#anyways this is my take on script changes - the writers can fix it or the editor can ruin it

[dokidokitsuna]

Beast Jacket | Glass Diamond

I drew this to celebrate that I FINALLY FINISHED THE FIRST DRAFT of the NeverFell Projects’ first installment. The script is 20 pages long, and I haven’t even added the design breaks yet…is this shaping up to be my first hour-long video…??

In any case, it’s still just a first draft, and it will definitely need some more work before I even start recording it. After I have a nice long break to reset the ol’ brain, of course. ^^

So these designs are successors to these two from before: Adam basically just went shopping for a more protective coat (which he wears on top of his previous outfit) and new shoes. Cinder, on the other hand, jumped into a totally new look as usual. ^^ I love that she’s the Barbie of the RWBY universe, and I’m more than happy to feed the stereotype by giving her lots of different designs~. 

This is my answer to her V7 outfit, where she loses the reds in her design as the ‘flame goes out’. Unlike the V7 outfit, however, this design's symbolism is intentional, as Cinder puts this on when she’s at her lowest point. I like to imagine she was meditating over the direction of her life while she crafted all that glass armor…

Anyway, speaking of direction-- just so I don’t forget (and as a small preview of what I’m working on~) here’s some things I hope to improve with my next draft of this proto-story:

1] Emphasizing reciprocity As in, Adam helps Cinder develop AND Cinder helps Adam develop; it’s supposed to be a two way street. Unfortunately, I think the tail end of the story kinda paints Adam as the ‘savior’ in this relationship…and his lingering superiority complex does not help. ^^;

It may be because he goes through a whole arc over the course of the story, while Cinder just starts hers in the last act, but I think if I just add a bit more introspection on Adam’s part, I can probably fix this. I mean, despite having a more stable sense of self that he can rely on, Adam is clearly the weaker half of this partnership-- he gets beaten up twice in a row while Cinder just keeps coming back stronger despite her suffering. Add to that the fact that Cinder can read him like a book and does so constantly, and there’s no reason Adam has to come off as her superior if I’m actually doing my job as a writer. ^^;;

2] Cinder’s turning point I’m afraid that she might have fallen into the classic writing pitfall of “having a bunch of bad things happen to her and then suddenly changing her mind”...y’know, without a clear line of reasoning that takes her from “this is painful but necessary” to “this isn’t okay anymore”. It’s the difference between a character simply running away from something scary (like any animal can do…) vs. actually developing as a person.

There is a final conversation at the end of the story that I was supposed to use to make this clear, but I think I got too caught up in making it ‘realistic’ and establishing Adam and Cinder’s future dynamic. Which was admittedly very fun, but at the same time there’s probably a reason why it feels like a lightweight conclusion to a heavyweight story, and I’ll have to correct that eventually. :T

[birdship]

This project is unfinished and will remain that way. There are bugs. Not all endings are implemented. The ending tracker doesn't work. Images are broken. Nothing will be fixed. There's still quite a bit of content, though, so I am releasing what's here as is.

Tilted Sands is a project I started back when AI Dungeon first came out--the very early version you had to run in a Google colabs notebook. Sometime in late 2018, I think? I was a contributor at Botnik Studios at the time and I was delighted by AI Dungeon, but I knew it would never be a truly satisfying choose your own adventure generator on its own. I would argue that the modern AI Dungeon 2 and NovelAI don't fully function as such even now. That's not how AI works. It has to be guided heavily, the product has to be sculpted by human hands.

Anyway, it inspired me to use Transformer--a GPT2 predictive text writing tool--to craft a more coherent and polished but still silly and definitely AI-flavored CYOA experience. It was an ambitious project, but I was experienced with writing what I like to call "cyborg" pieces--meaning the finished product is, in a way, made by both an AI/algorithm/other bot AND a human writer. Something strange and wonderful that could not have been made by the bot alone, nor by the human writer alone. Algorithms can surprise us and trigger our creative human minds to move in directions we never would've thought to go in otherwise. To me, that's what actual AI art is: a human engaging in a creative activity like writing in a way that also includes utilizing an algorithm of some sort. The results are always fascinating, strangely insightful, and sometimes beautiful.

I worked on Tilted Sands off-and-on for a couple years, and then the entire AI landscape changed practically overnight with DALL-E and ChatGPT. And I soon realized that I cannot continue working on this project. Mainstream, corporate AI is disgustingly unethical and I don't want the predictive text writing I used to enjoy so much to be associated with "AI art". It's not. Before DALL-E and ChatGPT, there were artists and writers who made art by utilizing algorithms, neural networks, etc. Some things were perhaps in an ethical or legal grey area, but people actually did care about that. I remember discussing "would it be ethical to scrape [x]?" with other writers, and sharing databases of things like commercial advertising scripts and public domain content. I liked using mismatched databases to write things, like a corpus of tech product reviews that I used to write a song. The line between transformative art and fair use vs theft was constantly on all of our minds, because we were artists ourselves.

All of the artists and writers I knew in those days who made "cyborg art" have stopped by now. Including me.

But I poured a lot of love and thought and energy into this silly little project, and the thought of leaving it to rot on my hard drive hurt too much. It's not done, but there's a lot there--over 14,000 words, multiple endings and game over scenarios. I had so much fun with it and I wanted to complete it, but I can't. I don't want it to be associated in any way with the current "AI art" scene. It's not.

Please consider this my love letter to what technology-augmented art used to be, and what AI art could have been.

I know I'm not the only one mourning this brief but intense period from about 2014-2019 in which human creativity and developing AI technology combined organically to create an array of beautiful, stupid, silly, terrible, wonderful works of art. If you're also feeling sad and nostalgic about it, I hope you find this silly game enjoyable even in its unfinished state.

In conclusion:

Fuck capitalism, fuck what is currently called AI art, fuck ChatGPT, fuck every company taking advantage of artists and writers and other creative types by using AI.

[mllemaenad]

So – Bethesda broke Fallout 4's script extender. Because of course they did. What better way to celebrate the release of your new TV show than to stall people's ongoing playthroughs? Excellent work. I don't even want an Enclave quest. It's Creation Club nonsense, so it won't actually be a proper quest anyway.

I want to finish my Sim Settlements 2 playthrough. Ugh.

So while I'm waiting for the dust to settle on that, I thought I'd give Fallout 76 another go. I am rebuilding my mod list for Fallout 3, but that's a work in progress. And Fallout 76 is right there.

I created a new character, because I haven't played this thing in ages and I know they've changed a bunch of the mechanics. And oh - ha. I mean, I had thought from the beginning that creating a game without NPCs was a terrible idea, because it's hard to invest in saving an empty world. But the addition of them makes playing the game's original main quest a distinctly bizarre experience.

I don't mean that I'm suddenly pro-empty world. Not at all. In general the presence of factions and personalities and people you can care about it a good thing.

But when they made this game, the writers and quest designers were given "empty world" as a parameter within which they had to work. And they did.

It's sort of an interesting, even bold, choice for a storyline because it does not allow you to feel good about yourself at all. Most Fallout games do. Oh, you can play evil if you want, sure, and there are a handful of side quests that are genuinely no win scenarios. But mostly? You can save the world. And you will probably have a better experience if you try to: there's more to do when you talk to the NPCs and deal with their problems rather than just murdering everyone and taking their stuff.

But Fallout 76 is just judging you.

I keep thinking about its promotional song – that really upbeat cover of Take Me Home, Country Roads, and all the imagery in the old trailer, about rebuilding and looking to the future. But all of that is functionally a lie, and the key lines in that song come towards the end:

I hear her voice in the mornin' hour, she calls me The radio reminds me of my home far away Drivin' down the road, I get a feelin' That I should've been home yesterday, yesterday – Take Me Home, Country Roads

You should have been home yesterday. You should have been home a thousand yesterdays ago. This story is all about the past, and a rebuilding effort you neglected to join. It hits you with the guilt straight away, as the very first place the game takes you is an old outpost of emergency service personnel who just kept on doing their jobs after the bombs fell. It's their notes and recordings that teach you how to survive.

Of course you encounter less pleasant people later: raiders and Enclave, and honestly I have little patience for any iteration of The Brotherhood of Steel. But even there, you can see that the misunderstandings and conflicts and general fuck ups might have been resolved with a competent mediator.

And that is exactly what you are. You're a Fallout protagonist. You don't have the time to spend ten years sitting in a lab, but you excel at travelling from town to town and dealing with whatever obstacle is stopping a faction from moving forward. Fallouts 1-4 and assorted spin offs have taught us all that.

Even in universe, Vault 76 is stated to be full of literal geniuses. It is packed with doctors and scientists and engineers: exactly the people the world needed to deal with a combination of plague and environmental crisis.

If you were there, you could have fixed this.

But you were not there. You were sitting comfortably in a vault, while other, better people tried to save the world.

And they were almost there. They had a vaccine. Even with everything, they had a vaccine. They did the work, they had a plan. As you play through this quest, you stand upon the shoulders of giants at almost every stage, implementing the very last step in a plan that really does work. Had they lived, even a few months longer ... but they didn't, and you did nothing to help them.

It wasn't even necessary to spend 25 years in that vault, as it is abundantly clear that the area around 76 has been habitable this whole time. Challenging, sure: I am in no way suggesting that it was an easy existence. But it was not instant irradiated death.

Every other Fallout protagonist steps out of their vault (or other entry scenario) in time to make things right. Maybe just in time, but nevertheless. They walk into a fractured world and get to work. But not you. You took the easy route.

How proud are you of that Best Dental Hygiene award now?

Given that it is set so close to the Great War, and deals with first generation survivors, it gives one of the best looks at the cynical cruelty of Vault-Tec: when they talk about rebuilding the world, it only means rebuilding for its own benefit and profit. Anyone not part of their plan is more than welcome to die in a hole.

It ties in very nicely with the television series, actually. Lucy laments that she was waiting to rebuild the world, but it all happened without her - and Vault-Tec actively tried to destroy that new world (and at least up to a point, seems to have succeeded). Her people waited over 200 years, but it didn't take that long. Twenty-five were quite enough.

But with the new version ... I mean, it really takes the sting out of it. It looks like everybody had a few rough years there, but it's all turned out fine. There's a burgeoning civilisation here, with homesteads and caravans and trade. I can't go two steps without an NPC asking to borrow a bobby pin, and even the raiders are more territorial than outright destructive (although – is nobody going to go up that completely safe little hill and give poor Miguel a funeral? Come on guys, clean up the damn corpses).

The tragedy of the whole thing, and the weight of your own inaction, is largely gone. You can't reshape the world and still make the same impact with that narrative.

I don't know, I guess I just can't quite get behind the whole multiplayer-ness of the thing. The world can't really change as you complete quests. You can't really rebuild. But likewise, if the world does change, it has to change for everyone at the same time, regardless of where they are in the story.

It could still work, I think, if you could play through that story and then see the caravans come over the hill, and start to rebuild the world.

Because that might feel a bit like redemption.

[semperintrepida]

Process Talk: Final Edits

It may come as a surprise that I don't actually delight in making my readers wait several days between updates. As I've mentioned before, I use that time to work on "final edits" for upcoming chapters.

But what is a final edit? Allow me to show you my secrets.

At this point, the entire text of "The Breaking" has already had two to three edit passes. An "edit pass" involves refining the text at a certain level of detail. The first edit passes are at a high level, improving aspects like narrative structure, plot, and themes. Subsequent edit passes focus on improving characterization, dialogue, description, etc. at the scene, paragraph, and, eventually, the sentence level.

For the final edit, I'm primarily working on sentences, inspecting every word and punctuation mark. The first thing I do is throw the latest version of the book onto my tablet and give it a read:

This is where I make every word count. If I can swap five words ("shaped roughly like a crescent") for one-ish word ("crescent-shaped") I'm going to take it. A shrinking wordcount is a good thing!

Why do I read the book on my tablet? Because on my tablet, it looks closer a real published book (fancy!) and I like handwriting my notes. By now, I've looked at this story thousands of times in a text editor, so having the words appear in a different font and justified word spacing gives me a fresh perspective.

Once I've annotated the whole chapter, I return to my text editor and start fixing all the things I've marked, deleting or substituting words, reworking lines marked in brackets. I don't usually need to make any big changes, but it does happen on occasion, like when I decided to reorder some scenes in chapter 26.

When I'm done with my annotated changes, it's time to pull out the fine-tooth comb. The "comb" is a python script that searches for words and phrases in a text and highlights them:

Words like "before," "after," "even," and "always," are considered weak by traditional editing standards. (I've linked some good explanations why.) I'm also looking for filter phrases like "I hear," "I think," and "I know," as well as the words and phrases that are my writer tics: "crush," "a bit," "merely" to name a few. I like certain turns of phrase far too much!

Why did I write a fucking python script to highlight this stuff? Because my eyes literally skip over them when I read my own work. I couldn't find a tool that highlighted these words in a way I liked or trusted, so I had to write one myself. (If you'd like a copy of the code, hit me up via DM and I'll send you a link.)

Anyway, I go through the highlights and improve what can be improved (it's about 50/50 for each highlight—sometimes I leave things be!)

The last step is to read the chapter out loud, listening to the rhythm of the text as well as looking for typos.

And then I'm done!

This process has worked well for me, but I'm not sharing this because I think it's the only way to fly. Perhaps my writer friends will glean something of interest from it. At any rate, I hope this gives y'all an idea of why it takes me so damn long to write. 😅

[noonaishere]

Masterlist of Older Works

These are all fics I wrote in 2020 and before.

I have tumblr versions of these on my main blog, symphonyofmars, but something happened with one of them where I fucked up some formatting or something and like half of a chapter repeats itself. I fixed it on AO3 but not here, so I'm only putting the AO3 links and I recommend reading them all there.

The works that are 18+ are clearly marked.

Redemption [Deucalion] (18+)

2016-2018

🌶️🔥Smut🔥🌶️

Fic type: traditional style

Pairing: Deucalion x fem!OC

Genre: Teen Wolf, canon complaint (mostly), AU (that starts after season 4), OCs

Warnings: paranormal violence, SMUT

Status: Finished

Ever since being let go by Scott and Derek, Deucalion has been in hiding. Except for the mercenary Braden, he hasn’t had contact with anyone in months and no one knows where he is.

Meanwhile, Scott and his pack are enjoying one of Beacon Hills’ rare quiet periods, but that is about to change. A grisly corpse is found and the hunt is on to figure out who – or what – the killer is before they can kill again.

House of the Dead [Malachi]

2018

Fic type: traditional style

Pairing: Malachi x fem!OC

Genre: Riverdale, AU, flashback, character past

Warnings: (none really, since it ended before things really got started)

Status: Unfinished but abandoned

This fic takes place after season 2. Malachi seemed like he was spiraling further out of control, but there was a time in his life where he wasn't. What was missing that made him so unhinged? How did the Ghoulies form and who formed it? And anyway, who doesn’t want to be the most powerful woman in the room?

[Sorry, this one is never getting finished. I liked writing this, but it was an experiment to see if I could return to a work every week to update it and the conclusion was: I can't. Writing a fic all at once like a book is the way to go, for me. It was also originally going to have smut, but I was editing Cold Hands Warm Heart at the same time as writing this, and that one ended up winning all my attention in the end. I do want to repurpose some of the OCs for an original book (and maybe even this version of Malachi since he's so OOC per the show), so they at least won't go to waste.]

Cold Hands Warm Heart [Loki] (18+)

2018-2020

🌶️🔥Smut🔥🌶️

Fic type: traditional style

Pairing: Loki x fem!reader

Genre: MCU, Marvel Comic Universe, AU, heroes (and characters I like) never die

Warnings: assault, extraterrestrial violence, copious amounts of fashion descriptions, raging against the machine, existential crises/angst, sass, SMUT, BDSM

Status: Finished

From my AO3 descrip: "This fic takes place in some weird space after Infinity War in which Loki didn’t die and had just faked his death AGAIN, because I refuse to believe he’s dead." So it's canon compliant up until a certain point lol.

Three Weeks [Henry Cavill]

2020

Fic type: traditional style

Pairing: Henry Cavill x fem!reader

Genre: real life AU

Warnings: none, mentions of quarantine and coronavirus

Status: Finished

The Reader is a script writer on The Witcher 2 and begins a budding romance with the lead actor, Henry Cavill. However, coronavirus is going around and no one is prepared. Love in the Time of Corona?

[This is partly inspired by all the footage of people finding ways to deal with the quarantine I saw at the time, and partly by the way the first season of The Witcher was told where; Geralt was in the past and Ciri was in the present (did I get that right? lol) and the two timelines overlapped at a particular point. It left me wanting to try doing that, you can be the judge of if I succeeded lol.]

Anyway, that's them. If you decide to read them, please comment 😊 I know they're old, but I still like hearing what people have to say, it gives me motivation 😊

Enjoy! 🥰🥰🥰

[nights-at-crystarium]

Hi hellooooo and thank you <3 Putting my responses under the cut~

I remember seeing a post!! About Vivi's weapon! And for the life of me I cannot find it anywhere but you linked the post underneath the comic where he first met Ardbert!

Here you go! I posted it a bit earlier on tumblr, that's probably why.

Also here are Alisaie's weapons that don't have a name yet. Essentia is a name just for Vivi's spear, yes, but several people began referring to the whole concept by that name whoops. That's my mistake as a writer, I'll take it as a lesson in the original lore delivery.

Their duel looks awesome. It looks so Fluid. Idk how you did it bc it's a comic and not animated, I never know how comics do it actually, but it's always so impressive.

I'm glad that you think so!! It's probably because of the smears (blurry actions) and stretching/squashing. Like for example their hair looks longer than normal in this panel, we're used to seeing this trick in art and animation, our brain suggests quick movement.

This scene was totally unnecessary and self-indulgent, yet I wish I'd make it even longer hahah. Just two elves frolicking around and chatting nonsense. This form of communication's much easier for Alisaie than holding hands and talking feels.

"you still can't duel for shit" interesting! So does Vivi have a weakness in battles where he has to fight one other person, or is it only in sparring? Does he have anyone else that he naturally works with? Does he have an easier time when he's fighting multiple people at once? :O I just realised I've never really seen what his fighting style looks like in a fight where his life is at stake.

Vivi can't see the telegraphs if there's no actual threat to his life, a bit of silly ingame mechanic interpretation for the Echo. Alisaie has no intention to harm him and would stop before her sword reaches him, so he's kinda blind, only relying on his actual (average) combat skill :'>

Once he realized that Hydaelyn's gifts carry him when shit hits the fan, he started dismissing the real training/skill. Vivi doesn't see the merit/appeal in being a cool fighter, the world-saving happens anyway while he's present, so why bother. But I fear I'm getting too far ahead of the comic plot.

"You STILL can't duel" implies that they've gone through this before. Even if it's been 1 year for Alisaie, for Vivi just about a week since their separation, hell knows when did they spar last time, he obviously didn't undergo some massive training in a week, Alisaie mustn't expect much from this lil dance, it's simply better than standing and twiddling her thumbs.

Gotta acknowledge how much value I get from our convos, aside from the happy brain juice. You're bringing up many points that make me realize how and where I could improve my work. We indeed haven't seen Vivi in a "real" fight, I thought it wasn't worth the screentime because the comic's focused on daily life and feels, YET! As time goes on, it becomes more of a sore thumb, a missing beat, a solid chunk of Vivi's life unjustly shoved aside. This's important, and I'm already looking into fixing it. There's plenty of opportunities to show a page or two of combat without changing my script.

"This Crystal Mystel tends to get broody when left alone for too long" HI??? HELLO?? I'm in SHAMBLES

Wehhhhh ;w; <3 I received so much love for this line aaaaaa. Thank you so much. Their casual greeting and body language indeed hint at a shared past, I'll be sprinkling in more of their interactions and flashbacks throughout the years.

Anyway I apologise for taking so long, I've been trying to commit the entire comic the memory before I say anything so I can Really talk abt it >:'3 I give you, the author and artist, a flower as well for all your hard work 🌺

Please never apologize or feel obliged to comment on every episode!! I'm taking great joy in reading and replying to these posts, I can babble on about Fragments for hours, but I don't want this to feel like a job for you ;3;

Also time to give back some flowers, catch~ 🌸🌷🌼🌹🌺🌸🌼🌻🌸🌺🌹🌼🌺🌸

✧✦✧ “Fragments” - episode 27 ✧✦✧

A little girl bested Vivi with her left hand. Exarch's still impressed for some reason. (reason: oblivious fanboy)

New reader? Start here: @ffxiv-fragments

[elizabethrobertajones]

I've had a couple of requests for an explanation about this Jensen vs scripts thing since JIB, and I think the best way to explain it is to look at the "I read books" flip around... I can't for the life of me find versions where I've explained it before which aren't just messy quotes from my episode notes, so I'm just laying it out :)

In 9x04 we got these lines as filmed and presented to us:

DEAN Wow. That Joffrey's a dick.

CHARLIE Oh, you have no idea. Wait until he --

SAM Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! S-spoilers. I haven't read all the books yet.

DEAN You're gonna read the books?

SAM Yes, Dean. I like to read books -- you know, the ones without pictures.

[DEAN shoots an annoyed look at his brother.]

In conventions etc the boys have been quite happy to tell us how they flipped the lines around as if they had corrected a characterisation error; Sam is the one who reads books! Dean is a jock who will watch a T&A show but not get into the books.

Robbie, a dear fan of nerdy Dean (look no further than his total glee at LARP-ing in 8x11 and the direction of his getting dressed up as Aragorn which totally does not mirror a scene from the LotR movies...) had picked up on the fact that Dean has referenced Vonnegut and other writers before (with multiple references, I believe) and clearly does read for pleasure, though he seems to keep it on the DL most of the time, referencing movies and TV shows far more frequently.

The most egregious example other than this, which I don't know if it was scripted or not, is in 6x21 when Dean complains he has no idea what a Cthulu is because he was too busy having sex with women to read the books that Bobby and Sam know. Anyone who knows Dean's taste in music knows that his favourite bands frequently reference LotR and Lovecraft among other things, so he absolutely would have the cultural context. It's easier to interpret Dean as lying to cover his wounded pride in this situation but in 9x04 it's a mess.

The implication becomes Dean seeming SURPRISED that his nerdy ass brother, who he knows uses obscure Star Wars characters as fake names, wants to read a series of fantasy novels... In an episode by the same writer who once had Sam bond with Charlie over the Harry Potter books. Hrm.

Sam goes on to say the most condescendingly shitty line ever to mock Dean that books exist that don't just have pictures in them.

Now flip the lines back to how they're intended: Dean reacting in a panic when spoilers are about to start flying, and Sam surprised that his brother, who rarely admits to liking nerdy stuff, wants to read a stack of books as tall as Sam is, won over by the TV show. Dean, prickly and defensive of admitting he likes the things he likes - but standing his ground and reminding Sam he DOES like books - you know, even the ones without pictures. Dean's reading level is well beyond A Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Robbie's intent with these lines was clearly to expose new Dean characterisation ground, especially in an episode showing him comfortably at home and flourishing in the Bunker in contrast to Sam's reticence to call it home, that Charlie points out in the same scene. I also remember a line later about books or Charlie or something that would have made more sense if Dean had said the lines this way around, though I can’t recall which moment. Instead the lines sticking to enforcing the established surface level characterisation come across as regressive and unintentionally demeaning to the characters, just because Dean has always previously been the one to mock Sam for liking nerdy things, rather than understanding the nuance of the scene.

In 11x04, though, Robbie decided that it was time to try again and get the exact same line to come out of Dean's mouth, come hell or high water, and so we get this exchange in the iconic BM in the car scene, and I apologise for quoting loads of it, but its context is important:

DEAN: You were singing in your sleep, that song mom loved that dad used to always play for us. I think I've actually still got the tape.

SAM: Hey, Dean, um . . . You said when you saw the Darkness, you weren't sure whether it was, uh . . . the real thing or a vision, right?

DEAN: Mm-hmm

SAM: I think I've been having visions, too, lately. I mean, it's just images. I mean, more of a . . . feeling, really. But I just had one right now, and -- and Dad was in it. But it wasn't dad like -- like . . . The Dad that -- that I grew up with. It was Dad when he was our age. And I-I guess it wasn't even really Dad. It was someone pretending to be Dad and --

DEAN: Okay, what makes you say that?

SAM: For starters, he told me everything I wanted to hear.

DEAN: Yeah, that doesn't sound like dad.

SAM: No. Anyways, whoever it was . . . They had a message to deliver. They said the Darkness is coming, and . . . only you and I can stop it.

DEAN: Did they have him give you any helpful tips on how to do that?

SAM: He said, "God helps those who help themselves." I mean, maybe these visions are coming from God.

DEAN: Whoa. Pump the brakes.

SAM: I mean, Dean, the first one happened after I prayed.

DEAN: You prayed? When was this?

SAM: Back in the hospital.

DEAN: Why?

SAM: Because I was infected. I was infected. I'm not anymore. I-I-I never went full rabid. I . . .

DEAN: You get infected and you didn't even tell me.

SAM: Dean . . .

DEAN: What did you pray about?

SAM: I guess I was just looking for answers, you know?

DEAN: Well, I'm sure whatever is kicking around in your head right now is a side effect from the infection that you failed to tell me about.

SAM: You know, I don't think it's that simple.

DEAN: Come on, man. That quote? "God helps those who help themselves"? God didn't say that. That's not even in the Bible. That's an old proverb that dates way back to Aesop. I read. And more importantly, when was the last time God answered any one of our prayers? It's not a vision, Sam. All right? It's just some . . .Some fever dream. That's all. And as far as Dad goes, I dream about Dad all the time.

SAM: You do?

DEAN: Of course I do. It's usually the same one, too. We're all in the car. I'm sitting in the driver's seat, dad's sitting shotgun. But there aren't any shotguns. There's no monsters. There's no hunting. There's none of that. It's just . . . He's teaching me how to drive. And, uh, and I'm not little like I was when he actually taught me how to drive. I'm 16, and he's helping me get my learner's permit. Of course, you're in the backseat, just begging to take a turn. We pull up to the house -- the family house -- and I park in the driveway, and he looks over and he says, "perfect landing, son." I have that dream every couple of months. Kind of comforting, actually.

SAM: I always, uh . . . I always dream about mom. Usually the same kind of thing, though.

DEAN: Normal life?

SAM: Yeah. Normal life. But, Dean, this wasn't just a dream. I'm telling you.

DEAN: Why would somebody dress up like Dad to give you a message? I mean, Dad. You don't exactly have a history of listening to what he had to say.

SAM: But you said the Darkness is -- is sending messages to you. Maybe whatever is the opposite of the Darkness is sending messages to me.

DEAN: And you think that this thing is God? Come on. How many -- how many opportunities has God had to crack this pinata, and I don't see any candy on the floor, do you?

SAM: Okay, then maybe it's not God. But uh . . .

DEAN: I know what you're trying to do here. You're trying to find some -- some greater meaning to it all. Right? Some . . . Fate to what went down. But I'm telling you, Sam. The Darkness? It's on us. And no one's gonna help us, certainly not God, so we'll have to figure this thing out, like we always do. But until then . . . We hunt. This case for starters, course this case is . . .

The conversation has a couple of threads - that quote and who the mystery person might be, the family stuff and dreams, and the trust they have in each other, and faith in their family, their impressions and ideas about Mary and John. The dialogue wanders back and forth through the themes, starting with talking about visions, and the line about "god helps those who help themselves" is Inceptioned into Sam's brain in the previous dream sequence, the main subject for discussion. 

Sam brings its up while trying to explain what happened and immediately leaps to the conclusion that the vision came from God, and it takes a lot more back and forth before we get around to the quote again as the dialogue drifts into their trust about each other, before Dean uses that as a springboard to question Sam's faith in the quote, that he is taking on surface value. He points out it's not biblical at all, and it's important, thematically, to understand this quote, and Dean is analysing it, knowing it's from Aesop. 

His assessment that God didn't send this turns out to be true, and his explanation of WHY he doesn't trust this line means that explaining he read it in a book is essential to explaining his confidence; Sam's position as unquestioning and full of faith is too vitally plot important to turn it around. Even if Sam had ended up saying, "I know that, I read," defensively, the fact that Dean brings up the provenance of the quote still has to be something that Dean does, to fit the much more important, broader characterisation of the scene. Changing it is non-negotiable in the sense that the flow of the dialogue has firmly established who is on each side on each theme. 

This scene ends with that wonderful shot of Sam and Dean top and tail in the car, in their contrasting red and blue conflict characters. Very much emphasising the two halves of a whole and always utterly oil and water personalities and feelings they have. In this scene, Dean dreams of John, Sam dreams of Mary, Dean is doubting, Sam has faith. Dean's had visions from the Darkness that he doesn't trust, Sam has had visions from "god" that he does.

I love this moment so much because it is completely natural characterisation, but Robbie went out of his way to craft dialogue in such a way that even though he had a spiteful little motive to get that phrase out of Dean's mouth it still worked perfectly easily, and emphasised Dean's intelligence gently, while not making it a focus of the scene, it was still a line that added to what would have been an inarguable nod to Dean's intelligence without it, but with it is the "hey so Dean's gonna have this line come out of his mouth no matter what" comment, which in character is Dean just casually confirming that it SHOULDN'T be weird, the amount of lore books they have lying around, that he might have cracked one open at some point and learned a thing or two. 

(Back in 5x19 we get Dean's POV by the camera, showing us him identifying each and every one of the gods in the room with several photographic memory moments of books and illustrations of them, along with their name tags - the line after this is Sam being baffled about what's going on but Dean knows they're gods and can probably tell you their backstory all around the table. Dean has an excellent memory and recall from books... Even back in 1x16/17 they established his knowledge of symbols and lore with the blood splatters and BOC symbol things.)

So, yeah. It got fixed, but I feel like I don't even know half the things the actors change, and what later little corrections we're getting... :P There's a lot of ad libs I think have been good or funny, and in character, and of course the majority of their emotional choices are spot on for how to act a scene. But when it comes to forward character momentum, if they are missing the clues on why their characters are being written seemingly "backwards" from how they would normally act, and correct course back to the established way, they ARE shifting the nuance of scenes.

What I don't get about this whole ~scriptgate~ thing is that Sam had to absolutely be left alone dead in a hole so that Lucifer could come and get him, and motivate the entire of 13x22 and the direction that went in. I think in a way it's just character bleed that in some ways is good that he can act the raw horror and frustration of being dragged away from Sam, when every part of him is screaming that he doesn't want to do it. But like with the 11x04 scene the story boxes Dean in that he has to behave in the way the script says as the plot weighs too heavily on this scene, that it would require an enormous rewrite rather than a simple flip or something, in order to accommodate a different and more regressive interpretation of Dean's character in these instances. 

With a plot motivation that strong thankfully we seem to have got the scene as intended, and it's immensely powerful to the point that I don't think I can look at Dean's face in the gifs of Cas stopping him running after Sam. It's clear he cares and he's not callously abandoning Sam, but there's more going on at the same time, that he can't throw away all his characterisation to stay with Sam. The Lucifer and Jack storyline from next episode is the thumb pushing down on that pressure point, as much as in 11x04, Sam being wrong about his visions is forcing Dean to be the authority who read a thing in a book, and can not be portrayed as ignorant in this context. So really, if Jensen is saying he wanted Dean to stay with Sam, or go after him, it's a wholly emotional, in-character response, and I love what it brought to the scene, but at the end of the day, it's damaging to the overall story and I'm glad that like Cas restrains Dean, the story restrained Jensen from doing it...

But tbh because the story gets to lock lines into place like this, where actions have too much depending on them (and we see the disparity in Buckleming episodes where they have lines which do NOT depend on having read the other episodes beforehand and accidentally break continuity - yes I am still baffled about why Cas was wondering bloody around the woodland in 13x13) it's really the little characterisation beats which bother me more, because they can seem harmless, when nothing is really depending on them, but at the end of the day the asides and quips and little character jokes are the important place where a huge amount of our character interpretation comes from - small incidents can tell us so much more about what's up with them than huge decisions in moments of high tension, that changing quips around to the wrong characters can be really damaging. Especially when long-term plot things do rest on the characters and how they are coming across. 

People are quick to complain when characters are too cheerful one episode or too depressed the next. In season 9 while Sam was possessed by Gadreel there's a weird misinterpretation where all the other writers write Sam as perky and doing well, but in 9x08 Jenny Klein clearly misread how Dean was trying to convince Sam he was tired and unwell and needed to rest after the angel trials as Sam LITERALLY being this way, and so one episode before Gadreel makes off with Sam and 2 before he has to be freed from him, despite Sam getting up at 5 to go jogging not long after being possessed, he's now miserably sleeping on the kitchen table, like my chronic fatigued ass might. It's a small detail, but it throws Dean's attempt to wrangle Sam into a light where he seems to have a greater case, and generally undermines completely the forward momentum of the narrative about how Sam was doing that all the other writers in that block of episodes had kept up. When the actors are throwing in confusion with how they interpret the lines and swapping motivations etc as well, it becomes even harder for us to keep up and to get a clean read on the characterisation which is informing the major plot events.

Which, basically, as a meta writer who overhauls each episode to explain and interpret it into the narrative as I understand it, based as much as possible on the clues they're giving me, is a REAL HEADACHE when I slam into a wall of "this is literally just improbably backwards to how it was last episode" :P

But it’s not a criticism to point this out, really. After all, Edlund, one of the most beloved writers to have been on the show, wrote in his last episode how Sam and Dean went to the Grand Canyon and Dean rode a farty donkey, and it turned out that past canon had very firmly established that they had never been. Everyone makes character and plot errors, though when it comes on the actor level there is the problem that sometimes it may be they feel they are correcting a farty donkey plot hole (and I think they sometimes HAVE, such as Jared declining to sass and quip with Lucifer) when they’re really missing a cue from high above that their character is going places. 

[whetstonefires]

When I was a kid my house didn’t have TV--like, we had a TV, but it was only good for watching VHS tapes, there were no shows getting beamed into it. We’d have needed to rent a satellite dish for the privilege and we were having a hard enough time eating, thanks.

Which meant that I liked the 90s Spiderman cartoon, but I mostly watched the same, like, 3 episodes a bunch of times. I could probably still do most of the dialogue from the episode with ‘The Spot!’ with voices and everything.

(incidentally Tony Stark cameos in that episode, and I wouldn’t know who he was for like a decade but his voice actor did a great job, because even though he was technically doing the right thing, his whole 14 words of dialogue still made me want to knock him on the floor and punch him in the teeth with my tiny child hands and I didn’t even like the person he was being an asshole to, he was just that condescending and dismissive)

but anyway the bit of the climax of that episode where the artificial black hole is starting to eat New York and the Spot tells Spiderman he needs to get close to fix it and the Kingpin is like

“Gentlemen, perhaps I can be of some assistance” and his minion with the mutant face is like

“Why would you help them?!” and Kingpin is like,

“There is no profit to be made in the destruction of the planet. It is very bad for business.”

And then they save the world with the help of Kingpin’s helicopter.

I like how that’s a sequence that was clearly written 90% because when they were hashing out the script they needed a way to get the characters up to the hole in the sky that would give The Spot time for last words, unlike webslinging where Spidey would have basically needed to hurl the guy through and keep swinging, and then they, the scriptwriters, were like ‘okay kingpin has a helicopter’ and then they were like ‘we need to justify him letting them use it, tho, because giving peter the ability to just steal helicopters is giving him too much power and potentially a Bad Example For The Kids, and if he loans it without explanation that’s weird and will imply follow-up we don’t intend on’ so they just wrote a couple of lines to cover that

but at the same time, that couple seconds of cartoon that was just there to get the writers out of a potential plot hole taught Small Me an important lesson at a formative time about how sometimes awful people can do good things out of rational self-interest, and it doesn’t necessarily have to carry some Deep Moral Impact or Revelation wrt them or anyone who works together toward the same Valid Goal. which i’ve realized is not a lesson everyone received.

It doesn’t particularly redeem Kingpin or corrupt Spiderman, or change their relationship, to go in together to this extent on Not Dying In The Next Half Hour. It’s just the sane thing to do.

Mind you I was also given by this episode of Amazing Spiderman an unfairly generous evaluation of how intelligent the average supervillain is when it comes to ‘putting resources toward preventing the imminent destruction of the world,’ but hey you can’t have everything in one place.

(Also Capone reportedly took care of his neighborhood and made the feds regulate milk so kids would stop getting poisoned. So possibly Kingpin’s organized crime background predisposes him to have a better understanding of the survival value of taking responsibility than you get as his equivalent villain level in the purely corporate sector?)

[skellebonez]

You said you have yet to write something for winter's Actor au, so how about we fix that!? Maybe with promts 18 and 28? It could be with anyone, Shadowpeach, Freenoodles, even Ironbull, you choose

Disclaimer: I don’t really know all the ins and outs of how movie making works, I am winging it based on behind the scenes footage videos. This is probably not a 100% accurate representation of a studio lot. There are multiple mentioned ships but no focus here today, this is just a fun little gen fic idea I had! When does this take place? ..... UH... SO ANYWAY @winterpower98 CREATED THIS AU!

Looks like we’re going to be stuck here for a while./You call this luck? No, this is all skill.

No one was prepared when the crash of thunder shook the studio building and the lights flickered out. The cameras followed suit, along with all the other equipment, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief over the fact they hadn't been filming any stunts that day and none of the actors in need of the more labor intensive costumes had been fitted yet as it was still early in the day.

“IS EVERYONE OK!?” Niu Mowang yelled out, his voice carrying through the now quiet set easily without the noise of the electronic equipment (as expected for the actor of the Demon Bull King, he needed that stage presence and it seemed to be coming in useful). “SOUND OFF!”

“I’m ok!” “Me too!” “Whoever has a phone turn on your flashlight!” “IT’S FUCKIN DARK AS SHIT.”

The last one was said by Long Xiaojiao, earning a chorus of surprised and grateful laughter as multiple people did as requested by the director. The lights helped a bit, making it at least possible for those around the set to move to a slightly safer location. They all jumped as another thunder clasp struck closer, truly shaking the entire building this time and making even the most sturdy of them shake in worry.

After another moment of darkness there was a flicker and a low hum as the dim emergency lighting for the set building came to life.

“Alright everyone, that 'little storm' they called for today is apparently way more intense than they claimed it would be,” the director said with a frustrated and worried sigh, and everyone was thankful they had moved everything they needed inside the day prior in preparation. “Looks like we’re going to be stuck here for a while, given the emergency lighting. Hey!" He turned to another staff member, pulling out his phone in the process. "Can you and the new guy help me call the rest of the cast and tell em to stay put? Alright, thanks!"

“I'll call my dad,” Qi Xiaotian yelled back to the director, looking at his own phone and appearing grateful they still had some signal.

He had come in along with Xiaojiao and anothered cast member ahead of most others (aside from Mowang, who had come in early alone for his... own reasons) to apparently work on some last minute changes to the script that had been left with the young actor the night prior. He supposed that when the script writer was dating your father it made working on that kind of thing much faster (and boy was everyone happy they finally started outright dating, Mowang was starting to worry someone else would have to set them up with each other).

"Which one?" Xiaojiao asked with a chuckle and soft nudge to his shoulder, both jumping at another building shaking thunder clap. "Uh... maybe I should call my folks too... just to let them know what's up."

Mowang sighed, watching at the two youngest members of the cast that had already come in for filming that day moved around to another part of the set to sit and call their respective guardians. This was... odd. The storm was only supposed to last a short while and be no stronger than the normal thunderstorms they got in the area. By the time they were done filming inside the storm should have subsided... but the sounds outside made him second guess if they could even leave on time safely. Normal thunderstorms do not shake buildings this hard or come on this fast.

In the middle of his thoughts the large man felt the brush of a smaller hand on his arm as someone sumbled, startling him into looking over and reaching out a hand to steady them reflexively.

"Mr. Cheung?" Mowang raised a brow as he caught the clearly worried expression on his face. "Is everything alright?"

"Oh, yeah! Totally fine, peachy even!" Dicky Cheung, their very own Sun Wukong (and Mowang still wondered after all this time about what his full proper name was, given Dicky was apparently a stage name and Cheung was his family name, but he hadn’t found the right moment to ask), answered with an overly happy chuckle and a shake of his head. "Just, uh, tripped a bit!"

Well that was... odd. He normally was a lot more poised than this. And as far as any of the actors on set knew he wasn't particularly scared of storms.

"Are you sure you're OK? You seem agitated," Mowang raised an eyebrow, noting that the other man was watching Xiaotian and Xiaojiao. Maybe he was just worried about the younger cast members? "Have you had anything to eat this morning?"

"Huh?" Mr. Cheung looking up at him with a raised brow of his own, confusion lacing his features for a moment before he looked off into the distance and frowned. "... actually... I think I forgot breakfast..?"

"Well that won't do!" Mowang scowled with a sigh, placing a hand on Mr. Cheung's back and firmly leading him toward the refreshment table. "You get to tell me how I did then."

"How you what no-Oh!" His question was answered as quickly as it had been asked, and Mr. Cheung couldn't seem to help his laugh. "So that's why you came in early."

"I wanted it to be a surprise, but it looks like we got a bigger one," the larger man said with a chuckle, picking up a thick slice of one of the bread loafs himself. "It's my first time trying to make some of these."

"I bet Tie Shan would have been extremely impressed," Mr. Cheung said with a smile before grabbing a piece from a different loaf and taking a large bite, making a pleased sound in response. "There are peach chunks in this!"

"I, uh, thought you'd like that one... guess I got lucky," Mowang couldn't help bit stumble his words a bit and blush at the reaction and mention of Shan before eating his sweet potato bread. The batch had turned out good! A little heavy, but good. "You think the young-uns would feel a bit better if they had a snack?" He nodded his head to Xiaotian and Xiaojiao, watching as another clasp of thunder shook them again and the young man un particular held onto his friend like a lifeline.

"You call this luck?" Mr. Cheung seemed to have tensed again, but his tone was light and his smile was more relaxed. "No, this is all skill. You need to give yourself more credit off the stage. And I bet they would."

He flashed his signature bright smile before rushing over to the younger actors, saying something to Xiaotian after Xiaojiao rushed off to possibly tell everyone else about the snacks. Mowang could have sworn he heard something about someone "messing with and angering a demon who could control the weather", but that had to be a metaphor of some kind.

After an hour no one could figure out where Dicky Cheung had disappeared to until he reappeared after the storm finally let up. He looked fine but... Mowang could have sworn he had changed into similar but not identical clothes and his hair was wet...

Weird.

[drivingsideways]

Hey talk to me about your top three favourite kdrama women. What makes them special? What's a fic you would like to write about any one of them?

Mystery anon! :D What a lovely ask. 

I’m going to cheat a bit and divide my answer into characters I loved a lot, but do not want to write fic about, because I think the canon gives me what I need; and characters that I loved a lot but NEED TO BE RESCUED ZOMG.  (My fic writing impulses are 50% spite and 50% fix-it )

Caveat being that I’ve still watched only maybe a dozen kdramas, so I’m pretty limited in my knowledge!

Characters that I love a lot, but have very zero fic impulses toward:

Han Yeo-jin from Stranger/Secret Forest: What a delight! What an iconique character! Is there anyone like her? NO. LSY-nim gives us a delightfully complex character, and Bae Doona knocks it out of the park in every single scene, so I’m just happy to be along for the ride. I think what makes Yeo-jin special for me is the intrinsic place of empathy that she operates from.  I think “righteous” is a word that often comes with negative connotations (self-righteous, for eg), but I do think she’s one of the most righteous-in-the-good-way characters I’ve watched in kdrama or any drama. I’m tired of stories that portray goodness as “boring” , as unworthy of narrative breadth or depth, and I love that Han Yeo-jin comes to us like a breath of fresh air in our particular dystopian narratives hellscape. She’s good, but never naive. She’s righteous but never cruel in her moral certainties.  I think that LSY nim, in the second season especially, gave Yeo-jin the kind of arc that character deserved when she’s forced to really dig deep into herself to figure out how she’s going to live in the world in the face of a deeply cutting, deeply personal disillusionment, and I’m really hoping for an S3 to see how that plays out further. 

Goo Hae-ryung from Rookie Historian: Ok, I will admit this may be rose tinted glasses view due to this show being my gateway drug into kdrama, but c’mon! She’s a reader! and a Thinker! And loves her wine! She’s plucky! She’s cute! She’s got a wry sense of humour! She’s got principles! She’s got a solid common sense to her that somehow doesn’t get in the way of her dreaming BIG! Oh dear, doesn’t she sound like the Mary-est of Mary Sues? Good for her.gif,  I say! Anyways, Shin Se-kyung is unutterably charming in this (AS IN EVERY SHOW OMG GIRL) and I just have a huge fondness for free-spirited heroines who get to tramp through the narrative changing the world as they do! 

Lee Ji-an from My Ahjussi: I’ve never had my heart broken more OR restored by any single character. IU is *phenomenal * in this, I think she really stepped up to what the script demanded from her. Ji-an’s weariness, her fear and vulnerability, her prickliness, her anger and her bitterness, and how, despite everything, she fights : GOD. Just. Again, what I love about the writing in this show is that it’s deeply empathetic without being cloyingly sentimental. I think a less, hmm, imaginative writer/PD might have focused on the Lee Ji-an the victim, and while the show definitely tells you in no uncertain terms that she is one,  of both circumstances and a cruel society, I think it refuses to take away her agency over her own life.(Lee Ji-an when we meet her is too busy hanging onto life by tooth and claw to indulge in self-pity, but we also see the toll it takes on her not to be able to say “this is too heavy a burden for me to carry myself and it isn’t my fault”; the show I think approaches Dong-hoon from the opposite side- his emotional isolation is partly a result of his own choices, but he doesn’t see it yet, and so his journey is also about letting people in and sharing the burden, but also recovering his own agency over his life. It’s an interestingly gender-bent arc, which is one of the things I love about this show. )

Ok, can I please add one more?

Hwang Han-joo from Melo is my Nature: She just felt SO real to me. She’s someone who doesn’t have the spectacular brilliance of either Jin-joo or Eun-jung, and struggles with accepting her limitations but not allowing herself to be defeated by them? I love her struggles as a mother, as a working woman in a sexist industry, a woman who’s perhaps having to rethink and reimagine what she wants from romance. I love that she’s a little silly, a lot kind, and an optimist, and just. I just think she’s the bravest of the three, tbh, and I LOVE HER AND I WOULD WATCH A SPIN OFF ABOUT JUST HER (i shouldn’t have faves among the three i know, BUT I DO, IT’S HER, IT’S HER.)

Ok! On to the next section! And I’m going to cheat again because I can’t stop at three. SORRY. NOT SORRY. 

Characters I love and SHOULD write fic for if I weren’t such a tired and lazy bunny:  

Song Sa-hui from Rookie Historian: Oh, girl, girl, GIRL. I love how she fights to snatch her freedom from the jaws of the patriarchy. I love that she unapologetically centers herself while doing that, because she knows that nobody else will.  I love that she’s prickly and calculating. I love that she’s smart and knowledgeable. I am SO HAPPY that she got to carve out a little bit of freedom for herself, even if it also is exile to some degree. She *should * be Emperor Jin’s Prime Minister and steering the ship of state, while also carrying on a tumultous affair with Queen Min Woo-hee, while ALSO commiserating with Emperor Jin about his boyfriend Historian Min Woo-won’s regrettable tendency towards Principles (TM) and masochism-but-not-in-the-fun-way. (This takes up much of his time which is why Song Sa-hui is running the country, of course. It works out well for all concerned, well, except her dad, of course.)

Song Ga-gyeong from Search:WWW: What’s NOT to love about our brilliant, beautiful, emotionally tortured gay icon? Nothing, absolutely nothing. I loved how the show allowed her to be flawed and make bad decisions, and then allowed her to make better decisions and regain control of her life. What I do need to do, of course, is see the CANON LOVE STORY between her and Cha Hyeon through to the end. It must, of course, include at least one baseball game, a lot of tequila and messy beach kisses. 

Oh Ji-hwa from Beyond Evil: Oh boy, this year’s runaway hit cleared the extremely low bar for standard crime/ thriller shows by leaving more than one of its female characters breathing and with all limbs intact, and got called feminist for it BUT it didn’t do justice to any of them in any meaningful way and that never hurt more than in the way they sidelined Kim Shin-rok’s talent by not giving Oh Ji-hwa anything much to do. She’s a tough as nails cop, a loving sister, a devoted but unsentimental friend-and by rights SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE HEROINE OF THIS SHOW. My secret fic fantasy is to rewrite the show entirely by making her , and the two other female characters in non-antagonist roles- Yoo Jae-yi and Im Sun-nyeo- as the central characters, as they investigate a serial killer who targets women.  It’s the only acceptable version of this done-to-death (ha!) genre, I have no idea what the Baeksang jury and tumblr fandom is smoking when they hype the show so much, I want none of it. 

Jung Sun-ah from The Devil Judge: I love her rage, her spite, her passionate defense of women, her style, her sexiness, her rage, her rage, her brilliance, her tenaciousness, her smartness, her clothes, her refusal to hate herself for everything she is and chooses to be, her ambition, her comfort wielding power, her EVERYTHING. Dead, her? NOT IF I HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY ABOUT IT. Here’s what *really * happened at the end of canon- she gets out of the building by planting that lady-like but still deadly gun against Kang Yo-han’s temple and making him lead her through his own “secret escape route” or whatever the fuck it was the show wanted us to believe. From there on out, it’s all sunshine and beaches, and scheming and waiting for the right moment to strike again-though of course, this time around, she also has to reckon with vigilant, tenacious cop Soo-hyun -another character who REALLY didn’t die for manpain reasons and had the good sense to leave her gay best friend to follow his psychopath boyfriend to Switzerland or wherever it is that star crossed lovers in kdrama land meet up on the regs these days- anyways, Soo-hyun and her are in this catch-me-if-you-can epic transnational honest and cute cop-and-beautiful sexy villain chase and yes, they WILL kiss (and more) AND IT WILL BE GLORIOUS. 

*whew *

Thanks for coming to my TEDTalk.

[itsclydebitches]

Um one thing i wanna ask is why do you want penny to stay a robot? She would have been hacked again as it wouldn’t make sense for someone not to try it again... ignoring the pinnochio allusion thing cause of course RWBY shouldn’t follow fairytales like a script, but just thinking about practicality as the problem would just occur again.

Also, people complaining about how its a problem they cured her illness (having the virus)... why would you want her too keep the virus when its literally about to kill her and the cure is right there???? I dunno some of the complaints have me a bit confused and i need clarity on them.

Like, If they didn’t grab the relic for themselves, they would have been hunted by ironwood for penny, she would have been killed for the powers to open the vault etc... if they went to the vault with penny without their plan, she would have died... its all a lose lose for penny to me at least

Questions are genuine and I’m not trying to be rude or anything :)

Happy to explain, anon! :D

I’m going to break this up into three parts: The claim that people are upset about Penny’s virus going away, the idea that she’s in more danger as a robot, and the assumption that she had to be made human to fix this problem. 

The first is the easiest to tackle simply because I haven’t seen any of this myself. I don’t know why someone would “want her to keep the virus when it’s literally about to kill her.” My guess would be that there’s been some miscommunication at play. I’m not saying just because I haven’t seen these takes doesn’t mean they don’t exist, but rather that I have seen a lot of critical takes since Saturday and they all boil down to the fans being upset that Penny’s android identity was removed, not that the virus was removed along with it. Of course we’re happy about that additional outcome, we just believe it would have been possible  — even easy  — to achieve that same outcome without taking a core part of Penny’s identity along with it (more on that below).

Secondly, if one of the main arguments for Penny getting a human body is “It’s less dangerous” then I personally don’t find that persuasive. Yes, it means no one can try to hack her again... but it also means Penny can die all the horrible, messy human deaths that she was previously immune from (within the boundary of how long Pietro can give her aura, anyway). We saw it happen on screen. Penny was able to go from this

to this

purely because she was an android. Penny, due to her synthetic body, was able to be torn apart and then  — pretty casually it seems, based on Pietro’s comments  — be put back together, given more aura, and booted up with absolutely no downsides. Penny shrugged off death with a smile! No human body can do that. So yes, she’s vulnerable to hacking as an android, but she’s vulnerable to everything else as a human, things like Nora’s scars and Yang’s lost arm, things that android!Penny would have shrugged off. Each body has its benefits and its downsides, with my personal belief being that, from a combat standpoint, a synthetic body has far fewer downsides and far greater benefits. But that opinion aside, objectively I don’t think a human body is intrinsically safer for Penny in the long run, especially not after her biggest moment in the series was coming back from the dead. She can’t do that anymore. 

Which then touches on our third topic with the question: Why couldn’t the show have fixed android!Penny in a way that ensures she can never be hacked again? See, we have to remember that RWBY is a constructed, fictional story. Nothing “has” to happen. Or rather, nothing has to happen until the writers impose limitations on the text that the viewer expects them to adhere to. For example, if you impose the implied rules of 1. “Our four main characters will make it to the end of the series” and 2. “A character, without aura, will die from a spear through the gut,” then RWBY has to find a way for Weiss to survive Cinder’s attack (rule #1), but that solution can’t be, “Weiss is just randomly okay after a deadly injury, I guess” (rule #2). Hence, we get the solution of “Jaune unlocks his semblance and heals Weiss for her” and it works! It’s a solution that viewers like because it obeys all the rules, both overt and implied. Meanwhile, the problem with Penny’s solution is two-fold. The first is that it contradicts the entire journey she’s been on of “Android girl learns that she’s real and human just the way she is,” which I’ve already spoken about extensively (there are other posts on that), but the second problem is that the show ignores other possibilities and makes up new rules solely to reach this ending. 

Why is Penny made human? Because of Ambrosius’ rules. Why do those rules exist? Because the writers said they do in this episode. It’s not that they introduced these rules episodes or even whole volumes ago, thereby requiring that they adhere to them once Penny’s life is suddenly caught up in them (like with the Jaune example). Rather, the viewer only learned these were limitations while Penny was being fixed. So the writers could have just... not included those. There’s no reason why, in developing Ambrosius’ abilities right then and there, the show couldn’t have made them into something a little different. Have Ruby go, “We want you to magic up an anti-virus program that will heal Penny completely, with no chance of the virus returning. Thus, when you create something new, it doesn’t matter if that program disappears. The virus is already gone!” If the response to that is, “But Clyde, Ambrosius can’t create something he doesn’t understand” that’s a rule that the writers just made up. No one forced them to suddenly impose that limitation. It was a choice. Or even if we have to have it for some reason, you’re telling that the group gets to have the schematics for their escape route  — essentially inventing a teleportation system because Whitley looked at airship flight paths for a few minutes  — but they can’t have Penny or Pietro draw up an anti-virus program? There’s no reason why these rules couldn’t have been tweaked to cure android!Penny. 

There’s also no reason why Ambrosius needed to be involved at all. As just mentioned, Pietro exists and many fans (myself included) thought he would be the solution. Imagine for a moment we had a slightly different version of these events. Penny’s virus is briefly halted by Jaune and, finally given a moment to breathe, she asks where her father is. Last she saw, he was floating in a dead Amity after Cinder’s attack. This reminds Ruby that hey, Pietro made Penny! He’s just as smart as Watts and is far more knowledgeable of her systems. Maybe he can help? So the group heads to Amity and, due to the same techno mumbo jumbo that launched Amity in the first place, or had Klein heal Penny after her crash, Pietro says yes, he can get rid of the virus. Better yet, he can slightly redesign Penny so that she’s made un-hackable in the future, using (again, mumbo jumbo) parts from the now useless Amity. But it will take time. It’s then that the group receives Ironwood’s message and learns that they don’t have time. The reality that Penny will not be cured before the hour time limit necessitates that they come up with a creative way of dealing with Ironwood. Enter Emerald. Her semblance can make it seem like Penny is there, despite her being fixed by her dad miles away. We get an extended fight with Ironwood and, at episode’s end, the new and improved Penny catches up, ready to open the vault for them, this time of her own free will. 

Now, obviously I just made this up off the top of my head  — far from perfect  — but a scenario like this: 

Remembers that Pietro exists and lets him/Maria as an assistant do something for the plot

Re-uses Amity now that it’s just a floating pile of junk metal 

Creates a scenario where we get to see Penny and Pietro confront the fact that she was created to be a tool (sorry I originally made you so easily hackable/put a self-destruct in your brain) 

Maintains all the main story beats like Penny’s near escape, Ironwood’s message, and using Emerald’s semblance

Makes space to tackle other issues like the complaint that Ironwood was taken down too quickly 

Achieves the desired result of healing Penny without taking away her android identity 

Proves that, because we can easily come up with another solution, the idea that she “had” to become human is inaccurate. There were always other options 

Hell, we can even ask why the story bothered with a self-destruct threat in the first place. Seriously, why did Watts do that? I have my own headcanons, but the show never says. This act is the entire BASIS for Penny’s conflict and the show didn’t bother to a) say why he’d do this or b) explain why he’d do this when Salem would presumably like having a Maiden to control. It’s counterintuitive and the show never grapples with that. We have no canonical answer here. More importantly, what else changes if Penny’s self-destruct order is taken out of the narrative? Absolutely nothing. She’s still hacked and struggles to keep Amity afloat, still flies to Ruby, still wakes up and needs to be calmed down by Nora, still tells Whitley her order, still fights the Hound, still tries to escape, still tells Ruby to kill her so she doesn’t open the vault, and Ruby still realizes that opening the vault might be the answer. They could have taken Penny to the door and nullified the virus by letting her do what the virus ordered. Penny is fine now, they snag the Relic, and the group proceeds to save all of Mantle and Atlas. The only thing this self-destruct sequence brings to the narrative is a reason to give Penny a human body. That plot-point was introduced solely as an excuse to give Penny a human body. That never had to happen. It’s not that the writers had a story where, by the rules already in place, they truly had to change Penny to ensure they didn’t lose her, it’s that the writers carefully crafted a story that existed to justify their desire to change Penny. That was always the end goal. They decided they wanted this to happen and that’s the problem here. That they took a character who has spent her entire, fictional existence learning to love herself as she is and crafted a bunch of unpersuasive, needless, and contradictory scenarios specifically to get Penny to a place where they could erase all that. 

There’s no version of Penny that exists who truly had to get a human body to survive because Penny is a fictional character. Everything she does and experiences is thought up by our writers. Thus, at some point they thought up the idea to erase her android identity for a completely human one instead  — the part a lot of people are upset by   — and then made some messy attempts to write a story to justify getting that ending.  

[dotthings]

So in the latinx Spanish dub of 15.18 that aired on Warner tv, Dean says “yo a ti, Cas” and bear in mind that this would air under the arm of Warner Brothers television “WARNER BROS. INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION” so this narrows things down a little to CW not WB as the actual stifler at play. What exactly happened, what filmed, what wasn’t, I’m not taking a stand on that (and I have more complicated thoughts below the cut), but I have been saying right along that if Destiel wasn’t allowed to go explicitly canon, that would be network, not the writers. The writers were for Destiel. They were all along. 

This is what some of us have been trying to tell you. When we pointed it out, other Destiel shippers told us we were delusional. Or people tried to say there was no intention on Destiel. They yelled that the writers queer bait instead of understanding it was plausible that queer writers and allies might deliberately craft a queer love story designed to fly under radar of network restriction. The network is the problem, not the writer intent and good faith. I hope people get this now. I’m enjoying the vindication. It’s also funny watching some people who were part of the shaming and the bullying, or who called us names, now pretend like they knew it all along, when they went after the very writers attempting to tell this love story and they went after the meta writers who picked up on what the writers room was trying to do. They do owe apologies and I doubt they will come.

Anyway, In the Spanish dub of the show, Destiel isn’t just canon it’s megacanon. It’s explicitly reciprocated. Not that I didn’t know, I have been saying and saying Dean already showed how he feels back but he didn’t speak his heart explicitly on this. The dub not only makes Destiel mutually canonical love story, it makes Dean’s story better and it makes Cas’s story better individually too. Dean got to speak his heart at least. And Cas got to hear that he is loved at least.

More thoughts on the network/covid regulations/script revisions/showrunner debacles behind the cut.

We needed an overseas dub to do a partial rescue on the story, but it’s not a full rescue. Still doesn’t fix the sheer WTF of the series finale. I’m blaming a a perfect storm of factors and I don’t think it’s as simple as some are making it out to be in throwing blame, from different camps of opinions. 

It was network being unwilling to back Destiel when the writers wanted it, but many of us figured that out already.  

Then covid regulations tabling the original more found family inclusive plans, but that version sounds really weird (Jimmy Novak?? Kansas Band is dead and in heaven? ONE SCENE for found family? ONE SCENE?? WTF?????) but there could have been a plan before that original draft and the network kept sticking its finger in the pie. I can believe the creative team wanted was full explicit destiel and Dean and Cas reunion. So then this change then got changed into a (3rd?) revision due to covid regulations. Then we get to all the objectively stupid shit in the series finale that could have been fixed easily even under the covid regulations. It’s caving my brain in.

It’s a showrunner’s job to adapt to external factors, think outside the box, and create a strong product despite circumstances. For context, every showrunner of The 15 Year Show has ticked me off at one point or another. I don’t praise the show for brownie points, I just speak from the heart, and when it’s time to be critical I don’t go down an abyss tunnel of anti-ness and hate fixation, but I equally will speak my mind. I’ve had more than one show stumble last minute because of showrunner vision so it’s not hard for me to include Dabb in the perfect storm of stuff that went wrong. It didn’t have to fail Dean’s story, Sam’s story, Cas’s story this severely. Dialogue could have been added. Different photos on the mantlepiece. ADR. Dabb even contradicted things he himself wrote in the past, about Dean in particular. It is baffling AF.

The work up to that point was strong enough I was able to simply choose to ignore from my personal sense of canon rather than give myself a headache trying to massage it into something that fit themetically or emotionally or plot-wise. I’ve already aired my specific points of criticism in other posts.

And Anyway, Sam and Dean wouldn’t have even gotten to the end without their family, and those they love, and that’s the tea.

But I am not confused about the writing team as a whole and I am still grateful to “the writers.” Their stories, their scripts, the things they fought for, Bobo’s work especially, was harmed by the perfect storm, and one of the chief villains here is a tv network, and I hope people understand that, no matter what the details turn out to be on what happened, that this is a very real thing that happens frequently and that Destiel has been purposefully crafted because the writers wanted to do it, they believed in it. They were not mocking shippers. They believed in the story and tried to tell it within the walls hemming it in.

[bettsfic]

Hi! Do you have any advice about how to reveal things about a character's past - particularly Big things, like trauma or otherwise defining moments - without either a) hitting the audience over the head in a big exposition dump, or b) hiding key info to the point where it's a Mystery to an annoying degree? I love stories where a character's behavior is somewhat of an enigma until you learn something important about them, but I don't know how to actually do that myself, esp for the pov character.

oh man what a great question! i think about this all the time. so much of writing boils down to when to reveal information. revealing information early in the story offers context, character development, and raises the stakes. late in the story, it illuminates all that came before it and casts the story in a new light.

there is so much writing advice out there that’s like “cut the backstory! nobody cares about backstory!”

but let me tell you, i’m always a slut for a good backstory. anti-backstory people are the same ones who hated the movie Solo because “we didn’t need to know more about han, he was already a good character on his own!” i read so many bad takes to that effect, and i kept thinking, excuse you! *i* want to know more about han solo!! i want information that will change and deepen my perspective of a trilogy i’ve seen a thousand times so i might go back and watch it again with new eyes!!

anyway. i’ve also been reading danmei, specifically mxtx, who is truly a galaxy brained writer when it comes to backstory. she completely changed my perspective on what it looks like to weave together a vast and complicated story structure. i remember watching the Untamed, deeply irritated by the 30-episode backstory, thinking about what poor writing it was and how if i could get my hands on the script, i’d pare it down and weave it in more thoroughly. 

but then! by the end of the flashback, i was sobbing!! me! crying! over media! and i thought, i’ve had this reaction to a story maybe only a handful of times in my entire life? maybe instead of judging this for not meeting my (extremely western and strict) standards of a “good story” i should be listening to what it’s teaching me?

i honestly think i’ve learned more about writing from mxtx than my entire first semester of a cw phd. 

now onto the actual advice:

in the first draft, let the backstory unveil itself to you naturally without concerning yourself with where information should go.

if you’re not used to writing multiple drafts, this might be difficult. but if you have a complicated past timeline that affects the present timeline, it’s nearly impossible to do it all in one go. you need at least one draft to get it all down, and another draft to put it in the right order. most of the revision process, i’ve found, is putting things in their right place. the creative brain is not an orderly thing, even for those of us who plan meticulously.

while you’re drafting, you’ll find natural pockets where contextual information should go. follow the paths that open for you. if you get to a point where a character is thinking about a certain moment in their past, go into what happened right then and there. you can always move it later, or expand on it, or cut it. but it’s important to see those cues and respond to them the very second you’re inspired to do so.

note, this is the same for nonfiction! if you’re writing a memoir or personal essay, memories will trigger other memories, and the more you allow yourself to follow those paths, the easier it is to see the patterns that emerge. you have to let your stories tell themselves to you. 

okay so let’s say you’ve done all that. the past events are all there, but it’s awkwardly placed/you just don’t like where it is. how do you find where it goes?

unfortunately i can’t tell you where backstory/contextual information should always go or how it should be placed there. but i can tell you what certain positioning does to a narrative, so you can make a more confident decision.

i can go on at length about the movement of time in a story, but i want to keep this narrowed down to the basic premise that you have a present timeline that is informed by past events, and the present timeline is the main story. (there are many other ways to navigate time, but i’m defaulting to this setup because it’s what anon is asking, and also probably the most common.)

in your present timeline, you have plot points, moments where A Thing Happens. i’ll call these moments “events.” likely, you’ve established the stakes of these events as well as their consequences. if your past timeline (stuff that occurs before your story begins) informs these events, your first choice is whether or not you want to put them before an event or after it.

if you put the backstory prior to the event, you contextualize and add depth as or before the event unfolds. this option is good for romances, adventure stories, any narrative where the tension derives from a gradual increase in stakes, and the conflict is built by an opposing force like an antagonist. 

if you put the backstory after, you illuminate the event and cast it in a new light. this might be a twist or reveal, which is good for mysteries, thrillers, or stories where the tension comes from the unveiling of information in order to answer a question the story poses. 

and you can also have a bit of both! maybe you want to tease out some information and reveal some later, or have the past and present run parallel. maybe you want to begin the backstory, cut it short, the event happens, and then you complete the backstory. this method might be good for stories where the present timeline has lower stakes than the past timeline, like recovery narratives.

once you’ve decided before/after/during, the next major decision is whether you want to thread the past into the present via summary (indirect discourse), or if you want discrete, in-scene flashbacks (direct discourse). obviously you can also do a bit of both!

i think this decision will likely depend on your narrator. sometimes a well-written 3-sentence summary is more evocative than a 3-page detailed flashback, especially if the past timeline is a composite memory. that is to say, it’s not a single event that happens, but a series of them, like if you have a memory of always eating a bologna sandwich after school, your brain compiles that into a single memory even though you know you did it a thousand times. 

but sometimes, if a past moment is really important, the 3-page detailed flashback is necessary. sometimes you’ll begin with summary and move into a scene and back out. when it comes to backstories, don’t be afraid to play around with discourse. how does the style and tone change when you summarize a conversation versus when you write it in actual dialogue? personally i’ve found that less is more when it comes to backstories so I err toward summary, at least in my own writing, but as a reader i appreciate each kind of approach. 

lastly and most importantly, get a beta reader and ask them specifically about their experience reading the backstory. here you want descriptive feedback. you’re not asking “what should i do? how do i fix this?” you’re asking, “how did you feel while reading it?” and that will tell you how to approach revision. sometimes i write a backstory that i think is a slam dunk, because i’m already invested in the characters, but i get reader feedback saying it’s boring/they were inclined to skip over it. sometimes i’m like, “haha good, be miserable and bored, you’ll thank me later.” and sometimes i’m like, “dammit fine” and kill my darlings.

on that note, sometimes you just have to own it, and bore/confuse your reader because you know the eventual payoff is good enough. if the info dump is the best/easiest/clearest method, do it. if teasing a backstory out slowly is what you’re going for, don’t be afraid to make the reader want to throttle you. you don’t write to buy into your reader’s expectations; nor do you write specifically to defy those expectations. you write to honor the story you want to tell, and you place contextual information that is most complementary to the narration you’ve chosen. 

[creativeskullcreations]

Outside chapter 21: Run in Swinging

Scout is not a good actress, but we already knew that. And Will's starting to crack just a little bit himself, wonder if he can make it through this without breaking apart entirely.

Also, take a guess at who was chasing Lisa and Mason. ;)

Scout turned out to be pretty good at swinging the axe, as more Sock Puppets quickly found out. It was a little scary how she didn't seem to care about the people stitched to those Puppets, treating them more as objects than trapped people. It made some sense, though, as not everyone trapped here would have been prepared like they were.

Even if, in reality, they weren't all that prepared at all.

Still, Bit cheered at every take down the two of them did, which made a warm feeling curl in his gut. It should've been scary, how much her excitement made him happy, but he refused to think about those implications yet. That was for when he was at home and higher than a kite, when he had time to think.

Luckily, they hadn't come across anymore for a few minutes, giving them all a chance to breathe while Scout tried to remember where they needed to go. It was... difficult, since her memories weren't lining up with reality. It was like the layout of the building had changed while she was gone.

Or maybe she had forgotten more than she thought.

Either way, nothing looked familiar, and it was starting to scare her. She finally stopped, making Sammy stop too. "Wait here while I look ahead. I want to make sure we're going the right way." She told him, though he looked skeptical.

"What do you mean "make sure"? I thought you knew where we were going."

"I do!" She protested. "I just... wanna check for more sock puppets real quick! It's easier to sneak away if it's just me."

Sammy didn't say anything, just watched as she walked away and around the corner. "Yeah, she doesn't know where we're at."

"I'm not surprised. They changed things around when she escaped." Bit told him. "She's gonna get us all killed if she doesn't admit it though!" She barked out a laugh, and the Host cringed.

"Maybe... don't tell her that?" He suggested. "She's doing her best..."

"Yeah, well, her best isn't good enough." She bit out. "I say we ditch the dweeb and get out of here. Can't be too hard if Scout of all Puppets managed it."

"Yeah, no. I am not ditching anybody, least of all the thing with my cousin's body!" Sammy told her sternly.

"Sheesh, it was just a suggestion." She squirmed back from where she'd been hanging over his shoulder, settling back in his hoodie. He could hear her muttering back there, but not what she was saying. He supposed it didn't matter too much, not when there were more important things to worry about.

Like how he had heard footsteps behind him. Turning he saw Scout, and she looked pissed. He flinched as she snapped her hand out toward him, but she just reached behind him to grab Bit.

"I am a lot bigger than you right now." She said in a low voice. "I can yeet you down the hall if I wanted."

Bit stared blankly back at her. "What the hell is a yeet? Some kinda dweeb word?"

With a loud shriek of "YEET!" Scout threw Bit down the hall, far enough that she vanished into the shadows.

"What in the actual fuck?!" Sammy shouted as he raced to go get her. He missed Scout's nonchalant shrug before she crossed her arms.

"I warned ya." She muttered smugly, staring after the pair.

-----

Will didn't like the quiet stillness in the halls, however easy it was making his journey. From the stories he expected at least a giant puppet dog, maybe some hulking monsters with socks crudely stitched to their hands. But no, there was nothing. But no, there wasn't anything except his Puppet, who had remained silent the whole time.

He wondered if he should try and talk to her, if only to make sure she was still alive. She been very still since he'd picked her up, not moving even a little as he wandered through the dark maze of the warehouse. Though, now that he thought about it, there was occasionally a light shuddering across her body. He wondered if she was having trouble breathing.

'Something to check when we get home.' He made a mental note of it as he turned the corner. It was a dead end, with single door at the end sitting ajar. He approached it cautiously and peered in.

It looked like an art studio of some kind, if an art studio had a pile of dead bodies in one corner. Easels and canvases stained in dried blood were scattered about, and the completed paintings showed some rather macabre imagery. There was an open door on the other side, showing another dark hall.

'Must be where that one artist hangs out.' He figured as he slowly pushed open the door. Stepping carefully around the spilled paint and dropped art supplies, Will made his way across the room. The wet look on some of the puddles told him Nick could still be close, and he didn't want to run into him.

"Well, looks like we've got another escapee out and about. And here I thought that all ended with Scout." The voice was a fake sounding posh and smug. Looking back, Will had to admit the Puppet it was coming out of fit it quite well.

"Oh look. Another asshole." He observed, taking another step towards the door. If he could make it out of the room he could probably outrun this thing.

"Now now, that's rather rude really." His eyes flicked down to the Puppet in Will's arms and his head tilted. "Weren't you with that scientist? What happened to Riley?"

"I disarmed her." Another few steps, and Nick took a rather large one towards him. 'Crap.'

"Hmm." A hand slowly approached his face. "You have such pretty eyes..."

Will shoved him, turning and making a break for the door. "Nope! Bye!" The Puppet made a grab for him, but he dodged it, slamming the door in it's face as he sprinted out.

Left, right, right, and then left again and the dammed thing was still on his heels. Shouting that he would take Will's eyes, and paint the walls with his shining red blood. That he had so many ideas for him.

It was worse than the scientist actually, and that was saying something. Will searched for a way to fight back against the artist and his hulking Host, but couldn't spot anything in the dark halls he was sprinting through. He turned another corner, and ran smack head first into another human body.

There was a feminine scream of pain as both of them fell to the floor. The hooded figure clutched her forehead while Will scrambled to get up. Sammy stood above them both, looking vaguely panicked as he tried to help Stacy.

"Get up! Get up now we are in seriously deep shit here!" Will hefted his girlfriend off the floor one handed and started shoving her down the hall. "Move! Movemovemove!"

"Where did you go little Host?" Came a voice floating from behind him.

"shitshitshitshit" He grabbed her arm and went to run, but was stopped by Sammy.

"We can't go back that way!" He whispered. "There's one of those sock puppets chasing us!" On cue the loud thumps of heavy footsteps came into their hearing from behind the nurse. Behind Will, they could hear the calls of Nick, steadily getting closer as he toyed with his prey.

They were all trapped. At least until Stacy tugged her hand out of Will's and pointed up to the ceiling.

"Come out, come out little lost Host. I need those eyes of yours~" Nick turned the corner and found himself face to face with a confused looking Sock Puppet. Not that those things weren't normally confused. Honestly, he wasn't even sure why Mortimer let Riley make those things. "What are you doing here, out and about? Don't you have a patrol route?"

A low groan was his only answer, and he sighed in response. He reached out and grabbed onto it's Host with his. "I suppose you'll do for now, until I find that other one. Come along now, let's go do something... fun."

Will watched as the Sock Puppet was led away, and then turned to follow where Stacy was leading them through the vents. They only went a little ways through them before she punched open a vent covered and dropped down into the room below. Sammy went next, followed by Will. The room they were in seemed to be an old writers room, notes still written on the whiteboard and script pages scattered around. Sammy crept over to the door and locked it, just to be safe.

"Ugh, I can't take this anymore!" Stacy collapsed into a chair, hood falling from her head. "Never should've come back in here..." She muttered as she rubbed her eyes.

"Well it's too late now. Everyone's probably broken out of the hypnotism, and we're in too deep to back out." Will told her firmly. "Besides, we still need to find Scout. We can't leave without her."

The one-armed woman bit her lip, turning away slightly. Sammy sighed and stepped between them. "Hey, Will, chill for a sec okay? Just sit down, and take a deep breath."

Will sat, letting his Puppet drop into his lap. She simply lay there limply, unnoticed by the others, though Bit did peer down at her in something like concern. Will inhaled loudly, then fixed Sammy with a look. "There. I'm sitting."

"There, see? We just gotta take a rest and then keep moving on to where, uh, Stacy can lead us to Scout." Sammy sat too, though he sat backwards in his chair. "We're find the others on the way, and then leave and never ever come back."

"Yeah, okay, sounds good." Will agreed quickly, glancing over at Stacy. The glance turned into a long hard stare. "Are your eyes yellow?"

"No, it's just the-"

--nuclear radiation!" Scout blurted out in a panic. Sammy face palmed, while Will just pinched the bridge of his nose with a deep sigh.

"Oh I do not have time for this." He muttered. And then, louder "Where the fuck is my girlfriend?"

A pause. "Do you really want me to answer? Cause I think if I do, you will fucking kill me. Besides, I'm taking us there anyways. It'll be fine." Another, shorter pause before she pointed at the blue haired Puppet. "That's Canon by the way. She's the oldest."

Said Puppet lifted her head at the mention of her name, but didn't really react beyond that. Bit waved when she saw her sister was awake, but was ignored. She huffed and sunk back down into the hood. 'Fine then, be that way.'

She tuned back into what the Hosts and Scout were saying, but they'd all gone quiet. Scout was pulling at the short sleeves of her hooded shirt, while Sammy was furiously searching through his pockets. The last one, Will apparently, was staring at the floor, completely still save for a slight movement from his lips. She wondered if he was their leader, like Canon was for her and the others.

Well, like Canon had been. She hadn't really been much of a leader lately, not since Scout had ran away. She'd tried, but then she had vanished too for a long time, only to reappear right before the Hosts had. Mortimer had brought her with him, now that she thought about it.

'I wonder what he's been doing?' She looked between her older sister and her younger one. 'Can't be anything good. Not with how Canon looks. That "Stacy" Host of Scout's is totally gonna die.' She didn't say anything about that, however. The "Yeet" she'd experienced was still far too fresh in her mind, and she did not want to get thrown at another wall.

Besides, the quiet was kind of... nice, in a way. Nobody talking, but not really out of fear of being caught. It was a nice feeling.

It didn't last, however, as someone ran screaming past the door. Half a second later someone else went by, followed by a horrible skittering noise that the three Puppets knew far too well. Everyone turned to stare at the door as the noises faded out.

"... Y'know that sounded like your friends, Will." Sammy observed in a high pitched voice.

"I think you're right." He stood up, handing Canon off to the nurse in exchange for the pistol. "Come on, we'd better go help them out."

[waitimcomingtoo]

Hi there! I am a huge fan of your writing. You’re so talented!! All of your stories are pure GEM!!! Anyway, I have a story idea: reader is tom’s childhood friend and she substituting Harry as Tom’s assistant during one of his filming. Only if you don’t mind :) Thaank you!!

Thank you so much!!

Old Friend

part two

Pairing: Tom Holland x Reader

Masterlist

more like this:I might be the writer if we were a movie

“Are you serious?” Tom whined Into the phone.

“I know.” Harry sighed. “I’m sorry. But if I don’t make up my exam today, my professor is gonna fail me. There’s no way I can make it to set today.”

“It’s not your fault.” Tom didn’t want to put the blame on his brother. “I just really need an assistant. I get disorganized and stressed when you’re not there.”

“I know. That’s why I’m sending in a substitute assistant for the day.” Hardy replied.

“A substitute?” Tom sighed. “Who? I don’t really feel like teaching a stranger my whole schedule.”

“I already got them up to date on what they need to do.” Harry assured his brother. “And they’re not a stranger. You’ll know her when you see her.” 

As if on cue, Tom heard a knock on his trailer door.

“Tom?” You asked as you entered his trailer. Tom turned to the voice and his eyes widened at the sight of his childhood best friend. You were grown now, as was he. Your baby face had melted into a beautiful young woman. Your hair was lighter and your skin tanner, no doubt from the LA sun. He hadn’t seen you since you were 10, and you told him with tears running down your face that you were moving to America after growing up next to each other all your lives. Tom let the phone fall from his hand and felt his throat dry out.

“Y/n?” He asked hopefully. “Is that really you?”

“I think so.” You smiled. That was something that hadn’t changed. You still had the same angelic smile Tom remembered from his childhood, and it made him smile back.

“I haven’t seen you since we were kids. God, I barely recognize you when you’re not in a princess dress.” Tom laughed, still taking you in.

“And somehow, you still look like a prince. Nice hair.” You nodded towards his quaff and he blushed in embarrassment. It felt like you had fallen right back into how you used to be, and Tom was loving it.

“Trust me, it wasn’t my decision.” Tom defended his Prince Charming-esk hair.

“I like it no matter who’s decision it was.” You shrugged with an easy smile. “I see you still like to wear the same clothes.” You pointed at his Spider-Man suit with a cheeky smile. You and Tom had grown up in love with the 16 year old superhero, and him playing him was a dream come true.

“Yep.” Tom agreed, thinking back to late nights on the trampoline pretending to be Spider-Man. “This ones a little fancier but a lot harder to use the bathroom in.”

“If I remember correctly, you never had a problem using the bathroom in uncomfortable costumes before.” You raised your eyebrows and Tom groaned.

“I pee my pants during one school play and you never let me forget it.” He whined.

“Just trying to keep you humble, movie star.” You winked. “And I can’t get over it since it was during my only speaking line.”

“I was nervous.” He declared.

“You were a tree!” You protested.

“A nervous tree.” Tom defended. “And I can promise you, I have not peed during any scene since then.”

“I hope not, because as your assistant, I’d have to help you clean up.” You pointed out.

“How’d you end up as my assistant anyway?” Tom wondered, not that he was complaining.

“I moved to LA a month ago to follow my career and I ran into Harry yesterday at a cafe. He told me he was about to fail some class and I asked what I could do to help, and this is what I could do.” You replied. 14 years missing each other and you just so happened to run into Harry in a cafe.

“I’m gonna feel bad making you do things for me though.” Tom realized. He didn’t want to boss the only girl he ever loved around all day. Getting coffee was beneath you.

“Don’t.” You assured him. “Do you know how hard it is to find a job in LA? I will be your assistant for the rest of my life if you want.”

“Oh, okay.” Tom nodded, feeling a little disappointed that you were only in it for the job.

“Plus, I get to hang out with my childhood best friend on a million dollar movie set. Trust me, I’m living the dream.” You smiled and poked his arm. At the first contact with you in 14 years, Tom felt his body light up like a live wire. He pulled you into a hug and held you there as if his life depended on it.

“I have missed you.” He said, voice wavering with emotion.

“I guess I missed you too.” You shrugged in his arms.

“Ouch.” Tom laughed at your indifference.

“I’m only teasing.” You laughed back. “My friends from high school and college know everything about you. You were all I talked about.”

“I get it. You wanted some street-cred for knowing a celebrity.” Tom said with a cocky grin.

“I actually never told them you were famous.” You answered, still in his arms.

“Really? You didn’t tell them you and Spider-Man used to finger paint portraits of each other?” Tom looked down at you the best he could.

“I told them about those portraits, but not that it was with Spider-Man.” You replied.

“Why not?“ Tom wondered.

“Because it wasn’t.” You shrugged. “It was with you. I knew you before you were famous and that’s the Tom I remember. I told them about how you were secretly a great carpenter but pretended to be bad so your mom wouldn’t make you go to carpentry school and how you accidentally ran over a butterfly with your bike and cried for a month. Those are the things I remembered and loved about you. You being famous is the least interesting thing about you.”

Tom was speechless with your words. You loved him for him, and clung on to your memories the same way he did. He squeezed you tighter and sniffled a little.

“I really missed you, Y/n.” He repeated. It was all he could say.

“I missed you too.” You smiled softly as you hugged your childhood best friend. You and Tom stood in silence, quietly swaying as he rested his chin on top of your head. No words were spoken, but no words were needed. You let your body language speak the words you didn’t have a chance to all those years you were apart.

“Now go make me a coffee.” Tom said, breaking the silence. You slipped out of his hug and gave him a shocked face.

“I’m kidding! I’m kidding!” Tom pulled your back into his arms with a laugh, placing a gentle “welcome home” kiss on your forehead. “I drink tea.”

You spent the day at Toms beck and call. He was incredibly easy to work with and just as kind as you remembered. He always sent you away with a “please” and greeted you with a “thank you.” You brought him his tea, script, schedule, and anything else he asked for. He was filming all day, but spent every break and lunch with you, just catching up. He learned that you were single and trying to become a playwright. Tom told you you’d be amazing. He was just as you remembered; goofy, annoying, and just about the sweetest guy alive. The day ended before you knew it and soon it was time to leave.

“I’ll see you when I see you.” You said as you gathered your things from Toms trailer, feeling deflated. He was busy at work and your time together was ending.

“Right, I’ll see you.” Tom said before putting his hand over his pocket. “Oh, what’s that? My phone is ringing?”

“I don’t hear a-“ you tried to say.

“-oh, it’s definitely ringing.” Tom cut you off as he took out his phone and held it to his ear. “Hello? Oh Harry! It’s Harry.” Tom whispered to you. “What’s that? You can’t be my assistant tomorrow either? You’re failing another class? Gosh golly darn it. I don’t know where I’ll find an assistant on such short notice.” Tom sighed loudly and you bit back a smile as his ridiculous behavior. “What did you say? You think Y/n should stay for another day? That’s a great idea Harry. Gee, I wish I thought of that idea. I’ll ask her. Okay. Bye now.” Tom pretended to hang up the phone and looked at you.

“Harry’s not coming tomorrow either.” Tom sighed again.

“Really? I had no idea.” You played along.

“I guess you’ll just have to be my assistant again tomorrow.” Tom shrugged as if he didn’t orchestrate the entire plan.

“I guess I will.” You shrugged back. You and Tom shared shy smiles, feeling like kids again.

“So I’ll see you tomorrow?” You asked as you made your way out.

“Yes. Tomorrow.” Tom nodded and watched you leave.

“Damn it.” The director grumbled as he got off the phone the next day.

“What’s wrong?” You asked as you fixed Toms hair before his next scene where Spider-Man had to save a girl from a falling truck.

“The extra broke her leg over the weekend.” He answered. “She’s not coming.”

“Can’t you just use someone else?” Tom asked.

“We’d have to find a girl who can fit into her costume and act in under half an hour to stay on schedule. That’s not happening in such short notice.” The director sighed and checked his clipboard.

“Y/n could do it.” Tom spoke up.

“What?” You asked him.

“It’s perfect.” Tom continued. “You can act and you can fit into her costume. We used to do plays all the time when we were younger.”

“A year 3 play is a lot different from a Marvel film.” You reminded him.

“Not really. Anthony Mackie acts like a third grader anyway.” Tom answered. “You’ll be fine. All you have to do is scream.”

“Tom, I can’t.” You said out of the corner of your mouth.

“Please?” He begged. “If we don’t shoot this scene today the whole movie will be delayed.”

“I’ve never been on camera before. I can’t just jump into a Spider-Man movie.” You protested.

“I did! Actually, I flipped in.” He corrected himself. “That’s besides the point. The point is, you’re amazing, you’re talented, you’re here, and I need you.” Tom listed. “Please?”

You looked at Tom and sighed. “What do I have to do?”

“Yay! Thank you!” Tom kissed your forehead. “All that’s gonna happen is I’m gonna swing down and pick you up to stop you from being crushed by a falling truck. Then we just swing around New York before I set you down all safe and sound. That’s easy enough, right?”

“Swing me around?” You gasped. “How high?”

“40, maybe 50 feet.” Tom shrugged.

“50 feet?!” You shrieked.

“I said maybe!” He shot back.

“I’m not good with heights.” You whined.

“It’s okay. I’ll be holding onto you the entire time. You’ll be safe in my arms.” Tom assured you, and you almost believed him.

“I don’t know.” You bit your lip.

“Come on, Y/n. We were the biggest Spider-Man fans as kids. You always told me it was your dream to swing around in his arms. This is your chance.” Tom pleaded with you as you felt the eyes of the entire cast and crew staring at you.

“My chance to fall 50 feet and die.” You shot back.

“You won’t fall. I won’t let you.” Tom promised as he held his hands under his chin in a pleading position.

“Fine.” You blurted. “What do I have to say?”

“You don’t have any lines. You just need to scream. You don’t even need a script.” Tom smiled as you were rushed off to hair and makeup.

Next thing you knew, you were changed into your costume, harnessed and had wires attached to you, Tom as well.

“Ready?” Tom gave you an excited thumbs up.

“No.” You answered, but couldn’t help the smile that appeared. Tom shot a grin back at you before slipping on his mask. The first story nodded at you, and you nodded back.

“Action!” The director called.

You did as you were told. You started running away as the cameras followed, always looking back and screaming.

You tried to go left and a car exploded in your way.

You tried to go right and a telephone line fell, blocking your path as sparks flew. You had nowhere to go and no one to save you. Then, the truck came flying at you. You screamed and covered your face just before Spider-Man came swinging in and swept you off your feet. You kept your eyes shut as Tom gave your hip a reassuring squeeze. You didn’t watch as you felt the worse pulling you higher and higher. You just held on tightly to Toms neck and prayed for a safe landing.

“Give is a scream!” The director called from below. You did as you were told.

“It’s okay. I got you!” Tom said triumphantly as Peter. He saw the platform he had to land on and squeezed your hip twice to let you know it was ending. He stuck his landing and you felt your feet touching the floor again. You slowly took your face out of the crook of his neck and looked around, timid and afraid, before looking at Tom.

“See? I told you I got you.” Tom laughed sprightly and gave you a squeeze.

It was in the script.

All of it.

The words, the swing, the moment. The extra who didn’t show up knew that. Tom knew that. The cast and crew knew that.

Not you though.

You’d never read the script. Not that scene anyway. So in the rush of the moment with your favorite superhero’s arms around you and your heart beating rapidly from the adrenaline, you lifted Toms mask above his nose and kissed him firmly without a second thought. The kiss softened and he cupped your face before you pulled away and shook your head to wake yourself up.

“Thanks Spider-Man.” You said bashfully and slowly took your arms from around his waist.

“Okay. You have a good day ma’am.” Tom pretended to tip an invisible hat at you and ran out of frame.

“Cut!” The director yelled.

“Sorry, I kinda went off script at the end there.” You quickly commented to both Tom and the director before it could get anymore awkward between you and Tom. He hadn’t removed his mask yet, and you were glad he hadn’t. You didn’t even know why you kissed him. You just did. Everything in you told you you had to.

“No problem. You were feeling the moment. All good actors do. You’ve felt the moment before, right Tom?” The director asked.

“I definitely felt something.” Tom said in a strange way.

“Y/n, Tom, great work. I think we got everything we need. You two can go home for the day. See you tomorrow.” He smiled and patted Tom on the back. Tom removed his mask and was just as red underneath. At first, no one spoke. Then he cleared his throat, then you. Finally, you had to speak.

“Sorry about that.” You offered.

“Don’t be.” Tom smiled tightly.

“It’s just, you know how long I’ve loved Spider-Man and when we were shooting that scene”, your heart started to pound again like it did when you were in the air, “it all felt so real. You in your suit looking like Peter Parker, I mean it was just magical.”

“I’m aware of how magical it was.” Tom smiled genuinely this time.

“No, but you’re used to it. Swinging around with the wind in my hair and your arms around me, I just got so emotional that I kissed you” you explained. “All I could do in that moment was kiss you. Uh, kiss Spider-Man I mean. I just really needed to kiss Spider-Man.”

“Right. Spider-Man.” Tom nodded, suddenly wondering if he wanted to be more than friends with his old friend.

Part two

Tag List 🏷

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[the-dead-skwad]

He left X Reader X Damien Haas

So after a long time of staring at an empty page I have finally wrote something again. This request: Hey! I don’t know if you’re taking requests, but if your are then could I request an imagine where reader and Damien Haas break up and they’re sad and stuff, so the rest of the smosh fam try to get them back together, please? @lula132 

I’m so sorry it too so long.. but here is one of two ideas I had. I can post the other when I finish it. I finally got over my writer block. 

You were lying face first on the sofa yet again. In the background you could hear some anime show playing but you had no energy to move and actually watch it. Swimming in your own thoughts the sound of your front door opening made you jump.

"Jesus Christ!" Courtney's voice boomed across your open plan living room.

You lifted you head revealing two wet patches from your tears. "Hey." You sniffled.

"Awhh buddy." She pushed your gross tissues off the sofa with a pen and sat down next to you. "How you feeling?" She wrapped an arm around you and pulled you in for a cuddle.

"Erm.. I'm gonna be honest, not so great." You sniffled again "I feel like my heart got shit on."

"I don't understand man.. None of us do." She squeezed you tighter.

"He just left.. No reason, no sorry, just gone."

"He's in Japan at the moment."

"I know, I saw his instagram." You snuggled closer into her "Maybe he met someone over there the last time he went. That's literally the only thing I could think of."

"I never thought he would ever do that to you man... Did he leave any of his things here?"

"A few hoodies, some games, not much." You pulled on the jumper you were wearing "I swear this one stills smells like him."

"No offence dude, but you straight up smell like beer and Cheetos."

You half smiled at her "You're an asshole."

"But Ian said you were coming back in tomorrow."

"Yeah, I am. I can't stay away forever."

"Okay then, " She pulled away from the cuddle "Lets sort your stinky ass out. Get a shower, clean up this place, get you outside, fresh and ready for tomorrow."

"Christ." You sighed as you stood up "I guess I have to."

--

The beeping of Courtney's car snapped you out of you day dream, almost spilling your coffee. You picked up your work bag, placed your mug in the sink and headed out. She sat in the car smiling and waving like a mad man as you locked the door.

She wound the window down and music blasted out. She sung at the top of her voice, while you prayed none of your neighbors were watching you.

"Hey!"

"Oh jesus!" The creepy old lady that lived next door popped up from behind her fence scaring the life out of you. "Good morning Mrs Kersh."

"Nice to see you out of your pajamas, not crying."

"Thanks!... You nosey old bitch." The last part was under your breath.

You jumped in the car, "Who the hell is that?" Courtney tried looking around you at the old lady.

"One of the noseyest old bags I've ever met." You slapped your knees "Anyway, lets do this.. I'm ready to go back to my shared office, that I share with the man you broke my heart."

"No!" Courtney shouted at you "You got 3 days before he's back from Japan. None of this sad shit. We are all coming together to cheer you up."

"Fine." You smiled at her.

--

The first thing you saw as you pulled into the parking lot was Shayne’s smiling face. You jumped out the car and he ran to you squeezing you as tight as he could.  "Oh" he spoke into your jumper "I wanted to come see you.. but I didn't want to upset you."

"It's okay man. I understand, he's your best friend." You squeezed him a little tighter till you both let go.  

Walking into the office everyone was smiling at you but in such a weird way. You walked to the ballpit and sat at your desk. You were faced with a photo of you and him just smiling your dumb faces off. "Ugh jesus." You put your head on your desk.

"Hey." Noah's sweet little voice came from behind you "I made you a coffee."

"Oh thanks.. That’s super sweet."

"How are you?"

You smiled "I'm fine man.. yanno its a break up. Yeah he broke my heart but I'm not dying. Everyone is just looking at me super weird."

"Yeahhh, they just don't want to upset you. It's a difficult situation."

"I'm just going to get my head down today, got so many emails and scripts to look at at."

"Good, if you need anything." He gently patted you on the back.

"Thanks Noah." You smiled as he walked over to his desk. You put your head phones in and focused on your computer.

Only a few minutes had passed and you were trying to ignore the commotion going off behind you. Usually it was just Shayne doing something stupid. But then again you could do with cheering up a bit. You took your head phones out and spun in your office chair. Looking across the office everyone was stood in a group. That's when your heart fell out of your ass. He was stood there smiling as though nothing had happened. Your mouth was dry and you felt cemented to your chair. 'I gotta get out of here.' You thought to yourself. As you stood you felt as though the whole room had shrunk and everyone was looking at you. It wasn't true, you grabbed your mug and ran to the kitchen as fast as your could.

While the coffee machine did it's thing you stood with your hands on the counter, just staring at nothing. Your heart was pounding out your chest when someone in the door way made you jump "I'm making coffee!" You almost screamed it.

"Okay dude.." Luckily it was Courtney.

"Sorry, I'm just freaking out..." You looked at her "Like bad."

She ran over to you and hugged you  "Awhh, I didn't know he was going to be back today. I'm sorry."

"Its okay." You hugged her back. "Do you reckon I could sneak out the window?"

"This is your work as much as it is his." She put both her hands on your arms holding you in place "Now, get out there, flip that hair and show you are a strong woman!"

"Sir yes sir.." You mocked her. She kicked you as you left the room. You ran back into the kitchen.

"What! Do I need to walk out there with you?"

"No, I forgot my coffee." Taking the mug you left again. You took a deep breath and held your head high. Making no eye contact with anyone you sat at your desk.

"Hey."

"Jesus.. I swear like 5 people have made me jump today." You turned to the person on the desk next to you and your smile dropped.

"You look nice." Damien tried to smile at you.

You took a breath to gather some courage "What are you doing?"

"Y/N I'm sorry but.."

You cut him off "You don't get to say anything, look I don't want to argue or even talk about this while we're surrounded by all our friends and colleges. But I know we have to talk so.." You looked around "I know Smosh games is empty because Mari said she won't be back for a few days."

"Okay, I'll go put my lunch in the fridge and I'll meet you there."

--

You had been waiting for around 10 minutes and you were getting more and more wound up. Going over all the things you wanted to say to him. The door opened and the look on hias face just stopped all that anger instantly.

You groaned "This is so much harder than I thought it was going to be."

"What?" He sat in his gaming chair.

You sat in yours that was of course right next to his. "Well, we had this whole life together. A house, cats, we wear each others clothes, we work basically on each others knee everyday, we even have the same friends." You sighed "How can we possibly live normally with out being together? And I know we did it before but..."

"Y/N" He cut you off this time "Stop talking... Just for a second and breathe." He took both of your hands in his, you wanted to pull away but your heart was aching for him "I know I messed up really bad but I still love you."

"How can you say that?" A tear fell down your left cheek "You left me alone in our house, went to another country with out even a good bye. No explanation, nothing." You sniffled and looked at him dead in the eye "You broke my heart Damien."

"I am so so sorry." His voice was low "I panicked and I wish I could change what I did. I know how much I hurt you and it hurts me knowing I was the person to make you feel like this. But I pray deep down that one day you can forgive me for leaving you."

"What do you mean you panicked? Damien... We've been together for 4 years. Nothing new was going off."

"The day before I left I bought this." He reached into the front pocket pf his bag and passed you a small box.

"What the flying fuck is this?" You opened it and was faced with a beautiful engagement ring. "Are you serious?"

"Look.." He sounded panicked "I don't want to to answer but I bought this then I freaked out and I just fucked up big time. I don't even know if we're actually together right now but just hold onto it and I stay in our spare room for now."

"Okay.." You put the ring on your pocket "I suppose I'll think about it." You walked over to the door and pulled the handle down but the door was locked "What the hell?" You pulled on the door a bit to no avail.

"Sorry guys!" Courtney's voice came from the other side of the door "You're not coming out till you sort this out."

"You were made for each other so fix it!" Shayne screamed at you.

You turned and smiled and Damien "Fuck."