#i've just kind of envisioned her as a character and i've tried to see if she's a model or something and can't find anything

[anistarrose]

I want to talk about the way aromantic experiences can be represented in very meaningful and validating ways without characters being written as intentionally aro, and also I want to talk about aro-spec Magnus Burnsides headcanons. Luckily, I can do both those things in one post!

During the events of the podcast, Magnus is disinterested in and often straight-up uncomfortable with romance, because of the fate that befell his last relationship, with Julia. I've seen a reading (that I don't think is objectively wrong, though I do not personally share it) that interprets this trait of his as some kind of "sacrifice" he's making on Julia's behalf, being a choice to stay out of other relationships to carry on her memory better. It's a reading that seems pretty reasonable at first glance, but not especially aromantic.

(Because if anything, it almost seems at risk of turning into something like "there is no sacrifice more tragic than not having a romantic partner," right? Or worse, "this is a trauma response that needs to be healed for Magnus to have a happy ending, because being able to enjoy romance is vital to his happiness and self-fulfillment." Both of which are... varying levels of uncomfortable, to me as an aro person. Like, I'm not in the business of telling people how to interpret fictional characters, but I personally can't engage with these without a bad feeling in my stomach.)

However! Back to the various potential readings of Magnus's character! It's worth noting that so much of Magnus's arc revolves around unpacking his trauma, from the destruction of Raven's Roost and Julia's death — and that healing process doesn't change how he feels about romance! The Eleventh Hour is the turning point when he starts to seriously re-evaluate what the trauma and loss made him want, versus what Julia would want for him, and what would let him live in the moment instead of in the past... yet in the Heart Attack segment of Wonderland? Magnus still expresses disinterest in dating.

In Arms Outstretched, then Story and Song, he further internalizes and chooses to let himself be saved and ask for help, instead of punishing himself with martyrdom — and no romantic relationships come up in the epilogue! When he passes away after a long, happy life, it's Carey, — his best friend! — who holds his hand while they wait for the end!

Magnus's reasons for not wanting another relationship are obviously complex — not just a conclusion about himself that he came to lightly, regardless of whether he's on the aromantic spectrum, not on it at all, or deliberately not choosing a label. What makes his arc so unique and special to me, in contrast with almost every other story about traumatized characters finding a happy ending, is that his happy ending isn't contingent on romance! Whenever he says that he's that not into dating, no one doubts him or tries to undermine him (other than Lydia, who's literally trying to feed on his suffering) — and to me, an aro listener...

Well, the way the narrative takes Magnus's wants and lack thereof seriously is just so refreshing.

Ninety percent of characters in fiction who repeatedly stress that they don't want romance or marriage are only shown doing so to set up for the narrative later proving them wrong. It's to contrast with that later point in the story where they "find the right person," or "understand when they're older." Or "stop being so cold," or "stop acting like they're too fucked-up and 'damaged'." Or "overcome their trauma."

It has an air of "wow, isn't this character so ridiculous, for thinking they won't change their mind later?" Or occasionally, "isn't it so tragic, that they can't envision themselves being loved?"

For protagonist-y characters, for heroic characters like Magnus — for any type of character in which "happily ever after" is considered a plausible, fair-game, genre-acceptable outcome — we see the genre conventions also dictate that "settling down in a romance" and the "happy ending" are intertwined. I've seen TAZ posts from back in the era of The Suffering Game/The Stolen Century airing, expressing sentiments like "Magnus not finding someone to love again would be so tragic and mean-spirited, I hate grim and edgy endings like that." While I can appreciate people trying to subvert tropes like "you can only have one 'true love' in all your life," the incredibly non-subversive and ultra-amatonormative belief that "romance is a prerequisite for a happy ending, or even healing arc" is such a deeply unfortunate one to tag on.

I am aromantic. I don't want a romantic relationship. And I find joy in that! I refuse to accept that I need to be "fixed" or "healed" to live a long, happy life, because I'm not broken! What brings me the most joy beyond just living as an aro is seeing stories actually acknowledge that people can find this happiness without romance — like how Magnus's story does! Like how casually and matter-of-factly it subverts expectations — how Magnus says he doesn't want another relationship, and no one comes along to prove him wrong! He doesn't "find the right person" because at this particular phase of his life, and of how he wants to live, there isn't one in a romantic context!

He heals from his trauma enough to find all kinds of joy — doing things he loves, surrounded by people he loves — and not because of, or in service of pursuing, a romantic relationship!

I almost never see fantasy stories where one of the heroes gets to have an arc like that. An arc where they get to live out an ending that I would want. A happy ending that would be happy for me! For people like me!

Magnus Burnsides gives me so much Aromantic Hope. That this is a kind of happy ending that I am not the only one to idealize, and that I could attain, no matter what horrors are being thrown at me in the present. Magnus dies peacefully, after years of assuming that he wouldn't, and he does so surrounded by his dearest friends and family. Who are all so proud of the life that he lived. Magnus was true to himself, to what he felt would bring him healing and fulfillment — instead of what cliché and expectation dictated to him — and he was completely at peace in the end. Ready to rush in one final time.

I immensely doubt that Travis intended for Magnus's story to be an aromantic story in those words, if at all. But Magnus's story resonates so, so much with so many common aromantic experiences. And that means so much to me. I'm so grateful for that. In this day and age, in this world, I needed that.

I needed to have a good long cry about Magnus Burnsides. Aromantic icon, intentional or not.

...

...Of course, because this is tumblr, I want to make a clarification. This isn't some kind of claim like "shipping Magnus with people other than Julia is problematic." It is, however, a thesis statement that "no such ship becoming canon makes Magnus's arc so much more unique." It's an explanation giving full context to how I'm biased, not objective, but willing to argue that it makes his arc so much more meaningful, too.

And most of all, it's a desire to shine a light on a side of Magnus's character and growth that I think goes underdiscussed. Especially underdiscussed through an aro-spec lens. And speaking of which:

Sure, I said I don't think Magnus was intended as an aro-spec character, or that he can only be interpreted as such — but if you made it this far, you know I think this ruff boi's just chock full of aro-spec subtext! So just for fun — and because the world is always deserving of more aro-spec headcanons — let's end this post playing with some different readings of him as aro-spec!

Gray-Aro or Demiromantic Magnus who rarely falls for people to begin with. Why would it be some tragic heroic sacrifice to remain "chaste" and wait for Julia, when not being into romance is just Magnus's default state of being? He's so confused about why people think he's making some tragic sacrifice! So confused, guys! I even wrote a fic about the gray-aro HC a few months ago (link)!

Gray-Aro or Demi Magnus who thought he was just aromantic, no attraction whatsoever, for over a century — until he met Julia, and fell for her (perhaps very, very slowly). But that doesn't change those years gaining perspective as a platonically, familialy loving aro who values those bonds immensely, and always wanted them to remain a prominent part of his life.

Losing Julia devastates him, of course it does — but especially once he remembers the Stolen Century, he knows he has a long-term support system no matter what, and it won't revolve around chasing that unlikely possibility of feeling romantic love again. Why would it? Why would he need to chase something so fickle just to heal?

Aromantic Magnus who feels no romantic attraction, but in the era of Raven's Roost, doesn't not want a romantic relationship. Except, he doesn't after all. Except wait, he kinda does, it's just complicated. Maybe something queerplatonic? Well, he really likes the idea of a wedding, and that's not necessarily mutually exclusive with a QPR, but there's no guarantee his partner would feel that way too, and...

There's just these expectations that go with dating or marriage, of partners expecting him to love them in such a specific way that he knows he can't... and then he meets Julia, who's a romance-seeking aromantic too, with heavily overlapping feelings. Bonding over their similarities leads to dating, and eventually marrying, over a deep platonic love that may or may not still involve cuddles or kisses, or a desire to start a family. They don't panic too much over the labels — they're just so delighted to be with someone on the same wavelength!

When Julia dies, so much goes through Magnus's head. After a while, he can't help but start thinking again about how rare it is for people to want the same things out of a relationship that he does. Or to consider the way he feels for them to be enough. But as time passes, Magnus comes to terms with it more and more. He's happy to wait for Julia again. After all, he's longing, but not lonely. Mourning, but not incomplete.

Aromantic Magnus who is aromantic specifically because of his trauma, but no less aromantic for it. He just can't bear the thought of getting into a relationship again. Ironically, there's a point in time where he thought of himself as a romantic — back while he and Julia were courting each other — that now feels simultaneously so close and so distant. Magnus who has so much to grieve, and grieves this romantic side of him too — at first. Who thinks that there's only two options, for a folk hero in a story like his — settling down to live happily ever after, or dying in battle. And if there's nothing more upsetting, more uncomfortable, than getting married again — then living happily ever after has got to be off the table, right?

Magnus who slowly realizes that doesn't have to be the case. That no, barring seeing Julia again, he certainly doesn't have reason to believe that even time will change this new, alienating part of him — but maybe, it's not so alien after all. Maybe he knows people who won't even question it. Maybe he doesn't have to change it or overcome it to be happy again.

Why is romance some singular thing he has to chase, in order to settle down peacefully again? Why can't he do it with his friends? With his dogs?

And last, Questioning Magnus who might be aro, who might not be aro, and is maybe most likely to be something in between. But it's hard to tell; he's honestly not sure if he'll ever crack it, and.. ultimately, he's okay with that. Because all that matters to him is knowing he doesn't need a relationship to be complete, to take full advantage of his well-earned happy ending — and he's got a great grasp on that one, surrounded by people who never make him doubt it.

Aromantic Magnus Burnsides. Aro-Spec Magnus Burnsides. My aromantically beloved. Thanks, bud, for all the hope when I needed it.

[nxnarui]

Introducing my DoL PC, Evelyn the Two-faced.

I've been playing this game for a while and this character of mine has been in my head for quite some time.

I'm kinda aiming for a "Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" vibe to her. She is seen as an ideal student and a holy child by others.

I've put quite some effort into grinding her stats to fit what I have envisioned for her. I'm gonna write down here her story.

"She is like an angel, but remember that demons can shapeshift."

Evelyn lives in the orphanage with a strong will to fight, when she was 18 she had problems paying off her debts to Bailey, so she took many jobs such as working for the cafe and taking shifts from the office building, but none of these are enough to get by the week. So she resorted to knocking at the doors of Danube Street to get more cash to pay off those weekly debts. But ended up being r//ed in the process, being molested in the bus all the time. She tried fighting back but it was never enough because of her weak physique. Every morning she was tired and if it wasn't for her friend Robin, she wouldn't have the energy to go to school. She would often get bullied by Whitney most of the time, but when she fought back once to him she gained the motivation to work out. As time passed, she worked out most of the time, sometimes neglecting her studies and having low grades. She started talking to Sydney while she studied to gain more understanding of her subjects, and she found out Whitney also picked on him. She had more reason to gain motivation, the bus wasn't any different but this gave her the motivation to work out till she reached the peak physique she desired.

The more she exercised the more she got r//ed, she was always in Harper's office because of pushing herself every day trying to keep working out, studying, and socializing at the same time. She went to the asylum once because of all the trauma she endured from all those circumstances. She went back in again because she couldn't pay off her debt to Bailey and was sold off to Eden. She felt like she had no hope for herself, she was soiled. Every inch of her body was touched by strangers. She vents these problems to Sydney, who she has the last hope for. Something in her decided to corrupt this pure and innocent man, so she did. She joined the temple to break the vows of the Temple with him. Her whole life changed when she met him, she had more control over herself, learned how to fight back, learned how to take care of herself, and prayed and prayed to gain grace for the church. But all of this is a facade, she's only here for Sydney. Her grades went up, and so did her popularity. Everyone thought she was very cool. Whitney tried intervening in this popularity but the more control she has over herself the more she wants to corrupt everyone else. Make them her dogs, obeying her every move. She wants to do this to Whitney especially, as time passes she becomes a worse bully than Whitney. Even if people send her to detention, Leighton always wonders why she's there. Even if they scream for help, no one will come to their aid.

"Her big red lips are filled with lies."

Here's what she looks like in game!

Also she's not entirely evil, she still has kindness inside her, she just doesn't see the world as a nice place anymore. And all you need is to survive, and she doesn't want to be prey anymore.

[hatsunemimikyu]

Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition First Impressions

Started playing yesterday after having it sit on my Steam library for years and thought it would be fun to note down my first impressions of the game!

Tales Experience

For note, this is not my first game in the series. I've played a significant part/finished Symphonia, Abyss, Zestiria and Berseria, and also played a bit of Phantasia and Arise. My favourites are Abyss and Berseria!

The Plot

I've gone up to Shaikos Ruins by now, so I haven't seen muuch of the plot, but knowing Tales I can predict some conspiration of those in power that relates to the ancient technology lol

I don't mind most Tales games sticking to a tried and true formula as I think the best part of those stories is how they tie to the development of the characters. And talking about characters...

The Characters

I already like Yuri a lot tbh. I love how he's simultaneously too tired for this shit but also cares too deeply to not help others in need. Combat-wise he's your sword main character(tm) which I always appreciate since I'm not that good at combat to play with the more intensive chars lol. Cool dude 10/10.

Omg Estelle is another one I'm loving?? She's kind and sheltered but she's also funny and a book lover. I love her dynamic with Yuri, sheltered noble x world weary (ex-)military makes me think of Luke x Tear who I have always liked a lot. I also love her dress, it looks like a flower!

Extra notes on her and Yuri's relationship, I'm curious to see how Flynn will play into it but I'm already envisioning the "this is my boyfriend Yuri and this is my boyfriend's boyfriend Flynn" thing lol

Also she and Yuri already had the "would you still love me if I was a worm snake or frog?" conversation and I love that for them tbh

https://youtu.be/RIlLpX4fmVY?si=4kR0_lmSoKr9YEpS

Mechanically she's a healer so... sorry girl, probably not going to play as you so much :'D and please stop using sharpness on yourself!!! Still 10/10

Doggo/10, what's more to say?

Ok but Repede is really cool! The only part of his design I'm not a big fan of is the electric blue fur on his head. I'm pretty curious on what's his story with his previous owner and how he came to hang with Yuri (I'm pretty sure the pipe is a memento?)

Mechanically he's the faster but frailer guy which is... ok I guess lol

He's scared as fuck and he has a big ass tote so he's very relatable lol I'm pretty sure him knowing to lockpick will be significant somehow, maybe a hint of his past? 8/10 let's see what he has in store

Mechanically he's the big swing guy which I always enjoy playing as even tho I'm bad at it

Smartass ass lil lady/10. This is a "type" of character I always like in Tales so happy to see her there lol. Still have to finish the ruins to see how will she decide to tag along the party. Mechanically she's the offensive caster, found her nice to play at but I don't like to stay still for long so I don't play caster very much.

Now that I'm done with the characters for now, let's get to...

The Gameplay

This is one of the Tales with the lanes + free movement duo. I'm playing on normal bc I'm a scrub, but I still feel that blocking at the right time/free moving to reposition is pretty important as some enemies can hit quite hard. Usually it gets easier with time bc you get more characters/spells, but for now I'm feeling the difficulty is in a nice place. Skills being learnable from weapons adds some more levels of choice (do I equip every new stronger piece of equipment or do I wait to learn skill X?) which is interesting. I'm glad I'm playing on my Deck as I don't have to worry about save points since I can just put it to sleep.

Now for the last part...

The Visuals

As I've stated before, I'm playing this on a Steam Deck, so I can't comment on how this would look on a giant screen, but for the Deck at least, it looks pretty good! The art direction is pretty strong and all the environments I saw up to now have been distinctive and very nicely crafted. The characters also look pretty good, and the overrall effect is like you're playing an interactive anime. Really shows how a good art direction makes a game look good no matter how old it is.

Anyways having an overrall nice experience with this one! I'm curious to get more characters and see how they develop. Idk if I'll write any more of this but it has been fun to ramble about lol. If you read this all thanks for reading lol have you played this game?

[quaranmine]

Things that Could've Happened in Firewatch AU but Didn't

Hi, and welcome to scrapped plot points. This fic had a general direction from the beginning but a lot of details came together as I went.

🔥First of all, I've posted the discord message before, but I actually originally envisioned it as "ambigious" whether Mumbo was dead or alive. This was scrapped the moment I tried to determine HOW one makes that ambiguous. think about it for a moment.

🔥I've also stated this before but I initially wanted this to just be a string of vignettes throughout the summer with no real plot or resolution to it. This is where I got a lot of early ideas for Grian and Scar hangout/character relationship development back in Dec 2022 (Scar and Top Gun, Scar's job as a door to door salesman, etc) (the salesman idea was actually from one of my tumblr asks, thanks!)

🔥Originally I....had more of a human conflict present? I actually struggle to remember some of what I planned because it got scrapped so quickly once I thought it through more. But you can still see references to it in my notes:

(last one is from first draft of chapter 11, one year prior to the final draft.) There's??? so much conflict implied here. Grian gets CHASED! people BROKE into his tower! someone STOLE THE BIKE! drama!!

I scrapped it because it was too unbelievable. Specifically, it was unbelievable for this plot line. I still had the same "truth" to the plot present—that there was no conspiracy and Mumbo had just died after being injured in a place outside the initial search zone. All this other behavior would have just been red herrings from people who had nothing to do with Mumbo's disappearance.

A lot of this also very reminiscent of the actual Firewatch game type of intrigue. I was always heading to a similarly anti-climatic ending (aka no overarching conspiracy) as the original game. But this did not fit. Because...why would someone else do this? They wouldn't have the same motivations as Ned Goodwin in Firewatch. It'd just be some pissed off teens/the firework couple who decided to mess with Grian to throw him off. Except they wouldn't know they were throwing him off anything, because they wouldn't know him, so it'd just be purely some third party messing with him. But I felt like real life is rarely this....malicious. I've had people go out of their way to harass me with road rage, sure. But all of this drama was scrapped because I felt it was SOOOOO unlikely for a random person to just be harassing Grian like this Just Because. It did not fit! It was so coincidental and requried people to make questionable decisions that I couldn't fit into any good framework of motive.

It was a bad idea and I'm glad I abandoned it. It might have been a good idea in a different context...but it did not fit at all here.

🔥I briefly toyed with something like what happened with Cian McLaughlin happening in this fic. Cian McLaughlin is an Irish man who went missing in Grand Teton National Park (nearly adjacent to this story's setting) in 2021. He was never found, unfortuantely. His case is notable because a woman provided a false eye witness report of seeing in a completely false location. On purpose, to be clear. She purposefully lied to the National Park Service about seeing him somewhere she didn't, while providing enough personal detail they thought it was a real report. She claimed to have done this to ensure that multiple locations were searched for him, to expand the search area, but she really just derailed over 500 hours of search time to the wrong place. It's so sad.

I was like, this is an intriguing case. What if this happened with Mumbo? What if this is why he was in a different location than the search was? Because someone falsely reported him being where he wasn't? But I faltered on it for many reasons. First of all, I felt it was kind of disrespectiful to Cian Mclaughlin and his family to blatantly draw off details of his real life disappearance in such an obvious way. It's a recent one too. This is not a cool mystery detail, this is real life and a real person and a real grieving family. Secondly, it goes back to the problem with the other issue about people interfering the case: why? You could ask why this woman interfered with Cian's case too, and that's real life. But in a fictionalized setting—why? What would it add, when I know that the truth of what happened to Mumbo was going to be mundane anyway? Why introduce this bizarre secondary plot element just to distract Grian and the reader? It could have just been a mistaken report, not a purposeful one, but it's just derail the story in a very unsatisfying way.

In the end the only remaining trace of this idea is Grian in chapter 5 (?) saying that someone had seen Mumbo at the Cloud Lake Trail and provided an eyewitness report. Which, for the record, is supposed to be an accurate account—he did go there, his car was there, and he did get spotted there at the beginning of his trip. He just diverged from the trail at a later point.

🔥I meant to do a fun little formatting thing and have Mumbo's past through processes and actions be intercut with Grian's present-day processes in Chapter 11. Or to put that more clearly, when Grian was running down the mountain away from the fire (but before he saw Mumbo) I wanted his choices to be contrasted with the ones Mumbo made. It would've been a stylistic choice. Mumbo's paragraphs might have been in italics, and I toyed with doing a right alignment instead of left alignment so it'd really stand out. The idea was to show how their two independent thought processes converged and led them to the same point on the mountain at different times. It would've been the only time in the story we ever got something from Mumbo's POV.

I scrapped this because I hated what I'd written in Mumbo's sections and never got around to rewriting it or adding it in retroactively. I think it was a cool idea but I did not pull it off. I don't the the fic is worse for it, though. I think it does a good enough job leading the reader into that parallel without spelling it out Quite that much. I also kind of....like that Mumbo never has his own voice in this story to explain his own decisions. It's sad, but it's part of the story.

🔥I seriously did not always have the main wildfire at the end of the story in the plot. I actually initially had Scar just coaxing Grian to tell him where he was, or allowing the search and rescue to come find him. And that would've been it, the search and rescue coming.

🔥Or.....when I toyed with whether or not Grian and Scar should meet at the ending of the story, I also considered an alternate ending where Scar came to Grian to rescue him. That he reported Grian's location to SAR, and then came himself. I scrapped this because it made no sense logistically. It's all well and good for there to be a dramatic scene of Scar coming to Grian's aid and them meeting for the first time in person. But Scar is miles away. And more importantly, Scar has an established disability and chronic pain that limits the trails he walks on. He specifically says he hasn't explored trails too far from his lookout because it'll pretty much wipe all his spoons for ages. (well, he doesn't say spoons because this is the 80s, but that was the meaning.) I was like okay. He's not only far from the trail but he's literally physically unable to make it there in time and one thing I'm NOT doing in this fic is undermining his disability (especially since I already had to make him a ~certain~ degree abled in order to do the job.) So I kept him in his spot. I think it added more tension anyway, because it's such a special kind of horror he experienced having to witness everything go down but be unable to help Grian other than over the radio.

🔥Speaking of the wildfire, I had a version where Grian escaped it for an embarassingly long time. Like until January or even February still (of this year!) The idea was the Grian outran it and then got found. A lot of this was just that I didn't want to figure out how to write him surviving a wildfire. I knew it'd be difficult and straddle the line of unbelievable. I wanted to take the easier way out of writing the scene.

But honestly...there was no way else the scene could've gone. I spelled it out in chapter 8 with my rather blatant foreshadowing—you CAN'T outrun a wildfire. I mean, I guess in good circumstances with good wind and experience you probably could. Afterall, hotshot crews and wildland firefighters are able to get in and around the fires without (normally) casualties all the time. But fires move faster than people. WAY faster. It'd just be a disappointing conclusion for Grian to somehow be the Super Lucky One who somehow skipped being in the danger. No, I had to follow through with what I'd set up and just go for it.

🔥I also entertained an idea of him sheltering in the overhang with Mumbo. It would've played out nearly like the fire played out in the main fic, the only difference was with him. It was the most "meaningful" option for shelter (since the other options were no shelter, and random shelter.) He would've been surviving death right next to Mumbo, who didn't survive. I could have made that very poignant if I wanted.

But I disliked this because I'd already written the part about Grian deciding to move on. I felt that bit of the scene was really key for the message of the story as a whole.

I wanted Grian to make the CHOICE to live instead of just refuse to move and survive anyway. You know? Grian, in-universe, would have no idea what decision would lead to his survival. But as the author with the power to do what I want, I knew he was surviving all my options. So my options were: 1) easy scene to write where he survives but doesn't experience much danger, 2) hard scene where he survives and makes the conscious decision to live and move forward, and 3) medium difficulty scene where he survives but was still emotionally stuck-in-place.

(Above: some random notes I typed about the finale scene options on my phone, in a situation where I should NOT have been writing fic notes on my phone lol)

In case it's not obvious, the final scene is the second one—Grian makes that key decision to live, but still experiences the danger I've set up so that I can follow through on the tension I created.

🔥I restructured the final chapter so that there was a bigger gap in time between Scar and Grian talking about Everything and Grian arriving. I initially had it when Grian essentally just came...and then like 5 mins later they were laying all that out while Grian sat on the bed. It just made the vibes of the scene Off. It was too quick, not satisfying. So I kept most of the same dialogue and stuff and structured it into a chapter where Grian meets Scar, and they kind of spend a mostly chill afternoon talking and hanging out until they delve into the Deep Stuff later that night while stargazing (let's be real you can never go wrong with stargazing for a deep scene.) I felt it was likely they'd kind of pretend everything was "normal" at first until they were more comfortable in each other's prescence. Also, we ALL know the middle of the night is when the real stuff comes out lmao. You can see my cut up and reused pieces of the original chapter version in the indented italic parts of chapter 12. I liked some of those interactions so I wanted to preserve them somehow even though the final chapter was structured in a way that cut it out.

So far, that's all of the major plot differences that I can think of at the moment. Some of the other elements (like the mistaken permit situation) came into play after I already had chapters uploaded, but I don't have a concrete idea of what might have happened in their place. Chapter 9 really evolved and got out of hand as I wrote it, but I knew from a few chapters earlier that he was going to do Something that got him fired. So I was able to refine the specific actions when I got there, since I just knew it had to be major and outlandish in the name of getting more information.

I had most of this story worked out ahead of time. But there were absolutely major changes that happened during the course of writing it. I was just fortunate that my intense outlining and focus on it ensured that I never encountered a situation where I had to make changes that majorly affected an already uploaded chapter. Yay for sticking close to the general outline even when the details were in question!

If I think of anything else, I'll reblog this post. :)

[mayday-jd]

now there's a very important part to this episode and this whole universe's lore that I've been ignoring until now

ladies, gents and other critters I present to you... candy queen

now right off the bat simon recognizes her as this universe's version of pb and the whole time he keeps wondering what exactly happened to her cuz she's not meant to be like this and by like this I mean obsessing over a MAN. (girl's a lesbian like what nightmare are we living in rn) and also her character generally getting dumbed own to a obsessive fangirl who kidnaps winter king every other day of the week ("don't worry this happens all the time" - an ice scout)

so simon and winter king get kidnapped and btw winter king is just very nonchalant about this like he's princess peach who always gets taken away by bowser cuz he is in this context

"she's frankly an inconvenience for me" and then dude GIVES UP fighting her off like he tries to reach for his crown after realizing he took off the damn thing but straight says "gives up" like we're in a roblox rp BRO??

so off they go to the candy kingdom which looks fucked up kind of like ice king's kingdom in the original series and you can see how the winter kingdom funnily enough resembles the og candy kingdom which how neat it looks (oooo foreshadowing)

(can't find a screenshot of candy queen's kingdom ughhh)

candy queen locks both our petrikov boys up and starts singing this song with metaphors to how her and winter king belong together such as "you can't make ice cream without mixing cream and ice"

and everything's all fine and dandy and by that I mean typical weekly kidnapping like winter king isn't even alarmed at all he just calmly explains to simon how "this maniac has kidnapped me lots of time she thinks we belong together" and simon is just like why?? which of course goes unanswered by the winter king

and like again candy queen– A PB VARIANT– is acting weird like take for example her wall COVERED with winter king pictures and then her envisioning getting married to winter king like girl?? 😰

[ocd-kenobi]

I would love to know your ballet fancasts! When I was a kid my parents used to take me to this ballet show every year and since then I've always been fascinated with the beauty and the strength and the hardship of it all so I am so!!! excited to read what you have in store for your ballet au.

Aw that sounds magical! I tried to see a Nutcracker production every year as a kid and I'm so excited to be able to revive that tradition with some friends and loved ones this year. And I'm so glad you're excited to read more in this AU! I couldn't stop thinking about parallels between the Jedi and pre-professional ballet schools. I know ballet isn't a religious order or a justice institution, but there's so much to think about: the strictness of the lifestyle/code, the ways different personalities can fit in relation to that strictness, the isolation away from biological family and the emphasis on mentor figures, the way it's a way-of-life and not a hobby for the right obsessive pre-teen who can't imagine doing anything else with her life, and, I think, a belief that you're improving the world with your work by bringing beauty/harmony into it.

Anyways, fan casts below! And this is strictly for dancing style/physical appearance purposes only. I highly doubt these dancers' personalities are anything like the characters I hope to build.

Anakin: Lorena Feijoo

Her dancing style is incredibly emotionally expressive. Her movement is fueled by emotion. You can see emotion in every inch of her body. Her movements are sharp and fluid at the same time. Beautiful natural long extensions, great turning momentum. On the taller side, broad shoulders, long legs, narrowish hips. In this video, people remark on her giving 200% all the time, being inspiringly emotive, and being that one-of-a-kind special that you notice the second she walks into the room. So she's my Anakin! Here's a video compilation of her dancing. Notice how freely and expressively her head moves to finish the thought of what her body is doing. You can't teach that.

Obi-Wan: Gillian Murphy

She's the kind of "perfect" you can only achieve by working your ass off to eliminate your "flaws". She never does anything technically wrong, but, to me, there's an off-putting rigidness to her movement, like she's trying too hard to be perfect. Even in her moments of softness, there's something forced about it. Look at how tense her neck is in all of these. Her shoulders and arms seem incredibly stiff to me all the time. She's pretty muscular; I suspect that if she didn't build muscle, she would be considered too "soft," so she has "corrected" that. She doesn't carry herself like someone with the confidence of natural talent. She's not an extreme of anything: not particularly ethereal or particularly grounded or particularly soft or particularly strong--just "perfect." Strawberry blonde, bustier than your average professional ballet dancer, compact, and tidy. She's always seemed to me to be the kind of dancer who wouldn't stand out if she wasn't in a leading role, yet somehow she worked her way into leading roles, and that's awesome for her! But her perfectionism and coldness would drive young Anakin crazy. Here she is dancing as the Sugarplum Fairy, and yes, I envision a bit about Anakin as Clara with Obi-Wan as the Sugarplum Fairy.

Qui-Gon: Muriel Maffre

I hate this because I don't even like Qui-Gon and she's one of my favorite dancers I've ever seen, but I'm choosing her because she's classically trained but experimental, very tall, weird, and just kind of aloof-seeming. I don't know, I can just picture it so well. There aren't many videos of her online, but here's one of a dance I can imagine Qui-Gon doing lol.

I could go on and on and on haha. Thank you for sending me this ask!

[rinisbowen]

if you're not too busy, can you give your thoughts on season 4??? been missing your analyses!!

hey anon- i popped into this blog to post something completely unrelated, but seeing this ask i'll just do a semi-brief response to this: (news flash to the me who started this answer- this is no longer brief)

i haven't watched season 4. i've seen clips. i know the spoilers. i don't know that i will actually be watching it, sad as that is for me when there are certain things i wanted to watch develop properly... i might at some point, but it doesn't look to be something i necessarily want to actually properly watch start to finish...

before anyone comes at me for having strong opinions on a season i haven't watched top to bottom- don't. i don't need to have seen every shot to have a very solid understanding. i've seen a lot via socials... i "know what i'm talking about" to the extend i need to here. people are going to have their own subjective opinions, myself included, whether they've seen every second or haven't.

i told my friend on the phone when it came out that after seeing everything it seems like season 4 is more like retcon: the musical: the series...

if anyone has anything Specific they'd like talked about, i'd probably be happy/willing to do so, but admittedly, i'm not super keen on enduring the disrespect that was done to the early two seasons of the series...

also similarly- if anyone wants my thoughts on specific aspects of an alternative season 4... like things i could've envisioned for it pre- like- us getting any content... whether it's end of season 3 compliant or even like- conceptually compliant... i'm down to perhaps talk about that kind of stuff? or a sort of five season thought process... since obviously ending the series in the middle of the school year... pretty odd... especially with how they were acting like oh no this is the End...

my thoughts on this show are largely based in my understanding of the series format and arcs based in season 1 and season 2... season 2 is a very grounded season for all it tries to accomplish with limited degrees of success... i know people dislike it for various reasons, i think i actually like it for some of the reasons some people dislike it. and conversely a lot of people like season 3 for the reasons i dislike it. (and i'm not talking ships here folks- i'm talking stories and i'm talking style)

also for all i'm saying here- and this is definitely not to the degree of a traditional analysis post i would make... i would be willing to get into certain things if i am asked about them specifically.

before anyone comes here to scream at me- the thing i dislike about the season was the way it was done- not certain things being done in general. also i think it's a bit sad that they didn't think the story they were telling in season 4 couldn't stand on its own legs and needed all the associated retcon to make sense... there were ways to pull off a lot of what they wanted to accomplish- while still respecting the series and its roots

i think the conclusion i've come to in large part is that season 4 is not the same show as season 1. this is in a lot of ways, and for a lot of reasons. some out of the writers control. some just- due to changes in climate and in process. i know there's been more effort in the latter two seasons to listen to actors more with what they want, which changes things too. this can be a good thing in some cases and less so in others i tend to think (and this is an opinion i hold beyond this show)... i think there's been some disrespect done to different characters in different ways. i think characters have been somewhat reshaped to fit the narrative the show now wants to follow rather writing a narrative which fits the original characters. (and yes this can be done while having character growth/progression.)

---

one thing i'm very happy with, to end this post on a positive note: kourtney and her story. from all i've seen- she was handled very, very well this season, and it's wonderful to see how far this girl has come. she was only supposed to be a one episode character in season 1 initially before dara auditioned and changed the game, and i think that shows in kourtney's lack of initial depth that first season. she's gotten so much more to do, and i think dara's talents being showcased in the latter two seasons even more has been a wonderful thing. i'm thrilled- and i also love that kourtney got a very solid college arc, i think that was important to do with at least one of the characters, and i'm pleased it was her. she deserves it.

[tc-doherty]

Songs: I Know - Cut Capers, Enjoy the Silence - Depeche Mode, Awake - Electric Guest, Style - Foster the People, Aspirations - Gentle Giant, Smoke and Mirrors - Gotye, Hurricane - MS MR, Psycho - Muse, The Hand That Feeds - Nine Inch Nails, Van Horn - Saint Motel

Thank you this was honestly really fun!

I Know - Cut Capers - Seneria. The bouncy style suits her, but so do the lyrics of achieving what you want by doing things your way.

Enjoy the Silence - Depeche Mode - Mahesha/Izare but mostly from Mahesha's perspective. Their relationship was rocky for a long time due to communication issues. They said things they shouldn't and didn't say things they should. But after growing up they face a new kind of issue and he really wishes Izare could just trust him instead of always questioning everything.

Awake - Electric Guest - Retta. Not just because of all the sailing imagery although also that. But Retta believes that she was born with a god-given mission to end a centuries long feud between her people and another culture, and a lot of these lyrics just vibe with someone who is desperately trying to not only find a way forward but also drag everybody else along to a better future that at the moment only she is capable of envisioning. If that makes sense.

Style - Foster the People - If you didn't think I was going to say Ithea for this one, I don't know what to tell you. Too much of a casual attitude about living, dying, and crime to be anyone else.

Aspirations - Gentle Giant - Gheist, almost a companion piece to the first. He's much calmer and slower, and he trusts Seneria implicitly. If she's going to charge forward and force the world to accept her, well. He'll be right behind. :>

Smoke and Mirrors - Gotye - Iskandar and Clovis, but not as a ship, just as two characters who mirror each other. For Iskandar, pretending to be someone else to gain others' approval without attracting his mom's attention is pretty much his entire storyline. And Clovis, who has such low self-esteem and tries to live this idealized life to be 'worthy' of other's attention. It works for both of them so I can't pick. Maybe it's a conversation between them.

Hurricane - MS MR - The only one I think this really applies to is Izare. He's very wrapped up in self-hatred and self-sabotage for a long time. It suits him when he's young, I think.

Psycho - Muse - bold move to include a group who's entire discography I've listened to haha. But Sigrid. She naturally 'charms' everyone around her, but by the start of the story she's so isolated from no one ever seeing her a person that she manipulates and uses others with no regret, and plenty of enjoyment. Also, her original plan was actually to get the main character to kill for her. She doesn't manage to hold onto the attitude forever, but it's there in the beginning.

The Hand That Feeds - Nine Inch Nails - Lin Mingxian. Maybe not the style, but he very resolutely broke off ties with his family after learning a secret about how they got their wealth and power. Can't reveal too much because it's a massive spoiler for the story. But his only goal is to prove there's a better way to do things by accomplishing the same goal via different methods. So maybe this is how he thought before he 100% committed to confronting his family about what he learned.

Van Horn - Saint Motel - is there actually another option other than Anthem and Ithea? I don't think so. The peppy style matched against those lyrics is very Them.

[fuck-john-calvin]

just babbling at this point honestly but I like it when there's a common fandom interpretation of a character, even when it's from a podcast or of a character or detail of character that wasn't described.

Don't get me wrong when I come across an interpretation that's creative and unusual and different than the usual I enjoy that just as much if not more, but having a character never drawn the same gets confusing, and something I've discovered about myself is that I don't picture things naturally. While hearing a song, podcast, or reading a book, there is no part of my brain actively envisioning what's going on. so when it comes time for me to draw something, and I don't having a description to base it on, I get stressed and overthink everything about the way the person looks. I just don't do well without a reference, and if I'm not given something to envision on my own, I'll rarely be able to come up with a design that I'm happy with or stick to.

So yeah. I need some kind of visual framework to work with, and it's comforting when fandoms do that for me. My designs for Jon and Martin and Tim are uncreative and unoriginal, but they're the people I looked at while listening to the podcast, and they're the faces I've come to know. If I tried to draw them before seeing those, the same thing that's happening to me with Gwen now would've happened: a mess of stress and uncertainty and self-doubt.

Now, the reason Gwen is hard is bc while I don't know how I picture her, I know it's not the interpretation that's circulating right now, so I know sometimes how to disagree and try to find my own footing. And a lot of people can be shitty about characters not looking the way they're used to, which is objectively dumb bc they're podcast characters without actual bodies or much description and as I've said SO many times before, people should be free to interpret.

Still. I hear some people say that means the idea of a common or accepted design for characters is bad, and I guess this is why I disagree. I find it comforting. If they want to make different ones, they can, but as long we do our best to keep people from making the common the only acceptable option, I don't think there's anything wrong with fandom culture settling on a general idea of an appearance.

[silevan]

Silevan Ask Prompts

Questions from here. I'll edit this post as I go along and do more!

001. When is their birthday? While I have no set birthday for him, I've always envisioned him to be an Aries- perhaps an April baby.

002. Do they do anything to celebrate their birthday? Probably not anything announced. He might do something nice for himself but he wouldn't host a party or anything- maybe just go out for a walk and watch nature with some wine. He probably wanted nice big parties as a kid but could never get them, and then tried as a teen but was awkward. He let it go in adulthood, apart from maybe one or two times, if it was hosted by somebody else. (Perhaps for the round 30 or 40, if someone sniffed out his birthday, they might organise something?)

003. Does your character like coffee better, or tea? He would like grain coffee the most.

004. Do they prefer being alone or with others? With others for sure. He supplements loneliness with the company of anyone, even strangers. He prefers a stable person/people if he can have them, but that is lacking in his life.

005. Are they in good health? Pretty good.

006. What sense do they most rely on? Vision and sound. He can be quite perceptive to the nuances in his surroundings. He is constantly observing and notices a lot.

007. Is your character an optimist or a pessimist? He will claim to be an optimist, and truly believes himself to be, but I don't think he really is. At least not to the extent he claims to be.

008. What is their favorite fairy tale? Whatever his sister liked the most, the story she would beg him to tell her as a bedtime story. I think that would be the Ugly Duckling. I think she always dreamed of blossoming into something beautiful.

009. Do they believe in happy endings? Unsure.

010. Do they believe in love at first sight? When hes younger: I think he wants to. He loves the idea of romance, and yearns for someone to give him those rose-coloured lenses that would make the world sweeter. I think he might even almost roleplay this kind of love at first sight situation. He may play up crushes and say its love, and maybe he even can convince himself that that is indeed what it is. Current age: I think he would still like to believe it exists as a concept for some people, but I don't think he would believe it exists for him. He becomes transparent with him "not doing love". He is fine to have a fun nice time and have it be casual, and he's very much so a romantic, but he will not use the l word. After all, love means that you're fully known and seen and comfortable, and nobody can truly know and see him. I don't know if he will ever feel that in his entire life. I think he may taste tidbits of it, but he will never know it fully. I think this would be his fate.

011. How would your character court the person of their dreams? I don't think there exists such a person. The closest people that come to that descriptors would be people who see him for more than what the average person would; a hot and easy bartender. While with the average person he would be smooth and confident and flirty, he may get shy or timid around the people who see him that little bit more, because suddenly he doesn't know how to approach a situation as suddenly the person isn't head over heels for him. I think around a true "dream person" he would feel comfortable, and be himself at his truest form. There wouldn't be much courting involved per se apart from filling in his love languages, but those would happen naturally. This is how he gives love; small gifts here, care there, affection there. Showing thought. And he does give love, he gives it plenty. He just doesn't ever reach feeling it. He may feel something akin to it in moments, the tidbits of it, moments of comfort and connection, but he never reaches feeling full true love.

012. What makes your character embarrassed? As a youngster, he would feel embarrassed often, mostly at his shortcomings and failings. If he felt he did not achieve what he could have had, he would be very harsh on himself and retreat into his shell. In the current time, he has let go of a lot of those expectations and feels embarrassment rarely. Usually, if an embarrassing situation occurs, he would much faster laugh about it than feel shame.

013. Have they ever been bullied or teased? As a youngster, probably. Nothing physical or outright violent, but he definitely would get teased.

014. Detail one secret shame your character feels. Ask him this question and he would humm and haww trying to think of one for ages. His biggest shame, however, is "choosing to leave/abandon" his sister.

015. Are they most likely to fight with their fists or their tongue? In almost all situations, tongue. The only time he would get physical in a regular circumstance is to kick someone dangerous out of the tavern who is refusing to cooperate. The other instance where he would fight, is if the other person would not be making it out of the situation.

016. What is their choice of weapon? In the bar, it would only be himself. He wouldn't pick up anything other than his fists. In the other circumstance, something small and easy to hide. At first, when he's rusty, something he can easily stab and scratch with. A screwdriver, nails, a pocketknife, sharp scrap metal. Afterwards, it's mostly a small portable knife/scalpel. He probably has a favourite one once he has more experience.

017. When does your character think that violence is justified or deserved? He believes it is deserved if it is revenge: an eye for an eye. Or many eyes for an eye, if that eye was particularly beautiful. He calls it "prevention" and that's how he actually justifies it. But it's just revenge.

018. Your character wakes up to find that war has been declared. What do they do? He wouldn't quite know how to process it if it was coming close. Although I think he would insist that he is staying where he's at. He would continue running the tavern as if nothing was happening, apart from being clearly angry. But he would insist on staying open and continuing his life as usual.

019. If they could have a superpower, what would they choose? He would change the past/time travel. He would make it so that his sister never died. However if someone in the bar asked him the question, he would reply something else. Maybe telepathy.

020. What are their hobbies? He got into fly tying for Naoh'a, but thats moreso of a small thing. He likes to read a lot on evolution and biology, especially studying fossils. He may dabble in doing little woodcarvings too.

021. How do they display affection? He likes physical contact a lot as a base state of affection. He would really like acts of service as a love language too, and he may often give little gifts (eg. Fishing bait that's been dissected, fly tying, wood carvings, free beers, etc).

022. What is the most beautiful thing they’ve ever seen? A majestic catch, splat right on his bar counter top. The scales catching in the light like a dark liqueur, the eyes glassy and gold. A gentle spray of mucous coating the wood. He will never forget that.

023. What do they consider beautiful in others physically? He's quite a romantic, so really anything. He likes the aesthetic value of bodies a lot, so he likes all the little details.

024. What do they consider ugly in others physically? There isn't really anything he would find ugly, other than if you're a shitty person. Attraction to him is largely based on if you're a nice person.

025. What do they consider beautiful in others personality-wise? Respect. Also lack of respect, in particular circumstances.

026. What do they consider ugly in others personality-wise? Just being a bad person. But also being too shy/insecure can make him less attracted to someone. He's very confident and flirty, and even if someone wants to get with him, if they're gonna be too hesitant in responding he's not gonna push it too far on his own. You need to meet him halfway. He of course understands that some people want it and just are shy and need coaxing, and that's fine, but he draws a line when it's too much. If the other individual does not show a certain level of enthusiasm outwardly, even if they have it inside, he thinks they need to sort that with themselves out before he would want to continue. That's less of considering someone *ugly* though and moreso to do with losing attraction in someone. This can lead to a few people being disappointed, even some rude people talking about how "he was supposed to do xyz", but man requires a certain level of confidence or it's not his problem.

027. What is their idea of perfect happiness? Being loved, and having it be shown with every fibre of someone's being. He only felt that once, and hasn't felt it since.

028. What makes them laugh out loud? A lot of things. He's very easy to humour, especially currently. It would be harder to make him laugh as a youngster, but some people were really good at it.

029. What sort of sense of humor does your character have? He will mostly laugh at anything that doesn't go against his world views or morals. I don't see him as being too much into potty humour though, but he would love innuendos.

030. Do they believe in the afterlife? He wants to, but I don't think he does. I think he does pray though. He doesn't trust that the message will be received, but he sends it anyways. Just in case.

031. Are they superstitious about anything? Maybe lightly, but moreso for fun. I'd say as much as the average person would say "knock on wood" for something.

032. Does your character believe in ghosts? No.

033. Do they keep their promises? Yes. He's quite diligent about this.

034. What’s their view of lying? He doesn't like liars, and he tries not to lie, unless he feels there is no other way.

035. What is the most important rule your character lives by? Be present.

036. How honorable is your character? The most honourable thing he has done is build a nice life for himself, and go from a poor little tavern boy to the runner of the keep. His honour is mostly about how he built up his life. He's not community-changing.

037. If your character saw someone drop a large sum of money and knew that they could probably take it without anyone noticing, what would they do? Probably would call to the person to give it back; not because he has any kind of strong moral code or whatever, but because he has enough money for himself, and he wants to be in the good eye of the public.

038. What bad habits do they have? Apart from the murder, he stays up too late before bed.

039. What do they think is the worst thing that can be done to a person? Hurt someone who hasn't ever done harm.

040. What is their obsession? He has a kind of obsession in finding solace after his sister's passing and tries to achieve it in many different ways as he grows; turning to self harm, to intoxication, to distraction, and finally, to revenge.

041. Are they comfortable with technology? Technology isn't really a huge element of their world, at least not in the same way it would be to us. He can use a typewriter no problem, I suppose.

042. What is their greatest achievement? I'd like to think that eventually he ends up finding and processing some of the best specimens of particular fossils.

043. What will they stand up for? If a place is a safe space, he will ensure that it will continue to be a safe space. Anything that challenges the safety someone built or was promised in a space, is going to be dealt with. This is generally his tavern in the current day. His sister is a huge driver and motivation for this, as he wished nothing more than to provide such a space for her. An interesting analysis would be what kind of person he would be if she was still alive? Because, of course, he *did* have other wishes and it is why he went away to study. In the case she survived, I think he would stand up for the achievements he's accomplished, and would put emphasis on not letting anyone walk over him or take advantage of him. I don't think he would care about this in his actual story though; he would not care, shrug it off.

044. What disgusts them? The army and guards that attacked his village. Also, as a youngster, despite his interest in biology, I think blood, mucouses, membranes, in-depth anatomy stuff would squick him out. While currently he is desensitized to it, he may still find some parts of bodies gross, such as spit, or fatty tissue on meat/in dissections.

045. Does your character have any chronic medical conditions? Definitely not while young/current day. Maybe when he's old, but it's moreso just the kind of conditions that come with a regular aging deal. Old Silly for sure has arthritis.

046. How do they handle getting sick? Garlic, ginger, hot lemon water, blanket up and sweat it out. Mom's tricks work, he insists. And somehow it does.

047. What was the last medical problem your character had? Most of his medical problems would be mental health related. He for sure struggled with the ol 'pression.

048. Do they have any allergies? Not really.

049. How does your character feel about growing old? At first he thinks he's at peace with it, but when it draws near, it makes him sadder. He realizes he still has things he wants to do. He thought he would be happy living his life out without them, but as he gets older, he struggles with it. It's a driver for him to go back and continue in academia when he's old. He did not plan to survive after his sister's passing, so when he was able to (mostly) heal and build a life for himself in the tavern, he accepted it with gratitude and did not consider any need to change it. He built something from scratch and he's happy, so he doesn't need to chase anything else, even if it wasn't what he planned. It'll *never* be like he planned anyways, because he planned her to be by his side for a lot of things. Age was the wake-up call of facing his past dreams and deciding that he wants to fulfill them after all, even if it won't be the same without her; the most difficult thing he has to face was that, in doing so, it is not a betrayal to her.

050. How does your character feel about their own mortality? Kind of like above. In a way he has accepted it, but it also scares him. He's mostly content. For the current time, he is not afraid of his mortality; he thought death would greet him earlier, so he lives every moment with gratitude, happiness, and content, "as if it could end tomorrow", while he still feels immortal and young. It is only when the signs of his body degrading come in more and more that he feels unsettled by it. Suddenly he feels 17 again; itching to do so much, and feeling like time is running out.

051. If they knew they would die tomorrow, what would they do today? Look for intimacy. Preferably with someone he is comfortable and happy with such as Naoh'a; if that person isn't available, a frequent patron is also fine; worse comes to worst, a stranger.

052. What is your character’s worst flaw? He feels too content and invincible. He feels like he *has* no flaws, and that in of itself is a flaw, as he has *many*- I mean bro is a bit of a serial killor. He is not coping well. His lack of drive to achieve his dreams too. He settles too much, mostly because it hurts too much to try *not* to. Settling is how he survived. But it's not good for him, not *really*, not if he wants to heal. It'll get him through the worst time in his life, but it's not a fix. It should not be seen as something he should do permanently. He gets a bit better with it as an old man, but for most of his life, this is his greatest flaw.

053. What is your character’s greatest strength? I think settling and contentedness is a double edged sword, in that it is his greatest flaw, but can also be viewed as his greatest strength, depending on the situation and the perspective. He has an incredible skill of bouncing back. Even if he can't fulfill his true potential with it, this trait can pull him out of the deepest pit.

054. Does your character want power or authority of any kind? He would say no. But I think the murders are him attempting to have power in the sister situation. He wouldn't admit this, not even to himself. To him, it is purely prevention, weeding out the bad for the benefit of the good, to not let anything like that happen again. It's nothing to do with him, it's just a service to the world. That's how he stays sane in it and how he rationalizes it. But it's really to feel like he has some sort of power in the thing that has traumatized him the most, made him feel the most helpless, where he indeed *was* the most helpless.

055. Is your character an introvert or an extrovert? As a youngster, for sure an introvert. Now, for sure an extrovert. As an old man, he is still extroverted, but not to the same extent; he would return to some introverted qualities still, and appreciate solitude more again.

056. Has your character ever struck someone in anger? Big time. It's how the murders began really. Anger.

057. Has your character ever killed anyone? Yopp!

058. What is your character’s idea of a perfect day? Looking for, finding, and identifying rare or endangered species of mudfish with Naoh'a.

059. List several phrases your character is fond of uttering. Where did they pick them up? He would probably pick some up from Naoh'a, and I imagine he uses one or two from his parents.

060. What is your character’s attitude toward education and learning? I've already discussed this a bit. He dreamed of it lots when he was a child, pretty much always had his head in a book or analyzing the world. He dreamed of becoming an academic, but struggled in deciding if he should leave for studies or stay at home, not fulfill himself, but stay with his sister. His parents would neglect them and he knew that her life would get much worse if he was to leave. He decided to teach her as many life skills as he could before he left, and eventually rationed that it is not his responsibility to raise her and he did the best he could for her; he has to live his own life. It was when he moved away and began college that their village was attacked and she was killed. After that, he dropped out of college, and never went back again until he was well in his 60s. During that time, at first he wouldn't touch his academic life at first, but eventually got more comfortable reading textbooks by firelight. When he was settled into the pub life, he became more comfortable with doing research again and reading and learning. He just never made it official, not until late in his life.

061. Does your character prefer adventure or safety and security? A healthy mix of both, but moreso leaning towards safety and security.

062. What sort of legacy does your character wish to leave behind? As a youngster, he wants to be a great academic that changes the world. In the current time, he doesn't care about leaving any kind of legacy; just have fun and be kind while it lasts. In his old age, he takes pride in his academic achievements, and wants to contribute to the field in a nice way.

063. How well does your character handle difficult people? 064. In what ways does your character annoy others? 065. Is your character better at leading or following? Which do they prefer? 066. Does your character prefer city life or being out in nature? 067. Does your character believe in fate or destiny? 068. How strong is your character’s sense of responsibility? What kinds of things trigger it? 069. What about your character is heroic? 070. What about your character is cowardly? 071. How kind is your character? 072. In a Dungeons & Dragons game, which class would your character be? (wizard, fighter, bard, priest, ranger, etc.) 073. In a novel, what plot role would your character fill? (hero, anti-hero, sidekick, villain, etc.) 074. What is your character’s favorite game? 075. Is your character ticklish? 076. How do they express anger? 077. How often do they cry? Over what? 078. How emotionally stable is your character? 079. How easy is it for them to read the emotions of others? 080. How easy is it for others to read your character’s emotions?

081. Is your character religious? 082. What are your character’s sleeping preferences? 083. What is the first thing they say and/or do when they wake up? 084. Describe your character in one word. 085. Describe your character in three words. 086. How would your character describe themself in one word? 087. How would your character describe themself in three words? 088. Is your character quiet or loud? 089. How vocally expressive is your character? 090. How bodily expressive is your character? 091. What type of music does your character like? 092. What emotion does your character evoke in others? 093. What is your character’s goal in life? 094. Name three things most would not expect your character to be able to know. 095. Name three things most would not expect your character to be able to do. 096. How do they move and carry themselves? What energy do they project?

097. How well do they adapt to change?

098. Does your character like animals? 099. Do they talk to inanimate objects? 100. Does your character dream? If so, what do they dream about?

[swynlake-rp]

Please come join the Lyons and InterPride family in celebrating the life and legacy of Mufasa Lyons on the ten year anniversary of his passing...

WHAT: A memorial dinner for Mufasa Lyons

WHO: The whole town has been invited, Mufasa was an important and prominent member of the community. If your character or your character's family had connections to Swynlake prior to 2013, you would have known Mufasa. He was on the Board and the CEO of InterPride. He also frequented all town events and local businesses. If you have trouble coming up with why your character might attend, hit up Clementine!

WHERE: InterPride's reception hall on the first floor (Discord)

WHEN: Canonically on May 20th, but takes place May 17th through 23rd

HOW: As with most events, hop in on Discord if you want your character to participate. Mufasa's favourite color was blue, so guests are encouraged to wear some shade of it. Additionally, attire is semi-formal to formal. No jeans or the like, please! A sit down dinner, but with a buffet style serve-yourself -- all dietary options included! NO ALCOHOL WILL BE SERVED. There will be sparkling juices for the toast instead.

See below the cut for Simba's welcome speech.

Hello everyone, it is so nice to see all these friendly faces tonight. I will not lie and say this is not a difficult night for myself, my mother, and our family--but I am grateful to be reminded that we are not alone in our grief. That the whole town mourns along with us, which is something amazing and unique about Swynlake. It is that kind of community that my father tried so hard to foster and that...I hope I have done a good job trying to continue to foster.

I looked up to my father in so many ways. He was, and still is, my hero. But, he was also a person--just like everyone else here. He may have felt larger than life to me and I am sure some of you but he was also a very humble man and I am sure he would be touched to know that you are all here to celebrate his memory.

Before we dig in, as I am sure everyone is eager to, I have a special announcement to make. My father enjoyed many hobbies. One of his favourites was sports. He loved rugby, football, just about anything. This was something I've always shared with him. And, after talking to Cruz Ramirez about her Magick Grand Prix team at PrideU, I was inspired. I had wanted to do something to commemorate this anniversary, but I couldn't figure out what until we spoke.

So, I am happy to now announce the Mufasa Lyons Endowment at Pride University. This endowment will fund two scholarships for Magick students. The only requirements will be that the students are Magicks, show a demonstrated interest in sports, are a part of the Magick Grand Prix team, and have good grades.

Please stop by the Ramirezes table to say hello and learn more about the Magick Grand Prix program at PrideU.

Again, I want to say thank you all for attending. My father loved Swynlake and was so proud of it and of all of you. Enjoy your evening, I can't wait to hear all the memories you have to share. In Mufasa's memory, let's work together to keep striving to make Swynlake the place he always envisioned it could be.

[pangolinheart]

Oh, thank you for taking the time to write this up, and for the interesting insight! The big bang story sounds like a good read with an interesting concept, so I'll definitely have to keep an eye out for it! Writing for exchanges or events or as gifts for friends are really the only writing I do anymore (and the most fun kind - though I haven't done one in many years.) The concept for this one sounds like something up my alley, so maybe I'll peruse the tag this coming April!

Writing is hard work, so I'm always impressed by people who put the time and effort into it! It's a skill you have to constantly practice, so I always assume that people who write a lot must have a lot of passion for it. One of the reasons One of the reasons I gave up on my own writing was because of a (good!) piece of advice I was often given: you should write for yourself and because you love it, not for other people to read. Even though I've done it on and off since I was in elementary school, writing is still a slow, difficult, and painstaking process - less like "flowing," as some people describe it and more like taking a pickaxe and prying individual words out of a stone wall, then trying to cobble together sentences and stories using Elmer's glue and string. I was never happy with the end result, no matter how much I reworked and edited. Everything always looked so much better in my head! Then I would be so mortified by it that I would have to work up the courage to go back and edit it, which is kind of silly in retrospect (I definitely wouldn't count myself among my own readership lol). While it was an interesting challenge sometimes, I'm not sure that I could really call it fun, or say that I "loved" it. The part I mostly enjoyed was having something I could share with other people - though most of the time I only shared it with a handful of friends, who tried to be encouraging. I recognize that's not always a healthy place to create from, so I figured writing wasn't for me. Once in a very long while I'll get the inexplicable urge to type something up, but usually it's not accompanied by a corresponding idea of what I want to type up. (I did write one thing this way but only posted it because the tag was so dead I felt like I didn't have to worry about anybody seeing it so it wouldn't be too embarrassing.)

I definitely enjoy little ask games and character questions - it's a nice way to connect with people and usually doesn't require the envisioning of a scenario. But I don't know if I'll ever do any real writing for Rhiki. I don't even have a backstory for her after all this time, so it's hard to say if she has any "selling points" or quintessential features that define her or make her unique. I'm not sure she would even be fun to read about. (I had, like, 1/3rd of an idea during ShB but by the end I realized that fundamental lore made it logistically unfeasible. Plus I couldn't think of any satisfying way for it to end.) Coming up with interesting concepts for characters has never been a particular strong suit of mine (which is why I'm terrible at TTRPGs like D&D). That's what got me wondering about how other people generate and develop characters and stories, and what other people find interesting about the things that they read, and I really appreciate the responses I've gotten! Though you're right, it is quite difficult to apply most advice to your own work.

I hope this didn't sound like complaining! I'm just turning things over in my mind. It does mean a lot to me that you replied to my post, though! I'll definitely keep doing little ask games and things as long as people keep sending them. Maybe I'll do some thinking about trying writing again, though I can't say if I'll work up the courage or if I do what form it will take. But you've given me some things to mull over, so thank you!

Writers are so powerful... How do you come up with things to write?? Where do the ideas come from? How do you know what people want to read? I will never understand.

[katebishop]

ok so i have an odd question and i really hope it doesn’t sound offensive but does anyone know where from east/southeast asia this girl could be? i know there is a lot of variation with physical appearance in east/southeast asia and also that it’s not always possible to tell due to overlapping characteristics but any ideas??

[hanemiso]

...dazai, Fyodor, akutagawa and atsushi with a bilingual s/o ?

Also I love Ur writing so freaking much, I've been bringing through posts for ages now lol. (◕ᴗ◕✿)

a/n: awww thank you nonnie!! that means so much to me 🥺💞 thank you for requesting, pls enjoy!! i hope fyodor isn't ooc!! i’m not caught up in the manga so fyodor is based off of what i’ve seen in the anime or remember

characters: dazai, fyodor, akutagawa, and atsushi

bsd characters w/ a bilingual s/o

- i’m gonna start this off by saying

- you fckin cuss him out in your other language LMAO

- and whenever you do he’s like 👁👄👁

- “i’m too scared to ask…”

- “you should be 🥰”

- that’s usually all you use your other language for

- but dazai is enamored with your accent and your pronunciation in your other language

- you could legit tell him to eat shit and die and he’d still look at you like ❤️👄❤️

- like

- accents are sexy 😏

- he also just thinks your intelligence is sexy, the fact that you know more than japanese is enough to get him hot and bothered

- he’s very much the embodiment of “i like your funny words magic man🤩”

- and also like “go oooooooon”😃

- listen this man-

- i’m sorry but he generally doesn’t care 😔

- but if you speak russian 👀

- you’ve peaked his interest

- it’d surprise him the first time he hears it

- he’s looking at you like 😃 “hello yes you speak russian?”

- he uses you to gather intel if you speak other languages other than russian

- if russian is not your first language, he finds your pronunciation adorable

- he considers you both the dream team, neither he nor you considered just how much language can play a role in a master plan

- he wants you to teach him words and phrases in your other language so that he has another way of discreetly giving orders

- i’m sorry i can only envision you calling him a rat in a different language if you ever got mad at him and he would take it as a compliment 😭

- the biggest “this you?” LMAO-

- he’s just like ☺️ “you have a way with words”

- i know i said fyodor wouldn’t care

- but aku is even worse

- you’d say something to him in your other language and he’d straight up be like

- “i can’t understand you, idiot. you know how to speak japanese. use it.”

- he’s one salty bitch i’ll tell you that much i love him anyway

- if you keep speaking in your other language even after he says that to you, he will walk away

- in his mind, if you’re not going to say anything to him that he can understand then you’re wasting his time

- but if it sounds like you called him a name?

- ohhhh he’s gonna turn on his heel and look at you with the deadliest stare

- “wanna run that by me again?”

- if you’re bold you’ll say it again >:(

- he’ll ask what it means before marching over to you and getting in your face

- he would never hurt you, of course, and you know this. these kinds of fights happen quite often anyway

- but what you weren’t expecting was for him to ask you to teach him the bad names LMAO

- it’s like that one panel in wan

- he uses them to insult atsushi (i’m sorry precious boi)

- he’s another one who finds your ability to speak other languages fluently hot 😏

- except he gets more flustered than dazai

- when you speak in your other language he’s like 😃 “eh?”

- i can see him like tanjiro asking kanao about her coin

- you know when he’s like “nani nani??”

- you teach him because he seemed interested in your other language

- one of the phrases you taught him was “i love you” 🥺

- and when you told him what it meant HE GOT SO RED AWWWW

- and tried to say it back to you, but he was stuttering the entire time with a red face because it made him nervous

- you know how i said akutagawa uses the names you teach him to insult atsushi? well one time roles were reversed on accident

- he had heard you call dazai a dick one time and when he saw akutagawa iT SLIPPED-

- when he realized he said it he was like 😳 meanwhile aku was like 🤨

- “what did you say, jinko?”

- “you heard me! >:(“ he just didn’t wanna repeat it

taglist: @justmycupoftea93 @loveliestmolly @darlingimawitch @browneyespinkhair @silverstar22x @anotakugardener @jhopesstickeredcarrier @spacedoutcoffeebeans @puddingowo66 @pcytheeve @stupidfrogfreak @joyfulartisanstudentlamp @kaeyapng @beomluvrr

[resowrites]

Sherlock Holmes And The Book Of Rhymes - Part 4 (finale)

Summary: When Cora Beauchamp begins receiving extracts from a book of nursery rhymes by post, the police dismiss her which leaves her only one way to turn. But with no clue as to the sender or the meaning behind them, will the case prove too bizarre even for Mr. Sherlock Holmes?

Characters: Sherlock Holmes (I envisioned Henry’s version but the story could apply to Rathbone right through to Cumberbatch), OC!Cora Beauchamp, Dr. Watson, Mrs. Hudson, OC characters.

Warnings: adult/dark themes such as adultery, occasional threat of violence/danger, some period misogyny/victorian attitudes, angsty, mention of underage relationship/adultery, mention of death/murder, lightly beta’d.

WC: 3300

Sorry about the delay in posting this, it was finished ages ago I just forgot to post it! Thanks for your patience ~ Reso x

My work must not be copied, reposted, or translated elsewhere. Likes, follows, reblogs and comments are thoroughly welcome and appreciated! No copyright infringement intended, gifs/pics not my own. I hope you all enjoy and thanks for visiting!

Part 4 (finale):

Fortunately, the gardener's cottage was only a short walk from the main house. However, Mr. Holmes was surprised to see smoke coming from the chimney, on a day like today gardeners were normally very busy. The heat also precluded the use of a hearth. He walked up the stepping stones to the rickety front door and gave it several sharp whacks with his cane. He heard hushed voices from within but eventually the door creaked open and an older gentleman stepped onto the porch, not permitting him so much as a peek inside. "Can I help you, gentlemen?" Mr. Holmes smiled briefly.

"Yes, good afternoon. My name is Mr. Sherlock Holmes and this is my colleague Dr. Watson. We've come to speak to you regarding the disappearance of the housekeeper, Lorraine Hornbeck." He then thought he heard whimpering of some kind from within the cottage.

"I'm sorry sirs, I don't work up at the house, there's nothing I can tell you." He then hastily tried to shut the door, which Mr. Holmes caught with the edge of his boot.

"We won't be long Mr…?" The gardener sighed.

"Thornton." He resigned himself to opening the door and leading the two gentlemen inside. Mr. Holmes caught the footsteps of someone quickly running upstairs, though he couldn't make out who it was. The collage was very old indeed and he had to duck so as not to hit his head on the beams hung from the low ceiling. The living room was poorly lit, all its curtains were drawn and the fireplace roared loudly, making the room that much hotter. Dr. Watson pulled at his shirt collar, sweat already pooling at the back of his neck.

"Please take a seat, Mr. Thornton, we shan't be long. Leave the door open Watson, there's no one about to hear our discussion." Dr. Watson backed away from the front door he'd intended to close behind him and caught his friend eyeing the staircase to their left.

"Were we disturbing you, Mr. Thornton?" The gardener's eyes swept side to side suspiciously.

"Oh… no, that was just my daughter, Evie. I told her to go upstairs so we might have some privacy." Mr. Holmes smiled.

"Quite so. Forgive my saying so, but your age precludes you from having a young daughter… might I ask why she still lives at home?" The gardener didn't know quite how to respond.

"W-well, she's a bit simple you see… easily led. Her mother died young so I'm all she's got…" Mr. Holmes wiped his brow.

"I'm sorry for your loss Mr. Thornton. I'll keep my questions brief. Do you know what might have happened to Mrs. Hornbeck?" The gardener swallowed.

"No sirs, as I said, I don't work up at the main house so I've no clue as to what goes on there…" Mr. Holmes doubted that somehow.

"I see… well have you heard any rumours then? Particularly regarding the relationship between Mrs. Hornbeck and her husband?" The gardener looked as though he was about to say something before changing his mind. He was silent for several moments before speaking again.

"No sirs… nothing springs to mind." It was quite clear he was lying.

"I see… and what about last night, did you see or hear anything unusual?" The heat was really getting to Mr. Holmes now and his voice cracked his throat had become so dry.

"No sirs, I'm a heavy sleeper." Mr. Holmes rested on his cane uneasily. Dr. Watson was also struggling, his face was now dripping with sweat.

"I must say chap… why on earth have you a fire going at this hour?" Mr. Holmes bit back a smile, trust Dr. Watson to presume his next question. Although nothing was now visible in the fireplace, from the smell of the smoke, he believed paper had been burnt. It had a particularly acrid smell.

"Oh… I just had some garden waste to get rid of, I can't do it outside lest I cause a wildfire what with the grass being so burnt…" a good enough excuse but hardly likely thought Mr. Holmes.

"And what of your daughter Mr. Thornton, may we speak to her?" The gardener's eyes swiveled towards them wildly.

"No sirs, she won't be up to answering any of your questions… as I said, she's not quite right." Mr. Holmes wondered to what degree that was also true.

"Well then, did she mention any noises to you in the night?" The gardener shook his head, climbing to his feet as he did so.

"No, she was sound asleep. Now I really must ask you gentlemen to leave, I've got work to be getting on with…" Mr. Holmes agreed to his request, after all, there was little else he was going to find out from him.

"Quite so Mr. Thornton, thank you for your time." And with that, the detective practically ran from the room. By the time they were standing back outside, both men were perspiring heavily and had removed their coats.

"Damn fool… what on earth is he doing starting fires on a day like this?" Mr. Holmes chuckled lightly and fetched into his coat pocket for a looking glass. As he turned to head down to the riverbed, he noticed a figure in the top floor window of the cottage. It was Evie. She stared at him blankly, though even from his position, he could tell that she was distressed. Her eyes were red and puffy. Dr. Watson followed his friend's gaze and gasped when he saw her. Mr. Holmes then sniffed and continued his walk, the figure of Evie remaining where she stood. Dr. Watson stepped up closer to his friend. "What on earth was all that about Holmes?" The detective didn't look at him and kept his voice low, considering it likely Evie was still watching them.

"I don't know, but her presence there suggests she wanted to be seen. I believe she knows what's going on Dr. Watson… and perhaps what happened to Mrs. Hornbeck." Dr. Watson stopped in his tracks.

"But then surely we should go back and demand to speak to her?" But the detective continued down to the riverbed, not stopping to consider the notion.

"No, her father won't permit it. Besides, most of the pieces have already fallen into place…" Dr. Watson hurried towards his friend who was now stooped low, examining the ground in front of him.

"They have? Well, do you care to enlighten me then? Because so far none of this nonsense makes any more sense than it did at the beginning…" by now Mr. Holmes would have rebuked the good doctor's claims but instead, let out an 'ah-ha' as he picked something out of the dirt. It was too muddy to see clearly but the look on the detective's face was triumphant.

"Come Watson, I believe our journey is at an end." He then turned on his heels and marched back towards the house. Dr. Watson let out an exasperated sigh but dutifully followed him.

As luck would have it, Inspector Lindsey was outside the entrance of the house, smoking a cigarette and chatting away casually with one of his officers. "Ah - Inspector Lindsey, just who I wanted to see. I'm afraid I have rather grim news. Instruct your men to start dredging the lake at once, I believe that is where we're likely to find Mrs. Hornbeck. And have Mr. Hornbeck arrested at once and bought to the drawing room, I believe our case is solved." The Inspector's mouth hung open so far, that his cigarette dropped to the ground.

"Er… right away Mr. Holmes! Well, you heard him lad, get to the lake. I'll see about finding our Mr. Hornbeck." The Inspector then dashed through the side entrance of the house, hoping to reach his suspect before anyone else did. And he was just in time, he caught Mr. Hornbeck creeping down the back staircase, a small suitcase in hand and a disturbed look on his face. "And where do you think you are off to sir?" Mr. Hornbeck didn't respond, instead, he made a mash dash for the same entrance the Inspector had come through, trying his absolute best to wriggle out of his grip. Luckily he had the foresight to blow his whistle, or Mr. Hornbeck could have got away completely. Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson rushed to the scene and quickly apprehended the man. It wasn't long before he was bought to the drawing room handcuffed and looking rather forlorn indeed. Inspector Lindsey roughly pushed him down onto a chair, nodding to Mr. Holmes to begin his explanation.

"Well, as if this most recent display wasn't proof enough, I believe we've found Mrs. Hornbeck's killer…" Mr. Hornbeck began protesting loudly.

"Tosh! I haven't done anything to anyone, let me go this instant!" He was quickly pressed back into his seat by the Inspector.

"That's quite enough out of you Mr. Hornbeck, now pipe down or we'll have you gagged as well…" that shut him up fast enough. Mr. Holmes smiled and was about to continue his speech when Miss Beauchamp came bursting into the room.

"What on earth's going on here? I heard a terrible commotion… y-you've arrested Mr. Hornbeck? In God's name, why?" Dr. Watson hurried to her side and took her by the arm.

"Come, my dear, you best not be present for this…" but Mr. Holmes eyed them both carefully as he started packing his favourite pipe.

"Miss Beauchamp is welcome to stay if she so wishes, after all, someone will have to tell her eventually…" Cora eyed the detective suspiciously.

"Tell me what? Would someone please tell me what's happening!" Dr. Watson guided her to the sofa and stroked her hand, she was becoming hysterical and he tried to calm her nerves.

"Mr. Hornbeck murdered his wife Miss Beauchamp… the facts tell us a much." Cora gasped in shock and for a moment Dr. Watson was worried she'd faint. He quickly prepared some smelling salts just in case.

"N-no, no I'm alright doctor, really. How could you say such a thing, Mr. Holmes? Mr. and Mrs. Hornbeck have been with me for years, they've never put a foot wrong…" Mr. Holmes struck his match, the brightness of the flame stinging everyone's eyes.

"And yet you said yourself, Miss Beauchamp, their marital difficulties were well known." Mr. Hornbeck was about to respond when he caught the warning eye of the Inspector. "Those rumours of infidelity turned out to be true, and though I'm sure Mr. Hornbeck will correct me if I'm wrong, he had a tryst with Evie Thorton." Cora just stared at Mr. Holmes bewildered.

"The gardener's daughter? Is this true?" She turned towards Mr. Hornbeck, who now had his head in his hands.

"Allow me to go back to the beginning…" Mr. Holmes took a large toke of his pipe while everyone else listened intently, like children being read a bedtime story.

"I first suspected someone from the house was responsible for the excerpts sent to Miss Beauchamp, when she confirmed they were sent without an address. Any letters sent that way are typically discarded. However, I later sent a telegram to the local post office here, which confirmed they weren't in receipt of any blank envelopes this past month. The second clue was how Miss Beauchamp came across the excerpts. On the first two occasions, she simply found them amongst the rest of the post, indicating that they may not have been for her in the first place. Most of the rest of my findings require a bigger leap of faith though I encourage you all to listen carefully. Mr. Hornbeck's first mistake was to appear before us so disheveled, his appearance suggested a disturbed night and his newly dried hair spoke of either an early morning bath or a trip to the lake. Given the context of our current predicament, I'm inclined to believe the latter. When I searched his room later on, I found the bottle of laudanum he'd mentioned using to aid his sleep. He told me he got through a bottle a month, which wouldn't then explain why this bottle is less than half full only a week into our current month…" Mr. Holmes then placed the nearly empty bottle onto the coffee table nestled between them all.

"Good lord… he couldn't have taken all that in less than a week, he'd be a very sick man indeed!" Dr. Watson picked up the bottle and held it up to the light, alarmed at how little was left.

"Quite. But say this was a previous bottle, as could well be the case, my next job then was to find other clues that suggested Mr. Hornbeck was away from the house in the early hours of this morning. Besides his hastily made bed and thrown together outfit, I also came across a soaked uniform hidden underneath his bed. The smell of the lake on such clothes was quite unmistakable." Mr. Holmes sniffed, as though repulsed by the memory. "My search under the bed also turned up this…" he then threw a heavy object onto the coffee table with a thud.

"The book of rhymes…" Cora stared at the object for a few moments before quickly flipping through its pages, desperate to see if it was indeed the same book. When she came across the torn out pages, there was no mistaking it was the book in question.

"Good lord… are you suggesting Mr. Hornbeck sent the letters to Miss Beauchamp? Or whomever?" Mr. Holmes inhaled sharply, somewhat annoyed at the good doctor's sluggish mind.

"Not Mr. Hornbeck, his wife… she'd intended the letters for Evie Thornton. Either as a threat to end their association… or a warning that she intended to exact for revenge for a situation long past, I'm assuming the latter Mr. Hornbeck?" The man looked up sadly and nodded his head.

"Y-yes, yes you're quite right Mr. Holmes. What my Evie and I had… i-it ended long ago. Her father saw to that. But Mrs. Hornbeck couldn't let it go. She found out only recently though God knows how I warned Evie enough times not to say anything. I don't know what she intended to do… but, but I couldn't let her hurt my Evie!" He then burst into tears, surprising and embarrassing everyone in equal measure. Mr. Holmes scowled at the man.

"Yes… so like a coward, you confronted her, and I assume when she either denied any wrongdoing or refused to back down, you took matters into your own hands. Either you struck her last night before poisoning her for good measure, or you waited until she was asleep - which seems more likely given there was no sound or sight of a scuffle. You then carried her from the house and dumped her body in the lake. Not only did I find a man's footsteps down by the riverbank, but I also found this…" Mr. Holmes reached into his pocket and pulled out a muddy cigarette butt. "You stopped to smoke, most likely to calm your nerves, and then you made your way back into the house. If you'll check his jacket pocket Inspector Lindsey, I'm sure you'll find the keys he took from Mrs. Hornbeck before dumping her body." The Inspector quickly patted Mr. Hornbeck down and produced a large, brass set of keys from his inside pocket.

"By Jove… here they are." Mr. Holmes kept his eyes on Mr. Hornbeck, who was still sniffling despite not having confessed to his appalling crime.

"But Holmes, how did you know the Thornton girl was involved? The gardener told us nothing, he wouldn't even let us speak to her…" Mr. Holmes turned towards his friend and his expression softened considerably.

"Luckily he didn't have to Dr. Watson, we caught him at a most fortuitous time. Do you remember the acrid smoke coming from his fireplace? Only the acid in writing paper gives off such a distinctive smell when burned. Given that his daughter also hurried from the room but made her presence known at the window when we left… I assume Mr. Thorton was hastily burning his daughter's correspondence with Mr. Hornbeck. Isn't that right sir?" Mr. Hornbeck sighed and although his hands were cuffed, produced as best he could a bundle of letters from his other pocket.

"Yes, Mr. Holmes… I couldn't bring myself to burn my letters from her. Oh God… what a terrible mess. Please tell me she won't get in any trouble though? She's a simple girl and not to blame for any of this…" Mr. Holmes scoffed in contempt.

"Quite so. You've taken advantage of her youth and naivety long enough and as I'm assuming she was underaged when you began your affair, that too will be added to your list of crimes." Mr. Hornbeck let out a sob as the full weight of his situation bared down on him. Just then, Inspector Lindsey's officer burst into the room.

"We've found Mrs. Hornbeck sir, quite drowned, though otherwise there's not a mark on her…" Mr. Holmes sneered at the now cowering Mr. Hornbeck.

"You odious little fiend… you murdered your wife in cold blood over some letters which never even found their way to Miss Thornton in the first place…" it was then that Dr. Watson interjected.

"That's what I can't quite fathom Holmes… how did Mr. Hornbeck even realise what his wife was doing in the first place?" At this, Mr. Hornbeck replied without being prompted.

"I found her going through the book one afternoon, God knows where she got it… but she was cutting out the pages which seemed bizarre. My wife never clipped the paper or kept a scrapbook. She'd warned me recently that she knew all about Evie and that she was going to get her comeuppance. I figured I had to act before she did anything crazy…" Mr. Holmes sighed and got to his feet.

"And you will no doubt hang for your crimes Mr. Hornbeck. Come, Dr. Watson, our time here is at an end. I bid you farewell Miss Beauchamp… and all the luck in finding less deranged staff in the future."

On the train back to baker street.

Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson sat across from each other in silence. The doctor didn't wish to bother his friend with too much conversation, as he knew how much the previous train journey bothered his stomach. He was however eager to give his friend his praise. "That was some marvellous work Holmes, with barely anything to go on, you managed to expose Mr. Hornbeck before he got away. Poor Miss Beauchamp… you know I had to sedate her before we left? She was really quite shaken up. I also seem to recall you saying that Mrs. Hornbeck did however deliver the last extract to Miss Beauchamp directly… you don't suppose she intended to threaten her? Or God forbid, remove her from the picture as well?" Dr. Watson shuddered at the thought.

"We can't quite be sure of the woman's thoughts towards the end of her absurd campaign towards her husband. All we can say for sure is that Miss Beauchamp is far better off without either of them in her employ."

"Quite right Holmes. Though I do worry about such a young woman being left all alone in that house… I hope she doesn't fall prey to any obscene threats again." Mr. Holmes couldn't help but smile at the serious look on his friend's face.

"Well if she does… I'm sure she can depend on you for any assistance doctor…" Dr. Watson pursed his lips at the detective's sarcasm but said nothing, grateful that at least for the time being, Miss Beauchamp was safe.

A/N: Hi guys, as a huge Sherlock Holmes fan of both the original stories and the many series/films, it’s my pleasure to present this new short series. This is the final part! I hope you all enjoyed the ending and felt I captured something of the spirit of the original stories. Any feedback is appreciated and I hope you’ll continue to stick around and enjoy stories in the future!

To be updated on when I post please follow @resowrites and turn on post notifications.

[wexhappyxfew]

Omggg hiii

About the director's cut... is there any part with Toye and Natia that you didn't keep in?😩 I love both of them omg

AH HELLO! [thanks so much for stopping by :D] Toye and Natia (cue me absolutely screaming bc these two are my tragic duo that deserved better). I am BEYOND ecstatic to talk about them (ESPECIALLY, scenes that I didn't keep in or conjured up!). Thank you for loving them :) they deserve it and I hope *somehow* with postwar I can achieve that for them!!

There were multiple instances where I had scene ideas for Toye and Natia together but ultimately, it never came to fruition (which I look back on now and I go 'darn I should've kept it in' or 'should have done it this way', anyway lol!). There were a multitude of scenes that I feel I could have added, but for the way I wanted to form Natia and her story, they just weren't needed I felt and I could form those types of conversations into later conversations ultimately [so that was sort of the thought process].

I'll be honest Toye and Natia came out of left field for me because I went into Landslide not even sure if I would have Natia even being interested in anyone; Natia's story [now that it has grown more complex] was ultimately the entire plotline and goal from day one that I wanted to write on and develop and so a *relationship* in some way on top of it was sort of just, if I can make it happen I'll have a stab. And so Toye and Natia really came from that, just to clarify it first LOL.

There are two specific spaces that I can envision in my head as places where more scenes could have existed: 1 being Bastogne mainly. Bastogne really gives a lot of open space to really create some scenes that are important for characters and such I feel. I found myself with a lot of open space in those Bastogne chapters and so I really tried to construct things that worked within that space and most importantly, were important to Natia's story. The 2nd place I feel goes to Holland (likewise to Bastogne). There were a few spaces of time I skipped that I kind of regret skipping - ie, Natia in Holland is one of my absolute favorite 'Natia eras'. So, most definitely, that was a space I wished I worked into a bit more (it's just one of my favorite bits of writing!)

So, specifically talking with Holland - I made an attempt at this at first, but I pulled it last minute because I couldn't get it to fit properly but - there was a specific scene from one of the multitudes of Band of Brothers books I've acquired that focuses on Joe Toye and how he goes out with a few Privates or something to capture some of the enemy (this is not at all correct, I'm going off of memory I'll be honest, it's been a bit) and he comes back with the captured enemy and it was sort of shown as this moment that really showed who he was and his character and I REALLY loved it, I really did.

Natia and Toye ultimately stepped off on the wrong feet with each other (and each had their reasons iykyk) and so that really was something to juggle and figure out and ultimately, push forward with and resolve. So having this sort of scene in the fic I feel would've aided with some of their conflict they had with one another in a way - Natia would better see Toye's character in a light that wasn't what she had previously scene and Toye would get to show who he was ultimately, and that was a good solider. I tested the waters with it, but I pulled it last second and might consider turning it into a deleted scene once writing for the entire fic is over!

As previously mentioned, Bastogne makes for plenty of 'openness' I've called it, with writing and making up scenes altogether. There were a few times I considered scenes with Toye and Natia; a possible two-person tag team patrol, where ultimately a few conversations existed, a possible encounter in the early morning where they run into each other, more foxhole sharing (possibly one or two more of scenes like that), and this sort of famed final spoken words before what happens to Toye was at first, going to be quite different. So really, I had a collection of ideas that never really fully came to fruition with Bastogne. [And these may also become deleted scenes in the future as well!]

My main thing with Natia's story though was really to focus on her - she has a whole lot of crap happening throughout and it is stuff that she has to deal with, she can't ignore it - and so I didn't really want to overcomplicate what her and Toye could have. I made it this sort of (not entirely simplistic) but somewhat simplistic, people figuring out who the other is and finding a connection in that, in a way. I wanted it to be drawn out, and I wanted it to take its time and develop as I felt it should. I didn't want to overdo it, I'll be honest, but I wanted to show that it was a constant that Natia had until Toye got hit. And I feel it was really represented in the way it was!

I am more than happy to continue talking about these two with any future questions you may have!! <3 They are quite honestly such a tragic duo that deserved better!! Thank you so much for sending in such a fun ask, have a great day! :D