#i think i'll have to do more research on how the houses and sorting works! if anyone wants to infodump id appreciate it 👍

[waddleonmywaywardducks]

How to get back into your practice after a burnout

Alot of times in our practices, we often just straight up forget. Not going to lie to you I didn't practice much until I got out of my mom's home...which was one year ago. And I also have a theory that since paganism isnt dogmatic and is meant to be ran by a community we fall out really easy, it's natural, paganism is different now. But anyways here is chaos's master guide on how to put on your big girl panties and get back the work.

(disclaimer: just because these things worked for me doesn't mean it's going to work for everyone else, this post is completely upg. I'm just offering advice.)

Starting out small

What never stuck to me is those post that are like: "stir your intentions into your coffee, light incense, pray" because like yeah thats a good way to start off I really dont think itll set in our brains to do this everyday. Instead what I recommend is finding days to practice and sticking to that day. Find a day where you useally do nothing and dedicate it to getting back into your practice.

You could use this day to research on all the things you forgotten (been there)

Or you could just leave offerings out for your deities and call it a day

I think if you uphold a certain schedule your mind will get into the habit of "oh today's witch day, time to do witchcraft" this is basic psychology, and I promise it works 😭😭

Deity work and getting back into it

Little reminder: your gods are not mad at you. They do not hate you. They love you.

I have had so many falling outs with deities because I just couldn't uphold a schedule. Hekate being one of them. Hekate really showed me the way once I moved out of my mother's house, and after so many ins and outs of my worship to her, she still showed me love and compassion. I promise your gods will do the same. They understand our mortal lives more then you comprehend. After all, this is their earth.

Stuff you can do to get back into worship with your deities:

- offerings, big or small

- dedicate days to them, in my schedule Hekate is worshipped on Monday, and Aphrodite on Friday.

- research ways to connect with them more

- don't make big promises that you will get back into your practice and never fall out again, thats just putting yourself in more responsibility, your gods will now expect that responsibility. I've done this before and I definitely got side eyed by Hekate 😭😭

I recommend reading over these lovely post by @/khaire-traveler

Subtle deity worship

I honestly used this alot to get back into worship with my deities 😭😭 these posts go into worship you could do for deities while you are either hiding your practice or just want to do something for your gods. Really helpful post 10/10.

Getting back into witchcraft

I know I kind of went over this already, but I feel like there needs to be some small steps to getting back into witchcraft before we get to rituals, spells and stuff of that sort.

To get back into witchcraft, I recommend meditating, either by yourself or with your deities. Meditation allows you to just focus on the present and let go of all your stresses. I like to meditate with my deities because I get visions from them easily this way, it's easier for me to communicate.

From there you can do research on the basics of witchcraft and work your way up to rituals and spell work... hopefully all of this makes sense

Anyways yeah that's all the advice I have to getting back into your practice, if I have anything else to add I'll reblog this and add more. But yeah! I really hopes this helps at least someone lol.

[hminnj]

Maybe In A Different Age

Senku/fem reader

cw: angst no comfort (i tried) ik this fandom kinda dead lowkey but I wanted to write this cause its so senku coded. Senku's an idiot (unsuprisingly). Not very good writing.

wc: uhh i wrote this in my notes, around 1k probably

-

Byakuya brings two strangers into their house on a random thursday.

"Senku, this is a close friend and her daughter, I'm sure you guys will get along splendidly."

"Ok."

Five year old Senku is harshly blunt when he meets you for the first time, staring at him silently as if you've never seen a human before. He doesn't have anything to say and it seems neither do you, so he walks off, deciding he has better things to do. Promptly ignoring the sigh and apology the older man lets out.

.

"So I got this new idea and I'm going through the basic logistics and research right now, might need your help later."

"I'll go get us some snacks and something to do while you work on it then."

Six year old Senku watches you dissappear from his doorway, absentmindedly humming while you head to the very familiar kitchen. Your family has been apparently busy as of late so he forcibly sees your face more often. You usually just eat his food, do your work, and ask him (dumb) questions. You're a friend now, he supposes.

.

"Hey dum dum, Byakuya got me new equipment, so I have some new ideas. So listen up."

"Course Senku!"

Seven year old Senku grins, you're always willing to help him out for whatever reason you have (something weird probably, in his opinion). In return, he always tells you what he's working on and his labor demands. So per usual, he excitedly gets into the details of the next project that he plans on working you and Taiju to the bone for.

.

"Hey Senku?"

"What?"

"I think I love you."

"Huh? You better not be catching feelings dum dum." He gives you a confused squint after hearing your words.

"Whatever you say." You hum

Eight year old Senku hears you say those three words for the first time, you don't say why and he doesn't know either. He thinks its rather idiotic, but he shrugs it off after you silently go back to reading. You've been picking up books more often as of late, not that he cares much.

.

"You're late for the test runs, Taiju and Yuzuriha already left."

"Sorry sorry! My teacher held me up a little later at practice today."

"Hm." His disappointed stare returns.

"Im sorry..? Love you?" You're sheepish with your response.

"How is that supposed to make up for anything? Now come help me carry this stuff"

"As you wish, princess Senku."

Nine year old Senku doesn't understand why you and Byakuya tell him that so often (or that stupid nickname sourced from his "feebleness"), but he moves on quickly to detail the results of the test and the numerous next steps. Much to his pleasure.

.

"Wake up stupid. You fell asleep." Senku (roughly) shakes you awake from your shoulders, poking at your face a few times.

"Huh? Oh sorry Senku, I guess I'm just tired."

"Well you're not gonna wanna miss this." He grins while looking up, expectant.

"Hm. Hey the moons pretty tonight yeah?"

"It looks the same as it always does. Is that poetry getting to you and making you sappy?"

You wait before responding, "Maybe."

Eleven year old Senku keeps you up on certain nights for his projects or for nights like these where there's a meteor shower. He thinks you should stop reading so much of those books that make you sound like Byakuya. You should also get more rest, he adds.

.

"Happy Valentines Day Senku!! Got you a gift, heh."

"Must I tell you again?" Senku turns to a usual sight, you waving a gift in front of his face as if he were a dog.

"I'm good I just wanted to remind you."

"Right."

Twelve year old Senku doesn't see the point in meaningless feelings or holidays for said feelings. Nevertheless, he takes the homemade chocolate from you, skimming through the card which contents include exactly what he expected (a confession of sorts, again), and placing it to the side. Ignoring it in favor of the much more sensible chemicals in front of him. Like every year though, Senku keeps it. He doesn't know why.

.

"Taiju and Yuzuriha definitely have something going on don't you think?"

"And you're bringing this up why?"

You pause, you know why, but you know he wouldn't understand. "It's cute... wish I could have something like that you know?"

"...For the last time-"

"I know I know Senku, don't worry I'll try to bother you less."

Thirteen year old Senku doesn't see you as much anymore, mostly because of your practice that your mom wants you to perfect. You come over less nowadays, a shame (for his projects obviously), but your presence isn't any smaller of an intrusion at school. So much for bothering him less.

.

Around 21:00 is when he hears the familiar ringing of his doorbell. "It's late, why are you here?"

"Got out of training not too long ago and wanted to see you before I headed in."

"Your house isn't even remotely close to mine" A raised eyebrow is all you get in response to your grin.

"What does it matter when I'm already here, but gotta go before I get scolded. Goodnight Senku, Love you!"

"You know it's never gonna happen, as you know-"

"Yeah yeah, 10 billion percent illogical, I know, but I can't let my favorite person forget can I?" You flash another smile.

"As if I'd ever with how often you say it, now goodnight."

Fourteen year old Senku closes the door after you've cheerfully said your bye and faded from his sight enough. The lack of noise is strange, now that Byakuya has "ascended like an angel" (his words not Senkus) it's much quieter. The usual noise of a certain two people is absent more often than not. He let's the silence of the house sit in.

.

"Hey, can you get me something from the storage real quick? Need it soon but that bonehead forgot when he came up here babbling about confessing to Yuzuriha"

"Of course. I'd do anything for you. Always here. You know that Sen."

Fifteen year old Senku glances at your fleeting figure. The nickname is new, for sure. And he can't say he dislikes it, but the lack of a certain three words with your departure is strange. He brushes it off to your usual forgetfulness and peers out the window at Taiju and Yuzuriha. Thoughts preoccupied until a bright green light overtakes his vision and he can't do anything but think into the void.

So he counts.

And maybe every once in a while you pop into his head like you always do.

.

Three-thousand and something year old Senku wakes up to a world where theres a lack of civilization, a lack of his decency, and most importantly, a lack of you.

You would be useful right now, he supposes.

.

Three-thousand and something year old Senku spends his free time trying to find you and the rest of the "gang" (as you would say).

He finds Taiju, he finds Yuzuriha, he also finds a lion-punching maniac, but there's no sign of you.

He's ten billion percent sure you survived.

Right?

The concerned stare Yuzuriha gives him as they part is ignored.

.

(Physically) Sixteen year old Senku celebrates this birthday gazing into the sky from his new observatory. It reminds him of a lot of things, but he can't help but notice how empty it is, it's eerily quiet.

He doesn't like it.

Senku wishes you were here.

His first real birthday wish.

.

(Still) Sixteen year old Senku breaks when he hears his father's voice again for the first time in ages. It's not his voice that gets to Senku. He's heard it plenty enough in his lifetime. It's the mention of you.

"Just kidding! I know it's you on the other side of this Senku! And ____'s there with you right? Please tell me you're dating already or even better married so I can have grandchildren. Please please please Senku! Although you can't really tell me that but-"

Senku stops himself from showing vulnerability in front of the village, and he also stops himself from pausing the record right there and then. Opting to sigh and curse his dad out as a cover up, his fist lightly punching the table.

"Damn you old man."

The questions from the villagers about who you could be are forgotten in favor of an angelic voice. Senku's quick to tune it out. It reminds him of you.

.

(Mentally) Sixteen year old Senku sits by himself that night. It's been a long day. The constant repeat of a certain melody in the background, more work for the science kingdom, and a few questions about who you were. They stopped after a few radio silences from him, feelings are hard for the scientist after all.

It's cold.

He wishes you were here.

It's dark.

He wishes you were here.

It's lonely.

He wishes you were here.

The day he can always guarantee you're there has long passed. You should be here, is what his mind tells him. You owe him for the past 3000 years of missed birthdays after all.

It's funny, in his opinion. That you were probably most-definitely always there. And the one (multiple actually, 10 billion in his mind) time he looks for you, you're not there.

He doesn't think its funny.

"I'd do anything for you huh..."

Anything but keep your word.

He scoffs, but it's directed at himself. He would never blame you for this, or anything for that matter, he can't.

So he sits. And he stays. Like you would've wanted him too. He looks at the clear sky like you usually do. And he notes how the moon is pretty tonight. Just like you.

"I love you too."

He's 10 billion percent sure he does.

-

Thanks for reading, if you did :). Sorry for any errors not fully proofread. Senku is so right person wrong time coded when it comes to romance that i had to write this even if its lowkey bad

[esamastation]

Part thirty-nine of Shizuroth, aka, the SOLDIER General's Self Saving Shizun.

Ao3 link.

Previous parts: twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-three, thirty-four, thirty-five, thirty-six, thirty-seven, thirty-eight

-

Reno has decided he hates sleeping in a tree. He doesn't particularly enjoy any aspect of camping but he especially dislikes sleeping in trees. Even with a hammock to pitch between branches, it's never comfortable.

Stupid  SOLDIERs and their stupid endless stamina. Sephiroth and Hewley didn't even bother to make a camp or anything, they just slept wherever! Incredible. Not that Reno thinks Sephiroth actually slept at all. Sure, Reno didn't either, because the forest did not shut up all night and the fuck can sleep with all the noise, but still. Even after a day of fighting monsters and evening of sword practice, Sephiroth just doesn't quit, huh. The guy has issues.

Glancing over the edge of his hammock to see Hewley still asleep and Sephiroth sitting cross-legged, actually meditating, Reno lies back and sighs. So much for SOLDIERs not knowing when to quit, huh? 

After a moment of waiting while the sky above grows slowly lighter and all the damn bugs in the forest wake up for the whole new day of being nuisances, Reno digs out his PHS and shoots out a message.

Reno: If I have to spend another night in this damn forest, listening to Sephiroth's constant sighing, I'm going to lose it. Tell me you're done.

Rude: Your life is a constant struggle. Charcoal burner's house checks out. I'm back at the camp for supplies now.

Reno: Ooh, what did we get?

Rude: Two weeks worth of rations, and a case of contraband.

Reno: Finally some good news! I'll see if I can get the meatheads there before the day is out. Save some of that contraband for me.

Rude doesn't answer, and Reno settles down to wait for the SOLDIER Firsts to get up and get moving. Sephiroth does first - rising, of course, to do some more  sword practice.

Reno watches him work for a while before adding annotation to the watch log. 07:34, Sephiroth begins solo sword practice, no visible signs of his "energy alignment" practice. From Sephiroth's comments, he figures the guy is being careful with it, and doesn't want to be interrupted again - something he's already made a note of in his ongoing report.

This mission involves way too much paperwork already, and way too many questions. Sephiroth doesn't take in EXP anymore, apparently. There's something called Qi-deviation - his fit, maybe - which he's trying to avoid. He's now meditating with Materia, which is - something. And it's Reno's job to figure out explanations for all of this.

He's doing the work of a Science researcher, basically, observing Sephiroth like a lab rat for all sorts of unusual behaviours. Except he's doing it behind the Science Department's back. Wonderful.

Reno waits until Hewley shows signs of waking up before sending out the data package Tseng had prepared. Then he lies still, staring up at the forest canopy, listening.

"Good morning," Sephiroth says somewhere below. "Sleep well?"

"Yeah, good morning - wait, it's morning? Sephiroth, you didn't wake me up?" Hewley asks. "I meditated most of the night, it's fine," Sephiroth says, dismissively. "I figured I might as well let you sleep, since I was going to stay up anyway."

"That's - considerate of you, but we agreed to change shifts," Hewley points out. "You should've woken me up anyway."

"What's the point of both of us staying awake?"

"It's not about what - Sephiroth, I know you've forgotten a lot about how this goes, but we're supposed to be a team," Hewley says slowly, pointedly. "And I would've liked to be included in the decision making."

"... Ah. I didn't… think of that."

"Just - wake me up next time," Hewley sighs.

Point in Hewley's favour there, for not letting Sephiroth get away with this shit. Reno definitely wouldn't have.

There's a sound of Hewley getting up just as both their PHS's beep out a notification. 

"Another mission?" Sephiroth asks.

"Mm, yeah," Hewley agrees, and judging by the sound of it he's looking through the mission files. "Hmm, there are monsters attacking a, uh, charcoal burner's house. They want us to clear them out."

"Sounds bad. Should we put off the other monster hunting mission for now?"

"... Yeah, maybe. Might be that it's an informant's house, or something," Hewley mutters. "Don't see why else they'd send us to help Wutai citizens."

Sephiroth says nothing.

Reno lifts his PHS to make another note before stopping. Sephiroth's apparent… unease has already been noted, and a bit of silence isn't exactly a clear sign of mutiny. The guy has second thoughts - like just about every asshole sent to the front. Nothing new about that.

Except for the fact that Sephiroth isn't allowed to have second thoughts, according to his files.

"Do you have any of those fruits left?" Hewley asks. "I'm hungry."

"Yeah, I picked some more earlier - and I think there's some rambutan over there too…" Sephiroth says and there's a sound of him walking over. "Huh, they are. Didn't notice them in the dark yesterday. Here, catch."

"Oh, those are edible?"

"Yes, you just peel them. Tastes a bit like grape," Sephiroth says and picks some more while muttering under his breath, "What they're doing growing out here though, I don't know."

"Nice. You remember Wutai pretty well, huh? Being able to forage and all."

"... I guess so."

Shutting his PHS off as quietly as he can, Reno puts his hands behind his neck and listens with a scowl as the SOLDIER Firsts enjoy fruit for breakfast. All he has is a few power bars. Che.

"Genesis sent me a message," Hewley comments. "Apparently Hojo is tearing his way through the SOLDIER program."

"... Oh?" Sephiroth asks, his voice audibly tensing.

"Yeah. More tests, observation, and a bunch of Seconds have been called in for extra injections."

"..."

"Yeah," Angeal answered. "Listen to this; Hojo's also taken personal interest in the SOLDIER cadet selection process and has stated that he'll be doing the Mako reaction tests himself."

"... Cadet selection process?" Sephiroth asks. "Is that for selecting new SOLDIER members?"

"Yeah. You probably don't remember, right? When they pick who gets to become a SOLDIER, there's a bunch of tests. Mostly they're physical - and once you pass those, you have to pass Mako reactivity tests. Not everyone can handle Mako injections, so…" Hewley trails away.

"... How many candidates are there usually?"

"Hundred or so in each batch. Of them, maybe ten make it through the whole selection process."

"I see," Sephiroth murmurs. "Hojo taking interest in that is… probably not a good thing."

Hewley says nothing.

Reno grimaces. Yeah, the creepy Head of the Science Department definitely wasn't happy that they yoinked his favourite lab rat from his grip huh. Here's hoping there won't be other incidents - though if there are, they will be Tseng and Cissnei's problem. Reno and Rude have their hands busy here, with these schmucks.  

"Nothing we can do about that here," Hewley says. "Ready to set out?"

"You don't want to warm up first?" Sephiroth asks. "We could do some forms."

"I'll warm up enough on the way there - there'll still be a lot of monsters between us and the house."

"Ah."

"Did you… " Hewley hesitates. "Did you figure out the whole thing with your EXP gain?"

"Yeah, more or less. Don't worry about it. There's still some hawthorn fruits left - do you want them?"

Reno rolls his eyes. Spoken like a man pasting posters on his walls to hide the holes in his house. Who would've thought that Sephiroth was such a shitty liar?

Sephiroth and Hewley set out, and Reno sits up with a stretch, the hammock rocking side to side underneath him. His neck is all fucked up from his sleeping position, but hell, at least he didn't have to sleep on the ground.

Easing himself onto the tree branches, Reno packs the hammock away and then drops down. There are just seeds and skins left from the fruits the SOLDIERs had been eating. Nothing left for him. Assholes.

Sighing, Reno picks some unripened hawthorn fruits from the tree he'd seen Sephiroth pick them from and heads after the SOLDIERs, to continue his watch duty.

This month's bonus had better be worth all this.

-

Gonna start leaving out the links to parts that are available on ao3 because list of links is getting ridiculous.

[changingplumbob]

Just a note to say Drusilla is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns.

Glenn walked over to the large tower. Jackson and Coleman had really made all those bricks on top of the ones for the houses? No wonder they were so cranky, it was a lot of work. Expecting the inside to be plain stone he was pleasantly surprised to see it furnished in a similar fashion to the living spaces of the houses with wood panels on the walls, a lot of books, and some comfy couches.

Glenn: Ummm, Drusilla? Are you... here?

The response came from somewhere above him.

Drusilla: For you, I suppose so, if you have something to offer. Up the ladder

Glenn turned and noticed the ladder leading upwards. Well he hadn't got his workout in today so he supposed this would have to count. Testing how fast he could climb he reached the top easily and pulled himself on to the floor.

Drusilla: My time has a price Glenn, what do you want

Glenn: It's not me specifically, well I guess it is, but Phoebus said I should see you about learning some spells

Drusilla: *scoffs* You think you can manage what I do

Glenn: I don't actually know what you do

Drusilla: A lot, I've been at this a long time. How about necromancy

Glenn: Oh, no, I don't fancy bringing anyone back from the afterlife

Drusilla: *sighs* Why does everyone think that's what necromancy means? It's about communicating with spirits of the dead, completely different to reanimation

Glenn: Do you... reanimate stuff?

Drusilla: Some of the spirits enjoy a taste of life. For example, if a bird breaks it's neck I can make it a stable house for a spirit for up to a week

Glenn: Right, well, I don't think I'll be trying that out

Drusilla: Reading minds of others? It can be incredibly useful and often far easier than talking

Glenn: Uh, I'm going to say no again. I do actually enjoy talking

Drusilla: *huffs* What do you actually want to do then Glenn? I don't have time to figure it out for you

Glenn: Phoebus said you're the best at mischief magic, is there some kind of magic trick you can teach me? To keep me safe if I decide not to stay here

Drusilla: Why would I teach a trick? Although... I suppose some kinds of illusion spells could be helpful...

Glenn: What do you mean

Drusilla: What are the walls made of Glenn

Glenn: Uh, bricks on the outside, a lot of bricks. Then wooden paneling for the interior walls

Drusilla: Wrong. They are completely brick

Glenn: But the panels-

Drusilla: There are no panels Glenn. They're a self sustaining illusion I cast. I could teach you something similar, how to make it look like something is there or more useful, how to hide something from sight

Glenn: If it's not too dangerous

Drusilla: So long as you don't hide a dragon you're fine. Now, my fee

Glenn: Fee?

Drusilla: For my time. I'm doing some research on alternate universes. How they may interact, if there are ways to see others, contact alternate me's, that sort of thing. Heartbreak has been in short supply around here so I'll borrow some of yours, it can be a useful ingredient

Glenn: You'll borrow my heartbreak?

Drusilla: It's tied to you, so I'll just borrow a bit of you. Now, I best use it right away so you stay here and finish this gem for me

Glenn: Wait you're charging me and expecting me to do something for you?

Drusilla: If you ever want your hair colour back then yes

Glenn: What do you mean my hair colour?

Drusilla: An integral part of you is your hair, it holds a good portion of your essence and therefore the heartbreak. I've borrowed the colour

Glenn: Wait, are you saying-

Drusilla: Your hair is black right now? Yes

Glenn: But- but- I didn't feel anything

Drusilla: I'm just that good

Glenn: But I love my green hair! It makes me me, and looks good

Drusilla: Then I guess you'd better get on with the task I set if you ever want it back

Glenn: You can't just steal stuff like that

Drusilla: *scoffs* Maybe you can't but I assure you, I can. Don't worry, the spirits will tell me when you're done, then I'll return the colour

Glenn: But I don't know anything about gem carving

Drusilla: That sounds like a you problem. No time to learn like the present Glenn

Glenn watched Drusilla depart and felt his heart sink. They may be powerful but something told him he should stay clear of Drusilla in future if he could.

Drusilla: *yelling* That's not very nice

Damn, they did read minds.

Previous ... Next

[writingquestionsanswered]

So whilst I know you're not a therapist or psychologist, but you're a damn good writer with great advice; what can I do to tackle this? Could I know your own process? When you develop a plot and get to a part that needs something new - what do you actually do? How do you brainstorm effectively and... trust your decisions? I think my issue is a combo of autism (like going down a research rabbit hole just for shopping new things...) but also feeling distrustful because of past bad choices... 2/2

My Plotting Process

I think part one got eaten by the Tumblr goblins, because I couldn't find it anywhere. Unless I already answered part one and it isn't obviously related to this one, but I'll do my best here. :)

Just as there are people who can hop into the car with no map and no planning, and just drive across the country to some destination, there are writers who can sit down without an outline or plan, and write a story that somehow manages to hit all the requisite plot points. I'm not that person, in either case. I used Google Maps today to get to a place less than two miles from my house that I've been to twenty times, because I wasn't 100% sure exactly where it was or where I needed to turn for it. I'm the same way with writing. It doesn't matter how many novels I write, I still need the damn map. That's why I always outline and use various story structures as reference, according to feels right for the story I want to tell.

For people who are ND like you and me, and for other people prone to falling down rabbit holes, outlines have the added benefit of keeping you on track. If you're following a road map that tells you to stay on this road for two miles and turn left at the intersection, you're much less likely to turn down random roads and end up inadvertently exploring hidden neighborhoods and back country lanes. Outlines work the same way. If you know exactly what scene you're writing, what's going to happen in that scene and why, and what major plot point it fulfills or helps build toward, you're not going to get lost along the way.

So, when I get a story idea, the first thing I do is write out an exhaustive beginning to end summary with everything I know. Then, I look at Save the Cat! and start plotting out the story according to the plot points. Quite often, when I get to a plot hole, I can fill it out based on the previous or upcoming plot point. If not, I'll start looking at other story structures to see if that jogs something loose. Sometimes I'll realize that structure just works better for the story I'm trying to tell, and I'll replot the whole thing according to that structure. I might plot my story using three or four different structures or a combination of a few before I settle on one that works for the story. Once I have the structure hammered out, I start making a list of necessary scenes to encapsulate, build-up to, or ramp down from the various plot points. Once I have my scene list, I write out a beginning to end scene summary for each scene so I know what has to happen. I think about things like conflict of the scene, how it begins, what happens in the middle, and how it ends. I think about the character's goal in the scene, and how the scene builds upon the scene before it and leads up to the scene after it. And, with my scene list in hand, I'm usually good to start writing. If I hit things that don't quite work out or need more fleshing out, I might refer to other story structures, or I might even write out my scenes on scene cards and see if moving things around makes a difference. The important rule is I never let myself feel limited by the structure I'm using or have created. I know it's just there as a guide, and it's okay to stray from it if need be. I always follow my gut, and knowing when to trust my gut is just something I've learned over many, many years of writing. You'll get there, too, but you have to take calculated risks before you can build up that sort of trust with yourself.

I hope that answers your question well enough! ♥

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

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

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[your-ne1ghbor]

Hello, Neighbor! (Insert Welcome Home reference here 🏠)

I'm a hundred years late to this, but it's time for me to drop some questions for "The Kingdom of Thorns and Roses"! (I'm craving more Wish content, do this will do for now, lol.)

How did you come with your AU? Is it inspired from other AU's or something else?

What happened to Asha's family in this telling?

Can you drop a little lore about TKOTAR's Star system?

Who's your favorite character to draw in your AU?

Are any of the Teens in this story, are they sent to the oblivion? 😂

I know you mention that Flazino is possibly in your AU, but uh…..is he still alive or actually dead? Cause WG!Flazino can't vent to a dead guy. 😂

Any original characters in here besides Bonsai?

Which other Wish AU's would be some of your favorites?

Are all the songs from the movie included in your story, or us it just certain ones?

How long do you think your story is going to be?

How would TKOTAR!Asha would interact with WG!Asha? (She does have some trouble making friends though, lol)

Any hints for the ending?

Out of questions, but I'll give you a hug! 🤗

OMG QUESTIONS AHHHHHHh🦈🦈

1. How did you come with your AU? Is it inspired from other AU's or something else?

I was inspired from a lot of works! I think what really made me actually GET INTO rewriting Wish was "Alicia and the Kingdom of Star Light" and "At all Costs" Animatics. At first, I originally was going to have Magnifico and Amaya be like this Gaston/Frollo like characters, but overtime, I didn't see them like that! I think this was because my interpitation of Magnifico in the film was more of the "tragic hero" rather than the "tragic villain". Also Asha at the time felt really boring, and Star felt very hallow, which is why I also had to change that super old draft to something new. Overtime, after watching Owl House, Race to the Edge, Wish...15 more times (watched it I think 30 times total), Hunch Back of Notre Dom, and Epic the Musical, I think some of those aspects of what I liked bled into the story. Example, people comparing Magnus to Odesseous LIKE ITS THE VIBE THEYRE NOT THE SAME PERSON-

Not only that, some parts of the story is actually kinda inspired from personal experience! Mainly with the family part- . . . but nothing less, it more inspired from HTTYD and Owl House lol

2. What exactly happed to Asha's family in this telling?

Well...neither of them are dead for starters.

Probably the only Asha who has a fully ALIVE family 💀🙏

3. Can you drop a little lore about TKOTAR's Star system?

Research ^

4. Who is your fav character to draw in your AU?

Agatha my beloved 💕

I don't even draw her a lot, I just love her design lmao

5. Are any of the Teens in the story, or are they sent to oblivion?

Pfftttt they weren't all sent to oblivion Rascal hehehh

Dahlia, Simon, and Gabo will most likely be the ones to end up in the story, so most of the teens are here.

I have some ideas to how they tie into Asha in terms of how they know her on a personal/co-worker relationship.

Dahlia WAS Asha's friend during the best parts of her childhood, before Asha distanced herself from her. Her arc is best kept secret for story reasons, but I think it is pretty wholesome.

Simon I'm sorta concidering to be some form of body guard while Asha goes into the Market.

Gabo probably will the the "consipiracy person who is actually right" type of guy heh- Also a friend Star becomes close with! (He totally does not teach him how to swear-)

I do want to incorpiate Hal and Bazeema and probably Flazino somehow in the story, just not sure how and what sort of purpose they will serve at the moment.

I still don't have designs for them, but I will soon hopefully :D

6. I know you mention that Flazino is possibly in your AU, but uh…..is he still alive or actually dead? Cause WG!Flazino can't vent to a dead guy 😂

So I guess he is now the Therapist! Flazino in my AU? IS THAT WHAT UR SAYING???? (I love it)

Too bad all the therapists are dead in Rosas because of the incident. No wonder Flazino probably dies from poisining. He knew too much.

Anyways no need to worry for the dead guy in the room that probably wont exist in my AU, the dead do exist as ghosts in some way so WG Flazino can still vent to him lmao

(ghosts cant talk tho (but then again, he drank poison which could have ruined his vocal cords but still))

He is looking out for WG Flazino :D (He was killed by drinking a mYsTeRiOuS LiQuId )

Just realized he kinda looks like Hermes- naurrrr not intentionalllll bc he looks like that bc he ded :(((

7. Any original characters in here besides Bonsai?

OK ROSAS, HERE IS ALL OG CHARACTERS IN THE STORY (THIS INCLUDES REPLACEMENTS)

Bonsai

Agatha

Thomas

Morning Star

Captain of the Guard, NOT PHEBUS (I dont have a name for him-)

Evelyn (minor character)

Atticus (minor character)

Agatha's parents (minor character)

Magnus' Father (minor character)

(what I mean by minor characters, I mean that they wont really show up in the story except in portraits or mentions unless I do a lore video that could include them)

CREATURES:

Dragons

Sirens

THE FUCKING FAIRES I HOPE YOU DIE LIKE KYS

Trolls

Ghosts/Ghouls (Good Ghouls Go Bad is a pretty good movie go watch it)

Forest/Water Nymths

Serpants

Kraken probably

Stars (ofc)

probably will be more

They all probably won't show up in the story, but know that they exist.

ALSO THIS ONE IS IMPORTANT, SO HERE IS A CONCIDERATION I HAD.

Although I am personally not sure if they will ever be in the story, along with Flazino, BUT...HERE ME OUT-

A ATLAS BASED CHARACTER. I MEAN THINK ABOUT IT

In Greek mythology, HE HOLDS UP THE FUCKING SKY??? LIKE??? BRO-

AND HE IS A TITAN?/?? ANDD IT WOULD MAKE SENSE??? KINDA???

Not sure, but I wanna put that there because I think a Atlas based character in a story with a sky filled with Star creatures is very interesting.

8. Which other Wish AU's would be one of your Favorites?

I don't pick favorites between fanfics. I personally love them all and I think a lot of them are really interesting retellings!

Except for the freaky ones

I hate you Hiccup x Toothless fanfic go burn (made me not trust fanfics for a long time💀🙏) (BTW I DIDN'T READ IT MY SIBLING READ IT OUT LOUD TO ME AND WE WERE LIKE 😨😨🐄🏃‍♂️💨)

9. Are all the songs from the movie included in your story, or us it just certain ones?

Certain ones. It overall depends on execution in the story.

Im a star is removed for obvious reasons.

But as I honestly think about musical instruments tieing with their respected characters, I might have to make completely different songs for almost all of them-

OK for what I mean by this...

The 4 main characters, Agatha, Magnus, Asha, and Star have their respected instruments tied to their character. This is due to because a lot of the music surrounding the characters in classic disney had instruments tying with their character or enviroment. Ariel, for example, as more whimsical or wonderous music, as she sings "a part of your world". Unfortunatly, I found Wish's instruments not fitting to how I interepret the characters and went for a completely different route.

Asha is mainly tied with either the chello or violin in my version. "BUT ISN'T THE VIOLIN USUALLY TIED WITH THE VILLAIN??" Thats where I say "Does it have to be?" I want to shake it up a bit instead of the violin being just used for "EVIL", because it can be used to tell SUCH EMOTIONAL beats. Here is a cover of the "This Wish" I found:

And here is the actual song:

OFC, I would personally add more instruments to the violin cover for it to hit harder. I ironically found a "Epic" (not sure if it is to the Epic the Musical or just Epic version lol) version that hit so hard, I felt like I was ascending:

Listening to different instruments PLAYING THE SAME SONG hits a LOT MORE DIFFERENT. LIKE YOU FEEL DIFFERENT EMOTIONS LIKE WHAT-

Also a more prominant example is "Dandalions" by Ruth B.

Here is the original:

Here is the Violin cover (funny enough I listened to this version first before the original. Personally, I think the Violin is better)

If anything, I think the gutair is overused in Disney protagonists, Mirabel had one, Moana had one, and probably more. I just wanted to do something different!

For Star, I imagined the whimsical part of Neverland or more or less instruments that give you that feel, like flutes for example. Or hell, more lullaby! Honestly the best example I can give to show what I am going for is something like:

Maybe even the At All costs instumental tying in both the Asha's instruments and His instruments at the same time can hit more different.

For both Agatha and Magnus, I liked how the trumpets were tied to the scenes they were in, like when Magnifico calls for a meeting and the trumpet plays, I honestly really liked that! But it doesn't have to be trumpets alone! I imagine Magnus/Agatha to have both a electric guitar/piano tied to their characters! Trumpets can be used to enhance the song their singing!

Here is a example (Ik it is a rewrite version, but I think this is a good one!)

Unironically, there is not a lot of villain songs that I know of that use pianos. I think it is because it is more in ties with dispair moments rather than actual villain songs. Doesn't mean that they don't exist, its just uncommon.

Why am I ranting about this? Well, blame this guy:

He is right yk-

Shut up.

You shut up

10. How long do you think your story is going to be?

AT least 2-3 months, possibly more or less. It depends.

11. How would TKOTAR!Asha would interact with WG!Asha? (She does have some trouble making friends though, lol)

Ah both interovernts! My fav.

TKORAT! Asha also has trouble making friends. Its mainly due to her having trouble trusting someone and also some more personal issues (this goes for everyone, not just WG! Asha) I think at first TKORAT! Asha would at first just avoid talking to WG! Asha, until after a while, they have a nice cup of tea and just chat! Def would be Art buddies.

12. Any hints for the ending?

I have no idea. Just a lot of chopped up parts in my head. Probably smth like this:

and probably:

What have I done....WHAT HAVE I DONE-

13. Out of questions, but I'll give you a hug! 🤗

Thanks for the Asks Rascal! 💕

I really appreciate it :D

@signed-sapphire @oh-shtars @rascalentertainments

@spectator-zee @chillwildwave @tumblingdownthefoxden

@uva124 @dangerousflowerpanda

[indelen]

The plot kicks off in earnest and the midnight hour is close at hand, it's time for honey cake (medovyk) and tea.

This is my reread of the Lockwood and Co. Books, organized by @blue-boxes-magic-and-tea, I'll make a general summary of several chapters and then post bits and pieces that jumped out at me.

Part III, Chapters 9-12:

Things continue to go pear shaped. I find it interesting how Stroud manages to thread the needle of reader sympathy towards the protagonists. The writing makes it clear that they did mess up and the house fire was avoidable. And this is not all on one person - Lockwood could have pulled rank and insist they leave but didn’t, Lucy had the chance to leave after the first manifestation but didn’t. Lockwood forgot the chains. Lucy lobbed Greek Fire indoors. All of this is bad. And when you meet Barnes you sort of agree with him to a point about them being irresponsible, but he’s so high handed and dismissive of the trio you can’t help but be on their side. The government keeps telling these kids they should listen to the government, because the government is full of adults that know so much better than they do. But if this was really the case the government would not allow children to do this dangerous work at all. You can't have it both ways! Either these kids know nothing and adults really are smarter, in which case let them go study trigonometry and pass notes in class already and, as smart adults, find some different way to battle The Problem that doesn’t involve high mortality child labor. OR. Let the kids do their job and admit you’re not operating within some perfect and fair system where the presence of an adult magically fixes everything or makes anyone safer. We meet so many adults in this universe and the majority of them are awful and take horrific advantage of children to enrich themselves on The Problem. None of them are sufficiently controlled in this universe because it is not in the government’s interest to do so. The kids sense this and revolt, if they are to die they want to die on their own terms! This is what happens when governments fail the people they are supposed to protect and when the desire to make money trumps acting in the interests of the public good.

Odds and Ends, Side A:

10/10 chapter opening. On par with “the building was on fire and it wasn’t my fault”. Reader attention fully captured.

Lucy “no I totally don’t care how I look, I swear” Carlyle maintaining if she ever came back as a ghost she’d be a hot cool ghost thankyou very much is so funny to me, just peak teenager insecurity and vanity but in a very endearing way.

There’s the thing about George – he can learn. Not just from books but in real life he can take criticism to heart if it’s laid out plainly. Even if it’s mean. This is probably his most amazing attribute. He dislikes hypocrisy and doesn’t have time for any kind of jabs or hints that are difficult to interpret. But someone lobs a criticism straight at him, he won’t dismiss it outright. In so many ways he is the most emotionally mature of the trio.

I’ve been thinking a lot in this reread about why George was so hostile to Lucy from the start and I think it comes down to the fact that he saw Lucy as someone who would make Lockwood more reckless. She is a gifted Listener, George knew Lockwood enough to realize this will make him more likely to rush off into the fray without research and Lucy being not especially academically minded would not stop him. I think he was worried that they would feed negatively off each other and outvote him. Which … they did at first, it’s true, George was completely right. Lucy goes along with whatever Lockwood says because she trusts him, because she admires him, because she doesn’t want him to think less of her. This behavior continues later too - she snarks at him plenty, calls him names, makes fun of him, sure. But ultimately she has a hard time saying “no” to him. And finding that balance of how much to go along with Lockwood’s plans and when to contradict him is I think a huge part of her arc in this series.

This pantomime of Victorian gentility is hilarious. The year is (arguably) 2013 and yet this sounds like a scene from Agatha Christie. Barnes knows Lockwood is home, Lockwood knows Barns knows he’s home but this presenting of a visiting card and “show him in” ritual has to be observed because this whole society hasn’t moved on from 1953 in six decades.

I am not the right person to give a post-colonial literary analysis of the Lockwood books but I would be the first to want to read it. There’s a lot there in terms of portrayal of indigenous beliefs, what colonial powers learn and refuse to learn from them and how they appropriate them. Barnes sees a collection of artefacts from all over the world meant to deal with ghosts and immediately dismisses them, seeing only the methods he’s familiar with as correct. He does not stop to appreciate the fact that the idea of contacting the dead and laying them to rest is an issue that in some way or another humanity has been dealing with for millennia and all around him is evidence of the fact that not one of these cultures resorted to shoving their young to act as meat shields to do it. The variety of the artifacts speaks to the idea that there may be different approaches possible, different avenues to explore. On what basis but good old-fashioned racism is this dismissal of a ghost catcher in a universe where ghosts are real and do real harm to real people? Does a country dealing with such a crisis not owe it to its citizens to investigate every possibility instead of just consigning a large proportion of their children to a very high possibility of death and telling them that they can’t even do it on their terms, no, the government and large corporations must manage how they die!

And the idea of “it belongs in a museum” is especially laughable in this context. Presumably he means a British museum despite the fact that all these artifacts are foreign. There’s something so on the nose about a very British man dismissing knowledge from other cultures as useless and indicating he views those cultures themselves as extinct when he himself lives on the bones of a long dead empire enforces the practicing the most barbaric shit imaginable.

There is also something so very sad about Lockwood’s encyclopedic knowledge of every gord and mask in the house. Like he never to a chance to know his parents to he memorized everything about their research to get as close to them as possible.

George is the most verbally brutal of the trio and I love that for him

Here again is that Lockwood duality. We later learn sleeps in his parent’s old room - the ultimate symbol of his attempts to play the adult. Like the suits, like running his own agency, like his many successful and unsuccessful attempts to mimic adult behavior. How successful he is really is … not certain. Lucy is not a reliable narrator and even she is clearly unconvinced sometimes, but he clearly can pull it off to some extent. But every now and then we get a glimpse into the fact that he also, in a very sad and stubborn way, clings to a childhood that was horrifically and unfairly ripped from him. The baby mobile in his seemingly adult bedroom is a neat encapsulation of Lockwood himself.

This man is incapable of staying angry at his beloved for more than like … 15 mins tops.

Please turn the cassette over to side B (see reblog for more)

[bomberqueen17]

ugh

I can't sleep and I'm just sort of stewing over how unprepared I am to be entirely on my own managing my own healthcare. blech.

Did I mention, Farmsister was suffering from hip pain and went to her doctor and was diagnosed with the exact same problem I have?

Diagnosed, I said. Yes! Her doctor actually investigated the cause of her pain, diagnosed her, referred her to a physical therapist, but also came up with a plan of treatment. Told her physical therapy often can't resolve this issue, so after a set amount of PT, if there wasn't enough improvement she'd refer her to an orthopedist instead.

Imagine that. My doctor was like "you've got intermittently debilitating pain? You should go see a doctor about that." and that was that. I went to a physical therapist because that's what she recommended, but I don't have a plan, I'm just spending $150/wk to work out in a room full of other people. I guess I'll ask my PT if there's a plan or like timeline or like, idk, something we should look for, or what. IDK what a realistic goal is. Pain-free seems out of reach. I'd settle for largely functional, I guess? But I don't know, and I guess I'm on my own to figure it out.

And the same with the ADHD! She was like "oh, your insurance isn't going to cover it and it's probably going to take months of waiting, but you had better go see someone about that", and refused to engage any further. So I messaged the psychiatrist today and he doesn't check the messages on that platform so I texted the admin who was like oh usually medication is adjusted at follow-ups, and I'm like well in the three minutes he talked to me it didn't come up I guess, so then they texted back that he says to try taking two pills a day for a couple days and then schedule a follow-up.

I've asked around, and usually I guess the regular adderall pills, you take in two doses at separate times. But if the point is that I'm trying to see if a higher dose helps, I'd probably better take them at the same time??

It's just that when the small ineffective dose wears off four or five hours after I take it, without my ever having had a good phase, I get horribly drowsy and also get this kind of gross formless yearning that I think might be a dopamine crash, where I roam the house in itchy horrible discontent trying to think of something that might help me, but it's not candy and it's not reading a book and it's not napping, and I guess I understand why people turn to drugs or self-harm because the feeling is awful, spacy and wrung-out and aimlessly needy.

But I guess it's up to me to research what that is and what to do about it, and then at my $250 three-minute follow-up appointment in three days or whatever I'll tell the psych what I want prescribed to me, because it's sure as shit not like he's going to have any fucking advice for me.

And like. Laugh out loud at the notion that my primary care physician would give a single shit about this. Maybe I didn't mention this on here either but literally the only thing she has looked into about me is that my blood tests came back with a fasting blood glucose level of 5.7 (idk what units, just that she's fixated on that number) and it is exactly entirely that post circulating about """"pre-diabetes"""? She has put in my chart that she wants to start me on Metformin!! Christ all fucking mighty, it could not be more obvious that she took one look at my fat ass and was like "this bitch eats only candy! I'd better scare her straight!"

Ma'am fuck off. She wants me to get my blood retested in July and I am figuring I'll take advantage of having to have a visit then anyway to get the ADHD stuff entered into my main chart, and I'm also going to tell her that since she was so disinterested in literally any of the conditions actually debilitating me (my hip pain and my ADHD) I had to research those so I could treat myself, and in the course of researching that I found out about the fake "epidemic" of "pre-diabetes" which isn't a thing, it's a fucking PR gambit to sell drugs, and so if she prescribes me diabetes drugs when I do not fucking have diabetes I will not be taking them, and I will also be looking for a new doctor, because I do not appreciate her fixation on treating a condition I do not have while ignoring things that are literally preventing me from leading the life I want to, wherein I can do things like, stand/walk as much as I like and can also like, perform tasks.

So there's my timeline.

(Yeah my insurance won't cover blood testing a second time in a year so that's gonna cost me $200ish, and the phone doctor visit she insisted on to discuss the results last time was $45 and it'll be that again for this one, but I mean, eventually I'll hit my deductible maybe.)

I don't know, people tell me that they have medical professionals that actually listen to and treat them and give them like actual good actionable advice on how to improve their various health conditions but as far as I can tell that all sounds fake and isn't a thing.

Unfortunately, I am too fucking debilitated by my Can't Think Good disease to do a competent job at caring for myself, so I guess I'm just going to have to fucking muddle through somehow, or something.

Probably I should put together my citations on how Pre-Diabetes Is Fake so that when I unload that on my doctor I can do so with fucking footnotes at least. Lord knows I can't sleep at the moment so I might as well do something productive.

[slow-burn-sally]

Stuff I've learned about how my brain works post-ADHD diagnosis.

I never hit stop on an alarm or reminder if I haven't yet done the thing it's supposed to remind me of. I ALWAYS HIT SNOOZE UNTIL THE TASK IS DONE. Otherwise, the task will not get done.

Anything that I want to bring with me on a daily basis when I leave the house (keys, meds, lip balm, wallet, deodorant, mail to be mailed, anything) must live in my pocketbook. Anything I take out of my pocketbook and do not put back will never leave the house. Anything I know I must bring with me the next day must immediately be put into the pocketbook, or my work backpack, the instant I think of it, or I will forget.

I do not put anything on top of the thing I need to remember. If my taxes need to be filed, I cannot put my printed out tax forms under a book or my laptop. Out of sight, out of mind. No object permanence. It must be kept in a clearly visible space in order for me to remember that it exists.

Plastic, see-through Tupperware containers are great for storage and organization. If I can't see through the container, I'll never remember what's in there.

At night after I've had a smoke and am watching tv, if I need to go into my room to get something, I must repeat the thing in my mind, over and over, so that I don't forget it on the way there. "bathrobe, bathrobe, bathrobe." "Lip balm, lip balm lip balm." "Water bottle, water bottle, water bottle."

At work, I write down lists of things I need to do and check them off, one by one. I set reminders in my email. I finish tasks before I start on new ones. I keep people who request favors from me on the phone while I write up the email or solve their problem. I tell them "I'm keeping you on the phone until I do this so I won't forget." No one has ever complained about it.

Before I ask a question by email, I try my best to research if it has been answered already. Before I answer a question by email, I triple check myself to make sure I'm correct. I slowly and carefully reread the email, (not easy if it's about dull instructions or procedures, because my eyes keep trying to slip over it without letting my brain absorb it). This one is tough, but when I don't do it, I typically feel like a jackass when I say something wrong or redundant with a bunch of people copied as witnesses to my mistakes.

I set timers when I put water on to boil or put something to bake in the oven. I try to never leave the kitchen without doing this, because if I don't, pots and pans get ruined, or the water boils away to nothing, or the meat overcooks when I eventually get sucked into fanfiction, or a show, or scrolling through Tumblr, and forget that I'm cooking. Not setting a timer is also a great way to accidentally start a fire in your kitchen!

I message people back the instant I remember to do it. If not, it could take weeks to remember.

Feel free to add anything that comes to mind if you want. Our solutions have to work for each of us individually, but sometimes advice can be sort of universal. I'd love to hear more workarounds!

[thedragonagebigbang]

Bang Creator Interview: Tumblr: @thraaaaaaaanduuuuuuuuiiiiiiiiil  |  AO3: chissprincess

The Collaboration period has begun! In these quiet months before works are due, we want to foster a sense of excitement, camaraderie, and celebration among our participants. To that end, all participants were given the option of a formal interview by our mod, Dema, or an informal “ask-game” survey. We hope you enjoy getting to know our phenomenal creators as much as we have!

ONE WEIRD TRICK FOR MAKING FRIENDS IN THEDAS

Vowelthranduil and Dema talk about that OTHER dragon media, early fandom experiences (fantheater, anyone?), and the supremacy of the Reluctant Hero trope

Dema: So! The collaboration period just began. Has this given you a fresh burst of energy for your fic?

vowelthranduil: It's definitely made me think more about my fic. The timing has been weird though because unfortunately, someone over on the House of the Dragon team also made the decision to cast Ewan Mitchell as Aemond and then made the further decision to allow the man to speak entire sentences in High Valyrian a few weeks ago. Up until that moment I was an entirely casual Game of Thrones/House of the Dragon fan but when that scene happened I could literally feel the casual leaving my body. So good news, I'm definitely in fic writing mode and thinking about fics and that includes my DABB fic! Bad news, it also includes like 3 House of the Dragon fics. My poor poor brain lol.

Dema: Hey. Momentum is momentum 😂For a long fic like this, do you have a full outline, or are you being guided by Vibes?

vowelthranduil: For this particular fic I do have a bit of an outline. There's a timeline I'm following of my character's life that I'm trying to follow. But to be honest a lot of it is also Vibes. I definitely don't look at the timeline or any kind of outline as set in stone. I'll change things as needed or if I feel like I have a better idea or if I feel like something just isn't working out. The nice thing about this fic is I know where my ending point is, which is something I often struggle with in my other longfics.

Dema:  Especially when your attention is divided between two very different fandoms, how do you get in the zone for this fic? Or are you allowing some of that HotD inspiration to infiltrate your DA fic?

vowelthranduil: Nah HotD and DA, despite both involving dragons, are very much in Never the Twain Shall Meet territory. Music is a big thing for me, in any of my fics. I have entire playlists for my HotD fics and my other DA fic. I don't really have a set playlist for this one, but I have lots of music that gives the proper vibes and is already sorted into some other easily accessible playlist so I can just bring that up. Or I'll go back and read what I already have, look at some of the art I have of my OC, or even just do a little DA-based research. I don't have the time to get into a full DAI playthrough right now or I would do that too.

Dema:  Have you done a Big Bang before or is this your first?

vowelthranduil: I've done smaller bangs, and I did try to do the WIP Big Bang a couple of years ago, but I couldn't keep up with it between school and mental health issues. I'm not in school now though. I work, but not having homework is super helpful. I come home and have time to do other stuff instead. Like, you know, write fics for Big Bangs mwahahaha

Dema: Do you try to set aside specific time to write?

vowelthranduil: I have tried in the past but I'm definitely not organized enough for that. Plus when something inevitably happens and I don't write at the appointed time or don't write for the appointed amount of time, I just feel guilty, and guilt is the inspiration and motivation killer.

Dema:  Is there anything that reliably creates a writing-mood? Or do you find the muse strikes randomly?

vowelthranduil: It can be pretty random I find. New music will sometimes do it, but unfortunately, there's no guarantee that the new music will be in any way helpful with creating the muse for a particular project so I can't rely on that. I can sometimes use music I already have to trigger the muse when I sit down to write but like...the general "I want to write now" feeling has to already be there. Otherwise it just turns into a long daydream session and I can lose a whole day to that easily without ever writing a single word if I'm not careful.

Dema:  How long have you been writing, fanfic or otherwise? Have you always been a writer?

vowelthranduil: I mean I can definitely remember writing as a kid, doing creative writing projects in school and stuff. I didn't really like it very much because I felt really confined. Like I remember this one time in Catholic school we were writing stories and I wanted to write something with a lot of magic but this was Catholic school, so I didn't dare do that, I had to turn it into something that would be acceptable to the teachers there. So I felt really stifled. I didn't even find out about fanfiction until I was about 14 or 15, when we finally got internet at my house (and this would have been around...like the late 90s in a pretty rural area). I was in the Star Wars fandom at the time, though of course I wouldn't have described it that way because I had never heard the term "fandom" before and didn't really have access to a broader fan community outside of my immediate friend group (for anything, not just Star Wars). But yeah once we got the internet I found fanfiction pretty quickly. I don't remember how exactly. But it was really cool and to be honest, it was something I was already doing sort of. You know how kids invent their own stories to play out alone or with their friends, that kind of thing. And I had been reading the Star Wars novels at the time, and I wrote these really corny plays that my friends and I actually performed. So I guess it depends on how exactly you want to define "fanfiction." If we go by a strict definition of a story, then the first one was probably when I was 14/15 after I found my first fics on the internet, and it was a self-insert fic of the most obvious caliber. If we include those plays, then a little early, around 13. If we go by the first ones I shared online....probably 16/17? But I legit don't remember for sure on that. And I've been doing academic writing for ages, like all of my degrees are in the humanities and social sciences, really writing-heavy fields, so I legit don't remember a time except my very young years when I haven't been writing SOMETHING regularly. (Hey look at that, I wrote you a novel.)

Dema:  I want to know more about these plays. That is SO cute and so lovely.

vowelthranduil: Oh god. They were like…I'm trying to even remember anything at all about them right now lol

Dema:  What part did you play? Do you remember that?

vowelthranduil: I think I legit wrote them with all of my friends in mind as the characters. Like I was the bounty hunter who was originally working for the Empire (and I was a Falleen, not human, so I was basically covered in green face paint) and....I was hunting Luke Skywalker for some reason. Because this is Star Wars so like, of course. And my best friend/boyfriend (look I wrote a trilogy and we started dating somewhere in this timeline lol) played Luke and wouldn't you know it but my character married Luke somewhere in all of this/ Oh and we defeated the Empire I'm pretty sure. Because...of course we did?

Dema: Incredible. I love it

vowelthranduil: Oh I wrote a play based on a Midsummer Night's Dream at one point too. God when was that? Must have been around the same time.

Dema:  A Star Wars play??

vowelthranduil:  No, this was straight Shakespeare fanfiction

Dema:  Oh, even better

vowelthranduil: We made sets out of cardboard boxes and stuff it was truly wild

Dema: I am delighted. When did you get involved with the DA fandom?

vowelthranduil: I THINK it was around the time DA2 came out? I'm actually not 100% sure except that I know DAI was nowhere near out yet. Like I don't even think it was a rumor. I had a friend who played DAO and was always talking about it and how great the romances were and stuff. I really wanted to play but I was super nervous because up until then I had only ever really played the Sims and like, Oregon Trail (the super old-school one and also Oregon Trail 2 I think). And of course DAO was kind of expensive so I was really nervous to spend the money on something I might hate, especially since I had tried Skyrim and not really gotten into it. But then it went on sale for like $5 around Black Friday (but also that low price is what makes me think this was proooooooooobably right before the DA2 release) so I decided I could take the chance for $5. It's either the best $5 I ever spent or definitely in the top 10 of best $5 I've ever spent.

Dema:  Do you have a favorite game in the franchise?

vowelthranduil: Oh DAI definitely. I'm really attached to my Lavellan.

Dema:  Is it the character-driven plot that made these games feel different than games like Skyrim? I do think it's so interesting how you're very multi-fandom but DA is the only game-fandom you've mentioned.

vowelthranduil: Yeah I don't really know what it is either. Some things just really grab me sometimes but I'm never entirely sure why. Like I've always been really into Star Wars but I never got into Star Trek. I enjoy some of the other big sci-fi franchises like Battlestar Galactica but I wouldn't say I'm "in the fandom." Until very recently the big book/movie/TV-show-based fantasy fandom was Tolkien. I've always kind of assumed that was a right-place-right-time kind of situation, i.e. my first real exposure to it was the Peter Jackson movie in 2001 and it just kind of hit me at juuuuuuuuuuuuust the right point in my life to become a part of me or something. What the hell was it about Ewan Mitchell speaking a few lines of a conlang that dragged me out of 13 years of being a casual into joining the HotD/GoT fandom? Damned if I know. So yeah, I'm not entirely sure what it is about Dragon Age that gets me vs. other games that by all accounts feel like they should be similar. Maybe it's that there's something relatable about them for me? I'm not really sure, kind of thinking out loud here as it were. But like in DAO I think it's kind of easy to relate to someone like Alistair, right? Like he's a nice, kind of goofy guy trying to find his way in the world. In DA2 we've got some real, recognizable struggles happening, and sure they're couched in these very fantasy tropes of "magic" and "elves" but a lot of the basic ideas are very real-world. I suppose in DAI there's something very similar to what's going on in LotR, where you've got some poor unsuspecting little guy who just kind of gets chucked into events whether they want to be there or not but then they get to choose over and over to do the right thing, perhaps even at their own expense, and save everyone in the process. It's an entirely thankless task for them and the world is never going to remember them properly (as we find out in Jaws of Hakkon -- rather painfully if you're playing a Lavellan imo) but someone has to do it and it might as well be you. Er, them....You know what I mean.

Dema:  Yeah! And I get what you mean. Timing has such a big impact and it's fascinating how some media clicks and others don't. Alright we're down to the wire here so if you've read the other interviews, I think you know what I'm about to ask 😂Do you have a misleading clickbait title for your bang fic you could share with me?

Vowelthranduil: lol omg

Dema:  Without giving anything major away that would identify your pitch lol

vowelthranduil: So coming up with titles is literally the worst, hardest, and least-favorite part of writing fics for me. I currently have a doc titled "absolutely the most bizarre fic concept I have ever had" and it's literally just...a romance fic with a slightly odd pairing lol

Dema:  Well. You definitely do not HAVE to do this lol

vowelthranduil: So for this one I guess I might go with something like ONE WEIRD TRICK FOR MAKING FRIENDS IN THEDAS

Dema: Perfect! I don't think we have a one weird trick yet! I honestly love "absolutely the most bizarre fic concept I have ever had," that made me laugh. Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me today!vowelthranduil: Yeah thanks for interviewing me!

[all-pacas]

the FANFIC DIRECTOR'S COMMENTARY: no mystery left

(because this is the one i was thinking about. bc reddit.)

OK, no idea how to do these things. Part of me is really tempted to pretend this is an actual director's commentary, you know, make a fake script, like here I am in a booth and we're doing a little watch along together. Right: Hi, I'm Helen. (We're doing the RP, ya'll)

So this was the first story I wrote for House. I think I did it in about two hours; most of it in one burst and then finishing it up. I have the bad habit of doing editing after posting, I'll just sit and re-read it until I spot errors or wording issues.

no mystery left alpacas

I kind of regret the title of this fanfic. It's called after a lyric from Portions for Foxes, which is kind of just my general Chase Soundtrack Song, which is why I chose it ��� except I kind of feel like I could have used it on something else, or picked something more fitting. But I don't hate the title either. I can never think of proper titles, I'm always stealing from songs. I've been trying to use as many Portions for Foxes lyrics as possible in my House fanfics.

"Who," House says grandly as Cuddy approaches, "ever heard of a diagnostics fellowship?" He's sitting in the hall by the elevators, ready to pounce. "Who ever heard of a diagnostics department?" she retorts distractedly. She slows. "You're hiring a fellow. Maybe even two, if you can find that many people who can stand you. This is a teaching hospital." House doesn't retort. She looks at him suspiciously and he twists his expression as if to suggest he has no idea what she's suspicious about. "Hire a fellow," she repeats. "That Treiber kid -"

This is a continuity error!! House actually did have fellows before Chase. This exchange really bothers me, but I've let it stand. I guess my excuse is that neither House or Cuddy say Chase will be your first fellow; House is just at a moment where he doesn't have any (also a continuity error, btw, Chase mentions meeting one in All In).

I… hadn't actually completed my watch of the show when I started this fanfic, which is where the error crept in. You'd think referencing S8-only Trier would imply I'd at least watched most of it, but no. I skipped ahead. I watched it coz the summary implied Chase Backstory.

He watches as she tries to enter before the doors close. A blond kid sticks out his arm to block them, flashes a thousand perfectly white teeth at her when she says thanks. Interesting.

I never have House refer to Chase by name in the story. This is meant to be the first time House sees (or hears of) him, and what he sees is Chase on a Charm Offensive towards Cuddy. Enough to pique his curiosity.

"I don't trust nurses." House keeps staring over Wilson's shoulder. The papers are too far away to read, but he can just make out the logo on the cover sheet. "Who does immigration paperwork in a hospital?" he asks.

This is still meant to be an accidental run-in. This is also shoddy immigration law, although I reference it in another fanfic too: as much as I like the idea Chase leveraged a 3 month holiday visa into a work visa, I'm pretty sure there is no way the department of immigration would let him. But I like how careless and sort of arrogant it seems. (very Rich Kid) Chase just assumes it'll all work out for him.

House flips a page in the rheumatology textbook he's examining. Trier tries not to fidget. "Classic power play," he blurts. "Read a book to show how little you care." House glances up.

Now House is actively researching Chase, probably because he also knows he's playing it fast and loose with his visa, and by implication is trying real hard to get a job by sucking up to Cuddy. I wish we'd had Trier more. I love everything about him. I love the idea that Chase just has a Nemesis in pathology. Like that one episode where he has to biopsy a dead baby? So funny if you imagine Trier is just off-camera and pissed Chase is in his department.

You're Dr. Thomas, aren't you?" the kid asks as the elevator starts to move. "Oh - I'm not a patient, don't worry." He smiles, sticks out his hand. "I'm interviewing for the surgical residency. Dr. Cuddy spoke highly of you. Rob Chase. Fantastic to meet like this - we're due to interview next week?" "Dr. Chase. Of course." Thomas clearly has no idea who the kid is but shakes his hand. The elevator dings. "Nice to meet you," the kid says, oozing charm, as Thomas exits. "Nice trick, Doogie," House says when the doors close. The kid jumps, noticing him for the first time. "Repetitive, though. Do you just hang out around the elevators waiting for your future bosses to climb aboard?"

I went back and forth on how Chase would introduce himself. We know his sister, at least, calls him Robbie, and even though the show itself is pretty consistent on calling him Robert, boy, can we agree that doesn't suit him? In my head, he started using his full name to "sound professional," but before House usually called himself Robbie or Rob. So he's not quite polished yet.

House is making a power play here, obviously. He's figured out Chase's game, and inserting himself into it just to let Chase know he's been caught: Chase is trying to "accidentally" charm his way into being hired. Also, something about him asking if Chase waits for his future bosses on elevators, House being on an elevator…

He turns on the kid, who stops short, uncertain. "Say," House asks, mock innocent. "Is my photo on the website?" The kid recites obediently: "You're Dr. House. Head of diagnostics. Double specialty in -"

Chase did research House, but didn't think he was a useful person to stalk. Trying to imply here that Chase really is being quite cynical and calculating about this — he isn't just targeting the specific folks he needs to hire him, he looked at every possibility and then chose who to seduce.

At House's office, he hesitates until House waves him inside. "The way I see it, Dr. Chase's only son could get a job in any hospital down undah he wanted, no matter how mediocre his grades."

Honestly, biggest argument against Chase being a lazy nepobaby, imo. He seriously could have done this in universe. Instead he moved across the world. This is one of the reasons I am so Interested in this idiot: he's so unambitious but he does wild things like this.

"Surgery and intensive care," he says. He turns to the counter behind him, picks up the resume he'd had Wilson procure. "You must love saving lives." "I do," he says, eyeing the resume and the copy of his father's book House had strategically placed under the manilla folder. "How sweet." "I like them when they're dying," the kid says, leaning forward. "When you have a bleed and ten seconds to find it. When they crash and you don't know why and you have less than a minute to fix the problem." "And that's why you're a perfect candidate for my fellowship?" House mocks. "You tell me. You're courting me, aren't you?" "Sudden attitude shift. Trying to appeal to the nearest authority figure by imitating his grizzled charm?"

I don't love this exchange. I think it's pretty decent banter, it flows nicely, but I do think Chase is too aggressive, even if I handwaved it with him doing in intentionally, trying to match House's energy. House revealing he's been tracking Chase's job hunt, and showing off Rowan's book, proves that he's interested in Chase and has been paying attention. So Chase notices this, and he's trying to imitate House.

I don't think (she says, having written it) that Chase's explanation for his specialties is necessarily true here. Or not the whole truth. He's just trying to say what he thinks House wants to hear. From his perspective, this dude he hasn't seen before just walked up to him and told him "I know everything about you, sit in my office, let's look at your resume." House mentioned Chase's immigration winging-it, that he's hoping to charm his way into a job. So Chase in turn is making his specialty sound sort of reckless and seat of his pants, too.

From House's perspective, he's seen this kid stroll into the hospital and attempt to manipulate

He skims the kid's file again. Looks up at him over the top of the folder, then tosses it down. "Have your dad give me a call." "What?" he blinks. "You want the job, I'd like a character reference." "I have references." "Yeah, but I'm such a fan of daddy. Shouldn't be a problem. Not like you fled England rather than live in his shadow or anything." "Australia." House waits. Finally the kid stands up. He offers his hand to House to shake. He doesn't take it. Rowan Chase calls the next morning.

This is the reason both the story and this commentary exists. It's a power play. House wants Chase to demean himself and do something he doesn't want to in order to prove he wants the job. Chase, meanwhile, realizes that House is pursuing him. So the real question is "will you do something you don't want to do because I asked you?" House has seen Chase is manipulative, and observant, but is he willing to do this?

Chase, meanwhile, knows House is interested in him and pursuing him. He doesn't know how much House has been tracking him, but clearly House wants him. This is enough to get Chase, naturally, to abandon his other plans to charm his way into a job: he might be able to get Thomas to hire him, but House is taking the initiative and showing an interest, which makes him way more valuable. (ie: daddy issues. It's always daddy issues.)

"I want to hire Bobby," House says, cornering Cuddy Friday morning.

[…]

"One's black and the other has milk and sugar. Did - did my father --" He blinks, losing his confidence. House takes the black coffee. Chase throws the other cup in the trash.

House calls him Bobby to mock him, obviously, but it's not until the last paragraph of the story the narration (and so, House) thinks of Chase by name. Now that Chase is in Diagnostics, he Exists.

Further useless headcanon director's notes:

I think Chase introduced himself as Robbie exactly once in New Jersey, and House heard, and it was also the last time he ever used that name.

For some reason, I feel like Chase drinks coffee black with sugar. So neither of those cups were ever going to be from him. He's blatantly sucking up here.

Finally, in an earlier scene:

"Do you even have an interview with Thomas, or were you planning on kissing his ass until you got one?" "I'll have it by the end of the week," the kid says defiantly. House smirks.

And in the last scene:

He passes her the manila folder. Cuddy skims it and looks disapproving. "Dr. Chase is the new surgical resident. Dr. Thomas specifically asked --"

I just liked this bit. Chase did end up getting the other job, he just picked the boss who wanted him over the one who didn't. From Dr. Thomas's brief appearance in S6, he seems to have Issues with Chase and Chase as an extension of House. I think it makes sense on its own, but it makes more sense with this context. He offers the kid a job, the kid rejects the job, four years later Cuddy makes Thomas hire him again, and Chase still pays more attention to House?? Lowkey Chase has as many enemies in the hospital as House and I think that's great.

[judesmoonbeauty]

The Past Records: Ellis & Jude Chapter 3

Fan translation only. Not 100% accurate. Please expect grammatical errors. Cybird owns everything. Feel free to re-blog, but please do NOT post my translations elsewhere. Also, feel free to ignore my random commentary.

Translation notes are marked with ***

Roger: A story I know, huh.

Harrison: I mean, why didn't you tell me you knew each other first?

Roger: You didn't ask.

Harrison: You......

Roger: Besides, we're not really close friends either.

Roger: As for whether those guys can be trusted, I can't say.

Harrison: So, how do you know each other?

Roger: Just as a doctor and a patient. Jude has weak bronchial tubes.

Roger: My dad's so good at what he does that sometimes he used to go over to my parent's house where he worked as a town doctor.

Roger: When he was a patient of my father's, well, I just knew him by his face.....

Roger: One night, he rolled in and said he'd been stabbed with a knife. Not to my dad, but to me.

Harrison: What were the details of the stabbing?

Roger: All he said was that, “I got stabbed because of a grudge.”

Flashback Begins -

Jude: I got what I deserved. I won't say anything more. Don't ask me again.

Roger: I see. I can't believe you're talking to me, and not my dad because you don't want this out in the open.

Jude: I thought you wanted a table to practice your techniques on.

Jude: You can practice without a medical license.

Jude: In return, I won't tell me how you treated me, so as not to ruin the reputation of your father's clinic.

Roger: Convenient for me and you, huh? Well, I suppose it is.

Ellis: Roger? Can you fix him?

Roger: Oh, don't worry. I'm quite skilled. I won't kill you.

Ellis: Thank God. I can't have him dying now.

Roger: What's with that talk? When can he die?

Ellis: Probably the happiest moment of his life......

Roger: Huh. With all this damage, it seems like that's going to be a long way off.

Jude: Hey, I'm pretty sure that's not where you should stick the needle, you Quack!

Flashback ends -

Harrison: You treated him before you got your medical license, huh?

Roger: Haha. It's too late for the statute of limitations now, right?

Harrison: What else do you know?

Roger: Oh? Yeah..... like how Jude gets up early in the morning, or how Ellis eats more than anything?

Harrison: Not about that.

Roger: Jude can drink at the same pace as me and not get crushed, but Ellis gets drunk rather easily.

Harrison: It's not like that either....I've got two more images in my head that I don't need to know.

Roger: As I said earlier, I'm not sure if they're trustworthy or not.

Roger: There's something those two are keeping from me too. It's like conducting research that costs a huge amount of money or something.

Roger: Well, regardless if you can trust them or not, I don't think they'll do anything halfheartedly.

Roger: Was that helpful? Harrison: Well, sort of. At least the information I got from you wasn't false.

Roger: Thank you.

Liam: I found you.

Harrison: Hmm...oh, Liam. How did you know I was here?

Liam: Will told me. Are you at the cafe to work on a review?

Harrison: If I'm in the castle, I'll be distracted by the report, so I had to change things up.

Liam: Haha, so if I report now, It'll just remind you.

Harrison: It's fine. I just lost my focus. Anyway, you called out to me didn't you?

Liam: So, what?

Liam: Well, then, be my guest. Let's see, first of all, the story I heard from Jude...

Liam: Is Jude a doctor? A scholar? He was enrolled in public school through the mediation of a doctor or a scholar!

Liam: Surprising, isn't it? It must have been absolutely hard to fit in with all those aristocratic kids. I'd like to see a little bit of that.

Liam: Next, what I heard from Ellis. Ellis said that he didn't go to school.

Liam: I heard his father was a church school teacher, but they split up a long time ago.

Liam: Oh, Ellis and I promised to go skating by the lake sometime.

Harrison: Heh, good for you.....I mean, how did you talk to those two? You haven't been at the castle for the last few days.

Liam: I followed them invisibly and followed them, investigating their actions and routes the last few days.

Liam: Or maybe we just happened to on the way home together? Harrison: I didn't realize you went that far....

Liam: I thought Harry would like it. The rest was simply my feline curiosity getting the better of me.

Liam: I followed them and talked to them directly, but I still can't trust them.

Liam: I feel like I'm missing something decisive here.

Harrison: That look on your face...you're up to something.

Liam: That's my bad friend! You're quick.

Liam: So, why don't we give the two of them a shot.

[Previous] [Next] [Master list]

[alliluyevas]

Have you ever posted about what about Mormonism first caught your interest and why its stuck as such a major interest?

I've been asked this before, but not for a while, so I'll answer again.

I've always been pretty interested in religion and religious history, I think part of this comes from growing up with a few very different religious perspectives in my extended family. I was raised Episcopalian and so was my dad, but my mom was raised Catholic and my dad's older sister and her husband are born-again evangelical Baptists. I was very much a type of kid who paid attention to and noticed stuff like this, so when I went to Catholic mass with my grandparents I would pick up on both similarities to and differences from what I was used to at the church my immediate family went to, and have questions about that. And my mom talked with me when I was still pretty young (late elementary/preteen) about why she left Catholicism and issues she had with it, and I also remember talking with her about how my aunt and uncle are creationists and what that meant and creationism versus evolution versus intelligent design and how to avoid arguments about this when we visited them. So I definitely grew up navigating having very divergent religious experiences and perspectives in my family and how to engage with people respectfully about that, and I was always curious about how different groups worship and define themselves.

I had a couple different phases as a kid where I was very interested in researching religious topics, like I got very into Ivanhoe in fifth grade and read a lot about the crusades and medieval Catholicism for a few years, and then later in middle school I first became interested in religious extremism and cults and I used to watch 19 Kids And Counting and read a lot of Time magazine special editions about Heaven's Gate and similar topics. 

I didn't really know a ton about Mormonism until I was an adult because I didn't know a lot of LDS people and I don't remember learning anything about Mormonism in my US History classes in school. When my brother and I were in elementary school, one of his best friends was a boy whose family was LDS so I had been over to his house several times and played with his sister and stuff, but I don't remember him or his parents really talking about their religion at all and I don't think I asked any questions either of them or of my parents. (Though I do remember my mom explaining that his parents didn't drink because of their religion, and I also remember reading the titles on their living room bookshelf and seeing a lot of books about Brigham Young and assuming he was my brother's friend's dad's historical blorbo essentially because my dad had multiple biographies of Abraham Lincoln and I thought it was a similar circumstance.)

About three years ago when I was living in Boston I was reading a fair bit about the Nation of Islam because a) Louis Farrakhan grew up in Roxbury where I worked and there's a main street in Roxbury named after Malcolm X, and I remember thinking that it was ironic that Farrakhan was the local but the street was named after Malcolm X and wondering if that pisses him off b) the Nation of Islam is fascinating to me in general. So I watched this Hulu documentary about the Nation of Islam and then Hulu recommended me a documentary about FLDS and I watched that too. I felt like the documentary didn't really go into enough detail about the historical context for modern Mormon fundamentalism, so I checked out the book Under the Banner of Heaven from my local library, and then I wanted to know more about early Mormon history in general, so I checked out a few more books, and then I got hooked and started ordering some of the ones the library didn't have online.

I can't entirely explain why my interest in Mormonism has stuck around, because I do tend to be very fixated on special interests and sometimes that kind of feels a little arbitrary, especially when that sort of hyperfixation intersects with and becomes genuine investment in academic scholarship (which it doesn't always for me, but here it did). I am interested in women's history in general and always have been, so I initially really found polygamy fascinating, and wanted to learn more about the dynamics of polygamous households. Specifically, the fact that early Mormons created a very controversial social order that wildly diverged from the norms of their culture, did this essentially from scratch, and were able to maintain it for roughly 3-4 generations of polygamist families despite significant external pressure and initial internal opposition is really interesting to me. I also think Mormonism is a very American religion that has also sometimes been at odds with American mainstream culture despite that and that's a very fascinating dynamic to investigate. I think I've also often been interested in attempts to create a new, utopian community or culture and the ways in which these experiments often fall short, which has been a constant in a lot of my historical interests like the American Revolution, the Soviet Union, and Mormonism as well.

[nothingenoughao3]

Hello, I read your fic Dreams in the Necromancer House and just wanted to say I'm really enjoying it. The images are so vivid, I don't know how you do it. And so I was wondering if I could ask where did you get your inspiration from. As in, if you add references about certain books or history or traditions where do you find them? Wikipedia? I'm just curious about how to do research. Specifically the tag that says Lovecraftian cults, tbh I have no clue about the H.P.Lovecraft universe. I just think it's really interesting.

Also, I am probably going to read it again because I'm sure I've missed out on some details. Anyways, have a nice day.

Hey, thank you for the thoughtful ask! This is the sort of question writers dream about receiving.

Here is the not-so-secret and not-so-glamorous process for how I compile references for my works (not just this one--this L4D2 series took a LOT of research, and so did that one SuperBat fic).

For me, the earliest creative process is kaleidoscopic: I'll have multiple scenes that don't seem like they all fit together spinning around in my head, and "the plot" is what happens when I try to make them all line up and become one coherent thing. Usually, there are the Scenes Of Pure Inspiration which arrive out of nowhere, followed by the Scenes Of Pure Necessity that have to happen to support the Pure Inspiration, and then one or two Scenes Of Damn Wouldn't That Be Cool that come up as I play different scenarios out in my head. Once it's over, I'll probably discuss the Scenes Of Pure Inspiration from "Dreams" more in detail.

Then I start doing outlines. Yes, I construct outlines for my fanfics, just as I do for my original works. There are far too many tiny moving parts in a story for them not to be contained in an outline--even if you move them to a different spot later, the damn things'll get lost in the sofa cushions if you don't keep them in a container of some kind. (I hope this metaphor hasn't gotten away from me.)

Dreams has three outlines--the one I wrote while still generating ideas, the one I wrote to establish timelines more firmly, and then an annotated one that has all the references I've sprinkled throughout the story. So I do consider this to be a vital part of the process. There will be a fourth notation file I generate when I do my final editing pass after it's all published, too! That one will cover me stating stuff about character histories and little story details, so that (for an example that really happened) I don't have Armitage giving a flask of whiskey to Herbert which later turns into a flask of Everclear.

Now where does the research bit come in? For me, when I do my extremely-detailed outline or when I start writing.

For details regarding history, science, politics, and the like, I generally rely on Googling, same as anyone else (excluding results after the year 2021 if I'm not finding what I need). Better than this, though, is books. I used to collect books that were writers' references--one of my favorites was a guide to poisons, both "the most likely poisons used in a murder mystery" AND "how to design your own poison/toxin/venom". Also guidebooks for TTRPGs, sacred texts, gardening guides, etc. I currently have a book series called "The Home Doctor" that teaches you how to do baseline veterinary and human medicine (according to the early 1900s). I don't have that because I plan on using it for its intended purpose, but I did use it to research a L4D2 fic where someone's leg gets amputated--and I even had the characters in the fic owning those same books!

What really matters for a story like Dreams, though, is thematic feel. I think folks will forgive me if I were to mention a musical band that didn't exist in 1987/8, but far less so if I didn't nail the feel of 1987/8, or of cosmic horror. So while I am writing a story, I immerse not only in the source material (if it's a fanfic), but also in music, movies, books, comics, and etc. that "feel right". I'll draw off those media for further inspiration, because let's face it, creativity is knowing what to steal and how to steal it. (I didn't say that--Tarantino did.)

The key here is that I don't stop interacting with research and creative works when I'm not writing. I'll flip through my books or go down a rabbit hole of "what the hell is THAT scientific concept about" or learn about magical rituals every day that I can. If the compilation of research material looks easy or fast when I do it, it's because I'm always doing it and I know how to narrow it down!

For Dreams, I could go "Oh, here's a list of all the stories and movies and etc. I want to build off of" because I already had all of those things in my mental wheelhouses. If you wanted it, here is a specific list of the actual non-Lovecraftian works that thematically support and inspire Dreams in the Necromancer House:

Prince of Darkness (1987)+

Hereditary (2018)*

The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals (2019)

Stir of Echoes (1999)

Mandy (2018)

Skeleton Crew, Nightmares and Dreamscapes, and Everything's Eventual by Stephen King: specifically, "Nona", "1408", "Mrs. Todd's Shortcut", "Gramma"+, "Autopsy Room Four", and "That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is In French"

Black Butterflies and Heatseeker by John Shirley: specifically "Cram", "Tahiti In Terms of Squares", "The Almost Empty Rooms", "Woodgrains"

The King in Yellow by Robert Chalmers

Twin Peaks

Music: "We Will Commit Wolf Murder" by of Montreal, "Leather Jacket" by Ben Folds Five, "It Must Have Been Love" by Roxette, "Over & Over" by Rio Romeo, "No One's Around To Help" by JerryTerry

The Arkham Horror board game

"The Mysterious Stranger/An Angel Named Satan" from The Adventures of Mark Twain

And since you were asking about Lovecraft's universe, here are the stories that went into this particular tale. All of his stuff is treated as being in the public domain, so you can easily find it on sites like Project Gutenberg or wikis:

"The Case of Charles Dexter Ward"+

"The Thing on the Doorstep"+

"The Dunwich Horror"+

"The Colour Out of Space", as well as the film adaptation Color Out of Space (2019)

"Pickman's Model"

"The Call of Cthulhu"*

"The Shadow Over Innsmouth"*

And of course, "Dreams in the Witch-House"+

The ones marked with an * are the most detailed stories regarding what I mean by "Lovecraftian cults", and the ones with a + are good demonstrations of wizardry/magic systems that supported this work.

[kokiwiouma]

Answering that last question i had a lot of rambling i took out so heres the rambles about dynamics and how everything works?? maybe i haven't figured it out

the situation FIRST im gonna say this takes place in a world where the game did indeed happen but it was like in the 2nd game and it was all a game they "agreed" to and was all a realistic digital thing being over seen by some people? for some reason? but the first and 2nd game did happen, the future foundation exist still, but this is a time of peace (i haven't played these games in a long time i don't fully remember the lore friendos)

After they got out they all got help and readjusted to life again, Kokichi either dated or had a unspoken thing with Rantaro for little bit but ultimately it didnt work HOWEVER because i like Kaede somehow these two ended up together

The living arrangements are

Kokichi - Kaede - housemates (dating)

Tenko - Maki - roomates (figuring it out)

Himiko (just lives here )- Shuichi - Kaito - housemates (figuring it out)

Miu - Kiibo = roomates (figuring it out/friends)

i haven't figured out everyone else yet cause i have a lot of conflicting ideas like my Rantaro's parents adopting Nagito into the famliy so he lives with Rantaro in his large house with Leon and Kotoko who are Nagito's adopted siblings as well i haven't work that out how that works yet cause at some point Nagito was roomates with Mikan and left that when he broke up with her and lives with Hajime scott pilgrim style. Chiaki has a house she's just never at and wants to move in with either Hajime or Maki cause she's gotten really close with both of them

thats a lot of stuff i haven't worked out yet

im sorry i ramble so much back to the question at hand

part of me wants to say, cause i have to do some research but i'll do it later, i think they can take someone's DNA and put it in a egg/fetus and that's what they probably did but who's the biological father? part of me wants to say Rantaro did, but another part of me wants to say Kaito volunteered.

DONT GET ME WRONG Rantaro and Kaede are friends but they went through a rough patch and she kinda doesn't think she deserves to be friends with him cause of what she did but it wasn't her fault and all that. Rantaro doesn't understand her thought process and it's a whole thing so they just kinda don't talk? for a while the relationship was Kokichi and Kaede were close friends? While Kokichi was dating Rantaro later Kokichi wanted to have Kaede in cause they like eachother but Kaede doesn't like Rantaro that way so it was

Rantaro is Kokichi's boyfriend while Kaede is Kokichi's girlfriend but Rantaro and Kaede are not in a relationship, this made Kaede uncomfortable so Rantaro made the disction for her for him to leave and explained it to Kokichi who wanted to stay with Kaede even though in their heart of hearts they sort of felt more for Rantaro (cause i'm Oumami first they are my ride or die but i love Oumatsu)

[jinlizz-dragondrama]

A/N Sorry for the late chapter update with my birthday and fathers Day I was a bit busy. Also, I'm pregnant I have 9 more weeks until my little one is here so I was also busy with the nursery. Hopefully, now that I'm not as busy I'll continue pushing out chapters. Enjoy 💜

Chapter 5

Victory

Y/N POV

The bright and early sunrise starts to seep through the blinds of my room. Groaning, I try to seek shelter under my blankets, but not even they could shield me from the powerful sunbeams. I looked at my phone to check the time, and it was 7 a.m., rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and thanking the gods that it was the weekend. I have a couple of hours before the "tryouts" for the swim team, deciding to get out of bed and take a quick shower to freshen up. Once I'm finished I put on my bra and panties, with black shorts and a purple tank top. Opening up my blinds I look outside, noticing the busy street full of taxis, buses, and rows of cars, placing my hand under my chin and resting it on the windowsill. My phone rings, I jump and scramble to grab it, seeing it's a text from Donnie,  several texts from Cass and my dads asking where I was.  Quickly shooting Cass and my dads a text letting them know I'm at the safe house and that I'll be trying out for the swim team. Cass messages me back telling me I'll def get in and that she'll be busy with training most of the day and won't be able to message me til later tonight. Papa Brutus messages back saying he's glad that I'm ok and wishes me good luck. I then go to Donnie's message while smiling brightly and text him back.

Donnie: Good morrow Y/N I hope you had a restful night's sleep.

Me: Indeed I did, what are you doing up this early?

Donnie: I can ask you the same thing

Me: Well I asked first, so answer the question

Donnie: Fine, Alas with me working in my lab I'm known for staying up late and only going to sleep if it's necessary. But a good cup of black coffee helps me stay awake.

Me: Ah I see. Your coffee order is easy to remember. Now I think sleep is very important gotta keep the mind fresh.

Donnie: Yea, you sound like my brothers always telling me to take a break, but with a mind like mine it never sleeps.

Me: Well maybe I can change that

Donnie:...

Me: What I mean is show you the perks of sleeping...maybe make it an experiment of sorts.

Donnie: You had me at an experiment

Me: Now as to why I'm awake Well the sun is my worst nemesis and I have a Swim tryout today.

Donnie: Well once you're done maybe you can come over

Before I can text back I get another couple of texts from him in quick secession.

Donnie: April will be there.....

Donnie: You don't have to come

Donnie: But everyone has been asking about you, especially Leon

3rd Person POV

Donnie cringes when he types his twin's name, it would seem Leon has a special interest in Y/N and Donnie has no idea how to feel about it. He's been asking questions nonstop about Y/N, so he's been holed up in his lab avoiding him, trying to work on something anything to shove down these feelings/emotions. Researching was no help at all. He pulls himself from the depths of his overthinking brain and sees that Y/N has messaged back.

Y/N: Sure, once I'm done with tryouts I'll pop over.

Y/N POV

After I send the text I grab my black gym bag that's covered in stickers and iron on logos. Stuffing a bathing suit in, with water shoes, a wallet, a book I've been trying to finish, a Swim cap, goggles, and shoving my phone in my surprisingly deep butt pocket in my shorts. (LOL shorts pockets are never deep enough for a phone) Putting the strap over my shoulder and slipping into my rollerblade sneakers. I give Cass a quick call letting her know what I'm up to I walk out the front door lock it, and clinking my heels together I rollerskate to the school, letting the security guard know I'm here for the tryouts he lets me through and gives me directions to the pool. I make my way to the pool, it seems to be a good turnout of students some I've seen in passing in the hallway and some I haven't seen at all. I write my name on the rooster book, and a male and female coach gets our attention letting us know that we should change into our suits and that the boys will be on one side of the pool while the girls will occupy the other. Quickly changing into my f/c one-piece suit and putting on my goggles, I expertly stuff all my hair into my XL swim cap, jumping into the pool I swim over to the girls and await instructions. Each girl takes turns swimming 2 laps of each stroke style; backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and freestyle. When it's my turn I easily complete each stroke with precision and grace, without the use of my elemental powers. Being in the water is so relaxing and calming for me and swimming is just a plus, if I could live in the water I would.

After everyone is finished with the "warm up" as the coach called it we were given a partner to swim against. I was partnered with a shorter sweet looking girl who shyly waved at me and I returned the wave. Quickly introduced ourselves and jumped into the pool to do a quick freestyle 50-meter swim. (50 meters is going from one end of the pool, touching it, and swimming back to the end you started at). We step onto the small diving boards and the coach yells out

"Get into position!"

"Take your mark" We pull our bodies forward but not far enough to fall off the diving board while using our strongest foot to ground us. The horn is blown and we push ourselves straight into the water. I hear the splash I make and the gurgling of the water as it envelopes me in its cool embrace. With my arms out in front of me and moving my feet and legs in a mermaid-like fashion under the water, holding my breath until I have to come up for air, I start to do the freestyle stroke. Turning my head to the side to breathe I can see the girl is far behind me, but I continue to swim, once I get to the end of the pool I flip over under the water, facing the way I came, pushing off the wall of the pool with my feet and blowing air bubbles out from my nose so they wouldn't fill with water I continue my swim until I make it back to where I started. I take off my goggles and stay in the pool to catch my breath, waiting for my swim partner to finish and to catch my breath. When she reaches the side I'm on we high-five each other and climb out. Grabbing my towel I dry myself off and soon everyone is finished, the coaches congratulate us on being on the team and how excited they are to see how much we will improve as the season goes on. Even though the tryouts were just to see everyone's swimming skills and potential everyone made the team.

Changing back into my street clothes, I text Cass, Donnie, and my papas that I'm on the team. I get congratulations from each of them except Cass but I know she'd flip if she was able to read it. Donnie messages me that he will meet me at the school with April and walk me to his family's place. As soon as I exit the school grounds I see a familiar purple hoodied figure and a green letterman jacket wearer right next to him. I quickly make my way over and shout out to them.

"Hey, guys!" I say cheerfully

"What up gurl! Heard you made the team!" April said

"Yea it was no biggie" I reply as we start making our way down the street. When we are out of earshot of anyone Donnie pipes up and says.

"I guess we will have to see who is the better swimmer, seeing as I'm a turtle and all," he said smugly

"Is everything a competition with you Donnie?" April retorts

Donnie just shrugs and puts his arms behind his head as he continues to walk. I roll my eyes and follow the duo to a pizza shop. April and Donnie grab the huge stack of pizza boxes and we make our way down an alley. I'm not as concerned as I should be given I'm going down an alley that's filled with dumpsters and trash. Definitely something out of a horror film, we stop by a manhole that is easily lifted by Donnie with one hand while balancing the pizza boxes. April climbs down the ladder without hesitation and I peek down at her while she waves up at me.

"After you M'lady" Donnie says while smirking at me

I jump down, but slip on some sludge landing on my butt with an "oomph". Donnie tries his best to hold back his laughter but a chuckle slips through his snout as he jumps down to join us. When I stand up and dust myself off I give him a playful nudge that was hard enough to make him stumble a bit and for a split second lose his balance on holding the boxes. Leaving him behind I follow April til we get to a steel door which is opened by her with quick taps on the keypad. We walk in and I couldn't help but be in complete shock as to what I see a whole underground garage where a turtle shell-shaped tank was located, I continue to follow April we reach another steel door and April types another code in and slowly creaks open. I'm welcomed by two brothers Mikey and Leo skateboarding on their half pipe, walking over I lean over a railing and watch them. Leo is the first one to see me and he expertly jumps off his skateboard and his board lands in his hand while looking at me smugly.

"Well, looks who's finally decided to show up!" Leo says

*Gasp* "Oh Me Gosh Y/N and April are here," Mikey says excitedly

Donnie clears his throat from behind the pizza boxes.

"Oh and Donnie is back," Leo says sarcastically.

Donnie scoffs and makes his way through another set of tunnels, we follow and enter a living room filled with bean bags and a couch. Their Dad Splinter has parked his butt right in front of the projector screen, he looked quite comfy in his lazy boy recliner and is watching an interesting-looking show while laughing loudly. Donnie goes to the kitchen to put the pizzas down on the counter. Mikey comes up to me and smiles happily. The turtles congratulate me on making the swim team and give high 3's.

"While dad watches his show care to play a game of Mario Cart"? He asked

"I've never played before...." I say shyly

"WHAT," All turtles and April said in unison

I turn to see the huge turtle standing in the entranceway to the TV room looking shocked at my statement.

"Well, we better change that," April said while grabbing my hand and pulling me towards their arcade room where several gaming consoles are hooked up. April grabs the controllers for the Nintendo Switch but one was grabbed from her hand by the blue turtle.

"Me thinks we should rock, paper, scissors and see who gets to beat the new girl first" Leo stated while bouncing it lightly in his hand.

Donnie returned from putting the pizzas down but brought one box with him.

"Well how about a little wager to make this interesting, whoever wins gets the first and last slice of pizza," he says while twirling the pizza on one finger but almost drops it and instantly catches it

"Sounds fair, I'm game," I say

Mikey and Leo play rock, paper scissors, and Leo wins, Mikey pouts a little. Then Leo and Raph play and Leo wins that round, April, and Leo have a go but it's a tie, then Leo wins best out of three. Lastly is Leo and Donnie, I couldn't help but feel the tension in the room rise. Both brothers glare at each other and I could swear I heard some cowboy showdown music....which April was playing from her phone. I couldn't help but laugh. It was an intense battle each time it was a tie and soon we didn't see an end to this, so I interjected saying.

"Since you guys want to get your butts beat so bad. I'll just play against the two of you"

That seemed to calm down the tension and I sit on a bean bag in front of the TV with a controller, Leo cuts Donnie off and gets the second controller, smugly looks at Donnie, and starts the game. Donnie rolls his eyes and folds his arms across his plastron. Mikey sits next to me with his legs crossed and gives me pointers and somehow I win. I flail my arms about in glee, giggling happily and accidentally letting out a snort. I blush profusely and everyone around me laughs as well, except Donnie who slightly blushes from hearing my cute little snort but hides his blush by covering his face with his palm. After he recovered Donnie takes Leo's place in the beanbag, and he changes his face to his emotionally unavailable bad boy image face (iykyk 🤪).

"You ready to lose?" He said confidently

I look over at him with a quirked eyebrow and it seemed like my purple eyes glowed with a mischievous gleam.

"Oh I think you'll be the one losing" I counter

"Scoff, the probability of that happening is like 1%," he said while rolling his eyes

"Well that means I still have a chance"

We start the game and it's an intense round we are neck and neck but I luckily pick up a blue spiny shell and toss it towards Donnie's character which knocks him back, crossing the finish line in victory.

I look over at the stunned purple turtle and smile.

"You were saying?"

Unable to utter a single word, Leo in his stead hands me the pizza box while chuckling at his brothers reaction and I take the first slice of pizza, the cheese pull was a sight to behold. April takes a quick pic of this moment and laughs at Donnie's face. Donnie snaps out of his shock and a small smile appears on his face. The rest of the day goes off without a hitch at least until I let slip that I never saw a Jupiter Jim or a Lou Jitsu movie which started a whole Splinter pulling out all the Lou Jitsu movies, Raph grabbing the Jupiter Jim movies and a lecture with Donnie using the projector to get his point across as to how these movies are some sort of right of passage. We start watching the Jupiter Jim movies which I'll admit were pretty alright, I watch intently while snacking on popcorn and pizza. Soon April is asleep snuggled up next to me on the bean bag, Leo and Mikey are snoring on the couch, Raph is sleeping soundly on the floor and Donnie is typing away on his tech gauntlet, in a bean bag next to me, the blue hue from the screen illuminating his face. I blush slightly at how handsome the lightning makes his features look. I grab the last slice of pizza and as I'm taking a bite, Donnie says quietly

"Don't get used to it, my calculations next time will be correct."

"I look forward to it" finishing the slice and slowly start dozing off. My head gently lands on Donnie's shoulder, he jumps from the sudden contact, looking up from vis gauntlet he sees my peaceful sleeping face. Grumbling quietly to himself he tries his best not to move and graciously allows my head to rest there. Later on when everyone wakes up they see our sleeping figures, with my head still on his shoulder and his head on mine, April takes a pic while quietly laughing and Leo asks her to send it to him. He will definitely use this as blackmail later. (Donnie voice "Evil Laugh!!")