to polish it up and put it somewhere… edit it. Rewrite it entirely if that’s what it takes. Take the story through the same drafting process every story needs to go through, ripping out the unfortunate implications as you go.

Editing can be its own form of healing, as you try to figure out what this character would need to not be hateful. As you realize, once this longform journal entry is out of your head, what was bothering you now that you can see it pinned down on a page. But you absolutely do not need to write with the intention of editing in that healing. When I’ve tried, it’s fallen flat.

The healing will come from being yourself, no public involved, and writing about your feelings in their rawest form. Anything else is extra.

There’s no point in trying to put guard rails on the drafting process, not for a deeply personal piece. And by the time that drafting process is done, you’ll likely have specific scenarios and contexts that you can ask about, and you might even have ideas on how to fix it yourself once the story has a shape to it.

This is 100% a situation where there’s no real sense in idea workshopping something in the plotting stage. You’re doing something for you. Decide if it’s for public consumption later (while acknowledging “no” is a perfectly valid answer), and only figure out how to make the story not overtly harmful if you decide to put it out into the public.

~ Leigh

[novlr]

How do you introduce side characters naturally? I have a lot of important secondary characters in my story, but every time I try to bring them in, it feels like I’m just dumping information about them. Help!

We’ve all been there. You have this amazing cast of secondary characters in your head, each with their own rich backstories and interesting personalities. But when it comes to actually introducing them on the page, you find yourself wrestling with clunky paragraphs of exposition or, worse, those dreaded character introduction scenes where the story grinds to a halt while you explain who everyone is.

The good news is that there are ways to weave your side characters into your story naturally, making them feel like organic parts of your narrative rather than additions that need explanation. So, let’s explore how to make your secondary characters shine without overwhelming your readers with too much information at once.

Why side characters matter

Before we dive into techniques, let’s understand why it’s important to include side characters in your stories. They’re not just there to fill space or give your protagonist someone to talk to. Well-written side characters can:

Add depth and complexity to your story world.

Provide different perspectives on your story’s central conflict.

Create additional tension and conflict.

Offer opportunities for subplots and parallel storylines.

Help develop your main character through their interactions.

Make your fictional world feel lived-in and authentic.

Provide comic relief or emotional weight when needed.

Introduce them gradually

One of the most effective ways to introduce side characters is to treat them like real people your readers are getting to know. Think about how you meet people in real life. You don’t immediately learn their entire life story, family history, and deepest fears. Instead, you discover things about them gradually through:

Initial impressions.

Casual conversations.

Shared experiences.

Others’ reactions to them.

Their behaviour in different situations.

This same principle applies to your writing. Instead of frontloading all the information about a character, reveal details organically as they become relevant to the story.

Example of gradual introduction:

Too much at once: “Sarah was John’s sister-in-law, a brilliant neurosurgeon who had graduated top of her class at Harvard. She’d lost her husband two years ago in a car accident and now lived alone with her golden retriever, Charlie. She loved Thai food, hated mornings, and had a secret passion for reality TV shows.”

Gradual reveal: “Sarah arrived late to dinner, still wearing her surgical scrubs. She gave John a quick, one-armed hug before collapsing into the chair beside him. ‘If I never see another brain aneurysm again, it’ll be too soon.'”

The second version gives us just enough information to be intriguing, while leaving room for natural discovery of other details later.

Show, don’t tell (but tell when you need to)

While “show, don’t tell” is solid advice, the reality is that you’ll need both techniques. The key is knowing when to use each:

Show when:

Revealing personality traits.

Demonstrating relationships.

Illustrating emotional states.

Establishing dynamics between characters.

Tell when:

Providing necessary background information quickly.

Clarifying relationships that would be confusing to figure out.

Establishing basic facts that don’t need dramatic revelation.

Use dialogue effectively

Dialogue is one of your most powerful tools for introducing side characters naturally. Through conversations, you can reveal:

Character relationships:

“Hey, boss,” Maria said, dropping a stack of files on Derek’s desk. “The Thomson case came back from legal.”

This simple exchange establishes their professional relationship without explicitly stating it.

Personality:

“Well, if it isn’t Little Miss Perfect,” Jake drawled, not bothering to look up from his phone. “Come to tell me I’m doing everything wrong again?”

We immediately get a sense of Jake’s attitude and the dynamic between these characters.

Background:

“Remember that summer we spent at Gran’s beach house? Before everything went wrong?”

This kind of dialogue hints at shared history and potential conflict without dumping information.

Connect to the main plot

Side characters should serve a purpose in your story. When introducing them, consider:

How they affect your protagonist’s journey.

What role they play in the main conflict.

How they complicate or assist the plot.

What unique perspective they bring to the story.

Create meaningful subplots

Subplots are excellent vehicles for developing side characters without overshadowing your main story. A good subplot should:

Connect to the main plot in some way.

Have its own arc and resolution.

Reveal something about the side character.

Add depth to your story’s themes.

Create additional tension or complications.

Common pitfalls to avoid

The introduction lineup: Avoid scenes where characters are introduced one after another in quick succession.

The info dump dialogue: “As you know, Bob…” conversations where characters tell each other things they already know.

The character sheet: Listing physical descriptions and personality traits without context.

The irrelevant backstory: Including details about a character that never become relevant to the plot.

The forgotten character: Introducing someone as important and then having them disappear for long stretches.

Questions to ask yourself

When introducing a side character, ask yourself:

What does this character bring to the story?

What’s the most natural way for them to enter the scene?

What’s the minimum information readers need right now?

How can this character’s introduction move the plot forward?

What makes this character memorable or distinct?

Remember, your side characters are essential elements of your story’s ecosystem. By introducing them thoughtfully and developing them naturally, you create a richer, more engaging narrative that keeps readers invested in your entire cast of characters, not just your protagonist.

Trust your readers to piece things together gradually, and focus on making each character’s introduction serve your story’s larger purpose. With practice, you’ll find that introducing side characters becomes less about managing information and more about creating meaningful connections within your narrative.

[2-dsimp]

Hey, for your Spotlight Boys, how would they react if they met their Darling and they already had a partner?

Who would take out the competition immediately and who would just want them to be happy? What would they do if there were signs they weren't actually happy?

Cw: jealousy/manipulation/coercion/blackmail/gore/death

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The types who’d take out competition:

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Rashiq the rabbit

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In his version you’re a nun supposed to be serving the lordship. So of course having any type of romantic relationship with the other gender is forbidden.

But if the rabbit hybrid priest finds out that you were having relations with another… He devilishly grin at how much fun he’d get out of ruining that dipshits life. While also getting you into his paws up and far away from that bastard Zebad’s grasp. With a little bit of playing instigation he’d sooner have your partner branded as a cheating heretic and stoned to death as punishment. Of course he’d get his 2 cents in beforehand, what can you say? This rabbit is petty, so what’s wrong with leaving that bloke with a couple bones broken? It’s not like they’d need em anytime soon. Especially if they’re set to die at the stake.

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Quio the Dilf

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Well in his version you wouldn’t be allowed to have any significant others. As one of the requirements for being his nanny would be that you’re completely single. That way your focus would be primarily on his daughter Peina.

But hypothetically speaking, Quio’s the type to act like he’s happy for you but he’s plotting on the downfall of your relationship. When he got the information relayed to him, the A list actors perfect image twisted into one of pure insanity that he kept under lock and key. He’ll bide his time and wait for the moment your relationship reaches its sugar high. Only for him to crash it and burn it to the ground in one fell swoop. It pains him to see you so devastated but at the same time it made him feel such ecstasy. As He’d be the one to pick up the pieces one by one and make you all his by design.

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Temothy the Bull

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He’d be utterly heartbroken… If he weren’t such a schemer underneath that klutzy innocent exterior of his. Being an info broker on the side of being your assistant. The bull knows everything about what’s happening in his surroundings in real time. So with a simple searches on the internet, He’d fabricate blackmail to prevent anyone. From even getting the idea that you were on the market. That’s why every single date you had was a failure, leaving you to be ghosted the next day. Even if the first date was absolutely perfect. Your assistant would accidentally stigmatize you as a forever alone without even knowing.

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The types who’d just want you to happy:

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Moros the Torturer

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All he’d ever want for his sunshine is for them to be happy. In fact he’s one of the very few men who’d be willing to be in a poly relationship with his darling. But if you already seemed to be fine with a partner of your own he’d stand by the sidelines watching over you like a guardian angel.

On the flip side if you were noticeably unhappy even worse if your partner had been abusing you. That’s when this gentle giant’s shell cracks into a vengeful ogre. He won’t tolerate anyone dimming your shine and would deal with them the best way he knows how. Via torturing them, it’s the job he’s well versed in. Besides that he genuinely wants to know how they were audacious enough. To think that they could break your precious heart. Unfortunately, Moros would never get the answer he so desired. Since his hands would’ve already subconsciously cracked open his victims rib cage with his machete. As if he were splitting open a watermelon. To tear out their beating heart that died out, Before he could even register what happened.

[rainbowfish3iswriting]

So I had another wonderful idea while at work.

We love Peter Parker in Gotham fics where Dick Grayson is Peter’s biological father. Peter has no idea what Gotham is and hates he’s in New Jersey. Meeting the Batfam, finding out his bio dad is alive in this universe, and the angst that goes along with Peter getting to know his dead dad.

Now let me introduce a concept that can crush hearts. ❤️

So what if, before Peter Parker arrives in Gotham, before the events of No Way Home, Dick has a kid, his own Peter. It doesn’t matter how he came to be or who the mom is. Dick has a kid and he loves him. The kid doesn’t have to be named Peter but he’s an alternative version of Peter.

Sadly, Dick’s son dies at a young age. How he dies can be something as simple as a car accident or drowning to something extremely like The Joker blowing up a school and his son was inside.

Dick’s son is dead, taken too soon from this world.

So here comes Peter Parker. Who’s a homeless teenager who is trying to survive Gotham on his own after being thrown out of his own universe.

The Batfam meet Peter in and out of costume and it’s Tim who makes the connection. He’s staring at Peter and thinks: Would my nephew look like Peter if he grew up to be a teen? This triggers a reaction inside Tim, because why dose this kid look like an older version of his nephew?? And the more he studies Peter, the more he sees the resemblance of his late nephew. Same hair, same eyes, same nose shape!

Tim decides to look up Peter Parker, mostly to end the nagging thoughts that the homeless teen is his dead nephew. Peter seems like a private person, doesn’t talk much about his personal life. All they know he’s a teen from Queens, New York whose family is all dead. But when Tim looks him up, he can’t find anything on this kid! No social media! No obituaries about his dead relatives! He finds Peter’s birth certificate (didn’t help he has the same birthday as his dead nephew’s), social security number, and other legal documents that are all fake! They’re forgeries and they’re really good forgeries! Tim almost passed them off as real.

This is bad! This kid has fake documents! Why would a homeless teenager have fake documents??! Why dose a teen who looks like his dead nephew have fake documents??!

Holy SHIT! Someone must of cloned his nephew!!!

No this can’t be right? Who on earth is sick enough to do that!? (A lot of people) Tim meets Peter again and gets his DNA without the teen noticing. This will prove once and for all this kid isn’t a clone of his dead nephew, his fears can be put to rest, he can focus on more important matters. Like why dose Peter have fake documents?

It’s 100% match, Tim cries.

Tim gets the familiar together and explains his findings. Everyone is freaking out. Dick is angry and devastated, that someone took his child’s DNA and cloned him. He also feels hope. Even through the kid may be a clone, it’s still his son at the end of the day. this could be Dicks only chance to have his son back, even if it’s not his real kid.

Fast forward to the Batfam managing to take (kidnapped) Peter to the manor where the reveal everything to him. ( Doesn’t help that his dead dad is alive and in front of them) The news confuses and overwhelms the kid.

Clone?? They really thought he was a clone??!

After Peter recovers from the shock, he finally tells them the truth. That he’s not a clone, but is from a different dimension. He explains his whole life story to the bats.

It ends with Dick and Peter getting to know one another. Their share lose of family not only helps them bond but also heal wounds that they never realized were there until now.

[mywitchyblog]

I just wanted to say your takes on age and shifting have been really helping me. I didn't have the opportunity to enjoy my teenage years and I feel like everything is falling apart in my adult life, so I really want to age myself down and experience life as a teen again. However, tiktok constantly made me feel like a creep and I was even starting to doubt myself and my motivations, which is crazy. So thank you for standing your ground and having our back lol and stay away from shiftok yall

AS.YOU.FUCKING.SHOULD.

Girl, keeping your distance from ShiftTok? Absolutely the right call. That place is less of a community and more of a cult with a superiority complex, stuffed with self-appointed “moral guardians” who’d rather police everyone’s shifting practices than actually understand a damn thing about shifting itself 💅. They’re too busy gatekeeping, throwing their tired opinions around, and stirring up drama to realize just how hypocritical they look. Chile, the irony is thick enough to choke on, and trust, we see it 👀.

And don’t even get me started on the anti-age-change crew. These people couldn’t argue their way out of a paper bag without leaning on the same three tired-as-hell logical fallacies, dragging them out every time to keep shifters in check without an ounce of actual understanding or empathy.

Ad Hominem – This is anti-age changers’ go-to move when they’re out of actual arguments. They skip right over any real discussion and dive into calling people “pedo” or “creep” just to shut them up. Rather than taking the time to understand why someone might genuinely want to experience being younger again, they grab for the ugliest insults they can think of and throw them like confetti 🎉… only it’s confetti made of trash 💀. Example: A shifter explains, “I age down in my Desired Reality because I had a tough youth and want to relive a better version of it. Plus, I want to experience a healthy, innocent romance from my teenage years.” But instead of even thinking about the idea that there might be something healing and meaningful in that, here comes an anti-age changer with: “If you want to age down to date, you’re a predator—plain and simple.” Here’s the kicker: these critics don’t care about the reasons. They’ll weaponize shame to make shifters look like villains, ignoring the fact that not everyone who age-shifts and dates does it for predatory reasons. Many want to experience that sweet, teenage love they didn’t get in this reality, to relive the simpler emotions of that time without adult complications. But the anti’s? They’d rather throw accusations than try to understand even a sliver of the truth. They’re using the “pedo” card because they know it’ll silence some people, and honey, it’s a sad attempt at control through fear 🙄.

Straw Man Fallacy – Here’s where things get especially messy 🥴. Instead of listening to what you’re actually saying, they twist it into something completely off-base, creating a fake argument to attack. They don’t want to engage with your actual reasons; they’d rather paint you as something you’re not so they can feel good about their so-called “moral high ground.” 🙄Example: Imagine a shifter saying, “I age down because I missed out on a carefree youth and want to date someone my age in that reality. I want to experience young love in a non-sexual, simple way.” The anti immediately twists this into, “Oh, so you’re saying you’re an adult wanting to act like a teenager to date kids? That’s sick.” See the problem? They’re creating a whole new argument based on something you never said. This shifter just wants a clean, innocent experience of being young again, complete with those little flutters and first dates that only make sense at that age. Some shifters may even explore young relationships with some intimacy, but it’s coming from a place of reliving a time they missed—not about attraction to minors or anything predatory. These critics twist the intention, making it sound like a fetish when it’s about pure curiosity, nostalgia, or healing. They’ve crafted their own horror story and are trying to pin it on you 👑, and honestly? It’s lazy, transparent, and completely off the mark.

Hasty Generalization – This is when anti-age changers pull out the big, sloppy brush and slap the same, tired accusation onto every age-changing shifter. Because they’ve heard one example of someone age-shifting for sketchy reasons, they assume everyone who does it must have some secret, shady agenda. Girl, the logic isn’t even there 🤦‍♀️.Example: Anti-age changers will say, “Oh, I heard about this one person who aged down to act out some weird fantasy, so clearly all shifters who age down to date are predators.”This is their way of weaponizing a single, extreme case to invalidate every other shifter’s unique, personal reasons. There are countless reasons people age down and engage in romance, and most have nothing to do with predatory behavior. Imagine someone who wants to experience a first crush all over again, or who never got a chance to date as a teen and just wants that innocent thrill of hand-holding and kissing at a school dance 🕺💃. Some might even explore sexual intimacy because, for them, it’s about curiosity and filling in experiences they missed—not some twisted attraction.Let’s get real: most age-changing shifters just want to feel what it’s like to be young again, to make memories that heal, to have those butterflies and firsts they missed out on. The antis are so obsessed with scandalizing that they can’t imagine a reality where someone wants to age down without any creepy motives. This broad-strokes accusation is not only unfair; it’s lazy as hell. It paints every age-changing shifter with the same brush, and it does nothing but create stigma and misinformation. Like… maybe sit down and breathe for a second instead of trying to stir up a scandal? 😒

Here’s the reality: these fallacies are tools they use to twist, shame, and silence. They’re not here to have a real conversation about why someone might age-shift or date in that reality, or to understand that those desires can come from totally normal, even therapeutic places. They’re here to make it sound twisted, full stop.

The next time they pull out these tired arguments, just remember: they’re not about facts, they’re about control. They use moral panic as a blunt weapon, hoping people won’t look closer and see right through their paper-thin accusations. Keep doing you, stay fierce 🔥, and don’t let their fallacies dull your shine.

[mango-dot-yum]

This is a follow-up on a post I made a bit ago after discussing it with my friend @141n3!

(original post here:)

My original post was mostly focused on how Greaseball is emotionally abusive to Dinah, but I didn’t mention how he is canonically physically abusive as well.

In That Was Cheating/There’s Me, Greaseball physically pushes Dinah to the ground. I cannot think of a version where Greaseball doesn’t do this(not saying there isn’t, just saying in most productions he does push her). As most people know, there is never a situation where it is okay to push your partner to the ground when you’re mad at them. And Dinah immediately apologizes, showing he’s done this before and that being physically abused is normal in their relationship.

In the OLC, the 2nd and 3rd class sleepers have this interaction with Dinah and Greaseball:

This is plain and simple. The sleepers(who I assume to be Dinah’s friends since all the coaches seem to be friends) mention how Greaseball beats Dinah. Why would they say this randomly, unless they have seen it happen, or Dinah has told them about it? And the fact Greaseball doesn’t say anything is odd if he isn’t actually doing anything. Greaseball clearly cares a lot about his image, it’s why he gets so mad when Electra steals his spotlight. Why wouldn’t he be like “I am not beating my girlfriend, I actually love her so much and she’s the coolest!” so the sleepers don’t go around spreading “rumors” that he beats her?

Also, there was a comment on the wiki from years ago which I want to talk about, because I want to talk about the fandom perception of Greaseball- specifically in relation to Dinah- and how it comes off as misogynistic, most of the time unintentionally.

Like I said, this was YEARS ago. While what this person said is problematic, don’t look for them on their social media platforms or anything. That’s not cool. People can change.

First off, they’re implying the sleepers only said this because they were jealous of Dinah and GB. This is something that is commonly said when women come out about abuse. “Oh, she’s saying (male celebrity) is abusive to (male celebrity’s wife)? She’s just mad that (male celebrity’s wife) is happier and richer than her, lol.” Everyone is a product of society, and society portrays this type of response as typical from women. That doesn’t make it okay, but I don’t think that(or the rest of this) was intentional

Secondly, I want to talk about the downplaying of abuse. “Could Greaseball have gotten a bit handsy with Dinah in an argument from time to time? Sure” “She fell, but it’s not like he grabbed her and YEETED her to the ground!” He does grab her and push her to the ground, but the phrasing here makes it seem like anyone who says that is dramatic. This also happens in real life with real abuse victims. “Y’all are so dramatic, (victim) had a little red mark for an hour or two after a tiny slap on the wrist, it’s not like (abuser) beat them until they’re black and blue!”

Portraying the fandom as the ones in the wrong was also a choice. Like I said, I was a lurker in the fandom for years so I didn’t actively engage in it. But from what I saw, people were downplaying Dinah’s abuse like people do now- even more so back then! Were there people mischaracterizing her? Absolutely. Does it mean Greaseball did nothing wrong? Absolutely not. Greaseball himself(and many other characters) see Dinah as a quivering, docile baby lamb which is part of abuse. Dinah does say things and gets shut down, yeah, but what does she do after she gets shut down? Does she stay with what she said? No. In That Was Cheating, she apologizes to Greaseball. After GB leaves her for Pearl, she gets mad at Pearl and cries to her friends. Her being shut down repeatedly and accepting it proves the abuse even more.

I don’t want to talk about the kink thing too much because I am a minor and I don’t want to shame people, but I do want to mention that this is what is said when a woman in relationship has bruises and is also known to have an aggressive partner. “(Guy) would never do that! She probably likes it and asks him to do it”

Now, how does this connect to the current Starlight Express fandom? Because people still refuse to admit Dinah is a victim. I have done this before myself, in a post I deleted because I realized that I shouldn’t have said that. “Ik they’re toxic, but they’re so cute!” Is it a crime to like a ship? No, but fiction DOES affect reality in many ways. If you turn a blind eye to abuse and misogyny in fiction, you eventually will in real life.

Part of this is because the show itself has made Greaseball less of a bad person over the years. I get why, you don’t want a terrible person who mostly still gets his way in the end in a musical meant for kids, but it does impact perception of him. If you see a bunch of content of and based on current Greaseball, you might start to attach his new character to his older one.

I don’t want to be overly negative, especially because a lot of people in this fandom that I have met are such kind, genuine people. But we all need to acknowledge our own biases towards racism, misogyny, and any form of bigotry in media to be better people. What we consume and how we consume it affects us.

(Note: this is NOT to hate on Greaseball introjects, fictionkins, or Greaseball fans. This was me having a good conversation with my friend about a character, and I also wanted to bring up how important the way we consume fiction is.)

[otomes-and-tears]

it’s meeeeeeeee i’m shiloh enjoyer #3!!!! revolving him around in my brain every day like it’s a microwave 😭😭 i know you’re busy with a lot of other asks at the moment but i’m eagerly awaiting the lizzie post!! and all of your other writing ofc <33 you brighten my day :D

HELLO TO THE MYSTERIOUS SHILOH ENJOYER #3! I think we're all here now haha I'm glad you enjoy my analysis posts! NOW BUCKLE UP, BUCKAROOS! THIS ONE IS GOING TO BE LOWKEY SAD: Elizabeth is perhaps the most complex and defining relationship in Shiloh's life.

First of all, it's one of the few we see glimpses of throughout several steps in his life-- we see how he idolises her as a child, how he acts towards her when they reconnect in his teenage years and glimpses of how the different versions of him act with her in adulthood. It's likely the oldest relationship he maintains that isn't familial, and I think that's incredibly significant when we take into consideration what I believe to be one of the paradoxical cores of Shiloh's character: Connections and relationships are disposable to him, but Shiloh is only Shiloh as long as there’s someone there. He still feels lonely.

I talked a little before about Shiloh's childhood. How the social dynamics he established as a kid ended up influencing his behaviour as a teenager: He sees Lizzie as the obvious leader, since she's older and more assertive than him and MC, and follows her around and obeys her every whim because of it. Whether he genuinely likes her or not is up for debate, but I don’t think it matters to Shiloh. What she means to him is something that can far supersede any simple likes or dislikes that he might feel at that age:

She provides stability and purpose. She’s his anchor against the mean kids, the teasing, the isolation. All he has to do is stay in her favour. Lizzie is his first encounter with a power dynamic he can rely on and emulate as he grows, and therefore she becomes someone he idolises.

Shiloh doesn’t need to be honest, or even be himself, as long as he’s useful and needed. He understands social hierarchies all too well, knowing what happens to people at the bottom. It’s why he insists he isn’t “different” and loses it when Cove calls him “weird.”

He was probably one of the kids who got picked on, so he’s always scrambling to stay just above water and not sink to the bottom with the rest of the “outcasts.” MC doesn’t mean much to him, but in Lizzie’s absence, he sticks to them just as obediently, as they’re the next best thing. Cove, on the other hand, is mostly just a mild annoyance but does give Shiloh a bit of relief because, for once, he’s not the one at the bottom. And it’s not like Cove was ever going to be Lizzie’s favourite anyway.

Whenever Shiloh gets ignored, he panics and tries to wedge himself back into the conversation however he can. And as soon as Lizzie shows up again, he immediately runs back to the safety of their old dynamic.

I think that while most of him admires her at that age, there's a little part of him that resents not being like her. Not being able to be a leader and being relegated to a follower, feeling aimless when she isn't around. As a kid, he's more prone to lashing out when angered, unlike older Shiloh who acts with fake cheeriness and this strange, eery coldness when annoyed. And that's why he pulls her down with him into the water in Step 1.

If he isn't willing to voice these things because he doesn't want to rock the boat and cause issues, he expresses it more subtly.

Shiloh’s just scared—a scared little kid who figured out a way to fit in. And because that method kept working for him, through moving out of state and getting through life without Lizzie, he never really had a reason to change, even if it did a number on his very sense of self.

He got better at these tactics over time, making sure he’d always have a way to fit in, but it cost him a real personality and genuine social skills beyond the manipulation tactics he fine-tuned throughout the years. Eventually, he started taking control in small but crucial ways: He’s the one who walks away from relationships, now. Removing himself from them becomes a choice. It’s not only about leaving when people cease being useful to him but about imposing a sense of control that he felt like he lacked in childhood since he moved schools and states a few times and was likely used to being the “new kid” in different places.

He learned to hide his feelings better, so he wouldn’t blow up the way he did when he was seven. That’s why his relationship with Elizabeth—and the times he had to start fresh somewhere new—were so essential to shaping who he is: Lizzie set the standard for the kinds of relationships he’d chase, and moving around gave him fresh slates and new people to practice on.

That brings us to the serendipity moment in Our life and what we know from him in Xoxo droplets. Now, I know a lot of people haven’t actually played XOD and only have a cursory knowledge of it and the fact that a few characters from it cameo in the Our Life series! But did you know that Liz is mentioned by name in Shiloh’s route?!?

Yes! Back in 2017 we actually had Shiloh mention the events of Serendipity, which I think is a crucial scene to understand Shiloh’s character.

But before we talk about that, Let's talk Serendipity!

After Jeremy brings up “Shiloh’s famous memory” and Liz realizes he lied about not remembering her in the Step 3 prologue, Shiloh actually goes ahead and explains why he is the way he is. His explanation lines up with what we know about him from XOXO Droplets and how he acts in Step 1.

I don’t think he’s lying. Not about all of it, at least. Some of the only concrete information we have on Shiloh’s character and how he functions comes from his childhood, and I think that what he’s saying is a natural progression of that information. He only does things for his own benefit, he’s afraid of being left out and he asserts his sense of control through his relationships with others. But it’s really important to remember that Shiloh doesn’t do things without it benefiting him. While I believe in the core of what he’s saying, the fact that he’s divulging this information at all (how he’s going about it, by putting Liz and her feelings on the matter first, and framing his choices as being mistakes he made out of care for an old friend and by reiterating that they’re too good and putting himself down for pity points) instead of trying to dodge the conversation again, he’s employing a few of his known manipulation tactics: the real me strategy.

Shiloh knows that this new information is hurtful to Liz, and like in Step 1, her opinion is really the one that matters to him. He knows that there’s a limit to how much he can play dumb before they snap, and by Jeremy revealing part of his MO, there isn’t a lot he can do to smooth things over, so the least destructive path is to do exactly what Shiloh does to JB during his route in Xoxo droplets: He feeds Liz little bits of truth because he knows he’ll damage their relationship if he doesn’t. He gives her enough so she feels like she knows him better, like she’s got some new, special insight into the “real” Shiloh that nobody else has, which keeps her around. He pretends to drop his manipulative schtick because by telling her this, she has “figured him out” and there isn’t a point in trying anymore. That itself is a manipulation tactic.

But why bother? He’d be gone again by the end of the afternoon regardless of her forgiveness or not.

It comes back to what I mentioned earlier: Shiloh is the one who exerts control over his relationships. He is the one who decides when they start, and when they end, and by Liz being upset and deciding she doesn’t want to be around him, not only does he lose the control he craves, but Shiloh loses it with the person he based all of his subsequent relationships on.

In the few hours that he spent in Sunset Bird, they all fell back into their old dynamics even though it had been so long since Shiloh stepped foot in that town. He still remembers that she prefers popsicles over ice-cream sandwiches, and even though he’s better at including MC and Cove, Shiloh in a lot of ways fell back into their old routine, looking back to Liz as his leader and following into step as her sidekick. It doesn��t matter if Liz isn’t an active part of his life any longer, what would it mean to him to have those memories tainted? For that perfect template to be ruined?

But Liz stays. 

And because of that choice, we get to see the ultimate consequences of it. Shiloh isn’t a good person. As pitiful and as tragic as he might be, he simply isn’t one. And I think that can be encapsulated perfectly in how he frames his interaction with Liz to his girlfriend in Xoxo Droplets.

He glosses over what he did wrong, he casually exploits that event to garner points with his girlfriend. He ultimately doesn’t care if she takes his and Liz’s relationship the wrong way and frames it as being romantic, even if that’s far from the truth. Even with Elizabeth being miles away and already hurt by him, he still finds ways to use people and spin narratives to his advantage. 

I do believe he holds Liz in higher esteem than most (and arguments can be made that JB, the main character in XOXO droplets and his love interest, and Elizabeth share similarities in both appearance and their strong-willed, confident personalities), since she was his “idol” by his own admittance, but this is a tiny way in which he asserts his control over the situation. It doesn’t matter if Liz believes she holds the reins. If she’s older, admirable and if he still follows her around like an obedient puppy when she’s around.

By choosing to stay, she tipped the scales in his favour. He is the one in control once again, and he's able to continue his interminable cycle of holding people at arm's length while playing the part of a devoted companion.

[ed3lsgard]

tell me why you love helena so much!!! and what you hope for her arc in season three or like specific tropes / scenes incl. romance!!!

such a simple yet complex question, like i can literally talk about her for hours. oh boy this is probably gonna be long af sorry beforehand, hope yall gaf 😭

ugh god she’s just so. fascinating and tragic. a character that has been introduced to us as an antagonist, shrouded in so much mystery. but as we find out more of about her in s2, you just see how tragic of a character she is. born and raised in a cult revolving around her own ancestor, raised to be the perfect off-spring, always expected to be obedient and willing. but she is never enough, especially to her father who doesn’t even love her and probably never did. like, helena’s entire life is a performance, and act. everything is dictated by lumon and “kier”, she barely has any agency or power in her family’s company, let alone her own life (and both of those things are very enmeshed). the pressure of everything, how she is expected to act and say, you can feel the physical weight of it on her shoulders imo.

which is why it’s not surprising that she got so fixated on mark, the only person in her life who has shown her (and another version of her, aka helly) genuine love and affection. she would naturally want to chase that feeling, to see what it’s like firsthand.

and then there is her relationship with helly. helly, her innie who she deemed as subhuman and not a real person (though imo it’s arguable if this is her actual genuine belief or just something that has been drilled into her / something she is expected to believe). only to then find out helly is perhaps the most human and real part of her. because helly is helena, she came from helena. helly is everything helena lacks and suppresses. helly has the fire, the confidence, the kindness that comes easily. people that she can call her family, people that she loves. helena doesn’t have any of that, she is all alone. helly is who helena used to be before the fight and spark in her got snuffed out. who helena might have turned out to be, if she had a different upbringing. helly is the physical manifestation of helena’s desire to escape, of how trapped she really feels. i said this before but it’s really not a coincidence that it’s helena’s innie that ended up being so inherently rebellious and defiant.

helly ironically has more freedom and agency down at the severed floor than helena does in her entire life. helly does and says whatever she wants, and faces the consequences (punishment) head on if she has to. it doesn’t break her will. and they won’t actually do anything to her, because she is helena and that fact alone grants her some power down there. bearing the eagan name doesn’t actually grant helena much, not within the company anyway. like when helena said she didn’t want to back down after woe’s hollow, she wasn’t even granted a choice and was sent down regardless. i doubt helena is actually in on the testing floor / dark stuff lumon does. i think she knows about it but she is not in a position to actually have a say or do anything. she has an illusion of power within the company. but it’s fake, just enough to keep her sated.

a detail i wanna add. when helena was posing as helly, she learned about their plans and gemma. mark later on claimed that lumon knows what they’re doing because helena told them everything, but when mark eventually got to the testing floor they were surprised to see him. there was no backup, no one expecting such a plan etc. if helena had told lumon everything, surely it wouldn’t have been so easy for mark to sneak in? like this small fact alone adds a whole new layer to helena’s character imo. because it implies that she didn’t actually rat them out, that she cares.

as for my hopes and predictions for her in s3, i do genuinely think she will have a much bigger role. we’ll see much more of her, she may even be one of the main characters. i think it’s pretty obvious that helena is being set up for a redemption arc, since her and helly are starting to align with each other. helena doesn’t have the will to actually break away from lumon yet, but if she got the push she needed i think she will (a betrayal?). that push of course, being mark and probably also helly. there is some sort of natural reintegration happening / will happen, as alluded to by britt lower. so i think this is gonna be a significant event for her character (and helly too) in s3.

also regarding romance, i think we all know something is gonna happen between her and mark scout lol. zufu laid the groundwork, now it’s a matter of time until they meet each other again.

[ladyhoneydarlinglove]

mom said it’s my turn to do a deep dive zoro meta and since i was going through the dressrosa arc recently, i want to talk about one of my favorite zoro moments in the whole series and why it bugs me so much when i see people characterize zoro as just a ‘no thoughts (or maybe sword thoughts) head empty’ himbo because like. he’s not. he’s just fully not. and i think this particular moment in dressrosa when he’s fighting pica is the best example of WHY he’s not.

one of the most common threads i see in himbo!zoro characterizations is the idea that the only real plan zoro has in a fight is to cut shit, and that it works largely because of his sheer tenacity and determination to make it work. and while it’s not untrue that zoro most often does default to the plan of ‘cut shit’, i don’t think it’s fair to say that he isn’t capable of plotting out other strategies. case in point, the panels below (read right to left):

zoro runs through four options for fighting pica very quickly, and while plan 1 is a version of his default ‘cut shit’ option, he abandons it as soon as he realizes it won’t be effective due to distance. plan 2 arguably would still involve fighting/slashing because he’d be jumping onto pica’s back, but zoro also abandons that idea when he realizes he wouldn’t be able to make the jump. and then plans 3 and 4 don’t involve any fighting at all; they’re both options to warn others of the danger, because that’s actually a big part of what the zoro vs pica fight is all about. pica is deliberately going after innocent or weakened opponents, and zoro trying to stop him before anybody else gets hurt.

so it’s only after he’s exhausted four other options that zoro finally gets to plan 5, which is this:

and like. yeah okay that is going right back to the ‘cut shit’ plan and i'll grant that it's definitely presented as a moment of 'swordsman chooses to cut things surprise surprise'; but even so, there are two other parts to fighting pica that zoro has to take into account. the first is how to actually isolate his real body when he can effectively move anywhere that there's stone, something that up until this point has been giving zoro a lot of trouble because he can't actually hit pica. and this is where 'fly through the air and cut him down' actually becomes an incredibly effective strategy, because it results in this:

by slicing through that massive body and forcing pica into the upper half, zoro essentially traps him, because pica's movement is now confined to the piece of stone that's in the air. and thus it becomes far easier for zoro to continue slicing, further isolate pica and finally allowing zoro to attack his real body.

the second part he has to figure out—the debris that will result from the attack raining down on the plateau—doesn’t even become apparent to everyone else until zoro’s already cut pica down. but, very crucial, it was apparent to zoro, because he already had a plan in place for dealing with that too. and that part doesn’t even involve him, much less his swordsmanship. he directs king elizabello to wait two minutes before he aims his king punch at the plateau, the force of which knocks the debris away and prevents it from falling on the people up there.

like. that is not just slice-and-dice himbo behavior. it clearly shows that zoro was thinking and planning beyond his immediate fight, and that he had enough foresight to realize what could happen to the debris from pica's body and acted to mitigate the collateral damage. it's a really simple moment that i feel like kind of gets lost amongst everything else happening in the dressrosa arc, but it's one of my favorites because not only does it show that zoro is perfectly capable of strategizing, it also underscores that as much as he enjoys a good fight, at the end of the day zoro's always still thinking about doing what he does best: protecting people.

this isn't to say that i think zoro never does anything stupid; evidence is solid that the man is a certified idiot, through and through. but like. he's not dumb. and i think people that characterize him as such really don’t know what they’re talking about.

[teecupangel]

If you wanna use this as material, go ahead, but have you played warframe? The 1999 update, and all it implies might make good inspiration.

I have to confess, a highschool friend of mine suggested I play Warframe since, in his own words, I enjoy grinding.

The only real reason why I have never tried Warframe is because I have enough gacha games already hahahaha.

However, I do have an idea of what the 1999 update/expansion is supposed to be and we can spin it into a time travel setup.

The first idea I thought of is a simple “Desmond time travel into the past after dying” where Desmond returns to 1999 and screws the timeline up by making the current mentor understand that Cross is a sleeper agent sent by Abstergo.

And then there’s the more convoluted second idea I came up with because I love the Terminator/Terminator 2 vibes of the 1999 update.

We set this on September 1, 2012. The day Desmond Miles was supposed to be captured.

But he doesn’t. Instead, he’s saved by a young man in a hood who took down the men with Cross, almost taking down Cross too who managed to escaped with a bleeding neck that wasn’t deep enough to be fatal but will definitely leave a nasty scar. Desmond tries to run away because it’s obvious that the man who saved him is an Assassin but the man manages to stop him and get him to follow him.

Desmond may or may not have made a joke of how the man missed the chance to say “come with me if you want to live” and the man did not get the reference.

He leads him into some kind of warehouse near a port where two more hooded men are waiting with… uuuhh… Desmond is pretty sure the woman they had with them was someone he had a one night stand with and-

Is that her kid?

Why does her kid look a lot like…

Oh fuck.

.

Abstergo, during this time, is having the corporation-version of panicking all over because they got a good look of the man that saved Desmond as well as two unknown men who attacked an Abstergo clinic around the same time someone saved Desmond Miles. Ransacked the whole place and took meds and supplies like they were going to go for a long drive or something similar.

But that wasn’t the important part.

The important part was the man who saved Desmond Miles? He looks too much like Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad to be a coincidence.

And one of the men who looted the clinic?

He looks exactly like Ezio Auditore.

.

The plot would make it seem like the three old Assassins (Altaïr, Ezio and Ratonhnhaké:ton (who Abstergo didn’t recognize)) have a lot of knowledge of future events and appear to have come to save Desmond. They also have a plan to save the world without sacrificing Desmond but they’re keeping quiet because they don’t want to tip Juno off.

The plot twist though is that they aren’t from the past, they’re from the future. To be more exact, they’re descended from Elijah, though from different children. The future was so fucked (like more fucked up than watch_dog legion) that what remains of the Brotherhood pooled every resources they had to bring the three to the past with the aim of saving Desmond Miles as they believe Desmond Miles has the highest possibility of changing the fate of the world.

And their plan to save the world AND Desmond Miles? Take his place and sacrifice themselves since, if Desmond Miles does live, there’s a possibility they would cease to exist (they’re not sure of which time travel rules their world is governed by)

[writingwithcolor]

Creatures of Folklore Who Represent Cultures Preventing Wars Throughout History

Anonyomous asked:

Hi! I’m writing a story which is set in a fantasy version of our world. The main difference between our real world and my fictional version is that the spirits and fairies of each culture and folklore exist, and that the majority of them basically stop war from happening because they react very badly (and potentially violently) when invading forces etc try to start battles. 

I’m doing a lot of research into the histories of the various cultures that will be featured in the books set in this world so I can hypothesise how they might have developed without, for example, violent colonialism, and where trade and so on might have flourished in its place. However, it’s possible for colonialism to happen through more insidious ways, such as assimilation. In one of my books, I’m intending to use this as part of the plot, where Japan will try to colonise the Ryukyuan Kingdom through assimilation, but will be stopped by the Ryukyuan Kingdom making allies with other nations (amongst other tactics), but I was wondering if you had any advice for respectfully handling the colonialism that very much did happen in real life in a fantasy setting where it didn’t manage to occur, without erasing the history and ramifications etc of what actually happened?

Do fox spirits have citizenship? 

You mean well with this concept, but there are multiple key problems. 

One major issue with cordoning off spirits and folklore creatures by “patron” culture and have them fight said patrons’ battles is that there’s a lot of overlap. It’d be hard for there not to be a conflict of interest. 

For example, everyone knows about the kitsune fox spirit from Japan. But the story of the fox spirit was introduced to Japan and Korea by China, where they are called húlijīng. These foxes are remarkably similar, with their characteristics and stories almost borrowed wholesale. Are they all the same “species?” If so, when small differences emerge in the countries’ folktales, how do you resolve this? Do these spirits also morph and specialize, or does one interpretation win out? How about when kingdoms are unified, like the Korean Three Kingdoms–do separate versions of the kumiho reverse-evolve into a single variant? What side do they pick when these kingdoms and empires try to battle? If they live apart from humans or aren’t very friendly with them, why would they have a reason to care about invasions when they have no reason to be allegiant to said borders, or whatever name they’re called in whichever country whose land they live on?

Folkloric beings are never static, and are influenced over time by cultural shifts and exchanges, including shifting borders. Human history is stuffed cover-to-cover with events of what we called “conquest” then and “occupation” or “colonization” now. And through these changes, cultures diverged and came together, creating new stories. In other words: not even fairy tales are immune to colonization. 

Leigh can explain the rest. 

~ Rina

The Problem with Retconning War

A very simple question for you:

How are you going to rectify every single historical war that’s ever existed?

Like, the whole plot of the Trojan War as we know it is that the gods of the same culture were on different sides! And the gods made the war last as long as it did. Alexander the Great was a colonizer. Romans were definitely colonizers. Ottomans and Mongols, also colonizers. It wasn’t to the scale of modern colonialism, but it happened. If you look at census records from the 1800s of Indigenous populations in North America, you’ll find that the men 20+ have way lower numbers because they died in war! 

I’m not of the opinion that the basic state of humanity is war and we are barely contained by base instincts. But I’m also not so far in the other direction that I believe humans lack any sort of warring instincts. It shows up in chimps and other primates, so it shows up in humans.

In a way, it sounds like you’ve taken a very Christian-fundamentalist-centric view of things, which is: humans need religion to be “contained”. That humans are amoral without some sort of religion or folklore or spirits telling them to not do a “bad thing.”

This is ignoring how people have been using religion to justify wars since religion was invented. As Rina said, there can be overlap in groups’ beliefs and deities so there’s the side-picking issue, which as I mentioned is the whole plot of the Trojan War. Even when humans write about gods meddling in war, they have the gods not all be on the same side.

Humans have war. Humans try to take over other groups because they want the resources that group has. Alliances shift. Territories shift.

This is also treating humans as a monolith—there are populations within the colonized groups that agree with the colonizers because they get benefits. Claiming that all colonized groups hate all aspects of their colonialism all of the time is deeply ahistorical and flattened. Sometimes the benefits were only for a small group, but sometimes the benefits were far-reaching. It’s in the India tag on WWC, varying views of the Mughals. 

Also, how will you handle the Christianization of Europe? How will you handle all of this folklore that only got written down via monks and nuns making notes and modifying beliefs to fit the Bible? Will any area with only Christianity’s records written down not have folklore? 

And how will you handle folklore drift? Religions are not static. If you look at Greek myths, there are ten to thirty versions of each story and those are just the ones that survived. Each city-state had its own mythology, using the same gods, modified to fit the local needs.

And what about folklore that deals with war and thrives in war? What about the gods of war and destruction? I know Norse mythology is Christianized beyond recognition, but even in its Christianized form half of it is about war. Would the Valkyries, whose whole purpose is to find valiant soldiers slain in battle, not want war? Their whole purpose is war.

Also, on top of it—how will you handle revolution?

You say yourself, colonialism could still happen subtly. Colonialism and injustice can still happen. Will these subjugated spirits force an already disadvantaged group to exclusively use a rigged system to try and politely ask for their rights back? Or would these spirits want to be free and support the means necessary to take it back?

War has happened to upend the divine right of kings. War has happened to free slaves (Haiti). War has happened for basic workers’ rights (some union strikes have resulted in war). 

You’re basically removing a whole toolbox in the fight for a better world. Yes, not being able to colonize because of fantasy AU sounds fine, until you realize that pretty much all of human history from the Romans has been created via war to some degree.

You’re basically just saying “violence is bad and humans need fantasy babysitters to not dive into it”, which really doesn’t sound that great once you sit with it. It removes human agency, removes human nature, and ignores the entire history of the planet.

-Leigh (Lesya)

Marika interjecting here:

We had an ask (Linked here) envisioning a story set in a de-colonized Hawai’i and the socio-political issues with that. Same problem.