#hero/villain i don’t have any other works published but i have more written so. series maybe | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

tyrantisterror · 4 years ago

Text

THE A.T.O.M. CREATE A KAIJU CONTEST 3-D!!!

YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE SAFE! YOU THOUGHT THAT THE TIME OF MONSTERS WAS AT AN END! BUT YOU WERE WRONG, FOR NOW YOU MUST WITNESS…

THE A.T.O.M. CREATE A KAIJU CONTEST 3-D!!!

That’s right, it’s back! Celebrating the publication of The Atomic Time of Monsters Volume 2: Tyrantis Roams the Earth! (which in turn completes The Ballad of Tyrantis arc for this series), I’m holding another monster design jam. The third of such jams, in fact!

Like the first A.T.O.M. Create a Kaiju Contest, the aim of this contest is to create kaiju that would fit within the setting of my big kaiju story series, The Atomic Time of Monsters. Think of it as me letting you into my sandbox to play with my toys for a bit, or like you’re being put in the director’s chair of a new ATOM-verse kaiju movie. That means your entry does have to fit into ATOM’s world, which in turn means that yes, there are limitations to your creativity here. But limitations can be good sometimes - they can make us explore options we wouldn’t consider when given completely free rein to do what we want!

(also you don’t have to make a three dimensional image or anything, the title’s just a pun on how the third movie in a monster movie franchise will often be a 3-D film)

Read below the cut to learn the rules and whatnot:

THE RULES:

1. You are limited to one entry per person. Work hard and make your entry count!

2. Your kaiju must have some sort of description of its physical appearance and its personality - you can submit a drawing or a written description (or both!) for the physical appearance depending on what you’re most comfortable with. Using the same template/format as my official ATOM Kaiju Files (https://horrorflora.com/monster-menageries/atom-kaiju-files/) isn’t required, but it was cool when people did it in the last contest, so feel free to do so this time too!

3. The kaiju you create must specifically be created for this contest - no repurposing characters you made for other, wildly different stories. This is not “trick TT into drawing/canonizing my main OC” time.

4. The kaiju must fit the setting and aesthetics of ATOM. I’ll explain this in more detail down below.

5. The kaiju should add something meaningful to the world of ATOM. The more unique and interesting your kaiju is, the more likely you will win the contest.

6. Don’t make your kaiju too dependent on pre-existing ATOM characters - no “Tyrantis’s long lost evil brother who’s the strongest kaiju in the world.” These should be to Tyrantis’s story what War of the Gargantuas is to Godzilla’s movies – heroes (well, monsters) of another story in the same world.

THE REWARDS:

I will make pencil sketches of the top 5 entries in the contest.

I will then make fully rendered illustrations (lineart, colors, & shading) of the top three entries.

The winning entry will be made into a model ala the ones I’ve been making for ATOM’s core 50 monsters, which can then be shipped to the person who created it (should they be able to cover the shipping costs). That’s right, your kaiju could be brought to life in THREE GLORIOUS TECHNICOLOR DIMENSIONS! (Hey, we worked the gag title in to the prizes!)

THE DEADLINE: All entries must be submitted by July 3rd, 2021. You can submit it here on tumblr, via the horror flora e-mail, or any other channel you know how to reach me through. I’m in a lot of places.

THE GUIDELINES (TO HELP YOUR ENTRY FIT THE RULES AND WIN):

The smartest thing you could do if you want to win this contest is familiarize yourself with the world of ATOM by, y’know, reading all the material I’ve published on the subject. In addition to the many kaiju files that are free to read on horrorflora.com, there are now TWO, count ‘em, TWO novels in this series for you to peruse, both of which establish many of the rules of the setting as well as its general themes and tone! You can get them in either paperback or e-book formatting (I’d recommend the former over the latter since I lack the technology to make a really nice ebook, but if money is an object, the kindle version is only $1). Here’s the links again if you missed them:

Vol. 1: Tyrantis Walks Among Us!

Vol. 2: Tyrantis Roams the Earth!

However, since I know reading a bunch of stuff is, y’know, not something everyone is inclined to do, I’ll jot some good bullet points for you in an attempt to outline how ATOM works in a brief, easily digested way:

ATOM is an homage to the monster fiction of the 1950’s and 60’s (i.e. the Atomic Age), and is set in those two decades, albeit an alternate universe version of them where, y’know, monsters and space aliens exist. If you aren’t familiar with the monster fiction I’m referring to, there will be some reference material provided at the end of this post along with some recommendations for further research.

Kaiju/giant monsters in ATOM work under very specific rules. There’s a full description of those rules at this link, but here’s the jist:

ATOM Kaiju are created created by the radiation of a mineral called Yamaneon, which naturally converts harmful radiation into its own unique energy. In natural circumstances, it takes hundreds of years of exposure to Yamaneon radiation for a creature to become fully transform into a kaiju (luckily, Yamaneon radiation slows the aging process while speeding up the healing process). However, an explosive burst of energy - such as the geothermal and kinetic energy released by an earthquake, or the blast of a nuclear weapon - can speed up the process, turning a normal animal into a kaiju within a matter of seconds.

All ATOM kaiju can heal grievous wounds within minutes or even seconds, are supernaturally strong and durable, and can convert harmful radiation to harmless energy that they then feed off of. Kaiju do not have an equivalent of old age, and can theoretically live forever (though their violent lifestyle means that few do).

ATOM Kaiju generally don’t need to eat unless they are severely injured, getting most of the energy they need from solar or geothermal radiation - but many still have instincts that drive them to seek out food from time to time.

Most ATOM kaiju stand roughly 100 feet tall (depending on their body shape), i.e. smaller than the original 1954 Godzilla. There are exceptions to this rule - younger kaiju can be smaller, while exceedingly old kaiju can be significantly larger, but these are rare.

In general, ATOM kaiju are significantly more intelligent and emotionally complex than people expect animals to be, though most are incapable of speech or complex tool use. There’s a reason ATOM Kaiju Files have a “personality” section.

Most ATOM Kaiju are tooth and claw fighters - ranged weapons are a rarity in this setting.

While the terrestrial monsters in ATOM look strange, they are intended to fit within the taxonomy of animals in reality - reptiles, mammals, fish, arthropods, molluscs, etc.

ATOM’s mesozoic era was dominated by a fictional clade of crocodile-relatives called retrosaurs, which are based on the outdated paleoart that one would find in the 1950’s/60’s fiction - i.e. when dinosaurs were viewed as trail dragging lizards instead of strange birds. You can learn more about retrosaurs here (https://horrorflora.com/2016/11/15/atom-kaiju-file-bonus-a-guide-to-retrosaurs/).

Kaiju appear on every continent in ATOM, but certain areas tend to be dominated by different types.

North America is mainly besieged by retrosaur kaiju and giant arthropods.

East Asia is technically also mainly plagued by retrosaurs and big arthropods, though they tend to look more fantastical and mythic - and, often, oddly well suited to being portrayed by a person wearing a monster suit.

Russia is beset by prehistoric monsters that seem to come from the Cenozoic, particularly the Ice Age.

Western Europe is plagued by creatures that vaguely resemble creatures from myth, if they were also prehistoric. Dragon-y lizards, fiery birds, etc.

Towards the mid-way point of ATOM’s timeline, earth is invaded by a coalition of aliens from different solar systems called the Beyonder Alliance, and as a result a bunch of alien monsters can be found on earth.

Mars and Venus both host (or hosted in Mars’s case) animal life. The surviving Martians colonized Venus, and sent some of their kaiju guardians to earth to help us fend off the Beyonders (who are responsible for the destruction of Mars’s ecosystem). Martian and Venusian kaiju have specific anatomical quirks, which you can see by looking at these kaiju files:

Venusians:

https://horrorflora.com/2017/01/03/atom-kaiju-file-29-karamtor/

Martians:

https://horrorflora.com/2017/01/17/atom-kaiju-file-39-kemlasulla/

https://horrorflora.com/2017/01/17/atom-kaiju-file-40-podritak/

https://horrorflora.com/2017/01/17/atom-kaiju-file-41-sombarvot/

https://horrorflora.com/2017/01/17/atom-kaiju-file-38-ullawdra/

Giant robots exist in ATOM, but are big, bulky, and incredibly expensive. Fancy beam weapons also exist, but are similarly clunky - there are no sleek, elegant machines in ATOM.

Since the fiction ATOM takes inspiration from was made at a time when interplanetary travel was only just beginning to be possible, its scope is significantly smaller than modern sci-fi. Alternate universes/dimensions were pretty uncommon because the idea of alien planets still held a lot of wonder to it. So, as a general rule, don’t try to go farther than the one galaxy.

ATOM is a setting for stories that are focused on humanity learning to coexist with monsters, rather than humanity destroying them. A certain level of sympathy is put into almost every creature of its canon, even the ones that are meant to be villains.

REFERENCE MATERIAL

Here is a playlist of 1950′s monster movie trailers.

Here is some reference material from various monster comics of the 50′s and 60′s.

Good movies to track down to understand ATOM’s inspiration and tone include Ghidorah the 3 Headed Monster, Son of Godzilla, Destroy All Monsters, Them!, The Black Scorpion, 20 Million Miles to Earth, Gamera, The Giant Claw, and The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra.

And here’s the intro cutscenes for all the different giant monsters in the PS2 videogame War of the Monsters.

#The Atomic Time of Monsters #The ATOM Create a Kaiju Contest 3D

55 notes · View notes

kellyvela · 4 years ago

Note

yes Ive actually read most of GRRM's work and he isn't particularly subtle with his symbolism, he's never had readers be in illusions about the characters, and he pretty much always kills the heroes

Kudos to you for reading most of GRRM's works, I guess.

In your previous message, you asked me this: "Why do you think GRRM is trying to get his characters into certain illusions? He hasn't attempted that in any of his other works."

Your question was about the characters, not about the readers.

So, I answered that GRRM writes about the human heart in conflict with itself. And some of those conflicts consist in the dichotomy of desire and reality, because some humans, tend to delude themselves and live willingly blind, or some are narcissist that believe their own ravings about themselves, etc.

And I asked you, if you were sure that GRRM never wrote characters that delude themselves before writing ASOIAF.

Because I think you must read or re-read his novel "The Armageddon Rag," then.

I'm pretty sure his idea that "a villain is the hero of the other side," is something previous to ASOIAF.

. . .

Now you are asking me about the readers, not the characters. Then I think you are asking me about this other post where I said that he is trapping the ASOIAF readers into some illusions, like the dragons being the good guys that will save the world.

You said this: "yes Ive actually read most of GRRM's work and he isn't particularly subtle with his symbolism, he's never had readers be in illusions about the characters, and he pretty much always kills the heroes"

Before answering your particular question, I must say that ASOIAF has its difference from GRRM's previous works. Because ASOIAF is his magnum opus, it's a fantasy series, not science fiction, not short stories, not about vampires, etc. ASOIAF is written by POVS and most of the POVS are unreliable narrators. So it's easier to trap the readers into some illusions and prepare the ground for some twists.

But GRRM is an author that HATES to be predictable, so I doubt he never trapped his readers into some illusions before, in order to hide the final twist.

He is also an author that writes his heroes making difficult, dark and dubious actions, and his villains doing some good deeds. And that makes an impact in his readers. That's why many of his ASOIAF readers truly LOVES his villains and consider them innocent people, like Theon, Jaime and the hound.

Having said that, now I will answer your particular question.

While I do think he can be straightforward with symbolism and foreshadowing, I don't think that most of the ASOIAF readers get him and his ways.

For example, for some readers "Stormborn" is a good omen, since water and rain are associated with life and help the crops to grow, etc. But for some other people is a bad omen, since it's not just water and rain, but a reference to a particular storm that was so destructive that made fleet disappear.

Another example, for some readers the ASOIAF dragons are associated to some mythical creatures like the Chinese Dragons, that are sacred and a symbol of good fortune. But that's not correct, because Chinese Dragons are mostly associated with water, not fire. ASOIAF dragons are based on European Dragons that are a representation of the devil, that's why in the Catholic ichonography Saint George slaying the dragon represents the triumph of the Catholic faith against the devil, and the rescued princess represents the Virgin Mary and/or the Catholic Church itself.

Then you said that: "he's never had readers be in illusions about the characters," and in the same sentence you also said: "and he pretty much always kills the hero". Do you read yourself before clicking the send button, anon? lol

He doesn't always kills the hero. Robb was pretty alive and making love with Laurie at the end of A Song for Lya. Abner Marsh and Joshua York were happily making a toast after beating their foe at the end of Fevre Dream. Abner died a couples of years later because he was an old man and Joshua never died because you know, he's immortal. Sandy Blair was also alive at the end of The Armageddon Rag, with his book published and listening to music.

Maybe you are too smart for GRRM, and he never trapped you, anon. More kudos to you.

But I'm pretty sure that, after reading The Armageddon Rag, not only some ASOIAF readers would consider Ananda the hero and Sandy the villain.

Now, if you are trying to say that at the end of ASOIAF, GRRM gonna kill your fave and her nuclear weapon babies, because they are the heroes (lol), well, OK. You can believe that if you want. You can also go to other blogs' inboxes and share your similar opinions with them. But here you won't see me comparing Davos cheating on his wife to your fave fire bombing a city "by accident," but learning from her mistakes.

I'm sorry I posted this answer before even finishing it. But now I finished it.

👋

#anon asks #grrm

24 notes · View notes

fandomscombine · 4 years ago

Text

The Hargreeves Kerfuffle Part 2: Family Reunion

The Hargreeves siblings x Hargreeves!Reader (Familial Relationship)

BG: The Reader is Number Eight. It follows how you fit into the structure of Season 1 and the family dynamic of the siblings.

This part follows the collapse of The Umbrella Academy during their youth and having the family back together after years apart for the very first time.

I have mashed up the information and some events from both the comics and the tv series. So a heads up for readers who haven’t read the comics, it was hinted in S2 but in the very beginning of the comics, it’s canon that Reginald is indeed an Alien.

The series will consist of 10 parts. Where the reader would have a focused interaction with each sibling. (Eg. After this part, it would be Luther x Reader, then Diego x Reader and so on! –Yes Ben is included)

WC: 4786 (never had I written so much for one part before!)

Contains: Angst. Death- Reginald and Ben (so not exactly a spoiler, but while writing Ben’s scene had my eyes water a bit.) Crap childhood and the Hargreeves being a mess.

A/N: You guys are literally the best! Reading your replies and comments about how much you enjoyed part 1 and are looking forward to the rest of the series, really warms my heart!

>>GENERAL MASTERLIST<<

>>THE HARGREEVES KERFUFFLE SERIES MASTERLIST<<

READ: [PART 1] [PART 3] [PART 4]

>>JOIN MY WRITING CHALLENGE!<<

March 21, 2019.

Never had you thought that you would be back here, looking up the gates of The Umbrella Academy, 13 years later.

There was and still is so much pain associated with this building, this entity, this identity of The Umbrella Academy. That you hadn’t seen it coming- well not exactly completely blind to it. Sir Reginald Hargreeves’ upbringing of children-your siblings, your childhood- had always been shit but you had never come close to imaging it to be as emotionally and mentally damaging as it did.

Children at aged 7 finding out they had powers was great. To a kid, it was a dream come true to be a real-life superhero. It all started out as fun and games but soon, training started to be competitions to outshine your siblings-your competitors whist being told to work together at the same time. It was quite a hard concept to grasp as a young kid, but in order to get any attention and praise from a distant father, a kid would do anything.

By the age of 9, the superhero team of ‘The Umbrella Academy’ was officially announced to the world. The group consisted of the 7 Hargreeves children, publicly known as: Spaceboy, The Kraken, The Rumor, The Séance, The Boy, The Horror, and Foresight.

An 8th child with seemingly no superpower, had been secretly tucked away, hidden from the world and too, distanced away from her own siblings. It was though Vanya Hargreeves didn’t exist.

You did try your best to spend time with Vanya and keep the Sunday sister bonding time with her, but with all your training and missions, combined with all her violin lessons and some other private lessons she often go on with in long periods of time - though she wouldn’t mention what they were- there was absolutely no time to be in each other’s presence, so soon you along with the rest of your siblings slip away from Vanya.

At age 10 was a big year for the Hargreeves siblings, they had kind of successfully protected the city of Paris from the chaos of the Eiffel Tower being a spaceship- yes it did flew away but at least the people were saved- The mission became world wide news and soon every move they made caught the public’s eye. With this led to more intense training and additional etiquette workshops to better the group’s public image.

Reginald being a helicopter parent took a toll on the children, who had coped in their own ways. Luther taking the role of ‘leader’ to heart, Diego with his never ending hero complex, Allison using her power to get whatever she wanted, Klaus fell into the world of drugs and alcohol, Five-the rebel who thinks he’s smarter than everyone even dad, Ben into the world of video games, Vanya became ever more quiet and more to herself, and you-a yes person to dad who calls you his most valuable asset that has ever crossed his path, never wanting to let him down.

Things really started to get out of hand at the ripe old age of 13. Breakfast had been a mess, Five had a massive argument with dad and stormed out of the house. You ran after him, caught his coat just as he passed the gate- the very gate you are standing in front of now.

‘FIVE! WAIT!’

‘WHAT?’ He turned, looking angrier as ever.

‘Please don’t leave.’ You place your hand on his shoulder- damn when did he become taller than you? ‘You both can talk this out. Rationalized things out’ You pleaded.

He shook your hand away. ‘Talk? REALLY Y/N? You think good old dad would dare listen to someone younger than him? TO HIS OWN CHILDREN?’ He snorted. ‘You are daft y/n. I thought you were smarter than this-‘ Five sighed. ‘But a guess you are too much of a daddy’s girl to see things clearly.’

‘I know you didn’t mean that’ You stammered, not letting the tears fall. ‘that’s just your anger talking.’

‘oh but I do mean it. Now if you’d excuse me, I have to get going to prove dad wrong.’

Five makes a step forward but you blocked his way

‘GET OUT OF THE WAY Y/N’ He pushes you. ‘I DON’T WANT TO SEE YOUR FACE ANYMORE.’

As you fell to the ground, you see him blip away.

That was the last time anyone had seen Number Five and his final words still haunts you to this day.

‘get out of the way y/n! i don’t want to see your face anymore.’

To make matters worst from having a sibling disappear and to never come back was to have another sibling lose his life.

The media was quick to publish the news. It was all the tabloid and news outlets seem to care about. The headline would vary but all in all still carry the same heart-breaking news. Be it from ‘The Horror dies in mission.’ , ‘The Umbrella Academy loses the life of another of its members.’ to ‘RIP to teen superhero Ben Hargreeves aka The Horror.’

Oh Ben, dear Ben. Why must he be taken away? You thought. Why?

The mission was meticulously planned and prepared for. You were sure to have extracted all the information on what was to go down and what the villains’ moves were from your vision.

You had memorized that every aspect of that dream- you had 2 weeks to prepare. Everyone was supposed to be safe, but why wasn’t Ben?

Why didn’t reality play out as to what you foresaw? You had never slipped up before. Why had the one time you did cost you the life of your beloved brother? Why?

While sobbing your eyes out onto Ben’s grave, a memory of what seemed so long ago came rushing back.

>>‘I’m sorry y/n.’ He said leaning on your door frame.

‘Ben!’ You exclaimed. ‘I’m so glad you’re back up and running!’

Ben was caught off guard. ‘You—You’re not mad at me?’

‘Why would I be mad at you?’ You questioned, genuinely confused at your brother’s words.

‘Cause, Cause I almost got you killed. I am a monster.’

You sat up straight at those words, your ribs hurt a bit at the sudden movement, but you didn’t care. Your brother was blaming himself for something he couldn’t have controlled.

‘NO BEN!’

Ben jumped from your sudden outburst.

You motioned for him to come closer.

‘Ben…’ looking into his eyes. ‘Ben you are no monster.’

‘But—’

‘uuh uh I’m not done’ You held his hand in yours. ‘You are no monster what happened then was an accident, nobody knew, heck nobody expected powers to just show up. It was beyond anyone’s control. It took us by surprise.’

His shoulders relaxed.

‘It wasn’t your fault. I don’t blame you for what happened.’

He gave you a bone crushing hug. ‘Thank you y/n. You don’t know how guilty I was feeling.’ Voice muffled by your shoulder, which is now wet with his tears. ‘I kept thinking about the pain I caused you and I wasn’t allowed to leave my room even when I begged dad to see you and say sorry. y/n’

‘Shhh shhh’ Rubbing his back. ‘It’s alright Ben. What’s important is that we’re all here now. Alive, Safe and sound.’. <<

‘I’m sorry Ben…’ You choked out.

‘I’m so sorry Benny…’ Wiping his gravestone of your tears. ‘I—I got you killed. I am a monster. I am THE monster.’ You hiccupped. ‘It is MY job to keep everyone same, to do the reconnaissance, to ensure that everyone in the frontline is safe. It is my power to foresee what could go wrong, to avoid disastrous mistakes. And….and I failed, Ben. I failed. I failed you, dad, The Umbrella Academy.’

‘I miss you Ben so much…’ You lie down with an arm across the lawn. Picturing that is was him you’re hugging, that he is really there.’ more than your annoyingly sweet ass could ever believe. I wish you were here Ben, safe and sound. And if you could hear me Ben, I wish you could forgive me.’

Your eyes slowly fall shut from the emotional guilt you’re feeling but a warm breeze passes through like a warm embrace lightening the heavy burden within.

A soft whisper of reassurance and familiar words brings you to peaceful rest.

‘I forgive you y/n. It wasn’t your fault. I don’t blame you for what happened.’

You stirred from your sleep as you felt yourself lifted from the ground.

‘Careful Diego! You might wake her up.’ You hear Klaus say.

All this trauma, stress and was just too much to handle by minors and as quickly as all your powers came, the same goes for the people who left.

Klaus was the first to leave the academy at age 16, who choose to be self-checked at a rehab centre, stating that that was a way healthier environment then this shithole that was ‘home’. Who could blame him? Especially when you yourself were planning to leave.

As much as you wanted to get up and leave in the dead of night, you can’t. You don’t have the heart to leave your remaining siblings behind. No, not in this environment. If you were to leave, you wanted them to go with you, to at least know they would have a good life ahead.

Under Reginald’s watchful eye, it would take time to sort the plan out, but it would be worth it.

And you know just the person to talk to.

‘Heyya Diego.’

‘You’re up to something y/n/n and I don’t want to be in any part of it.’ He says without glancing your way. ‘Not after the pineapple incident.’ Diego’s eyes finally landing on you.

Rolling your eyes, you chuckled. ‘Oh come on Diegs! That was years ago! It was just a childish prank—’

Diego gives you the finger.

‘-Oi! It is not MY fault what Luther did to you; besides you were supposed to take the EAST stairwell, NOT the West.’ You say matter of factly, shaking your head. ‘Ughh no, we are getting out of topic. Diego, I need your help and you have to promise not to tell anyone-’

‘You’re devising a getaway plan, aren’t you?’

Your brows scrunched together. ‘How’d you—’

‘I’m not blind y/n, I recognised the look of someone who too is planning to escape.’

You raise a brow. ‘Too?’

‘Yes, Too.’ Diego edges closer to you. ‘Now, why don’t we save the trouble of potentially ruining each other’s individual schemes and join forces. Team up. More brainpower. And whatnot. Deal?’ Offering his pinky out.

You ignored the outstretched gesture. ‘What happened to being a lone wolf huh? I thought that was your thing now?’ You countered.

‘Like a said y/n, the more brainpower, the higher the success.’ He explained. ‘Say, we do manage to get out or perhaps just leave, like Klaus. Where would we go? Where would you? Hmm?’

‘I… I…’ You honestly don’t know.

‘Exactly. That’s why we team up and once we’re out of here. We stick together for a while till we get back on our feet and figure out what we want then go our separate ways.’

You nod, digesting his words. It seems like a solid plan with ample flexibility before deciding on what to do with your life after. But….

‘Okay…..’

‘Okay!’

‘…On one condition. It would not only you and me. We’ll try to get to convince the others to come along too.’

‘What?! y/n no, that’s too many people on the plan-‘

‘More brainpower, higher the success. Your words Diego. Not mine.’ You retaliated. ‘Besides, we can’t just leave everyone here. It’s miserable here. They’re family Diego.’

‘Fine we’ll tell Luther and Allison.’

‘Everyone, Diego.’ You stared him down. ‘And that includes Vanya. No buts.’

‘Ugh.Fine.’ He points a finger towards your face. ‘We tell Luther, Allison AND Vanya. But I swear y/n if anyone of them rats us out or backs out of the plan. We leave them behind. No pity if they choose to stay in this shithole of a house. They are old enough to make their own decision and to face the consequences.’ He leans back to the bed’s headboard. ‘That’s my final offer. Deal?’

‘Deal.’ You interlock your fingers, sealing the pinky promise.

It was easy to get Vanya on board, as she was the child that received the crappiest treatment from dad. Allison was hesitant at first but after convincing her the real world had so much more to give compared to that of the imaginary perfect bubble she created for herself here in the academy with the use of her power, she was on board.

Luther that ever loyal ‘leader’ of the academy would never dare cross dad, the idea wouldn’t have even crossed his mind. Diego had failed to make him see reason and so have you. Luther only came around to be a part of the escape because Allison had agreed to it.

It took almost 6 months. The time has come. You all had saved up enough money to rent a loft apartment downtown and pooled enough to last at least 3 months on your own.

At 1:00 am. All the remaining 5 Hargreeves are to ready with their backpacks to sneak out in groups, boys and girls, and meet at the rendezvous point, Giddy’s Doughnuts. There, a van would be available for them to drive to the apartment.

The boys were to go first, as to let Diego deactivate the security features of the house while Luther stands guard.

It was only supposed to take 15 minutes tops, it was 20 minutes past now. Something was wrong.

Deciding as a team to check up on the boys, you, Allison and Vanya head down to the foyer.

Upon arrival, you see Luther with his hands covering Diego’s face, Diego who seem limp as a log.

‘Luther what’s going on?’ Allison’s voice rang out beside you.

‘I’m sorry….’ He looks down unto the unconscious Diego in his arms. ‘I just… I just couldn’t.’

‘Number Eight! How could you! How could all of you! Three! Seven!’

The room seemed to turn colder by the sound of the voice. You turn and see Sir Reginald Hargreeves.

‘Dad…’

‘YOU ARE ALL A DISGRACE.’ Reginald spitted.

‘But dad!’ Luther pleaded. ‘I was the one who informed you about their plan!’

‘ENOUGH! NO MORE OF THIS FOOLISHNESS, BACK TO BED---’

‘That’s right NO MORE dad!’ Shouted Allison. She glances at dad then at Luther. A frown etched her face as she commanded. ‘I heard a rumor that you couldn’t move your legs.’

The effect was immediate. The lower half of Reginald and Luther stayed still as a rock while they tried their best to break free. But alas, Allison had the upper hand. ‘I heard a rumor you let us go freely.’ At once, both men calmed down.

And to add insult to injury. Allison focused on Reginald and rumoured ‘And you would leave Diego Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves, Vanya Hargreeves, Y/n Hargreeves and Allison Hargreeves alone.’

Luther’s betrayal felt like a stab in the back.

Moving on and creating a new life from the ground up for oneself was hard but having your siblings with you had definitely made it easier.

It took a while to get the hang of things, being 4 young adults with nothing. You missed Mom and Pogo, but you knew that they, like Luther would stick with Dad.

Vanya was the first to take up stack, she provided the finance to pay rent and groceries with the salary she would get from her violin performances at the local theatre. Soon Allison would also chip in from the money she received from her acting gigs.

Diego showed interest into joining the police academy while you wanted to get away from the lifestyle as much as possible, opted to move across the country and pursue tertiary education-because that was what normal 18-year-old do right? For once you want to be ordinary and what better way than experience what student life is all about.

Though there is one teensy detail that was hindering your application. You were home-schooled by your robot mom. There weren’t report cards or grades that any university would accept. Even if there were, you wouldn’t want to go back to that dreadful house.

Both not wanting to lose your newfound passion, you and Diego had an enormous favour to ask.

‘NO not a chance!’ Allison crossed her arms. ‘It’s unethical!’

‘Yes we know-‘ you replied.

‘But it’s the only way.’ Diego reasoned. ‘It’s not fair for y/n and I to not be able to follow our dreams and to finally FINALLY move on with our lives, Ally. While you and Vanya get to live out yours.’

You nodded along. ‘We ask you just this one thing and we’re out of your hair.’

Allison looked between you two as if to decided whether it would be worth it. ‘Fine, just this once.’ She sighs. ’And this doesn’t get out kapeesh?’ pointing her finger.

‘kapeesh.’

‘I’m gonna miss you so much!’ Vanya admitted.

You pulled both your sisters into a hug. ‘I’m miss you gals more!’

Allison wipes her tears away. ‘Don’t forget us okay? Remember we’re only a text away.’

‘Tell Diego that I’m gonna miss kicking his butt when he come back from his officer training, ye?’

Over the years you hadn’t lost touch with your family. It’s been a while since you’ve all together physically, but you do video chat every once and a while and you have a general tab on each of your siblings. Vanya is currently the 3rd chair violin at her orchestra, Diego had channelled his inner batman and believe to be a vigilante keeping the streets and public safe.

As for Klaus, Diego had told you that he hasn’t managed to keep off his ~happy place~ and had seen him in and out of nightclubs.

Allison….Well who wouldn’t know about what she’s up to. A-list celebrity with numerous critically acclaimed movies to her name, one half of Hollywood’s hottest couple and amazing role model for mothers. Ahh Claire that sweet angel, who says that you’re her favourite aunt, that smile of hers melts your heart.

The last you’ve seen of Luther is when his journey to the moon has been televised a couple of years ago. There’s been no news since.

The rattling of the gate brings you back to the present.

‘AH yes, Miss.y/n. He has been expecting you.’

‘Pogo!’ You exclaimed, wrapping him in a hug.

‘So I’m not to late then? Where’s mom?’

‘Grace is with Sir Reginald, my dear.’ Pogo leads you up the stairs.

Looking around, everything is as pristine as usual. ‘I see that nothing’s change’ You noted.

‘Yes, well I was asked to keep it as it always was.’

He opens the door to Reginald’s quarters. There on the bed was dad, looking sickly pale but still alive unlike to what you had seen in your vision.

Beside him wiping away the sweat on his forehead was mom. ‘Oh, my dear y/n I’m glad you could join us.’ She says as if years hadn’t gone by without your presence.

You reach the foot of the bed. ‘Dad…’ you begin.

But Reginald cuts you off. ‘Number Eight. Glad to see that logical and curious side of yours overrides that irrational emotive side.’ His voice weak yet still holds its signature condescending tone. ‘It is your disposition to the voice of reason and mysteries of the unknown that led you here, despite your supposed hatred towards me-‘

‘There’s no grey area, I do hate you.’

He waved his hand to dismiss your interruption.

‘As I was saying, it is of this reason- your control over the impulsiveness that is apparent to all of your siblings who lack control- is why you are my favourite.’

You scoffed.

‘It is true, my dear y/n.’

‘Oh please. You only see me as a “valuable asset”. Remember?’

Reginald nods. ‘I do, but I believe the exact words were “You would do great things Number Eight. To see into the future is a valuable asset to have indeed”. Thus, implying that your ability is the asset not you.’

‘Sure, just rub it in don’t you.’ Rolling your eyes.

‘I hope that you do too remember that also in my own words that you were and still are “the cleverest of the bunch”.’

‘So why am I here, you’re clearly not dead.’ You looked at him again. You’ve never seen your dad so fragile ever. ‘….yet. So there must be something to do with that. Perhaps find your killer?’

On the bedside table, you took note of the cup of tea and medication. Your brain is in super speed, running through ideas on what could have cause him to be so sickly.

‘It could be your meds…..’ You look up. ‘Mom who else has access to Dad’s medication?’

‘Just us dear, Pogo and I.’

‘Number Eight there is no killer. I am dying because of old age, it is quite normal for-‘

‘NO No but the mortality rate is 350 years for the species of—’

‘Ah!’ Reginald’s face showed of surprise which slowly turned into cunningest. ‘so, you know then’ He chuckled.

‘Yes.’

‘Since when?’ He asked genuinely curious.

‘When we first showed signs of powers, some of your notes were written in a language I did not recognised.’ You recalled. ‘So, I did some digging, it took a while but when I found about the secret safe under this very bed and what it contained. Everything became clearer.’

‘Very good. Y/n. Nobody knew about the safe expect myself.’ He looked over at Pogo. ‘Did you know of it?’

‘No, Sir.’ Pogo admitted. ‘Not until now.’

‘Very well indeed. You knew all this time, yet you didn’t say anything. Why?’

‘Because it didn’t matter.’ You shrugged. ‘The only thing that matter in this household was our powers.’

‘Did the others-‘

‘No, they didn’t know. I hadn’t told a soul. It is not my secret to share.’

‘And soon it will be yours.’

‘What?’

‘Number Eight, it is without a doubt my time here is limited. Perhaps as little as an hour.’

Never had you seen someone talk about their death like this. You shiver at the thought.

‘By the fact that you are here now and had seen a vision of me dead means that the block I had place on you to prevent you peering into events regarding me is failing. Failing as my health is.’

You want to be angry. How dare he supress your power. But you stand still as a rock by his confession. ‘why?’ A soft whisper was all you could muster. ‘why?’

‘Because I had to keep my real identity a secret. To prevent you from exposing me.’ He coughed. ‘But turns out, you hadn’t need to use your powers to know that, as what you’ve told me.’ He looked at you with watering eyes. ‘You found that all on your own, yet you did not disclose anything.’ He reached out for your hand to which you accept. ‘For which I am delighted that at least I can say that I have one child, a daughter to be proud of.’

A daughter to be proud of.

You would like to think that you are strong and independent. And those are true. But that small child that all that wanted was to experience a parent’s love and affection. That emotional support of that small child which you thought you had successfully tucked away came clawing its way back to the surface.

‘y/n’ You had almost missed it, wiping away your tears, you leaned closer.

‘Listen carefully….’ Your dad’s chest was barely moving. It was a struggle for him to get the following words out. ‘The end is near, get the others ……and save…..the…..tttiiiimmm’

You never head what came next. Sir Reginald Hargreeves is dead.

Under the setting sun, Reginald looked at peace.

A half moon shines brightly above the house. It had been 3 days and 7 Hours since it happened.

Exhaustion is starting to catch up with you but there is still so much to do.

News channels had broadcasted the breaking news of your father’s death.

You had personally called your siblings to deliver the news, they are to arrive tomorrow for the funeral at noon.

Luther who had been expecting to relay dad his daily report status on the space radio, cussed at you in anger-those were the first words you heard in 12 years- calmed down and said that he will be there in 3 days, in time for the funeral.

‘Sweetie, I brought you some tea.’

‘Thanks mom.’ You take a sip. ‘Hey mom did you think you’re gonna be alright now that you know…. That dad is gone?’

She runs her fingers to your hair. ‘I’m gonna be fine dear, I am stronger than you know.’

You smile at her. You just can’t help but to think what’s gonna happen to her now that your dad is gone. Pushing that thought away-like she said, I am stronger than you know.

‘Now, why don’t we get you to bed.’ She cuts you off before you can say a word. ‘Uh uh. You have done so much already. You need rest especially with the funeral in 9 hours. Pogo and I can handle the remaining task.’

‘Thanks again mom.’

She tucks you into bed. ‘Good night y/n/n. Sweet Dreams.’ She kisses the top of your head. ‘I love you.’

‘I love you too mom.’ As she leaves your room, you realised that you didn’t want to be alone. ‘Mom…’ You called out, almost childlike.

‘Yes dear.’ Grace makes her way back in.

‘Well you stay with me? Sing to me until I fall asleep?’

‘Ofcourse dear.’ She smiles, pulling up a chair beside your bed.

The lull of your mother’s voice sends you to sleep with the memories of the childhood before power. When everything was simple. When there was love in this household.

You awoke to sounds of screams and flashes of blue light. You hurry to your window, it shows the courtyard, a ball of blue chaos small black figures.

You pull on your jacket and ran downstairs, the clock in the foyer shows 11:37am. Crap you overslept! But that means…..that the figures you saw were your siblings. There are early….that’s new.

You arrived in the courtyard just as you see Klaus throws a fire extinguisher at the blue light.

‘What are you doing?!’ Shouted Luther.

‘What is that gonna do?’ Allison questioned.

‘I don’t know!!’ Klaus turned around ‘Do you have a better idea?—Oh hey y/n! Nice to see you!’ He ran over and gave you a tight hug. ‘What a family reunion ehh?’

Before you could reply, the ball of blue gave out a crackle of electricity.

‘Everyone get behind me!’ Luther pushes in front of everyone.

‘Yeah! Get behind us.’ Diego chimed in, pushing Vanya closer to you.

Vanya ignores Diego, trying to get a better look herself. ‘It looks like something is coming through!’

The ball of light exploded, the sudden burst of energy was blinding that you had to cover your eyes.

Then nothing, total darkness.

THUD. You heard Vanya scream.

‘Argh!’

The blue chaos had expelled something….someone.

Luther was the first to speak. ‘Who’s there?’

‘Show yourself!’ said Diego.

As a collective group, you walked towards the mystery person.

Your eyes go wide with shock. No it can’t be, it’s impossible. You must be seeing things.

‘Does anyone else see little Number Five, or is that just me?’ wondered Klaus.

Klaus looked around and saw that everyone showed that same face of disbelief. Pleased to know that it wasn’t the drugs, he snickered. ‘Now THIS! THIS IS WHAT I CALL A FAMILY REUNION.’

Little Five who didn’t seem to have aged a day since you last saw him,

It’s been years but seeing him looking like he did back when you last saw him, you recall the last words he had shouted at you.

‘get out of the way y/n! i don’t want to see your face anymore.’

Five looks down at himself drowned in tattered oversize clothes, wining. ‘SHIT!’

Something is wrong, something is very wrong and you know it.

No way was this all a coincidence for your father to warn you about some impending doom and have Five to reappear 17 years later. It must be related somehow…What’s next you thought……For Ben to come back to life too?

END OF PART 2

READ: [PART 1] [PART 3] [PART 4]

Taglist [All]: @gruffle1

Taglist [TUA]:@herecomesthesun1969 @alabaster1223 @ultraviolet-m @winterierwriter @lordofthunderthr @grapesauze @xbarrjallenx @white-wolf-buckaroo @yoheyyosup @infinitystones2018 @94seun @buckynatlarry @thegirlwholikestomanythings @just-some-stars @97yrm @2cuteforyourlies @e-bendy @criminallyhamilton @aqarath @change-the-world-someday @sambucky8 @spankin-soda @big-galaxy-chaos @cosmichellfire

Feel free to tell me to you want to be tagged for the series or for all/any other of my fics.

Would love to hear your opinion on the series so far too!

237 notes · View notes

jamesshawgames · 4 years ago

Text

Chapter 5 WIP progress update

So every so often, I’m gonna use this Tumblr to put up progress updates on the interactive novel I’m working on now, Relics 2: The Crusader’s Tomb. It’s the sequel to my already published game Relics of the Lost Age. If you’d like to try out the work in progress version, you can find it here. You can play it as a stand-alone, but you’ll have a better experience if you play the first game first. There’s a link to the first game in the pinned post.

For the uninitiated, Relics 2 is a big adventure story set in the 1930s, about a swashbuckling archaeologist called Dr. Spillane, who you control, and whose first name, gender, sexuality and skill profile you choose. In the game, Spillane is trying to find the long-lost tomb of a knight of the Fourth Crusade, before any of their villainous rivals can get to it. To do this, our hero is following a series of clues in a cryptic poem written by one of the knight’s companions, trying to retrace the knight’s journey across Europe to his final resting place. On the way, they have many adventures, and face off against a number of factions and rivals who are trying to kill them or stop them completing their quest.

In the fifth chapter, they learn that they have to go to Wewelsburg, a creepy castle in Westphalia, in Germany, which is, at the time the story is set, under Nazi government. One problem - our hero is a wanted criminal in Germany, because of how they defeated a wicked Nazi plot back in the first game! So they team up with their bitter rival María García Pérez, who also happens to be a wanted criminal in Germany because of stuff she did in the last game, in an uneasy temporary alliance, trying to help each other stay alive until they make it safely out of Germany.

I really want this to be a standout chapter. Teaming up with María gives everything a new dynamic, and plus, the Nazis are back! They were the main baddies in the last game, and my God do they make great villains (the only good thing I’ll ever say about Nazis!), but they’re not the main villains this time, and they only really appear in this chapter, so I want it to be super-memorable, and for them to have lots of chances to be evil and terrifying during their brief moment in the spotlight. I hope it will be memorable because of the main location: Wewelsburg was the ceremonial center of the SS, and all that stuff from Indiana Jones and Wolfenstein about the Nazis being into occult things like the Holy Grail, Atlantis, and the magical power of ancient Germanic runes was all centered there. It’s a really interesting and creepy aspect of the Nazi period, and it was fun to explore it in this chapter. It’s also essentially a manhunt narrative, as our heroes have to cross and re-cross an entire country, with the police and military on high alert looking for them. Expect paranoia and tension, anxious encounters with locals who may or may not have figured out that you’re on the run, lots of vehicle-based action, a run-in with one of Hitler’s most infamous right-hand men, and lots of awkward (or erotically-charged?) moments with your old foe María.

I’m very near the end now. I have to write one more scene in Germany, and then a bit of business after our heroes have escaped across the border into Czechoslovakia. In a week or so (as long as I don’t get too distracted by shiny things) I should be updating the WIP to include the new chapter. I’ll put up an announcement here when it’s gone live. Feel free to check it out and leave me your feedback if it sounds interesting to you!

#relics of the lost age #relics 2 #relics series #hosted games #choice of games #interactive fiction

16 notes · View notes

davidmann95 · 5 years ago

Text

Superman’s 10 Best of the ‘10s

Good Miracle Monday, folks! The first third Monday of May of a new decade for that matter, and while that means that today in the DC Universe Superman just revealed his secret identity to the world on the latest anniversary of that time he defeated the devil, in ours it puts a capstone on a solid 10 years of his adventures now in the rear view mirror, ripe for reevaluation. And given there’s a nice solid ‘10′ right there I’ll go ahead with the obvious and list my own top ten for Superman comics of the past decade, with links in the titles to those I’ve spoken on in depth before - maybe you’ll find something you overlooked, or at least be reminded of good times.

A plethora of honorable mentions: I’m disqualifying team-ups or analogue character stories, but no list of the great Superman material of the last decade would be complete without bringing up Cave Carson Has A Cybernetic Eye #7, Avengers 34.1, Irredeemable, Sideways Annual #1, Supreme: Blue Rose, Justice League: Sixth Dimension, usage of him in Wonder Twins, (somewhat in spite of itself) Superior, from all I’ve heard New Super-Man, DCeased #5, and Batman: Super Friends. And while they couldn’t quite squeeze in, all due praise to the largely entertaining Superman: Unchained, the decades’ great Luthor epic in Superman: The Black Ring, a brilliant accompaniment to Scott Snyder’s work with Lex in Lex Luthor: Year of the Villain, the bonkers joy of the Superman/Luthor feature in Walmart’s Crisis On Infinite Earths tie-in comics, Geoff Johns and John Romita’s last-minute win in their Superman run with their final story 24 Hours, Tom Taylor’s quiet criticism of the very premise he was working with on Injustice and bitter reflection on the changing tides for the character in The Man of Yesterday, the decades’ most consistent Superman ongoing in Bryan Miller and company’s Smallville Season 11, and Superman: American Alien, which probably would have made the top ten but has been dropped like a hot potato by one and all for Reasons. In addition are several stories from Adventures of Superman, a book with enough winners to merit a class of its own: Rob Williams and Chris Weston’s thoughtful Savior, Kyle Killen and Pia Guerra’s haunting The Way These Things Begin, Marc Guggenheim and Joe Bennett’s heart-wrenching Tears For Krypton, Christos Gage and Eduardo Francisco’s melancholy Flowers For Bizarro, Josh Elder and Victor Ibanez’s deeply sappy but deeply effective Dear Superman, Ron Marz and Doc Shaner’s crowdpleasing Only Child, and Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine DeLandro’s super-sweet Mystery Box.

10. Greg Pak/Aaron Kuder’s Action Comics

Oh, what might’ve been. In spite of an all-timer creative team I can’t justify listing this run any higher given how profoundly and comprehensively compromised it is, from the status quo it was working with to the litany of ill-conceived crossovers to regular filler artists to its ignominious non-ending. But with the most visceral, dynamic, and truly humane take on Clark Kent perhaps of all time that still lives up to all Superman entails, and an indisputably iconic instant-classic moment to its name, I can’t justify excluding it either.

9. Action Comics #1000

Arguably the climax to the decade for the character as his original title became the first superhero comic to reach a 1000th issue. While any anthology of this sort is a crapshoot by nature, everyone involved here seemed to understand the enormity of the occasion and stepped up as best they could; while the lack of a Lois Lane story is indefensible, some are inevitably bland, and one or two are more than a bit bizarre, by and large this was a thoroughly charming tribute to the character and his history with a handful of legitimate all-timer short stories.

8. Faster Than A Bullet

Much as Adventures of Superman was rightfully considered an oasis amidst the New 52′s worst excesses post-Morrison and in part pre-Pak, few stories from it seem well-remembered now, and even at the time this third issue inexplicably seemed to draw little attention. Regardless, Matt Kindt and Stephen Segovia’s depiction of an hour in the life of Superman as he saves four planets first thing in the morning without anyone noticing - while clumsy in its efforts at paralleling the main events with a literal subplot of a conversation between Lois and Lex - is one of the best takes I can recall on the scope on which he operates, and ultimately the purpose of Clark Kent.

7. Man and Superman

Seemingly geared on every front against me, built as it was on several ideas of how to handle Superman’s origin I legitimately hate, and by a writer whose work over the years has rarely been to my liking, Marv Wolfman and Claudio Castellini’s Man and Superman somehow came out of nowhere to be one of my favorite takes on Clark Kent’s early days. With a Metropolis and characters within it that feel not only alive but lived-in, it’s shocking that a story written and drawn over ten years before it was actually published prefigured so many future approaches to its subject, and felt so of-the-moment in its depiction of a 20-something scrambling to figure out how to squeeze into his niche in the world when it actually reached stores.

6. Brian Bendis’s run

Controversial in the extreme, and indeed heir to several of Brian Bendis’s longstanding weaknesses as a writer, his work on The Man of Steel, Superman, and Action Comics has nevertheless been defined at least as much by its ambition and intuitive grasp of its lead, as well as fistfuls of some of the best artistic accompaniment in the industry. At turns bombastic space action, disaster flick, spy-fi, oddball crime serial, and family drama, its assorted diversions and legitimate attempts at shaking up the formula - or driving it into new territory altogether, as in the latest, apparently more longterm-minded unmasking of Clark Kent in Truth - have remained anchored and made palatable by an understanding of Superman’s voice, insecurities, and convictions that go virtually unmatched.

5. Strange Visitor

The boldest, most out-of-left-field Superman comic of the past 10 years, Joe Keatinge took the logline of Adventures of Superman to do whatever creators wanted with the character and, rather than getting back to a classic take absent from the mainline titles at the time as most others did, used the opportunity for a wildly expansive exploration of the hero from his second year in action to his far-distant final adventure. Alongside a murderer’s row of artists, Keatinge pulled off one of the few comics purely about how great Superman is that rather than falling prey to hollow self-indulgence actually managed to capture the wonder of its subject.

4. Superman: Up In The Sky

And here’s the other big “Superman’s just the best” comic the decade had to offer that actually pulled it off. Sadly if reasonably best-known for its one true misfire of a chapter, with the increasing antipathy towards Tom King among fans in general likely not helping, what ended up overlooked is that this is a stone-cold classic on moment of arrival. Andy Kubert turns in work that stands alongside the best of his career, Tom King’s style is honed to its cleanest edge by the 12-pager format and subject matter, and the quest they set their lead out on ends up a perfect vehicle to explore Superman’s drive to save others from a multitude of angles. I don’t know what its reputation will end up being in the long-term - I was struck how prosaic and subdued the back cover description was when I got this in hardcover, without any of the fanfare or critic quotes you’d expect from the writer of Mister Miracle and Vision tackling Superman - but while its one big problem prevents me from ranking it higher, this is going to remain an all-timer for me.

3. Jeff Loveness’s stories Help and Glasses

Cheating shamelessly here, but Jeff Loveness’s Help with David Williams and Glasses with Tom Grummett are absolutely two halves of the same coin, a pair of theses on Superman’s enduring relevance as a figure of hope and the core of Lois and Clark’s relationship that end up covering both sides of Superman the icon and Superman the guy. While basically illustrated essays, any sense of detached lecturing is utterly forbidden by the raw emotion on display here that instantly made them some of the most acclaimed Superman stories of the last several years; they’re basically guaranteed to remain in ‘best-of’ collections from now until the end of time.

2. Superman Smashes The Klan

A bitter race for the top spot, but #2 is no shame here; while not quite my favorite Superman story of the past ten years, it’s probably the most perfectly executed. While I don’t think anyone could have quite expected just *how* relevant this would be at the top of the decade, Gene Yang and Gurihiru put together an adventure in the best tradition of the Fleischer shorts and the occasional bystander-centered episodes of Batman: The Animated Series to explore racism’s both overt and subtle infections of society’s norms and institutions, the immigrant experience, and both of its leads’ senses of alienation and justice. Exciting, stirring, and insightful, it’s debuted to largely universal acknowledgement as being the best Superman story in years, and hopefully it’ll be continued to be marketed as such long-term.

1. Grant Morrison’s Action Comics

When it came time to make the hard choice, it came in no small part down to that I don’t think we would have ever seen a major Golden Age Superman revival project like Smashes The Klan in the first place if not for this. Even hampering by that godawful Jim Lee armor, inconsistent (if still generally very good) art, and a fandom that largely misunderstood it on arrival can’t detract from that this is Grant Morrison’s run on a Superman ongoing, a journey through Superman’s development as a character reframed as a coherent arc that takes him from Metropolis’s most beaten-down neighborhoods to the edge of the fifth dimension and the monstrous outermost limits of ‘Superman’ as a concept. It launched discussions of Superman as a corporate icon and his place relative to authority structures that have never entirely vanished, introduced multiple all-time great new villains, and made ‘t-shirt Superman’ a distinct era and mode of operation for the character that I’m skeptical will ever entirely go away. No other work on the character this decade had the bombast, scope, complexity, or ambition of this run, with few able to match its charm or heart. And once again, it was, cannot stress this enough, Grant Morrison on an ongoing Superman book.

#Superman #Miracle Monday #Opinion

86 notes · View notes

avenging-is-my-day-job · 4 years ago

Text

I find anti-culture baffling. Truly.

Because everyone I've encountered who participates in it treats the fictional characters they're so vehemently against like they are sentient individuals and not the product of the imaginations of the people who got lucky enough to be given creative liberty over them. Frankly, it's toxic.

Why be anti-Scrooge Mcduck? Just because you're against excessive wealth? I mean, you do you, but liking the fictional Scrooge Mcduck doesn't funnel real world money into the pockets of B*zos and M*sk. Scrooge Mcduck's fictional money inside his fictional vault has no impact on real world economies.

To be clear, there's a very big difference between disliking something and being anti something.

One of my favorite examples is the infamous Age of Ultron r*pe joke. Here, you've got a movie that is widely regarded as one of the worst in a ten-year spanning series in terms of writing, story, and character development and depiction. It was written by a man who is a well known misogynist. It was written by a man who wrote a Wonder Woman script that depicted Diana Prince as an arrogant and delusional princess with a hero complex who performs sexy dances and gets a verbal beat down from her love interest before being told that he wants to see her naked.

Why is anyone surprised that this man put a r*pe joke in a film where every male character is treated like his self insert? Why does anyone think that these fictional characters chose these things of their own, non-existent free will. They are not sentient. They are the products of real people's imaginations.

Another part of anti-culture that I find baffling, hilarious, etc. Is that research is almost never performed to back anti claims, and when it is, the sources are all other antis who tossed some dialogue into a blender and got mad at the smoothie that came out. Google takes ten seconds.

I've been involved with fandom online upwards of sixteen years and I've witnessed headcanons and bits of fanfics gain traction only for fans, years later, to start asking what film/episode/comic it originated from. What scene? And I can tell you, I saw the original material for this widely accepted fact and it was fan-made. That's how a lot of anti research works. Something questionable is produced, and instead of actually checking the original published material to see if it's true, antis take it and run.

Or, it's something that is from the original source material, but it's widely misinterpreted. X character physically abused her partner in this show!!! Except the scene in question is X character playfully swatting her partner while they're joking around. But it's too late, there's now a load of people on the internet who are now tearing down every single perceived flaw and trying to condemn the entire person over it.

Or it's popular character who did bad things in the past, but the whole focus of their arc is trying (and sometimes failing, but trying nonetheless) to atone for those bad things. Now everything they do is evil and anyone who likes them is delusional. That's scarily reminiscent of cancel culture. Yes, hold people accountable. Don't say, "well, they're trying to change so we can forget the bad things". Hold people accountable. You can say, "this character should be facing more accountability", but whether or not they do is not the choice of the character, it's the choice of the person who has been given unequivocal creative liberty over them.

The argument here isn't "this character didn't get charged for an obvious crime so that means they're evil" the argument is, "the writer of this character skimmed over the consequences of this action and that isn't realistic".

And finally, something I've noticed that's popular with a lot of antis is that they'll condemn a character, treat them like they're sentient and in control, while "stanning" characters who have actually committed atrocities. No, this isn't me saying, "if you're going to hate X for this, then you should hate Y too."

My point is, it's so fucking hypocritical for an anti to say, "X was written doing something bad by a bad writer and if you don't hate X for it then you're an idiot" while looking at Y, a character who knowingly committed human rights violations and say "uwu queen".

The thing about fictional character is, when written well, they're multi-faceted. Villains can be sympathized with and heroes can be judged. You can dislike a character if you want, for any reason or no reason at all. But if you have reasons to dislike a character, for the love of all things holy, fact check before you get sucked in by toxic nonsense on the internet.

#but X is a hero and isn't supposed to do things like that!#Y was clearly written to be evil!#anti anti #anti culture #tw: rape mention #tw: r*pe #fuck off #would you rather the hero be a Mary Sue?#even fictional people have flaws and make mistakes #damned if you do #damned if you don't

2 notes · View notes

johannas-motivational-insults · 6 years ago

Text

SPOP Fic/Vid Masterpost

Last updated: January 2021

I’ve gained a bit of notoriety and a lot of followers on Tumblr for my blog content, so I just wanna take a minute to introduce myself and my work to any new followers who might see this (or old ones who have missed new content). Nothing wrong with a little shameless self-promotion, right?

Hi, I’m Jo, and I'm actually primarily a fic writer and vidder. I’ve just been writing a lot of meta and making gifsets for SPOP because I Just Have A Lot Of Feelings. I’ve also written fics for The Hunger Games and The 100, but here’s my SPOP works in case you are looking for more content:

Fics

Demons: Catra and Adora working through the abuse they suffered at the hands of Shadow Weaver, as well as their unresolved feelings for each other. Unapologetically dark and angsty, but in a deep and cathartic way. (longfic, WIP)

Satisfaction: Half porn, half character study. Examines how Catra and Adora’s hangups and trauma could influence their sexual dynamics. Top Catra and Top Adora, so there’s something for everyone so long as you don’t mind a little kink. ;D (short chapter fic, complete)

The Sting in My Eyes: Post-canon hurt/comfort fic. Catra is still working on expressing her emotions in healthy ways, with Melog’s help. She and Adora ruminate on their mixed emotions over Shadow Weaver’s final act and their relationships with her prior. (oneshot, complete)

Hail Mary: High school football au where Catradora are best friends and teammates but there is some frustration brewing under the surface for both of them. Meant to mirror their pre-canon relationship, with plenty of references to canon events along the way. (medium(?) chapter fic, WIP)

Solidarity: Adora cuts her hair short to match Catra’s in hopes of making her feel less self-conscious and better about how hers was cut without her consent. (oneshot, possibly to be a twoshot in the future)

Full Hearts: Fluffy domestic Catradora future fic. (twoshot, complete)

Aural Fixation: Shameless Catradora smut. Adora wakes Catra up by nibbling on her ears to get her hot, and she pays the price for it. (oneshot, possibly to be a twoshot in the future)

Done Waiting: Angsty Scorptra post season 3, Scorpia confronting Catra for the way she’s treated her. (oneshot, complete)

Love, Adora: My angsty backstory for Adora’s letter to Catra in the Rebel Princess Guide. Only read this if you want to cry. (oneshot, complete)

Live With It: My sequel to @jaelav3‘s horribly tragic oneshot congratulations. Adora dealing (or not dealing) with her guilt and grief six years after slaying Catra in battle. This is another one you should only read if you want to cry, obviously. (3/ 4-5 chapters published)

Vids

Catra - CTRL^^^: An examination of how Catra’s need to be in control is really really hot impacts her relationships and mental health and ultimately sends her spinning out of control. (rock, seasons 1-4) Catra and Shadow Weaver - Mercy: A snapshot of Catra and Shadow Weaver’s toxic and tumultuous relationship throughout the series (a.k.a. Shadow Weaver being The Worst™ greatest hits). (rock, seasons 1-5)

Adora - A Better Son/Daughter: A tribute to Adora’s struggles with anxiety and her hero complex, and to her eventual happy ending. (This one starts slow, stick with it through the instrumental start and you’ll be rewarded with lots of tears!) (indie ballad, seasons 1-5)

Catra - Unstoppable: A look at Catra’s need for validation and tendency to suppress her emotions, and how her quest for power turned into a train wreck she couldn’t stop. (pop, seasons 1-4)

I’m Not Jesus - Catra and Adora vs. Shadow Weaver: A song about not forgiving your abuser. Examines Catra and Adora’s feelings about Shadow Weaver being “one of the good guys” after joining the rebellion. (metal, seasons 1-4)

Catra - Behind Blue Eyes: A character study of the hurt hiding beneath Catra’s villain facade, her lifetime of silent suffering. (rock, season 1)

Scorpia/Dina Mashups - She-Ra x Superstore Crack: A collection of some of Lauren Ash’s best lines from Superstore dubbed over scenes from She-Ra. Laughs guaranteed! (crack, seasons 1-5)

Catradora - Roadside: A total angst fest, all about Catra’s feelings of abandonment and betrayal and the consequences she suffers after Adora leaves the Horde. (For some reason this one never took off, but it’s a real tear-jerker.) (rock, season 1)

Catradora - Under Your Scars: An Adora-centric look at Catradora’s falling out and her undying affection for Catra. And she was yearning. (rock, seasons 1-2)

Scorptra - You Belong With Me: A snapshot of Scorpia’s feelings for Catra and her frustration with Catra’s obsession with Adora. (pop, seasons 1-2)

She-Ra crack: She-Ra x The Lion King (plus bonus Disney!): Exactly what it sounds like. Includes odes to the Best Friend Squad and Superpal Trio, a gaggle of musical numbers, and lots of gay jokes! (I like to think the cast and crew saw this one after seeing them make one of the exact same jokes, but it’s probably coincidence tbh.) (musical/crack, season 1)

Catra - King of Pain: A look at the cycle of trauma and suffering that Catra never seems to be able to escape. (acoustic rock cover, seasons 1-2)

Adora - Monster: A look at how the great expectations placed on Adora and her resulting ego and messiah complex end up alienating others and paralyzing her with feelings of inadequacy and guilt, and how important it is for her to learn to accept the help and love of others. (pop, seasons 1-5)

697 notes · View notes

myupostsheadcanons · 4 years ago

Text

Books “Read” in 2020

Previous entries: 2019, 2018, 2017

I don’t rank these based on actual literary quality, but by how much i enjoyed reading/listening to them. Hopefully with Audible’s new “Premium Included” feature it would cut down on so many Average/Below Average books next year, it’ll give me more of a choice on what kind of books/podcasts i want to listen to rather than given a handful to pick from a month.

The “Top 10″

Forging Hephaestus / Bones of the Past: Villains' Code Series - Drew Hayes has became one of my fav authors over the past couple years, from his Vampire Accountant series, 5-min Sherlock, and his Spells, Swords, and Stealth books. FH is one of the few times he wrote Adult Fiction. This is the second time Drew created a world of super heroes (the YA Superpowereds), thus previous experience in dealing with the nuisances and meta of super meta dynamics. I love the main character, Tori, and especially love many of the side characters (like Ivan) and the comedy is the right tone of dark and not-in-your-face (not quite as well -written as something like The Venture Bros or The Tick, but being adult fiction you can get away with having characters named Johnny Three-Dicks and Captain Bullshit)

Dreadnought / Sovereign - the second super hero series I’ve placed on my top list this year, this one is Young Adult. This one is far more serious and deals heavily in issues like trans and women’s rights, mental abuse, and social acceptance. The main character is full of angst, but that should be a given for a 15 yo with lots of mental baggage and new social pressures. The main character is the main draw, most of the side characters are a bit more one-dimensional.

The Trouble with Peace: Age of Madness, Book 2. It isn’t a “First Law” book if you don’t want to strangle half of the main characters. Many are stepping outside of the shadow of the previous generation and finding themselves falling flat on their faces. If they aren’t at each other’s throats, they would soon have to deal with rebellion in the streets and the constant looming presence of Bayaz, who waits to sweep the board clear and rearrange the pieces the way he sees fit.

Michael J. Sullivan’s: The Riyria and Legend of the First Empire Books.

Riyria Revelations: Theft of Swords / Rise of Empire / Heir of Novron

Riyria Chronicles: The Crown Tower / The Rose and Thorn / The Death of Dulgath

Age of Death / Age of Empyre, Pile of Bones

After finishing the Legend of the First Empire books that came out earlier this year, I went ahead and read the prior series that takes place in the same world. I would suggest reading the entire series by Publish order, but they can be read Chronologically. I read the Legends books first, and it helped me see where Sullivan was heading and when he started to plan out the Legends books in more detail. (The early cameo of the Main characters from Legends in a mural in Heir of Novron, and knowing who is behind the events in Dulgath)

The Dresden Files: Peace Talks / Battle Grounds - They really should be read as one book, because that was how they were written. It is a Feast of Crows / Dances with Dragons situation, where the book got too long and got split up. The fans are pretty divided by the book(s) ending and how some of the main characters are handled, but these are Jim Butcher’s characters not theirs and he can drop bridges on whom ever he wants.

What Lies Beyond: Cycle of Galand, Book 6 - This is a “mythology” book (like Sullivan’s Age of Death was) where it introduces most of the Pantheon of their religion and corrects much of the mythology that had been lost over the decades. They seek a weapon to vanquish the Litch and save their world and the afterlife from oblivion, but not all of their Gods are happy about it.

Will Destroy the Galaxy for Cash - Yahtzee (Zero Punctuation!) has to be one of my favorite internet personalities for the past 10+ years, and I eat up every book he puts out and because he wrote the books, and is an actor himself, he could deliver the lines as they are intended to be. The sequel to Will Save the Galaxy for Food does not disappoint and even ups the stakes from the previous book.

The Girl Who Drank the Moon - This has to be one of the most charming books I’ve read. It is magic and wonder at it’s finest, no need for long explanations on how the world works. If you like Ghibli movies, you’ll be interested in this book. It has its dark moments but isn’t outside of what you’ll find in something like Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and Nausicca.

The Goblin Emperor - the youngest son of the Elf King finds himself emperor after the death of his father and brothers in an assassination. The only problem is, that he is only half-elf... his late mother was a Goblin, and he had been in exile as an embarrassment to the family for most of his life. He knows nothing of how the courts work and what’s left of his own family work against him just for being who he is.

Lost Gods: Brom - I liked this book more than I did American Gods (which I read a few years ago). It is darker and bleaker by the bucket loads. One of the few books with a downer ending that I actually liked. I would compare this book to books like All the Pretty Horses and No Country for Old Men-- but it is a Fantasy!

Above Average.

Siege Tactics (Spells, Swords, & Stealth. Book 4) - What happens to adventurers after they retire? A fun concept that is explored with our party of NPCs running across a town full of epic-level characters that no longer have a player.

The Arthurian Saga - The Crystal Cave / The Hollow Hills / The Last Enchantment / The Wicked Day - A more realistic version of the Arthurian tales, taking the POV of Merlin, bastard son of a princess, as he earns notoriety as a scholar and wizard. The Wicked Day takes the POV of Mordred, making him far more sympathetic than other iterations of his character.

Arc of a Scythe - Scythe / Thunderhead / The Toll - Science and Technology eliminates death and in order to prevent over population and complacency an order of grim reapers are chosen to randomly deal out quotas of permanent deaths. An example of what happens when every need and want is satisfied by a higher force and the apathy that causes rot in human society and the superiority complex of those in charge of life and death.

The Diviners / Lair of Dreams / Before the Devil Breaks You / The King of Crows - Horror during the Roaring 20′s. Tackles issues as Racism, Poverty, Government Secrecy, Christian-Evangelical Cults, Nationalism Cult Mentality, Communism, Labor Unions, Eugenics, Post-WW1 trauma... It could almost pass as an adult fiction book. I wouldn’t recommend giving it to someone under High school age.

Ancillary Justice / Ancillary Sword / Ancillary Mercy - Artificial Intelligence takes over human bodies as a form of capital punishment, controlling ships and space stations. The dominate human empire outgrew the need to label any gender, using “she” to refer to everyone rather than the vaguer “them/they” pronouns, and only outlying colonies stick to the binary ideals. Think of “The Left Hand of Darkness” but on a more broader scale and as the default majority/ruling empire. Toss in a solid military action novel on top and it isn’t nearly as boring as Left Hand.

Children of Time / Children of Ruin - War destroys the human population of Earth and those that remain are the ones that headed out to the stars on tera-forming missions. A virus created to advance life forms to prepare a world for human habitation runs amuck with out its overseers, creating intelligent arachnids, crustaceans, and squid.

The Licanius Trilogy - The Shadow of What Was Lost / An Echo of Things to Come / The Light of all that Falls - It is very heavy on info overload, there is a lot to keep track of, so much so there is a summary of book one and two at the start of the third. I like the twist at the end of the first book and that the villain is actually trying to help save the world, and you spend most of the second stuck between who thinks they are doing the right thing and who is actually doing the right thing - a lot to talk about doing the lesser of two evils.

Mythos - Steven Fry - A humorous retelling of Greek mythology. I read Mythology - by Edith Hamilton prior to this book, which is a more scholarly take on the myths, and helps if you are unfamiliar with classical mythology prior to reading Fry’s take on it.

Iron, Fire and Ice: The Real History That Inspired Game of Thrones - a nice history book about Iron Age royalty. It is actually refreshing to read after going through so much faux fiction that is in Philippa Gregory’s books.

Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? - Children ask questions to a Mortician about death and what happens to bodies after people die. I listened to her autobiography last year/year before and it is worth picking up this one along with it.

Average, but still good.

Jack Campbell’s Lost Fleet Universe: Triumphant (Genesis Fleet, Book 3) / Tarnished Knight: Lost Stars, book 1 - The realistic space battles just drag me back in each and every time.

The Case of the Damaged Detective: 5-Minute Sherlock - Drew Hayes can’t write a boring book. It isn’t quite on point as his other series, but still fun to read. Hayes is really good at making YA books with Adult Protagonists. It is a road-trip book, the main character is a washed-out operative that is getting his second chance playing bodyguard and future assistant to the 5-minute Sherlock.

Locked In / Head On - Do you remember “Surrogates”? that Bruce Willis movie where people walk around in robotic avatars, well... it’s almost the same thing. A virus kills millions, save for a select few that experience “lock in” syndrome and are able to connect to robots via their brains and the internet. The main character is gender neutral and you get a choice to listen to the book with a male or female reader.

Murder by Other Means: The Dispatcher Book 2 - more John Scalzi! The first book was in my top list a few years ago, and i enjoyed the sequel just as much. Between Scalzi’s The Dispatcher and Locked In series, i like the Dispatcher more.

The Shattered Sea Trilogy: Half a King / Half the World / Half a War - Joe Abercrombie’s attempt to make Young Adult books. It keeps all the grim dark, but lacks all the swearing and humor that made The First Law books more enjoyable. Many of Joe’s favorite character tropes are still present and is one of the better “Fall to Darkness” stories I’ve read. It also has different POV characters each book and is one of those “faux fantasy” settings.

Mage Errant: Books 1, 2 & A Traitor in Skyhold: Book 3 - If you are wanting to get away from Harry Potter, pick up this book series. It takes place in magic school, but it is its own world and setting and not just a hidden world within our own. The main group of kids are misfits among the school, unable to master their powers, that get taken up by the badass librarian to be trained in more unconventional ways.

Dawn of Wonder: The Wakening Book 1 - the main character has ptsd from growing up in an abusive household, and i thought it was handled rather well. He would be rather competent and cleaver most of the time until he gets triggered into an episode, he fights really hard to overcome this short-falling of his. Standard classic affair else wise, family leaves home because the local authority figure doesn’t want them around anymore, goes to big city, kid wants to do good and avenge the deaths he was accused of, joins the badass school of hard knocks... big powerful evil thing trying to consume the world.

The Rage of Dragons - It shares a lot of tropes and story points with Red Rising... just in a fantasy setting, not in space. If you are wanting fantasy with POC main characters and a non-European-centric culture, that doesn’t pull any punches, give it a shot.

Earthsea - Tehanu and Tales from Earthsea - I had read the first three books several years back, and i did re-read them in order to refresh myself prior to reading the final two.

The Secret Garden - I absolutely loved the movie from the 90′s as a kid, and finally got around to listening to the book.

Six of Crows - A heist book in fantasy world with the magic users being heavily “Jewish / Slavic” coded by how they are treated and persecuted. I might have thought more favorably about the book if i hadn’t read other books with “street rat slum” main characters. (Seriously, after spending six books with Royce in Riyria someone like Kas is just second bananas)

Unconventional Heroes / Two Necromancers - Comedic Fantasy, the humor’s not on par with say MogWorld, and has more jokes than Fred The Vampire Accountant. It is still a parody of villains and heroes in fantasy worlds. I would find it safe for a 12/13yo to read, cursing and all, though they might not be aware of many of the tropes that are being deconstructed. The reader of the book did better in this one then he did with Six of Crows and Beezer, still the audio needed some editing because it repeats itself a few times.

Once More Upon A Time (Free Audio Book) - I don’t always care to read romance stories. I like the idea behind it however, to trade their love for each other in order to save their partner’s life, then learn to re-love one another again.

Monster Hunter International - If you think Dresden is too liberal, this takes a hard turn to the right.. replace the magic with GUNS, lots and lots of GUNS. An organization that hates the government but hunts monsters for government bounties. The main cast is multi-ethnic and they do make fun of that at one point. There isn’t a lot of thought into the plot, because action is #1, but it is fun enough to ignore the politicking.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Collection - i bitched about there not being an omnibus last year, and then Audible uploaded one. The ending is still one big clusterfuck.

Stephen King’s Insomnia - this book is the bridge between Steven King’s two universes. It is a sequel to IT and brings up the Darktower often. IT dealt mainly with childhood fears, Insomnia deals with Elderly and feminine fears.

D’Arc / Culdesac: War with No Name - I liked D’Arc more than i did Mort-e, and Culdesac is more on track with Mort-e. The virus that mutated the ants and animals reminded me of the virus from Children of Time/Ruin, even though i read Mort-e first, reading D’Arc after CoT let me notice it.

Michael McDowell’s: The Amulet / The Elementals / Gilded Needles / Blackwater - From the guy that wrote the screenplay of Beetlejuice, and the pioneer of the Southern Gothic Horror. Gilded Needles is a bit out of place, taking place in 1890′s, and is more of a social horror rather than a super natural horror the other books are.

Gardens of the Moon: The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 1 - high fantasy dark fiction. if you really want some CHONKY door stoppers, there’s over 10 of them in this series. Could’ve done less with the manipulative bastard mage that speaks in 3rd person. I had read The Willful Child, an attempted comedy science fiction novel by the same author, and it showed that the author was unfamiliar with that kind of genera and should stick to grim fantasy.

The Knife’s Edge / Citadel of Fire: The Ronin Saga - This is one of those series that I’m always going “oh, that reminds me of [insert another better series]” At times it reminded me of The Licanius Trilogy, Shades of Magic, Arc of Scythe, Riyria, Korra... It is just shy of being as good as them, and is rather firmly in that Sci-Fi Fantasy Ghetto and has a bit of “anime” feel to it with their magic users having ‘power levels’ and the power creep.

In Calabria - My only problem with the book is the massive age-gap between the Main character and his love interest. Outside of that, the whole Unicorns in the modern world concept is done very well.

Pout Neuf (Audible Free Book) - Journalism and romance during WW2. A quick read and the book really shows that research had been done about the setting and time period.

Nut Jobs: Cracking California's Strangest $10 Million Dollar Heist: An Audible Original - Not only does it talk about the heist, it actually touches on the subject of migrant farmers and slave labor, as well as the desertification of the California Valley.

The Science of Sci-Fi: From Warp Speed to Interstellar Travel (Free Audio Book) - a neat little informative podcast if you are looking for an introduction to some of the harder science fiction.

Mythology - by Edith Hamilton - Text book about Greek Mythology. Like “used in schools” text book. It is a good read if you don’t want to go through Ovid, Virgil, Homer, and all the other classical writers on your own.

The Space Race: An Audible Original - America didn’t win the Space Race. Russia did just about everything first. The only thing we did first was put people on the moon. It also goes into detail about how the inventor of the Nazi’s V2 rockets became employed with the US Space program. As well as the government’s announcement to let space travel become privatized.

Pale Blue Dot / Cosmos: A Personal Voyage - It’s Carl Sagan. Come on! Everyone should be reading them. Pale Blue Dot was being turned into an Audiobook in the 90′s but with Sagan’s death, only the first few chapters were read by him and his partner reads the rest of it (she does a decent job, and i understand why they wanted her to read it, it should’ve been done similarly to Cosmos, with guest readers doing each chapter)

Thicker Than Water (Free Audio Book) - start up pharmaceutical company scams people out of millions with promises of a miracle machine that was ahead of its time. Story told from the whistleblower himself as he recounts what his job was within the company and how he knew the owner/founder of the company and how coming out about what was going on ruined his relationship with his family and friends.

Don't Panic: Douglas Adams and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - biography on Douglas Adams and the history behind the creative process behind the Hitchhiker’s Guide series.

The Genius of Birds - It reminded me a lot of “The Soul of an Octopus” in quality. It is rather informative about birds, how they behave, and how we judge intelligence in non-human animals.

It’s “ok.”

Les Miserabes - I can see why people favor movies and theater versions because of how dense the book is, getting the cliff notes version of the book instead of reading several chapters about the Battle of Waterloo.

Viva Durant and the Secret of the Silver Buttons (Audible Free Book) - It’s cute, and I spent the next several weeks humming that freaking song.

Challenger Deep - A book about mental illness by the same person that brought us The Arc of a Scythe series. It isn’t a bad read, but if you are prone to get panic attacks and have mental illness yourself, you might get too into it and make you uneasy. It can help with neurotypical people with understanding how some illnesses work.

Into the Wilds (Warriors, Book 1) - Ah, the cat book. It is prob because there are soooo many books in this series that it over-saturates the kids impressionable minds.

House of Teeth (Audible Free Book) - I read this book prior to Monster Hunter International, and thinking back on this one, i am reminded about the other. Save for this one is PG. So... the kid friendly version.

The Martian Chronicles - Space Horror, on Mars. If you like old science fiction, like Classic Trek, Wells, or Forbidden Planet stuff. There is a lot of zerust.

Andrea Vernon and the Corporation for UltraHuman Protection - The third superhero series I’ve read this past year. It is not as ground breaking nor subversive as Villain’s Code or Dreadnought. The humor is a bit too forced and parts of it falls into “we can be more offensive because it is an adult book” category.

Interview with the Robot - Don’t really care for books or programs that are set up in the “interview” format where it is two people talking to one another. (I have no fucking idea how this book got top Kids book of the year on Audible, it is more of a YA book... it must been because it was Free and lots of people picked it because the rest of the choices that month were complete garbage)

Micromegas - perhaps one of the oldest examples of Speculative Science Fiction. Written by Voltaire, it is about a giant from another solar system that is so big that humans and life on Earth are microscopic. “what value are the lives of ants to a man?”

The Three Musketeers - i had forgotten how much espionage there was in this book. I would say this is a good companion book to Don Quixote, as it takes its fair share of inspiration from and even name-drops the character a couple times.

Charles Dickens: Oliver Twist / David Copperfield / A Tale of Two Cities - DC is the standout IMO among the three, it is Dickens’ Magnum Opus. Les Mis did a far better job with the Revolution than Tale did as well. I felt rather obligated to reading these books because of the subplot in the Age of Madness books being about Poverty during the Industrial Revolution and Workers Revolts against the Ruling Class.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - the version i listened too made most of the Americans sound like GWB... which is funny because one of them is Canadian, and the Comic Relief character about how boorish Americans are.

Stuck (Free Audio Book) - it is a neat idea, getting jarred free of time but everybody else isn’t and doesn’t remember. It gets a little heavy for a kids book near the end, edging into YA territory as the character gets older mentally and the people around him age physically.

Phreaks (Free Audio Book) - i knew a lot about Captain Crunch and other phone hackers of the 60′s. There is a subplot of the big radioactive corporation covering up causing cancer to their workers, and the father (voiced by Christian Slater) being in the closet but still homophobic about it.

Silverswift (Free Audio Book) - If you like fairy tales set in modern times, it is worth a look. It is similar to In Calabira in that way. The mom being the nonbeliever and thinking grandma is off her rocker, but the granddaughter knows it in her bones that grandma is telling the truth.

Sleeping Giants - alien mechs from the distant past, once mistaken as the titans and gods form mythology, now being studied and experimented on by the government. This is another “interview style” story telling.

Celtic Mythology: Tales of Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes - there is a lot of names and stories, it is worth prob getting a physical copy of the book to keep things straight and to use as a reference.

How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps - A love letter to The Legend of Zelda’s Ocarina of Time and other RPG games.

Casino Royal: James Bond - the movie was rather faithful, including the part of being tied to a chair. I do wish they kept more of the book’s ending where Bond was ready to retire prior to his secret-spy love interest gets killed.

Aliens: Bug Hunt - a compilation of Alien stores about people landing on various planets and encountering aliens, not always the Xenomorphs we know, but the term “Bug” came synonymous to any dangerous alien lifeforms encountered.

Macbeth: A Novel - retelling the story of Macbeth but in a novel form. If you can’t get past the language of the original play, this would help. It sets it more firmly in historical fiction.

Hannibal: A Novel - I went ahead and re watched the tv show after finishing the book. I’ve seen the movie a dozen times, and i understand why they changed the ending to the movie. The book is the main one that characterizes Hannibal and the show uses a lot of the plot. Hannibal Rising wasn’t really needed because Hannibal (in this book) does think/talk about what happened to his sister and home, and i can see why Harris didn’t want to write that book either. The audiobook is rather poor quality, they talked too fast in places and i don’t really care for their acting...

The Power of Six - I read I am Number 4 several years back and this one popped up on sale so i nabbed it. I like Neil Kaplan, and i think this one is better than the first one and actually gets into the meat of the story.

Cut and Run: A Light-Hearted Dark Comedy - body parts harvesting.... mmmm.

Calypso - non-Fiction, biography of the author. Talks about his family, his life with his partner, and what he does. Much of it is charming and it is read by the author. this was prior to him loosing his marbles about retail workers and becoming a karen.

Our Harlem: Seven Days of Cooking, Music and Soul at the Red Rooster - the history of Harlem and the Harlem Renaissance. I didn’t mind this podcast so much because i was reading The Diviners during the same time.

Malcolm and Me - another biographical book. one of the free books i got during Feb’ Black History Month.

History of Bourbon (Free Audio Book) - Informative about the liqueur industry in America.

Junkyard Cats: Shining Smith Book 1 - post apocalyptic action science fiction novel. the moment that guy showed up i was “that’s your bf.” and it was so... the plot wasn’t hard to figure out, it’s all about the action and setting.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - One of the better Heinlein books. The man can’t write romance and he is rather big on casual polygamy and open marriages. An anarchist-revolution book written by someone that is more on the Libertarian side of the aisle. Mycroft (the computer) comes off as rather antiquated, an AI that runs on a closed server, communicating through the telephone lines and printed paper, makes me wonder what Heinlein would’ve done if he was told about the internet and Deep Fake tech. (the book takes place in like 2075, but written in 1966)

Caffeine: How Caffeine Created the Modern World - the production of coffee and it’s prevalence around the world.

The Life and Times of Prince Albert - Exactly what it says on the can. *rimshot*

The Real Sherlock: An Audible Original - a biography of Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle.

The Design of Everyday Things - using psychology to improve the design of systems, products, and the modern business model. It gives proper terminology for several common design features and how to improve on existing structures.

Bottom of the Barrel.

The Pagan World: Ancient Religions before Christianity. I was hoping there would have been something in there about European Religions, there isn’t, and the book was mostly Greek and Roman life styles and how gods are worshiped. It let me know where the word “auger” came from and why it was used in the Licanius Trilogy.

Life Ever After - disjointed at best. a couple that aren’t good for each other spend the next several hundred years in a crappy relationship.

Beyond Strange Lands: An Audible Original - The audio was complete crap on half of the voices. Which is bad because this could’ve been better. It is a Pod Cast Show and the director couldn’t make sure everybody had decent recording equipment and the sound effects often drown out the actors.

Henrietta & Eleanor: A Retelling of Jekyll and Hyde: An Audible Original Drama - They were going for a modern telling, but the language used is archaic. They speak like Dickens characters even though they talk about cellphones and computers.

A Crazy Inheritance: The Ghostsitter book 1 - The concept is there, but it is too nerfed. It was made for the 8-12yo crowd in mind by people that don’t know how to write for children.

Tell Me Lies (Free Audio Book) - It really wants to be smart. Who’s playing who and who is the actual villain of this story? If you want a quick “who done it?” maybe look into it.

Evil Eye (Free on Audible Plus) - told through phone calls between a mother and daughter. The whole genera of evil boyfriends/husbands isn’t really my cup of tea, and the boyfriend’s actor was too fake and the set up to the meat of the story was annoying.

The Half-life of Marie Curie - I didn’t mind learning stuff about Marie Curie... falls squarely in “made for TV lifetime movie” quality though. You should not carry around a vile of uranium where ever you go.

Alone with the Stars - A girl in Florida hears the call for help from Amelia Earhart, but nobody listens to her. Part fiction, part biographical. It would’ve been better as a biography and talking about various conspiracy theories about what happened to her and finding the pieces of the airplane.

Beezer - The son of the Devil learning to become a good person with a found family... however, most of the characters are annoying.

The Year of Magical Thinking (Free Audio Book) - very heavy on the subjects about loss and death.

Complete Garbage.

The Getaway (Free Audio Book) - A man being a POS by stalking and abducting women. It broadcasts just about everything that is going to happen.

Agent 355 (Free Audio Book) - Do you like “American Mythology?” Like the whole “the founders are the greatest people in the world” kind of vibe? I don’t. I also hate the main character for being one of those “i’m smart, because i read books that women aren’t supposed to” girls when she doesn’t really think for herself at all.

#myu reads #books read in 2020 #audiobooks #booklr #Audible #long post

4 notes · View notes

thoseindarkness · 4 years ago

Text

DtD News Nov 2020

Thank you to anyone who came back for this nonsense. For brevity I have an announcement that I want to make up front. I didn't have room for it last month so I pushed it back, but I can't anymore. I had to make one major revision to the published story. I want people to know about it.

This is the TLDR version. I tell a more in-depth story at the end.

ANNOUNCEMENT

The summary: I had a bad outline walking into writing Mistrust Goes Both Ways. I ran into a problem mid-story. Instead of stopping and taking the time I needed, I challenged myself to creatively solve my way out of my problems. I re-started with about half of what I'd written, published Mistrust Goes Both Ways, and restarting my outline with high hopes. I was proud of myself for rising to the challenge.

Despite my best efforts, it didn't work out. In the end, I had to scrap my outline. I was able to structure the end I was going for and spent the end of 2019 trying to link the first two stories to the ending I wanted. It wasn't working. Then TRoS. Then COVID. Here we are. In June, I started experimenting with scrapping Mistrust and restarting from Read Between.

Mistrust Goes Both Ways will not be part of the finished story when I'm done. I know some of you love it. I love it. I have no intention of taking it down. I might, for a short time, when I'm posting the final story. I'll let you know if that happens and it will go back up afterward. I don't have specifics as there's no point planning for it now.

For right now, nothing is changing on my AO3 account. Feel free to read and comment to your hearts content. I promise it will stay up forever to remind me that some mistakes are worth sharing with others. I learned good lessons from this mistake. It stays.

That being said I think I owe you an actual update on the progress of this story.

WHAT THE HELL I DID THIS MONTH

After my first update I needed to re-integrate with Reylo friends. Funnily enough, that pulled me into another fic. I've been working on that between following this election. Now that it's called I can get back to writing. I tried a couple of times since I voted on Oct 30th, but I knew it wasn't what I wanted to be thinking about.

Thankfully, I've also begun doing more social/political essays lately. I'm not sure what overall form or shape those may take and I haven't published any. Still, I was creative and I did plenty of writing. Interestingly, all this political focus is good for Deceive the Deceiver. Spinning and listening to conspiracy theories is a big part of weaving a world like this one. A great deal comes from my thoughts and perceptions of the real world.

WHERE DTD IS

As of right now I am in the process of first drafting the entire story with Read Between as the starting point. That is, every one of the short stories in the series. What I'm doing is somewhere between a history, an outline and random scene writing. All of these elements are currently strung together in one long, continuous, chronological, first draft. It's everything from the history before Read Between (which starts in the 1930's), all the way to the final scene of DtD.

I'm taking all the good ideas I've created in the last couple of years and re-organizing them into a first pass. It's the skeleton and some of the meat now. I'm slowly building out now that I have a blank-er slate. It's about choosing what works and what doesn't.

I call it accordion writing. It just gets bigger and bigger. This outline will later level up into the first full story drafts for each part. I've got so much history when I finish this I might… I'm getting ahead of myself. Don't want to give too many clues away.

Another interesting thing that's happened recently is I've started pulling bits of other fic ideas that I’m just not gonna finish. A big chuck of the history I stole from a modern/academia AU where Ben and Rey are history students specializing in the ancient Jedi religion. Another was a complication between characters came from a canon story where I wanted to paint the relationship with a new layer. We'll see if I can pull that off.

I spent a lot of time prior to this year focusing on the heroes but my villains hadn't gotten much love. Filling in the history has given me a chance to flesh out the villains. All their moves and countermoves, woven through the bits I already have, are spinning a pretty tapestry. Oh, the villains are so much fun to write!

This other fic came together in the same sort of accordion fashion and it's been fun working through the kinks in the process now that I've seen some of the weak points on a scale like DtD. I think I've mentioned, but this is a writing experiment for me and I'm most invested now in improving my process and clue-threading with DtD. This other fic is helping me test it on a smaller scale.

Not that this needs to get any longer, I'm just going to throw pretense out the window and go with complete vanity. If you don't give a wet shit about my life (and I don't blame you) you have reached the end of your journey. I hope to see you next month. If not, then I leave you with this parting:

May we meet again in our next fandom, through mutes and not as rival shippers.

The following is the ridiculous story of my ups and downs with Deceive the Deceiver. I figure if I explain to you how much I'm invested in this story some of you will stop worrying that I'm going to abandon it. Trust me. I'm not.

This tale stretches from NANOWRIMO 2018 and the prompt that started it, through the ups and downs of 2019 and 2020, to the writing of last month's letter. Buckle up. I love bumpy rides.

DtD: from NANO '17 to COVID-19

This story truly starts in December 2017 when I drenched the seat beneath me during Last Jedi. I'm a TLJ shipper. I got caught on the thirst train. It hit a time when writing was becoming a really big part of my life. I've been writing since I was a kid. I stopped for a while and came back to it. It's a long story. Ultimately, I'd started writing a lot a few years earlier. A mix of fic and originals but I was running into problems so I start reading a bunch of books to get better. TLJ lit the fires. NO joke TLJ came out on the 15th. I have pages of writing from the 20th.

2018 was Reylo year! I was already on Tumblr for my previous fandom (Batman comics). I found Reylo AU week which is in August. I submitted a story for that. It was the first fic I published for Reylo. Fast-forward August to November. I'm in the Writing Den on Discord and someone throws out this spy prompt. People start running with. Throwing ideas around. One of those was the snuggie in Mistrust! I have that conversation saved and story spots for each crazy thing they threw out. Finally, I said I'd do it!

Mind you, this is November 2nd. Nano has just started and the event is about "turning off your internal editor." This prompt consumed me. I was trying to keep up with SpaceWaffleHouseTM that first year. I did, btw. We both crested 100,000. It was my first Nano. Word count is not my problem. Organizing my crazy ambitious ideas is my problem. Some of that 100k was other stories, like Custard which I wrote half of in November and the other half Jan/Feb 2019. Most of it… probably 80k of it… was DtD.

Read Between the Lies is currently 33,710. I wrote at least 20k of that during that first Nano, as well as outlines and scenes for what I thought would be the starting point. I remember wanting to write Read Between to "get into their headspace" by writing their first meeting. I didn't think it would become a whole story. I was just going with it then. Any idea that came to mind.

I took December 2019 off for a few reasons. Some personal. Some burnout. I'm one of those people that can use writing to relieve stress, but I was so exhausted from that month-long writing sprint. By the last week I was dragging to get the final four or five thousand words to hit 100k.

Also, what I had by the end (no internal editor) was a bird nest of ideas that had too many beginnings, not enough middles, and endings to go around. I knew one thing right away: I knew I had more than one story. There were so many fun ideas. I figured, what the hell. I knew another thing right away: the prompt was at the end of the story. Like, the very end. Like, the last short story. Or the second to last short story, at the earliest. That hasn't changed. Ever. That's just where it ended up.

Between January and April of 2019 I touched DtD a few times. I kept coming back to it, reading through it, trying to untangle it. I made new notes on the stories. Expanded ideas. Tried to structure it. I figured out a bunch of good notes, but no real substance. The hardest thing was figuring out where to start! Did I:

(1) Start shortly before the prompt with Ben/Rey's relationship established and fill the story with the history?

(2) Start a lot earlier and build Ben/Rey's relationship from the beginning I'd written in Read Between?

If I'm being honest, Read Between was a lot better than I thought it would be and I didn't want to get rid of it. For a while I was thinking of publishing it last as a "prequel" if people liked the series.

Funny enough, the turning point happened May fourth weekend 2019…

In the week leading up, I was struggling through another story and decided to take a break for the weekend. I'd start writing again on Sunday when I met with my writing group. I met them through Nano. We used to meet at Panera. Now they meet on Discord. They mostly sprint though and I'm not a sprinter. I miss Panera. Anyway.

May 4th was a Sunday (look it up). I gave myself a writing break for the weekend and marathoned Star fucking Wars. It was nerd weekend. I was going to nerd out. I wore exclusively SW gear all weekend. I remember it well. It was the start of something fucking magical in my life.

Have I mentioned recently I really love this story. Trust me I will fucking finish it. Oh my god the demons won't leave until I do. Get them out of my head…

I had a pretty rockstar weekend. I believe the reason I skipped the PT that weekend was because I'd watched it the month before or so. Right after finishing the Clone Wars animated series (which is awesome and I strongly recommend both it and Rebels). I skipped them and SOLO.

Starting with R1, I went through in chronological order. I stopped at RotJ. I was with my family on Saturday and they were playing RotJ in the living room during the party. We talked about my marathon. My mom came over to my apartment after. We watched RoTJ properly. Then Force Awakens. It was too late by then to watch TLJ. I know I went straight to bed after my mom left on Saturday night.

Somewhere during or right after TFA I started thinking about Deceive the Deceiver. I don't remember what sparked it. I went to bed thinking about DtD. I know this with 100% certainty because I woke up thinking about again on Sunday and I thought it was quite odd.

I dream about this story in a way I have only dreamt about a precious few. Technicolor folks. It keeps me up at night.

I went to my writing group with (a) no plan for what to write, (b) a gordian knot that I had yet to untangle, (c) a sudden urge to re-read it. I opened my notes and read DtD through all our sprints. I read most of it during that writing session. We go about three hours.

That night I had Game of Thrones at my parent's. It was the (spoiler alert) episode where Arya kills the Night King. I remember because two minutes into the episode my brother's car broken down a few blocks from our apartment and we had to go help him. Derailed the whole night (this is foreshadowing).

Side note: I live with my younger brother and he's the best roommate I've ever had in my 35 years of life. Love you, Mo!

The episode was recording so we ran out. Had to leave the car in a parking lot. Someone had already helped him push it out of a puddle but my brother was soaked to mid-calf and the engine was shot. We dropped him off at home and I rode back to my Momma's crib to watch GoT. It was only the beginning of a wild night.

I went to bed late. I had to get up a few hours early to deal with the car before work started for either of us. I guess we were both hoping to avoid taking the day off. That wasn't going to happen. I drove home but I couldn't sleep. That crazy episode and the fact that my brain was already on fire with DtD.

I spent the wee hours finishing my re-read through the rough draft of Read Between the Lies. It saw my starting place. I started writing. I wrote through waiting in a parking lot, for the tow truck, in my car, at 6 am, with no sleep. I did a voice recording as I drove from the parking lot to the mechanic where the driver was taking my brother's car. I thought about it the whole way back. I sat on the sofa a wrote some more when we got home. I went to bed at 11 am and I'd written 10k more words for Read Between the Lies.

Somewhere between the chaos of May 5th and the official publish date on June 5th, Read Between got written. I know it didn't take too long. I remember sending it off to beta (by my amazing beta team on 1 & 2: Em, Jen, and Sai) and immediately pivoting to my outline. I slapped that together far too hastily and kept moving. I was going on holiday in the UK (I'm American and I'm ashamed) in early August so I planned on trying to publish Part 2 when I got back. At the very least I wanted it ready for beta.

Also some to admit, around the middle of 2019 I was fatigued with the fandom. We were hitting a lull. I was psyching myself up for the end and the exit. I was trying to clean house. I wanted to push out unfinished fics. To make them work. There was a lot of that mood from me in 2019. I was trying to make everything work. It's why Read Between came out, and that was a good thing. It's also why Mistrust came out, and that was a bad thing.

With that mentality looming, tough outline in hand, I started writing Mistrust before the end of May. I hit my snag sometime during the period I was publishing Read Between because by the time it was all done I knew I wasn't going to have a finished story by the time I left for London. I would figure it out when I got back. I picked up another project to distracted me from my problems for a little while. That is going to be an original if it's anything. One day…

At some point after I got back I started focusing heavily on problem solving. I had two stories already and a number of plot threads I had to resolve. I have heavy, heavy, heavy notes from September to December of 2019. Lots of possible ways to run this story. It sucks that a lot of that stuff isn't going to make it, but I'm recycling shit every day and I learned so much about the characters/story in that four month period. It really shaped the finished product in an important way.

This period is where I started to look at the bigger structure and how I was going to solve specific plot problems in each short story to bring the whole together. That focus on the different parts is important because it was the last thing on my mind when TRoS happened.

December 20th (the release date) is my birthday. My ass drove up to one of those Reylo-only screenings and I was surrounded by amazing people as I watched a movie that ruined my 35th birthday. Thankfully, I spent it in incomparable company. Thank you to all the hosts and super special thanks to Jen. Not only was she a DtD beta on both, she invited me. Thank you love! You are the reason I still remember that trip with joy.

Side note: I no longer hate TRoS. I've made my peace with it. I'm a far happier person now.

Needless to say, the only Reyloing I did in January of this year was venting frustration. Then I took a few weeks away from the fandom. I'd done my purging into the void. I knew other people still needed the space to vent but I had to get away. Once the toxin is out I couldn't let it back in.

What occurred starting in February of 2020 was a series of situations in which, every time I logged into Twitter I was faced with the kind of vitriol in the fandom that I don't need in my life. Some of it was still TRoS stuff, even as late as May. I'm not judging, I'm just saying, with the world on fire (literally), I didn't need it.

I don't think I have to explain why I've avoided social media like the plague since early this year. I live in America. If you heard anything about our recent President I don't have to explain any further what this year has been like. That has been par for course all over the world.

So here's my secret to happiness. I don't fux with the trolls. Do not engage. Sometimes that means radio silence. I'm breaking that silence because I want you to know 2020 has not destroyed DtD. It's only leveled shit up.

I have pretty much been working on this story consistently since March of this year. I go back and forth with reading, history, documentaries. I'm learning to wield many new weapons. They take time to settle in. DtD is the de-stressor I go to in between the real shit.

Sometime in June I was screwing around with the order of the parts. I had worked out the end but I was trying to bridge the gap between the ending I was certain I needed to get to and the two beginning stories I'd already published. I couldn't bridge the gap. It had been a year since I published Read Between and it wasn't working. Then I had an epiphany.

What if I got rid of Mistrust? Read Between is a pretty blank slate. I didn't want to re-write it and I still don't. I have no intention of getting rid of Part 1. I may clean it up and add some stuff at the very last minute, but it will be right before the new stuff drops as a pre-cursor to the flood of subsequent stories. I may add a few new clues or alter a scene or two, but I have plenty of room to move with it exactly the way it is.

What does that mean for Mistrust Goes Both Ways? To make a long story short, there was no good way for me to continue with what I'd published and still write the story in my head. I'm sure there are cool places to take the existing story, but that's not what I'm trying to do. In truth, I should have left 1 and not published 2 when I hit a snag. Lesson learned.

In June I basically threw Mistrust out and asked myself, "Now what?" I have months of great ideas rife for reshuffling and no restrictions on how to bridge the gap from 1 to the ending I wanted. But the end had shifted.

That brings us up to speed. The last thing I did before taking a much needed break was get through 90% of the history in my accordion outline/draft. I poured the foundation that was missing. I walked away in early October and let it set. I'm going to button up this other fic I'm working on and then go back to DtD and check the foundation I laid.

I'm very confident that not only will it hold, but that with fresh eyes and the fun side stories I've had the chance to lay to rest, I will finally be able to start building the finished products on top of it.

IN CONCLUSION

I'm still as excited as I've ever been for this story. It frustrates me all the time, but that means the medicine for my soul is working its magic. Change it painful, but pain is transformative. I've embrace changed. That ache is just a sign the muscles are getting stronger. Growing pains. As I learn to live with them in my family, my country, and my job, I find that life's lesson's often end up reflecting in every place in our life if we but open our eyes to look.

Growing pains exist in my writing process too. They are as transformative in this corner of my life as they are in every other. They have revealed as much about me as a person in my writing as they have in my politics. They have taught me how to compromise with my family as I learn to compromise with my characters. As I consider how people treat each other I am reminded that struggles in understanding our fictional counterparts may shine a light on our struggles to understand our truer selves.

Take care of yourselves. Once you've got that covered, if you can, take care of each other. Feel free to poke me and say hi. If not, until next month.

Fari.

#deceive the deceiver #reylo #reylo fanfic #reylo fan fiction #modern au #spy au #fan fic #fan fiction

4 notes · View notes

amtrax · 5 years ago

Text

Megaton Girl FAQ Masterpost

Here is a bunch of potential questions that you may have about Megaton Girl for both new and long-time followers!

What is Megaton Girl?

Megaton Girl is a scripted podcast (which is to say a radio play) that I would describe as a superhero comedy with lots of action, adorable romance, and an overarching story. The pilot is available here and I highly recommend checking it out if you want an idea of what the style and tone of the show will be.

Okay, well what’s the basic story?

From the official description:

After getting struck by a radioactive meteor, Connie Opland becomes the latest contender in a world of super hero celebrities: Megaton Girl. With the help of her girlfriend and secret publicist Laurel Fitz, and her mentor and manager Kirby, Connie aims to dethrone the corrupt and arrogant Captain Valiant as the greatest hero in the world!

That sounds totally radical, dude.

Thank you, 90′s-slang-spewing question asker.

I have very specific tastes. How will I know if I like this show?

If you enjoy any of the following, you’ll probably really really like this show: Stories with LGBTQ protagonists, Marvel and DC comics, Megas XLR, Teen Titans, The Adventure Zone, Critical Role, The Thrilling Adventure Hour, Mission to Zyxx, Hello from the Magic Tavern, Sonic Boom, Swat Kats, and honestly just check it out. The pilot’s only like 15 minutes long, and I think you’ll really love it if you check it out.

Well, who is the show about?

Connie Opland AKA Megaton Girl: A snarky, bubbly and easily excitable young woman with a love of food and low tolerance for jerks. After a bad run in with a corrupt superhero named Captain Valiant, Connie gets struck by a meteor and gains super powers. She dons the persona of Megaton Girl and begins a career in super-heroics, hoping one day to dethrone Captain Valiant and give the world a hero that actually gives a shit. She’s not very bright or quick to the uptake, but she has a ton of grit and determination. No matter how many times she hits the mat, she’s always back on her feet and ready to fight back. She lives with her best-friend (and now girlfriend), Laurel, in a cheap apartment in Los Dioses, California. Powers: Super strength, flight, energy beam attack (expelled through mouth), enhanced durability. She still feels pain and isn’t completely invincible, but she can withstand a megaton explosion and walk away alive (though VERY hurt).

Laurel Fitz: A shy, composed and brilliant lady with wonderful artistic talent and a passion for documenting the feats of superheroes. She is the newest member of the Olympus Illustrated news team. Her job is to essentially write and illustrate comic pages documenting the latest superhero news. When she gets on the bad side of her boss (whom is secretly Captain Valiant), she gets humiliated and demoted in front of the whole bullpen. When Connie gets superpowers, Laurel begins to secretly rebel against her boss by publishing a website dedicated to documenting the feats of Megaton Girl. She also begins learning the basics of superhero coaching from Connie’s manager, Kirby, who sees a ton of potential in her. She lives with her best friend (and now girlfriend), Connie, in a cheap apartment in Los Dioses, California.

William Kirby: A grumpy, no-nonsense old man with a long, once-celebrated history of superhero managing. He represented and coached the best of the best for decades before being forced into an early retirement by his last client, Captain Valiant. He distanced himself from society and lived out of his gym locker room for 15 years, until Connie and Laurel popped into his life asking for help. He’s long past his prime, so he calls in favors from heroes around the globe and beyond to assist in training Connie to be a hero herself. On the side, he begins to teach Laurel how to be a superhero coach, seeing her as a worthy future successor to his business.

Chuck Bradford AKA Captain Valiant: A vain, pompous, power-hungry man who is a superhero in job title only. He does everything for personal gain, even when it comes to stopping crimes. Once represented by Kirby, he cast his old manager aside when Kirby refused to coddle his ego. He lied, cheated and beat his way to the top of the superhero world, and stood unopposed as the most powerful hero in the world for a little over a decade. To fuel his ambitions, he runs the Olympus Illustrated news outlet, wildly overemphasizing his own deeds and often minimizing the efforts of other heroes. There are few heroes who verbally oppose him (and even fewer who physically oppose him), as he has been known to turn the world against those who seek to bring him down. Powers: Super strength (amplified by years of bodybuilding on top of his natural superhuman power), flight, energy beam attack (expelled through eyes), enhanced durability (comparable to Megaton Girl, though with a much higher pain tolerance due to more years explosions and bullets in his face).

Doctor Menace: A bombastic, bumbling, over-eager supervillain with copious amounts of intellect, but none of the brilliance to put it to much use. None of his plans have ever succeeded, his inventions are in perpetual “early-access,” and no hero or villain ever takes him seriously. In spite of his endless list of failures, he sets high goals for himself and always gets back up after every failure, with just as much vigor and excitement as ever. He just loves being the bad guy, no matter what gets in his way. He dreams of one day being the respected arch-nemesis of a powerful superhero with whom he can be locked in ceaseless bloody combat for all time, and to join a league of supervillains with which he can begin his conquest of the world. Also he’s stuck in a too-small tin can of a mech suit. Haha. Powers: Extraordinarily high IQ, high tech armor and gadgets with seemingly endless resources to create more, and limitless determination.

I watched the pilot and I [totally loved it]. Where’s the rest of the show?

We’re working on that! We want to turn this into a full series and already have several episodes written, but in order to produce a full series we will need funding to make sure that everyone involved is paid for their time. One possible goal is to get the show picked up by a podcast network so that we can run the show like a podcast with commercials. Another possibility is Patreon or some other form of crowdfunding.

Is there anyway I can help with that?

The absolute BEST thing you can do right now is to share the pilot. Reblog it, retweet it, TALK about it. Get the word out, and I do mean the word.Use the #MegatonGirl hashtag on Twitter. Tell people what you think, because word of mouth is the best form of getting people to listen. Tell US what you think! Share your thoughts on the pilot, leave iTunes reviews, leave Youtube comments! We want to know what you think!

This sounds like it’s gonna take a while! I want the show now! And an Oompa-Loompa too, daddy!

PUT THE GUN DOWN! WE CAN TALK ABOUT THIS, OKAY?! Alright, okay okay. How about we make a full first episode for now, and see what happens? We’ll produce a full origin-story episode about how Connie and Laurel become girlfriends, how Connie gets her super powers and begins her rivalry with Chuck, and how Connie stopped her first supervillain? It’ll be about an hour long and be a proper start to the series. That sound cool?

Looks like you keep your kneecaps today, sir.

Thank you for your blessing, gender non-specific question asker.

I have fanart/AUs/other fan related content that I want you to see. What’s the best way to get your eyes on it?

Tag me on Tumblr @amtrax or on Twitter (at)amtraxVA, and/or use the proper “#Megaton Girl” tag on Tumblr and the #MegatonGirl tag on Twitter! I have gotten some LOVELY fanart and I love seeing all of it, so if you have some and you want it seen, that’s the best way to get it seen!

Hey don’t you run away from me! I have other questions!

And I’ll gladly take them, any time! Either leave them in my askbox or Tweet it at me! I’ll always answer it as best as I can without spoiling too much of the show. I also put out a call for questions and art requests every week for Megaton Girl Megatuesday, so keep any eye out for that as well.

For now, I think that’s a good spot to leave this. I will update this later as necessary, but I hope your basic needs are tended to for now! Thank you for your time and hope you enjoy what’s to come next!

#Megaton Girl #faq page #Connie Opland #laurel fitz #William Kirby #Chuck Bradford #Captain Valiant #Doctor Menace

47 notes · View notes

mamahanu · 5 years ago

Text

fanfic tag game

I was tagged by @dragonnan. Thanks, friend! I love these!

Questions:

Ao3 Name: HanukoYoukai

Fandoms: ~long inhale~ Well... I’ve been writing for a while. A long while. So... I’m just gonna follow dragonnan’s example. Bear with me.

Currently writing fic for (that are posted/going to be posted):

Final Fantasy

MCU

Captain America

Spider-Man

Deadpool

Avatar: the Last Airbender

Currently finished and recently posted (yes... there are WIPs for these fandoms, and yes, I’m still working on them):

Dragon Prince

Merlin

Wrote fics years ago (and I may still revisit the fandom):

Glee (on FFN)

Harry Potter

Wrote 1 or 2 fics but won’t write more:

Diabolo

Weiss Kreuz

Fruits Basket (deleted... it was bad. I’m not sorry it’s gone)

Wolf’s Rain (see above)

Haven’t published any fics yet but have (or had) ideas ~cracks knuckles~:

Doctor Who

The Legend of Zelda

How to Train Your Dragon

FireFly

Split/Glass (crossover idea... it’s outlined...)

Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn

The Flash

All up and coming plans are subject to change depending on my whims as a creator. ;-)

Number of fics: I’m only going to count the fics that are currently posted between Ao3 and FFN.

Spider-Man/MCU/Captain America/Deadpool: 16 (this includes the crossover with Final Fantasy)

Dragon Prince: 1

Merlin: 4

Harry Potter: 1

Glee: 2

Diabolo: 2

Weiss Kreuz: 1

Total: 27

1. Fic you spent the most time on: Omertà hands down. Wow that fic... I mean, just posting it took 10 months. And I started writing it way before I posted the first chapter so, I think I spent about a year and some change on it.

2. Fic you spent the least time on: So This is Christmas. I was a pinch hitter for an Irondad Secret Santa. I got this one written in a few hours due to the deadline.

3. Longest Fic: Again, Omertà. The final word count on this bad boy is 154,668. 30 chapters. It was supposed to be 10 chapters and about 50,000 words. That did NOT happen.

4. Shortest Fic: I Like Oatmeal. The word count is 652 and it is easily the shortest thing I’ve ever written so far. This was just a fun little crack fic that broke me into the Merlin fandom.

5. Most hits: In all honesty, this is a very difficult one to answer because as far as I can tell, FFN does not record hits very well. My two highest fics for Ao3 are Omertà with 8008 to date, and You are in Control, I Disappear with 5450 to date (but it’s porn, so surprise, surprise.) On FFN, the fic with the highest hits (if I did my month-by-month math right) is The Trouble with Gossip (using the Ao3 link) with 6102 hits to date .

6. Most kudos: Omertà again. Really, y’all should read it. It’s pretty good. ;-)

7. Most comment threads/ reviews: Want to guess? You got it! It’s Omertà! You all are so smart. :-)

8. Fave Fic you wrote: What? These are my babies. These are my blood, sweat, and tears. You want me to pick a favorite? You’re crazy.

...

No, seriously, that’s a really hard question. I love them all and for very different reasons. So I’ll pick one that I haven’t mentioned yet. I’ll say Bear the Burden of Responsibility, which was the fic that broke me into the MCU/Spider-Man fandom (I’d been reading for forever, but this was the first one I wrote). It also was my intro to Irondad and Spiderson, which has been SO fun to write, and the community has been fantastic to be part of, in my opinion.

9. Fic you want to rewrite/expand on: Hmm. Well, I’m already expanding on it, just slowly. I have a series called Take My Heart With You which is kind of an alternate reality/alternate universe series for Merlin. It mainly focuses on the gap between seasons 3 and 4, and events in season 4, but there is a relationship between Merlin and Percival that I’m playing around with. I also am touching on the friendship Merlin has with Gwen, so there may be elements from previous seasons added soon. I actually really enjoy that one, but I’ve lacked inspiration for it, so I haven’t been writing much in this universe lately.

10. Share a bit of your WIP or share a story idea that you’re planning: How about both?

Love Runs Deeper than Blood

***SPOILERS! FOR MY READERS WHO WANT TO WAIT UNTIL I POST, SCROLL UNTIL YOU SEE THE NEXT BOLD TEXT!***

“Tarkik.”

“No.”

“Koko.”

“Hmm, maybe.”

“Nanouk?”

Kyra laughed, bouncing the baby boy on her knee. “You have great love for that name,” she said, grinning. Bato shrugged, wiggling his fingers at the boy and making him giggle.

When he brought the child to Kyra, she broke down in tears before immediately thanking the Great Spirits. She fell in love with his soft hair and golden eyes, and she held him like she could never let him go. Bato understood. He was like that with the boy the whole journey back.

“It’s a good, strong, water tribe name,” Bato defended, grinning. “What about Toklo? For your father?”

“My brother was named for my father already,” Kyra replied. “Maybe Tonraq?”

Bato made a face. “No,” he replied, shaking his head.

“Why not?”

“When I went Ice Dodging, the boy manning the main sail was named Tonraq. He’s the reason I have a scar on my boat,” Bato said, darkly. Kyra laughed.

“Well, there’s always Soomool,” she offered. Bato shrugged. They had been going over names for two days now. Even Kya and Hakoda offered input, with baby Sokka in tow. The new boy was fascinated with the chief’s son. Bato hoped they would become good friends. Kyra handed the boy to him and he lifted him up so their noses could touch. The boy went a little cross-eyed, making Bato laugh.

“You know what his eyes remind me of?” he asked Kyra.

“The sun?” she asked, grinning.

Bato shook his head. “No. Well, yes, I suppose. But they look like the sky during a storm, when lightning strikes.”

“You mean when the sky turns to gold for a moment?” Kyra asked, thoughtfully. Bato nodded. Kyra hummed in thought.

“What about Kallik?”

*** OKAY ALL CLEAR***

Story Idea - Spider-Man Villain/Anti-Hero AU:

Plot: What if Peter stopped the convenience store thief instead of letting him run away? Uncle Ben is still alive, and that major guilt he felt that acted as a catalyst for him to become Spider-Man and look out for the little guy isn’t there anymore. Instead Spidey is a wrestler, then a “hero” who asks for donations to his paypal, and then a mercenary. All his bad guys are now neutral contacts, and he frequently teams up with DP, Moon Knight, and Black Cat (among others), working for cold, hard cash. He drives Iron Man crazy, he baffles Captain America, and Black Widow has a soft spot for him (because she gets that double life).

It’ll be fun when I get to writing it. I’ve got some semblance of an outline. ;-)

Tagged: I’ll tag @silentsaebyeok, @reachingforaspark, @blondsak, @jro616 and @kitcat992, as well as anyone else who wants to play. And if I tagged you and you don’t, no pressure! <3

#asks #tag games #dragonnan #friends #fun #writing #fanfics

8 notes · View notes

tsarisfanfiction · 5 years ago

Text

Fic Rec Bingo

Okie dokie, this is the Fan Rec Bingo - idea courtesy of lightvials on twitter, but I don’t have a twitter that I ever use, so I’m filling it out here instead. Let’s see if I can fill it all out!

I did, and then some. To save poor dashboards, it’s all under the cut! If I know author tumblrs they’ve been mentioned - I know pitifully few so if anyone knows the ones I don’t, let me know so I can mention them, too!

A fic you love without knowing the source material: The Dragon-King’s Temple by Kyral (Stargate SG-1/Avatar the Last Airbender)

Through the spite of the spirits or plain rotten chance, a door that would have been better left untouched has opened. On the other hand, with Fire and Earth as one's allies, sometimes escaping is the easy part. Rated: Gen. AO3 Archive Warning for Graphic Descriptions of Violence. Characters: Zuko, Toph Beifong, Janet Fraiser, Sam Carter, Jack O’Neill, and more Words: 196311. Status: Complete

I very rarely read fics without already knowing the canon, but one that I think counts would be a Stargate/ATLA crossover, because I know nothing about Stargate and I have yet to finish ATLA! This was recommended to me due to the creativity of the author regarding a language barrier (something I always enjoy, and my friend knows that).

---

A fic series with a premise that shouldn’t work but it does: Crazy=Genius by blackkat (Bleach/Harry Potter)

Minerva McGonagall isn't about to let Harry go back to the Dursleys after his first year. She finds an alternative, and along the way, Bazzard Black finds that he might have more family left than he'd ever thought. Rated: Teen. AO3 No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Bazz-B, Harry Potter, and more Words: 21682. Status: Incomplete

Okay, I cheated and picked a series. Not my fault blackkat decided to make this universe a series of oneshots rather than a single entity and you’re certainly not getting me to only pick one of the five already published ones. Bazz-B being a Black and also kinda a wizard is a brilliant concept, and having him adopting Harry is pure gold. Not sure how crazy Quincy adopting poor, neglected Boy Who Lives works, but it does!

---

A fic you’ve reread several times: The Guardian (Director’s Cut) by SGTBrowncoat (Naruto)

Itachi Uchiha receives his first mission in ANBU: protecting a certain trouble making Jinchuriki. He bonds quickly with the boy, but dark forces rise to threaten Itachi, Naruto, and those they care for most. Rated: T. Canon-typical violence Characters: Uchiha Itachi, Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Shisui and more (includes Uchiha Itachi/Inuzuka Hana background pairing) Words: 35945. Status: Complete

Back to my first ever fandom, here, and a really fun non-massacre AU fic, with lots of Itachi and Shisui goodness. There are a fair few ANBU-looking-after-kid-Naruto fics but this is by far my favourite of them! There is a sequel, but unfortunately it’s not finished and hasn’t been updated in a long time (I live in hope!)

---

A fic you still remember many years later: While The Ring Went South by Thundera Tiger (Lord of the Rings)

What happened after the Fellowship left Rivendell but before they came down off Caradhras? Behold the missing scenes. Rated: K+. Canon-typical violence Characters: Legolas, Gimli, Aragon, Gandalf, the whole Fellowship Words: 149624. Status: Complete

I refound this fic completely by accident the other week, after first reading it (according to when I favourited it on FFN) in 2011! It was just as amazing as I remembered, and is really the standard I hold all other LotR fics to, especially ones that involve the entire, pre-Moria, Fellowship. It has a sequel but sadly that’s not been updated in some time (but again, I live in hope!)

---

A comfort fic: There May Be Some Collateral Damage by metisket (Bleach/Harry Potter)

Ichigo’s been ordered to go undercover at a magic school to bodyguard a kid named Harry Potter, and this would be fine, except that he’s about as good at bodyguarding as he is at magic. And he considers it a good day, magic-wise, if he hasn’t set anything on fire. Rated: Gen. AO3 No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Kurosaki Ichigo, Harry Potter, Weasley Twins, and more. Words: 61209. Status: Complete

I have no idea what this means by ‘Comfort Fic’ but if I want a laugh and Umbridge getting a pile of comeuppance, this is definitely the fic I’ll turn to. As the A/N says: ‘sending Ichigo to Hogwarts is basically the same as swinging a wrecking ball directly into the side of the castle’. Beautiful chaos is what we get. Beautiful, beautiful chaos.

---

A cathartic fic: See You Again by cookietosser (One Piece)

Rocinante has been through a lot in his life. Adding uncontrollable time travel into the mix? That's just the icing on the cake. Rated: Teen. AO3 Violence and (canon) Character Death Warnings Characters: Donquioxte Rocinante|Cora-san, Trafalgar Law, Heart Pirates Words: 15755. Status: Complete

You want to rip my heart out and trample it into lots of little pieces while still making it all better because Law and Rocinante? Well, this little time-traveller’s wife AU fic is just the one for all that. Sad moments, frustrating moments, happy moments, all wrapped up in this oneshot!

---

A fic you’d print and put on your bookshelf: Thrower of the Dart by Vathara (Artemis Fowl/The Avengers)

What might have happened instead of Artemis Fowl book 6, if it'd happened in the Marvel Universe. Megalomaniacs ahoy! Rated: Teen. AO3 No Archive Warnings Characters: Artemis Fowl II, Tony Stark, and more Words: 101272. Status: Complete

It’s long, it’s epic, and it would nestle in perfectly at home alongside my Artemis Fowl books on the bookshelf! It’s not so much a rewrite of book 6 as a complete replacement of it, with a new plot and an all too familiar villain!

---

A fic you associate with a song: Goodbye, Brother by Serena Estelle (Bleach)

Ilforte's final moments as I like to picture them-with his brother. Rated: T. Canonical character death Characters: Szayelaporro Granz, Yylfordt Granz Words: 3073. Status: Complete

Might be cheating, because the author actually names a song in their starting A/N, but this definitely brings to mind Exile Vilify by The National, and I fully recommend listening to that (on loop - there is a 10-hour loop version on youtube) as you watch this for maximum tear-jerking effect.

---

A fic that inspires you: Magic of the Rose Cross by Awensweth (Harry Potter/D.Gray-Man)

In Harry's 4th year the Triwizard Tournament is brought back to live, but the appearance of a fourth mysterious school about which only Dumbledore seems to know brings new secrets with it for everyone. Who are the students of Rose Cross? Rated: Mature. AO3 Chose Not To Use Warnings Characters: Harry Potter, Allen Walker, and more Words: 66632. Status: Incomplete

I have been inspired by many, many fics, but I chose this one in particular because it was the main one that inspired me to join the HP/DGM Triwizard Tournament wave of the early 2010s - indeed, The Combat School is one of my most popular fics, but without this and other fics of the trope, I probably would never have written it! That’s not to say I’ve copied this fic - aside from the base trope I tried my best to make my own work unique against the others, and hope that I succeeded! Sadly, this fic is incomplete and hasn’t been updated for some time, but it’s still worth a read.

---

A fic that brought you on board a new ship: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell by MsChunks (Boku no Hero Academia)

Uraraka and Bakugo have a secret. It’s not what their classmates think it is. Rated: Teen. AO3 Chose Not To Use Warnings Characters: Bakugo Katsuki, Uraraka Ochako Words: 182478. Status: Complete

Putting Bakugo and Uraraka together was something I’d never considered, and I started this fic with some trepidation after a friend recommended it to me, but said friend has never steered me wrong with fics and didn’t start now! Fake dating, Uraraka actually being badass, the most terrifying couple in class 1-A? That’s this fic.

---

A fic you wish could be a movie: Mission Impossible by Loopstagirl (Thunderbirds)

Being selected for his first solo mission should have been exciting for Captain Scott Tracy of the Air Force. But there was something else at play. Something dangerous and deadly. Something that could cost him more than his life. Rating: T. Warnings: Violence Characters: Scott Tracy, Gordon Tracy Words: 55048. Status: Complete

Air Force!Scott? W.A.S.P.!Gordon? On a joint mission together? Yes, gimme, gimme, gimme. Gimme Scott’s awkwardness alone on a boat of WASP personnel, gimme Gordon’s horror when he realises the suicide mission pilot is his older brother, and now give that all to me on screen! And we can’t forget the Hood, of course! Might be a bit higher rating than the current Thunderbirds stuff, but hey, I’m old enough. Gimme.

---

A fic that led to you becoming friends with the author: The Gabriel Project by Aceidia (Bleach) - @thetwelvecaesars

When Szayelaporro knew Aizen's reign in Heuco Mundo was coming to a close, he took matters into his own brilliant hands. He reincarnates himself and the other nine Espadas into a new life full of surprising turns and irony. Yet, the harmony and ignorance is not forever as they begin to remember. Rating: M (violence) Characters: Szayelaporro Granz, the Espada Words: 116030. Status: Complete

Well, this fic sparked off a friendship that’s still very much there, even if neither of us write much for Bleach any more! What started off as a challenge to identify who the Espada were turned into essay-length PMs about anything and everything, and then RP groups and now random emails about whatever at random times of the day (different timezones don’t help)!

---

A fic you’ve gushed about irl: Living Like Kings by CLynnB (Thunderbirds)

The world wants to know more about the Tracy brothers. So Lady Penelope takes it upon herself to show the world just who they are. Through YouTube. Rating: Gen. AO3 Author Chose Not To Use Warnings Characters: Lady Penelope-Creighton-Ward, Tracy Family (background Pen/Ink, Scayo, Virg/Brains) Words: 35348. Status: Complete

I love social media fics like this one, and my poor boyfriend got the brunt of it while we were on holiday... he knows basically nothing about Thunderbirds except for what he’s heard from me (which is a lot because he’s amazing and lets me gush). I mean, Tracy boys playing “The Floor Is Lava?” and tackling each other to the ground? Gimme.

---

A fic you associate with a place: Thunderbirds Meet Thunderbirds - Alan trip in to the movie verse by ak47stylegirl (Thunderbirds) @ak47stylegirl

Crazy stuff always happens to Tracys, don't they? Add felling into a different world to the list. Rating: Gen. AO3 No Archive Warnings Characters: Alan Tracy, Tracy Family times two Words: 25599. Status: Incomplete

This might be a little random, but this fic was one that I found while I was ill on holiday to the Lake District last autumn. Sadly, it’s the only trip there I’ve ever done where I couldn’t climb a single fell (and my car’s clutch burnt out after having to reverse up a pass... thanks bus coming the other way), and this fic’s updates while I was there kept me sane! This has actually very loosely inspired a fic of my own which is in the making - which might get posted in the next year if I’m lucky... Still waiting eagerly for this fic’s next update :D

---

A fic that made you gasp out loud: The Colours Of The World by MaiKusakabe (Fullmetal Alchemist/Harry Potter)

When Roy Mustang went to retrieve his eyesight from Truth, he wasn’t expecting to end up doing a job in exchange. It couldn’t even be an easy job, of course, because Edward’s assessment of Truth was a pretty accurate one. Rating: Mature. AO3 No Archive Warnings (but watch for canon-typical violence) Characters: Roy Mustang, Albus Dumbledore, Sirius Black, and more Words: 120578. Status: Incomplete

Badass Roy yesss. Twists and turns and Truth is a pretentious you-know-what but Voldemort’s even worse so where does that leave poor Roy except caught in the middle and very much a war veteran at this point... much to the horror of a few wizards!

---

A fic you found at the right time: Seafaring Heartless: Exit North Blue by Avian Swallow (One Piece)

Pirates may be considered evil by the majority, but Law had met quite a few of the world's navy who were corrupt to the core and putting up a very thick facade. He reasoned that if he was going to manipulate and scheme his way into that goal, at least he was going to be honest enough to admit it. Rating: T. Canon-typical situations Characters: Trafalgar Law, Bepo, Penguin, Shachi, Heart Pirate OCs Words: 159644. Status: Complete

Is there ever a ‘wrong time’ to find a fic? (a 100k+ at 4am debatable, but shh). When I craved Heart Pirate content, this fic (and its sequel, still in progress but updating) appeared! Only loosely clings to canon at the moment, thanks to some SBS revelations, but with well developed OCs to fill the faces we have no names or personalities for at the moment!

---

A fic that you would read fic of: Only a Boy by Riddle Lee (Harry Potter/Merlin)

Merlin has changed Camelot forever but while that part of his life is complete, destiny has a new task for him. Now he has to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, hide the fact that he's the Merlin, and defeat a Dark Lord that's messing with magic he knows nothing about. Rating: T. Canon-typical situations Characters: Merlin, Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger, and more Words: 340998. Status: Incomplete

An amazing universe with Slytherin!Merlin, no Harry Potter/Boy Who Lived, and the good old ‘hiding real identity’ trope to underpin the whole series. Currently just into the start of Merlin’s third year at Hogwarts, aka “The Prisoner of Azkaban”. This universe has so much to give, although Riddle Lee is doing a fantastic job at it. It’s incomplete and slow to update but does update!

---

A fic that made you laugh out loud: HOW’S THE COMA GOING by ossicle (One Piece)

Kidd and Penguin keep trying to murder each other and Law is done with their shit. He assigns them to take care of each other’s injuries so they’ll learn to get along. It doesn’t work. Rating: Teen. AO3 No Archive Warnings Characters: Eustass Kid, Penguin, Trafalgar Law (background KidLaw) Words: 2062. Status: Complete

Oh this one had me in stitches basically the whole time. Kid’s bedside manner should not be mimicked in the slightest, but a beautiful bonding fic in typical pirate fashion - beat ‘em up ‘til they have your approval. Poor, poor, Law.

---

A fic with a line (or two) that you’ve memorised by heart: On Their Side by Gumnut (Thunderbirds) - @gumnut-logic

She trusted these boys with a great deal. Rating: Teen. AO3 No Warnings Apply Characters: Colonel Casey, Virgil Tracy, Gordon Tracy Words: 1116. Status: Complete

I think I have basically the entire thing memorised. This one also falls into several other categories, most notably ones that made me laugh and ones that I’ve reread several times, but it really belongs here on this list.

---

A fic that gave you butterflies: it’s a long way forward so trust in me by aloneintherain (Miraculous Ladybug)

Six times Marinette carried Adrien (plus one time he carried her). Rating: Teen. AO3 No Archive Warnings Characters: Adrien Agreste|Chat Noir, Marinette Dupain-Cheng|Ladybug (all sides of the love square) Words: 5611. Status: Complete

Aaah I have a weak spot for strong!Marinette and this fic ticks that box time and time again, with a side of blushing!Adrien and general love-struck Adrien/Chat. I mean, what more could a girl need?

---

A fic that embodies something you value in life: Team Itachi by Killer of thy Cookies (Naruto)

What if the Third Hokage stopped the council before they could order Itachi to commit the Uchiha Clan Massacre? Itachi is one of the village's strongest ninja, and has now been given the task of being a Jonin sensei, assigned to Team 7 with his little brother Sasuke, the 'dead last' Naruto Uzumaki, and fangirl Sakura Haruno. This is Team Itachi. Rating: T. Canon-typical situations Characters: Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and more Words: 155092. Status: Complete

(Yup, another non-massacre AU.) Loyalty. Honestly, there are so many fics that have loyalty in them, especially in fandoms like Naruto, where loyalty is a pretty big thing anyway (alongside friendship, of course), but this one is Itachi staying openly loyal to the village because Sarutobi actually saved the clan, and of course lovely bonds between the team!

---

A favourite AU: A Son By Any Other Name by carryonstarkid (Thunderbirds)

Cursed as a child, Scott Tracy lives a life in which everyone he encounters must follow all of his given commands. Rating: Teen. AO3 Chose Not To Use Warnings Characters: Scott Tracy, Tracy Brothers, Kayo Kyrano, and more Words: 83429. Status: Complete

I rarely read AU fics - my preferred sandbox is the canon one, or a nice slice of canon diversion, rather than completely taking characters out of their home and dumping them somewhere entirely new. This fairytale AU, however - reminding me very much of Sleeping Beauty except instead of sleeping it’s, well, what the summary says - is fantastically well done and addresses the strain such a thing would put on even the closest of family relationships.

---

A fic you stayed up too late to finish reading: As N Approaches Infinity by Corisanna (Bleach/Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

Despairing as yet another timeline goes horribly wrong, Homura wanders into Karakura. There she discovers that while the spiritually-aware people of Karakura were distracted by Ichigo Kurosaki and Xcution, Kyubey had managed to contract the Kurosaki sisters as magical girls. Drawing the attention of the shinigami could be just the advantage Homura needs. Rating: Teen. AO3 No Archive Warnings but watch out for canon-typical situations for both fandoms (especially Madoka) Characters: Akemi Homura, Kurosaki Karin, Kurosaki Yuzu, Urahara Kisuke, and many more Words: 465297. Status: Incomplete

There are many fanfictions that have kept me up til dawn. Many. This one, however, has literally robbed me of all my sleep and I’ve still been unable to finish it in one sitting. It’s good, the pacing is fantastic, and with Homura as our leading lady, that means those time resets really hit hard when they happen (and they happen. They really, really, happen). Might be incomplete, but is still updating - and there’s plenty to keep you occupied in the meantime!

---

A fic that made you feel seen: A Seed Once Grown by Darkestwolfx (Thunderbirds) - @darkestwolfx

Believe it or not, they did have a garden on Tracy Island. It looked a little like a… tip. And that was being kind. Rating: Teen. AO3 No Archive Warnings Characters: Ned Tedford, Tracy Family Words: 4785. Status: Complete

Okay, so I’m taking this literally because I spend a lot of time feeling invisible on the internet so having a fic written for me from someone I’d barely spoken to before was a whole pile of screaming. Not that it’s the first time someone’s written a fic for me, but the other ones have been done by friends I’d already known for some time, and not someone in a fandom I’m just starting to find my feet in.

---

Free space: whoo boy, fun time! There are a few fics on the top of my head that didn’t fill any of the above prompts (or got beaten to the punch by another), so my wildcard space is going to be a few fic links without the extra detail because I’ve already spent about 12 hours on this to get to this point (did I get sidetracked and re-read a bunch? You bet) and I’d quite like to also get some fic written today, too!

Eight-Day Week (JoJo Spotting) by TrufflestheMushroom (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure)

The Trouble With Eastern by teaandtumblr (One Piece)

Remembrance by ClioSelene (One Piece)

Legacy by MaiKusakabe (One Piece)

A Fleeting Smile by AnonymousTwit (Boku no Hero Academia)

Too Loud For Comfort by vaporeon_ninja (Boku no Hero Academia)

A Dragon’s Hoard by Chezka (Boku no Hero Academia)

Nine Lives by P_Artsypants (Miraculous Ladybug)

Chat’s Eye View (Love Letters To Paris) by Icka M Chif (Miraculous Ladybug)

Gabriel’s Lament by Chaotic Neutral (Miraculous Ladybug)

What The Cat Dragged In by Kyral (Avengers/Miraculous Ladybug)

Weekend Warrior by BlackDog_66 (Avengers)

Fitting In (Tiny Spaces) by aloneintherain (Avengers)

Autonomy by beetlebee (Naruto)

Great Minds by ScreamingViking (Final Fantasy VII)

Dear Kunsel by Sinnatious (Final Fantasy VII)

Cracks in the knight by authorettejasmin (Magic Kaito)

To Wrap An Elvish Princeling by Jael (Lord of the Rings)

There are more, many more, and I’ll probably post a few more recs around - you can also find some on my blog and I’ll try and get that updated with a few more at some point because there are many more than that!

16 notes · View notes

americangecko · 5 years ago

Text

COVID = Increased Availibility

For those interested, there’s a TL;DR at the bottom of this gigantic thing.

So, COVID, amiright?

Anyways, as I’m sure is the case with most of the world, Florida has been put under a “self-isolation quarantine”, and we’re having to practice the now infamous social distancing when we go out. Before that took place, my and my wife’s employer (a very famous Mouse) told us they were closing for the foreseeable future until the sitch with COVID-19 improves (unfortunately, neither of our jobs can be done remotely, but we still have them, thankfully—we’re actually still being paid through the 18th of this month, and will be furloughed after that until the Mouse deems it safe to reopen). As a result, the wife and I have been staying home almost constantly lately. If it weren’t for FaceTime and Zoom, we’d probably be going out of our minds with the lack of social interaction.

BUUUUT......On the bright side, that means I have a lot more free time to work on the creative projects that I’ve had little time for the past few months. There are a lot of them, but I wanted to cover some of the highlights here:

##############################################

####################

My Kim Possible fanfiction universe, Plausible Possibilities, over at fanfiction.net/~americangecko

####################

Don’t worry about this ongoing project—it is FAR from dead. I simply haven’t had the time lately to work on it. Not to mention that almost everything I had as far as notes, drawings, and other notable materials pertaining to it, has been trapped on a jump drive that I can’t access due to my wife’s laptop not wanting to charge anymore. (If you’re confused, I actually have an iPad now, and am currently working on my projects on it for the foreseeable future—that’s actually where I’m typing this journal up at the moment.). However, I’ve been working on remembering as much as I can about where I wanted this stuff to go, and so far I’ve been remembering far more than I expected to. Hopefully that means I can have an update out in the very near future.

####################

Kim Possible fanart for DA for my fanfiction and other miscellaneous

####################

Again, still in the pipes, but also mostly stuck on the aforementioned jump drive. However, this might be slightly more difficult to produce in the near future, due to the previously mentioned computer problems. I’ve been trying to find a decent drawing app for the iPad, but seeing as I can’t exactly afford an Apple Pencil—big shock there, I know—I’ve been struggling with them since most have a feature of touch sensitivity that I can’t access. Or, you know, they cost money I can’t afford (damn, I hate being broke). But either way, I’m doing my best to add to my meager KP gallery

####################

Personal manga 1 – Working Title: Wolf Maiden Tsukiko

####################

Soooo…for those that don’t know me, I’ve always had this unusual fascination with werewolves/lycanthropes. And unfortunately, to my dismay, most of the time they are depicted as the bad guys or sidekicks to the heroes. And 9/10 times, when it’s werewolves vs. vampires, the vampires are the good guys while the werewolves are the villains. Hell, even things like the Underworld series (with the exception of Underworld: Rise of the Lycans) or the Twilight series cast werewolves in secondary or villainous roles

Well, I’m doing something about that. For many years, I’ve been toying with the idea of creating my own comic/manga/graphic novel where the werewolves are the protectors of humanity. And with the recent uptick in my free time due to the quarantine, that old train of thought has been rolling more and more on this idea. I’ve even started mapping out characters and story ideas for it, as well as the beginnings of layouts. So far, I’ve got Point A, Point B, Point C, Point D, etc., partially established, and now I just have to figure out how to get there. But at least the train isn’t stalled on the tracks anymore.

####################

Personal manga 2 – Working Title: HYBRIDS

####################

Blame my fascination with werewolves, but for the past few years I’ve become more interested in anthro-style comics and animations. You could also point the finger at Disney’s Zootopia, Dreamworks Kung Fu Panda series, or any number of “anthro-animal” cartoons I saw as a kid (proud fan of ‘80’s TMNT, Looney Tunes, Tiny Toon Adventures, etc.). I’ve also started re-watching one of my favorite classic anime, s-CRY-ed, as well as Netflix’s new Beastars (I absolutely love Legoshi, Haru, and Louis). Anyway, a few years back, when I first heard that Disney was working on the movie about Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde, it jogged something from my brain.

When I was younger, I’d developed an idea for a cartoon that was a sort of hybridization (pun not intended, unfortunately) of s-CRY-ed and Marvel’s X-Men series, but featuring human/animal hybrids. I’d developed it to the point that I had determined it would follow twin brothers, both of whom could transform into the same hybrid (I originally thought wolves—blame the werewolf addiction), and who were recruited into a special law-enforcement-style group composed of other hybrid characters and worked to take down hybrid criminals and other threats. I even came up with a few of the villain groups, and determined that the brothers would have different experiences and thus reactions to their environment and those around them.

Now, also thanks to the quarantine, that train has also gained a little bit of coal in the furnace and started moving on the tracks again.

###################

A few…ahem…stories/novels of a Mature nature

###################

I don’t know if they’ll ever see the light of day here or over at DA, but I’ve been working on several written stories of a more…Mature nature for several years now. I may even eventually create another DA account to feature them, but that’s a colossally gigantic ”MAYBE” right now. Lately, however, when I’ve needed a break from one of the other projects I’ve been working on during the quarantine, this is what I find myself working on. These are actually the most developed of my various projects (apart from my Kim Possible fanfiction), and I’ve actually been looking at maybe sending one or two to an adult books publisher. Who knows if I’ll ever actually get one of them complete enough to follow through, but we’ll see what happens.

###################

Other various projects

###################

Of course, there are other projects I’ve been working on, but there’s so many that it would take forever to list them. So I’ll just include them here and say that none of them should be considered dead by any means. Life support, maybe, but they all can relate to Not-Dead-Fred (“I’m not dead yet! I feel happy! I feel…HAPPY!”) from Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Monty Python’s Spamalot fame in that they’re not quite finished yet.

##############################################

ANYWHOOOO, that’s the update. So far, both the wife and I have avoided any big or life-altering complications from the COVID crisis, and hopefully this continues to be the case. Meanwhile I’ll continue moving these ideas along during the quarantine, and hopefully finish at least ONE by the time this crazy sitch has passed us all by.

Stay safe, everyone!

~ A.G.

TL;DR

The COVID quarantine, while not yet personally affecting my health, has left me with enough free time that I am resuming work on several of my creative projects.

#art #Kim Possible #Wolf Maiden Tsukiko #HYBRIDS #Mature Stories #Adult Stories #fanfiction #DeviantArt #FF.net #writing #Update

6 notes · View notes

floof-reppu · 5 years ago

Text

Invalidity

[omg, so... I may or may not have written a first part to what I hope will be a long ass series... about a Villain AU Mt. Lady. I.. kind of ended up throwing my OC in there, but why the fuck not? anyways... if this is well-received, I’ll definitely continue it soon!!]

Word Count: 2.8k

“You’re absolutely disgusting. You’re a terrible person, and I never want to see you again-”

“You really believe you’ll never see me after this? Think again. I’ll be on the front of each and every published print in Japan, and then the entire earth. You’ll remember me as more than just a pretty face; you’ll remember me as your goddess.”

It was easy for Yu to get the upper advantage in a situation. On the streets during daylight hours, everyone knew her as the likable Mt. Lady. She was loved by all, children and adults alike. But the fame was beginning to get to her. If she wasn’t on the front page of every published tabloid and magazine in Japan, nobody was allowed to be on the front.

It was this ideology that made the pro into somebody sinister, someone who was willing to cross the lines between heroism and villainy alike.

Yu Takeyama wanted to make it bigger than every other hero, no matter what.

Even if that meant turning to crime as the answer.

...

Another day, another crime, another interview; the cycle always repeated itself.

Today, us as The Lurkers just so happened to have an easy criminal to apprehend. I sustained minimal injuries, even as I haphazardly took a chunk out of a nearby building without thinking and threw it at the villain. I was lucky I didn’t injure any surrounding civilians in the process with how forcefully I threw the concrete. Today definitely wasn’t the best of days.

And to top it off, I was berated by Edgeshot and Kamui for acting recklessly. Come on, can’t you give a girl a break every once and awhile? I’m lucky the press showed up after the fact and had no clue of the… mistake I made.

“Mt. Lady, tell us, how do you feel about the rising crime rates in Japan? Do you believe that pro heroes such as yourself and your fellow members of The Lurkers are going to be able to keep up?”

Interviews were just another part of being a pro hero. The citizens always want to believe that everything is going to be okay, that every single villain that attacks the city is going to be apprehended. I always made sure to sugarcoat the truth in order to keep chaos at bay, because hell, I’m busy enough as it is.

“Of course! It’s our duty as heroes to keep crime at bay. Just because the rate is rising doesn’t mean we aren’t doing our jobs right.” Smiling at the camera was about all I could do to ease the nerves in my stomach. Was I scared? A little. The future of society was starting to become uncertain with the number of crime syndicates rising, as well as independent criminals.

Sometimes I question if what I’m doing is the right thing. But all I could do is put on a brave face and act like everything is okay, at least for the time being.

“I see! Thank you for your time!”

“We- ...I-It’s no trouble at all!” That’s usually not how it goes, at least most of the time. I’m sure there was a reason the reporter cut me off short.

I took a look through the window of one of the nearby shops. 5:38 P.M. Damn, it’s already that late? I guess I was so caught up with the media that I didn’t really pay attention to the time, since I was technically done patrolling a little over a half hour ago.

I really am an attention hog, aren’t I?

…

Do I ever go out during the night? It usually depends on how busy the day was, or my mood. Sometimes I’ll go out for a drink or two, out of costume of course (since if I didn’t I’m sure my reputation would be ruined if I was seen drinking in public), at one of the local bars near my apartment. It’s not uncommon for people to recognize me, but I’m technically off-duty when my entire costume is off and put away in my dresser. It’s always nice to unwind after a long day of doing my duties as a pro, alcohol or not.

“Ah, come in for yer usual, Takeyama?” The bartender greeted me, grin plastered on his grungy face. You could tell that he spends most of his hours here, the disgusting five o’clock shadow dusting his jawline.

“Nah, I’ll go for a whiskey on the rocks tonight,” I leaned across the bar and placed a thousand yen bill over to him, “and keep the change. Don’t get the wrong idea, though.”

“Aye, so are you really with Nishiya-”

“Not in a million years. We’re just good friends, is all. I’m as single as the next woman that walks into your bar for a drink.” God, how I hate this dumbass. Just ‘cause I’m on the same team as Shinji and we spend time together as friends doesn’t mean shit.

I watched him grab a glass full of ice and pour bourbon whiskey over top until it was almost ready to spill over.

“Got’cha. Here’s your drink.”

The cheap smell of alcohol flooded my senses as the drink was slid over to me. I took it in my free hand, pinky dangling over the edge, and went over to the darker corner of the bar to survey my surroundings. Sitting down in an old wooden chair, the bar was mostly empty, save for a few of the normal groups of coworkers who frequently drink together. You wouldn’t catch me drinking with any of my coworkers, though.

There was one man, however, who caught my eye. Clad in a nice shirt and dress slacks, it seems like he just came back from working himself, and you could clearly tell that he dyed his hair, white being the predominant color on top and neatly cut raven locks underneath. He looked quite familiar to me, but I just couldn’t pinpoint exactly who he was.

No better time like the present to find out.

“Hey, you.” I spoke in a monotonous voice, my face showing almost no emotion as I tried to get the man’s attention. He looked up from his smartphone to glance at me, but didn’t give me a second thought as he went back to what he was doing.

Oh, hell no.

I stood up and started to march my way over to his table while resisting the urge to get up in his face and cuss him out in more ways than one. His grey irises were fixed on one of the many social media platforms installed on his damn phone, which was a bit aggravating, but I guess he was used to it since he was sitting by himself.

“Did you not hear me? I was trying to get your attention,” I placed my palms on the opposite end of the table and leaned over, staring straight into his soul.

“I heard you, I’m just a bit preoccupied, lady.”

“Then I don’t think you’d mind if I took this from you-” The classy glass of wine that sat on the table right next to him was wide open, so of course my right hand took a dive to grab it, but then out of nowhere it seemed to vanish and reappear on the other side of him. “Okay, what the fuck was that?!”

“Don’t you know not to touch what’s not yours?” The man grinned, finally setting his phone down. “Aren’t you Mt. Lady?”

“Wow, aren’t you smart.” I snorted, rolling my eyes and sitting down across from him. “What gave you that idea?”

“Platinum blonde locks of hair styled to look the way they are, hair all the way down to the top of your ass, the ‘give me attention’ attitude? Yeah, it wasn’t that hard.” He leaned back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest and gazing down to my hands. “I never figured you as the type to go to disgusting bars like this.”

“It’s my choice, not yours. Besides, you’re also here, right? Means you don’t think this place is half bad.”

“You’re smart and intuitive. Shame that you’re going out with-”

“Don’t you fucking dare. There is nothing going on between Kamui Woods and I, thanks.”

“Then let me be the one to introduce myself,” he stuck his hand out over the table. “Hayato Kurosawa. I’m a pro hero just like yourself, but you’ll just have to find out-”

“Chrono, right?” I should have known, especially with the way he made his drink disappear like that. His quirk is labeled as Time Manipulation, but I just call it plain trickery. I’ve only worked with him once on a mission, and I haven’t seen him since. No wonder I didn’t recognize him at first glance.

“-damn, you remembered. It’s been awhile since we’ve seen each other, but even then we never got introduced formally-”

“Takeyama. Yu Takeyama.” I shook his hand with a firm grip, giving him the most genuine smile I could muster. Man, was his palm sweaty.

“Ah, well, er, it’s nice to meet you? Hahaha…” Kurosawa averted his eyes, a small blush creeping onto his face. Was this dude seriously flustered?

“Anyways…” I retracted my hand back to my side of the table, palm down. “Care to share why you were sitting alone?”

“Going to the bar with other pros is unethical, at least in my opinion.”

That entire statement made absolutely no sense to me. How is going to the bar with a couple of buds from the hero biz unethical? I decided to stay silent and not voice my opinion, but something tells me that Kurosawa isn’t all that he’s cracked up to be.

“I have a question for you, Takeyama,” he started, folding his hands neatly on the table, “why are you so interested in the media?”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Your entire costume, at least to me, screams sex appeal just as much as your hero persona. But yet you’re so much more relaxed and carefree now that you’re out of costume. Are you just trying to put on a show to get attention?”

I instantly froze up.

At first, I wanted to be a pro so I could not only make money and provide for myself and any future family I might have, but also so that I could help those who couldn’t help themselves. My quirk turned out to be more destructive than useful in an urban area, but that didn’t stop me from establishing my agency in the big city. If I had gone to a much more rural area, I would never have gotten the attention that I’m currently getting.

Am I being fake?

I’d like to think that I’m not, but the more that I pondered this thought, the more that I came to the realization that I wasn’t being true to my purpose as a pro hero. Does that make me a hero, or does that make me, in theory, a villain?

Honestly, I don’t know what I am anymore.

…

I went home that night with a few more glasses in my system.

Kurosawa thankfully escorted me back to my apartment, as the post-it note on my counter-top claimed, along with his phone number scribbled hastily below. Honestly, I’m surprised he didn’t try to take advantage of me in my drunken state. It wasn’t the first time I’d gotten horribly drunk, but it was the first time that someone had thought to escort me back to my apartment.

I’m sure I told him where I lived while I slurred my speech or some shit.

Waking up this morning was a nightmare. Immediately, I had to rush to the bathroom and vomit all of the contents in my stomach from last night into the toilet. God, I absolutely hate hangovers. After a solid minute of throwing up and wiping my lips off with toilet paper, I walked to the kitchen and saw the note he’d left for me.

‘Text me if you want to talk about last night, or if you’re bored.’

“What the hell…” Kurosawa is definitely an interesting man, and who knows what he might turn out to be to me. But right now, I should probably try to get rid of this nausea.

Grabbing a bottle of water from my fridge, my mind drifted back to the words he said last night. I couldn’t recall what I said after that, but chances are I avoided the question and started to drink my problems away like usual. I hate how I got so worked up over what Kurosawa said, whether his question was out of sheer curiosity or seriousness. I went to go sit on my sofa, turning on the television and opening the water bottle, taking a swig of it before screwing the cap back on.

The interview from last night was on. My smile was forced, my words a lie... I was no better than the criminal I helped to apprehend. I’m still no better than them. I put on a brave face to hide my fear, even now my face was scrunched into an expression I couldn’t begin to describe with words. All the movements I made were exaggerated, exuberant, fake. I wanted the camera to focus on me, on what I had to say, not the damn reporter. It seems that the cameraman got the memo and zoomed in on all of the parts I wanted to be highlighted.

That’s why, when my phone buzzed, I didn’t know what to expect. It was my day off, after all. The name Shinji Nishiya flashed on the screen multiple times, and I picked up my phone.

“Yeah, what’s up?” I propped my legs on the coffee table, laying back on my sofa.

“Yu, are you watching the National News?” Shinji’s voice was laced with concern, which made me worry.

“No, what’s on the National News?” I picked up the television remote and changed the channel, and instantly I dropped everything. What was the headline, you might wonder?

Mt. Lady: A Hero, or a Villain in disguise?

What the fuck.

“Last night, civilians recall the pro hero Mt. Lady endangering the lives of innocent bystanders as she violently hurled a chunk of a nearby building at a criminal. While this managed to take said criminal out, there is no excuse for this kind of behavior as a pro hero.”

“That’s very true. If she had common sense, she would have never risked civilian casualties, nor would she have purposefully damaged public property.”

“She’s only in it for the attention. Either that, or she’s just that dumb.”

She’s only in it for the attention.

Either that, or she’s just that dumb.

“Yu? Yu, are you-” I hung up on Shinji, tears forming at the corners of my eyes.

My career, my reputation as a hero, is ruined. One of those goddamn civilians said something out of spite, and now look what happened. I’m done for.

I turned off the television and threw the remote across the room. The tears came flowing out like a waterfall, and I sobbed uncontrollably, head in my hands as I started thinking about what would happen next. I didn’t want this to be the end of my career, no, I wanted to make it big, I wanted to be the smiling face that people of all ages would come to love and enjoy. But it was all taken out of my hands as soon as that report aired.

But I… kind of liked the attention that I was getting. I loved the way they talked about me as if I was famous nationwide, as if everyone in Japan knew my name. If they didn’t know before, they sure did know now. That’s when I knew it had to be true, what I had thought about earlier.

If I was willing to do something like that just for the attention, I really must be fake.

But... I’ll show Japan that I don’t have to be a hero to make a name for myself.

Fuck the system, I can do whatever the hell I want and get away with anything I want to. I’ll be on the front of every magazine, be the highlight of every news report, have entire articles about me, myself and I. Today, I was reborn as a different being. One that didn’t care what the media thought, and one who wasn’t fake, because I’m being true to my personal goals.

Because this is the real me, and this is who I want to be.

#mt lady #mount lady #yu takeyama #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #mha #bnha #villain au #oc #canon x oc

28 notes · View notes