#plot it out a little bit

[ghostjelliess]

When writing a plot, please remember that if you plan to cut or tie off a rope, you have to hand your audience a new source of tension.

If you cut the new rope immediately after handing it to them, most will get whiplash and either stay because they weren't holding that tight and will slowly slip away when they catch something new, OR THEY WILL THROW YOUR DUMB STORY AND THEIR WHOLE ASS COMPUTER OUT THE WINDOW!

Ugh, okay, I guess that's all. I have to go buy a new computer now, wish me luck.

[iimr3]

*hitting you with a stick* no benoit blanc movies should not interact. they should not lead up to something. you need to detox from the marvel/sherlock bbc poisoning. they should be completely independent movies (maybe w some cameos/little references for fun) and go on for as long as there are stories rian johnson wants to tell in this universe. i do not want an overarching plot i do not want a team up i dont want a benoit-focused prequel i want some good old fashioned episodic murder mysteries that have nothing to do with each other!!!!!!!!!!! also rian johnson has literally said he's not gonna do a prequel and he wants the movies to all stand on their own

addendum 1: by "marvel/sherlock bbc poisoning" i dont mean that those caused this over-serialization, but i think they are partially responsible for why audiences are expecting it. learn to engage w murder mysteries on the genre's own terms

addendum 2: idc what headcanons you have. i actively encourage you to write fanfic about marta and helen solving crime if you wanna. that is literally what fanfiction is for my guy! if you want to know how phillip and benoit met THAT IS WHY FANFIC EXISTS

[gale-force-storm]

Thinking about the fact that, to pull Gale from the stone and get him in the game at all, you have to decide to try to touch an extremely dangerous looking swirling mass of unstable magic. Something that is, objectively, a terrible idea

Like, the options it gives you are to either touch the sigil or leave, and if you leave you just... don't get Gale in the party

You have to take the risk. You have to let your curiosity override your common sense. You have to look at this unstable, possibly dangerous malfunctioning magic sigil and go "...Ok, but what if I poke it?"

In short, to get Gale in your party, you have to do exactly what he would in that situation, and indulge in a moment of reckless curiosity. And I just think that's delightful

[inspisart]

dick took the news that a strange thirteen year old broke into his apartment while he was away at the circus pretty well, I gotta say

[aroaceleovaldez]

the dynamic of demigods thinking which other demigod is the most powerful is always amusing to me because. like, we know the big 3 kids are all the most powerful. That's just a fact of their universe. And then we know nearly every character views Percy as the strongest demigod, and most people are very rightfully intimidated by him.

and you look at the powers of the Big 3 kids and there's Percy, but then you realize Nico is just kind of objectively more powerful than him but simply chooses to hang out in Percy's shadow like he's Percy's scary dog privileges. Like, the two of them are pretty equally capable of causing multiple different apocalypses. Nico just also has like four different instakill powers and it's not like he doesn't use them. He very much uses them! Not infrequently, even! And they don't seem to take a significant amount of energy from him! And other demigods are pretty intimidated by both of them! But Nico makes a conscious point to keep his cards close to his chest and not let on exactly how dangerous and scary he can be if he wants to. People are already scared enough of him without knowing anything about him and he doesn't like that. Percy doesn't think about that nearly as much, and so usually just goes in guns blazing and that's part of why he's considered a wildcard. And then Nico himself puts Percy on a pedestal, so those who do know more about Nico's abilities then presume Nico knows something they don't about Percy that implies Percy is even stronger than him.

And even on a meta level Nico's narrative role requires him to be functionally more powerful than Percy, because he very often serves the purpose of getting Percy out of situations he can't handle on his own. That's just part of his function as a character! But also narratively he can't overshadow Percy so he just takes a backseat of his own accord and that's very amusing to me.

[benevolenterrancy]

May your hardened heart be woken By the soft and distant song Of all you left here unspoken All the shards we keep stepping on - Take this body home Take this body home Call the wind, and let her know Take this life outgrown Take this broken soul Call the stars, call them all And take it high, take it far, take it home

[notbecauseofvictories]

it takes years for terry pratchett's books to get consistently good. I would argue that the series doesn't really hit its stride until Feet of Clay, which means that pratchett was writing and being published for 12 years before he found his groove.

and I genuinely can't imagine that. in part because I do think that pratchett's publication calendar looks different than what's expected of writers today---he had about 2 books published per year for his entire career. he must have been writing furiously, and the publisher must have relatively quickly gotten these to press.

but also....I just can't imagine any modern-day publisher keeping an author on their list for twelve years, unless that author is a prestige get or a constant presence on the bestseller list. And what does it say about the state of publishing that you can't go on publishing someone's good-but-not-revelatory books until they figure out what story they're trying to tell?

[tryagainstarlight]

Enter The Figher

Let the asks/guiding finally commence, oh and with the summoning thing, there is limits. Behave or else it would be revoked from you. That is all :]

[PREV] || [NEXT]

[yudol-skorbi]

this one turned out kinda melancholic but hey! i am at the point where he just reunited with his friends and the final arc is here and you know

mahy things are happening and more carefree and silly choices just didnt feel right at the moment

[birt-art]

Quick photo study I turned into a D&D OC portrait, Julian the dhampir bard and pretty boy

[erinwantstowrite]

Wait did Loki already know about Dick and Jason and all that because he did research /before/ Peter got sent there on not just he was there without telling Peter? And that's why he ended up in that universe specifically cuz he had family there? Or I did I misread something?

oh no Loki is fully lying out of his ass right now. but really he's not lying, it's more like he's not telling the full truth ? idk how much I can really tell you guys cuz I don't want to spoil it... alright, so i can't tell y'all what he was doing specifically but i can tell y'all his general plan and some character insight

i'm feeling in a slightly spoilery mood so!!! if you don't want to know anything about what Loki is up to, don't continue reading! but be aware that at this point in time, there are some things that we just won't know about Loki in the fic itself that i'll talk about here!

before all of this he had absolutely no intentions of teaming up with Peter, he was just exploiting a weakness and trying to get Peter out of the way (this is the same as to what he did with Thor). he knows that Tony would be distracted, and in their efforts to find Peter they would probably be stressed out and their forces would thin because finding usually involves splitting up. they would also have to deal with Mysterio and Ohnn (....and a secret third character 👀). it would give him plenty of opportunity to go in and try and pick them off one by one. except it's not working on the Avengers side. we'll get more to this later 😁

after his first meeting with Peter, Loki figured that Peter would probably be a good place to get some intel if he needed it, because Peter trusted him and was not aware about Loki and his past with the Avengers (or at least not fully aware). the more that he learned about the Bats and Peter's relation to them, as well as learning about Peter, the more he figured it wouldn't hurt to have Peter on his side. he thought that he could twist Peter into believing the Avengers weren't coming. his plans have been shifting around, meeting his needs since the beginning. he's been standing off to the side and pushing the characters around trying to figure out what they will and won't do, like he's observing a game and they have no idea he's moving pieces around when they weren't looking.

however this plan was going to take a lot more time... and Klarion summoning Thor ruined it completely. he had to speed up the process and make his offer quite literally months before he thought he would. so in a way, we can thank Klarion for derailing Loki's plot

Loki had no idea what would happen when he directed Ohnn and Mysterio towards Peter. he knew that Ohnn had been traveling between worlds for a couple of months, but he had no idea if Peter would even survive going to this other universe. he also had no idea about Peter's relation to the Bats until he started digging around for his new plan (Plan: Exploit Peter's Love for his Parents). the thing is, is that his plan would have failed no matter what, because Loki failed to see that Peter's adopted family cares deeply about him, and this bond means just as much as any blood ties he could have. his own insecurities about his standing within his own family got to him. when he was digging around in Peter's life he saw that Peter's foster experience had failed. and he might, maybe, just a little bit... feel bad that the family that was going to adopt Peter were killed because of what happened in the Battle of New York.

so: while he has been very intentionally manipulating Peter... he was thinking of Peter's best interest after a certain point. instead of him not caring what happened to him as long as he was out of the way, Loki did start preparing to make sure that Peter could stay in this world and that he would be taken care of. because i don't believe Loki is an evil person, and even now he's just a little silly. he might have been a little bit crazy with Thor, but to be fair, every other time Loki had a plan and he wasn't crazy enough, Thor came out of it. I feel like they have different standards than what we would as humans. because if you have a sibling then I feel like you'll understand me here... me and my brother used to fight a lot and while we never actually chased each other with knives, we did chase each other with other weapons (whatever wouldn't actually kill but was within our reach) and I think this is their version of that. like me and my brother are super close now but when we were kids we tried to kill each other a lot lmfao. so Thor will probably forgive Loki because that's his brother. (and I'm pretty sure that Loki was under some form of manipulation by Thanos during the Battle of Manhattan/New York??? correct me if I'm wrong, but if that's the case Peter would eventually see that Loki isn't an evil person.) Loki is very chaotic neutral in my eyes, leaning towards evil or good depending on the day. so he's gonna get his ass kicked for trying to take over the world, but like, that's just his enrichment... you gotta let him try every few months/once a year or you're not doing enough to entertain and care for your sneaky God Alien Guy

[the-soot-nest]

someone mentioned the rose maple moth is spamton colours which naturally made me want to draw moth mini spamton, BUT THEN I remembered plot for soot boi

Long story short, soot sprite Ralsei is a the remnant of the dying Dark Fountain, being a soot sprite means he has the potential "spark" to re-ignite the Dark Fountain again. Some more plot happens and our little soot sprite (along with Kris) goes through trials and tribulations (7 to be exact) to obtain a 'soul' of his own; our little soot sprite becomes an ember. That spark to ignite the Dark Fountain anew!

There's a mysterious 'wizard' that looks after the Fountain, the one who created the walled-off city to protect it, and he's getting desperate to save the Fountain he had so lovingly cared for and powered, even utilizing the little soot sprites it seems to spit out! I can absolutely see him sending out a little special variant of spamton to confirm that Ralsei does indeed have the [LIGHT] and the key to save the Dark Fountain.

This is a long winded, convoluted way of saying Moth Spamton would LOVE Ralsei when he becomes an ember. He would cling to him like he's a heavenly angel :)

[statementlou]

Tbh i am not surprised that a person who openly talked about having drinking problems since 1d days, because of how crazy 1d worked has been agressive. What surprises me is people being surprised (they never seriously saw drunk person?). But i am also confused about this whole book. Apparently Maya said that that book is not fully bout Liam but compilation about her exes and some of the worst parts are not about him. But recently she said that the book is “ofc about him” so what is true then? Or did she meant it that ofc some parts are about him or that whole book is about him?

Sorry, just confused

I also am not surprised- we've learned so much more about the real stories of things and about the guys' actual lives over the last years, and the story that has unfolded around Liam has been totally consistent throughout if you've been following it, and so the information Maya is telling us is shocking and upsetting but not difficult to believe. I got an anon yesterday saying they were worried about getting similar revelations about the other boys, like "if Liam could be doing this we just don't know, any of them could", and while in a way that's always true I guess, anyone could be doing anything in private like... that doesn't really concern me. Because none of these Liam revelations are coming out of nowhere, there have been many MANY steps along the way leading us here if you've been watching, and he has talked openly about both his mental health struggles and his addiction issues. So to answer that anon... to find out something similar about Louis would in contrast contradict everything we know about him and no I'm not worried about it. Is he probably very irritating, absolutely, but an abuser or a loose cannon, well that news would shock me. But anyway as for the book I don't find it strange that she was nervous when it came out and treading lightly and later decided, fuck it. In the absolutely on point tiktok she dropped today (YES👏GIRL👏FUCKING TELL THEM👏) she even mentions attempts to keep her from publishing the book, presumably by Liam's team, that I am riveted by and cannot WAIT to hear more details about actually- like I said I don't find it at all strange that she was nervous and downplayed it a bit then. But if she says now that it's just about Liam, well, I would say it's been clear from the beginning that the book is their story. Maya herself brought up the parallel of songs being written about stuff and I think it's the same thing; it's true (she was in an abusive relationship that involved certain kinds of events) but maybe not 100% literal (I'm sure details were changed to make the story work, it's not like a word for word timeline of their interactions or whatever).

[ancha-aus]

RealAgeAU Drabble - Pumpkin Eve

Hello! I am back again! @spotaus

Gonna be real. I wasn't sure where to write the next drabble before i remembered i wanted to do this one. (look i was in the mood for fluff and nice times and not for angst so here we are!)

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Lets go! Also i know it is obvious i take inspiration from stardew festivals over our world festivals and events sshhhh

*-----------------------*

Cross stops the truck and Killer grins at the babybones in his arms "Ready tiny bat?"

Nightmare shoots him a glare and Killer can't help but snort as there are now two tiny grumpy faces staring at him. One from Nightmare and one from Nightmare's hoody.

Dust huffs and pokes him in his neck and Killer shoots him a look. Really hoping the slight shiver wasn't obvious. Dust just looks ar him bored in his own cheap vampire costume "Don't annoy Nightmare." and he leaves their beat up truck.

Cross makes a curious noise as he quickly turns off the engine "Dust! Don't get out of the car when the engine is still running!"

Moments later Killer's door opens and Dusty easily picks Nightmare up. Dust shoots Cross a look as he tilts his skull "You were already parked." and he walks towards the side as Horror joins him.

Killer quickly undoes his seat belt and joins the two as Cross grumbles and locks their truck.

Their little group walks towards the main road of town and quickly see pumpkins and decorations everywhere. magical candles floating and all kinds of other spooky decorations.

Nightmare looks around to glance at everything at once.

Killer grins and leans close "Having fun tiny boss?"

Ngihtmare blinks and shoots him a look before answering "Never been to... something like this..." and he goes back to looking around.

Right. BEcause while the hide out had been save it wasn't exactly the hot spot for parties and events. And Nightmare had never been invited to any event of festival before. Well! Time to make this one rock!

Killer grins and pokes the chubby little cheek "Well! Ready to have afun time!?" Even if Killer has no idea what there is to do here. He is used to just trick or treating on halloween and those memories are spotty and from a very long time ago. One that he hardly remembers or honestly doesn't even care about.

Why would he care about half forgotten memories? When he has everythign he ever wanted and could want right here with him?

Killer however is happy it doesn't seem to be a traditional Halloween. Mostly for Dusty and H. Horror must have very bitter sweet memories about all the old parties and holidays from his own universe. How stuff just wasn't celebrated anymore as the food shortage got extreme. And well, Dust is still wrecked with guilt when something reminds him. It is good that this is a different type of party! They will just have to give Nightmare other childhood traditions to enjoy here!

A glance to the side and Cross is looking around in awe as well. Crossy had grown up in pretty much a military AU or base or whatever. It is no big surprise he hardly had fun festivals to enjoy. And even if those were there he probably only guarded and worked at those.

Killer grins as he glances around. Looking for a good spot to start. He sees a lot of games and little stalls to get sweet and nice treats.

They start with a few games. Some apple bopping is one of them, though instead of apples these people use oranges. Some spooky duck fishing game. They all got a kick out of the weird bowling game with a ball with a skull on it called Skull bowling.

After that came the treats. all spooky themed and with a lot of pumpkin flavours. Killer doesn't care too much for the flavour itself but Nightmare seems to really enjoy the more autumn flavours. Which together with his love for sweets makes these snacks perfect!

Killer does see the candy apples in the distance and makes sure they don't go near there. It is about having fun and enjoying their time together.

Killer grins as he leads them to the corn maze, they go in together and easily make it out again. Horror having lead them out of course, wiht Nightmare on his shoulders looking around.

They exit the maze just in time to see Ellie and Dani walk by. the two monsters see them and grin back "Hey guys! Having fun?" Ellie grins widely.

Killer studies the two. Dani and Ellie seem to have gone for some egypt kinda thing. Killer tilts his skull "Egypt?"

Dani sighs but nods as Ellie grins proudly "Yes! Dani is as Anubis! And I am as cleopatra" she grins more "Or better said. CleHOPatra." and she shoots them finger guns.

Killer snorts and hears both Dust and Horror chuckle as well. Cross lets out a loud sigh as Nightmare pouts unamused.

Ellie giggles as Dani looks around "How are you guys liking your first festival?"

Cross smiles brightly "It is amazing!" Nightmare nods his agreement and Killer feels like his soul is being squeezed. Nightmare looks happy and content as he is held by nay of them. Cross is actually enjoying himself instead of trying to force himself to be serious all the time. Dusty is relaxed as he is near and Horror is content and feels at ease.

This is exactly how it should be!

Killer knows he should care more about all they left behind but honestly? He is a pretty selfish person. Everything in the multiverse can crash and burn for all he cares. As long as those who are his are happy he is happy.

He will eventually talk about that... squeezing feeling in his soul whenever he sees them laugh and grin. or when they touch or hug him. Eventually. When he feels a bit braver. For now he just lets himself enjoy this.

The two girls wave their own goodbyes as they rush off to enjoy their date night.

Horror looks around curiously "Where to now?"

Nightmare, who has been tranfered over to Cross, points at a building "Maybe that?"

Killer looks over but knows all of them are already going in the direction of whatever it is. As they get closer they realise it is a haunted house and they share grins.

None of them are easy to scare after all that happened and they went through. They make their way over and talk with the human and monster manning the building.

THe human frowns as they see Ngihtmare "are you four sure you want to take the tiny kiddo in? I mean. It is scary."

Nightmare huffs and pushes close to Cross. Cross just hugs him close. Killer grins "Yeah it is fine! He loves scary stuff!" maybe a bit of an exaggeration but it will work.

the people manning the stall share a look but eventually agree to let them in. On the condition that they don't let go of him.

Which, ppppfffff. As if any of them would willingly let go of Nightmare! Killer is very aware all of them are very clingy when it comes to their babybones. It is alreayd a miracle they are all willing to share tiny boss wiht each other.

They go in and the haunted house has theme rooms. All centered around certain fears or scare situation.

THe first is about canibals which Horror just huffs at with a roll of his eye. They grin with him and Horror snorts a laugh as he mutters "They are using the wrong temperature for human meat." and they laugh as they move to the next room.

Something about a stalker and some lady sitting in the living room. spooky phone calls and shadows in the fake windows. sound track of footsteps. Nice enough alright.

Dust huffs "Way to stalk badly. Announcing your presence."

Killer laughs and hangs over his shoulders, his soul and magic purring at having one of the three this close and not being pushed away as he rubs his skull againt Dust's "Not everyone can be as skilled at stalking prey Dusty~"

Dust lets out a loud sigh but only gives him a small nudge to get Killer to let go. So no actual annoyance.

There is another room about medical experimentation which Nightmare just looks displeased as he mutters about the tools being dirty. Killer nods "I know! It is going to mess with the results." which causes Dsuty to snort as he walks past.

there is another room about spiders and that is just great! they laugh and relax as they walk through and go exit the house, and enter the next area.

Killer walks into the garden only to stop and start laughing. Cross frowns at him before looking and gasping, and then quickly covers Nightmare's sockets. Nightmare pouts "Hey!"

Killer snorts and leans heavily against Horror as Horror just pats his shoulders and back. Dust hums and mutters "naked skeletons. nice."

Becuase plastic skeletons are used for decoration. Which Killer knows is a halloween thing but it ALWAYS cracks him up.

Cross huffs and mutters "it is indecent. Come Nightmare. Lets quickly go."

Nightmare mutters about it being fake and silly but he doesn't protest as he is carried out of the naked skeleton area down the path to get back at the front of the house and the start. Killer does manage to glance around and realise it is set up as a graveyard of some kind with a witch hut and everything. but there are just so many naked skeletons that he starts laughing again.

They get to the start of the house again and Cross mutters about indecent while Nightmare eats one of the many snacks they bought him. Killer knows he is still grinning and giggles every once in a while while Dust and Horror just share amused looks.

They say their goodbyes but Killer makes sure to give the two manning the house a cheeky wink as he blows them a kiss "interesting yard. Didn't realise that were your types." the two share confused looks before looking around the side. Then they both look up shocked and stutter out protests.

Killer laughs as he walks with his friends. Cross shoots him a look "Don't do that!"

Killer grins and winks at Cross "It is harmless Crossy. You know I only mean it with any of you guys~" and he winks again.

Cross has this tiny adorable blush as he mutters about Killer having to be serious before rushing to catch up with Horror.

Killer sighs but smiles. It is fine. Eventually they will realise he is being serious. for now? They are happy and Nightmare hasn't stopped purring for almost two hours now. That is what matters.

*-----------------------*

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Also also! @mikimakiboo made a very cute drabble for my series! You guys should check it out! It is very cute <3 You guys are all so talented <3

[psalmsofpsychosis]

not gonna lie homos and homies, there's something incredibly, incredibly depressing about Batmanverse and the concept of Batjokes in particular, and it's not the murder murder stab stab death plots.

It's the collective unmentioned canon agreement around these characters never being able to escape the confinements of their narrative.

they get pushed to the very edges of their predefined thresholds, they toe the lines of their stories, they poke it and probe it and sometimes even flirt with the possibility of crossing the bounds of their narratives, but they never break throught the structure. they never go over the line, always sorta of wiggling in place; batjokes in particular is the most enticing and intriguing stagnant 85+ years story i have ever seen.

There are unspoken rules around who Batman is, what he will and will not do, and those rules are rarely questioned, if ever. No matter what he does, he cannot be in love with a man, and he cannot ever love Joker in particular. He cannot experience mental and emotional peace. he cannot kill and he cannot show sincere emotional vulnurability, he cannot experience his love in an open and unashamed way. His narrative thresholds confine him to a socially sanctioned image that is meant to be familiar and tangible to the average straight dude, and it's quite frankly exhausting to witness. Whatever happens to Batman's story, he never arrives at physical emotional or mental peace and on a foundational level his tale never changes, not really. You can almost feel it when he constantly bumps into this unspoken narrative rules and stops in his tracks, each and every goddamn time, for 85+ years. It's like a keyed up nutcracker toy soldier bumping into a wall, stumble back two steps, bump into the walls, stumble back two steps, bumpt into the wall,

As someone who loves stories that love to question their own narrative points and break through them and do something different, staring at Batmanverse comics for too long at a time lowkey feels heartbreaking, nothing ever truly changes in this bitch.

[human-encounters-diary]

Day 16

As the human and I did not share any duties during this particular cycle, I decided now might be a fitting time to inform the Vitrichl about the aforementioned book, which could possibly grant a further insight into Terrans.

Despite the quite serious circumstances we are currently in, I was able to secure a time frame to initiate a conversation regarding this topic.

I repeated the information V-7 had been able to conjure on this as well as other stories and reports on humans.

"There seems to be one…obstacle, though: The book‘s last documented location is in system Skė-51-33, which does not seem to be even remotely near our current route.", I eludicated.

The Vitrichl seemed to consider the information given, keeping in mind the reason the SIIR Noxos usually avoids this particular system: its unfriendly and occasionally aggressive nature.

Concluding, I was able to convince the Vitrichl through the benefits this book could provide in the task of studying humans, causing the Vitrichl to eludicate that changing the route was currently not possible, but as soon as the chance was offered to us, we would make a short detour through this system to retrieve said book, given that the book was still located there.

In the meantime, I was tasked with retrieving as much possible information on this particular and other sources about humans.

Our arrival on Fendaar is imminent, as we are nearing the planet‘s atmosphere. Further reports will follow.