#left this vague in terms of verse
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@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."
#punishdsin#:) hi joel i hope this works#i still left it pretty vague in terms of verse but leaned closer to SH stuff c:
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@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 .. ❞
#mythkiss#❝ ❀ ― 〈 answered inbox. 〉#❝ ❀ ― 〈 main verse. 〉#❝ ❀ ― 〈 in character. 〉#[ !!!! left it sort of vague in terms of whether they knew each other or not in case you wanted to continue you could either do first#meeting or smth pre established. ]
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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."
#rp thread#born to die as a waste of air; guts#threads of fate; crossover verse#so guts doesn't have a canon height (at least according to the wiki) but apparently most estimates put him at around 6'8#which is like. HUGE. he's still shorter than kelly in her armor but he's still tall enough to look her in the eye#at least w/o having to crane his neck up high compared to other humans in the halo universe#also i left this vague in terms of setting so you can decide whether he's ended up in the halo universe or if kelly ended up in his :]#also woops i got descriptive with this... idk why i like describing the appearance of characters so much lmao#i love how kelly here is basically like 'you good homie?' while guts is just.#'IM FINE FUCK YOU I DONT NEED HELP' (struggles to lift his sword) 'OK MAYBE IM NOT FINE BUT I STILL DONT NEED YOUR HELP'
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SUMMARY: what the tokyo debunker boys left you with after the two of you break up (alternatively, how they make you better.)
COMMENTS: its bittersweet. you guys broke up on good terms. might get back together idk i kept it vague (✿◡‿◡)
TAGLIST: @as1iiiwhaa @astralsocfactory

Jin leaves you with a sense of security. While you two were together, he armed you against any insults or rumors that people could throw your way, and you’re better off for it. It no longer feels like you’re a baby deer stumbling around Darkwick—you’ve really come into your own.
Tohma leaves you with a sense of perception. You can read people’s micro-expressions much easier now, even without Tohma’s guiding gaze. You used to look to him for help, but you don’t need it anymore. He cared for you well.
Luca leaves you with a soft heart and a strong will. Even when you were scared, you could find the strength to protect others just by seeing his courage. It was easier to rely on him when you needed a crutch, but you have since vowed to become that crutch for others.
Kaito leaves you with a love for the life you live. Even if it didn’t work out with him, you feel as though he still hangs around your mind, directing you to the ramen shop that you had your first date on and the park that he stargazed with you at. Your heart doesn’t ache from going to these places—you feel content.
Alan leaves you with a new perspective. The two of you had a lot of talks about him, his past, and how he felt about it. Your open mindedness while being with him not only changed him for the better, but allowed you to understand where he was coming from when he said he should not be forgiven. You hope he can find it someday, even without you.
Sho leaves you with a new appreciation for food. Even if you were a well versed cook before, he leaves you with tips and tricks to make even the simplest dish a lot more tasty. You find yourself eating better, even on days where you feel like you can’t make anything at all.
Leo leaves you with a sharper tongue. You’re far more likely to stand up for yourself now, after years and years of his jabs and teasing. There is a part of you that misses it, even though you knew it was for the better. Leo would be proud of you—of that, you are certain.
Haru leaves you with a love of early mornings. You wake up a little earlier than you used to, and open your curtains to let the sun in. Haru always used to insist that getting some natural sunlight was the best part of the day, and you still very much believe him.
Towa leaves you with a deeper connection to nature. Even though you aren’t with him anymore, you still find yourself taking walks and going on hikes whenever you get too stressed, inspired by what he used to do with you.
Ren leaves you with a plethora of interests. Before meeting him, you had a few interests that you held close to your chest, but since knowing him, you’ve gained many more. It’s sweet to see all the merch he got you, and all the matching pieces that you still have, knowing that the days of enjoying those pieces of media are far from over.
Taiga leaves you with his self defense lessons. Darkwick is a dangerous place, and so is the real world. He felt better knowing you could handle yourself adequately even when he isn’t around. In a way, it’s as though Taiga is still protecting you, even from far away.
Romeo leaves you with a sense of luxury. You take better care of yourself once being with him, and since you’ve had someone by your side who regularly reminded you that you deserve good things, you retained it. It was hard when you first started dating him—but Romeo would never let your insecurities stand.
Ritsu leaves you with a better sense of academics. You find yourself organizing your notes in the way he’d taught you, color coded and chronological. It’s like instinct now, and whenever you find yourself doing it you laugh. He may no longer be with you, but his little quirks and habits still stayed.
Subaru leaves you with a sense of serenity within your very soul. You’re not sure if it's the tea or his soft voice, but something about Subaru having been in your life soothes you. When stress tries to take hold on you, you sit down with a cup of tea and breathe.
Haku leaves you with a boosted self confidence. You can look at yourself in the mirror while wearing an outfit that would make you cringe a couple years ago and see yourself as beautiful. It’s easier to step outside the house after trying something new with your style, because you’ve become better aware of how lovely you truly are.
Zenji leaves you with an eye for beauty in the simplest of things. Before, your life was a whirlwind of danger, but after him you find yourself stopping to listen to the birds. They sound so beautiful—and the sunset looks stunning—and those two people are smiling, happy together—and if you would only stop to look, there is happiness and beauty everywhere you go.
Edward leaves you with a sense of empowerment. He was always one to lift you up, to encourage you to seek the answers out on your own, even if he made it a pain. Knowing he had your back (and still does, even if things aren’t the same anymore) made it easier to be strong when you felt like the world was going to tear you down.
Rui leaves you with a love for chores and the mundane. Especially after Darkwick, it can be difficult to find the time to settle down and monitor yourself. Rui always encouraged you to rest, to make sure you didn’t work too hard—and even now, when he isn’t with you anymore, you still find yourself doing the same thing.
Lyca leaves you with an appreciation for your own effort. You are much kinder to yourself when you fail, or when you don’t accomplish everything you meant to. It’s as though you hear his voice, saying “just do it tomorrow, what’s the big deal? You’ll get it done at some point since you’re working so hard.” He’s comforting even from your past.
Yuri leaves you with a myriad of knowledge about your body and health. It’s a lot easier to track any issues you may have, and determine whether or not you should go to the doctor for them. Sometimes you swear you can still hear him gently scolding you for working too hard when you eat your dinner, curled up under your favorite blanket on the couch.
Jiro leaves you with all of his tea brewing knowledge. It’s seeped so far into the cracks of your life that you doubt you could do away with it now—not that you want to. You drink his tea blends almost every day, and even if you forget who brought them into your life sometimes, you will always feel a bittersweet happiness when you drink them.
#auburn's fics <3#tokyo debunker x reader#jin kamurai x reader#tohma ishibashi x reader#lucas errant x reader#kaito fuji x reader#alan mido x reader#sho haizono x reader#leo kurosagi x reader#haru sagara x reader#towa otonashi x reader#ren shiranami x reader#taiga hoshibami x reader#romeo scorpius lucci x reader#ritsu shinjo x reader#subaru kagami x reader#haku kusanagi x reader#zenji kotodama x reader#rui mizuki x reader#edward hart x reader#lyca colt x reader#yuri isami x reader#jiro kirisaki x reader
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Will there be more in the Then Somebody Out There Loves You series? I love love your work and you are my favorite Cora author :) Thank you so much for writing such a masterpiece.
No worries! I always welcome polite questions!
Since I think more than a few people are curious about continuations of the story, I'll explain a little more about what my current plans are here-- with the major caveat that none of this counts as a promise and inspiration is always a fickle thing.
At the moment, I'm taking a break from posting. Deadlines can get pretty tiring (even when they're self-imposed) and I have some shit going down in my personal life at the moment that means I'm not really up to committing to anything. (Sort of a shame that Corazon week is happening right now, but that is very much an On A Deadline event.)
In the longer term, I am working on a couple projects at the moment, but I don't know when they'll be posted, and they're not from the Somebody Loves You series. There are also a couple of oneshots in the Loves 'Verse that I'm working on-- but again, I doubt they'll actually go up anytime soon. (As an aside: I'd recommend subscribing to the Side Stories series if you want to be notified when the oneshots are posted, as they'll probably be going in there.)
I am considering whether anyone might be interested in seeing some of the fics I started, but never finished-- but my perfectionist side hates the idea of deliberately sharing unfinished work. (My perfectionist side also hates the idea of not posting anything for an extended period of time. Presumably you can see my dilemma here.)
The thing you're actually interested in, though, a long-form sequel to Cry Havoc-- that's a little more up in the air. I do like the idea of a sequel, and I've certainly left a number of plot elements intentionally unresolved in the hopes of writing another "arc" of the story, but at the moment, I don't have a clear story to tell. This is mostly because, in canon, Law's story is (vague spoiler warning) sort of unresolved at the moment. Until I know where his story is going, I can't really decide how it would go in the AU, so that's the major stumbling block in the way of any continuation from here.
TLDR: A sequel to Cry Havoc is possible, but won't happen any time in the near future, and I am not sure when any new projects will be started, or what they will be!
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Shambala and me
Some big new Digimon news today! They announced (well, not exactly "announced" since it's been alluded to in the past, but detailed rather) a third Digital World. Digital World: Shambala sounds interesting - it's kind of in keeping with all those Digimon New Century Digimon being created. Lots of related new Digimon are coming with those new Pendulums V-pets too. It's pretty exciting.
Naturally, I started thinking about how this affects the Null Verse, as a good amount of its world building is loosely inspired by cobbled-together bits of existing pieces of Digimon lore and then expanded upon. Honestly, I don't think this affects the Null Verse too much at the moment? As you know, the story has mostly been set on Eniac (based on the Yggdrasil-administered Digital World). We really haven't seen much of the Colossus continent apart from mentions in passing. Up until this point, the "Eastern Digital World" was such an ephemeral concept that what little lore existed of it made it sound like it was somehow connected to what would eventually be known as Iliad. In the Null Verse, their proximity has been very undefined, so I left it kind of vague, potentially suggesting that "the Greek area" and "the East Asian" may or may not co-exist.
Once Iliad and Homeros were defined, it made it easier for me to say "yeah, Iliad is located on Colossus". At that point, the eastern aspect I still wasn't sure about. I always considered having it be on Colossus as well, but it always felt messy in terms of world building.
This recent announcement of Shambala makes things a lot easier for me. It generally gets rid of a lot of uncertainty I had about these two vaguely defined "other Digital Worlds" that some bits of lore mysteriously alluded to. Of course, I don't portray them as actual, whole other Digital Worlds in the Null Verse, but rather as continents. So, what I want to do now is to make a third continent separate from Colossus and the domain of Iliad. I think this gives me space to have the eastern realm that I've alluded to in the story better represented rather than being mashed up with the Olympians' domain. The eastern continent would (obviously) be somewhere to the east of Colossus, and it's far less known about on Eniac than Colussus is, which whom many places on Eniac have trade networks. That being said, some Digimon from the eastern Digital World have already found themselves on Eniac, usually traveling via Colossus. Obviously, I haven't ironed out the details of how I want to portray this third continent yet. I'll probably want to put my own spin on it in some way, most likely. It's outside of the scope of Holy War, anyways.
So yeah, in terms of ADiSA, this surprisingly feels like a big win for helping me to iron out my world-building. xD The Null Verse is very often at the mercy of Digimon's creative team, haha. It sure is nice when new lore announcements like this actually help my world-building rather than throws a wrench in it.
And yes, I'll definitely want to have a world map of all three eventually, but I'm nowhere near brave enough to attempt that yet. xD I haven't even finished Eniac's yet...
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his 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 (irradixnce) and resides in Goodneighbour.
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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!
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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!
#the ballad of songbirds and snakes#the hunger games#suzanne collins#lucy gray baird#katniss everdeen#peeta mellark#coriolanus snow#maude ivory#mockingjay#olivia rodrigo#tbosas spoilers#tbosas
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hi kiki <3 of all my mutuals I think your opinion on a complete unknown is the one I care most about…so 🎤….?
OKAY here goes . [also thank you this ask made me smile.. you wanna hear from little ol me ? :o) hehe]
the gist is i didn't like it but i didn't really expect to like it very much so i don't really feel let down by it necessarily. I'm already really picky when it comes to biopics and i only tend to like the stuff that's either really outrageous (i.e. Ken Russell's Lizstomania, All that Jazz if that counts) or formally unconventional (i.e. I'm Not There) and the rest of the stuff that gets churned out of the major hollywood studios is a complete turn-off for me. I watched Walk the Line for the first time a few weeks ago because i thought hey why not see where this guy is coming from. and maybe being a fan of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story prior to ever seeing Walk the Line ruined it from me but it was maybe the corniest movie ever made, or at least could possibly make about johnny cash. which theoretically should be difficult. but not for mr james mangold. Beyond the general cheesiness of the whole thing i was left wanting a lot more about how Johnny Cash fit into a larger musical scene / moment that he was apart of and the history of country music coming out of nashville in tandem with rock n roll which was just not what that movie was going for at all unfortunately.
NOTE: SOME VAGUE SPOILERS FOR THE MOVIE AHEAD IF YOU CARE ABOUT THAT SORT OF THING. medium length ramble incoming. if you want to read some slightly more concise thoughts from me on the movie here is the review i posted on letterboxd
All this is to say is i was going in with EXTREMELY LOW expectations. Other than I thought the performances would probably be really solid and they indeed were!!! Timmy was great i think he did an incredible job and his physicality and all of his mannerisms were very evocative and embodied as Bob. His voice was also pretty good and i like how his speaking voice became more unintelligible as the movie went on that made me smile. his mannerisms also changed and shifted as time went on throughout the movie which was a good choice imo since he starts out so young and malleable and then gets more jaded and hardened as becoming Famous often does to a guy. The musical performances were also better than I expected them to be but I have mixed feelings about them still.. i don't like that they chop a lot of the verses out of the songs to make them shorter. Within the movie itself the beats for a lot of the song sequences feel exactly the same and it got old very quickly, aside from the song to woody + hard rain's a-gonna fall + i'll keep it with mine scenes which i wholeheartedly enjoyed.
my main issue is i just think it makes absolutely zero sense to make such a bland and artistically unadventurous biopic about BOB FUCKING DYLAN. And i know that the timeline it takes place over is based on the book that was used as the source material but i think it ends right before stuff actually got interesting for him in terms of his turn away from acoustic folk music. and all that stuff is documented in Dont Look Back + No Direction Home so what reason do i have to watch this new movie then? i guess to see timmybob flirt with and kiss and proceed to fumble beautiful women ... most of the Strong negative feelings i have about this movie are due to the extremely flat characterizations of both sylvie(suze) and joan. I think both of their roles as creative and political/philosophical influences on Bob are minimized to the point of nearly nothingness. Sylvie does a bit of whipping bobby into shape and encouraging him to release an album of his original music but her political influence on him and his songwriting is understated or mostly to completely omitted. which bums me out. Bob and Joan's relationship is dramatized in a very strange way with them making it seem like they would have these Moments of Passion and randomly on and off just hooked up with each other and were also in the scene performing around and with each other etc but like. omits anything about bob and the baez family knowing each other . which maybe is a purposeful choice i guess maybe they didn't want to be involved but idk the whole thing makes the bob/joan relationship strung very thin and not very Involved when they certainly were Involved. to a degree. whatever i guess i dunno i think there is maybe an interesting movie that could be in there but wowwww was it just such a beat-for-beat rehash of Walk the line and all subsequent musician's-rise-to-fame biopics. and surprisingly very safe and not artistically or intellectually challenging piece of work for a man who was so famously strange and controversial and difficult to figure out that they make the climax of the movie about it. and it just goes by like a cloud of smoke . perhaps i have too much bias for the work of Todd Haynes but I truly just think I'm Not There is such a great movie about Bob Dylan the artist and the symbol/icon that there doesn't need to be anything else. and the documentary filmmaking about Bob Dylan the artist/symbol/icon as well as the Man (as much as he allowed it to be) that already exists is great. i feel so Old Man Yells at Cloud over how useless this movie is for me. I do hope that it works for some people, especially people who are new to Bob. If this can be a gateway to dylan for them that's beautiful and I am happy. but it didn't work for me
#thank you so much for asking about this i can talk about it too much maybe#i have more thoughts than i should for a movie i do not particularly care for#asks
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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
#gnutty for gnomes. — [ out of character. ]#it's left vague for a reason so if you're going 'ok but where is she'#that's the fun part#she's a wanderer I can put her /anywhere/#an atom bomb baby with an atom bomb heart. — [ v: fallout. ]
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Fandom Wrap-Up 2024
thank you @moistvonlipwig for tagging!!! :D
Total words of fanfiction published: 60,028
Fandoms written/created for: Just Angel for fic (curls up and dies), but I did some pretty major art projects for Oklahoma, The Silt Verses, Echo, and Little Women!!!
Events participated in: February Fangfest 2024, the cowboy themed Zine Bash event, and AAW 2024
Fanfic I’m proudest of: Feels weird saying origin of species considering it's less than half finished but like. come on. what else is it gonna be. it's already the longest thing I've ever written, it's the first plotty fic I've made this much progress on, it's the most serious in terms of subject matter, it's the most... god calling it "experimental" feels so annoying. but you know what I mean. I have many more fun dream sequences in the same vein as the play one planned. and it's just. something i've had an insane amount of fun writing! hopefully it will continue to be something I'm crazy proud of as it goes on
Other fanworks I’m proudest of: I'm really proud of the Angel and Darla piece I did for February Fangfest, it was the first proper illustration I'd done in a while at that point, and even almost a full year on I still think it looks really really good and working on it made me feel a lot more confident doing illustrations like that! On that note, I also really like how the two vaguely-horror-podcast-inspired Cordy season 4 illustrations both turned out, and I think they were both very successful experiments with different art styles than I'm used to. The Oklahoma! zine I did for zine bash I think is maybe the best zine I've ever made, even if it was just for a tiny fandom! And fuck it, I'm kind of proud of the buffy and angel divorce fancam, even if I did make it kind of as a joke! I think it's still pretty great!
Events I’m looking forward to next year: Uhhhh it's not necessarily gonna end up being a fan thing but I do want to contribute something for the Zine Bash event that's currently running (I have like two weeks left to make something for it it's fiiiiiine). Other than that I'm living in the moment baybeeee
Projects for next year: Finish origin of species jesus christ. That's obviously the biggie, but I also have a couple other cordy fics in the works that I'd like to finish, as well as a couple of buffyverse zines and comics I've had planned out for aaaages and would really like to actually make or finish making in the new year!
thanks so much again for tagging and giving me an excuse to ramble and look back on all the Stuff i've done this year! I'm gonna tag @discocaptain @fatherramiro @the-sparkling-diamond-satine @spaghettisaurusrex @somekindofadeviant @jennycalendar and anyone else who wants to do it! feel free to talk about any types of things you've made or written yahoo!!
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1, 6, 22, 54
Ooh yay! Thanks for the ask ^^
1. Tell us about your WIP!
Uhhhh well I guess my most current story would be my detective story, a only vaguely historically accurate 1950s noir with a little bit of romance, it doesn’t have much of a solid plot but I’m trying to familiarise myself with writing mysteries and stuff! But I haven’t worked on that in a while,,,
5. Top five formative books?
Not sure what “formative” would mean here? I don’t really have books that taught me how to write but books that definitely inspired me to do it would be the Lord of the Rings (even though I could never even compare to Tolkien’s writing style), the Éternels series I read as a child (I wish I could remember the author’s name but I loved those books so much), literally anything by TJ Klune that makes me go “oh wow I want to write like that someday”, also literally anything by Rick Riordan because his books kind of changed my life as a kid, annnnd a fifth…… uhhh I can’t think of one right now :T
22. Tell us about the books on your
"to write" list
Okayy so I’ll just copy-paste this again from my other post where I already answered this :))
My fave would be my 1920s queer coming of age circus story, for now titled “Tightrope and Trapeze” even though that will probably change,,
It’s about a teenage “girl” named Joan who lives in 1921 New York and lives on her own, and she dresses like a guy and cuts her hair short so that everyone knows her as a guy and calls her “John” and only a few ppl don’t know that’s what she (yes, she) was born as. She lives in the streets and roofs as a pickpocket until she joins a travelling circus, first as a minor employee (like a cleaner or ticket seller) then as a trapeze artist once she discovers she has a talent for that. The other circus performers and employees are all some kind of flavour of queer as well, and they’re very found family and all that. My favourite is Phillip, the ringmaster, because he’s everyone’s dad :). She travels with them, and with these new people and experiences, Joan comes to understand stuff about gender and sexuality, and she also falls in love with the circus’ tightrope walker, a teenage trans girl called Donna who’s really sweet and helps her with her training. It’s basically just found family stuff and coming to terms with her sexuality and gender identity (for now I’m keeping her gender vague because I haven’t decided what would fit best but she’d use she/her and maybe (still not sure) he/him) in an era that’s still not very accepting.
54. Favorite first line/opening you've written?
“Annabel Lee, Annabel Lee,
please come back to me!
You were a lady, and I was a lady,
God says it was never meant to be!
Annabel Lee, Annabel Lee,
won't you please come back to me?”
When I wake in the morning, I sing to you.
// Okay it’s not that good of an opening but I really like this one, it’s from my short story I called “Annabel Lee, Annabel Lee” based on Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “Annabel Lee”, the original being about someone whose true love dies at sea. Mine is a queer retelling where both the narrator and Annabel Lee are women, Annabel Lee being a sailor who finally left to the sea after the townspeople’s pressures against her and her lover, and died there. The story takes place seven years later as the narrator, driven mad with grief, still believes Annabel Lee is going to return from the sea and waits for her every day as she tends to the lighthouse that’s supposed to take her home,,, basically the song is a kind of constant in her life, and she sings every hour of every day as she waits for her true love to come back, and the story starts and ends with the same verses of the song except where the people who claim “it was never meant to be” change between God, their family, the townspeople, and so on. Oops I yapped on a bit but this is one of my fave stories I’ve written ^^
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i've compiled a list of plots i'd like for most of my muses. some are generic, some are a little more targeted but most could also work for more than one muse so if you like the look of the plot but not the muse, things could be changed. if anyone would like to try any of them, give this a like or message me and we can discuss!
ahra park.
someone she can enjoy the 'high life' with. perhaps another actor. she very much enjoys the spotlight and so having a relationship that's in one would make her feel good.
in addition to the above point, perhaps your muse isn't actually as wealthy/of high standing as they're pretending to be. maybe they intend to use her money/fame for their own good.
someone a bit older/experienced to make her feel a little out of her depth. she is overly confident most of the time and so someone who she doesn't feel quite so self-assured around. this could be romantic or a mentor kind of situation.
muse a and muse b are rival actors and swear they hate each other’s guts, even if they’ve made out in dressing rooms once (or a few times, but who’s counting?)
give me the hollywood ‘it’ couple who’s sex tape was just leaked … she’s a wholesome actress trying to make a break into grown up media and he’s an oscar / grammy winner known for edgy work.
alanis tanner.
very much a low end of the food chain dealer & maybe her supplier has run into some trouble and somehow she gets dragged into it. sort of crime au.
alanis having a shitty partner who pushes her to pursue your wealthy muse with the hopes of scoping them out to steal from them.
her shitty boyfriend has left her after discovering she’s pregnant which is fine because you’re muse is happy to step in and be there for her (and maybe they fall in love along the way…)
alix carter.
apocalyptic plots. she was raised to be 'ready' for the apocalypse but just because she's been raised that way, it doesn't mean she is. very vague on purpose but she's just very suited to anything in this sort of verse.
final girl au!!!! she'd make a fun final girl... and could be easily coerced into helping a killer.
for a more 'normal' plot — a longer term relationship where there's a lot of slow burn and opening up.
amaris ahn.
an arranged marriage.
amaris meets someone her family would never approve of and develops feeling for them. from there, the two of them come up with a plan to “free” her from their confines which will definitely probably include having to move across the country… and more than likely take her useless sister along with them.
bella cortes.
she's a bit of a hard hitting mean bitch so i'd like her to meet her match with some sort of rivalry enemies to lovers thing.
someone very opposite to her with the vibe of: give me a “you’re the perfect student, your parents give you anything you want, you live in a mansion, your good little boyfriend is loyal and kind and yet you sneak out to my place every damn night to be fucked and be called the bad girl you so desperately want to be around me”
daphne luther.
our parents pitted us against each other ever since we were children and thus forcing us to hate each other for the rest of our loves. but hold on, wait a minute, why am i suddenly feeling butterflies in my stomach when you come near me?
eden phillips.
"we’ve lived in this tiny ass town where everyone knows everyone because no one leaves and when we were young we would sit up at night on your roof and i’d listen to you talk about how you were actually going to do it one day and you did but you never knew i’ve had a crush on you ever since back then so when you send me postcards from all these different cities with bright lights it makes my heart hurt and here we are several years later and i’m finally starting to move on but oh wait you’re back and my heart’s beating like crazy well fuck au" with eden having stayed in the town.
eden is your muse’s sugar baby and she is maybe a tiny little bit greedy in that she wants more than just cash, she wants them.
emery becker.
can i have an f/f groupie/band member plot like she’s followed this band all around the country and they’re known for their hot dude drummer or lead singer or something but she’s after the hot girl guitarist/whatever instrument/role she plays in the band and the girl in the band is used to people using her to get to the male members or underestimating her ability but this girl is just SO into her please i need this (emery being a part of the band)
a former lover and one of them is about to get married... unless...
a longer term relationship where emery is finally coming into her own fame and that comes with a lot of challenges for them. being home less/seeing less of one another/more stresses, etc. maybe they were on the cusp of a new milestone (getting engaged/family planning) and this throws everything.
flora whitlock.
can someone pls give me flora getting married to her childhood sweetheart and her maid of honour is her best friend from college and everything is perfect until she hooks up with her maid of honour on the hen night and now she’s got cold feet and having second thoughts and not sure if she wants her fiancé or her and it’s all just ??????
flossie wu.
flossie is a serial casual dater — enjoys company but not so much relationships. maybe they’ve gone on a few dates with/hooked-up with your muse and yet they keep running in to one another. while your muse deems it fate, she deems them a pain in the ass while slowly becoming more endeared by it all.
we met on a dating app and really hit it off but i ghosted you before we could meet up. turns out you’re related to/work with/know my best friend and we’re now at the same event!
hikaru watanabe.
one of his ex-wives. hikaru has a tendency to fall too fast and speed run a relationship. maybe his most recent ex and him still spin in the same circles and maybe there's still a bit of a flame there.
judah harkness.
i actually think he'd make a very fun, chaotic dad. so, whether that's with someone he's dating or maybe co-parenting with someone.
lula reese.
someone from her past/when she was involved in the robbery. maybe they were too and they got away with it too or maybe they were caught.
our muses were engaged but it fell through because lula wasn’t ready and left them. they haven’t seen one another in like six months. could be out in public/at an event/club/ect. i’ve been listening to champagne problems.
maeve o’neill.
the rich girl (maeve) and her rockstar bf/gf — very suited to her because she’s a nepo baby with a rockstar father.
malee tan.
malee is a social leech and it's very likely she would pursue someone for their social status more than interest. though, i do think perhaps over time that would change upon seeing the "real" side of whoever she's with.
malee was ms. popular in high school but that all came tumbling down for her. i'd like her to meet a blast from the past — maybe they were friends or maybe she made their life hell. optionally, she could be dating their sibling.
mari yoon.
an established relationship with an unplanned pregnancy — mari is very easy, breezy loves a good time and so this would be quite a hard hitting adjustment.
minho park.
i need a famous ship where they’re both insanely busy with album recordings & red carpets & tours & they’re trying to make this whole long distance relationship work but with the time differences & going months without seeing each other it’s difficult, not to mention all the rumors & shit. but then there’s all the cute things like showing up on tour to surprise each other & going to award shows together & just finally seeing each other again after going so long with only facetime dates, missed calls, & late night texts to get them by. honestly idek where i’m going with this i just know that i really want it ??? but like this or message me & we can figure everything out k cool
mireya chavez.
mireya has significant wealth — though, she doesn’t live her life like someone who does because she prefers to fly under the radar. your muse is someone a little down on their luck who is their friend/they meet on a night out or dating app and she decides to help them out. a borderline sugaring situation for their company. (optional age gap because of that plot going around.)
mitzi cartwright.
for a bartender muse — what starts as fun co-worker banter turns in to sneaking down to the stock room for heated make outs and staying late after hours to get drunk and talk the night away.
noah jackson.
damn you used to be dorky and lame as fuck in high school but now you’re fucking hot and i kinda wanna rip your clothes off but oops i used to make your life a living hell??? pls tell me you accept blowjobs as a form of an apology????” in which noah was SERIOUSLY lame in high school.
with noah working as a mortician, i think writing her against a ghost would be fun lol. idk what exactly. maybe they have some unfinished business they want her to enact for them.
noemia gomez.
"party boy x innocent girlie who he corrupts lowkey" except any gender ofc
academic rivals to lovers. noemia is a pretty happy, positive person but i think having someone who just gets under her skin would be pretty interesting. they’re always challenging one another and pushing themselves to outdo the other, until their study sessions start to link up and so do they…
olivia warren. (women/enby only for anything romantic)
olivia isn't the best at relationships because she struggles with letting people in. however, i'd like her to find love and actually feel it. she would be a bit like a hopeless puppy dog in a relationship where she was head over heels. optionally i do think an age gap with possibly an older woman would be interesting for this!
content collaborations — either with other OF creators or a friend she enlists to help her out with a request
a friend who has discovered her OF and is super weird and stuff around her; perhaps has even subscribed to her platform. maybe it all drunkenly comes to a head one night and they want to see her in action...
peach haan.
she’s a makeup artist so her developing a crush for an actor/singer/etc that she’s been working with
phoebe smith.
as a choreographer, her working with a singer/performer/actor. maybe they're not the best at dancing and so they have a few 1 on 1 lessons. maybe a little something else develops beneath the surface and come to light by the time they're finished working with one another.
phoebe is often the one falling head over heels for someone so having someone actively pursue her would be a bit of a head spin and could be received in a variety of ways from her.
rowan sommers.
it is always rowan being hopelessly in love with her friends and so i'd like the roles to be reversed for once. maybe she's just started seeing someone and it's kicked off feelings your muse has been unaware of until that point.
seren ahn.
i really want a f/f plot where they’re best friends that are both married to v wealthy/successful guys, probably like doctors or lawyers that are never around. so the girls get to spend all their time together and it’s not long before they realize how much they both don’t love their husbands and how much they do love each other. thus begins their sneaking around together and going to parties with their husbands just to both run off to a private room together, the nights neither of their husbands come home and they get to pretend like they’re living a normal life together.
her family is involved in some really shady business and seren being kidnapped by someone/an organisation they've crossed/upset. she'd be a bit of a nightmare to keep around and maybe someone pities that.
summer maxwell.
muse a (summer) is a reformed bad girl/boy that changed their ways after hitting rock bottom. muse a now lives the life of wealth and luxury after marrying a wealthy (whateveryouwant). the marriage starts to crumble when muse a’s significant other starts traveling more for business, distancing themselves from muse a. muse a feels alone and falls back into their partying ways. it’s out partying that muse a runs into their former flame, muse b. muse a and muse b passionately dated off and on for years, before muse a decided to clean up.
tamsin quinn.
tamsin is a bit of a nomad and often moves from one place to the next quite quickly and often with little baggage — often including her skipping out on people without looking back. however, she's come to enjoy your muses company and invites them along with her on her travels. it's confusing and overwhelming for her trying to navigate her feelings when this is perhaps all just a friendly arrangement.
yuri park.
a plot where yuri is “the other woman” would be fun. she’s usually pretty stoic and detached but for whatever reason has grown close to your muse… despite the fact they’re already dating someone. one day it becomes something more and while they both agree it won’t happen again, it keeps on happening. ultimately she develops more feelings than she bargained for and while she’d normally be quick to cut something like that off, she can’t quit them.
dating as a PR stunt but no one but them and their team knows so it’s all chill and they do all this public outings and act all cute but HA one of them actually falls in love while the other just thinks it’s just for publicity
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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 | ✲・*:✲・*
#*˚⁺𝐼 𝒷𝑒𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓌𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝒷𝑒 𝒸𝒽𝒾𝓁𝒹'𝓈 𝓅𝓁𝒶𝓎*˚⁺ - Verse Notes#⁺˚*𝒞𝑜𝓁𝒹 𝐵𝓁𝑜𝑜𝒹𝑒𝒹*˚⁺ - 𝑽𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆#⁺˚*𝐹𝑒𝑒𝓁 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝓈𝒾𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝑜𝓊𝓉*˚⁺ - 𝕋𝕎#death tw#character death tw#tw: character death#tw: death#long post tw
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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.
#kalen writes things sometimes#on writing#kalen's writing process#changelings 'verse#????idek dude. tagging is an art form and I am not its Michaelangelo
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