#may as well run with it anyway cause it adds some more story to the part that doesnt have a lot going on (the post action healing arc)

[sunflowerpie]

I LOVE when i know things the characters in a story dont, it goes from tense to amusing real fast. Big fan of foreshadowing big fan of picking up on little hints before something big happens big fan of rewatching/reading the same thing over and over and knowing exactly what the big plot twists are before they happen. Big enjoyer of narratives

[cozycottagetarot]

Quick Pick: Messages From Your Person

Hello, my loves! It's been way too long, but I'm finally back (hopefully for a long time) with a new reading as well as a bit of a rebrand. Today's reading is focused on messages from your person (kind of in the realm of a future spouse but generally a long-term partner) but I think for some of you it may come across as a current partner as well.

This is a pretty experimental reading for me. I want to start including an 'energy check' of sorts to help you better figure out if a pile is for you or not. I've done 'channelled' messages before but I felt weird about them so I've decided to give it a try again. The message aspect of this reading is just a free-flow writing of the cards that were pulled. And of course, I decided to play around a little bit more with my graphics. I'm always open to feedback, so I'd love to gather your thoughts on the set-up and reading itself.

Elle 🌿

P.S. I'm trying to re-do my masterlist but can't locate all my old pacs easily. If you come across one, I wouldn't mind if you send me the link. 🙏

Support My Work | MASTERLIST

Disclaimer: When reading tarot, my aim is to focus on self-reflection and seeking guidance. The readings you'll find here are designed to add a pinch of fun and entertainment to your day. While I might sprinkle in some advice that hopefully vibes with you, please remember that these insights aren't a substitute for any professional advice you might need-- after all, you know your journey best! For any love-related or future-focused readings, consider them captivating musings exploring possibilities. Divination inspired stories even. I can't predict the future but I do hope to add some enjoyment and insights into your everyday. Lastly my darlings, please take from these readings what resonates with you most, be it some, all or none, and leave the rest. 🌟

PILE 1

Note: Pile 1 your pile gave me absolute hell the first time around 😭. I was writing/channelling the message and the energy literally just gave way at one point, I was flabbergasted 🫨. Anyway, the second pull was much clearer, but I included notes I felt were important from the first pull in the post-reading notes section.

Your Energy:

Going through an awakening. A need or call for self-reflection. A new cycle is beginning. You must face what you are running from within, but you must also be patient. Rely on your inner strength. Needing to learn more about yourself before doing/trying something different. Potentially finding yourself in part of a mentorship. Connecting with people similar to yourself. Navigating regrets. Needing to let go of the old you. Needing to ground yourself.  A strong energy of needing to look within yourself. It is time to prepare yourself for your next journey.

The Message:

Can you let the past go? We’ve been through so much, the both of us, on our own and together. Why do you hold on to it when our future is waiting for us? I know I hurt you and I apologize. You didn’t deserve any of the pain I caused you. I don’t blame you [it felt like there was a specific reason but I couldn’t get the specifics] but I feel lost without you. I could tell you why, I want to, but words mean nothing without action. You know my story. My relationship with my mother, how that shaped me. You know I love the attention of it all, having everyone’s eyes on me. Makes me feel good.. makes me feel. But no one else’s attention mattered like yours did. I felt most close to myself with you. Please, please let go of that version of me you’re holding onto in your head. I’m taking space because I need to heal. I need to heal my relationship with me first before I can heal it with us. This isn’t goodbye; just so long for now. I’m taking time to put that me in the past too and find myself and what I want from this life. I mean it’s simple really, I want you, us. I want to give you the good life you deserve, but I need to fix myself first. Give me the self-love I deserve.

Post-Reading Notes:

There’s a mature, sad regretful energy. Someone on a journey of self-exploration. Two hurting souls who met at the wrong time. One of you may be further along in your healing journey or you’ve both healed parts of yourself and your relationship that the other one hasn’t healed yet.

First Pull Notes:

One of the first things that came to mind for me is a dark night of the soul… I haven’t heard that term in so long and I’ve completely forgotten what it means, but for someone in this pile, I feel like that may resonate a lot. Going through a tough time. Blow after blow. Your higher self or inner wisdom is trying to reach you. Introspection before a new beginning. An ending of something you don’t want to let go of?

Big things are happening in your life, and significant changes are taking place even though it might not seem that way right now. Lots of air energy. Gaining mental clarity is super important for you right now. Breakup vibes? You two are like opposite sides or motivations of the same energy. Holding on when you know you should let go. This is definitely your person (one of the cards literally says ‘You’re my person’).

PILE 2

Your Energy:

For some of you are at the end of suffering but lying to yourself about the truth of the outcome, while for others you’re running from the mistakes made along the way. Maybe it's both. You’re still grieving all that is lost, be gentle with yourself. Hard work and consistency may await you but keep at it. Adventure is closer than you think. You’re on the brink of success. Moving forward hurts, but you must. Your person (or something you've been romanticising) is waiting for you. You just have to be brave enough to step through the gate. Opportunities are coming your way. If you're interested in floral hobbies or embroidery go for it.

The Message:

I hear you. I haven’t given up on you. I hear the songs you play for me, I hear the songs of your heart. You’re my love, my soulmate. We were meant to be, you and me. You’re not crazy or insane, or any other term you demean yourself with. You’re my everything. I can feel your soul even though we’re apart. If I close my eyes hard enough, I can feel you there. I can see your sparkling soul mirroring mine... sad eyes, bright smile, you leave me in awe. I know you call to me, and I’m sorry I’m not there. Don’t hate me for it, please. I’m leaving behind all that has been holding me back… the same as you. I’m sorry it’s so lonely. I want to meet. What do you say? Impromptu trip to the tropics? Somewhere cold? I just want to escape the world with you and lie in your arms. You’re my home. I sit in your energy and let it guide me your way. But I do need time. Please be patient with me. I haven’t abandoned you. I’m finding me, for you. I dream about you so often and being the kind of person you’d inspire me to be.

Post-Reading Notes:

"I need you to run to me, run to me, lover." (Run by Hozier, the chorus specifically. I know the song is supposed to be a metaphor but I'm suggesting it at face value). A very healing energy to your person's messages. Your person could also fantasise about you a lot... in a non-x-rated 18+ kind of way. It was mentioned on one of the cards but that part of the card felt awkward in the rest of the cards. They’re possessive, it doesn't seem like in a negative or extreme way but again, that's not something that was strong or clear. There’s something to do with the attention of others. They just want to be yours completely… Honestly, a submissive yet dominant kind of energy. A protector and/or provider (take that as you will) who is absolutely smitten with you and will do anything you say.

I don't typically read for it, but one of the cards had twin flame written on it. It could also be symbolic of mirroring each other in your personal journeys in life.

PILE 3

Your Energy:

Powerful yet solitary energy. A new chapter of your life. Accomplishing a big goal. Moving to a new location. Creating a good foundation for yourself in preparation for what comes next. Balancing your energies. Sleep issues. Struggling with anxiety or managing thoughts after a traumatic event. Celebration. Having security. Authoritarian role or vibes.

The Message:

Okay, I can do this: I can’t get you off of my mind. I’m constantly thinking of you, viewing your content, trying to set myself up to run into you. I know it’s silly, especially since you hurt me. Who pines after the person that hurt them? Well, it wasn't meant to be mean. You’re just so mysterious I can’t ever read you and it or you make me nervous. I’m always worrying about what to say. I want to talk to you but opening up to others is hard. I’m afraid I’ll start crying or you’ll hear my voice crack. You’re my person. I’m sure of it. You’re everything I’ve hoped for in a person, everything I dream about before I go to sleep at night. You’re doing so well for yourself, but I want to spoil you and be there for you. Not always materially. I know you can cover that for yourself. But being there for you and spending time with you… I heard you were seeing someone. I hope it’s not true and even if it is, I hope it doesn't last. No, I’m not sorry. I’m going to work up the courage to reach out to you soon.

Post-Reading Notes:

Oh Pile 3, you’re so intimidating to your person. Secret admirer vibes. I definitely think you’ve got a very serious or professional energy and an intimidating appearance. That may especially be true if you’re taller than average for your demographic/s. The energies here feel very balanced or neutral (not heavily feminine or masculine) on both your end and theirs.

PILE 4

Your Energy:

Such a beautiful light-hearted energy. There’s such a beautiful and hopeful energy in this relationship here but it’s also possible someone or something is working against you right now. A very important decision is being made. Someone could be trying to take something from you, but keep going. You’ve got this incredible power/energy to you. Vows are super important, be it making them with someone else or making a vow to yourself to gain or achieve something. Collaboration. Having everything you need to succeed. There could be challengers coming your way but you're strong enough to overcome them.

The Message:

I’m sorry. I don’t know, that was immature of me. I swear it wasn’t like you thought but don’t worry I’m going to do better. Honest. You know, I dream about us being together and growing old. I dream about our kids. They’re so stinking cute. We’ve still got growing to do, ok, or I’ve still got growing to do. Please talk to me. You know I hate it when you give me the silent treatment. I know I disappeared on you and that wasn’t cool. I just get so… I care about you a lot. I don’t want to see you hurt. I want the best for you. I know I act all big and bad but I’m a softie at heart. That fight was weird. I don’t like it. It wasn’t like us. It meant nothing I know. Would you pack up and run away with me if I asked? I hate the distance between us right now. Im always listening to our playlist. I know I acted like I'm uninterested in something serious but I am. I want you. I miss you. I want to spoil you and give you everything you deserve. Just give me a chance. Please hear me out.

Post-Reading Notes:

The vibes while doing the reading felt like very young vibes? There’s a youthfulness there. Someone who either is actually young in age or hasn’t grown up emotionally in a certain aspect. It felt like they did something prideful that was hurtful to you and you two are in a disconnect during the moment captured in the reading. It didn’t feel like a serious fight. More so when you’re upset with someone and acting like you’re madder than you really are (your vibes) and the other person is sweating and begging you to talk to them again (their vibes).

Also, idk why but Peter Parker kept coming into my head 🕸️. I’m not feeling to analyse it so take it as you will.

[brights-place]

Would you be ok with writing Velvet x troll!reader headcanons? Platonic is good, but if you feel comfortable doing romantic then that’s good too :)

Velvet X Troll! Reader

Pairings: Velvet X Reader

Warnings: Swearing, Crimp abuse

A/N: Okay this request is a mix of Platonic and Romantic headcannons of dating and being friends with Velvet! ৻( •̀ ᗜ •́ ৻)

- Velvet wouldn't tell anybody about being friends with a troll - You were sweet and nice... your singing was amazing she never knew how amazing trolls sounded - You would tell velvet stories about how it's like being a troll - Velvet loves picking you up in her hand and letting you climb her shoulder or sit up top her head while she talks to veneer or staff who just can't help but glance at you or Velvet before cracking a slight smile when seeing you sleep on velvet's hair as velvet scowls at staff or veneer - Velvet is jealous how you sing so well but she always admires you after a few seconds staring at you with doe eyes as your small body danced - As a small troll you used your hair to swing around velvet and veneers room and Venner would clap since he enjoys it while velvet records it and save's it to her photo album called 'My Troll ( ˘͈ ᵕ ˘͈♡)' - You always accompanied her on every shopping trip, dress rehearsal and personal meetings to discuss her opportunities for her career as you cheer her on - She always stares to the floor since she watches to find you - This girl! I SWEAR! velvet isn’t very affectionate - So most of the hugging and kissing will be done by you. She may act like it annoys her but she likes it sooo fucking much! She even secretly craves it - Will defend you with her life! your so small and so cute she can't lt her cute friend be attacked by some lower class - If somebody ever wrongs you, they’re banned from all her shows! If it’s somebody on the internet, she’s fully prepared to send her fans after them. She’ll then do her best to make you forget about the person completely cause she cares for you - When you are working the two make sure you get an break and don't overwork yourself so they keep you company - Velvet likes to give you gifts as an thank you secretly when you leave buying you expensive things and when you pick it up staring at it confused she loves how you would be all giddy - She makes sure to buy you things that are expensive treating you like her sugar baby instead of her friend - The first time she gave small gifts you were confused since you didn't know who gave it to you and worriedly looked around asking velvet and veneer if this was fan mail to them - Veneer stared at you confused but noticed how velvet denied that she had any idea of the box before you even questioned her if she knew - Veneer would laugh at his sister whenever she tries to add more gifts to your desks cause she loved seeing your smile especially when she saw you wearing the gifts she bought you and leaves on your desks

- You also scolded crimp about how she was helping them and made sure to tell the authorities crimp was also apart of it... You ain't letting crimp slide she helped the two - Even though that happened you still visited them in prison even though you cried when seeing the two stare at you with shame mainly Veneer - You would smuggle in small gifts for them and Velvet would always take it quickly cause you knew she loved gifts as she always thanked you anyway taking it with an smile. - Velvet at the beginning of your relationship can’t initiate shit, so you’ll have to hug her and/or kiss her well you have to jump up and down shouting at her or you are just shaking her pants legs if she is wearing pants or pat her shoes to get her attention - When you entered her room to see her shoving a troll into a diamond perfume bottle which you froze at while veneer held a look of panic trying to stop Velvet before he froze making eye contact with you - You stared at him taking a small step back as your small tiny legs started to run from them where velvet made eye contact with you shouting at veneer to grab you while the troll that Velvet once held that was now in the bottle shouted for you to run. - You were caught and held in velvet's hand as you stared at her as she told you to be quiet telling you that this had to be done as you bit her thumb as she nearly dropped you before throwing you into the bottle with the other troll as you screamed reaching your hand out as the bottle cap shut making you stuck with the other troll.

reblogs + comments are appreciated ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

©brights-place 2024 — do not repost on another platform, copy, translate or edit my works! if you fit my DNI list please don't interact!

[mariamariquinha]

Thoughts on Hannibal

If you ask why do I keep posting ramblings no one really cares about, just know that this is, like, 40% of what happens inside of my brain. Something needs to come out eventually 😂.

I don't think I'm that "expert" on this, but I can say without a doubt that the series is very complete. The script between the seasons is very well tied together, the character development is great, the production/direction is very competent and the performances are absolutely impeccable. Everyone knows what they're doing there and I think this is my Mads Mikkelsen's favorite work so far (I may add that Hollywood wastes his talent SO MUCH. This show made justice to what he can do as an actor).

I also NEED to talk about the actors who play other serial killers in the series. Really, where did they find these people and why don't I see more of them in bigger productions? Each one brings an eccentricity so specific, so unique, and I was truly amazed by each of the performances. I'll leave the reservation for Richard Armitage and what he did with Red Dragon ... That man gave me a mix of sensations that I haven't felt in a LONG time for a character.

The ending of the story was perfect. All the uncertainties they build throughout the story about Hannibal make sense in the end, which leaves you even more in the dark about the characters. What happened to Molly and her son? Where did Alana and Margot run away? How is Jack doing after accounting for all the losses Hannibal caused him? Fuck, is Chilton really going to die at some point? When Du Maurier appears at the dinner table, has Hannibal fulfilled the promises he made to everyone else before going after her?

I looked for information about a possible new season. All I saw was a wish to do so, but lack of interest from those paying (which is very sad). Anyway, all my delay in finishing the series was my fault, because despite any laziness on my part, Hannibal is a complete series in all aspects. It doesn't promise pompous things, but it delivers beyond the great, with a discreet quality that sells itself. I know I'm going to really miss something like this.

[twig-tea]

For the BL trope ask game: 8, 9 and 10

Whew, coming out swinging! Ok here we go.

8. May/December

There really are not a lot of these where the age gap is truly significant. My actual favourite BL couple with an age gap where their ages are part of the conflict they face is The Pornographer/The Novelist though I acknowledge their age gap is probably not enough to fully be considered May/December. Rio becoming a mentor for Haruhiko does add to the May/December aspects so I'm just going to commit lol.

The concerns around their age gap came up in the sequel short more than the original series, but they definitely started their relationship in the original series at different life stages and it was one of the things that caused Rio to run from Haruhiko in the first place. To my memory there are some funny reversals in this one because Haruhiko gets his life together faster than Rio does but that means even as Haruhiko gets older they remain at different life stages and it continues to be a source of conflict.

Also just going to say, for anyone looking for old man yaoi, there is also a bonus fantasy/nightmare imagination scenario that Haruhiko pictures between Rio and his mentor that takes place in Continued Spring Life (though I would not call Rio's relationship with his mentor a romance!).

[NGL my favourite truly May/December romancecin BL is Choko and Maru from Ossan's Love and Ossan's Love Returns in which Choko is older than Maru's mother and it is a major source of conflict between her and her new mother in law until they find common ground.]

9. Fake Dating

I know I'm pretty alone in this, but YYY is one of my faves and it is actually a perfect example of the fake dating trope. For those who never saw this show, the central plot is that Nott and Pun are pretending to date in order to be allowed to stay in their apartment (the landlord loves BL). There are constant misunderstandings, pining, and it's compounded by the fact that one is also in a BGP with a different guy. There are real stakes tied to their fake dating, and the faking of the relationship becomes painful to the point that they become willing to risk those stakes (getting kicked out) rather than continuing to fake it. This show is absolutely wild and a LOT of nonsense happens, but the core is a pretty standard execution of this trope! And I love it a lot.

10. Bodyguard

I'm going to include censored projects in this because my ultimate favourite in this trope is Sleuth of Ming Dynasty. Zhou is at points of the story assigned to be a literal guard for Tang Fan, but he also just does it anyway off the clock because that's who he is. This show, to my mind, hits all of the important beats related to a bodyguard tripe including the person being protected balking at the protection and sacrificing himself so that his protector is not hurt (as well as at other times and being entirely blasé about his own safety because he trusted Zhou to protect him and had full faith he would).

Link to the original ask game post!

[tripleglitchwriting]

Hello! Hope youre doing well :D Hopefully I'm not late for the open requests! (if so do ignore/delete this)

Is it okay to ask for something platonic/fluffy with idw Drift or Tarantulas?

Whoever you feel more comfortable writing! I'm not picky.

Anyways, have an amazing day <3

Thank you for requesting! This is my first time taking a request, so I apologize if it’s not up to par with any expectations. I haven’t actually read much fluff either but I tried my best :-)

I decided to pick Tarantulas for this one because I know him better than Drift (also, spiders are cool.) I based his personality off of Earthspark Tarantulas, but this story doesn’t necessarily take place in that universe.

Spider’s Cove

CW: A little fear and stress at the beginning, but it’s fluffy other than that.

As a rule, Tarantulas didn’t interact with humans. That is, any human other than you. It’s not that he hated them or held something against them it’s just… well actually he did hate them and held something against them. Before you showed up he’d been hiding away from the whole planet, ready to scare off anyone who got too close to his cave. Yet… the night you arrived changed his outlook forever.

Rain pelted the forest like bullets in a war zone, thunder clapped behind dark, angry clouds. You were running, looking for anywhere dry enough to make a fire or to even just take a second to breathe. It felt like a miracle when a sizable hole in the side of the mountain entered your vision. Looking back on it now, it was a miracle of sorts.

You stepped inside shivering, cold damp air still pierced your drenched jacket. Despite how it may have looked the cave was leagues better than you could have hoped, perfectly dry enough to begin setting up some sort of camp. However, as you took out your supplies, a horrible realization dawned on you. Your fire starters, kindling, and matches were all too wet to be useful. At that moment, the stress of the day began to set in. Your breathing came out quick and ragged, tears began to add to the water already covering your face.

Because of this, you didn’t notice the skittering noises coming from deeper in the cave. You didn’t notice a shadow begin to creep up on you, and you didn’t notice when something very, very big towered over your crumpled form.

“Human.”

You shrieked.

“Why have you come here?” It asked, voice shaking you to your core. Turning around to look at what it was, you realized why nobody ever came out here. There was a spider. A giant spider. A giant spider that looked to be partially made of metal. A giant spider made of metal that was not happy with you.

“I- I was trying to get out of the… the rain it was… I was… please don’t hurt me…!” You saw the spiders body slump just a little bit. As you pleaded, your words came out bumbling, you expected to be crushed or eaten or something. To your surprise, no pain came.

“I… I was going to ask you to leave. However, I see why you are here.”

“Wh- what?”

“As much as I dislike your race, you… I can sympathize with your plight. If you cause no trouble, I will allow you to shelter here until the storm ends.” The spider boomed.

“…really? But… but what…”

“I wouldn’t argue if I were you.”

And so you didn’t.

And neither did he.

You spent the night in his cave, discovering what he was, who he was, and why he was here. Turns out the spider was called “Tarantulas”, and he was a scientist of sorts. He was trying to get away from others of his kind, and ended up hiding in the cave you found him in. He could also transform into a robot rather than just being a spider, which scared you very bad the first time he did it.

Tarantulas kept his promise to shelter you, even going as far to provide a “bed” made of some sort of synthesized spider silk. You chatted with him the whole night, no matter how much he insisted you sleep. Eventually, a question you asked seemed to catch him off guard.

“Why do you hate humans?”

“Well, they’re, or, you all are pests that keep messing with my plans. I can’t risk having one of you lead an enemy here. Simple.” He fidgeted with various pieces of technology strewn about his makeshift home.

“Then… why did you save me?”

“I- well, I… I couldn’t just leave you there.”

“Yes you could’ve.”

“Well, I didn’t. Maybe I just didn’t want to deal with a dying human in my home.”

“Well, thank you for helping me anyway.” He simply nodded at you. “Hey, you know, Tarantulas?”

“Yes?”

“You said some of your kind is hunting you down, they think you’re evil, right?“

“…Yes.”

“You haven’t told me too much, but I don’t think you’re evil.”

“What makes you say that?”

“For a guy who claims to hate humanity, you have a knack for making very comfy beds.” You smiled at him, and he nodded back, quietly accepting your inference.

For the next couple hours, he softened little by little. The storm went on for longer than either of you had guessed, so you did what you could to pass the time: talk even more.

You told him about your life, your opinions on humanity, and how you ended up in the cave to begin with. He found the idea of “camping” ridiculous, which made you laugh more than it should’ve.

Tarantulas was sweet, even when he needed to work on whatever sciencey project he was occupying himself with. He kept you on his shoulder while he worked in robot mode, and you get to see all of the impossible equations and indecipherable text he was reading. You didn’t understand one bit of it, but he appreciated your confused attempts to help anyway.

When the rain finally stopped and the sun came out from hiding, Tarantulas took you outside to see you off. However, the storm did more damage than previously thought. Branches lay soaked in the mud, entire trees snapped in half like twigs, and a good portion of the land around the cave entrance was flooded. You and Tarantulas looked at each other, and without a word he stepped back inside the cave.

After what was a dozen long strides for him, you were back in the lab. He set you down carefully, kneeling to make the trip easier. This giant, the same that had scared you out if your skin a day before, then let you know you could stay however long you liked.

You giggled, smiling from ear to ear, wrapping your arms around his oversized leg the best you could. He seemed… shaken up by your hug, but after a moment he took one giant finger and placed it on your back.

“Thank you, Tarantulas. I knew you were a good guy.”

“You don’t know how long I’ve waited to hear that.”

[sibillascribbles08]

Okay ramble that will probably not get anywhere but I will put it here anyway because I saw yet another post about people struggling to get any writing done. And someone in the comments made a good point. You write/draw so much more as a kid because you're less practiced and ergo less worried about the imperfections that may arise from just gunning it.

And this is true! And this is why I want to tell you if you are struggling to write much, learn to write like a kid again.

You know how with a lot of art you see processes and it always starts with really shitty thumbnails that have silly faces or just blobs of color? Then you have an actual sketch (during which the artist likely moves a lot of shit around on a digital canvas) and then possibly the inking phase or just painting which is more blobs that slowly get sharper and sharper the more the images is rendered.

Yeah uh, do that with writing. Going under the cut because long

Writing as a process is something that is unique to an individual, just like there's 800 ways to slap paint on a canvas. If you look at guide books for writing and none of it is sticking it's not cause you're a failure that technique is just not gelling for you.

And as such I can only speak from MY experience with it but like, here's how I generally stay on top of projects

A) Sketch phase! It's outline time baby! "Ughh but outlines suck" listen I know school made the outline phase of an essay the worst fucking thing ever but hear me out on this. Sure some people CAN write by the seat of their pants but in terms of long projects this does not work out for me. I'm inevitably gonna hit a point where idk where to go from there and it's so hard to map all that out in long form

Listen, outlines are not there to be formal. They're not even there to be fancy. This is time to get down the bare bones and if you have to make it only a paragraph long and then extend that paragraph into multiple then DO it.

Like hell, NONE of my outlines are formatted the same! Some are a paragraph per chapter. Others are just endless bullet points that I split up later. I'm sure in one book due to all the plotlines I'm just going to have a storyline for each character laid out in columns so I can draw lines between them. Whatever works.

And again, do not have to be formal, like here is a legit line in one of my outlines

As for the ruined building… Hypno will cover the damages……….. Right? : )

Go crazy.

B) Now that you have your baselines start working on the actual story. Do you like writing shit out of order? Do it, because with an outline you still have your baselines to reference for any important details you don't wanna forget "Remember [character] is supposed to get a scar in chapter five!" Or write shit in order, and every time you hit a lull consult those baselines to say "oh yeah that's where this chapter was going"

And hey, keep writing it like a kid if that's what it takes to get this crap down. Hit a fight scene you don't wanna write? Slap down some brackets. [Insert a fight scene here where [character] gets his head smashed in so he ends up with this concussion later like a dumbass]. Boom, done, worry about it later.

Worried the dialogue isn't flowing well? Slap open another document or grab some paper and write it out in a play format to keep it moving. Add in all the beats, expressions, and details after.

Not sure if this detail you're putting in is historically accurate? Leave an easy to search symbol in the doc so you can go back to it to research later.

Write the sappy shit. Write with poor grammar (but still like, comprehensible you know what I mean). Slip in adverbs to swap out with strong verbs later. Use a run on sentence.

"But it's gonna sound bad" Who cares who tf cares that's what editing is for ! You go back and refine that shit and clean up sentences and add in all the extra research and pull out the repetitive words.

You gotta quit treating writing like you're supposed to just swing your brush on the canvas and suddenly you have some beautiful scenery. There's layers. There's blobs that turn into refined shapes. There's blending and shading. There's fine lines and thick lines. And sometimes there's mistakes that you have to wait until it dries to go back over it again.

It is a process! Let yourself have FUN with the process.

Okay rant over.

[theseventrumpets]

♪ ♫ The Seven Trumpets Sound,   ♫ ♪

In a world similar to our own, but full of magic and strange differences, groups of cats gathered by the Four Deities of the Plain are surviving on their own, living in fear of the ones who made them who they are.

After the treacherous Age of Sin, led by the late Gooseheart of the Black, the Decks are unsure of how to handle their current situation. Bodies pile high as a cat was given the task of a God, and now the Decks must suffer from what it caused. With Valerianspade pronounced dead, The White suffering from rampant raccoon attacks, and The Red's Face being struck by visions and absent in action, the only thing the Decks have to look forward to is the next Messaging and Calling, to try and find answers...

►► Zero Trumpets Sing. ◄◄

At long last, The Seven Trumpets is finally open! A year has passed since I began planning this story, and I’m happy to say that I’m finally opening it to the public. I’m excited for this, and I hope you all are as well! The Seven Trumpets is an 18+ horror Warrior Cats Roleplay based around the concept of a biblical apocalypse, inspired by the album 'Until The Horror Goes' by the band John Congleton & The Nighty Nite. It uses a lot of horror themes, though mostly focuses on psychological horror and the idea of unreality and fear, and how those can drive characters to survive, or cease surviving entirely. This RP will focus on some darker topics, and gore will be featured from time to time. This RP may not be for the faint of heart, and I encourage you to make sure you can handle psychological horror before coming into this server! Although this RP is horror themed, it will not be purely angst and hardship. As the goal of the story is to stop an apocalypse, there will be themes of hope and light coming through the darkness, and characters finding the strength to keep pushing on even when everything is against them. Don't expect this server to be purely dark with no happiness, as that just wouldn't be fun for anyone to constantly deal with anxiety and pain and suffering all the time! If you’re interested, read below the cut to see more in-depth details about the server and story, or check out the links right below to get started on reading the lore, about the Decks, and so on. To join the RP, just go ahead and click the link to the Discord server! After you’re in, wait some time for our mods to check you over, and give you permission to join. There are no applications during Trumpet 0, unless the count of people joining gets too high to handle. Anyway, have fun, and I hope to see you there!

♪♫♪► WEBSITE ► RULES ► SEND AN ASK ► DISCORD LINK ♪♫♪► SERVER ADOPTS ► ALLEGIANCES ► LORE ON TUMBLR

"To indeed be a god, to indeed the pale white horse, With you we turn the mountains, went upside down, with you it's a force."

Here’s what you can expect from this RP:

► Oh god, there’s elemental magic built into the cats. ► It all takes place entirely in a world of my own, so there’s a shitton of worldbuilding! ► Paranormal and supernatural activities, including Gods and... Mothman? ► Non-feline animals are allowed in limited quantities! ► There’s no Starclan, just Ad Infinitum and it’s subsections! ► A completely overhauled and hand-crafted Warriors ranking system! ► A mostly liquid time based RP, both in events, roleplay, and aging! ► Morally dubious and evil characters allowed in certain quantities! ► Neurodivergent/mentally ill/physically disabled characters are allowed with no restrictions or paywalls! ► Currency system to add rare traits to your cats, AND MORE! ► Fun games, like a drawing game, trivia game, and an in-character question game, which give you points for currency!

Here's a brief rundown of how the server and story is going to be run: There will be multiple arcs in the story, each defined by a trumpet. Each trumpet will be a different arc. Within these arcs, there will be a generally planned plot to follow, but it won't be completely set in stone, and things can change based on how the players themselves interact with the story and choose to make it flow. That's right baby, this WILL be player driven! There will be a lot of player-mod interaction as the players work with each other to make the story flow, and the mods will be there to make sure their RPs and adventures and questions will be rewarding in the end! Everyone is supposed to feel important in some way, and we will make sure everyone gets their time to shine--as long as they want it, at least.

There will be major events that players can participate in, and there will be special happenings that players can go through--kind of like choose your own adventure type scenarios, just as a special addition to the general roleplaying experience. We don't want anything to get boring or tedious, so be sure to let us know how you're feeling about the RP and the plot itself, as player feedback is VERY necessary in a place like this!

The RP itself takes place in southern Illinois, by the Mississippi river, and not too far away from St. Louis. The Plain of Revelation contains four Decks: The Pale Spades, the Black Hearts, the Red Diamonds, and the White Clubs. The White Clubs are a prideful and dramatic Deck based around secrets and facades, the Red Diamonds are a skill and family-oriented Deck based around pairings and symbols, the Black Hearts are a unified and empathetic Deck based around goals and achievements, and the Pale Spades are an orderly and strange Deck based on promises and vows. They all have their own unique quirks that make them special, ranging from some worshipping the food they eat, to others painting stories in caves to remember history. All are open to join, and all are happy to accept new members!

[sm-writes-chaos]

Yes I wanna hear about your OC's.

I want the whole infodump.

Oh boy where to start???

my oc's my oc's my lovely oc's! I will gladly lay it on you!

I really really really wanna talk about TWUECUD so I am going to do that because I don't know how this information is gonna get out otherwise. these character may never have a home outside my notebook so you may as well know their story!

First up first up I must rant about the actual story itself. know how it came to be? Just try to guess I bet ya can't

I had an appointment at the hair salon (my first!) and I was priming myself to hear some juicy gossip (just like the movies!) And lo and behold I was rewarded my two girls who I think were dating were gossiping about their friends! They were talking about a Gage and Nicole and that's how those two characters came to be. The way those girls were talking about Nicole I gathered that they didn't like her so I made her the sort of villain. And they called Gage 'Hubby material' so I made him a sweetheart. After the appointment I quickly made a note of everything I'd heard and soon a teen parody show was forming in my head. I soon came up with the rest of the cast.

ummmmm this is gonna be so long I apologize feel free to not read any of it I wouldn't blame you

Anyways lets begin... with Nicole! (I swear this is just a slice of life about silly college students I swear its not this depressing, but gotta add trauma am I right?)

Nicole was a sheltered child, and the only thing she really knew was a sitcom about college life. She wanted her life to be as cool and perfect as the characters in the show were so as soon as she went to college she was determined to have her life be just like her favorite show. Tylee looked like the villain in her show and she wanted to be a Hollywood actress just like Nicole, so she dubbed Tylee her rival. Nicole get's caught up in childish things because of her sheltered childhood, like pretending to be a spy. She got teased and bullied a lot because of that at her last college, and Nicole's short temper caused her to get into fights until she was expelled.

Tylee may be the bubbliest happiest person you'll ever meet, but shes got demons that she doesn't want to believe exist. Her excitable nature causes a lot of people to be turned off from her. Tylee tries to be friendly but she doesn't understand why everyone ignores her, why they groan when she comes running, or why they never smile when shes around. She would probably start trying to hold herself back if not for having patient friends like Alison and Gage.

Speaking of Alison..she has a curse. It's more of a family trait so she doesn't see it as a curse, but it definitely is. A dark shadow that covers her black eyes. Her family is not big on smiling and plants around her house always wither. She comes from a wealthy family and legends say that the curse comes from a sacrifice an ancestor made long ago to become that wealthy... I just made that up right now I don't actually know where it comes from I haven't expanded on it much.

Mikal..Mikal Mikal Mikal...where do I even start with him. Hes an inventor, hes a prankster, hes the mom friend no matter how much he tries to deny it. Growing up his father was obsessed with training him to be a proper man. He'd always comment on his long hair, his baggy clothes, and how he didn't have a girlfriend yet. But Mikal didn't want a girlfriend. One day he met this girl who he instantly became great friends with. A while later at a party they nearly kissed, believing it was the next step because that's what their parents always told them. They had a truce and maybe even pretended to fake date to make their parents happy. One day she had to move far away though, so before she left she gave Mikal her red hair tie, and hes kept it close ever since. Now stemming from his disgust at dating women and being intimate with anyone, hes become obsessed with never having children. He sees them as something inevitable that everyone has to deal with, when in reality poor Mikal is just asexual.

Vishal Vishal I love Vishal. Hes a little sweetheart (alongside Gage) hes a little blorbo hes just a little guy aw hes so- I'm gonna stop there. He had a very sheltered childhood (I like to do that don't I?). His father had a company that wasn't very successful until when he was in middle school his fathers business was suddenly booming! He was plucked right out of the middle of class and set up with private tutors. He lived a very extravagant life from then on because his parents assumed that's what rich people do. Hardly knowing anything about the real world he wanted to go to a real college instead of having tutors anymore. Hes just a little innocent guy. Hes studying to start a business of his own and only wears suits, but he really just loves to draw and create art!

I have to go to bed now so I'll cap it at that but if you ever wanna hear more go right ahead I love to talk! theres still so many to talk about (gage,jee, people not in twuecud like norah alphair and rufus)

thank you so so much for the ask it's much appreciated!

lemmie know if you want me to continue tommorow!

[teslacoils-and-hubris]

stop holding back, talk about your oc

Anon you're playing a dangerous game telling me to talk about any of my ocs but especially ocs for the fandoms I'm currently obsessing over

So because most tf2 ocs are mostly just self inserts that don't play around with the whole joke of their characters designs (totally valid and I also do it), I wanted to play in the space and make someone that i could reasonably see ending up in tf2 in a different world, hence my anti violence hippy who somehow ended up as a merc using chemical weapons to kill people! Everything about this character is at its core an attempt at being funny that is probably only funny to me lol. The rest is under the read more cause it got long

Anyways meet the chemist! I imagine he's functionally sort of a cross between demoman and pyro, one weapon being a sort of delayed fire trap similar to demos stickybombs but instead of bombs they're aerosol gas weapon canisters that create a sort of poison cloud that gives damage if you run through it that adds up the longer you stay in a cloud. His second weapon is basically a recolor of pyros flamethrower except chemical/acid spray instead of fire, it has a certain time it gives damage for similar to afterburn. I haven't figured out what his meele weapon is yet, but I imagine he does have a two person taunt where he puts a flower in their gun

Backstory wise it's basically what I said before, he was just a weird hippy hitchhiking around, making and doing drugs, and getting suckered into newage spiritual cults. He found he was pretty skilled with a chemistry set and started playing around making highly illegal chemical weapons for fun and probably used them at some anti violence protests he was at, which eventually got him scouted by miss pauling to avoid legal charges by moving down to New Mexico and putting his skills to use. He thought he was being pulled into a new cult and just went along with it and was honestly pleasantly surprised to find out it wasnt another cult. Nice change of pace :)

Personality wise he's pretty chill. Susceptible to suggestion and 100% believes in aliens but isn't so into the whole new age stuff that it's apparent until you get to know him and he mentions off hand that he was abducted by aliens and told the secrets of the universe one night. Firmly against the idea that aliens built the pyramids or had any real role in human civilization until roswell because the aliens told him so. I imagine he talks like Bill and Ted. This is critical he may be anti violence but he has absolutely no moral problems about fucking people up and even killing them. His problem was doing it as a job but he was totally cool beating up assholes for free. He had a bit of a clash with his new job at first, but when told he could do his damn job or leave in a body bag he got over it pretty quick

When it comes to the other mercs, there's plenty of opportunity for chaos as always. I imagine he gets along well enough with engi and demo, talking about engineering and chemistry needed in all their jobs and just hanging out. I imagine a sort of running gag with scout where scout complains about his lack of game to chemist and chemist, who is a freak and a weirdo and looks like a wet rat, regales him with some story that somehow ends with him getting laid despite all odds and scout being angry/jeleous/confused/come on?? This guy?? About it. Spy hates him cause he's gross and weird and all to touchy Feely and constantly tries to get the group to be emotionally open. Smokes with sniper in the woods. Honestly kind of creeped out by medic I don't have a reason I just feel it in my bones it took a while for them to warm up to eachother. Running joke were soldier calls him a hippy and he just shrugs and agrees and makes soldier even madder

Anyways I'm not happy with my design for him yet but have this first draft design that I do like but doesn't feel like it fits the aesthetic of tf2 enough for me, the half visible emblem is based on chemical hazard information symbols and will also probably get reworked at some point

[pixiesdirt]

Time for my emotional ramble post so buckle up kid I picked up from somewhere as I tell you a story of why I started dming.

Ya girl first started up her DND after a friend of mine made one and it was amazing. I enjoyed it so much I felt inspired to make a campaign of my own with the intention of inviting them to try and impress them anyway I could in my DND. They made a strange character that I worked my ass off to work into the story/world, I listened to their critiques, their likes, and I thanked them every time for it. I respected their opinion and I acted like I didn't know why. Truth be told I never had a "father" so I was destined to view older male figures as father figures. Take a wild guess who it was this time. Sure this was definitely selfish of me and I shouldn't have given them so much responsibility because of my own traumas and etc. I can't control it but I still feel terrible. I could never be mad at them even during the end when everything fell apart.

So anyway my campaigns have always been about making that one guy happy and I failed at it. So I was ready to throw in the towel and call it quits when fucking the idea of a cowboys campaign hit me like a TRUCK! I invited some friends old and new. It was a weird bunch and of course I invited "him" to it, so I was excited to try and impress them once again, but they ended up being too busy and couldn't join which was fine but it caused me to not want to continue to run the campaign, but then my friends told me how much fun they were having. I felt inclined to stay and run it.

We had so much fun and it was the best thing to ever happen to me since meeting Adam. I streamed this campaign of course but I never let it influence my decisions regarding my campaign. I never wanted the stream to be the priority I've always wanted my players to have a good time and relax with friends. The stream was purely for safekeeping and maybe to have someone like my story but that's a tiny want vs what I have. What I have is great and I wouldn't trade it for the world so thank you players for everything. You have my mind and soul.

I should add that while way above it may come across as blame towards my old friend it is not. In fact it's quite the opposite, without them I would have never started dming, I would've never been inspired by such a creative mind who I've always wanted to recreate somehow in my own way as I was utterly amazed by their ability for story telling. I do not wish to tell a story that came from the inspiration of a friend, I do not wish to exist as if they never did, I do not want to tell another story without thanking this person. Thank you, and I apologize for a lot.

My players as well I thank you for everything, for enjoying everything I've thrown at you, for feeling such inspiration to write your own stories as well of the campaign and your characters. I wouldn't do it without you and I will do everything to tell a good story to you. I love and appreciate you all so much.

To the artists who have drawn stuff for my campaign it fills with me such joy that it is at this point when people want to see and not just hear. Art and creativity is alive thanks to you all. To a new year and more of this silly campaign!

[the-starlight-papers]

I want to make an au or a story or shine thing where time messes up. And a bunch of versions of the main character are pulled through time to one specific time period. One from about every 3 years. Except they’re not pulled through space. So the first part of the story is two high school aged main character (including the one who didn’t change times and stayed in their correct time while everyone else moved to them) freaking out, and then they start receiving confused texts from their bffs from middle school who are responding questions that they’re not receiving. Anyways, they figure out pretty fast that there’s a version of them from middle school running around as well, and have to manage to pick that kid up from school. Next issue is getting their elementary school and preschool versions of themselves. They may be slightly wanted by the police for kidnapping a child from daycare, but does it really count if the child you are kidnapping is yourself?

They’ve also discovered by sending emails and DMs to themselves and praying that the older versions of themself still have the same accounts and that their devices still use the same network connection protocols, that there’s at least two college aged versions of themself floating around as well.

Basically the first part of the story is everyone’s panicked journey to figure out what the hell is going on, how many of us are there, and how to get everyone in one place.

This is of course complicated by the fact that people only traveled through time with what was on their person. Thankfully, one of the college versions was in their car at the time and the car came with them. (They have no idea how they didn’t crash). Although they were more than a little worried about driving around in a car with license plates from the future, as well as being only two years old with a hundred thousand miles on it.

College versions of mc go on a road trip to get back to their hometown, and pick up the rest of the kids. Having two cars (one from senior in college, and one from high school) comes in handy when you’ve got multiple kids that need car seats. (The car seats were stolen from a local store. They’ve already got kidnapping on their record, why not add theft?)

Older versions are annoyingly vague about the past, trying to avoid causing a paradox. But there’s also only so much that you can hide. (Think of going back to November of 2019 and trying to be normal when you see a news article about this new virus going around in China)

Anyways I have no ideas for what could have possibly caused this, or what to do with the gang once they all regroup.I’m guessing they would try to fix the issue. Everyone would go back to their home time, probably with a memory wipe to avoid paradoxes.

They could probably manage to leave behind some little notes or letters or something for the version whose home time it was.

[littlealeta]

Childhood bullying trope is overrated

Besides the Disney Death trope, this is another trope that I feel is extremely overplayed and similar to Disney Death, I'm surprised to not hear anybody talking about it. Sure, it's usually a minor thing especially in western media, but it's usually much more prominent in anime.

Look, I get that everyone has been bullied at some point in their lives, and you're always going to run into mean people. I mean, stories literally need conflict and possibly a bad guy. But we're watching a story here, not real life. The things that happened need to relate to and make sense for the story and not be put in for some unnecessary drama and conflict. This is the reason why I often avoid adult cartoons or most things that have to do with teenagers and even most anime. They just have melodrama for no apparent reason.

In anime, this stupid school bullying trope seems to be a lot more prominent and intense in it. While we usually have minor and light teasing in western media and films (unless the story is standalone and is based around bullying). Anime with its often random melodrama just adds bullying out of fucking nowhere.

Seriously, 3 Gatsu no Lion, an anime that started off fairly lighthearted and wholesome (with some sad things here and there), has an arc that revolves entirely around bullying and the depressive effects it has on the victim. I know that was in the manga, but why was this needed? You abruptly turned a fairly light-hearted anime into this really dark and intense story about merciless bullying and now it has become even more difficult to watch. Just, what was the point? I don't see the point? To manipulate the audience's emotions? To give them something relatable? Is this why you often pull this shit, anime? Well, I don't care, it has no point to the story.

Persona 5, another example, is a game I tried really hard to get into after seeing all the praise, but... I just never did. It's just boring and not really my thing. But there's one thing that infuriates me about the game and it has to do with Futaba's backstory. The game as it is already deals with a lot of bullying that it kinda feels overblown.

In Persona 5 which I hardly seen anything of, we find out in the Confidant Route and I think in some point in the game that Futaba has been bullied in her childhood. Apparently, she had an extremely good memory that caused jealousy in all of her classmates. WHAT?!

Why the FUCK do we need to KNOW THAT? Futaba is already a sad enough character as it is without slapping a terrible childhood onto her! Second of all, it doesn't even RELATE TO THE STORY! Like I get having an explanation for why she became a hikkimori but why would you just drop a whole bullying and losing a friend backstory on her on top of a special talent in her childhood that hardly ever gets brought up for no apparent reason?

Anyway, I think I said enough with the examples I have. For everyone who knows me who knows I despise drama let alone melodrama, I am now able to articulate why. Although, some of the drama I got mad at when I was younger may have just been me and not the story, but my point still stands regarding melodrama.

[shinmiyovvi]

Hello hello! Poppin in to see how you're doing!

I've been a bit absent so I've come to wrack your brain, any new updates or projects you'd want to share about??

I hope you're doing well Shin!

Hello, Spengs, hope you're doing well too 💖 This is gonna be a long read so buckle up

I did some think thonkin for a while even if my brain was already wracked when school started last week (Senior year was now being an ass on me for a freshman as myself) but anyways, enough of that. Let's jump in to what I have in mind for my projects and updates

Update: Barely hanging while trying to run this abomination of a blog with changing the blog's color, header, and tumblr website's theme while dealing with school and trying to brace myself this Saturday for my birthday as I try to accept that I am now getting older 🫠 (Also forgive me for throwing a bunch of MW content if you ever come acrossed with it)

Art Projects: Now, I am atleast trying my hardest to bring myself to draw my Cod MW oc Noemi in which I haven't quite made a proper reference sheet for her. Now that MW3 2023 was announced and will be releasing on November(?), I need to work on her new design for the sequel. I have made her MW2 2022 design and not with her MW1 2019 which is I am planning to do. Her info was still on a wip and the shipping was somehow changed? To tell you what, Noemi is turning into an oc/self insert and I am not complaining about it. Going to CoD Zombies, you thought those reference sheets of my ocs are final? No, and I hate it 🙃. There is just so many ideas of changing their outfits and I rarely even draw the Ultimis versions of them and also my other oc crew Salvatorix. I even have a lot of changes for my self insert design as well and need to work on it as soon as Christmas break comes or in Summer. I also need to add some casual outfits for my ocs for easy drawing cause I know sometimes whenever we had an art trade together, I feel like the designs are getting the best of us so I am hoping to draw their casuals to give ourselves a slack. But if you're still fine with their usual outfits then that's fine by me 💖. I'm still working on with my ocs' infos and also the Ultimis voice claims so stay tuned if I ever find a gap to my time to work on it. I will also make some references for the fic I am working on which is an oc x canon one. Lastly, I need to draw my SoE oc cause I haven't even talked or posted something about her for months now.

Fanfiction Projects: I still have 3 fics that are discontinued or still ongoing but ran out of ideas.And now we have 2 new additional fics. I've answered this from an ask from a friend of mine but I'll tell you as well. Under the Red Moon and Echoes of a Certain Past are two fics that I've planned. Under the Red Moon is an old au concept for the Primis crew but I changed the idea and use it for the lore change of the Vampire Knight and Noble Prince Au from before. Basically the story will be an oc x canon one since it focuses on Primis Nikolai and Primis Val. Echoes of a Certain Past is a fic that will be containing the past of my ocs, from Primis to Ultimis as the story will be divided into two parts, separating the two from each other. In the story, the story will be divided into four parts for each oc, starting from Val to Dragomir. If you want to know where to read them, these two stories will be posted here, Ao3, and in Wattpad but I'm still undecided to post in Wattpad since I've already made their cover pages of the two stories but let's see how these two will unfold. I may be a bit rusty when it comes to writing but I will try my best to make you all entertain as I will also try to research more and more about my ocs so atleast I could add up the historical vibes of it even if there will be also inaccuracies so please bear with me on this.

[thrudgelmir2333]

LR Characters Retrospective: Pegasus Lance, the Frank Grimes of Saint Seiya

I’ve decided to start a series of posts talking about some of the most important characters in LR. I figured it was a good way to have something to post on my Tumblr account while at the same time giving myself a break from writing LR and maybe do a bit of self-analyzis on characterisation, which I feel is a big weakness of mine, or at least something I struggle with.

I might not make complete blog posts about any given character all at once because, well, I might realise things about my own writing in the future that I don’t right now, so this could be the whole summary of what I have to say about a character, or it may just be the first post and a year from now I might remember something important to add to it.

What better character to start with than my main character, then?

----------------------------------- So, if there’s anything that defines the protagonist of Saint Seiya LR, is that Pegasus Lance, the titular character of Lance’s Role, is an angry little brat with a chip on his shoulder about pretty much everything he runs into, especially if it involves Sanctuary’s obnoxious passivity towards its problems, who thinks he’s experienced the worst the world has to offer and has all the answers. Usually at the tip of his fists, rather than his mouth.

But also, in the words of my friend Zeb, “he gets better”.

So who the fuck is he, anyway? And why should anyone care? Especially Saint Seiya fans?

1. Who the hell is was Lance?

In a strict sense, Lance is the Pegasus Saint operating in Sanctuary just before Seiya. No, I don’t mean in the previous Holy War. That’s Tenma. I mean just before Seiya. Like, by 15 years. Think Chapter Zero times. And Lance is pretty different from both Seiya and Tenma in a number of ways we’re gonna get into later, but first, a bit of history on him

Okay, sigh, this little first part of the post is just me confronting, really quickly, something that haunts me about my main character, so if you don’t want to read a bunch of how much of a bad character Lance used to be, just skip to point 2.

I don’t really get the chance to talk to my readers too often, even my reviewers, but I would venture to guess that, in their minds, the establishing moment of characterisation for Lance (at least discounting the Death Queen Island Side Story that goes deeper into his first month in Sanctuary, depending on whether you’re reading my story on FF.net or AO3) is him returning from his Training Ground in Mount Olympus and beating the crap out of the Master who abandoned him there after two weeks, Kerberos Kastiel, in front of everyone. I don’t even count the first two chapters of LR as establishment moments cause frankly I don’t think they do a good job at showing who Lance is, more so at setting the context.

And what that fight with Kastiel at the beginning of the story establishes is mostly a series of Lance’s flaws:

Is prone to anger;

Takes himself a bit too seriously;

Struggles with social inadequacy (Kastiel calls him out on it, even);

Dislikes authority (he doesn’t even recognise how he’s shooting himself in the foot by this);

Dislikes Kastiel’s dogs, probably because he feels Kastiel paid more attention to them than he did to him (which is kind of true);

Wow, what a hero. An angry, resentful shounen narrative main character with authority problems who solves situations primarily by punching? I know, fucking groundbreaking. Boo-hoo. I get it. Guess what, I wasn’t a creative genius starting out, okay? I was like 18 years old ._. Leave me alone.

I would be lying if I don’t resent my early writings of Pegasus Lance as something heavily affected by my sheltered upbringing. At the late stage of my highschool years, when I started writing, I really didn’t understand the world at large and I sort of resented that fact, because I felt largely it wasn’t my fault that I was an introvert who was never taught how to build his social circles properly. I felt increasingly sidelined in college, both academically and socially, and, like a lot of edgelords-in-the-making, I blamed everyone else for the isolation I self-reinforced.

But really the bigger problem is that Lance’s wasn’t very fun to follow around, at least in the beginning, just as I wasn’t very fun to follow around online and IRL. I didn’t know how to weaponise his character to interesting situations and interactions and the story suffered because of it. It’s something I struggled with for a very long time and I feel it has haunted the appeal of LR to this day.

So I’m not gonna pretend there was some kind of secret purpose to his characterisation that would make sense overtime. No, early-2010s Lance was just a bad main character.

However, this doesn’t mean I haven’t succeeded in making something of him after all these years. In fact, he’s improved so much he can hardly be said to be the same character, and that’s the part I wanna focus on in this blog post.

2. Who the hell IS Lance Frank Grimes, then?

Lance, or rather modern Lance, is the Pegasus Saint right before Seiya. He’s also, as the title of this post says, the Frank Grimes of Saint Seiya.

For anyone who hasn’t seen the countless Youtube breakdowns of “The Simpsons”, or even the hundreds of them dedicated to the famous episode “Homer’s Enemy”, Frank Grimes was a one-episode character voiced by Hank Azaria, a down-on-his-luck hard worker who had to struggle for everything in his life, had comically bad luck and seemed to have an allergy to the insanity of Springfield and its characters. The showrunners described Frank Grimes as “what would happen if one of us in the real world woke up in the world of the Simpsons” and the results are appropriately catastrophic.

Frank Grimes, in a lot of ways, has fascinated a lot of Simpson fans for various reasons. Some people empathise with him, others find his confrontations with the world of the Simpsons hilarious and some just love how singularly dark the episode he stars in is. There’s like a million online essays talking about this episode and IIRC its even been ranked the best-written Simpsons episode of all time.

Personally, I think the reason Frank Grimes is so interesting is because we all, in some way, resent the world of the Simpsons, even if we don’t realise it. Yeah, it’s a comedic cartoon well past its prime, and you’re not supposed to take it seriously, but when you’re as long-running and culturally entrenched as the Simpsons are, you kind of can’t help but feel like it transcends its cartoonish format into something that should get scrutinised for what it’s saying. There’s only so many jokes a jester can toss at the king about his clothes before the king starts thinking that maybe they’re a bit more revealing of what the jester truly thinks of him than he lets on.

Also, I think when we grow up a lot of us just start resenting the worlds of cartoons in general on a deep level, especially satirical ones like the Simpsons, with its cast of immortal, colorful character archetypes that just go on and on about how society is so flawed and people are so dumb, when the reality of a lot of us is that we are just tired adults that don’t have the time and strength to be perfect.

Frank Grimes, in my opinion, therefore represents to a lot of people a sort of “take that” at the Simpsons; a perspective grounded in reality and the stakes of everyday life that resents the impunity of Homer’s bufoonery and the casual excitement of Bart’s life. To some, Frank Grimes is just a humours comparison, but I think to others, Frank Grimes is a catharsis. Just to cement how normal he is compared to these characters, how much he’s supposed to be like us and not Homer, Frank Grimes even dies. And he dies in an attempt to replicate Homer’s behaviour.

By contrast, “Principal and the Pauper”, the episode many point to be the turning point in the Simpsons’ popularity, is an episode entirely devoted to exposing how the world of the Simpsons lacks any consequences to what it does. More interestingly, I remember listening to director commentary about the episode and the developers being baffled that the episode was so poorly received. It’s like the people who tell these stories, and the ones who listen to them, don’t understand the importance of events and trials having consequences to the characters.

“Principal and the Pauper”, in my opinion, wasn’t fabricated by Fox any differently from “Homer’s Enemy”. There’s not any consequences to Frank Grimes’ death to the characters, only to Frank Grimes himself. Homer and his friends even laugh at his funeral. It’s just that the former pulled the curtain on the Simpsons’ episodic formula to the fans’ eyes, because it operated on a character that was part of the show’s main cast, Principal Skinner, who was expected to be part of the episodic formula.

Frank Grimes was always meant to go away. Skinner was not.

3. Saint Seiya  & The Importance of Story Consequences

So, like, what is going on here? Do we really think these cartoon characters are supposed to be real? Should Homer suffer the same consequences Frank Grimes does when he screws up?

Well, no, it’s just that when we invest hundreds of hours into a story, we don’t want that time to not matter.

Lance’s Role is a really long fic. At the time of this writing, it has 1,840,000 words published on FF.net, and there’s 58,000 more currently being betaread by my beta-readers Zeb and Elly to be published over the next month. It takes many, many, many hours of your time to give LR any reading worth of being called ‘complete’.

Now imagine if I wrote all of that and I designed LR to, just like the Simpsons, adopt a total market-capture philosophy about everything and reject the concept of continuity for the sake of being digestible to anyone who might pick any random chapter as their first LR experience? Yeah, sure, for people diving in for the first time, that would be great, and that’s why animated adult cartoons like Bob’s Burgers and the Simpsons were so successful. You don’t need to watch 29 seasons of Homer Simpson to understand and enjoy a season 30 episode.

Conversely, that also means that you can stand to watch 30 seasons of the Simpsons over the course of multiple decades and not have any kind of accumulated common experience in the story between the existing audience, the newcomers and the people writing the episodes.

This is why long-running shows tend to contradict themselves a lot; it’s not that they are poorly written, it’s just that any previous episode of the show might as well not have existed, in the mindset of the people writing them. Past episodes and events are pretty much just reference points for call-back jokes and little else. This is true even to long-running IPs that can count on having fans with long memories, hence something like “Principal and the Pauper” being made. The people who wrote that episode were 100% confident that just pretending Skinner is really Skinner and not a greaser impersonating him, or that Martin has been an adult this whole time, or that the current Fat Tony is really his cousin Thin Tony who replaced him, would be a trivial matter to swallow for the fans.

Hanging out with Saint Seiya fans, I’ve always gotten the feeling many of us have similar, undertoned frustrations to the story that Simpson fans do. Yes, Saint Seiya isn’t satirical comedy with a cast repeatedly operating their shenanigans off the same address in sleepy America. It’s a gritty power rangers action show where people get their ears chopped off and their friends locked inside refrigerators which you then gotta revive with the power of yaoi your body warmth.

But that doesn’t mean Saint Seiya doesn’t suffer the same problems of having a lack of consequences and overtime I definitely start seeing this trend of “things happening but not happening” more and more.

I could write entire lists of examples of this, but that would take forever. Instead, I’m going to name three things which I think exemplify how Saint Seiya mimics the problems of formulaic shows like Bob’s Burgers or even the average Power Rangers’ show.

Example Numero Um!

So, Shun is the vessel of Hades, right? By this point we should all know that? Right? And Shun goes through this whole thing of being possessed by him, and Ikki coming in and trying to save him and failing (cause Ikki fails at everything in his life), and then Saori rescuing him (cause she’s the truly useful character out of the two).

So how come the comfrontation of the Bronze Saints with Hades later in Elysium is all about the relationship between Hades and SEIYA? ￣へ￣

I want you stop here and really think about this for a good minute; the Hades Arc makes you watch 25 episodes, plus 6 OVA episodes, talking a whole deal about how Hades wants to kill Athena, how Shun is his vessel, how there’s all this drama over the Yours Ever pendant, Pandora, the Specters, etc...

And the final confrontation is Seiya yapping about how pretty Hades’ eyes are and some mythical fight the two had in the Myth Era. And what is Shun doing? After helping defeat Hypnos, he gets summarily taken out by Hades and later takes an equal part in a final attack against the god.

Shun doesn’t have any kind of personal resolution about being possessed. He doesn’t even share a line with Hades as far as I can remember. No trauma, no after effects, no self doubt, no curiosity from either Shun or Hades about eachother, it’s like the whole damn thing didn’t even happen to either of them.

Just to drive this even deeper into the dunghole, we are currently in ND, which started as yet another Holy War with Hades, and Shun is still having no apparent consequence to having been the vessel of Hades other than a brief commentary about Alone or something.

Example Numero Dois!

So,... is Seiya ever gonna, like, have a talk with Shaina about what’s been happening lately? You know, between the two of them?

The poor goddamn girl has basically confessed her heart out to this 13 year old kid three or four times, usually by doing something risky like taking arrow shots or standing in the way of a very angry Leo Gold Saint, and every fucking time Seiya takes it all in, nods, and then f***ks right off to go do something else.

I’m not asking for there to be some kind of romantic resolution, cause I know Kurumada and SS in general aren’t any good at those, but I don’t know how these characters keep running into eachother after these moments and not feel all awkward or that at least they have something to settle. Seiya, if you don’t like Shaina back and just wanna go run off after Saori, then tell her! lol Don’t just let things hang in the air so you can count on her throwing herself between you and some rampanging god when you most need a human shield.

I feel so bad for Shaina as a character cause she’s basically a victim of gaslighting. She grew up thinking she had to be this proud genderless warrior, had the object analogous to her virginity shattered on episode one by this dumb kid she despises, has tried to settle the matter ever since often risking her life, has confronted Seiya multiple times about how important it is that he gives her some kind of resolution so she can move the fuck on with her life, and the most Seiya can do is give her a little nod, mutter “Shaina-san” and go back into fighting.

It’s like Shaina’s emotions don’t even matter lol They’re just a joke, a plot device to get minor dramatic sprinkles into a story about punching arrogant aristocrat gods in the teeth.

Seriously, it’s like watching Selma Bouvier try and fail at finding love over and over again. She can never get what she wants from the story, because her status quo as a broken-hearted loner archetype is far more useful to the show’s entertainment formula than actually advancing her character. But from what I hear, at least Selma got Moe at some point? Shaina, on the other hand, is delving into Omega and still a loner picking up Seiya’s slack. Poor fucking girl.

Example Numero Tres!

Last one, and it’s so important it almost got its own topic in this post.

There’s an important arc in the story of Saint Seiya, I feel, that definitively puts it in the same category as a fangless Isekai pandering to you; the Poseidon Arc. Now, Poseidon Arc is notable for one reason; it feels like a filler arc, even though it’s canon. Pretty much nothing of what happens in this arc is of any consequence to the characters, other than Shiryu being blinded again and Hyoga losing his eye, and honestly even these have played so little of consequence in Hades and Next Dimension, that they can hardly be said to have happened at all. There’s also nothing of consequence to the story; Poseidon’s resealing doesn’t affect his interference in Hades’ plans, and the Gold Cloths he sends to help Seiya and his buddies, which could have been sent via some other plot device, get immediately destroyed by Thanatos. Moreover, the anime keeps showing this footage of cities like Paris and New York getting utterly flooded all the way to the neck of the Statue of Liberty while the Saints are fighting in Atlantis? They show tidal waves crashing through skyscrapers and crap, and after the arc ends, these global catastrophes just... don’t mean anything for the world? Like, at least the Greatest Eclypse is just an astrological oddity. You can reason that humans can go “well, that was a weird eclipse” and move on with their lives, but fucking New York being flooded? I mean, talk about the illusion of consequences. Now, lots of people have pointed out to me that Kurumada didnt initially intend to make the Poseidon Arc, that he was going to straight to Hades and Poseidon was sort of a studio-mandated thing. After all, if Seiya is gonna fight the pantheon of Olympus, Poseidon has to come before the dreaded Hades, right? Regardless of the truth, there’s.... motives to think that the Poseidon Arc isn’t that important to define the identity of Kurumada’s storytelling, that he shouldn’t be judged based on its failings, almost in the same way George Lucas shouldn’t be judged for having been pushed to direct Return of the Jedi and put a bunch of teddy bears in it, just cause Spielberg and David Lynch said ‘no’ to directing it. And I agree, leave Grampa Kuru alone, by all means. He just wants to draw teenage boys in spandex wrestling eachother. That’s.... sort of innocent. Moreover, people might point out that maybe the flooding didnt happen in the manga? But honestly, fuck you, cause if that’s what you think, then you’re missing the point of what I’m getting at. And what I’m getting at is that Poseidon Arc codified the modern reality of Saint Seiya; that you can just have repeatable “Holy Wars”, basically 20-episode versions of the four movies, where Seiya and his friends get attacked at Sanctuary, retaliate, beat up a bunch of dudes wearing metal armor and Heavy Metal haircuts, kill/seal some God, pose to a picture with Saori and fade out at the end.

Back to Topic

And I don’t know about y’all, but this atmosphere of nothing ever mattering in a story is intensely frustrating to me, especially because some people can’t imagine why modern audiences just “don’t get into SS”.

Well it’s because the freaking show doesn’t respect its own damn story. Would you enjoy being told to watch 72 episodes of the Sanctuary Arc, and then being told that past that point, nothing of real consequence ever happens to its characters? That Shiryu is going to be blinded again because the author thinks he looks cooler that way and that all time spent wondering if Marin was Seika, Seika was actually hanging out at Rodario with Amnesia?

Would you stick around to watch that? Or would you wish Frank Grimes would show up and slap Hades right in the face?

4. Wait, wasn’t this post about Pegasus Lance?

So how is Pegasus Lance the Frank Grimes of Saint Seiya? How does that manifest and drive the story? Frankly, I don’t dislike the modern Lance. No, seriously. Nowadays, I would venture to say I actually kind of like him. I mean, I would fucking have to, considering the ten years I’ve spent trying to fix this stupid character, but I do feel like I’ve arrived at a somewhat comfortable spot where I can count on readers to somewhat root for him, even if he still does the awkward thing every now and then. Hell, my betareader @jennydevic​ even said that the last chapter I wrote had her cheering for him, even.

So, what changed? How did Lance go from a pity project Gary Stu to a workable main character?

Well, Lance did something I probably should so at some point in my life; he got friends. And a better backstory. And he’s gone through some hardening experiences other than getting dumped by his teacher in a mountain that made him reprioritise some things. They call that character development.

Case in point, Lance learning other people have problems of their own.

I don’t really think one sole thing rescued Lance from the scrap head; it wasn’t singularly telling the backstory with Noah, Death Queen Island or going through the False Holy War or even being nice to Shinta that saved him as a character. Rather, it was the collective complexity of all of that that showed that Lance was capable of a whole new list of traits not obvious from his fight with Kastiel.

Namely, the story reveals the character Lance’s strengths, which I’ll number based on how often they drew compliments from beta-readers over the years:

Has a sense of priorities: Which is different from fairness, that’s more Atlae’s thing (though at the time I can’t discuss Atlae too much because the chapters going into him haven’t been released yet). Lance may not like Sanctuary aristocrats like Gigas or Cetus, but he understands there are bigger threats taking precedence, like the False Specters, without forgetting he has to confront the former problems eventually;

Has a sense of directed idealism: while Lance can be mean to Shinta’s pacifist tendencies, he does not disagree with its objectives, just its methods, and Lance in a way is just as idealistic as Shinta is, even more so for the fact Lance tends to pursue more delineated causes than just the vague notion of protecting humanity (ex: his current personal quest to destroy the Underworld Palaces has nothing to do with the overall conflict between Hades and Athena, but more so with his individual desire to create positive change in Sanctuary);

Secretly cares about integrating well into Sanctuary: for all his whining, Lance does wish he could befriend other Saints, and frequently cites meeting Shinta, Cynthia, Olivia, Dohko and Suisho as important experiences that reshaped his views;

Is extremely supportive of his friends: If Lance understands ceding protagonism to a friend is the key to victory in a crisis, he will do it without hesitation, which is kind of what makes him a natural leader even if he doesn’t acknowledge it

Has a sense of tactical pragmatism: having had to become a Saint without a Master, Lance did not adopt a lot of Saint traditionalism. He has no qualms about employing weapons in combat if the situation is dire enough and will even use numeric advantage if he has to (especially against overwhelming characters like Daemon Lucifer);

Why are these elements important? Well, because they are Lance’s Frank-Grimesisms against Saint Seiya. They are the tension he feels with the world he lives in. People in real life, even knights of old, don’t relinquish using weapons or the strength of numbers when a situation is grave enough. They also don’t just forget about the fact a girl confessed their feelings towards them, even if they are not corresponded, and they definitely wouldn’t forget a little thing like being born the vessel of a God when confronted with that God face to face.

You might say, though, that these are the things that make Saint Seiya Saint Seiya, just as Homer’s bufoonery makes the Simpsons the Simpsons.

If that’s the case, why are you even reading fanfiction? Fuck off and go back to complaining about how Saint Seiya isn’t liked by Americans because a dub was bad or something.

The way these characteristics drive Lance’s Role is that, ultimately, LR is a story about the flexibility of the world of Saint Seiya. I’ve mentioned in a previous post how fanfiction is about expressing perceived potential in an IP and I very much think lance is a useful character for that.

Why? Well because he isn’t stuck in the SS format the way Seiya is.

If you permit me going on another slight rant, Seiya is such an incurious character. He’s part of an old era of shounen storytelling where you could get away with having an unquestioning imp as a lead that never let anything around him affect his life.

The thing is, at least Goku had the excuse of being born in the boondocks of his world. He was a rural character primarily interested in jovial adventure and martial arts. He didn’t care that the world king was a dog man and his primary beef with Picollo Senior was that he murdered Krillin and Roshi, and not necessarily that he took over the King’s castle. The world was almost incidental to him.

But now we live in an era where people want lead characters to ask more questions about themselves and the world around them, or, at the very least, for characters close to the lead to do that, because our curiosity about these worlds has grown so much. Much like with the Simpsons, we have grown attached enough to want to find out more and for events to have lasting impacts in the characters’ lives.

Worse yet, Saint Seiya has the audacity to claim it takes place in our world, in our time, so we can’t even pretend there’s a membrane between ourselves and Seiya’s reality, even a satirical one. The only thing stopping us from knowing more about Seiya’s world, and for those things to be consistent, is that Seiya just isn’t asking those questions for us.

This is because the format doesn’t allow him to. Seiya can’t acknowledge Shaina’s feelings either negatively or positively, because that would remove her as a source of tension in the story. He also can’t find Seika or reconnect with her meaningfully without something getting in the way (like a wheelchair), cause that would rob him of his formulaic motivation.

Lance doesn’t have such restrictions. He is free to form his own opinion on Seiya’s world and make choices that reflect his desires and experiences.

5. Lance’s Tally-Up & Why I love torturing my main character

My beta reader Jenny has often mentioned that sometimes I deny Lance happiness too much. I do things like make him lose a lot of fights, give him a lot of low moments and in the few high moments I give him, I either undercut them or don’t have Lance express a lot of triumphant joy over it. This isn’t me being a “uwu I love torturing my leads” writer type, cause I kinda think that if you feel the need to do that, you’re writing just to show off, especially if you’re going around the web mentioning this.

However, it IS undeniable I do put Lance through a lot. That’s not because I like torturing my characters, it’s just that I believe wholeheartedly that Lance, as a character, stands more to gain with his defeats than his victories. And because this is a shounen fic, that defeat is usually a fight defeat.

While I don’t believe in Versus bullshit, let’s do a quick tally-up of Lance’s ‘record’ over the fic:

Lance vs Bellerophon : Defeat Lance vs Kastiel : Victory Lance vs Ray : Victory Lance vs Bennu Yakos : Defeat Lance vs Bennu Yakos Rematch : Stalemate Lance vs Basilisk Maia : Defeat Lance vs Herakles Aguilon : Defeat Lance vs Elisa : Victory Lance vs CG : Victory Lance vs Cetus : Defeat Lance vs Ghost T : Multiple Defeats Lance vs Alraune Lemon : Stalemate Lance vs Daemon Lucifer : Defeat Lance & Shinta vs Papillion Ainsel : Stalemate Lance vs Dullahan Hedron : Victory Lance & Gold Saints vs Daemon Lucifer : Stalemate Lance vs Alraune Queen: Victory Lance vs Perseus Acrisius: Victory Lance vs Atlae: Ongoing

That’s six defeats, four stalemates and seven victories. This means I’ve denied Lance a victory ten times, but denied him a defeat only four.  And you know what? Some of those defeats were pretty humiliating. Cetus all but flicks Lance away. And this not to mention all the sparring defeats Lance goes through with Dohko. Lance didn’t even get to completely defeat Yakos. He had to get saved by a Gold Saint. That’s not even mentioning the DQI Side Story which was a big L for Lance altogether. If you looked at this through a win loss ratio alone, Lance would have a 45% win ratio. He’d be close to the last guy you bet on in a boxing match.

However, if you read the fic and then look closely at that list, you’ll realise that’s not all that there’s to it, and that a lot of these defeats were actually more valuable to Lance’s growth than the victories. Yes, Lance lost against Bellerophon, but got the Pegasus Cloth. He lost against Aguilon, but unlocked the 7th sense. He lost all those times against Ghost T, but unlocked a new element, same for his fight against Yakos.

And some of the defeats developed his character; Ghost T taught Lance that his connection with the Pegasus Cloth was more important than he realised. Cetus taught him that just because he had the 7th sense, it didn’t mean Lance was at the end of his road. And Basilisk Maia (indirectly) taught him to respect Shinta and how much Lance could still be surprised by people.

Inversely, some of Lance’s victories brought him nothing but misery. The Elisa incident pretty much ruined Lance’s enthusiasm for his role as the Cancer Gold Saint. Daemon Lucifer’s crusade frightened Lance to the point he now genuinely believes the world might end on the whim of a particularly resentful cosmos user, even with Sanctuary around. And this not to mention the rift that his fight with CG (not to be spoiled) eventually caused between him and his best friend.

This is because triumphs, as good as they feel, only really celebrate the strength you already have. What makes the strength develop in the first place, is your defeats. So it never even crossed my mind to have Lance jump in the air over beating the crap out of Perseus Acrisius, because honestly, to Lance, that’s just Lance doing his job. And if Lance was strong enough to defeat Phoenix Guilty, if only barely, but still couldn’t stop his tragedy... doesn’t that make it all the more painful than if Guilty just killed him?

What I’m getting at is that there is a direct line of correlation between the setbacks Lance suffers, and the two steps he then makes after. Seiya only ever wins, even against unsurmountable odds, so the character has no reason to feel he’s doing something wrong. Lance, on the other hand, is the picture of insecurity.

The fact that the Saint who brought him to Sanctuary wasnt allowed to raise him over transphobia, the fact that the Saint that was assigned to raised him didn’t and the fact circunstances conspired to have Lance not be well integrated into Shion’s system of Sanctuary, but not disassociated from it either, made it so that he is in a unique position to challenge everything around him. To question everything, including himself.

So I guess we can conclude I love torturing Lance because that’s the avenue I found to help him grow. He works as a character now because he suffers from the dynamics of SS the same way a normal, relatable person would. Lance can’t ignore the amazon mask rule because it very directly affects people he cares about and he can’t act outside of Sanctuary’s world because countless encounters with Black Saints and Specters made him understand what happens when there isn’t a framework present to deal with danger of using Cosmos and this, ironically, makes him more capable of changing things, of bending the rules, than Seiya is.

In a way, doesn’t that make him more human? How did this happen? How did I go from writing Lance like he’s Sasuke to writing him like this?

6. What sparked this change & The Magic of One Piece

Mangas have been fundamental to influencing my story telling in LR, and none more so than the Big 3 of the 2000s; Bleach, Naruto and One Piece. Of these three, the only one I still like and recommend is One Piece, though. One Piece is a manga that, once you read it, you take all your other mangas and burn them in a trashfire, ashamed you’d ever professed joy for them. This isn’t just because One Piece is that great, but also because of problems in manga storytelling. Unlike a lot of edgelord fans of Naruto who tended to gravitate to characters like Itachi....I actually didn’t like him all that much, and felt apathetic to Sasuke. I didn’t dislike them, per say, but I got quickly bored by how they seemed to dwell in their deluded little worlds, always sinking deeper and deeper and paradoxically expecting things to improve if they just brood hard enough. It doesn’t take a lot of brain power to point out that, for all their abilities to cast illusions on others, the Uchiha characters were the most self-deluded characters in the manga. Rather, the depressed characters I gravitated more to was Naruto and Shikamaru, not because they were sad about the bad things that happened in their lives, but because of how they responded to it. I felt a special attraction to the writing of Naruto’s character pre-Shippuden because Kishimoto was very skilled at, basically, beating the crap out of Naruto and having him power himself back up. Boy, does that sound familiar?

Eventually, my journey through bad mangas like Beelzebub and Bleach, which were for all intents and purposes made to glorify teenage sentiments, led me to good mangas like Berserk and Hajime no Ippo, which were made with intelligence, care and maturity. There’s an argument to be made how ‘mature’ a comic book can really be, but I think that when George Morikawa is willing to have his shounen protagonist Ippo become sidelined from the fighting for over 400 chapters, it shows that, as an owner of his own gym, he really does respect the gravity of a boxer going “punch drunk” over the casual power fantasies of being a shounen main character. That means something to me. And it puts things into perspective as far as storytelling goes in mangas. Maybe Ichigo having a issy-fit over not being able to defeat some emo-batboy who stole his girl IS immature. Maybe Sasuke IS whiny if he abandons his village simply because Naruto blew up a water container harder than he did. And you know what? Maybe Seiya looks completely fucking ridiculous in Tenkai Hen, walking around like a Zombie, moaning “Saori-san, Saori-saaaan”, sounding like a balding middle-aged man who just walked into his wife fucking the milkman and is having a mental breakdown over it. The manga I’ve landed on in this journey through Japanese comic book IPs eventually was One Piece. One Piece might be, I think, the most influential story I’ve ever read? Pretty much everything I write nowadays is somewhat touched by it. This is because Eichiro Oda basically taught me through his art and world-building that simple shounen narrative doesn’t have to be as superficial and dumb and taking itself seriously as I was led to believe to literally drive me to tears. One Piece maintains to this day the honor of being the only anime that has legitimately made me cry at moments.

And this is coming from a guy who laughed during Elfen Lied, who thinks Nina is the least tragic thing in Full Metal Alchemist and who thought Gon was being a little bit overly upset during the Chimera Ant arc. Yeah. One Piece made this guy shed a tear. But why? There are multiple reasons why One Piece, once I got past my initial resistence to its length and art, captured my imagination so viciously. I won’t deny that there’s some cultural appeal, as everyone in my country is raised with stories of exploration and sealaning, but Eichiro’s art was also influenced by Vicky the Viking, a cartoon whose style is very familiar to me. Mangas (and Manwhas) that make all of its characters look like goddamn eastern Kingdom princes are actually quite boring to me, while Oda has a unique talent to integrate his wacky cartoony manga art in the way he expresses his characters emotions and abilities. I think the critical thing that silenced me in Nami’s knife scene in the Arlong Arc, or Brook singing Bink’s Sake when he joins the Straw Hats, or the finale of Ennies Lobby, was that all of these moments came from a kind of writing packed with raw humanity. Nami hasn’t had much to do past the Arlong Arc, being primarily a navigator obsessed with treasure, but that one scene of her renouncing Arlong’s crew just captured the pain of an innocent person’s mind being broken after years of abuse so perfectly, that frankly it kind of overshadows an important element of it; what Luffy, the protagonist was doing during all of it. So, what was Luffy doing while Nami’s mind was slowly breaking down, building up to the ‘knife scene’? Well, he was keeping his nose out of it. It really wasn’t his business and he respected that. Cause Nami told him so. He asked if she wanted help when they met on the island and she said “butt off”. And he did!

Imagine that. A main character respecting a side character’s choices. He didn’t punch his way in, he didn’t force her to accept his help, he didn’t yell, he didn’t give one big speech about being her friend, nothing. He didn’t run after her as she collected the money for Arlong, he didn’t say it was “his duty as a saint pirate to save her”, he didn’t storm Arlong’s fortress to fix her problems himself and he didn’t yell to Zoro about how, as a hero, he HAD to interfere in this unjust situation. He just respected her decision as an adult. Well, sort of adult. Cause he knew it was a bigger insult to Nami to force her to accept his help than letting her try it her own way first. In a way, Luffy was letting her be the protagonist of her story and refused to disrespect that right of hers. It was only when Nami finally asked him for help, when she ran out of options and was at the brink of despair and desperately wanted to save her family, that Luffy indeed do all of these things. And when it was done, the first thing he did was ask Nami to join his crew to give her the chance to follow up on her dreams. Can you fucking imagine Seiya or Goku doing this? Or do you picture them just waving off their friends while they run to go win some dumb tournament or save Saori again? This is actually one of the most important things about One Piece’s cast and why the story works so well; despite him being the captain, the straw hat crew members’ lives don’t rotate around what Luffy is doing. They’re not his posse like Ichigo’s friends are. They’re not second fiddle to his ambition like Naruto’s classmates and they’re not disposable companions hopelessly trapped in ‘catch up’ like the Z-Fighters. Zoro, Sanji, Nami, Franky, Robin, Chopper, Brook and especially Usopp (the weakest and most cowardly of the crew), all have important things to do and say about whats going on in each of Luffy’s adventure arcs. And this speaks to the nature of ‘protagonism’ in One Piece and why it’s such an important manga for everyone to read if they are passionate about Shounen; Luffy’s friends have dreams of their own distinct from Luffy. They all, in their own ways, want to be the Hokages of their own villages and seek out things just as virtuous and ambitions as Luffy’s, just adapted to their personalities. Think about it; Nami’s quest in life, to map the entire world, is actually HARDER than Luffy becoming King of the Pirates, because it requires her to basically reach the One Piece as well PLUS all the other unique, dangerous places in the world that Luffy has no interest in. The Straw Hats’ personal ambitions, simultaneously, are distinct from Luffy’s, intersect it and complement it in various ways, which is why they all make natural allies and friends. Which... kind of makes them all protagonists of their own right, sort of, right? Or rather the entire Straw Hat crew group is the protagonist and Luffy just happens to be the face? So when the “Going Merry” crisis happens and Usopp threatens to leave the crew, you truly believe that what this cowardly character is feeling is VERY genuine, which sets you up perfectly to the moment later on in the Ennies Lobby arc that will make you feel the very human loss the Straw Hats suffer that day. One Piece WILL make you cry at that point, If you’re not a superficial psycho, anyway, because Usopp is treated with the same respect a protagonist would, so you learn to empathise with the collective loss the characters suffer. This is where I feel that mangas with similar aspirations like Dr. Stone fail? The author of Dr. Stone tries very hard to distribute protagonism throughout the story, but for as long as the premise is about the RPG-esque importance of dumping all your stats into Science, then everything will always rotate around Senku.  Senku doesn’t need his friends; he can find other workers to do what Taiji does and he’s a big fan of proving that all of Gen’s social skills can be replaced with his gadgets. One Piece, however, makes it clear that, while Luffy’s Gum-Gum Fruit is useful and Luffy himself is a strong and desceptively sharp captain, he is comically helpless without Nami’s maps, Sanji’s cooking, Chopper’s medical abilities and even Brook’s music. Luffy truly needs his friends and what’s to share their his triumphs and glories with theirs. But more importantly, Luffy is kind of a selfish asshole too, and I kind of admire that honesty, lol He’s not interested in being a hero, he’s interested in getting the One Piece. He makes that clear many times and sometimes just tells people to solve their own damn problems. It just so happens that all these villains and evil island overlords in his journey keep fucking with those who support him. It confers a degree of authenticity to what he says and does when most protagonists seem to act nice because it’s their role, not their character. So really, returning to the topic of SS, compared to all of this Seiya himself can’t help but be anything but the blandest, boringest, least offensive and least aspirational protagonist IMAGINABLE, because he’s basically become the leading man of what’s pretty much a formulaic story product to be sold on shelves, over and over. If you’re wondering why his storyline with finding his sister won’t evolve, this is why. If you’re wondering why he’s stringing along Shaina and never responding to her love confessions, this is why. If you’re wondering why he isn’t respected in the pantheon of anime protagonists on the same level as Luffy or Ippo or even Guts, THIS IS WHY. He’s Homer Simpson. He can never change or get promoted or become a better father, because that would ruin the product’s formula and put a profitable business at risk. And honestly I think that on a subconscious level, this has always bothered me about this show. Even as a child, Seiya was the Bronze Saint that least impressed me. I always gravitated much more strongly to Shiryu and Hyoga. Years after having forgotten what SS was, who Seiya was, I had vague memories of the Dragon and Cygnus Saints because they were so driven and cool. Which is tragic because, just as I laid out in my last blog post, Saint Seiya is rife with potential. That’s why I write in its world. So my frustration with Seiya kind of has driven who Lance IS.

7. Conclusion on Lance and what I aspire with him

As the Frank Grimes of Saint Seiya, Lance is just the opposite of Seiya, and that’s all he can be. For now. While Seiya is extroverted, Lance is introverted. While Seiya is loyal to Athena and the idea of Sanctuary, Lance is skepting and questioning of them. While Seiya is boyish and joyful, Lance is focused, self-serious and bitter. While Seiya is instinctive, Lance tends to question himself more and tends to think of what his teacher, Dohko, would think of his choices. Even their fighting styles are opposites. Seiya relies on rapid fire techniques and wrestling, like the Meteor Fist and Rolling Crush, while Lance relies on single-strike moves and street fighting, like the Charge Fist and Blade. Seiya has a steamrolling attitude about fighting, where he applies the same moves over and over until they work, relying on sheer heroism to carry him. Lance, on the other hand, is reliant on tactics, switching up techniques between punching, slicing or using the fire element to prey on the opponents’ ability disadvantages. More importantly, while Seiya is quick to accept friendship and comrades, Lance is highly skeptical of them. It took Lance being forced by the Pope to pair up with Shinta for him to get his best friend and his relationship with Olivia evolved almost by accident. This all, because Lance had such a bad experience with Guifi Taitano, Kerberos Kastiel and the Maidens of Sanctuary. However, unlike Seiya, Lance heavily involves the few people he cares about in his triumphs and affairs, because it’s that much harder for him than it is to Seiya to accept people. He will be very quick to congratulate Shinta for the impressive things he does and you will never find him just ignoring someone’s love confession and moving on, because Lance values those connections that much more than a character like Seiya does.Also, he will be the one jumping in to shield Olivia from arrows, not the other way around, cause he actually values the miracle it is to have someone you connect with.

I’m not saying this necessarily makes him a better character. What it does, however, is set him up for consequences, which is what we’ve been talking all along about as well. Lance has something to lose other than just a dumb Holy War. And that’s a good starting point for what I eventually want him to be.

Cause see, I don’t want him to be just Frank Grimes. I want him to match up to protagonists that have genuinely inspired me, like Aragorn, Ippo, Guts, Luffy, V (at least the version of her I played) and others. I want him, if possible, to be better than them Maybe Saint Seiya is too small for that kind of ambition, or my skill to limited. I often feel that way. That’s no reason not to try, though (～￣▽￣)～

[omgfloofy]

State of the WiPs

I figure I'll do a quick rundown of my fics and the progress on them, especially now that Insurgent King has finished.

I'll put it all behind a cut!

The Insurgent King (FFXV)

Though I finished the story 'The Insurgent King,' it is story 2 of an 11 story series. Instead of doing this in a single, long fic, I figured I'd build it out in a series of episodic stories.

The next story lined up is called 'The King's Gambit' and it is a Regis POV story that details the events to cause the setting of the AU. Beyond that, the next story is 'A Metropolis Under Twilight' which is a very Noctis and Prompto focused adventure in the Niflheim-controlled Insomnia.

Neither of these are expected to be as long as Insurgent King was, but only one of them is fully outlined. The other has had a new idea in it that's thrown the original outline off a cliff. lol

dal segno al coda (FFXV)

I'm still working on this! I just needed a big break on it.

This fic is a monster and I'm glad for the break. It was super helpful to get my head back in the game. I got out another chapter of Date Night, which is one of the two preview fics for it.

The plan is that I'll start posting it once I get part 1 finished. I'm doing some reworks on it right now, and will be back at work there soon.

Twilight (FFXV)

There are multiple shorts in the works for my Twilight AU.

A Part to Play

The Puzzle Box

Group Chat

Some Things Never Change

Ebb and Flow

I also have a few more shorts to add to On the Job, but I've only made notes for them and haven't written them yet.

FFXV Remix (FFXV)

I've picked out my remix fic awhile back, but I wanted to get Insurgent King out of the way before I started working on it. The fic is now outlined, and I should be good to go with it.

The Barber of Insomnia (FFXV)

Uh.... yeah. This really is just a working title. I don't want to call it right on the nose of that, but I have notes for a fic that's an FFXV flavored variation of The Barber of Seville.

Inconvenient Blessings (FFXV)

Outlined, but not written. I should change that soon!

Helldiving (FFXV & Helldivers)

This one is a planned one shot, but needs more background work put together before I can actually write it. It's going to be very on the nose.

Untitled Long Night Story (FFXV)

I still want to work on this. I changed how I want it to work, in terms of storytelling mechanics, though. So I'll need to rethink it.

Ad Astra (FFXV)

I've been fiddling with a playlist for this. That's the only progress there. LOL

Payday (Trails from Zero)

This was an idea I had during Yuletide 2023. I really liked the idea and may write it anyway.

Random Questions (Ys)

A set of drabbles that I started, each based on a question. There are twenty chapters planned. I have a reversal version planned, as well, that's a follow up to this, as well. I've, sadly, not touched this in a long time.

Untitled Adol and Laxia Adventure Fic (Ys)

What it says on the tin. Still being worked on. At some point after Ys VIII, Adol runs into Laxia again and has to go undercover with her to retrieve something that belonged to her once disgraced father.

The Haunting of Karen Jackson (Phasmophobia)

A dossier-type fic for Phasmophobia that's based on some of the actual games I've had with friends. I need to sit down and play through it a few times on an easy mode to get some ideas.

Lost Traveller (No Man's Sky & 16 16 16 16)

A No Man's Sky crossover story that's been in the works. Atlas demands I speak no more of this.