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weaselle · 5 years ago

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DEAD EARTH 2nd INSTALLMENT

Hex very carefully did not turn and look the direction Jackal was facing. “Detail” she ordered.

“Five PETA troopers plus the two men who fled the alley - one of the troopers is an officer, two of them are in full combat gear,” Jackal stopped facing that direction and calmly looked at Breen as if conversing with him. “All seven are grouped loosely just inside the entrance; they have not seen us.” Breen started to look toward the door, but Jackal tapped the table to get his attention and shook his head.

Hex nodded. “Jackal, you got the stuff for a pop-and-run?”

Jackal smiled. “Yes, Captain.” He began taking a series of small items out of his belt pouches.

____________________________________________________________________

Helix looked at Breen, who was clearly distraught. “Okay fly-boy, you need a job, we need a ship, and there’s PETA brass looking for you, I like the signature of your ion-dust -- you want the job? You’ve got” she took out her pistol and glanced at Jackal as he lit the fuses of several tiny somethings “about ten seconds to decide; follow us when we go and you’re hired” The burning wicks disappeared into the tiny packets and Jackal tossed both hands in a motion that could have been mistaken for a shrug, ending palms up and empty.

Breen said “Follow you where?” and then there were loud pops and bangs from all over the room. Everybody jumped up and started running for exits. Hex got off two shots unnoticed while the tiny explosives were sounding, and then she and Jackal merged with the sudden confusion, headed for the front door. Breen hustled to keep up with them, nervously looking for the PETA officers and the two loyalists but didn��t see them before he made it to the street, jogging along behind Jackal and Hex for a block until they began to walk calmly as if nothing had happened.

“Captain,” said Jackal, nodding at a store front with large windows.

“Perfect,” Hex agreed, and the three of them strolled over to look.

“Why,” asked Breen quietly, “um, why are we looking at fake plants for sale?”

Helix pointed at one of the display plants and said “That’s not what we’re looking at”

Breen frowned. “Then what are we looking at?”

Jackal nodded happily and pointed to a different plant “We’re looking at the reflections in the window”

Breen looked. It was true, you could see the street behind them in the plastiglass over the plant display, like a ghostly mirror.

“Looks like we lost them,” said Hex, “but lets stay here a while longer to be sure.”

“Hey,” said Breen, “how come we didn’t go out the back?”

“Because,” said Jackal, “that’s where those troopers expected us; probably had men out back before they ever came in the front”

“But why didn’t the ones at front catch us? I didn’t even see them”

“Well,” explained Hex “we would have gotten past regardless, because what they would have been looking for was anybody in the crowd trying to get away from them. Troopers are kind of like cats that way. But this particular bunch, did you see them Jacks?”

Jackal chuckled “went to ground looking for cover faster than a comet to a black hole, and two of ‘em in full armor!” he shook his head in wonder. “PETA,” he said in a voice full of loathing, and spit. “They got the money, but you can’t buy bravery.”

Hex nodded, then looked at Breen. “So! Seems like we’ve hired ourselves a ship, ey?”

“Looks like it,” Breen agreed, warily. “I mean, I need the money, and I really can’t stay here anymore. Probably have my picture up in every colony on Luna by day’s end.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t expect it’ll get that bad, turns out we didn’t leave any witnesses,” said Hex.

Breen glanced sharply at her, and she made a finger gun at him and dropped her thumb twice. He remembered her taking two shots back in the bar. “The two men from the alley?” he asked.

She nodded “Their own fault, damn fools; should have stayed gone when I let them go the first time”

“What if you missed?” Breen wondered

Jackal laughed without much humor. “You don’t know the captain yet, so I’ll forgive you questioning her like that” he said.

Breen felt a small shiver. Just what kind of company had he fallen in with?

“So, Breen,” Captain Hex turned to face him “where’s this ship of yours?”

When they arrived at his home dock, Breen immediately started to clean up. There was a lot of clutter. “Sorry for the mess,” He said past a towering armload of clothing “You’re not supposed to live in your ship dock,” he dumped the heap onto an even larger mound of clothes “against regs and all that, but, y’know, why pay two rents?”

“Or even one rent,” said Jackal, holding up a red notice warning of impending eviction in large letters.

“Yeah, well,” said Breen snatching it out of his hands indignantly and glancing at Hex with embarrassment. “Just a little hiccup. I’ve still got 30 days to pay that” Behind his back, Jackal mouthed “seventeen” at Hex, who hid a smile.

“Listen, Breeny baby, we already know you’re broke. Right? You told us yourself. And me and Jackal, we’ve been broke before, plenty.”

“Due respect Captain, but you can fuck off with that, I’ve not been broke since I cached my first score back when you were -“ Jackal stopped suddenly. “Well, a long time ago, anyway,” he finished.

Briefly in the air between them was something complicated that Breen didn’t understand, then Hex waved a hand negligently and said to Breen “Maybe it would ease your mind to settle some business?”

So they sat down and talked numbers.

“That’s a decent amount of money” Breen said.

“Yep, that’s the retainer. I’ll pay you that same amount again anytime you want to quit, and until you do, I’ll cover all ship related costs: fuel, supplies, crew payment, docking fees, all that. Plus, you’ll get...” Hex slid a look over at Jackal “three percent of all profits incurred.

“What?! It’s my ship, I want fifty percent!” Oh, how he didn’t like the way the two of them laughed at him over that. “Listen, what the hell are we hauling, anyway?”

“It’s not that simple, Breen,” said Hex, “we’re going to be taking whatever scavenge we can get while we look for a specific thing, and the thing we’re looking for isn’t to haul and sell. All those expenses I mentioned? Fueling the ship and paying the crew and keeping us all fed? That’s coming out of whatever we can scrounge up once we head out. You take 50% and I won’t have enough to cover those costs.”

“Come on,” said Jackal “it’s a reasonable contract, pretty standard among the Galloglas. I make five percent myself.”

Breen looked at them. “He’s making 5%?” he asked Hex.

“Aye,” she said, “he’s a Galloglas”

“Well I don’t know what that means, but I want 5% too”

“You might not know what it means to be a Gallowglas,” she returned, “but you aren’t one either. 4%”

Breen stuck his chin out “He gets 5%, I want 5%” he insisted.

Jackal smiled a smile that showed off his fangs “You think you’ve got as much to offer the captain as I do?”

Breen stared at him. “I don’t know,” he said after a moment, “I’ve got a ship, what’ve you got?”

Jackal turned to Hex “I like him” he said, wickedly.

Hex laughed, “Alright, you’re a good man at the bargain table, Freighzer Breenlund, may we sit the same side of all such tables in the future; 5% it is” and she held out her hand.

Breen shook, feeling somehow as if he had talked his way into exactly what she’d always intended on giving him.

#scifi #fiction #dead earth #dead earth 2 #writitng

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plantboipotter · 5 years ago

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Drarry Fic Recs

Heed All Warnings and tags etc. They are in place for a reason.

I’ve compiled a small master list of Drarry Fanfiction recommendations - excuse the fact that I only read like 4 authors, all their stuff is just really good and I end up falling down a rabbit hole. Irregardless, I hope you find new fics to indulge in! Every single one of these authors are brilliant and I cannot sing their praises enough.

Short - Up to 20k

Fine I'll hold my breath / til i forget it's complicated by Teatrolley

10k - E

Summary: Harry and Draco become friends with benefits, and Harry thinks it's more complicated than it actually is

Erosmancy by astolat

11k - M

Summary: Blaise was immune to whatever it was people usually felt around his mother, for which he was profoundly grateful, since no one needed an Oedipal complex on quite that spectacular a scale, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have a thorough respect for her gift.

Newts by astolat

13k - E

Summary: “I’m twenty-eight!” Harry said. “I’ve been an Auror for ten years! You want me to go back to Hogwarts now?"

Notes: Written for prompt #1 by jokerofish: Harry's about to be promoted to the Head of the Auror Department when Zacharias Smith brings up a 235 year old law that states a department head must be a Hogwarts graduate- now Harry has to go back and graduate Hogwarts - unfortunately that means convincing Professor Malfoy to give him something more than D.

Reparatio by astolat

17k - E

Summary: Draco snorted. “I’m not reduced to penury. I want something considerably beyond money, and I rather think you’re the only one can give it to me.”“You want the Invisibility Cloak,” Harry said, flatly. He’d half expected as much; it was the only thing he had that Draco could want—“Don’t be stupid, Potter,” Draco said. “I want my reputation back.”

Medium - 20k - 70k

Here Be Dragons by birdsofshore

21k - E

Summary: Harry doesn’t want to waste his time investigating illegal dragonhide trading, whether it involves a fetish club in Knockturn Alley or visiting a remote island in Wales. Why the bloody hell does Malfoy always have to be up to something?

The Rules of Matchbreaking by PalenDrome (nerdherderette)

22k - E

Summary:

For Prompt #51: When Draco gets fired, he reluctantly agrees to break up a girl’s relationship for her disapproving mother. Through word of mouth, the one-time gig turns him into a professional Matchbreaker, however he winds up falling for one of his clients and must somehow balance his secret job and love life.

[excerpt]: “So who is it? The Curse-breaker and the Veela? The head of the Department of Magical Transportation?” Draco’s eyes lit up. “The Dragon-tamer?” Now that particular Weasley could be fun.“No. It’s Harry,” Hermione said, the name exploding out of her in a rush.Draco blinked, stunned into silence.“Harry,” he said, after he recovered his faculties. “You want me to break up Harry and the Weaselette?!"

The Critiquer by dysonrules

24k - E

Summary: When Harry submits his cock photo to a renowned Cock Critiquer and gets a terrible review, he decides to take a photography class to hopefully improve his skills.

Draco's Proposal by sibamoono

23k - E

Summary: Based off the film "The Proposal" Draco Malfoy has spent years making ammends for his misdeeds as a teenager. However it seems its not enough, as it continues to hinder his career. That is, until Harry Potter pops in unexpectedly.

Wish Upon A Star (as dreamers do) by ICMezzo

27k - R (You need an ao3 account for this particular fic - but it can also be found on LiveJournal)

Summary: There’s plant magic and celestial magic and dark magic and the normal magic that allows Harry to use a spell to clean his socks when Myrtle’s taken up in his laundry room again. Then there are wishes, and dreams, and love, and those are even more magical still.

The Four Ds of Apparition (or: Destination, Determination, Deliberation, and Dicks) by eidheann and firethesound

36k - E

Summary: After transferring to the Apparition Department, Harry's life becomes one big dick joke. And all his friends are arseholes. So is Malfoy, but what else is new? AKA Harry Potter and the eighteen twenty dicks.

A Convenient Impracticality by firethesound

38k - E

Summary: Somehow Harry ends up agreeing to a fake relationship with his ex-nemesis-turned-friendly-acquaintance-with-benefits, except for some reason it involves an awful lot of actual dating and, sadly, not much sex. Confused? Harry is too, but when has anything with Draco Malfoy ever been as straightforward as it seems?

The vanishing department by dicta_contrion

37k - E

Summary: The things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, even if that involves a lot more form-filling, bickering, covert glancing, miscommunication, and flying furniture than we might expect.

The Boy Who Only Lived Twice by lettered

54k - E

Summary: Harry Potter is an Unspeakable. Draco Malfoy is the wizard who shagged him. Adventure! Intrigue! Secret identities, celebrities, spies! It's all right here, folks.

Naked by bixgirl1

57k - E

Summary: Harry and Draco are sent on an undercover assignment to catch a Dark wizard — which might not be so bad if it weren't at a Muggle nudist resort.Now Draco has to deal with a very interested Harry, temptation he's long-since learned to ignore, and threats around every corner — including the one to his heart.

A Guide to the Morphology of Magic by wendlaa

64k - E

Summary: When Draco Malfoy is hand picked to investigate a string of curses cropping up in Muggle communities in North America, the last person he wanted to be traveling with was Harry Potter. Still, duty calls, and the two set off on an adventure chasing down mysterious curses, sleeping in cramped hotel rooms, and trying to navigate their newly formed post-War selves as they make their way through small towns and long, dark stretches of highway.

You Open Always (petal by petal) by birdsofshore

65k - E

Summary: Harry’s not the kind of person who pays for sex. He really isn’t. Until he is.

Long - Over 70k

Tea and No Sympathy by Who-La-Hoop

70k - E

Summary: It's Potter's fault, of course, that Draco finds himself trapped in the same twenty-four-hour period, repeating itself over and over again. It's been nearly a year since the unpleasant business at Hogwarts, and Draco's getting on with his life quite nicely, thank you, until Harry sodding Potter steps in and ruins it all, just like always. At first, though, the time loop seems liberating. For the first time in his life, he can do anything, say anything, be anything, without consequence. But the more Draco repeats the day, the more he realises the uncomfortable truth: he's falling head over heels for the speccy git. And suddenly, the time loop feels like a trap. For how can he ever get Harry to love him back when time is, quite literally, against him?

Unhook the Stars by jad

70k - E

This is Top!Draco, so if that’s not your thing, maybe skip this one!

Summary: "Love is like a Rubix Cube: there are countless wrong twists and turns, but once you get it right, it's perfect no matter how you look at it." Seventy-thousand words of pornographic discourse between two boys-turned-men that still haven't learned how to communicate like normal people – with words. Guest appearances by Pansy Parkinson, Neville Longbottom, Hermione Granger, Blaise Zabini, Teddy Lupin, Gregory Goyle, the Weird Sisters, ex-wives, several Weasleys, a Boggart, and a Honey Badger.

Headlights In The Snow by Saras_Girl

71k - M

Summary: What’s big and purple and smells like tea? Harry is about to find out.

Reparations by Saras_Girl

87k - E

Summary: Harry is about to discover that the steepest learning curve comes after Healer training, and that second chances can be found in unexpected places.

Azoth by zeitgeistic (faire_weather)

88k - E

Summary: Now that Harry is back at Hogwarts with Hermione for eighth year, he realises that something’s missing from his life, and it either has to do with Ron, his boggart, Snape, or Malfoy. Furthermore, what, exactly, does it mean when one’s life is defined by the desire to simultaneously impress and annoy a portrait? Harry has no idea; he’s too busy trying not to be in love with Malfoy to care.

Balance, Imperfect by bixgirl1

91k - E

Summary: When Harry sustains an injury in the line of work, he no longer knows how to navigate the life he loved, and finds help and solace from the most unexpected source.

Helix by Saras_Girl

92k - E

Summary: Seven months after the end of the war, Harry is feeling lost. Fortunately, he is about to be offered an unexpected and sparkling chance to find himself again.

At Your Service by Faith Wood (faithwood)

95k - E

Summary: Hogwarts students are in danger; Harry is determined to save them all. There's only one thing he knows for certain: Draco Malfoy is somehow involved.

Bloody But Unbowed by Lomonaaeren

100k - E

Summary: Nothing in Harry’s life since the war has gone the way he expected. And now he’s the mediwizard assigned to take care of Lucius Malfoy, of all people. But he’s Harry; he grits his teeth and endures. He won’t allow even Draco Malfoy’s flirting, which he knows is just a joke, to disconcert him.

Starts With A Spin by Maxine

119k - E

Summary: It started with the spin of a bottle, and now Harry and Draco have gotten themselves so far into their own game there's almost no way out again. Except to keep playing.

Level Two: Series one by Ashii Black (ashiiblack), blamebrampton, Catsintheattic, dustmouth, epithalamium, incandescent (lmeden), JosephineStone, leveltwo, nerakrose, raitala, Romaine, Vaysh, Writcraft

113k - E

Summary: Witches and wizards are disappearing in a seemingly random fashion. Coincidence? Abductions? But no one is claiming ransom. The Aurors are not even sure the disappearances are connected, then one of the missing turns up dead. Meanwhile, Auror Harry Potter is thrown into the infamous Sirius Black Muggle murder case from 25 years ago. Given a chance to clear his godfather's name for good, Harry is not above accepting even the help of magical specialist Draco Malfoy.

Written On The Heart by Who-La-Hoop

113k - E

Summary: Harry doesn’t mind that so many Slytherins from his year have returned to finish their NEWTs, really he doesn’t. It’s just – do they have to be so friendly? He’s not prejudiced, really he’s not. It’s just – they’ve got to be up to something, right? Unnerved by the attention he’s attracting from everyone – the Slytherins are the least of it, to be fair – and struggling with a raft of changes to Hogwarts itself, Harry wishes he could be happy that one constant remains: Draco Malfoy really fucking hates him.

When he’s hit by an illegal love-spell though, Harry finds he has more to worry about than whether or not Blaise Zabini actually wants to be his friend. For if everyone affected has been blessed – or cursed, by the look on Malfoy’s face – with a magical tattoo revealing the name of their soulmate, what does it mean that Harry’s skin remains completely bare?

What We Pretend We Can't See by gyzym

131k - E

Summary: Seven years out from the war, Harry learns the hard truth of old history: it’s never quite as far behind you as you thought.

Any Instrument by dicta_contrion

131k - E

Summary: Draco Malfoy wouldn't go back to England for anything less than an exceptional case. Being asked to figure out why Harry Potter can't control his magic might be exceptional enough to qualify.

All Our Secrets Laid Bare by firethesound

149k - E

Summary: Over the six years Draco Malfoy has been an Auror, four of his partners have turned up dead. Harry Potter is assigned as his newest partner to investigate just what is going on.

Mental by sara_holmes

186k - M

Summary: Harry has had quite enough of sharing his mind with someone else, thankyouverymuch. A miscast Legilimecy spell says otherwise.

Turn by Saras_Girl

306k - E

Summary:‌ One good turn always deserves another. Apparently.

#drarry #fic recs #masterlist #slow burn #mycompliation

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dagenspear · 6 years ago

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Arrow Season 6 Rewrite

Lian Yu main character Deaths: Quentin. Samantha. Diggle.

Black Siren: After the island blows up, Oliver finds Siren kneeling over a dead Quentin, crying. She then blasts him away with her cry and escapes. Siren is the villain of the first episode. She commits crimes, stealing files and stuff and then allows herself to be captured. At the end of the episode, Oliver asks her why and we see a flashback to Quentin dying to save her life and as he's dying, Siren expresses her tearful gratitude and tells him that Laurel's still alive, that her death was faked and that she knows this because Laurel and Siren have a mental link and share eachother's memories due to being on the same earth for so long. That's how Siren knew about the legends and all that. Siren has now found God and promised the dying Quentin that she'll find Laurel.

Laurel's death was faked by Lady Shiva. The reason for this being that when Laurel was younger she'd gained minor self defense training from Shiva's former master named the Dragon, who'd been killed recently by Ricardo Diaz, and Shiva took it as her responsibility, out of respect for her former master, to look after his students. Shiva's contacts informed her that, after Laurel had been stabbed by Darkh and didn't die, Darkh had sent an assassin to finish the job, so Shiva faked her death and has kept her hidden, against her will, ever since. Due to the assassin's persistence and belief that his target is still alive. Shiva has, in her mind for her own good, forced Laurel to train more efficiently to better protect herself.

Siren is able to find Laurel, but as a consequence leads the assassin to her. Laurel's hurt badly and begins bleeding, so Siren gives her a blood transfusion to save her, which causes Siren's meta DNA to activate Laurel's same meta gene, giving her a canary cry as well. Siren either dies saving Laurel or lives and goes back to e2 to accept responsibility for her past crimes.

Laurel remains in hiding for the rest of the season, especially after her dad dying, uncertain if she wants her previous life back. But she becomes the Black Canary again, changing her costume to be more of a cross between Siren's outfit and her previous one, more comic accurate, with no mask.

Dinah Drake is uncertain about her place as a hero, wanting to branch out and find her own identity as a person, instead of taking someone elses. Part of this disconnection with her purpose is apart of her issues with the team. She wants to find her place and thinks she can by helping Vince, whose Vigilante, turn to heroism, but Vince dies because of a call Oliver made, placing her in resentment against Oliver.

Rene is angry about Diggle's and Quentin's death. The loss of a parental figure for Diggle's child and the loss of a father figure in Quentin hits close to home and he blames Oliver. He's hesitant to take Oliver's orders because of this.

Curtis has no life outside of being a vigilante on the team now. He's made this is whole life. This causes problems among the team, because he's grown rash and seeks a more lone wolf status, which Oliver fears might get him killed. Oliver tries to control the situation more and more and Curtis lashes out at him for it.

The resentment between Oliver and Rene Curtis and Dinah hits a crescendo with episode 12, where they all reject Oliver's leadership and break off to be their own thing.

Dinah grows to find herself. Starting off with feeling the burden of following in the footsteps of someone who was very different than her, then understanding her after meeting her and finding herself through some form of kinship with Laurel. Drake goes to LOT at the end of the season.

Rene grows to realize that he can't be comfortable in being a vigilante anymore and quits, deciding to instead be a dad.

Curtis cuts all ties to his life as Curtis and decides to just be Mr. Terrific and leaves to go be in another city.

Thea wakes up with a renewed sense of purpose. She plans to take back the Queen family's livelihood and works to, using the funds given to her by Malcolm, undergo a takeover of the former Queen Consolidated. Malcolm's death made her realize that her true family, however flawed, is what she wants to keep true to, the people that raised her: Robert and Moira. She tells Oliver that they were flawed, but they loved them and that's what she cares about, that he's wrong about her becoming like their mom being bad, because Moira died for her and helped turn Malcolm in and in her worst actions, acted out of fear for her family's safety. Thea states that she isn't afraid anymore though and she's gonna build the company back up in their family's name, in honor of Moira and Robert.

Felicity/olicity: After the loss of Diggle, her and Oliver bond more and become a couple (you have to do this, it was hinted in season 5 too heavily). But Felicity starts to fall apart. We reveal that Felicity has been dosing herself with extensive drugs over the last year, ever since Havenrock, but it started with being paralyzed by Darkh. This explains her upbeat attitude after nuking Havenrock and her getting over Billy's death so quickly. Felicity suffers from massive PTSD and Diggle's death, due to the Lian Yu explosion was a trigger that made her snap. Her relationship with Oliver deteriorates rapidly. Her character arc is about seeking help, trying to make herself feel human again, partly by stopping helix. Felicity goes throughout the rest of the season trying to balance herself as a person. Eventually leading to her quitting because she feels that she's compromised her morals so much, she shouldn't be a vigilante hacker anymore, then trying to put to work her knowledge about her spine chip to help people.

Oliver: He, because of the loss of Diggle, Quentin and Samantha, tries to pretend to be happier for his son, tries to be better, but William is afraid of him. Oliver's arc is about the admittance of his mistakes. Oliver's resigned as mayor to try and take care of William. After he helps Slade find his son, Slade tells him that he can't be a father to his son anymore, with how damaged he is, that he's not fit for it. Slade tells him that if he really cared about his son, he would give him up too and not damage William further with his brokeness. Oliver realizes that instead of pretending to be the man he wants his son to think he is, he actually commits to it and turns himself in as the Hood, Arrow and Green Arrow, confessing to all his crimes. When he does this, William hugs him for the first time and says that he's proud of him. Oliver changes his ways for is son. William is left with Thea to look after.

Richard Dragon: He's a highly skilled, efficient, unstoppable killing machine. He doesn't want revenge or anything like that. Born Ricardo Diaz Jr. he was abandoned by drug lord father and raised himself on the streets without the comfort or privilege Oliver was born into and had to fight, scrape and claw his way to gain anything. He was brought under the wing of a martial artist named the Dragon, when his already formidable fighting skill was witnessed by him, trained in the most harsh ways and when he was able to defeat the Dragon himself, killed him, seeing no point to him as he'd learned everything he needed to know, and stole his name for himself, seeking out all those who were formidable to kill and prove his superiority. He just wants to wipe the Green Arrow clean off the map to tear down the false idol he's presented, publicly.

Dragon uses Cayden James to get control of the city and out Oliver as the Green Arrow to the public incurring a manhunt against the team. This happens at episode 17. This forces the 2 teams to work together and face off against Dragon. Oliver loses the fight, is beaten badly, but does the one thing Dragon doesn't expect: Turns himself in.

Please review!

#laurel lance #anti olicity #anti arrow #nolicity #anti felicity smoak

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xqr · 6 years ago

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LLSIF Things 57: 600 gems, 51 STs for Band Hanayo

December 15th 2015: Christmas Hanayo graces JP. I use 250 gems and get no URs. December 18th 2016: Christmas Hanayo comes to EN. I use 1100 gems and get no URs. December 10th 2017: Band Hanayo arrives on JP. I use 200 gems and get no URs. August 1st 2018: Band Pana released on EN. I am ready to be crushed.

Step 1: set up a shrine 24 hours prior

It also happens to be Chika’s birthday on the day my waifu appears before us

I was going to leave JP decorated in the usual Hanayo stuff, in solidarity with EN, but decided JP is a fake ally.

Step 2: make the summoning circle

Eggs were released this morning. I am offended rice was not first

Off to a good start! Finally one of my account has this card! <3

1/3 of new cards

2/3 of new cards. Both SRs get!

A long pause before Rin turns up

And another long pause before Nozo.

I feel like STs have been kinder in the past. But this will do.

1. Not bad. Not fantastic. At this point in my SIF career you have to be an SSR to even consider being on the team, just to put into perspective what’s going to happen to all these SRs.

2. Yes!! Hanayo is idolised and the world is good. I also had another copy of Nico from ages ago. Good pull, would pull again.

3. Hm

4. Better

5. Finally Initial Eli reaches SL2!

6. Sweet, I pulled that Rin last time.

7. About time I got a 1SR pull, right?

9. Nico also reaches SL2

At this point I’m already dead inside knowing it’s not happening lmao

10. Well, it’s a better note to end on. Got a cool Hanayo of some description. Nico gets SL2.

But it doesn’t end just yet.

Got dem BTs

Klab: give XQR the cool scoring 1st year, you know, Hana- SIF: I gotchu fam:

The most recent UR on Aqours side. If I’d put my BTs into the Muse box would I have got Hanayo? We’ll never know. But I can’t chance getting one of the old shit URs. But I’m v happy about this card.

I saved these for post-Pana so they wouldn’t ‘steal my luck’

well it was free!

Me, when the UR envelope flew out: NO

This is such a fucking good free pull?? I’m like so mad?? Argh. Why couldn’t this have been in the paid-for pulls? Jesus. So. Like Cooking fucking Maki. It’s funny. All I actually need in life is a smile scorer and here it is. Is the game telling me to scout for shit my teams actually need? lmao

But also even more funny bc when I failed to get Xmas Hanayo, it was Cooking Hanayo that saved the day. It’s like this pair is laughing at me.

BUT THE FUN STILL ISNT OVER. Klab at it again re-releasing the starter packs!

thanks i love it

thanks i can idolise it.

Only then could I stop and let Chika have her birthday time. It’s not like I had the new UR to show off >:(

First SSR to level 5!!

No sitting in the present box for these guys. We’re bonding and (hopefully) grinding to 50 gems again before the event ends lmao

Maki can thank herself for the SSR seals

EN’s first pair that includes Hanayo. How fitting it was this one.

I’ve been stockpiling all the smile SR supports and R Nico children so she went straight to lv4 lmao. That’s how long I’ve been waiting for a smile scorer. And I still had nico children to spare.

Helix: The Revenge

If EN had pulled her, Helix would have continued on with birthday boxes. But no.

god why

that’s. better. but...the dream hath ended?

As for Maki and Kanan:

oof event card (actually I might not have it?)

happy birthday then

So, for the 4th year running, a cool Hanayo UR refused to come home. I mean, I don’t even know why I bother anymore. Am I saving for wonderland Pana? Maybe?? I fucking guess?

#llsif things #llsif #love live #it never gets any easier

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cerberosthehellguard · 7 years ago

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top ten favorite fics of all time? can be any ship you want!

You beautiful angel from the heavens above! Thank you for this ask!! I am literally bursting at the seams with all the screaming I want to do for drarry! (Which if you have been frequenting your dash, would be spammed with the arts, courtesy yours truly- no need to thank me//making grabby hands at you//).

Ah! Umm! Ughh the difficult part of this ask is to choose among the spectacular stuff I have read//wails// So here is ten stuff which is close to my heart (changes constantly because I am a fickle-minded fangirl who is easily distracted by the New Shiny Thing and still rereads the Classics and the ‘Not so popular but Totally - guilty pleasure - fluffy works’).

This is a Long Post. For skipping this, please click “J”. Thanks!

Image Received by Trashness - SouMako 13k words

Mobile phones are amazing and dangerous.They are communication devices, word processors, flashlights, calculators, gaming platforms, cameras…And capable of sending terrible photos to your crush, which end up being the perfect ice breaker(aka: Yes that is my naked ass on your phone. I am filled with shame and regret, but we somehow have a weird friendship out of it)

Entirely too funny and absurdly endearing work that has completely won me over! The friendship is hilarious and oh! Ace!Haru ftw!!

A Place to Call Home by Potatopierrot - AkaFuri 18k words

It was up to Kouki to show Seijuurou that imperfection was not a disability, that they were all only human.

An extremely underrated but utterly heartwarming work that deserves all the praise. This was one of the first works I read when I jumped onto the akafuri wagon and I still hold this very dearly in high praise. The dynamic of their relationship in this made me sit up and notice Akashi and Furihata very very differently than their usual fanon portrayals.

Denial is not just a river in Egypt by Ad_Astra - MakoRin 68k words

Rin comes to terms with something he never thought he wanted.

The classic case of Friends with Benefits to Something More - Which the author wanted to stop with the Friends with Benefits but ended up writing a whole 70k saga which incidentally became the MakoRin Bible. All of Astra’s works are hilariously charming and cheesy and sassy that you can never get enough of it!

Here are the Drarry works I picked out from the Best Ever and honestly, I am not doing any justice because there are just so many which are just too good, you can easily drown and I will take all the blame for it. Happily.

All Our Secrets Laid Bare by @firethesound - 150k words

Over the six years Draco Malfoy has been an Auror, four of his partners have turned up dead. Harry Potter is assigned as his newest partner to investigate just what is going on.

If you need a work that just makes you wonder and enjoy and relish every single word written then this is the work for you! Also, pocketsies!!

The Standard You Walk Past by @bafflinghaze - 47k words

On returning to Hogwarts for their Eighth Year, Headmistress McGonagall decided to room Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter together. She may have hoped for a leading example of house unity; the other students fully expected insults and fights. But nothing happened.

That was, until Harry sleepwalked into Draco’s bed.

Such a beautiful work oh my god! Draco is so so caring here and he is cursed and he still helps Harry out, albiet unwillingly at first and its so poignant! Ahh!

Azoth by Zeitgeistic - 88k words

Now that Harry is back at Hogwarts with Hermione for eighth year, he realises that something’s missing from his life, and it either has to do with Ron, his boggart, Snape, or Malfoy. Furthermore, what, exactly, does it mean when one’s life is defined by the desire to simultaneously impress and annoy a portrait? Harry has no idea; he’s too busy trying not to be in love with Malfoy to care.

The author is the go to person for any, I repeat, any explanation regarding the working of magic. The work is marvelous and detailed and intriguing and! Portrait!Snape at his snarky best!!

Helix by Saras_Girl - 93k words

Seven months after the end of the war, Harry is feeling lost. Fortunately, he is about to be offered an unexpected and sparkling chance to find himself again.

Anything by Saras_Girl is a must read. Anything. There are simply no questions. She has the command over the imagery of words that is incomparable. If you are starting out with Harry Potter Fanworks in general, please give this a try. I will swear, on my life, its so worth it.

Pocket Full of Starlight (Never Let it Fade Away) by @femmequixotic and @noeeon - 46k words

When Scorpius Malfoy and Jamie Potter meet at Quidditch camp, they take an instant dislike to each other. Then they discover their lives are more connected than they could possibly imagine.

Parent Trap AU!! And oh man! So stunningly written! I almost cried when Draco hugs James and during the scene in the Hotel. The writing is exceptionally beautiful and you should definitely read it!

In the Shadow of your Heart by @lqtraintracks - 52k words

And thus began the very strange circumstance of their fake dating in public and real fucking in absolute secret. It was, with no comparison, the weirdest relationship Draco had ever been in – which was to say, it wasn’t one.

Fake Pretend Relationship and……wait for it…..Friends With Benefits trope!! At the same time! It makes sense…..in a way. And So Damn Good. Holy shit I am crying at the beauty of this hilarious fic I love it so much!

In Evidence of Magical Theory by @bixgirl1 - 43k words

In which Harry and Draco can’t fight, and so they fall in love instead. When a hex meant for Draco accidentally catches Harry as well, the pair are forced to learn to understand each other in ways they previously might have thought impossible.

Magical Theories at their finest! A rec list should have atleast one Bonding fic in it and whats better than the best! This is so carefully constructed and beautifully written and I am so in awe of this fic! Ahhhh!

He was He and I was Bunny by bryoneybrynn - 37k words

The war is over and “eighth year” is about to begin at Hogwarts. But for Harry and Draco, nothing is quite the same. Harry’s looking for an escape, Draco’s looking for a friend. Does a little black bunny hold the answers for both of our boys?

Animagus as Bunny!Harry and Snarky Draco who rants to him about him…..all the time. Its funny and gorgeous and crazily wonderful and ahhh yes!!!!

All these are just tip of the ice berg, if you are willing, please check out the other works of these authors and believe me, they will sweep you off your feet. The HP fandom has some of the classiest, astoundingly magnificent works known to the Internet. Thank you JKR for making all of these wonderful writers fall for your writing and create these works for us to enjoy.

#niri babbles #fic rec #anonymous #this is what happens when you let me talk about fics #i never shut up #READ PLEASE OKAY THESE ARE SO SO SO GOOD #gold fics man #drarry #akafuri #soumako #makorin #((for tagging purposes))

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riskeith · 4 years ago

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hi boo!

you do be taking up my heart too.. ;)

honestly i’m really worried about that actually. i know that genshin is coming to switch so i’m not /that/ worried but i want it to come quickly before my phone like 💢 explodes. sometimes it overheats so much i get so nervous sjdjsk.

i am! also idk how unpopular this opinion is but i like paimon’s english dub more idk she sounds Adorable in the english dub. what do you think? i see why he’s popular like aside from being diluc his voice is just hot he was talking during a battle and i almost died bc heh 🥴

his s7-8 hair was a mess after spending two years in the abyss without getting a damn haircut, that’s for sure. but it’s keith and he’s always cute so.. hm. anyway OOOOO oh my god? those two look soooo good though like minghao’s mullet isn’t bad at all. it kind of looks ‘natural’ :o you’ll prob rock that ahh.. dude you Are tomboyish. the dudebro of my heart. if i’m cold i’d steal your hoodies babe. and you’re right street clothes are so expensive for no reason at all.. have you considered thrifting? and for me, well my clothing is quite girly i think hdskdhdk. i wear a lot of proper clothes like dress shirts and plaid and coats. dark academia style if you will... :p

tongue piercings are kind of scary.. they look cute af but like,, how ?¿ shdjdks oh helix are my favorite piercings i think those looks sooo good. especially double helix! your dream is trying to push that punk rock energy in your subconscious hehe. i have my lobes, upper lobes and one helix pierced but i haven’t worn earrings in ages so idk if the holes are still functional.. SLEEVE!!!! it’s a dream of mine to have one too sleeves are soo sexy like ughhh. have you considered smaller tattoos? i know doctors that have tattoos and it doesn’t effect their job. and i do have tattoos! two in fact on each wrist.. ;) i’m getting another one when i graduate this summer and i can’t wait..

a goal of mine is recommending a song to you that you’ll seriously enjoy. wish me luck! (aaahhh????? will do.. 😳)

RUIN GUARDS ARE ONE OF YOUR FAVES? girl that’s atrocious. i literally hate them with my entire heart every time i see one i’m like UGH FUCK OFF WHY DON’T YOU? and you’re right omg and suddenly there’s vines all over you and you keep getting hit by them. fuck dendro slimes. speaking of, i can’t wait for us to get dendro characters i feel like their attacks would look Awesome. if dropped by lvl 60+ hilichurls why not mask?

really? i gotta try it again if you recommend it. maybe i just had it at a bad place or something shskdhsk. like always, i trust your taste on things.. 😏 OOO good! water is so nice....

speaking of, bc we talked about clothes and stuff, are you into makeup?

(i will! i’ll probably send it tonight so you’ll get it in the morning... 😳 holy shit. actually i have no idea how that works you’ll have to explain to me. like do we just chat in game and start a co-op sesh or?)

OF FUN! :D LITERALLY shkshdkshshskdjdnd god i love them so much. actually i’ve started to read some fics bc like,, can’t stop thinking about them and so far i’ve seen some good things actually! i recommend it!

YOU DID? CANT WAIT TO SEE IT AAAAA! <33333 hopefully i answered before you fell asleep today? <3!

hi hi!! fasted time i’ve responded to you yet? LOL

;) ;) <333

FSDFDSJ omg noooo that would scare me too i was playing on my phone once and as soon as it started heated up i just stopped hfshfksdjskd. you’re so brave for playing through it 😩

:o! i can’t actually remember paimon’s eng dub voice (or maybe i can’t remember the japanese one hahaha) but i think she’s cute always? fhdskfj wait do we even know much about her.. she really is just helping an outlander for nothing in return (except food i guess lol) wow what a sweetie. HFSKFHSDJFHK that’s such a mood in the darknight hero cutscenes w diluc fighting and using his weapon.. 🥵🥵

if you’re cold you’ll steal my hoodies... have you forgotten how small i am 😭 HFKSHFKJDSJF more like i’ll be stealing yours 🤪. i have wanted to go thrifting!!! but i don’t think there are too many shops here? or maybe not big ones, i know my friend went once but it was super far away rip... i do want to start being more like environmentally conscious with my clothes tho so i’ll def look into it. omg dark academia you did not just say those words to me.... there was a time dark aca playlists were all i listened to.... if you’ve read “what are you without your name” or whatever it’s called FHDSKJF i wrote that w dark aca vibes.... also i was reading some hogwarts 8th year drarry fics at the time i think so omg.... 👀😍💘 (also proper clothes wow that’s so. professional and ‘actual member of society’ vibes i could not relate hfkdshfjsdf)

yeah i can’t imagine the healing process for tongue piercings either yike... oooo!!! very cool.. i don’t wear my lobe piercings either LMAO but maybe i should now that i have my helix too 🤪 sleeves are so sexy and for what omg. i have! they were what i always considered before i for some reason wanted a sleeve all of a sudden hfksjhfds. YOU HAVE TATTOOS?!?!??! omg can i ask what they are 😳 (unless you think they might out you!) and you’re getting another? omg that’s so sexy for you..... i am captivated <33 idk for some reason i feel like at the end of the day i would chicken out of getting a tattoo bc it’s permanent... and like what if my skin stretches or shrinks or something.. and then it looks off hfskhfdskjfhfj (which is ironic considering i got piercings which are also permanent.. but i feel like i don’t have to see it unlike tattoos? LMAO)

good luck!!!!!! my goal will in turn be to seriously enjoy a song you rec.. fdsfjsh

dude just wait until you meet the other ruin *whatever* variants and you will Understand what i mean. 😭 omg what if it’s just like .... manifesting plants everywhere. WHY NOT MASK!!!! EXPLAIN >:(

maybe!! ngl quite a few places i try matcha stuff don’t do it well either, they use super artificial flavouring and it tastes bad and too fake-sweet ughhhhhhh. ooo on that note. thoughts on bubble tea/bubble tea places? do you guys have a lot there? water is the BEST!!! 💦

i am definitely not!!! im really just a like. doesn’t care too much about my appearance does no upkeep kind of person hfskdjf but also last year... i was thinking maybe i should try... like i kinda wanna see what would happen if i did like intense eyeliner and smokey eye or something... dark lipstick... goth look.. fhskfhksd but that shit be expensive right and in all honesty i would not be bothered to do it every day or even once a week hfskdf. i’m assuming you’re into it?

(yeee! so i’ll add you and you’ll (hopefully hehehe) add me back. and then we can chat whenever, and any time we’re both online i can request to join your world! and then you gotta accept and voila.. i’ll be there 😩😩😩)

oooooo feel free to gimme some recs!!!!

you have!! i’m staying up doing some other stuff and i wanna use up my resin again before sleeping so hehe maybe i’ll be able to reply once more before then? we shall see.

kisses!! c.r.

#marriage anon #wowclunaanswers #long post

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konnl · 5 years ago

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International Bestselling Author Kathrin Hutson Releases the First Installment of Dystopian Sci-Fi Series, Sleepwater Beat

This month’s guest author is Kathrin Hutson. She has been writing fantasy and sci-fi since 2000 because she cannot get enough of tainted heroes, excruciating circumstances, impossible decisions, and Happy Never Afters. She also works as a ghost writer in almost all genres and as an editor through KLH CreateWorks. She lives with her husband, daughter and their two dogs. Let’s learn more about her writing by welcoming Kathrin Hutson to the blog!

Thank you for joining us Kathrin Hutson, congratulations on the release! Can you give us a brief introduction to yourself?

Yes! As far as general stuff about my writing is concerned, I go dark. Some people might ask, “When there’s already so much craziness in the world, why would you add more to it?” To this, my answer is pretty simple (and still so easy to forget within all that craziness): It’s not only about the darkness. More importantly, it’s also about how my characters (and people in general) grow and shift (or not) from within that darkness. Or in spite of it. I don’t write happy endings, and for one unsuspecting reader who took a chance on one of my books, “It wasn’t happy enough.” And I wear that like a badge of honor. But I do write hopeful endings, transformative endings, self-aware and self-empowered endings. For me, the fun isn’t in wrapping everything up in a little bow and calling it “happy”. It’s about reaching the darkest places, exploring them with painful clarity, and illuminating all the possibilities that arise from within.

Now that we went down that road… people seem constantly surprised in meeting me or speaking with me that I am a smiley, laughing, super approachable, ridiculously optimistic person. I wasn’t always that way, that’s for sure. Every person has their darkness and their light. Somehow, I think I’ve managed to siphon all my darkness into my career as an author, and everything that’s left fills my real life with joy and peace and excitement for where I am now and where I’m going in the future. That’s not always easy to maintain, either, with a two-year-old who’s smarter and more stubborn than both of her parents combined (and my husband and I can be a real handful). A few people have also called me a hippie, which is cool too. I’m pretty sure if I’d been born 45 years earlier, I would’ve rocked the 70s! And I do very much enjoy a well-aged bourbon.

Tell us about your new novel, Sleepwater Beat, and how you came about creating this series?

Sleepwater Beat was my first attempt at two things: 1) Dystopian Sci-Fi (or really anything not Dark Fantasy); and 2) an experimental writing style for a long short story of 35,000 words. #2 was a complete failure. I had this crazy idea for “the beat”, which is what these characters call this series’ brand of superpowers—eliciting physical responses in those who hear a very special kind of speaking. Then I thought I could recreate the effect of storytelling-by-vignette a la Memento, only why go backward in time chronologically? Let’s try mixing up the timeline so it makes no sense! That’s what I did. I literally listed each scene on one line, cut them up into little strips, and rearranged them so that no two scenes were placed chronologically together (either backward or forward) with no discernible pattern. It was… interesting. My writing workshop at the time, Charleston Writers Group in Charleston, SC, said pretty much the same. Great writing, interesting concept, wtf is going on with the order of these scenes, and oh, hey! You should turn this into a novel!

Their enthusiasm was so contagious, I did exactly that. I didn’t think I had it in me to turn this awkward short story into a novel. There was so much literary surgery that it took me two years. And a lot of self-doubt, frustration, terror, and pretty much all the emotions I had never felt about any other work I’ve ever written. I did keep most of the “flashback” scenes from Leo’s past and a bit of an unconventional story method in Part 1 (alternating between the present storyline, those flashbacks of her life, and short interludes of dystopian world-building revealed through news-report transcripts. So far, I’ve heard that I captured the “fake news” vibe perfectly. I’ll let readers speculate who that was modeled after…) When I’d included all those and strung them together into the narrative of Leo’s present, I hit a bit of a wall with continuing. Because I realized that Sleepwater Beat as a novel was actually a form of me telling my own story.

That was where the terror really came from. I have never put as much of myself into a main character as I put into Leo Tieffler. I’m definitely not as brooding and anti-social (thank goodness), and I really do care what people think of me personally despite having developed a thick skin necessary for any author. Of course, the details are different, but the parallels were really astounding. Many of the characters from Leo’s past were inspired by real people in my life. So many of those flashback scenes were inspired by real events I did actually experience. And many, many relationships throughout the book reflect in a staggering way a select few relationships I’ve had myself during my relatively short life. At one point, I thought I was writing myself and was terrified that it would seriously detract from the story. At another point, I struggled desperately to write all the social and economic commentary touched upon through this book as subtly as possible… before agonizing over the possibility that it just wasn’t screaming loud enough.

Now that it’s out, now that I’ve gotten feedback from readers and fans (and not just my alpha and beta readers, whose opinions I value quite a lot), I think I’ve done a pretty decent job of mixing it all up to let Sleepwater Beat be its own story. And it very much is.

How many books can readers expect to find in your new sci-fi series? Or is this a secret?

Well, this is Book 1 of the Blue Helix series, so of course there will be more. I already have Book 2 brewing in the primordial ooze of creativity that is my writing mind. All I can say for sure is that there will be at least three books. Most likely more. And as a pantser, I can’t really say more than that, because I won’t have any clue myself until I sit down and put it all to paper. When it feels finished and the characters quit begging for their stories to be exposed, then I guess it’ll be done.

You have a love of writing wild characters, and your new series features an LGBT component, how did come to be?

The first answer for that is that it felt right for the story. Leo isn’t a “wild character”, by any means. The fact that I wrote an LGBT main character isn’t particularly wild either. But she encounters other wild characters, and she gets flung into some pretty wild circumstances. I also wanted her to be real—existing within that gray area encompassing where she belongs, where her loyalties lie, who she trusts, what she’s willing to do, how far she’s willing to go… and, yes, who she’s attracted to. I also wanted to give her a little bit of a break within all her struggles by adding something like a love interest. It’s not very romantic (romance exists in all of my work, but none of it is particularly “romantic”. That’s the one genre I just can’t pin down, and I’m totally okay with that). In the original failed short-story experiment, Leo and her “mentor” Karl (for lack of a better term) with the organization called Sleepwater had a bit of a fling. Honestly, it felt like shoving two strangers’ heads together and saying, “Great, now kiss each other. And enjoy it!” So I dropped that in the novel.

Leo’s romantic relationship with Alex, a character from her past, was there to show the side of this main character that wanted to be a protector—someone who’d never been cared for herself and who knew the consequences of being abandoned by those who were supposed to look after her. She wanted to be that for Alex so badly that she took it a little too far, and then her fear of losing Alex became the self-fulfilling prophecy of becoming just like the people in her life who’d dropped Leo without a second thought.

Leo’s “romantic” relationship with Kaylee, another character with the beat who’s a part of Sleepwater, is definitely not as easily defined. Mostly, Kaylee is the first person who’s ever wanted something very specific from Leo for an incredibly vague reason. At first. And Leo comes to recognize that a part of her likes being told what to do (by Kaylee) when there doesn’t seem to be any ulterior motives. Ulterior motives are all Leo has really ever known, so the brutal honesty and the unapologetic requests are refreshing for her.

Putting all these things into the story with Leo as a heterosexual, cisgender woman would have detracted from her character in so many ways, especially when it comes down to the fact that nothing about her existence—not even where she’s from and who her parents were—is black and white. And in a way, it would have felt like devaluing her character growth and putting through more than a few rounds of sexual objectification. Neither of those are my cup of tea.

Short answer? I wrote more of myself into Leo than I’ve written into any of my other characters to date.

Tell us about Leo, the hero of the story.

Well, now that I answered most of this question in my last diatribe…

Leo is independent and self-reliant by necessity. What’s her ability? When she spins a beat, she can make anyone who hears her believe absolutely whatever she says, even if it’s wildly impossible (and some of it is). She’s put up so many walls around herself in so many different layers as nothing more than a defense mechanism for her own survival. Her mother left when she was three. Her father was one of the greatest minds in technological advancement who became addicted to the same new drug that propelled his career into fame. And it killed him.

She wants everyone to think that she doesn’t give a crap what they think. When she meets Karl and Sleepwater, that “tough girl” façade grows harder and harder to maintain. Even when she’s forced into gunfights and runs from government agencies and gets kidnapped. This woman definitely has a conscience, but she grew up with the repetitious misfortune of finding nothing but pain whenever she followed it. She does the wrong things with the right intentions and has to learn to reconcile them. And in the end, all she really wants is to be accepted, respected, and understood for who she is. Not for her beat. Not for what she’s done or the seemingly unforgiveable mistakes she’s made. Not for who her parents were. And most of the time, she doesn’t even know who she herself really is. So she has to figure it out.

Honestly, she was inspired by Stieg Larsson’s character Lisbeth Salander in the Millennium series (who I fell head-over-heels in love with when I saw the Swedish version of the film and Noomi Rapace as the star). So if we took away Lisbeth Salander’s goth exterior and traded her hacking superpowers for the ability to make people believe whatever she says, we get Leo. Without the solving-murders part.

You mention you’ve been creating worlds since your 10th birthday, has any of the older world building work its way into your published work?

I actually created the world for The Unclaimed trilogy (and my upcoming Vessel Broken series) far before that trilogy became what it is. I think I’d written the first two chapters somewhere in high school, then dropped it because it just didn’t make sense. When I picked it back up again in 2017, I was so ready to re-explore what I’d created and finally write Kherron’s story. I also had to completely rewrite those first two chapters, but it was so worth it.

The majority of the worlds from my amateur writing days (which will never see the light of day) will remain buried in a dusty box in my basement. I took what I needed from them when I created The Unclaimed trilogy, and I get to further explore that world with the Vessel Broken series. But for everything else, my highly sophisticated, painstakingly perfected method of “writing by the seat of my pants” and figuring it out as I go along means that all the new worlds are just that—brand new. And I don’t create them unless I’m going to write and publish the stories that take place there.

What comes first for you, world building or character creation? Or is it a mishmash of both?

Mishmash of everything! The only thing that comes first for me is the first word, then the first sentence. Including something like the first page, that is the hardest part of writing for me. The blank slate. Even when I have all the ideas in my head ready to be unloaded onto paper (or my computer).

So I guess what actually comes first is the “idea”. It’s only ever a theme, or one character in one scene because I like the way they laughed in the face of it, or a setting because it just feels like the right amount of mystically creepy. I usually let those things percolate in my head for anywhere from six months to two years, and when they feel fully brewed (and I have an opening in my timeline for writing new projects), I’ll sit down to begin. Outlining, plotting, character sketches, and world-building before sitting down to write the actual story is an incredibly boring process for me. Every writer has their own method, and those things just aren’t a part of mine. Believe me, I’ve tried. I know it’s because the thing I love most about writing fiction is the act of discovering these characters and these worlds for the first time myself during the writing of them. I get to learn who they are as the ideas just kind of pour through my head and onto the page, and tying together all the woven threads I leave for myself along the way is like playing my own scavenger hunt. More often than not, the characters turn out to do, say, and be completely different things than I originally intended, so an outline or a sketch would have been pointless anyway.

In the case of the Sleepwater Beat series, do you do a lot of research for your world building?

Oh, man. Do I do a lot of research…

Research is something I absolutely loathe. It sucks away the energetic brilliance of building worlds and being in “the zone” of writing and working with magic (for me, that magic is crafting story). I’ve adopted the use of placeholders for this, which means I can keep up my writing momentum to get to the next part of the story already, and I don’t have to tear myself out of the process to go Google something. But I still have to go back after the first draft for that research.

Sleepwater Beat is the first book I ever wrote that actually required any amount of research at all. Obviously, with my Dark Fantasy books, there really wasn’t any research necessary (okay, except for forges and blacksmithing and something about the ingredients of the very first gunpowder). Those worlds are magical and mystical and do not adhere to the physical laws of our world. Sleepwater Beat, as a very near-future Dystopian Sci-Fi, is set in our world. So there was lots and lots of research. It was awful.

I think at one point, I’d spent an hour looking up electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) to use as a plot device in this book. Then when I actually got to the place where I’d intended to use it, the story had changed so much that there isn’t even an odor of EMPs between the front cover and the back. Which is why I now do my research after the writing’s complete.

Let’s thank Kathrin Hutson for joining us again to the blog!

You can find her new novel on her website, amazon, and the various links below:

Website: kathrinhutsonfiction.com

Amazon: amazon.com/Kathrin-Hutson/e/B016N498BS

Twitter: twitter.com/KLHCreateWorks

Goodreads: goodreads.com/author/show/14541725.Kathrin_Hutson

Facebook: facebook.com/KathrinHutsonFiction

Instagram: instagram.com/kathrinhutsonfiction

Thank you so much for having me! I’ve really enjoyed getting to answer these questions (could you tell?).

#Author #Interview #Post Apocalyptic #Sci-Fi #Writing

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geneshaven · 8 years ago

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Rambling Thoughts And Parallels On Parade

I’ve been thinking about the parallels they’ve sprinkled throughout the show this season. Some of them are obvious: the red pen and Oliver pantomiming a proposal to Felicity, the fake world of the Dominators and all the fun stuff that went on there, the bullet ridden laptop in the Bratva flashbacks. There were a lot more; you have to trust me on this one. I want to talk about the less obvious ones. Those of you who follow the narrative of Arrow as closely as I do, probably already know which ones.

This might (probably will) get rambly, but that is how I roll sometimes. And when these kind of thoughts take hold---they take hold. Besides, where else can I take them? This is why I created my blog---to have a place to purge said thoughts.

Am I crazy thinking that most of the parallels this season are linked to Oliver and Felicity? Is my Olicity bandwagon that obvious? It’s been said that their story ---as crime-fighting partners and romantically as well, is the core of the show. Oliver’s growth and Felicity’s growth is symbiotic.

It didn’t start out that way. Felicity was only supposed to be on just one episode. But the combination of chemistry between EBR and SA, and the lackluster pairing of Oliver and Laurel, made the writers rethink the love story they wanted to tell. Yes, they tried throwing other love interest Oliver’s (and ours) way---McKenna, Helena, Sara; and a one night stand with Isabel. But when those “interests” didn’t pan out, Felicity was still there. She became a constant in Oliver’s life in a way those other women could never be. They were nothing more than pit stops, temporary romps without any real meaning or thought. Oliver got sexy time with them, but he was only going through the motions. It wasn’t until Sara told him he deserved someone better than her, someone who could harness that light inside him, that Oliver realized he could be long term relationship material. He did want to care for someone, to love and laugh and maybe embrace that light Sara talked about.

McKenna wasn’t for Oliver. She was more for Ollie. She knew the playboy, not the hero. There wasn’t any real significant history between them.

Besides Sara, Helena was closer to who Oliver had been when he came back from the island. She was a train wreck, damaged emotionally and scared by the very thing Oliver was looking for---love and a sense of belonging. They were dysfunctional mirrors of each other. There was no conventional therapy that would have helped her. Oliver had Lian Yu and Hong Kong and Russia. His experiences in those places taught him how to be strong, and how to detach from his feelings. Helena had superior fighting skills, rage and a place to aim it---at her father. Neither of them knew how to truly reach out and let hope or redemption lead them to the light.

So Oliver drifted through Season 1 without the kind of love he thought he would be able to get from the above mentioned.

He brought John and Felicity into his crusade and that was the catalyst for Oliver to make the kind of connection he was looking for. John was still fighting his own demons with his war experiences and losing Andy. Before joining them, Felicity had settled into an obscure life, away from pain and loss and love. When the three of them came together, they recognized in each other that connection. They were a team, sharing one goal---to make a difference.

Parallels Gene, parallels. Stay on point. I did say that this might get rambly. When I delve into the show like this, it sometimes consumes me---and like my wife used to accuse me of, I have a tendency to ping-pong all over the place. So I guess my point up to here is that Felicity remained a constant in Oliver’s life. She was here to stay.

So, Season 5. We were told that the show was going back to basics. A reboot. Was it because they were trying to bring the comic fans back into the fold? Maybe. The show did kill off their matriarch. Was it because the initial 5 seasons were coming to an end and they were green-lighted for more? Perhaps. MG said that they might have made a mistake in bringing Oliver and Felicity together too soon, (this always cracked me up.) So I think their relationship was a culmination of all these things.

When Season 5 opened, Oliver and Felicity were “ambiguous.” They were working together as Green Arrow and Overwatch, but they were still romantically apart. Yet, they seemed to have traded places emotionally from where they had been in past seasons.

This time is was Oliver pining and frustrated, wanting to bridge the gap between them and come together. Felicity was the one holding back and pushing away (via Oliver in Season 3.) She still had obvious feelings for him. Their romance was implied but not acted on. They both wanted it, but there was still too much damage to repair. If they came back together too soon their relationship would implode again. So Oliver appeared to regress back to doing things alone and to killing again. Going back to basics. And Felicity seemed to fade into the background, trying to process what had happened to her personally. Both of them were like billiard balls, bumping off each other, looking for a pocket they could call home.

Then Felicity met and became involved with someone, something she thought would help her sort through all her feelings and move on. It didn’t. But it was a fun distraction, and maybe it did loosen things up a bit for her.

Until Rory came along and shoved Havenrock back into her face.

But here’s the thing about Billy, and another parallel added to the parade. Felicity kept her relationship with him a secret, from the Team , and more importantly---Oliver. For 5 episodes, in the entire 3 minutes we saw her interact with Billy, I could hear John telling Oliver that secrets have weight. She finally told Oliver, only because he found out from a virtual stranger and asked her. Billy was a comfort zone for Felicity, and if Oliver hadn’t found out when he did, her secret would have lasted a lot longer.

Sound familiar? Was she afraid of losing Oliver forever? Like Oliver was afraid of losing her over William? Sure, Oliver totally lied to her every time he came back from Central City. He broke her trust, her happiness, her heart. And even though Felicity did not lie to Oliver about Billy, he was still hurt. A secret is a secret, especially when it’s kept from someone you love. It’s damaging. Oliver found this out the hard way when Felicity got out of that wheelchair and walked away. I think Felicity will experience this with her secrets about Helix. Her secret won’t be as severe emotionally as Oliver’s but it will still be damaging.

After Oliver killed Billy, Felicity’s comfort zone died with him. Raw emotions took hold of her, and she faced again all the issues that brought her to Billy in the first place. Anger, grief, loss, regret, uncertainty fear---all these things crashed in on her and took her to a place dark and painful. She could look into a mirror and not only see herself, but also a reflection of Oliver super-imposed on hers, giving her a glimpse into what he has been living with since he washed up on Lian Yu.

All of this left Felicity wide open for Helix.

And here is the last parallel in this rambly chronicle. Helix will be Felicity’s League of Assassins. It will at first give her a sense of identity. It will empower her. It will be her mask. And she won’t feel like she’s alone anymore. But here’s the catch. Helix is just as dangerous, with just as much potential of losing herself as the League was for Oliver. If Felicity does end up pitting herself against Team Oliver, it could be the final conflict between them. It would be the kind of disconnect and loss neither one of them would tolerate. Oliver did the same thing with Team Arrow, (granted, it was ruse to make Ra’s think Oliver was all in.) He hurt those that he loved in order to protect them. Sure, a bit misguided, but his heart was in the right place. Felicity will do her thing with Helix for the same reason. In her life, Felicity had never hurt those she loves. She is a cupcake. A unicorn. A pure ray of emphatic sunshine. Her nature is to love, to help and to heal. It is all of these things that will eventually save her, and let those she loves back in.

So, all of what is happening this season is familiar. Maybe the writers really do have a method to their madness? Maybe there is a confrontation, a reconciliation, an endgame? Maybe we will be surprised? Maybe we will believe again?

With a wink and a smile---I’m in.

@hope-for-olicity @almondblossomme @louiseblue1 @justolicity4me @tdgal1 @jamyjan @it-was-a-red-heeler @dmichellewrites @swordandarrow

#meta

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childrenofhypnos · 8 years ago

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Chapter 27: The House on Fenhallow Hill

There was no Grandpa Al waiting for them when they returned to the surface, and Lana let Emery go without any fuss, too busy muttering over the empty eyedropper and Klaus’s waking water.

Emery ran back to Kirkland, where lights burned in the tall gothic windows, and Wes, Ridley, and the class eighteen student council sat around the TV in the lobby. Kris and Lewis were doing homework; Jacqueline was flipping through something on her phone; Wes and Ridley were watching the news, Wes as still and silent as a statue and Ridley bouncing up and down on the couch cushion beside him; and Joel was busy tying orange and purple Fenhalloween decoration streamers together until he looked up and saw her there, and then he tossed them away with a big smile.

Emery sat herself on Ridley’s other side and explained quickly and quietly what had just happened.

“So Uncle Ares hasn’t gotten him to say anything yet,” Wes said.

Ridley looked worried. “Is he not trying? Or…does he not really want the information? Uncle Ares is supposed to be really good at finding things out.”

“I don’t know how Klaus resisted him, but we can’t assume he’s going to be able to do it for much longer,” Emery said. “We need to find my doppelgänger before this gets out of hand. Joel, what do you have?”

“The perfect place.” He pulled out a sheet of orange paper. One of the many fliers for Fenhalloween that had been tacked up on the Crossing’s main bulletin board. On it was a creepy low-angle shot of Fenhallow Manor, and the date and time—Halloween, 9 PM—that Fenhalloween would begin. In all caps at the bottom, it said, COSTUMES MANDATORY.

Emery frowned. “Fenhallow Manor?”

Joel leaned forward. “Yes! Think about it: the class sixteen council just finished cleaning and decorating it for Fenhalloween, so we know it’s in good shape. It’s off-limits because it’s just been decorated, so no one will go there at night unless student council members are there to fix decorations or anything. And you’re technically not leaving campus, but it’s far enough away that no one is likely to hear us or walk in on us.”

He paused, then said, “And, you know, it’s haunted and stuff. Which is cool.”

“I guess this works,” Emery said. “As long as the Wilmark Fox doesn’t try to attack us inside the house.”

“Ver did some experiments with the Fox. It only attacks you if you look at it,” Jacqueline said.

“Why would Ver do experiments with it?”

“Why wouldn’t she? You have to observe your enemies in order to learn how to defeat them. Just because the rest of you don’t think before you leap…”

Emery let out the longest, most exaggerated sigh she could manage. Jacqueline glanced up, glaring. A moment passed. Her lip curled up at the corner.

“Well,” Emery said, “are we going tonight or what? We know Ares isn’t around; we might as well go now, even if it’s just to check the place out.”

Joel was already out of his seat and bounding toward the door; Jacqueline, Kris, and Ridley went next, leaving just Lewis and Wes to glance uncertainly at each other, then at Emery.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Wes asked. “Open a gateway? Go into the Dream again? It wasn’t great for us last time, and what if opening a gateway from the inside is different than opening it from the outside? We could get stuck in there.”

“You don’t have to go in,” Emery said.

A vein stood out in Wes’s forehead. “We’re not having this argument again.”

Lewis, slinging his backpack over his shoulders, slipped between them muttering, “It just seems like a bad idea to me.” Emery followed him out, Wes close on her heels.

The nighttime bustle of the Sleeping City had settled over campus. The horns and squeals of cars on the streets, the ethereal rush from distant highways. Sounds echoed off the skyscrapers. Van der Gelt tower loomed above all the rest, the lights that veined along its black architechture lit up in purple and azure as a nod to the dreamhunters who protected the city.

Fenhallow Woods stood against the soft din of mankind, its face unblinking, its silence complete. The last of the crickets had gone for the season; the only thing that disturbed the woods now was the wind. The dirt trail that wound its way through the sports fields curved up into the woods, disappearing between the trees.

Emery had seen pictures of the time when the campus was founded, when it was Fabian Fenhallow’s manor house sitting high on a hill, surrounded by a smattering of trees and looking down on the small population that would become the Sleeping City. The same picture taken now would show only Fenhallow’s campus and the thick crush of the woods. The manor had been swallowed.

Emery marched in the front of the group, guns drawn; Wes and Ridley brought up the rear. Joel, the only one who had known where they were going, had brought a flashlight.

“No one look directly ahead of us,” Emery said. “The Fox could show up in the middle of the path, and I’m not in the mood to fight it off. Keep your eyes down.”

But the Fox didn’t make an appearance. At least, not that Emery saw. She never looked to the sides, and she never looked back. She felt a faint buzz of the Dream around them, but they were in the woods, where the veil between the Dream and the waking world grew thin. Ares Montgomery could’ve come charging up behind them, and she wouldn’t have felt his approach. For moments at a time, Emery felt they were back in Klaus’s nightmare, following the trail to the ruined castle, and that Marcia might slide out in front of them in full armor and a battle axe.

At the top of the hill, the path flattened out into a wide stone-paved circle, and the trees broke apart, their branches scraping a star-dotted sky. Another statue rose from the bushes and tangles of dead vines in the center of the circular drive, a man on rearing horseback with a sword raised to the sky. Overgrown underbrush covered what had once been a sprawling lawn, and in the middle of the mess stood Fenhallow Manor.

The Fenhallow grounds crew had kept most of the plant life off of the long porch and tall walls of the manor, and every few years the school paid to have another part of its crumbling structure repaired and fortified. The porch columns straightened; the shattered windows replaced; the roof reshingled and the ornamental brass poppy plucked from the wild shrubs in the lawn and reset atop the peak of the east tower, where it curled against the moon. Yet for all that work it still felt like an abandoned place, gaunt and silent and watching them approach. Fenhalloween was held inside every year, but the exterior was never decorated. It didn’t need to be.

Joel raised his flashlight to the statue of the horse and its rider.

“Great-great-great-grandpa is lookin’ good, Em,” he said.

“Add a couple more greats. Everyone in my family was like twenty when they had kids.” Emery looked up into the statue’s face as they passed by. Eamon Ashworth had died fighting Fabian Fenhallow’s nightmares. Some stories about them said they were best friends; others said mortal enemies. Emery wasn’t entirely convinced Fabian would have made a statue to Eamon he could see from his bedroom window if they were enemies, but Fenhallows were weird like that. Jacqueline flipped the statue the casual bird as she strode past.

Joel’s light rippled over the manor’s siding and flashed off the windows. According to campus legend, the manor was haunted—not by ghosts, but by nightmares. Nightmares of the students about what might live there, trapped inside the manor’s walls by the gravity of the Dream.

The only nightmare Emery knew of that lurked around this area was the Wilmark Fox. No one had ever proven that anything lived in Fenhallow Manor, but it wouldn’t come as a surprise if someday, something did.

The stained glass in the double front doors depicted the closed eye of Hypnos on a background of blood-red poppies. They weren’t locked—the doors to Fenhallow Manor were never locked, for fear that someone would try to smash the stained glass to get in—and they led into a wide foyer dominated by two sets of stairs twisted into a double helix. Both were made of wood and expertly crafted. Inlaid into one balustrade were designs of gold; into the other, whorls of silver. The floor was a checkerboard and archways led into different wings of the house.

Here, the decorations were subtle enough that Emery couldn’t tell if the cobwebs along the ceiling were real or fake. Extra furniture had been brought in to make the house seem truly abandoned, though every piece lacked the layer of dust that covered the floors and windowsills. On the far side of the foyer was the door to the ballroom, and above its closed doors hung a long purple-and-white banner that said Happy Fenhalloween.

Jacqueline slapped Lewis’s hand away from a lamp switch on a nearby table. “No lights in the entryway,” she said. “If anyone sees a light on through the front of the house, they’ll come to investigate.”

“Right,” Joel said, “Which is why we’re going to the ballroom.”

He led the way past the double staircase, through the unlocked ballroom doors, made of oak and carved with Hypnos’s eye. Renovations had begun, stopped, and begun again at least three times on the ballroom alone; the intricacy of the flooring, the long windows lined along the north wall, and the chandelier that hung from the ceiling had all caused problems for the contractors the administration brought in to restore it. Despite their apparent hatred of dreamseekers, the State had declared Fenhallow Manor a landmark to be restored to historical accuracy. And that meant the entire floor of the ballroom had to be torn out and replaced, piece by painstaking wooden piece, into a closed Hypnos eye so large it looked like an inverted sunrise, surrounded by wreaths of dark poppies. The windows glinted in the night, framed by heavy red curtains that draped from the ceiling. Joel turned his flashlight up so the beam would shatter through the crystals of the grand chandelier above their heads. More furniture and refreshment tables had been brought in and set up along the east wall, along with two sets of speakers and cleared area with an amplifier.

Joel paused on the amplifier. “Are we actually getting a live band this year?”

“Yes, and you’d know that if you paid attention in any meetings,” Jacqueline said. She grabbed Joel’s backpack and yanked him backward, unzipping the largest pocket to rummage through his things. “What else did you bring for light? We can’t turn on the whole ballroom.”

Joel had brought a small camping lantern that usually sat on top of the television in his room.They set it up in the middle of the floor and gathered around it. Jacqueline reached back into Joel’s bag and pulled out a library book and her purple notebook. She flipped through the pages until she found the one she wanted, and shoved it close to the light.

“Here’s everything I have so far about opening gateways. It’s not much, but I compared with Wes’s notes from your dream theory class, and it’s more than Lenton has been teaching you.”

“Are we sure this is safe?” Kris said, looking at Emery. “Are you sure this is what you want to do? What if you get inside and something goes wrong again? We can’t come after you,” she motions between herself, Lewis, and Joel, “and even if we could, we wouldn’t know something was wrong.”

“I don’t see many other options at this point,” Emery said. “If we even manage to open a gateway, we can do one quick in and out just to make sure we know how it works, so we don’t get stuck. Then it’s just a recon mission. We’re trying to find out if this thing even exists, and if it does, then I have to decide if I’m going to try to kill it there, or try to get a little stronger and do it later.”

She wanted to kill it as soon as she saw it. Shoot it clean through the head, though she had an inkling it wouldn’t be as simple as that. But when she thought of it, of her dead doppelgänger and her Insanity Prime cleared, it wasn’t herself she saw relieved. It was Edgar.

Edgar wouldn’t have to worry. He already had anxiety problems, not to mention anything else that might be going on in his head; the sooner she got all this taken care of, the sooner she could make sure Edgar’s world was as stable and safe as possible. Nothing to disrupt him; nothing to send him toward a fiery trainwreck of an Insanity Prime.

“Let’s go back,” Emery said. “We have work to do.”

“So, I think it’s different for dreamseekers, right?” Jacqueline stood in the middle of the ballroom floor, not far from the light, hands held up in front of her. “We don’t have weapons, so we open gateways with our hands.”

“Klaus opened his gateway with his hands,” Emery said.

“I think his hands are his weapons,” Wes said, making claws with his fingers.

“Right, so,” Jacqueline went on, “I only found resources for dreamhunters, obviously, because they hate me here. For you all, it says you have to sense the veil of the Dream laying over the waking world. Like a layer of smog. You have to block out other sensations and distractions so that you feel only that.” She pushed her flattened hand into the air before her. “Then you pierce the veil. All the imagining and visualizing before this is so that you can actually mentally bring the Dream and the waking world closer in that one spot, I guess sort of like making a dreamform. But instead of pulling a piece of the Dream into the waking world, you just reel it in close and pierce through it so that you can tear a hole open between the two. Make sense?”

Emery felt the beginnings of a headache taking shape in her left temple. “If this is like making a dreamform, I’m already screwed.”

“And you’re going to keep being screwed if you don’t get up and try,” Jacqueline snapped. She had both hands pressed together in front of her stomach now, and she focused on the empty space before her.

Emery and Wes, weapons out, took up positions on either side of her to attempt the same while Joel, Lewis, and Kris looked through the book Jacqueline had brought for helpful tips. After a few minutes of flitting around the room and inspecting all the decorations, Ridley joined them in trying to open a gateway, though where they were still focusing on concentrating the Dream in one spot, Ridley kept thrusting her double icepick hammers out in the air before her and saying, “Maybe this time.”

Emery could feel the Dream around them like a heavy layer of atmosphere, but when she tried to draw it toward herself, the way she would to make a dreamform, the headache grew worse, first a squeezing discomfort and then, as she tried harder, a sharp needling pain. She felt Joel’s eyes on her but didn’t turn to look; looking at him would make her want to stop trying. It would make her feel like she was good enough just as she was, and right now that wasn’t true.

“Oh!”

Jacqueline froze. She’d thrust her hands out into the air and stopped, and though they were still pressed tightly together, her fingers now seemed to wave in the air, as if distorted. She pushed them a little farther forward, and the distortion crept up to her wrists.

“Open it!” said Joel.

With a deep breath and a snap of her arms, Jacqueline turned her hands away from each other and tore the air apart. It was like she’d drawn the curtains open on one of the ballroom’s windows. Reality split and pulled back with her hands, and when her arms were fully apart, it hung open on its own. Darkness and the clawing pressure of the Dream emanated from the opening, and on either side stood statues of rearing horses with wreaths of poppies hanging from their necks.

Jacqueline stepped back. Joel, Kris, and Lewis hesitantly got to their feet. The inside of the gateway wasn’t completely dark; at its heart undulated a strange purple light, like lightning inside a storm cloud.

“Damn, Jackie,” Emery said, “and they didn’t even teach you that.”

“No, they didn’t.” Vicious pride took over Jacqueline’s face. “Now, to close it…it’s sort of like…” She reached her arms out again and touched both statues with the tips of her fingers. Then, concentrating, she brought her hands back together. With a clap, the statues vanished and the dark portal of the gateway rushed into a center point between Jacqueline’s hands, disappearing.

Ridley began applauding. Kris and Joel joined in a moment later.

“How do you close it once you go through, though?” Emery said. “When we went through Klaus’s, we fell through the darkness for a while before we ended up in the Dream.”

“The book says the gateways close themselves once the person who makes them goes through to the other side.” Lewis was bent over the textbook again, squinting close at the lettering under the camping light.

“We should keep practicing,” Wes said. “I think I was close, and even if we can open it on this side, we don’t know if the process feels the same on the Dream side.”

Emery rubbed her forehead. The headache faded to a dull throb. She hadn’t been at all close; the Dream resisted being pulled closer to her, though she had sensed it coalescing in front of Jacqueline and Wes. The entire school would howl with laughter if they saw her right now. She couldn’t shoot things, she couldn’t dreamform, she couldn’t open gateways. Queen Emery, outshined by a non-dreamhunter and the lowest-ranked member of Class Eighteen.

As soon as Emery had the thought, she bit down on it. Their abilities weren’t mutually exclusive; just because Wes and Jacqueline were good at things and worked hard didn’t mean she wasn’t, or didn’t. And the two of them didn’t deserve to have their skills taken away just because she didn’t possess them, too. She was supposed to be good at things, and the fact it wasn’t true wasn’t their faults.

“Wes is right,” she said. “Keep try—”

A scream ripped through the night. They all jumped at the same time, turning toward the manor’s foyer.

“Some asshole—” Joel started.

“—what if it’s not?” Kris said. “No one’s supposed to come into the woods this late at night now, because the Fox wakes up the day division students!”

They all stopped and listened. One scream died into silence, only to be replaced with another scream, closer. Something crashed to the ground outside the ballroom doors.

Guns out, hair raised, Emery hissed, “Stay here!” to the others and crept into the foyer. Only Wes didn’t listen; hammer out, he stuck close on her heels. Their armor formed over their clothes, and Emery thanksed Hypnos that the armor, at least, she had spent so much time learning to form that it came without a headache.

They peeked through the ballroom doors. On the far side of the foyer’s twisted staircases, a shadowed figure huddled near the entrance, hissing under their breath.

At least as tall as Emery.

Definitely female.

And reeking of the Dream.

(Next time on The Children of Hypnos —> Is That The Top Of The Rollercoaster I See?)

#children of hypnos #nightmare hunters #dreams #nightmares #francesca zappia #eliza and her monsters #made you up #reading #free #books #ya #yalit

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storyteller0311 · 8 years ago

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So, Pandora has to be related to Prometheus, right?

Ok, maybe the writers are just on a mythology kick...but that might be too much of a coincidence, right?

In Greek mythology, Prometheus steals fire from Zeus and pisses him off. So, in retaliation, Zeus chains Prometheus to a rock and sets up a situation where Prometheus is tortured every night, magically healed in the morning, rinse, repeat.

But Zeus is still pissed, so he decides to wreak havoc on mankind by...you guessed it...having Hephaestus create a woman named Pandora. Sexist pigs. Ugh. So, then, Zeus gives Pandora a jar of stuff – bad stuff – and has Pandora married off to Prometheus’ brother Epimetheus.

Pandora can’t resist opening the box, so she does what Zeus tells her not to do, and she opens the box.

And all the bad stuff flies out. But there’s one thing left in the box.

Hope.

Hope is what’s in the box.

Okay. So what does this all mean?

Let’s face it. Despite my comment about coincidences above, there’s a really good chance that these are just surface nods to mythology and (what I’ll comment on in a moment) comic canon. But, where’s the fun in writing off possibilities? We need some spec!

Prometheus means forethought. And, boy, do we know that Prometheus has been planning his crusade for a while. He wants Oliver to suffer and he has put all the chess pieces in place to make that happen. He wants Oliver to wish he was dead. He wants to force Oliver into a corner where he’ll have to watch as Prometheus picks every other piece off the board.

He corrupted Evelyn (or really took an already corrupted Evelyn and gave her a new outlet).

He nearly killed Curtis and was the final nail in the (hopefully temporary) death of his marriage.

He put Diggle back in prison.

He got Felicity’s boyfriend killed, devastating Felicity and placing Oliver in a horrible position.

And, finally, he “resurrected” Laurel to the great...um...pain...of the team.

So. While Oliver and Company are off in Hub City because fake-Laurel’s return has lit a weak fire under Oliver’s ass to replace BC, Felicity is feeling nostalgic and looking to go old school hacker in hopes of breaking Dig out of prison.

[EDIT: @almondblossomme reminded me that it was actually Adrian that first introduced the idea of hacking into secret intel to help acquit Dig. I forgot to add this – and it’s important because it ties in to the end of this post.]

So Felicity goes to hacking and boom someone contacts her. Random hacker person wants to know if she's really Ghost Fox Goddess. They claim they can help. They want to meet in real life.

So, Felicity goes. She take Rory as backup. (At least she hasn’t totally lost her mind...yet.) And who shows up? A fangirl. Well...a weirdly judgmental fangirl who insults Felicity more than she praises her and ends up goading her into re-evaluating whether or not Felicity the hacktivist is really, truly retired.

But who is this girl? Well, she’s from a hacker group named Helix and they stolen a bunch of state secrets that have been collected into a file called Pandora and they want Felicity to leak the information – not just about John’s no-good general – but all of it.

This whole storyline is interesting. We know from 5x10 that Felicity is building towards some reckless behavior. She got her feet wet with Black Siren, but unfortunately, Prometheus escaped. Felicity, much like Tina/Dinah/BC 2.0 (3.0?), wants revenge. And, so, she’s got blinders on a little bit. She dives headfirst into meeting this person, because she wants to help John – at any cost – and then the thrill comes back and she doesn’t pause. She goes for it. For Felicity, the question is what happens next. How deep is she going to dive?

And, let’s not forget that this also ties directly into the theme of legacy. In many ways, this group is a product of Felicity’s actions just as Prometheus is a product of Oliver’s. So how does this effect Felicity’s journey? Is this more about Felicity going dark? Or about her actions of the past coming back to haunt her?

Those are questions I can’t answer. But there are some clues here to the overall story.

SIDE NOTE: Were we just supposed to suspend our disbelief because it’s TV and all, or are we supposed to be suspicious about how in the hell hacker fangirl knows who Felicity is. Like really knows who she is. Knows her hacker name, knows her real name, knows she worked at Palmer Tech and got fired...

First I want to briefly discuss Felicity’s old handle hacker handle Ghost Fox Goddess. There is a character in DC Comic canon called Ghost Fox Killer...and guess whose super suit her outfit looks eerily similar to?

Yes. You called it.

Green Arrow.

If that doesn’t prove that Olicity is ENDGAME, I don’t know what is.

And then...goddess? (I mean, I’m all for the term goddess. My colleague calls me her marketing goddess.) But it’s interesting with all the Greek gods and mythology we’re throwing around here...

Speaking of which...

There are two clues in the name of the group Helix. First, there is a random group of supervilains in DC canon that call themselves Helix. But, probably more important and interesting, is the fact that Helix is a Greek word. And it means twisted.

And, this situation – and the possibility that it all tracks back to Prometheus – sure is twisted, isn’t it?

Then there’s the gift that Helix gives to Felicity. Pandora.

I find it suspicious that out of the blue sky Helix shows up with just the information Felicity needs and that their “gift” is named Pandora. Now, sure it could just be a reference to the story of Pandora’s box. But the stories of Pandora and Prometheus are interrelated in Greek mythology. It makes so much sense that Prometheus is still moving those chess pieces, still finding ways to influence those in Oliver’s life towards a place where Oliver will wish he was dead. And what better way to do that than by driving Felicity towards the darkness that Oliver has tried so hard to escape?

But, in all of this Prometheus/Pandora talk, something is niggling at my brain.

Prometheus isn’t the person who creates Pandora, and he isn’t the one who givers her the jar (box). It’s Zeus.

So, here’s a thought. What if Prometheus isn’t working alone?

Maybe it’s the overload of Greek mythology. Maybe I’m bonkers. But as much as I LOVED the flashbacks tonight and I LOVED Talia...

I’m suspicious of her.

If Talia existed in a vacuum of the flashbacks it would be a different story. But it doesn’t because Talia, as we’ve been led to believe, is the person who trained Prometheus.

This is Talia’s story as much as it is Oliver’s. Oliver believes that he created Prometheus. But we now know that Talia created the Hood/Arrow/Green Arrow as much as Oliver and his experiences did. She gave him the push he needed, she focused his mission, and she gave him an identity.

But most importantly, she gave him a split identity.

Even though Oliver has struggled with it for years, Talia taught Oliver to become someone else as the vigilante – to separate the Hood from Oliver Queen.

Presumably, Talia would have taught the exact same thing to Prometheus. Taught him to separate the monster from the man.

So, what does this mean?

Well, first off...even though I already knew this deep in my soul (despite my best wishes in spite of common sense), I’m now utterly convinced that Tommy (sigh) is not Prometheus.

But I am now convinced that Prometheus is not a monster all the time. He’s not an unhinged lunatic looming in the shadows.

If Talia’s training succeeded Prometheus will be able to separate the man from the monster and exist in the light of day as someone else...as something else.

The question is who?

Right now, my money is on Adrian Chase.

And how, do you ask, does this all tie back into the question of Greek mythology?

Well.

If Prometheus is, well, Prometheus and Felicity is Pandora then Oliver is Epimetheus.

But I don’t think that Prometheus and Oliver have to be brothers for this to work. Because they’re brothers, blood or not.

Talia created them. Just like Zeus.

And let’s not forget who gave Pandora her box...

@almondblossomme @callistawolf @jbuffyangel @olicityandsteroline @scu11y22 @charlinert @hope-for-olicity @dust2dust34 @dettiot @geniewithwifi

@geneshaven @klarolicityswan @nalla-madness @ohmypreciousgirl @supersillyanddorky06

#arrow #arrow spoilers #arrow spec #arrow speculation #arrow 5x11 #arrow 5x11 spoilers #olicity #olicity spoilers #olicity speculation

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hoenn-hakase · 8 years ago

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The Hosts in 20 Years

So there was a prompt over on the subreddit and i thought I’d share my entry here.

Red: Was never one for the massive following he got. He did love to think that he was able to bring so many to the light of Helix's teachings, but they should be following HELIX not him. Used the fight with AJ to fake his death, and after getting Abe back home, his bro helped him find a good place to build a monastery hidden in the mountains. His followers are some of the most zealous, but he doesn't mind because he's the worst since it's a much smaller group. Abe and their mom are just glad to know where he is and write more often than risk visiting.

AJ: After "murdering Red", he had several years and a heck of a time proving his innocence on the matter. Honestly, he'd be proud to admit it if it didn't mean basically losing EVERYTHING either due to being hunted down by Red's followers (which he's had enough of that already) or the stigma from his friends and family to learn he'd actually killed someone, so he eventually managed to convince the courts that there wasn't enough evidence to say whether or not Red's reported death was his fault. While there is still speculation, he's managed to live a mostly quiet life. 20 years later, he's telling his adopted kid about his wild tales on the road and lauding himself how it's because of him that Johto is at least much safer than it used to be when the Church of Helix was at it's peak.

A-chan: If her addictions haven't killed her, after 20 years, she's probably been through rehab a few times on mandate. Her wild and reckless streak has toned down, but she's still quite the pistol you don't want to mess with. It's been debated for years just how much damage her and her team actually caused for Hoenn, whether talking about the societal structure, the economy, or property damage, and even more so in wondering if all their work was "for the better" or not. Gets compared to Alice a lot as far claims of totalitarianism goes, but no one can deny that Hoenn has at least been peaceful since she took out Aqua, Magma and the League.

Alice: Pokemon Professor, no surprise, but she is THE authority of Commewnist Kanto. Green is also a professor, usually the one dealing with starting trainers and such, but most kids know that if or when they're ready to go into an academic career instead of being just another trainer, they'll probably be meeting with her eventually.

Napoleon: Even if he doesn't like to show it, he's surprisingly close with those of his inner circle. His friends, his family, his Pokemon, he just seems to like traveling a lot with them or to visit them for some reason or another while keeping his life very private from the public. When he does show up though, it's usually as a major Sinnoh event (like the League games or Rapidash Races) or when opening new venue. He sure does still own a lot of different kinds of gambling venues (like his Aunt Gracie has a place named after her since she's long since retired as a Rhyhorn Rider) and he sure does know how to throw one hell of a party, but after 20 years he's not big on the dance riots. He still enjoys a good dance riot, and many will say to see any of the family dance is a real treat, but he tends to just feed off the energy of the room than participate.

Aooo: It is a mystery! 8O But seriously, while she does have a family to take care of, how she does so is anyone's guess since she doesn't work but instead will go off for hours by herself and somehow come back with stuff for them. With her wife being a big name movie star, most just assume that money isn't the issue, but where she goes all day leaves people guessing. Never shows up at Sabrina's movie premiers either, at least... not on the red carpet. People always report seeing her at the theatre, but for some reason no fan or tabloid has ever be able to prove it on camera.

Jimmy: While he may have gained such notoriety as an internet star and has had his fair share of ups and downs with the Media trying to bring up his ties with Plasma in the past, he's learned not to let it get to him. After 20 years Plasma has long since been gone, he was the one to take them down in the first place, the former and even current gym leaders support him and often guest star at his online or real life charity events, and it seems when it's not some charity event he's in the papers for, it's his on-again-off-again relationship with N that's even become something of a joke with his fanbase in taking bets to how long before N runs off again. He's had other relationships, but somehow... somehow this just never "officially" went away.

Cly: While she is still a big name actress, she's not as active as she used to be. She's a lot more meticulous in her roles and only seems to show up for either big-budget projects or films she really feels passionate about the script. And she can do that because she's got a clothing line and several music albums that seem to take up most of her time anyway.

D: Hilariously, while he failed as a fashion designer, he's a really great detective. It's just, most people don't realize this. As a member of the Looker Bureau, he's got a code-name like the others, and his investigations often seem to coincide with his love and knowledge of high fashion: jewelry theft, accusations of plagiarizing from between big name stores, getting asked for his opinion on cases where articles left at the scene might be crucial evidence of a bigger picture, ect. Nevermind the rumors that the only reason he's not on the streets yet is because his royalty family keep his otherwise lavish lifestyle funded, he likes the thrill of the hunt and it's kept him both well off and entertained between attempts at a "real" business. Pepe gives him a hard time in saying that by now Richard is failing on purpose. He should know how to art, it is really not that hard. Says the one with possibly literal god-given talent. Lay off him, jerk. XP

Arty: As I've mentioned before elsewhere, married to May (no, not M A Y but the Birch girl he traveled with during his time in Hoenn) and was at odds with her brother Orlando for quite some time but has since reconciled. HOWEVER, Orlando is still unsure how May even puts up with Arty after all these years because the guy has never held a steady job in his life. Sure he can always fall back on his music, but considering most people are asked what their fall back is when they want to get into music, that's saying something. The guy has done the rock star thing, the small business thing (several times really, from making t-shirts to breeding rabbits), the published writer thing (he did have an autobiography book published recently, but that was with a ghost-writer and sales were decent at least) and even the mafia thing. Not that he was bad at the mafia thing, but he just didn't think he was up for all this "shady business" when he craved the spotlight. Rumors still swirl around that he's got ties to the mafia, but oddly, despite all evidence, most general public just looks at that and laugh it off.

Abe: After finally making it home, stayed home for quite a long time just sort of helping out around Kanto. Helping Red get his place built and up and running, it kind of reminded him how much he missed traveling and exploring the uncharted territories of the world. Still, after all the trouble he ran into, he takes some baby steps at first in just making better maps of the Kanto and Johto region. 20 years later, he's a leading name when it comes to cartography and is quite the established architect too, having dozens of blueprints seen in buildings around the world for some of the most surreal looking structures. Got a dream? Let him take a look at the landscape in mind to get this thing started.

Baba: Like A-chan, if she's not dead, she's probably left quite a mess in her wake. Baba however was never as aggressive as A-chan was, and while her time as President was seriously controversial, many of Chengdu don't blame her for the circumstances as she inherited a mess to begin with. If she didn't pull the trigger, it would have been someone else (possibly was someone else considering the mysterious circumstances to when she left office.) For all she did wrong with the ongoing war with Orre, she did a lot of good in the way of equality for Elfs, Half-elfs, and the humans still leery about them. After 20 years, she's done quite a bit of travel anywhere other than her home country, and has settled down quite nicely in a house by the sea when she's actually home.

Amber: The ever faithful cleric still finds trouble making Sanae as big a thing as anything with the Fossil Pantheon. However, she's found quite a following none-the-less and has found much better tolerance among other "small" religions such as the fading Weather worshippers in Hoenn.

Athena: While she's never given up the fight for equality for her people, it's been a long and tiring fight nonetheless. Others have been able to take up the mantle for her, large gatherings taken up with more powerful or outspoken leaders. She writes a lot, but spends most of her time traveling with Amber since her own work can be done from anywhere whereas Amber seems to following her calling.

Nina: ...Oh Nina. Where do I even begin? -Ahem- After 20 years, she's finally managed to return home to find that Hoenn is FINALLY safe. While it could take a lifetime for things to finally return to normal, at least they can handle anything that's still lingering. Handle being the key word there. There's always still a lot of work left to do though. On the upside, there's no longer a sense of urgency for fear of impending doom, so the things she and all her network of friends has to focus on now is stuff that takes time. Stuff that she couldn't actually help with no matter how much she wanted to. Stuff that, for her at least, will have to wait. So in the meantime, there's a lot of trying to settle into a semi-normal life. But at least for all the "... what now?" that permeates the region, everyone is willing to work together to solve this.

A7: Like many have said, he never really could settle down. Not that he had some purpose he was chasing like Amber or Abe, he just doesn't know how. He's at least come to peace with his past though, and has long since come to accept that there's a whole lot of people who actually do care about him. He spends a lot of time going from one couch to crash on to another, and while his friends may not necessarily like it, they're always glad to see him when he passes through.

Alpha: ...|D;;; -AHEM- Well not taking anything else into account, I'm sure he's grown up to be a fine young... teen. It's not that he doesn't age, but due to a lot of his cybernetics and chemical changes, his body just doesn't respond normally anymore. It's been odd seeing his little sister grow up and surpass him, but his physical form has had done little in stopping him from becoming a high ranked researcher at the Pokemon HQ. And hey, he can still do a heck of a lot more than most people can, so his smaller stature has never been an issue either. He's had a lot of identity issues to overcome, but over the past 20 years, he's figured that there's a lot of stuff he can do to help in the region's recovery and gods know he's got plenty of time to do it.

Evan: Is basically a god. Timelines or not, I can't see him as anything otherwise. Shared the burden of Olden's power he inherited with Azure, and the two do a lot of minor meddling in the world to keep it functioning. He's WAY more chill about things than Olden ever was though, and has been rather curious and pleased to see how over the next several decades after being named supreme overlord that the Glitches have somewhat been accepted by the world. It's not necessarily peacefully, it's almost like any story where you have lots of mythological creatures being real. The "old wives tales" have proven quite useful to people who have learned that "If you see a -glitch- you can protect yourself with a pouch full of basil! / If you encounter one, it could prove quite lucky and make you a very wealthy person indeed! / They're actually very curious little things you might see out of the corner of your eye. They disappear if you ignore them long enough." He tries to keep them in line more often than he goes meddling in human affairs anyway. Even he, though, has become something of a legend among people as they may swear that sometimes, sometimes, you may see a ripple in the fabric of reality where the Glitch King has passed through recently.

Paul: He made it to the top! CEO of his own company, lots of friends, lots of adventures! ... So why did he feel like his journey was so... lackluster compared to the others? He's heard plenty of the other hosts, I don't doubt he's probably met a few of them, but hearing their stories compared to his own, it seemed... dull. But then again, he was a lot older than any of them when he started, so maybe the journey just seemed a lot less "magical." Or perhaps it was because of his friendship with the Glitches, that there seemed to be a lot less danger? Sometime in the first 10 years, he goes to take a personal journey for some soul searching for what he felt he was missing. After 20 years, he's long since returned home feeling empowered by what he's learned, and his company has been flourishing.

Pepe: By far the most quiet and reserved of his family, it constantly surprises people he's also the friendliest. Whenever there's some kind of major event, chances are he's there. Hiding out in the crowd, somewhat mingling along the outskirts to admire the building's decore or take a fascination with the party's theme, but he's very rarely one to instigate conversation. Should someone approach him though, he's not one to turn them away. He claims to own the dance floor. Napoleon highly disagrees, but it's more a matter of opinion since they have VERY different styles when it comes to dance. Over the past 20 years, he's realized that there's oddly a LOT of perks to being in his brother's shadow. He can shirk off most of political duties Napoleon has to deal with, and takes advantage of the fact that most people don't seem to care about him as much. He's not a major leader, he's not a party animal, he's got a fairly steady love life, and he's quiet about it. The news finds him dull usually, and intriguing to realize there's a certain air of mystery about him. Otherwise, he spends a lot of time off by himself, with his work, with his faith, and holding close the secret he's had since he was a child about the whole Artisan ordeal the world has long since forgotten about.

Cyan: In a constant state of "Dad pls" even after she's managed to get him to step down as Champion and has him offering advice whenever she rants to him whether she actually asked for his opinion or not. Her family still loves to get away from things every now and then, camping trips, exploring their "territories," her trying to prove to her parent that the Glitches are really sweet... that's not been going well, but they admire her for it anyway. After 20 years, she's quite the leader now and has spent a lot of time trying to clean up Naljo/Rijon political system. Probably goes golfing with Paul occasionally as an excuse for them to complain about Host things that no one else could ever understand.

Nigel: While he's settled down in Alola, he's never given up his Ranger ways and spends a lot of his time working in conservation efforts and working with other regional leaders about just what they could do to help out in a more grand scale preservation effort on some of the world's most delicate species.

Devin: Devin is uh... Okay, so 20 years from now, he... There's really no telling with him. While he does most likely have a bird sanctuary, he's got several other things he runs as well. His hyperness has thankfully gone down with age, but his eagerness has never waned and he's a World Tournament super star as his thirst for battle has only grown with each new region he gets to explore. Movie star? Maybe once or twice, and getting to meet Cly is certainly a good motive, but only because he can't turn down a good challenge. (She still kicked his ass btw, though in a coordinated for film fight, they loved to show off and keep it rather even.) He still lives in Alola though, and very rarely stays away for more than a few weeks at time because he does feel like he has a lot still to do there. WHERE in Alola is anyone's guess since he tends to just show up on the different islands at random, but a lot of people joke that he's probably got a bed set up in his office at the sanctuary. He's no longer Champion though due to how much he travels, but still stays in touch with all of the would-be Champions that have tried to take his place (except Faba, he will gladly kick him out of the seat the MINUTE he finds out Faba succeeded in becoming champ -shot- ).

X-man: Whoo boy, I hate to say it, but the rate technology advances, after the first decade most of his features have probably become obsolete. After 20, if he's not in a museum, you know that finding parts and storage drives has become nearly impossible due to the increasing rarity of finding such tech in good condition. He might still be functioning though, even if only as a display for how things were back then. There's been newer models since then, sleeker, more human looking models too, but even if the team found a way to transfer all of his data to the new robot, it's just not quite the same. New!X-man probably has looked at the old model in the display and smiles sometimes as he still remembers the journey. Every. last. input because his data files are accurate and doesn't allow for such nostalgia, but even he has to sometimes wonder at the grandmotherly parrot on his shoulder how the hell they managed to do it?

#twitch plays pokemon #various hosts #I actually tried to shorten this by taking stuff out #still needed three posts for Reddit #XD;;#haji babble

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additionallysad · 8 years ago

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New Lighting Designs (And Photoshoot Secrets) http://ift.tt/2mdYivc

Back when we revealed our kitchen makeover, we mentioned that we worked with Shades of Light to design our pendant lights (below). But those were just one of a whole slew of new designs that we’ve added to our lighting collection over the last year-ish. So in addition to sharing some of our latest designs with you guys, we also wanted to take you behind the scenes and show you some of the tricks that catalogs and websites use when it comes to photographing stuff (including how we turned an armchair into a headboard, all in the name of getting the shot).

After launching our initial collection back in 2013, we added a few new pieces over the years (like the geometric flush mount that we included in our laundry room remodel) but this whole batch of new designs was kicked off by wanting to use one of our $69 farmhouse pendants in a spec house kitchen that we were designing. The only problem was that all of our existing colors were too bold for the look we were going for. So when we asked Shades of Light to custom paint two of them in a softer blue so we could buy that version, we all sort of said “why don’t we refresh all of the colors so everyone can buy them?!”

So now there are neutral options like a soft gray and a warm brown as well as subtle pink, green, and blue. And all of the original colors are still there too if you’re more in the mood for teal, red, green, yellow or watermelon pink (and all of them are just $69).

Those new color choices for our farmhouse pendants sparked some other ideas for new designs, so we continued to play with geometrics and open frame designs, while introducing some new finish options, like the brass/gold look. (clockwise from the top left: diamond sconce, diamond lantern, diamond ceiling light, equilateral pendant)

We had fun diving into the world of gold and copper, making sure that we had different hanging options. So whether someone needs a flush mount light, some sconces, a ceiling light, or a pendant, we did our best to cover all the bases. (clockwise from top left: copper glass, oopsy daisy, wonky glass, mercury glass)

We also made our metal pendants from the kitchen in a bunch of colors (there are 6!) and one cool thing about them is that they’re “convertible fixtures” meaning you can just choose not to use the hanging rods that come with them to make them semi-flush mounts instead – so they would work down a hallway or in a bathroom, closet, or mudroom (anywhere you don’t want a long dangling pendant). You can also see a few glass and chrome pendants and flush mounts that we played around with too. (clockwise from top left: diamond ceiling light, metal convertible pendant, honeycomb bubble pendant, metal convertible pendant, metallic rimmed glass pendant, metal convertible pendant)

We also added a bunch of new fabric shades, and each of the patterns come in multiple colorways (a couple of them – like the stitched helix sitting on top of the pyramid below – have a slight texture to them too).

They’re all available as a pendant with a diffuser or a flush mount with a diffuser (which are great for halls or bedrooms where you don’t have high ceilings), and each of the shades also comes alone (in case you want to retrofit an existing lamp or DIY your own pendant or flush mount fixture).

Many of our new pieces still fit within the $99-and-under price point from the first collection, but we did expand beyond that price cap for some so that we could create larger sizes or use materials that had been ruled out for being “over-budget” before. For example, we couldn’t add diffusers to many of our lights from the first collection – or make multi-bulb fixtures instead of just single-bulb ones with that price cap – but most of our new stuff is still $150 or less.

In fact, one of our favorite new pieces is this $90 adjustable arm wall sconce which comes in a mixed finish (black & aged gold) as well as a sleek all-chrome version (might use that one in the beach house). And the fact that it’s a plug in sconce makes it SO EASY for anyone to add these to a bedroom without needing an electrician to hardwire it.

That photo above actually brings us to the topic of the photoshoot. Last spring, once enough of our finished pieces and/or prototypes had arrived, Shades of Light invited us to help photograph everything for their catalog and website. They had just moved into a huge new facility here in Richmond, and they now had a dedicated photo studio (we had shot the first collection in our old house). It was ridiiiiiculously cool to peek behind the curtain to see how these things are styled and photographed in a studio.

They had constructed all of these fake, movable walls (all on casters) and each one had a different wall treatment (tile, beadboard, shiplap, etc) or a different paint color – and many had windows or some other architectural detail. This created the look of many different rooms, all without having to go to multiple locations. For instance, the set-up above yielded the final shot below:

If you’re like me you’re thinking “how did that gap where the casters are on the bottom of the wall disappear and turn into thick white baseboard?!” Well, they had strips of baseboard around that we slid into place in front of the wall to cover the gap and make everything look seamless. So smart, right?

They even had some cabinets that we could put together to stage a kitchen scene.

Once we got a scene all set up and styled, we swapped in every variation of that light (sometimes altering the styling as we went) and the photographer snapped away.

They had literally JUST moved into the facility a week or two before our shoot, so we got to help break in the studio (this was their first shoot in there). Some of our lights were still being finalized, so there was a certain amount of ingenuity necessary to make everything work. For instance, the lamp base below hadn’t been wired yet, so in order to take a pic with the light on, we had to wire it from above and they’d just photoshop the cord out later.

Here’s one of the final shots (with an alternate shade on it). Look ma, no wire.

I also mentioned we had to fake a headboard using a chair (actually, it was the chair shown above) because some of the prop furniture hadn’t been delivered quite yet. So Sherry and I used the tufted back cushion in place of a tufted headboard, found a bolt of fabric to use as a “bedspread,” and just crossed our fingers that some careful cropping would do the trick. From afar, it was MAJORLY JANKY…

… but up close you’d never guess that wasn’t the corner of a bedroom! Here’s the final shot (it’s the one we took with the chrome version of the sconce, so some of the styling had been swapped).

It was oddly fun to create different “scenarios” that showcased our lights in a few fantasy environments. And it was fun to rifle through their furniture props. John kinda loved that chair because it was super comfy and “felt like a hug” (did I mention I married a big weirdo? but he’s my weirdo).

You can browse everything on our Lighting Page or shop directly on Shades of Light’s website. Again, many of the items come in different finishes, colors, or configurations (sconces/pendant/flush/etc) than the ones we showed above. And since some of this stuff has been out for several months already, feel free to send us a picture (or tag us) if you’ve got one of them in your house. We love seeing this stuff in its natural habitat!

PS: Speaking of things we did last year, some of you have already heard that last fall we shot some videos for a free do-it-yourself app called DIYZ. We did six projects that each take five steps or less to complete – and they’re available to watch by searching “YHL” in the app. We covered stuff like making a paneled headboard, an outdoor house number plaque, a twine wrapped shelf with leather brackets, a wall-hanging photo & recipe display, a wood centerpiece box, and even a wood frame to upgrade one of those old cheap bathroom mirrors that hangs with plastic clips (make sure you snarl at those plastic clips one last time before you gleefully cover ’em up).

The post New Lighting Designs (And Photoshoot Secrets) appeared first on Young House Love.

#additionally sad home renovations

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dagenspear · 6 years ago

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Arrow Season 6 Rewrite! (Slightly Revised Version)

Lian Yu main character Deaths: Quentin. Samantha. Diggle.

Black Siren: After the island blows up, Oliver finds Siren kneeling over a dead Quentin, crying. She then blasts him away with her cry and escapes. Siren is the villain of the first episode. She commits crimes, stealing files and stuff and then allows herself to be captured. At the end of the episode, Oliver asks her why and we see a flashback to Quentin dying to save her life and as he’s dying, Siren expresses her tearful gratitude and tells him that Laurel’s still alive, that her death was faked and that she knows this because Laurel and Siren have a mental link and share eachother’s memories due to being on the same earth for so long. That’s how Siren knew about the legends and all that. Siren has now found God and promised the dying Quentin that she’ll find and save Laurel.

In the episode before the crossover we reveal that the body in the grave isn’t Laurel, but is Siren.

The crossover happens and in that Sara and Siren meet and when Siren’s somehow hurt and dying, her and Sara go back in time and replace her with Laurel, Siren saying that it’s a causal loop and is what’s supposed to happen, giving Sara her blood to transfuse for Laurel.

Siren’s blood causes her meta DNA to activate Laurel’s same meta gene, giving her a canary cry as well.

Laurel remains in hiding for the rest of the season, especially after her dad dying, uncertain if she wants her previous life back. But she becomes the Black Canary again, changing her costume to be more of a cross between Siren’s outfit and her previous one, more comic accurate, with no mask.

Rene is angry about Diggle’s and Quentin’s death. The loss of a parental figure for Diggle’s child and the loss of a father figure in Quentin hits close to home and he blames Oliver. He’s hesitant to take Oliver’s orders because of this.

Curtis has no life outside of being a vigilante on the team now. He’s made this is whole life. This causes problems among the team, because he’s grown rash and seeks a more lone wolf status, which Oliver fears might get him killed. Oliver tries to control the situation more and more and Curtis lashes out at him for it.

The resentment between Oliver and Rene Curtis and Dinah hits a crescendo with episode 12, where they all reject Oliver’s leadership and break off to be their own thing.

Rene grows to realize that he can’t be comfortable in being a vigilante anymore and quits, deciding to instead be a dad.

Curtis cuts all ties to his life as Curtis and decides to just be Mr. Terrific and leaves to go be in another city.

Thea wakes up with a renewed sense of purpose. She plans to take back the Queen family’s livelihood and works to, using the funds given to her by Malcolm, undergo a takeover of the former Queen Consolidated. Malcolm’s death made her realize that her true family, however flawed, is what she wants to keep true to, the people that raised her: Robert and Moira. She tells Oliver that they were flawed, but they loved them and that’s what she cares about, that he’s wrong about her becoming like their mom being bad, because Moira died for her and helped turn Malcolm in and in her worst actions, acted out of fear for her family’s safety. Thea states that she isn’t afraid anymore though and she’s gonna build the company back up in their family’s name, in honor of Moira and Robert.

Felicity/olicity: After the loss of Diggle, her and Oliver bond more and become a couple (you have to do this, it was hinted in season 5 too heavily). But Felicity starts to fall apart. We reveal that Felicity has been dosing herself with extensive drugs over the last year, ever since Havenrock, but it started with being paralyzed by Darkh. This explains her upbeat attitude after nuking Havenrock and her getting over Billy’s death so quickly. Felicity suffers from massive PTSD and Diggle’s death, due to the Lian Yu explosion was a trigger that made her snap. Her relationship with Oliver deteriorates rapidly. Her character arc is about seeking help, trying to make herself feel human again, partly by stopping helix. Felicity goes throughout the rest of the season trying to balance herself as a person. Eventually leading to her quitting because she feels that she’s compromised her morals so much, she shouldn’t be a vigilante hacker anymore, then trying to put to work her knowledge about her spine chip to help people.

Oliver: He, because of the loss of Diggle, Quentin and Samantha, tries to pretend to be happier for his son, tries to be better, but William is afraid of him. Oliver’s arc is about the admittance of his mistakes. Oliver’s resigned as mayor to try and take care of William. After he helps Slade find his son, Slade tells him that he can’t be a father to his son anymore, with how damaged he is, that he’s not fit for it. Slade tells him that if he really cared about his son, he would give him up too and not damage William further with his brokeness. Oliver realizes that instead of pretending to be the man he wants his son to think he is, he actually commits to it and turns himself in as the Hood, Arrow and Green Arrow, confessing to all his crimes. When he does this, William hugs him for the first time and says that he’s proud of him. Oliver changes his ways for is son. William is left with Thea to look after.

Richard Dragon: He’s a highly skilled, efficient, unstoppable killing machine. He doesn’t want revenge or anything like that. Born Ricardo Diaz Jr. he was abandoned by drug lord father and raised himself on the streets without the comfort or privilege Oliver was born into and had to fight, scrape and claw his way to gain anything. He was brought under the wing of a martial artist named the Dragon, when his already formidable fighting skill was witnessed by him, trained in the most harsh ways and when he was able to defeat the Dragon himself, killed him, seeing no point to him as he’d learned everything he needed to know, and stole his name for himself, seeking out all those who were formidable to kill and prove his superiority. He just wants to wipe the Green Arrow clean off the map to tear down the false idol he’s presented, publicly.

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#laurel lance #anti arrow #nolicity #anti olicity

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