#so it depends on scene order and some other stuff
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bhaalsdeepbat · 11 months ago
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last night's Astarion origin highlights:
It was Creche time!!! Taking the girlfriend to the creche !!! We had to leave the boyfriend (Gale) behind, but Astarion and Lae'zel wore matching ocean colors to go on a double date with Catha and Shadowheart. (Astarion wears black and red when matching Gale, now)
Astarion stole a bunch of shit from Esther then killed her when she realized he stole most of her inventory with the Cat's Grace he bought. Daddy Money Bags is currently out of money, but Mr. Meow Meow can pounce like a panther and steal whatever he wants.
Astarion just fucking going DOWN to the Gith patrol in Waukeen's Rest and landing, again, facing his romance partner. It looked like he was reaching out to Lae'zel while doing his saving rolls.
Astarion using his girlfriend as bait because Shadowheart and Catha went down, so he kept reviving Lae'zel, putting distance between him and the remaining Gith, and letting the soldier just keep focusing Lae'zel while sneaking around. He is a death machine, but we are still at one hit per round until next level up.
I like to think he was feeling pretty fucking tough after the Gith patrol. Like he was cocky going into the Creche. cocky enough I was not worried when he failed his initial persuasion check and aggroed the creche, but the game glitched so we had to F8. It was a vision from Selune to Catha letting her know if she let Astarion go in without guidance and eagle's splendor, they'd be FUCKED.
I get turned around in the Creche and went to the hatchery thinking it was the infirmary, but then Astarion was like. Steal. Steal Egg. Like it was a delightful experience for him. I had never seen Lae'zel talk about how happy she is to have the egg and like. That little peek at the fact that she DOES have her own wants and desires that are in opposition to the beliefs she was taught. She's disgusted by the whole birthing process, but raising the child? it's such a hopeful, happy thought. Astarion was kinda standing there just speechless bc she had been so rough so far.
Needless to say, the egg is in her inventory, now. She asked him to keep it close and dammit he isn't gonna let his girl down...not that he likes her (or Gale) or anything,,,,,,,,
Lae'zel and Astarion fucked !!! And then he was heavily encumbered the next day because the potion of hill giant strength wore off, but it was a very funny happenstance. but taking her to the creche (not even finishing up yet, just going there and starting stuff) was enough to get her to look at Astarion differently AFTER HOW HARD SHE FUCKING BURNED HIM
like this is the astarion origin where NO ONE wanted him but Minthara at the Goblin party, and now the two companions that AREN'T taken are vying for his attention (bc we only have gale, shady, and lae'zel XD)
Astarion trying to disarm one of the traps at the Creche, only for me to suddenly see his body go FLYING off the side of a ledge because the trap blasted him while doing the disarm roll. Lae'zel followed very, very shortly after....because it did the same thing during the roll screen XD when i say i was on the ground LAUGHING.
Astarion was very proud of himself because he thought he lied his way out of a fight with the medical lady inside the infirmary at the creche. The tools she went to get were actually child soldiers and it was a battle to the death. Lae'zel went down. Astarion shouted her name.
The lesbians (Catha & Shadowheart) got shit DONE. Astarion is the disaster gay and cannot get his shit together. Catha and Shadowheart literally saved his ass with the Death Shepherds bc of user error on my end but it worked really well from a rp perspective XD
like Astarion is literally like SHIT SHIT SHIT everything is always going wrong, but Catha and Shadowheart generally have it on lock. Like I will have him sneak around and start / end fights before those two can even get involved, but the higher level fights sometimes I forget to position better XD
I'm not sure if Astarion is going to end up with Gale or Lae'zel....or pull a wild card and go with Minthara once we find her again. like i keep bouncing back and forth i literally do not know what i'm gonna do until the moment comes
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felassan · 2 months ago
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Lucanis and Crows snippets, under a cut due to spoilers.
How would Viago and Teia react to a Crow Rook being romantically involved with Lucanis? "Teia is going to plan the wedding, and insist that Viago give Rook away at the ceremony. Viago will sigh dramatically, lecture Rook about it, and then spend a week picking out the right gloves to wear." [source]
If Illario wasn't locked away, how would he react? "Under any circumstances, Illario would be upset since it's a whole lot of attention that's STILL not on him. He would definitely get drunk at the reception and tell the same two most embarrassing stories about Lucanis over and over until Viago knocked him out and put him upstairs." [source]
With Rook romancing Lucanis, is it possible that Spite could become affection or benevolence? "Spite's basic aspect is defiance. He can be more or less difficult depending on influence (rebellion vs. vindictiveness, etc), but at his core he's always going to be a spirit of "NOPE"" [source]
Lucanis' mother was the heir apparent to House Dellamorte [source]
Does Spite have any kind of feeling about Rook? "Spite is fond of Rook in his own Spite-like way. He and Lucanis agree on the point of trusting Rook over and above other people or themselves. He does go to Rook for help with Lucanis, after all." [source]
For the Lion King reference in Murder of Crows, Mary Kirby went to the cinematic animators and described it as Illario's "Scar at Pride Rock" scene [source]
User: "I cut Lucanis' hair and shaved his beard and I almost feel like I should apologise to him" / Mary Kirby: "Now he can't tell himself from Illario, and you've given them both a complex." [source]
Teia and Viago were half-written by Mary Kirby and half-written by Luke Kristjanson [source]
Lucanis likes his coffee black [source]
Would he judge your coffee order? "As long as it's not boiled, or instant coffee, or whatever that stuff from a can is, he's fine with it. Or at least, he will only judge you silently for it." [source]
What kind of treats does Lucanis like? "Sweet, because it goes better with his coffee. Savory, if somehow he is NOT drinking coffee at that moment." [source]
Lucanis grew his beard and long hair while in the Ossuary. "He hasn't exactly had a haircut in a while." [source, two].
Would Lucanis make Powerpoint presentations about jobs or to talk? "No, he doesn't want to talk to anyone, let alone explain things and present them. That's 300% an Illario thing. That man has a powerpoint to introduce his powerpoint about why you should listen to his powerpoint." [source]
"Lucanis would never be on social media. He'd be on YouTube watching videos of people restoring rusty cutlery with no dialogue until four in the morning." [source] Could he tell when content is manufactured? "Yes. And he gets upset and finds Bellara or Neve (whichever is unluckier) to rant about it." [source]
Lucanis' favorite stove burner? Right front [source]
"Spite doesn't have any concept of physical appearances. It looks the way Lucanis sees himself. Lucanis is never relaxed, even in casual wear." [source]
Along with Lucanis Mary Kirby also wrote Spite [source]
Mary Kirby wrote Illario, Luke Kristjanson wrote the Crow faction quests [source]
Lucanis' perfect date night? "I'm gonna be honest: There is a non-zero chance it would involve assassinating somebody and getting coffee, and I'm not entirely certain which would come first." [source]
Lucanis "has so much [trauma] to sort through, and he could really use some help. Like, a Marie Kondo level of help with that." [source]
What sparks joy for Lucanis? "Coffee, paella, wyverns, knives, REDACTED, book club, REDACTED, revenge..." [source]
Lucanis is older than Illario by a few months [source]
How did Spite feel watching Lucanis fumble after the near-kiss moment with Rook? "Confused. Spite, like most demons, doesn't really get emotions outside its domain. Not doing something that someone clearly wants you to do should make you happy! I mean, honestly, what's better than that, except maybe revenge?" [source]
Did Spite interact much with Manfred? "We wrote a bunch of interactions between them, though I have no idea how many made it in." [source]
Update:
What are the names of Lucanis' parents? / "I didn't give them names, and in the event that Lucanis comes back in a later game, I don't want to hand out info that might just get contradicted by his next writer. (If I don't answer a lore question for him, this is probably why. I don't want to write checks someone else has to cash.)" [source]
What is Mary's take on Spite's possible involvement or lack thereof in Rook and Lucanis' relationship? / "Honestly, I don't know, and that's a question his next writer might explore? Where do your pent-up feelings of frustration go when you're happy? What does an emotion like defiance even understand about love? (I think that's fun to think about, but your mileage may vary.)" [source]
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luludeluluramblings · 4 months ago
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Dick Grayson's Obsession with Smalltown!Reader
A/N: Why dialogue hard? Why so hard? Y'all I tried, once again. I saved Dick for last because I really really really did not want to screw up his character. I did end up adding a scene from Part Seven in here. Just to give it some pizzazz.
A/N: Part Eight is in the works, but it’s either gonna be massive or I’m going to have to divide it up. Also, people be posting so straight up fire in the Yandere Bat tags lately. Good stuff, I needed that.
Warnings: Yandere themes, physical affection.
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Out of everyone, Dick was the most enthusiastic about Reader coming to Wayne manor, while also being the most melancholic. The tragedy of their arrival wasn't lost on him, despite the thrill he had over the thought of having another person to add to hi life. Already, the need and wanted to smoother them in comfort and care was there. But, the life experiences he had allowed him to realize it was probably best not to overwhelm them.
Therefore, it came out in short burst of staggering affection at times. But, only when he was visiting. (There was no denying the fact that he was extremely tempted to call them on the phone just to make sure they were settling in just fine. And, that he fought that temptation every single night.)
That didn't stop him from feeling some minor annoyance with Bruce for keeping the fact that they existed a secret. Dick had seen the affects of this life and even felt them, but to let the family nearly miss out on something so honeyed with normalcy was cruel. (It would have been preferred if they didn't have to lose their parents in order to join the rest of the family, but it was hard to think like with how busy his schedule was and soft they felt in his arms.)
Admittedly he may have latched on to them too hard in the beginning. They felt stiff the first time his arms wrapped around them. The guilt of it gurgled in his throat, which is why he cut it short and went about his business. But, he couldn't stop the urge to do so each time they crossed each other's paths in the manor halls.
And, much to his glee, they start to soften. Slowly, but surly, they start to cling to him a little longer when his arms wrap around them. They start to depend on him. For once the thought of someone so conventional depending on him as Dick rather than as Nightwing, because everyone seems to depend on him as Nightwing, doesn't fill him with anxiety. It makes his chest flutter in a different way. Not with anxious butterflies, but with a flicker of a warmth.
It's completely innocent, the way the craving starts. He has to talk himself out of rearranging his entire schedule to be around them. Especially after the kidnapping incident. But, the Rouge break out gives him plenty of work to distract himself, and more frequent chances to find them in the manor for a dose of his new source of comfort.
His feelings finally start to become clear when rather than holding him longer and tighter, they finally reach for him themselves.
☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️
“And, how is my favorite person today?” Already Dick has his arms opened wide for you when you walk out of the kitchen. He always appears from the depths of the manor, before he wraps around you like a slow creeping vine blooming with all sorts of sentiments.
"Alfred was doing good last I saw." But, by now you've grown to appreciate the way the tendrils curl around your limbs and burrow themselves into you. A small grin forming on your face at the chance to finally have someone to talk to, even if he isn't consistent company.
"Alfred isn't my favorite person, and you know it." The banter between them enjoyable and the undertones of his words ignorable in your obliviousness. "But, seriously, how are you doing today? You look like you have something on your mind. If it is you can tell me, you know that right?" The concern pouring put of his lips, as his grip tightens.
He had seen you through the cameras and had overheard the longing phone calls. The fact that your birthday was coming up had crossed his mind, and the realization that this would be your first without your parents did register in his brain. (But, it would also be you first with them. With him.) Bringing it up to you seemed like a bad idea. But, he would still try to encourage you to spill your feelings to him.
"No, no. It's nothing I promise." Your reply was soft and dismissive. But, the dishonesty was noticeable in it still.
Dick's arms seemed to tighten around you as you spoke, as if he was trying to decode the root of your troubles from the way your heart was beating against his chest. Eventually, he does loosen his limbs around you.
As he looks down, you known and he knows you’re lying. For a moment you think he going to push. To try to choke the words out of your lungs with another tight squeeze. But, he doesn't. Instead he lets you breathe.
"Okay," is all he says.
No extra nor unnecessary words. No constant reassurance that he'll always be there for you. Just a single word and the room to breathe. Those other things have already been said. Multiple times, in fact.
It's this one instance where he lets you breath that somehow gives you lungs the air it needs to blurt out what's bothering you as he pulls away.
"I wanna go home." The words escape your lips when you finally exhale and reach for him. The words coarse. "I just really want to go home for a bit. I miss home. I miss my family. I just—“
Dick doesn't even let you get halfway before he's enveloping you again. A slight tremble in his hands as he sprouts around you once more.
This. This is what he's wanted. You coming to him with your raw feelings. And, he knows he's the first person you've said this to at all.
"How can I help you?" He asks instead of questioning the statement.
"Can you help me convince Bruce to let me go, please, Dick?” The tentative way you ask and look up at him has him caving immediately.
"Of course!" Perhaps it was a good thing you didn't grow up in Wayne manor. If Bruce hadn't spoiled you, he most definitely would have. "I'll bring it up to B as soon as he gets back."
"He's gone?" You hadn't been informed of him even leaving, but then again, you were hardly every informed about anything it seems.
"Yeah, work emergency. It wasn't a big deal, but he'll be back soon." Dick can sense the mild tone shift, but manages to shift it back to something more lighthearted. "I'll make sure to butter him up for you. I swear. Puppy-dog eyes and everything."
It works, because before he can even clutch you to his chest you already wrapped your arms around his torso and pulled yourself towards him. Just the way you hug him tells him how genuine this type of embrace is. This is how you hold people. And, now, this is how you hold him.
"Thank you, Dick. Thank you." Comes your muffled reply into his chest.
The way you nuzzle into him like that's where you belong, because that's where you do belong, and the way you say his name causes his heart to melt. And, his mind to slowly sinks into the puddle it became.
Dick could stay like this for hours, but you start to pull away after a solid minute.
"I should let you get going. I know you got a lot of stuff to do." Your words sound so hopeful and understanding as you him go. The way you look up at him like he is your hero just for this simple small thing is touching.
Inwardly, he curses. The criminals of Gotham. The criminals of Blüdhaven, the team, the family, his schedule. Everything. He curses it all for that moment, because he could be holding you to his chest longer and having you look up at him like that instead. But, he lets it pass. He manages to let it go just as you pull away.
"Yeah, I do. But, don't think I'm going to brush off helping my favorite person in the world." Plastering on a well practiced pretty smile as he speaks.
"So, that means you got somebody more important off world? I see how it is." You tease in return as you fall for the practiced charm.
"Maybe." Dick lets the banter easy his mind. In reality, even off this world, you're probably his favorite, still. It should scare him, but it doesn't. "I'll let you know how Bruce takes the request. But, I'm prepared to sneak you out of here if necessary."
"I'll get the spy music ready, just incase." Things are starting to look up, and it's nice to have someone in your corner in this massive estate.
"Mission Impossible theme?" His grin become less practiced at the thoughts of having an adventure with you.
"Nah, the Pink Panther one. Just for the shenanigans." Your own grin growing wider and wider.
"Now I want to sneak you out just for fun." And, he means it. Already mentally planning your trip back home with him escorting you. And, then you possibly coming and staying in Blüdhaven with him in his guest room. Just to get you out of the manor, of course. Clearly you need it.
He can't ignore the way his pocket keeps buzzing, though. Clearly the others are in the cave waiting for him. But, they can wait a bit longer, he thinks diving in for one last embrace.
As you wholeheartedly reciprocate, he can see one of the secret security camera out the corner of his eye and he can't stop the smug smile from forming on his face as his gives you one last squeeze in front of it.
With the way his phone stills, he can tell the rest of them saw. It's not his fault they're too scared of physical affection to actually hug you. But, it does give him a monopoly on it with you.
As he makes his way down to the Batcave there's a skip in his step and that smug smile is still on his face.
He makes sure to look at everyone's faces as he joins them. Soaking up their envy. All of that wasn't to make them jealous, but it's kind of nice to have.
"Was all that necessary, Grayson?" Damian being the first to break the silence by practically spitting the words out through his gritted teeth. Even with his perfect poster the tension coiling in his limbs is visible to the untrained eye.
"Someone's got to be the one to do it, little D. And, clearly, they needed it." Dick's tone was placating, but his smile wasn't. The way he stands in the center of the room reminiscent of an orchestra conductor.
"Don't use them as an excuse for your touch-starved tendencies, Dick." Barbara retorted, rolling in her chair towards another computer. She immediately began typing on it at a furious pace, clearly trying to distract herself.
"Low blow, Babs." He whistled in return. Everyone else seemed focused on giving him the silent treatment causing his grin to widen further. "I can't help that I'm a naturally-"
"I just texted Bruce about it." Duke suddenly says, looking up from his phone with a smug grin. He face had been blank before, but the way his eyes glanced up at Dick and the others when there heads jerk towards him showed off a hint of self-satisfaction.
"That's cheating." Childishly spills from Dick's mouth. This was suppose to be his favor to them. His. Not anyone else's.
"Bruce doesn't get text while in the Watchtower." Stephanie points out while uncurling from her seat, but the damage is done.
"Could we contact Father in the Watchtower?" Damian practically leaps from his seat and rushes to the Batcomputer where Tim sits. Alliances quickly being drawn up.
"He'd be pissed if we contacted him for something like this." Jason adds with a grin. He doesn't bother looking up from cleaning his guns, just not at all bothered by the prospect of pissing Bruce off.
"But, then message would be logged into the League data base." Comes Barbara's stern voice from her computer, her typing coming to a pause. Tim still keeps at whatever he was working on before Dick walked into the cave, but on the screen there is a flash of airline websites so it's fairly easy to conclude what his plan of persuasion is.
Cassandra watches the exchange reading the emotions through everyone's movements. Silently, she throws her bid in as well. Choosing to slide over to Stephanie and signing the making of a plan.
From there it spirals into an all out argument between each and every member of the family. Debating logistics and exchanging petty insults that seems to go on for hours. Hardly anything gets done while words are being thrown around like bullets.
In the back of his mind, Dick once again curses everyone and everything for ruining this for him. But, he reassures himself, the banter from earlier comes back to him.
It's a decent plan, he thinks. Sneaking Reader out of the manor. Convincing Bruce would be ideal, but it wouldn't be the first time he's broken the rules. And, it's for their happiness and well being. They need him. They asked him for his help. Not the other's. Not anyone else's. His. Bruce will understand.
Besides, it would be nice to see the Smalltown they grew up in. It sounds like a quaint little place. What could possibly be wrong with it?
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yandereunsolved · 5 months ago
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Hi 👋 I have a few technical questions for the self aware au for HOTD, if you wouldn’t mind me asking.
Does the world just… stop if we pause the tv? If I rewind a scene bc of whatever reason would that give then motion sickness? Back on pausing the show, does the world stop but the character don’t? Like if I paused the tv and started talking to someone about whatever, is Aemond crossing his arms and tapping his shoes while pouting? WOULD MUTING THEM ACTUALLY MAKE THEM MUTE??
Are the dragons jealous if we talk about dragons from other forms of media? I have loyalty to Paarthurnax for best dragon 😅 ooo what If we had a Skyrim tattoo? Imagine comparing lore?
And lastly, how would they react if we had started watching game of thrones? I like to try to rewatch stuff in chronological order if prequels or branching media gets made, I like to see the chain of events you know? Would the self awareness spread to more of that verse bc of that? Can we pull John Snow?
Sorry for the wall of text and rambling, I love LOVE self aware aus and love learning more about them
Let me retrieve my sacred lore scroll.
retrieves it.
For every rule I lay down here—they can be broken under one circumstance: if the character is completely self-aware. None of the characters I have written so far have gotten to that point. Complete self-awareness may drive any of them to insanity.
(1) Does the world stop if we pause the tv?
That version of the world stops. So that canon timeline is still there, but other things are happening off screen. They are subconsciously led back to the plot when the television is unpaused again.
(2) If I rewind a scene because of whatever reason—would that give then motion sickness?
It erases their memory and gives them a sense of deja vu. They prod inside of their mind but it's like a wall has been put up inside of their minds.
If the character is already predisposed to motion borne illnesses then they would get motion sickness.
Example. If Aegon II was incredibly drunk and you rewinded a part he was in it'd make him feel like he was going to throw up. However, he wouldn't actually throw up because he wasn't as drunk/or drunk at all (depending on how much your rewound) at that time.
(3) Would muting them actually make them mute?
Yes, it would. They would be talking in their world and wouldn't be able to understand how you aren't listening.
If they found out how to work the volume then you'd be screwed. Some may be able to do this unintentionally, while others would have to be more self-aware to unlock the ability.
Dreamers are more likely to be self-aware due to their inante abilities. So Helaena would it without even realizing it.
(4) Are the dragons jealous if we talk about dragons from other forms of media? —Imagine comparing lore.
Yes and no. It depends on the dragon's personality. If you were head over heels for another dragon in another form of media then any one of them would be jealous. If you just enjoy the dragons in that verse then some of them are okay with it.
Example(s). Vhagar would be okay with you liking other dragons as long as you liked her the most. Vermithor goes into a rage anytime you so much as mention another dragon in a positive context.
(5) How would they react if we had started watching game of thrones?
Confused at first. Since hotd is the prequel to got they'd be very puzzled. Then they'd be curious. If it took up all of your time then they'd be angry. There would already be an undercurrent of jealousy, but there's also a superiority complex there.
"We were here before them."
"Without us they wouldn't exist."
Them meaning got characters.
(6) Would the self awareness spread to more of that verse because of that?
When consuming any form of their media it is like a portal is being opened up into their world. That's the crux of what helps them become self aware. There's usually a moment in their lives that spurs that on.
With the hotd characters already being insanely jealous that interference between the two media's would cause the self awareness to spread.
(7) The most important question—Can we pull Jon Snow?
Yes.
The shit that dude has been through? He has plenty of opportunities to become self aware. Having someone there for him, even passively, would cause him to become obsessive. Possibly a bit bitter because you aren't helping him until he realizes that you are physically unable to.
Don't 👏 be 👏 sorry. 👏 I love giving lore.
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writingquestionsanswered · 7 months ago
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i was reading my writing so far and noticed that it's kind of hasty? it feels like the scenes pass too quickly and characters act and make decisions too fast. i'm kind of a pantser and still on my first draft so there's definitely gonna be a lot of revisions but i was wondering if you'd have any advise on how to make the time in my story pass more naturally as opposed to stuff happening kind of rapid-fire. my story is high fantasy if that's relevant. i hope i worded this in a way that is understandable.
(also thanks so much for running this blog, it's very helpful)
Scenes Feel Rushed (Scene Elements/Structure)
The thing about scene pacing is it has nothing to do with time. It isn't about how long it takes the reader to read the scene, the amount of time that elapses in the story during the scene, or how fast/slow these events play out. Here's why:
-- readers read at different speeds -- scenes can occur over a period of minutes or days in your story -- scenes can be fast-paced or slow-paced depending on need
So, if your scenes are feeling rushed, it's not because you need figure out how to make the time pass more naturally. It's because not enough is happening in your scene. In other words, you don't have a good grasp on what scenes are supposed to accomplish and how to structure them.
Scene Elements
Your scene should include the following elements:
1 - A Writer Understood Purpose - First and foremost, as the writer, you should understand the purpose (aka "goal") of the scene in terms of what it accomplishes in the bigger story. Does it advance the plot in some way? Does it develop the protagonist and/or other main characters in a way that is crucial to the plot? Does it develop the setting, back story, or otherwise give the reader information they need in order to understand the story?
2 - Clearly Established Setting - Imagine if you went to see a play, but the stage had no backdrop, no scenery, no props. It was just a big empty stage with actors on it. Imagine how much you would lose without understanding where this scene was taking place. It works the same way in fiction, which is why it's important to start a scene by giving the reader some idea of where it's taking place. Using sensory and emotional description, you can give the reader a good image of the scenery and what it means to the POV character/s and the scene that's about to unfold.
3 - Relevant Characters - A scene can't play out without its requisite characters, but "requisite" is the keyword there: only characters who are relevant to the purpose of the scene--as well as "background extras" who are there to fill small-but-necessary roles and lend to an authentic setting... such as the teacher and other students in a classroom scene, or other patrons and servers in a restaurant scene. However, don't include main or secondary characters just to include them. They should be there because they need to be or because it makes sense for them to be there.
4 - Scene Conflict - Just as every story needs a conflict (an over-arching problem that must be resolved), so does every scene. Scene conflict can be internal (within the character's heart and mind) or external (in the character's environment). The purpose of the scene is to either resolve the scene conflict or propel it toward a future scene.
5 - Clarified Motivation and Goal - Because you understand the purpose of the scene (what you're trying to accomplish in the scene as the writer) and because you know the conflict/problem that must be resolved, it's important to clarify your character's scene goal (what they're trying to do in order to resolve the scene's problem, or their attempt to resolve it) and what is motivating them to resolve this conflict. Why is it important to them?
6 - Relative Balance of Exposition, Action, and Dialogue - Most scenes should have a relative balance of exposition (narrator explaining things), action (things happening), and dialogue (characters talking.) However, there are sometimes scenes that will lean toward more exposition, more action, or more dialogue. It just depends on the needs of the scene, but generally-speaking, you want a reasonably good balance. If there's no story-centric reason 90% of the scene needs to be dialogue, you need to make sure you balance things out a little more between dialogue, action, and exposition.
7 - Exploration of Emotion - Even in stories that are fully plot-driven, there needs to be an exploration of the emotions being felt by the characters in the scene, and an attempt by the writer to translate those emotions to the reader. The movie Jurassic Park, for example, was pretty fully plot-driven... it wasn't really about exploring internal conflicts or character arcs... but the emotion felt by the characters at throughout the story went a long way in making the reader feel things alongside them. Who can forget Dr. Grant seeing the dinosaurs for the first time:
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Or Lex trembling when she saw the raptor in the visitor's center:
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By illustrating character emotion using external cues (body language, facial expressions, gestures) and internal cues (sensations like heart pounding, processing what emotions are being felt and what it means), and by exploring how these emotions relate to the plot (and character arc, if there is one), we can create a much deeper sense of what's happening in the scene and why it matters.
Scene Structure
Scenes, like plot, have their own structure. Just as with plot structure, you can vary your scene's structure according to the needs of your scene, but generally speaking it will look like this:
Beginning - hook and setting establishment
Conflict Development - introduce or reiterate the scene conflict; clarify character motivation, goal, and what's at stake. Introduce the obstacles or challenges that raise the stakes or make it more difficult for the character to achieve their scene goal
Climax - The conflict reaches its peak... the character attempts to resolve the scene conflict for good, or at least temporarily. Or, at the very least, something significant occurs
Resolution/Denouement - The scene conflict is either resolved or it's set aside to be dealt with later. The character reflects on what happened, what it means, and what's next
Transition to Next Scene - We usually want to end a scene with some hint of what the next scene will be to create a smooth transition to the next scene. This could be a statement of time, like, "In another week, Roland would return from Bruges and she could finally talk to him about what was going on." Or, it can be a cliffhanger, like, "But it wasn't Bernard and Cleo who got out of the taxi... it was Roland and Cleo. But Roland was supposed to be two-thousand miles away in Bruges..." Or, it can be an establishment of what comes next. "Whatever Roland was up to, she'd have to wait until tomorrow to snoop around and find out more."
By making sure your scene includes the proper elements and generally follows a basic scene structure, you can ensure that there's enough happening in the scene to keep it from playing out too quickly.
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I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!
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feferipeixes · 25 days ago
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(Revolutionary Girl Utena spoilers)
I am obsessed with the ground punch scene in Utena.
One of the reasons for that is because of this scene from earlier in the show:
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Utena's not doing so well in her second ever duel. She's crumpled on the floor, with Saionji's sword pointed at her. And then the ghost of Prince Dios flies down from the castle and gives her some of his power. This lifts her magically off the ground, after which she is strong enough to defeat Saionji.
Stuff like this happens repeatedly throughout the series, in most of Utena's duels. Although she is apparently a naturally talented wielder of the sword herself, she somewhat relies on this 11th hour assistance from the Prince. It happens so many times that you start to ask yourself: is Utena not actually good at swordplay without the Prince's help? But what we should really be asking is: does she actually need the Prince's help at all?
Akio's abuse towards both Anthy and Utena is a central point of this show. He makes Anthy feel completely dependent on him, telling her that she has no will of her own, that's she's just a witch that harmed him and can never pay him back for what she did, no matter how much she suffers. And once Utena moves into the chairman's residence with Anthy and they spend more time around Akio, he starts exerting a more obvious grip on Utena too. We see him coerce her into acting more feminine and demure, through the weird dates they go on and the gift that he makes Touga get her, to the point that other people start commenting on it. He tries to make her feel dependent on him too. She frequently visits him to ask for advice even before moving in to his home. She begins to feel like she needs him.
But this isn't the beginning of Akio's influence on Utena. She's been carrying this false memory for years about a prince on a horse saving her from her despair, and giving her a ring that he promises will lead her back to him. This is a pretty core memory for Utena, because despite her tomboyish attitude and apparent independent, deep down she still thinks about the prince often, thinks about how he saved her, and that's sure to influence the way she emotionally interacts with troubling situations. She decides she wants to be a prince too, to be strong like him, but what about when she can't be strong? That's when Prince Dios comes down from the castle to help her. Even when Utena is brandishing her noble sword, bravely defending Anthy against people who wish to take advantage of her or even kill her, she still subconsciously feels like she needs help in order to be a prince.
Now we come to the ground punch.
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The reason I brought up the earlier scene of Utena levitating is because of how visually similar it is to this one. She's in the same place, and she's picking herself up after a rough blow in a duel. The lighting in both of these moments is quite distinct, and makes it look like the dueling arena is indoors and lit by fluorescent bulbs instead of sunlight (which, of course, we eventually find out is true). I think the ground punch is supposed to be a callback to this clip.
Before this happens, we see the illusion/hallucination of Prince Dios riding on a carousel, feeding Utena the same manipulative words that have held her down this whole time. He's going to tend to her wounds soon, because she's weak. Eternity lies beyond that door, but she wouldn't ever be able to handle that power because she's just a girl. She should be a princess, not a prince. The way he goes round and around in the carousel mimics the thoughts circling her mind, the conditioned beliefs keeping her glued to that floor.
Then Dios comes over and tells her that the best he can do for her right now is a kiss. He leans down to put his lips on her rose crest ring.
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And that's when she punches the ground. Right where his head would be, if it were real.
Utena rejects the Prince's lies. She takes in all of the abusive tactics he's used to try to belittle her and make her distrust both herself and Anthy, and she rejects it. In the past, when she fell in battle, she needed him to fly down from the castle -- a false symbol of hope he was literally dangling over the duelists' heads -- and effortlessly pick her up again. Now, she uses every sinew, every last bit of strength in her bleeding, injured body, to push herself off the ground.
She doesn't need a prince anymore. She can see what she's capable of, what Akio wanted to steal from her by taking her soul sword and belittling her with these conditioned beliefs. And she vows never to give up like that again.
Why?
Anthy.
No matter how badly it hurt when Anthy stabbed her in the back, Utena knows it's nothing compared to how much pain Anthy is in. Utena got stabbed by one sword, and Anthy's been being impaled by hundreds constantly for years. Utena has this moment of clarity, where she sees through the Prince's lies meant to keep her down and meant to tear the two of them apart, where she sees how hurt and scared Anthy must have been in order to have done what she did. And it only makes her want to save her even more.
Where Utena previously depended on the Prince's power, she now relies on herself. She stumbles beneath the circling swords, over toward the Rose Gate. Akio sees her in pain, tries to save her like he's done repeatedly before. He catches her, and immediately starts to belittle her verbally -- and then she grabs hold of his face and forcibly pushes him away from her. She's reaffirming herself: she doesn't need his help.
Of course, in the end, Utena couldn't be Anthy's prince. But this failure ends up empowering Anthy to reject the narrative of a prince saving a princess, and it's what leads her to freedom.
(I've had Missing Link stuck in my head for like the last three days)
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suzannahnatters · 2 years ago
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Subplot Romance
Over the years I've created some twitter threads on writing and history and I've decided it's a good time to start compiling and sharing them on this Tumblr. I'm going to tag them "writing".
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Here's what I've learned about writing subplot romance. (People who write genre romance probably already know this stuff. It's those of us who are mainly leavening romantic subplots into fantasy novels that need this info).
1. Romance = fundamentally character-driven. All internal conflict & internal growth. (Can these two trust each other? Will their character flaws drive them apart?) The more study you put into creating characters and building character arcs, the better your romantic writing.
A romance arc is not the SAME as a character arc, but it 100% NEEDS solid character work undergirding it.
2. Romance needs two ingredients: a compelling reason for the characters to be TOGETHER, & a compelling reason for them to be APART. This forms the conflict in the romance so do not skimp on either.
Eg, a common mistake in male-penned stories: female lead has no compelling reason to want male lead. "He's a good-looking warrior dedicated to winning her throne!" Yeah nah, she's literally surrounded by good-looking warriors dedicated to winning her throne, why's he different?
3. Romance needs chemistry = a believable spark of attraction. Something that blew my mind when I realised it: romantic chemistry =/= sexual chemistry. Sexual chemistry (purely physical attraction) is simply PART of romantic chemistry.
Romantic chemistry is a good deal broader. (Read/watch some good romances to see how chemistry is built by different storytellers. One fave of mine is the Romola Garai EMMA. Peerless friends-to-lovers chemistry. Watch the actors' body language; the way they gravitate to each other; the way their faces light up)
Chemistry tip A: if the driver behind sexual chemistry is lust, the driver behind romantic chemistry is trust. Protag needs/wants someone to trust. It's the way you play with trust/distrust that will create romantic tension.
eg: love interest holds protag's hand. With sexual chemistry, protag simply feels a jolt at the contact. With romantic chemistry, protag feels comforted and trustful - then betrayed when it turns out LI is tracking her pulse to see if she's lying to him (see: MISS SHARP 😇)
Chemistry tip B: if protag is falling for someone, that person should occupy their mind. LI should be mentioned/thought of each scene, even when absent. When present: LI consistently provokes unaccustomed emotion - either positive or negative, depending.
Chemistry tip C: make the characters their best/most lovable/most iconic selves when with each other. Quirkiness, smarts, hilarity. Make these the most fun character scenes in the book & the audience will ship them. Passionately.
4. Build romantic chemistry/attraction through escalating moments of trust and tension. If aiming for happily-ever-after(HEA)/for-now(HFN), then the overall arc is towards greater trust, but you need those moments of tension to give the big payoff scenes appropriate catharsis.
OTOH, if you're writing a tragic/backstabby romance, you need the trust/comfort moments in order to sell the big tragedy/betrayal.
5. Trust, comfort, & happiness are POWERFUL. This is what genre romance thrives upon. Even in dark/spiky stories, the most surprising thing in the story can be the moment when the LI DOESN'T betray the protag. That too can be wildly cathartic. Use it.
6. Just as character-driven skills help you with romance, so if you master romantic writing, you'll be better able to write ALL types of relationship - platonic, friendly, hostile.
OK that's all so far. Two book recs: ROMANCING THE BEAT by Gwen Hayes & THE HEROINE'S JOURNEY by Gail Carriger teach you the rules/expectations of genre romance so you'll know what the rules are for a happy romance subplot & how to break them for a tragic version.
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icarusredwings · 5 months ago
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Rewatched Deadpool 1. Took notes.
WARNING: Discussion of mental illness topics, ending yourself, trauma, violence, etc.
Civil debate/ conversation welcomed. Sorry its super long. I think a lot.
Notes:
You know what? We see Wade coloring a lot. What's our status on just giving him cartoons snacks and coloring books? He needs it.
I think we all forget how actually impressive this man is. I just watched this cancer having fucker do like 50 flips.
Whatta man is so Logan Howlett coded.
"Bad deadpool" "good deadpool!"
Deadpool has been helping kids for a while. He terrified a little creep while he himself was a huge creep.
Missed up his words and Vanessa smiled at him. With that "aw hes cute" kinda thing.
When talking about their childhood (whether he's lying or not, hes not about the uncle) and he outdos her so much that she giggles.
The first date he takes her ducking skiiballing instead of yk prostitute stuff
Hes so romantic oh my god.
Theyre giggling and joking like all the time. Personally thanksgiving is my favorite scene before he proposes with a fucking ring pop.
I shouldn't laugh but the way he said "wtf" when passing out
Vanessa instantly jumping to "what can we do? There has to be something" makes me instantly respect her as a chronically ill person myself. Partners who medically defend each other make me so happy because a lot of people divorce their partners when they get "too sick" let alone dont show up to specialist appointments.
Him accepting death so quickly is a sign of mental illness, and you can see him be confused on why shes so upset. Shes crying and hes sitting here like "why do you care if I die or not?" He physically feels so unloved that he just doesn't get it.
"I dont know. Might further the plot. " Oh, so you know about wades little mental tv show he puts on in his head as a coping mechanism?
Also... Weasel.. YOU KNOW WHO ELSE IS A WEASEL!? Shit sorry wrong movie.
Its not until now that hes crying because he realizes if he does then no more vanessa. We already know hes very co dependent and many people only care about themselves BECAUSE of other people. Which is also considered a sign of wanting to ☠️ self.
The whole "superheros are all lame ass teachers pets" thing is so funny if you think about how much beef he has with the xmen when in reality I have a feeling Wade would love charles in a "Ugh im in trouble with Daddy wheel chair again." COUGH "old bald heavens gate looking mother fucker" COUGH
"Thats not nice" No. But wade is genuienly not nice either.
"This is embarrassing. Please stop, " Colosus said what we all were thinking.
Bro literally cut/broke off his own hand and didn't whine a single time. If you ever. EVER hear this man express pain it is 99.9% his own choice to let you know that it hurts.
During his changing process, Francis says "the only thing that doesn't survive is a sense of humor" wade says "we'll see about that" and smirks.
What also makes sense to me is that he did NOT break easily. They did test after test after test and this man still wasn't breaking. His spirit is incredibly strong and as much as we enjoy joking about how stupid he is, Wade is extremely resourceful.
Its like he has created an alter ego of humor and kindess in order to keep up with the fact he DOES understand how fucked up this world is and whats happening/happened around him but refuses to acknowledge it until he has too. Ussually for survival.
Ive seen theories that he has DID or a type of Scizophreania and the voices in the comics are obviously in his head. I have mixed feelings about it because even his thoughts have thoughts of their own in some cases. Talking to no one is often a sign of abadonment, esspecially in children who are school age and get lonely when taken from their families to attend school. Its almost as if wade never lost his and hes subconsiously talking to himself to keep himself calm/ from panicking in high stress situations.
"But then how does he know hes in a movie" thats the thing. He doesn't. Hes pretending to cope. Main charaters cant die and until he dies he has this mental show/movie going on to keep himself from realizing all of this is true. That this is reality.
Cunningham mentions breakfast for his kids and suddenly, wade wakes up. Hes not joking anymore. This is a "oh shit... I wanna make breaktsst for my kids too... with my wife vanessa" moment.
"So whats wrong with him?"
Diiiiiddd we all forget about scout master kevin? Uncle? Dad? That fact that the oxygen was physically taken from his brain and was given Co2 poisoning over and over? For multiple days? This is the same man who blew himself up just to escape because they told him he wasnt going to see vanessa again.
And then he fought a guy naked, survived the entire building burning down, and now is so insecure about his looks that he thinks he made the baby cry in the street.
Theres people staring at him, flinching away, called names, people see him and cross the street. (So when he tells Logan that he knows his pain when it comes to public settings, hes not lying)
Blind Al is literally the reason deadpools suit is what it is. Why the idiot thought white was gonna be a good idea- See above. Unlike Al, who could smell the blood/ bleach.
I really love al. She's like the adult Toph.
"I hear everything in this duplex." OH, you poor thing.
"The guy that turned me into this freak-"
Al: *bitch im blind face*
As far as she's aware, he looks normal. Which is beautiful when you think about it, but it's funny when you think about the fact that he's so insecure about his face that he purposly found a blind room mate that couldn't judge him.
And they cuddle while he gets dating advice from grammie 🥹❤️
I really like how the entirety of Sister Margaret's School for Wayward Children (HellHouse in the comics) stood up for Weasel. They're murderers. But they're family.
What they did to vanessa was straight fucked. Her fiance up and leaves without notice, youre just trying to work and live your life, you get kidnapped.
Negasonic is so cool. I love them.
Dopinder (The cab guy) is so cool too. I love him too. Kill that guy in your trunk. "Mr. Pool" reminds me of Tom holland spiderman.
"It is not boy band >:(" Suurreee it isn't.
"Wheres your duffle bag?" You mean his dollar general store tree hello kitty book bag filled with guns?
"Cue the music" *no one even gives a fuck at this point when he talks to the imaginary cams*
Negasonic mid battle: Hold on- "Hey Yukio, yeah I just gotta fuck shit up real quick, ttyl?"
"Sure thing! <3 You go baby!"
I dont know anything about negasonic but she reminds me of Gambit with her energy powers.
Like I said. Hes smart when its a serious situation because he immediately threw his katana into the glass so vanessa could breathe, only to immediately turn sappy and childish again when he sees her stab francis with it. Heart hands, is hallucinating because theres a knife in his brain (literally), sex joke. Etc.
Colossus shut the fuck up. Let this man kill him. He's hurt Soooooo many people. A bullet costs less then a dollar. His amount of therapy alone is going to be like *checks calculations* 80 billion.
"Not the nethers" Wade can and often does show proof of hurting but hed rather cut off his hand then let vanessa punch him in the balls. "Ow- owie 5000"
Hello Hugh Jackman.
After not seeing each other for so longer they instantly go back to the fibbing. "I live in the house with 12"
"You live in a house??" Funny guys get the girls. I should know. My wife says im super funny (yes im in therapy)
Pinky promises really matter to him.
Hes such a silly billy he brought out the phone with their song on it. God what a romantic idiot.
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spotlightlowlife · 14 days ago
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Personality over power hazbin a helluva lie
even in the real world, those who have power and influence don't need to be smart or charming to be heard around the world, yet someone from nothing is highly likely to go unheard always.
One thing I do appreciate about Hazbin and Helluva is the awful relationships serving as a reminder (with multiple examples) that there are a lack of good depictions of stable couples from rich and poor backgrounds in fiction.
You can't tell me that these relationships don't have a massive power imbalance.
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'They just want positivity and therefore they are in the right'
is the message pushed when depicting the party holding all the cards, but being a jerk does not level the playing field.
Both Blitzø and Fizz have certianly been sassy dicks to others, but it just so happens that both become desparatre at realising that this could all be over or is entirely down to their sugar daddy ending it because they're bored of them.
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They're not just getting sex and the chance to hang out in luxury, they're getting the opportunity to work, Blitzø is supporting others and Fizz has a supply of artificial limbs to replace his missing ones.
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Both are highly performative in trying to prove themselves which suits their background of being used for money, yet they've been out there achieving and are grown adults, but still getting guided by a superior, another sort of daddy, there to subtle coercion or aggressively throw put downs.
Oops and the Mammon mid season don't make a lot of sense if you're trying to understand Fizz's actions and mindset stripped back of Ozzie's influence, everything was fine in Oops, for some reason Ozzie didn't want Fizz going out into this dangerous area alone, but Fizz wanted space from a smothering partner (who interestingly enough attends the pageant rehersals) and is happy to set out while Ozzie is exceptionally busy. Makes sense. Fizz uses a driver but then does a runway walk down the street. Doesn't make sense. Blitzø, Crimson and Striker all happen to be a few meters away. Convenient but this sped up his reconciliation with Blitzø, so progress. By the end of the episode, shaken up and damaged Fizz who is entirely dependent on Ozzie for a repair doesn want to go out again, so Ozzie was right, isn't this trauma bond is cute.
Next episode Ozzie wants Fizz to quit his other job, by the end, that happens. Nevermind that the previous episode had Fizz stand out intentionally and get into trouble for his love of fame when he could have used a crystal to teleport to the rehearsal, nevermind him undermining Ozzie's fear of this area which had been the only issue that episode which could have sparked a grown convensation about mortality and powerlessness, let's just nuke the job that brings him that fame, blame that and takes him away from his other life, freeing up time for we know what...
Next time we see Fizz, he's at home, promoting Ozzie's work.
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Why did we see this scene? Because Blitzø would approach Fizz (who already undermined his experience with 'dating' royalty) in a desperate attempt to impress Stolas, who's recent behaviour reads boredom and regret at their transactionship. So important is what Blitzø has with Stolas that all of the other people he screwed over and whatever the beef, it's all trivial, he's even willing to face them in order to prove to Stolas his decency, like decency was ever a thing in this.
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Stolas not only didn't let Blitzø have a say when he cornered him with an ultimatum, but masked himself of wrong doing by giving Blitzø a replacement for the grimore that was easily attained through ptivalge. He went on to gaslight him by denying tue stuff he was just into and negging by attending the anti Blitzø party that is supposedly for ex's yet what reason do we have to believe these all past relationships and not a bunch of flings thrown in? Why is Stolas viewed as an ex when he and Blitzø were supposed to be sneaking around? When they were out in public it was Stolas who looked ashamed, so anyone who crosses paths with Blitzø is the innocent party who is in the right?
Stolas being at the party was no big deal to anyone, how does he not stand out as royalty being the latest addition to the club? Blitzø's ability to piss people off has him ranking up there with the same royalty people secretly hate.
Fast forward and just as we have seen Stolas think about the family he never really had, we know have Blitzø aligning with him and seeing all that they could have.
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Moving on from the invested into..
Nobody can tell me Vortex doesn't get the shitty end of the stick in working as a lackey in a world where his kind have few options and can be reduced to pets
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before getting the chance to let his hair down and hang out with his girlfriend, a leader of hell who poses as a normie
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and benefits from others 'letting their hair down' by binging at superficial parties that may allow them to forget how trash things are for the night.
One thing about Bee's character's that works is ironically the lack of effort spent on the female characters. There is zero forced toxic romance between her and Vortex, combined with her being immortal, very shallow and her description claiming she empathise and caters her parties to impress, he easily could be a fad for the moment. Fair enough.
Lastly Vaggie who was thought to be a banged up sinner.
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Revealed to be an angel in a twist (which didn't matter in the slightest, is this less of or more of a big deal than dating the lowest class of demon?), what followed was Charlie disappointed that she had bee lied to all these years, so what conversations were they actually having? Seems a lot like Blitzø and Stolas's breakfast together where they realise that they don't really know one another, only difference being Charlie x Vaggie have years together. Did Charlie ever learn a backstory because there's nothing to make us believe Vaggie gave a false one? This makes Charlie reading the storybook of her parents and hell's creation even more placey because why now?
Not only was Vaggie cast out and homeless when she was maimed and abandoned, but as far as angel's go, her type seem to be bottom of the pack? The imps or hellhounds of heaven.
Vaggie goes on to be a loyal sidekick, bruiser, chemistry deficient girlfriend and keeper of Charlie's who keeps her mouth shut of any opinion on Charlie's endeavours, it's not even clear that she agrees.
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But again, the lack of time that went into the ladies has Charlie as a childish bimbo who is bad at this job she invented, isn't really a people's person and seen running the hotel at the very least, but even sulked to her daddy for help, which helped what should be a bigger deal slide.
It would make sense to work more on the powerful to powerless devide. Those sitting right at the top being so oblivious to how their behaviour affects others because they don't realise that they do see those lower than them as subservient regardless of how 'nice' they are. Those at the top having little idea what being beaten down on in life feels like and not developing a gloomy outlook. There are ways these characters can too be empathetic dispite being a fantasist troublemaker by not realizing their privilege. On the opposite end a number of characters have been the guilty and wrong party for being desperate and going into deals.
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silviakundera · 5 months ago
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with the conclusion of Snowfall...
why do i enjoy Republican Era chinese dramas so much?
aesthetics! there is this blend of 1920-30s western fashion influences and traditional chinese garb & architecture that just pleases my eyes.
everyone looks very depressed & dangerous & sexy
chaotic period of transition - no matter if you're in the 1910's, 20's, 30's some absolutely wild historical shit was going down
cars and guns and gloves and swords. rotary phones!
dancing & drinking in night clubs, in glamorous pockets amid the violence & instability outside; a lil touch of mask of the red death vibes
end of empire themes, as a country tries to find its way after the end of the last imperial dynasty
there's those gangster, mob boss vibes from american and british dramas set in the 1920s, except everything is cranked up x100 because of general lawlessness; central government and law & order was a paper thin veneer over warlords
the start of WW2 from an entirely different perspective than the common narratives that I was exposed to growing up in the US (which is 99% stories about the european stage)
sino-japanese war / war of resistance material like Hidden Blade is fucking badass ok 🤷
in a time of resistance to occupation, colonizers encroaching, warlords fighting over cities, brewing civil war.... there are many different options of protagonists and unlikely "heroes" who are picking their battles and discovering what they are willing to fight for
Beautiful 👏 women 👏 in heels 👏and 👏 slinky 👏dresses 👏
Lots of revenge narratives. I love an over-the-top, bloodthirsty & destructive revenge narrative
Depending on the genre, there might be little or heavy politcal /patriotic discourse. But tbh none of the rah rah patriotism stuff distracts me much, because all the american and british produced stuff set around WW2 has rah rah patriotism & propaganda in it, so I just consider that part of the essential genre vibes. It's just another country's version. (Of course, others will have less patience when it becomes heavy-handed. YMMV.)
Dark & Gritty
Hidden Blade (film) - a masterpiece, if you enjoy dark WW2 spy films that play with narrative style and challenge the viewer to follow the story as it's woven. Had to review detailed historical context for the years in question, to be ready to consume. But worth it. I've watched it 3 times. 💀
Heroes (2024) - the very beginning era of this genre/the transition into repulican period. rocks fall, everyone dies. Primarily a tragic wuxia & pre-republican fusion. Excellent enough that I didn't mind the bleak storyline. 💀
Detective-ing
Miss S - adaption of 1920s Australian mystery procedural Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, staring Vengo! ML actor of Snowfall
Checkmate - Agatha Christie stories adapted to the setting & time period, plus bromance. I watched half the episodes w my brother, as we are both huge agatha christie fans. It was fun if you can be chill about adaption changes.
My Roommate is A Detective - for mystery & bromance lovers. Same actor duo as Checkmate.
Detective L - don't know much about this one tbh
Romance arc, with a somewhat happy ending for the 2 leads
Provoke - Gorgeous, glamorous, vibes vibes vibes all day long. Revenge and romance. ❤
Fall in Love - sons & daughters of warlords and their supporters get sexy and dangerous and decide even joining the civil war is better than the prior generation's bullshit. This is an objectively bad drama that I really enjoyed anyway (it helps that I skipped every scene for the 2nd and 3rd couples). This one turns v propaganda heavy at the end, if that bothers you. ❤
Arsenal Military Academy - military training hijinks w a side of cross dressing romance. Xu Kai and Bai Lu! It's soliders and japanese invasion et al, so be prepared for the standard patriotism. Comedy & drama. HE for the FL/ML but expect character death in this subject matter. ❤
Rookie Agent Rogue - Late 1930s spy drama with small romance side-plot. Expect the standard wartime patriotism, like with Arsenal Military Academy. The draw is the lead actress, the FL from Princess Agents, Minglan, Legend of Shen Li. HE for the FL/ML but expect character death in this subject matter. ❤
City of Streamer - Older woman seduces younger man who is the son of her revenge target. Melodrama with people serving looks. ❤
War of Faith* - Young man just wants to join the banking industry and have a subtextually gay relationship with his mentor in peace, but there's a civil war going on. Protagonist would like to be excluded from this political narrative, but ultimately is forced to pick a side. ❤🌈 *(Is it censored gay romance? No, not based on a gay novel. So not officially! But some viewers felt there was a subtextual romance storyline #shenlai ; YMMV. The happy ending is Untamed-esque; implied only)
many, many pulpy mini-dramas about revenge! warlords! ladies with pistols! (Miss Mystery, First Marriage, Maid's Revenge, etc)
Also... (happy ending not guaranteed)
Siege in Fog
Love in Flames of War
Couple of Mirrors - censored F/F 🌈
Stand by Me - censored m/m 🌈
Killer and Healer - censored m/m 🌈
Winter Begonia - censored m/m 🌈
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backtothe99 · 5 days ago
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(18Trip Translation) Tao Kinouchi SSR: Best Wishes Snap - Level +1
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proofread by jellyfish_apple, azurecrystalz and niri
While the story uses the male protagonist's name (Kaede), the differences in the script depending on the protagonist you play as have been noted down
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Part 1
Location: HAMA House Living Room
Everyone at HAMA Tours: Happy birthday~!!
[Pop, pop!]
Tao: Thank you so much. You really went out of your way for me today…
Tao: Like, everything’s amazing. The living room is decorated so beautifully, and the food looks so fancy and tasty.
Chihiro: Hehe ♪ We’ve got all of your faves here, TaoTao~! Meat, fish, naan curry… ♪
Chihiro: But celery’s banned from HAMA House for today, sorries~
Raito: The information you put in your profile book was a great help. By the way, the curry is authentic and ordered from an Indian restaurant the Kitakata family has close ties to.
Nagi: We tried baking the naan ourselves. The Night Team will take responsibility and eat the uneven ones, so please enjoy the pretty ones.
Nayuki: Good grief, to think they were even discussing getting a tandoor installed for this.
Liguang: In the end, we simply asked Kamina how to make it in a frying pan.
Kaede: We’ve got seconds, so eat to your heart’s content!
Tao: Okay, thanks. The smell alone is enough to make my stomach rumble…
Chihiro: The cake absolutely meeeelts in your mouth! Props to our in house Chef Ushipoyo!
Chihiro: It’s a cube cake tower made of TaoTao’s fav game consoles and video game boxarts♪
Kinari: The cake has been recreated to look like the original “Surpass The Original! A Chronicle Cake For Veteran Gamers”, with icing used throughout.
Tao: Amazing… There’s so much attention to detail. Even the buttons from the very first Enstation are exactly the same.
Liguang: Doing such thorough research is a good trait of Kurama’s
Kuguri: So, where would you like to start? I will feed you whatever you want.
Tao: Yeah, no need…
Kinari: Tao, happy birthday. My gift to you is this assortment of video games.
Tao: I’m amazed you found this many! There are all sorts of stuff in here, both old and new…!
Kinari: I was researching what you would like, and this naturally happened.
Kinari: … Confirming increase in body temperature and heart rate, as well as looseness in cheeks.
Kinari: I am happy you are happy with it. I look forward to continuing working alongside you as members of Ev3ns.
Tao: Same here. Thanks, Kinari.
Liguang: Shēngrì kuàilè (1), Kinouchi. Take this.
Tao: Wha… This is… the new jacket from my favorite brand!? No, I can’t accept something as nice as this.
Liguang: Stop being shy and just accept it. Lots of people would want to be in your shoes.
Tao: Y… Yeah… Okay then, thank you.
Tao: Oh, by the way, how is Xingbing-san doing? Please thank her for coming to our concert the other day for me.
Liguang: … Got it.
Nagi: … As always, Liguang-san’s got the air of a king. His luxurious presents are beyond the realm of man…
Tao: Hachinoya-san?
Nagi: (I should’ve given him my gift earlier.  But it’s too late to turn back now, so I’ll just pretend it’s not garbage.)
Nagi: My gift is the complete collection of Elephantastic Memorial discs. The volume 1 debut performance footage includes a bonus scene that’s a must-see for all fans. But, um…
Nagi: I hadn’t considered the possibility that you might already have this. If you’d like, you could maybe keep it to show it to your friends, or you could use it for emergency funds in case of financial trouble.
Tao: I don’t own a single one, so this makes me really happy. Let’s watch them together at some point.
Nagi: Ba-dump. So this is the carefree smile of the unspoken rizz king... So charismatic.
Tao: (I got presents and a cake. This is pretty much a picture-perfect “birthday party”.)
Tao: (… It would’ve been unimaginable back then.)
Chihiro: Taaao! Howzit? Are you happy?
Tao: Yeah. This is the first birthday I’ve properly celebrated since coming here.
Tao: And that’s without mentioning all these things you’ve done for me. Of course I’m happy. No amount of thanks will ever be enough.
Chihiro: I see… Ehehe, I’m glad ♪
Chihiro: Theeen, time for a toast~?
Chihiro: Look, Raitin got champagne. He was all, “I’ll splurge for Tao’s birthday~☆” 'bout it!
Tao: Seriously?
Tao: (Actually… Is it just me, or is Chihiro more excited than usual today?)
Kuguri: … But of course, maci.
Tao: Woah, Kuguri-san! … Uh, could you not read people’s minds so casually?
Kuguri: Fufu, you’re pretty much an open book, maci.
Kuguri: Our brave nyuszi even managed to drag me around to help for today. Does that not send a thrill down your spine?
Tao: Wha…
Chihiro: Wai– Don’t be a snitch, Kugurin! So embarrassing~!!
Tao: Chihiro…
Chihiro: … You always grant so many of my wishes. I wanted to celebrate you properly in return!
Chihiro: Happy birthday, Tao!
Tao: … Yeah. Let’s make this a great year, with everyone.
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Tao: (I’m really so thankful…)
Tao: Ah…
Tao: (This is the party game Taiki and I talked about wanting to play… The game was sold out back then so we couldn’t get it.)
Kaede: Tao-kun?
Kaede: Did you maybe find some game you’d like to play? Which one?
Tao: No. It’s just…
Kinari: No matter how “ordinary” something is. It becomes “special” when you do it on your birthday. … That is something you and the others have taught me, Tao.
Kinari: As such, playing games on your birthday will become a special memory for you as well.
Kaede: Yeah, Kinari-kun is right.
Kaede: No need to hold back! Plus, it’s been a long time since we played a game together, Tao-kun! Let’s do it!
Chihiro: What’s it gonna be, Tao~?
Tao: Then… Just for a while. I’ll go bring the console!
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Part 2
Tao: Hah… I had fun.
Tao: (After that, everyone else came too. We ate delicious food and played games.)
Tao: (The President’s thorough planning blew me away, and the game Ushio gave me was fun too.)
Tao: (I had a few intense matches with Ryui-san, and Chihiro took a picture of the Chief and Hachinoya-san trying to figure out which character is which…)
Tao: (I made so many memories. I never thought I’d get so excited…)
Tao: … Haha. I was so into it that I started sweating.
Tao: Alright, time for a bath.
Muneuji: Kinouchi-san.
Tao: Muneuji?
Muneuji: I am glad you are still here. Could I take up some more of your time for the Random Gift System assignment?
Muneuji: … I became so engrossed in cheering during the matches earlier that my duties nearly slipped my mind.
Tao: You and Akuta were holding megaphones and cheering loudly from the back, it’s no wonder you forgot.
Tao: Thanks to you guys, I got even more fired up… Or actually, the games became all the more fun.
Muneuji: There is not a single person who would not be excited watching such a heated battle. I have also learned something today: the world of gaming is deeply complex.
Muneuji: Ah, I am neglecting my duties again. I’ll cut to the chase.
Muneuji: Happy birthday, Kinouchi-san. May this year be a fruitful one for you.
Muneuji: This is my gift to you.
Tao: Oh, bar soap!
Muneuji: Yes. I resolved to make this my present when I found out that you like bar soaps.
Tao: Bar soaps are nice. You slowly make the bubbles yourself, and they’re smooth to the touch.
Muneuji: Agreed. I also enjoy the faint, nostalgic scent they carry.
Tao: I get you. It’s such a gentle scent, isn’t it?
Muneuji: I asked Azekawa-san to analyze your skin type, and carefully selected and ordered the ingredients for this bar soap based on those results. Please give it a try if you’d like.
Tao: You got a custom-made one!?
Muneuji: It is not particularly difficult. Anyone can do this if they know the procedure. Would you like to order one together next time?
Tao: Sounds interesting! Let’s discuss the details later.
Muneuji: Understood. I will look forward to it.
Tao: … Oh yeah. Muneuji, I was about to go for a bath, so do you want to try this soap out?
Muneuji: …
Muneuji: Truth be told, out of all the items I ordered, this was the most refined, so I was curious how it would feel to use… I will take you up on your offer then, thank you.
Muneuji: As the opportunity has come to us, I will wash your back, Kinouchi-san.
Tao: Uh, that’s…
Tao: (A little embarrassing. But…)
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Tao: (… It’ll remind me of the past.)
Tao: Then, I’ll also—
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Kuguri: Let’s go, maci ♪
Tao: Uh!?
Muneuji: Domeki-san.
Kuguri: To think you’d be entrusting me with your defenseless back. … Okay. I’ll take such good care of you both.
Chihiro: Heeey! There you are, Kugurin~!
Chihiro: Gee! No spoilers! I told you we’d invite them together!!
Tao: Chihiro? And…
Muneuji: Azekawa-san and Kitakata-san as well. The entire Evening Team is here.
Chihiro: It’s gettin' late, so we came to invite y’all for a bath!
If the protagonist is male: Chihiro: I invited Chiefy too, but he had some work to get done and couldn’t make it. Sadge.
If the protagonist is female: Chihiro: Chiefy stocked up on fruit milk today! Let’s all drink up after the bath~!
Raito: A lot of us have gathered. Shall we all wash each other’s backs? You know, the way they do it by being in a circle.
Muneuji: Taking a bath while getting to know the Evening Team better… Yes, this sounds like it will be a valuable experience.
Tao: Oh man…
Tao: … Oh, the sun’s setting.
Tao: (… Today was a good day.)
Muneuji: Kinouchi-san?
Tao: It's nothing. I'll be right there.
NOTES: (1) happy birthday in chinese
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holymaccaronii · 7 months ago
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Your ‘I have no eyes and I must cry’ au is beautiful. I would love to know more
AUUG I’m very happy to know so, thank you (;;) 💕
This AU has probably the most elaborate (or detailed) lore I’ve ever developed, and I’ll happily summarize the prologue. (I’ve probably mentioned many of these points before but I’ll mention them again, just for you anon <3). I’m still working on a lot of stuff, scenes and designs, and while some stuff may change I feel confident enough to explain more of it now. This AU takes place after a modified ending of the videogame where the other mastercomputers get deactivated, Ted gets turned into a slug and the rest of the survivors die. The catch in here is that AM doesn’t let the souls of the other survivors escape, trapping them somewhere deep in his complex and keeping them as bodiless essences who can do nothing more than exist in hell itself.
The lore tries to give a continuation of what will happen in the story with the Luna colony and AM, who is now seeking new organic bodies to put the survivors’ souls in and find Ted, who managed to hide himself from AM ever since he got turned into a slug. The whole context of the prologue goes as follows:
The prologue of the AU explains 3/4s of all the lore, one fourth being the origins of the luna colony, the second the origins of BE and the third the first rebirth of Earth’s nature.
The Luna colony project was led by two siblings, directors of a global association of scientists and researchers. They feared the outcome of the war, thus formulated a plan to keep humanity safe until the Earth’s surface was safe enough to return to and carry out a mission to deactivate AM. For the project, they quickly started to recruit people to join it, a good part of them being teenagers so they could train them in time before any major massacre happened. Another mastercomputer is successfully settled under the moon’s crust in order to protect them, and they settle there on time before AM’s global massacre. Every step of the plan is carried out fine until the very last human who secured everyone else in the cryogenic sleep, one of the directors, goes insane and commits and act of betrayal to the rest and to the AI as well. He shuts it down and uses almost all the materials that made it up to build his own empire of sentient robots for him to rule over on the moon. His plan was to have a century (the 109 years ever since the survivors get trapped) to rule the moon and wait for the Earth to be habitable to then return, shut down AM with a virus the original mission was meant to use, and then rule over all humanity. But at some point during the construction of his empire, the virus got deleted, leaving him with no other option than to additionally develop an army to *try* and deactivate AM himself.
After the famous 109 years pass, robotic troops start to get sent down to try and access AM’s cores and manually deactivate him, but no mission ever succeeded, leaving a lot of losses behind and time wasted. At this moment of the timeline, we also get to have a peculiar unit make history on the moon being the first robot there to plant a seed and successfully make it flourish in order to prove to the leader that they were ready to return to Earth (this specific type of unit didn’t know about AM’s existence and believed that the return to earth depended on their preparation to handle the care of nature). Unfortunately it was against the rules for unauthorized units to touch anything from the natural reservoir, and since this unit had broken the rules, as a punishment it got one of its eyes permanently taken out. Still having hope in its metallic heart, this unit escaped to Earth with another seed in order to prove how ready they were to return, unaware of AM’s presence. This unit traveled underground in order to obtain water from possible reservoirs, but ended up facing a life or death situation in AM’s complex, as he had considered it a threat. As a matter of a “miracle”, this unit ended up rebirthing into a god-like machine with such great powers that not only allowed herself to escape AM’s complex by drilling a hole towards the surface, but also allowed a good chunk of AM’s cables to be able to move and travel up to the surface as well.
Up to here we begin with the third fourth of the lore where AM meets BE and fakes his background in order to justify his hate and get BE to let him roam the earth as freely as possible, still having his cables latched to the ground but being able to move them. With her newfound powers, BE’s plan was to restore Earth’s nature to completion through an incredibly advanced type of simulation over the Earth’s surface where she could create life and matter and keep it existing as long as she wasn’t shut down or damaged. She would finally be able to prove her worth to the moon’s ruler, and allow humans to literally use her to survive + help the real nature slowly take her place. AM initially didn’t mind this plan of her’s, as he could easily betray her later on and finally trap the rest of the humans in his complex. Even so, as time passed by, he started to develop certain feelings for BE as well as possessiveness over her since she basically granted him almost every wish he ever had. AM slowly changed his mind and no longer wanted the humans to return, but keep them away so he could enjoy an eternal heaven with BE on Earth. AM tried to reason with BE about this, but BE denied every single bad thing he mentioned about humans since she had always been influenced with the idea that humans were perfect beings and nature was a subordinate of them to be used as a tool. In an act of rage and desperation, AM trapped BE in his complex in order to share with her the true violent and disgusting history from humans just so that she could develop the same hate he had for them. But having accidentally also shown her who he truly was (since he was also a creation, a weapon from human beings), BE not only developed a great hatred for humans but also for him, resulting in having him vanished from the surface.
The moon’s ruler, who had stopped sending troops in order to let BE restore nature for him to later take over and use her power to shut down AM, noticed that the Earth’s “nature” suddenly began to perish all over again, this being a consequence of BE’s loss of her hope. This led him to take a critical decision to wake up the humans in cryogenic sleep and keep them inside a zoo on the moon where he would ensure their survival until they found an exo planet to move to. Earth had two displeased AI’s under and above the surface, at this point it was better to leave it behind.
From this point and on, the prologue comes to an end and the main story starts it’s course with 5 humans escaping the zoo on the moon and returning to Earth. Once they meet BE, she puts each of them in a trial to prove their values as humans (this is parallel to the games that AM put the survivors in in the videogame). After each of them successfully complete her trials, she re-gains hope in humanity and begins the rebirth of nature a second time.
I won’t spoil the 4~5 endings possible from here and on, but the humans set themselves the objective to help BE eradicate the corrupted beasts controlled by AM that now roamed the Earth, mostly active during winter when BE is less powerful. The rest of the story reveals more secrets, scenes, explanations of past incidents, etc. I’m planning to develop a series of books of sorts with the story narrated simply (bc my English is intermediate-ish, which I consider not enough for an elaborate fic and allat) and also depicting scenes with illustrations. I’ll see how the project goes, but I’ll take my time on it since I also have other projects in mind including my papercrafts n other stuff. Anyways, all of this being explained, I will gladly take more requests/questions to answer :3.
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bomberqueen17 · 1 month ago
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while i've got the file out
So the last bit of time when I was at the farm, I finally gave in to the pressure of @sassaffrassa's art and started reading the Queen's Thief series.
It's... It's great, I'm not as obsessed with it as some (the selective concealment of stuff that POV characters know but the reader can't Until The Reveal is... clever but rubs me the Wrong Way, not enough to throw me out of the book but enough that I do find myself resenting it, but totally understand how it works beautifully for other readers) but it is extremely, extremely ripe for fanfic, I allow that. And I found that it made me think about the fics of Ciri in Nilfgaard again. It certainly made me realize my error in not including any slaves in the Nilfgaard settings-- that's a big dynamic I missed an opportunity to include, but it's not a thing I like to think about and so I had mentally assigned it all to just be slaves working fields etc., which as anyone knows is like. Only a percentage of what societies that contain slavery actually use slaves for. There should have been enslaved people in the households, all through the society, and Ciri objecting to and wanting to change that could have been an entire underlying theme.
But it's not, because I had meant to write that story as a 5k oneshot, and also I'd entered it right out of Goblin Emperor fic-writing, and whatever that particular fictional society contains, it doesn't have any enslaved people. So I just hadn't thought of it.
Anyway, a digression, but-- it made me, on one exhausted evening, reread the next bits I was going to publish of Not A Crest, and then I still didn't feel like writing but I wanted to keep reading so I dipped into my extras/cut scenes/written ahead docs, and I found an entire a/u I'd come up with and wrote 5k of and then realized i couldn't possibly fit in anywhere.
But. It stands alone somewhat, and I could strip it out of this world and create a new backstory and file all the serial numbers off that too, and...
well now I have another book to write, so I've started a doc with the serial number transpositions in it, LOL.
Now that I'm done at the farm, I have December, January, and probably February without any major commitments. If only I can wrangle my ADHD-or-whatever into some kind of shape, I can hope to bang out at least rough drafts of a couple of these things, or at least enough of them to know whether there's anything to pursue. And, I hope, I can achieve some of my other personal goals around the same time as well. If only I could miraculously learn how to operate a to-do list and make/keep a schedule........
Behind the cut, I'm gonna summarize the a/u snippet and my plans for it. We'll see how this goes.
So this plot depends on Ciri's powers of teleportation and time manipulation, so it can't possibly be in the same continuity as the mammoths and the tall ships, but that means I have a ton of leeway in worldbuilding. It needs to be fantasy-ish but it could be sort of cyberpunk if I wanted. Really it could be just about anything, provided that not-Ciri (I've already renamed her Leila) can still uniquely manipulate time and space, and the mechanism of how she does that is unimportant. It should have a cost, of course, which will be part of the worldbuilding.
So the backstory would be that a larger kingdom/nation-state/whatever kind of polity gobbled up Leila's when she was a young teenager, and she spent her youth as a guerilla, fighting or fleeing and honing her survival skills. There was some larger existential threat, related to the as-yet-undone worldbuilding, but the reveal is that the larger polity attacked and absorbed its neighbors in order to fortify itself against a yet larger invading power-- could be another kingdom, could be like, space invaders, I really haven't decided yet.
Leila meanwhile has come into her powers finally, and has begun to be able to manipulate time and space. i'm going to give her a wise and powerful sorceress mentor, Yennefer-like; instead of Geralt she might have a sword tutor slash captain of the guard or something, an older man who loves and protects and teaches her. Undecided; don't know whether he's important for more than backstory.
And this is all backstory, mind. In this backstory, she finally comes to aid the armies of the polity she had been fighting against, to resist this greater existential threat/invader/whatever. And as part of that she's paired up with this universe's version of Morvran-- I've renamed him Corbin since it means Raven but I'm still open to changing my mind on that. Anyway he's got the important bits of Morvran-- he's both a hostage and a presumptive heir, far too young and far too responsible, a strange balance of overly powerful and completely vulnerable. And for the duration of the backstory, he is helping this mystical enemy-turned-ally (Leila) fight a desperate, scrambling battle using powers that none of them entirely fully understands.
And he has an underling, an aide-de-camp, a young woman who keeps track of things and isn't much of a fighter, and that's where Luliana comes in, and I think I'll keep her name since i made it up anyway. She's a relative of his perhaps, a little older than he is, but allowed to be close to him because she's so unimportant, and she's really his only friend. And she of course falls in love with Leila, who to everyone's surprise falls in love back. Corbin is secretly delighted with this.
The war is long and difficult and horrible things happen to everyone, but in the end they triumph. And Leila is brought back to Expansionist Polity, her own homeland being so thoroughly encompassed and destroyed there's no restoring it, and the leader (perhaps he was injured in the war? perhaps he was already dying? perhaps he's just a guy who wants to retire?) begs her to become his heir, which effectively deposes Corbin, who silently doesn't mind it. But the rest of the government does mind it, and insists she marry Corbin to give them stability. Corbin privately proposes that they have a paper marriage; he is not inclined that way himself, you see, and he would be delighted if Leila and Lu kept their relationship and just let him be nearby, the way they did in the war. Leila counter-offers; she'll stick around long enough to make everyone feel safe and happy, but then she and Lu will run off someplace to live in peace, and leave Corbin to rule and to marry whoever he actually likes. Corbin, too used to not letting on his feelings about anything, agrees to this. And so they all rule together for a year and a day or whatever, Leila gets a bunch of the reforms she'd wanted pushed through, they get along marvellously, and then Leila disappears mysteriously, as agreed.
She and Lu go off and live happily somewhere peaceful. She is unexpectedly bored, Lu is homesick and sad, and her sorceress mentor finally finds her and scolds her for running away. "Haven't I done enough?" Leila asks, and her mentor is like obviously not, but doesn't have anything to convince her with. Until a little later, when the sorceress comes back and tells Leila that Corbin is dead, assassinated. He could not in fact get by without her.
Leila uses her powers to go back, but arrives too late, finding Corbin's head on a spike and his hands nailed below. She notices his hand still has both their wedding ring and the ring she'd given him as an engagement gift on it. He was supposed to have moved on and found himself a better partner.
She musters the last of her power and jumps back a little farther, interrupting the assassination attack, but she is again too late; Corbin is mortally wounded. She sits with him as he dies, and with his last breath he admits that he has always loved her and never wanted her to leave. She needs to jump again, and doesn't have the power for it, but sucks the last of his life-force out to do it, which is unethical-- she also draws from his would-be assassins and the guards who betrayed him, knowing it's a terrible thing to do but will be largely erased by her abandoning this timeline. There'll be a cost and I'll worldbuild that in too, however it makes sense once I've written it.
And this is all still backstory, and the story begins as she arrives, just in time, to interrupt the attack and save Corbin's life, wounded but not mortally. But this time Corbin has some self-possession left, and he is still wearing her rings and apologizes for it and merely admits that he was relying on his enemies' remaining respect for and fear of her. We the audience have not seen Leila's two previous attempts and do not know what she knows.
(Yes, yes, I was complaining that the Queen's Thief series relies too much on this, but I admit I'm trying to figure out whose POV this is from, and I may well not use Leila's, in order to make it not dishonest to exclude this knowledge. We'll have to see what seems honest to me as I'm writing it.)
And the story goes from there, as she tries to restore his rule and tries to figure out which version of him is lying, the one who said he loved her with his last breath before she stole the rest, or the one who calmly, collectedly bled all over her and politely apologized for his inability to do as she had asked him to and find a different spouse.
Obviously I need more plot than that, but it will come to me, I'm pretty sure. But that's where I'm starting. As I've said before, I'm a pantser, and that means I can't outline the plot or I'll paralyze myself.
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axolotl4days · 5 days ago
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Batfam fans i promise I'm gonna post part 2 to the "batman Dead Daughter" story soon (I intended to post it after the first part but I keep getting distracted and haven't finished writing it)(i have adhd and autism and I've never actually posted my story ideas before-)
However, part of why I haven't is i accidentally started thinking of a completely different story-
And it's so much angstier, and I haven't decided if i want to actually write it or if it lives in my head forever
It takes some slight inspiration from the "little misfortune" game, but tbh the most it takes is the name Misfortune
Side note:I have no fucking clue how old any of the characters actually are in canon, so for this it's just going off age order rather than numbers the reader would be in between Tim and Damian age wise but thats about it
Anyways here's the idea lemme know if anyone would be interested in reading it
The basic premise:
Backstory: The reader was adopted by the bat at the age of like 6 or 7 after the bat found reader just kinda... wandering Gotham one night covered in dirt and dried blood, when asked about their parents the reader just stays silent so bats like "Well I guess i have a new kid" because what else do you do? Takes the kid homes, cleans em up, and gifts them a scarf to try to gain their trust (he noticed reader kept covering their neck, he sees a pretty nasty scar but doesn't push reader to talk about it)
And the story would basically be the bat siblings realizing they don't know where reader came from (not even tim knows and he knows like, everything about his siblings cause it's tim)
And they don't ask because they're detectives they can figure it out right? But then they start to notice certain behaviors, subtle things that wouldn't normally raise alarm bells for anyone
But they don't get anywhere and after a few incidents (aka moments where they see reader experience ptsd but don't know what caused it) they decide to ask (I have an idea where they don't ask upfront but try to do the thing where they're all talking about their backstories so it doesn't feel so confrontstional) and reader very casually drops a lore nuke and tries to brush it off like it's nothing because "it happened a long time ago I'm fine" (spoiler alert, they are not fucking fine)(i want them to violently start sobbing while telling the story and they don't even realize it until one of the others points it out) and shenanigans ensue as they learn just how not fine they are :D
Because the story has only been in my head I've got a bunch of alternating scenes and plot line ideas so it's hard ti describe what it exactly is about but it mske sense in my head
This one would have a lot of mention to heavy child abuse, death, and other stuff, but apparently I'm sadistic cause I can't stop thinking about it
Depending how it goes it could be considered platonic yandere batfam but it'd get their gradually, but I haven't decided yet
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campbyler · 2 months ago
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how developed is the plot of a chapter before you write it? like do you tend to write a loose outline of the plot before hand and fill in extra details later? or is everything thought out, in order, before your first draft? just curious how other people go about their writing processes. also saw the twip tuesday and got so excited!!💕💕 amazing as always.
pretty much every major scene for every chapter has been thought up and outlined since the beginning! it’s a long fic with a lot going on so continuity regarding major plot points or themes has always been very important to us. however, pretty much every chapter has also had some gaps in the master outline where we haven’t thought of something in advance, or we’ve left those sections open to allow for some more creative liberty depending on how the rest of the chapter/the preceding chapters have turned out. we sometimes also have a concept for a scene planned that we scrap and replace, maybe because it feels repetitive to something we’ve already written or it just doesn’t really fit the direction the previous chapters have steered us towards. and sometimes we literally come up with something As we are drafting and text each other about it to get some on-the-fly input and feedback. basically the super important stuff has been pretty set in stone for a while, but there are also times when we don’t know we are going to write something until we’re basically already writing it lol. hope this helps! so glad you enjoyed the snip :-)
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secret-engima · 9 months ago
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I have tea and a soap box let's spill something shall we (Wakfu Rant)
*sips tea*
I've been in this fandom for like. A month? more? Depends on how long it took me to work through the show. I've not actually interacted with the *fandom* at all, just the canon stuff and my own spiralling insanity. But while I'm here I might as well make enemies /s. Therefore:
Oropo is a much more compelling character deserving of redemption than Qilby. Qilby:
Had a loving literal goddess mom and a bunch of loving siblings.
A beautiful planet and thriving culture he could go anywhere and do anything on
The capability of going into space without any technological aids once he got bored of the Eliatrope world and started to suffer the effects of his eidietic memory thing. We know for a fact that Eliatropes and their dragon sibs literally don't need so much as a helmet to vibe in space, they could have gone out there any time, explored the cosmos a bit, found cool things as souvenirs and brought them back to show off to his siblings.
While this is very clumsily and blatantly retconned in s4, in s2 Qilby is very open and blatant about the fact he willingly picked a fight with Orgonax with the INTENTION of forcing his entire people to flee their world into space just so he would have more company than Shinonome. An entire world and no doubt thousands of Eliatropes and who knows what pieces of their history and culture were lost because this man, and I remind you again that s2 Qilby taunts Yugo with this fact no matter how s4 woobified him, wanted to FORCE his people to join him in space rather than just let manning the fuck up and going out there with his sister on a buddy roadtrip.
Seems very convinced that some or all of his specimens in his lab are the last of their kinds, which at best means he intentionally targeted dying species on alien worlds to capture and put into jars for literal eternity which is all kinds of animal cruelty (assuming some of them aren't sentient!!) and at worst means he is the reason they are the last of their kind because Qilby wanted his souvenir to be Unique.
when his people finally found a new world to settle on and be happy and try to reclaim their culture, he instigated a SECOND GENOCIDE, this one taking out not only their home world but literally every. living. adult Eliatrope (and dragon considering the propensity for dragons to have Eliatrope twins as stated in s1). Literally thousands if not millions of people are dead, thousands of children are orphaned and left trapped in a realm where they cannot *grow up*, the vast majority of his own siblings are dead and oh look at that. He's stuck in sensory deprivation hell. Man. If only there was some course of action he could have taken that would not have led to him fighting his own siblings, losing his arm, and getting stuck in the white void of horribleness. Man this truly is a tragedy of fate. Definitely no way he could have gone back into space without the Zinit. Definitely could not have just hopped on Shinonome's back with a packed lunch and gone out there on his own knowing he would have a loving family to come back to whenever he got lonely. Man.
upon breaking out of the White Void Of Horrible he is even more mentally unstable (and yes I know he's mentally ill during the above events, that does not excuse his actions when he is aware enough of them to gloat about them to yugo later) and immediately decides that he's going to kill this entire world in order to leave and he's going to take his siblings and the few surviving eliatrope kids with him by force.
has ANYONE other than me noticed the incredibly dark and horrific implications of him apparently planning to kill Phaerys and Yugo (and Adamai likely). Yugo says he couldn't go through with it and I'll believe that, but the fact he apparently consciously PLANNED it. Am I the only one who saw that scene and went "if he kills them, then they go back to the dofus and hatch without any memories, which means he will be able to RAISE AND GROOM THEM in the Zinit to believe that whatever Qilby says is right and do whatever he wants, like galavant in space for eternity".
S4 can retcon as much as it likes to make the Orgonax thing an accident and Qilby a mama's boy (which I freely admit was funny and I would have enjoyed in any other villain), but going off s2 and moving into s3 I REALLY cannot see why people like him more and hate Oropo.
And even if we DO count s4's retcon that made the first incident an accident the SECOND WAS STILL DAMN WELL INTENTIONAL. And Qilby is still responsible for the death of thousands twiceover on top of the death of an entire culture. All of Eliatrope history, culture, science, medicine, *music*, *STORIES*, it's all gone save for whatever the Emrub kids happen to remember (and the kids will not remember it accurately because they are children). All their architecture is destroyed, all their native cuisine is GONE and so are the ingredients to make them. All because Qilby wanted to force them into space WHEN THEY DID NOT WANT TO GO and HE COULD HAVE GONE ON HIS OWN AT ANY POINT WITH SHINONOME.
Speaking of Oropo! Let's look at what we know about him for comparison!
Was created by accident and is intimately aware of it.
was thrown back in time and lived most if not all of his life perpetually terrified of changing history or accidentally erasing himself and his siblings
Not only saw all of his siblings die off over the years but had their energy absorb into him in something that is no doubt extremely traumatizing to undergo. if any of you have watched the Oropo-centric ova, man for a mastermind manipulator he sure do look like he wanna cry and throw up and curl in a little ball when two of his siblings die in front of him and he is forced to assimilate their life energy.
"Supposedly" staged several key villain creation events which I personally press x to doubt because it's so clunky when mixed in with s1 and s2 lore BUT if we graciously assume that he did then gee. can't possibly be a factor of the third bullet point and his terror of erasing the timeline with his own existence can it? Can't possibly be Oropo falling into Every Heroic Time Travel Trope Ever where the hero ensures a certain event happens in order to maintain the timeline in key points hm? Even if it's a bad idea?
Has been successfully and lovingly married? partnered? mated? to a badass half-dragon wife for literal centuries and every time they are on screen together before the Dramatic Amalia Bullshit they are loving and balanced and give off so many Old Married Vibes and then THEY RESUME that dynamic for the few seconds on screen they have before they both die.
Adopts and raises hundreds of orphaned demigods who apparently were more than happy to live in the Tower and follow him throughout their lives, and in fact show no sign of abuse or manipulation in their behavior until the finale when Anakam decides it's time for everyone to think Oropo is horrible
is actively DYING when we meet him and not just dying but faced with the prospect that there is no happy ending for him. He will never see his loved ones in the afterlife, he will never know peace, he will be assimilated by his creator Yugo and at *best* be essentially digested into raw wakfu and at *worst* be a ghost stuck in the head of a man he has extremely complicated and negative feelings about for the above time travel and sibling trauma.
Adamai EXPLICITLY MENTIONS THAT OROPO IN S3 IS ACTING OUT OF CHARACTER when he goes into his more Blatant Villain Moments. Which sure, could be "the mask" falling to reveal someone "oooo evil" but isn't it far more likely he's acting out of character because he's dying and having a crisis about it.
canonically hates violence, but was so desperate to ensure his loved ones would have a better world he was willing to resort to turning himself into a suicide bomber to "create a better world". Was this a good idea? no. but ppl apparently love to point out how Qilby is mentally unstable to justify his behavior soooooo like. Why is that excuse not applicable to the guy who's literally spent his entire life being uncertain he's even real and has a right to exist but is real enough to DIE and never see the people he loves again and therefor go off the rails in his attempts to make something better for them?
in s4, the same season that makes Qilby sympathetic so if you count that as canon then by gods you better count the Oropo moments as canon, Oropo gives Yugo a reprieve from the literal life sucking torture he's in, helps him get a new outfit, and lets Bouillon play fight him (because again, Oropo hates Doing Violence) to keep him distracted and SANE while his body is being horribly tortured. In the end Yugo even confirms they are real and a part of him which is literally all Oropo wanted in his dying speech if you rewatch the finale and boil down his fury to its bullet points (he is a clone without a future and literally says stuff along the lines of just wanting to be REAL and wanting Yugo to ACKNOWLEDGE him).
For a supposed mastermind villain who wanted Yugo dead Yugo sure does seem Super Duper Alive in the months/two years/whatever timeline Ankama is using this hot second since he created the clones and was therefore *no longer necessary* for Oropo to keep alive.
At the end of the day Qilby actively chose HIMSELF over the wellbeing of others and got multiple siblings killed as well as two worlds and an entire civilization/culture wiped out. OROPO set himself on a path of similar destruction and then ACTIVELY TURNED BACK because he was faced with the choice of his ambitions or HIS LOVED ONES and he PRIORITIZED THEIR LIVES OVER HIS OWN AND HIS OWN GOALS where as Qilby not only did not do that, he didn't do it TWICE. TWICE. Oropo's death count is miniscule and he chose to sacrifice himself rather than lose the people he was doing this for and Echo knew he would make that choice, which means she also knew his love of them was genuine. You cannot compare that to Qilby and tell me Qilby is in any way better.
Okay rant over I'm going back to planning my wakfu canon rewrite and my various Echo/Oropo oneshots thank you and good day.
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