#left this vague in terms of verse

[welcomeleon]

@punishdsin liked for a starter.

the fog that has blanketed this street has left a pit in leon's stomach, eyes flicking about here and there, checking windows, checking doors, checking each sound that dares to pierce the silence. and yet, there's not a sweat upon his brow, and though his steps forward are cautious, he remains grounded and steady. the occasional soft mumbling under his breath manages to carry him through: you can do this. just keep going. you've got this.

through the haze, the silhouette of a man becomes clear.

"hello?" his voice is gilded with purity, an earnest chime through a place that reeks of something foul and yet NATURAL, like fresh humus.

"are you—" is he what? a monster? leon isn't sure what's happening here, much less who he can trust. his strides pick up pace, brow furrowed as he approaches the man, posture changing instinctively to raise his shoulders and broaden his chest. a strong protector at work.

"are you okay? this place is dangerous, but i can help you. my name is leon, i'll keep you safe."

[sunsweets-a]

@mythkiss    [  …  ]    ❛   here,  let  me  help  you,  sweet  pea!   ❜  -  faeryn  !

             aoife  stares  up  at  the  tree's  limbs,  the  meowing  of  the  cat  rather  obvious.   it  wasn't  her  cat,  but  she  wasn't  the  kind  of  person  to  leave  an  animal  like  that,  to  fend  for  itself.   trying  to  coax  it  down  hadn't  got  her  very  far,  as  it  would  quickly  back  up  to  safety  before  committing  to  climbing  down.   some  days  she  spent  working  on  her  farm,  taking  care  of  animals   ..   other  days  it  seemed  she  was  spending  the  day   pspsps'ing  at  some  stray  cat.

            how  different  the  slow  farm  life could  be  when  compared  to  the  rowdy  qualities  of  the  city.   she  looks  to  faeryn,  head  tilting  just  a  little  before  aoife  nods.   ❝   hm   ..   if  you  keep  an  eye  on  it,  i  can  go  fetch  a  ladder.   my  farm's  right  over  there.   ❞      she  was  just  too  scared  to  leave  it  alone  in  case  it  might  hurt  itself  trying  to  get  down.   they  say  a  cat  always  lands  on  its  feet,  but  she  wasn't  willing  to  test  that  theory.   ❝   unless,  well  ..  you  can  get  it  down  ?   it  doesn't  want  to  come  to  me   –   probably  smells  my  dog  on  me  ..   ❞

[savior-of-humanity]

I think you may have a concussion. - kelly @ guts

"I'm fine," came his growling, yet slightly slurred response. Hands wrapped tightly around the hilt of his sword, it was frankly the only reason why he was still standing, what with the blood that dripped profusely from a wound hidden somewhere in his hairline. "I don't need your help."

The wound that was caused by the scores of dead that surrounded the Black Swordsman. Dead that were unlike anything the Spartan would have ever seen in her life - for they looked like demons, crawled straight from the old Christian mythos. It was apparent that all of them, despite their near-overwhelming numbers and enormous sizes, had been slain by the man's own hand. Bisected and dismembered and slaughtered. But even they, these nightmarish beasts that crawled straight out of Hell itself, were not the only bizarre thing of the scene that lay before Spartan-087.

The man, first off, wore armor that looked almost downright primitive in comparison to Kelly's own - like something straight out of the medieval era. There was not a hint of modern technology on the man whatsoever; even the prosthetic arm that made up his left forearm was fashioned of iron and leather straps. Secondly, even with him being somewhat slouched and hunched over, it was apparent that he was tall; had he been standing straight, he would've only been half a head shorter than Kelly in her armor.

And then there was the sword.

It wasn't really so much a sword as it was an enormous hunk of iron, refined into the shape of a blade - so large and long that it was nearly as tall as the swordsman himself. Blood and ichor and gore, still warm and steaming, soaked the blade where it still clung to it - and yet, the man who wielded it had only the single head wound. Though, there was also the oddity of a curious mark on his neck; a brand of some kind, which had once wept profusely with now-drying blood. It wasn't an injury left by his foes but rather an old wound that had been re-opened with the stress of battle.

The man made an effort to properly stand, attempting to lift the blade - he only managed a couple of inches before his legs wobbled, threatening to buckle and collapse beneath him, and the tip of the sword was promptly forced back into the ground with a heavy THUNK and a quiet "Shit." from the swordsman's lips.

He didn't like this. Being so weak, and vulnerable. Not with this knight, this woman, who bore armor and arms unlike anything he'd ever seen before. Guts wasn't one who admitted physical weakness, let alone the need for help, so easily.

"...Alright. Maybe I do have a concussion. So what? I can take care of myself, lady."

[rom-e-o]

I've always wondered how Connie and Scrooge (modern or otherwise) would react to my Percival and Thorne, considering how different they are as characters and the whole 'Marley is NOT dead to begin with and is also Scrooge's husband' thing.

Here's Percival's notes from my Google docs:

Born to Zachariah Winthrop Scrooge and Kathleen Quill Scrooge, conceived in a drunken tryst gone wrong, Ebenezer is the co-CEO of his and Jacob’s multinational, multi-billion pound tech conglomerate, Asplex Industries. Known as the Shark of London in the world of business, Ebenezer is renowned for his cunning and ruthlessness, tied only with his terrifyingly true ability in the art of inventing high-quality technological innovations, closer to the realm of madness.

And here's Thorne's:

Born to Gene Thorne and Lilith Knight under the name Alexander Thorne, and adopted by Abel and Lenore Marley at ten-years-old, Jacob is the co-CEO of his and Ebenezer’s multinational, multi-billion pound tech conglomerate, Asplex Industries. Known as the Snake of London, Jacob is known for his charismatic nature and silver tongue, able to predict market trends with incredible ease and convincing subsidiaries to sign with them by speaking only the truth.

I don't really touch upon it too much on the fic, though I will get back to rewriting it I SWEAR, but Percival ends up getting back on good terms with Belle and her husband Richard (Dick Wilkins) who were childhood friends of both him and Thorne.

And we also know how Percival ALMOST fucked up his relationship with Thorne (*cough* Percival didn't think they were married because it wasn't legal in England before 2015 but Thorne did and Thorne thought Percival didn't love him and that this was all transactional *cough)

They get therapy don't worry

Honestly I feel like Connie and Scrooge would see Percival and Thorne very differently, and Connie herself would feel some level of kinship with Thorne thanks to her experiences with Orin.

But honestly those are just some of my thoughts ngl- ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Ooooh, this is such a fun question! There would be some interest, for certain.

My Scrooge and Connie’s personalities from their modern to classic renditions don’t vary too much in disposition (aside from their speech patterns, the presence of different amenities, etc.) so I feel both sets would react similarly in both timelines, but differently from each other, haha.

My version of Scrooge tends to lean a bit introverted, is a slight (intense) perfectionist, and can be a little shy and skittish. Some might even call him nervous, but only in his personal life, because romance is so new to him again, and it’s been a long time since he’s wanted anyone in his life. He doesn’t want to mess anything up. Professionally, he’s always charming, well-spoken, and a true gentleman. Handsome, too. An Adonis, which is his nickname, haha.

I think he’d see Percival and Thorne, firstly, with intrigue. His business partner is still alive, and they’re … together? When I started “Begin Again” I decided to make it vague if Scrooge and Marley were business partners or more, and to what degree. Their relationship is left extremely vague. After Isabel, he really had ONLY Marley as companionship. So, a version of him and Marley being a couple is not a concept that completely blindsides him. I hc him and Connie as both bi/pan (especially because Scroogey has so many lovers and OCs that love him across universes - it just feels right.)

I think he’d ask how he was still alive, and if there really was something he could have done to save his partner (in the classic verse or modern verse.)

Finding out about the car accident and aftermath would remind him of his own redemption, and I think he’d find comfort in knowing that he was given a second chance across many timelines. And seeing him reconnect with Belle and Dick, something he has yet to do in the modern verse but has in the classical one (I am in the same boat of needing to get back to writing fics, including this one, so I feel you lmao) would give him reassure.

“I must say, our backgrounds of ruthlessness are…similar. Your resilience is inspiring."

As for Thorne, I think he'd want to learn more about him and kind of compare him to the Marley he knows. How similar are they? He's got the same charisma, that's for certain.

The funny thing? My Scrooge LOVES sparkling water, and Thorne finds it refreshing, as we’ve learned from their dinner date. For some reason, I see him feeling victorious.

A: Haha, finally, someone else who understands that is a perfectly lovely beverage. Please continue to give your husband grief.

C: Darling! You shouldn’t inspire a married couple to fight. Especially you and Marley.

A: Normally, I wouldn’t, but like you said, it’s a version of me from another universe. Fair game, my dear. Trust me, we’ve all earned our fair share of teasing. 😌

Speaking of Connie, she’s never met Marley, but she’s heard stories upon stories. To meet him from another would would be like meeting a celebrity!

I think she would find kinship with Thorne, exactly like you said, because of what she faced with Orin. Also, he provides Percival with love and companionship, and they become a couple and family.

She adores Ebenezer, so to know that he found love in that universe with another, let along one he has such a storied past with, brings her happiness.

"I'm glad he's loved in your universe too." <3

Also, Connie finds out about the boxing, and begs to be taught, haha. She only know pilates, and promises to be a good student. "I have an ex-husband I may need to punch one day. Can you give me some pointers?"

I feel like I just barely scratched the surface, but I think there is a lot of fun stuff these four could get up to, haha.

I totally feel you about fic writing, haha. It's always worth the wait when you publish (the characterization, the banter, the imagery ... top-tier across the board), so please don't worry about taking those beats to make sure you love it! I will be SO READY to keep reading those updates!

[thecinematicalgorithm]

Can't Catch Me Now: Lucy Gray and Katniss Story-Tie Analysis

I have not been on Tumblr much over the past couple of years but with the coming film The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes on its way I knew I'd be dusting this old page off. The Hunger Games series is one of my all-time favorite book series and the films are some of my favorite book-to-film adaptations, so to say I am pumped for this upcoming movie is an understatement. And to top it all, I have been obsessing over Olivia Rodrigo's new song Can't Catch Me Now, which if you've read the prequel, you'll know that it perfectly ties Lucy Gray's story to Katniss' journey. As always I want to warn anyone who might read this that spoilers for the upcoming film and Suzanne Collins' novel lie ahead. Also fair warning, this is super long cause I don't know how to be concise.

In preparation for the prequel film I have re-read TBOSAS and I am currently re-reading the original THG series (I am currently on Catching Fire, if anyone cares to know lol). I am also planning on a movie marathon the week of the prequel release, which I fully intend on subjecting my boyfriend to as he recently admitted he has only ever seen the first (and I simply cannot let him continue living life with no clue on how wonderful Peeta Mellark is). With that said, I have had a few thoughts, which I wanted to share before the release knowing that I will certainly have more thoughts after I have seen the film.

Honestly, I am going to be ridiculously obsessed for the next several weeks. I also know I wrote a couple of analyses on the differences between Snow and Katniss and the early games vs. the later games, which I will re-post so people can read them if they haven't before.

Enough chit-chat though let's get to it.

The parallels between Katniss and Lucy Gray are quite extensive and beautiful despite the characters being in many ways polar opposites. There is the saying that "Lucy Gray Baird is a performer made to hunt while Katniss is a hunter made to perform". This is a great summary of their overall character profile, and while I may at some point do a breakdown of Lucy Gray vs Katniss, I first want to write about how Lucy Gray and Katniss' story are far more connected than some might have realized. Part of the realization for me actually came while listening to Olivia's new song.

The chorus of the song reads as:

But I'm in the trees, I'm in the breeze

My footsteps on the ground

You'll see my face in every place

But you can't catch me now

Through wading grass, the months will pass

You'll feel it all around

I'm here, I'm there, I'm everywhere

But you can't catch me now

No, you can't catch me now

In terms of Katniss, I think it's been obvious for sometime that Snow particularly despises Katniss because she is a strong reminder of Lucy Gray Baird. She is a girl from District 12. She stood out during her Reaping, and swept the Captiol off their feet during her time in his city. She not only sang in the arena, but she sang a young girl "to sleep" with the very song Lucy Gray sang Maude Ivory to sleep. She used the Captiol's berries to save herself and Peeta, just as Lucy Gray used the Captiol's snakes to save herself. She wears a Mockingjay pin, the very bird which Snow undoubtedly relates to Lucy Gray and rebellion (far before it truly became the symbol of rebellion).

Katniss may not be like Lucy Gray in personality, but to Snow, Lucy Gray's spirit must seem very much alive in Katniss, and just as he tried desperately to rid the forests surrounding District 12 of mockingjays, this is one Mockingjay he wants to destroy.

The second verse of the song goes:

Bet you thought I'd never do it

Thought it'd go over my head

I bet you figured I'd pass with the winter

Be something easy to forget

Oh, you think I'm gone 'cause I left

This verse summarizes Snow's mindset at the end of TBOSAS, as we know he thinks he is safe from the threat of Lucy Gray. Her games have been erased, as time passes "there will be a vague memory that a girl sang in the arena" and even that too shall pass. However, where he goes wrong is when he fails to understand the deep connection and love the other Covey share for Lucy Gray. Despite not seeing how the story ends for them, or even having a solid explanation of Lucy Gray's ending, we at least know that Lucy Gray and her songs were not wiped from existance. Whether they believed, as he supposed, that the mayor was responsible for Lucy Gray's disappearance does not erase their connection to her.

Snow may have chosen never to allow love to control him again, but he did not erase the love those children had for Lucy Gray. Her music became all they had left of her so you can bet they continued singing them and sharing them, even if they had to do it on the down low. (I also share the common fan theory that Maude Ivory is the grandmother to Katniss Everdeen, and I'm hoping the film confirms this). Either way, Katniss clearly learned those songs from somewhere, which for Snow would have been a siren's call from the great beyond that Lucy Gray did not pass with the winter and she was not as forgotten as he had hoped.

Then we go into the bridge of the song where Olivia sings:

You, you can't, you can't catch me now

I'm coming like a storm into your town

You can't, you can't catch me now

I'm higher than the hopes that you brought down (repeats)

This is my favorite part of the song. Not only is it moving and emotional but it ties so much of Lucy's story to Katniss'. Both girls were like storms in the Capitol, sweeping the people and the nation into their stories so they could not help but be invested. Both were near impossible to control, despite Snow's best efforts, and both had a spirit of hope greater than Snow's ability to crush the highest of hopes. There's also something deeper, which intended by Olivia or not, makes this song perfect for the series. The lines "I'm coming like a storm into your town" and "I'm higher than the hopes that you brought down" is sung from the point of view of Lucy Gray. Both bring to mind images of the rebellion in THG: Mockingjay. The rebels stormed into the Capitol and their hope was higher than the hopes and lives which Snow had already destroyed in an effort to quell the rebellion.

However, just like Katniss becoming the Mockingjay, or the symbol of the rebellion, Lucy Gray had become her music. She was the anthem of the rebellion. If Katniss inspired hope, Lucy Gray was that hope. The hope of freedom. Dead or not Lucy Gray was finally free and her song reflects that truth and the rebels clung to it. Dead or alive they would be free.

Furthermore, Lucy Gray's song not only led to the freedom of Panem, but it also led to the freedom of Peeta's mind from the lies and brainwashing inflicted on him in the Capitol. Remember, Katniss always associated Peeta with hope until Snow brainwashed him. And if you'll recall, Peeta's first true breakthrough in regaining his memory of Katniss and his love for her was when he heard her rendition of "The Hanging Tree". Lucy Gray not only stormed into the Capitol but she stormed into Peeta's muddled memory, and her music was higher than the hope Snow had brought down. Lucy Gray's song led Peeta and Panem into freedom, and it helped to restore Peeta as the hope and love of Katniss' life.

Lastly, the ending of the song greatly foreshadows Katniss' journey:

There's blood on the side of the mountain

It's turning a new shade of red

Yeah, sometimes the fire you founded

Don't burn the way you'd expect

Yeah, you thought that this was the end

Of course, we all know the end is far from over for Snow. As Lucy Gray told him once, "The Capitol show isn't over until the mockingjay sings". Katniss' story ends with her singing Lucy Gray's lullaby to her children. Katniss was the fire founded by Snow, and despite his best efforts, it didn't burn out or even burn the way he expected it to. The line "the fire you founded" is also perfect to describe Snow and Katniss' dynamic because in many ways Katniss was only a threat because Snow threatened her. It's the same dynamic as Harry and Voldemort's. If Voldemort had left Harry and his family well alone, Harry never would have been the perfect enemy to thwart him. In the same way, if Snow had left Katniss and her friends and family well alone, she may never have come for him the way she did or joined the rebellion.

Interestingly enough, if Prim's name had never been called not only would the rebellion most likely have been avoided, but Lucy Gray's music may very well have been truly forgotten. Assuming Katniss is the only one left who actually remembers the songs, we know from reading the books that Katniss does not like or want to sing simply because they are painful reminders of her father. If Prim had never been threatened and Katniss had never been a contender in the games she would have been subjected to a life of mining and may have let the songs fade from memory as she lived out her miserable slave life in District 12.

But as we know that's not what happens, and instead the memory of Lucy Gray and her music is forced from Snow as Katniss is forced onto this journey proving the memory of Lucy Gray is very much still alive except this time Snow can't catch her now.

Thank you for reading if you made it this far! Please share your thoughts if you'd like!

[avernusfuries]

This is a small TLDR of Karlach's Fallout verse. Please note: these have been left deliberately vague so I can just pick her up and plop her down in any of the games and the show. It will contain themes of a sensitive nature. I have taken some creative liberties when it comes to Karlach and keeping her... Well. Gestures at her.

Karlach is speculated to be between 80-100 years old. She has been genetically engineered to be incredibly hard to kill. Her DNA was spliced with that of the ever-terrifying Deathclaw and will be short of temper because of it (hehe barbie rage). This lends to the horns, and, surprisingly the tell-tale barbed tail and height. Her lifespan is uncertain, and she doesn't know if she's gonna die from the engine shitting out, old age, or an unfortunate and grisly event.

With Zariel being one of the most powerful raider leaders that he knew of, he sold Karlach to her with the schematics of an engineered heart that might stop her from feeling anything close to sentiment or obedience. The ultimate super raider. This did not work, and nearly razed her to a pile of soot and cinder before the vents were installed.

She was branded with both iron and tattoos after she was sold to Zariel.

Karlach escaped her on her 50th year, sometime in the Spring after the command came to raze a small settlement to the ground for failing to supply the band with caps. She took the liberty of escorting out the weak and the children when she went and hightailed it across the wastelands. This is where she lost one of her horns down to the root.

She highly favours melee weapons, her favourite of which being a heavy war hammer, wrapped with cloth and whatever fuel she can get her hands on for extra fire damage. She ignites it with her bare hand when an edge is required. She has affectionately titled her Bessie, and will talk to her on occasion when the long stretch of silence of lonesome travel grows a little too much.

Without frequent tune ups, the engine heart will overheat eventually and take her out. Zariel did not send anyone after her on the understanding that she cannot survive without it being constantly maintained and knows it's a matter of time before Karlach comes running back, obedient and with her tail (proverbial and literal) tucked between her legs. She did not expect that Karlach would value the romanticism of dying free and on her own terms over her zeal and passion for life.

Oddly enough, Karlach can self-heal most injuries with enough radiation (same with ghouls! yeehaw!), but sometimes a stimpak is needed in order to stop her from losing too much blood. It will take her anything from between a week to a fortnight to heal serious injuries. 2-3 days for minor.

Karlach tries to live her life as her mother taught her: be kind, and whatever good that's meant to be yours will never pass you by. That being said, with all raiders, it will be absolutely on sight.

She cannot go into cities and settlements to trade and often relies on wanderers to enter them for her. This has led to her being short-changed or robbed on occasion, though for the honest ones, she will throw them a few extra caps for their troubles.

As per Fallout 4 specifically, she is the bodyguard of John Hancock ( @aamusedly) and resides in Goodneighbour.

More to be added at a later date. :3c

[prince-liest]

Mr Prince, I have a question!! In your StaticRadio verse, does Vox know that he's the only one Alastor is having sex with or does he assume he has other occasional partners, or had occasional partners in the past? He's aware that Alastor has his own unique perspective on sex and intimacy, but does he fully realize that he is aroace?

(If he doesn't know he's he only one I think realizing that would be great for his ego alfkd and also possibly give him the wrong idea since he's in his enemies-to-lovers phase)

I love this question!! I like to think that Vox is fully aware that this started out as a strange, vaguely deranged whim for Alastor and while he probably hasn't outright questioned whether Alastor is sleeping with anyone else, he's definitely assuming that he isn't, based on what he's seen of Alastor's attitude. And it's definitely feeding into his own psychosexual obsession with Alastor, because his brain has been overwhelmed by the mere concept that Alastor Is Letting Him Do Things (which then got supercharged to 11 when the third fic in 666: Live On Air! was more Alastor Needs Him To Do Things, whether that was an accurate interpretation of the situation from Vox or not).

I do also think that part of the titillation for him is getting to be in this fairly special position in relation to Alastor while fully knowing that Alastor's actual preferences preclude anyone else from getting within 20 miles of where he's inexplicably found himself. I don't know if he'd pinpoint the term "aroace" for whatever Alastor is, but he certainly knows the dude's view of relationships is, like, two steps to the left of his own. He probably just synthesizes it into the rest of Alastor's... Alastor-ness.

(Also this wasn't ever made explicit, but my intention in this series was that Alastor has not in fact slept with anyone before Vox, either, which is one of the things that fed into him going, "Nah, I won't be helping actually. You just do whatever." their first time together, pfft. He just went Oh, this guy is SO obsessed. You know what would be really funny and also feed my ego like nothing else? and it was downhill from there.)

[flamingplay]

Everything Everything's Mountainhead: a Track-by-Track commentary from AppleMusic

Everything Everything lead vocalist Jonathan Higgs thinks that the thread running all the way through the Manchester quartet’s catalogue is the urge to encapsulate the effect on humanity of living in this time. “That’s really what all our albums are about,” Higgs tells Apple Music. “It’s a varying degree of looking inward and outward, observing how it feels to be alive in this place in this time. This one is very much looking outward for the most part.” “This one” is Mountainhead, Everything Everything’s seventh record and another astounding leap forward from one of the UK’s most inventive bands. It mixes pulsing synths and gleaming guitar licks, euphoric electro grooves and art-rock dynamism—music where the strange and the soothing seamlessly overlap.

The album pairs a dystopian concept about a society which has built a huge mountain and its people live in the shadowed pit it has created at the bottom (a “Mountainhead” is someone who believes the mountain must continue to grow taller no matter the cost) with some of their most rhapsodic pop hooks yet. It’s all been created with the confidence that there is an audience for this sound. “It always feels like we’ve got a lot of goodwill from the last thing we did, so a lot of people are waiting for the next thing we do,” says Higgs. “I think people really liked the last record [2022’s Raw Data Feel] and this one’s better.” This is the sound of Everything Everything on the crest of a wave, confidently hitting new peaks seven albums into their career. Allow Higgs to guide you on a journey to the top of Mountainhead, track by track.

“Wild Guess”

“This was a little demo we made on tour with Foals back in 2017 or something. I put a vocal on it but it was all sung an octave up from what you hear, which was ridiculous. We happened to rediscover it and were like, ‘Remember how ridiculous this song was? Maybe it’s fine to do it now.’ There was just something about the confidence of that big fat solo beginning the record, no vocal for ages and it’s not very nicely played. It’s the same recording Alex [Robertshaw, guitarist and keyboardist] did backstage into his laptop all those years ago. It just felt like this was a good way to start a record, basically, like, ‘Fuck you. Here’s your big fat solo that sounds awful and you’re going to have to wait for your vocal.’”

“The End of the Contender”

“This is vaguely about Ronnie Pickering [ex-boxer who went viral in 2015 for a road rage incident] and people of his ilk, but it’s also about the creep of capitalism and how it’s seeping into everything. I’ve tried to put a reference to money or electricity on every song, so he talks a lot about it in that song—whoever ‘he’ is. Obviously, ‘It’s all about the Benjamins’ is quite a cheeky thing to sing in the chorus, but I don’t think I’m going to get sued for it.”

“Cold Reactor”

“This is setting out the stall of the record. It really hinges on the human element of it and the desperation of it. The ‘I haven’t left the house’ line, somebody being quite isolated and communicating through screens and emojis, felt very relatable. There’s a sad longing for connection that you can’t quite get to that runs through it and because it has this rushing feeling of everything coming to a point, it really emphasises the desperation of it. It was a question of getting the right sort of heartbreaking-versus-hopeful tone and trying to get across a lot of exposition in the verses in quite a short time. It feels like a film script in terms of its simplicity.”

“Buddy, Come Over”

“This is about cancel culture a little bit, it’s got this dark-side- and underworld-type feeling to it. There’s a line, ‘Make me a website so I can completely ruin my life’ and that made the guys laugh quite a lot. Sometimes when that happens, we’re just like, ‘Yeah, let’s go down this path.’ It fell together quite easily, it was more like a really fun one to play live, like, ‘What can we play that feels good in the moment rather than trying to get all these tracks on the go.’”

“R U Happy?”

“This is about the effect of isolation, living in cities, living now and asking the question, ‘Are you happy? Does all this stuff make you happy?’ in the simplest way I could, which is to literally say, ‘Are you happy?’ over and over again. There’s definitely a through line of being an animal and the ‘dance in a skeleton way’ line was me saying if there’s a skeleton there, you’re dead but if there’s a skeleton there, you’re alive as well, talking about being alive and trying not to be sad all the time.”

“The Mad Stone”

“This is more about the religious element to the idea [of the album]. It’s more like a spiritual song in its presentation and its content. It sounds like an argument between two or three people who really believe in this idea of the mountain and people who are very doubtful about it. The thing on top of the mountain [in the chorus] is this big mirror that reflects you over and over again into infinity—that’s the more magical element of what might be at the top of the mountain. I was trying to come up with a metaphor for an idea of something that would be an actual goal that someone might want to get to, but it’s also really obviously selfish and self-aggrandising. It took an afternoon of singing it to get the chorus right, getting it so it just didn’t sound silly—being understood and not sound like I’m mumbling.”

“TV Dog”

“This was a demo that Alex had made that he called ‘Coney Island’ and we all thought it sounded like a New York string quartet. Coupled with that title, it opened up a few little avenues on the record, some strings that appear on other songs. I had about twice as many lyrics and we were like, ‘Is this song going to develop into a bigger thing? Are we going to bring the drums in?’ and then we were like, ‘The most poignant thing you can do is just hear it for a minute and a half, a couple of good lines and then it’s gone.’ Alex went down to a cathedral and recorded loads of ambience in there and put that all over the track in the background, so you get this sense of it being in a huge space.”

“Canary”

“If some of the other songs feel like you’re on the mountain, this one’s very much in the pit, it’s being in the dark. It’s the canary in a coal mine, a warning song that just so happens to fit very well with the larger concept. It’s the darkest underbelly of the album and the imagery is the most fucked up. It feels like a warning about something bad that’s coming, which tends to be where I often find myself as a character in my songs—as a warning character. This was a big production number for Alex, I think he wanted it to be a bit Björk or something.”

“Don’t Ask Me to Beg”

“I started with layering up vocals, I was trying to make a kind of choir thing. I was listening to Massive Attack, even though they don’t really use choirs. We tried different rhythmic schemes for ages to try and get it sounding less white-boy funk and cool. It took us ages working on the drums, actually, and then trying to re-record all of those cluster vocals. I think we just gave up in the end and used the demo ones, so no one knows how to sing those parts. If we have to do it live, we’re going to struggle!”

“Enter the Mirror”

“This is about a friend of mine who was struggling and I wasn’t sure if he was going to make it through. It’s a song about singing to him as if he was gone and remembering our childhood. I haven’t really worked out what it means yet. I think I wanted to say that we’re both the same deep down, even though there’s two of us. But there’s also the mirror on top of the mountain, which might be like you find yourself if you go into it. I don’t know, I’m still a bit too close to that song to even fully say.”

“Your Money, My Summer”

“This was another demo from around the same time as ‘Wild Guess’, something that we thought was just a bit too silly to do something with back then and now, I guess we didn’t. In the past, we would have had a litany of reasons why we wouldn’t do that and now it was like, ‘This is good.’ It’s definitely the most relaxed track of ours you’ll ever find. You won’t find us playing like that anywhere else, a sort of Chili Peppers rhythm section. We would usually run a mile from that stuff but we were just like, ‘Why are we running?’ It’s an example of us being relaxed with each other.”

“Dagger’s Edge”

“This was an older demo. It always had that feeling of being a song of two halves. I think I wrote the second half and Alex wrote the first. We’d binned it because we thought it was too silly. It does sound pretty light-hearted in the first bit, but then the tone changes. I’m taking the piss out of somebody and saying a lot of ridiculous things and then suddenly just turn into this really desperate old wise man on a mountain. No other band could do that and I really believe that that’s very much our thing—a song that sounds like Dr. Dre and I’m taking the piss out of a guy, calling him those ridiculous names, and then suddenly, a harpsichord comes in and it’s turned into a really existential thing about everyone turning into bacon.”

“City Song”

“This is another one that’s got that New York strings thing going on. I wrote the demo and it was much more hip-hoppy. It’s got a hip-hop speed, but, stylistically, that’s been shed. I was trying to do like a David Byrne-style lyric, the sadness of mundanity or trying to make mundane things special. I think there was also some elements of the Mark Fisher book Capitalist Realism, where he was talking about how impersonal it can be to work for a big company where no one really knows each other. I wanted to get across that feeling of isolation, but also no one really knowing who you are and no one knowing each other, living under the lights of the city and it all being very anonymous.”

“The Witness”

“I’ve barely listened back to this because it makes me quite emotional. It was about witnessing somebody go through a weird transition, thinking that it might be a kind of religious experience. It was written on guitars but Alex swapped out the guitars for synths because it sounded like a Radiohead-type song, two guitars picking and a sad guy with a falsetto. It was just like, ‘People would like it but this is really music from 25 years ago that we could do standing on our heads.’ It’s what we were trained to do, we’re good at it, but it wasn’t pushing us in any direction. So we swapped out the guitars for synths and we made a few other weird changes.

[icecoldwilliams]

𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃𝐄𝐃 ( 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐋: 𝑩𝑳𝑶𝑶𝑫𝑳𝑼𝑺𝑻 𝑶𝑹𝑰𝑮𝑰𝑵𝑺 ) | ✲・*:✲・*:✲・*:･･

|| Notice: This verse originates from my thread with the always lovely and incredible @diotheworldus , but with a twist. It is essentially a bad end au of what we have planned for the thread, and is available to anyone interested. This verse also takes place after the bad end route of T8's ending, in which Kazuya takes over the world, and it dabbles in themes of: blood, death, resurrection, redirected ire, defying ones legacy, power & protection, letting go, and overall starting anew.

With the safe kept gift of a drop of a certain vampires blood from a mission that already long rocked her rigid perception, a devil choking the world in his grasp and possible reasons behind her unconventional decision abound, Nina finally takes her life into her own hands... via ending it all.

Please enjoy~ 🦇💜

🩸 - The how was perfect. Intricately planned. One final toe to toe with her dear little sister, spanning days just like old times. Ending in a bang, or more fittingly.. multiple. A barrage of bullets, a final blaze of glory. One order to fire courtesy of her sister, yet only after a vile drained dry and a trigger from her own hands. — Anna finally gets the brief momentary satisfaction of "winning" she's always wanted. And the limbo of intense regret, guilt and complex Gordian knot of emotions that comes with it. The knowing that it was all over, that apparently... it was all her fault. And Nina, dead. Undead, now has a front row seat to the entire show. With another ticket to a much needed escape and a whole new life in grasp. – An afterlife, that is.

🩸 - The transformation itself was grueling. For but a moment it began with nothing, the stereotypical light and life flashing before your eyes. A vague silhouette of a patriarch no doubt waiting for her in hell. ...Then, it was weeks worth of agony. Confusion. An unquenchable thirst that left alleyways and her lips stained a crimson red. She was so out of it she couldn't even have the satisfaction of witnessing her own funeral, only finally visiting the familiar etched gravestone months later. Amidst wandering, overhearing rumors of her sisters triumph, to mosts doubts, and others claiming herself as simply MIA. This was fine.

🩸- This was admittedly.... lonely. Nowhere near as interesting as planned. Vampirism offered extra protection, power, yet... the only one she could admit to wanting to share it with was dead via her own hands. Anyone she once considered an ally in the tournaments finding out she was still alive risked ruining everything. There was no turning back. Only moving forward. – Yet a path ahead at times still takes twists and turns through where you've already been. For awhile the blonde returned to the desert, the stately abode of her now predecessor. Gathering what was left of his allies, what was left to her by his own word... and swiftly handling any who didn't oblige. This was... different. Yet parallel to what she already knew.

🩸 - Whether out of perceived debt, responsibility or something else all together, the vampiress now resides in the same city the two undead once spoke of visiting together someday. Again wielding the worlds strings, and furthering her own realm of underworldly influence under the guise of anonymity. – With a growing following at her disposal, and knowledge from years of one consistent role under both the Zaibatsu & G-Corporation in her arsenal, Nina's swiftly established herself as an all but vampire mafiadonna in both the criminal and supernatural spheres. Still doing what she knows best, overseeing a growing army, orchestrating hits for pay and bringing the world to it's knees... if only to lift it up from the ashes. This time entirely from the shadows, and entirely on her own terms. Her own limits. Her own power. Even without her own purpose.

(1 / 3) 𝔗𝔬 𝔟𝔢 𝔠𝔬𝔫𝔱𝔦𝔫𝔲𝔢𝔡 | ✲・*:✲・*

[teecupangel]

Hi! I was thinking about your reblog of my AssCreed headcanon list and I got this idea... Adha and Desmond character swap?

Desmond just wakes up in the Levant without any reason while Adha gets transported into the future because of their weird Chalice connection.

Bonus points if the switch happens at a really awkward time, like Des wakes up in bed with Altaïr and Adha with Lucy/Shaun/Rebecca (... basically whatever modern day character you ship Desmond with, or maybe all of them if you wanna go the poly route)

And what do you know, maybe Desmond knows enough about the future to warn everybody about Al Mualim and Kadar gets to live, and maybe Adha is well-versed enough in Isu bullshit to save Lucy and the world (and also Clay, somehow? Can we fit him in there as well?).

The reblog in question and the tags I included:

#no 3 though would mean that calling adha the chalice meant, #she was similar to desmond miles, #maybe she was a failed version, #and there's a few like her, #with desmond being the final 'product', #i personally headcanon adha is called the chalice because she has a specific isu blood that can open something, #like maybe the lost city of iram, #also known as atlantis of the sands

Honestly, Desmond being reborn as Adha has been a Yew Branches idea of mine since last year mostly because:

The term Chalice would mean it’s meant to hold something (as @fanworldbuildingfun once stated) and considering the most famous Chalice is meant to hold blood, the idea that the title Chalice is connected to her blood is high and is similar to how Desmond’s blood(line) plays an important part in his story.

Adha means ‘sacrifice’ and Desmond ends up sacrificing himself. (While Adha was the sacrifice that needed to happen so Altaïr would become who he is in AC1)

Adha wanted to leave Levant and everything behind. Desmond wanted the same thing and did just that.

There’s a possibility that she was 25 when she died (unconfirmed) which is also the same age Desmond died.

Anyway, let’s talk about how Desmond and Adha swapping places would work.

Okay, so let’s go over what we’re sure will happen:

Desmond and Adha would switch places at very awkward times because that would be fun and we all love to make Desmond suffer (affectionately).

Desmond would end up saving Kadar and warn everyone about Al Mualim (and be believed, I guess?)

Adha would end up saving Lucy and the world

Optional: Clay will be saved as well

So, for this one, we’ll have to twist the timeline a bit. We never did get an idea of when (if he ever did) Desmond relived Altaïr’s memories of Altaïr’s Chronicles (although I do like to headcanon he dreamed of it while he was stuck in the trunk of the car as Lucy drives them to the Rome hideout) so we’ll throw that away and make Desmond only have vague memories of Adha because we are setting this in the timeline where Lucy is still alive so that means Desmond hasn’t reached a Synch Nexus with Altaïr yet.

I propose that they switch not after a night of passion but during it, like in the exact middle of it. The kind reason for this is that no one would mistake that some kind of nefarious switcheroo has happened or another. The mean (totally the main reason why I'm suggesting this) reason is… maximum embarrassment and panic for Desmond which I am all for. XD

Okay, so let’s focus on Desmond first:

The best time for Altaïr and Adha to have some quality time would be just after they reunited and left the sewers and before Altaïr went to Tyr to ‘confront’ Harash. For this, we’ll assume Altaïr didn’t leave immediately and, instead, decided to stay with Adha for one night. During that time, Desmond changes places with her and… there’s a long period of just the two of them staring at each other with growing surprise and whatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuck

Then Altaïr grabs him by the throat and demands to know who he is and where’s Adha.

And just as Desmond is starting to get lighthearted from the lack of oxygen.

He manages to blurt out.

“I’m Adha!”

And that… is how Desmond Miles, the Isu’s favorite chew toy and the unluckiest chosen one in the world, screwed up so badly that he now has to pretend to be the tragic destined-to-die lover of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad.

Of course, Altaïr didn’t believe him at first but then Desmond started answering his questions, questions only Altaïr and Adha would have known the answers to and Desmond is pretty sure it wasn’t his Bleed of Altaïr that was giving him the answers.

Not when one of the questions made him say “Oh, that? Yeah. I lied to you back then. What? You were cute as a kid and you believed everything I say so I wanted to see if you’d be able to tell if I was lying! You never did, right?”

There was no way Desmond could have answered that unless Altaïr knew it was a lie. Altaïr had truly believed it which means…

For some reason…

He has Adha’s memories inside him.

Unorganized Notes:

Desmond got Altaïr to call him ‘Desmond’ because “it’ll be weird if you call a guy ‘Adha’, right? Also, the Brotherhood knows Adha and I don’t look anything like her.”

Desmond joins Altaïr in finishing up the remaining plot points of Altaïr Chronicles because something inside him knows something bad is going to happen if he doesn’t stay with Altaïr. Also, Altaïr wasn’t going to let him out of his sight because there were still a bit of lingering doubts about Desmond’s true identity which Desmond is like “yeah, that sounds about right”.

Altaïr Chronicles’ parts end successfully but Desmond gets a headache the day Adha was meant to die. He loses consciousness and Altaïr has to carry him off to somewhere safe until he wakes up.

When he wakes up, he knows where to go…

And now we get to Adha’s side of the story, in which she gets transported while Desmond was in the middle of a little stress-relieving session with Rebecca, Shaun and Lucy. All three of them immediately freaked out while Adha is momentarily confused before giving the same excuse Desmond gave to Altaïr.

“I’m Desmond Miles.”

Everyone is super sus at that but, really, they’re dealing with Isu BS and Desmond’s Bleeding Effect had been weirder than what was recorded (Lucy’s insistent “It can’t do this!!!” falls into deaf ears) and they figured the best way to check if Adha is Desmond is to put her in the Animus to check her genetic memories.

Lo and behold…

She has the same genetic DNA as Desmond Miles.

Not only that, the Animus ‘sees’ her as Subject 17 and the next memory to be played was the same memory of Ezio where they stopped for the day.

So, yeah…

According to the Animus…

Adha was Desmond Miles.

What the fuck.

Unorganized Notes:

Unlike Altaïr and Adha who did have an intimate romantic (most probably, fuck it, I’m headcanoning here, childhood friends to arranged marriage) relationship, Desmond’s relationship with Lucy, Shaun and Rebecca is primarily sexual although the feelings were starting to creep in.

If this was a fic, the narration would be more… vague. Less of Adha being an unreliable narrator and more of like the narration isn’t set in Adha’s eyes like with Desmond’s but in the eyes of the people around her although she’s the main focus.

She actually has a higher sync rate than any of Desmond’s past synchronization which is surprising.

Instead of going to the colosseum, Ezio’s memories stopped just as he had taken the Apple back from the Borgias, instead giving them the memory of Altaïr and everyone freezes when they saw Desmond with him.

They were underground and Shaun noticed that it looks a lot like the vault in the Vatican but… there are pillars, large and tall, piercing the dark ceiling above them.

After that memory plays, Adha slips into a coma and the Animus tells them that taking her off would endanger her so they keep her hooked to the Animus as it starts playing memories of Altaïr and Desmond.

During that time, Adha meets with Clay who calls her an ‘anomaly’ and Adha just smiles as she says “yeah, that sounds about right.”

Their conversation will be hidden from everyone (including the readers) and it will end with Adha waking up from her coma and telling everyone that they need to go somewhere else right now.

She takes them to the colosseum first to get the Apple but she tells Lucy to stay in the van for now. When Lucy tries to join them, the van locks by itself and Lucy freezes when she hears Clay’s voice coming from the laptop connected to the Animus.

When they returned, Lucy is oddly quiet and just asks Adha where to go next.

Adha gives them the location of a place they never heard from Ezio’s memories at all.

The Convergence:

The location in question is the lost city of Iram which has an underground Isu ‘temple’ named Iram of the Pillars.

The pillars there served as one of the many failed experiments of the Isu to protect themselves from the Solar Flare. The pillars were meant to store the data of all the Isus and the idea was they would be used to transfer the Isus forward a little bit after the Solar Flare.

The process of uploading the data itself proved to take too much time and Juno used the premise of this project and created the Mead to transfer the Isu’s consciousness instead of its entirety.

Iram can only be opened by a specific bloodline. To be more specific, the bloodline that Adha belongs to with an Isu ancestry that had been in charge of the Pillar Project (since this is a Capitoline Triad thing, I wanna say Minerva since she has a statue in Masyaf according to the novel but the idea of Juno and Aita having a child that would could be the Isu ancestor of Adha is a bit fun). This Isu ancestry is also in Altaïr’s bloodline thanks to Umar although his blood is more ‘diluted’ than Adha’s.

The Isu ancestry is why Adha is named the Chalice and why she ‘can turn the tide’ of the crusades since this is pretty much a teleporter of some sort.

Desmond is connected to Adha for one specific reason: he’s was Adha in his past life and now, thanks to whatever the fuck happened in 2012 that serves as the premise of all Yew Branches, Adha herself is the reincarnation of Desmond Miles after he died in 2012.

In other words, the Adha we’ve been looking at had been Desmond Miles who used Iram’s Pillar Project to switch their places because she, as Desmond Miles, wanted to save the people he couldn’t save in his previous life. And now, the pillars are ready for its final use.

By using the Pillars that have been upgraded thanks to Desmond in the past (and Altaïr) bringing the necessary POEs that would start the automatic upgrade construction that would need centuries to be completed, the Pillars could be used for one big moment where the entire world will be transported a few seconds into the future just as the Solar Flare hits. This way, the entire world would be gone and when it returns (without anyone knowing of the time and space displacement), the Solar Flare would have already been completed.

Now…

This is the conundrum…

Do we include in the idea that using the Pillars to save the world meant that Adha and Desmond would be stuck in their current time with Desmond with Altaïr and Adha with Shaun, Rebecca, Lucy and (digital ghost for now) Clay?

Or will the Pillars switch them back in their proper time?

What would count as a happy ending in this scenario?

Because Adha has Desmond Miles’ memories so she does love Shaun, Rebecca, and Lucy the same way Desmond Miles had and everything she had done was to save the world and save Lucy and Clay.

And Desmond has spent years with Altaïr at this point, growing close to him and Altaïr definitely realized that Desmond is more than just Adha.

So… really…

Would returning them to their original timeline truly be a happy ending?

[bigskydreaming]

wouriqueen

Unhelpful answer : I don't have one, because in general I really struggle to ever get them to that point where they feel fleshed out. I can imagine their entire life, but personality wise they always seem flat to me. So let me rudely turn the question around 😅: do you have one advice to change that ?

One? No. That would require brevity and I don't do that. Can't stand the stuff. I simply do not partake. Buuuuuut if you're in the market for a gratuitously long and involved post about my process in general, for you to mine for any useful ideas as needed but mostly just existing to satisfy my vaguely defined plans for doing a post about all this at some point anyway and co-opting this as an opportunity to get that off my plate and go yeah this totally counts, one hundred percent what I was intending all along, go me - well then......I totally wrote this JUST for you and am obviously not lying for effect haha who would even do that.

Okay! So.

Hmm. Where to start. Right, so this is totally just my own made-up approach, roughly generalizing how I've honed and streamlined my own creating process over the years. So adapt as needed, don't take it as anything other than a starting point to figuring out something that works best for you. I call it my Three Pronged Approach and I use it for both character creation and worldbuilding. It somewhat comes into play in developing plots but in a different way that doesn't quite match what I'm getting into here, so focusing just on the first two. Actually, we're really just focusing on character, so assume the Three Pronged part applies to the worldbuilding as well (once we get to it) but for purposes of mapping this out, we're starting at a point where the worldbuilding has largely already been done.

It'll take a bit to get to the actual character/personality development part, but I'm not used to actually detailing the process to someone else, or breaking down any specific part of it, let alone outside my own head, so the most cohesive way for me to run through it all mentally is to just lay things out from start to finish, as generalized as possible.

So like I said in that other post, personally speaking, I tend to prioritize character over plot in my approach to writing a story. I almost always start with a setting, with worldbuilding being my initial creation stage and go-to for projects before figuring out a story that suits that setting. Basically for me its the equivalent of mapping out the landscape and laying it down as a base to build upon. For our purposes here, I'm gonna use one of my established settings - you've seen my posts about my Changelings 'verse over the years, so I'm just gonna use that here, since various worldbuilding posts about it are easily referenced here and in my #changelings' verse tag.

Once I have the world I want to work in, which acts as both the foundation and the frame for everything that follows, I figure out my basic premise. What I want to write about happening within that world, in basic logline terms.

I personally do not consider coming up with my premise the same thing as coming up with a plot.....there are ten different plots you could go with for any underlying premise like Character X plots revenge after being left for dead or Character B is hired to Protect Character C from an unknown threat, etc, etc. I consider the premise to just be a snapshot of the big picture as it looks when zoomed out to the nth degree, more just about picking a genre, an overall goal and an obstacle to reaching that - but again, each only conceptualized in the vaguest of ways at this point.

Then, picking a spot somewhere in the setting, within the frame of the chosen world, I 'pencil in' the faceless, practically shapeless figure of the first character denoted in the premise, like sketching out the roughest rendering of them, no details to them whatsoever. And then if there are any others mentioned or alluded to within the premise - with only characters referenced in the premise being absolutely essential to the story at that point - I add the written/brainstorming equivalent of a rough sketch of these other characters and place them somewhere in the background contained within the frame....each in positions relative to the first one, as described by my basic premise.

So the world I'm working in is my Changelings 'Verse, and for a specific setting I'm going with Bordertown, as described in the reference posts above. Let's say for my premise I go with "Character B is hired to Protect Character C from an unknown threat," and so my main character at this point is Character B. They're the first one I put in frame. I add in Character C somewhere behind them, however that's best visualized conceptually, and then on the other side of Character C opposite where I positioned Character B, I just....sketch in some rough, cross-hatched lines denoting some threat to Character C that Character B is standing between.

Conceptually, I visualize this area being big enough that this shading COULD obscure another character, but keep the overall shaded area formless enough that it could just as easily be obscuring some depiction or representation of a threat not embodied by a single character, or even a character at all. At this point, I probably don't even know myself. I don't need to.

Finally, I add in one last figure, even more lightly sketched into frame than the others, because I suspect their position might shift at some point as overall story and character details become more defined....for now, let's imagine this last figure placed in the background as though looming over both Characters B and C. This is Character A, not specifically mentioned in the premise but alluded to and essential to the story even at this stage....because the premise implies that someone had to hire Character B and give them the mandate to protect Character C from the threat.

Granted, this could end up being an organization or multiple people rather than just one character, but we're going with Character A for now even if they just end up the point man or spokesperson for a larger group later in the plotting stages....the point is, even without knowing if the threat is a person, persons, or some other force, situation, crisis, natural disaster or more......an individual had to act with agency to move Characters B and C into the initial positions laid out by the premise, so whomever did that has to be an (or include at least one) actual character.

So now we've got our frame (larger world and time period, ie the Changelings 'Verse in the present day), our background (somewhere within Bordertown), our premise with at least three characters central or at the very least necessary to the story, and some undefined threat.

Next, before anything else, I'm picking a theme. Well, more like themes, as this is where the Three Pronged Approach starts to come into play. Basically, the whole idea of the Three Pronged Approach is at any stage of narrative development where you have to pick or settle on specific elements to be added to either a character, the plot, the greater narrative structure, whatever.....never pick just one. Always pick three.

Going with one, IMO, usually ends up resulting in bare-bones plotting and characterization and runs the risk of feeling kinda...paint by numbers. It gives the overall story and characters the elements absolutely essential to advancing the plot and character arcs, but usually not much else. The characters have exactly what character traits they need to level up through each stage of their character arc, even if they don't know it at first, they're given the specific tools they need to advance to each next stage of the plot, and the precise theme fundamental to whatever messaging the story is meant to contain is kept front and center the whole time, because there's nothing else to shift perception to, thematically speaking.

With just one element picked at any given juncture, by extension always being the exact element essential to fulfilling each aspect of the narrative....your story and characters can easily end up feeling hollow and made to order. Existing purely for the purposes of telling this story rather than feeling like characters that exist and a particular story being told about them.

Now, going with two picks for elements added at any juncture you have to fill in and flesh out with specific choices....better than just going with one, but now you run the risk of things feeling made to order or with the Hand of the Author clearly visible throughout because your story is too perfectly balanced.

With two picks at each juncture, more often than not, you're going to end up with a bunch of perfect foils, each element paired with either its ideal complement or most optimal opposition. The characters have exactly what they need to level up in each stage of their arc....but also, whatever trait most easily gets in the way of that, but never in insurmountable ways. They're given whatever tools are needed to progress them through the plot, along with either a perfect red herring meant to distract them from choosing the proper tool first or something intended to break on the first attempt at passing each obstacle, forcing the character to hunt around for the second, actually essential tool needed to unlock the next stage of the plot. The story's larger theme is either paired with something that complements it perfectly as if made (or picked) with that in mind, or positioned perfectly opposite to act as a thematic foil.

Point being....your story now includes more conflict, less of 'and each and every scene is facilitated by having the exact element needed' making the readers feel its all a little too convenient, and your characters are now more detailed, having internal conflicts and obstacles to realizing each stage of their character arc....

But it still can easily fall into the trap of all of these added conflicts and characteristics feeling superficial and not invoking a sense of stakes...because the second choice of element is so often TOO perfectly selected, in the contexts of each initially chosen element.

The point of the Three Pronged Approach is when in doubt, add not one or two but three options whenever new elements need to be introduced....because with three, the third choice acts as a natural wildcard throwing off the perfect positioning or pairing of the other two. With a third point mapped out in conjunction with every pair of character traits, themes, narrative obstacles....its a lot easier to end up with an organic story, plot and characters because that third angle is almost never going to come across as having been introduced specifically TO counterbalance the other two....the three points simply exist and whatever shape is created by triangulating from each point...its not predisposed to being any particular shape a reader is expecting those three points to make.

And yeah, three points CAN make a pattern, and if all three are still chosen with complementing each other in mind, that pattern will stick out and again make things feel visibly scripted - but unlike when selecting two options, with three there's not that default instinct to pick a clear and obvious partner for the others. Its a lot easier and more likely for your three choices to just be three different choices...and then from THERE you can weigh different ways of juxtaposing all three elements or positioning them relative to each other, and wind up with a lot more (and more nuanced) options than two perfectly paired elements could ever generate.

So, getting back to our outline....I've got my frame (World: Changelings 'Verse), my background (Setting: Bordertown, present day), my premise (Character B is hired to protect Character C from an unknown threat) and next I'm picking themes. Specifically, three of them.

I usually make my first pick of theme with my worldbuilding in mind. The final product of my worldbuilding always contains a bunch of different elements picked with the Three Pronged Approach so the world I'm working with usually already lends itself in my mind to specific themes....and for my first pick I usually grab from one of these. With the Changelings 'Verse, my big themes include stuff like having trouble recognizing yourself in the wake of big and unexpected changes, exploitation of minors and living with the aftermath of that, trying to find a place where you fit when there are no spaces designed with you in mind, the inherent trauma of having your intended life trajectory derailed by a dramatic upheaval of your life that there was no way to prepare for or see coming, etc, etc.

Just running through the list of themes associated with my World/Setting, that was already generated during my worldbuilding process.....one jumps out at me immediately, as a natural fit for my premise: exploitation of minors and living with the aftermath of that lends itself perfectly to a threat that needs to be (and CAN be) protected from. The kind of thing someone would feasibly hire a bodyguard to protect someone else from. A thematic complement to the threat demanded by the premise.

So I'm gonna pick that for my first theme, my big picture, broad strokes, overall Setting/World theme. I'll incorporate it throughout the background, build the plot in a way that leads the characters through the Bordertown setting under an overlying, looming awareness of how many others they encounter have all faced that issue or been impacted by it.

Weaving this theme through the overall setting and tying it to the main threat turns each and every encounter Characters B and C have with other characters - that they might see as like them or that they in some way relate to - into a natural opportunity to pair, contrast or juxtapose their own encounters with this theme/threat to the many varied ways these other characters have interacted with this theme or been shaped by it. But at the same time, with this theme built into the setting as an overlying background theme....none of these encounters are strictly ESSENTIAL to reaching the end of the plot, learning specific character lessons or coming to some sort of thematic conclusion. They're just....there, as needed, providing an indeterminate number of ways you can explore this theme via background characters and what the main characters take away from their encounters with those already victimized by an exploitation threat.

And as a result, I'm less likely to run the risk of seeming like I'm going for an after school message with this story, that it exists solely to build to one particularly thematic awareness or conclusion about this theme. It just....exists, throughout the story, as part of the setting itself.

So that's one theme picked. Now let's add another. Since I picked one to complement the WORLDBUILDING itself.....with that specifically being the reason I selected it and the natural association to that theme in my mind....I'm not primed to pick a second theme specifically because of how it would play off of that first theme. And since my first theme is setting-oriented but also pairs naturally with the premise and gives shape to the threat our characters are trying to avoid/defend against....I'm going to pick my second theme with one of the other basic ingredients of the premise in mind.

Specifically, I'm going to pick the next theme in association with Character B themselves. Character B doesn't HAVE to be the main character, even in context of the premise I picked, and in fact I don't even need to have one singular main character and could just as easily make it a dual POV story that trades off chapters between Character B as the primary and Character C as the primary, but I'm going to go with Character B as the main character. They're best positioned by the premise to drive the action, existing as a character both acted upon (hired by Character A) and acting upon others (protecting Character C), which makes them inherently centralized and enables a natural narrative flow that revolves around them as the primary figure our story is about.

This doesn't mean that Character C can't have their own storylines and character arc separate from the parts of the narrative they share with Character B, it just helps firm out the underlying framework we're hanging our narrative on.

So I'm going with Character B as the central primary protagonist driving the plot of the story and the figure I'm most interested in telling a story ABOUT. Its their character arc that'll act as the tentpole everything else is built around. As stated before, I tend to build the plot as a narrative journey whose largest purpose is to get the main character - Character B in this case - from an initial state of being as a character....to a specific endgoal I want for them. The story ultimately will be MOST about finding a path from who they begin as to who I want them to become by its conclusion, what I want them to be like by the last page, lessons I want them to have learned or obstacles overcome. Ironically, my start point for actually building Character B will be my intended endpoint for who they become as a result of their narrative journey.....and then I'll reverse engineer specifics of the character and their plot from there.

But for now, we're only picking one thing for Character B. Our first selection when it comes to them, the very first addition made to the rough sketched outline of a character somewhere against the backdrop of Bordertown....is a theme accompanying their character arc. Because there's no real point in me picking this theme as a complement or counterpart to the Setting theme, not when there's another third theme to pick that would throw off that balance anyway....I'm just gonna grab bag this shit.

The only specifics I have for my main character at this point is they're going to be in a position to be hired by Character A to protect Character C, a minor, from being exploited in some fashion, but beyond that, sky's the limit. I don't even have Character B's age selected in contrast to Character C, but since their dynamic will be central to the story, deciding whether Character B is also a minor or if they're different from Character C in that regard....this'll help me zero in on a potential character theme one way or another.

Now, there's nothing really stopping me from making both characters teenagers and having some in-universe or character explanation for why one would be picked to bodyguard a fellow teen vs the other being seen as needing that protection. Plenty of directions I could go with that, so its more just a gut preference that I'm not looking to write a teenage main character with this particular story, so Character B will be an adult. Not necessarily that much older than Character C, I have no preferences there yet, but it feels more natural to have them be hired as a protector in part because they're an adult rather than a teen - especially in the context of our setting, with Bordertown being full of runaways and teens kicked out by their families - and I don't feel any particular urge to subvert the natural expectation that anyone hired as a bodyguard would be an adult, so....they're an adult, then.

Which right away fills in some details about genre and overall narrative structure, as I have no interest in writing an adult/minor romantic relationship, so whatever dynamic Characters B and C end up having beyond just protector and protectee will not be romantic in nature. Plus, given the details just mentioned about the setting, and the prevalence of teens in Bordertown, Character B being an adult within that setting sets them up to be an outlier, relatively speaking.

Which in turn further refines the narrative logistics required by our premise, as it helps build a picture of why they in specific would be sought out as a protector - there being a limited number of options for adults familiar with Bordertown TO hire for that role goes a long way towards figuring out why in-universe this character was picked for that narrative role.

And as we narrow down character logistics - by necessity of the premise, Character B is now known to be both familiar with Bordertown and an adult unlike most of its residents - we open up a specific avenue of character selection choices. There's no particular requirement now for Character B to have any specific expertise with being a bodyguard....their suitability for the role could just be a matter of needing someone of age and experience navigating Bordertown. It doesn't mean they CAN'T have prior experience acting as a bodyguard, but still building from the gut at this point, I think its more interesting if they're not particularly prepared or suited for that role, leaving room for self-doubts as to how well they're doing at the job, whether they were the wrong choice, etc. We're laying the groundwork for internal conflicts already.

But since they ARE an adult with familiarity with Bordertown, that also makes it most likely they've been living there for awhile, and it works to say they came to Bordertown as a solitary teenager themselves, and aged into adulthood within it. Thus, even though they're an adult unlike Character C, this still lends itself to them being a Changeling as well.....which makes it possible, and even likely, that they've had their own personal experience with our Threat and Setting Theme, the exploitation a lot of teenage Changelings face by those interested in using them for their magic and taking advantage of their lack of resources and support systems to do so.

From here, we can reasonably sketch in the details/elements that their own experiences with exploitation or even just the specter of it will color all interactions they have with Character C while trying to protect them from it. It gives them a personal stake in what would otherwise just be a job, and begs the question....what does Character B see when they look at Character C? What do they see themselves as in comparison to Character C? Did they take this job because they saw it as a chance to be for someone else what they wished someone had been there to be for them, a shield standing between them and those who sought to use them? Is it just a paycheck and Character B feels they have nothing in common with Character C despite both being changelings and so keeps their emotional distance from them as a result, and if so, are they actually being objective here or are they just lying to themselves about not seeing themselves in Character C?

Did they maybe NOT have any personal experience with being exploited for their magic when they were still a teenager, either because they lucked out or they were powerful or resourceful enough to protect themselves from any attempts....and if so, does their role here and the way they view Character C contain any elements of guilt, deserved or otherwise, does it have anything to do with them feeling guilty for avoiding a fate so many others fall prey to and driven to protect Character C because of that guilt that they CAN'T relate to them rather than emotions born of the fact that they DO relate to them and their plight?

I've got options here, so running through them quickly and still going with what possibilities grab me the most....personally, I don't find guilt to be the best emotional driving force for a larger narrative, particularly if its unnecessary/irrational guilt rather than something actually merited by past actions they took. And as no angle for them actually deserving to feel guilty for avoiding personal victimization is jumping out at me, any guilt they're acting upon here would most likely IMO be undeserved, so.....the guilt angle just doesn't seem particularly compelling to me.

Which means regardless of other particulars, it does feel most right for Character B to have had their own experiences with the Setting Theme of exploitation when they were younger and possibly new to Bordertown, which provides a basis for them to relate to Character C whether they want to acknowledge that or not. Or inversely, they don't WANT to be able to relate to Character C, or vice versa, especially not to the degree they would if they fail to protect Character C from the Threat and they end up going through something similar to what Character B experienced when younger.

I'm personally inclined to knock off the "seeing themselves in Character C but not wanting to acknowledge it and insisting the job is just for the paycheck" option from the jump, just because denial as a central motivating factor is a tricky one to pull off. Any time you have a character arc rooted in an initial denial that the arc is intended to shake them out of at some point, you're giving yourself a clock from your very first page.

At some point, your character has to cut it out with the denial and face what it is they don't want to face, and the tricky part is there's no real way to gauge when and where to set that point in the narrative and if you gauge things wrong and drag the denial arc past the point readers are willing to have patience with it, you've shot your entire story in the foot. If you set that point too early in the narrative, it can make the momentum and pacing of the rest of your story and that character arc feel disjointed and unnatural, and again you've shot your entire story in the foot.

With a realization of denial and pivot to facing the truth as a fixed point your entire character arc hinges on, the most important thing becomes setting that point at JUST the right spot in the narrative and your entire story will sink or swim depending on whether your placed it in the right spot. There's a whole lot of risk in using a denial-based initial motivation and even if you do nail the placement of that hinge point, there's not really any inherent GREATER payoff to that character arc than what you could achieve with others.

So, with that off the table....we're left with two polar options:

Character B already sees themselves in Character C and it drives their desire to protect them from undergoing the things they did.....or they don't really see themselves in Character C, despite having similar history or elements of their backstories, and its a desire to AVOID ever seeing themselves reflected in this younger changeling that drives their desire to protect them from being shaped by the same factors they were and ending up more like them as a result.

Both those options lend themselves to entirely different directions, thematically speaking, with the former option gravitating more towards themes of recognizing the self in the other and the possibilities this creates for introspection or revisiting memories of past traumas, as well as reshaping one's view of themselves in the present - especially if upon reflection, past events or responses no longer look how they've gotten used to assuming they do.

Additionally, there's the angle of being driven by the desire - and opportunity - to protect a younger person you see yourself in from undergoing the same struggles or traumas you faced. This can feasibly be a vehicle for empowerment....a chance to write a new course for history in the form of taking a parallel situation and shaping it to a better resolution than the first time around had, even if it doesn't change the ending (and previous chapters) of your own story. But at the same time, this does the person you're trying to protect a disservice, if you're ultimately only seeing them as a proxy for yourself, or seeing yourself in them to such a degree as to miss or under-emphasize the ways in which they're different from you and their own distinct individual.

And then alternatively, you might also be more securely rooted in a desire to help and protect simply because you want to be for someone else what nobody was around - or chose - to be for you when you needed it. No illusions about being able to rewrite history or need to write yourself a better ending, instead just wanting to be a protector for a younger teen you relate to because they deserve someone to protect them and you're in a position to step up and be that person, so you do.

Going back to the opposite angle of NOT seeing yourself reflected in this younger individual, and being largely driven by an urge to keep it that way and protect them from becoming someone you CAN see yourself in, shaped by similar traumas....again, there's a lot of directions you can go with this. But this larger direction, the drive to AVOID seeing yourself reflected in the other - and by extension, creating a link or association between your protection of them and your goal of keeping them from becoming more like you - this can easily pivot towards themes of shame and self-loathing. Hinting at troubled self-image issues not far beneath your surface that the story's events are likely to exacerbate and make boil over. Not just wanting to protect someone from becoming more like you see yourself, but not really being happy or comfortable with the you that you see yourself as.

All of which can dovetail pretty seamlessly with the internal and thematic conflicts of being the person entrusted with using their power to protect someone while simultaneously seeing yourself as the end result of your failure to use that same power to successfully protect yourself. The potential impostor syndrome of being someone's bodyguard and guide, acting in roles that people associate with expertise and certain qualities of skill, and feeling like a fraud because if you fail them, they'll end up becoming you, and shouldn't that make you even LESS qualified to protect them than they are to protect themselves?

So....looking back at all of the above, and the options they lay out....altruism's all well and good, but in terms of narratives meant to grow a character from initial internal or emotional conflicts to some kind of resolution....altruism doesn't make for a good starting point, in terms of inciting motivations. So that's out.

Recognizing the self in the other and from there embarking on introspective re-examanations of yourself and past traumas and responses.....also a totally valid journey and motivations, but fairly low-energy ones, at least in and of themselves. Not the most narratively engaging.

The dichotomy of seeking empowerment or a fascimile of personal justice through steering a 'younger you' towards better outcomes than you managed for yourself....with the dehumanization of your younger charge inherent in being unwilling or unable to view them as their own person rather than just your second chance....that has the most potential of the "Character B relating to Character C and this driving their desire to protect them from undergoing the things they endured" options.

And in the "Character B not seeing themselves in Character C and wanting to keep it that way" direction....pretty much all of our options feed into each other and can feasibly work as the basis of a coherent character arc in and of themselves. All of which speaks to the strength of that narrative direction...it gives us way more bang for our buck.

We're pretty organically steered towards a strong initial character conflict to serve as a base to launch our character arc from. Character B has a personal emotional stake in ensuring Character C doesn't become like them, which fuels their drive to protect Character C and keeps them invested in a specific outcome, as well as primes them to make frequent and active choices in pursuit of it, whether they're helpful or are just reckless actions born more of their own fears than any actual necessity. We've got a clear direction for our character arc, momentum consistently generated by high-energy motivations that won't peter out until the resolution of the character arc, and self-loathing and shame as initial internal conflicts don't NEED to be earned or rational in order to be compelling.

All in all, there's an easily followed trajectory from that start point through revisitations of past traumas/responses to setbacks in coming to terms with what happened to you and separating how you view yourself from how you view factors that undeniably shaped you and finally culminating in you reconciling your inability to change your past with your ability to shed the negative self-image generated by your past and don a more positive one that will serve you better in the future. With emotional catharsis for the reader built right into that resolution and requiring no additional steps beyond just having Character B reach it.

And now not only have we already mapped out the broad strokes of Character B's overall character arc, including its start and end points, we have a clear selection of possible themes to immerse Character B and their arc in.

Themes like you are not defined by what was done to you by others. You can not make the changes you want for yourself while only acting to change things for a surrogate you've fixated on instead. Trying to protect someone from becoming like you denies them the chance to choose you as someone they want to be like. The worst things you think about yourself and assume everyone else thinks about you probably aren't even on anyone else's radar. Etc, etc.

For a variety of reasons, but mostly a gut instinct saying this one feels right, I'm going with Character B's associated theme as:

"The person you are and that you're trying to protect someone from becoming might very well be the person they want to be and that they're trying to ask your help to become. What you see as the failure to go through life unharmed can just as easily be seen as the triumph of continuing through life no matter how harmed."

Well, a condensed and pithier version of that, ideally. You get it though.

Anyway. That gives us two themes, one tied to the setting and one tied to the main character. Now we have options for what to gear the third theme towards. We could pick one specific to Character C, and no matter how that one juxtaposes with Character B's central theme, the Setting theme will still exist as a third over-arching narrative theme that keeps things from mirroring too exactly while still allowing for mirroring themes to exist. We could go with something specific to Character A, and ideally flesh them out more in the process, or we could pick something geared towards a specific point in the narrative journey, like an aimed-for climax that helps map out the plot structure in the process.

I'm going to refer back to the premise "Character B is hired to protect someone from an unknown threat" and see what jumps out at me this time....and after a second or two, I'm eyeing the motivations and character dynamics as two different or conjoined possibilities.

I already did a lot of legwork diving into possible motivations for Character B and built up most of their overall character arc....but ultimately, the theme I went with for Character B, while complementing everything I settled on there....still actually ended up being more about messaging and a conclusion for Character B to ultimately reach rather than something derived from or associated with their motivations in specific.

And also, I'm looking to find a theme that can weave a connection between Characters A, B and C on at least one shared level, so that we'll have a setting theme that encompasses all the characters likely to appear over the course of the story, a main character theme that marries their character arc to a specific thematic message, and a shared theme connecting the various characters via the comparisons and contrasts it allows me to make between their respective motivations and/or dynamics.

I still don't have any kind of image or sense of Character A, despite now having a pretty strong start to both Characters B and C - an adult and teenage changeling respectively, the latter with a backstory or situation similar enough to the former's own past that Character B worries Character C could easily end up just like them if not kept safe from whomever is seeking to exploit them and their magic.

Additionally, I know that Character B is a fairly longterm resident of Bordertown, who's lived there since they came there on their own as a teenager....either after being exploited in some parallel fashion or being victim of that upon arriving in Bordertown. Character B's age and adult status marks them as enough of a rarity among Bordertown residents, that said age and adult status alone were enough to land them on Character A's shortlist of potential bodyguards for Character C. While not set in stone, its likely that Character B's age/adult status were the primary elements leading Character A to approach them, and they don't additionally possess any particular expertise or experience acting as a bodyguard.

Since I already have several links/connections between Characters B and C, ways that they're alike or things they have in common, and because the most natural choice for Character A's base motivation is concern for Character C, suggesting some link or connection between Characters A and C, even if the roundabout nature of working through a proxy to protect the latter paints a picture of likely estrangement.....that leaves me wondering about possible dynamics between Characters A and B, or what their interactions might look like and whether they might have any shared connections or links as well.

The obvious connection there would be both are likely adults, having that in common with each other and a way they're similarly unable to relate or connect to Character C as a peer. Despite their shared status as adults, Character A would only need to seek out Character B to protect Character C if Character B had skills, resources or expertise that Character A didn't...or alternatively, if they felt Character C was more likely to accept help or protection from a stranger than from Character A.

So, more than likely - and with no gut instinct challenging these conclusions - Character A is not a Changeling themselves, nor a resident of Bordertown, and likely unable to directly relate to the experiences or threat of exploitation that Characters B and C share. They'd still need to possess enough resources - or have some other knowledge of Character B - to become aware of Character B as a potential solution for their needs, and seek them out....as well as have something to offer Character B sufficient to motivate them to take the job despite a lack of experience or interest in being a bodyguard. Additionally, they have some previous connection to Character C driving them to ensure they're protected, but that connection is either flimsy or damaged enough that they're not accompanied by Character C when seeking a protector for them, or attempting to safeguard them themselves.

(Or possibly Character A just doesn't believe themselves as capable of protecting Character C as Character B would be, due to familiarity with Bordertown, prior experiences with those Character C needs protection from, or something to do with Character B's magic - or their actual reasoning is a mix of all of the above).

Again, just starting from the most obvious connections or conclusions and branching out from there if needed....the most logical links to start building there are between Characters A and C in regards to their prior connection. I'm going to say they're parent and child, but estranged. At some point, some conflict between them led Character C to leave the safety of home - with attention paid to the fact that the exploitation of a minor theme paired with the World/Setting/Threat is optimized for a Character C who is a teen under eighteen and still meant to be living at home with their parents or legal guardians. Which would make them a full-fledged runaway, fleeing from a conflict or confrontation that made them view heading to Bordertown as their best prospect.

Pulling back just a little as I notice I've started referring definitively to elements I never actively decided on and are really just assumptions rather than an examination of the possibilities....since I never cemented Character A as a single individual, its worth raising the possibility that Character A is actually a) a parental unit, b) one parent acting in ways both agreed upon but with the other parent remaining behind at home, c) one parent acting on their own despite their partner's disapproval of this course of action, or even without their knowledge of it, d) a single parent acting on their own due to not having a co-parent, be that because of a divorce, death of a spouse, or something else.

Any of those could work well and offer up unique possibilities, but I'm leaning towards C or D, and after giving it a quick mental run-through, I'm gonna go with C, as that gives me the most vivid ideas.

So Character A is one of Character C's two parents, having followed them to Bordertown against the wishes of their co-parent or without their knowledge, after a conflict that has them estranged enough Character A believes Character C would be more likely - and more effectively - helped by a fellow changeling they feel more akin to than by their parent, Character A. Who also can't offer the same protection or experience navigating Bordertown and its threats but was still clearly willing to go to at least some length to try and ensure Character C's safe and protected, including going against/without their co-parent to do so.

Which brings us back to Character A and B's connections, associations or parallels beyond just both being adults....and after asking myself what other possible connections are there to mine there, I've got a big one, that sends the narrative in an entirely new direction but fleshing out a ton of additional elements in the process:

Now I'm thinking....what if Character A is Character B's parent as well?

That solves both the issue of how they find/learn about Character B in specific in order TO approach them, and why, other than just them being an adult in the mostly teen-populated Bordertown, they approach Character B over any and all of the other adult changeling options.

In addition, it goes a long way towards cementing the inciting motivations and reasons given for taking such an unusual job on behalf of a complete stranger....if Character C isn't in fact a complete stranger, but a younger sibling or maybe half or step sibling Character B hasn't seen since they came to Bordertown as a teenager themselves - likely after having run away from their own confrontation with Character A and their co-parent.

A years long estrangement between Character B and their family, as well as some kind of sizeable age gap between Characters B and C, would suggest that Character B likely hasn't seen Character C since they were very young, and raises possibilities for Character C to not initially know/recognize who Character B is when they first approach the latter....especially given how much changelings' appearances tend to change when the Change hits them.

It would also build upon and enhance all the aforementioned connections between Characters B and C, and likelihood of Character B seeing a lot of themselves in Character C, or wanting to avoid seeing them become like them or suffer a similar fate, and increases the personal stake Character B has in all of this.

At the same time, it introduces another potential internal conflict for Character B, and possible obstacle in Character B's attempts to build a connection with Character C or gain their trust.....as Character B's lack of communication with their family and years spent living in Bordertown, as well as personal experience with being exploited....all paint a picture wherein Character A and/or their co-parent did NOT follow Character B to Bordertown or make a similar attempt to ensure they were protected when Character B ran away as a teenager. Or if they did, they weren't successful in finding someone to protect Character B, or hired someone not up to the task.

Either way, it lays groundwork for Character B to be motivated to take this "job" in the interests of protecting their sibling and possibly reconnecting with them, doing their best to spare them from traumas like those Character B suffered, it allows for the potential wrinkle of Character C not knowing who Character B is to them and possible fall-out or issues arising from them later finding out the truth after Character B made a choice to continue withholding it.....and it introduces the possibility Character B's internal conflict about revealing their connection and reasons for keeping it secret (should they decide not to tell them), derive at least in part from Character B's jealousy:

That despite the parallels in Characters B and C's situations and conflicts with their parents, Character A made efforts to continue acting as a parent and showing their concern in Character C's case, that they did simply not make when it was Character B in a similar scenario.

Which, in turn, could exacerbate Character B's self-loathing and shame spirals and delay the development of their character arc, if Character B recognizes their jealousy as misdirected and judges themselves for feeling it and not knowing how to stop.

But to return to Character A, there's also the prospect that Character A's attempts to continue looking out for Character C and willingness to act against/without their co-parent.....are at least to some degree motivated by THEIR shame about not doing more on Character B's behalf or in an effort to reach out or maintain/renew a connection to them. Making their actions here and now only partly about Character C, the actual individual, and partly about their guilt and shame and desperation to do better by Character C than they did Character B. Their own attempt at a re-do or second chance at getting this right.

And there's always the possible angle of them having sought out Character B not just because they viewed them as the best person to try and recruit as Character C's protector, but also because the situation gave them an excuse (or push) to seek them out at all, after however many years of convincing themselves there was no point trying to fix things at this point or there was no chance Character B would ever be willing to hear from them. With Character A hoping even just to some small degree, that this could potentially lead to actually rebuilding a longterm connection to Character B.

And just like that, we've got the broad strokes of not just our A plot, but our B plot as well:

The primary narrative focus throughout the story will remain centered on Characters B and C's dynamic and their growing but tentative relationship, with this A plot having its own emotional components such as in terms of how Characters B and C view and feel towards each other and their situation. It'll also have its own distinct character arcs (or parts of their overall character arcs) - such as how Character B's attempts to protect Character C in the present brings up memories of past experiences being on the victimized side of things without protection....and both Character B's central theme and the resolution of their over-arching character arc are optimized to be woven into the climax and culmination of the A plot.

The A plot's primary character dynamics, thematic messaging and corresponding emotional and character arcs have all they need to be resolved within the structure of the A plot, by the A plot's own narrative beats, with all of the aforementioned able to exist with our without the B plot.

In contrast, the B plot can not exist on its own independent of the A plot's super-structure, but still will contain its own shape, structure and resolution within that super-structure - focusing on Character B's relationship and dynamic with Character A, emotional components distinct to Character B's feelings about their own history with Character A, the latter's efforts on behalf of Character C and juxtaposed with their lack thereof on behalf of Character B, and introspection/revisiting of their own past conflicts with Character A and the events that were set in motion by that and culminated in Character B's traumas after leaving home. With all of the above able to parallel Character B's revisiting of past events and traumas in the A plot, without that being necessary for the resolution of either A or B plots rather than just an available option.

The B plot's resolution, in terms of both narrative and emotional beats, can and should exist separate from the A plot's resolution, as well as occurring before the latter. Character B's ultimate views of their own history, connection and desired relationship with Character A should be settled and established before the ultimate conclusion of their character arc as of the resolution of the A plot. Their negative self-image and shame/self-loathing spirals can't be fully addressed until any insecurities about their dynamic with Character A or feelings of being second place to Character C have been faced and dealt with.

And to bring it back from there to selecting our third theme, one associated with either the shared motivations or dynamics of the characters in regards to each other.....

I'm going with Theme Three being:

Trying to make someone your do-over or second chance to fix mistakes you made with someone else: just a terrible idea destined to end messily for everyone or - no, never mind, there is no or, its just that, there's only one outcome.

Again....just picture a condensed, pithier version of that. It's fine, that can be fixed. Scalpels exist for a reason.

Anyway!

So we've picked three themes, and added them to our frame (world), background (setting), premise, rough character outlines and depiction of threat....

And then we rinse and repeat as needed, with each additional element added to the story or picked for a character.

Sure, alllll of that and we haven't even started selecting traits and options for our characters here, seems a whole lot of work just to pick three themes before even moving on to base stats for the main character.

Except the trick of it is, by the time you get to this part and finally START fleshing out the specific characteristics and physical stats and identity traits of each character....

Even as you begin building your characters from the ground up, fleshing them out and filling in the outline or idea of them one trait or characteristic at a time, you should have enough figured out about WHO they are that you have a sense of their personalities already at hand and available to weave into each newly added trait or character element.

Without even having chosen basic identity traits for Character B, nothing selected or cemented yet about their gender, race, sexual orientation, physical stats or possible disabilities or neurodivergencies let alone the world-distinct character elements like changelings' otherworldly appearances and magic distinct to each individual....

We've already built up an impression of what Character B is like as a person, in relation to others like Characters A and C, in conjunction with our chosen themes, as contextualized by the shape of their overall character arc. And we can use this to inform and quiz and add depth to everything we choose to build into that character from here.

Character B struggles with self-loathing issues and shame spirals born of a negative self-image deriving from their inability to protect themselves from being exploited and victimized when they were younger and new to Bordertown, having just run away from their home and a conflict with their parents, leaving behind a much younger sibling or half or step sibling, and being both hurt and unsurprised when their parents showed no attempt to follow or reconnect with them, or any evident concern for what happened to them after they left home.

Character B has since spent years living in Bordertown and establishing a home there, aging into one of the area's few adults among a mostly underage population where Character B's greater age and adult status automatically confers a degree of authority, experience and capability in the eyes of most others, whether or not they possess any of those things.

We know that when approached out of the blue by their estranged parent Character A after years without contact or indication Character B ever crossed their mind, Character B's personality is such that despite their issues with Character A and the confused and undecided feelings they've awoken towards Character A and their part in the events of the past and Character B's past traumas, and even while feeling jealous and resentful of Character Cand the greater efforts their shared parent seems willing to make on their behalf, they do accept the responsibility of seeking out and protecting the sibling they harbor at least some irrational envy towards.

Additionally, their resentment and jealousy, to whatever degree they're feeling that, coexists alongside their acknowledgment they've missed Character C all these years and wanting to see and know who they've become while keeping them safe....with this also sharing space with their awareness of their paralleled journeys and circumstances, the very thing forcing them to hold up a mental image of how Character A reacted to one child in this situation next to how differently they reacted to the other child in the same situation ALSO keeping them keenly aware of the ways Character C is like them and could end up even more like them. How easily the familiar situation Character B sees Character C in now could lead down the same paths that so traumatized Character B and are the reason for much of the shame and self-loathing they struggle with.

We also know Character B's drive to protect Character C from enduring similar traumas is at least partially fueled by their belief that they're damaged and who they've beccome due to those traumas is a fate they want to protect their younger sibling from, as much as they want to protect them from any specific trauma. That despite all their parallels, similarities and shared circumstances, connection and familial history, all the ways in which Character B can see themselves in Character C and use as a basis for forging a new connection out of the common ground between them....in fact, in part BECAUSE of all these similarities and shared connections and circumstances....rather than being used as an opportunity to grow closer to Character C and build trust, due to their negative self-image, all of this actually feeds into and fuels their belief that the fundamental differences between them come down to the traumas they feel broke them and that Character C can yet be protected from....ensuring they never become more like Character B.

While trying to build a connection with a jaded and untrusting Character C who believes Character B to be a total stranger with a specific interest in Character C involving an unknown agenda on behalf of someone else....none of which are factors conducive to building trust.....AND despite their own barely-shoved-down desire to tell Character C everything....Character B continues to keep who they really are a secret and withhold the truth of their connection and who asked them to protect Character C and why. Their yearning to re-embrace a sibling relationship they thought they'd never get another chance at butts up directly against their assumption that none of this is permanent and there's no longterm connection or future to be built between them, reinforcing their instinct to protect themselves from the inevitable hurt and disappointed bound to come their way once Character C realizes how damaged they actually are and decides to move on, with Character B's unwillingness to trust in Character C - even while asking for their trust themselves - spilling directly out of Character B's inability to trust in their own worth and value as someone Character C would want to reconnect with as a sibling and stick around for indefinitely.

Thus the one truth that could guarantee Character C's faith and trust in Character B stays buried by the latter long enough that its eventual reveal ends up an eruption with catastrophic repercussions for their tentative bond, rather than emerging as a voluntarily shared secret that cements that bond into something more lasting. In Character B's mind, the only defense they could offer as explanation went hand in hand with convincing Character C that having Character B as their sibling wasn't in Character C's best interests. In their self-sabotaging attempt to protect their younger sibling from the threat Character B views themselves to be, Character B is directly responsible for the wedge driven between them and resulting distance Character C insists upon, ultimately leaving them exposed and vulnerable to the larger and actual threat of the very people Character B had meant to protect them from.

Leaving Character B with the belief their only real (or effective) path forward required facing their demons and finding some kind of strength or advantage in the only real edge they had left in regards to these people.....the very memories and experiences of being traumatized at their hands that Character B had spent so long trying to avoid revisiting.

Ultimately, the irony in the resolution of Character B's character arc is it only comes in the wake of Character B reframing past failures to make it out unharmed as past triumphs where they made it out on their own. Examining the possibility they're not someone whose only value is in existing as a cautionary tale, but rather there are elements of themselves and strengths they have that others might see as enviable and worth emulating....with all of this having been how Character C viewed Character B from their initial "meeting" and the entire basis of what trust they'd been willing to put in Character B from the start and that they had been building upon before Character C found out the truth of their familial connection.

Now!

All of that is already at your fingertips and able to be factored in as you select identity traits:

What gender are they - and how might them being male vs female vs trans vs non-binary - impact the personality described above or result in them expressing different parts of it more than others or in different ways?

What race are they - and how might the different options intersect the described personality differently?

Sexual orientation - same question. Any possible disabilities and/or neurodivergencies - same question. Etc, etc.

And at any point, when in doubt, unsure what option to pick or add to a character....default to the Three Pronged Approach.

You want the clearest sense of how Character B would interact with people? Map out three different interactions: what does it sound/look like when they interact with Character A vs when they interact with Character C vs when they interact with one of the Threats?

You want a sense of what Character B is like at their most approachable, when their best traits are on display? Pick or figure out three traits and write how they come across when leading with those traits, as described through the eyes of a different POV character.

Want to layer in personal likes and dislikes? Pick three unrelated musicians and triangulate between them, see what kind of taste in music that creates an impression of, and what that might say about anyone who would point to those specific artists as their go-to choices.

Want a strong mental picture for what Character B is like when they catastrophize, or their inner monologue when spiraling? Imagine three different scenarios for when Character B could have told Character C the truth, and then try and put yourself in Character B's head and figure out what train of thought or particular insecurities or worst case scenarios creates a plausible mindset or logic you can follow in regards to why they didn't take that opportunity to come clean.

In light of all of the above, the character mapped out and described here, what might someone like Character B take comfort it, or consider relaxing? What are three possibilities for their greatest fear and who are their top three celebrity crushes and why.

Literally just.....pick personality traits to choose from at this point, or flip through magazine or online personality quizzes and ask the same questions as them while trying to answer from the POV of Character B, and go with three options or variables as needed, and see what characterization ground that covers and offers as stuff that feasibly fits within the triangle generated by those three points, rather than belonging to some random outlying point far outside it.

Do as many or as few as needed til you're happy with the character and personality/characterization you perceive them to be as of that point, and don't be afraid to pop the hood again later and move some things around until it all feels like it fits within the same singular individual in a more naturally cohesive way.

Aaaaand that's my process! Or I mean, these parts of my process at least. Same diff. Well not really the same at all so much as diff diff but eh. You get it.

Or not. I never can tell. Should probably stop making that part rhetorical I suppose.

[aetrnalis]

VERSE 5: FUTURE ROGUE

Some points below for more in depth details / canon divergence when it comes to Future Rogue. This also goes with my verse portrayal of him. 

- For my verse of Future Rogue. He is living in the present time & ended up there from a distortion in times caused when he came through the Eclipse Gate. When he was defeated by Natsu, Rogue ended up in a rift between things. When Present Rogue’s future became changed essentially then Future Rogue’s timeline no longer existed in a way allowing him unable to return so hence ending up in the time period where he had last been. 

- Future Rogue is 31 years old for my portrayal. He lives in an abandoned cabin, alone. It’s near the mountains & outside of a small town. During the winter & days where it’s colder, he does sell firewood in town as a means of making some small amount of money. Making things out of wood as well, such a statues & whatever else he can come up with as well is something else he'll do for money but more so during warmer seasons. Rogue does live off the land when it comes to food but the small amount of money works in his favor for things he needs that can’t be found. 

- In terms of Future Rogues hair, instead of the half being a pure white color or a white / grey color. That part of his hair is actually more of a white blonde color. The length of his hair is much shorter as well. Here is a picture reference for how it is. 

- As depicted in canon, Rogue only has one eye. He completely lost his right eye during the final fight he had with Sting. The empty hole was sewn shut by his own doing & eventually healed closed in such a way. Rogue usually keeps his bangs covering the spot due to how ugly it looks.

- Another thing. When Future Rogue goes into white - shadow dragon slayer mode. The right side of his body doesn’t turn a solid grey color. Much like how Rogue & Sting’s Dragon Force is with the markings. That is what it looks like on either side of him. The left side being white markings with the right being black.

- Rogue’s future is different then Future Lucy’s in that the world that he lived in was basically razed to the ground by Acnologia. The plan to bring 10,000 dragons back to the past is what essentially causes Lucy’s future, the part about Lucy's future however can be changed if Lucy writers have other ideas. ( Maybe this is stated in canon already but if not then here it is ).

- The act of Gray being the one who kills Frosch. I’m so / so on keeping this but if Gray's would like to adopt this then I'm chill with that & can for the most part adopt that as well. For most interactions though at least when it comes overall I'll probably go off the basis of Frosch's death not being stated on how the exceed died, just to keep it vague for adopting other ideas.

- Sting’s death by Rogue’s hand was also an "accident". He didn’t kill him for his power or on purpose but more so happened after losing himself to the shadows for a moment. That ensued in a battle between the two that led to Sting's demise. After Sting’s death however he did still take his lacrima. Rogue wouldn’t of left it behind because it was like having ‘ his partner ’ still there to fight. 

- Rogue also took the earring that Sting always wore & turned it into a necklace in the time before he fully lost himself to the darkness. He had kept it in his pocket but after living in his cabin instead wears it around his neck but hidden under his shirt. 

- Everything wasn’t done because Frosch died. Frosch was always a dear close friend of Rogue’s & always much more then ‘his cat’. When it came to Rogue & Frosch, their friendship was more of that like a parent with their kid or an older sibling with their younger sibling. Losing Frosch was the first spark to Rogue’s instability & something he never ended up coping with.

- Following some time after the loss of Frosch was the destruction by Acnologia which occurred during the Alvarez War. In this future Acnologia ended up succeeding in laying siege to the lands below which occurred for years on. Seeing the world around him crumble into nothing but fire, the smell of burning corpses & most of the people he knew becoming lost or killed furthered Rogue’s descent into the darkness.

- The plan to travel to the past to stop Acnologia was to prevent the destruction that happened in his timeline that does occur, not to kill him & become the dragon king. Along the way however his initial goal become lost in the darkness that consumed him, becoming more so power hungry & willing to stop anyone who got in his way regardless of who it was.

- When it comes down to Future Rogue’s personality in the verse portrayal. He is not really nice at all nor does he care much for how he comes off. After having lost himself to the shadows & having them shape his personality to that way, it’s not something he would snap out of so quickly nor does he really want to do so. His heart has been hardened & shielded as a means to not feel pain after Acnologia started his rampage. It to him is also a way to keep any sort of attachment away, whether on his end or the other. Rogue is very sarcastic, can be downright rude & act uncaring. There is however a part inside of him that does care & show remorse for his actions but he’s not down for showing that part of himself at all. 

[goddessofroyalty]

in your lucemond fic, where exactly does aemond goes conquering? I'm having vague idea that it was differnt islands/disconnecting land, so how does aemond (or more probably luke) manage it, the household management and defense and so forth. Neighboring area must be itchy with these dragonlords (aemond) claiming lands left and right. With driftmark being an island (that i know of) it would prove difficult i assume to manage these lands properly without continuous flying back and fro, and it still poses danger of being overruled by hostile forces, kind of like when aegon ii overtake dragonstone fr rhaenyra because she was not there to properly defend it, even if her "trusted" men were there

So this is one of those points where I have to admit I don't really know all that much about GOT lore. Like at all.

But yeah islands is what I'm kind of picturing.

Quite frankly going conquering and then maintaining control over the places that are conqured is Aemonds side hustle in this verse. Luke actually has very little to do with it other than green lighting it and later enjoying his new income sources. If Aemond feels he needs a second (or third) dragon rider to help out he tends to go enlist his brother (and uncle/cousins/nephews). He's doing the majority of the back and forthing except for the like official 'get the Lord to come officially meet the people in charge here' stuff.

Luke instead is spending all his time governing Driftmark and maintaining the main borders (not the newly conquered borders). Which, yes, Aemond helps out on the second part of that if the threat is sufficiently big enough to justify it (or he happens to already be around) but it's Luke's responsibility primarily.

They've kind of divided and conquered. Except it's more... Luke proved able to rule and Aemond who had kind of been trained for A War his whole life and with not a whole lot to do found something to do.

You also have to remember that the people also living in Driftmark include 1. Rhaenys - who outlives Corlys by a while and is not at all afraid to still throw her weight around if need be (as well as generally advising Luke in his early years as Lord) 2. Helaena - who while spends most of her time studying her bugs does have the Station and Skills (and Dragon) to assist especially with Household Running stuff if needed 3. The children - most of whom have dragons of their own who are from outsiders perspective all very quickly growing and who the long term game plan is to position the spairs of them on the various newly conquered territories to ensure they stayed territories for generations to come.

(Plus you know all the other dragon riders in the growing family who can be called on if needed - the conquering is a little bit of a metaphor of the family as a whole growing bigger and more powerful by the choices and actions of this generation (and especially Aemond and Luke))

[sakuracyanide]

independent & selective zoisite of sailor moon. 90s canon-based with ample headcanon. multiverse. multiship. not spoiler free. do not interact if under 21. written by iri, established April 2024. personals can follow but do not interact with these posts, it interferes with tracking.

i. character focused, not ship focused. whether or not i ship a thing is largely based on if i feel our writing and characters click. i am multship and do not practice exclusivity on my blogs.

ii. i have precious little free and want to keep my non-work spaces chill and fun. we are smashing barbies together, please remember that. i work pretty hard to curate a chill space online which means i will unfollow for things like excessive negativity or serious real world topics being discussed w/o trigger warnings or under a cut. your blog is your space and i won't argue with you about how to run it, i take full responsibility for my online experience. unfollowing is very rarely personal & i'll still play with folks i break mutuals with, i just don't want to be sidelined by triggering content.

iii. speaking of little free time, activity will range from lightning fast to a snail's pace depending on how much i have going on in my offline life.

iv. if we're mutuals feel free to hit up my messenger. discord is available on request so long as you're chill with me forgetting to reply for 8000 years.

v. i have a lot of headcanons & use a mix of all canons, but the main version of the character i play is the 90s one. with that said i can veer into other canons (such as pgsm, musicals, etc) but please note that i only ship ami/zoisite as platonic soulmates.

vi. most importantly - i'm down to change or pivot direction to keep things fun in any thread.

vii. t feels important to mention have a medical issue that affects my memory so i would appreciate patience if i forget things. i don't mind being reminded to reply if something has been sitting for a long time! my short term memory and general sense of time is shot but i will wake up in a cold sweat six months later and remember i forgot to do something.

likewise, i genuinely do not remember if i have followed someone or not unless we interact often so i'd suggest blocking rather than softblocking if you don't want me refollowing. i don't take it personal, your space & your rules.

verses.

golden dreams. golden kingdom. set in the golden kingdom. a high-fantasy drama where i run wild with my headcanons. zoisite is madly in love with kunzite but is repressing it.

in the dark of the night. dark kingdom. 90s anime timeline.

the moonlight carries the mesasge of love. revival. after galaxia has been dealt with and metallia has been quelled, the reborn shitennou finally awake to their true power - their curses finally broken. marion, the reborn zoisite, makes his way from russia to japan and there - has to figure out how to make amends to the price he twice betrayed, and the guardians he tried to kill.

fragmentary abyss. honkai. one of diamond's four 'assistants', known for both his beauty and exceptional ruthlessness. zoisite has only ever known life in the ipc, and while he bears a stone name (and stone fragments) he is not considered to be a stoneheart.

all four of diamond's assistants are vidyadhara... though were may be the better tense. while all four were once high elders this is a title they can no longer hold. and the vidyadhara do not claim them as kin.

you see, these four were thought lost after the vidyadhara had to flee their homeland. their pearls were shattered, though it is difficult to know if this shattering occurred upon their deaths or if they were stolen and shattered in the attempt. there is no one left alive who can tell the true tale, and the men themselves hold but vague concepts of who and what they once were.

in time these fragments appeared on the black market, before finally falling into the hands of the IPC. they were pieced back together using fragments of cornerstones. they are not recognized by the vidyadhara as the same beings they once were and are viewed as abominations - the breathing equivalent of zombies. though they have access to many of the abilities now lost (shapeshifting, full dragon transformation, mastery of elements) they are unable to use cloud hymn magic and it is unknown if their mangled pearls will allow them to revive should they die again.

the sun goes out. genshin. in a past life, "zoisite" was the szhneznaya god dazhbog, who was said to rule over fire and the sun. dazhbog took many forms - a black tortise, a fire-breathing horse, a beautiful man and an equally beautiful woman. all imagery associated with this god has been lost to time, save for the descendants of his most devoted and the entities long-lived enough to remember his quick wit and sharp smile.

during the archon war, dazhbog aided the cryo archon and gained a new dominion - war. the god was known as a fierce combatant, unrelenting and unwilling to call defeat. he achieved victory at any cost - and, as he would go on to tell others, that cost was very nearly his soul itself. when the dust settled his kingdom was decimated, and he had lost the will to rule as a god after witnessing the cruelty that his kind inflicted upon their own. dazhbog left this homeland and ventured to khanri'ah with his three closest friends, believing that the time of gods was done and it was time to entrust the future of the world to mankind. the four of them took human form and worked as guardians to the royal family. they served as loyal guardians to the kingdom.

which... ultimately proved to be their downfall.

dazhbog became infected with forbidden knowledge. there was still enough of him to save, though what survived was but a fragment. dazhbog and his fellow gods faded from existence, 'reborn' centuries later as ostensibly human children. he was found abandoned at the foot of a the rubble of a long forgotten god, and was raised by handlers to be an assassin.

each reincarnated guardian bears the scars of what they had witnessed that day - for dazhbog, renamed zoisite, this manifested in his left eye. no longer did it bare the star-shaped pupils of his chosen human guise, it now looked like a nova. multiple pupils all within one gaze, the mark of one who had glimpsed truth not meant to be known.

zoisite was raised within the fatui, and due to his great talent and thirst for knwoledge, was sent on a mission as a spy (how active he is depends largely on who he's threading with) to sumeru where has been living since he was about thirteen. he's a scholar in spantamad as is well on his way to becoming sage.

he has a unique talent for magic, allowing him to use all elements offensively. it's rumored that his distorted eye (which he claims to be blind in, opting to cover it with his hair) grants him sight beyond sight. in truth, his abilities allow him to tug at the fabric of the reality.

a question of duty .final fantasy vii. a member of the turks, "zoisite" joined shinra with the intentions of becoming a SOLDIER as all young boys do. when this fell through, the young man was instead recruited by the turks.

hailing from cosmo canyon, zoisite has a surprising connection to the earth - if you trace his lineage back far enough, you'll find cetra. but not nearly enough to hear the planet's call. even if he could, the young man's thirst for power dwarfs his sense of duty to it.

[svereds-wise-words]

The Ring

The ring tells the thrilling story of one's memories and ill deeds from the past coming back to haunt not only them, but any who should come under the ire of the spirits wrath. I'm going to be honest, anything that I could come up with in terms of connections to Japanese society is pretty thin at best. People like horror because it gives them a thrill. Brings them out of their comfort zone and shocks them into a feeling of being alive even if that's through fear.

In comparison to modern day horror this film feels rather hollow. It attempts this slow build up to try and pull you into the fear, ticking down the days until your inevitable doom until you are hit with Sadako crawling out of the TV coming to... scare you to death? in retrospect that's kind of an odd way of killing people. In the movie we never see the entirety of Sadako's face, so it could be assumed that its her face being revealed that scares people to death, but for a horror film I feel like the cause of fear could have been developed stronger. The threat of torture, being eaten, used in weird and gross ways... there are a number of ways you can instill fear in someone, but the actual source of their fear is always really vague. The scenario where they are approached by Sadako crawling out of the TV is obviously enough to unsettle anyone, but what exactly is it that leads them to die? In the movie its suggested she has the power to stop peoples hearts, but again it seems to be from fear, at least when she is pursuing people in their homes.

I feel I should also continue by saying given that we watched it as a class it's hard to get absorbed into the horror element as much as one could have if they were alone in their house in the middle of the night. I feel like the setting in which you watch a movie, in conjunction with who you are watching the movie with makes a huge difference in its ability to inspire fear within you, but I feel like its psychological build-up left something to be desired, at least within a modern day audience. In modern days, there are several good examples of media that take good use of this slow creeping psychological terror. For example, the Amnesia games. It's constantly throwing uneasy situations at you and knowing that the monster could be there at any time is what brings the unease and this crippling feeling of "I don't want to continue". If the film wanted to create this true feeling of unease, I think it should have made the possibility of death available, and perhaps used the week timer as merely a sense of finality. You would die within 1 week rather than at the end of 1 week.

I've thrown a lot of shade at the movie, but I'm not really versed in pre 2000s horror. For its time it could be a masterpiece, I just don't have the context or knowledge to really elaborate on that. Overall, the movie was decent, I just felt like if it was remade today it could be a lot stronger in its approach.

[thesinglesjukebox]

DJO - END OF BEGINNING

Keeping up with TikTok pop while we still can...

[3.75]

Leah Isobel: I kind of want to be a hater about this. "Stranger Things star makes budget Ariel Pink pop about growing up, goes viral on TikTok" is an insufferable Mad Libs narrative pitch. The lyrics feel cryptic in a bad way, like Djo is aware that he's traveling well-trodden ground and straining to justify himself. And yet, his acting background comes through: his hammy Boris Pickett affectations lock him to the beat, keeping the song from feeling overly self-indulgent. It's still a little mushy, but that's not a crime. [5]

Nortey Dowuona: Djo has rightly seized on his captive audience in order to launch his pop rock career, but it thankfully hasn’t spiraled the way the Childish Gambino project did to the point where there are insufferable fans and detractors duking it out over its merits -- mainly because it’s too good to be dinged, but not good enough to be more than a popular actor’s passion project. Adam Thein’s limp drums, which have aged badly since 2022, can’t keep the overwhelming pace of the synth riffs or the lumpy bass left in the background of the mix. They support the toplines rather than drive the song, as many a baseline has done, but that then leaves the topline to hold everything up, which it constantly refuses to do. As for Joe Keery, he is no Childish Gambino before 2012. At least it’s short. [4]

Alfred Soto: The Stranger Things actor is too old by at least five years to have taken Twenty One Pilots seriously. [0]

TA Inskeep: Owl City 2024. [2]

Dave Moore: The verses are synth fetishism worthy of an awkward Stranger Things teen romance subplot (derogatory), followed by a pale imitation of a Sufjan Stevens chorus (complimentary). The ingredients sort of work on paper -- I am only human, which is to say a dork who was born in the '80s. But the song just sort of sits there, like it was designed to be vaguely apprehended floating through a pop-up beer garden. [5]

Taylor Alatorre: Are we just supposed to take these younger artists' word that their work is primarily inspired by genuine Nineteen-Eighties music, and not the phantasmal refractions of it that were being created between 2008 and 2015 (and beyond)? Because whatever points I take away for roteness and facelessness, I may give back for honesty. Anyway, check out Twin Shadow's new single "To the Top" if you get the chance. Sound of the summer. [4]

Katherine St. Asaph: This is by a Stranger Things actor and supposedly sounds like the '80s. What it actually sounds like is the driftier, understated parts of '90s alternative radio playlists. And as someone who owns the Carice van Houten album, I fully support TV folks making vanity albums that don't sound like what you'd think. [6]

Mark Sinker: He’s singing “tear to cry,” but I first heard it as “diddikai”, the Romani term for a traveler not fully Romani. Maybe you can make something of this – musician who fashions his artistic persona round not being the character he plays in a multi-season Netflix series! – but I’m not sure I sensibly can. The song is pretty and mannered and flimsy; he’s way not old enough to have the wisdom he thinks he has.  [5]

Isabel Cole: "I wave goodbye to the end of beginning" is a great line, capturing the moment when you might not feel particularly like an adult but understand, suddenly, that until recently you were very young, and now you are something else. I do remember twenty-four! Unfortunately the actual song is a plodding, soupy nothing. [0]

Will Adams: When you've got an admittedly gorgeous arrangement of languid, synth-smeared indie-rock, the last thing you want to do is sound like a try-hard; and yet, Joe Keery's delivery of clipping every syllable makes "End of Beginning" almost embarrassing to listen to. [5]

Ian Mathers: There are some choices here I kind of like (mostly around the lyrics and vocals), but the guitar tone, the chiming synth sound, and something about the production overall feels instantly dated, like I'm already looking forward to me five years from now hearing this and going "yeah, a lot of shit sounded like that in 2024." [5]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: An absolute nothing of a song – but I know, deep in my heart, that if I had encountered this as a college freshman it would have absolutely rocked my shit. Keery is seven years too late for me, but I'm glad this exists for those who need it. Will I still feel this warmly towards this mediocrity if I have to hear it out in the world for the next year or so? Well, that's not my problem right now. [4]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]