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givemewallywestorgivemedeath · 2 years ago

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hello, i would like to hear about the titans fantasy au O.O

Oh man, you really shouldn't enable me like this... but if you insist!!

Alright, here's the setting: We're in some weird Lord of Rings/DnD fantasy setting with various magical creatures and inconsistent technological developments. Were tunics worn at the same time as ball gowns? Were carriages used at the same time as broad swords? I don't know! And I'm not doing any historical research! It's just haphazardly medieval!

Donna, for the most part, is relatively unchanged. She fits into this setting rather well. She is the demigod daughter of Zues, warrior in training, third in line to be Queen of the Amazons. At 13 years old she is a new arrival from her island nation and she is hoping to learn monster hunting (she's hoping to learn by doing). The one condition of her joining Diana was that she was supposed to stay with Diana at all times. Both of them nodded and smiled in agreement when their mother, the Queen, said this. Both immediately parted ways once their boat hit the shores of this new and exciting world.

Speaking of new and exciting, the King of Atlantis' ward is tagging along for the first time to see the surface world. Garth is fascinated (and a little terrified) and he's hoping to learn new types of magic! The Crown Prince (his older brother) Koryak says that he will make a fearsome mage one day and he really doesn't want to let him down. Garth imagines that one day his brother will rule as King and Garth will be there at his side as the Head Mage. He really has to work on his skills to get to that point though! Hence studying abroad. He's also... maybe... looking to meet some friends. Or any friends, really. He doesn't have any and he's heard good things.

Lord Richard of Gotham is so tired of politics. His... 'father' is the Crown Prince, next in line for the throne of Gotham. Not that anyone, including Bruce, is happy about it. The Kane family has had the crown for centuries and now, because the King only had daughters and Bruce's mom had the audacity to marry a Wayne (their rival house), they stand to lose it all. Thankfully, Bruce's status as Crown Prince is only temporary. As soon as Princess Kate Kane is married off, her husband will automatically be next in line. (Although they've sure been taking their time with that. What's the hold up?) So Bruce doesn't have to ever worry about being King and Dick (as Bruce's totally legitimate love child that Bruce didn't make up to make sure Dick could inherit everything if he ever died, don't do the math on their ages) doesn't ever have to worry about the throne at all. Sure, he's technically second in line but it's as far away from reality as a nightmare and just as scary. For right now all Dick has to worry about is being a squire, going on adventures and learning how to be a great knight! What could go wrong!?

Crown Prince Elroy is fucked. Seriously fucked. The old Crown Prince Oliver saw Roy at an archery competition and decided 'Yeah, that one.' Ollie offered him a room, food and all the arrows he could ever want. When Roy found out that Ollie was taking a page out of Robin Hood's book, Roy was overjoyed. The two of them had a blast stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. It was great! And then Ollie's father, the King, found out. He disowned Ollie, not that Ollie cared, and life went on as normal with one major giant exception. The King didn't have any other children (legitimate children anyway) and Ollie was now disowned. So the King legitimized Roy as Oliver's bastard child and heir. Or, sorry, Elroy because apparently 'Roy' wasn't fancy enough. Now Elroy is the Crown Prince. Elroy is under lock and key so that Ollie can't influence him. Elroy is being forced to study. (The King promised him that this was just to make Ollie see reason but Roy isn't so sure... the King is putting a lot of effort into his training...) The only saving grace is that Roy is being sent away this summer to learn sword fighting. Archery is 'a cowards sport' apparently and Roy 'needs to expand his horizons'. Well.. they certainly agree on that last one. Roy is making a break for it and he's not coming back.

Wally is a young apprentice working for his Uncle Barry. He's learning how to make medicine and treat wounds and find useful herbs. At least, he's learning that sometimes. A lot of his time is spent being a delivery boy. Uncle Barry says that's an important part of any medical treatment, actually delivering the medicine. Wally thinks that he just wants him to burn off energy. Regardless, Wally spends most of his time delivering medicine and he does it well. It helps that he can cross the continent before most people can blink their eyes. He can't tell anyone that though. Barry has made that part extremely clear. As far as their patients are concerned, Barry is a local doctor who just lives outside of whichever town they're in. There's a lot of things Wally can't tell people. Like how his eyes glow and magic lights up on his fingertips when he's excited. Or how he doesn't really like hats, he just has to wear them to hide his slightly too pointy ears. He gets it. He does. He's heard the whispered stories of fae, the hushed talk of changelings, he's read the old cracked tomes on the Elven Folk. He knows what people will think he is. But he isn't. He really isn't. He's just... Wally. And sure, he might be a little bit odd but he's just as human as the next guy, he swears!

Donna finds herself left on the doorstep of the greatest monster hunters in this new world. Garth is accepted to shadow some of the best defense mages ever. Dick finds himself stopping in with some fellow Knights (he is soon to be one after all) on his way home after a particularly hard mission. Roy finds himself shipped off to learn sword fighting from some 'trusted experts'. Wally is on a routine delivery run to drop off some supplies for his Uncle's good friends. Whether it's fate or something far more sinister, they all find themselves at the temple of the Knights of the Emerald Flame. Sir Hal Jordan, who was not ready for the sudden onslaught of children, panics and gives them a mission to get them out of his hair.

The rest, as they say, is history.

#i actually have really extensive plans for each character #especially Garth and Wally #its funny Donna just kinda showed up cause she heard about the Emerald Knights and just wandered in #Dick was literally just looking for a safe place to sleep for the night before journeying home #Wally was just dropping stuff off #Roy and Garth were the only ones actually supposed to be there. and Ollie was supposed to be there to pick up Roy #because this was just a ruse. it was a rescue attempt but Ollie got sidetracked #really Hal only agreed to Garth being there so that he could watch Hal do magic. and Hal wasn't even really looking to teach him #Hal just wanted an easily impressed audience so that he could show off #but then five fucking kids showed up and Hal was like 'oh FUCK NO! Here's an easy mission! go do this!!!'#Garth thought it was training Donna was chomping at the bit to fight something Roy just wanted to be unsupervised #Dick thought Hal genuinely needed his help with this and Wally was like '?!??! HUH?!?'#but hey. He went with it. cause Barry told Wally to always listen to Hal unless he's doing something stupid.#but Hal wasn't doing anything. Wally was the one doing something stupid. so it didn't count #anyway. i have. so many thoughts. literally its planned out until they're adults #dc #dc comics #titans fantasy au #wally west #dick grayson #donna troy #roy harper #garth of shayeris #fab five

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simplegenius042 · 1 year ago

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OC(s) interviews

Wasn't tagged but was invited by @onehornedbeast in an open tag.

Tagging @socially-awkward-skeleton @shallow-gravy @carlosoliveiraa @strangefable @voidika @g0dspeeed @strafethesesinners @adelaidedrubman @thewanderer-000 @josephslittledeputy @vampireninjabunnies-blog @neverthesameneveranother @derelictheretic @deputyash @purplehairsecretlair @ec-10 @gaeadene @henbased @inafieldofdaisies @inthewinedarksea @jacobmybeloved @ladyoriza @minilev @wrathfulrook @direwombat @cassietrn @chazz-anova @nightbloodbix @softtidesworld @snake-in-the-garden @corvosattano and @trashcatsnark + anyone else who would like to join in (or just read this as I am under the impression I'm a bit late)

Got three characters ready to roll out. My very late WIP post is also almost complete, but that will come at a later time... and maybe something else.

Calvin Dearing (The Untitledverse, Original Works (& Various Fandoms))

Name: Calvin Dearing

Nicknames(s): Cal, Carl. (More TBA).

Gender: Male.

Star Sign: Cancer.

Height: Around 5ft 6inch.

Orientation: Demisexual.

Nationality/Ethnicity: African-American.

Fave Fruit: PLUMS. Don't go near this man while he's having plums, he will not share and is prepared to debate or fight anyone who wants one depending on his mood.

Fave Season: Autumn.

Fave Flower: Honeysuckle.

Fave Scent: Honestly? The smell of books or the wood in studios. Brings back good memories to when he was alive.

Coffee, Tea, or HC: Caffeine fiend, just like Joaquin. Trying to replace coffee with tea.

Average Hours of Sleep: Used to be like 5 or 6. Since having died, he doesn't need sleep but does rest/meditate like 3 or 4 hours, maybe less, to conserve energy.

Dog or Cat Person: Probably a cat, but would prefer to keep something "simple" alive... like a fish.

Dream Trip: This man wanted to visit Australia, Germany, Japan and Sweden when he was alive but money was severely limited since Terrance Carmine was a greedy bastard. Being a Dream Spirit he has to deal with multiversal travel which is free but way more dangerous than simple traveling would have been.

Favourite Fictional Character: Mickey Mouse.

Number of Blankets They Sleep With: One when he was alive. Now that he's dead he doesn't really feel the need for one since everything's a mess of hot and cold for no reason.

Random Fact: Calvin was one of Terrance Carmine's most loyal employees, and was even the one to insist Terrance use the opportunity of WW1 to spark popularity into their cartoons to spread propaganda to have others join the military. It was very profitable, however once the war was over, the very thing that gave meaning to the cartoons Calvin and Terrance made was no gone, and their animations irrelevant, leading to the studio bankrupting. Terrance wasn't very happy with Calvin, and invited him for one last talk before closing the studio for good.

Silva Omar (Far Cry The Silver Chronicles, Far Cry 5 + Far Cry New Dawn)

Name: Sylvester "Silva" Omar

Nickname/s: Sylvie, Silva, The Boa, The Muse, The Deputy. (More TBA).

Gender: Female (Intersex).

Star Sign: Capricorn.

Height: Around either 5ft 8inches or 5ft 9inches. She'd likely grow a little more taller from age and her father's late genetics.

Orientation: Demiromantic Lesbian.

Nationality/Ethnicity: Spanish with Arabic origins (on her egg donor's side).

Fave Fruit: The classic apple.

Fave Season: Spring.

Fave Flower: Lavender.

Fave Scent: Hot chocolate and Bliss.

Coffee, Tea or HC: Coffee, but she's moving on to tea.

Average Hours of Sleep: Very inconsistent. She has insomnia and reoccurring nightmares that keep her up/wake her up. Less than seven hours on a good night and less than five on a bad one. She does take time to rest or nap throughout the day so there's that.

Dog or Cat Person: She doesn't mind either. Before the Reaping, she'd want nothing to do with dogs, cats or any other animal because she can't really afford to keep something alive while barely functioning herself. During the Reaping she gets a dog, a cougar and a bear.

Dream Trip: Spain and anywhere in the Middle East, actually. The former because after having to repeatedly lie she was born there for majority of her life in America, she got curious about what it is actually like there, and wanted to connect connect with the culture more, without her father's input or stain on it all. The latter was mainly to connect with heritage. Unfortunately, no thanks to the Collapse, she's not going to be going to either for a long while, if at all.

Favourite Fictional Character: Frankenstein's Monster.

Number of Blankets They Sleep With: Silva sleeps with two blankets.

Random Fact: Silva despises the snow and the winter, however does enjoy breezy cold nights. Also here's a sad fact; Silva doesn't really celebrate Christmas on account that most of her family and friends are dead, she's a recluse and Christmas is her late sister's (Elsa's) birthday, which Elsa died a day or two after.

Hatsukami Hinode (Life, Despair & Monsters, Miraculous Tales of Ladybug & Chat Noir (+ Various Fandoms))

Name: Hatsukami Hinode

Nickname/s: Suka, Hats. (More TBA).

Gender: Male.

Star Sign: Aries.

Height: Hatsukami will tell you he is 5ft 4inches. Icarus' body's height is actually 5ft and 8inches.

Orientation: Hatsukami isn't really interested in those kind of stuff, unlike Icarus and Xavier.

Nationality/Ethnicity: Japanese.

Fave Fruit: Cherries.

Fave Season: Spring.

Fave Flower: Daisies.

Fave Scent: Freshly baked stuffed chocolate Croissants.

Coffee, Tea or HC: Milkshakes.

Average Hours of Sleep: 10 to 13 hours. He oversleeps.

Dog or Cat Person: Dog person.

Dream Trip: If he could, he would go around the world.

Favourite Fictional Character: Spongebob Squarepants.

Number of Blankets They Sleep With: Three. Icarus and Xavier hate it.

Random Fact: The Hinode family assumed that Hatsukami's behaviour was a result of repressed emotional growth. They had not realised that Hatsukami was one in three alters. ALSO! Hatter (the interdimensional parasite that Xavier had unknowingly ingested while fronting) credits his name in honour of Hatsukami after bonding with the young lad.

#the untitledverse #oc: calvin dearing #far cry the silver chronicles #oc: silva omar #life despair & monsters #oc: hatsukami hinode #oc interviews #oc tag

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raayide · 9 months ago

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hello! i read your klauthgrass fic last week and i’m still thinking about your truly excellent pacing making an idea that easily could have been a brief overview of a torture scene that delves into astarion’s mind (and rounded out at maybe 4k words) into an extremely engaging thesis on astarion’s character & really giving every single moment pause and consideration!! do you have any insights on your writing process and how you approach what you write to do this?

ahh?? thanks?? I'm glad you enjoy??

and absolutely! my writing process is a little wack insofar that I tend to henpeck oneshots, where I come up with a rough outline of the overall story and then just jump around to whatever section I'm feeling inspired for. this definitely won't work for everyone, since it can lead to inconsistency and backtracking, but for me I really appreciate it as a way to let each section of the story breathe and expand rather than having to get through the opening before I can work on it, if that makes sense? so I'll jump ahead and write Astarion's confession scene, then I jump even further to Karlach and come up with a line where Wyll knows Cazador's name, so then I jump back to the confession and put in a scene where Astarion says his name, and so on and so forth! it's definitely a pretty fun to do it, since you get to write all the fun lines before you have to connect them, and helps guide the story as you write! I'm a big fan of it :)

and for length, one major aid is that I'm a verbose little bastard who loves to talk, but I'm also a fan of the idea that no colour is one colour, if you've heard that metaphor. no scene is ever one scene - no idea is ever one idea. every line ties into something else, and rather than seemingly condensing the work down because it's juggling two concepts, I find that it often gives you so much room to build outward off a stronger foundation. don't write a scene with the idea that "oh, this is just the character confronting his thoughts" it's also him burying the darker ones and thinking that's okay, him trying to convince his team members he's useful, him unwillingly revealing how scared he is, him trying to distract the guy who drugged him, him wondering if they're going to be saved, etc. fill every scene with as much possible thoughts and motivations as you can - that word count will explode outward!

I hope this was helpful!! thank you so much for your kind words :)

#ao3 #writing #writing advice #writing tips #astarion fanfic

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thegirlwhofellfromthestars · 10 months ago

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a compilation of kara zor-el headcanons

i think her official social media as supergirl would be all very nice and neat professional posts typical for superhero social media, and then when you check her likes they are 99% cat videos.

she has the absolute funniest but also surprisingly thoughtful mentor-mentee dynamic with hal jordan. think of it as "the third cousin/uncle crawling out of his midlife crisis arc desperately trying his best in everything and the sweetest alien girl you will ever meet who has just been through the most traumatic experience of her life". i will write an entire post about this later, though this is also currently meriting an entire fic.

absolutely ADORES sanrio characters. i think she has an entire plushie collection, though there's definitely a soft spot for pompompurin.

in terms of music taste, i think kara is very much a vocaloid fan. there's something about her loving hatsune miku that feels very right to me.

it's inconsistent dependent on the continuity but i'm going with her pre-crisis origins when i personally think that she had a great relationship with her kryptonian parents, and absolutely loved them. i think even on krypton, there were things about kara that were whatever their equivalent of neurodivergent was and while she may not have ever been formally evaluated as autistic her parents knew there were things about their daughter that made her different from other kids, and did their best to try and understand and respect that.

speaking of which - and maybe this is projection seeing as how i'm autistic - but i absolutely think kara is autistic.

you know that one person who takes way too long finishing up their drawing when it's game night and you're all playing pictionary together? that is kara.

in college, she runs a talk show at their local radio station and i think at least one person has called in asking "can you get supergirl on the show"

if anyone remembers the stinky bastard man post about the cat, kara is the one holding up streaky and swinging him around, declaring him as the "stinky bastard man".

in my take streaky doesn't have superpowers, but the way kara found him was that he was rooting around in the dumpster outside of their house visibly injured and she walked in with this hissing orange gremlin creature in her arms knowing that of course, she and lois would need to stop by the animal clinic to check for a microchip and then get him to the vet, but somehow she had already grown attached to stinky bastard man and desperately wanted to keep him.

and she did.

i also think kara would probably be a big arknights fan, and her favorites would be saileach and goldenglow - the former because of some similarities in their appearance and personality, and the latter because she's a cute pink cat. is absolutely one of those people who gets a little indignant when people mistake goldenglow for a dog.

during her first day at school, she ended up so overwhelmed from sensory overload during one of her classes that she punched a hole through the desk and then offered to pay for it later with her own money when she and clark were at the principal's office about it.

#lucia.txt #kara zor-el

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idiotsonlyevent · 2 years ago

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wow, naoto's writing is bad! and its not even bad because "they should have been trans" or whatever tf ppl are saying, its bad because its inconsistent both internally as well with persona's canon lore. like, the whole basis of the persona series is that your shadow is part your true self. even though it says things that you don't want to hear or admit to others, it's still YOU. naoto's shadow 'wants to be a man.' naoto's shadow wants gcs. naoto's shadow is trans.

and that's not to say that you can't write a story or an arc about questioning gender. or a gnc woman. or about what it's like to be a woman in a male-dominated field. or a child that's forced to grow up too quickly because they're surrounded by - and doing the job of - adults. but to do that, then naoto's social link should have actually explored those things? we hear a lot about how it must be tough to be a woman detective. how the adult police officers don't take naoto seriously. but it's never shown; those issues aren't explored in a meaningful way. we know that they happen in the real world, but we don't get to see naoto react to those things; like the yosuke reacts to the junes part-timers, or the way yukiko reacts to the reporters and kasai-san. so that angle falls flat because those problems aren't acknowledged in naoto's arc.

naoto is openly dysphoric. i'm not saying that makes them trans bc dysphoric cis people exist, but they are repeatedly shown being uncomfortable when other characters bring up their height, the pitch of their voice, and their chest. and you can say that them deciding that they're a woman means that they're not comfortable being seen as a man either - that's fine, nonbinary people exist - but the scale of the discomfort is so completely different that it feels ridiculous and almost in bad faith to say they felt as uncomfortable 'as a man' as they did 'as a woman.'

and honestly, im a little tired of seeing stories where women 'dress up' as men to avoid sexism. i know the people writing these have never actually talked to trans men, but that's not how the world works. we don't come out and suddenly become magically accepted by society. you can be out for years and still be routinely misgendered! and in some cases, if you pass, you're expected to uphold and reinforce sexism - fun! /s. but those stories never show that, do they? i get that they're supposed to be escapist fantasies, and not real life, but persona 4 is a game that has relatively grounded themes and characters. many of us are or know a yosuke, a chie, a yukiko, etc. naoto's writing feels out of place because the themes it's trying to explore are either completely ignored or bastardized so badly that they become nonsensical.

it's also incredibly demeaning and egregious that to romance naoto, you basically force-fem them, when the whole point of their 'platonic' social link is that their gender doesn't matter (until at the very end, where they decide they're 'a woman after all'). this is pretty clearly done to assert the heterosexuality of the protagonist, but it's still really gross. are gnc women w lower voices not allowed to date men now? fellas, is it gay to date a woman?

but actually the most uncomfortable part to me is the rhetoric surrounding naoto's transness. i know this game came out more than a decade ago, but it uses the same negative tropes about transmasculine people that are being peddled by t€rfs and transphoßes today. and it's primarily other women (chie and yukiko) enforcing naoto's gender expression to stamp out any ideas of transmasculinity. naoto can't Actually be trans - she's just a confused little girl! she'll grow out of it and realize how stupid she was to throw away her beauty to be an ugly man! she was a girl all along! its straight out of social contagion nonsense, when their arc could have perfectly meshed w the theme of acceptance if they um. maybe accepted that they can be trans, even without needing to 'change their sex'? they can be a man with a 'woman's body'? they can see themselves however they want? (reminded of that post of a 'western' trans person saying they thought the trans man from one piece was a caricature or something, and the replies were just. japanese trans people saying that the way he's presented is empowering for them bc it's impossible to get hrt/gcs in japan, so they prefer narratives that accept their bodies as they are.)

naoto could have been amazing gnc woman, non-binary, or trans man rep, if atlus stuck to it and explored what any of those things meant to naoto as a character. instead, they fumbled the writing so badly that it becomes impossible to tell what they were trying to say. unless you're trans, then one day, you too can become normal!

#hiiiiiiiiiiiiiii sorry for the repost just needed to fix the formatting on this <3 peace and love or whatever #bc tumblr kept deleting weird paragraphs or shuffling them around and it was annoying me. and i want this published somewhere.#p4 #persona #L.txt #naoposting

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queenofapeacefuldawn · 11 months ago

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I’m aware that it’s like 12:30 right now for me. But you need to give me tips on how to write a murder mystery. For science

(And yes your mysteries are FANTASTIC. This is why I’m asking you)

go to sleep 🔪

but yes, i would be honoured to help! (i took a workshop in fifth grade and fifth grade me buried deep inside is rearing her head)

so, first you need a victim, and why they became the victim, (aka a motive for the murderer). were they the victim of a serial killer? did somebody close to them want their money? was it an assassination? was it a case of mistaken identity, and they weren't meant to be a victim? it depends on the story.

second, you need the "detective" character to care about the victim, or a reason for them to solve the case. maybe the victim was close to them, or somebody they care about has been implicated and they need to prove their innocence? has the detective been implicated? again, it depends. is it their job to investigate it? (like they're a cop or a private investigator). it also depends on the type of person your detective is.

this also opens up a pathway on making your audience care about the victim. ← this step isn't really necessary, because it can later be revealed that the victim is a rat bastard who's probably better off being dead, but. an effective way is to make the pov narrator / detective look at the victim through rose-tinted glasses, and, slowly, as the story progresses, they realise what, exactly, the victim has done, and they struggle internally with why they're doing this.

one thing i find effective when i'm plotting out a murder mystery, is i first look at the end-- who the killer is, and what their motive was, and how, exactly they could have committed the murder. then, i make an alibi for the murderer-- so it isn't obvious that it's them. then, i look at the beginning-- aka, when the victim is killed. look at the kinds of clues that can lead to: a) the actual murderer, that was ruled out for some reason, due to alibi/negligence; and b) the red herring character(s), who everybody suspects, but then they turn out to be pretty decent. after i have the beginning and the ending all ironed out, that's when i look at the middle: the road that leads to the murderer. how does the detective figure out it was the murderer? do they find an inconsistency in the alibi? do all the clues point to the murderer? does the murderer reveal themselves by kidnapping the detective/trying to finish them off too? again, it depends.

so, in the plotting stages, this is the order i usually go in:

find the main plot/ premise of the story

once you have the premise, figure out who the victim is.

once you have your victim, make your killer. give them motive, personality. it's at this stage i make a character profile for the killer, victim, and detective.

exposition: why is the detective there to investigate? where did the murder happen? where did they find the body? what was the murder weapon? etc.

and now, that you have the motive, killer, victim, and detective, you can connect the dots for the detective reaching the conclusion, that, "oh, [the killer] is the killer. "

all throughout the story, build the stakes on why the killer needs to be found. if it's a cop, maybe pressure is mounting from their bosses? if it's the murder of a family member, maybe you can have the detective worrying that they're next/someone they care about is next? in the same vein, if the detective has been implicated, or somebody they care about has been implicated, then the police are close to finding/fabricating incriminating evidence against them? maybe there's the threat that the killer will strike again.

this is for the plotting stage. once you have your outline + characters, (basically, whenever you feel comfortable and confident enough to actually start writing, you can use our trusty friend, the plot mountain!)

introduction: introducing the detective, the victim, and the suspects. (like, the detective gets a call that the victim has been murdered, and begin investigating.)

rising action: the detective starts investigating, and the stakes are rising (there's the worry of an innocent person being arrested, or another person being killed, etc.)

climax: the detective figures out who they think is the killer. maybe there's a plot twist, due to the red herring before

falling action: the killer is caught, (either due to confrontation or a confession)

resolution: the motives are revealed, the killer is in jail (or the detective decided to protect the killer, for whatever reason)

about red herrings and plot twists: some books that i've read made the mistake of bringing a plot twist out of, like, nowhere. there's no build up, no foreshadowing, just a straight up sack of bricks to the reader's face kind of plot twist, and that kind of cheapens the mystery. a good plot twist has a lot of foreshadowing: all the little inconsistencies in the story that didn't make sense before? when the twist is revealed, the reader should think: oh. that's why it happened. again, it's not an exact science, and maybe it's a bit hypocritical of me to speak because i've not perfected this, but the books i really enjoy have this kind of foreshadowing.

about the fate of the killer: obviously, your killer will have their own justifications for the murder. and, sometimes, the justifications are sound! like, fuck yes, you deserved to murder the victim! during this stretch of time, the author realises that they really like the character of the killer, and, in some books i've read, they decide to pull out a sudden character development moment for the killer, where they're absolved of their crimes and set free, with the murder being pinned on someone who "deserved" it. which.... fair. but, this kind of vigilante-justice is very nuanced, so, one easy step on whether the killer should be absolved or not: who did they hurt to stay out of the detective's suspect list? did they harm innocents? did they kill innocents? do they show remorse? characters are very nuanced, and the fate of the killer should be something fitting to their crime/character.

also, about the narrator: the narrator shapes the story and your view of the characters, aka, the narrator is the first red herring you should be aware of. if it's first-person narration, then you should figure out the relationships of the other characters (the detective, victim, killer, and other suspects), to figure out how to write them. if your narrator is the detective (which is most likely), you have a 24/7 viewpoint into their head, and, yeah, they can have rose-tinted glasses for certain suspects (and the killer) too. if your narrator is the killer: that reveal is harder to pull off, as, like i said, you have a 24/7 view into the narrator's head. aka, the killer's head. if you're trying to keep the killer's identity a secret, then it's slightly difficult to write that in a way that makes you not know who the killer is. this happened in agatha christie's the murder of roger ackroyd, where the narrator is the killer. best thing to do, is to leave gaps in their narration, but do it in a smooth way, where the reader doesn't figure out about the gaps. if the storyline is about the narrator trying to pin the murder on someone else (aka, the reader knows who the killer is, and the story is about blaming the murder on someone else), your job becomes relatively easy. this all depends on the story. the role of the narrator is varied, and can be used as a red herring, or to add a humourous tone into the story, etc.

----

again, this isn't what all murder mystery stories have to be. they're all varied, with different plot lines, but this is kind-of a skeleton for how most murder mysteries are. storylines are all different, as are relationships in a murder mystery, but alice, i hope this helped you! have fun writing, super excited to see what you're writing (if you do plan on posting it), and please, for the love of the gods, GO TO SLEEP.

(ps: thank you for saying my mysteries are fantastic. ily <33 (also, again, i am begging you to sleep)).

#ask #the-princess-fangirl

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skaruresonic · 1 year ago

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The whole deal with "But Sonic is inconsistent so who cares?" is kinda funny to me because, technically, it's true! The games have tons of inconsistencies big and small! From retcons to plot holes to inconsistent portrayals. God knows it's led to me barely giving a rat's ass to Sonic canon anymore!

Now find me even a single 30+ year old game franchise that doesn't have similar issues

Mega Man has similar issues.

Castlevania had to restructure its timeline in a somewhat arbitrary way to clear up some early fuck ups within canon

Zelda had to turn its timeline into a goddamn tree and even then they barely care

Metroid is pretty consistent as far as videogame canons go and even there you have the occasional "Eehh no this thing actually happened like this, ignore what the character said last game"

If a series is inconsistent wouldn't you want to, I dunno, make it MORE consistent instead of adding to the overall mess?

Maybe by "inconsistent" they mean "there are so many different adaptations out there that it's difficult to keep track," but even then, that wouldn't be the games' fault.

In terms of narrative, continuity, and core characterization, the series isn't all that inconsistent, honestly. Flanderization by its nature isn't part of core characterization but an exaggeration/bastardization of various traits (in other words, bad writing). And most retcons, such as Eggman having a grandfather and cousin in SA2 but not SA1, occur after the fact, revealing new information as it becomes relevant. It's not so much contradictory as it is just that what we didn't know then, we know now. (However, I would argue that of the entire cast, Knuckles is really the only one who qualifies as inconsistent. But that's for another time.) Each game is mostly standalone yet builds upon previous ones in subtle ways. SA1 references the Classic games; SA2 builds upon SA1; Heroes references SA2 and SA1; Battle references SA1, SA2, Heroes, and ShTH; Advance 3 builds upon Battle; SatBK hearkens back to SA2 with a memory Sonic relays about the Biolizard; Generations references all the games and includes a line that implies SatSR is canon; etc. Sure, certain stories aren't as tightly-written as they could be - one issue I have with Unleashed is that Eggman basically doesn't factor in in the middle of the story when he arguably should - but those metacontextual issues don't factor into whether the series as a whole is inconsistent. More and more I'm starting to feel like those who espouse this viewpoint don't pay terribly close attention to the games, because the games eventually explain themselves for the most part, anyhow. Or else you're operating based on misinterpretations of the source material. For example: "The moon blew up in SA2 so why do we see it in full in ShTH?" becomes a nonissue when you play Advance 3 and Riders and realize Sonic's world has two moons. "Money doesn't exist" is simply not true, because "financial communities" are said to be "impacted" by the Eclipse Cannon demonstration in SA2, Vector's motive is money in multiple games, and you can buy things with rings in Unleashed. "Why don't they say 'oh my Chaos'?" Because Chaos is the God of Destruction, not the world's creator? Also, Amy blasphemes "oh my God" and Sonic games have referenced hell before. So on and so forth. As for a lack of timeline... I honestly don't see it. There may be some weirdness with how Battle fits in, though that can easily be explained as it releasing concurrently with Heroes. Also, I thought it was fairly obvious that Mania/Forces represents a split in the timeline where Eggman obtains the Phantom Ruby at different points. But other than that, I really don't see how the series' timeline is inconsistent. Based on how each game builds upon the previous, there's really no reason not to believe that the games don't occur in chronological order for the most part.

#asks

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liquid-geodes · 2 years ago

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I am here to ask you things about Scraptrap, because you put his name in there. What do you think his other hobbies are (aside from trying to kill his son and being really bad at it)? How'd he lose the arm? How'd he get the kid he murdered, the daughter he got killed on accident and then ditched on purpose, and the bear spaghetti he also ditched on purpose to try to kill Mike instead of him?

Scraptrap my beloathed...

I'm gonna keep it SO real with you: I don't think Scraptrap is William in the way we think he is.

I personally find that there's too many discrepancies between the state Springtrap was left in versus how Scraptrap is presented. It could just be poor design sure, but when has Scott ever led THAT much inconsistency before?

He hasn't.

Firm believer in the "Scraptrap is just some poor unfortunate bastard William is using as a decoy". And I think to give Scraptrap SOME credibility, William parted with the bare minimum of remnant required to be thoroughly believed to be him. And maybe that's why Scraptrap's focus has shifted from saving his children to JUST killing Michael. Maybe he just got the petty part of William's remnant that wants the kid dead for daring to interfere with his life's work.

William knew the call was a trap, he wouldn't dare put HIMSELF in any sort of position to be caught when he was already planning his next stunt as Glitchtrap

#dave posting #link's asks

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backjustforberena · 6 months ago

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Hi! I read your last post where you pointed out the fact that the showrunners don't know nothing about Corlys's bastards' mother and I think this represents perfectly that they don't care about team black characters that much. We've seen side characters more developed that the main ones.

I've always been Team Black because Rhaenyra is the rightful heir to the throne, and because I liked Rhaenys, Corlys, the Dragon Twins, Aly Blackwood, and Sabitha Frey. But honestly, this second season is devastating for Team Black. I feel that the Team Green characters have been much more developed, while the Team Black characters have either been cut or remain superficial, leading to them being either boring or displaying inconsistent behavior. Corlys seems completely pointless this season; he's just there to show how terrible a father, grandfather, and husband he is. Baela has charisma but ends up seeming like just a soldier, as her issues with Daemon and Corlys are barely addressed. Rhaena is portrayed as the unlucky one who feels excluded, and we might get a bit of attention for her in the penultimate episode. Rhaenys shifts from warning that a war is inevitable and imminent to being a peace bearer. Daemon is on a mental trip that was interesting in the first two episodes but has been dragged on just because they don't want episodes without him. Rhaenyra is depicted as completely incompetent. It's really absurd; at least Team Green has characters like Larys and Otto, as well as Aegon, who, despite being morally terrible, manage to keep the viewer's interest because they are well-developed.

Thank you for reading my posts! That's lovely that you've written in. I try not to subscribe motive to the showrunners. I find it to be unhelpful, especially when talk of bias or favouritism or opinion because... we're never going to know. We're not going to know the truth, varnished or otherwise, we're not going to have a straight answer and, especially with this fandom, opinions vary so wildly on showrunner intention or loyalties that you've got people saying the showrunners are this or that when the ideas probably conflict with one another. It's just messy.

I keep in mind that scripts will have gone through many drafts, revisions, and would have had input from many people before they were signed off. Prescribing blame to one person is ineffectual and unfair. I will, however, look at the storytelling and see where I think mistakes have been made, where things are (for me) underdeveloped and where I see issues and feel disappointed. We have the right to be critical.

I will... hypothesise, occasionally (such as maybe they develop the side characters more because the majority of side characters on the Blacks' side are newer characters, and therefore take some priority, whereas it shouldn't be a case of one or the other - that's not anything malicious, it's just an incorrect approach). But all of this is supposition and, hopefully, with a degree of empathy. I don't see the point in getting hateful or angry, even if I'm intensely frustrated by some things.

I do think it is a mistake, and actually irresponsible, for Steve Toussaint (and Eve Best, and Clare Kilner and Alan Taylor) to not have any concrete idea as to the circumstances surrounding Alyn and Addam's creation. If you remove a backstory (which they have done, by essentially removing Marilda - Steve does not know anything about the mother) then it is imperative that you replace it. We do not have the luxury that the source material does, of being piecemeal and characterless. This is not a history book. These are characters with histories and motivations and emotions.

Steve has floated many schools of thought as the how the boys came about, what the nature of the relationship may have been with the mother and what it all means for Corlys. But all of these are vague and all cannot exist at once. It's also worth noting that by denying this part of Corlys's history from Corlys, you're also denying it from Addam and Alyn - for whom it is equally important. You'd have to assume it would make a difference to how they'd interact with Corlys if, for example, their mother loved him vs if she didn't.

I don't know if I feel like the season has been "devastating" to Team Black. I feel rather "outside" of all of that, possibly because I'm naturally pragmatic about it all and came to the show first and then the source second. Some changes I agree with, some I can see the reason for, etc etc. I do, however, agree that I find Team Black as a unit to be far less developed and cohesive. I think that the storytelling has been weaker because elements are either centralised (around Rhaenyra or Daemon) or deprioritised for some other aim.

Character interaction is made weaker and a little more repetitive, making arcs stationary. The majority of characters have never interacted with other characters, to quite a grievous degree (Jace only seems to have meaningful scenes with his mother and Baela, Corlys only with Rhaenys and Alyn, Mysaria now only has Rhaenyra etc) and there seems to be a lot riding on action rather than introspection, with all of the Daemon/Rhaenyra stuff, introducing characters, introducing Dragonseeds, reacting to what is happening on the Greens' side of things etc.

I don't half wonder if Team Black specifically suffers because they veer so far away from the source material, that they have to consistently try and justify their veering away from the source material. And that's why we have all of this introspection for Rhaenyra and Daemon, and for the "side characters" to be preoccupied with Rhaenyra and Daemon, in order to then explain it all to the audience. A consequence of this is that we end up parking the involvement of the others. A sort of X can't do this because Y has to do that, kind of a thing.

Team Green, however, whilst they have made rather broad changes as well, they are not only largely adhering to characterisation from last season, but still hit their plot points. They don't change actions, but they explain them better or more truthfully. Especially with Aegon. And they lack a central figure to circle around.

I do think that Team Black has characterisation. I do think there are kernels of stuff there, and complexity. But when you look at it as a whole, they lack any individual agenda and they lack internal disagreement, unlike Team Green. We don't know who butts heads with whom because we've never seen them jostle for power. We don't know where ultimate loyalty lies because characters are never forced to choose. Rhaenyra goes from one influence to the next without much discomfort or effort. Characters are separated from each other in a way they aren't on Team Green - Dragonstone, Harrenhal, Driftmark, the Vale, but even Dragonstone seems to be isolating, as if characters are stuck either only to one room or one scene partner (usually Rhaenyra).

It's a shame because there are scenes I would have liked to have seen. Or pasts I would like to know more about. Or motivations, thoughts and feelings. Reactions, even. Dynamics.

Speaking just on Corlys, because that was the origin of your ask, I am waiting for him to make his mark. I was really, really hoping for a scene with him and Rhaenyra but that's yet to happen. Even if it ultimately leads to nothing more than what we get silently (him accepting the role as Hand), it is important for us to understand where he is coming from in accepting that job and, even, what Rhaenyra understands from him in accepting that job. What is that relationship like? He's spent an episode as Hand and we don't know what it means yet.

Even just comparing the narrative importance and complexity of such a thing as "who is your Hand"... it's way more interesting on the Greens. You've had Otto be Hand, Larys has tried to manipulate Aegon, and then Otto is fired and Criston is hired and he doesn't want to be Hand but he is and then he goes and disaster strikes at Rook's Rest. And then he's got to go away again to war and Aemond is in charge so maybe he needs a new Hand, so Larys puts his Hand up as Ironrod listens and gets chewed out and sent to send for Otto again but Otto's gone radio silent and nevertheless, Larys is whispering to Aegon to become his confidante because maybe Aemond's days in charge are numbered...

Whereas on the Blacks' side, the role of Hand isn't even mentioned until Episode 04, and it's only done by Broome to try and gain a point against Rhaenys who has been basically acting as Hand (not that anyone in any way acknowledges this) but isn't named. And then we have Episode 05 and 06 where Corlys is offered the role and accepts it but has yet to do anything with it or even speak on it.

I'm still enjoying the show. I did find this week's episode to be on the stronger side. But there are mistakes and there are things that I, personally, don't care for and believe should have either been done better or differently. I hope I've explained all that okay.

#hotd spoilers #house of the dragon spoilers

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lokiinmediasideblog · 8 days ago

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Outside of Marvel:

Loki x Komand'r (Blackfire)-The most perfect Marvel!Loki crack ship in existence. Spurned space royals with unhealthy sibling rivalries! Ice and Fire! Alien disabilities. Loathed by their subjects and mistreated by parents. Evil older sister and evil younger brother! Like I kinda want to analyze that a villainous princess is often presented as the older one and that a villainous prince is usually the younger one + the associations of age with gender (I know Loki is genderfluid but that happened until the 2010s and they were merely queer-coded until then).

Loki x Mordred-Usurper bastard (literal) princes keen on patricide. Also, is it me or does Mordred's death in La Morte d'Arthur is very reminiscent of myth!Loki's death in Ragnarok?

Not ship-related because there's too many characters, unless you want to play olympic polyamory. I'd love to see Loki interact with The Doom Patrol or The Umbrella Academy members. I feel they'd be kindred spirits in the whole super fuck-up/destined to lose departments.

With TDP, Loki would probably summon them for some bullshit, and it'd be a weird whacky Grant Morrisonesque adventure. Maybe Willoughby Kipling was fucking around trying to summon Baphomet cus of his massive crush, and ended up contacting Loki who told him of some impending disaster, but he has to remain a living battery. And so Kipling goes off to get TDP on it. It's also interesting that they all have regrets, and many of them were not kind people and are very insecure about themselves. So if Loki manages to get free, it'd be interesting to see how they interact. Maybe they try to convince him that the multiverse will be safe and try to get him out? Maybe he grants them a favor in return? TDP is the best super-hero adjacent show I've ever watched, btw. Highly recommend!

With TUA , they're all "adopted" through unethical means and were pitted against each other from birth, and grew up in a mansion with their very powerful and abusive adoptive alien dad played by Colm Feore (who also played Laufey in T1). Not to mention, a lot of them could pass as Loki variants (Luther is Captain America with some Thor thrown in, Diego's the knife guy with a rivalry to his blonde brother with a dysfunctional relationship to a bottle blonde whose childhood was ruined by a time organization, Allison's power is words, Klaus is a gnc queer disaster often looked down upon, Five is a cranky know-it-all and capable of timefuckery/ends up in fucked up places often, Sparrow!Ben and Luther have that fandom Thor and Loki dynamic in that Sparrow!Ben is constantly doing crimes and Luther bailing him out. Umbrella!Ben on the other hand was afraid of his abilities and died, Viktor was lied to about not being something he wanted to be and is trans while Loki was lied to about being something he wanted to be. Loki taking the role of a protective yet murderous eldritch older brother to the rest of them would be cool. And it'd be funny to have this eldritch guy bearing a very strong resemblance to their alien "adoptive" father show up and he's like "I'm gonna kill him AGAIN". Insert rant about how bad/inconsistent the characterizations and writing for both Loki and TUA characters became as time went on.

MCU:

Loki x Valkyrie is my MCU OTP. They both had to do horrible things they're not proud of to survive around a madman in a lawless place, and they're both foils to Thor. I guess they appeal to me in that they both were forced to learn to deal with the GM. They were in Sakaar long enough for that to happen. The fight scene between these two made me ship them. And I personally think Valkyrie was one of the good things in TR; I just think she's neat. I like that she met Loki outside of Asgard and has been outside of the loop. The dynamic of "Your adoptive dad forced me to fight his wars and then i ended up in a place where time runs differently" is intriguing. I don't know why I ship this with an intensity rivaling my shipping of Zutara D: I knew it'd not be cannon because Marvel are cowards, but I'm upset they are no longer standing next to each other!

Frostshield-A fic made me ship them. I liked that the fic HC'd that Loki was also sickly as a child, but he was vengeful. It showed that they dealt with being perceived as weak in very different ways.

Loki x Nebula-Loki might know her already, and they have a lot in common. They're even both blue! LMAO.

Marvel comics:

Doomki-It's really fun. They're on equal ground just playing chicken with each other. I love the "Aww, you poisoned my food!" thing.

Scarletfrost-That comic made me ship them even if they didn't end up together cus Marvel are cowards xD

Loki x Lin Lie-Loki was flirty as fuck to him, and I find it funny that they're both black-haired with a green/gold color scheme.

I briefly shipped him with both Hulkling and Wiccan during YA V2 but I don't anymore.

Do you have any crackships featuring Loki?

#loki crackships #comics!loki #marvel!loki #mcu!loki #tva!loki #my loki crackships

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ultimatefraudpoll · 2 years ago

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Okay okay, I just need to say something about my boy Khun. It's very possible that I'm the only one who submitted him, idk. I don't expect him to win or anything, but I just need y'all to appreciate him.

Khun is just. SO SMART. This man is a genius, and he uses his brains purely to conniving and sneaky ends. Look at this little prick! He's smarter than you and he knows it!!

He can outsmart anyone, make any situation work in his favor, and HE WILL. He will do it, no hesitation. Also he can and will murder you.

Just! Just look at him! Look at that smirk! He's such a bastard!!!!

So yeah anyway, I just love him. This is a PSA that Khun is the best and if you haven't read/seen the Tower of God then maybe you should.

(Also if the art looks inconsistent it's because it was originally a webcomic, but it's been turned into an anime, so the art keeps changing lol. These aren't the best pictures to demonstrate how sneaky he is, but I had to make do with what I could find.)

#fraud poll

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moiraineswife · 8 years ago

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Stumble Through Heaven- Part 1: The Calm - A Morrigan/Selene Fic

MAJOR ACOWAR SPOILERS AHEAD

Sooo @tbhfangirl19 asked me for Mor/a lady someone basically. So now you have a two part Mor/ladies fic with Mor and...who is effectively my OC (she’s like...canon in five lines, she’s Viviane’s sister and this all definitely happened in canon) Anyway. I got carried away so now there’s lots of lesbian emotions flying around. Have at it. @king-havilliard figured you would appreciate the tag. Thank you for reading this/humouring my yelling about it @pterodactylichexameter

Title: Stumble Through Heaven - Part 1: The Calm

Summary: (my timings are wonky, this doesn’t technically work in canon but it’s close enough and by the time I realised it didn’t work I was already attached to the idea and it was too much effort changing it for a relatively small detail) After her fight with Feyre Mor seeks solace in the Winter Court camp and runs into an old flame, Selene, Viviane’s younger sister. They revisit their history with one another. Rating will go up in the next part but this one is SFW.

Teaser: “How are you?”

There’s enough pointed emphasis in the last word that Mor knows the female can still read her as easily as she remembers how she prefers her tea. She turns away, looks down the sharply sloping hill to the battlefield again, churned and ragged and raw. A good mirror for the way she feels. All she says however in answer to Selene’s question is, “Fine.”

To her surprise, that response tugs a soft huff of laughter from the female sitting by her side, legs folded beneath her, back perfectly straight, “All these years, Morrigan,” she says quietly, taking a drink of her tea before shaking her head. “All these years and you still think you can hide from me.”

Link: AO3

Despite the thick heat of the Summer Court, the air wet with blood after a day of battle and the mourning tears that followed, the Winter Court encampment still somehow feels cold to Mor. A sharp breeze lifts, tugging at her hair, stirring it around her face, as though trying to pull her away somewhere. She ignores it.

Still in the clothes she had worn when she’d descended down into the battle, not bothering to strip out of it. The armour feels like a lead weight now, dragging her weary limbs down. Exhaustion gnaws at her and she should sleep, should go back to her own camp, her own tent, curl up and let that fatigue drag her into tomorrow but...

She had needed to get out, to get away from all of it. Cassian’s injuries had rattled her, even if the stupid prick would be alright. She had been there, feet from him as he’d been torn apart before her eyes and she’d felt sure she was watching his death, helpless. Helpless again when she had returned to the camp and found Feyre gone, had to restrain herself from shaking that sister of hers to make her tell her where she had gone so she could find her and drag her back. Helpless as she had looked into Rhys’ terrified eyes and been forced to confess that she had been tricked, that she had been lied to, again, that those closest to her would rather go behind her back than trust her.

Then the fight with Feyre in her tent after she had returned. In one piece, thank the Mother, the things that she had said to her, the things she had heard come tearing from her friend’s lips. She closes her eyes, hugging herself, her fingers gripping onto her arms until it hurts. That breeze lifts again, carrying with it the tears that burn her eyes and fall as she bows her head, shaking, attempting to master herself.

They’re at war she doesn’t have time to sit here and feel sorry for herself, she should be in camp, helping, planning, doing something. Instead she’s sitting here, like a child pathetic and frightened and helpless all over again. She holds her head in her hands, shaking, not caring who sees. None of the Winter Court soldiers are likely to bother her. They would have to come seeking her, where she’s huddled on the edge of this war camp, over-looking the battle field that Feyre had tricked her onto, where Cassian had nearly died right in front of her, where-

She looks up at the soft, lithe footsteps that sound at her side. A beautiful Winter Court fae stands there, looking down at her. Selene. Viviane’s sister. It’s been decades since they’ve been this close to one another, not since before Amarantha. Yet she hasn’t changed. She remains the same. A tall, willowy pillar of frozen steel, cold and unyielding, precise and elegant as a sculpture. Her long silver hair restrained by a thick braid wrapped around her head like a crown. She looks strikingly like her older sister, except her eyes, they’re sharper, colder, and of a steely grey, a windswept mountain to her sister’s bright ocean sapphire.

For all they look alike however, there are no squealing outbursts and desperate hugs between the two of them. Only quiet. The same kind of quiet that always fills Mor whenever she looks into those pale, fathomless eyes, the same kind of quiet she wishes she could exist in for the rest of her life. The tension seems to bleed from her as that silence sweeps through her, a bone deep calm that she only ever feels around a few people in this world.

Wordlessly, taking Mor’s lack of brusque demand for her to leave her alone as acceptance of her presence, Selene carefully lowers herself down onto the ground, then passes over a cup of tea. Mor accepts it gratefully, holding it between her hands to warm them from the chill night that’s starting to draw in around her. She sniffs at the tea before she takes a sip. The mixed scents of citrus and apple draw a small, sad smile from her. All these years...All these years but Selene still remembers her favourite blend.

They sit in silence for a long moment, sipping their tea, Mor grateful for the other female’s company, despite the faint knot of tension that starts to pulse in her stomach at her presence. So long, it’s been so long since they were together, all this time, both likely fearing the other lost after Amarantha’s conquest and yet...Yet still the quiet embraces them, holds them tight, somehow more intimate than the tight embrace Viviane had swept her into when they had seen each other again.

It’s a gift, this respite that she offers her. But eventually, Mor finds herself asking quietly, “How are you?”

Selene stiffens almost imperceptibly, takes a sip of her own tea, mint, if Mor isn’t mistaken. Even without the scent she would have known. She remembers her too. Then she says, “Well.” Her voice is the same as she remembers it, like snow melting from a mountainside, cool and heavy and smooth, with that soft rasp to it that makes her shiver.

It had been a loaded question, a question asking after how she had fared all these years they had been apart, with the distance of grief and loss between them. That she had chosen not to answer it, to confine their discussion to the present...Says all she needs it to.

She turns to face Mor, her eyes seeming to glow a dark silver as the light from the camp behind them catches, “How are you?”

She doesn’t look at her as she says it, continues gazing serenely out over the battlefield, stray locks of silver dancing around her face like lost spirits. The calm, impassive set of her face implies that they might be talking about the weather.

Mor bristles. At the words. At the assumption in them. At the calm. She had loved it at times, yes, but at times, times like this, times when she wants that mask to shatter and reveal the storm beneath, she hates it. “What’s that supposed to mean?” She demands sharply, the words laced with a snarl that makes them harsher than she had intended.

Selene, as is her wont, remains utterly composed and unruffled by the display of aggression on her part. “It means that I know you,” she says simply. She takes another draught of tea then adds, before Mor can protest, “Fifty years apart or five hundred, it makes no matter. I know you.”

Mor’s anger recedes at those words, at the truth contained within them. She does know her, she always has. Even from that first moment that they met, she had looked into her eyes and known, known right then that something darker than the bright sunshine she coated herself with lurked beneath her warm eyes. She’s always had this effect on her, always been able to gentle her, quiet her, soothe her with a few soft words, bare her body with some soft touches, brush her fingers against her very soul with a kiss.

“I know when something is wrong,” Selene continues, every word carefully selected, controlled, quiet, precise. “What happened?”

Mor closes her eyes, looking away from her. When she opens her eyes she lets her gaze stretch to the endless horizon beyond, past the bloodied battlefield and the grows that are starting to gather in clouds above it. A feast of the dead that she does not want to look at or think upon right now. Her throat tightens as the memory again surges. A part of her wishes to shove it down, wishes to continue insisting that everything is fine.

Yet...Yet it’s not fine. And she hasn’t seen this woman in fifty years but...But it’s as though they’ve been together through it all, side-by-side as they once were, as they perhaps should always be, and the words come before she truly thinks of them, because a world in which she feels the need to hide from this woman, this woman who has seen and knows every inch of her body, her heart, her being...Is one she might not feel inclined to save any more.

“I had a fight with a friend,” she confesses tightly. Selene’s eyes slide to glance at her, though she remains facing the field and doesn’t turn to her. She notes the tone, the rawness in Mor’s voice, as though the aftermath of the fight still stings at her throat, ravages the words when she tries to speak of it.

“About the war?” Selene enquires carefully, slender silver eyebrow arching. “Sure that is not enough to-“

“No.” Mor grits out, voice brittle. She takes a deep breath, clenching and unclenching her hands in her lap, a gesture that isn’t missed by Selene’s razor eyes. “Not about this about-“ She can’t say it, can’t get the words out, not even to Selene, who knows, who understands she can’t she- Mor doesn’t realise how violently she’s shaking until she feels Selene’s hand on her back. Ice seems to spread from where they connect, the cold spreading through her, calming her.

Swallowing hard, Mor lets Selene gently rub her back in big, broad circles, unable to bear, for all her cool indifference, seeing her suffer this way. The touch is intimate, deeply personal and again it feels like no time has passed between them, like it was only yesterday they were bundled naked together beneath fires, in front of the roaring fireplace in the small mountain lodge that Selene called her home.

Finally, Mor manages to say tightly, “She knows.” Selene stiffens, her eyes going wide in surprise, “About me. About-“ She doesn’t have to finish, the way she squeezes her shoulder communicates well enough that she understands.

Mor bows her head, thick golden hair falling over her face, shielding the pain carving lines into her skin, hollowing out her eyes. She had been careful, she had been so careful all these years, had hidden all those she had been with, all those she might have fallen in love with...All those she had fallen in love with to keep herself safe. If the Circle knew the male lovers she had taken confused them enough that they kept quiet, kept wandering but never...Never in five hundred years had anyone challenged her the way that Feyre had.

They’re quiet for a long time, until a tear finally breaks free of Mor’s iron restraint and slides down her cheek. Before she can lift her own hand, Selene is there, pale, delicate fingers brushing it away, strengthening her. “Don’t you think,” she asks, voice quiet and measured but with a tightness that hasn’t entered it since she joined her here, a tightness she hasn’t heard for fifty years. “Don’t you think it would be so much better for you if you just told-“

There was no judgement in the words. None. There never had been. Not from her, never from her. She understand too well, understands her and understands this, what it feels like, to be asked to bear such a tender, delicate part of herself that has never been seen, never touched before by any who don’t have a similar part of themselves.

“Don’t start that again,” Mor snarls viciously, pulling away. The words snap out of her and she regrets them the instant they leave her mouth, as Selene’s hand leaves her back but...She can’t go through that again, not with her, not so soon after Feyre, when everything is still so raw and aching.

Selene holds her furious stare, her own burning gaze meeting one of calm, tempered ice. Neither of them look away, neither bending or breaking, but it is Selene who speaks first. “I only want you to be happy, Mor,” she says, her voice uncharacteristically soft and gentle, “That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

“I know, I know,” Mor whispers, dropping her eyes at last and staring at the hands that are now fumbling uncomfortably in her lap to keep them from seizing one of Selene’s. “I’m sorry,” she mutters, quiet and brittle.

Selene surveys her for a long moment without saying anything, then, “It was bad?”

Mor can’t bring herself to answer her, the words jamming in her throat, she only manages a tight nod.

Selene draws in a heavy breath, fidgeting, uncharacteristically, with a loose thread in the fitted silver tunic she wears. Selene rarely wore dresses, feeling out of place and uncomfortable in the flowing silks and frills that Mor and her sister so loved. She had coaxed her into a few over the years and the sight of her in them always damn near destroyed her but...There was something right about Selene in the tunics and jackets and furs of her court.

Finally she says quietly, “I was pleased to see you, today, you know.” Mor blinks in surprise, not having expected the conversation to take this turn. “I know I may have reacted...poorly, especially compared to-“ A muscle feathers in her jaw as she snaps her mouth shut, forestalling the comparison to her sister. A slight shake of the head, “I apologise,” she says stiffly, too stiffly.

A soft smile brushes Mor’s lips for the first time that night. “You seem to forget,” she says quietly, reaching over and slipping her hand, warm from the tea that’s slowly growing cold, into hers. “That I know you, too.” Selene looks up at her, those impenetrable grey eyes yielding just a little for her. Her thumb strokes absently over the back of Mor’s hand. She shivers at the contact.

“I had thought you must be dead,” Selene says quietly, “After all that time, no word from you in that court. Even...In that place...”

Her eyes darken at the mention of Under the Mountain. Mor stiffens at the mention too. She had gone with Kallias that day, his right hand, his sworn shield, had remained there with him during Amarantha’s reign. Selene swallows hard, composing herself, pushing down whatever dark memories had reached up to take hold of her and Mor realises...Realises that she knows this woman but...There are scars that she doesn’t know, demons she has not yet met, ghosts that have not been buried.

Her voice is perfectly steady when she resumes, “I thought of asking Rhys for news of you,” she says quietly. “I was never close to him, rarely spent time with him but I knew he was your cousin, knew he cared for you, trusted you and yet...The mask he wore there, the things that he did-“ She cuts herself off when she feels Mor starting to shake beside her. Her thumb strokes over her hand again and her voice is controlled when she continues, weighing each word.

“I was not sure if I could trust him. I wanted to ask after you to know if you were safe, if there was even a shred of hope but...” She bows her head, shaking herself. “I told myself it would be worth it, whatever bargain he might strike with me, whatever wicked price he might compel me to pay it...It would have been worth it...For you.” Mor swallows tightly past the lump in her chest, struggling to remain grounded, present. “I was a coward,” Selene whispers, hanging her head, her eyes closing, though she doesn’t pull away from Mor, their hands remaining entwined, bridging the distance between them.

Mor opens her mouth to push back, to counter her, but Selene is already going on, speaking her words into the dark, cool night that’s slowly starting to unfold around them, darkness embracing them.“I should have asked him, I should have asked after you then I would have known, then today perhaps I-“ She straightens her spine, exhaling, her breath blowing out in a cloud in front of her. She turns at last and looks at Mor again as she says, “Seeing you again today, it was a shock. After all this time I, I-“

She stops herself, turns away again, unable to say what she feels for her in this moment. But Mor hears it all the same, echoing across fifty years spent in fear and uncertainty and distance, the longest they had ever gone without seeing one another. I missed you.

The argument with Feyre keeps playing over and over in her head, a never-ending echo that makes her feel an odd combination of emotions, anger and fear both strong among them. And the feelings that Selene has now stirred, the lust, the want, the desire, with the words, spoken and unspoken...It’s too much. They rage within her, a fire that’s blazing out of control, setting her on edge and making her wince as every movement sends it flashing through her raw nerves.

She wants the softness she knows she can draw from Selene, the tenderness that she isn’t sure anyone else has ever truly known from her, not in the way she has. The ice in her touch would be the most welcome thing in the world.

Others had fled from it, had turned their backs on her, not wanting the cold, distant woman, not able to see the light that burned in her eyes when she set them on fire, a Starfall whenever they were entwined. She longs for it, has longed for it all these long years, she realises, looking at her now. She had never thought to have it again, had never thought to be this close.

Mor realises that she’s leaning into her, instinct drawing her forwards, the same kind of force as the pull that ties her to the earth, irresistible, inevitable. She wants this. She wants her. She wants the soothing calm that always floods through her whenever they’re together. Other lovers have set her on fire, stoked the flames that writhe and dance in her blood, in her heart. Selene...Selene had soothed it, had gentled it, had made it all stop for the first time in her life. When she had taken her to bed that first time, all those years ago, on a diplomatic mission to her court...She had never experienced anything like it before.

Selene was so often dismissed, so often in her sister’s shadow. Many made the mistake of assuming she was bitter about that, that she disliked the attention lavished upon Viviane but...She had confessed to liking it. The two of them understood one another and Viviane’s shadow, quiet, calm, peaceful, was exactly where Selene longed to be.

She would have died for her sister, a hundred times over, before letting so much as a scratch touch her soft skin. That was Viviane’s power, her charm, the way wielded the beauty the Cauldron had given her, deflected attention from her reserved sister but Mor...She loved Viviane dearly, the two so alike in personality and taste that they had connected at once, all bubbly laughter and excited shouts. Viviane was alive with energy and joy and yet, despite that shine, that presence, that magnetic pull towards her...The moment Mor had set eyes on Selene she had wanted her.

She had not taken a female lover since Andromache’s death but when she saw Selene...Her heart had constricted, her lungs emptying of breath. The world around her had gone quiet and dark and cold and she had never wanted it to switch back on, had not wanted the raucous laughter or pounding music to distract from this.

Mor had looked at Selene and she had been home. She was Velaris when it came alive after the sun had set and the stars scattered themselves about the sky above. She was the quiet time she spent during the nights, stood on a balcony, the cool air a fresh and welcome touch upon her skin, fever hot from dancing and singing and laughing at Rita’s. She was the heavy embrace of the darkness gilded with moonlight that made her feel safe, cherished.

Their courtship had been quiet, tentative. Mor had made excuses, so many that Cassian had teased her mercilessly and Az had quietly asked if everything was alright, to return to the Winter Court to visit her. She pretended it was for Viviane, their friendship so open and the letters they sent one another so constant that no-one questioned it but...But as soon as she could she went to Selene.

It took her time to open up, to trust Mor, to let her in. But soon...Soon she was showing her the court, at first just the cities, her favourite places to eat or to shop, different from the bustling places Viviane had dragged her too. But then something had changed, Selene had softened, a more vulnerable side emerging, and she’d taken her to all of her favourite places.

Mor hadn’t been able to get enough of her. There hadn’t been enough hours in the day, enough weeks in the ear, enough years in her eternity to spend with her. She had been so timid, opening up to her, revealing how she felt about females. It had been easier with Andromache. She had been human, separate, distinct. Selene...Selene was fae, was part of that world, could have ruined her so easily and yet...And yet. She had not been able to help herself.

That first time they had slept together had been the first time that Selene had seen Velaris. Mor had taken her, taken her to all of her favourite places, shown her everything she could all in that one visit. She had been sure she had overwhelmed her, sure she would simply wish to return home the next day, exhausted but...But instead they had ended up in that cabin in the mountains and Selene had stared with wonder at the night their court was famous for and then...Then she had kissed her.

They had tumbled into bed that same night and Mor had not known pleasure like this since Andromache had died, had never thought to feel this kind of pleasure again. Everything had gone quiet and still. She had forgotten that there was a world out there beyond that cabin, beyond the space where their bodies connected.

It had not lasted. Reality had rushed back in. One particularly bad visit to the Court of Nightmares had caused her to end it in a blind panic, imagining all of the things that her father would do to Selene, her beautiful, wonderful Selene, if he ever found out about her, about this. That terror, that he might take her from her, that he would hurt her, destroy her and she couldn’t stand it. She had handled it badly and Selene...After all the time it had taken to build up her trust, her interest, she had ruined everything between them that night.

Yet it handed ended there. They had both been young and foolish and Mor was still connected to that court through Viviane. Selene, it seemed, had never explained to her sister what they had had, what they had been to one another, what they might have been had Mor not rejected her. Viviane had, eventually, dragged her into staying with her once more and when she had seen Selene...She had broken.

She had confessed everything to her that night. The Court of Nightmares, the way she had grown up, what her father and Eris had done to her after she had slept with Cassian and ruined her betrothal. Selene had listened in that way of hers, that quiet that somehow went beyond silence, a calm so razor-edged and lethal that Mor could see the wild thing stir to life in her eyes. They had fallen into bed and into love with one another all over again but...

It had still ended. It always ended. Mor panicked. Or Selene needed more than she could give her. The distance grated on them. The need for secrecy and lies broke them both. Something always happened to tear them away from one another but...But something always happened to bring them back. No matter how far she ran, no matter how far apart the world pulled them something was always stronger, it always brought them back. Even conquest and war and tyranny had not been enough to separate them.

Here they were again, on the precipice of the dawn of the new world and they were together. They had survived. They were here. And Mor wanted her, she craved her, she needed her.

Not just for the reckless defiance that blurred the lines between sense and spite after the argument with Feyre. Not just because she needed something, anything, to take her away from the horror of this war, the prospect of watching those she loved die around her. Not just because she wanted someone to just hold her for one damned night where she could be soft and vulnerable, and something less than strong. Because she wanted her. She needed her. She always had. A part of her likely always would.

Selene feels her stare and turns slowly to her. Mor catches a flicker of lust lighting the deep slate grey of her eyes, making the silver dance through them. Then they slide down to her lips. Remaining there. She does not look away this time, does not flinch from the heat and lust that she must be able to feel blazing from her, that she can surely scent with so little distance between them.

Mor moves closer to her. They’re out here in the open, a stone’s throw from the entire Winter Court army. Her own army is camped not far from there, her own father amongst them but...But she feels reckless, defiant in the face of Feyre’s accusations, the words she had hurled at her. Liar. Liar. Liar. She squeezes her hand tightly, their lips a mere fraction from one another.

She feels it, tastes it, when Selene whispers, “Mor.” It’s a warning, a reproach, a hesitation but...She does not pull away. Her eyes flutter, half-closed, her mouth parts slightly, seeking for Mor’s.

A flicker of uncertainty stirs inside her as she realises how close they are, how open and exposed and vulnerable. She covers the moment, getting smoothly to her feet, as though this had always been the intention, the moment that had passed between them just now nothing more than a tease. “Come,” Mor murmurs quietly, not taking her eyes from the female still sitting primly upright on the grass, not having moved.

Mor holds out her hand. Invitation. Offer. Plea.

“Mor-“ Selene begins, still not moving.

She keeps her hand held out to her, says once more, not bothering to try to hide the faint note of desperation in her voice, not from her, when she says again, “Come.”

Selene takes a breath, closing her eyes, pressing her lips together. Then, faster than Mor can see, her hand shoots out, closing around Mor’s own, her grip death tight. A moment later she’s winnowed them, drawing them both into darkness and shadow, away, away, somewhere they can be alone together at last.

****

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