#i haven't figured out a full plot for this but did write a lot of snippets for it

[pluralsword]

Yaay! We're glad you did!! it really is an enjoyable read, and yeah it was nice to see him write this, and yeah she does think a lot like her from what we've read (we haven't read as much as her as you have), does remind us of IDW Arcee also, particularly the cynical about the world while determined to do something good outlook that first appeared in Phase 1 and is given so much interiority by other writers in Phase 2 and 3.

Yeah we love that! The art and plot are fun, and we totally get preferring internal thoughts to verbal monologue, we enjoy both and think those can be played to different story aspects, the inner thoughts for Athenia in #2 were fantastic.

I think our one criticism (and not even a full criticism more just, an observation of what we wish was different) of it is that the Captain Xenophanes (that was his name right? don't have the comics on hand rn) talked Athenia out of gunning down Argus and Atlas with the other guardsbots 'because vengeance isn't what we do', dear Captain, Athenia told you what they were going to do to Lyris (we haven't read in many months so we'll have to check her name), this isn't solely about vengeance, it's about justice, just like how Arcee trying to take down Jhiaxus's network was very much about saving the galaxy, she literally says so in the comic to Ultra Magnus in the first few pages. So on that part, we kind of wish Athenia had gotten to rampage, y'know, because she it was the right thing to do to save her friend. we hope this wasn't because of feeling like it shouldn't be written, and more because in order for the plot to go on Atlas would have to be alive a bit longer. kind of worried that Astrobots #6 isn't going to happen... :( we really liked this comic and wanted to see Athenia and Artimis connect with each other. We've had a figure of Athenia for a while actually she's adorable and don't have the money for Artimis, but someday

love that she basically scales with 6" humans lmao

(also as fun as it was to use the oversized t30esque swords with threezero Arcee we advise that you don't do that, the thumbs can pop out. was totally worth multiple photos involving the swords though, she's happy with that, we're gonna apply some floor polish to see if the thumb will stick in better that way)

like. as a figure it's amazing how well she can balance on a heel strut without assistance

she does have a heel strut assist also but if you pose her with balance and a flat surface you don't need it

and her swords let her do stuff like this!

tbh it's very striking to us how much she (mayhaps accidentally?) resembles both Gaea and in color scheme the Rust Renegade / Torchbearer team that forms Victorion. Green and red are great colors to do with add-ons of grays, grey-blue, yellow and orange! when one of us was playing around years ago with coming up with a transformer representation of self she went for mostly deep green and pink so, relatable. red and green and pink and green are complementary as it turns out so we're billing to bet the people who designed her for Astrobots just thought she looks cool in those colors

astrobots really went lets have a cynical thoughtful determined robot catgirl sword mom protagonist and we are here for that:

anyone else on the edge of their seats w/ patient anticipation of what's going to go down in Astrobots #6? We are. the story so far lays out a complex world where mass produced bots r stratified by hardlined code thanks to humanity, hierarchy therein inherited from them too...

reading that in issues #1 and #2 alone for both atlas city & the persephone ship gave the impression that something was deeply wrong that would be the source of conflict (see: atlas being a jerk). also was nice 2 be able 2 see the overlaps between athenia & arcee, & references to transformers such as solus, scylla, and xaaron

#5 ends on such a massive cliffhanger. the conflict is laid out sure, but how is artimis going 2 be psychologically throughout the series? r her clashes with athenia going to have some level of homoeroticism, and can the latter help her? will atlas's bioessentialism end him?

his whole shtick of trying to make a genetically improved humanity without hate he learned from them & attempting to coerce a specific line of bots to do it may not seem like him being a misogynist at a first glance but when you account for humans making that line that way, well. a greek goddess-named line of bots who r sword wielding curvy bipeds w/ cat ears & hardlined coding to nurture with skills to raise humans no other line got (it is unclear at present if multiple genders exist per bot line or not, we genuinely hope for the former) sure does feel like humans had a particular idea about what kind of fierce parental figure they wanted to mass-produce that raise even more questions. one that leaves one realizing humans made the bots of all lines without thinking about programming modularity. frames too. they all have heels, no body type variety, gave us a feeling of the humans in charge not quite having humanity's or robotkind's interests in mind so much as perpetuating a specific kind of society especially since the one body type only thing is true of every other bot line because of adherence to an alienated concept of function (its still unclear whether the remaining humans in the sol system are capitalists or collectivists or what but we have a feeling which one it is). and atlas making the threats he does thus does come off as him having recreated a form of discrimination a few times removed from human context.

the other thing we like is that astrobots doesnt simply do humans vs robots. it is instead robots vs robots who are both custodians of different kinds of humanity, following up on conflict of genocidal reactionary humans vs robots and humans living in harmony responded to w/ dirty nukes, after exodus from earth.

we do genuinely think this very easily some of Furman's best writing. there's an earnest revisiting of older ideas with new ones in a new setting that carries a great deal of nuance and delicacy. Athenia and Apollo's insightul valiant outlooks are entwined, minor characters r fun

[johaerys-writes]

I gotta ask about 4. Victorian Patrochilles

Basically this one is a reincarnation AU I started AGES ago... it is set in Victorian London, Achilles is the prince and in line for the throne, and Patroclus is a minor noble, and the meet at a ball and instantly feel this ConnectionTM... like it's one of the first patrochilles things I ever wrote lol, and the first chapter is actually up on AO3 in this collection over here. At first it was only going to be a oneshot but then I started thinking about it more, and I sort of came up with an outline for a full story and started writing it (I opened the file again recently and was surprised at how much I'd actually written) but I abandoned it after a while because I wasn't happy with some plot points and tbh I still haven't figure them out. But there's a lot of it that I still like, here is a small snippet:

I met him later that week. We walked the busy streets of London side by side, and the Prince didn’t seem to mind the mud that clung to his boots or the drizzle that darkened his golden hair to copper. He talked to me cheerfully- he seemed quite fond of talking, but not in the way one blabbers incessantly for the pleasure of hearing one’s own voice. He had much to share with me, and he spoke fast and with confidence, as if he could cram the information of a lifetime in just a few short hours. 

He was different when he was with me. Less aloof, less regal. He had a casual air about it him which he seemed to drop when no one was around; it made him look young, almost boyish—behind his princely facade he hid a cheerful disposition and a razor sharp intellect, as well as a knack for clever puns. 

It wasn’t long before our conversation drifted back to ancient myths and legends, as it normally did when it was just the two of us. 

“The Ancient Greeks were masters when it came to tragic stories,” he said, pushing the glass door of a tea shop open, a small and dainty one hidden in one of the side streets off Baker Street. “The most tragic of all, of course,” he sat by one of the tables, gesturing for me to sit near him, “is none other than that of Achilles and Patroclus. I recall you were quite fond of their love story.”

I self-consciously glanced over my shoulder to make sure no one near us had overheard, even though the Prince didn’t seem to have noticed anything odd about his speech. 

“We have settled, then, that they were lovers?” I asked him with a smile.

“Of course,” he said, without a hint of hesitation. “There can be no question about it. The truth is there, plain for everyone to see, regardless of what historians and scholars say. Left to their own devices, they would argue for centuries whether a tea kettle is black or simply very dark grey.” 

That was another thing about him that I’d noticed; he often spoke blunt truths without any intention to tease or gauge for a reaction. He spoke them because, frankly, that was what they were: the truth, and he had little patience for anything but. It was something I admired about him. 

Well, one of the many things I admired about him, in any case. 

“Indulge me, Your Grace,” I said, lifting the steaming cup to my lips after he had poured the tea. “What is it that you and I know, and all the scholars of the world do not?” 

[justcallmesakira]

hii this is like my first time here requesting,,

aaaaa your writing is so cool i love it smm,,

prompt 13 angst, for fyodor?

i think it fits him really well,, and i haven't read angst for so long...

"Maybe...maybe in another life, another time"

Prompt 13

Sypnosis: Your like an angel incarnate to him but even so, you`re a pawn to the outside and will be.

Fyodor x reader

Genre: angst

Warnings: lots of sad stuff :(, no comfort

A/N: Aaaah finally first time writing for Fyodor! I hope you enjoy this anonie!! because its full of angst. YUMMY ANGST.

Etheral- Txmy ♥︎ ⇄ ◁◁ 𝚰𝚰 ▷▷ ↻ ⁰⁰'²⁵ ━━●━━───── ⁰²'⁰⁸

No matter how strong a pawn is,,, a pawn is a pawn for bigger plans then why does he feel like this? He wonders.

You had joined the decay of angels out of desperation. Nothing in your life was not really interesting anyways.

After Fyodor found out about your mere existence he was intrigued.

A human being this beautiful having such a dead and poor soul? What a wonderful day to be a saviour! He convinced himself that its just mere interest. At that time.

You were also pique by this mans goals and likings if anything you realized that he and you had alot in common.

He did not let his other subcordinates listen to his cello playing but he did to you, and only you. He did not lay his head on his other subcordinates but he layed on yours, He did not share his past experiences with his other subcordinates but he shared them to you, Only to you and no one else....Perhaps it was just an illusion to weaken his strength.

Fyodor saw all of the population as mere foolish human beings nothing else but you were an exception to his complex qualifiction

You liked his hair which reminded you of the feathers of a raven, sleek and violaceus, his bright eyes like comparable to a pair of plums, fresh from heaven.

Sure, he wasnt the best in person but you admired him, quite alot but somehow you felt sympathy for him. Everyone else would look at his direction and cover away, scared and terrified but somehow because of your naivety you felt something for him. You cant tell whether its from your heart or mind but something similar to pity. But now things are different...why do you still have that aching feeling in your chest?

"Fyodor, Fyodor dont cry" drip drip...

You are a mere pawn, nothing else but was that true?

The terrace you stood on had white lilies here and there looking as pretty as a ocean of pearls.

There was barely a trace of emotion in your face as you kept staring at the sun almost setting so the night scenery can introduce itself. Too bad you wont be able to see tonight.

Quiet footsteps could be heard, quiet like a mouse towards your figure. You realised it was fyodor, ah yes the same smell of lilac and evil.

"Are you ready, dusha moya?" the voice asks, tone as careful and delicate as glass. Like the glass covering the greenhouse from above.

"This garden is quiet the exiquitive one with its prickly rose vines sheltering the top." Fyodor states to calm down the atmosphere in this plot of flowers. "I wonder if they ever get tired of protecting the glass garden" you spit out, with no expression in your voice and your back turned against fyodor who only walked loser to you.

Your head turned around with a blank expression on your face.

"Strange girl....."

"Well, zayka its time to bid farewell even the sun is setting a goodbye" Fyodor finally revealed the words out with a smile in his face, the smile you will never be able to see again.

You picked up a white lily in your warm hands and gracefully slid it behind your hair tucking a strand of hair and finally turned around to face him, this time with a smile on your face which makes the mans eyes widen for a second.

"You're right, Lets go." you calmly voice out with a somewhat soft expression on your face as you walk towards him on the clean grass.

At that time you couldnt make out fyodors expression, whether he was sad or happy or just emotionless.

He reaches out to you with his hand asking you to put yours over his.

"It was nice knowing you, Fyodor. It really was but i guess this is our goodbye. But you know... Even though i shouldnt say this since i am but a sinner i really love you, I really do."

Your pretty lips mouth out these shattering words to him though i doubt he would feel anything anyways either way he wont be able to feel the warmth of your hands ever again nor the care of your words asking him if slept or eaten anything.

As Fyodors ability activates the life in your eyes slowly wilt away like a lily symbolizing peace.

"Maybe,,,maybe in another life, another time"

It was almost time that you died and met your punishment so with every emotion and strength you have you said out your last words as your head gently falls to his side with your lashes flattered close.

Fyodor did not smile at that.

He simple carried your corpse in bridal style with your white sleeved arms dangling down and gently placed your body on a huge pile of white lilies.

The view was beautiful indeed with the lilies hiding aspects of your now run cold body making you look etheral finally at peace.

"Fear not myshka, i will soon join you in hell too." with that the terrace was locked. Locked from dangers, threats and any bad omen.

"Farewell, Fyodor I hope you enjoyed the part you played these past 3 years"

A/N Fun Fact Fiction time!: The rose vines sheltering the glass of the green house in a symbolization to fyodors heart. The white lilies symbolize grief so he locks away any trace of emotion. By this reader puts one of the lily in their hair and asks metaphorically if fyodor ever get tired of protecting his emotions in order to achieve his goal! Also reader worked with fyodor for 3 years and an average white lily lives up to 3-5 years :)

[shantismurf]

"The Mushroom Mine" sign by @shantismurf, with assistance from @tickles-ivory

As part of the celebration of the one year anniversary of the Bagginshield Book Club, we asked the lovely @chrononautintraining a few questions about this wonderful work.

June 2024 Author Q&A with Chrononautical

Q1. What name would you like us to use and what are your pronouns?

A1. Chrononautical or Chrono, She/Her

Q2. How many years have you been writing? 

A2. Most of my life, but posting publicly for about 15 years.

Q3. What do you think of as your writing style - are you a plotter or pantster?

A3. Pantster, primarily, though I've learned my lessons and do like to know where a story is going to end when I start it these days so I try to plot. 

Q4. What’s your favorite genre/trope to write? 

A4. Speculative fiction: stories about magic or science fiction, primarily. 

Q5. Is there a genre/trope you haven't written as much of yet that you're excited about for future writing?

A5. I'd like to do more comedy.

Q6. Was there an idea or scene that inspired A Passion for Mushrooms?

A6. Passion for Mushrooms is one hundred percent inspired by the quote I used for an epigraph: "Hobbits have a passion for mushrooms, surpassing even the greediest likings of Big People." - The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien. 

When I decided to write it, the fandom already had more than a few stories about Bilbo planting gardens and deciding to stay in Erebor with a miraculously alive Thorin. I was completely here for all of that, of course, but I wanted a story where the garden wasn't special because of gold or rare plants bought with gold. I wanted there to be a treasure that Bilbo could appreciate with the Baggins half of his heart, as well as the Tookish bit. And I know next to nothing about mountains, but I do know mushrooms do okay in caves, so... 

Q7. Did you do any special research before writing the work?

A7. If you're asking this because I go deep on How To Pluck A Chicken In A Medieval Kitchen during the cooking scenes, you're right and you should say it. I am a middling cook, but all of my ingredients come from grocery stores. I had to do a fair bit of research on the cooking aspects of the story that were furthest from my own experience. Fortunately, the professor already put tomatoes and potatoes in Middle-earth, so I didn't have to go Full Historical. 

Q8. Did the story change from how you originally envisioned it? Were there scenes or plot elements you had to cut out?

A8. It absolutely did. Because I am, as previously said, a pantster. I wanted a bigger bang for the ending of the story than I was set up to get. I could have stopped with Bilbo and Thorin getting together and had some simple falling action, but that didn't perfectly tie the subplot of Dis and Tauriel back to the main pairing, which I knew I wanted. Having Doron try to poison Bilbo was actually a late in the game choice. If I'd planned that from the start, I would have threaded him into more of the middle sections of the novel. 

As for cutting things out, the additional stories in the series started as deleted scenes/reader requests that I couldn't find use for. So most of what I cut didn't end up in the rubbish bin. Anything that wound up there really wasn't worth posting. 

Q9. Do you have a favorite moment from the entire series?

A9. I still really like "A Spy In The Shire" a lot. I know it's so self-indulgent to say that about a story focusing on an OC, but if the point of the Battle of Five Armies is to reclaim Erebor for the dwarves, then I want that to mean something. I want the average dwarf to be in a bad place. I want the average dwarf to need Erebor the way Thorin needs Erebor, to be willing to do anything to get back to the Lonely Mountain. Because if that's the case, then all the sacrifice means something. When I talk about this one luckless dwarf on the world's silliest quest to figure out how to help the king hook up with a hobbit, I'm talking about hope for the future. I'm talking about all the people who long for and dream of the home that Thorin was willing to die to reclaim. I think about them going back there and living better lives. It brings me peace.

[ruinparadox]

So, I have been taking the story of Guild Wars 2 pretty slowly, but I have been having a lot of fun with it. The game is so fun I literally forgot the teleport points existed and tried to walk into an area I couldn't go to because I haven't upgraded my account yet.

The weapon swapping is absolutely bonkers to me and its so fun and addicting. My charr is a mesmer and I have him on a staff and greatsword setup. The fact that each weapon comes with a different moveset and you can mix and match some of them is peak for me. Not to mention the skill tree where you can customize your additional skills at any time is genuinely interesting.

Although Mesmer is fun I did want to try Revenant because I hear they're a hybrid damage/healer/support, but I need a certain expansion for that, so I might have to remake Astros Dawnstone again.

The voice acting, story and the writing are really well done. You mean, I have a customizable character that has an actual voice, real agency in the story, AND what is effectively my sub-race isn't just an aesthetic thing, it has plot relevance and affects how the story plays out for my character?! Damn, sign me up.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get into the glamour/dye channels as I don't have the required resource for it, nor do I know where to get it. I'll figure it out at some point, but I really wanna keep my Mesmer mask. I will say, I was surprised that the character customization allows you to choose the dyes for your clothes right out the gate as well as customizing what kind of mask you have. I just love this game and I can't wait to get more into it.

Overall, I will upgrade my account and play the full story someday soon. For now, I'm gonna slow down on video games because damn, my laptop needs its storage.

[writingquestionsanswered]

I wrote an outline for a chapter I haven't finished but I still can't get around to writing the said chapter. Any advice/tips for that?

Chapter Outlined But Still Can't Write It

I'm not sure if you mean you haven't finished the outline or the chapter, so we'll tackle it both ways. :)

Chapter Outline Isn't Finished - If you're struggling to finish the chapter outline, start by looking at the conflict of the scene/s that make up the chapter. What does the character want in the scene? Are they trying to solve a problem? Are they trying to obtain something? (Like information, improvement of a skill, an object, agreement from someone to do something?) What tactic do they use in an attempt to get the thing? What obstacles do they face, and how do their tactics escalate? Do they succeed or fail in getting the thing? Are there consequences of getting the thing or not getting the thing? Understanding the purpose of your scene/scenes/chapter helps greatly in figuring out what needs to happen from beginning to end. You can also look at scene structure, which I tackle in my post Easy Scene/Chapter Structure.

Chapter Outline Is Finished - If your chapter outline is finished but you're still struggling to write the chapter, it could be because although you know where it needs to begin and what needs to happen, you may not know specifically how to start it. In other words, it's one thing to know that the chapter needs to start with Katniss preparing to go hunting with Gale, but that doesn't tell us exactly how the scene needs to begin. Try analyzing what needs to happen at the beginning and visualizing where your character is at the first point you know.

In the THG example, we know Katniss will walk out the door to meet Gale to go hunting. So, we can imagine her poised at the door getting ready to walk outside... now we rewind it. What was she doing in the moments before she got to the door? What did she need do in order to get ready? What room was she in? Who or what did she interact with? What was she thinking about? These can give you clues to specifically where you can start. Remember, it helps to start with movement, or in other words, something happening. Like, "My feet touch the ice cold floor..." or "Wooden bowls clatter to the floor when I open our tiny cupboard." Or, in the case of THG: When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold. My fingers stretch out, seeking Prim's warmth but finding only the rough canvas cover of the mattress.

You want the opening image of the chapter to be a hook, either a dynamic moment that asks a question ("Where's Prim?") or dynamic imagery: Nothing about the woman sitting across from me suggested she was a private investigator, much less one who came so highly recommended by Hollywood's rich and famous.

Other things that could be going on... I can think of some other potential issues which are worth considering if the above advice doesn't help you move forward:

1 - You're not sure where the story is going - You may have a full or partial outline for your chapter, but if you're not sure what happens in the next chapter or later on in the story, that can create a sort of mental block that makes it more difficult to get started. It's almost like your brain can see the road is washed out up ahead and doesn't want to start moving until the road is repaired. So, make sure you have a good idea of what needs to happen next and where the overall story is going. You can head over to my Plot & Story Structure master list of posts if you need help plotting.

2 - You've stressed yourself out about it - When we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to start something or finish something, we end up creating an association of stress with the thought of that activity. In other words, when we think of doing the thing it stresses us out, and since our brains are programed to avoid stress, it makes us not want to do the thing. We can think we want to do the thing... we can be motivated and have things ready to go, but if that little bit of stress bubbles up, our brains can say, "Nope! Uh-uh... that way lies danger," and we just can't get going. So, see what you can do to resolve any stress you may be feeling about the chapter. Do some fun activities related to the chapter, like try story boarding it with cute doodles or images from the internet. Make an aesthetic for the chapter, or make a chapter playlist. Try doing a little meditation, yoga, or take a walk before you sit down to work on the chapter. And don't give yourself a hard time when you try but it doesn't go anywhere.

3 - You're not ready to write the chapter - Sometimes there's something blocking you from writing the chapter and it's not something you can necessarily figure out. On a subconscious level, maybe your brain realizes you don't know the characters well enough to give this chapter justice. Maybe something about the chapter isn't working. Or maybe you're just more excited to write another chapter. Remember it's ok to skip chapters and come back to them later. Sometimes that's all you need in order to make it work.

I hope something here helps for you!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

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

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[l1atena1]

Hello, I know it can be annoying when they send you messages, because they've probably already asked you a lot, but...what happened to the cursed amuled comic? did you cancel it?

Hey, to all the concerned folks out there!

First of all, I want to relieve you all and say, no, The Cursed Amulet is very much not canceled.

I have been busy with irl stuff and art school. You know how many project they give you in here? Whohoo! I've got my hands full!

But fret not, I haven't forgotten about my comic, I am actually writing a script for it as we speak.

Ever heard of the advice "Go big or go home?" Yeah, no, it does not apply to comics or just long-term projects in general. Or, at least I really hope it doesn't, because I bit much more than I can chew. :D I was winging it with a vague, unfinished script, I beg you, please don't do that. Of course, you can change it, tweak it and improve whatever you need on the way. The important thing about writing a script is figuring out the overall plot, ideas, which ones make sense, which don't, and what do you want to tell us with your story. I kind of skipped the first step, so I'm taking a step back.

So, with my deepest apologies I ask you to stick around, because the comic will be continued!

[c6jpg]

natlan 5.0 brain dump

i did this in a lot of small chunks so i already forgot all of my detailed thoughts so i'm gonna try to keep it brief

general environment/exploration:

first off music and scenery is 💯💯💯

i particularly like how much wildlife there is and i really love the saurian gameplay (for me its hydro > dendro >>>> geo)

i feel so awful every time i accidentally kill a capybara they should be immune like the rhinos

it makes sense that there isn't "one huge city" like the other nations since natlan is composed of tribes, and each tribe looks like it gets a decent amount of attention, but i was still kind of disappointed by how small the stadium of the sacred flame feels in comparison for being the "main" area. i feel like they could have done a lot more with it

archon quest:

tldr; it was... not good? or at least very underwhelming? especially coming off fontaine/sumeru which had incredibly strong opening acts

act 1 was particularly like. whatever. felt more like a kachina story quest that rolled right into a mualani (but npc-focused) story quest

like for how important the pilgrimage is it just felt so. underwhelming and anticlimatic. yes yes i know kachina is precious and everyone loves her but i wish we spent less time doing kachina support group and focused more on the pilgrimage itself like can we at LEAST see some of the other playable characters participating instead of just hearing about it in passing

literally was soooooooooo fucking annoyed with the entire atea plotline. i wrote a whole rant in my first write up but basically that entire arc only existed so that they could bring back the purification plot device which WE HAVEN'T SEEN SINCE MONDSTADT

i was just incredibly annoyed with how that was all handled lol atea is also just such a non-character how am i supposed to care about her. she didn't even die in the end!!!

also mualani's tribe's whole thing being super stereotypical hawaiian tourism left a really bad taste in my mouth i wanted to get out of there as fast as possible

act 2 was weird because like. i felt like they were saying a lot of things that were like "this is a serious national crisis" but it didn't... feel that way? and a lot of the lore itself was pretty glossed over

i think a problem with the natlan story is that you need the first acts to set up the stakes but we just spent the first act gallivanting around with kachina/mualani and then when they DID get to the "main problem" in act 2 it just info dumped so hard to the point that i. didn't care?

pacing in general just felt all over the place

the only investment they gave us is through caring about kachina and i guess hating the abyss/not wanting a nation to be destroyed on principle but idk. especially with the "nah we gotta wait for the last 2 heroes first" the stakes are Not there for me

reminded me of when nahida was like "yeah i needed you to figure this out for yourself bc if i told you directly your head would explode." but at least that one was fun/could just chalk it up to nahida being cheeky and didn't like. prolong the plot for too long

SHOW US DON'T TELL US DAMN IT. i might just have recency bias but i genuinely feel like natlan might be one of the worst cases of telling and not showing as far as archon quests are concerned

also capitano's appearance felt so random LMAO he really showed up, said some cryptic shit, got his ass beat, and then left. at least the cutscene was cool?

chasca girl i'm shaking crying throwing up somebody get that girl a full pair of pants and brown contacts PLEASE

i find it interesting how detailed/fleshed out chuychu (chasca's sister) is, both in terms of design and personality/character. it kind of felt like they originally intended for her to be playable but turned her into an NPC instead

also citlali is definitely some kind of faruzan situation where she's old but young looking

night kingdom was cool i guess nothing really to say here. i am very interested in the wayob lore though especially in regards to how it ties into the rest of teyvat/why natlan has particularly weak leylines

i feel like mavuika's younger sister might also become relevant in the future... in a bad way. like the insistence to not being forgotten/seeing mavuika again, the fact that mavuika doesn't "really" know what happened to her. also she also got a pretty unique npc model. or maybe she won't be brought up ever again idk

in general that whole reminiscence sequence with mavuika was like. fine but again you just info dumped the shit out of me i have no emotional attachment to feel anything about whats going on right now???

also we all know that was fucking ororon at the end with capitano like lmao come on. but im willing to bet both he + chasca are the last two heros bc like. who tf else do we have left LMAOOO

capitano was supposed to be cool but he's just giving goofy villain right now. sorry capitano fans they flopped so hard with him in this act

[my-supernatural-rewatch]

Episode Five: Bloody Mary

Dean Winchester in the Supernatural episode Bloody Mary

Never one of my favorites but on this rewatch I realized it's actually pretty damn scary.

A child's game of Bloody Mary unleashes the vengeful spirit of a woman who travels through mirrors and seeks revenge on those with guilty secrets.

This one will probably not be that long either.

Right out the gate, we get concerned Dean who wants to talk about Sam and all the bad dreams he's having. Sam isn't very forthcoming. Big surprise.

I know we get a lot of "no chick flick moments" and all from Dean in the dialogue. But we also get Dean consistently saying to Sam basically "LET'S TALK ABOU THIS" so the narrative that Dean doens't like to talk about his or anyone else's feelings is already dispelled within the first five episodes of the first season yet it stuck to Dean for the entire series.

Make it make sense.

Right here is where I'm going to remind anyone who might come across this and decide to read it that I am not writing full synposes of the episodes so if you haven't actually seen the episodes there's a good chance you will be lost reading these posts if you're looking for any semblance of a plotline. This is definitely one of those posts that will completely confuse you if you don't know the episode. Sorry/not sorry.

I'm wondering if this is the only episode where we see the brothers bribe someone? It probalby isn't but at least it's the first. Sam bribes the coroner's assistant with money Dean won in a poker game.

Which gives us more of Sam trying to take the moral highground when Dean complains that it's HIS money by dismissing it becuase Dean won it playing poker. As if that isn't working for the money.

Christ, Sam.

Also on Sam: Yet another episode where he changes his voice when talking to the family of the victim so he sounds more sympathetic. How did ai never notice this before?

Cute brothers moment in the bathroom when they're both standing in front of the mirror talking about Bloody Mary and both refuse to say the words.

Okay, an important plot point: Bloody Mary only kills people with a terrible secret that they're absorbed with guilt over. Spoiler: Sam feels guility because he had dreams of Jessica on the ceiling burning for days before she died and he not only didn't warn her but he also took the fuck off with his brother to find their missing father who isn't really fucking missing. (Hey, does this mean we can pin Jessica's death on John?)

Another Dean myth dispelled in this episode is his intelligence. I mean they already pretty much have shown us Dean's no dunce, but in this ep he spends a LOT of time doing research, absorbing the material, and explaining things. And in one scene, he decides to do a national search for dead women fitting Bloody Mary's profile, against Sam's judgement...and THAT is how they figure out who she is.

Check out the big brain on Dean, motherfuckers!

They drive from Toledo, Ohio to Ft. Wayne, Indiana, and back to interview someone, and my geography knowledge is so limited that I had to Google how long that would take. In one of what I would guess is one of their shorter trips, it's only about 3 hours round-trip. (THESE are the things I'm thinking about while watching the show?)

The name of this week's damsel in distress is...Charlie. I get there were over 300 episodes of this show but it drives me nuts how often they re-use names. (Amelia anyone?) Anyway...

Using his patented compassion and soft looks Dean's the one who gets Charlie to admit the thing she's guilty about (a troubled boyfriend who threatend to kill himself if she left him and then who DID kill himself after she responded "Go ahead").

In the Impala, the brothers are discussing how to call out the spirit and Sam says he has the guilt so he'll do the summoning. Dean has had enough of his emo, fatalistic bullshit so he stops the car and tells Sam to fess up his secret for fuck's sake.

Dean's concerns are that the spirit will kill Sam, and he reminds Sam that it isn't his fault that Jessica died. Someone should tell Dean we've decided it's John's fault because what does Dean say?

"Why don't you take a swing at ME? I'm the one who dragged you away from her in the first place."

Setting up a decades-long argument among SPN fans who think Sam made his own decision because he wanted to go back to hunting and those who blame Dean for goddamn everything.

To be fair to Sam, his response is, "I don't blame you."

Thanks for that, Sammy. (That's from me, not Dean.)

Dean really doesn't want Sam to call out the spirit but Sam is damned and determined to. It feels less like he's doing it to save poor first Charlie and more like he's doing it because he feels like he shoudl be punished for what he did (or really in this case didn't) do.

And thus begins the storyline of emo Sam feels guilty about everything that isn't his fault for the next two seasons culminating in Dean going to hell...

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Inside the antique shop where Mary's mirror is supposed to be, Sam is trying to call her out while Dean goes outside to talk to the cops who have shown up since someone is mucking about in the shop. When he can't convince the cops that he is the adopted son of Mr. Yamashiro, Dean knocks both cops out.

How often has Dean (or Sam) done this? I feel like not often.

We're also on a steady stream of slowly showing how well Dean can handle himself in a fight and I'm here for it.

Hey back to smart Dean (and skipping over pretty much the rest of the story): He breaks the first mirror that Mary appears in when she seems to have Sam in his trance and it gets Sam out of his trance, but it doesn't kill her. She shows up again and Dean...not Sam, Dean, gets the idea to hold another mirror up to her...and she kills herself when she looks in it.

Dean is a smarty. Stop telling me he isn't.

But not that smart...this time he only gets a handshake from the woman he saved...not even a kiss on the cheek. Oh well, Dean. Better luck next time.

We end the episode with Dean asking Sam what it is he feels guilty about...what his secret is, and Sam says this:

"Look...you're my brother and I'd die for you, but there are some things I need to keep to myself."

Two things: Sam telling Dean he'd die for him is kind of huge. Up until now, he's been acting like Dean is an inconvenience. So I loved hearing that. But, again, we get Sam not opening up to Dean about his secret...and yet fandom lore is that Dean is the one who always refuses to open up.

Some notes for posterity:

The significant music from this episode comes from Def Leppard -Rock of Ages (the first but not the last time we hear this one!), Fall Out Boy - Sugar, We're Goin Down, and The Rolling Stones - Laugh, I Nearly Died.

The brothers pose as medical students from Ohio State but don’t give out their names. When they introduce themselves to the first victim's family, they give their first names and say they worked with the victim. When Dean is talking with the police he tells them he's the adopted son of Mr. Yamashiro.

This hunt takes place in Toledo, Ohio, and they take a trip to Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Dean wears John’s jacket in this episode.

[thegirlwhorideslikeasamurai]

Hey :) For the fanfiction writing asks, could I ask numbers 12, 17, 18, 30 and 79? (If it’s not too much). I’m curious about your writing process 👉🏼👈��

No worries, it's not too much. And I'm always happy to ramble about my writing process!

12.) Do you outline your fics? If yes, how detailed are your outlines?  How far do you stray from them?

A long time ago in a galaxy far away when dinosaurs roamed the young earth (15 years ago), I was more of a pantser, but that quickly changed as my projects became more and more complex. Since at least a decade or so, I always write an outline and I write it as detailed as possible for two main reasons: 1. Most ideas strike me at the most inconvenient time aka in the middle of another project. But it's a well-established fact that my brain is allergic to switching projects, so I write the whole idea down to get it out of my head and to have a foundation to work with once I can start writing this new project. 2. I tend to write stories of epic length that simply require an outline to develop the plot properly. Before YOI, I wrote a GoT-esque fanfiction series for years on end that demanded detailed outlines for each instalment because of the complexity of the plot and the sheer number of POV characters.

On average, my outlines are about 5-10% of the length of the actual project. My outline for In Love and War is about 25k outline and I expect the story to end up around >500k. It's divided into chapters and scenes that already have a POV character assigned. During intense writing times like NaNoWriMo the outline helps me to focus on writing.

However, I keep my outline flexible. Sometimes, new ideas would pop up or I need to weave a side plot from another instalment or a prequel into the storyline. But there's a even more crucial reason: Plotting happens through a distant, omniscient lens that doesn't really enter the minds of my characters no matter how well I know them. As a result, they develop a life of their own as the story comes alive. I often see writers complain about that because it "destroys" their outline, but it's a natural process and that's where the magic happens. Whenever that happens, I let my characters lead me and so far, I haven't regretted that.

17.) Do you have a writing routine?

My writing routine, if it can be called that, is writing in the morning before work and in the evening. On the weekends and when I have time off, I write all day long. It's not only that I feel the urge to always work on the stories I obsess over, it's how I relax. During NaNo, my routine is even more centred around writing for as long as my brain keeps braining, which regularly results in late-night dinners.

18.) Do you enjoy research?  Which fic of yours required the most research?

I LOVE research! Since YOI is set in the real world, I'd say that I did tons of research for all of them. I think most of that happened when I wrote Can You Hear My Hearbeat because: 1. It was my first YOI fanfiction and I knew nothing about figure skating or Japanese culture. 2. It's a novelisation and to preserve the spirit of YOI and write it as canonic as possible, I researched any official meta information like interviews with the creators and articles in magazines etc. I could get my hands on. But to be honest, every YOI fanfiction requires tons of research like figure skating programmes, rules, and venues, living in St. Petersburg etc. It never gets boring.

30.) How much do you edit your fics?  Do you edit as you write or wait until you finish the first draft?

Ooof. I'm a perfectioniest. I edit a lot. However, the exact process depends on the length of a project:

Short projects (100k maximum): I write the first draft in one go with only minor editing and edit the full story later.

Long projects (300k-800k): Since I write these projects in stages, I also edit in stages. After 150-200k I experience a sense of having written myself empty. That's the point when I switch to a short project to recharge. Some months later, I pick up that first wip again, edit the part I have written so far and then continue writing. That's a rinse-and-repeat until the draft is done, but it never takes me more than 3 cycles. When that draft is done, I revise the entire thing once more to ensure consistency and to weave lose threads together, before I hand it over to a beta reader. It also happened that I did two complete revisions pre-beta-reading.

In addition to that, I edit every chapter before posting again. By then, some months have passed since the revision and I've refined my idea of the story in the meantime.

79.) Do you have any writing advice you want to share?

To be honest, a lot of writing advice I consider as too restrictive and inflexible. When I talk to other writers, they often get to hear these two things from me:

The first draft is allowed to be a mess. Allow yourself to write away and revise later.

Especially inexperienced writers tend to agonise over their first draft and have this idea that their story needs to be perfect right away and if not, they're a failure. But that's not how creativity works. The best ideas happen when the story comes alive through writing. And only when you can see the complete picture you know what to add or take away to make your vision reality.

However, brains work differently, and I've seen a lot of advice that doesn't take the different wirings of brains into account, pretending that there's only one "correct" way to write and finish a story, which imho is bullshit.

That's why I also tell people this:

Write in the fashion that works best for you. If you feel the urge to vomit a train of words on page to empty your brain or because you're in hyperfocus and can't bother getting sidetracked that's as valid as meticulously editing every sentence before you write the next. As long as you keep at it, it's going to be fine.

Thank you for these questíons! Answering them was so much fun 💙✨✨

The questions are form this post. If you're curious about my writing process or my story, please hit me up with your questions!

[cer-rata]

A (long) review of the first 5 issues of Wonder Woman (2023) *Full Spoilers*

So I'm a bit of a lapsed comic fan. I grew up on my dad's collection of 90's comics and kept up on and off until the new 52 which did a lot that really put me off. And frankly Marvel wasn't doing much better so I kind of moved onto different fandoms and some smaller runs. Recently however I've decided to try to get back into the hobby more seriously, and while there have been some books that I've really enjoyed, there's been a lot of meh plots and inconsistent characterization pretty much everywhere across the major publishers.

But I was nonetheless excited to see a new Wonder Woman ongoing. Out of the trinity, Diana was always my favorite (a fact that I, as a little closeted boy, kept secret for years. More on that later) and I was aware of some of Tom King's works and was pretty impressed with his "Vision" run, so I was cautiously optimistic about the prospect of a popular modern writer giving Diana some love, and was hoping for a story with some modern nuance and uplifting fun.

The bag has been...mixed at best.

So I'm going to try to be fair about this, because writing genuinely good and transformative comics isn't easy, especially when your editorial is completely unhinged. That being said I do have some serious concerns that I think are really important to talk about.

I'm also lapsed so I haven't read everything religiously the past couple years, so if I get something about canon wrong please correct me in the notes.

I'm going to break this down into a couple of sections to help organize my thoughts. The art is gorgeous generally so I'm not going to spend too much time on that. Let's start with:

Plot

The name of this arc is Wonder Woman: Outlaw, and the first issue is devoted to setting up that premise. The action kicks off when an amazon gets into a bar fight with a group of sexist men, and ends up slaughtering every man in the establishment. The government reacts to this development poorly and ends up ordering the forced deportation of the Amazons that had settled in the states. We're given narration by a mysterious figure, detailing how Diana and her friends lobbied and fought against this obvious injustice but failed, laid over images of an Amazon resisting her deportation with violence, and being gunned down in front of her wife and daughter.

But how, you ask, was the government able to rush through this bizarre reactionary stunt?

Well you see, this is all a part of a scheme by the Sovereign, the CEO of sexism and an American "king" whose family has used the "Lasso of Lies" to control the country for it's entire existence. He showed up in WW #800 with Trinity seeking him out for information, which explains why he's narrating this story. A Wonder Woman book where she isn't the POV character? I'll get more into that later.

Anyway the Sovereign wants to run all of the amazons out of the country or kill them, whatever works, as he believes they're a threat to his rule and masculinity as a whole.

So he's in the background. The foreground antagonist is Sargent Steel, who's been tasked with leading the Amazon deportation and is actively hunting Diana, who he eventually corners as she's paying her respects to the men that the rogue amazon killed. He tries to assassinate her, obviously fails, and Diana extracts some information from him and begins her investigation. See it turns out that after running out of other options, she's trying to hunt down the rogue amazon and figure out what's going on in the hopes that she solve the tensions.

So that's the basic premise of the arc, Diana is trying to solve a murder mystery while being actively hunted by the government. It's not a bad premise on its own honestly, so I was intrigued. The first issue is pretty, well laid out and interesting. The problem is that the following issues don't really deliver on that premise.

Instead of detective!Diana, we spent issue #2 on a (gorgeous) fight with the actual US army, intercut with a flashback of Diana's trial by combat in order to leave Themyscira in the first place. It really is a beautiful issue that really drives home how much of a badass she is, especially since she ends up not killing anyone in the process. Somehow. She did throw tanks at people so...I'm not sure how she...anyway.

Issue #3 is Diana walking into Steel's base, bulldozing through all the security and then bullying him to get some more information about the case, where she finds out that the Amazon is pregnant. Intriguing right? Meanwhile we see the Sovereign showing a young soldier around his house, which is filled with old American historical artifacts. See he wants this kid to push the narrative that Wonder Woman emasculated him and took away his pride, but the soldier doesn't really care? He's actually excited to have fought a superhero and live, and he thinks she's cool. So that won't do, and we're shown the capabilities of the Lasso of Lies, as the Sovereign uses it to implant feelings of discontent and depression into the young soldier, while also ordering him to write a manifesto about Wonder Woman taking his manliness and then to...kill himself. The idea being to create some bad press and push public support away from Diana.

Issue #4 is my favorite in the run so far, devoting most of it's time to watching Diana give a terminally ill kid who idolizes her the best day of his life. I'll get into it when I talk about dialogue later but I think it's the truest depiction of Diana so far, you get to see her kindness, generosity and wisdom. There is a nice moment where she comforts the kid about destiny and soothes his feelings of otherness in the face of the expectation that he should be drawn to a male hero. It's really nice. But also kind of a strange decision in the scope of the plot. As much as I love this moment, I think her taking a day away from her mission of stopping this political disaster and being on the run to just hang out with a kid is...odd from a pacing standpoint. With the lack of effort she's shown so far in dealing with Steel and the machinations of the Sovereign, and the threat to the Amazons happening mostly off screen and with very limited access how Diana's feeling about it all because she's not the narrator, it all wraps up in not feeling very urgent. It's mentioned that she's trying to control her emotions and that makes sense in theory, but with the way she's drawn and written she just seems unbothered.

Meanwhile, Amanda Waller tells Steel that they're just going to throw all of Diana's villains at her and call it a day.

Issue #5 Deals with the Wonder Girls, Cassie, Donna and Yara trying to convince Diana to accept some help. She challenges them to trials where if they can beat her she'll allow them to assist. It's kind of a neat concept, but it highlights a strange piece of this characterization of Wonder Woman: her desire to work alone.

It's...very Batman of her in ways that don't make much sense in the narrative and in the broader scope of her characterization. And it would be more understandable if the conflict was more focused, Diana hunting down Cheetah to try to reform her, a more personal mission. But this literally involves all of her people and could lead to actual war between the states and Themysicra. It seems weirdly shortsighted for her to shun help from adult Women who she's trained and worked with in the past. The rationalization that she doesn't want to endanger them falls completely flat because they're already in danger.

Also what is Yara referring to here? She acts like there's history of them working together and it not working out. Why do they insist on trying to make her a Wonder Girl in the first place?

Anyway they all lose but then ignore the terms of the wager and show up in her apartment in their costumes, not taking no for an answer. And like that they ignored that foolishness, but then I'm bothered that we spent almost an entire issue on this pointless conflict that didn't really teach us anything useful.

But I did say almost, and the rest of the issue is devoted to Steel and the Sovereign convincing some of Diana's greatest foes to join up on a squad to take her down.

Which is...a choice. Don't get me wrong, it's a cool sequence, and It's not an unusual conceit in comics to collect a bunch of villains to take down their nemesis, but as far as I was aware, in this continuity:

Giganta and Silver Swan had buried the hatchet

Circe also helped Diana defeat the upside down man, and seemingly dropped her animosity (and...I...I thought she was trapped in a mirror. How did they get her out?) But regardless, why on earth would Circe agree to work for anyone, especially the US gov?

Grail was never that focused on Diana in the first place, but I could see her wanting to kill her for kicks, but again, why would she agree to work with lesser beings and take orders from mortals?

Angle man is nuts, so, sure

And Dr. Psycho does hate Wonder Woman with a passion so sure.

But this doesn't take into account that if they were to be written correctly, Circe or Grail on their own are justice league threats, and even with the Wonder Girls helping that would be an uphill battle. And then you add all the others, and factor in the dubious choices here in relation to established canon and it leaves me concerned that none of these villains are going to be used properly to their potential, or written in character. The idea that they were convinced to do this in the first place is hand-waved away, likely because there are no real persuasive arguments to get someone like Grail or Circe to job like this.

But enough of that tangent. This upcoming slug fest raises the question: What happened to the investigation into this rogue Amazon? 5 issues in and all we know is her name and that she's pregnant. Diana doesn't even know her name though, because if she did she'd realize that she actually knew the woman. So 5 issues in and the main plot has taken a backseat to watching Wonder Woman be a badass and including a bunch of villains. And don't get me wrong, I love a badass Wonder Woman. I was absolutely thrilled watching her go to work on people. But if you strip away those exciting set pieces and try to follow the plot and themes, there's not much substance there.

And you know, now that we've got an overview of what's happening, let's talk about the greater ideas here.

Themes

So King clearly wants to investigate misogyny in this book, with his villain Johnny Sexism. Uh. I mean, The Sovereign, an old white man who hates women and believes in the divine right of kings and wields the literal Lasso of Lies. And his unwitting sidekick, Military Industrial Complex Man, AKA Sargent Steel.

So it's not inherently bad to personify an social issue. Comics often work in shorthand like that. The issue I have here is that when you have a mastermind character who has manipulated everything behind the scenes, who is ALSO a caricature of a social problem, instead of providing interesting analysis of a systemic problem and its sources and methods, you instead attribute it all to One Evil Man. Which is painfully reductive and misguided. Sexism is complicated, much more complicated that one evil wizard deciding that women are the problem. It's like if you created a vampire slave owner who had been manipulating the country from the shadows and created the system of racism. It's bizarre and not really analysis to suggest that you can just solve social issues by stopping individual bad actors.

The bit with the soldier really crystalized this for me. We are given a kind man who has no misogynistic tendencies, and then the CEO of sexism forcibly implants it into his mind. He's shown personally bullying the president into submission, manipulating Steel, most overt examples of sexism can be tied directly to the Sovereign, which is a bizarre choice that really flattens the narrative weight. Couple that with the fact that the Sovereign is shown to be completely ill-equipped to actually stop Diana. She literally walks through all of his roadblocks, doesn't seem like she's out of control of the situation outside of the opening explanation that she wasn't able to save her sisters. The only real threat so far is the team of villains, and that's framed as Amanda Waller's plan. Why isn't she the villain of this book? And he's the narrator. In a book about sexism, immigration and tribalism, the voice we hear the most is that of the Sovereign. And he doesn't have anything particularity interesting to say. He's not scary, he doesn't seem particularly competent and he provides no interesting analysis so I'm left wondering, why are we centering his perspective over Diana's? In a book lead by a feminist icon, about the evils of sexism, we are completely locked out of her head. She barely gets a chance to speak, and when she does it's clipped and robotic. There's no personality, and certainly no continuity to her popular depictions. I'm all for writers reaching for topics, trying to make social commentary. Some of the best arcs we've ever gotten deal with real issues. But you have to A: Know what you're talking about and B: Actually talk about it. Sexism bad, men bad--it's not enough, it's not analysis, it's not revelatory and by creating such ridiculous caricatures of hyper masculinity, you make it very easy for the average male reader, who I assume you're trying to engage with, to separate themselves from the equation. It's thematic window dressing, and frustrating to see in a Wonder Woman book of all places. I don't think that only woman can write women, that's ridiculous and removes the responsibility to be better from male writers. But, if you're going to talk about social issues that apply to a group you're not a part of, you'd better know what you're talking about. Hell even if you're in that group you still have to know what you're talking about. This is feminism that starts and ends with "Sexism bad" and it's 2024, we have to be smarter about this.

That being said, I think issue #4 has bits of the right idea. Seeing Diana representing something greater than the sexist division that the world perpetuates is great. I felt incredibly seen as a little boy who loved Wonder Woman, and that moment of kindness meant a lot. We're given believable symptoms of sexism, from Jack's dad being uncomfortable with his son idolizing Diana. and Jack having internalized that judgement. It's handled gently and instead of just beating us over the head with obvious allegory, it shows us a taste of what Wonder Woman stands for: a better, more loving world. And it's mostly because it's the most insight that we get from her about how she thinks. The best part of the book about Wonder Woman is, shockingly, the part about Wonder Woman. Why can't we get more of that?

Dialogue

Man it's weird. King is clearly snappy, with a decent sense of humor. There's lots of fun exchanges in this book, particularly the backups, which I'll get to soon. He's pretty good at dialogue, which makes the way he writes Diana so bizarre. Awkward sentence structure, aloof characterization, the grating repeated use of "No thank you" as some sort of catch phrase. What? king has taken the warm beating heart of the trinity and made her distant and robotic. It's kind of impressive. And some of the rationale is that she's in emotional turmoil and trying to maintain appearances. But that's not reflected in the art at all, even when she's alone. We're told that she's conflicted and angry but almost never shown it. She feels like a side character in her own book most of the time. Speaking of side characters:

The Backups

So the running plot here is Damian Wayne and Jon Kent...babysitting? raising? Diana's daughter Lizzie Prince, who is eventually known as the hero Trinity in the future. And it's cute, particularly when they're all younger. King really gets Damian and Jon's characterization and writes some really fun exchanges.

Issue #4 and #5's backups are a little weaker but still really fun.

So my question is...why is the best characterization in this Wonder Woman book the backups starring the Supersons? I love the Supersons! Why are they here? Why would Diana choose them to watch her daughter? Why isn't she on Themyscira or being watched by any of her adult friends, especially those who have actual experience with children? It's fun but feels shoehorned and poorly reasoned. Honestly? I get the feeling that king wants to write this more than he does the main book, and it's mind boggling, because I wouldn't hate him writing supersons, and his version of Jon is the most Jon we've gotten in a while. So why is he writing Wonder Woman?

Conclusion

I think I'll keep reading, mostly to fuel my desire to see what they do with her actual villains, but it's not the smart book I was hoping for. It takes pretty big liberties with characterization and recent canon and there's not much actual commentary to find here. The art and the action are incredible, but the story that should be supporting it is pretty anemic and frustrating, with moments of genuine quality that makes the rest of the book even more disappointing.

Honestly? Just read Amazons Attack instead. Better dialogue, better pacing, better characterization, just more fun.

[ace-malarky]

intro post 2024

sup lads, it's been like two years and I figured the pinned post probably needed updating

wait it has almost exactly been two years that's hilarious

Anyway. some things haven't changed. Name's still Ace, no matter what I write on the notes I send to my old library

I'm always up for tag games and random asks!! throw 'em my way as you like :3

pronouns are in flux! predominantly they/them, sometimes it, occasionally he. It varies on the bit, but you probably can't go wrong tbh

we're - we're going to say early 30s. it's not wrong and it's better than this being outdated in a little over three weeks when it all changes once again

no I did not plan this, no I can't do a basic formal outline, I have to ramble. what did you think i wrote for.

Other Places I Can Be Found include twitter & instagram under more or less the same username

~~~

Writing Focuses!

Everything is fantasy, everything is queer. Excerpts can be found under Writing Pieces

I'm largely jumping around between vaguely connected scenes and character work right now, but there's definitely a pattern!

mainly;

Soul of the Party - when a series of mysterious thefts sweep across town in the weeks before the annual tournament, Solaris is removed from the duelling tournament to avoid bringing attention to his cousin's family. Instead, he and his cousin and a band of Feral Mages investigate on their own and find a plot targetting one thief from Off-World (ft. four separate magic types, light crime, sword fights, mistaken (secret) identity, curiosity almost killing the cat)

Shapeshifter WIP - when things start getting tense between neighbouring countries, Syn volunteers to slip across the border and pass information back in an attempt to avert the looming war. They may have underestimated how hard it was going to be to go back when no one recognises them and their own best friend hates them (ft. pining, friends-to-lovers of the star crossed variety, hand wavy world building, questionable morality, questionable spying techniques, A Certain Level of Dumbassery, some Fucked Up Shapeshifting)

Dumb of Ass, Snake of Tits - a DnD story of a dragonborn monk who leaves their monastery to see the world, ends up with a Morally Dubious Courtesan for a travelling companion, gets cursed (twice), has a slight corruption arc, but somehow still comes out better than they started and with a boyfriend to boot (ft. travelling, fights, the unwillingness to wear a shirt in camp and making that everyone else's problem, other uses for bras when you don't have tits, revenge, What Sharp Teeth You Have, unquestioning kindness until it isn't kind, overthinking but eventually manage to communicate about it, slight pining, one vaguely horny dragon)

@dorksndisasters for the not-technically-dnd campaign that I run! The full first draft of the first arc is up there and I am currently editing to make it less stilted and transcriby

and, you know, the usual. Fair Folk, Superheroes, Pirates, Time Travel, WereCreatures, Winged Folk, Storytellers, Dragons, Vampires, Curses, Even More DnD. All of the WIPS can be found on this page and some of them are in this definitely out of date post here

I'm always up for answering questions about any of them, even if some haven't been touched in literal years. They're still growing mould somewhere in there. Branching out in ways I didn't conceive of.

~~~

World Building

also a big ol' thing here, the main tag is world building but that isn't just my stuff in there, it's also a lot of reblogs

largely centered around the Mist Worlds which is where most of my WIPs are set. There is an Overview post, a Magic post, a bit on the Mist Itself, and also the Worlds (and a page where this is collated)

some bits are incredibly handwavy and made up on the fly, other bits I have been thinking Too Much about for Too Long

~~~

Characters

Oh boy we got 'em. Occasionally can be found via rambles on Sundays under the tag So It Ends

Syn and Maverick are competing for blorbo of the year right now and if a wip or specific characters aren't mentioned, these are probably who I'll answer ask games for

Syn - a distractable and mischievous shapeshifter who volunteers to be a spy because "pretending to be someone else is what I do" no we're not going to unpack that right now. they/them, big fan of antlers. also goes by Val or Lance

Maverick - a frost dragonborn who's a little bit naive to the ways of the world and prefers to assume the best of people if they can. Likes to help, doesn't question as much as they should. Not quite an "everything happens for a reason" mentality, but certainly thinks that they got what they deserved at points. they/them, has been known to act without thinking on a number of occasions

[a-wins-a-win]

i am supremely indecisive and need direction, so I’m putting this one to a tumblr poll ;

summaries and such under the readmore - feel free to send asks for more info <3

just to be clear, no matter the poll results i will be working on-and-off on smaller fics + my essays* and such anyway - the option is just there if people would be more interested in having shorter/less involved works more often, rather than just a scattering of one-shots for however long it takes me to wrangle a Project to somewhere i'm happy with to share it. * the essays are happening and will be happening, independently of whatever ends up happening with my fic writing, as well. it will again just boil down to focus and available research/writing time.

anyway! onto the Project summaries ;

forgive and forget (it’s all coming back to me now)

Jason was pretty certain he'd just end up working for his father in the end, but Ivy had managed to convince him that it was worth at least trying to find his work experience somewhere else. He had basically expected the crappy intern jobs - coffee runs, sorting files, and generally trailing after competent employees like some kind of lost puppy. What he hadn't expected, however, was for Peter goddamn Simmonds to have landed a co-op position at the same company.

post-canon canon divergence

eventual mcsimmonds

ivy is a major character too, i promise she gets her own b-plots

background lucadia

messy confusing feelings + cheating subplots

something stupid (like i love you)

A few days. Somehow, letting Lucas crash on Matt's couch for a few days turned into buying Lucas new clothes, turned into cleaning him up and helping with the job search. Which then turned into Matt making Lucas dinner and letting Lucas make him dinner in return, until dinner was a combined effort and light-hearted arguments about organizational systems. And it wasn't until their closets blurred together and Lucas started helping to pick out new drinking glasses that either of them realised they'd be happy if a few days lasted forever.

post-canon lucatt

roommates to friends to lovers type beat

in many ways they've grown and changed, in many ways they haven't

of course there's a lot of tension in the in-between stage where they're trying to figure out how to incorporate into each other's lives again, but eventually they end up falling into a cute domestic routine

there's something there in lucas and matt forgiving each other for the roles they played in/the ways they contributed to the general disaster that was their senior year (but Jason's suicide in particular)

as close to heaven as i’ll get

There wasn't a doubt in anyone's mind that Jason McConnell would do well at Notre Dame - 5 generations of top-level vampire hunters had come before him (and his father was quite insistent that AFTER him would come 5 more). The only thing that stood in his way was an entrance exam requiring a record of field experience.

Peter Simmonds understood the importance of following the rules imposed by the coven, really he did. But even so - something about the bright spots the stained glass windows of the church reflected onto the wet ground drew him in.

mcsimmonds vampire AU

Twilight/Supernatural-esque rural vibes + Southern Gothic inspiration

i get to fuck around with vampire folklore and religious imagery! and who doesn't love that?

a big chunk of inspiration for it was the concept of Peter seeing so much like. peace and community and what have you in this idea of the church involvement that he so desperately wants to be a part of, played against Jason's so desperately wanting to get out of it. if you see the vision.

just because [i’m] pretty

Over the years Ivy Robinson had been called a lot of things. Cutie, Angel, Pretty Baby, Slut, Whore, Bitch. Mostly she tried not to hold onto them too tight, not to think too deeply about how they felt in her mouth as she studied herself in the mirror. But occasionally something would stick. She just hadn't expected that something to be 'boyish'.

gay trans man ivy <3

a lot of times he is trying to explore/come to terms with himself through his art

although his romantic + sexual attraction to boys is obviously a cornerstone of his identity there'd also be largely platonic [& antagonistic & familial] relationship focuses

touch tank

A dramatic part of Peter wanted to let himself be bitter and jaded about his parents divorce, like every other seventeen-year-old main character. But the more sensible part of him knew that was unfair, and unrealistic - especially when it had led him to some of the prettiest, most interesting boys he had ever met.

good catholics <3 [my matt/peter/jason triad]

merfolk au! wherein jason is merfolk at the other two are not

set in a cliche small costal town , lots of cute vibes + also costal weather, because i love the rain

silly little subplots involving the other characters occur around the main story as well

[hellsxgate]

hello hello, i'm real psyched to be here! i'm sarah (she/they) & i'm here with my spunky girl, choi minsi. i haven't rp'd in forever so bare with me as i get used to it again; i also work a full time job but i will certainly try my best to take time off of my day to dedicate to writing! i have minsi's background all figured out but i haven't had the time to really write it all down so it's not on any pages however! i have her profile with me and mostly completed so you're welcome to check that out. in the meantime, i'll put a bit about her under the cut and hoping i manage to spark up any interactions from it. feel free to like this post if you're interested in plotting and i'll come to you directly ( with other means of contact if you prefer that ).

minsi was not born into a family of fame nor luxury even though her family lineage was fairly well known far into the past since it has been about a decade since their family line had a metahuman born into the world. the last known one happened to have been a super villain and from her father's side of the family and they would much rather keep that buried but they get reminded of it on occasion. her great grandfather however, was a pretty well known aeternal who was a force to be reckon with, literally.

her parents appear to be pretty normal but they were pretty flashy during their time as metahumans themselves; they would much rather live a much quieter life after some years however after minsi was born, they would rather have her thrive despite their uncertainty regarding their own family lineage. her grandfather did have fame and then their family name practically fell ( what a tragedy ~ ).

at first... she didn't think her ability was all that special when she manifested it at the age of nine. they reported her missing at one point and it wasn't until 2 hours later that they found her in a completely different neighborhood ( she came out fine, just they found her exhausted af then continued to sleep the entire day ).

for awhile, she didn't have the greatest control of her powers until she started training at the academy or at least a little before that. her parents always had to watch her like a hawk. at the age of 16, she decides then to get a motorcycle license against her parents wishes. they got mad but y'know, ultimately just wanted her to be careful but then after a month of riding it, she got into a minor little accident while riding it and fell off as it slid across the sidewalk with her still on it, yikes! but thankfully she hit no one, only just a little busted up knee and scratch damages to her motorcycle ( she was wearing a helmet, no worries! ). this was also the time when she used her minor ability to alter movement ( a minor ability that i decided last minute because i am a mess, oops! ) ; this actually saved her from hurting someone too so... yippee?

between that motorcycle incident until she was about 18, she wants to chalk it up to bad luck or something like that. she always seemed to have problems running into bad dudes and delinquents on occasion because she keeps appear in the wrong place at the wrong time trying to use her portals ( recognize her face but can never seem to catch her ). and yeah, a lot of stuff happen as it became a reoccurring thing for awhile but i won't describe them all and make this an even longer post!

her parents became increasingly frustrated of her dumb little antics, which were mostly an accident, mind you and she starts losing more control of her life in a way ( she's tired, man ). she's not sure if she calls herself a hero or anything, thinks that creating portals is something a sidekick would do and a lot of the kids at her school and those around her seem to think so and she didn't seem to mind back then but now she's just conflicted.

around 18, she starts learning mixed martial arts. takes taekwondo classes and practices kickboxing at the gym. this was because she wanted to be able to handle herself better when facing baddies, y'know? and she has gotten quite good at it after committing to it for several months. the people around daemon consider her a very quick opponent because you never know where her punches or kicks are gonna land. think of tifa lockhart from final fantasy 7 and that's how she fights... but without the backflips, she's not that agile.

also since her parents kept bothering her about the training academy, she decided to enter eventually and making waves as a field supporter only to get her rejection letter after graduation. confusion all around because minsi genuinely thought she did a terrific job? and no, she didn't tell her parents about it because she was miffed.

minsi basically moved into the silverline apartments because she mainly wants to find some answers in terms of what kind of hero she actually wants to be or whether or not she wants to be a hero. you'd think after all those encounters with delinquents that it would sway her, right? even after supposedly failing the final assessment no less. maybe being around other metahumans will give her a change in perspective but right now, she harbors slight resentment for aeternals for the moment. from then to now, she had already begun rebuilding herself up and minsi sure did make a name for herself as a metahuman and a fighter.

she of course developed normal person hobbies, mostly streaming. she's a fighting game streamer... games like tekken, guilty gear and street fighter she definitely plays. and occasionally overwatch. she likes comfy cozy games and rpgs too when the mood strikes but she plays that on her own time.

most likely always keeps a snack on her person or candy.

rides a motorcycle! her prized possession pretty much and her main source of transportation. she crashed the very first one she got, now with a new one, by the way. she likes cool cars too but her motorcycle is precious, lmao.

usually has a smile on her face, be it real or faking it. i can say she's friendly? but she doesn't really go out of her way to befriend strangers randomly or anything. when she does interact with someone, purely out of interest / curiosity or something else, she always gotta add some sassy comment. some things coming out of her mouth could be rude but she never rly means it; her intentions are always good. she's truly happy when doing what she enjoys and by eating good food.

possible plots and connections and stuff, yaaay ~

you're a fighter at daemon too and you want to go head to head? or maybe you both happen to have been watching each other's matches for awhile?

of course, of course someone she trained with at the academy and you wonder what she's doing now, wondering if she passed?

you’re also a frequent visitor of pc bang? what game you playin’?

maybe you vaguely remember her on the street before some years ago but never got a chance to talk to her to ask what the hell was going on because she was preoccupied with running away from some bad eggs / maybe small time villains or thugs. you’re thinking, that girl is trouble, right? well, she is. it’s not that she wants to be that person.

that person who she almost ran over with her motorcycle. she didn’t though because of her motion alteration ability so lucky you! she’s okay, if you’re wondering!

i’m always down for having someone that minsi calls a “partner in crime” and also a friend who she can do crazy stuff with. you may be asking, what kind of crazy stuff? well we can think about that!

minsi isn't looking for a relationship or any dates but if you are down for something along those lines, i don't mind it! she'll just be very tsundere about liking someone romantically.

the resident who has been complaining about her the most. she yells sometimes within the comfort of her own room because she was playing an intense game of tekken or something.

thank you so much for reading this, i rambled on a lot and if you have other things in mind, i am open to brainstorming! ~

[dailycass-cain]

Detective Comics #1079 brings a lot of plot points Ram V has been spinning this arc to a head, including the one involving Cass. So here are my thoughts on the penultimate issue.

There's just a fondness I have for this series as THE Batman comic right now. It has an aura of late 90s to early 00s Batman comics spun in a modern angle.

I feel quite at home with this run.

All the protagonists are given their due here. No one is cut short, and we get teased with more entries (because Ram V did say EVERYONE would get their moment and three characters have been quiet until this issue) as the arc reaches its final crossing.

There are a lot of emotional bits here from Lian/Jade's stuff (which feels like we're getting to the final bits for them sadly, which I hope we don't) to the badassery of Azrael (gawd I want more of him in this run).

Then there's Cass's section with Freeze.

It makes complete sense that with Selina's plan in full effect if you haven't figured it out now, that Cass's part was a distraction and an attempt. To get the Orgham distracted so Selina could steal her prize.

It just feels so opposite to what's being presented in Batman and Catwoman comics along with the whole Gotham War debacle, and how rewarding this run is to seeds to prior Ram V runs (Catwoman) and this one.

This is an event done right, with stakes presented as high, villains who are quite imposing, and an emotional rollercoaster ride.

It's said in panels what the Reality Engine does, and we've seen it in action when Bruce tried to stop it. But dammit I SO want to see a story on Cass's struggle against it.

We see it teased in this issue, but a hardened warrior like Cass against this thing? GIMME!

The art here just looks so warped until the predictable occurs. Freeze betrays Cass and Selina's plan. He gets what he wants, and chills out.

Though Selina DID anticipate this, it wasn't her real goal which she does achieve in the issue.

However, I'm curious about what will come with Freeze having access to the Reality Engine and if Cass will have a role in stopping it?

I'm guessing YES.

Though it sort of feels like Cass's role in this arc has come to an end. I mean it feels like it but who knows. That said if it was and this is the final appearance of Cass in 2023.

Dang, I want more Ram V-written Cass goodness, please.

I am curious just how much damage both she and Freeze did as the latter did set off a "freeze bomb" that she escaped from, but there's no telling (until future issues) how the Orgham will recover from this setback.

I'm glad this arc was "bi-weekly". Though, as much kudos I give to the writer, both Jason Shawn Alexander and Liam Sharp deserve so much credit for this arc too. Everything they've drawn in this arc just CLICKS with the writing.

Again, this was another stellar issue, and I can't wait to see where this arc ends. As basically, Selina has won. The question is can she run away with that win or will someone ELSE sneak in? I think the latter might occur.

Look, I know it's highly unlikely but I kind of want a Flamingo vs Cass or Azrael fight. Just two hardened folk going against a foe like Flamingo? Gimme. Let Bruce take on Hurt and finish the Barbatos plot.

Though part of me wonders are Jean Paul and Barbatos linked?

Or even Cass and the Bat Demon?

These just avenues never explored given Jean-Paul did become Batman and is sporting said batty costume in this arc.

This was another fantastic issue on this run and I just wish we'd talk about how AMAZING this series. That and how when this is collected in complete form how KILLER this story will be even more.

[themswritinwords]

Mostly!

I've been in and out of doctors offices and the hospital for the past 2-3 months, which is in itself exhausting and not really conducive to writing. Add in the end-of-year holidays coming up, at least four more appointments in the next month, my child's first ever dance recital and all the prep that entails (way more than I thought), a cross-country trip to visit family, and some other personal stuff on top of all that, and I might still be a bit absent. I'm hoping by the second week of January I'll be back to some kind of routine, which hopefully means being more active here too. (Gotta build that dying-platform social media, amirite?)

But! Despite losing approximately 1/3 to 1/2 of my blood volume in the space of a month (0/10 do NOT recommend), I did actually get stuff done. Important stuff! I did DVpit on Discord, got requests, and actually got those sent out before the major hospitalization adventures. I polished up a finished manuscript and actually got it out to some beta readers. Excitingly, I also got my first two full requests ever, and got those sent off with minimal freaking out and rethinking my entire everything.

No word on the fulls yet, but the beta readers are all coming back with the same kind of feedback:

"engaging," "couldn't put it down," "hysterical," "cinematic," "powerful," and my personal favorite, "WOW." (if i had a nickel for every all-caps WOW i got on this manuscript, I'd have 3 nickels; which isn't a lot but it's weird exciting that it happened 3 different times)

Okay, I lied. My personal favorite was the single, solitary, italicized, "Holy shit."

So for once I'm feeling pretty good about myself and my writing! And that's in spite of one of my worries for this manuscript coming true: I got some details wrong and the Car People noticed. And yet! Despite something being egregiously wrong, they said they didn't care because the story was "so engaging it didn't matter." (Still gonna fix it, though. Now that I know, those inaccurate spark plugs will haunt me.)

I also managed to dust off an old project-- my oldest to date that's still functional as a story-- and figured out how to fix all the problems that led me to shelve it in the first place. I have a plan. I have a workable outline. I fixed the stagnant characters and plot and the massive plot holes all at once with minimal scrapping and without trashing my most favorite (and compelling) aspects.

Most importantly, I'm excited to work on it.

After finishing this latest project and then having my whole body fall apart piece after piece for almost a full quarter of a year, it feels like I haven't wanted to write in a long time, let alone been excited to do so. But here I am, getting words down and dusting off Spotify playlists. It feels really, really good.

So here's to the next few months. They might still be rocky and stressful, but I'm recovering in more ways than just the physical. I hope the end of the year brings you joy and peace in whatever ways you need it most, and that the new year finds you well and, most importantly, happy. If not, please know I'm here for you and rooting for you. My askbox and DMs are always open. <3