#but especially the main character. even when i write dialogue for him his voice is like my internal monologue voice

[carcarrot]

ok i think im actually going to have to make a checklist for all the references i want to get into my screenplay

[door-insurance]

So I played Life is Strange 2 for the first time ever

I didn’t wanna play it for a long time not cause it didn’t have Chloe or max (tbh I got sick of their asses around BtS they’re not even my faves)

By that point I was in college and had lost interest in the whole franchise but also I was very apprehensive of white creatives writing racism with no input from the group they’re portraying, they don’t usually do a good job

Sometimes they make it cartoony, sometimes they trivialize it, sometimes they romanticize it

So years later adulthood kicked my ass and I came back crawling to this franchise for some comfort, I finished True colors annnnd I finally started 2 after hesitating annnnd

^sketched this while playing

SPOILERS

I actually liked it

I liked Sean, the drawing segment he does- he was such a likable main guy, deserved better honestly.

I also liked Daniel, he was very adorable and I never got it when people called him annoying like no shit the 9 year old is gonna act like a 9 year old- just don’t be a jerk to him, I know he can be frustrating but that’s what taking care of a kid is like

And lis had always been about realistic complex characters, y’all can’t handle a traumatized nine year?

I have two younger siblings and two nieces plus I’ve been a bratty younger sibling to two older sisters

Maybe I’m just used to it?? But honestly Daniel wasn’t that bad

The racism portrayal in the first few episodes was not all that cartoony and it actually felt real at times, like I can check for American news rn and find stories similar to what you see in episodes 1-3 (minus the telekinesis)

Although the gas station racist hick spouting trump slogans was a bit on the nose, it’s more of dialogue thing

Some people thought the gas station detainment was egregious but it can happen unfortunately, especially to vulnerable people in rural areas and by someone of a higher systematic advantage

One other thing I did not like was the love interests, I thought Finn and Cassidy were alright characters on their own but why do we need romance in this game where the protagonists are always on the run?

I don’t like to compare lis 1 to 2 but when it comes to the romance the former did a better job as it spent more time establishing it, plus max stayed in the same place for the majority of the game- but you know what? Sean doesn’t have to be in a relationship right? It can be a one off thing, that’s fine

Which brings me to my next point

How old are Cassidy and Finn?

Cause Sean is still 16 and no, being on the road didn’t mentally age him- he’s not “mature” for his age

He is still a kid

So for some reason Dontnod never really specified their ages but some articles described them as teens (they look 30 to me) and they can be around 18 right? Their lives are hard stress ages you- it happens, we can with live that, it’s just a two years difference

But teens or not

why did they animate a whole knocking the boots scene???

Of all the games in the series, the only one that gets a sex scene is the one with the much younger protagonist and his ambiguously aged older looking love interest and I think it’s only with Cassidy you get to do it in the tent

Alex Chen was robbed of a on screen booty call from a beanie wearing lesbian with a sexy radio voice or a buff ass Adonis of a man who was Smokey the bear’s regional manager or something

Anyways I’m gonna move on I’m uncomfortable lmao

*im not hating on people who ship Sean with either Finn or Cassidy, I’m not even tagging your ship names- im just stating my personal preferences on my blog

One last thing I did not like about LiS 2 and it was the one thing that kept me from playing it for years

That one scene from episode 4

So at this point Sean Diaz went through the following:

-lost his father, had to abandoned his loved ones, education and home

-was accused of killing a cop

-had to take care of his little brother on his own while on the run, the same brother with telekinesis and none of them know how to control it

-was harassed, beaten then detained by a racist white man

-had to take refuge in an abandoned cabin with little resources

-the dog that they adopted at the gas station eventually gets mauled

-the one time they found solace at their grandparents house they had to leave abruptly cause the police was hot on their trail

-on their way out they can potentially witness the neighbors kid that they befriended get hit by the police car that’s chasing them

-they find shelter at a nomad campground but oh no they get involved with drug trafficking cause they barely have any other options to make money (unfortunately this happens a lot IRL this isnt egregious)

-Sean now has to deal with the trafficking, making sure that Daniel doesn’t get into any trouble with his powers while fake ass giancarlo esposito is breathing down his neck

-and guess what happens next… Daniel gets robbed into pulling a heist on temu gus fring and it goes badly, Sean can potentially lose a love interest/friend in Finn

-Sean gets hurt, Daniel goes so mad that he blows the whole place up; a shard glass flies into Sean’s eye and he ends up losing it

- Sean wakes up from a coma and learns that his brother is missing and he’s about to be taken to jail

- the one thing that consistently brought him joy during this trip was his art and because of the missing eye he can’t even do it the same anymore cause it hurts now

- Sean has to escape the hospital with a hot wired car, little money and has to drive across two states just to get to his brother

-on the way he dreams of his father, he wants him back he wants his old life back but that’s not gonna happen so he has to move forward

Im not listing all this as examples of bad story telling, a lot of these are real life experiences of homeless people. im just painting a picture of the shit that Sean had went through so far

Cause right after the dream sequence, Dontnod didn’t think all that was enough no you had to see Sean get hate crimed by two lifetime movie, sitcom special of the week racists- be made to either sing or suffer a brutal beating

It added nothing to the plot, it didn’t need a choice system either- it’s a hate crime, you’re not asking Joyce for fucking pancakes or eggs n bacon at the whales diner or hosing down Lisa the fckin plant.

This to me went straight to trauma p*rn category, it’s wheelchair Chloe all over again

I hated it then in LiS 1 and I hated now in LiS 2, this is why I don’t dick ride Dontnod that often

They always had this tendency right before the end they single out a particular character and mentally whip them, they become the writing teams punching bag- they think we didn’t get it the first time that this character is going through it, they just hammer it in with the subtlety of a heart attack and I hate it

“Yeah but it’s there to show Sean’s resolve to find Daniel-“

HE ESCAPED FROM THE HOSPITAL AND THE FEDS, HE HOT WIRED A CAR TO DRIVE ACROSS TWO STATES

He’s starving, dehydrated, suffering from chronic pain

That’s enough

Let the character breathe

You ask why not a lot of people wanna play this game and I’m gonna tell you, as much I enjoyed it myself it’s not an easy game to play- it gets brutal, especially right around the end

I’m not against bleakness or extreme conflict, I’m into that but sometimes that doesn’t translate well to any gaming format- especially a choices matter game that’s meant to be replayed

Some people have asinine reasons not to play LiS 2 like it dealing with racism and those people suck, lis had always dealt with progressive themes like calling out objectification, cyberbullying and sl*tshaming

Racism shouldn’t be the exemption

but misuse of racial trauma and not knowing when it’s appropriate to invoke it is a huge turn off and hella triggering to a lot of non white players and I remember when LiS 2 dropped I’ve seen (mostly white) lis fans at the time proclaiming that not wanting to play it meant that you were racist

Like I said there were probably racists who didn’t wanna touch the games cause of the main characters skin but there were people like me who were apprehensive of the “Let’s go to the mosh pit Shaka brah” people handling racism

This is the same studio that had Ms Grant (one of the few black characters from LiS 1) claim that the white settlers peacefully shared the stolen land with the native Americans

I find that shit harder to believe than the time traveling powers

And they were doing alright in the first episodes they covered stuff like unconscious biases slipping through, dog whistles, polite racism from the grandparents segment, police brutality, racial profiling and being targeted/othered- some of these things I went through when I visited western countries

Then they did the bullshit I feared theyd do…

I really don’t blame myself for being hyper vigilant at the time and honestly I was going through a lot then, even if I wanted to I wouldn’t have touched LiS 2 cause it’s a very heavy tasking game to play

I know I kinda made it seem like I didn’t like this game but I did, its the best one in terms of the choice system

It had more weight to it, seeing Daniel internalizing what you say to him or how you act around him was so cool

Also what the second game has over the first one aside from the choices system is the ending selection- I never liked picking the endings for max, I wanted her to pick the ending or her coding/script to do that

Its definitely more fleshed out technically even though LiS 1 has a special place in my heart it’s always gonna be no. 1- but im also glad that I got to experience the 2nd game for the first time, I liked it

Personal lis ranking

1: Lis 1

2: Lis 2

3: True colors

Discount bin: BtS

My personal fave moments from LiS 2:

- beating up the racist bully and giving him a concussion

-mushroom (rip icon)

- victorias letter

-winning that that bear from that claw machine

-gorillaz song that was not feel good inc

-Brody pointing at a fucked up looking arcadia bay yelling “that’s the past!”- that was hilarious

-Sean paying tribute to Arcadia bay in his sketchbook (this fucking kid man, he’s so sweet he deserves the world- what did he do to make DONTNOD mad at him)

- the wolf animation and the story that plays before every chapter

-this was the worst hate crime in the whole game

[mylonelydreaming]

For me, Link being "unhealthily obsessed with Zelda and finding her to the point Ganondorf is a footnote" isn't something that I think is "bad" at all, but precisely what makes this version of him remotely interesting (to me) when Nintendo is otherwise so adamant about keeping him a stoic knight most of the time.

It adds a different layer to him, turns him from this perfect, bland stoic boy into someone who only outwardly appears that way, appears like he has everything together, but is in fact flawed inside and a little broken from what has happened to him. A little off. That makes him much more interesting to me. It gives him a major character flaw that can be exploited by his enemies, and what do you know, Ganondorf and the Yiga Clan do exactly that (they even remark on what good bait she makes).

I also find it interesting to think about when he became this way. Was it the years he spent with her in-between games? Was it well before that, when he was aimlessly chasing that "beautiful voice" even before he remembered who he was? Was it some point before the Calamity? Did he become a knight in the first place not merely to follow his father's footsteps, but to one day protect her? I find this compelling to think about. Is making a specific person your life's purpose unhealthy in real life? Yes. It's also very interesting in a story.

And also on that note, isn't him becoming at least a little too obsessed with her a completely natural thing to happen?

For me, if you take away Link's (yes, I'll admit, unhealthy although I kind of like that), obsession with Zelda, then all that is left is the exact ways that people who hate not only zelink but Link himself describe him as all the time: A robot who feels nothing but duty.

And sorry, but I just find that very boring. Dull. Unexciting. I also, then, can't see why on earth Zelda would have feelings for Link if she's just a duty to him and her acts of affection, like sewing him a new tunic, are never returned. Frankly, I think she deserves a lot better than that, to have her feelings reciprocated and a happy ending after all that she's been through.

And to be honest, why would any writer make her feelings unreciprocated when she's basically the main focus of these two games? How does that make any sense? I also doubt any professional game dev working on a deadline would waste precious time writing and coding dialogue about it into the games if it supposedly wasn't meant to mean anything? I honestly rather dislike people brushing off things like Kass's song, because it ignores that it was purposefully written by the game's creators to tell the player something. It not only feels disrespectful to whoever wrote it, but ignores an extremely common convention of video games. I don't think it's really very fair to call it "bad writing" simply because it delivers the information like a video game and not like other visual mediums would have. Video games have always demanded the player to read things, investigate and read between the lines. Especially so when they are more focused on gameplay, which is exactly where Nintendo's focus lies.

And when it comes to "it should have been more obviously shown", well, look how people complain even when it's subtle? If you're someone who hates it, why complain about the romance not being overly blatant? Isn't that good? I mean, clearly an even bigger fit about it would have been thrown if they had been even more obvious, so personally, I think that the way Nintendo went about it was perfectly fine.

[antigonick]

just stumbled into one of your snippets and i'm OBSESSED with your writing style. it is so fluid and punchy and such a delight to read. if you ever feel like answering, how does your writing process works? what are your inspirations, style and tone-wise? and what themes do you enjoy exploring the most?

have a lovely day! 💌

Oh, that's... WELL. That's! The best compliment you could have sent me, thank you so much, I don't know what to say.. I'm actually trying to write a... I'm gonna call it a novel when it's just a mess of fragments right now, but—yeah. Fluid and punchy is exactly what I strive to achieve with the character's voice so this is so nice to hear. WHATEVER. THANK YOU.

Anyway! My writing process is really... steeped in rhythm, I guess? It starts with character writing, which leads me to character voice, which leads me to finding the right "mind" tempo, and from it cascades the headspace I need to write. In that, in the idea of perspective and voice influencing the story first, I'm indebted to Faulkner, to Marlon James, to Woolf's The Waves, to Shirley Jackson—to the perspectivism twists of horror and gothic writing as a general rule. Rereading her, I think Emily Brontë has shaped my metaphorical network very early on, and my handling of violence, especially in dialogue—though more recently, Tamsyn Muir made me tick about dialogue too. Malin Rydén is one of my utmost inspirations, not a little because the main character of my story was first created for his story, but also because he was my gateway into harder, grittier speculative fiction and digital literature, which both inspire me now for the story I'm trying to shape—horror out of the gothic castle and into the terrible anticipation of what comes next, with more politics, with ghosts and body horror twisted to technology. In terms of pure form, I'm extremely impacted by poetry—E. E. Cummings, Alice Oswald, Emily Dickinson—those who deconstruct syntax to wrangle it into breath. He didn't influence me because I discovered him too late, but I feel a kinship to some of the early stylistic experimentations of Frank Bidart too. Hanif Abdurraqib, whose first name I gave to one of my main characters too because his voice is incredible: it moves. Charles Olson's Projective Verse gestures at what I feel when I write, you know? "ONE PERCEPTION MUST IMMEDIATELY AND DIRECTLY LEAD TO A FURTHER PERCEPTION (…). Always one perception must must must MOVE, INSTANTER, ON ANOTHER! (…)" and then "Breath allows all the speech-force of language back in." Even silence can be your story-weapon.

I'm interested in... blowing apart labels, dichotomies, I think, making them harder to grapple with—right and wrong, love and hate, personal and universal; transgressions, fluidity; how language fails, how language betrays; the way human connection can both fuck you and raise you up, in its constant failure and constant trying, in the violence of intimacy, in the tension between hardness and vulnerability—more than anything, I'm interested in the way individual desires clash with collective needs or personal ideals, in the lies and justifications you can find for yourself, in what it means for you when you come to dismantle them (or refuse to). I love palimpsest, stories retold again and again, and/or I love difficult, ugly settings, speculative and dystopia topics, I want the story to be political in itself, even when it's not politicking; and I LOVE mindfucks: using our terribly faulty, terribly subjective perception / perspective / memory / dreams / FEARS / intellect to tell a story that is both fascinating because it's unique, and trapped by it. Can't escape yourself. What are you gonna do with yourself (against yourself, for yourself) now?

Formally, I try to use that in writing: trapping the reader in one voice that swallows them really, ideally that jostles them a little, that blurs the boundary between them and the character: extreme immersion. I like to try and convey emotion / impression and even action as it is experienced, rather than explaining it clearly. In that phenomenology has influenced me, I guess? Deleuze, Guattari, Merleau-Ponty, and poetry again, I guess. Archibald McLeish says "a poem should not mean / but be...", and that's what I try to do with the character I choose, and then I let them be, and they drive both the story and the writing that should echo it—form and content cycling each other like mirrors.

Goddamnit, that got so long. Anyway. THANK YOU for being interested, I'm really touched.

[katlyntheartist]

Knuckle series is out!! Any thoughts? Does it affect your Jojo and Gang au?

Spoilers for the Knuckles series people! Avert your eyes children!

First, let's talk about the things I liked:

- Sonic and Tails were great for as little screen time as they had. And Maddie trying to be patient with Knuckles while also not strangling him was great, haha. As someone who worked at a Daycare, I related to her dealing with kids like Knuckles and Maddie's facial expressions when she was grounding Knuckles were on point. Also THEY HAVE A PLAIN BED FOR TAILS AND A TRUCK BED FOR KNUCKLES AHHHHH!!!!!

-Pachacamac is a Jedi Force ghost? Alright then. I don't know much about this character outside of Sonic X but I thought that he was fine. And Christopher Lloyd does a great job as usual.

-Wade was not terrible. I like how he has some character growth through the series and at the end he isn't a master warrior/fighter. He's still a goofball but now he's thinking things through and using what he has and his current surroundings to his advantage in a fight, and isn't just hiding and waiting for Knuckles to save him. But him breaking out of the cage in episode 4 was a bit ridiculous. What was that cage made of, cardboard? He really should have broken his hand or something.

-I liked the villains but I wish that we got to see them more involved in the story, especially the buyer. Who was menacing for about five minutes and then was crushed to death like, dang 0-0

-NANA WHIPPLE AND KNUCKLES SPINOFF SHOW PLEASE!!

-Knuckles was the best part of the show. He's the strong tough warrior but with a big heart and good intentions, though a bit misguided at times. Idris did a great job, nothing new there.

And now let's get into the things I didn't like:

-The show is %70 Wade bowling story and %30 Knuckles adjusting to earth and his backstory with Pachacamac and his tribe and his connection to the master emerald and everything else that the show should have been about. The Wade sub plot takes up so much time that we don't get to explore Knuckles. I wished that we had gotten to see him learn to appreciate and call Earth his new home instead of him just accepting it at the end. It just felt so rushed.

-Episode four wasn't awful but I didn't care for it. Also you can NOT show us the Flames of Disaster from '06 and not have Silver or Blaze show up. You can't do that >:(

-Knuckles and Maddie didn't get to have a heart to heart conversation which is what I and many others thought that was what the show was building up to. Also he never gets in trouble for running way and we never cut back to seeing Maddie or Sonic and Tails realizing Knuckles is gone, or even Sonic and Tails trying to cover for Knuckles. I get that the CGI was expensive and voice actor and actor schedules might not have worked out for it to happen, but my point still stands.

-Wanda was useless and you could have cut her out and lost nothing. Don't get me wrong, the actress is good but she feels wasted here. Her character is so annoying and serves no purpose other than to be mean to Wade. And why do we have to have the "siblings who hate each other but make up at the end" cliche? I would have liked Wanda more if she was nicer to Wade from the start and if they had a fun sibling bond with each other. Also if she was able to actually use her skills as an FBI agent to at least hold her own against the gang when they attack Nanna Whipple's house. Also the dad needed to be more comedically villainous, he was too generic.

-Like I said the villains here are fine but the Buyer's whole character is to just show up, have a cool robot fight, and die. We don't get to see him be a threat to Knuckles at all, he just appears for the climax and then is offed in a snap. And the two agents were fun but a lot of their dialogue was graining.

-And that leads me to the main problem with the series. The writing. I'm aware that the writers for the main movies didn't work much on this series, except Jeff did do the first episode. Which is why it's the best one. There is no balance between the jokes and the emotional moments. The show is so focused on trying to make you laugh every five minutes that it sacrifices genuine emotional growth for the characters especially for Knuckles. You know, the whole reason for the show existing in the first place. It suffers the same problems that the live action Ton and Jerry movie had, where the main stars weren't allowed to be the main stars of their film. All of the screen time there went to the human characters who weren't interesting or just plain annoying and mean.

And the dialogue for the show teeters back and forth between actually funny/well written and being dangerously close to obnoxious. And kids shows having jokes all the time isn't a problem. Rottmnt and the Lego Movies are both kid properties that fire off a joke every minute but they knew when to cut back and let the emotional moments shine. The jokes in the Knuckles show felt more like they were pandering to four year old's then actually trying to be funny and the emotional moments felt kind of forced.

I don't want to give any of the writers or anyone who worked on this show a hard time. I can see that everyone worked hard and had fun with this. And I had fun too. There were some good moments between Knuckles and Wade and even a few jokes that got me. But the problems I listed above are just to hard for me to ignore. If you liked the Knuckles series then great for you! I'm happy you were able to have a great time! But for me it was just ok.

Not great. But not bad either. 5/10.

Now, about this affecting Jojo and Gang. I think what I'll do is have comic take place a month after the Knuckles series. And use my AU to focus on Knuckles getting accustomed to Earth and learning to call it home. Basically my AU will do what the Knuckles series didn't.

[corellianhounds]

In my criticisms of S2 and S3 of Mando and TBoBF, one of my complaints is with the scripts and stories themselves, and characters who could have been utilized better

I loved Carson Teva in “The Passenger,” but the dialogue and role they give him in “The Siege” could have been done better (like my suggestion here), and his encounter with Mando in TBoBF and the episodes he has in season 3 don’t feel like professional, meaningful dialogue or character structuring. Part of that is the bad writing and storytelling of whatever they were setting up in season 3, but his character in those seasons also sounds more like an actor reciting lines, not a fleshed out character. I don’t feel any reason to listen to this guy because he’s not grounded or weighty. It doesn’t feel like I or the characters should have to listen to what he has to say because there’s no meat to him. I’m not a fan of him being the Nick fury-esque connecting thread between these shows either but that’s a separate complaint.

And the thing is, I don’t think it’s the actor’s fault. I haven’t seen him in anything else, but this script and the direction is bad enough on its own I can tell those are the main problems. Teva could have been a really good lawman to balance out the rest of these people operating outside of the law! He could have been the more straight-laced white hat sheriff archetype you see in westerns, but lawful good characters don’t have to be boring, especially if you make them this grizzled old sheriff who’s lived and experienced loss for decades fighting the good fight and still come out kind on the other side. I would have liked to see a more weathered cowboy/ranger/marshal who’s still just as sharp, analytical, and observant as he was as a younger man, quick on the draw and two steps ahead of the people around him, younger officers and criminals and people like Mando realizing that just because he’s quiet, it doesn’t mean the gears aren’t turning. Make him an echo of Mando, somebody Din might have been if he’d been given different circumstances in life. The old wizened sheriff vs the lone gunslinger bounty hunter. They’re not on opposite sides, they just have different means of achieving similar goals, and because they’re too similar in personality and because their paths are too different from one another, they end up clashing by virtue of circumstance, not necessarily because they dislike one another

Right now there isn’t really a lot we get of Teva and it makes him feel shallow and uninteresting. Even small characters should feel like a person with a history. Make him a war veteran, but make him a survivor of Alderaan too. Make him the sheriff and detective people underestimate because he’s quiet and unassuming and uses his place in the background to observe and gather all of the information before being able to step forward with accusations and answers that confirm the suspicions and hunches he’s been following up to that point. Have people floundering when they realize they’ve been caught with nowhere to run. He never draws first when he draws first blood— He’s the guy who ends fights, and often ends them before they even begin. All it takes is him clapping a hand on someone’s shoulder for them to realize they’ve stepped out of line, or they’re in a lot more trouble than they realized. He doesn’t raise his voice because he doesn’t have to— People listen when he talks, a commanding presence that tells you he wouldn’t be saying something if it weren’t worth the time it takes to say it. Show me this guy has a history, show me that he knows the meaning of loss, and show me how deeply he cares for people and wants to see them safe.

All of that would make for a more compelling character in the midst of these antiheroes and gunslingers. These shows didn’t have to set up the sequel movies or the circumstances of the New Republic or how the Empire was able to linger for as long as it did after the war. They could have just focused on the regular people on the ground, living and surviving in trying times.

[maochira]

Bllk guys (make ur pick) with a s/o that's OBSESSED with reading and always giggling at her book bc of the main love interest and they get jealous??

Hi!! I really like the idea of a book obsessed reader, but I changed a bit about your request because I really dislike the idea of a partner being jealous of a fictional character,, personal reasons and experiences make me picky about writing jealousy!! Sorry!! I hope you don't mind too much!!

Requests open! - masterlist

Tags: gn!reader x Isagi, established relationship, fluff

Isagi adores your obsession with books so so much!! He loves it whenever you tell him about the book you're currently reading and the characters in it. He always thinks it's cute how excited and giggly you get while reading and he simply adores how lost you get in the book you're reading. He always wonders how you manage to read so much, especially when you tell him about a book and he memorizes one or two characters' names, two days later he asks you about them again but you always respond "Oh they're from the last book I read, I'm halfway into the next one."

Isagi doesn't read as much as you, he doesn't have the time or concentration for it, but he loves it whenever you read a chapter or two to him while cuddling or when he's falling asleep. It's mostly about hearing your voice in general, but he also loves how you much you get into the roles of the characters when reading their dialogues. It's one of his favourite things about you! If he's not with you, he either asks you to read to him on a phone call or in a voice message instead.

Isagi has tried to read a handful of books that you really loved by himself to surprise you, but he always quickly realizes it's not the same as having you read them to him. Reading them by himself just doesn't even get close to how warm he feels on the inside whenever he hears your voice reading your favourite stories out loud.

[daydreamingfuel]

Freak Like Me

Chapter 3

Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader

AO3 // previous // next

Y/N has just moved to Hawkins from England with her parents and is starting at the high school in the final term of her senior year. Eddie immediately takes a liking to her and they become fast friends, deciding to take her under his wing and falling to her charms. This is Hawkins however and things are never quite as they seem...

WHOLE FIC TAGS & WARNINGS: gratuitous use of Y/N (I'm not sorry), friends to lovers, slow burn, mutual pining, eventual smut, semi-fix-it-fic, angst, injury, canon dialogue and events used, canon graphic violence, no main character death :)

Chapter Tags & Warnings: a hell of a lot of angst, Chrissy gets vecna'd, hurt some comfort, intense flirting with little payoff, daddy issues get worse??

Chapter Word Count: 7.8k

A/N - I apologise in advance, this hurt me to write too so don't yell at me

The days that passed were much the same, the days quickly turned to weeks, and over the month and weeks that they knew each other and grew closer, they had developed a smooth routine. Eddie picking her up for school; lunch with Hellfire; sneaking off to the table in the woods for a smoke and gratuitous but harmless flirting; studying, D&D prep and dinner at either the Y/L/N house or the trailer. On the days Eddie worked and Y/N had a shift at the bakery she managed to land a part-time job at, she would take a coffee and a pastry to him at the record shop so they could have lunch together, quickly learning he forgets to eat between customers and is grumpy the morning after. But Friday night, Hellfire night, was the best. It wasn’t at first, however. The older boys in the group had their grievances, of course, Y/N walking in on them voicing their distaste to Eddie before her first session with the group.

“C’mon, man! She’s gonna ruin it for the rest of us.” Jeff groaned in annoyance, sinking into his seat at the table and glaring at his Dungeon Master.

Gareth harumphed in agreement and spouted his own disapproval, “She’s never played before, this is gonna be shit! This is supposed to be your big final campaign before finals! Just because you’ve got a stupid crush on her doesn’t mean that we have to-”

Eddie's hands slam down on the table. “Enough!” The boys shrunk back in their seats at his sudden raised voice, before his furious gaze locked onto his best friends, “Unless either of you wants your perfectly crafted characters to suffer a fate worse than death in the most horrific ways I can possibly think of I will not have another bad word said about Y/N joining the party. Am I understood?”

“Understood.” They both said, in slight fear at Eddie's rage.

“Understood,” Y/N echoed from the doorway having overheard the whole thing, sparing the boys a glare of her own before sending Eddie a wink and taking her place at the table.

Y/N, despite having a truly horrible first attempt at playing, fell in love with the game, especially once she was the only one who could save them at the end of their first session and won the boys around. She quickly got into the swing of things, returning home from sessions buzzing with anticipation of the next session. Try as she might to get even a small clue about the progression of the story he was crafting, she couldn’t get a word out of Eddie. Not when she brought him freshly baked cookies and let him ramble for hours on end about future campaign ideas. Or when she would excitedly go over her notes in the van on the way back home after a session, hoping that he would let something slip but he never did.

He saw through her every time, “Sorry darlin’ you ain’t getting shit from me.”

“But Eds…” she would whine and close her notebook in a huff, making him laugh, “just something little, basically insignificant. Please, Eddie?”

She made him weak, but not weak enough, “Nice try sweetheart.”

The man took his role as Dungeon Master seriously, and it definitely paid off. Eddie truly came to life when he was DM’ing, and the sessions allowed for an escape Y/N had never had. Not to mention that it was amazing to watch the intense combination of pure joy Eddie clearly got from the game and the stern concentration on running the campaign. Playing ‘God’ for a few hours brought out a rarely seen confident aura. He was enigmatic, and Y/N could feel herself fall for him more and more with every week that passed.

Relationships blossomed in other areas of her life, outside of Eddie, as well. Chrissy had become a hesitant but fierce friend and confidant, and despite the conflicting emotions that came with it, they loved spending time together away from their respective boys. Mostly their conversations stemmed from their joined interest in classic romantic literature, but over time they started to tell each other anything and everything. It felt good to have a feminine best friend again. Someone to have mini spa sessions and self-care days with. To talk about makeup, and romcoms, and go shopping with. To gush about undying crushes and frustrations. Plus, the friendship came with the bonus that it thoroughly pissed off Jason. Of course, Eddie wasn’t sure at first, either. He didn’t trust that it wouldn’t come back to bite them in the ass if Jason were to ever overhear their conversations, but as soon as he learned that Jason hated that the girls were fast friends, he was all for it. Even going as far as to pick them up from shopping trips in the van after work when he could.

Chrissy brought out a side of Y/N that she thought was abandoned in England with her old life. A strange part of her felt like she was leading a double life, and worse was that she kept getting horrific déjà vu from seemingly innocent moments with Chrissy. It wasn’t anyone’s fault but her own for not being honest about her past. But she had such a good thing going she didn’t want to ruin it. But the walls were starting to crack, for both of them. Chrissy could tell that Y/N was hiding something from her, but she couldn’t quite place what, mentally noting all the times that she would vaguely stare off into space then shake it off with a smile and go on as if nothing happened. And Y/N would notice all the skipped meals and times when Chrissy would disappear for a good few minutes after any meals they did have together and come back smelling strongly of perfume, brushing it off just as easily. All they needed was a little push for the walls to come crashing down around them.

Spring Break, something Y/N had never experienced, was coming up fast. Lucas was taking his basketball duties more seriously; the final session of Eddie’s most complex campaign for Hellfire was approaching and they had no idea how it was going to end; college application deadlines creeping up on them - it was all coming to an abrupt end, all too fast. Y/N never thought she would say it, but she wasn’t ready for school to end just yet. Before she had time to fully process anything happening in her life, which was starting to feel more like the beginning of a romcom than reality, the final week of term rolled around. And it flew by. Waking up on Friday, and donning her custom Hellfire shirt which was slightly tailored and re-hemmed to fit her waist and neck better, her mind was flooded with ideas of all the things that she could do during her time off. Most of them including Eddie, she had a big surprise planned for him and couldn’t wait to tell him that night. And Chrissy, they had so many dates planned Y/N had to start writing them down to keep track. And Dustin and Lucas, who had promised to introduce her to some of their other friends in Y/N’s year whilst Mike went to California to visit the Byers.

But her morning didn’t start the way she had wanted. As she mindlessly wandered into the kitchen, she slammed straight into her dad walking towards her room.

“Oop!” Y/N wobbled and he caught her slightly, “Sorry dad, I didn’t realise you were still here.”

“That’s actually why I was coming to wake you. Why are you awake so early?” The man straightened himself out as he talked.

“Pep rally before classes start.” He nodded sharply at Y/N’s answer before turning on his heel and leading Y/N to the kitchen table where Mrs Y/L/N was already sitting, tissue in hand.

“Mum?” Y/N immediately took a seat as close to her mother as she could and gripped her hand, staring at her father incredulously, “Dad, what’s going on?”

“I’m leaving for a few months. Work trip, completely unavoidable.” His eyes flick to the suitcases piled by the door, “I leave for Nevada at noon.”

“Excuse me?” Y/N blinked at the man in front of her, rage consuming her, her breathing becoming more laboured as she processed what her father had said. “You’re just leaving? With no other warning?”

“I received the call this morning, Y/N, there was no further warning.” Mr Y/L/N tried to explain as calmly as possible, but his frustration was evident. His whole body was tensed, hands flexing by his sides, and veins straining on his neck with every word.

“We knew this might happen dear,” Mrs Y/L/N sniffled from beside her, “if his work needs him-”

“Then that’s his main priority, I know.” Y/N finished, unable to hide the bitterness in her voice, making her father sigh and groan in annoyance.

“You’re not making this any easier, do you really believe I want to just leave you and your mother like this?” Mr Y/L/N finally breaks, storming towards and towering over Y/N.

“Well, I haven’t properly seen you in months anyway. So, what difference does it make?” Y/N sunk into her seat, fiddling with her hands in her lap, avoiding eye contact, voice flat.

Silence fell, the room tense. Only broken when Eddie honked from outside.

“I’ve got to go, don’t want to be late for school. I’ll be back late mum, but I’ll be home I promise.” She kisses her mum on the temple and she pats Y/N’s hands in understanding. “Dad…”

“If you get into any trouble, you call me.” Mr Y/L/N says sternly, but his eyes were red from holding back tears. “Don’t get into trouble.”

“I’ll try,” Y/N forced a small smile onto her face before suddenly she was engulfed by her dads' arms. Her heart ached, and she found herself tightening her fists around the fabric of his shirt. The once-familiar scent of his aftershave flooded her senses and soothed a small part of her soul. As she pulled away, she felt a small kiss land on her hairline and she shuddered, holding back her own tears. She wouldn’t let him see her cry. Not now, not ever.

Of course, Eddie immediately noticed something was wrong and a strange feeling of déjà vu washed over them. Her smile at him was forced and his grip on the steering wheel was tight, the bats flying on his forearm once again. He didn’t want to push, and she didn’t speak, slumped against the window, watching the trees and houses go by. Y/N didn’t realise her knee was bouncing until she felt his warm hand fall onto it and squeeze gently to tell her he was there. After a few more minutes of silence, he swallowed his nerves and finally spoke up.

“You know you can talk to me, right?” His voice was soft and worried, he hadn’t seen her this shut off before and it scared him. He heard her sniffle and clear her throat before sitting up straighter and threading her fingers through his hand on her knee.

“I know, Eds, just not right now.” He nodded and squeezed her hand once more, and she squeezed back composing herself a little as they came up to the school, “I need to go meet Chrissy before the pep rally, so quick detour? Then breakfast?”

He responded by pulling into the school car park at the last second and parking up near the gates. He jumped out of the car and rounded the front to open her door, before finally saying, “Yeah, you go have your little gossip session, I’ll be here waiting for you. Don’t be too long or I’ll go eat without you.”

She chuckled slightly and a smile pulled onto his face at the sound, holding onto it as he shut the door to the van and watched her walk away, shouting over her shoulder, “You wouldn’t dare, Munson. I’ll be quick!”

Chrissy all but ran to catch up with Y/N as they entered the building, her ponytail swaying as she looped her arm through Y/N’s. Her smile was as sweet as ever but Y/N saw straight through it. Late the previous night, Y/N had received a phone call from a panicking Chrissy who had just woken up from a horrible nightmare. Y/N had managed to calm her down enough to go back to sleep but the girl was restless. It was obvious to Y/N that her best friend had barely slept a wink after they hung up the phone. To anyone else, she was as bright and bubbly as normal. They walked the familiar path through the school towards the back of the gym, Chrissy gripping Y/N’s arm. Once they reached the door, the blonde turned towards Y/N and pulled her in for a tight hug.

“I can’t do this,” Chrissy whispered, voice small.

Y/N ran a soothing hand up and down her friend's back, “Yes, you can.”

“It just keeps getting worse, Y/N…but I feel paralysed, I just feel like I’m going insane.” Chrissy rambles into Y/N’s shoulder before pulling away and looking her in the eye. “I can’t keep doing this, I’m going to break.”

“Hey, you know I’m always here for you…you don’t need to tell me if you don’t want to but I have noticed that you’re not well, Chris,” Y/N says gently, not wanting Chrissy to push her away but she just sighs and slumps back against the wall, swallowing a lump in her throat.

“These nightmares…they feel too real…like I’m actually living them again,” Chrissy admits to Y/N, who nods in understanding, being plagued by nightmares herself, and allowing her the space to talk. “They’re mostly of my mother, of the things she tells me about myself…my body.”

Y/N takes a deep breath, connecting the dots. Chrissy’s weird behaviour around food and the frequent bathroom visits all started to make sense, and made Y/N so angry at herself for not picking up the signs earlier. “How long have you been…?”

“A couple months,” Chrissy’s arms wrapped around her body, hiding, “but she started restricting my diet years ago when I first became a cheerleader, it got worse when I became captain…and that’s when I started to…”

“Yeah.” Y/N closed her eyes and flexed her hands a little before reaching out and placing a hand on top of Chrissy’s “I’m so sorry.”

Chrissy opened her mouth to speak but stopped herself when she saw the rest of the cheerleaders walking towards them, “We’ll continue this later, don’t think I haven’t noticed you either, no more secrets.” Chrissy’s eyes were wide, searching Y/N’s for any hesitance or doubt but she only found surrender and concern, “For either of us.”

Y/N nodded in agreement and pulled Chrissy back in for another hug, when a thought popped into her head, whispering the idea to her friend, “Feel free to shoot me down, I know it sounds insane but go meet Eddie by the table in the woods during free period, he might be able to give you something to help relax you enough to get a good night’s sleep.”

“Really? He’d do that?” Chrissy asked with a forced smile, being able to see her squad over Y/N’s shoulder and upon feeling Y/N nod, she thought for a second before replying, “I’ll think about it, I’ve got another session with Ms Kelly later, anyway…it might help.”

When Y/N left Chrissy to her other friends, Y/N headed straight back to the van, Eddie back in the driver’s seat, rocking out by himself to the Iron Maiden song blasting through his speakers. His predictability soothed her. They had planned to blow off the pep rally entirely, and go have breakfast at a little diner not too far away before school, and after Chrissy’s confession, Y/N wanted nothing more than a bit of comfort. Pulling open the door and sliding into the passenger seat, she greeted Eddie - “told you I’d be fast” – before settling into the drive to the familiar diner. Breakfast with Eddie was easy, calming despite his hyperactive nature, exactly what she needed after the hell of a morning she was already having. All they could talk about was the impending final session of the campaign that night, Y/N bugging him for any kind of reprieve. Which only made him laugh. The sound had become one of her favourite things and she made it her personal mission to hear it as much as possible.

The rest of her morning ran smoothly after breakfast. She didn’t bump into Chrissy again but the whole school was buzzing after the pep rally, so she assumed everything went well and she managed to perform without cracking. By the time lunch rolled around, Y/N had mostly managed to force the morning from her mind. And Eddie would only push it further away. He had found a copy of a magazine with a scathing article about his beloved game and was animatedly reading it aloud for the group to hear.

“‘The Devil has come to America.’” His voice was deep and lilting, mimicking that of an infomercial voiceover, right as Dustin and Mike take their seats at the table next to Y/N, “‘Dungeons and Dragons, at first regarded as a harmless game of make-believe, now has both parents and psychologists concerned.’” Y/N rolled her eyes, picking at her food as she listened to Eddie, his voice becoming more and more him with every sentence, “‘Studies have linked violent behaviour to the game, saying it promotes satanic worship, ritual sacrifice, sodomy, suicide, and even” He slams the magazine down onto the table “’…murder.’”

The table chuckled at the ridiculous article, and at Eddie, Y/N scoffing before commenting, “Society has to blame something. We're an easy target.”

“Exactly.” Eddie brushes Y/N’s chin with his thumb, lifting it slightly with his index finger, winking before starting to rant, “We're the freaks because we like to play a fantasy game. But-” he rises from his seat and gets up to stand on the table, walking down the middle, “as long as you're into band or science…” he addresses the cliques as he mentions them, voice getting louder, “…or parties,” he mocks the group dressed like they just got back from a rager, who flipped him off, before he directed his attention to his true targets, “or a game where you toss balls into laundry baskets!”

“Loser!” Someone shouts, but Eddie doesn’t care, as he stares down Jason Carver who is glaring right back.

“You want something, freak?” Jason calls him out, and Eddie being Eddie, only mocks further – placing his fingers to his head like devils’ horns as a feral sound falls from his lips, smirking afterwards at Jason's disgusted face, “Prick” Jason mutters to himself as Eddie turns away.

“It's forced conforming. That's what's…” He jumps off the table and scares an innocent bystander, making a further spectacle of himself “…killing the kids!” The group chuckles at his antics but he bows back and holds out a gentlemanly arm to allow two cheerleaders to pass without incident before settling back into his seat, “That's the real monster.” He finishes his rant, one hand picking at his food, the other falling onto Y/N’s knee, her hand immediately covering it with her own, his thumb rubbing a soothing circle into her skin through her jeans.

“So, uh, speaking of monsters,” Dustin pipes up, he’s grinning his usual adorable smile but it doesn’t quite meet his eyes, which are slightly scared, “uh, Lucas has to do his, uh, balls-in-laundry-baskets game. So…he's not gonna be able to make it to Hellfire tonight.” Dustin giggles as he speaks but Eddie just stares blankly back at him, “And I know there's no way we can beat your sadistic campaign without him. So, me and Mike, we were talking, shooting the shit, and we were thinking that maybe we might…” Dustin is stammering, trying to break the question to Eddie gently but Mike, who was growing increasingly more frustrated cuts in.

“Postpone.” Mike finally says, causing the boys at the table to erupt into complaints.

“Postpone? You can't just drop this on us!” Gareth and Jeff are outraged by the mere notion but not as much as Grant who states a firm “Over my dead body.”

Y/N shakes her head at the childish behaviour, sure she loved the game, but wasn’t supporting their friend just as important?

“Shut up!” Eddie finally snaps and silence falls across the table, “You saying Sinclair's been taken in by the dark side?”

“Uh, something like that.” Mike hesitantly agrees but only gets a bit of food thrown at him.

“Something like that?” Eddie echoes, pulling a small ‘Jesus Christ’ from Dustin in response. Eddie just continues, “And rather than find a sub for him, you want…” his eye twitches, “you want to postpone "The Cult of Vecna"?” Eddie finishes incredulously, burning a hole through Mike’s skull with his eyes.

“I…I don't want to postpone it. We don't want to postpone it.” Mike gestures to Dustin who nods emphatically, but Eddie isn’t hearing any of it, standing up from the table, Y/N’s hand gripping his to try and keep him calm, his knuckles turning pink with the force of his grip, “It's just that, you know, most of the subs will be at the championship game.”

“Oh, it's the championship game?” Eddie finally turns back to look at Mike.

Mike seems confused “Yeah?”

“Can I level with you?” He drops Y/N’s hand, and she sighs deeply muttering a small ‘here we go...’ under her breath, knowing that Eddie isn’t going to just let this go and there would be no reasoning with him. “Jeff graduates this year. Gareth's got, what? A year and a half? Me, I am army-crawling my way toward a D in Ms O'Donnell's. If I don't blow her final, and I know I won’t thanks to Y/N,” He smiles at her and she winks back, the tutoring had been working, his grades were up and it looked like was finally going to graduate, “I'm gonna walk that stage next month, I'm gonna look Principal Higgins dead in the eye, I'm gonna flip him the bird, I'm gonna snatch that diploma. I'm gonna run like hell outta here.”

The group once again laughs at Eddie's dramatics, Y/N unable to stop the grin on her face that he was so excited about graduating. But of course, his friends had to humble him a little.

“Didn't you say that last year?” Commented Gareth, smiling smugly but with affection, Jeff added in the same manner, “And the year before?”

“Yeah, yeah, and I was full of shit.” Eddie agrees but continues, his deep brown eyes were wide and hopeful, “This year's different. This year is my year. I can feel it. '86, baby.” He grins, eyes locking onto Y/N’s, a small blush creeping up onto his cheeks but he brushes it off and continues addressing the freshmen who look up at him with admiration, “You know what that means?” the boys shake their heads “It means you boys are the future of Hellfire.” Eddie rounds the table to crouch behind Dustin and Mike, arms draped across their shoulders “I knew it the moment I saw you. You sat on that table right over there, looking like…looking like two little lost sheep. You were wearing a Weird Al T-shirt, which I thought was brave.”

“Thank you.” Dustin nods but is unable to meet Eddie’s intense eye contact.

“Mike, you were wearing whatever shit your mommy bought you from goddamn Gap.” The table laughs once more but it is cut off when Eddie suddenly stands, pulling the freshmen up with him, “And we showed you that school didn't have to be the worst years of your lives, right?

“No.” Mike and Dustin agree, they had been taken in and appreciated for all their quirks and nerdiness by Eddie, they had a friend and inspiration in their Dungeon Master, despite of how much he scared them sometimes.

So, Eddie continued, “Okay, no, no. Well, I'm here to tell you, that there are other little lost sheepies out there who need help. Who need you. And all you guys gotta do is get your Bo-Peeps on and go and find one.” He pushed them away into the crowd, turning back to the table and taking his seat again as the boys scurried off.

“Don’t you think that was a bit much, Eds?” Y/N questions before taking a bite of her sandwich, shrugging it off when Eddie’s glare focuses on her. He was always ‘a bit much’, and they all knew it. His gaze softened when he saw that she was only teasing him. Her eyes sparkled and a smile tried to force its way onto her face behind the sandwich.

“You too, darlin’? You wound me.” His voice is low and warning, making a chill run down her spine but she ignores it and sighs, head tilting slightly.

“I’m just saying that it’s not completely unreasonable for them to want to support Lucas, he has been their best friend since they were kids.” Y/N gently explains, leaning back in her seat as though to challenge him a little. She wasn’t lying but she knew he wouldn’t budge, this was too important to him, but what was the harm in humbling him a little anyway?

Eddie licks his lips and quirks an eyebrow up at her, trying to figure out how best to respond, shocked at her lack of blind obedience to his word. “Do you want to die the most painful death at the hands of my, what was it that Henderson said…sadistic campaign?”

“I was never going to survive to the end anyway, I’m sure you’ve already made sure of that, Dungeon Master.” Y/N bit back with a smile, mischief glinting in her eyes, Eddie's eyes flaming back at her.

Gareth butt in before Eddie could say another word, “Will you two stop flirting at the table?” both of their heads turned to face him, seeing the older boys gagging at their behaviour made them chuckle, hands linking under the table, “I’m trying to eat and you two make me sick.”

“Too bad.” Eddie threw a crust at Gareth who swatted it away as distracted whilst Eddie leaned in to whisper to Y/N, “Valiant effort darlin’, but if you want me to break you’re going to have to try a little harder.”

He turned back to the other boys and chatted mindlessly as Y/N’s mind fogged up.

He knows.

Of course, he knows, idiot, you don’t exactly make it subtle. He probably thinks you’re pathetic, drooling over him.

Shut up.

Come on, you don’t really think you stand a chance? Have you seen yourself? You’re gonna be left alone again if you keep pushing.

First at your old school, now Daddy’s leaving you…how long before Eddie leaves too?

“I gotta go.” Y/N suddenly stood up from the table, grabbing her things and swallowing thickly to suppress the panic swarming her. Eddie's eyes were frantic, tracing her to find what was wrong. “I need to be alone for a bit but I’ll see you all later”

Y/N started walking away, leaving the boys immensely confused until she heard Eddie stumbling after her, “Hold up! Y/N wait!” Y/N kept walking, eventually coming to an empty corridor. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing I just-”

“Cut the bullshit, Y/N. Talk to me.” Eddie says running a hand through his hair in frustration. Y/N slumped back against the wall and slid down to the floor, where Eddie immediately joined her.

“My dad…he’s leaving for a few months, work thing,” Y/N said quietly, staring at her shoes, and fidgeting with the edges of her sleeves, “And I know we don’t have the best relationship, we haven’t been close in years, but still…”

“Is that why you were so sad this morning?” Eddie asked softly and Y/N nodded. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Y/N’s eyes closed, and her head rested back against the wall, trying to find the right words, “I don’t know…I wanted to, I want to tell you everything, I’m just…I’m scared.”

“Scared of me?” Eddie had never sounded so small, the words hung in the air for a moment and Y/N shook her head, eyes springing open to see him chewing on his lip, hands trembling slightly.

“No. Never scared of you.” She reached out and took his hands into hers, “What I need to tell you isn’t easy, and I don’t want to push you away.”

“Whatever it is, I’m not going anywhere.” Eddie pulled her in for a tight hug right as the bell rang, “Except for class.”

Y/N chuckled lightly and pulled herself off the floor. “Free period. I’m gonna go to the library, meet you there after you’ve done whatever deals you have today?” He nods and picks up his bag, following her down the hall.

He walks her to the library and as she enters, he leans on the door frame and asks “Hey, do you think Dustin and Mike are out ‘Bo-Beeping’?”

As it turned out, Mike and Dustin had gotten their ‘Bo-Peep’ on and managed to recruit a sub for Lucas, none other than Lucas’ own little sister Erica Sinclair. She looked sweet enough, bright blue jumper, hair perfectly coifed, and an American flag wrapped around her shoulders like a cape. but her attitude is what immediately sold Y/N. She had no patience for Eddie, making her stifle a laugh from beside him as he reclined in his throne, interrogating the young girl to no mercy.

Erica stood her ground as Eddie towered over her, stating firmly who she was. “My name is Lady Applejack. And I'm a chaotic good half-elf rogue, level 14. I will sneak behind any monster you throw my way and stab them in the back with my poison-soaked kukri. And I'll smile as I watch them die a slow, agonizing death. So, we gonna do this, or we gonna keep chitchatting like this is your mommy's book club?”

Y/N smiled devilishly, strangely proud of the girl, and it was clear that Eddie liked her too, a wide grin spreading across his face before holding his hand out for her to shake, stating, “Welcome to Hellfire.”

The session was brutal. Everyone was struggling to make any hits with enough damage worth a damn, and they were losing their own health quickly. They were floundering. Eddie truly had been evil in his creation of the campaign, but the worst was yet to come for the party.

“The hooded cultists chant, ‘Hail Lord Vecna.’ ‘Hail Lord Vecna.’ They turn to you, remove their hoods. You recognize most of them from Makbar. But there is one you do not recognize,” The group is listening intently, laser-focused on Eddie as he talks, “his skin shrivelled, desiccated. And something else. He is not only missing his left arm,” he hides his arm behind his back, “but his left eye!”

“No! No!” the group erupted into a frustrated and confused chorus.

Y/N frantically looks back through her notes, “This is bullshit!”

“Vecna's dead,” Jeff states firmly, in disbelief

Mike agrees, “He was killed by Kas.”

“So it was thought, my friends. So, it was thought. But Vecna lives.”

Eddie placed the Vecna miniature back on the battle map and Y/N slumped back in her chair, “Fuck…”

“You are scared. You're tired. You are injured. Do you flee Vecna and his cultists?” Eddie questions, giving the party two paths, “Or stand your ground and fight?” They consider the options, “Come on…”

“I say we fight.” Dustin finally answers, “To the death.”

“To the death.” Mike agrees, immediately reiterated by Erica who looks at Y/N.

“Fuck it, to the death!” Y/N echoes and suddenly the whole party is chanting ‘to the death!’ over and over as Eddie falls back into his throne laughing.

With renewed vigour, they go round upon round of combat, winning some but mostly losing. One by one, miniatures were being taken off the map with curses in their wake. The energy in the room was palpable as they played, the heightened emotion in the small room almost electric as they rolled and rolled their dice, trying everything they could to take down Vecna. Their shouts and cries overlap as Eddie cackles at their misfortune, knocking another figurine off the map. When Y/N’s elf finally succumbed to their wounds and died, Y/N let out a scream of anguish having missed her death-saving roll by only 1 point. Grant, at this point, calls a ‘time-out’ and the group huddles up on the opposite end of the table to Eddie's throne.

“Guys, I hate to say this, but we've got to flee,” Gareth states to the group.

“I concur.” Grant immediately agrees and Jeff nods.

But Erica is having none of it. “Didn't we just agree "to the death"?

“That wasn't literal!” Gareth says in rebuttal.

“Oh really?!” Y/N argues back, having just died.

Gareth scratches the back of his neck, in defeat, before he pats Y/N on the back, in comradery, “You lived up to your namesake, you fought and died valiantly.”

“Thank you,” Y/N says in earnest.

Jeff continues despite this, “Still, Vecna just decimated us. We can't kill him with two players.”

“You too? He only has fifteen hit points left. Don't be pussies.” Dustin exclaims, aggravated.

“Pussies?” Gareth bites back, abhorred by the name calling “Really? 'Cause, we're not delusional?”

Erica argues, louder, “Delusional? How about not cowards?

“Hey!” They all turn to face Eddie, who was perched on the edge of the table behind his DM screen, “If I may interject, gentlemen, sweetheart,” Y/N hums with a fake saccharine sweet smile, “Lady Applejack. Whilst I respect the passion, you'd be wise to take Gareth the Great's concern to heart. There is no shame in running. Don't try to be heroes. Not today, 'kay?” He mimics Y/N’s smile and tilts his head.

Y/N can feel the rage burning back up inside her and it was evident that Dustin could feel it too as he holds up a finger and said, “One sec.” The huddle reforms. “What do you think Mike?”

“How many hit points do you and Applejack have left?” Mike asks, trying to think of the best strategy.

“Twelve.” They reply in unison.

Mike nods, before saying, “It's risky as hell. But you're the ones on the battlefield. So, it's your call.”

All eyes lock on Dustin and Erica, they didn’t need to answer for Y/N to know what they were thinking.

“What do you say, Lady Applejack?” Dustin asks.

“You really gotta ask?”

Dustin thinks hard but ultimately makes his decision.

“Screw it.” Dustin turns back to Eddie, “Let's kill the son of a bitch.”

Jeff refutes “The chances of success are 20-to-1!”

Dustin doesn’t waver, “Never tell me the odds. Gimme the D20.”

Eddie throws it to him with a grin, dimples popping out, clearly, they had made the choice he wanted them to. Dustin cups the di in his hands and shakes, eyes locked on the battle map as he released the di and it rolls across the table. They wait anxiously until it lands, ultimately on ‘11’.

“That’s! A! Miss!” Eddie takes great joy in their suffering, Dustin cursing loudly.

It was all up to Erica. The party circled her as she shook the di in her hands, and time seemed to slow down. It was just a game, but Y/N had never felt so nervous. Erica finally released the di with hopeful shouts of ‘Please!’ and ‘Come on!’ from Dustin and Gareth. It rolls fast across the table, and nobody was able to see what it could land on, so they held their breath in wait for it to stop. Eddie leans over to see the result. ‘20’.

“Crit hit!” Erica shouts with pride and the boys go wild in celebration, Y/N laughing in relief and surprise, jumping in a little circle from the intense burst of serotonin.

“And that’s why we play!” Eddie exclaims and presents the board to Erica who is standing proud, a wide grin on her face.

The party was still celebrating as they tumbled out of the doors of the drama room after collecting their things, practically bouncing off the walls as they went. As always Y/N stayed behind to help Eddie clean up, and she couldn’t stop grinning at him. Her heart still pounding in her chest from the adrenaline rush, Eddie could feel the contagious joy radiating off her.

“What’s with you?” Eddie asks as he folds up his DM screen and puts it in his bag, “You died, I’m surprised you didn’t throw another hissy fit like you did the first time you died.”

Y/N smiles fondly at the memory of their first game together all those weeks ago, collecting all the figurines and stray dice off the table. “Am I not allowed to be happy we won, just because I died?”

“I’m not saying that at all,” He drops his bag onto his throne and rounds the table to where she was perched on the edge and caged her in, hands on the table on either side of her hips, “I’m really happy that you’re so into this.”

Her breath caught in her throat at the proximity, but she didn’t waver, holding his intense eye contact. The high of winning boosted her confidence enough to bite the bullet, “Well,” her hands slid up his chest and circled his neck, hands locking behind his head, “I am, into this…in fact, I think you’ve got me addicted, I’m gonna be chasing this feeling forever.”

He chuckles under his breath and drops his forehead to hers, smirking as his hands slide up from the table to wrap around her waist, pulling her closer, “Then it’s a good thing I’m dealing.”

As her nose brushed his, he suddenly jumps back, and scampered to collect his bag from his throne, “Shit, sorry Y/N, I just remembered I’ve got a deal to do.”

Y/N’s face scrunched up in confusion as she collected her things and followed him out of the room, “I thought you did that in free period?”

“I did,” Eddie says then amends, “Well kinda, I didn’t sell her anything then.” 

“So Chrissy actually went to you?” Eddie stops in his tracks.

Never, not even once, had Eddie ever mentioned the names of anyone he sold to. He didn’t want Y/N to be wrapped up in the business, she was, in his opinion, too good for that. The only thing she did know was that his supplier was Reefer Rick, and that was only because he had let it slip one night whilst tired and tipsy. “How the hell do you know it was Chrissy?”

“Because I sent her.” His eyes widened, so she prompted further, “That didn’t occur to you?”

He pauses and thinks it through as they kept walking, Y/N trailing after him. Chrissy, besides himself, was Y/N’s best friend. A little fact that had escaped him upon seeing the cheerleader waiting for him at his bench, shaken up and fidgety. “It slipped my mind…Y/N I told you not to get involved with the dealing!”

They had made it out of the school and as he pulled the large double doors open, he turned to face Y/N. She was wringing her hands out, nose twitching and shoulders tense. “I’m sorry! I just- I was worried about her, thought that you might give her something to-”

“Put her to sleep easy?” Eddie finished the sentence and Y/N nodded.

They wandered in silence up to the van and saw Chrissy waiting by it, before they got close enough for Chrissy to notice them, Y/N stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Look, Eddie, if it makes you more comfortable I’ll wait in the van whilst you finish the deal.”

He shakes his head, “No, no, you’re not staying in the van, you’re coming inside the trailer with us.”

“The trailer?” she was perplexed, he never did deals at home.

“Special occasion, what I’m gonna give her is there, can’t carry it around with me.” Eddie explains, as cryptic as ever but he softens, “Just wait in my room and then we can…finish that conversation we were having earlier?” His hand reaches up to cup her cheek and Y/N leans into it, her eyes fluttering closed briefly.

Y/N could feel her body getting hotter at the thought, mind reeling but answered anyway, “Definitely, there’s some things I need to tell you. Not all bad.”

“Oh?” Eddie’s curiosity was peaked but he doesn’t get an answer as Y/N winks and walks up to the van to greet Chrissy.

The drive from the school to the trailer was surprisingly unawkward, comfortable even, as Chrissy ran them through the championship game highlights – the biggest of which being that Lucas had scored the winning basket. A swell of pride, then regret filled Y/N as she thought about Lucas. It was a huge achievement for the freshman to win the game and he didn’t have his best friends there to support him. She couldn’t help but feel slightly responsible, that she hadn’t fought for the campaign to be postponed so that they could be there. He had made his choice, but they should have respected the boys’ friendships more.

As they pulled up to the trailer, Chrissy jumped out and straightened out her uniform a little as Y/N slid out of the van behind her and slammed the door shut. Eddie led them up to the front door and held it open for them, Y/N immediately made herself comfortable, slinging her bang on the old armchair in the corner and flouncing her way into Eddie's room and flopping down onto the bed. She could hear Eddie rummaging around for something and muffled talking between him and Chrissy.

She wasn’t alone for long though as Eddie waltzed into the room “Sorry I’m late sweetheart,” Y/N sat up and watched as he bypassed her on the bed and headed straight for his cherished guitar, a stunning red B.C Rich Warlock N.J Series. He kissed his fingers and strummed her gently, “You’re beautiful…”

Y/N cleared her throat, “Am I interrupting?”

Eddie snorted, as he rummaged through his messy desk drawers, “I’ll be back for you in a sec, darlin’, I just need to- gotcha.” He pulled out a tin and shut the drawer, standing up straight to go back to Chrissy, “Don’t move.”

As she sat on his bed, alone in his room again, she thought through how she was going to say what she needed to say. How do you tell someone that you like them as way more than a friend without feeling like you’re going to throw up? The mere thought of telling Eddie how she actually felt about him made her heart beat faster and her body tremble a little. Despite part of her knowing, subconsciously, that he might feel the same and she’s just been oblivious to his signs, Y/N wanted to run away, to forget it all and keep going as they have been. Why ruin a good thing right? He was so good to her, took her under his wing, and understood her in a way nobody else ever did. She knew that he took notice of all of her mood swings but didn’t pry, letting her go to him. Until today. But Y/N was terrified of it.

Her thoughts circling her head were suddenly cut off their flight path by the electricity crackling around her. The flickering lights was quickly followed by the sounds of Eddie shouting from the front of the trailer. She had heard him shout countless times that day alone, but not like this. He was terrified.

“Chrissy! Wake up!” His confused and worried shouts echoed through the small space and dragged her to him.

“Eddie, what’s going on?” He didn’t need to answer, “Oh my god...” 

Y/N's heart sunk to her stomach at the sight in front of her. Chrissy was trapped in a trance-like state, eyes fully white as though they had rolled back into her head, eyelids fluttering every so often, her body stiff and unmoving in the middle of the room. “Chrissy?”

“She won’t wake up; I don’t know what happened.” Eddie was frantic, his eyes scanning Chrissy for any signs of consciousness. “I just walked in to give her the K and found her like this. C’mon, Chrissy, wake up!”

Tears streamed down Y/N’s face as she shook Chrissy’s shoulders gently, “Chrissy…please wake up…” she shook a little harder, “wake up..” harder, “wake up!”

Without any warning, Chrissy started to lift into the air, knocking Y/N’s hands off Chrissy and sending her stumbling back into Eddie’s chest. His arms wrapped around her protectively and held her close as Chrissy’s body hit the ceiling. A blood-curdling scream tore from Y/N’s throat, echoed by Eddie, as they watched in horror, as Chrissy’s bones started to bend and break inhumanely. Her legs and arms suddenly contorted mid-air, but she still didn’t wake. When her jaw unhinged and her eyes caved in, blood pouring down her face, Y/N had to turn away and bury into Eddie’s chest. The only indication Y/N had that it was over, was the thud of Chrissy’s lifeless body falling to the floor, Eddie’s arms still caging her to him.

“Y/N…we have to go.” His hoarse voice suddenly filled her ears, she shook her head against him, still sobbing. “Can’t stay here.”

“We can’t leave her,” Y/N looked up at him, his eyes wild with terror as he looked from Chrissy’s body on his floor to the girl in his shaking arms. “Eddie…if you run, you look guilty. And we’re not guilty.”

He shakes his head, mind reeling and every fibre of his being telling him to run, “Y/N, I can’t stay here…they already think I’m a freak, now I’m gonna be called a murderer, I can’t stay…” He pulls away from her, pacing, running his hands through his hair.

“Please don’t run.”

“Y/N I can’t-”

“Eddie,” her hands cup his face, and he finally makes eye contact, a shaking breath released from his trembling lips as she looks at him with so much fear it hurt his soul, “please baby, don’t run away.”

His heart stops for a second. Hands itching to hold her. “Sweetheart…”

“Please.” Her thumbs rub his cheeks. He swallows thickly and grabs her wrists, gently pulling her hands off his face.

He whispers so softly it was barely audible, but she caught it before he left her standing in the room alone, “I’m sorry.”

previous // next

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

It’s good to see you again, Blair :D

I am asking you to ramble about absolutely anything you’d like. Whatever it is.

You never disappoint! I won't lie, I had hoped to see your name crop up in my inbox.

So, since I rarely have a chance to ramble about the shows I work, I'm going to take this opportunity to rant about The Little Mermaid. Why? Because I'm trying to get that show added to the roster of productions we put on for my children's theatre.

Tumblr has already talked about the misconception of this show. How Ariel is seen purely as a romantic who literally gave up everything to chase a boy she didn't even know. But in reality, Eric was just an excuse that pushed her into finally doing something she had always wanted to do deep down. Ariel doesn't surrender her voice to get a boyfriend, she does it so she can visit the surface and experience what it means to be human. Something she dreamed of long before she met Eric. (Part of Your World, anyone?)

I actually want to write in some dialogue into our script where Ariel lampshades the absurdity, Frozen style. Where she acknowledges that it was foolish to chase after Eric when he was more or less a stranger. But of course, by the end of the show, he definitely isn't. I want Ariel to reunite with Triton and for them to talk about Eric. "You were right. I didn't know him. But now I do."

Writing Sebastian is so damn fun. He's 100% done with Ariel's nonsense and absolutely does not get paid enough for this, but he will truck on, and try to keep her safe. I want to write a line for him reuniting with Ariel after almost getting killed by the Chef and his cleaver in that number, "You would not believe the day I'm having."

Meanwhile, Ursula. Best role. Best villain. Best song. She realized she could exploit the King's daughter to seize his throne. In general, her motives and her history with the crown are interesting. In some versions, she was the one who murdered Ariel's mother, explaining why Ariel would have been wary of her, but of course, Ursula claims it was all a misunderstanding and that she tried to save her. In other versions, Ariel's mother was killed by sailors. (Not Eric's sailors, but still) explaining why Triton hates them so much. In other versions, Ursula is literally Triton's sister, and Ariel's aunt, which does give her a claim to the throne. But, I'm not crazy about this. As I've talked about before, I'm no fan of the "evil aunt/uncle" trope.

Ursula's end is also much better depicted onstage, in my opinion. In the Disney movie she turns into a giant titan and then gets speared by the ship...and it's like, sure, okay I guess? But in the stage play, they can't do that. Instead, the power of The Trident consumes her. She can't handle it, and it destroys her - and Triton even warns her beforehand that this could happen, that not everyone has what it takes to wield the Trident's power, but of course she doesn't listen. I love that. It's much more interesting and character based.

There are also some great songs in the stage version, in addition to the iconic tunes from the movie, that a lot of people don't know. I invite anyone reading this to search up "Fathoms Below" and "Human Stuff" and especially "She's In Love" which is sung by Ariel's sisters and is a knock out show-stopper. Basically I've been penning a version of Little Mermaid to pitch to my Director so I've been thinking about that show a lot right now, and I think it's fascinating.

The main thing I want us to add song-wise is a finale number, that talks about the Land and Sea coming together. Little Mermaid 2 does have this, but the melody is awful. It's so bad. In general, Little Mermaid doesn't have a final number, and I want to show how the two worlds that were divided by ignorance and fear are now coming together, through Ariel and Eric. That's an important message.

[bagerfluff]

Romcom Realization

Older Takaishi Takeru x Male Reader

Prompt - Realization

You started at the ceiling.

This was your routine for the past week or so. Wake up, eat, lay on the couch, do some stuff, mostly watch TV, eat, stare at the ceiling, eat, shower, sleep, repeat.

With some other stuff mixed in like class, hanging out with friends, playing with the Digimon that were currently watching TV. The main reason you were like this was because of Takeru.

Not because he did anything, it was because he had left.

Takeru wants to be an author. He wants to write and create. You were fine with that, but not right now. Takeru had gotten an opportunity to go see a famous author talk about writing.

You, being Takeru’s best friend, told him to go. That was a week ago, and now you were kinda regretting it. You thought you would be fine, you had class and the others to keep you company, plus, Patamon was staying with you.

t was fine, but the more time that went on. Now that apartment was empty. You and Takeru share an apartment, now that Takeru was out of it.

You realized some things.

You realized how much you missed Takeru. You realized how much you liked having him around. Even the little things. Like him always bugging you to check his writing for class.

Him taking hot showers before you so you only had cold water. Takeru not knowing how to cook, he would always ruin dinner somehow.

That leads you to cook and Takeru to clean. You missed getting him away from his laptop to eat, or sleep, or just to hang out with you. You missed how Takeru looked in the mornings.

Seeing him in a baggy shirt with messy hair holding a cup of tea. His morning voice and the smile on his face. You missed watching TV with him, and studying with him, and him

You hadn’t realized how you and Takeru had created a little family.

You, him, Patamon, your Digimon. The more you thought about it, the more you realized how weird it felt. You weird it was with the sound of laptop keys, the laughter, the playful jokes.

But overall, you missed Takeru.

You just missed having him around. The thought that you couldn’t barge into his bedroom to see him on his laptop, made your heart hurt. That was something you didn’t know.

You turned your head to the TV. A romcom was playing, one that you and Takeru normally watched after dinner. You felt your heart hurt again, it was after dinner time but Takeru wasn’t here.

You looked away from the TV, why were you feeling like this? You thought for a bit before you heard someone on the TV say something.

“I just miss him so much”, they said. You turned your head back to the TV, intrigued by the dialogue. “He’s been gone for a week”, another character said. “I just miss him, it feels weird without him here”, the first character said, making you sit up.

“So you’re in love”, the other character teased. You stopped listening after that. That sounds a lot like you. You missed Takeru even though he’s only been gone for a week.

But were you in love?

You thought about it. You loved being with Takeru, you never wanted to leave his side. You love the sound of his laugh and the feeling on your stomach when you see him smile.

Your face started to get red. You feel jealous when you see Takeru with other boys, especially when they're flirting with him. You love to hug Takeru, just touching him made your heart feel full, like you were meant to be forever.

Oh.

Oh.

You buried your head into your hands. You were in love with Takeru, in love with Takeru. “Are you okay Y/n?” You peaked out of your hands. Your Digimon and Patamon were looking at you with concern on their faces.

“I’m fine, just”, you stopped. Patamon and your Digimon moved over to you. Patamon flew over to you, sitting on your head while your Digimon sat in front of you.

“Just what?” Patamon asked and you sighed. “I’m in love with Takeru”, you said. No point in hiding it, but when you said it you smiled. It felt nice.

You loved Takeru.

You smiled wider, it felt amazing. You thought you knew what love was, you’ve had a couple boyfriends in the past. No, this was love. “Yay!” Patamon yelled, confusing you and D/n.

When Patamon realized you and D/n were confused they moved to sit on your Digimon’s head, facing you with a smile. “Takeru said that he loves you!”

Patamon said and your jaw might have dropped. Takeru liked you? Was that true, or did Patamon just miss hear? You didn't even know Takeru was gay, or liked guys.

You were thinking about what Patamon had said when you heard the door open. At first you were scared, you had the door locked. You snapped your head up and your jaw dropped again.

“Takeru?” You said with shock. Patamon immediately looked at the door, yelling Takeru’s name like you did and flying to Takeru. You just started at Takeru as he placed his bag down and hugged Patamon.

“Yup”, Takeru said with a smile, making you smile too. You stood up, your Digimon running to hug Takeru too. “You weren’t supposed to be back yet, did something happen?”

You asked Takeru, deciding to ignore the realization you came to and what Patamon said. “I just wanted to come home”, Takeru said while petting your Digimon. You blushed and nodded.

“Hey Takeru guess what, Y/n said that he loved you!” Patamon yelled, shocking you and Takeru into silence. Patamon, having no idea what they just did, just smiled and the both of you.

“Patamon”, you sneered in a slightly annoyed tone. Patamon just flew out of Takeru’s arms and back to the couch, happy that the romcom was back on. Your Digimon followed, completely ignorant of what just happened.

You just started at the ground while Takeru looked at you with confusion and fear. “So?” Takeru asked while you just stared at the floor. “So what?”

You asked, trying to play dumb. Takeru crossed his arms over his chest. “Is what Patamon said true?” Takeru asked and you finally looked at Takeru. His face had a look of fear, but happiness too.

“Yes”, you said, caving into Takeru’s look. “I just found out today actually. I missed you when you were gone. How I felt made me realize that I love you. I probably have for years”, you explained.

Takeru smiled and uncrossed his arms. “You know”, Takeru walked closer to you. “That’s why I came back, I missed you too”, Takeru said and you smiled too.

You were overcome with emotion and ran forward to hug Takeru. Takeru hugged you back, wrapping his arms around your neck when you wrapped your arms around Takeru’s waist. You buried your head into Takeru’s shoulder.

You missed this.

Takeru was hugging you just as tight as you were hugging him. You could feel his breath on your neck. You took a deep breath, you could smell the vanilla conditioner Takeru used. You never wanted to leave, you wanted Takeru right by your side forever.

Yeah, that was love.

“Never leave me again please”, you said and Takeru nodded. “Never again, I’ll just bring you guys with me”, Takeru said. Including Patamon and your Digimon.

You smiled, holding Takeru tighter.

[wolfofcelestia]

I’m gonna agree with you on the Sylus card cause it was kinda halfassed. Decided to watch it on YouTube since I wanted to save on Zayne’s card but omg it seemed kinda boring. Just my opinion though. The kindled memory was cute but they basically showed the whole memory when they revealed the trailer. Dialogue seemed kinda weird, idk how to describe it but it felt off to me. And several parts when Sylus was speaking were rushed, like at least more than three times. The story seemed kinda rushed too. Idk if it’s just me but it feels like Infold doesn’t know what to do with Sylus’s character which sucks because I really want to know his lore.

AAAAAHHH WOW I didn’t expect it to be that bad

I had a weird feeling when they showed his sped up voice in the PREVIEW but the rest of it sounds horrible, especially since people are paying real money for this halfassed shit

I’ve heard people say that they’ve been starting to use AI for some of the lines. But I do agree some of Sylus’s lines in other memories sound like they weren’t written from the same context/stream of consciousness. Like it was either a really bad translation job or humans didn’t even write it but I’m sure it felt weird for the VA to voice it because it doesn’t sound like a real conversation

I want to believe that this lack of nuance is another instance of mistranslation, but if the whole card was short and halfassed, maybe they are kinda confused about where to take his character

It’s clear that they wanted to make him the big bad sexy guy at first but I think after Nightplumes, people wanted more of his soft side so they kinda don’t know what to do with him anymore

People want to know him on a deeper level, but it feels like they didn’t completely plan that out yet. And if the last event story was anything to go by, the writers for Sylus seem a little… lackluster compared to the writers for Zayne

This newest card looks like it had so much potential, but if they just showed everything like they always did, that’s really disappointing

That’s pretty much my main feeling about infold recently: disappointed

[a-queenoffairys]

Code Lyoko Dialogue Stats

A while ago, I got curious about how much of the dialogue in Code Lyoko is spoken by each of the main characters, and how often some of them might get sidelined compared to others. I decided a quick way to find out would be to write a script to analyse all the fanmade episode transcripts and tally up the line and word count for each character.

So I did just that! And I ended up with a bunch of statistics I find pretty interesting. Image descriptions are in the alt text.

Ranking main characters across the original series

Jeremie was the clear winner when it came to the amount of dialogue everyone has. And it makes sense, given how he's the one who does the most work helping Aelita and trying to find ways to counter XANA, as well as acting as the group's guide on Lyoko, so he's much more likely to be able to get to the factory and help the others deactivate the tower.

Aelita and Yumi scored pretty low especially in the first two seasons, namely because Aelita spent all of season 1 stuck on Lyoko, and Yumi was in a different class to Ulrich, Odd and Jeremie. This meant that both of them had fewer chances to interact with the rest of the cast. Aelita in season 2 is a bit more strange, as she was living on Earth permanently but she just didn't appear in many of the classroom scenes. If there's some sort of explanation for this, I don't know what it is.

It was Odd who had the most lines spoken in a single episode, and that episode was Triple Trouble. So yeah, it's understandable he would have way more dialogue than everyone else in an episode where there are three of him running around.

Dialogue stats per season

Something of note here is how the average word and line count increase quite a bit by season 4. Season 4 is known for audio quirks such as the occasional sped-up voice line and sometimes cutting off syllables or entire words from the characters' sentences. People tend to think this was due to the English dub struggling to match the French lip flaps, but did you know the sped-up dialogue is present in the original French version too? I can't say for certain, but my theory is they did this because season 4's episodes were so densely packed with dialogue, they had trouble fitting it all in.

I think this shows just how big a role secondary and background characters had in season 1 compared to the other seasons. Speaking of which, Jim was the most talkative secondary character in the series, followed by Sissi.

Ranking main characters in Evolution

Once again Jeremie is the clear winner, by a wider margin this time. I have to give his actor credit for doing so many scenes where he was sitting alone in a chair pretending to talk to someone on Lyoko or the phone.

It's nice to see Aelita and Yumi moving up the rankings, but also disappointing that secondary characters have such a small role. Without more prominent secondary characters around to create interpersonal drama, I feel Evolution's writers would often turn to creating drama between the main characters instead, even when it didn't seem like it made sense for them to be upset at each other. Jim and Laura make up the bulk of the secondary character dialogue; all the other characters score very low.

Another thing to note is how low William scored. Even if you don't count the episodes prior to him officially joining the group, there are still a number of episodes where he only has about 4 to 6 lines - low scores not seen since Aelita was materialised at the end of season 1.

This graph is mostly the same as the previous one, but now with Evolution added and William separated from the other secondary characters in seasons 2-4.

Full data

If you click the link below you'll find the full spreadsheet with my methodology and full dialogue breakdowns for every episode, season, main character and top secondary characters, for both Code Lyoko and Evolution. Enjoy!

[sweepweep]

So "Good Witch" is being taken off of Netflix so of course I started watching it to see if I was missing anything and I wasn't. It's one of those shows that has the potential to be good if it had better writing because it, for the most part, seems like it has some good story lines. A new doctor in town who has to basically start his clinic from scratch in a town that doesn't trust doctors because their last town doctor was an asshole after the narcissistic mayor screws the new doctor over by telling him it was fully stocked when it was barely functional while also dealing with a divorce and having full custody of his son. A son that is spoiled and trashed a person's house and skips school and his dad doesn't have the emotional availability to take care of him so their relationship is strained. They have the self-centered mayor who doesn't admit to her own faults or thinks things through (holy shit how did she become mayor?). There's another dude, Derek I think, who was acting weird for half the episode and seems like... Well I don't know if he's a shitty partner or if becoming a police officer was so important to him that he didn't want input into his decision including his partner or what but. He's a police officer! And all the people he loved, including the main characters which I haven't even talked about yet, were being assholes about it for reasons ("this is the last thing your father wanteed for you" he said accusingly) they don't really explain. I think the dude's sister implies that their dad died in service, or like a long string of family members died in service, but they don't say what happened or why I should care about this (I guess if the dad did die in service I could understand why they would have such an unsupportive attitude but still. Maybe it's the dry dialogue with no character voice behind it. When they talk it's always so stale omg no soul behind those words). There's also a new chief of police. I think he called out the mayor a few times for her bullshit so I think they're good?

Ok so the actual two main characters, the Nightingale's! Danny Phantom witch au or crossover anyone? Jk. They're... good witches... That's really all there is too them... They don't really have personalities other than being nice and being whimsical but no personality to make me care about them. Magic is barely there so for but it's just the first episode so who knows. They make it obvious that the new doctor and the witch mom are endgame but they also obvious make the doctor's son (who I am going to refer to as "Troubled Boy" from now on) and the witch daughter endgame with a childhood friend love triangle that he's obviously going to lose which is going to be awkward because if the doctor dad and witch mom get together then that means the kids are going to be step-siblings and good luck explaining that. When the witch daughter first sees the troubled boy and her childhood friend gives her a psychological profile per her REQUEST and they start looking down on him ALREADY EVEN WHEN HE HASN'T DONE ANYTHING YET (which makes me think they do this REGULARLY and that annoys me. Especially since with the dialogue I'm not going to care about this one obvious flaw). They try to pull an "I'm not like other girls" thing but then make her show immediate interest in him despite the fact that she was looking down on him literally half a second ago. And then she's just nice the whole episode. Well ok. Both ships they're trying to pull and enemies to lovers but I don't care about them and one of the ships is a one-sided enemies to lovers thing which isn't that fun especially since the doctor kind of had a point in telling the mom witch that she shouldn't have been prescribing what at first I thought was safe nonrisky herbal remedies or like a magic potion thing but no she says she watches what proportions she puts or something which makes me think she prescribes like. Real medicine. Presumably without a license or something. I will give her credit that she is in fact good at what she does and has a point in telling the doctor that herbal remedies are also an alternative form of medicine. Also the doctor not believing in herbal remedies because they're not pills and therefore not giving his patients that option?? Like sir???? Did no one teach you about this when you DID go to medical school??????? What did you think people used before pills were made??????????

Oh WOW that sounds bland. Yeesh. I’ve never watched it to be honest, but it sounds like it tried to fit every trope into a show and failed.

I think you’re completely right in saying that it has the potential to be interesting! If only the characters were 3 dimensional. Yknow. Actual people.

This hits every stereotype and trope, I have no idea how NONE of them landed

[magicsilas]

The Spirit Bares it's Teeeth- Book Review (Part 1)

The bolded leaders indicate the CAWPILE method. (characters, atmosphere, writing style, plot, intrigue, logic and enjoyment)

Before I write my book review on "The Spirit Bares its Teeth", I would like to echo the author's sentiment. This book is hard, it contains SA, body harm, graphic violence, ableism, pregnancy and other such topics. It touches open nerves. It will hurt, especially those who have scar tissue built. There is no obligation to read it, and those who don’t, I too applaud you. There is more bravery in walking away that words can ever express. The Spirit Bares it Teeth follows Silas in 1800 Victorian England. In this world building there are people with violet eyes who can manipulate the veil between the living and the dead. These people are called speakers and they have their own little government.

(C)The characters in the book are written with care, each of their voices and characteristics are unique. When it comes to the main character, Silas, there is no doubt on his motives and what drives him to do what he does. The secondary characters of Louise, Charlotte, Isabella, Daphne, and George were a whirlwind to watch. They were each equally memorable, with their placement in the story and their actions that lead to certain events. Even the characters we never met first hand were memorable, in the way the other characters describe them. The cunningness and their depictions drove the story forward and into the heart. They each helped turn the story into the beauty it is. Between them, I did not particularly see growth, but more so a crumpled piece of paper turned flat. As the whole story progressed we were able to see them for who and what they truly were. It is something I deeply appreciate in this novel.

(A)The book was highly immersive, I could clearly picture everything that was being described. It was gross when it came to the medical gore. In some scenes I did notice the use of less description, and this too was amazing since it allows the audience to imagine what they view as more grotesque. The scenes were palatable, and convincing in the twist and turns of organs. The time period relevant language also did an amazing job portraying the atmosphere of the time. When it came to the multiple conversations of gender, it was also convincing. As a trans individual, the way Silas described their feelings made total sense, it mirrored how I felt in my own body and gender. The book made me angry, and I hope that was the point, since it is noted that Andrew Joseph White, writes out of anger. The injustices queer people, neurodivergent people and anyone else ‘othered’ by society can be reflected in our modern society. It points to what is still wrong and what people everywhere are trying to solve, what they die fighting for.

(W)When it came to the writing style, I enjoyed it. It was not difficult to follow and all the medical analogies and jargon were easy to pick up. With that it added a whole other dimension to the book. The addition of the rabbit in the book was an interesting concept, but perfectly describes the way people try to stay alive, even if it is not the best. It was another part of the writing that added dimension. In about the first half I noticed more narration than actual dialogue. It was not a truly bad thing, I liked being in and out of Silas’ mind. As the action picks up, there is more dialogue. The quirks in the writing made it all the more engaging and interesting to read. With the type of writing style A.J White had, I will be sure to pick up more books of his.

(P)The plot was both direct and indirect. The pacing was a rather even one, it felt slightly slow at the start but it really wasn’t it, it was leaving everything to build up. Once the pieces of the puzzle started to click, it seemed obvious as to where the plot was going, but at times I would stop and question if it really was heading that way. For me, that made it all the more engaging, to see which way it truly went. It allowed me to cheer for the characters and lament their losses. The plot itself was not the most complicated one I have seen, but a good middle, it has threads to tie up rather than just a string. With the ending of the book, there were pieces left behind, but it gave the characters life beyond the pages. It is also something I enjoy, when characters live past the book, when a life can be envisioned for them.

[brynnmclean]

💬 and ❤️ for the meme!

Hi there, Elizabeth! :D

For the 💬 and because I'm trying to work on it this afternoon, I'll go with my current Hellblade WIP that'll be titled in the core of everything drums a beat. This is something I built out this week and I'm especially happy with Eindrid's dialogue now. To give you a little context, the main male character of Hellblade II has a very prominent and complicated relationship with his father, a very toxic leader in the community-- and unfortunately as with most media, Thórgestr's mother is never mentioned or seen at all. I didn't like that, so I've added her ghost (imo, it feels like she has to have been long dead to be so absent? Just the feeling I have) into my fic. The scene I'm working on right now is of a dream Thórgestr has where he gets to speak with her after his father has been declared an outlaw.

Remember that you are more than your father’s son, his mother tells him, reaching up—she is small now, dwarfing him in this breathless moment where he is a haunted man and not a careless boy. She pulls his head down to rest his forehead to hers. You are Áleifrson, and you are my son. He breathes in the scent of her, another thing he had lost to time, woodsmoke, fresh-turned earth, and wildflower blooms. She loved flowers. He used to bring fistfuls of them to her in spring. He had forgotten, had locked away all memories of her. His father had said only the weak grieve overlong. And Thórgestr knew what the Goði thought of the weak. I’m sorry, he whispers. I forgot you. Mother, I’m sorry. Eindridson, she croons and he makes a small, wounded sound into the little space between them. I never left your heart. You are only looking back at me now, away from the shadow cast by Áleifr. Father is gone, he tells her, choking on the words, though she must already know, if she has indeed haunted his steps. The Björg cast him out. Yes, she says, voice soft but deepening, suddenly wholly unfamiliar and foreboding, a voice from beyond. Áleifr will wander, empty-handed and ice-hearted. Fresh snow will be his grave after ravens pick his bones clean and gleaming in the long night. And you, my son, will learn who you are without him.

For the ❤️, I'll pull from your latest chapter of per ardua ad astra:

“Han talks a big show,” Luke said, voice rising, “but he’s been there every step of the way.” “I’m sure he has,” said Leia grimly. “For you.” “He did rescue us,” Cassian pointed out, but his tone was so flat that Jyn knew better than to trust it. After a pause that she couldn’t read, Leia said, “Oh, of course you’d say that. And now I bet you’re going to tell me that gratitude is the appropriate response to our noble rescue, or something like that.” “Then you’d lose your wager,” said Cassian. One of them cleared their throat. “Um, I—” After a moment’s consideration, Jyn ducked into the nearest compartment, hoping she’d go unnoticed. But she cautiously left the door a little ajar, partly for convenience, and partly in order to hear anything that might be relevant to her interests. “Really?” Leia said, still scornful. “No lectures for me this time?” “No.” At this point, Jyn had heard him drop from even composure to some emotion or another plenty of times. But nothing in his mouth had ever sounded harsher than that single word. She stiffened.  A heavy silence fell. Perhaps the three exchanged meaningful looks of some kind, or made themselves understood in stance and gestures. Perhaps they had no words. But Cassian always had words. “Solo was haggling over bribes after Alderaan burned,” he said coldly. “We owe him nothing.”

It's a big section, but I love how SHARP Cassian is in it. I also love the reminder that Cassian is Alderaanian in this fic, if I remember correctly. Of COURSE he'd be scornful of Solo with this context. In any case, the dialogue here between Luke, Leia, and Cassian is excellent-- I hear their voices so clearly when you write them. It's great!!!

Thank you for asking, my friend! :)

[ask me about fic quotes!]

[ifacotarwasgood]

why is chapter 2 of acotar bad? some short craft lessons

CH 2

click here for the full comparison between the original chapter and my revision.

DISCLAIMER: this is not an exhaustive list.

heightened prose style = distracting

we're told feyre barely has a formal education and has nearly turned feral in her struggle to keep her family alive, but we're supposed to believe her internal monologue sounds like:

My father had once convinced a passing charlatan to trade the engravings against faerie harm in exchange for for one of his wood carvings. There was so little that my father was ever able to do for us that I hadn't possessed the heart to tell him the engravings were useless...and undoubtedly fake.

using heightened diction and formal sentence structure isn't inherently problematic, but it sounds uppity and pedantic, which doesn't match feyre's characterization at all. instead, it just sounds like sjm's authorial voice.

it also makes every sentence real clunky, which is...not good.

thin characterization = the archerons are a bunch of losers

elain, nesta, and papa archeron are barely described beyond how useless and helpless they are. while this puts feyre's competence into greater relief, it also makes it hard for the reader to care about her main motivation, which is to keep them alive.

why should we care about their survival when feyre describes her family like:

The undercurrent of hunger honed [Elain's] words into a sharpness that had become too common in recent weeks. No mention of the blood on me. I'd long since given up hope of them actually noticing whether I came back from the woods every evening. At least until they got hungry again.

???

sections like this remind us again and again of feyre's resentment toward her family, but we're also told that her only motivation is to keep them safe. it's a very tricky needle to thread, and I don't think sjm does it successfully. I end up being annoyed by them all equally.

this isn't how people talk, sarah

sjm's dialogue is real bad.

on one hand, it's bad because of the word choice. again, the diction is so heightened it just doesn't feel believable, especially since this chapter focuses on family members bickering.

an example. nesta says:

"I thought all you wanted was for us to get out of the house—to marry off me and Elain so you can have enough time to paint your glorious masterpieces."

but a) real people don't talk in complex sentence constructions, especially when they're agitated. and b) "glorious masterpieces" is so distracting I genuinely rolled my eyes when I first read it.

dialogue isn't accurate to real life speech—the same way fiction in general doesn't match real life exactly. real people talk about nothing most of the time when we want characters to talk about something relevant.

but dialogue has to balance mimicking real life speech while not cleaving to how any of us really speak. it has to reflect speech's cadence without its disorganization (which is why we don't clutter our written dialogue with "um"s and "uh"s; readers will skip over that shit anyway).

sharper (i.e., more efficient), simpler dialogue will almost always sound the most natural on the page.

on the other hand, sjm's dialogue is bad because it doesn't seem to be guided toward any particular emotional or logical revelation. (this is a symptom caused by sjm's larger problem with writing scene arcs.)

the argument at the end of this chapter jumps around until apparently sjm felt like it went on long enough, and then nesta flounces away, delivering this killing blow:

"You're just a half-wild beast with the nerve to bark orders at all hours of the day and night. Keep it up, and someday—someday, Feyre, you'll have no one left to remember you, or to care that you ever existed."

except it's not a killing blow.

partly because it's in response to...well, nothing. before this, feyre says nesta would be a burden to the mandrays (which is repeated, in slightly different language, earlier in the conversation), but that's not really what their argument is about.

what's happening beneath the dialogue is a power struggle between nesta, who believes she can marry tomas mandray on her own authority, and feyre, who's decided she's the head of the family and vetoes that decision. nesta delivering a killing blow should be in response to feyre putting her foot down for good. and what she says should be more specific to their specific power dynamic.

so that's what I did in my revision. here's the link again if you want to read it in its entirety!