#i plan to shoehorn it into a few fic ideas i have

[kirbles]

consider. ex catholic gale and shadowheart modern AU childhood friends.

shadowheart's parents and gale's mum being friends since the two were babies. they expected gale and shadowheart to eventually get together since they were stupidly young, even encouraged it. this never happened, but the families remained as close as ever, even meeting up for holidays well into their adulthood.

both drifted away from the religion for different reasons however they still appreciate the aesthetics and history that comes with it. they're always a phone call away when they need to confide in each other when the ~guilt~ takes hold.

the two of them in their late 30s has gale dressed in gaudy vibrant sweaters and thick frames, and shadowheart in monochrome outfits like she just walked off a runway. they look to be from completely different worlds to outsiders, like they couldn't possibly have anything in common.

meeting and befriending the other companions, who think they're together, and even ask if there was ever anything between them. they both loudly defend themselves because 'EW, NO! THEY'RE LIKE A SIBLING TO ME!'

both have insane amount of dirt on the other, and stories from early teens/twenties that they share with the group after a bottle of wine in order to embarrass the other.

[dontforgetoctober3rd]

Life Eternal (chapter 2)

This is an HOTD fanfic based off *another* fanfic, Second Sons by @avengingangelfanfic

Read the beginning here: Chapter 1

Rating: T for language, mentions of violence, alcohol consumption, mentions of arranged marriage (nothing else I think warrants a legit warning other that my writing is corny af. Like, I'm not being self-deprecating here. You might roll your eyes right out of your head lmaoooo)

Word count: 2900

Author's Note: Yes, I shoehorned even more videogame references in this one..... One of the names Jacaerys is called I pulled from Fallout: New Vegas and Catelyn's previously unnamed dragon is also from Skyrim, like her brother's.

Disclaimer: The events in this fic are NOT canon to the canon events of AvengingAngel's story! It was just an idea bouncing around and I asked for permission, which was graciously given (thank youuuu), to put it in words. Gif credits for any gifs used will be in the images themselves. With that in mind, thank you for reading.

Faceclaims:

Daemon Targaryen- Aemond as portrayed by Ewan Mitchell, except without the missing eye and his hair in a single ponytail

Royce Baratheon- King Edward from The Last Kingdom, as portrayed by Timothy Innes

Alphonse Baratheon- Osferth from The Last Kingdom, as portrayed by Ewan Mitchell

Catelyn Baratheon- Gemma Ward, circa 2023

King Jacaerys Targaryen- Aragorn as portrayed by Viggo Mortensen (Just imagine him with slightly grayer hair after the timeskip in this chapter lmao)

Daenerys Targaryen, granddaughter of Jacaerys- Marienne Bellamy as portrayed by Tati Gabrielle in season 4 of You (She literally has the perfect hair for this imo)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

18 YEARS AGO…

The dragon pit buzzed with the huge crowd, everyone gathered to hear the new King speak on what the next step would be. War, surely. 

Jacaerys felt like a boy of fifteen again, his fear causing a bitter taste in his mouth, making his chest thump with anxiety.  His face remained blank, but inside, he was screaming and scared.  How pathetic, he thought.  He was King now and he was afraid, so very afraid.  

It had been a fortnight since the loss of his mother and Daemon.  Since his entire world had collapsed and the Crown Prince had made way for the King he apparently now was.  Days of investigating and hearing all of King’s Landing grow more rage filled by the hour.  Only five days since the funeral.  King Wait-and-see, they had begun calling him.  Others whispered the cruel moniker “King Craven”.  Or so he had heard.  The people were angry, that much he was certain of (Mostly due to the fact that no news had yet been relayed as to what the Crown planned on doing to avenge Queen Rhaenyra and her Lord Hand’s deaths), but Jacaerys wondered…how angry were they with him?  A truly distraught son would be chomping at the bit for revenge, he thought bitterly.  Instead of lingering about, doing what felt like nothing. 

It was his queen who soothed him, quelling his dragon fire.  Baela reassured him that only a few loud voices were the ones branding him with disrespectful names, that the majority of the smallfolk supported their new ruler and were just anxious for an answer concerning what was to come.

Well, they would have their answer now, Jacaerys thought.  

Still, he hesitated.  

Would they really fight for him?  Would they love him as much as his mother and Daemon?  He felt such a heavy weight in his heart despite Baela’s fiercely reiterated beliefs over these last few days that the people of Westeros would follow their King to the seven hells, if need be. “I certainly would.” She had said, clenching his face and holding his gaze with those blazing eyes he loved oh so dearly.

 The crowd continued their murmuring.  Jacaerys let himself gaze over them for a moment.  His mother always seemed to know just what to say, what to do, in any situation.  How could he possibly measure up to her?  To Daemon?  More than anything, he wished he could ask them for advice, but they were no longer here to give it.  

Aemond, newly made Hand of the King, along with the rest of the Targaryens, stayed behind at the Red Keep and conferred with the war council, seeing to it that Jacaery’s orders were followed.  Only Baela came with Jacaerys to the dragon pit.

It helped his crippling feelings of inadequacy, to have her here with him.  No other could possibly know, could see him as the terrified man he currently was.  Especially not his own son, Aemon, now first in line for the throne.

Raising a hand to silence the crowd, King Jacaerys Targaryen stood for a few minutes until the murmuring and whispers died down to nothing.  Then he spoke.

---------- STORM'S END, PRESENT DAY----------

Every member of the royal family was making their way to the Red Keep for the nameday celebrations of Aegon the Elder’s twins. Daenerys, Aemon’s daughter by his sister-wife Daella, had stopped by Storm’s End the first week Daemon had been there (she was returning from Dorne).  In that week, dinners had been full of laughter and jokes. 

Daemon felt lighter and happier than he had in months.

“Your mother cheated whenever she trained with your father.” Daenerys had told him over dinner one night.

“No!” Daemon cried.  He was just recovering from laughing at the story of everyone spying on Aemond while he asked for Lyanna’s hand.  “What happened to the ‘ absolute paragon of honor’ that I kept reading about in every damned history?!”

“Your mother was as honorable as they come, but the cheating in the training yard?” Royce said, ever so slightly drunk. “Oh, she resorted to that every chance she got.  I would too, to be honest BUT she was an honorable lady, I promise you!”

“Hmm, certainly wasn’t very honorable of her to toss a book at our Lord of Driftmark and give him a black eye.” Daenerys added, slicing into her lamb. Royce spit his wine laughing.

“WHAT?!” Daemon cried.

“Grandsire told me.  When Lyanna carried your sister Catelyn, she was rather quick to burn.” Daenerys said with a sly grin.  “Oh, our Aemond had to take her dagger and sword away.” 

“Whatever happened to that dagger?” Daemon asked.  He silently pondered for a moment, the boisterous humor in the atmosphere having been immediately replaced with a relaxed nature as desserts were brought to the table.  No one was uncomfortable at this.  They were family, after all.  

“Alphonse has it.” Daenerys looked to Daemon.

Daemon was frozen. No…Alphonse would have told him so!  Wouldn’t he? Then again, he had never thought to ask of it himself.  How could he fault his nephew for his own inaction? 

Daenerys continued “Of course, if grandsire had not decreed to leave you alone  concerning stories of your parents, I’m sure he would have told you.  Alphonse is the type to have informed you the moment he himself knew.”

Oh…oh, of course.  The decree. 

“If you will both excuse me, I think the ale did not agree with me.  I will retire for the night.  Daella, will you join us hunting pheasant tomorrow?” Royce said, swaying as he stood but still somehow in possession of enough of his faculties to speak coherently. 

“I am Daenerys, my lord.” came the response, with a chuckle. 

“Oh!  So you are.  My apologies!” Royce burped and quickly begged their pardons.  An attendant hurried to his side to escort him to his chambers.

“Unfortunately, though, I must away to King’s Landing tomorrow.” Daenerys said, as Royce was led away.  “Pressing matters to do with my works in Dorne.  I fear my horse might run away without me if I stay longer, she is not fond of storms.”

“Oh, very well!” Royce called from down the hall he was led in.  “I shall see you at the nameday hunt in a few weeks time!  Daemon, I shall see you tomorrow!”

“You knew all this time, that Alphonse had my mother’s dagger?!” Daemon accused, once Royce had gone. “Why on earth would he tell you about it?  It doesn’t seem like information that is of much use to you.”  Annoyed, he jabbed at his slice of sweet cake.

Daenerys raised an eyebrow.  “Why are you irritated with me?  I’m not the one in possession of it!” 

The dagger was not the main issue, Daemon thought.  The fact that Daenerys knew his nephew had it…not many knew that, he was sure. Why in the seven hells would a dagger, even one belonging to his mother, be a regular topic of conversation? A great deal of time would have to be spent together for the subject to even come up casually.  And why had she come to Storm’s End before King’s Landing? She did not answer to orders from Lord Royce and she was not particularly close to him.  Nor had she known Daemon would be there…

Daemon rolled his eyes and continued to eat his cake.  The two Targaryens slipped into a comfortable silence but Daemon’s mind was restless.  He had learned so much of his parents these past few days.  Their courtship made him want to tear his hair out.  How could they not have seen it for so long?  It was maddening…and somehow, it was happening again. 

Alphonse and Daenerys pined for each other.  He was sure of it. Yet, both refused to give voice to their desires and become officially betrothed.

 Before, Daemon had been content to leave them be, confident that they would eventually sort it out themselves.  He had confronted Alphonse about it several times long ago and each time his nephew had insisted he would resolve the issue himself.

 Daemon had never confronted Dany about it, he’d sooner fight his dragon naked.  Others did not know who the object of Alphonse’s affection was and simply took this to mean Alphonse was nervous around maidens.  

“Do you…are you fond of men?” Daemon had asked him once, before he understood the situation.  Alphonse had buried his face in his hands. 

“No!  If I were, I am certain I would not have the issue I do now.”

And so Daemon had listened as Alphonse poured out his heart, lamenting the fact that Daenerys would never be with him because she had vowed she would never marry again after the death of her husband.

Daemon contemplated his plan of attack on the matter as Dany excused herself from the table to go to sleep.  

Everyone was approaching this all wrong, he thought.  They were hounding Alphonse to find a bride but since no one but they three knew he was in love with Daenerys, none of them had even approached her to make a move.  It was clear what the solution was: the prospective bride herself would have to ask for the hand of Alphonse Baratheon.  Propriety be damned. 

Daemon made the decision then: when he would leave in a few weeks, he was determined to go straight to Daenerys and inform her that she must ask his nephew to marry her. To do so here in his good brother’s home, Alphonse’s own father,  would be terrible manners.  They’d already be stomping on tradition enough as it was, no need to add to it.   He suspected Catelyn would foam at the mouth with rage that her son wasn’t the one doing the asking, but that did not matter.  What mattered was love.  Real, true love.  Like the one his parents had shared. No one, not kings or lords or ladies or thousands of years of precedence, should stand in the way of that. 

----------KING'S LANDING, ONE MONTH LATER----------

The mostly empty dragonpit upper chamber echoed with the rumbles of Caraxes and Alduin, Catelyn’s fearsome jet black dragon, stomping off to the caverns below. 

Jacaerys stood a ways near the entrance doors, smiling at his cousins’ arrival. 

It had been a month since Daemon had gone to Storm’s End.  He would return in time for Jahaerys and Jahaera’s nameday celebration in one week, Catelyn and Alphonse choosing to go directly to King’s Landing to save themselves a trip and to deliver results of their negotiations in Braavos. 

“Your Grace!  I am famished for a genuine Westerosi lemon cake!” Catelyn declared, marching over, already undoing her braid.  Alphonse followed beside her, laughing.  “Our Braavosi allies, seven help them, do not have the slightest clue as to the proper ratio of sweetness to tanginess that a well made lemon cake should have,” Catelyn complained. “I almost fumbled our trade deals, having to suffer eating such bland pastries.” 

“I appreciate what you have endured to gain good prices for our people, cousin.” Jacaerys joked, accepting Alphonse into a hug and then Catelyn.  “Aegon will certainly appreciate it, I know.  He is having the time of his life, planning this upcoming hunt.  Claims it will rival the one for his second nameday!”

“How would he know how lavish it was?” Alphonse asked.

“I certainly don’t remember my own second nameday.  Perhaps he should plan my wedding, when I have it.  Please ask him for me, cousin.” The three made their way out of the large building, guards waiting outside with an open, topless carriage.

“Firstly, records of such events exist. Secondly, Aegon is like to have an apoplexy if Jacaerys asks that of him.” Catelyn said, climbing in first with the help of a guard.  “Being Master of Revels here is his true calling. Far too many Lords and Ladies to host for him to go gallivanting off elsewhere to plan a wedding.”

“Mother, you only say that because you have had my wedding planned since the day I was born and do not wish to be usurped from further preparations.” Alphonse grumbled.

“Hmm..” Jacaerys looked to the skies, Catelyn and Alphonse stopping their bickering for a moment, looking in the same direction.  A swift, vibrant white dragon was flying towards the open nesting grounds a little ways south of the city.  Daemon had come. 

Jacaerys climbed into the wagon next, sitting in front of Catelyn.

“Has he written?” Alphonse asked, finally climbing in last and seating himself next to his mother, looking to Jacaerys as the wagon began to move.  Guards on horses flanked both sides, trotting in pace with it.  Catelyn continued to look at Parthurnaax fading into the distance.  

“Not one raven, but Lord Royce has. He assures me the talks were pleasant..mostly.  Daemon was eager to know many things.  They went for a great many walks and had countless dinners running late into the night.”

“No doubt Royce will follow soon after on horseback.” Catelyn said, giving a small wave and smile to the people.  Many had now noticed the wagon containing the King driving by.  “My husband never was fond of traveling on dragonback.  The war was the only time he mounted Alduin with me.  I fear it may have ruined his experience with flying.”

Jacaerys nodded with a smile.  He knew Catelyn was avoiding it, talking of Daemon and the questions he would have of Aemond and Lyanna for all of them when he got to the keep.  No matter.  He would not force things.

“Now father is coming, perhaps you and him can see to the matter of arranging a marriage for me at-” Alphonse began, before abruptly being cut off by Catelyn.  She held up a stiff finger in his face. Her own parents had been a love match and she was determined that each of her boys would have the same fate. Her youngest, Orys, had already married.  Her other two sons were currently courting twin daughters in Dorne, grandchildren of Prince Doran.

“You are four and twenty. You will find your bride to be on your own.  How can you expect to be Lord of Storm’s End one day if you cannot even do this?” Catelyn scolded. “If we choose one for you, she might be the wrong fit.  The Stormlands would suffer if their Lord is too busy preoccupied with the conflict of a sour marriage.  No, you will do this yourself, Alphonse.”

“Mother, but I need-”

“Alphonse, Orys chose Margaery Tyrell himself, despite other maidens flocking around him.  I suspect he will become a father before the year is out.  You will make your own match. This matter is closed.”

“But Aemon had his marriage arranged! So did Lady Rhaena with Lord Lucerys! I don’t see why-”

“I do believe the Lady has spoken, Alphonse.” Jacaerys said, in a now stern tone. Alphonse looked to him pleadingly.  

“Cousin, please.  You could-”

 “Each Lord’s and Lady’s habits are their own.” Jacaerys said, cutting him off.  “I trust each of them to run my kingdom well and I will not interfere unless it is to avert disaster or right egregious wrongs, as is my duty.  You being too nervous to approach a prospective future wife hardly qualifies as a matter that needs my attention.” Jacaerys shrugged and waved to the smallfolk lining the streets. “Especially when you have three brothers who could take up the mantle of Lord…should you fail in your responsibilities to marry and sire heirs.” 

That final admonishment had its effect and Alphonse nodded in a defeated manner.  Jacaerys acknowledged his response, continuing his waves to the people of King’s Landing.

It never ended, this guiding of the younger generation, Jacaerys thought.   At 15, he could barely make his own brothers behave. Much yelling had been used at the time.  Now at 60, he seldom saw the need to raise his voice in court or around family. He corralled and kept his loved ones in line with such an ease he was sure his late stepfather would have been impressed.

As the wagon slowed coming into the Red Keep, Catelyn hopped off immediately, irritated.  Jacaerys bade Alphonse to stay a moment. “You are a handsome man, able with the sword and skilled with the bow.” He began in a low voice, only for them two. “You ride Caraxes.  You are kind and quick to make a joke.  Whatever could you possibly think is counting against you in finding a bride?” he asked, a hand on Alphonse’s shoulder. 

Alphonse mumbled something Jacaerys couldn’t quite hear. 

“Come again?” 

“...I said…the fact she does not wish to marry, for one…” Alphonse managed to say, barely loud enough to hear.  He was still looking anywhere but in the eyes of his King.  

Jacaerys paled.  Alphonse could only be speaking of one person.  His only granddaughter by Aemon, Daenerys…the complete opposite of her namesake in attitude, who declared every chance she could get that she would never marry again, no one would make her. Already widowed at eight and twenty, with no dragon and no children…Gods be good…

“Oh, does he know now?” came the voice from the gates.  Jacaerys and Alphonse snapped to attention of the speaker.  There stood Daemon Targaryen, windswept and grinning ear to ear.  

“Uncle!” Alphonse cried, leaping from the wagon.  Jacaerys smiled at the two reuniting, still in quite a shock at the recent development. Why on earth Alphonse thought springing a betrothal on Daenerys through him would work…It was beyond all sense…

The upcoming hunt was sure to be interesting.

CHAPTER 3

[corvidcrybaby]

12, 22, 69 (lol) for the fanfic ask game 👀

SCREEEEEEEEE HERE WE GO

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

It's an even fifty-fifty. I outline my fics when I begin to have a lot of plot elements, narrative threads or allegorical references I want to work into it - if I don't, I'm liable to forget something relatively important and have to either shoehorn that thread in later, or do the Edit Of Shame where I go back and include something as a throwaway line. If you're curious as to what they look like, here's an example from when I was working on Formulas Fatal To the Flesh:

Some of these beats ended up in the final cut, while others didn't. I usually try to break it down based on "okay, what is The Moment I want Character X and Character Y to have together" and from there I build backwards and forwards. How they got there and where it takes them - I'll often keep a "scrap heap" of ideas or lines of dialogue (especially with Zemi since I entertain the fuck outta myself with writing her inane bullshit one-liners) on a spare sheet somewhere that I will pull from to weave into the story. This does look a bit like a mad scientist's scrawlings, and I like it that way! My trick is to outline and be thorough about it but not get too rigid. This is why I typically only plan fics in chunks at a time, with general ideas of where I want the story to go. Stories morph and evolve as one writes them, and I am the type who KNOWS that if I make the outline too demanding and rigid I'll get all up my own ass about it. Outlining too hard and trying too viciously to stick to it tends to shoot me in the foot so I avoid it.

Additionally, I particularly enjoy structuring stories based on conversations. Dialogue is often the first thing I write, and the rest comes after that. This comes from my background studying theatre - a thespian scholar bitch like me knows better than anybody that you can build a whole world around little more than a few words between two characters, so I like to let the rest of the work bloom from that organically. Not always, but these are common methods I use.

22. Do you title your fics before, during, or after the writing process?  How do you come up with titles?

Fuck yeah so glad somebody asked this one. I develop titles for chapters after I'm done writing them. I make it a point to title pretty much EVERY CHAPTER I WRITE for everything I've written publicly so far based on the title of a death metal track or album. I'll branch out into other genres like black metal and whatnot but I try to stick to death metal specifically. This mostly comes from my personal annoyance that there's so little decent media content based on extreme metal. Part of why I love Hellsing so much is just based on the fact I think it gets the closest to the aesthetic of the deepest bowels of extreme metal in its art style, themes, visuals, and so on. So when I need a new title, I deadass will just leaf through my music catalogue and pick a title I think fits the themes of the chapter in some allegorical sense - ditto for the little lyrical blurbs I put at the front of each chapter. Is it corny? Fuck yeah, man, but so am I. Sometimes I just say "fuck it, I'll put TWO songs names in the title, who will stop me?" When it comes to the entire fic titles, I put more thought into it and play process of elimination until I settle on one I think rolls off the tongue best. See: Formulas Fatal to the Flesh (Morbid Angel), Lesions of A Different Kind (Undeath), etc.

69. What are your favorite fics at the moment?

Aw shit man, puttin' me on the spot as I've been off my fic reading game for a minute but I'll plug what I can remember!

First off, shout out to the homie @neet0 with their work Revelations. Absolutely love this piece, I reread chapters from it a lot and feel like I learn something new about writing every time.

I'm also really into this My Hero Academia fic, In The End (We Are Left Bereft). Only halfway through, and some of the elements may not be for me personally, but first of all, anything that examines Bakugo as a closeted trans woman is gonna make me come running because I just ADORE that as a concept. Second, the issues this take on Bakugo deals with regarding identity and belonging, being touch-starved and alienated, etc? A bitch relates, what can I say. Good MHA fics are so hard to find in my experience so this one has been a delight to read thus far.

I also eat up almost everything that BirdOfHermes ever does. Because, listen mate, sometimes a bitch just wants that sweet, sweet cheesy wish fulfillment with fictional men. That, and their writing is so easy to read for me that it hooks me into stories about characters from series I haven't even watched or read. Never thought Harry Dresden would be hot to me, but, oops, they made it happen. Also, forever awaiting the glorious day they decide to finish Tame. One of my favorite Alucard/Reader fics of all time, I've reread it probably a dozen times by now.

Beyond this, I've been in a bit of a fic rut as of late, so if you got recs, send them my way!

Thank you so much for the ask it made my day for real <3

[laximpulsion]

Director's Cut Commentary, Ch. 2-6 oh, she's the one i should hate

Since I'm just about at the end of what I had originally planned for this story i thought it might be an appropriate place to pause for some reflection... more under the cut because it got kinda long and i dont want to inflict blog-length posts on your dash without warning lol

So I thought this was going to be just like, some la-di-da high school romcom AU that would never get very feelings-y or anything, and i CERTAINLY did not expect to have actual character development lol. but it got kinda real??? I mean obviously compared to other things i've written it's still pretty la-di-da and im not planning on having any big-time angst, but i've ended up really invested in it and enjoying a lot of the turns it's taken for both fatin and leah.

i think i've said this before but i'll say it any chance i can get... i have loved getting to show this from both of their POVs; i think it's worked out well and it's been such a great, rewarding challenge to weave the story together through both of their eyes. i love that i get to draw parallels between how and what the two of them think about each other, and i like getting to dig into what moments cause shifts for each of them; what do each of them fixate on; how do they interpret the same event differently... it's been really fun.

and just in general i cant overemphasize how much fun this one has been to write. i almost always enjoy writing, whether it's angst or fluff, whether it goes slow or quickly, even when im feeling uninspired/stuck, it's satisfying to just get some words down. but theres a difference between enjoying it/finding it satisfying, and like, literally being entertained by it. and this one i am just...having FUN! and it's awesome. i think it also helps that my frame of mind going into it was that i wasn't going to take it super seriously (vs. my s3 fic which i am arguably taking TOO seriously and need to loosen the fuck up about) so it's easier for me to roll with the punches when things get off track.

speaking of which... things got off track! little miss leah rilke refused to cooperate with me, which is such a bizarre sensation because i know i'm the one writing her, but it really feels like a couple times this fic she has literally just rebelled against me. the first was when fatin presented the revenge scheme; i intended for leah to hop right on board but instead she got worried about it being traced back to her. which i think makes sense because the way she's been this fic is very concerned about what people are saying/thinking about her. the other time just recently happened while i was writing the next chapter and now it's leaving me kind of at a crossroads wondering if I want to stick to my original plan or go with what Leah seems to want me to do lol.

and obviously the first time leah went rogue I adjusted the story so that they don't do a really big revenge scheme, and i dont regret that, i think it makes sense and i have one more revenge plan related plot beat that i think will wrap it up nicely. so honestly im thinking I'll just adjust things again...because it kind of feels like this is what's supposed to happen anyway, like, i'm letting the characters call the shots instead of trying to shoehorn them into my own plotlines. maybe? something like that? ok, this is getting a little pretentious lol sorry...

what else...mmm...i think thats actually all for now! until next time...

EDIT: oh yea actually i have more. i had to "kill my darlings" a couple times for this fic, i.e. get rid of a scene/plotline that i really liked but that i just couldnt justify keeping after i decided to go in a different direction. i'd never had to do that before and it's harder than i expected it to be! the first one was that i changed the party scene, which was not a huge tragedy bc i think it was the right choice but there are a few lines/ideas from that that i was sad to lose. i'm making myself feel better about it by tacking it on as a bonus chapter at the end so at least i didn't write it for nothing lol. the other one i'm even more bummed to let go of because it is so dumb and messy and i love idiots and mess, but if i go in the direction that leah seems to want me to, i don't think it'll make sense to keep it. i am optimistic that i'll be able to work the general idea into another fic, but it won't be quite the same. so maybe i'll offer that one up as another bonus chapter.

[rabbiteclair]

So, about the new fic. Like I’ve said before, descended from this thing. The current planned title is The World, Upside Down, but I reserve the right to change it if I find one that I like better. Which I would like to do, but seems unlikely.

My earliest outlines for this story go back to April 2014. In those almost seven years the core concept hasn’t changed much: All the characters are shuffled around into different positions and lives, but rather than being an AU the swap is an actual thing that happened, and people figure it out. Many things ensue. Even a lot of the individual plot beats haven’t changed all that much. I just had to flesh out a whole lot of stuff in the process, which is why this ended up being almost 150,000 words.

And the swapping is why it took six years.

The very first part that popped into my head for this was ‘oh, Yukari could be the Hakurei shrine maiden!’ So I decided that all of the hierarchies had been inverted, and I was shoehorning Reimu into the Yakumo family because it isn’t like she’s in a hierarchy. ... which is kinda the problem. If the hierarchies just swap, then what the heck happens to, like, Mokou? (Pay attention to Mokou, she spent the next five years repeatedly ruining my life.) Okay, so obviously that couldn’t work.

The next idea was just to take prominent pairs and swap them. So Yukari and Reimu swap, and Mokou and Kaguya swap, and... okay so if Kaguya swaps with Mokou, what happens to Eirin, Reisen, and Tewi? If they don’t swap with her, then the majority of characters aren’t changing. If they do swap with her, then... I actually did have one short-lived draft where Eirin/Reisen/Tewi were some kind of human devotees of immortal human Kaguya, and I got about thirty words into it before I decided this sucked.

Next idea! Each faction swaps or inverts, but not both. This one mostly worked. You can sort everyone out like this. It had two big problems, though: 1) I found it kind of hard to keep track of the characters, and some of the roles just didn’t work well. There are lots of factions where if you invert them, you get, like... White Hare of Inaba Eirin, or Buddhist Magician Kyouko. Which were both big enough swaps that I pretty much had to reinvent everyone from the ground up, and hard enough to keep track of that I thought readers would just lose patience for it. And 2) It didn’t shake things up enough in places. I found it kind of weird to, like, have Reisen be a human maid, and meanwhile Yuyuko just has 50% Less Ghost. So no more Mokou problem, right? Kaguya can just get swapped with another faction along with the rest of Eientei, Mokou can swap with Keine, Akyuu can swap with Kosuzu, which leaves... Rinnosuke with nowhere to go. Goddammit Mokou.

So what I finally settled on is: All of the factions swap, and individual characters swap with each other apart from very few circumstances. In some cases, these swaps can be circular. (Remilia &co in Eientei, Kaguya and friends in Chireiden, and Satori’s gang in the SDM, for example.) Then, and here’s the important part, everyone just rearranges to whatever feels right to me. So fuck it, however you wanna parse the hierarchies of the two factions, as a Lunarian Patchouli’s the pharmacist because she’s the most Eirin-like of the group. Yukari’s in charge of the Yakumos, but as a Hakurei she’s below two goddesses because she makes the best Reimu substitute. Etc. This one, I finally found easy enough to remember, and everyone felt pretty natural in their roles.

And then I took all the stuff that still bugged me and made it into plot points, because really, you cannot make a perfect, 100% consistent system for this.

Anyway, the character list I ended up with, incident resolvers in italics:

Hakurei Shrine Ran (Calculating Goddess of the Hakurei Shrine) Chen (Black Cat Apprentice Goddess) Yukari Hakurei (Elusive and Two-Faced Shrine Maiden)

Forest of Magic Alice Kirisame (Seven-Colored and Tactical-Minded Magician) Marisa Margatroid (High-Firepower Puppeteer)

Hakugyokurou Eiki Saigyouji (Supreme Ghost of the Netherworld) Komachi Konpaku (Half-Human, Half-Phantom, Half-Diligent Gardener)

Scarlet Devil Mansion Satori Scarlet (Eternally Lonesome Scarlet Moon) Koishi Scarlet (Closed-Hearted Sister of the Devil) Rin Izayoi (Perfectly Macabre Maid) Utsuho Hong (Earth-Rending Gatekeeper)

Youkai Mountain/Genbu Ravine Aya Yasaka (Self-Serving and Troublesome Mountain Goddess) Momiji Moriya (The Most Diligent of Native Gods) Hatate Kochiya (Modern-Day Shrine Maiden of the Human World) Mamizou Kawashiro (Shrewd and Surprising Kappa Engineer) Kanako Shameimaru (Scheming Reporter of Fantasy) Suwako Himekaidou (Thoughtography Reporter Looking Forward to Retirement) Sanae Inubashiri (Upbeat Patrol Tengu)

Human Village (and environs) Hieda no Mokou (Nine-Generation Immortal Human Sage) Akyuu Kamishirasawa (Half-Beast Savant) Rinnosuke Motoori (Modest and Content Bibliophile) Kosuzu Morichika (Junk Collector with a Deciphering Eye)

Bamboo Forest Fujiwara no Keine (Bookish Hermit of the Bamboo Forest) Patchouli Yagokoro (The Unmoving Brain of the Moon) Remilia Houraisan (Inhuman Princess of the Full Moon) Flandre Houraisan (Destructive Sinner of the New Moon) Sakuya Udongein Inaba (Perfectly Lunatic Rabbit) Meiling Inaba (Colorful Rabbit of Good Fortune)

Underworld Eirin Komeiji (An Eye Feared By All) Kaguya Komeiji (The Satori Who Sees Eternity) Reisen Kaenbyou (Overworked Hell Cat) Tewi Reiuji (Divine Flame of Mischief)

Myouren Temple Miko Hijiri (Supreme Buddhist of the Youkai Temple) Seiga Toramaru (Wicked Tiger Representing Bishamonten) Futo Kumoi (Youkai Monk of Esoteric Arts) Tojiko Murasa (Beached Ghost of the Drowned Dead) Yoshika (Eloquent Mouse Who Serves Two Masters)

Senkai Toyosatomimi no Byakuren (Entirely Too Enlightened Taoist) Shou Kaku (Noble Hermit with Wicked Arts) Nazrin Miyako (Crafty General Who Transcends Death) Mononobe no Ichirin (Ascetic Hermit of Old Japan) Soga no Minamitsu (Vengeful Spirit of an Undying Grudge)

Ministry of Right and Wrong Yuyuko Shiki (Supreme Judge, Napping in Paradise) Youmu Onozuka (Shinigami with a Sharpened Scythe)

??? Reimu Yakumo (Carefree Fox with an Absent Master)

[wovenstarlight]

YWBK update: chapter 25 + liner notes

yesterday will be kinder has updated! you can read chapter 25 here, or start from the beginning here

okay, on to notes and commentary! first time i’m doing these, let’s hope this works out. commentary under the cut to save people’s dashes

Hamin laughs. “Given how bad you are at not being suspicious, that’s understandable.” “Oh, come on, I’m not that bad.” Hamin screws up his whole face in a squint. “Okay, so maybe I’m a little bad.”

this part was really funny to me when i wrote it because i was like “hmm reasons for DHM to understand why HHJ wouldn’t work in the guild” and then i was like Wait. Their Whole First Meeting, Dude. DHM was lowkey convinced for the longest time that HHJ was like, on the run from the KR version of the mafia, and got plastic surgery to look like his little brothers, and is possibly in some sort of witness protection program??? or something??? how else does he not have cops on his ass this man is so suspicious all the time

“I don’t think… They said the dungeons were, like, different worlds? Did they find people there?”

mafia theory second place. dungeon theory first place

“Like, humans? Um. No, no humans.” “So then you can’t be from there. Okay.”

dungeon theory shot down. mafia theory back in the running

“Hey,” he says cautiously. “I’m— I’m gonna go get us some water, okay? Why don’t you… take a minute.” “Okay.” “The bathroom is over there, if you need it.” “Okay. Thank you.”

after four years working alongside a guy you start to notice when he’s feeling a little out of it and needs a bit of a break... but as JHW mentions later you also learn to be a little subtle about giving him one

jung heewon What’s with your typing? It reads like Jihye’s [HYJ]’s fine. Very energetic Too energetic? He’s going to burn out. How do I make him calm down

Epic Burnout Man makes a reappearance! when translating sclass one of the things that makes me want to shake HYJ most is his habit of constantly adding things to his to-do list while he already has 1 billion things on his plate. and all the time he’s whining about “UGH there’s SO MUCH WORK to do” No One Asked You To Do It

Anyway. the point is. HYJ isn’t about to be beat by HHJ at Developing Issues 😔

jung heewon I haven’t spoken to him directly about this because if he’s anything like you he’ll take it as an insult You wtf whts tht supposed 2 mean quit typing jung heewon Better not say shit, mr “No, I can’t take days off and cater to my interests or go out with friends or on a date, I’m too busy taking care of the kids and making sure their needs are met, no I don’t care that there are thousands of people out there balancing personal enjoyment and romance and work AND kids at the same time, are you suggesting I be a BAD GUARDIAN to MY KIDS?”

see above re: not being too direct with pointing out when HHJ’s having Issues because he doesn’t react well

You wht but our eyes r fine jung heewon Even if having glasses doesn’t run in the family, you should still get him checked, just in case

top 10 funny time travel moments: referring to you and your past self as “us” (our = my eyes are fine), but other people think you mean “our family” (our eyes are fine = no family history of long/shortsightedness)

Also. Sooyoung-ie says hi [Attachment: 20XX1213_144516.jpg] 

ok no lie this was one of the parts that pissed me off the most, even though it’s Literally One Line, because. i love chat exchanges. i really do. when done right they’re a lot of fun to read. But Do You Know How Long It Took Me To Figure Out A Calendar For The Events In This Fic. now everything’s TIMED i have to count HOW MANY DAYS IT’S BEEN since XY event so i can CORRECTLY NUMBER the FILE ATTACHMENTS!!! this sucks!!! it took me fucking forever to pin down a timeline just so i could write this chapter plus the few before and after it!!!!

anyway i gave up when i reached year. i just put 20XX. fuck it. we are running on fairy tail time now. (actually i think that’s XXnumber number? XX76? or was it X796. something like that. Who cares i stopped watching fairy tail forever ago)

Fuck it! Hamin will understand!! “If you Awaken you should come work with me,” Han Hyunjae says all in a rush. 

“HAMIN WILL UNDERSTAND” => he literally was cool with me giving zero context for half a dozen absolute balls to the wall nonsense bullshit things i’ve done before. he’ll be fine with this too. dog_in_burning_house_this_is_fine.png

“You already know about the guilds, those are going to be for dungeon Hunters, but I was thinking of forming something like an independent group of contractors. Awakened people with skills that aren’t useful for combat, but that might… that will be generally useful. It’d be you and me, and maybe one other guy I met recently. Probably more in the future.”

given that HHJ has no idea currently that peace exists (i’m so sorry baby i’ll find a way to shoehorn you in soon i miss you so much) he’s got no intentions to start a kiseungsu business yet! he mostly wants to live quietly while just acting as a manager for other Awakening-related services, like YMW’s forge and DHM’s tracking service, along with the information exchange/lowkey spy ring that he’s planning on setting up with JHW and the bar. since HYH is fine associating with him in this timeline, HHJ’s thinking he can get a foot in the door that way, then eventually spread out into dealings with most major guild leaders

RIP to this plan. you were well-made but you will not last long.

“Please, I can’t tell you how I know that, I really can’t, it’d put me and my brothers in danger if it got out. But—” “No need.” Hamin looks slightly alarmed, and Han Hyunjae feels himself settle at the obvious concern in his eyes.

MAFIA THEORY RAPIDLY RISING TO PROMINENCE??? THIS IS NOT HOW DO HAMIN WANTED HIS GUESS CONFIRMED

“I spoke to the Task Force Head and she said that there’s been discussion about hosting a meeting for the nearby high-rankers, where they’ll announce the guild proposal and see who else is interested in trying it out.”

“they’ll announce” i’m sorry king 💔 you deserved a nap

(OH ALSO FUN FACT choi eunyoung is a canon character, not an OC of mine! she appears in uhhh i think late 140s? 150s? something like that)

“I think there’s… probably only one other S-rank who’s Awakened right now?”

Hehehehehehehehehehehehehhehe

Hamin beams. “No, they’re doing great! Spookie’s taken really well to the new housing situation, but I think Spots might miss the store…”

shoutout to @daemonic-dawn​ for letting me borrow a pet name, love u king. i had a much longer ramble about pet names here but i finished typing and realized it was all entirely off topic so i removed it for convenience

Hyunjae makes an annoyed noise in the back of his throat. “Don’t— I mean.” He huffs, visibly taking a deep breath, and Yoojin frowns reflexively. [...] “Is everything alright?” Yoojin kind of wants to be annoyed at his tone on principle, but he forces his shoulders to relax, matching Hyunjae’s posture. Though he can’t stop himself from being a little short when he answers.

things the brothers have learned in four years living together: getting confrontational often leads to arguments that just fizzle out anyway, so it’s way fucking easier to consciously tone down their combativeness in advance when talking to each other about things they have problems with, instead of screaming their heads off and then having to calm yoohyun down afterwards to boot

“I guess. Whatever.” Yoojin slumps. “Can I…” “Hm?” Hyunjae blinks at Yoojin as he gestures to the spot on the bed beside him, then jolts. “Oh! Yeah, sure, c’mere.” He opens his arms, and Yoojin goes over and flumps on the bed, head in Hyunjae’s lap. Almost immediately, Hyunjae starts stroking fingers through his hair, and Yoojin relaxes into the touch, listening as Hyunjae continues speaking.

cuddles 🥺🥺🥺 sorry i don’t have any other commentary here just. cuddles. extremely and overwhelmingly comforting for a man who spent the better part of 8 years(?) with no major positive relationships, and a kid who spent 12 years of early life basically abandoned by his parents. you had best bet they gave up on not hugging each other 1 year into this whole mess

Yoojin hums in acknowledgement. It’s not like he’d ever let himself get hurt; he has too many responsibilities to his family and friends. If he wants to be good enough to keep up, he can’t afford to fuck up like that. But… hyung will worry if he keeps working so hard. He can slow down a little for him. 

Problems disorder man when will you stop. the way he sees “getting hurt” as an inconvenience and an obstacle to his duties rather than a danger to himself. the way he doesn’t really care if he himself gets hurt, but if it’ll worry his family, then it’s a no-no. it’s just. wow. i know i wrote this but i hate him

“Not really. I talk to Myeongwoo about it sometimes.” “Ah, right, Myeongwoo.”

haha gays

“Don’t be weird about him,” Yoojin warns[...]. “I won’t, promise.”

if the “i won’t” line had a dialogue tag it’d be “Han Hyunjae lied”

“Is Eunwoo still in his relationship?” “Mhm, happy as ever. Apparently they’re trying long-distance, now that Eunwoo’s gone off to university abroad.”

three guesses for who eunwoo’s dating and you won’t need the first two

Hyunjae raises his hands like he’s going to deny the accusations levelled against him, so Yoojin seizes him by the collar and shakes him until he cries for mercy

oh my o/rv ass struggled so bad with not writing “shakes him like a man betrayed” here. it killed me not to. but in the end i prevailed (against, uh, myself. don’t think about it too hard.)

“Jeez, okay, he’s an F-rank!” “Eh?! Then why—” “He’s also got an SS-rank potential skill,” Hyunjae admits[...].

play-by-play of this scene because god if i draw any scene in this fic it would be this one just for the sheer hysterical nature of HYJ’s reaction:

YOOJIN: I HATE YOU WHAT THE FUCK WHY. TELL ME HIS RANK

HYUNJAE: HE’S AN F

YOOJIN: WHAT? WHAT THE FUCK?

HYUNJAE: he’s also got an SS-rank skill,

YOOJIN:

[shadowsong26fic]

Coming Attractions!

Which I definitely forgot to do last month, ah well.

As per usual, this is also an Open Question Night post! Aka, while my askbox is always open, tonight I’ll be keeping an eye on it and around to answer in a semi-reasonable timeframe. Feel free to ask about anything in the post, or anything I’ve talked about here on tumblr, or posted on AO3, etc. ...I don’t recall if I have any active memes or anything, it’s been a while since I’ve been super on tumblr...but anyway, ask away!

I do also take prompts, but no promises on when I’ll get around to filling them. I still have a few sitting around from. Uh. Last year........

But anyway, what’s on your mind?

Precipice:

The first Preludes story went up this past weekend! Somewhat later than I’d planned, but there was another project that ended up eating a lot of my writing time/brain, alas. This one features Lavinia, Mara Jade, Kallus, a Legends cameo, and the introduction of another recurring OC. The next one will...proooooobably be Hondo, Kanan, Ezra, Obi-Wan, and Anakin? Assuming that’s the next one I finish.

There will be seven in total, and the other five will involve whatever’s going to go down with Maul; Hera and her contact in this AU; Sidious’s Fifth Titled Apprentice; and...I’m still considering the last two, lol. Maybe something to do with Mandalore; probably something more Senate-focused...I’ll work it out.

As I mentioned in the tumblr post and I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned before, I’m going to continue posting these alongside the first arc or two of Protectors, which should debut...sometime in the next couple weeks, lol.

Most of these, as you may have guessed, are shoehorning Rebels content and characters into an AU that wasn’t designed with them in mind. The gist of it is, S1 of Rebels goes more or less in canon, and then...S2 probably went differently just because of where Certain Key Players were, but I’m handwaving most of the details unless they’re interesting enough to show explicitly (probably in the Maul Prelude, if nothing else). But for the most part (even though this doesn’t, uh, entirely make sense necessarily XD) anything that doesn’t directly involve Vader/Ahsoka/Rex/Force Woo probably happened similarly. Most notably, The Honorable Ones and all plot points following directly on that happen essentially as in canon. The Mandalore plotlines are also essentially the same. ...oh, I probably should address Thrawn, since I need him in a slightly different position a few years later for spoiler reasons...

Leaving that aside...as I said, Protectors will start coming out soon, I’m just finishing up what I want for the first chapter or two, and waffling on how I want to tag some things. There is a...possible major character death in arc 14, but I’m going back and forth on whether or not I actually want to do it, which changes what tags/warnings I include...

But I’ll work that out and get it out before too much longer!

Other Star Wars Projects:

I have a Thing coming out at the end of this month or early next month, for pod_together. I’m pretty excited about it, I’ve listened to my podficcer’s first draft and am making minor edits/etc., but I think we’re in pretty good shape ^_^

Other than that, I don’t have any concrete plans for new SW fic in the near future. I’m going to buckle down and really get some momentum with Protectors and Preludes for the most part, maybe start poking at some ideas/concepts for next year’s SWBB.

Maybe also crossposting some tumblr-exclusive oneshots like I started doing last winter, or picking up with one of the AU outlines that I keep meaning to continue (Ventress + Luke, Let’s Go Steal a Crossover) but...well, we’ll see how time/brain works out this month.

Other Fanfic Projects:

I will have some standalone/fulltext AtLA fic out later this month, I promise XD It’ll be an Avatar Zuko AU, I’m putting the text together and figuring out how I want to structure it, etc.

I’m also genuinely working on a BSG/SG-1 crossover AU outline. It’s. Already quite long and I haven’t even gotten to most of the meat of the crossover yet, lol. But at least the first chunk of that will probably be up sometime later this month, too. Fingers crossed. That’s the plan, anyway.

Original Work:

I haven’t done much in the last month or two, but I’m hoping to get back into this. Both for extant ‘verses and really diving into Arthuriana research because I want to write that one story, maybe really working it up to Publishable??? We’ll see how it goes...

...I think that about covers it! Like I said at the beginning of the post, we’ll also do an Open Question Night, and I’d love to hear about what you guys are working on! What’s on your mind?

[smallplaceinthecosmos]

No Roman is an Island

If you’ll excuse the title pun, it popped into my head while I was writing and I couldn’t not use it. I’ve been in the fandom for a few months now, but I think this is my first real contribution to it; the fic was inspired by this post by @coconut-cluster, which is funny because it wasn’t technically a Sanders Sides post but far be it from me to pass up some inspiration, especially since I haven’t really written anything since before I got into Sanders Sides, and I was very excited to get involved. It was originally going to be mainly prinxiety but it ended up involving all the core four Sides pretty much equally, and I think I like it better this way, tbh. I wanted to involve Deceit and Remus too, but it didn’t happen naturally and I didn’t want to shoehorn them in.

Summary: Virgil was no stranger to feeling uncomfortable, and in fact he rather considered it his default state, but new things were still new things, and they had taken some getting used to. By now, Virgil thinks he's a fair bit more comfortable with the other Sides than he had been in the past.

That said, whatever is going on with Roman right now is a new kind of weird, and Virgil isn't sure what to think of it.

Pairings: platonic LAMP/CALM (can be romantic if you want, but it’s pretty ambiguous)

Warnings: description of injury, minor character death(possibly? Not sure if it counts but I’ll include it just in case), low self-esteem (and please let me know if I’m missing anything!)

Genre: hurt/comfort

Word Count: 3826

AO3 Link

It hasn't ever been a bad change, learning to live with the Light Sides, Virgil thinks. He's gotten used to a lot of unusual things the Sides did, since they've accepted him (and if he’s entirely honest, to some extent before that). It wasn't anything bad, necessarily, that the Light Sides did; they were just...weird, sometimes.

That wasn't to say Virgil thought he and the other Dark Sides weren't strange in their own ways, of course - obviously, Remus couldn't by any stretch of the imagination be called "normal" compared to the other Sides, and Deceit and Virgil had their own eccentricities - but at least that had been weirdness he was used to. 

When Patton had said things, sometimes, that for just a moment made Virgil raise an eyebrow and wonder what was actually going on in his head, or when Roman was feeling particularly dramatic and saw some need to drag Virgil and the others into some fantastical scheme, or when Logan put his signature jam on the most unusual of foods...Virgil was no stranger to feeling uncomfortable, and in fact he rather considered it his default state, but new things were still new things, and they had taken some getting used to. By now, Virgil thinks he's a fair bit more comfortable with the other Sides than he had been in the past.

That said, whatever is going on with Roman right now is a new kind of weird, and Virgil isn't sure what to think of it. He watches over his phone screen from his seat on the couch as Roman dashes in and out of the common room, looking considerably more disheveled than Virgil thinks is normal. Whenever he comes through, he seems distracted - in all the times he's passed through, Virgil's not sure that Roman has noticed him on the couch, and it's been a couple of hours at this point - and more than a little disconcerted, which in turn makes Virgil a lot disconcerted. 

The more Virgil watches, the more he feels a need to say something. Say what, though? "Hey, Princey, you look like you were personally threatened by an eldritch horror, what's up?"

But during one fifteen minute period of waiting for Roman to reappear, Virgil sighs quietly and decides he should probably at least make some show of concern, instead of sitting on it and not helping either of them. So when Roman pops back in, before Virgil can lose his nerve, he calls, “Hey, Princey, what’s got your sash in a twist?”

It comes out harsher than Virgil meant for it to, and Roman jumps, clearly caught off guard. This, in turn, catches Virgil off guard, and they stand staring at each other for a long moment before Virgil clears his throat and adds, “I’ve been here all morning and you haven’t even tried to insult me once.”

Roman blinks once, twice at Virgil, and then replies, “Well ex-cuse you, tall, dark, and emo; I’m a very busy prince.” His faux-offended tone and the hint of a grin on his face ease Virgil’s worry somewhat, but Roman adds, “I’m working on something. I’ll talk to you later,” and turns to leave as suddenly as he’d arrived.

“Roman, hold on - “ Virgil begins, but Roman pretends not to hear him as he leaves, and Virgil is left alone again. He figures Roman will probably tell him when he’s ready, anyway, and decides to leave it alone for now.

“For now,” it seems, lasts until lunch, which Roman doesn’t show up for. When Patton expresses his concern, Virgil decides he should probably tell them what he’d noticed - maybe they would have a better idea of what’s going on than he does.

As it turns out, they don’t. “He’s clearly hiding something from us,” Logan says when Virgil explains. 

“We don’t know that,” Patton says, but it sounds more like a question than an argument. “Maybe nothing’s going on at all. Maybe it’s something good! Some kind of surprise, or a cool idea to show Thomas.”

“Well, whatever it is, he shouldn’t be running himself ragged doing it,” Virgil tells Patton. “That’s enough reason for me to want to say something. But if he won’t explain himself...”

“We could try to talk to him together,” Patton suggests. “Maybe if he knows we’re all worried about him…?”

“If he wasn’t willing to talk to Virgil by himself, I don’t think he would be more willing to talk with all three of us cornering him,” Logan responds with a shake of his head.

“If he would be willing to talk to any of us, though, it’d be you, Pat,” Virgil adds. “Maybe you can try to talk to him on your own?”

“I can try,” Patton agrees.

Patton doesn’t fare much better, though - it takes him hours to even catch sight of Roman long enough to stop him and try to question him, and from what Patton tells Virgil and Logan, Roman brushed him off just as easily as he’d brushed off Virgil, leaving them with no answers and several more questions.

Patton protests when Logan suggests they take somewhat more drastic measures. “We can’t just go sneaking after him,” he argues with a displeased frown. “Isn’t that kind of a breach of trust? What if he has a reason for not saying anything?”

They’re in Logan’s room this time, because it’s easier to deal with than Virgil’s or Patton’s rooms, but out of the common room where Roman might overhear. Patton had already expressed that he was feeling a bit underhanded, meeting somewhere out of the way just to avoid Roman. Virgil had to admit, he almost felt the same way.

“Pat does have a point, Lo,” Virgil sighs from his typical spot on the stairs. “If we’re wrong, and it isn’t a big deal, or if it is a big deal, and we make things worse…”

“Do you think we’re wrong?” Logan asks. Virgil blinks at him, not having expected the question, and Logan elaborates, “Roman has given us plenty of reason to believe that he’s struggling with something, and he refuses to share what it is with us. What we don’t know is why he’s hiding it - but I’m willing to take a chance on the fact that this is something that needs to be brought to light for Roman’s sake. There’s more harm to be done if we ignore it.”

“So it’s between Roman possibly being mad at us...or Roman possibly getting hurt,” Virgil says. “Sounds dumb to argue if you think about it that way.”

“I guess it’s a little more obvious when you say it like that,” Patton agrees, though he still sounds somewhat resigned on the subject.

They discuss a plan for following Roman for a little while longer before they’re satisfied with it. It’s late by then, and Logan insists they go to bed - not that Virgil sleeps much anyway. The next morning, Roman doesn’t show up to breakfast (which is less strange than not appearing for lunch, and sometimes happens for more benign reasons, though they suspect in this case it isn’t), so they loiter in the common room until Roman shows up again.

He doesn’t acknowledge them if he notices them, but in this case, it works to their advantage - the less noticeable they are, the easier they can follow him. Virgil takes the lead to make sure they keep a safe distance without losing him.

Virgil is somewhat confused as he peeks around a corner and watches Roman slip into the Imagination.

He’s not sure why he finds it strange - Roman is Creativity, or at least one part of it, so he spends plenty of time in the Imagination. This isn’t strange. Perhaps that’s why it seems strange, though, because Roman was acting out of the ordinary, so Virgil was expecting him to be doing something out of the ordinary.

Either way, they go up to the door, and Logan cracks it open to peek inside.

The Imagination can look like almost anything, by virtue of its very nature, but right now it’s an endless stretch of land: a vast meadow to the left, and a dense oak forest to their right. Roman is nowhere in sight.

Logan lets the door swing open, and the three Sides step into the Imagination. The door swings closed behind them on its own and disappears, though any of them can summon it to exit whenever they wish. Roman had probably entered somewhere different than they had, as he’d likely had more idea where he was going than they did. He can’t be far, though, Virgil knows.

“He’s gotta be somewhere around here,” Virgil tells the other two.

Logan nods and says, “At least we can see clearly that he’s not - ” he pauses to gesture out at the tall grasses that stretch out into the distance, “anywhere in that direction. Which means he must be in the forest.”

“It’ll take ages to find him in there,” Virgil grumbles. They head into the forest anyway, and, thankfully, quickly find a clear trodden path to follow instead of having to push through the brush and get stuck with thorns and smacked with low-hanging branches. There’s no sign of Roman, though, until a few minutes later, when Patton suddenly stops and hushes them. 

Virgil and Logan stop, surprised, as Patton listens for a moment before he says, “Do you guys hear that?”

He doesn’t wait for a response before taking off in the direction of whatever he’d heard, and Virgil and Logan have no choice but to follow him. As they get closer, though, they hear something that sounds like fighting - and when they catch up to Patton, crouched behind some bushes and peeking between the leaves, they see what caught his attention:

There are dozens of them - small, green-skinned...gremlins, Virgil’s mind supplies, that might be just below waist height to him, wielding rudimentary weapons of clubs and spears and the like. They don’t look like Roman’s usual style, Virgil thinks - they’re nearly identical to each other, and there’s no intelligence in their eyes, only malice. Virgil wonders if Remus thought them up.

At the center of it all is Roman, brandishing his sword almost desperately, slicing through enemies that disappear in a puff of smoke as they “die” (are they even properly alive? Virgil isn’t sure). Is this what he’d been worried about? What’s so special about these things? And most importantly, what’s the need in hiding it?

As one of the small creatures charges Roman,he turns to face it, and another comes at him from the side directly opposite from where the other Sides are watching. As they watch Roman deal with them, leaving a pair of  Logan’s eyes widen and he jolts upright from his crouched position at some realization Virgil isn’t privy to.

Logan wastes no time letting them wonder, though, and hisses to the others under his breath, “They’re actually injuring him.”

Upon closer inspection, Virgil realizes that Logan is right - minor cuts and bruises litter Roman’s forearms, and one lucky hit had left a more serious wound along his ribs. Had he been this injured yesterday? How hadn’t Virgil noticed?

More importantly, how was Roman injured at all? Not a lot of things in the mindscape could actually leave a lasting mark on one of the Sides, not even another Side - Remus’s antics were generally unpleasant, but they didn’t typically last. The only things that had ever really hurt any of them had been outside circumstances, reflected in Thomas’s psyche. None of Roman or even Remus’s creations should be able to do this sort of thing.

Most of the gremlin creatures are defeated by now. “Roman?” Patton calls suddenly. He sounds concerned; uncertain as he stands so Roman can see him. Logan and then Virgil quickly follow. Roman whips around with a startled look, and in his momentary distraction his guard slips enough for one of the smaller goblin-like creatures to get in a hit with a long-reaching, fire-hardened wooden spear. “What are you guys doing here?!” Roman growls as he turns his attention back to the remaining monsters. He doesn’t wait for an answer before he shakes his head and says, “Never mind, just...go, I’ll handle this, it’s fine!”

The others definitely do not go, and Virgil lays into Roman, who’s a bit distracted fighting for his life at the time. As the last waist-height goblin is dispatched, he turns around to face the others.

“What do you mean it’s fine?! This doesn’t look like fine, Princey!” Virgil is saying. “What’s going on, why are you acting so...weird?!”

“Virgil is right, Roman,” Logan chimes in. “You know if something is going on you can tell us.”

“Nothing is going on,” Roman insists. “I can handle it. I’ve been handling it, really, it’s okay, you guys can go back to,” Roman makes a vague hand gesture, “whatever you were doing. It’s cool.” “You’ve been handling what?” Virgil asks.

Before Roman can come up with an excuse, something else appears where the gremlins had stood. It doesn’t come from anywhere - it simply materializes from a cloud of smoke like the gremlins had disappeared into, large and singular and intimidating where a horde of goblins had pushed and crowded. Three big canine heads come into existence snapping and snarling on a huge four-legged body. He towers over the Sides, and Logan, Virgil, and Patton stumble back at the sight of the creature.

Roman looks between three slavering maws and three pairs of wide eyes, and then his own eyes meet Virgil’s, and - 

“Don’t even fucking think about it - “ Virgil manages to get out before the sudden feeling of falling hits him, and the Imagination falls away around him. When he comes back up, he’s disoriented for a moment before Patton cries out wordlessly and is suddenly pounding on the door to the Imagination...from the outside. Roman kicked them out of the Imagination.

“Shit,” Virgil mutters before trying the handle.

It’s locked, of course, so Virgil alternates between joining Patton in banging on the door and trying the handle again. Logan watches with equal concern, but doesn’t join them - they all know it’s probably useless anyway, but it makes Virgil feel like he’s at least trying, so he doesn’t stop. This goes on for several minutes before, all of a sudden, the door opens on its own. Patton rushes in immediately.

Virgil and Logan don’t waste any time following him.

Roman wakes up with a nasty headache.

And an everything else-ache, for that matter.

He lets out a little pained noise and hears someone shifting nearby. When he manages  to crack his eyelids open, Logan is standing over him with an unreadable expression.

Roman realizes he’s in the common room, laid out on the couch propped up with pillows and a blanket tucked under him.

“What - ” Roman begins, and realizes even talking hurts right now.

But it’s fine because Logan already knows what he was going to ask, and tells him, “You tried to fight a ten foot tall, three-headed hellbeast on your own. While already injured,” he stresses.

“Sorry,” Roman mutters, and neither he nor Logan is sure exactly what he’s apologizing for.

“Do you...need some water, or anything?” Logan asks awkwardly.

Roman opens his mouth to respond before thinking better of it and just nodding instead.

While Logan is in the kitchen, there’s nothing to distract Roman from how much everything hurts. He thinks, bitterly, if the others just weren’t so nosy -

But that’s not fair to them, Roman knows. He should have been more careful and then they wouldn’t have found out in the first place, and then they wouldn’t have been there at all.God, Patton and Virgil were probably worried sick.

Then Logan is back with his water, and helps Roman sit up to drink it as Roman takes stock of the bandages on his own extremities, feels the aching wounds on his torso, reaches up to gingerly touch the gauze wrapped around his head...the gravity of the situation sinks in a little further.

When Roman sinks back into the couch, still wrapped in the blanket but opting not to lay back down, Logan detaches himself from Roman and stands as he says, “I’m going to tell Patton and Virgil that you’re awake.” Logan’s brow furrows into a faintly concerned expression as he adds, “They were worried about you.” Maybe it’s Roman’s imagination, but Logan sounds a little softer than he did before, as Roman avoids his eyes. It still feels like an accusation, even though Roman knows Logan didn’t mean it that way. 

He doesn’t hear the unspoken “So was I” in Logan’s tone.

Roman is only left alone for a few moments before all three of the others rejoin him, Patton bounding into the room with a relieved exclamation of “Roman!”

Even as Roman flinches at his volume, he sees tears brimming Patton’s eyes and feels the guilt worm its way into the marrow of his bones.

Virgil sees Roman wince and taps Patton on the shoulder to get his attention, putting a finger to his lips wordlessly. Patton looks from Virgil back to Roman, and says in a more mollified tone, “Sorry, kiddo.” He sits next to Roman on the couch, taking Roman’s unbandaged left hand in his own and rubbing his thumb in circles over the back of Roman’s hand. Virgil sits on Roman’s other side, slightly further away than Patton, not touching Roman. Logan joins them on Virgil’s right.

“Sorry I worried you guys,” Roman says hoarsely.

“Damn right you are,” Virgil growls. “You could’ve died! What would’ve happened if we hadn’t noticed that something was wrong? What if something worse had shown up? What if you hadn’t beaten it?” Virgil runs an unsteady hand through his hair, and Roman avoids looking at the other Side’s stricken expression.

“But I did beat it. It’s fine, Virgil,” Roman tries to reassure him. It’s a testament to how not fine it is, though, that Roman can’t even come up with a good nickname to ease the tension, and in the moment of silence that follows, Roman chooses instead to focus on how his ribs ache. 

“Stop saying that,” Virgil hisses, smacking his hands on his knees in frustration.

"If I may,” Logan interrupts, placing a hand on Virgil’s arm for a moment, as though it were a way to ask permission. “Roman, what were those things that attacked you? What makes you think you have to deal with them alone?”

Roman hesitates for a moment before he answers. “Back when Thomas was a kid, whenever he was...dealing with something, it was my job to keep his spirits up. Through my art, yes; that was a lot of what I did. But sometimes those issues manifested a little more physically. Or as physical as things in the mindscape can be anyway - ”

“Like those little gremlin things?” Patton interrupts, and Roman nods. “I think they’re like...the way Thomas processes emotional, uh, distress or something?” Roman continues. “They always show up after something happens that make Thomas upset. Like a bad grade on a test in high school would be an evil sorcerer, or...or feeling bad about doing something wrong would be a bloodthirsty dire wolf, or - ” Roman cuts off, evidently deciding against saying whatever he’d been about to say.  “...Yeah. They’re different monsters depending on whatever thing Thomas is dealing with. And I help him deal with them.”

“So you’ve been doing this for all those years by yourself?” Virgil asks, voice still sounding somewhat strained.

“I’m Creativity, I’m the one who’s supposed to be able to get rid of that stuff,” Roman replies lamely.

Virgil scoffs. “And look how well that’s working out for you.”

“I can handle it!” Roman insists, but as he sits up straight to make his point, a shock of pain runs through his side and he inhales sharply, leaning back against the couch gingerly, feeling as though that’s less true than it’s ever been.

“But you shouldn’t have to,” Patton insists, and he’s still holding Roman’s good hand, squeezing it reassuringly. “Not by yourself. We want to help you, Roman, all you have to do is let us.”

“It doesn’t need to be your problem,” Roman mumbles, and he doesn’t know if the others hear him, but clearly they get the gist, because Logan speaks up next.

“Roman, we’re not here out of obligation,” he begins, catching Roman’s eye as he leans forward to look at the other Side properly. “As I said before, if you have a problem, you can come to us with it. If things get to be too much, there’s no shame in asking for help. Stepping back and reevaluating the situation can be more helpful in the long run than rushing in to deal with things head on - and the worst thing you can do is push away the people who care about you.”

After taking a moment to process Logan’s words, Roman tears his gaze away from Logan’s and laughs dryly. There are a few long moments of silence, and then Patton says, "Can you just...promise me you won't get in trouble like that again without saying something? I don't - we don't want you to get hurt."

Patton's looking up at Roman, and he looks so earnest, Roman knows he's not escaping without giving a real answer.

"Okay," Roman replies. "Okay, I can do that, Padre." He leans into the other's side, and the smile he gets in response alleviates some of the pressure Roman feels weighing on him. He manages a small smile back.

"Hey, we mean it, Princey, if you get so much as a scratch and we don't find out about it you're never hearing the end of it," Virgil threatens, but there's more fondness in his voice than there had been.

“But for now…” Patton releases Roman’s hand, and Roman is disappointed for a moment before Patton claps his hands together and says, smiling, “Since we’re all out here, why don’t we have a movie night?”

The other three agree without any cajoling, and Roman is more enthusiastic than is probably strictly necessary, but that’s not unusual normally, and particularly not when Roman feels has so much to make up to them.

Patton gets up to pick out a movie, and asks, “How do you feel about Mary Poppins, Roman?”

“I think that Julie Andrews is a goddess and that sounds,” Roman pauses dramatically, “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!”

Logan goes to get snacks, and in the meantime Roman badgers Virgil into being his pillow. When Logan returns to see Roman sprawled dramatically across Virgil and Patton’s laps, he raises an eyebrow, but says nothing.

And if a few minutes into the movie, Roman falls asleep with his face buried in Virgil’s hoodie, snoring gently...well, Virgil doesn’t say anything about that, either.

[rallamajoop]

Inception: A Fannish Retrospective

For a while now I’ve found myself craving a fic of a particular hard-to-define quality – something with a bit of grit and maturity – not graphic or grim, but perhaps the kind of seedy underworld setting you might find in the better parts of Tarantino or Guy Richie’s oeuvre. The kind of fic that lets me believe that if the author toned down the slash and published it as a mainstream crime or espionage thriller, I’d still be enthused about reading it. Cord Smithee’s work is a particularly good example, for the UNCLE fans out there, but you can only reread those fics so many times, and fic of that quality has been especially sparse in the last few fandoms I’ve drifted through, and so the craving lingered.

Then it hit me: hey, you know what fandom used to be really good for that kind of fic? Inception.

And after all this time in Venom fandom, it was hardly a big jump to more Tom Hardy, so.

Maybe the bigger wonder is that nearly ten years on, most of the fic is still just as good as I remember it being. Mirabella’s Towards Zero remains one of the most satisfying things I’ve ever read in any fandom, and delires’ chav!Eames AU is better than any idea that cracked has any goddamn right to be, and (at least as long as you’re into the juggernaut ship that is Arthur/Eames) you are spoilt for choice ­­for more.

But revisiting a fandom this much later and binging this much fic, you notice things. We’ll start with…

The Film

Still holds up on rewatching today. It will never be nearly as smart a film as I’ve seen some claim: totems, for one, make no fucking sense (they’re objects with details known only to you, but if Cobb can unintentionally bring a carbon copy of his wife into a dream, why not a top that falls over when spun? And why does it keep spinning indefinitely in dreams, anyway?), and for all the exposition on ‘kicks’, why the kicks need to be synchronised to work under sedation is woefully under-explained, to the point I’m always by distracted trying to make sense of it in the middle of the third act. (Do not even get me started on the ‘it’s actually about filmmaking!’ theory – the mental gymnastics required to explain how Yusuf or Mal fits in or why we’re so fixated on the importance of the set designer, of all roles, is laughable. Some of the parallels are moderately entertaining, but don’t try to tell me you’ve unlocked the secret meaning of the film – Inception is not a movie that makes you work that hard to find its main themes.)

But the film works despite its plotholes because it’s not, ultimately, a story driven by its mechanics: the endlessly spinning top may make no sense, but film is a visual medium, and it’s such a good visual gimmick it’s gets a pass. The practical stunts are still as impressive ever, but what really lifts Inception so far beyond your typical action/heist film – for me, at least – are the characters, and the huge emotional payoffs at the end. Fischer’s reconciliation with his father is no less moving for its falseness, “We did grow old together” has gotten a sniffle out of me time and again, and the final “We’ll be young men together” scene is wonderful in so many ways I could only dream there was the Cobb/Saito fic to live up to. It’s not for nothing I’ve got Inception mentally filed in my very short list of humanist action movies along with Mad Max: Fury Road, Terminator II, and precious few others.

And then there’s…

 The Fandom

Film fandoms are always an interesting beast, peaking as they do when the film is still in theatres, when most folks writing fic are working off imperfect memories of having seen an hour or two’s worth of canon maybe once or twice at most. Fanon can go feral in far less conducive environments, is my point here – inevitably, there’ll be the details that get analysed to death or flanderised to the point of parody, and the details that get altogether forgotten. Here’s just one example that hit me on a rewatch: I have lately read god knows how many different theories on just what it means that Arthur knew Eames was in Mombasa – none of them the least bothered by how everything in Cobb’s behaviour in that scene suggests he already knows exactly where he’s going, and may even be right now leaving to catch his flight. We could talk about the artefacts of clunky exposition being shoehorned into the dialogue, or the actual intent of that exchange, but shipper-goggles give you some powerful tunnel-vision (and I say this as someone who ships it like burning).

Binge as much fic as fast as I have in the last few months, and you begin to notice trends. Common themes and popular fanon that have ascended to gospel, and facets of the original film I’d love to see explored that fandom seems to have collectively missed altogether (and the sad lack of decent Cobb/Saito is only one). Below, in no particular order, are some of those observations.

Since most of these come across as critical, I want to emphasise that I have had a ball revisiting the fic in this fandom, and there are probably multiple fics guilty of everything I touch on below which I have loved to bits. It’s only the repetition that really starts to make you sit up and notice.

1.       The Cobb-bashing, oh my god the Cobb-bashing! I had forgotten just how much this fandom hates Cobb. In the film, Cobb’s plan is the only reason Arthur and Eames ever end up in the same room at all – yet in fanfic, Cobb has been recast as the only thing keeping them apart. I’m not kidding there – fic with that exact premise is almost its own genre. In Inception fanon, Cobb is crazy and cares only about himself, and Arthur has wasted years of misplaced loyalty keeping him alive. Fanon!Eames hates Cobb for monopolising Arthur’s attention (in the film, Eames seems underwhelmed to learn Cobb is still working with Arthur at all). Fanon!Eames only works with Cobb at all because it’s an excuse to work with Arthur (in the film, they’re barely capable of having a civil conversation). Fanon!Eames never forgives Cobb for concealing the level of sedation they were under Inception job, and nor does Arthur (in the film, no-one even mentions Cobb’s deception after they leave the first level, and Eames’ main disappointment at the end is that he won’t get to see the Fischers’ big reconciliation, but why let that douse a good hateboner?) Meanwhile, Yusuf’s corresponding betrayal and Arthur’s equally-disastrous research-fail are rarely referenced. It’s not every fic, but the base level of Cobb-hate around these parts is pretty astounding. There’s nothing new about fans bashing the main character for having the gall to take screentime away from their OTP, and I’d be the last to play down Cobb’s real failings. But when one finds oneself tempted to leave enthusiastic comments on decade-old fic, praising the author for giving Cobb a minor scene or two where he gets to be a total bro to Arthur for a change… I promise you, it’s not me, it’s this fandom.

2.       For all that Eames is basically the single biggest reason I’m reading in this fandom, his fanon characterisation leaves something to be desired. I do get the appeal of flirty!Eames or pining!Eames – it’s just that once in a while, you find yourself longing for fic about the guy who was actually in the movie – y’know, the one who’s first response to Arthur’s name was, “Arthur? Are you still working with that stick-in-the-mud?” I am totally down with the idea he was feigning indifference– maybe for Cobb’s benefit, maybe he’s actively in denial himself, whatevs. But fanon!Eames characterisation typically ranges from “hopelessly in love with Arthur from the moment they met” to “a walking sexual harassment lawsuit in action,” and neither of those guys could convincingly feign indifference to save their lives. It’s also a shame we don’t see more of the side of Eames that got so genuinely, unashamedly invested in what they were doing for Fischer – quite beyond the money and the prestige, Eames loves that they get to fix Fischer’s relationship with his father and reveal Browning as the rat that he is, and it’s a wonderfully humanising side to such a shady character. There should be so much scope in there to cast Eames was a guy with a real idealistic streak, or more conscience than he’d usually admit to, or just an abiding love for melodrama – the possibilities go on and on (and if you can’t think of a dozen ways to tie any of those in as fuel for his rivalry with Arthur for bonus shippy fodder, you aren’t even trying). But that part of Eames never does seem to have found a place in the fandom’s collective headcanon, because hell if I can find any exploration of it in fic, le sigh. (Cynically, I have to wonder if it’s because it clashes with the fanon where Eames spent the Inception job furiously hating Cobb and focused on Arthur, but even that seems somewhat lacking as an answer. Who even knows?)

3.       As a corollary to the above, remarkably few fics make any attempt to deal with the fact that Arthur and Eames a) basically hate each other, b) for reasons that do not entirely revolve around how Arthur won’t put out. Obviously, this is a ‘hate’ that covers a much deeper well of underlying respect, but these are two guys who only stop taking potshots at each other when they’re being shot at for real, and to me that is 95% of the fun of the pairing – why does no-one even seem to try to recreate that dynamic in fic? Even 99% of Eames’ infamous ‘flirting’ would be better described as him pulling Arthur’s pigtails. Yet virtually no-one seems to want to tackle their antipathy head-on – even fic that acknowledges it as a past phase of their relationship isn’t set during that phase. I’m all for seeing them eventually end up friendlier, but you’ve got to show me how they get there first – that’s the good bit! Why does everyone skip over it? :((((

4.       This fandom has SUCH a thing for underage!Arthur. Fics will go on and on about how young he looks, or theorise that he was actually underaged when he first got into dreamshare, or at least looked it. Seriously, the idea of Eames having mistaken Arthur for a teen when they first met is, like, the accepted pan-fandom headcanon as to why they don’t get on (unless we’re in military-backstory land, in which case it’s that Arthur had to deal with Eames hitting on him during the time of DADT). Then there are the many (MANY) AUs where Arthur really is a teen, hitting on the much-older Eames – there’s that one semi-parody where even twenty-something!Arthur gets cockblocked by his own looks, and there’s even at least one that flips things so that Eames the one who was underage when they met, just for variety.

It’s a real Thing, and I only wish I understood where it comes from, since (to me) Arthur has always looked like the 29yo man JGL legitimately was back when Inception hit screens – I don’t think he’d even passed as a Hollywood!teen for a solid half a decade at that point. So… are there really that many people who thought JGL looked that young when the film came out, or is this just one of those fannish meme things? I may never know.

5.       No-one (by which I mean almost no-one) gets how limbo works. Fic after fic treats it as basically just a garden-variety coma, and colleagues can spend days or months moving the victim, gathering a team and planning a complex rescue. Rarely is it ever remembered the whole point of limbo is that you can age and die trapped in your own mind in no more than hours in the real world. When Eames talks about being ‘trapped in limbo until our brains turn to scrambled egg’, I think it’s safe to assume he’s being pretty literal. Basically, if you’re not treating limbo as the temporal equivalent of the Total Perspective Vortex, you’re probably doing it wrong.

6.       No-one does anything interesting with Ariadne. This, I have some sympathy for: it’s hard to know where to go with someone who ends the film where she does – her push-pull relationship with the world of illegal dreamshare is not a contradiction that can be easily resolved in a subplot, if at all. But the Ariadne who so quickly had Cobb picked as a loose canon never seems to appear in fic either, and nor does the Ariadne with the guts to sneak into his dream to find answers, or the prodigy whose last-minute moment of inspiration saved the whole job. No, Inception fic is more likely to give you an Ariadne who giggles and drags her teammates out partying than any of that, which is absurd to the point of being genuinely offensive. Seriously, that is some A-grade “all we remembered about her is that she’s female”-bullshit. Even when she’s not saddled with OOC giggle fits, fic!Ariadne also remains frustrating static: years after the film, she’ll still be doing extractions with the Inception team, despite seeming no more at home in their world. Where’s the Ariadne who embraces the underworld wholeheartedly and reaches Arthur or Cobb levels of badassery? The Ariadne whose natural gifts and overconfidence get her into Cobb-levels of trouble? Who takes the Inception job as inspiration to go into therapeutic uses of dreams? Who finds legitimate dream-related work through Miles or Saito, but still lets the old team drag her back into extractions every once in a while (because she’s easily one of the most reliable architects in the whole shady business, and there’s a part of her that still kind of loves it)? WHERE?

The obvious rejoinder to all this is that it’s hardly surprising Ariadne doesn’t get much play when you’re mostly reading Arthur/Eames fic. So (because the land of fic is still terrible at cataloguing character-specific gen) I had a dig through some Arthur/Ariadne fic for comparison – only to run into much the same frustrations all over again. No-one takes her character anywhere very interesting.

So you can imagine my surprised delight when I tried a couple of Arthur/Ariadne/Eames fics on a whim, and almost immediately found not one but two different stories willing to dive headfirst into the questions surrounding Ariadne’s future in the world of illegal dreamshare (plus multiple stories which made a very convincing case that Ariadne should absolutely celebrate their successful Inception by having a threesome with her colleagues, I mean, damn).

I have absolutely no idea what it says about fandom that I had to go looking at threesome fic to find real character development, but at this point, I’ll take it.

7.       So, I get why everyone reads Eames as queer (duh), but having discovered two quite excellent straight!Eames fic (which is to say, fic which utterly sells the idea that Eames considers himself straight or had no experience with men until long after meeting Arthur), the fact no equivalent seems to exist for Arthur baffles me. Sure, there’s one or two stories where one smile from Eames is about all it takes to make him change his mind, and one great kink meme fill that might have been just what I was looking for if it had ever been finished. But otherwise, the idea that Arthur (a guy who snogs Ariadne and is given no other obvious sexuality) -- the same Arthur whom every other fic portrays as seriously emotionally repressed – the idea this guy might not be experienced and comfortable dating men just… doesn’t seem to have occurred to anyone. Which is so weird.

Is there not enough RL evidence that Tom Hardy can and does make straight guys reconsider their preferences? Is the idea of an Arthur who’s repressed that side of his own sexuality not a juicy enough explanation for the tension between them? How on earth did we wind up with a fandom where Eames is more likely to be the designated “straight” one at the start of the story than Arthur? The mind boggles.

Holy shit, you’re still reading? Damn! Have some more recs as thanks for listening to me ramble at so much length.

Recs!

Here’s those two from the top again, because I really do love them that much

We Can Do This Until We Pass Out by delires Disturbing London, baby, we about to branch out. (The one where Eames is a chav)

Towards Zero by Mirabella Five levels down, and five to dig yourself back out.  Arthur met Eames' projection long before he met Eames.

Where the Dead Live also by Mirabella There's a monster in Arthur's basement.  Maybe he shouldn't have invited it in. It’s the vampire!Apocalypse, and this one is intense. Utterly brilliant, but equally unapologetic about the implications of its premise. So, for a somewhat-lighter take on monster!Eames, I will also throw in:

Cthonical’s demon!Eames verse Unfinished -- arguably never even properly started, just a series of ficlets from a ‘verse that never quite got written, but they are scorching hot and still well worth a look.

That’s a lot of darker fic though, probably time to lighten the mood a little.

Anal [Inception] aka Not Now Cobb We're Doing BGs also by cthonical Arthur and Eames both play WoW. They kick ass at Warsong Gulch, and when they team up they’re nigh on unstoppable.They don’t know they’re playing with each other.

Champion Sound by pyrimidine Prompt: Arthur is a DJ, Eames is a bartender.

London Bridge by sorrynotsorry Arthur loves whiskey, and maybe strippers. 

My two favourite Arthur/Eames/Ariadne fics

How to Cure Insomnia by wonderfulwrites When she called Arthur for advice on how to deal with the unexpected insomnia - okay, fine, on the pretense of asking for advice – she hadn’t expected to have to wade through a sea of bodies to see him. But then, she also hadn’t expected Eames’s cheerful but surprising, Just come, Ariadne. You can sleep when you’re dead.  Or Eames, at all, really. The Wind on the Mountain by Starlingthefool Something in her rebels against this casual, passive seduction. God knows why, but she’s sitting up in the water, taking her foot back from Eames and dislodging Arthur’s hands from her back. She stands, wet underwear clinging ridiculously to her, and says to Arthur, “All right. Your turn.”

Aaand let’s have a few more straight Arthur/Eames to round it out.

Untitled and Untitled, redux by Helenish -- two variants on a theme, and do not let the lack of proper titles put you off, they’re both great.

Unexpected Plot Twist by ethrosdemon Post-Inception -- long and (as promised) twisty, and a very solid read.

Four Corners by Mithrigil In Eames’ line of work, a first impression means nearly everything. It’s always a pity when he doesn’t get off on the right foot.

Kiss With A Fist  by cmonkatiekatie Because apparently, to find real Arthur/Eames antagonism, I have to go looking for hate sex. (Not complaining, this is some amazing hate sex.)

And also basically Everything by Wiltling There’s a darker vibe to their work, but it rarely gets oppressive -- just generally a lot of great fic.

[hardlyfatal]

gary’s writing workshop: lesson 6: point of view, part 2

aka: POVs/Subplots Are My OTP

To discuss the connection between POVs and subplots, first we must revisit the topics of plot structure, flow, continuity, purpose, and readability.

Subplots add complexity and depth to a story.

They give the writer the opportunity to show another aspect of the main character’s personality, how people can wear multiple hats in their lives. Brienne is a fearsome warrior, but she’s also sensitive and gentle. Jaime is a snarkmaster deluxe, but he’s also a huge romantic and secret chivalric hero.

Unless you can find a main plot that somehow showcases all of the above at once – not easy – you need to add a subplot or two in order to provide opportunities to display all the facets of their personalities, not just the ones that are used in the main plot. If you don’t, you run the risk of a story that feels monotonous and characters that feel flat.

Likewise, when a story gains the complexity of subplots, it can start to feel unrealistic, too busy, or even claustrophobic when everything is from a single character’s POV. She’s everywhere at once, has a finger in every pie and no time off. My recommendation is that no main character should be the POV of more than two plots. If your story has more than two plots, it might be best to have the third one related by another character, to permit some fresh air into the narrative.

In the Plot Structuring lesson, we discussed how scenes need to have a purpose: they must connect the prior scenes to the next, and push the plot forward in a substantive way. They need to make sense within the timeline, in forming one in a series of steps from the story’s start to its finish. Similarly, scenes need to make sense regarding whose POV they are placed in.

Who Should Get a POV?

Choosing who gets a POV in a story is a very big and important decision, because they are the character(s) who the story will be filtered through. Their thoughts and feelings and motivations will be visible to us in ways they will not be to the other characters.

The strength of narration tends to become weakened with each character added, because the reader becomes used to one person’s headspace, and then you’re shoving them into someone else. And many writers get so invested in the ratio of POV trade-off1 that the plot’s needs are ignored in order to follow this pattern. Instead of carrying through with the momentum created from the prior chapter, “It’s a Jaime chapter!” they exclaim, and so they switch to him even though they really should be sticking with Brienne, etc.

In other words, there should be a point to why we’re in another person all of a sudden, and that point should not be “It’s easier to describe this scene from the other characters’s POV”. POVs should belong to characters who are either primary in the main plot, or primary in their own subplot. In a romance, that would probably be two people: both halves of the romantic couple. In non-romantic plots or sub-plots, whoever are primary2 characters in them might have the POV.

If you do choose to have multiple POVs in a story, it shouldn’t just be for a single scene or chapter – POVs should not be squandered, as they’re more integral to the flow and continuity of a story than many people think. Shoehorning in a new POV for only one chapter can be a Chekhov’s Gun; if there’s no future to the person having their own POV, if there won’t be follow-through later on, it weakens the story. The reader is left wondering why we’ve been granted access to the new POV character’s head, only to never visit it again.

Exceptions: Sometimes at the beginning or end of a story, an alternate POV can serve as a quasi-omniscient POV, serving to provide information that the main characters have no access to but with a more personal touch, thanks to the character’s limited POV. I’ve done this twice, and looking back, I’m not sure I’d do it again, because in hindsight it feels like one of them is a Chekhov’s Gun and the other is a Deux Ex Machina.

Questions to ask yourself when deciding whether or not to add another POV to a story:

What inner voice/narrative/introspection is so important for the reader to witness that it justifies adding another POV to the story?

What inner voice/narrative/introspection is so important for the reader to witness that it justifies adding another POV to the story?

Will the story lose something if you don’t have access to the other character’s POV?

Is suspense an integral part of your story? If so, this is an especially important decision, because including other POVs can kill the mystery you need to maintain. OR will the suspense be enhanced because switching to another POV means that the cliffhanger you left the previous chapter on will be permitted to ripen?

If the conclusion you draw to these is that yes, adding another POV to the story will be a good idea, then go for it.

Headhopping

Headhopping is frequent switching of POV from one character to the next. How you define ‘frequent’ is subjective; IMO, more than twice a chapter is too much. Unless there’s a damned good reason for it – i.e. there are multiple strong and important subplots that take place in different locations3 – it’s best to limit the number of narrating characters to the minimum required to write a good story, without dumping in superfluous POV just ‘cuz.

Otherwise, you run the risk of the story feeling chaotic and disorganized to the reader: who’s the main character? Who are we supposed to identify with? Oh, we’re back to the first guy now? Who’s next? If your reader is questioning what’s going on, you’ve killed your readability4.

Having many characters as focal points can prevent the reader from making a connection with them, with the result that they become acquainted but don’t really get to know and identify with any, and thus they don’t become too emotionally invested, losing the compulsion to keep reading. Worse, they might take a disliking to a character and skip chapters featuring him/her5.

Pantser alert: I find that people who don’t plan out their plots, and whose POV each chapter will be written in, ahead of time end up being headhoppers. They’re just writing the story as it occurs to them, one chapter at a time, and when they hit a snag, or can’t figure out how to describe something they want to show, they hit on switching POVs as the solution instead of restructuring.

This tends to result in not only a weaker narrative but also weak characterization in the new additions, since little to no thought was put into it and there’s little actual function the new POV provides besides fixing the corner the author wrote themselves into.

If you want to reveal an event occurring without the main character(s) being present, instead of introducing yet another character6, maybe try to restructure the plot instead; can it be captured on video that the character can see later? Featured on the news/in the paper? Recounted by another character who was there? If the character is perceptive/deductive/good at drawing conclusions, perhaps include hints and signs of what occurred and have them figure it out on their own?

Bottom line: Including more than two characters without compromising the flow of the narrative and without becoming chaotic is possible, of course. It’s just not as easy as many people think it is and often can lead to a weak story. Be critical and selective when you choose to add another POV to your story, and see if there are alternatives, first.

How Many Is Too Many?

There’s no law stating how many – or how few – POVs you are allowed to have. However, a general rule of thumb is that the shorter the story, the fewer subplots (and thus, the fewer POVs) your story should have. More POVs = more complexity, and shorter stories just don’t have the length needed to do each of them justice. You need time to develop a character’s inner voice, and it’s just not possible7 with fewer than ~5,000 words per POV.

Here’s a rough idea of how long various types of stories are, and a recommended maximum number of POVs in each.

Drabble: 250 – 1,000 words. One POV, one plot.

Short story: 1,000 – 10,000. One POV, one plot.

Novelette: 10,000 – 30,000. Up to two POVs, max of two plots if done carefully, otherwise one plot.

Novella: 30,000 – 60,000. One or two POVs, at least two plots.

Novel: 60,000 – 80,000. At least two POVs, at least two plots and max of three plots.

Super Novel: 80,000 – 100,000. At least two POVs, at least two plots and max of four plots.

Epic: 100,000+. At least two POVs, at least three plots.

Switching POVs

Making your way, as a writer, from one character’s POV to another can be done in two ways: a hard, clear break, such as beginning a new chapter or inserting a scene break; and a gradual, smooth transition in the middle of the narrative.

I used to use the latter, and you can see it frequently in my Bleach fic, Become A Ghost. I have come to feel that it weakens the narrative because when you a read a scene, you become accustomed and settle into the mindset of one character… and then sliiiiiide into another’s, and it causes a moment of realization that you’re now in the head of someone else.

It’s not hugely objectionable, but I think it does compromise the readability of the story, and thus I’ve come to eliminate it. My stories now only feature hard POV switches, or don’t switch at all, remaining in a single character’s POV the entire time.

Deep POV

Deep POV is a narrative technique that works to eliminate the distance between the reader and the POV character. There is no headhopping, no visible narrator, and as few marks of authorship as possible. Its purpose is to coax the reader to submerge themselves in the character’s perspective and ‘become one’ with the character as much as possible.

Marks of authorship are things like filter words, dialogue tags8, and any wording that would be unnatural to a character’s narrative. To write with Deep POV, you have to commit to limiting the character’s knowledge to only what they’d personally be aware of.

The first Jaime POV scene in Desperado is a decent example of Deep POV because it’s very introspective and mostly avoids these characteristics. Some still exist, however, so I’ve revised instances of them to be more in line with a deep POV. 

Depending on word choice, it can be as purple9 as you want… or not. Just tone it down, if you have concerns about things becoming too overwrought.

Footnotes

1 1:1, 2:2, etc. i.e. a chapter featuring one main character, then a chapter with the other main character, then the first again, back and forth, etc.

2 This doesn’t mean “anyone who has any involvement whatsoever in the sub-plot”, just those to whom it pertains critically.

3 For example, in the A Song of Ice and Fire series of books, Jon’s at the Wall, Sansa’s in King’s Landing, Daenerys is in Essos, Brienne and Jaime are fucking about in the Riverlands, Sandor and Arya are fucking about in the Vale, Bran is prancing about the North, Tyrion is all over the damned place, etc.

4 Readability being defined, as mentioned in prior lessons, as how effortlessly a reader can become immersed in a story and move without interruption through it. Readability means there are the fewest number possible of things that can snag the reader’s attention, confuse them, or otherwise drag them back out of the story to the real world. Our goal as writers is to infuse our work with as much effortless readability as possible.

5 As someone who has been told many times that readers are skipping chapters in one story because they feature characters or pairings they don’t like, it’s really fucking annoying. You work so hard to create a complex story, build people and relationships, and weave the plot and subplots through it all in a way that’s at least marginally coherent, and you get “LOL I just haaaaate this character, I don’t read those chapters!” and “Gawd, these other characters bore me, I skip those! Tee hee!”. Well, fuck you very much.

6 Especially if you’ll only be using them for a single scene in the middle of the story: that’s a Chekhov’s Gun situation where the character his/herself is the gun, and not an item or situation.  

7 At least, it’s not possible to do well with fewer than ~5,000 words per POV.

8 We will go over both filter words and dialogue tags in more detail in later lessons.

9 Prose can be called “purple” when it’s so overblown, ornate, or fancy that it distracts the reader and draws attention to itself, and not in a good way.

© 2019 to me

[phosphorescent-naidheachd]

I saw TROS earlier today and, well, it was definitely a Star Wars sequel movie, for better and for worse. I can see why some people on my dash hated this movie and why some of them loved it. I can also see why some of them threw their hands into the air over it and shrugged. (FYI, I’m in the third category.) More scattered and spoiler-laden thoughts below the cut:

--“Never underestimate a droid.” This line would have been so much more meaningful if the spy had turned out to be a First Order droid rather than Hux. A droid that had broken free of its programming, just like Finn (and later Jannah and the other unnamed former stormtroopers). But as always, the Droid Revolution that we deserve is probably never going to be a thing, at least not onscreen where it counts.

--Just like TFA, the copy-and-pasting from the Original Trilogy was painfully obvious, but what was forgivable in the first film of a new trilogy is less so in said trilogy’s concluding film. 

--Trần Loan/Rose deserved more screentime and prominence. And did we really have to turn Poe into a former spice runner? Really? *sighs heavily*

--Zorii Bliss felt sort of shoehorned in? I didn’t hate her, but it felt like TPTB only introduced her to give Poe another person to flirt with. And I say this as someone who was not expecting PoeFinn or any other LGBTQIAP+ relationship between named characters to be made canon in this movie at all. Hopefully fans will give her more depth in fic!

--Jannah was really interesting and I would have loved to see more of her. Once again, hopefully fans will take her character and deepen/explore it in fic.

--LANDO! 

--Finn was all but explicitly confirmed as Force sensitive, and it’s What He Deserves. 

--I mean, Finn also deserved his own storyline and a stronger conclusion to his character arc in this film, especially considering he was promoted as one of the leads of the sequel trilogy. But while I’m irked that he was relegated to a side character, I can’t say I didn’t see this coming, especially after TLJ. 

--Likewise, I knew Reyl0 was going to be a thing after TLJ. I found their relationship less grating than Anida1a in the prequels, but it still didn’t do much of anything for me in this film. Do I understand from an objective POV why some people enjoy it so much? Yep. It’s the grand, tortured, Byronic Romance™, where it isn’t really about whether the characters have anything in common or even like each other, it’s about their near-mystical connection and their inability (and lack of true desire) to be rid of it; it’s about the lengths to which they will go for each other/themselves; it’s about the powerful man who is emotionally vulnerable and eager to serve his True Love at the expense of all else. It’s also the whole enemies-to-lovers trope, and so on. I understand the appeal of this mashup intellectually, it’s just not my cup of tea here. YMMV and all that, and that’s as it should be.

--Palpatine back from death is as ridiculous here as it was in the old EU, but I can roll with it. I think the movie made the right decision not to explain all the nitty-gritty details of how he cheated death or manipulated the whole Snoke deal... ultimately, it doesn’t really matter, y’know? Ditto to Rey Palpatine lol.

--Leia’s death felt pretty narratively cheap to me, but I understand that there was only so much TPTB could do with the footage they already had of Carrie Fisher in costume. Still, poor Leia. She drew a deeply shitty hand in life, didn’t she?

--That said, it was nice to see Leia training as a Jedi in flashbacks, however briefly. (Is it just me, or did her saber hilt vaguely resemble Obi-Wan’s?) Does it make a lot less sense that she would then send Ben away to Luke if she’s had Jedi training? Yes. Can I created headcanons to explain this? Also yes. And do I really care about this particular inconsistency when there are far worse ones out there and this one makes dudebro sections of the fandom spitting mad? NOPE.

--I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’m not inherently against the redemption of Kylo/Ben. But, as I had suspected/feared, they “redeemed” him at the narrative expense of other characters I personally find more interesting... and they still didn’t manage to make said redemption feel narratively earned to me. Is there undoubtedly ancillary material in SW books and comics that give more background behind Kylo/Ben’s turn to the Dark Side and eventual turn back to the Light? Yes. Do I want to read it? Not really, no. Also, unless something happens onscreen in the SW universe, it doesn’t really count as true canon. So it’s disappointing that the movie shoved other characters and plots to the side to make room for Kylo/Ben’s redemption arc and then didn’t even do a good job with it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

--Also, of course TPTB had Kylo/Ben die saving someone rather than narratively deal with what it means to work towards redemption after having done lots of terrible things, and having to recover from having been manipulated/groomed by Sidious. Not surprised in the slightest.

--I would have preferred a Stormtrooper Rebellion storyline, but I’m not going to blast TROS or the sequel trilogy for being what it is rather than what I wanted it to be. I will, however, blast it for its sloppy execution of its existing storylines. Which leads to my next point...

--Even though TROS was long, it still felt rushed and, like the first two movies in this trilogy, it felt largely disconnected from the other sequel trilogy films. The Star Wars Story Group really should have planned this trilogy out better. If TPTB were going to go with two different directors/writers, they should have made sure said directors/writers were on the same page rather than seemingly fighting each other’s visions of what the overarching story should be at every step.  

--I’m willing to handwave a lot of stuff that happens in TROS, mainly because I’m long past expecting coherence from this franchise... or pretty much any major franchise, tbh. (For instance: Thousands of people show up to aid the Resistance when Lando calls them but not when Leia did in TLJ? OK. Force Ghost Luke shows up to catch Rey’s lightsaber but not to help her against Palpatine? Sure.) These issues don’t really make or break the series for me, so I can work with them with a minimum of grumbling. Which isn’t quite the same thing as letting TPTB off the hook for their laziness and inconsistencies.

--Honestly, I hate to say it, but it would have made for a stronger story if Chewie had died aboard the ship when Rey and Kylo/Ben were fighting over it; that would have driven home the consequences of Rey’s lack of control and lessened the artificiality of the stakes in this movie. But I get that this is ultimately a family film, so it’s more of a minor quibble than anything else.

--It’s kind of weird that Rey’s hair is back in the three buns again for the entirety of TROS after she wore her hair differently for almost all of TLJ. But that’s a fairly minor quibble too, and one of the sort I can easily create a headcanon to explain. Actually, come to think of it, I wonder if they didn’t do this at least partially to be able to recycle some of the unused TFA clips with Leia and Rey?

--Frankly, I’m not sure why Rey suddenly cared so much about what Luke thought, considering A. he was a huge jerk to her for most of TLJ, and B. she seemed to have broken with following his advice towards the end of TLJ. And since she didn’t have a great relationship with Luke, it seems weird that she’d take his last name. Shouldn’t she have gone with Organa or even Solo, if she’s naming herself after a mentor? But whatever, I get that it’s about the symbolism more than the character or logic. And I can create headcanons to explain all of this.

--It’s a little weird that there wasn’t any more resolution to Kylo/Ben’s storyline and Rey’s feelings about it after his death. But with Leia dead, I guess there isn’t anyone left who’d especially care if Kylo/Ben turned back to the Light aside from Rey herself. Still, there should have been something more. Especially since Ben didn’t show up as a Force Ghost alongside Luke and Leia on Tatooine.

--While I’m at it, I wish we could have had a minute’s conversation with Rey telling Finn about her heritage, if only because I think he would have understood. But I wish we could have learned more about Finn’s heritage (which didn’t need to be a known SW lineage, btw) too, so... 

--For that matter, I wish we could have had Finn get a chance to tell Rey about his being Force Sensitive, which might have made her feel slightly less alone. I wish we could have seen Finn figure out what being Force Sensitive meant to him. And so on.

--Not sure where people are getting the idea that Lando & Jannah were flirting, because I didn’t read their interaction that way at all.

--General Poe and General Finn were great, but also sort of felt unearned after the events of TLJ.

--The abilities that come from being part of a Dyad are overpowered and a little silly, but hey, they’re also following a long-established SW tradition of overpowered silliness, so... *shrugs*

--Confused as to why Rey suddenly killed Kylo/Ben when she did?? I mean, if it was because she was angry Leia had just died, wouldn’t that be acting from the Dark Side and shouldn’t that have, idk, narrative consequences for her?

--I don’t see why some people loved or hated Rey’s ending so much. It’s pretty open, IMO, just like the endings for all of the surviving characters. Who says Rey is going to stay on Tatooine or be alone there, after all? For all we know, she just stopped there for a few days to bury the lightsabers, grieve for Kylo/Ben, and meditate. For all we know, Finn or one of her other friends from the Resistance is going to drop in any moment now. Heck, for all we know, one of her friends is hanging out inside the Falcon where we can’t see them, giving her a little space. (Was her friendship with Finn and Poe depicted pretty shallowly in this movie? Yeah. But so was her relationship with Kylo/Ben tbh, even with the Dyad Force bond thingamajig.) Rey has a whole world of choices available to her. Does it suck that we didn’t get to see that onscreen? Yeah. Does it mean she’s doomed to be eternally lonely as a hermit on a desert planet? Not in the slightest.

--Someone really needs to tell the writers of these big franchises that using ring structure is pointless if there isn’t meaning behind it. There’s nothing inherently significant about repeating events or revisiting locations. 

--Overall, I felt pretty meh about TROS. I didn’t love it or hate it. As with any movie in a series, there’s good stuff to be mined from it, and bad stuff to be handwaved away or given headcanon explanations. But mostly, I just can’t dredge up the energy to care very much. And I’m not in the mood for TROS fix-it fanfiction so much as I am TROS crack fics. 

--I haven’t talked about everything that worked or didn’t work for me in TROS here, but if you have any questions, I’m always happy to answer them to the best of my abilities!

[crackimagines]

Edelgard enjoying a night off (FE: Three Houses Short Fic)

Dorothea and Edelgard hanging out, just gals being pals

(WE DON’T HAVE ENOUGH DOROTHEA IN THE COMMUNITY, then again we DID just start, so I can’t exactly gripe, BUT STILL I WILL FIGHT FOR MY QUEEN)

Saturday Evening...

Edelgard was finally done with her studies in the classroom and neatly put away all the books, and walked out of the Black Eagles’ classroom.

As she was walking out she saw Dorothea looking out at the dorms, looking extremely bored.

“Dorothea?”

“Oh, Edie!” 

She sat down near the stairs next to Dorothea, and looked outwards to the dorms with her.

“What’re you doing at this hour?” Dorothea asked. “Class stuff?”

“Yes, I just finished studying for a certification exam for today. The professor thinks it’d be wise for me to become a swordmaster...Though I’m not exactly skilled with it as much as the axe.”

“It’s kinda weird how he thinks. I’m a singer, yet he wants me to become a warlock? I never knew I was good in magic until he had me train out with him and the others!”

They then continued their idle chat about Byleth’s classroom hijinks, and the conversation gradually shifted to plans for that night.

“So, whatcha planning to do now, Edie? Night’s still young.”

“Oh, I’m not quite sure what to do. We have our free day tomorrow, and I’m very sure the professor will be either fishing or sleeping this week. He seems to be tired, so I think this means we can enjoy ourselves for a bit.”

When Edelgard turned back to Dorothea, she slightly regretted what she had stated, seeing a sparkle in her eyes. It was as if Edelgard had unleashed a beast inside her, and that beast was going to make her faff about until early in the morning.

“Is that so? Well, how’s spending the night with Dorothea sound? I’ve been quite lonely ya know.~”

Edelgard laughed, slightly raising her fist to cover her mouth.

“Well, I can think of worst ways to spend the night, and being by myself right now doesn’t sound appealing. I’ll be more than happy to indulge you for tonight.”

“WOOHOO! Finally, some quality time with my Edie!”

She hugged Edelgard, scaring the absolute hell out of her, and making her slightly blush.

“D-Dorothea! You’ll wake someone up!”

“Bah, who cares? It’s our night tonight, now come on, loosen up!”

Their first stop was the dining hall. Though it was only a little past dinner time, there were still a few number of students, more importantly there was still lots of food out. Specifically desserts.

Dorothea grabbed a plateful of random sweets and put it in front of Edelgard.

“Alright, let’s dig in!”

Edelgard suddenly was overtaken by a cold sweat before looking around.

“Um...C-Can we...eat somewhere more private?”

“Oh, wanting me all to yourself, huh?”

Edelgard started pouting, slightly puffing her cheeks which made Dorothea laugh, but quickly cleared her throat.

“Of course, Edie. Come on, I know a good spot!”

They took their absurd amount of sweets to the stairs above the dorms, and sat on a bench.

Edelgard looked around, making sure no one was around before taking a deep breath.

“Um, is something wro-”

Dorothea’s question was answered by Edelgard stuffing a small cake into her mouth, a very big smile taking place afterwards.

“This...is so good!” Edelgard didn’t take the time to respond and continued eating it.

She had a sparkle in her eye as she bit into her cake, it was like seeing a child with their favorite meal.

Dorothea smiled, and began eating her sweets as well. After a few moments of silence, Dorothea heard Edelgard swallow the last of her cake and her voice.

“O-Oh! I’m...so sorry, I didn’t even tell you why-”

“Don’t worry about it, I think I got it. You just don’t want people to judge that the future Empress has about 10 cakes on her plate, right?”

“It’s...It’s only 6!”

Edelgard had the pouty face again, making Dorothea crack up harder.

“Hahaha! Sorry sorry, I’m not laughing at you!”

“Hmph!”

“Don’t worry about it, Edie! Your secret’s safe with me! Besides, a girl needs to treat herself every now and then! Now, eat this one, I’m sure you’d love it!”

“...Thank you...!”

After a blissful dessert, barely anything being said and just enjoying the sweets, they finally finished and thought about what to do next.

Dorothea stretched her arms and turned back to Edelgard.

“Soooo, what now? We aren’t exactly going to sleep anytime soon!”

“I’m...not sure. This is the first time I’ve ever gotten to relax like this in a while. so I’ll just follow your lead.”

“Well then, I know the perfect thing to work up a nice little sweat!~”

“Ah, training is a fine idea. I had no idea you-”

“...Geez, not even a blush-AHEM! Nah, not more work, we’re actively avoiding that tonight! I’m talking about singing our hearts out!”

“Like at the Cathedral?”

“No, no! I meant like opera singing!”

“Oh no.-”

“Come on Edie, I swear it’ll be fun!”

“It’s not like that song you made for me on the spot, right?”

“Actually what I had in mind is a concept foreign to Fodland!”

“Oh?”

“I heard about it from a couple merchants who came from an Eastern land, including the professor and his mercenary days. It’s something called ‘Karaoke’.

“...Carry-oki?”

“I’m not sure how to pronounce it either, but what it is, is that you sing along to a song like you would an opera, but instead of making people cry, it’s to make people laugh! So even if you suck, you can still have a lot of fun!”

“Well...”

Edelgard looked back up to Dorothea, who was jokingly making puppy eyes at her, which made her laugh to the point of snorting.

“Alright alright, you win. So how do we do this Carry-oki?”

After setting up with various spells that Byleth had showed her, they had finally set everything up.

“And the music is going to start up soon! Even though this is a foreign language, we’ll be able to sing it thanks to the spell! The words will show up in front of you, so just lead on! I’ll be back up!”

“O-Okay...Leave it to me, Dorothea!”

“KNOCK EM DEAD, EDIE!”

The spell displayed text in front of them, and began playing music from itself.

And as if it were an otherworldly power, the two felt like they were transported to a whole other world with the power of singing.

-------------

JUDGEMENT -SHINPAN-

Reeru kara hazureta furyouhin no norainu sa

( I’m a no-good stray dog come off the rails. ) 

Da kedo kantan ni wa teeru wa furanai ze

( But I won’t wag my tail so easily. )

Iesuman ni narisobireta

( I missed my chance to become a Yes Man  )

Waru ni nokosareta no to iu na no Justice

( What remains on the wall of youth is Justice with the name of “No” )

When the song ended, their costumes suddenly vanished away, leaving them back at the courtyard.

“Oh, my gosh Edie! THAT WAS INCREDIBLE!”

“T-Thank you...It wasn’t really anything-”

“Anything my butt! You got really into that, AND I LOVE IT! COME ON, WE’RE HAVING ANOTHER GO!”

“D-DOROTHEA WAIT!”

Even though she was protesting, Edelgard was smiling so much, to the point she couldn’t remember when the last time she did so.

When Edelgard finally went to bed, it was face first into a pillow, at 3 am in the morning, with Dorothea snoring on her floor.

She was very grateful that the professor was just fishing that day instead of doing anything else.

------------

BONUS: Karaoke Sprites for you to use + JUDGEMENT duo

This post may have been an excuse to shoehorn Yakuza 0.

maybe.

[armorbirdpress]

Armor Bird Reviews: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - A One-And-A-Half-Year Retrospective

If you have been following my writings and ramblings and original works and DeviantArt favorites for long enough, you'll know that I am unashamedly a dinosaur fan - I never outgrew the phase because despite what people have told me both online and off, palaeontology, like other sciences, is not specifically a child's thing - obviously dinosaurs are cool, but there is a lot of technical stuff that you'd need college degrees to understand in the field, too. While I certainly am a stickler for accuracy when it comes to dinosaur portrayals, however, I am also not ashamed to admit that I have a love for fictional portrayals of them as monsters, too. Jurassic Park, which was - for its time - pretty much a reconciliation between the "prehistoric monster" imagery of dinosaurs in popular culture and the latest discoveries about the actual fossil animals during its production, is my favorite movie of all time, partly for this reason and partly because there's a lot of depth and sophistication to it as well - a sophistication that modern movies seem to be utilizing less and less. Even the Jurassic Park franchise itself was not immune to this trend, and although it still remains my top favorite franchise of fictional media, the changing conceit of what audiences want in an entertaining film has dragged it along for as much of a long and bumpy ride as just about everything else Hollywood has to offer. Still, even in spite of it all, there are a lot of things to like about the sequels we got since that groundbreaking original - I'm admittedly one of those people who actually enjoyed Jurassic Park III, though in fairness I was too young upon first watching it to really pick it apart and analyze its numerous flaws, and I also heaped a lot of praise on Jurassic World upon my first review of it... in hindsight, perhaps a little generously. Although I won't pretend that everything since The Lost World (including TLW itself) is flawless and that the complainers are wrong, even the infamously controversial JP3 had some enjoyable moments in its own right, despite being seen by many as the worst installment of the franchise by quite a margin.

Which leads us to the most recent film of the franchise, 2018's Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

I had intended to review this movie for a good, long while - back when I was a more prolific writer I used to write film reviews shortly after seeing the movies in the theater, though schedule concerns have obviously made that too difficult. But there's a silver lining here, in that by not reviewing a film I've seen until much later (...well, much, much, much later as the case may be), I have the time to really sit down and think about what made the movie tick or not, and oftentimes have come down from my rush of excitement by the time I actually get off my tail and write the review itself. There are exceptions, of course, with certain films actually leaving me disappointed as soon as I left the building, but these cases are mercifully rare. I'm happy to say that despite being horrendously imperfect, Fallen Kingdom wasn't one of those cases. I was genuinely entertained by it more than 50% of the time - which is, for better or for worse, the highest compliment I can give the film because, as we shall see, in some ways it really is quite terrible.

As always with my movie reviews: SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT!

I watched Fallen Kingdom twice since its release - first in the theater at my home town, and then on rental DVD - and both times, my impression was the same: this movie, in retrospect, plays out much like a big-budget, cinematic fanfiction of the Jurassic Park films or even of Jurassic World (the latter of which I actually consider darkly hilarious for reasons that are highly specific to me exclusively, which you'd only understand if you know what I've written in the past - I'll get to that shortly). This is perfectly understandable, seeing as the director, screenwriter, and production crew have changed considerably from the team that helmed the original trilogy during the ten-year gap between JP3 and JW. Even if the work is canon, it's essentially someone else taking a look at the original franchise material, picking out what they liked about it, and building an original story off of it, oftentimes borrowing characters from the original work and inserting them in (most notably Rexy, and yes, I consider her as much of a character as the humans she menaced in the original movie). Across the board, in all kinds of franchises, this approach tends to fall flat if you don't know about the original work, though I do have to say that there was one very notable exception in the case of Jurassic World, that climactic fight scene with the Indominus rex, which is my favorite part of the movie even if it isn't entirely perfect. Now, I realize that I'm being a bit of a hypocrite by saying that these films are imperfect, because almost a decade ago, a friend and I co-wrote a megacrossover fanfic where Jurassic Park was the most prominent franchise by quite a margin (and didn't even start out that way to boot - my own selfish preferences caused elements of the franchise to slowly bleed in until a recycled plot of the second and third movies took over the whole thing). What makes it truly embarrassing to me is that the fic didn't even need the series' involvement in the first place, and my choice to shove it in anyway was one of the numerous factors that led to it going completely off the rails and turning into a tremendous tangled mess of clumsy writing and mishandled characterization, not just with JP itself but with almost all of the dozen other continua that got dragged in as well. Obviously, the fact that Fallen Kingdom is restricted by its very nature as a sequel to the one franchise only thankfully precludes the sheer absurdity of what my co-writer and I had inadvertently wrought back then, but upon rewatching the film I couldn't help but notice that in a few ways, it does ironically come off as being quite similar to my own old shame, albeit coincidentally, though it still earns points for choosing to be a Jurassic Park/World film and sticking with that conceit, rather than an entirely different film with JP elements shoehorned into it. I've harped on my stupidity as an immature fanfic writer back in the day for long enough, I think, but I felt this was worth mentioning regardless, because like the fic I touched upon above, this is a work I only started having issues with long after the fact, but these days I can't unsee these issues now that I've considered them.

One of the biggest things that stood out to me regarding Fallen Kingdom was that no matter how you slice it, it was trying to be two films at once, and had less time for both than most would have desired. The first half of the movie concerns Isla Sorna being destroyed by a volcano, and everyone trying to get the dinosaurs off of it before they are rendered extinct once again, with another island being noted as their new sanctuary (though of course, one of the antagonists quickly screws that plan over, but more on that later). You could easily make an entire film out of that - exploring the island one last time, dodging potential threats from both the volcano and the dinosaurs themselves, and coming to terms with the fact that not every creature can be saved, and that the end is coming for everyone eventually. The scene with the Brachiosaurus being overtaken by the eruption, with its plaintive wails and iconic rearing silhouette, is proof that such a moral could make a solid closing for this kind of movie, and heck, you could even have the subplot with the executives hoping to exploit the dinosaurs bleed into the movie until, at the very end, you get a scene where their true intentions with the animals are revealed as a sequel hook, rather than being resolved over the course of like half an hour or so in a rushed manner that gives people too little time to consider the implications. And this brings me to my next point.

Remember what I said about that dumb fanfiction I co-wrote having the elements I personally wanted more than my co-writer did slowly fester in true plot tumor fashion until they took over the entire story like literal cancer? As it turns out, what I witnessed in Fallen Kingdom wasn't quite as ridiculous, but kinda sorta similar in its own way. Obviously, Fallen Kingdom isn't so audacious (or ignorant of copyright laws and plain old common sense for that matter) as to let an entirely different franchise stage a gradual hostile takeover of itself, but the somewhat cliched plot of capitalist exploitation being the absolute worst roommate imaginable with a whole franchise's worth of temporally misplaced creatures that can and will kill you if you look at them funny - already done in both the original movie and TLW, and to some extent in JW as well, but still relatable in our current social climate even after so much repetition - still manages to... well, stage a gradual hostile takeover of the movie, and enforces itself in full force during the remaining third or so of the runtime. The antagonists, a pair of cartoonishly evil and somewhat flat executives, sabotage the plan so that the dinosaurs are diverted to the Lockwood Mansion instead of the sanctuary island, and then things escalate when the prototype Indoraptor is bought in and, inevitably, raises hell for everyone involved. As with my previous pitch, the idea of bidding wars over the dinosaurs and the moral debate over the ownership and exploitation of living creatures - something which does happen in the real world - could have made for something interesting, again, if the script wasn't so rushed. Continuing where the hypothetical sequel hook left off, we could open with a discussion between the villains about the implications of what they are doing, followed by the heroes having to deal with the ramifications of such actions along with the involvement of Dr. Wu, the Indoraptor, and of course Blue as a potential prize-winner. Of course this runs the risk of becoming the original Jurassic Park except on the mainland, and thus not really trying anything new, but it could at least give audiences the time to digest the film and appreciate the moments where it makes a genuine impact, even before the dinosaurs end up getting released into the mainland like what happened in the movie itself, complete with the insane amount of ramifications thereof. The Stygimoloch plowing its way through the bidders on its way to freedom was almost as cathartic for me to watch as the climactic fight in JW, and I wish it could've gotten more screentime, or even plucked up the guts to fend off the Indoraptor in a situation that doesn't seem forced, e.g. the hybrid and the Stiggy getting trapped in the same complex, or even Owen luring it over as backup (which is stupider but, given how he got it to bust him and Claire out in the movie itself, isn't entirely unreasonable). As for the Indoraptor itself, I feel like they could have done a bit better with its design, as even underneath the paint job and altered proportions it's still more or less "Indominus 2: Genetic Boogaloo", as I have called it at least once. Still, it has its own appeal as a monster design and, if it weren't for the presence of similar-looking creatures in previous installments of the series, it would certainly have made an impact as a monster. It's almost wolf-like in movement and mannerisms, even werewolf-like, which is intentional given the vintage horror movie homages the production team was going for. The way it menaces Maisie - who has her own set of plot-related craziness to her, but that's a can of worms I'd rather not open - makes you worry for her life, and even fear for Blue when she engages it in battle. I know I'm one of those who actually prefers antagonistic Velociraptors (the inaccurate variety from the films, not the smaller and fully feathered real-world version which I would absolutely take home with me if I could find a way to retrieve it from Cretaceous Mongolia and have it housetrained and okay I'll stop now), but Blue as always is awesome, and after seeing her actually manage to hold her own in her fight against the Indoraptor if only for a short while, there's no denying that anymore - even if that scene with her outrunning the explosion in the boiler room is a bit over-the-top even by the standards of this movie. There is of course no way a spectacle-driven, plaid-speed-paced romp like Fallen Kingdom could surpass the bar set by The Big One and the legendary kitchen scene, but on its own merits, the Indoraptor is a wonderfully serviceable and formidable threat that I just wish could've gotten more screentime and room to develop as a character, rather than just remaining as an unhinged killing machine that exists just to terrorize everyone before exiting the film (the same is true for all the dinosaurs here besides Blue, really, which is sad because, again, I much prefer when films develop monsters as characters rather than mere plot devices). With a little more design work to make him stand out more among the other critters in the franchise and more time to explore his nature, he could easily have become almost as iconic as The Big One as movie monsters go, or at least as much as the I. rex, though the latter bar is admittedly a good deal lower in the wake of how the movie industry has, ahem, evolved.

With that thought in mind, I will now spell out the biggest problem I had with this movie: the fact that it was trying to do so much in such a short space of time. Humorously and ironically, I know almost enough about the issues with my own writing to recognize the signs of that, with significant events being spaced too close to each other, too many characters at once (though admittedly, Zia and Maisie are a treat to watch, Franklin a bit less so but far from unbearable for my taste), and at least one questionable decision on the part of everyone at some point or another, up to and including the writers. There are a lot of things I liked, but not enough time for me to let them sink in, like I was being bombarded with one spectacle after another. It feels like overkill more than anything, and alas, far too many films in recent years have tried to shove that method into people's faces as though trying to say, "Here's your action, here's your fanservice, here's your whatever the whoopity-freaking-doo you consider entertainment, are you happy now?!" (Well, not quite as vitriolic and sarcastic, but you get the idea.) If the filmmakers and the owners of the franchise rights had been willing to accept four movies in the newer series rather than just three, and let Fallen Kingdom be broken up into two separate, slightly slower-paced movies, the problems with each individual portion would likely not have been as significant, and audiences would not have noticed them so readily. Sadly, though, the rapid-fire, dozen-blockbusters-a-year rush-job environment of the modern movie industry was not kind to this film, which is a crying shame. We need more movies that are more relaxed and subdued half the time, the way the original JP film was, and while audiences may have to take the time to once again get used to movies like that, I think it would be a welcome change of pace from the current influx of chaotic, nonstop slugfests and pyrotechnic displays we've become so familiar with.

In tl;dr form, it is with a heavy heart that I have to say that Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is, in fact, the worst film of the entire Jurassic Park franchise, even more so than JP3 - though don't get me wrong, as with JP3, I still very much enjoyed it as its own movie, as clumsily handled as it was at times (though even then, the movie itself isn't entirely at fault for it). There's a difference between a movie being the low point in its franchise and a low point among movies in general, a difference which a lot of reviewers need to understand before taking an undeserved dump over movies that could've been so much better if Hollywood had worked just a bit differently. You have to actually try to make a work of entertainment media I consider genuinely terrible, and it was actually a relief to me that even the lowest points of Fallen Kingdom still ranked somewhat midway between "meh" and "shakes hand eeeeehhhhhh" from my own subjective standpoint. I truly hope that the next and presumably final JP film will turn out for the better, especially given that Alan, Ellie, and Ian are all slated to have major roles in it, but I'm not going to dismiss Fallen Kingdom off the bat just because of the issues I have with its writing. If nothing else, it's a perfectly decent popcorn flick with prehistoric monsters in it - and hey, that was pretty much what everyone was there for, wasn't it?

Grading Scheme:

96 - 100: A+

93 - 96: A

90 - 92.9: A-

87 - 89.9: B+

83 - 86.9: B

80 - 82.9: B-

77 - 79.9: C+

73 - 76.9: C

70 - 72.9: C-

67 - 69.9: D+

60 - 66.9: D

Below 60: E

Grades:

Writing: 6

Characterization: 6

Pacing: 7

Creativity: 8

Consistency: 8

Cinematography: 9

World Building: 7

Music and Sound: 8

Effects: 10

Engagement: 9

Final Grade: 78 (C+)

[imagine-loki]

I Know Who I Married

TITLE: I Know Who I Married CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: One Shot (Sequel to We Bleed the Same)

AUTHOR: turniptitaness ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Can I make a request for a Loki X Reader fic based off of “That Would Be Enough” from Hamilton? RATING: Everyone NOTES/WARNINGS: A reference to a past battle scene/blood. Not graphic.

Oof. I meant to have this sequel out by Christmas. Then I meant to have it out by New Years. What can I say, college is a lot. But a bit of Loki and Sigrunn fluff is good for Valentine’s Day, right? Well, Valentine’s Day if you’re reading this on my Tumblr. Probably even later if you’re reading this from Imagine Loki. Sorry.

Anyways. This takes place one year after the events in my first story, We Bleed the Same. A lot has happened in that time. As you can see, this is based on this song from my great love, Hamilton. I love a good crossover. I love a good crossover so much, in fact, that I shoehorned in another reference to a favorite movie of mine. Shout it out in a reblog if you see it.

-

Sigrunn swam slowly up from the depths of sleep, disoriented and wondering what had woken her. She pried her eyes open and yawned, but the room was dark, and the massive bed was warm and deep. For a few more seconds, she curled under the blankets and buried her face in the soft pillow.

Then she realized that something didn’t feel right. Sigrunn stretched out her hand, but Loki wasn’t beside her where he belonged. Sighing grumpily, she pushed herself up on her elbows, her swelling belly making it quite a chore. She squinted toward the door and saw a sliver of light coming under it from the sitting room beyond.

“Honestly,” she muttered, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and groping for her slippers. Pulling on her favorite robe, made of rich velvet the color of a mountain lake, she shuffled toward the door and opened it quietly. Sure enough, there was her husband, hunched over a pile of official-looking papers. He was still wearing his day clothes, a green tunic over black leather trousers. Even after all this time, Sigrunn still had to suppress a little tiger purr every time she saw him in those things. At least he had taken off his metal-trimmed coat and slung it across the back of his chair.

Sigrunn leaned against the doorframe watching him work. Every line of his strong, slender body indicated exhaustion. His dark head was propped on one pale hand, and his spine curved toward the surface of his desk. But his pen still moved steadily across the page, and even in the midst of her exasperation, Sigrunn felt a surge of pride. He was so intelligent, so determined. And he was all hers. She knew how lucky she was, how lucky they both were, to be alive right now after all that had happened in the last two years.

Loki sighed and leaned back in his chair, one hand covering his eyes. Sigrunn moved forward, the thick carpet silencing her footsteps, and put her hands on his shoulders. He flinched, the muscles in his neck tightening as he gasped, and a jolt of his fear ran up Sigrunn’s left arm.

“Shh,” she soothed him, feeling immediately guilty. “It’s just me. I’m sorry.”

Loki relaxed, and Sigrunn bent to kiss his hair. He had been easily startled since his return to Asgard, and although he didn’t often speak of his life while he had been gone, it made Sigrunn’s heart ache to imagine what he must have endured at the hands of that monster, Thanos.

Setting down his pen, Loki put his hand over hers. “No, it’s all right,” he assured her. “I’m sorry. Did I wake you?”

Their wing of the palace was large, keeping them well separated from the other residential rooms, but both of them kept their voices instinctively low. Something about the darkness outside the windows made it seem necessary.

Sigrunn squeezed his shoulders reassuringly in answer to his question and leaned over to get a closer look at the papers spread out on his desk. “What are you doing up so late?” she asked him. “It must be well past midnight by now. We should both be asleep.”

“I know,” Loki sighed. “But I couldn’t stop thinking about all these new policies my brother wants to implement. He has some good ideas, Sigrunn. I’m more impressed than I expected to be by his ability to rule.”

“Jane Foster has been good for him,” Sigrunn observed, and Loki grinned up at her.

“I like her, Sigrunn.”

“So do I. I’m glad he brought her here.”

Loki nodded, then waved his hand expressively over the papers. “But his ideas still need so much polishing, and I…” Whatever he was planning to say was swallowed by a gigantic yawn.

Sigrunn shook him lightly. “Look at you. You’re absolutely exhausted. No one can work around the clock, Loki, not even you. Surely all this can wait until morning.”

“Yes,” he said reluctantly. “Yes, I know, Sigrunn, but… but this is so important. There’s so much depending on it, and I want it to be perfect.” He looked up at her, his eyes clouded with tiredness and worry.

Sigrunn tilted her head. “So much depending on it for Asgard, or for you?”

“For…for Asgard, of course.” Loki hesitated, and then smiled at her wryly. “And for me. You’re right. I know how many people still think Thor was foolish to name me his chief counselor. I want to prove that they can trust me.”

“My dear husband. You led us to Thanos, the greatest threat the nine realms have ever faced. You defeated him yourself.”

Loki pulled her hand down around his chest and kissed it. “We defeated him. Together.”

“With our silly tricks.” Sigrunn smiled at the memory. The battle had been bloody and frightening, but despite all the horror, fighting side by side with Loki had been the best feeling in the world. Together, without needing to speak a word, they had woven a web of deceptive illusions around the battlefield, confusing the Chitauri and allowing them to make their way through the chaos directly to Thanos himself.

“Seriously, Loki, don’t you think that was enough to prove yourself to Asgard? After all that, and everything you and Thor have already accomplished since Odin named him king, who in their right mind could possibly think badly of you?”

As soon as these words left her lips, Sigrunn wished she could take them back. A flash of pain traveled up from Loki and into her heart. Odin still hadn’t fully accepted Loki back into the family, and she knew it was hard on him. Loki lifted his palm helplessly and dropped it back to rest on his thigh. “I have so much to atone for.”

“And you will,” Sigrunn said positively. “But you don’t need to drive yourself into the ground to do it.”

Loki turned in his chair to smile at her, but the corners of his expressive eyes still drooped. “You have so much faith in me.”

“I know you, remember? I know who I married.” Sigrunn smiled back, but she still sensed the unspoken misery buried inside him. He had wanted his father’s acceptance and respect more than anything else for so many years. “Is it truly necessary for…for all of Asgard to accept you?” she asked impulsively. “You have Frigga and Thor, and you have me. Could that be enough?”

Sigrunn stood silent as conflicting emotions flowed through him. After a moment, she added, “You don’t need everyone to love you, Loki. Just a few good people.”

She felt a stirring inside her, followed by a sharp jab to the ribs that took her breath away. “Oof,” she gasped, placing a hand on her low back. “And soon enough you’ll have this child, too.”

Loki stroked her stomach gently with the tips of his fingers and planted a soft kiss on it. Sigrunn’s heart swelled with happiness, but she felt a tiny flutter of apprehension from her husband. “What is it, my darling?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Loki shook his head, his brows creasing. “I’m afraid, Sigrunn. I don’t have the slightest idea how to be a father. How will I know if I’m getting it right?”

Sigrunn moved around and knelt by the side of his chair, holding up her scarred hand. “Oh, Loki,” she said, smiling up into his face. “I’m not afraid. Do you know why?”

Loki pressed his scarred palm against hers, interlacing their fingers, but he didn’t look at her or speak, so Sigrunn asked him another question. “Do you love me?”

“You know I do,” Loki said quickly. “More than anything.”

“And will you love this child?”

Loki looked at her then, his eyes soft. “I already do,” he whispered.

Sigrunn nodded. “That will be enough. All you have to do is love me and love this child with the best that is in you. Everything else comes with time.”

They sat together in silence for a minute longer, and then Sigrunn pulled herself to her feet and smacked his head lightly with the back of her hand. “Now, enough nonsense. Get those ridiculous clothes off yourself and come to bed.”

Without waiting for a response, she began to walk to the bedroom, but she paused in the doorway and threw back over her shoulder, “Or do I need to rip them off you myself?”

Loki grinned and followed her.

[awashsquid]

OPENING COMMISSIONS

Hello, lovely people! I am at a place where I am officially opening up commissions for any interested parties!  Below are the details, plus some samples for your consideration.

Written Stuff

Fanfictions are going to run approximately $12 per 1000 words.

I am not going to just stop at 1000 words for the sake of it. I care too much about the story being good and wrapping up well! If I go over your paid-for word count, that will be at 0 cost to you.

I’m also open to drabbles of 500 words for $6 a pop, or doing works longer than 1000 words! That’s just the approximate rate I’m using.

Want me to start a longer series? I’m down! We can work out going chapter-by-chapter so that we can both have a good idea of how long the completed work will be.

If you want to just give me a concept and say “go” without worrying about word count, I’m okay with that also - I can just start writing and see where the idea goes, and we can work out pricing as we go. Doing this will require a $10 deposit to start work.

If your commission is 1000 words or less, I will have it to you in no longer than one week; 2000 words, I guarantee no more than two weeks, etc.

I am happy to share the completed ‘fic with you privately or publicly. I can use Google Docs, email, Tumblr, or AO3 to do this; just let me know what you would prefer!

What are you willing to write?

I have a lot of experience with Sailor Moon fanfiction, and some with Overwatch fanfiction. I am willing to expand into other fandoms that I’m familiar with (feel free to message me and ask!), but I am most comfortable with SM and OW overall. If you want to commission anything original, I’d be flattered and delighted - my fiction is either horror or fantasy, so those genres would be your best bets.

I’m an adult and I’m okay with writing adult content, but I’m not going to do anything in detail that involves violence (i.e. abuse, sexual violence, etc.). If you’re looking for something really explicit, I’m probably not your best bet.

Can we see some samples of your writing?

Sure thing! Here are a few, to give you an idea:

Sample of drabble fanfiction 

Sample of one-shot fanfiction (Overwatch)

Sample 2 of one-shot fanfiction (Sailor Moon)

Sample of long series fanfiction

Sample of original short horror (posted on reddit) 

Audio Stuff

Audio commissions are going to run approximately $5 per 500 words.

Pricing will round up/down depending on word count - if your piece is 600 words it’ll stay at $5, but if you’re at 850 it would go to $10.

If you want me to narrate a series, we can do one chapter/section at a time on whatever schedule works for you!

If your commission is 1000 words or less, I will have it to you in no longer than 5 days; 2000 words or less, 10 day maximum, you get the idea.

I am planning to post the completed work on YouTube. I can make this private and share with you or have it public. I can also create a Tumblr post with the video - just let me know what you prefer!

If you have any art for your piece, I’m happy to use that as the image for free! Otherwise, the image in the video will just be a still title card with the name of your work, your name/handle, and my handle.

I will also link to your piece in the description of the video. If you want me to link to your website, I can do that too, again free of charge. This is to help promote your writing, so I’ll plug whatever you ask me to!

What will you narrate?

Almost anything! Commissions needn’t be shoehorned into fandoms I’m intimately familiar with. I’m not going to narrate anything super graphic, so please keep that in mind.

If you want me to narrate something, it has to be your own work or the author of the work needs to provide me written permission. Copyright is a bitch, my friends.

Why should I pay you to narrate something?

Many people prefer to listen to their content rather than read it. They may have difficulties reading, or they may just prefer to get their information in audio format. Personally, I like listening to things because I can multitask - I can do the dishes while catching up on a story, for example.

Fanfiction doesn’t have a lot of representation in the audio category right now, but I think that is going to start changing in the next few years. It’s a great way to get audience members that wouldn’t sit down to read content invested in your works!

What do you sound like?

I recorded an audio of one of my fanfictions so you can get an idea of my voice and narrating skills. That can be listened to by clicking here.

If you don’t feel like clicking - I have an American accent, am a mid-twenties adult, and talk in mid-range (a little low for a girl/a little high for a guy).

General Questions

Do I have to pay up-front?

I ask that you provide a deposit equivalent to half of the expense of your commission up front. The other half will be due when I send you the finished product. (So if your commission is going to be $20, you would send me $10 before I got started, and the other $10 after I was done.) I hate doing this, but I’ve seen too many content creators get screwed out of money because people like to take advantage of good will.

How do you accept payment?

I can accept payment via PayPal, Ko-Fi, or Venmo.

What is my commission money going towards?

After years of engagement, my partner and I are finally going to get married next year! We are also looking to purchase our first home within the next few years. Any money made from commissions will go towards those savings goals. Let me be clear - we do not need money; we are not starving or desperate. I would be using the additional income to supplement the trials of Beginning Adulthood, which is expensive.

What if I have a question you didn’t answer?

Send me a message on Tumblr, or email me at awashsquid@gmail.com! I am friendly and will answer your question as soon as possible.

Thank you for reading this far and considering supporting your local squid! Have a great day!

[turniptitaness]

I Know Who I Married (Happy Valentine’s Day, Y’all)

TITLE: I Know Who I Married CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: One Shot (Sequel to We Bleed the Same)

AUTHOR: turniptitaness ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Can I make a request for a Loki X Reader fic based off of “That Would Be Enough” from Hamilton? RATING: Everyone NOTES/WARNINGS: A reference to a past battle scene/blood. Not graphic.

Oof. I meant to have this sequel out by Christmas. Then I meant to have it out by New Years. What can I say, college is a lot. But a bit of Loki and Sigrunn fluff is good for Valentine’s Day, right? Well, Valentine’s Day if you’re reading this on my Tumblr. Probably even later if you’re reading this from Imagine Loki. Sorry.

Anyways. This takes place one year after the events in my first story, We Bleed the Same. A lot has happened in that time. As you can see, this is based on this song from my great love, Hamilton. I love a good crossover. I love a good crossover so much, in fact, that I shoehorned in another reference to a favorite movie of mine. Shout it out in a reblog if you see it.

-

Sigrunn swam slowly up from the depths of sleep, disoriented and wondering what had woken her. She pried her eyes open and yawned, but the room was dark, and the massive bed was warm and deep. For a few more seconds, she curled under the blankets and buried her face in the soft pillow.

Then she realized that something didn’t feel right. Sigrunn stretched out her hand, but Loki wasn’t beside her where he belonged. Sighing grumpily, she pushed herself up on her elbows, her swelling belly making it quite a chore. She squinted toward the door and saw a sliver of light coming under it from the sitting room beyond.

“Honestly,” she muttered, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and groping for her slippers. Pulling on her favorite robe, made of rich velvet the color of a mountain lake, she shuffled toward the door and opened it quietly. Sure enough, there was her husband, hunched over a pile of official-looking papers. He was still wearing his day clothes, a green tunic over black leather trousers. Even after all this time, Sigrunn still had to suppress a little tiger purr every time she saw him in those things. At least he had taken off his metal-trimmed coat and slung it across the back of his chair.

Sigrunn leaned against the doorframe watching him work. Every line of his strong, slender body indicated exhaustion. His dark head was propped on one pale hand, and his spine curved toward the surface of his desk. But his pen still moved steadily across the page, and even in the midst of her exasperation, Sigrunn felt a surge of pride. He was so intelligent, so determined. And he was all hers. She knew how lucky she was, how lucky they both were, to be alive right now after all that had happened in the last two years.

Loki sighed and leaned back in his chair, one hand covering his eyes. Sigrunn moved forward, the thick carpet silencing her footsteps, and put her hands on his shoulders. He flinched, the muscles in his neck tightening as he gasped, and a jolt of his fear ran up Sigrunn’s left arm.

“Shh,” she soothed him, feeling immediately guilty. “It’s just me. I’m sorry.”

Loki relaxed, and Sigrunn bent to kiss his hair. He had been easily startled since his return to Asgard, and although he didn’t often speak of his life while he had been gone, it made Sigrunn’s heart ache to imagine what he must have endured at the hands of that monster, Thanos.

Setting down his pen, Loki put his hand over hers. “No, it’s all right,” he assured her. “I’m sorry. Did I wake you?”

Their wing of the palace was large, keeping them well separated from the other residential rooms, but both of them kept their voices instinctively low. Something about the darkness outside the windows made it seem necessary.

Sigrunn squeezed his shoulders reassuringly in answer to his question and leaned over to get a closer look at the papers spread out on his desk. “What are you doing up so late?” she asked him. “It must be well past midnight by now. We should both be asleep.”

“I know,” Loki sighed. “But I couldn’t stop thinking about all these new policies my brother wants to implement. He has some good ideas, Sigrunn. I’m more impressed than I expected to be by his ability to rule.”

“Jane Foster has been good for him,” Sigrunn observed, and Loki grinned up at her.

“I like her, Sigrunn.”

“So do I. I’m glad he brought her here.”

Loki nodded, then waved his hand expressively over the papers. “But his ideas still need so much polishing, and I…” Whatever he was planning to say was swallowed by a gigantic yawn.

Sigrunn shook him lightly. “Look at you. You’re absolutely exhausted. No one can work around the clock, Loki, not even you. Surely all this can wait until morning.”

“Yes,” he said reluctantly. “Yes, I know, Sigrunn, but… but this is so important. There’s so much depending on it, and I want it to be perfect.” He looked up at her, his eyes clouded with tiredness and worry.

Sigrunn tilted her head. “So much depending on it for Asgard, or for you?”

“For…for Asgard, of course.” Loki hesitated, and then smiled at her wryly. “And for me. You’re right. I know how many people still think Thor was foolish to name me his chief counselor. I want to prove that they can trust me.”

“My dear husband. You led us to Thanos, the greatest threat the nine realms have ever faced. You defeated him yourself.”

Loki pulled her hand down around his chest and kissed it. “We defeated him. Together.”

“With our silly tricks.” Sigrunn smiled at the memory. The battle had been bloody and frightening, but despite all the horror, fighting side by side with Loki had been the best feeling in the world. Together, without needing to speak a word, they had woven a web of deceptive illusions around the battlefield, confusing the Chitauri and allowing them to make their way through the chaos directly to Thanos himself.

“Seriously, Loki, don’t you think that was enough to prove yourself to Asgard? After all that, and everything you and Thor have already accomplished since Odin named him king, who in their right mind could possibly think badly of you?”

As soon as these words left her lips, Sigrunn wished she could take them back. A flash of pain traveled up from Loki and into her heart. Odin still hadn’t fully accepted Loki back into the family, and she knew it was hard on him. Loki lifted his palm helplessly and dropped it back to rest on his thigh. “I have so much to atone for.”

“And you will,” Sigrunn said positively. “But you don’t need to drive yourself into the ground to do it.”

Loki turned in his chair to smile at her, but the corners of his expressive eyes still drooped. “You have so much faith in me.”

“I know you, remember? I know who I married.” Sigrunn smiled back, but she still sensed the unspoken misery buried inside him. He had wanted his father’s acceptance and respect more than anything else for so many years. “Is it truly necessary for…for all of Asgard to accept you?” she asked impulsively. “You have Frigga and Thor, and you have me. Could that be enough?”

Sigrunn stood silent as conflicting emotions flowed through him. After a moment, she added, “You don’t need everyone to love you, Loki. Just a few good people.”

She felt a stirring inside her, followed by a sharp jab to the ribs that took her breath away. “Oof,” she gasped, placing a hand on her low back. “And soon enough you’ll have this child, too.”

Loki stroked her stomach gently with the tips of his fingers and planted a soft kiss on it. Sigrunn’s heart swelled with happiness, but she felt a tiny flutter of apprehension from her husband. “What is it, my darling?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Loki shook his head, his brows creasing. “I’m afraid, Sigrunn. I don’t have the slightest idea how to be a father. How will I know if I’m getting it right?”

Sigrunn moved around and knelt by the side of his chair, holding up her scarred hand. “Oh, Loki,” she said, smiling up into his face. “I’m not afraid. Do you know why?”

Loki pressed his scarred palm against hers, interlacing their fingers, but he didn’t look at her or speak, so Sigrunn asked him another question. “Do you love me?”

“You know I do,” Loki said quickly. “More than anything.”

“And will you love this child?”

Loki looked at her then, his eyes soft. “I already do,” he whispered.

Sigrunn nodded. “That will be enough. All you have to do is love me and love this child with the best that is in you. Everything else comes with time.”

They sat together in silence for a minute longer, and then Sigrunn pulled herself to her feet and smacked his head lightly with the back of her hand. “Now, enough nonsense. Get those ridiculous clothes off yourself and come to bed.”

Without waiting for a response, she began to walk to the bedroom, but she paused in the doorway and threw back over her shoulder, “Or do I need to rip them off you myself?”

Loki grinned and followed her.