#anon ASKED; i am ANSWERING. the dialogue ENDS here.

[ask-the-prose]

The Gun In This Guide Does Not Go Off

Hi yall, sorry for the late post this week! I'm running this blog by myself, so if you are interested in helping mod this blog or write guides, please fill out the mod form linked in the pinned post! If you have anything you want to see covered or specific questions answered, please don't hesitate to send an ask! Anon is on.

Onto the guide!

This week I want to talk about foreshadowing, what it is, why incorporate it, and how!

What is foreshadowing?

Foreshadowing is an event, line, dialogue, or other element of a story that alludes to or predicts a future event. Foreshadowing can be overt or covert, and it can appear in many different elements depending on your writing style, story needs, or reader interest.

Overt or concrete foreshadowing is directly and clearly stating a prediction or allusion to an event in the future. This can be a line of dialogue ("Winter is coming" from Game of Thrones or the musical number "Be Prepared" in The Lion King), an event or image (Korra's anxiety dreams about losing her bending in season one of Legend of Korra), even the title of the work can be foreshadowing (The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe).

Covert foreshadowing is a little more subtle. An example includes bad weather in Great Expectations to allude to Pip's future angst. Symbols, setting, and throwaway comments can be utilized as covert foreshadowing as well.

Why would I want to spoil the twist?

Foreshadowing doesn't necessarily mean spoiling the twist or ending of your story. However, spoilers can be utilized to your advantage if you do so purposefully (John Dies at the End started out as a web novel serial. In every update, readers tuned in to see if this was the chapter in which John dies, as spoiled by the title). The key word here is "purposefully." Foreshadowing is not accidental, and it can do a lot of heavy lifting with the emotions and feelings you want your reader to experience while reading.

Your reader is smart and will pick up the hints you lay down. You can use this to your advantage to create tension, dread, excitement, or simply a desire to discover what happens next.

How do I incorporate foreshadowing?

Foreshadowing usually happens at the beginning of the story. If you're a pantser like I am, foreshadowing may be difficult to incorporate in your first draft when you don't know where it's heading. That's okay! Foreshadowing can be added in later drafts when you know what exactly happens in the story.

For the plotters out there, consider foreshadowing during your outlining. When you know what happens next, how do you hint at those events early on? There are so many different ways to incorporate foreshadowing into your story. Your imagination really is the limit.

A few notes about what foreshadowing is NOT

Foreshadowing is not a flashforward. A flashforward is a moment in the story in which the narration moves forward in time. The narrative shows the reader explicitly what will happen in the future by depicting those events. Foreshadowing is an allusion or hint at events but not the depiction of those events as they happen.

Foreshadowing is not Chekhov’s Gun. Chekhov’s Gun is a method employed by storytellers as a rule. Anton Chekhov said in his famous quote that if a gun is described hanging on the wall in chapter one, it must go off in chapter two or three. This is to say, every element in a story is there for a reason. The gun is only described because the gun will be used later. If the gun does not go off, it should not be mentioned in the narrative.

The difference between Chekhov’s Gun and foreshadowing is that foreshadowing is an element of the story, whereas Chekhov’s Gun is about the storytelling process. Chekhov’s Gun is not a real rule, so much as a suggestion that if you are to create tension in the story, it must pay off. Foreshadowing is the act of creating tension.

Foreshadowing is not a red herring. Building off of Chekhov’s Gun, if the gun is described but never goes off, following Chekhov’s rule would indicate the gun is a red herring. A red herring is a hint or allusion to something that never comes to fruition, such as describing a gun to create tension that it will fire and then never firing it.

Conclusion

Foreshadowing is an interesting and, frankly, fun storytelling element to incorporate into your writing. Readers often love rereading books to see all the hints they missed at the beginning! That’s foreshadowing.

Foreshadowing can exist in many methods and elements, and it is up to you how you want to approach foreshadowing. Keep in mind how you want to utilize tension in your story, and you’ll find the foreshadowing falls into place to create an interesting and engaging story your readers will love and love again.

– Indy

** Edit: 6/8/23 fixed an error regarding one of the examples in the first section.

[kiwiana-writes]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

A big ol' fuck you to @rmd-writes for the tag xoxo

1. How many works do you have an AO3? Lol. Lmao even. 289.

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 914,620 on AO3, but that includes co-writes as well as things I've podficced where the fic and pod are in the same work. My actual personally-written wordcount, per my Batshit Spreadsheet, is 771,819.

3. What fandoms do you write for? Mostly RWRB these days, though most of my back catalogue is Schitt's Creek. Also The Pairing and various other things scattered about.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Kinda think that I might be his type aka Alex and Bea fake date coming in at the top spot, which will never not bewilder me. Don't get me wrong, it's a lovely fic!! But I am always surprised that it was a few hundred more kudos than:

With so much of my heart (that none is left to protest), the Much Ado actors AU. My magnum opus, my beloved.

We were supposed to find this - baby's first soulmate AU and my first RWRB fic. The brainrot really took hold with this one lmao.

All the Lonely Starbucks Lovers, in which Henry takes 'open mouth insert foot' to a whole new level.

Warm like the glow that you feel head to toe, the age gap fic with older Senator Alex and younger Prince Henry. This is probably the only one in my top five that really surprises me, considering age gaps are... divisive.

5. Do you respond to comments? Always always always.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I mean I did write that one MCD fic in Schitt's Creek, though I maintain the other five parts in that 5+1 are in fact angstier than the MCD ending.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Uhhhhhhh, the rest? The Doylist answer is any of my fics where the HEA is literally forever rather than 'till death do us part'; so, the Schitt's Creek afterlife AU and the RWRB zombie!Alex AU. (Is that all? Am I forgetting one?)

8. Do you get hate on fics? Yeah, sometimes. Weirdly, more through tumblr anons than on the fics themselves? A lot of them I just delete, sometimes I'll give them a bit of a public scolding etc. Frankly at this point if you come into my ask box to be a cunt on anon I'm going to assume you have a public humiliation kink and will indulge you accordingly.

9. Do you write smut? Who's to say.

10. Do you write crossovers? I'm more inclined towards a fusion than a crossover (love a good media fusion) but I did write a short RWRB/The Pairing crossover for VoiceTeam.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not to my knowledge.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope. Someone did ask recently, so we'll see!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? HEAPS. @ships-to-sail is an ongoing collaborator, but I also did a bunch of "each write a chapter" type collabs in Schitt's Creek. Currently co-writing something truly fucking incredible with @indestructibleheart.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? IDK if it's a WIP by the strictest definition, but every day the likelihood of the SC kink!verse series being completed slips further away lol.

16. What are your writing strengths? Rae, you're the worst.

Smut, I guess? Giving people new kinks, apparently. Character voice. Also a very specific type of world-building where I explain nothing because the characters already live in that world and let y'all infer how it works, which came up a LOT on one of this year's Kinktober fics in particular and led to my spouse saying "okay so you're basically the Brennan Lee Mulligan of tree fucking", which is sure not a sentence I expected to ever be directed towards me, but here we are.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Anything original, apparently. Good thing I didn't quit my job to be a writer or anything OH WAIT.

(In all seriousness, though, I am genuinely shit at, like, plotting. And action sequences.)

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? If it makes sense for the character, sure! I'm enlisting someone who speaks it for anything more complicated than, like, a pet name - I've seen what Google Translate tries to spit out for my second language and therefore don't trust it lmao.

19. First fandom you wrote for? terf queen mcgee's property.

20. Favourite fics you've written? The RWRB fic specifically based on the episode The Husbands of River Song from Doctor Who. Hands down the best thing I've ever written.

I also fucking LOVED the Much Ado actor AU. My love letter to Shakespeare and theatre and queer joy.

-

Tagging @blueeyedgrlwrites @cactusdragon517 @cricketnationrise @firenati0n @getmehighonmagic

@hgejfmw-hgejhsf @indestructibleheart @inexplicablymine @notspecialbabe @orchidscript

@piratefalls @sherryvalli @sparklepocalypse @stereopticons @whimsymanaged and, as always, anyone who wants to play! 

[writingquestionsanswered]

hi! it's the pregnancy-as-plot-device anon again! thank you for your answer to my ask. I'm so grateful

could you help me on how to write a scene where the readers know that the main couple had (s*x) together but without a smut and a "waking up together nak*d* scene too? I just don't wanna make my main female character pop up pregnant out of nowhere and don't want to write an explicit chapter too.

Thank you so much.

Non-Explicit S*x Scene

** Note: I am choosing to follow the text convention Anon used (s*x) here. If that bothers you, keep scrolling.

There are a few different ways you can handle a s*x scene without being explicit or having them wake up together naked.

1 - Fade to Black - This is where you "fade out" before things get too spicy. What's great about this method is you can control how little or how much you want to show before that fade out occurs. You can do as little as having one lead the other into the bedroom and the door closes (leaving the rest up to the reader's imagination), or you could have them start kissing and then fade out, or you could ramp up toward some spicier making out before you fade out. And the fade doesn't have to be them going into the bedroom and closing the door. You can get a little poetic instead... maybe they start kissing, and the narrator says, "They spent the rest of the night getting lost in one another's souls." It's not explicit... it's not even specific, but it's reasonable for the reader to guess what exactly they got up to.

2 - Implicit Description - With implicit description, the reader is present for intercourse, or at least some of it, but it's described in a way that leaves things to the reader's imagination. It's more about emotion, thought, and feeling than describing body parts and what they're doing. It's poetic, like the "getting lost in one another's souls" bit, but more emotional and descriptive. Just not explicit.

3 - The Morning After, Just Not Naked - You can still skip to the morning after without the couple having to wake up naked together or waking up together at all. A day can begin when one character wanders into the kitchen to find the other making pancakes. Maybe they exchange a sly grin. Maybe one says something like, "Last night was amazing," or teases, "I see you found your underwear..." Here again, it's pretty clear what happened the night before without explicitly stating it. It doesn't matter whether or not the reader figures out they went all the way... they know something happened, so it's not going to be a huge shocker if someone ends up pregnant.

4 - Hinting Through Dialogue - Another option is to have one or both characters talk about it--not with each other as in the "last night was amazing" type of remark, but with other characters. For example, maybe Character A goes to meet friends at a coffee shop the next day, and Character C asks, "So, how did it go with Character B last night?" and Character A blushes, leading Character C to say, "NO! You didn't?! Did you two...?" Now it's out in the open. And this method can be used on its own or to clarify one of the methods above.

5 - Combination of the Above - Just as you can match #4 with any previous method for clarification, you can use any of these in combination to get the point across. You don't need to hit the reader over the head with it--especially if you're trying to be subtle--but if you combine methods, you'll definitely get the point across.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[altocat]

OK HI HELLO TRANSLATION ANON HERE!

Dissidia just destroyed me with the new Angeal chapter. There WERE, in fact, Sephiroth and Angeal interactions and they hurt, I will tell you. I actually almost cried. The angst was incredible.

It’s very hard to translate everything because there was so much dialogue, but I will do my best to summarize below:

So, Angeal is back and he was talking with Cloud’s group, trying to catch up on everything. He seems to have no idea what happened past his death, which makes sense. For now, Cloud is just trying to save Tifa who is in danger with a few other characters.

Angeal helps Cloud and they actually end up facing Sephiroth, who is on his usual “Hahaha eat despair, kids!” BS and is after some energy crystals because power, blah blah. Seph is fighting Cloud and attacking the others like usual, but poor Angeal has no clue why at first.

He very much approaches his old companion with his lecturing “dad friend” tone and says, “Sephiroth, explain yourself! That was crossing the boundaries of just a training exercise!”

He is baffled and says that they were both soliders, wondering if the “company” aka Shinra ordered Seph to attack the others.

Seph just laughs it off and tells Angeal to move out of his way. Angeal is visibly disturbed and asked Sephiroth what’s wrong with his facial expression (presumably Seph’s malicious smirking as usual). Angeal says to not joke around like this, saying he doesn’t understand what’s going on and that Seph seems different—he seems…changed.

The others, mainly Cloud, are trying to tell him that “the Sephiroth of the present” is not the same as the one Angeal knew. They say that present Sephiroth is cruel and unforgiving and that he burned down Nibelheim.

Angeal is very upset and can’t believe it. He shakes his head sorrowfully and saying that Sephiroth was always very selective of the decisions he made, so the idea that he would commit such atrocities is astounding. That’s when Angeal turns around and asks Sephiroth, “Don’t tell me….were you one of them too? Did you deteriorate like Genesis? You too?”

He immediately assumes that it must have been the degradation that made Sephiroth do what he did, but Sephiroth seems to get upset and shakes his head, saying that “they have nothing to talk about!”

(Liar lol).

Angeal goes straight for the elephant in the room and asks,

“Sephiroth…are you angry with me? I’m sorry I disappeared without telling you…but…(referring to “we have nothing to talk about) is your demeanor/behavior towards anyone that asks you for a reason/for answers. Just tell me what happened!”

Basically, Angeal is demanding that Sephiroth explain and communicate instead of just dismissing it. Angeal says this in one fiery swoop, darting at Seph with his sword, and shockingly, he manages to knock the latter back, who gasps in surprise. Angeal can’t believe it and says that Seph is losing his grip, and that it’s very unlike him.

Sephiroth literally says “You’re making me stumble/shake…I need to get rid of you.”

We get the idea that Angeal’s presence is actually messing with Sephiroth and making him weaker…very likely with hesitation. Needless to say, Seph is angered and a battle starts with him saying

“Go away, Angeal. Your presence is discomforting…”

More angst!

Angeal responds,

“Look, maybe we weren’t in the type of relationship where we could confide in each other for everything….but I haven’t stopped thinking about you guys (Seph and Gen), hoping that you at least didn’t turn out like me…so just let me ask you….is there anything I can still do (to help)?”

(I am gonna cry. Angeal nooo).

Cloud yells at Angeal to stop because there is just no way to reach Sephiroth :(

Anyway, they fight and Angeal notes in horror that Sephiroth’s power is extreme and he is way too strong to be degrading. He asks himself,

“Sephiroth…what happened to you? What power is this?”

And now for the angst cherry on top of the whole thing:

Sephiroth gets pissed at the whole thing even more. He says, “Enough!” and goes after Cloud with his usual “Remember me, Cloud” nonsense and tries to charge. Angeal yells for him to wait and jumps in front of Cloud to save him.

Seph’s sword stabs through Angeal’s shoulder and it really looks like this freaks Seph out because he jumps back immediately, presumably in shock. Angeal falls down and is hurt, which prompts the others to ask if he’s okay.

He brushes it off even though he can’t get up yet and shifts his attention to Sephiroth again. His words are so sad…he says,

“I don’t know what to do. Everything has changed so much since then. I know I’m not supposed to now…but I want to stay by your side until the end this time…so please…Sephiroth…just talk to me…”

Guys, I was pretty much crying lol. I will cover the next part in a second ask because this one is too long, but chew on this pain for now. It really stung, this whole chapter…and Angeal breaking down in this scene was hard to see.

Jesus fucking christ.

Jesus H. Christ.

FUck.

FUCK.

[i-study-anons]

Hello, Tumblr users and Anons! I am Dr. Oren Sulien, and welcome to my SCP RP blog that is definitely just an RP blog because the SCP Foundation totally isn't real!

I'm here for the very first research project that I personally have been put in charge of: Studying SCP-8947, commonly referred to as "Anon(s)". So please, Anons, by all means, send in as many asks as you would like! Every single ask sent to this blog WILL be answered.

Oh, and I suppose it is also important that I introduce my current assistant, D-9983, who will be answering any asks that may be harmful to the answerer.

Blog Rules and such under the cut!

((OOC for this blog will be in double parentheses like this. Also, hi! You can call me Rii, and my pronouns are they/he. I'll introduce myself more properly at the end of the post. Oh, also everything below the cut on this post is OOC despite the lack of parentheses.))

RULES:

- No outright NSFW. Suggestive is fine, but nothing explicit.

- I don't do chain asks. They're exhausting and come off as pretty meaningless to me.

- Asks that sign off with an @ will not count as anon asks. This is because asks cannot be sent from sideblogs. Any asks sent as Oren or the assistant will be on anon and signed of with "- @i-study-anons"

- Don't be homophobic or racist or transphobic or any of that nasty stuff. I don't want that here

- I WILL RP with non-gimmicks

- I am RPing as a character running a Tumblr blog, hence the lack of actions or anything else that isn't dialogue. However, there are exceptions*

- If you have a question for ME and NOT Oren or the current Assistant, PLEASE SPECIFY that the ask is meant to be answered OOC!

- Be nice and polite when interacting with me OOC

*If another blog that has been deemed anomalous does an action that affects Oren or the current D-Class (ex. punching one of them in the face), the affected character will also end up having actions for the rest of that interaction as a result.

TAGS:

#Posted by Researcher - posts made by Oren

#Posted by Assistant - posts made by the current assistant

#Posted by OOC - OOC posts

#OOC reblog - mostly stuff to ask from RP/Writing meme blogs, self explanatory

#in character reblog - posts that Oren would decide to reblog (and did decide to reblog)

#someone to study! - anons, both from asks here and looking at anon asks on other blogs

#ordinary ask - non-anonymous asks

#other anomalies - post pertaining to anomalies other than the Anons

DIRECTORY TO OTHER IMPORTANT POSTS:

-List of anomalies (and staff!) involved with this blog

-Character Info

-Current File on Anons/SCP-8947 (coming soon)

OOC INFO:

You can call me Riiviir or Rii. I'm transmasc, almost 18, and my pronouns are they/he. I'm also autistic and have ADHD, both of which might be accidentally self projected onto any character I write. (I am not comfortable sharing my actual birthday, so if you want to wish me happy birthday, do it on September 15th, since that's the middle of my birth month.)

My current hyperfixations are Animal Crossing and Cult Of The Lamb, and my special interest is sound and audio. This is my first serious RP blog here, but I have been RPing outside of Tumblr for about 7 or 8 years. (I don't know when exactly when I started, but it's something around that. This has been a hobby of mine for awhile.)

Aside from RP, I also like drawing, songwriting, and probably any other sort of creative art. I'm also working on learning RPG Maker so I can make my own game!

[ideas-4-stories]

Hello! I was the anon from the Bughawk Married AU, and I see that you answered the ask, so I'm here to talk about it again :)

I'm so happy you liked it! And about what they were talking... Maybe just something casual? Like, asking the each other names? I am not good with dialogue-

Yes, yes. Mihawk ABSOLUTELY wanted to beat Shanks even more in this AU (now I'm thinking about the caos of Shanks diacovering the Bughawk marriage-)

Oh! The “Buggy is Raylegh's kid AU” is something I like but never talk about to anyone, but, here the explanation: in this AU, Raylegh ends up having a short relatonship with a women, who ends up pregnant. Before Raylegh go to the sea again and after their relatonship end, the women tells him about the baby and the idea of, well, not having them. Raylegh says no, that she please have the baby, he will be here once a month and, when the kid was born, he will take them. It's a almost panicked decision, but Roger agrees and even say he will help. So, more-or-less 8 month's pass and the women is having the baby, but the first things she feels is disgust, because of the ugly red nose, on the other way, Raylegh's falls in love with the little baby instantly. After some time, the Roger Pirates finally go to the sea again, and this time, Raylegh has a small kid in his arms, gently named Buggy.

Hi! Anon of the Bughawk Married AU 👋👋👋

Oooooo Shanks is like 'Ooohhh that's why you wanted to beat the shit out of me... YOU ARE MARRIED TO BUGGY!?!'

Awwwww, Rayleigh wanted to keep Buggy, saying don't get rid of them. That's so SWEET!!! How DARE that woman thinks Buggy is ugly and is disgusted by him. What a woman, no thank you.

[arcielee]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thank you so much for the tag @poetic-fiasco @babyblue711 @lord-aldhelm @moris-auri ! This was nifty 💜

1. How many works do you have on ao3 (or masterlist)? - On my masterlist here, 45. I only have 19 on my ao3, including a Sailor Moon fic I abandoned.

2. What’s your total ao3/tumblr word count? - I am only doing ao3, which is 218,594 so far.

3. What fandoms do you write for? - Whatever inspires me, to be honest. Lately, I have been dabbling in Jujutsu Kaisen help me, and those are all under my ☆ Other fandoms masterlist.

4. Top five fics by kudos/notes - On ao3, The Sapphire Prince and lost in a haze, the second being a Hazbin Hotel piece I wrote. For this hellsite it is my Call It Dreaming series, then dōna mandia 😈 and Silver Coins.

5. Do you respond to comments? - I try my best too, but Tumblr sometimes fails to notify me. I love them all, though! 💜

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? - That might be a toss up between Dancing in the Dark and Ours never knew peace.

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? - I think my Farewell Wanderlust story that I wrote solely when I learned that Bernard never killed off Osferth in the series. I was determined for that baby monk to get a happily ever after.

8. Do you get hate on fics? - I got a lot of grief for dōna mandia and I do get a lot of hate anons, but those I report and be done with it.

9. Do you write smut? - I literally only started writing smut when House of the Dragon came out. It changed my brain chemistry.

10. Craziest crossover? - Oh man 😆 I have been writing since I was 13 and I did this crazy LotR x wrestling crossover that was a hot mess. This was on fucking FF.net, but they deleted my account. I was devastated at the time, but now I understand this was a mercy killing.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? - I sure hope not.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? - I have been asked, but since I am not on the platform requested, I declined the offers.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? - I have not.

14. All time favorite ship? - I am keeping the prior answer because A Red Dawn Rises by @avonne-writes is the rarepair of Aemond x Aethelstan and it has me chewing on my furniture.

15. What’s a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will? - Gosh, I keep swearing I will return to them, so please allow my incessant denial. 😂

16. What are your writing strengths? - Um... probably that I always put my whole bussy heart in every piece?

17. What are your writing weaknesses? - I forget to add adjectives a lot and I also abuse the fuck out of the semi-colon, but all I can do is reread my work, boo and hiss at what I created, and try to do better with my next story.

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language? - As long as a translation is close by so I can follow along. I hate scrolling up or down so I can figure out what is being said.

19. First fandom you wrote in? - Lord of the Rings! And it was terrible! ����

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? -

Anyway, here are my top 3:

♡ She Walks in Starlight really pushed me out of my comfort zone and helped me hone my prose style for whatever genre I am writing for. Plus, Aemond is so very Hades code.

♡ Ours never knew peace. This one is not very popular, but I really loved it. It was supposed to be how The Sapphire Prince was going to end, but my OC in that was very determined to go another route. I started writing this after watching The Princess Bride and it sat in my drafts forever... but I just love the idea of being warned of what happens and being doomed to repeat it.

♡ Dancing in the Dark was an ode to my oma and my grandfather, but thankfully they don't do the internet and/or are dead. 💜

no pressure tags: @itbmojojoejo @sylasthegrim @flowerandblood @bhxrdy @troublesomesnitch

@inthedayswhenlandswerefew (please pretend it is another IWAW segment) @aemonds-fire @squirmhoney @namelesslosers @targaryen-dynasty

@anjelicawrites @st-eve-barnes and anyone else, if it comes across your dash, tag me pleaseeee 🦝💜

[zombiecicada]

The People Have Spoken.

But don’t worry, I can do a DTIYS for the next milestone, if I reach 100 followers!

But for now, here is the event:

Submit theories, head canons, or guesses you have about the characters or lore shown thus far about the Wolfbell AU.

Rules:

-You can submit as many as you want. There is no limit to how many entries you can submit, your only cap is your own imagination. You have my permission to explode my inbox. Is there a limit to the inbox? I would like to test this theory. Please specify if your submissions into my inbox are asks for the Kirby Oc Tourney or for the 50 Followers Event I am an easily confused creature. Alternatively, you can make an actual post with your submission, but be sure to tag me so I can see it and specify that it’s for the event in the post.

-They do not have to be about Wolfbell (the character) specifically! Feel free to take a stab at some of the other characters within the universe or simply the lore and story itself. As long as it’s relevant to the overall AU, it counts.

-These theories/head canons can be as simple or as complex as you want them to be. Fully and completely encourage walls of dialogue and text and in depth analysis. ‘Haha I think character likes *x* or *y*’ and that’s the theory is just as valid. Just know, I’m a sucker for a good long lore dump and it is my weakness.

-Submissions can be serious or silly, it’s both serious but I also want to hear your unhinged hot takes.

-Please keep it fairly SFW. That being said as the Wolfbell AU is more on the NSFW side covering darker themes, I will allow such, within reason. If you’re uncertain feel free to ask me.

-If you submit entries in my ask box you need to not be an anon because I can’t declare you the winner if I don’t know who you are.

-Feel free to include little doodles and illustrations for your submissions, however this is not required! You can also include your own ocs interacting with mine or interacting in some way to make it more fun.

-If two people submit the same exact ‘correct answer’, I will go with the one I feel best explained or conveyed the theory and or head canon. Again, I’m personally biased for blocks of text.

-While there are multiple ways to win, you cannot ‘win twice’, if you submit more than one ‘correct answer’ and make it to the top three you’ll still only win once and two other people will still be other winners. The ‘winning answer’ will simply be the one I liked most and any additional ‘correct answers’ will simply earn you bonus doodles. In the total there’s gonna be six winners, three ‘most correct answers’ and three ‘most incorrect answers’, along with several little bonus winners where I was amused and entertained.

-If you submit an answer and it’s spot on and you crack the lore, obviously for spoiler purposes the submission will be handled differently. But there will be bonus ducks.

What will happen:

Gonna let this contest go on for a week! By the end of the week, I will go through all of the submissions and I will slap them all on a ‘iceberg’, with the most unhinged and non canon answers in the void and the closest to canon answers on the surface!

The top three at the tip top of the iceberg and the bottom most three will get a prize! A full body coloured render of their Kirby oc (or if you don’t have a Kirby oc/don’t want it to be a Kirby oc we can discuss that but yeah, prizes!) if you ‘win more than once’ by submitting multiple ‘correct answers’ you’ll simply get funny little bonus sketches of your characters.

Any questions or concerns, please DM me here on tumblr or on my discord.

Event will end at midnight Pacific Time on Sunday June 23rd.

[intheorangebedroom]

I’m obsessed with your Frankie and Lee. Thanking you endlessly for sharing them with us. 🩷 TYBTM is everything… immersive, intense, lyrical, HOT. I have been poking around your page, couldn’t agree more with your sweet anons. You are truly a poet through and through. The idea you would ever doubt your style… unacceptable! It is a struggle to have a distinct writing style for sure and to articulate it, but yours is unmistakable. I often find myself taken aback by how great some of the writing in this fandom is, it is kind of absurd, but coming across your work I feel like I am back in school close reading poetry but in the best way AND so much better because it’s also hot and heavy (in all the ways) lmao. Will be re-reading TYBTM soon because it’s that type of writing, you have to revisit and re-immerse yourself and rediscover. Also, the implication in the latest chapter that Lee might not want to leave one man to immediately be with another (might have misread that) fucked me up so much. I loved the storytelling choice but I was screaming internally. NO, LEE… FUCK YOUR FEMINISM AND KEEP FUCKING FRANKIE 😂 I want to start PTYM asap too. I already know I will be as obsessed. I’m scared it might destroy me based on the fact it has estrangement woven into it but can’t turn away from the abyss unfortunately. Excuse me in advance if I return to harass you about how you’re one of my favorite writers. P.S. Do you do any non-fandom writing for yourself? Curious because you’re really that good!

Hello there, lovely 🧡

Your ask has taken me on a rollercoaster of emotions I never want to get off of 🧡 First thing first, I'm sorry for hogging it to myself for so long. I do that. A lot. You're entirely too kind to me and like my readers, I'm very shy when it comes to expressing big feelings. And you've given me all the big feelings. Ily, thank you so fucking much 🧡 Thank you for reading my words, for appreciating them, for being so invested in my story, and for taking the time to tell me about it 🧡 Just like you, I'm often blown away by the talents in this and other fandoms, but also by people's kindness and generosity in their interactions with others 🧡

I do actively try to be poetic in my writing, and feel alternately proud and awfully self-conscious about it. It's always nice to receive some validation about a choice, I'm not too shy to admit it! So thank you again. And what you said about having a distinctive style being a struggle struck me, because I had never considered it that way, but it can be, in many aspects (I don't want to bore you with my writing introspection, here).

And then you said NO, LEE… FUCK YOUR FEMINISM AND KEEP FUCKING FRANKIE girl please!!!!! This should be my eulogy!!!! I'll be grateful to you till the end of times for this sentence! Believe it or not, I re-wrote this line of dialogue a dozen times, and I could never find the right words, because I was precisely thinking LEE YOU NEED TO KEEP FUCKING FRANKIE PLEASE GIRL PLEASE 😂 I can't say too much about this now because I don't want to spoil the next chapter, but I needed her to have this growth. The poor girl has never been allowed to be herself, she's finally getting a glimpse of whom she might be, I owed it to her to at least acknowledge it wouldn't be wise to slide from one relationship into another... But 🤫

To answer your last question (thank you. Are you kidding me??? THANK YOU 🧡), no I don't at the moment. I tried, recently, and ended up writing another variation of the Pilot™️, but I'll share more on this endeavour very soon. Before I went on a stupid self-imposed 20 year writing hiatus, I used to write non-fandom horror stories! I write a little for work, but I'm an archivist so it's mostly a nerdy snooze fest....

I hope I didn't take up too much of your time with this lengthy answer. I'm sorry to be repeating myself so much, but thank you so much for your ask 🧡 If you read it, I sincerely hope you liked PTMY.

Have a safe & spooky Halloween if you celebrate 🦇

[inkblot-inc]

Lunch Arrangements

Summary: From the RCD Universe; "Skitch going to see Wanda at her office for lunch. They had planned it out and everything. But for some reason the person working at the desk is sure Skitch can't actually have an appointment with Wanda. Skitch ends up having to call Wanda on her cell. Safe to say the person at the front desk sees the head tilt." - Anon

Pairing: Jeweler!Wanda Maximoff x Metalworker!reader

Warning(s): none that I can think of, I don't even think there's a language warning O.O

Note(s): I was just gonna simply answer the ask, but I had a bit too much in mind for dialogue, so I just made it a blurb- does this length still count as a blurb-? Anyways uh…I hope you enjoy :3

Word Count: closer to 900 probably

*squints* I give NO ONE permission to repost or translate my work. Make your own shit

Fixing your leather jacket, you made your way through the front doors of Maximoff Headquarters, small plastic bag in hand. You were coming straight from work and there was a bit of a line at the corner store but you still made decent timing.

Walking up to the front desk, you notice that the blonde woman seems a little bit frazzled, so you try to make this quick for the both of you. You take a breath before a quick smile passes over your face. "Hi, I'm here to see Ms. Wanda Maximoff?"

The receptionist takes a quick look at your tousled appearance before going back to work at her monitor, "Ms. Maximoff doesn't have any outside appointments today, and we don't do walk-ins here."

"Nonono, I don't need anything fixed, I'm here to have lunch with her. We made arrangements for around this time."

The woman looked back over at you, obviously disbelieving. "Mhm, I'm sure. Ms. Maximoff has an important meeting slot scheduled for this time, so what you'll have to do is call and make your magical arrangements for a different time, probably on a different day. Alright, hun?" Her tone was a bit mocking and candy apple-sweet.

Your lips pursed a bit as you nodded at the lady behind the desk, "Yeah, I'll do just that. Sorry for keepin' you, miss." The blonde just makes a gesture away from her desk as she focuses back on her screen, keyboard clacking away. You step away slightly toward the seating area and take out your phone.

You have arrangements to work out of course.

---

It's always something.

When Wanda got your phone call, she was already on her way down on the elevator. You were originally going to meet her at her office, but her last check-in meeting ended early.

Walking out to the main lobby, she saw you in the sitting area before you could notice her. Wanda made her way up to the front desk to where the new hire, Hannah, was sat. As soon as the blonde woman saw her, she straightened up further and adjusted her desk area.

"Hannah, do you know why I'm here?"

"N-no, Ms. Maximoff. You have a meeting scheduled from now until two. Is something wrong?"

"I am supposed to have a meeting right now," Wanda's manicured finger points to your figure, while at this point, you've gotten up to go and greet your girlfriend. "With this person right here. So tell me why I had to be called to come down here to get them myself?" Wanda raised a brow, her head tilted as she watched the receptionist scroll through the digital scheduling. "I have it clearly marked in the system, 'L/N- meeting @ 12:15PM to 2:00PM'. How were you not aware?"

Wanda watched the receptionist sputter for a second, "I didn't know that your meeting was with them in specific, Ms. Maximoff-"

You could feel Wanda getting a bit tight at the situation as you came up to the desk to stand beside her. You rested a placating hand on her waist as you tried to lighten the mood a bit. "I don't know that we got as far as exchanging names, Wanda. I can't really blame her."

Wanda huffed, "I certainly can," she took a quick breath, giving your simple touch a moment to set in. "Commit them to memory then, Hannah. And see to it that this misunderstanding doesn't happen again. Am I understood?"

The poor woman struggled to even maintain eye contact. "Yes, Ms. Maximoff."

Wanda found your hand and loosely interlocked your hands together before you both made your way back to the elevators. On the ride back up, you both leaned on the back wall of the elevator, Wanda squeezing your hand as she continued to give the metal doors the stink eye. "Losing time over someone else's stupidity, I can't even-"

"What, five-ten minutes? We still have at least an hour and a half together before you go back to work and before you come home to me tonight. It's all~right, love." You brought your hands up to leave a quick kiss before rubbing your thumb over the back of her hand.

Wanda let out a slow sigh, and you could visibly see her unwind a bit. "I know I just- I made us lunch and this was what I was looking forward to most today."

"Well I was looking forward to it too, doll. What'd you make by the way?"

"Chicken Caesar wraps. There's extra dressing on yours of course."

"With soppage?"

That draws a giggle out of Wanda that makes you smile at the sound. "Yes, with soppage, I made sure to have extra napkins in my office."

You dramatically tilt your head on the back wall, eyes clenched shut in mock pain."Ugh, a woman after my own heart," turning your head to look over at her, you hold up your free hand with the small black plastic bag for Wanda to see. "I got us the goods too. Sprite and Sour Belts, baby."

All Wanda does is scrunch her nose up at you before the two of you share a kiss in the elevator.

[definitelynotshouting]

hihiiiiii looking at the quality/length difference between my last two anon asks and giggling but if you want an excuse to talk about the pearl-grian convo in more depth i’d love to hear about your thought process :D

HELLO ANON as i am typing this while on a trip to the coast so forgive me if this is a little disjointed!!!! Also ur so right the difference was very funny i was giggling too dkejdjejdjd

I'll shove most of this under a readmore, because this is BOUND to get long

Okay so-- play by play time :]

These lines of dialogue start out fairly simply, but it's already loaded with unspoken things. Pearl has kinda been haunting the narrative so far, avoiding Grian and flitting around the edges of his periphery; her comment about the animals is a hint at how she's been coping behind the scenes. Pearl has been obsessively caring for the animals they've rounded together, because it's something concrete she can focus on instead of Grian's incredibly frail position.

Ahhhh the couch and cows conversation. This was honestly one of my favorite moments to write; there's SO MUCH packed in these few lines. Something I wanted to really reference-- and what becomes more apparent later on in the scene-- is that Pearl has not processed any of her trauma from the life games (Double Life especially). She is so full of distrust for the people around her; she was fully ready to believe that Tango was spreading rumors about her the way everyone spoke about her in Double Life, hence her reaction to Grian here. You can see here that when Grian reveals it was a joke, she processes it and then replies as if she had known it was a joke all along.

On a more meta level, this is me trying to show how much of a hair trigger she's on. Pearl is so so tense around everyone, especially former life members, and my gods she has some grudges-- something that will become very plot relevant later, although maybe not in the way everyone might expect.

There's a dual meaning here that I think a lot of people picked up on the first part of, but not the second-- Pearl here is both referring to the life members and their relationship with Grian as a predator (the concept of Grian only befriending them for his benefit/amusement), and how Grian clearly views himself (a monster only good for being slaughtered). The others have been talking behind the scenes this entire time; it's pretty well known by now that Grian is still extremely suicidal, and as much as Pearl is digging at him for what he did to them in the games, she still cares about him and has some Feelings™ about him wanting to die.

HERE is where Pearl fully transitions over to digging at Grian for the life games. She's also making some pretty educated guesses here; at this point in time, everyone's information on WHY Grian made the life games is pretty spotty. She's fishing for information while poking him with the metaphorical cattle prod, in a way that sorta obfuscates her actual intentions.

On a meta level, this is also a callback to Tango's previous question of whether or not Grian can still eat normal food (he can, it just doesn't do anything for him nutritionally)!!

My gods this line...... Grian is realizing just how fucked up Pearl still is from Double Life. She's wearing her heart on her sleeve here, changing her eye colour to match how they looked at the end of DL. She's forcing everyone around her to see what they did to her, to look at the damage they caused through the isolation and the rumors and the fear, and not giving them the option of turning away. There's a certain aggression there, a need to be recognized and validated, that Grian is suddenly seeing first hand. And its scary!!!!

Then, of course, the lead in to Pearl finally getting to the point-- she has questions, she wants answers, she's not taking "no" for one of them. Her final line in this snippet is also a callback to the beginning of the chapter, where Grian talks about how they just... never asked questions of each other. And now she is, and Grian isn't prepared for it.

Skipping ahead a bit now, because the rest of the conversation up to this point is fairly straightforward, but this line-- this line was the one that made me feel like i was taking 10000 volts to the fucking chest.

This is absolutely shameless projection on Pearl's part. She remembers being alone and scared; now she sees Grian alone and scared. And to her, it's the same thing, even though their circumstances were and are drastically different. It's easy to see him as herself, in this moment, and this is one of Pearl's major points: she isn't going to leave him. Yes, she's angry; yes, she's traumatized; yes, it's ultimately because of him.

But right now, he needs a friend. And she remembers when needed one of those, and how hard it was when she only had her dog to help her.

She's not going to let that happen to Grian.

That's more or less the behind the scenes of that conversation-- there were three main points i wanted to hit, which were:

She has questions, she wants answers (why did you do it? why did you hurt us? why are you trying to kill yourself?)

She sees herself in him

She isn't going to abandon him, she isn't going to leave, and things are never going to go back to the way they were.

Honestly the response to this chapter has been incredible, so i like to think i mostly nailed the intentions here, and im really REALLY grateful that everyone has enjoyed it so much :] idk when the next chapter is going to come out, but i do have maybe.... about half??? maybe a third??? of it finished. Hopefully its just as good as this one did, because my gods i packed a lot in here 😂😂😂😂😂

Hope you enjoyed the little behind the scenes analysis!!!! Here's a little bonus ocean pic for getting to the very end:

[vashtijoy]

I am so sorry if I missed it somewhere but is it confirmed that Akechi killed Wakaba? It is heavily implied but I am curious if you translated the moment when Akechi and Shido mention Wakaba?

And the second question: Is there something interesting in Feather Seeker?

Thank you in advance!!

Hi, anon, I'm so glad you asked as this one has been on my mind a lot lately. I think this is long enough without me getting into Featherman Seeker, lmao, but if you want to drop me another ask about it, I'll hopefully get to it soon.

To answer your question up front: yes, it is pretty much confirmed that Akechi kills Wakaba. Here's Sae, interrogating Joker about Kaneshiro:

Sae 若葉の死は2年前⋯『あれ』が起き始めた時期とも一致する⋯ wakaba no shi wa ninenmae... "are" ga okihajimeta jiki to mo icchi suru... Wakaba's death was two years ago... That also coincides with when the incidents started occurring...

IIRC this is the line that the idea that Wakaba was the first person Akechi murdered comes from. It's not explicit that she was the first victim—in this line, Sae has only just realised Wakaba didn't kill herself—but if she wasn't, she may very well have been the first to immediately die.

What gives far more credit to the idea that a. Wakaba was the first person Akechi killed, and b. that he feels bad about it to this day, are the various mentions of her that he sprinkles through his dialogue. And that's what the rest of this post will largely be about—though page down to see more about the Shido scene you asked about.

akechi and wakaba

Akechi mentions Wakaba by name several times. I talked recently about how Akechi's use of ellipsis can be important, how it sometimes indicates something deeper going on—surprise, or shock, or a hidden emotion. Or that he's just taking his time—sometimes an ellipsis is just a pause for effect, and Akechi does use them a lot.

But ALL FIVE of Akechi's mentions of Wakaba by name—two in the first year, and three in the third semester—have an ellipsis. They have that pause that indicates he's for some reason thinking more about what he's saying.

Let's take them one by one.

8/28 in leblanc

NB (2023/05/21): putting a quick note here to say that I'm pretty sure now that the mention of Wakaba on 8/28 is not out of surprise, he's prepared for it and intending to mention her all along. So he doesn't open up until Joker and Futaba ask him (without words) what's wrong. At some point I'll rewrite this whole section (hopefully), but for now see below! for the continued WAKABA ANGST.

This one is pretty easy to cover: Sojiro cuts him off as soon as he mentions Wakaba. I don't know about this scene. I never know how much he's genuinely surprised, how much he doesn't expect to see Futaba out of the house, how much he's just being a bitch, prodding and poking because he can, to get a response, like he does.

The interesting thing is that, of course, seeing Futaba segues into his notorious "trauma dump"—he ends up telling Joker and Futaba about his childhood, about how he was an orphan passed from place to place. Did he walk in intending to do that? I very much doubt it. And one more thing before we move on:

... they ask him what's bothering him. They look at him like "? dude sup". The trauma dump is not as unprovoked as it seems.

And there's no sign that he connects with Joker over it—of course—but you know who he does connect with?

Yep. Futaba sees the similarity between his story and her own. And it looks like Akechi sees the similarities too. That suggests IMO that his background is not dissimilar to hers—that, as the anime suggests, he was fostered by a succession of family members who neglected and probably abused him, as Futaba's story describes.

... and we get another ellipsis. Just a pause as he reaches for her name, perfectly innocuous. Except he knows her name; he's been talking to Sae about her.

I don't know. This is an incredibly hard scene to read. He has that performatively-sad cut-in that I don't trust at all, for a start; he could be being purely malicious, or sharing more than he intends; he could be genuinely shocked to see Futaba, or fascinated to see one of his living victims face-to-face. Or the whole thing could be a performance for Joker's benefit. It's an interesting scene, that's for sure.

shido and akechi

This is the scene you asked about, of course. Strap in. Shido talks about pulling the plug on cognitive psience, Akechi touches his chin and leans back, and he says this:

Akechi 一色若葉⋯でしたっけ? あの研究者。素直に従えば、死ぬことはなかったのに。 isshiki wakaba... deshita kke? ano kenkyuusha. sunao ni shitagaeba, shinu koto wa nakatta no ni.  ...Wakaba Isshiki, was it? That researcher. She wouldn't have had to die if she just complied. It was ... Wakaba Isshiki, yes? That researcher? If only she'd been more amenable, she might have lived.

This is pretty well translated in the localisation. Some notes:

We have that kke—Akechi is not saying "do you mean Wakaba Isshiki, Shido-san", in case you were wondering, he's saying "am I remembering right that her name was Wakaba Isshiki".

sunao ni shitagaeba—literally, "if she could have meekly obeyed", but in English, unless we want to sound like murderous psychopaths (cough), we say "if she could have complied; if she could have been amenable".

Lastly, we have that no ni, at the end, which gives the statement a sense of regret, which turns that "if she could have complied" into "if only she could have complied". "She might not have died; what a shame". In the Japanese audio (and for all I know btw, this happens in the English audio too), Akechi's tone and manner change on this line, from sinister and self-satisfied to something slower and more preoccupied. On his next couple of lines, his speed and smuggery progressively pick back up.

Here's the scene—it's fascinating to listen to his voice shift, especially to how dark it gets when he tells Shido how he agrees with his ideology and supports him politically. (lol) Plus, watch out for the evil wink, as he mocks his public image.

This should be "celebrity ace detective", by the way—while karisuma does mean "charisma", a karisuma is a person, a celebrity. It's often translated correctly in P5, just not here.

ok but back to wakaba

So what's going on here as regards Wakaba? First of all, Akechi does remember her��he's been talking about her with Sae since at least July. Shido knows Akechi murdered Wakaba—that's not the point. Shido knows Akechi is pretending to investigate the shutdowns and breakdowns—so the mere fact that Akechi knows her name is not the point either.

No, what's going on here is that Akechi doesn't want Shido to know he thinks about Wakaba. That, after two years, he still has her name at his fingertips. And so we get exactly the same style of pause as in the Leblanc scene with Futaba, when he pauses for just a moment to act like he doesn't properly know her name. We get that moment when his voice shows that he's feeling something and concealing it beneath his mask.

That's a pause that implies remorse or guilt, IMO. The mask he shows Shido is essentially Cognitive Akechi—gleeful, remorseless, sadistic, relentless. Make no mistake, there's a lot of Akechi in it, like there's a lot of him, despite what he'd like to think, in the detective prince. There's a lot of how Akechi aspires to be in his mask for Shido, and a lot of what he truly values about himself. But it is still a mask. And one of the things it's hiding is that Akechi still thinks more about Wakaba than he wants Shido to know.

This, IMO, is what implies that Wakaba was his first murder—this odd little moment where he has to pretend he doesn't properly remember her.

the third semester

The third semester is where it all gets a little more complicated. Akechi mentions Wakaba three times here; the most emotion he shows is when he first sees her. And the likelihood is strong that anything he feels about her is overshadowed by his own predicament—namely, being dead.

First of all, here's that moment when he first sees her. And you can see him understand: he looks at her for a long moment, then he touches his chin and has one of his "...... putting-it-all-together" thinky moments:

... and then he puts on his bright smile and the detective prince voice to get Joker outside. That's to say: he comes in without his customary pleasant-boy mask, sees Wakaba, and then drops straight back behind it—when he must have known there were others present on the way in. Like he needs a heavier mask to make sure he doesn't fuck up. Or to hide something.

Let's look at those three times Akechi mentions Wakaba, one by one:

1/2 in the launderette

The only thing I'd pick at in the localisation of this little exchange is the missing ellipsis on the last line, so let's take the rest of it straight:

Akechi: But, what's even more unbelievable to me is... Joker: Wakaba. Akechi: That's right.

Akechi ⋯一色若葉。 ... isshiki wakaba Wakaba Isshiki. ... Wakaba Isshiki.

Here's the scene. All we really have for his Wakaba textbox is the ellipsis, but listen to the first one—"what's even more unbelievable to me is...", and compare his tone to the preceding lines where he's been all business and matter-of-fact. Do you hear his voice thinning? It's by far the most unsettled he sounds all scene; Wakaba's presence is difficult for him.

And it's not his own death that's in question. If you ask him "how are you alive", he'll deal with it then—he looks away with the sad sprite, but then picks himself up fast. Even his model looks away, which is a bit of a tell—but as for traces in his voice of what's really happening, no, there are none.

1/8 at leblanc

There are no interesting vocal tricks here—a week later, Akechi is well on top of the reality around him and his own situation. And he doesn't like it—this is the "it makes me want to puke / I'll be the one to choose my path" phone call. It's only at the end of the call that some emotion creeps in, as he asks what's happening with the other Phantom Thieves, and if Joker is still on course.

Let's take a look at the original first line:

Akechi 死んだはずの若葉や奥村⋯彼女らは本当に『生きている』ことになってる。 shinda hazu no wakaba ya okumura... kanojora wa hontou ni "ikiteiru" koto ni natteru It seems that Okumura and Wakaba are both considered alive by all accounts.

I'm not sure what's going on with the noun order here, on wakaba ya okumura—it's been rendered "Okumura and Wakaba". I can't track down a reason this would be grammatically necessary (anyone know?); more than that, Akechi clearly considers Wakaba the more important of the two—he goes on to group them with kanojora, "her and her group".

There's possibly a bit of foreshadowing here, too—lists with ya tend to be incomplete lists; they have a sense of "et cetera". So wakaba ya okumura is "Wakaba, Okumura and so on". Who's Akechi's unnamed "and so on"? Yeah. But see below on 2/2—he may well just mean "no doubt there are lots of other cases like this".

So that's probably the real reason he trails off here—it's not about Wakaba, it's about him. Likewise, when that bit of feeling creeps into his voice at the end of the call, that's still about him, and whether Joker is going to follow through. But Akechi is still thinking primarily about Wakaba, rather than Okumura, who was, by all accounts, an asshole almost as bad as Shido.

2/2 at leblanc

Akechi 一色若葉や奥村のこともある⋯そこに違和感を覚えないほど、僕は馬鹿じゃないさ。 isshiki wakaba ya okumura no koto mo aru... soko ni iwakan o mienai hodo, boku wa baka ja nai sa There were also the cases of Wakaba Isshiki and President Okumura... Of course I'd find all of that suspicious. And then there was Wakaba Isshiki, and Okumura... I'm not so stupid as to not find their presence unsettling.

Man, once again Okumura has been promoted by the localisation. Someone really likes this guy. Akechi says isshiki wakaba ya okumura—the same usage as before, despite that he's been outed as dead—"Wakaba Isshiki and Okumura". But in English, Okumura is suddenly President Okumura, presumably so we don't mix him up with Haru. Make no mistake, though, Akechi is not giving Okumura the benefit of his title.

Wakaba is up front again, of course, coming to Akechi's mind first. Maybe because if he just said "Isshiki and Okumura", we wouldn't know who he was talking about?—even in Japanese, Wakaba always gets her full or given name. Maybe so. Or maybe not.

Also note the very Akechi usage boku wa baka ja nai sa—"I'm not that much of an idiot, you know." This is rolled into the rather more bland "Of course I'd find that suspicious", probably to fit it into the textbox.

And yeah, the ellipsis. That pause, and the word Akechi uses that's rendered as "suspicious"—iwakan. Not a detective's suspicion, but unease; a sense of incongruity, of wrongness, almost uncanny valley. It's the unsettling feeling that something is out-of-place. The sentiment "I killed them, and yet there they are, walking about" is very iwakan.

conclusions??

yes, Akechi certainly kills Wakaba.

yes, the exposition sequence with Akechi and Shido supports this.

... yeah, it really seems like he feels bad about it. Not bad enough to overshadow his concern for himself, perhaps, and never badly enough to get in the way of his current obsession, of course. But he's not wholly without conscience. He still thinks about her, and there are slight suggestions he might even think about what he does to Futaba—like when he sees her, and thinks of Wakaba, and promptly trauma dumps all over the Leblanc counter. Like when his voice gets a bit softer when she comes up.

also the localisation loves Okumura way too much

[thehalfbloodedwitch]

𝐂𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬

𝒏𝒂𝒗𝒊��𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 | 𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕

𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐂𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐄𝐃!!

thank you thank you thank you, I cannot say it enough number of times and express how grateful I am for each and every one of you guys for liking, reblogging and following this blog of mine. You guys mean the world to me and I cannot imagine a life where I don't write, writing is my passion and because of you I can continue writing and having fun here on tumblr, so thank you for fucking 900 followers, we have grown so fast and can't believe 900 people actually enjoy reading my stories out here, thank you once again guys for 900 followers

it has been AGES since I did a celebration, mostly because I didn't have time as I had school but rn I am free as hell so why not a celebration?

welcome one and all to my coffee confessions celebration where I take you on a cafe date, make yourselves comfortable

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𝐑𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐒

∘● refer to my masterlist for the events that involve you to send me a character or fandom

∘● everyone is welcome to join !! (moots, non-moots & anons!)

∘● i take some time to answer your asks, so please be patient

∘● spam as many asks as you would like, but send one event per ask please !

∘● this celebration has no official end date, I will be announcing when it will be over !

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𝐌𝐞𝐧𝐮

∘● ᴍᴏᴄʜᴀ ! send me this and a coffee flavor you like the most with a character and I will write an imagine for you with it

∘● ɪᴄᴇᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴛᴇ ! tell me a bit about yourself and I will ship you with a character and a dress that you would wear for your date (specify your gender and fandom)

∘● ꜰʀᴀᴘᴘᴇ ! give me a random number and a character and I will give you a trope for your relationship!

𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬

∘● ᴡᴀʟᴋɪɴɢ ᴀʀᴏᴜɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴛʀᴇᴇᴛꜱ ! give me a prompt from my prompt lists and a character of your choice and I will write a small dialogue !

∘● ꜱʜᴏᴘᴘɪɴɢ ! ask an open question about me, as long as it's not too personal.

∘● ʜᴏʟᴅɪɴɢ ʜᴀɴᴅꜱ ʙʏ ᴛʜᴇ ʟᴀᴋᴇ ! let's play classic tumblr games (cym, fmk, etc)

𝐆𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐬

∘● ᴀ ᴋɪꜱꜱ ᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪᴘꜱ ! send me this and get a love letter written by me to you <3 (ᴍᴏᴏᴛꜱ ᴏɴʟʏ)

∘● "ʙᴇ ᴍɪɴᴇ" ! send me this and I will give you a three picture moodboard along with things that remind me of you (ᴍᴏᴏᴛꜱ ᴏɴʟʏ)

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𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐓𝐒

@blackthunder137 @chamomileh0ney @thespiritoflife @ell0ra-br3kk3r @lady-of-love-beauty-and-death @meadowscarlet @dr4cosimp @rafesmuse @sharmaji-ki-beti @siriusblackstwin @prettygirlkay @chloefrl @sunnylands-world @shespeaksinsongs @fairydxll @writingwitch007 @lazydreamer19 @ttsumii @spring-picnics @dracoslittleangel @gilmore-angel @imabee-oralizard @elysian-i @dr4cking @lumosicc @one-direction-harry-potter1 @jeanthebeans-blog @littlemissnoname13 @welcome-to-writers-haven @puppy-coded @alexis-angelsss @drawlfoy

[pitconfirm]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

thank you for tagging @mars-mystic!! mwah 😽

1. How many works do you have on ao3

eight, two of which are anon teehee (but i think one is very obviously mine 😅)

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 

60,694... soon to be over 70k 🙈

3. What fandoms do you write for?

im just here for lance nation..... writing about my pookie wookie

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

excluding my anon fics which are the actual #1 and #3...

1 - Gatito (the people yearn for kitty lance)

2 - Midas Touch

3 - Broken Glass (guys please someone else write more 141831 im begging....... i cannot be the only threesome in this tag)

4 - Venus Flytrap

5 - Kamikaze

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I love responding to comments.... i love every comment I respond to every comment unless it's just emojis or i have literally no idea how to respond 😭

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I guess Kamikaze is my only fic with a kind of angsty ending... but not really. i don't like angsty endings 😭 i need problems to be solved. if i know a fic has an angsty ending i generally will not even touch it

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

im now realising that most of my fics on ao3 are just straight up porn..... i swear i am planning more substantial things in the future. but i guess my two tumblr drabbles have happy endings?? oh wait or Detonate.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

luckily i've never gotten any hate at all..... not even anon hate asks, i feel like im missing out. this is what I get for being kind and amazing 😔🫶

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

do i even need to answer this. every kind. almost.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

not crossovers but there are like.... specific aus living in my mind that i want to write. hunger games au, dbh au.... beloveds.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

i hope not 🤨

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

🙅‍♂️

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

no....... not yet 🤔

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

tbh I’ve read so many different fandoms and ships over the years but strollonso is the one I’ve been most feral about. or maybe arthur/eames from inception…..

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I literally have zero wips right now except venus flytrap. the ideas in my brain have dried up like the sahara desert to work on this thing. once I’m finished we’ll see

16. What are your writing strengths?

I like to think I have good wit and flow. and maybe attention to detail… always thinking what more I can add to a scene to make it more palpable

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I think just…. really terrible self criticism. a lot of the time I’m writing and I’m like… what if this sucks what if everyone hates this what if blah blah blah….. WHO CARES!!!!!! I wish I could be less worried about that

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I will write a few words if I feel confident enough about them but not whole passages. I always have nando saying little bits in spanish

19. First fandom you wrote for?

TOOOO EMBARRASSING. I only ever wrote for one other fandom and I was 13 on wattpad and shudder every time I remember

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

I guess it has to be venus flytrap for the pure amount of effort I’ve put in…. and because it’s definitely the most well written by farrrr. I cringe a little reading my other stuff now 😭 but I guess that’s just the nature of improving over time

NO idea who’s already done this so forgive me if I’m being a goof @lil-shiro @lou-who-writes @parallelplayers @boxboxbrioche @vicsy @userkritaaay and now my brain is firing blanks so sorry if I forgot any of my beautiful writer friends

[delta-lethonomia]

Hi, love For All The Wrong Reasons. It is just such a unique take on Astarion/Tav relationship, that is not often explored in fandom. Really chefs kiss, and all the kudos in the world. It makes my day and I grin like a lunatic everytime I see you post a chapter. Since I have been rereading the fic while waiting for next chapter I have noticed one theme that is interesting to me, mostly because I am not even sure if it is a theme you have conciously incorporated or is it just my interpretation. However it seems to me that Astarion/Tav dynamic often times seems like student/mentor or child/adult kind of relationship especially through dialogue choices and characters reactions in conversations. Which is funny on itself Astarion beeing older than Tav. But a lot of time their interactions could be summed up with Astarion throwing ,,tantrum” ( not really tantrum but I do not have a better word, maybe…, reacting harshly without thought?) and Tav going ,,Aaah here we go again” and patting Astarion on the head saying something like ,,Hush baby boy, you will understand one day”. My question is, because I have been discussing it with myself and trying to work out a definite answer for past 2 hours (also while trying to go to sleep). Was this dynamic intentional? Or is it just my interpretation? Please I need to know and go to sleep 😆🤦🏻‍♀️.

!!! Thanks for the ask and giving your thoughts, anon! What an excellent take! I completely get where that impression comes from, and I think that's really an aftereffect of Tav's bias affecting the narration so heavily. On one hand, yes, I do agree and it is "intentional" (in the sense of Tav being experienced compared to Astarion) but in other ways this is getting flipped on its head and Tav is nowhere as put together as she thinks she is.

Tav really, really pushes for the type of relationship she wants (or thinks she wants.) While Tav and Astarion are both experienced sex workers, they developed different skill sets. I think Astarion went for low-hanging fruit pretty often (prioritizing getting anyone to follow him home that night) + Cazador's parties, while Tav's work depended on maintaining relationships with returning clients. Later, Tav did manage to get into a loving relationship that lead to marriage. She knows how to be in a relationship, she knows (mostly) what she wants and likes, and she knows what she's not willing to put up with. She's familiar with all the self-hatred and weird feelings that arise regarding kink and abuse both through her work, her personal experiences, and living the first half of her life as a pretty regular person who had friends and therefor benefited of second-hand experiences through her friends. She's made mistakes and then over-corrected.

Astarion, by contrast, has none of this. He has one-night flings (the victims), Cazador (abusive master/father/obsessive rapist), the spawn (toxic siblings who all low-key despise each other with a strange sense of commonality that keeps getting undercut), maybe a few repeat interactions with patriars who think of him as nothing more than a courtesan, and the human servants at the manor he despises and gets to feel mildly superior to. A lot of Astarion's skills begin and end with getting to sex and then having sex that the client enjoys. Everything after that is a big mystery that he's completely playing by ear.

To Tav he seems inexperienced because he is. Astarion's shocked he enjoys being submissive towards her and wonders what that means about him personally - Tav goes "been there, done that, got the t-shirt, here's the spark-notes on that." Tav enjoys feeling like the person who can pet Astarion on the head and tell him what he feels and how to fix it. She likes having that authority over him, and so she responds to Astarion's very reasonable points with that type of demeanor.

But. But. Tav is not nearly as put together as she thinks she is. Of the two, Astarion is more emotionally aware and put together than Tav. I think this will become more obvious as Act 3 progresses but it's already starting to happen. Astarion is completely right when he said that Tav actually wants a partner, not a slave. Yes, she enjoys being the dominant partner sexually, but so much of her relationship nonsense she's trying to push onto him has deep roots in her abusive marriage. She's terrified of being the weaker partner, of anyone having power over her, and the best way to avoid that (subconsciously) is both to avoid relationships entirely, or in Astarion's case, only pursue them when she thinks she can utterly mold him into being a perpetually submissive partner.

As the fic progresses, Astarion becomes less frightened of Tav. He pushes back more and asserts himself, and Tav makes mistakes. He said he didn't want to have sex, Tav still snowballed him and skates by on a technicality, then blames him for not pushing back (despite literally taking control over his body in a previous chapter). Astarion (correctly) notes how she's still "that battered wife", that she wants him to hurt her, to kill her. (Noticed how in her house in Act 3 she has him bite her like 5 times until Astarion is genuinely worried about her neck? Yeah.) Honestly, that argument in Shar's temple plus followup at camp really sums up a lot of thoughts on where they're at. Tav has a massive blind-spot when it comes to what she actually wants and why she makes the choices she does. While Astarion seems reactive and short-sighted, she is just as bad when emotionally invested. Tav just seemed a lot more emotionally stable early on because she didn't care.

Regarding companions: I think Astarion does come off as a bit young sometimes, especially if you don't actually know he's 200+. That's just due to his demeanor and abuse under Cazador. Shadowheart clocks him as vulnerable nearly immediately, Lae'zel calls him a pet, etc etc. Numerous people notice how the relationship between Tav and Astarion is a bit... iffy and let's just say that's leading somewhere :)

I'm getting a bit too into the weeds here but in summary: while Tav is more experienced with relationships and dealing with a lot of issues Astarion is facing for the first time, she's very emotionally stagnant and hasn't really moved past her abuse at all. Astarion, by contrast, is inexperienced, but has a lot more emotional maturity and resilience than Tav does, and is thus able to move past things and process them in a way that Tav currently cannot. While Tav steers the ship on the surface (making decisions, pushing for him to trust her, making demands) Astarion is the real emotional driver of the relationship.

Tav can only see the world through her own tinted glasses. Astarion sees things as they are.

Tav wants to be the teacher/adult/master/source of all knowledge and power, but yes, Astarion is very much a 200+ yr old adult who has a much better grip on himself than Tav (and therefor the biased readership) necessarily gives him credit for.

((But yeah the whole fic started from me wanting to write a super experienced Tav in direct contrast to a lot of the super virginal/inexperienced uwu soft Tav's in fandom at the time. idk if that's changed but yeah haha))

[questinwitchface]

Just in case someone else may want your opinion, I'm asking off anon. How do you decide which details to include for a slow burn fic? When do you know it isn't too much or too little but a satisfying amount of both prose and dialogue?

Thanks for the ask, dear! I want to preface this by saying I'm not a professional writer, nor am I a teacher, so my answer is based purely on my own experience and process.

How do you decide which details to include for a slow burn fic?

I usually start at the end and visualize or even write some sections about where I want the characters to be by the end of the story. Then I look at the beginning and take note of how far the characters are from that ending. Then I write down a loose plot involving them inching toward that end goal, with the little milestones along the way in their journey. Each detail or milestone needs to support that end-goal, and it's usually very character-driven.

I realize that might be kind of confusing, so I'm going to use The Promise of Cheesecake and a Decent Wine as an example. I started writing the ending smut scene first, and I was really taken in by how well they were communicating and how safe they felt with each other, and I wanted that to be the end goal. Then I started at the beginning with the fake dating situation, where they aren't even together. I wrote the first five chapters of the fic, and wrote in a happy ending for them where they get together at the end of that first fake date, and that was supposed to be that.

But I kept looking at that smut scene I wanted for their endgame. I kept looking at the communication and the sense of safety and understanding, and I kept thinking that it didn't feel earned from just one fake date. So I started thinking about ways to show them learning to communicate better, ways to show their relationship building and strengthening over time.

And I thought, what's a better way to show them growing together than showing them recovering from a fight that could've ended their relationship? So I had the idea for the fight, and I figured a fight needed a catalyst, so I thought of the media issues. And from the media issues, the interview/photoshoot idea was born, and I realized I could use the photoshoot as a way to have Sam let Bucky in on some of his insecurities. And I wanted Sam and Bucky to both have insecurities - not just because that's human - but also because it would contribute to their sense of safety with each other at the end if they were able to work through those insecurities together.

Then there was the second date and the family time plot points, which were really just excuses to show their relationship building, to show them getting closer to each other emotionally and establishing that foundation of care and understanding between them. And I thought, how can I show that care and understanding building? By having Bucky try a wine tasting for Sam's benefit and having Sam make it a point to include Bucky in all of the family stuff. They say so much without saying anything that way. And I could keep going, but I'm not sure you want me to dissect every plot point here or this post is going to be really long and annoying to read lol.

Equally important as their arc together, they each had individual arcs to go through focused on recovering from traumas. Sam's focuses a lot on his identity as a gay man and the traumas from his father and previous relationships. Bucky's focused mostly on recovery from his time as a Hydra captive. Each of them needed to show that they were, individually, getting better and growing. So I included Bucky's study to show that he was growing from that sparse and sad apartment in Brooklyn. I included Sam winning the award from the charity group and his conversation with his father. I included both of their sexual traumas, and I let them support each other through that because that built both of them as individuals and as a couple as well.

It's all about finding my endgame for my characters and using details to support that endgame. If each detail supports your endgame, then none of it will feel like it's too much because it all makes sense and fits in. If you read it and it feels complete and satisfying to you, then it's enough (at least, that rule works about 80% of the time, for the other 20%, I recommend having a beta reader who isn't afraid to tell you when things don't make sense, though I recognize those may be hard to come by).

When do you know it isn't too much or too little but a satisfying amount of both prose and dialogue?

I struggle with this a lot actually. My first drafts often are almost exclusively dialogue with very little prose - they read more like plays with a few stage directions than anything else. I compensate for this weakness during my revision process. I revise my work A LOT. If the first draft is for dialogue, then the second draft adds in actions. The third draft adds inner thoughts. The fourth draft adds details about the setting, items in a scene, other description. I know it sounds like a lot of work, but I find that breaking it down like that and in that order helps me see what's really necessary to a scene.

For the dialogue, I try to find the sweet middle ground between what a character wants to say and what they aren't saying. For instance, if Bucky wants to tell Sam that he loves him, but he's still scared to say it, he might ask Sam if he's eaten anything today instead. The underlying emotion, love and care for Sam, stays present then, but it's not explicit, which makes it something Sam could plausibly miss while the reader might pick up on it. Dialogue for me is always a balancing act between what the characters are saying and what they mean.

For actions, I try to add them doing something while they talk so it's not just two people standing in an empty room talking, which is kind of boring to watch/read. I like adding something like them doing dishes, so at least there's movement in the scene. I like to add facial expressions, which might align more with what the character is saying or might align more with what they want to be saying but aren't. I like to add gestures and mannerisms so that we get a sense of how the characters are feeling without necessarily being told "Sam feels embarrassed/sad/angry/whatever." It just makes the writing feel more alive.

For inner thoughts, I try to only include them if they provide more meaning to a scene. Showing where the thoughts align with actions and words and where they differ allows for conflict in a character, and readers love conflict. I'd say inner conflict is usually the crux of a good slow burn, because the character wants to confess their love but can't for ~whatever plot reason~ so it's useful to have inner thoughts showing that contradiction. Additionally, you can use inner thoughts to sort of double-down on something that happened by explaining more about why a character is doing/did that thing. If the thoughts aren't really adding new perspective to a situation, then I try to skip them because that gets to be too repetitive.

For setting and other descriptions, I just try to add them as necessary. This is probably a controversial opinion, but I generally don't care about setting unless it's specifically relevant to the story, like the house in Cheesecake being a metaphor for their building relationship, or the Captain's quarters in The Pirate Fic having all the books and being the place where Sam and Bucky start to build a friendship. If there's nothing important about the setting, I generally try to include just the bare minimum necessary, so the scene doesn't distract from what's actually important to me in a scene: the characters. It's a fine balancing act, and one I'm not really sure I've gotten good at yet, but that's generally how I try to approach it.

I hope I answered your questions in a way that makes sense. I know I was kind of long-winded, but hopefully it's all good information that you find helpful, or, at least, vaguely interesting. Feel free to ask more questions if I was confusing or you'd like a different example of something. Thanks again for the ask :)