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typewritingyip · 2 months ago

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The Arcturus Missions

Part Thirty Three - Crash

Part Thirty Two

———

Overuse was experienced by the earliest pilots from nearly day one, back when the tech was not being adapted for the human ability, when it was a machine being connected to flesh with no failsafes. Most of the scientists thought that would be the most dangerous time to be a pilot.

It was overwhelming and painful, but those first pilots had more determination than anyone before or after them. Going through the motions of being a pilot, the unknown all around them.

The amount of time in a suit that leads to overuse depends on the compatibility level of the pilot, though not as expected, the more compatible the worse the symptoms, the less compatible the easier.

Any extended amount of time in a suit can lead to overuse, the crash, or both. Just depends on the type of connection, the coding in the suit, and the health of the pilot.

—

When they crash landed on an alien planet light years from Earth, one of the many things Breakdown hadn’t expected was becoming the designated ambulance for his unit. Let alone come to understand that for seemingly all sentient beings of any type, they all seemed to hate the doctor as much as humans did.

Hell, as much as he did most of the time, but this one had an attractive personality.

Dragging them kicking and screaming to Knockout was not how envisioned a fun assignment, every few minutes able to take up post and let his cannon go at the enemies, that was the fun part. All the rest of it was mundane until Knockout was able to wipe his brow and take a moment to sigh.

That was why he did it, to have just a moment of the mech's time, to try and draw a smile from the medic. Why did he always fumble when it came to those in the medical profession?

Lowering the dripping mech to the slab, Breakdown sighs deeply, shifting back to look over to Knockout.

Knockout was focused, completely in the zone and the transformed tools from his hands were working precisely. He glanced up and the movement stopped for a moment, he smiled before looking back down at his patient, “Take a capture, it will last longer.” And Breakdown’s throat tightened slightly before he clears it.

“Knockout, this should be it for the time being, the Quintessons are falling back now that it’s daytime again.” Knockout hummed and kept working, energon splattering up his arm, Breakdown took a partial step back before turning and leaving the med-tent quickly.

Doctors and nurses might be attractive, but certainly not while they were working or being splattered with toxic substances.

Breakdown almost ran straight into Ironhide, who scowled for a moment before looking up at him, “Damn you’re tall. Where are you going in such a hurry?” Clearing his throat slightly, he glanced over his shoulder at medical and Ironhide nodded, “Ah, yeah, that’s understandable. Unfortunately, I think my prime is hiding in there for the moment.” He sighed before gesturing, “Sunstreaker was looking for you, over that way.” Nodding a bit, Breakdown sighs, “Thank you, sir.”

Turning, Breakdown started that direction as Ironhide stared, “So, they're not all civilians.” He frowned slightly, watching the different hitch to Breakdown’s step, his frown intensifying as he watched a section down near Breakdown’s ped fold back up against his leg.

Not at all like a t-cog transformation, more hydraulic than that. Slowly, he moved into medical and over towards where Optimus had claimed a space to work, surrounded by familiar faces.

Better here than in command where Megatron would likely be. Venting slowly, he moves over.

Optimus looks up, “We need to speak about the humans.” Ironhide tried not to swear, “Everytime I turn around, we need to speak about the humans.” But he drags over a stool and sits anyway.

—

Sunstreaker was waiting, rather impatiently, for Breakdown and Hound to show back up. Most of the blood and gore from the Quintessons had been rinsed off and the dull aches from battle were starting to come in, his cameras also were drifting in and out of focus annoyingly.

The sun had risen and it was almost midday and to be perfectly honest with himself, he was starving but didn’t want to eat till they were all there. There was a certain peace of mind Sunstreaker preferred to have when it came to the crew and taking care of themselves, them eating together just seemed to help that.

He knew Breakdown was in medical, helping Knockout move around a few of the wounded but he hadn’t seen Hound since they split up that night. It had been hours since he saw the man, but people were still coming in off the field.

Drumming his fingers on his knee, Sunstreaker sighed deeply. Bluestreak had gone to some meeting somewhere and now he was alone, enjoying the lack of conversation, but still alone. Being alone was difficult for him.

Tilting his head back, he stared at the slightly orange sky, it reminded him of the days after major cities had been partially destroyed. Some things didn’t seem to change, no matter what planet you were on.

Groaning, he stood and started towards the main part of camp, rolling his neck as his implants oozed uncomfortably. It eased the burning he’d been dealing with but the discharge was worse, always worse than the burning. Sunstreaker cursed and shook his head a bit to get it away from the worst of his connectors.

Once the others were sat down to eat, they could all disconnect for an hour or two, not the handful of minutes they’d gotten, who knows how long ago now. Frowning a bit, Sunny scratched at his neck, gloved hand coming away covered in discharge and light traces of blood.

He sighed again, rubbing his face with his other hand. Through his speakers, he could hear the light tinkle of broken glass over the protective cover, he tried not to wince.

Everyone looked exhausted, then again even he felt exhausted, they’d had fights but nothing like this or even the events of the last few days. There was something in the air that was unfamiliar to Sunny, because he was a civilian.

For the rest, for the cybertronian’s, it was far more familiar. The feeling of desperation and deterioration, the ware and tear you only get from war, the feeling of loss even with a win because you all knew that it would just drag to the next.

Coming into the main part of camp, Sunny only got in a few steps before Breakdown came from around the side of the medical tent, nodding to him slightly, that was one down but where was the other?

—

New Kaon in the middle of the day was hot, it didn’t have much in the way of water or organic materials, so it was hard to avoid the heat. Most of the mecha who lived here got used to having more coolant than they’d need on Cybertron.

Unfortunately for the humans, there was limited air conditioning in their suits with the new seals for space travel. Normally, it was too cold for them and New Kaon at night was not a comfortable cool night, it was the brisk near zero temperatures that any desert would reach.

In all, not conducive to the life inside of a metal suit.

It had been hours since anyone heard from Hound.

His comms were still offline from during the main attack.

There was very rarely good news when one of the humans would go radio silent for an extended amount of time.

—

Sand, there was sand obstructing his view and a lot of it, when the hell did he get back to Mojave?

Hound started to come to slowly, painfully as he was more away of himself than his suit. After the first few dazed minutes, everything hurt. He was hitting that wall at the edge of overuse, the wall that could lead to the crash.

There had only been a handful of MECHA pilots who’d experienced the crash in the past, mostly in suits much bigger than his own, though a few of them hybrid-class like he was now. Damn his head was pounding.

Unable to open his eyes, Hound groaned painfully, focusing on the connection with his suit more as he woke up. The more he focused, the more he could see even without opening his eyes. He was being dragged over the sand, arms over someone’s shoulders, and it made them ache even more from the strain.

Coherent thoughts were capable, coherent speech was not. Hound was trying to speak, but nothing was coming out, at least nothing that he could hear, god how had it gotten this bad?

The voices outside were muffled, the people dragging him were striking in color but he really couldn’t tell who it was.

With a groan, Hound attempts to que his microphone, “Guys, I’m fine.” But he wasn’t entirely convinced that was what he said, or that any sound came out. Groaning again, he hangs his head and closes his eyes, or feels like he does.

It felt like the briefest of moments that his eyes were close, but he’d still been a fair distance from base camp when he’d collapsed, now there were a few structures in his view as well as rapidly approaching suits of familiar yellow and blue.

He didn’t know what was worse, having to be towed back into camp or for there to be other pilots nearby to watch.

The arms of his suit were quickly drapped over Sunstreaker and Breakdown’s shoulders, no longer being dragged through the sand and more helped along towards the medical tent. With a flick, Hound turns off the translator, “I’m okay.” This time he could tell that he’d actually spoke and not made strangled sound.

“Like hell you are.” Sunstreaker sounded pissed, shifting the suit closer slightly and almost throwing off Breakdown’s balance, “No one has heard from you in hours, Hound.” Breakdown’s voice was quiet, almost too quiet to hear and Hound’s head lulled again.

Shade and cooled air of the medical tent almost made Hound sigh from relief, his suit was cooking him alive, but he glanced up and caught the eye of several medics who were in fact staring in horror. He could almost imagine the sight.

Two mechs, one of which with a shattered visor, holding up another who could have the paint melting off his plating.

Breakdown was quick though, pulling them towards a corner and drawing a curtain around Hound and Sunstreaker, leaving Sunny to help Hound down to the cot while he attempted to smooth things over with Knockout. Least that’s what Hound thought.

He was shoved non-to-gently down onto the slab and Sunny was quick to ping him. All the instruction he needed to close his eyes again and disconnect.

The suit was boiling and he was thankful to be kneeling on the floor of his cockpit instead of in the piloting chair, taking several slow and deep breaths, he answered Sunny’s hail. Though he didn’t have a mirror, Hound could imagine how terrible he looked from the state of Sunny’s expression.

”Yeah, I know.” Shoving off the ground on wobbly legs, Hound limps over towards his cot where everything was stored, “Hound.” He waves behind him as he tried two different times to grab hold of the cooling kit.

Another ping hits their comm and Sunny answers for him, though thankfully Breakdown stays quiet about Hound’s current state, “We’ll be left alone for now, Knockout will probably be over in a while to check on you and Hound.” Nodding a bit, Sunny didn’t shift his gaze from Hound’s slowly moving form.

stripping off the exterior of his assistance suit helped, then pulling on the cooling vest provided just that little bit extra relief. He’d be sweating if he wasn’t dehydrated, “Hound,” Now it was Breakdown’s turn to worry, sighing he shuffles back to camera with food and water, cooling kit in tow.

”I know, I know, it was stupid.” Lowering himself to the floor, he pulls off the boots of his suit and sighs, closing his eyes briefly before starting to drink from the water pouch, “I fear it was worse than stupid.” Hound chuckles slightly.

Nodding a bit though, he shrugs, “You and me both Breakdown, but the job is the job.” He winced as his head twinged painfully, shifting back to the cooling pack to pull out something else.

He held a cold compress to his face, groaning painfully as his head pounded. Hound hung his head as mecha flitted in and out of the med tent on the other side of the curtain, “I’ll be fine, I’ve come to this edge before.” Sunny was worrying his lip and Breakdown was lightly shaking his head.

”One of my brothers, he went through the crash—“ Hound held up a hand, trying not to glare, “I have not crashed, this isn’t that.” It was the clearest his voice had been in hours.

Sunstreaker and Breakdown spare each other a glance before looking away.

He’d be fine in an hour or two, even better once he got some sleep and ate some real food, but for now if anyone were to enter their closed off area, he would be perceived on the outside as unconscious.

Adjusting the screens, he shifts Sunstreaker and Breakdown onto a monitor each, plus a single angle with an outside view. Sitting back, he kept the compress to his face and opened one of the containers of food he had, frowning lightly at the offputting yellow shade of the fruit.

Lifting a piece, he slowly started to each but kept his head down. Hound couldn’t even look at them now, couldn’t bear to bring himself to look at them, mainly because every time he did they were cringing.

That’s how you could tell it was bad, when other pilots who experienced so much the same as you would shrink away from your appearance. To be fair, a shower would help immensely in it, getting rid of the dried blood that was turning the white compress pink and oozing discharge which had gone from clear to now nearly the same shade of green as Quint blood.

The Crash was close, too close considering they were in the middle of a war zone.

Hound sipped some more water and wiped the blood from his nose, holding back a hard cough painfully, Sunstreaker shuddered, “Hound.” He held up a hand for a moment before lowering the water pouch, “I’m fine Sunny, I just need some sleep.”

But Breakdown shook his head, “Hound, the crash can kill you.” Sighing slowly, he pushes off the ground and moves back over to his bunk to get a change of clothes and some more bandages, “Better me than one of you, to know what our limit is.” He tried hard not to scratch his implants.

—

North Iacon had some Quint sightings and Sideswipe was staring at one of the scouts right now. If it were any other time, any other place, it would have been no question to go after it. He almost had.

Chromia kept her hand on his shoulder while Skids and Punch moved in, guns raised, quick and lethal without damage to the surrounding area, “I still don’t quiet understand why you don’t carry a firearm Sideswipe.” her voice was quiet, watching.

He stayed quiet too, staring with wide eyes as the pair of them shot the Quintesson more than a dozen times a piece before it went down, “Uh, because I’m a civilian. And that, we don’t have the same sort of tech for guns back home, we, uh, use something different.” Wincing when a tentacle swung out and sent both Skids and Punch faceplating onto the frozen ground.

With a heavy sigh, Chromia patted his shoulder before moving in quickly, gun coming seemingly from nowhere to offer assistance, it should be dead but at least it was stuck on the ground.

Even as it was literally wiping the floor with Skids and Punch.

”This is why the civilians don’t have guns on Earth, because we figure out faster ways of handling the enemy, even when it means breaking shit and getting things dirty.” The Quint screamed before the fourth shot from Chromia split it’s skull.

Moonracer, Anode, and Lug were just behind him, he could hear them muttering in a language slightly different from main Cybertronian, but the translator was still trying to pick it up.

Sighing slowly, he lowers himself back to the seat nearest the heater, watching the team move in a practiced ease he hadn’t seen before. Looking even to those who had been late to the party they seemed to fall into some sort of pattern as well.

Then Chromia smiled at him, “Come on Sideswipe, there’ll be more where that came from, whoever gets the most confirmed gets off the night shift.” He smiled just a bit and stood, moving over, “Uh, you realize humans need more sleep than you all do, right?” There were a few chuckles as they started towards the border.

“Yeah, if you get the most,” “Which I doubt.” Moonracer added, elbowing Lug with a smirk, “Then you get your next shift off. We got a deal?” And he smirked, quickly shaking her hand.

—

To be fair, he really did look unconscious from the outside, so it was no wonder that Knockout scared the crap out of Sunstreaker when he near silently peaked into their curtained room

The medic was frowning at all of them, from the seemingly unconscious Hound, to Sunstreaker with his shattered visor, and Breakdown who appeared to be fine but had alarmed the prime enough to turn the opposite corner of his medical bay or in this case tent, into a meeting room.

Sunny looked up at him and struggled with his cameras to get them to focus on Knockout, frowning a bit, “Uh, hi.” Knockout’s gaze was frightening, especially when he scowled, “Are you going to let me replace your visor, or will I need some seekers to hold you down?” Sunny gulped and disconnected from the comm, relieving some of Hound’s headache.

”So, uh, my visor.” He gestures lightly before Knockout had hold of his hand and was pulling him out, “I’ve already asked Bluestreak to come sit with you, but this needs to be done, now.” Glancing back, Breakdown pulled the curtain closed again.

Sighing slowly, Sunstreaker swore as he was sat on a slab all his own and Knockout filled his cameras, light shining into them quickly, “Oh god.” Wincing slightly as he attempted to turn down the brightness, “So, your visual feed is sensitive to light in this state.” Suddenly, Sunstreaker understood why everyone avoided all the medics.

He’d met two and had yet to have a pleasant experience with one.

It was hard not to flinch back as Knockout started to remove the bandages and cover, “Don’t worry Sunstreaker, it all will be alright.” Knockout smiled lightly, for a moment before the cover came away and he froze.

To his credit, he didn’t start swearing, but he nearly tore the curtains around the slab Sunny was on even when Bluestreak started to come over, if mecha could look pale that is how Sunstreaker would describe it.

Barely catching Blue’s glance, he figured that for them, however his suits so-called face looked pretty gruesome. If he had to describe it, the poor mech looked ready to be sick.

Knockout came back in after composing himself, taking a breath, “So, you don’t feel any pain?” Shaking his head a bit, Sunny shrugs slightly, “No, not really.” Even Knockout looked ready to be sick, “Is it that bad?” Closing his eyes, Knockout needed a moment.

The medics hand gently rested on Sunstreaker’s shoulder, “Sunny, when you became this, pilot, what all did they change?” Frowning a bit, he couldn’t help but shift uneasily, “What do you mean?” Groaning and hanging his head, Knockout gained his composure, “Sunstreaker, you don’t have eyes.” He was getting choked up, “They took your eyes.”

For a moment, Sunny wanted to laugh from the relief of it, but thought better of it. Shifting some, he clears his throat, “Do visored mecha usually still have eyes behind the glass?” Knockout nodded. Sighing slowly, Sunny brought a hand up carefully, “I have cameras, dozens of small cameras.” He bit his lip for a second, “All pilots have cameras behind their visors.”

Knockout swore loudly.

—

Hound wasn’t entirely sure how long it had been, but he’d curled up on the cot in the corner after Sunstreaker had been dragged off and disconnected their comm. Breakdown had settled down for some sleep himself, so he figured it was safe enough outside.

He was still exhausted, he couldn't have slept for more than an hour but it was better than nothing, both him and his suit had cooled off significantly in that time which was a relief.

Sitting up slowly, he grabs the mostly empty water pouch and drains it the rest of the way with a sigh. His head was spinning and every part of him ached. The nausea was back and his heart was beating harder every five beats or so, if he didn’t know better he’d think he was sick.

Then again, overuse was a type of sickness. Turning to the box he kept, he pulled out some assortment of medical items from the Odyssey, the painkillers he was just about out of were tossed aside for the small slip of antibiotics.

They originally weren’t supposed to make the manifest, but he’d packed enough for each of them to be on the edge of death at least twice. Hound couldn’t help but save his for the rainiest of days, popping open the foil like protection to get to the medication, drinking down the last of that pouch to take them.

Of course, doing one smart thing does not take away from at least two days worth of stupid ones.

Standing and shuffling over, Hound starts to pull on the pieces of his assistance suit, groaning a bit from the weight of it. He would be fine if he could just get back in the piloting seat, back in the right headspace of it all.

Dragging on his helmet, he was limping back to the main console and started to adjust his settings.

It wasn’t hard to remember how he used to like them, some were the same between hunter and striker, but there were subtle differences. Preference in camera angle and scanning capabilities. He needed to be able to see, not view, but actually see.

The piloting chair had never felt so comfortable as Hound went about adjusting his settings, smiling lightly at the basic maintenance, ignoring the pain.

Ignoring the drainage, each pound from the headaches, hallucinations, all the sensitivities, how tired he was, his stomach turning uneasily even with putting water in it, the rash across his arms and shoulders that was new, the bleeding, and of course the way he felt like if he’d slept any longer he could have simply keeled over and died.

Smiling with some sense of satisfaction, Hound glanced over towards where Breakdown was shown, still dozing over their comms before he grabbed the cabling for his suit.

His heart was racing, fight or flight was there and both sides had valid arguments. Taking a breath, Hound closed his eyes.

They were so close, if they could just keep New Kaon safe they’d earn a rest. He’d earn a rest, maybe some time in Iacon, maybe some time by himself in Iacon. To actually see the planets he was protecting, to even tend to the garden they had in the apartment for more than five minutes.

To have a moment to feel alive again, to feel himself again, and that meant being connected with the suit, to hunt and kill the enemy.

With gritted teeth, Hound took a deep breath and reattached his oxygen mask, adjusting the data on his helmet’s visor.

Connecting, his implants zap lightly against the cabbeling as he attempts to stand from both the slab and his piloting chair.

The best way to describe what Hound saw was as if he blue-screened, which in a way his suit did. The connection was not precise enough and with the side effects of overuse, it was enough to trigger the reaction.

When the cabling for the suit cannot make a proper connection with a pilot, likely caused by discharge from overuse, it leads to one catastrophic conclusion.

The Crash hit him like a bus and he was going in and out. Having been standing one moment, then to on his hands and knees the next, gasping to breath. There was a loud crash somewhere in the distance that he thought absently could have actually been him.

All the voices around him were going in and out, like he was going in and out of consciousness. Who knows, maybe he was.

There was one sole good thing about the crash, once you crashed you wouldn’t again; mostly because you either survived by the skin of your teeth or, well.

A second experience with the crash was unheard of and supposedly impossible, the only unfortunate thing was that Hound had experienced one so long ago he’d forgotten till now.

Or he was made to forget till he was in it again.

Back before making the change to Striker. A hunter crash, now a striker one. Something deep in him told him that if he made it through it, there wouldn’t be another looming in the darkness.

His suit hit the ground and there were hands on his shoulders quickly, trying to lift his dead weight, “What’s going on?” The voice was still muffled and unfamiliar in his current state, coming through exterior audio only.

“He’s in the crash.” Breakdown’s voice was clearer, piped in through comms. There was more distant talking, more muffled as Hound’s ears went numb before Breakdown came through clear again, “No, not a crash. The Crash, move.” He was hauled back up onto the medical slab and it jarred his back some.

The light shined at his cameras was blinding, then it was like he couldn’t breathe, the procedure of drawing someone from the crash when they were trapped. It was horrific, but necessary.

Hound still couldn’t hear, seizing painfully in his seat, it wasn’t until his head hit the back of the seat and there was a deafening snap through his brain did everything seem to come back into focus.

He still couldn’t breath, so his hand came down hard on Breakdown's, which was pressed hard against a line in his side that connected him to the main air tanks. Gasping once Breakdown pulled away, he started to cough painfully.

Breakdown was staring, watching Hound through their comm line, watching the man pull himself back from the edge of death with the same stupid determination that almost put him there. After a moment, they shared a glance.

The Crash hit it’s first pilot, so who would be next?

Unable to help it, Hound went back to coughing and hacking, even as he removed his oxygen mask. The drift connection was almost painfully weak compared to what it had been last night, but then again, almost dying would make those connections weaker.

Breakdown kept watching, holding back the medics with a pained determination, “There is nothing to be done, he will either live, or he will die.” And that was as simple as it was. Heartbreakingly simple.

———

A/N

Wow, what a chapter. I swear, I did not mean for it to seem like it was ending on another cliffhanger. (Meaning, Hound is not dead, he is out the other side of The Crash) I probably need to go more in depth about what the crash is at some other point.

I hope this chapter makes sense? It’s been a rough week, which I’ll go into later this next week in a rant post. But yeah, not a fun time for me recently.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter as much as I did writing it. I tried to get it up on Friday, but I was literally midnight when I finished writing out this authors note. Go figure. I’ll reblog in the morning though to those who live in different time zones. :)

Tags

Thank you @keferon for the ever amazing Mecha AU, it has brought so many of us together. It’s fantastic.

@lunarlei68 @whirlywhirlygig @loop-hole-319 @pixillandjester @alek-the-witch @not-a-moose-in-disguise @goddessofwind8water @neurologicalglitch @dersereblogger @pixel-transformers @mrcrayonofdoom @wireplaces @twilightfreefaller @original-blog-name-2 @devilangel657 @robbin-u @miniartistme @starwold @tea-enthusiasm @valeexpris606 @celticdoggo @bird599 @agentsquirrelsgotrobots @aquaioart @thatwandercat @artdagz @seisha974 @halenhusky309 @leethepiper @cat-cassette @blue-wrens @sirassban @cosmique-oddity @garbageenthusiast @xervias @azulabutterfly @fryseem @spring-mc @echo-circuit @aghostsnail @wooblewooble @ask-glory-haddock-and-others @nonsscrapheap @magichats @iminahole247 @omgflyingderpywhale @thetrexartist @naaaafam @elegantmantaray @emichusai @waterlilykitty @diabolichare @ham4ponyo @osqindaxend @sunnyvibesanddoodles @ratatatata248 @ijustneedausernaneplease4444444 @sprook-children @fooolisher

#transformers #maccadam #the arcturus missions #tf mecha universe #tf mecha au #mecha pilot jazz au #mech pilot jazz au #hound #sunstreaker #breakdown #knockout #ironhide #optimus prime

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arthursfuckinghat · 7 months ago

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So, I've been wondering something.

In red dead online, there isn't too much use for Dead Eye because it doesn't/can't slow time down since you're playing on a server. It's still a powerful skill if you work on the upgrades for it, but one thing I noticed a lot (because I rarely use Dead Eye in online mode) is that your character really doesn't like having a low Dead Eye meter.

As in, your character will cover their eyes and scrunch up their face and wince as if they've got a bad headache (this goes for playing in story mode too). Now I know they're just visual cues for the player to see and be able to tell that the Dead Eye is low (because your aim is much worse with low Dead Eye), but the implications are pretty interesting to me.

So the question is, does having low Dead Eye hurt and why?

We know that both Dead Eye and Eagle Eye are learned skills, and things like cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco, alcohol, snake oil and cheese all benefit your Dead Eye when it's low. It's a crucial meter, just like your heath or stamina - which raises more questions in itself.

Dead Eye and Eagle Eye are fascinating to me because they're very valuable abilities that can be used at will, and have specific set limits for how long they can be used at a time.

But only Dead Eye needs regular sustenance, or "feeding" I suppose.

This gives me the impression that Dead Eye is constantly dormant, instead of something that's "turned on" when needed. Like a constant state of being on high alert that's running on the sidelines of your character's day to day life.

When your character hasn’t used Dead Eye for a while and it still drains, it could mean their brain is struggling to maintain that high level of alertness in the background. This constant readiness, or the potential to drop into Dead Eye at any moment, would be like someone constantly being on high alert in real life. Even if they don’t act on it, the strain of staying ready for danger builds up.

Dead Eye uses an almost superhuman level of focus and precision. To enter that state of hyper awareness where time seems to slow down (even if it's just the perception of it), your character's brain might be working much harder than usual, forcing the mind into overdrive. Just like overusing muscles leads to physical fatigue, overworking the brain through intense focus could lead to mental exhaustion and physical symptoms, like headaches or vision problems.

And since Dead Eye depletes like a stamina bar and requires nourishment (cigarettes, alcohol, cheese), the skill could be linked to the body’s energy resources. Using Dead Eye probably increases your character's heart rate, sharpens reflexes, and probably even increases adrenaline production, which are all very taxing on the body.

Which makes sense as to why things like tobacco and alcohol help replenish it.

Stimulants like nicotine or the rush from alcohol might help keep that mental sharpness in check or at least alleviate the strain. It's as if the brain needs to be sharpened or soothed with substances because it's working overdrive in the background, even when you’re not actively engaging with Dead Eye.

So if we treat Dead Eye as something that affects the brain’s chemistry, like sharpening focus and precision, it could also deplete certain neurochemicals or hormones over time (adrenaline, dopamine, etc). Tobacco or alcohol might simulate the release of chemicals that help regulate those abilities. The discomfort your character feels when Dead Eye is low could well be on the same level as withdrawal symptoms, where the brain is craving more of those chemicals to return to its state of super focus.

I mean, what a fucking fascinating concept right?

Dead Eye is solely tied to heightened awareness for life or death situations, focusing entirely on people who can fight back and threaten your life. So while you're using it, you're engaging with targets that could potentially harm you, and that’s why it probably has such a taxing effect. Your mind and body are fully ramped up for combat, for precision, and for survival. It’s essentially a battle skill, designed for quick, decisive violence.

You also gain Dead Eye points for killing people, so you're not just using this dangerous skill, you're learning every time you use it and kill with it.

From a world building pov, this really deepens characters like Arthur or any other Dead Eye users. They're not just "good with guns" - they're managing the toll that comes with honing such a deadly skill. And unlike Eagle Eye, which is more of a passive, less draining ability, Dead Eye seems to tap into something more intense and unsustainable. Which is really fitting for their lifestyle.

Eagle Eye is taught through patience and understanding of the natural world, Dead Eye is forged in fire and the result of a life steeped in bloodshed and conflict.

#sorry if this has been discussed before :')#something something arthur probably smokes a lot for his dead eye #that scene where arthur shoots a bottle because sean told him to was literally us seeing dead eye in real time #that's so fucking cool #let me know what you guys think <3 #don't mind me getting nerdy on main 😔💔#mick thinks #rdr2 #red dead redemption 2 #arthur morgan #red dead online #red dead online oc #red dead redemption community

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thenationofzaun · 6 months ago

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Arcane's Music Videos and Storytelling

Many have complained about Arcane Season 2 overusing "music videos" compared to Season 1 and I agree. Two in particular - "Sucker" in episode 2 and "Hellfire" in episode 3 - are particularly bothersome because instead of being supplementary to the storytelling, they replace the storytelling. Entire plotlines are told through these music videos and barely expanded upon further through writing. Despite both depicting very major events that are incredibly impactful for both Zaun and the characters involved.

First, the Chembarons' gang war. Shown entirely through the "Sucker" sequence, dialogueless. Later, there are only a few brief written scenes related to it (Smeech heading to Margot and the meeting table discussion, neither of which actually depict the war). Smeech is later killed and the gang war story is abandoned by episode 3. This would have been such a major event for Zaunites. Not just for major characters, but for everyone who has the misfortune to live in that city. If they had actually written this subplot out, the worldbuilding could have been expanded upon and given much more depth, these Chembarons with excellent designs could have been fleshed out and not felt like a waste of characters, and we would have gotten more insight into the lives of the average joes in Zaun. It would have been a natural continuation of the Chembarons' introduction in Season 1 too. This subplot could have easily taken up the entirety of Act 1, but because of too many competing subplots, it had to be cut short and summarized by the song.

Next, Caitlyn's squad releasing The Grey into Zaun. Shown entirely through the "Hellfire" sequence, also dialogueless. The impact of this action is only briefly mentioned later through dialogue, when really this would have had a huge effect on many people living in Zaun. If they had written this entire sequence out regularly, we could have had character building for the three new enforcers as they interact with Vi and Cait while moving through Zaun. We need this, as two of them don't even have names yet. One doesn't have any dialogue yet. We could have seen in detail the impact of their actions on Zaun, rather than only being told. We could have had much needed characterization for Vi. What was her reaction to this plan when it was first conceived? Did she oppose it initially and have to be convinced?

Edit: The "Hellfire" sequence also covered all the Chembarons getting wiped out and Shimmer being dismantled.

I want to experience these events as a story, not as an AMV. It's admirable how artistic and beautifully made these sequences are, but they are the epitome of "style over substance." In my opinion, rather than being at the beginning of the episodes, these sequences could have worked as end credits. They are summaries of subplots after all. The episodes themselves could have these storylines written out regularly, and then the end credits have beautiful imagery summarizing what happened.

They could have taken a page out of Chainsaw Man's book. Each episode of Chainsaw Man had a highly stylized end credits sequence, all with different animation styles, with imagery of that particular episode's plot. The episodes themselves have normal written storytelling. This way you can flex your artistry as much as you want, without sacrificing the writing. Arcane's end credits are just a black screen with text. If anything could have been replaced with stylized visuals and have nothing of value lost, it was that.

#none of these music videos have made me feel what guns for hire in season 1 did #i want quality over quantity #arcane #arcane league of legends #arcane netflix #arcane season 2 #league of legends #vi #jinx #sevika #ekko #chembarons

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olderthannetfic · 5 months ago

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When I first saw the content warning some books have I really thought this was kinda neat. People who keep complaining about "gross books" can just open the book and it removes the excuse of "I couldn't google it" or whatever. But now I've just come to the conclusion they're either as overused or underused as tags on algorithm based social media. Rape warning? Actually it's just the vaguest allusion to it. Hey did you want a warning for brutal torture? Whoopsie we forgot, but here's a useless "sexism" warning.

I basically read anything, so really this isn't a problem for me. But for people where this could be a problem this is completely bullshit. On the other hand, even though I read these things, if I get a warning, I actually want something of substance to happen to fulfil that warning. It's like a sneeze that's stuck in your throat, you're waiting for it, and then there's nothing.

Book warnings are mostly godawful. It's partly that the people who want to do them in the first place have other opinions on warnings that I find laughably stupid. It's also partly that the most useful warnings (for subtle gradations of noncon and dubcon) are impossible if you want to actually be able to sell on Amazon and you aren't one of the publishers too big for them to fuck with. Even if you're just writing bodice rippery stuff that they absolutely allow, the minute you call it anything, you're going to get booted.

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knoepfl · 6 months ago

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Mad Genius, Part |||

Hey there! I finally made part 3! I'm glad I made it because to be honest I really love the idea but I'm also not good at writing multiple part stories soo I hope this is alright? I'm already working on part 4 where it's about her only. So we can get a glimpse in the character more. If you'd like to see anything or have an idea feel free to tell me!

---

Characters:

- Viktor – A brilliant but physically frail scientist whose passion for progress often drives him to take risks.

- Reader (You) – A chaotic but genius inventor from Zaun. Once rational and sharp, your mind has spiraled into madness due to overuse of experimental powders you created. Obsessed with Viktor, you break into his lab to meet him for the first time.

Trigger Warnings:

- Mental instability and obsession

- Self-harm (implied through powder effects)

- Unsettling and erratic behavior

Masterlist

Part 1: Mad Genius

Part 2: Mad Genius

Part 4: Mad Genius

Words: 1086

Then came the photographs. The first was of Sky, unaltered but serene, her face marked with little red hearts sketched in ink. The next, doctored and grotesque, showed her screaming, her eyes hollow and empty, her skin marred with sores. Viktor recognized your work—your powders. Finally, there were pictures of you. Some were disturbingly intimate, your smile innocent as your fingers toyed with a vial of Crimson Powder. Others were chilling: your face twisted in a mad grin, powder dusted across your lips like war paint, your eyes filled with manic glee.

---

It had been a month of hell. Viktor’s life had unraveled in ways he hadn’t anticipated, each day punctuated by your lingering presence—though you were nowhere to be seen. The letters began innocently enough, reminders of your obsession inked in looping, elegant script. But they quickly grew darker, their contents escalating with every message. You described dreams of your future together, blending them with threats that sent chills down his spine.

He had avoided confronting you for weeks, hoping you would simply disappear. But the last letter left him no choice:

“Viktor, my love, I’m growing impatient. You and I are destined to change the world together, but you keep ignoring me. Perhaps Sky will convince you to see reason? Meet me at the old factory by the river at midnight. If you don’t come... well, I’m sure you can imagine the rest. Don’t make me do it.”

The factory loomed in the distance, its rusted silhouette rising like a skeleton against the blackened sky. Viktor’s cane tapped against the cobblestones, the sound sharp and deliberate. His chest felt heavy, his breath shallow. He gripped the strap of his satchel, inside of which he had packed vials of antidotes—precautions he prayed he wouldn’t have to use. His mind raced with strategies, though he knew none of them would matter. You were chaos incarnate, unpredictable and dangerous.

The factory door creaked open, revealing a cavernous interior lit by the faint glow of dangling bulbs. Machinery stood like rusted sentinels, their shadows stretching ominously. The air smelled of oil, mold, and something faintly sweet—powder residue.

“Viktor!” Your voice rang out, high and melodic, echoing through the space. He stopped, his grip tightening on his cane.

“Where is she?”

“Oh, darling, don’t be so cold. I’ve missed you,” you purred.

You stepped into view, descending a set of metal stairs with theatrical flair. You wore a flowing, dark dress stained with colorful smears of powder, your hair disheveled in a way that only accentuated your manic beauty. In your hands was a small glass vial filled with a shimmering red substance.

Viktor’s stomach twisted. Crimson Powder.

“She’s fine,” you said dismissively, waving toward a shadowed corner. He followed your gesture, spotting Sky slumped against the wall, bound but breathing. Relief flooded him, but his fury quickly returned.

“You’ve gone too far,” he snapped, his voice sharp and unyielding.

Your face fell for a split second before twisting into a pout. “Too far? No, no, no. I’m doing this for us, Viktor. Don’t you see? Everything I’ve done—this powder, this work—it’s all for you.”

“For me?” He took a step forward, his voice trembling with controlled rage. “You’ve poisoned people, terrorized my colleagues, and now you’ve dragged Sky into your madness!”

You tilted your head, your expression softening into something almost childlike. “But Viktor... we’re soulmates. You and I are the same. Don’t you feel it? When I look at you, I see someone who understands me, who sees the potential in chaos.”

He recoiled as you reached out to touch him, his cane tapping against the floor as he stepped back. “I see someone who has lost their way,” he said coldly.

“Lost my way? No. I’ve found it. And I want you to find yours too.”

You held up the vial of Crimson Powder, its contents swirling like liquid fire. “Do you know what this does?” you asked, your voice soft and teasing. “It’s my favorite, you know. It turns love into rage, affection into destruction. Isn’t that poetic?”

Viktor stiffened, his knuckles whitening around the handle of his cane.

“And it’s not just Crimson,” you continued, your tone growing more animated. “There’s Sapphire—oh, the despair it creates is delicious. Emerald... well, I think you’d enjoy that one. But my personal favorite might be Magenta.”

You took a step closer, the vial glinting in your hand. “Would you like to see how it feels, Viktor? To be consumed by love so pure, so obsessive, that it hurts?”

“Enough!” he barked, his voice echoing through the factory. “This isn’t love. It’s madness!”

Your eyes narrowed, your smile fading into a grim line. “Don’t call me mad,” you whispered, your voice trembling with anger. “I’m not mad. I’m visionary.”

He met your gaze, his voice low and steady. “You’re alone.”

The words struck you like a slap, and for a moment, you stood frozen, your expression unreadable. Then you laughed—a sharp, brittle sound that echoed through the room. “Oh, Viktor,” you said, shaking your head. “You think I’m alone? No, darling. I have you.”

Before he could react, you hurled the vial of Crimson Powder at the ground. It shattered, releasing a vivid red cloud that engulfed the room. Viktor stumbled back, covering his mouth with his sleeve as the powder burned his lungs and eyes. The effects were immediate.

His vision blurred, his heart racing as a wave of uncontrollable rage surged through him. He gripped his cane so tightly that his hand ached, his mind clouded with violent thoughts he couldn’t suppress. His eyes darted to Sky, still slumped unconscious in the corner. Unimaginable scenarios played out in his mind—yelling, screaming, beating—acts of cruelty he couldn’t comprehend wanting, but couldn’t stop envisioning.

“No...” he muttered, his voice strained.

His body moved against his will, his legs carrying him toward her. Inside, he screamed against the urge, fear clawing at his sanity. He collapsed before reaching her, his cane clattering to the floor beside him as he gripped his head in both hands.

“Fight it,” he whispered to himself, his voice ragged. “You’re stronger than this...”

The powder’s effects began to fade, leaving him trembling and drenched in sweat. When he finally lifted his gaze, the room was empty, save for Sky, who stirred weakly in the corner. You were gone, leaving behind only the shattered vial and a note scrawled in your elegant handwriting:

“This is just the beginning, my love. I’ll be waiting for you.”

---

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emo-hermit · 21 days ago

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A bunch of HCs and small analyses that I remembered from my Live Feed document on watching AVA. Aren't to be taken too seriously but I think I'll stick with them.

Separated screenshots and some fun writings below:

for the first one, I felt it'd be fun to note how I found the colour gang acting a bit like young teens during AVA S2/AVM S1. The one that differentiated from this was Purple, who I felt had a personality like a 17 year old who felt they had to "be better" than their younger peers, also wanting full control or to be seen highly. They still acted childish, of course, hence 17. As the seasons progress however, especially by the start of AVM S3, the group mature into an age range that sits comfortably between 18 and 19. In comparison, Purple regresses emotionally into more childish manners, which I notice gave him a common "youngest of the lot" hc. This is because of him finding a parental figure in KO and therefore feeling safe to return to childish mannerisms.

unpictured is the fact I also gave purple an autism HC alongside yellow. red's adhd is already pseudo-canon (not stated in media but talked about by Becker) so i like to call the red/yellow dynamic the AuDHD pairing.

The race HCs were brought upon by the matador short, where I thought "for the sake of niceties, i'm assuming Green is just latino now", which I honestly had a lot of fun with. In comparison, I had a lot of fun with the idea of Yellow having albinism and therefore nystagmus (if you saw my previous post on the fandom art styles, Yellow is specifically depicted using the HC). I wrote this on the Live Feed:

Autism + nystagmus (an eye condition) = poor hand-eye coordination, in theory

A thought I had with Blue was from my personal feelings that Becker using Blue for AVAddiction and still keeping the whole netherwart thing felt very "good on paper, a bit hypocritical in retrospect". So, the concept came to mind of netherwart being an analogy of alcohol rather than a substance. Of course, the message still stands, but alcohol to a lot of people is seen more casually in comparison to what the buttons referred to. It also made me think of the common "chronic pain" HC given to Blue following AVM E20, and the idea that the whole buttons thing/netherwart overuse could be a result of Blue trying to avoid chronic pain/numbness.

Either way, I've been doing a lot of thinking since my uni trip (which I had a lot of fun at, but there was no service, so I had to just think of ideas in my sleep and return to them later). I was wondering if there was actually some AVM/AVA fandom discord somewhere, or just places for general community. I want to talk to people rather than fighting for Tumblr notes. In other words, I'm asking to meet people and make friends in places outwith this algorithm. Care to help?

Anywho this isn't much drawing at all, mostly words, but I appreciate your attention. I'll maybe make more stuff soon as the academic year closes up. There's a Green x "Above and Beyond" by RIProducer art piece with my name on it. Have a good one! - EMO

#animation vs minecraft #avm #ava color gang #alan becker #i ain't tagging them separately. i'm not sure if this fandom appreciates 5 minute stickmen on the tags haha #should clarify for the sake of it: i have personal experiences with addiction/ASD/PTSD/the like. ofc my opinions may differ from others #tw addiction

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updatingranboo · 2 years ago

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tips and tricks for ranboo fans to make chat (and the community) a better place!

hello! since the rebrand is coming up i decided i wanted to make a list of certain things ranboo fans should be discouraged from saying/doing, to keep chat/the community fun and keep from pushing ranboo back into the box of a streamer they no longer are. i personally don’t believe in cringe culture, i think everyone should be able to have fun, but at this point certain jokes and comments restrict ranboo from growing as a person and do reflect on the community. this got a lot longer than i was expecting, apologies! lets begin.

gender jokes (“genderman”, you stole my gender etc)

a super obvious one. getting gender envy from ranboo is normal and super awesome! nothing wrong with that. but the jokes have been overused. the genderman one specifically has ties to minecraft which, while ranboo doesn’t care about being associated with minecraft, it’s still a tie to their past content they would prefer to leave behind. this is the same level as calling them an “mcyt”, while there’s no harm in it and ranboo really doesn’t care, it’s also just.. not really true anymore and hasn’t been for years. let them grow!

2. *blank*boo/general spam

*blank*boo is nothing but spammy. all it does is fill up chats and replies and brings no substance to anything. spamming “tiredboo” when they yawn, “madboo” when they yell etc. is not contributing anything meaningful to a chat. it’s annoying and drowns out actually fun and interesting comments. as for general spam, you can use a few emotes here and there! but when all you do is spam emotes it again just floods the chat. when ranboo tells chat to stop spamming, you stop. don’t take it as a challenge, you will just get banned. yes there is delay, but you can see what other people in chat are saying too. spamming lag, telling them they missed a dono, anything where you find yourself repeating what other people are saying to either get their attention or just because (except for using bttv emotes) just don’t. i know most people are used to speaking in a fast chat, but the truth is chat doesn’t have to be fast! if you don’t have anything to say, you can just stay quiet. even spamming the PETTHEMODS emote defeats the purpose !!

3. telling off chat

slightly related, you don’t have to tell off chat either. going “chat stop” “oh my god chat” just adds to the spam. change the subject! ignore the spam and let the mods take care of it. focus on reacting to the stream and being silly, not being backseat mods.

4. the swearing obsession

ranboo is almost 20. they make so many innuendos every stream. they are heavily considering adding a mature warning to most streams from here on out, and as we have seen they no longer are the “family friendly” kid who they used to be. he can say shit and fuck and people can be normal about it. you don’t have to say LANGUAGE or go THEY SWORE ?????? he’s an adult and can swear. all of his friends swear and a huge portion of us in the community do too. it is not a big deal

5. telling ranboo what to do

back seating in video games, as well as in other situations when it’s NOT ASKED FOR is not fun. let ranboo do what they want. this applies to just general things too- you don’t need to tell ranboo to go to sleep. they can make that decision themself. again, he’s almost 20.

6. assuming ranboo is uncomfortable with something

it’s always good to be careful about respecting boundaries! but don’t confuse your own boundaries for theirs. ranboo has said many times that if something bothers him, he’ll talk about it! it’s safe to say they are more uncomfortable with you harassing an artist for drawing something you personally don’t like, over the actual art itself.

7. the chat hopping/mentioning ranboo unnecessarily

we all love ranboo. that is very obvious. their friends love them too! but when you go into one of ranboos friends chats or comment sections and start either asking about ranboo, telling his friends to play with them, or making unnecessary references to their content, it makes their friends want to do things with them less! streamers are their own people. there’s nothing wrong with watching one of ranboo’s friends streams because ranboo is there, i do it all the time. a lot of us do. the biggest thing is to be RESPECTFUL to the person who’s stream you are watching. if you chat, chat to the streamer! you don’t have to mention ranboo. or, just stay out of chat if you don’t think you’ll be able to stay on topic. you don’t have to speak in chat! there is the flip side of this, don’t bring up other streamers in ranboos chat unnecessarily either! no one cares if you saw two colors and it made you think of something unrelated. it’s so disrespectful to the streamer to do this.

8a. unnecessary negativity

the internet can be a very negative, reactionary place. seeking out negativity just for the sake of an argument is unhealthy and can also expose others to arguments that they wouldn’t have had to see. bait, obvious unchanging bigots, and also people who just don’t like ranboo (which is valid!) don’t need to be engaged. in the case of trolls, bait and bigots, they only bring negativity and are there to cause arguments. don’t give them the attention they want. As for people who just don’t like ranboo, you can leave them be too! Not everyone has to like ranboo. he can handle it, you don’t need to defend him or try and change someone’s mind. now, unnecessary negativity does not equal call outs/criticism!

8b. please criticize !

if something happens in the community, or from ranboo directly that hurts you or makes you uncomfortable, don’t be afraid to say something and help make us all better people! ranboo wants criticism. if it’s purely in the community, try reaching out to the other person first! often things can be settled privately so as to not hurt others by dragging them into the conversation or making things heated and causing people to attack each other. on the other side of this, if you see criticism from someone and feel the need to defend ranboo: don’t. if you are affected by something (ie. you are a person of color and the topic is racism) feel free to add to the conversation! if you do not have an opinion on something (ie lesbians call out lesbiphobia, and you are straight) keep it to yourself. let the people actually affected by something talk and have an opinion, and support them. it may feel like people are “attacking” ranboo (or you!) but they are not. they are real people with real, valid feelings, who want to feel safe in a community when in real life, they may be constantly victims of horrible things. listen first. if you still have your own opinions, reflect on them and why you feel the way you do, and dissect any implicit bias you may have. these are all important things that keep a community safe, happy, and mutually respectful!

ranboo encourages everyone to be good people and use common sense. remember when you say something, people other than ranboo see it too! every account has a person behind it, so treat each other with respect and help make the community a more fun and safe place for everyone to be in. ranboo has no tolerance for bigotry, racism, misogyny, antisemitism, ableism, and so on. remember to be aware of the things you are saying, and if you don’t know why something is wrong, look it up or try asking someone politely!

thank you for taking the time to read all of this! this list is non exhaustive. there are plenty of other things you can do in the community to make this a better place, from uplifting the minorities in the community more, to supporting artists by reblogging/sharing and commenting on their art, and more. at the end of the day though we are here because we love ranboo, so by following guidelines like these and putting in the effort, you show ranboo and the other people in the community you care and make everyone proud.

that’s all for now! keep boobing!

#ranboo #not updating ranboo #technically #sorry if any of this is worded weird! i wrote it at 4am

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punkrorschach · 8 days ago

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Ok super genuine question about the whole porn addiction debacle. Ik hearsay and anecdotes aren't a source but I've deff heard of ppl who genuinely spend so much time (and money) on porn that it ruined their lives. Wouldn't that be considered an addiction? If not what would you call it then? Just a very poorly managed bad habit? And does the same go for gaming or gambling addiction? Thanks in advance for ur answer.

there is absolutely room in the discussion for "unhealthy habits" which can be anything you're doing too much of or doing to the point it is negatively affecting your life.

we classify things as Addictive when we have large scale evidence that engaging with them will lead to long term addiction in the majority or at least a large portion of people. alcohol is one of the grey areas because it is so commonly used socially, so addiction to alcohol becomes a statistical minority despite being one of the harder things to quit and one of the more medically harmful things to be addicted to. x

which brings me to my next point: we define addiction by the physical affects it has on your body. x there is growing pushback in the psychological community against even defining things like gambling or "shopaholics" as addictions because they don't come with physical dependance or withdrawal. if you stop taking heroin cold turkey it Can Kill You. the same is not true for gambling or pornography.

i think we heard "addiction is a disease" and didn't really let it sink in. right now the only quick pithy terms we have for "this person overuses this thing" is "addiction" so things like gamers who don't bathe themselves are called addicts when in reality it's likely a manifestation of something like depression with dopamine seeking underlying that. Substance Addictions start out as dopamine seeking or pain numbing and then lead to Substance Dependance. that's why we have things like methadone and suboxone; your brain and body have been rewired to only experience pleasure through the drug. we have no evidence the same is true of porn.

i will say this as well: there is infinitely more evidence that things like gambling are a problem (mental illness wise) over pornography. the foundation of the debate over porn addiction is rooted in the idea that porn and sex and masturbation are shameful and i refute that wholeheartedly. it is by and large a right wing talking point to shame natural sexual expression and there is not a lick of evidence to back it up.

#ask #gaymer-tran

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toxicpineapple · 1 year ago

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writing tips masterpost

hello to my loyal tumblr followers... i am often asked to give writing advice but usually when people ask me this i'm nooooot completely sure what to say despite having a ton of advice to give. it's such a broad question when there are so many different things i can advise on, right? so i thought i'd make a sort of writing advice masterpost where i can compile the tips that i think people specifically in fandoms could benefit the most from hearing, OR that i wish someone had told me when i was still finding my footing as a writer.

hopefully this will be helpful to you. i am putting all of the advice under a read more since this is going to be a long one. let's roll!

✬ paragraph breaks are your friend

the fastest way to get me to stop reading a fic is if i click in and see that there are NO paragraphs made and the entire piece is in a huge block of text. no matter how good your work is, i just can't read it at that point. the giant paragraph makes me get lost, i can't focus on anything... it's a huge no.

the trick is you want your paragraphs to sort of act as a guide for your reader, taking them through the story, keeping them engaged. do not be afraid to do short paragraphs! i can understand wanting to shy away from one or two sentence paragraphs for fear of not having "enough substance" in your work, but the truth is, a thousand short paragraphs is ten times easier to read than a huge block of text.

realistically, you want to have a good amount of variety in your paragraph length. variety is key. readers will notice when your work gets formulaic, and some people will like that, but for others that can turn people away from your work. but don't force it! a paragraph should end at the end of a statement, or if the paragraph is getting too long then cut off the thought and continue in the next paragraph with a transitional phrase.

as a general rule of thumb, you want lines of dialogue by different speakers to be put in separate paragraphs. you also want to avoid doing huge chunks of narration or exposition in the same paragraph as you introduce a new speaker. just make a new paragraph! no big deal. i guarantee you your reader will be way more engaged and nobody is going to come at you for doing more rather than less.

✬ make sure the reader knows who is speaking and when

you don't have to end off every line of dialogue with "she said" and in fact i would really recommend you don't. but you ALWAYS need to have some kind of indication in the text as to who is speaking, otherwise the reader can get lost.

this doesn't necessarily mean that you always have to explicitly say who is saying what, though. if it is obvious in a scene who is saying something -- so for example, a scene where there are only two characters talking OR the dialogue has some kind of phrase, statement, etc that makes it obvious who the speaker is -- then in that case you can just let the dialogue speak for itself. sometimes in writing less can be more. you disrupt the flow of a scene if you start to exposit unnecessarily when the reader could reasonably work something out for themself.

✬ "said" is your friend too

related to the last piece of advice, here's another note: don't shy away from using the word "said".

don't overuse it, either. obviously, you don't want every single line to be "he says" "she says" back and forth, especially when they might be asking questions or shouting, in which case the word "said" probably isn't all that applicable at all. but it's a nice default. if you catch yourself busting out the thesaurus, my recommendation? quit it. just use said. it's not going to hurt you and the reader isn't going to mind.

but yeah, in the event that a character is raising their voice, whispering, inquiring -- there are tons of other words you can use in lieu of said and then an adverb. it's just context-dependent, and also, you don't really want to lean too far one way or another. like i said, variety is key. too much of the same breaks immersion.

✬ if you wouldn't say it yourself, probably don't use it in writing

another related tip. look, i get it. you want to spruce up your writing with synonyms. but the fact of the matter is that a lot of these words that "mean the same thing" on paper actually have wildly differing connotations and if you don't understand what those are you're going to look kind of silly whipping out a word you just found off the internet. we can usually tell, too.

your vocabulary will naturally grow and expand as you continue to read and learn. you don't have to try and force it to seem smarter in your writing. people who can write compelling prose and dialogue without throwing in fancy words they barely understand look a lot more intelligent than people who have a thesaurus at the ready 24/7.

✬ if there's a simpler way to say it, take it

this one can be sort of style-dependent, so if it's not your cup of tea then feel free to take or leave this tip, but in my opinion, taking a whole seven-line paragraph to describe a simple action wastes both your and the readers' time.

how many times have you read a fic where the main characters are having a conversation with these long rambling paragraphs between lines of dialogue? sometimes this makes sense! if you were writing a death note fic it would absolutely make sense for light or L to be pausing every few seconds to carefully analyse their opponent's move... but that's not always the case. sometimes characters are just making small talk.

i'm not saying you can't show off. you should show off where applicable. but there's a time and place. sometimes a scene benefits more from you taking the easy way to describe something and moving on. flowery language is great, but if you're meandering too much the reader will lose interest and attention.

✬ a metaphor is useless if nobody knows what it means

writing is subjective and highly personal. write for yourself first and foremost, and use the metaphors that feel right to you -- but the best metaphorical pieces, to me, are the ones that people can understand and identify with.

you've read a story like that, haven't you? with a reoccurring theme or motif that comes back into play at the end in a way that makes you feel so satisfied and complete? THAT'S what you aim for with literary devices like that. if you write a story that nobody can understand, with metaphors that just don't make any sense -- then you haven't really successfully told a good story, have you?

i understand wanting to have a magnum opus. i think it's easy to fall into the "misunderstood writer" mindset where you want your pieces to be so magnificent that only the likeminded will get it -- but writing is a form of communication. metaphor is just another means with which we can illustrate how we feel. you WANT your readers to understand what you're doing with the metaphors, you WANT the people who step away from your story to know what you were trying to say. you don't have to be obvious, just make it good. make it something that can be reasonably drawn from the text.

at the end of the day flowery language is just flowery language. that doesn't actually make your story good.

✬ grammar intermission

(.) period/full stop: used at the end of sentences. oftentimes not used at the end of sentences in dialogue, because lines of dialogue are considered a fragment of a larger sentence. use a period/full stop at the end of a line of dialogue if the dialogue is followed up by another complete sentence. example:

"i just went to the store," he said, scratching his head.

"i just went to the store." he scratched his head.

(,) comma: used in the middle or to separate different clauses (parts/sections) of sentences. used for incomplete clauses, AKA sections of the sentence that could not function as individual sentences. also used to indicate a slight pause. example:

she reached for the ripest banana, plucking it from the bunch.

a comma can also be replaced by a conjunction like "and" or "but". example:

she reached for the ripest banana and plucked it from the bunch.

(;) semi colon: used to separate different complete clauses in sentences, AKA sections of the sentence that are related but COULD function individually as their own sentences. example:

he sighed as he looked out the window; it had been so long since he stepped outside.

not to be confused with

(:) colon: used at the end of a line that leads into or introduces another line. example:

his fingers drummed restlessly against the window sill. it was finally happening: he was finally leaving this place.

(-) hyphen: used to connect compound words like three-years-old or hyphenated surnames like jones-smith.

(–) en dash: used to indicate ranges of time or distance, like 3–4 hours.

(—) em dash: a girl's best friend. slash j. but an em dash is used to indicate a few different things: an abrupt end to a thought or sentence, a "cut-in" where you interject something tangentially or unrelated before returning to the original thought, or a diversion in the sentence/thought. examples:

"no, listen, you don't understand—"

he scowled—an ugly look on his usually handsome features—and told her to be quiet.

it's not like she had wanted it to go that way—but when had it ever mattered what she wanted?

(()) parentheses: used to add additional context, information, or a semi-unrelated thought that would break the flow of an ongoing sentence without completely taking the reader out. example:

"no, i'm sorry. i just forgot to call you this morning," he said, looking away. (in truth, he'd sat by the phone for fifteen minutes trying to psyche himself into it, but hadn't been able to muster the courage.)

✬ show don't tell, and tell don't show

show don't tell is one of the classic pieces of writing advice that i do, often, think is correct -- but it's a little more nuanced than just never telling your readers what a character is thinking. you want the work to speak for itself without you implanting messages or themes into the reader's brain. at the same time though you don't want them to be doing too much work because it breaks immersion.

this ties into what i was saying above about simpler being better sometimes. you want to be concise especially in scenes that might call for it. a fight scene should be quick and snappy. no need to dig into the physical sensation of being enraged -- just say the character is pissed! but if a character is having a meltdown or panicking, you can get SO much more out of describing how that feels than just outright saying it.

✬ remember your perspective

another huge thing with show don't tell is that you don't want your character to be able to objectively say what everyone else is thinking and feeling -- unless that makes sense for them within the context of the story. really dig into it. DOES the character have a reason to know what their opponents, friends, etc are thinking? how well do they know the other characters? how attentive are they to the emotions of those around them?

it's better to focus on descriptions than labels in that case. say what face a character is making, describe their body language or tone. your character can have impressions, just make it clear that those ARE their impressions. and let your character be wrong! they do not have to be a completely objective source of information.

✬ when it comes to representation, if you aren't confident you can do it well, don't do it at all

i'm one of those people who's kind of of the opinion that white or cishet or otherwise systemically advantaged people have no place being the loudest voices in conversations about representation, least of all AS the representatives. if you are someone with systemic privilege and you choose to portray someone who is oppressed -- that's not necessarily a bad thing. but you need to be willing to do your research and have a sensitivity reader, and you have to be ready for people to say you did it wrong.

not much else to be said about that. your voice on the matter isn't actually all that important. there are people from the demographics involved who DO have stories to tell about themselves that will be MUCH more valuable than your perception of them, so it's honestly better to just let them tell it. that's how i feel.

✬ don't break the rules unless you know how to follow them. in other words, your rebellion should be obvious

a lot of times i see people breaking grammar or other rules and citing "stylistic" choices as their reasons why. which is all good and well, to an extent -- but you want it to be very clear that you ARE breaking the rules on purpose in a way that adds to the artistic merit of your piece.

if you don't know the rules, then it really just comes across like messy work. you both have to know how to apply the rules, and also how to break them in a stylistically significant way. if it doesn't make sense for the rules to be broken, if it says nothing... it's honestly better to just follow them. that's my take.

✬ don't be scared of names and pronouns

i said before that you want variety in your work, and that is very very true -- but it's also true that certain words like names, pronouns, etc will sort of blend into the background in writing. people don't notice them. that means if you're using a name or pronoun a lot in a scene to make it clear who exactly is being referred to...

hey. look into my eyes. breathe. it's okay. you do not have to resort to highlighting arbitrary characteristics of the characters. i know. just breathe. it's okay. use their names. they have them for a reason. it's all good.

this isn't to say that you SHOULDN'T do that, just do it when it makes sense to. if height is something the characters are noticing then use "the shorter boy". if age is relevant, eye colour, hair colour, whatever -- go ahead and use them. but don't be excessive with it. i should not be having to read the bluenette more than i'm reading shuichi's actual goddamn name.

✬ read

this is the huge one. reading other works informs your writing. it teaches you skills and tricks you can use. it helps expand your dialogue and your world view. it might even highlight to you things you do too much of in your own writing. read, all the time, whenever you can. it doesn't have to be books. it can be fanfic, articles, whatever -- just keep reading, because you will be passively absorbing knowledge during that time and it'll help you grow as a writer.

✬ practice

BOOOOOO TOMATO TOMATO TOMATO! SHE SAID THE THING SHE SAID IT!

but listen, it's literally just true. i write almost every day for at least a couple of hours and i have been on a trend of consistent growth for the past five years. go read my fics from 2019 if you don't believe me. i've grown fast and i've grown constantly. you just DO grow through constant practice, even if it doesn't always seem that way.

not only that, but you start to build confidence too. writing a lot helps develop those muscles to a point where you start to realise that you ARE that good and you DO have that dawg in you. or whatever. you just have to keep at it. you're not going to magically improve thinking for six months about how you want to be a better writer without practicing anything about it.

✬ yeah, betas are good

you want to have a good editor. i know that that can feel like having someone ELSE be the reason your piece is good, but that's genuinely not it. a beta reader is a second pair of eyes on your work, someone who can tell you about the issues and mistakes you're missing. they'll tell you when something doesn't make sense. they'll point out your punctuation errors. you don't NEED to have a good editor for every crummy little oneshot... but it's good to have one.

✬ numbers are fine and all but don't compare yourself to other people

i think almost everyone in some kind of creative pursuit wants to get some kind of acknowledgement for it. we want to be the best we can be, and it can be discouraging to receive utterly no validation along the way! i get it!!

just don't get caught up in crunching the numbers. you are not as good as your fanbase is. you alone know your skillset and you absolutely should not say "well this other writer got THIS much attention" because that'll just wear you down. it really will. external validation will only keep you going for so long, and you'll always end up needing more. you HAVE to build your own personal confidence first or you'll crash and burn.

✬ read your writing out loud

there is no quicker way to see if something is wonky in your prose than reading it out loud and seeing if it makes sense verbally. i highly recommend this to anybody who struggles with sentence flow. it's a good one.

✬ yippee hooray!

🥰 and that's what i've got for now. thank you if you made it this far, please take all these tips as you will, it is all subjective of course, these are just the tips that help Me the most when i sit down to write something.

please feel free to ask me for additional advice (on specific topics if you could!) at any time, i love encouraging new writers and i am passionate about writing so i will gladly offer support in any way i can, including beta reading works for anybody who might need that.

take care now 💖

#writing #writing advice #writing tips #fanfiction tips

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nightlyrequiem · 4 months ago

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Be Still My Heart

Chapter 17- El Paso

Masterlist AO3 Next Previous

New Chapter Every Saturday

You're the best in the meth industry but a new product suddenly pops up. You and your boss, Valeria, must figure out who is making it so you can take back the market. All the while tension is building between the two of you.

A/N: I've found renewed motivation, I hope it shows in my writing. I'm super excited for the next chapter

Tags/Warnings: Illegal Substances, Boss Employee Relationship, Angst, Some Hurt/Comfort, Violence, Manipulation, Suggestive Themes, Smut (But Only in CH19.), Dual POV

Soft breath against your neck stirs you from sleep. Your brows furrow as you look. Valeria's head rests on your shoulder, her eyes shut. She's fast asleep, eyes moving rapidly behind her eyelids. She looks peaceful like this. Then again, most people look peaceful while they sleep. Except for people who sleep with their eyes open. They don't look peaceful. You slowly and carefully inch away from her. Getting away without disturbing her. You peer outside from behind the blinds.

The rising sun takes priority in the sky. Chasing away the night and it's moon. There are a few houses here and there. Occasionally a convivence store. You retreat back inside to the darkness of the RV. The RV lurches and your heart leaps. Rick quickly rights it and continues. Something rolls out from under the table, and you reach down to pick up. You feel the jagged edges of broken glass. With your eyes adjusted to the dark you look at it. You've worked with enough of these to recognize the narrow rim and short side-arm of a filtering flask. Though it's only the top part. You wonder what a filtering flask would be doing here but don't think much of it. You get up and put it into a drawer to be disposed of later.

An hour later the group finally makes it into El Paso. you watch as the buildings become significantly less clean, and the streets become more crowded as you travel to the less taken care of side of town. The people you see on the sidewalks and hiding in the alleys look strikingly familiar. You're in the neighborhood that every city has. Houses that would benefit from a new coat of paint, chain-link fences, trees. It's disgustingly nostalgic.

Alain and Valeria are on the other side of the RV, sat at the table looking over a map. You're on the eastside of town. According to Valeria your destination is about three blocks away. Finally. You're starting to really hate this RV. You watch as the houses get worse in quality, going from nostalgic to slum. The RV stops in front of one. There's a rusted white car in the driveway. Both it and the house have seen better days. Perhaps once great in their primes now left to rot due to overuse and under maintenance. You frown with disapproval at the house. The yard is full of junk and a rain-rotted couch. Spray paint decorates the dented garage door, and an empty dirt bed lies where flowers may have once flourished.

You look up, the gutters are packed with leaves and one of the upstairs windows is boarded up.

"Is this place abandoned?" You ask. Just as the words leave your lips the door to the house swings open. The man loses his grip on the door, and it smashes into the wall. Based on the dents you can infer that this probably isn't the first time this has happened. The man looks as dilapidated as the house. Stained baggy pants and knit sweater with greasy hair tied up into a bun.

You exit the RV last.

"Hey!" The man says, grinning at the group. His eyes linger on Valeria for a second too long and it ruffles your metaphorical feathers. "Welcome, welcome. Come on in." He leads you inside. It's not much better. your shoes stick to the floor as you walk, and the foyer closet door doesn't seem to shut properly. Something small darts into the darkness. This house has its own ecosystem.

"So uh," He starts, sidling up to Valeria. "You're in the big bosses inner circle yeah?"

Valeria spares him a single glance. "Yeah."

"Cool, cool, do you think you could talk him into-"

"No."

You're filled with satisfaction at the dejected face he makes. He didn't do anything to warrant your vitriol, but you can tell by looking at him that he's nothing more than a sleazy leech. The type to never work for anything he gets and then complain he never has anything. He could easily get into the illegal underworld and make enough money that way but he's too lazy and unreliable. Or so you think. Maybe you just don't like the way he stares at Valeria's ass as she walks by. She didn't kill her way to the top for this.

The kitchen is crowded with junk and old bags of takeout. On the counter is an unrolled joint, weed still in the paper.

"There's only three rooms, and one of them is mine so you're going to have to share." The man says, scratching behind his ear. He's filthy, you wonder if he has lice. You'll probably get some just by sleeping here.

"Alain and I can share a room." Rick says. He leans against the counter. You look at Valeria, you'll be sharing a room. The idea puts you off a little, but at the same time it makes you feel oddly comforted.

The man, who you finally learn the name of through Valeria muttering it warningly, speaks up after ten or so minutes of pointless talking.

"Make yourselves at home, I'm happy to be of use to Sin Nombre." Mark blabbers. "Big respects to him, man, I mean me and my buddies love his product it's the best meth we smoked, not like that weak shit that's sold around the corner y'know?"

Valeria walks off without responding. You hesitate, not sure if you're supposed to stay or follow.

You don't really want to listen to this guy rate the different meth he's smoked so you follow Valeria down the dim, narrow hall. She opens the door to one of the spare rooms. Your face sours with disapproval. The bed a single mattress with dubious yellow stains and a cig-burned blanket. There's a meth pipe discarded in the corner and the blanket covering the window is falling, the tac it's hung with coming loose.

"This place is shit." You say bluntly. You're not one to judge someone else living conditions. Everyone is making do with what they got, your dingy little apartment is certainly no place of luxury but it's like this guy is making it his mission to keep his home as dirty as possible.

Valeria sets down her bag and sits on the bed without a care. You grimace, imaging all kinds of bacteria climbing up and clinging to her legs. She scoffs at you.

"Not feeling at home here, princess?" She coos. "Want me to check under the mattress for peas? How about I douse the room in bleach?"

You give her an unamused look, hesitant to set down your own luggage. "Being comfortable in this amount of filth says more about you then it does me." You say.

"It says I'm less of a priss." Valeria says, sounding very amused.

You roll your eyes and set down your bag in the least dirty corner. "So which one of us is sleeping on the floor?" You ask. "It can't be me, because I'm injured."

Valeria raises a brow.

"Neither of us." She says. "We're adults. We can share a bed."

"Right." You nod. You aren't sure if you're looking forward to that or not. There's a buzzing in your chest that could be excitement or anxiety, you aren't very sure.

"But if one of us did, it would be you." Valeria says calmly. "You're not that injured anymore. You just have a bit of limp is all."

"Limping because I'm injured." You say pointedly. "Besides, I think this place has rats, and rats would be attracted to my still-healing wounds."

Valeria shrugs indifferently. You decide that she probably wouldn't care if she woke up to find that you have been eaten by rats.

Information is shared that night around the dinner table. Valeria's contact, despite being an avid meth user and apparent meth connoisseur, hasn't been able to tell where the peculiar orange meth came from. It's the dominating product in El Paso. Mark, the contact, swears that he only buys Sin Nombre's meth. You aren't sure how much you believe that. Perhaps you should dye your product. Something to make it stand out more. For branding purposes. People are attracted to pretty things, and you think light pink crystals would be pretty.

#cod mw2 #valeria garza x reader #valeria garza #valeria garza x fem!reader #valeria garza x you #cod x reader #valeria garza cod #modern warefare ii #cod mwii #cod

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handofmidas-writes · 9 months ago

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I didn't hate season 4. Or the love triangle. Let me explain.

Okay. Listen. Listenlistenlisten.

I know everyone is pissed about season 4. I hear you. I get it. I don’t think anyone is thinking that this was a well-executed season. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

But hear me out.

The bones of the thing are good in principle. The arc makes sense at the heart of it. Again, hear me out.

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

The entire series is about saving the world by stopping the apocalypse. And as all the Fives in the deli have shown, the apocalypse is due to the Hargreeves siblings’ very existence. Reginald has fucked over every iteration of the kids to bring back his wife who died as a result of her own actions in creating marigold. He couldn’t give her up, and he was willing to rip universes apart to get her back. Five has tried time and time and time again to save his family, ad infinitum. He knows how to solve the problem, but he can’t bring himself to do it. Until this Five. They are, as we here on tumblr love to say, doomed by the narrative.

Five also says the universe loves balance. We saw this in season 3 with the kugelblitz. They were an impossibility in the universe and the kugelblitz formed to solve the problem by eliminating them. Impossibility for impossibility.

One of the Fives founded the Commission to solve the problem. It happens every time.

Abigail’s purpose through the whole season is to ensure the Cleanse, to reset the universe to the correct timeline. She shouldn’t be there. The kids shouldn’t be there. They are a direct result of Reginald releasing marigold into the world to enact his plan of resurrecting Abigail. The universe is trying to return to homeostasis, balance itself. And in every iteration, it needs to rid itself of the marigold, the substance that shouldn’t exist in the first place.

Ergo, the principle is sound, in my opinion.

The execution was shit, as I’m sure we all can agree. I don’t like that they cease to exist, necessarily, and I think there were other avenues they could have taken to avoid that. But I can stomach it.

The shit storm is certainly in the characterizations. They did almost everyone dirty in some way or another. I think it could have been saved with a few more episodes, but we know that Netflix sucks like that and the season definitely suffered after the strike. I won’t be going into all of the characters just now since I’m apparently a loquacious bitch and don’t have the space. (And I know this is all being screamed into the void anyway. None of y’all will be reading any of this lol.)

Here’s where I’m going to ruffle feathers. I buy into the whole Diego/Lila/Five thing. And here’s why. (Cut here because this bitch got real long. Like 1.5k words long. Oops.)

The first episode is called “The Unbearable Tragedy of Getting What You Want.” Is it a slightly contrived Now That We’re Not Superheroes Our Normal Lives Kind Of Suck thing? Absolutely. Has it been overused in basically everything ever? You bet. Does it kind of work here? Yeah, actually.

These people legitimately don’t know what to do without powers. They’re coming fresh off the heels of trying and failing to save the world 3 different times. That takes adjustment. A lot of adjustment.

Lila and Diego fall into parenthood, which is a huge thing in and of itself. It’s not surprising that Diego turns into the stereotypical suburban dad, the breadwinner because that’s what he thinks his role should be. It doesn’t fully make sense that Lila turns into a housewife, but I can see her trying to throw Diego a bone and trying to make up for how she’s treated him in the past. Not to mention proving herself as a mother.

It makes sense for Lila to want to get out of the house and do her own thing, without her kids and her husband. It makes sense for Diego to resent his low level job when all he’s wanted to be is a badass and a hero. Their frustration about their family life is understandable. Being a family is a lot of effort. There’s a loss of freedom when people become parents. And these are two headstrong people who have things to prove to themselves, to make sure they show up for their kids. Which leads to breakdowns in taking care of themselves and their relationship to each other.

Now, the sticky bit comes in with the whole love triangle. I know folks hate the subway subplot. Here’s the thing, despite how it was executed, it makes sense, too.

It’s an interesting way to portray the Many Worlds Theory and it’s plausible enough that Lila and Five connect in this way because of their shared knowledge of the Commission. It makes sense that they explore it together.

Which leads me to this: Five is incredibly lonely. He spent 40 years alone in an apocalypse and tried everything in his power to get back. He fell in love with a mannequin because she was the only thing keeping him tethered and sane-adjacent (sweet Dolores, we’ll never forget you, queen). He was desperate and alone and persisted because he had to.

He joined the Commission to try and stop said apocalypse and then inadvertently ended up in another. He’s tired of trying to save his family over and over and now he’s not sure there’s anything he can do to save them this time. And now here he is, stuck in the labyrinthine Subway of Fuckery with Lila and they can’t get out. Lila who has the same training as him, the same knowledge base, who went with him to the remnants of the Commission in season 3 and tried to save them all. Let’s call them frenemies, I guess.

And now here they are. Stuck together and feeling helpless. Enduring every fucking thing under the sun, watching each other’s backs, and they only have each other. And they’re tired. They’ve been searching for a way home for six fucking years. So, they decide to stop running and catch their breath. I won’t say it’s an inevitability, but Five is so lonely and scared. And Lila is lonely and scared and without her children. But they’re safe with each other, and they take comfort in each other, and it’s so easy to blur those lines.

So yeah, they end up together in the now infamous cottagecore greenhouse with the strawberries. And they try not to think about Diego. Is it right of them to do this? Well, no. But are people messy as hell? Yes. And are their actions understandable? Also yes.

So, to me, when Five finds the notebook and keeps it hidden from Lila, it tracks. Because he’s so fucking scared of what’s going to happen now. What if they still can’t make it back? What if they can’t save the world this time? What if it all comes down around his ears again? So he hides in easy domesticity and thinks about the solace they’ve found in each other.

And Lila, understandably, blows up when she realizes Five has hidden this from her. Because for her, this was a way to cope. To survive, as she says. She loves her children. And she loves Diego. She didn’t stop loving them. She couldn’t stop loving them. But she might just love Five, too. And isn’t that scary as hell?

People are many faceted, my friends. Does it make what she did morally right? Of course not. But does it make sense? I truly think it does.

The limited number of episodes is one of the largest contributors to the half-baked-ness of it all. There’s not enough time to flesh out a proper resolution to the whole thing. Which led to Diego’s hunch from episode 2 of Lila cheating with Greek guy/Five accidentally being correct foreshadowing. Which then resulted in a heavy confession from Lila in front of the entire family (which I was digging, just like the siblings, tbh). And then the boys started throwing punches and the whole love triangle thing went completely down the shitter (a dubious and debatable statement, I know).

So, that leaves us with Lila who is now in the middle of two brothers. Said brothers are now physically fighting out bad blood and pent up frustration. And only part of it is due to Lila.

Diego’s character is criminally underdeveloped. He was always halfway between the underdog and class clown and his characterization in this season falls spectacularly flat in all aspects. He’s a character who has fought to prove himself over and over again, and is still trying to do that here, but nothing really lands. Diego and Luther are comic relief mostly. And Diego’s role, unfortunately, ended up being a stick in the spokes of a sloppy love triangle and pretty much nothing else.

Five is obviously the favorite in Blackman’s eyes. Five is knowledgeable. Five always has an idea. Five is the one the family looks to for answers, more often than not. Five is the one who almost always opts to save his family in some way, shape, or form. And this has resulted in Five being sad and helpless, in a way. He has been building this emotional bomb for decades and across timelines without any real release or acknowledgement. So Blackman chose to have Five get his emotional release in the form of “a love story” with Lila. Doing it this way, with the limited number of episodes, left Diego’s part woefully inadequate.

No resolution really takes place here. Diego kind of “wins” insofar as he convinces Lila to take their family to the subway and she takes his hand first when they all say goodbye. Five gets the teary “I hate you for this,” after she ends up choosing self-sacrifice with the others, which we know means “I am so incredibly sad and I hate that you told us the truth because it means everything ends for real this time and I’ve had to let my family go.” Then she holds his hand, too, showing that all is forgiven, here at the end of all things.

There’s definitely not a resolution for Diego, and it can certainly be inferred that he still pretty much hates Five’s guts. I get the feeling that Five is just resigned to finally ending the cycle. He knows he’s hurt Diego badly and I think he does feel bad for it, but it’s not translated into the final scene, which leaves the whole situationship hollow and earned it the well deserved hate for hilariously poor execution.

So that’s it, friends. That’s my unpopular opinion and way too many words justifying it. I surprisingly have more I could blather on about, but I’ll spare y’all from including any more in this post. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

And for a final palate cleanser for those of you who do not care about any of this: I think we deserve a side plot of Five and Derek the Twink from the CIA. The true OTP. (Also Brisket Five, who is the real MVP.)

#oops my hand slipped #don't mind me screaming into the void #the umbrella academy #tua #tua meta #tua season 4 #tua spoilers #five hargreeves #lila pitts #diego hargreeves

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rainhadoculto · 4 months ago

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I really don't know what the hell its going on the film industry but seriouslly WHATTT? The Oscars have always been something to complain about because injustice as well as Oscarbaits have been a thing since years ago but I can't shake the fact that Emília Perez was nominated when Dev Patel directed, coreographed, wrote and acted in his first movie-which was an amazing subversive action film in every possible way, shaping foward a genere that felt dead and overused-and he didn't get A SINGLE NOMINEE? Like, are you kidding me? Yeah seeing a out-of-the-box horror film like The Substance being selected was beautiful, specially being a Coralie Fargeat fan since Revenge that was really frustrated she didn't get the deserved recognition back then. But I can't help but feel like they need more openess to those generes. Because they rarely do so! I mean why isn't Naomi Scott on the best actress category? And why isn't The first Omen nominated for special effects and cinematography?

With that said, I know it could be worse (they could have nominated Megalópolis, thanks God they didn't) and that the industry is already fucked up in every possible way shape and form but idk this time it got really weird honestelly.

#oscars 2025 #dev patel #naomi scott #monkey man #smile 2 #horror #nominees #emilia perez #film industry #film tweet #film tumblr #awards #award show

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qatheauthoress74 · 8 months ago

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Transformers One Spoiler Review

There are so many spoliers in this review. I am not kidding when I say go watch the film (five times at least) before reading this. Okay? Good.

I’m gonna be honest here. Growing up I wasn’t all that invested in the Transformers franchise as other kids were. I ocasionally watched a random episode of Transformers Animated or Prime whenever they were on TV back in the day but I wasn’t what you’d call a fan. All that changed after I watched Bumblebee (2018) on a whim and it changed my brain chemistry in the best way. Seriously, that film is still one of my comfort movies and I love it so much that I even began to write fanfiction again with several TF fics, including my Riding A Sunset story (https://archiveofourown.org/works/17648414/chapters/41617823).

But before Bumblebee, theatrical Live Action Transformer films had the infamous status of being bad to downright terrible for overusing bland human characters over the Autobots or Decepticons as well as being very inconsistent with their own established continuity. Not to mention making some characters act very out of character. Seeing a film like Bumblebee helped me believe that filmmakers are capable of telling a story that not only respects the lore but also genuinely cares about substance over spectacle outside of the well-made fight scenes. That was why I wanted to give Rise of the Beasts a chance when it came out but I was sadly a little underwhelmed. It is still better than any of the Transformer films Micheal Bay directed, but personally, that’s like saying the Eukrea 7 film “Pocket Full of Rainbows” is better than E7: Ao and the follow-up film trilogy, which isn’t saying much. Again, that’s just me and my biased opinion. Which is the whole point of this review.

But believe me when I say I did want to give Transformers One a chance. I was hopeful after learning it was going to be fully animated and would actually focus on the Transformers instead of some random humans. So, what kind of plot would the film be about it’s a prequel set on Cybertron?

Well…

Plot: The premise is the origin of the mighty leaders of the Autobots and Decepticons, Optimus Prime and Megatron, and how the two factions would eventually fight over control of their home planet, Cybertron. Both started as lowly miners unable to transform into vehicles like the other half of their race can and so are forced to work day in and day out in their underground home of Iacon City to collect the fuel source known as Energon. The reason they need to do so is because 50 cycles before the events of the story the leaders of Cybertron, The Primes, died in a war against an alien race called the Quintessons. After they were killed an important relic known as the Matrix of Leadership disappeared and it led to the Energon dwindling until it could only be found deep under the planet’s surface. Without Energon, the Cybertronians would perish, which is why Orion Pax (Optimus Prime’s identity before he became a Prime) wants to find out what happened to the Matrix of Leadership. The current leader of the Cybertronians, Sentinel Prime, is trying to find it out on the surface but has been unable to do so. D-16 (Megatron’s original name) would rather keep his head down but constantly gets dragged into whatever zany scheme Orion has come up with at the moment. Thanks to unintentionally antagonizing a Cybertronian named Darkwing the two get dumped into the lowest place imaginable and meet an overly talkative but friendly bot called B-127 (aka Bumblebee). There they discover a warped message from one of the fallen Primes, Alpha Trion, calling for aid. Orion sees this as an opportunity to find a clue to where the Matrix might be and convinces D and Bee to help him reach the surface and inadvertently brings along Elita-1, Pax and D’s former boss, who recently lost her job thanks to them breaking protocol to save another miner’s life. The four bots end up discovering Alpha Trion’s unconscious body and manage to wake him up. He reveals to them that Sentinel is not what he seems and tells them a horrible truth:

Sentinel was never a Prime and was the one responsible for killing the original Primes with help from the Quintessons.

And all of the Energon the Cybertronians have been mining was being given to the Quintessons by Sentinel as a form of hush money to keep them from revealing his true colors to the Cybertronians. The heroes later learn that he was also the one responsible for taking their cogs as newborns so they could never have the freedom to be anything else but miners. The story then goes to show how Orion, Elita, and Bee want to bring Sentinel to justice while D (who gets slowly consumed by his deeply suppressed anger) wants to seek vengeance against Sentinel for what he has done and kill him for his crimes. The story gradually unfolds as lines are drawn, and tragically, the beautiful friendship between Orion and D ends with them becoming bitter enemies under their new personas, Optimus and Megatron. The movie ends bittersweetly with Optimus inspiring his former fellow miners into becoming Autobots and bringing Energon back to the planet as soon as he was given the Matrix after he sacrificed himself trying to save Sentinel from D/Megatron’s wrath. He also gave the miners their T-Cogs back, restoring their freedom and autonomy. Optimus then sends a message to the Quintessons, telling them he and the Autobots will be ready to face them when they return. Meanwhile, Megatron forms a new faction consisting of the previous members of the dead Primes' High Guard and calls them Decepticons to remind themselves to never be deceived by anyone again.

Damn.

Characters/Voices: The film leans heavily on established lore from pretty much all of the comics, the Aligned Continuity, some Live Action stuff, and Transformers Animated. I wasn’t bothered by the celebrity voice cast. Don’t get me wrong, I will always choose professional VAs over celebrities anytime, but I genuinely thought everyone did a great job, especially Chris Hemsworth as Orion/Optimus and Brian Tyree Henry as D-16/Megatron. Henry said in interviews he was using his experience as an activist in college as inspiration for how resentful and angry D-16/Megatron sounded in wanting to change things and I say he succeeded. Hemsworth had done his homework by consulting with THE Optimus Prime himself, Peter Cullen. I personally like to believe Cullen shared his “how I became Optimus Prime story” which is summed up by how Optimus should “Be Strong Enough To Be Gentle.” The reason I think that is because I felt it in Hemsworth’s performance, especially at the end of the film. I loved how they gradually sounded more like Optimus and Megatron as the story progressed. Which is both amazing and heartbreaking at the same time because you could see from the start how close Orion and D-16 were to each other before learning about the truth. It gave me the same feelings after seeing other great friendships/sibling bonds like Vi/Power/Jynx and Moses/Ramses fall apart in Arcane and The Prince of Egypt. Also, was anyone else reminded of that scene from The Fox and The Hound Todd and Copper's promise of staying friends after seeing Optimus' flashback of his first meeting with D-16? );

Other standouts include Laurence Fishburne as Alpha Trion. He gave the Prime a grand presence that almost reminds me of James Earl Jones as Mufasa from The Lion King. RIP.

Scarlett Johansen was great as Elita-1, but I already had zero doubts since she had experienced voice acting before this film.

Vanessa Liguori did a great job of giving Airachnid a sinister personality.

And I have no idea who this “Jon Bailey” is, but he certainly gave Soundwave an “Epic” voice that I liked. ;)

Steven Buscemi as Starscream was a delightful surprise, even if I learned way more about Starscream’s kinks in this film than I would like, but hey, if he likes getting hit and choked, I won’t kink shame him.

Jon Hamm made me hate Sentinel so much. Give him an Oscar, please.

Now, the one actor who I was a bit wary of was Keegan-Michael Key as B-127/Bee. Bee has quickly become one of my favorite Transformers thanks to Bumblebee (2018), and I was worried Key would make him unbearable to sit through. But as I said earlier, the script (and possibly the voice director) made Bee come off as annoying in a “doesn’t know better” kind of way that almost leans to obnoxious but more akin to a hyperactive young adult who’s happy to have friends. Heck, the film even knows his voice could get annoying and made several funny jokes surrounding it. Also, the film knew to only have Bee talk too much during scenes that were supposed to be funny. When it came to the more quiet moments Bee was able to take things seriously as well as the rest of the characters.

And yes, I noticed Steve Blum was the racer announcer and archive guard. He did amazing as per usual. No notes.

Animation: I can’t stress enough how beautiful the animation for this film is. Industrial Light & Magic did an excellent job with the animation and I hope to see them do another Transformers film like this again. I loved the way Iacon City was designed.

The director, Josh Cooley, said the filmmakers were inspired by the Art Deco movement and you can see it from how the buildings look. It gives off a Metropolis meets Blade Runner in the best way. I also liked the way the roads and rail tracks would “magically” appear when someone was driving on them. And the way the planet’s mountains moved was also nice to look at.

And this is something that my mom liked while she watched the film was how Alpha Trion used sand to show the past and what happened to the Primes. (Who knew Alpha Trion was an Earthbender? XD)

One touch that I really like was when after the quartet learns of Sentinel’s alliance when the Quintessons you can see D-16 is sitting further away from the others and has his back facing them. A subtle sign showing the growing distance between him and the heroes. And the way his optics gradually changed from gold, orange, and finally to red was done very well.

Also, when Orion reunited with the miners he made sure to kneel so he wasn’t towering over them. It’s a nice way that show how humble he truly is compared to Sentinel and later Megatron.

And another thing was when D-16 shot Orion his left arm got destroyed. D-16 originally ad the Megatronus Prime decal Orion gifted him at the beginning of the film on his right arm, too. It truly feels like D-16 is destroying his old self in that moment.

Did anyone else notice that Shockwave and Soundwave initially had yellow optics and visors, but they were changed to red in the post-credit scene? They must've did it to match their new leader, which I'm sure Starscream was very "happy" about since he was originally leader of the High Guard and had red optics before Megatron. XD

I didn’t expect this film to get violent, but the shot of Megatron killing Sentinel by pulling him apart was brutal. The film did not kid around with its PG rating.

Nitpicks:

If I could complain about a few things I would say that I wished the film had a slightly longer runtime. At least 10-15 more minutes in the third act. I would’ve loved to see more of the final battle with the miners fighting Sentinel’s soldiers and Optimus vs. Megatron. I did mean it when I said Hemsworth and Henry killed it as Optimus and Megatron. But hey, if their performances were that good it definitely convinced me to go see the next film with them in it.

I would’ve liked to have seen other animals on Cybertron’s surface besides those metal deer but that’s just me.

Also, this is just a me thing again, but I kinda wished the miner characters (or minors XD) had more distinct voices. It’s just that since the Generation 1 cartoon, all of the Autobots were known for having unique accents like Ironhide’s southern drawl, Wheeljack’s Brooklyn accent, or Jazz’s smooth way of speaking. I mean, if the High Guard/Decepticons were allowed to have voices based on their original counterparts the Autobots should’ve had the same thing, ya know?

And how dare they tease me with namedropping “Medic Ratchet” but not actually have him appear in the film. I want my grumpy doc-bot. And Drift. I don’t think I saw Deadlock with the High Guard. Did anyone? I think I mostly just saw Seekers and Coneheads in the crowd shots.

HC/Theories:

The reason mining Energon was so dangerous had to do with Primus himself deliberately trying to halt it as much as possible. Think about it, Primus sent the Matrix of Leadership away before Sentinel could use it. I bet Primus didn’t want Sentinel to give Energon to the Quintessons which Sentinel ended up doing by making Cybertronians mine for it. Primus also probably made the mountains move while the group was on the train because we later learn it was full of Energon and not waste like Elita initially thought. Primus has been trying to undermine Sentinel’s plans all this time but probably couldn’t do too much damage as he didn’t want to hurt innocent Cybertronians in the process. And another thing to add is the fact that it looks like the planet itself is moving after Orion was dropped by D-16/Megatron so that Primus himself would bring him to the planet’s core and bring him to life as Optimus Prime because he knew the young miner was worthy of the Matrix.

I’m pretty sure Jazz became one of the first Autobots because he wanted to show his appreciation to Optimus for saving his life earlier in the film.

I like to think the reason why B talked so much in One was probably to make up for the fact that he barely talked at all in previous TF films. Though, there is another theory going around that in the next movie, the filmmakers are planning to make him mute which is why he talks alot in One. I seriously hope that WON’T happen because I’m sick and tired of Bee losing his voice so often. I know some later shows have avoided this, namely Robots in Disguise (2015) and EarthSpark, but I would seriously love the films to follow the same example.

Overall:

I love this movie a lot. I’m pretty sure if this was my first time seeing it instead of Bumblebee (2018) I think this would’ve altered my brain chemistry as much as that film did. If you haven’t seen this movie go watch it and if you have, go see it again. I WANT this movie to do well in theaters and not be a failure. The fact that it took us this long to get a film that captures the Spark of Transformers and be something both fans and newcomers can enjoy is nothing short of a miracle. We need Hasbro and Paramount to know this and Bumblebee are the kind of content we want to keep seeing and not the same movie with “Bayhem” over and over again.

Thank you. I’m already writing another blog about this movie soon. It’s going to be about why TF: One is a better Wish movie than Wish (2023). Trust me, it’ll make sense once I post it. XD

Keep on Writin’ and Rockin’

#maccadam #maccadams #transformers #transformers one #tf one #transformers one spoilers #tf one spoilers #transformers one review #tf one review

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