#solves your problem of not being able to come up with a plot because you are not a very good writer. i dont know. i suppose there is space

[steelycunt]

‘gay retelling of a classic!’ ‘feminist sapphic twist on this greek myth!’ why don’t you write a better book than that. i think we deserve better books than that

[maelancoli]

Adding Tension After the Ship Happens

i feel a lot of slow burn ships lose steam after the characters finally get together, whether it's just from sleeping together or them actually engaging in a relationship, so here are some ideas for how to maintain steam.

their problems are not solved now that they've crossed the thresh hold

first things first, the plot itself i'm sure has other details than just their relationship. even the most fluffy of fluff has other things going on than kisses and giggles. don't abandon these details once the relationship truly begins. and if there was any kind of unresolved tension point or previously mentioned ex/trauma/insecurity/fear bring it back! bring things back around that might put a strain on a new, tender relationship. this can either make them have problems or be a way to develop their bonds and *show* it in action. any of these foreshadowing/resurrected points can be added in edits if you didn't start out with them or with retconning if you're writing rp/fanfic. all the writers do it. we see it in tv everyday it's ok if u gotta pull a rabbit from a hat.

their relationship will not be suddenly smooth and solid as if they have been married 20 years

okay they kissed/fucked/agreed to be together. now what? what circumstances kept them from getting there sooner? are those circumstances still present and how will they deal with it as a team? you also don't have to have characters officially together once they've done something physical. there is still discussion to be had and boundaries/expectations to establish. those conversations could be interesting to explore. and, even more-so, this is the perfect point for plot to happen and keep them from being able to have those conversations when they should. you can add angst, you can add miscommunication, you can add anything that tickles your fancy. especially a perfect time to have an ex return to cause some tension and uncertainty if they haven't made it official. they don't know what they are yet and that uncertainty is a delicious point to write it and really give the characters a hard time

utilize the main plot's tension

again, if you're writing more than just a contemporary fluffy romance, the romance should enrich the main plot. the romance as a subplot should be a component which merges with the main storyline and does not take away from it. if you don't want to milk the will-they-won't-they anymore than you already have it's time to build the relationship up in the midst of OUTSIDE conflict. let them disagree about how to resolve problems. let them butt heads. let them be scared and do and say stupid shit because they're scared. let them be worried or angry or frustrated and have to figure out how to balance their newfound vulnerability with who they are and were before that point. let them hurt each other a little so they can come back together stronger.

utilize the characters around them

if it is a plot which is mainly romance filled, then think about the tension from the lives around them. think about their loved ones and how their own issues could influence the plot points the characters have to face together. this could be a time for them to be introduced to loved ones. you could throw in a group trip with silly mishaps and shenanigans. you could even have loved ones try to break them up or doubt the love interest. navigating new relationships while also dealing with friends and family can be a source of plot and tension in and of itself. this can be a point to let love interests reassure each other and prove their salt. it can help them grow closer. it can be the heroic moment for one of them to stick up for the other or prove they're there for them no matter what.

overall if you're struggling with what to do after the slow burn feels like it's sizzling out it's time to zoom out. make sure you are not losing the whole picture of their environment or steamrolling past the real development of new relationships.

[lemonhemlock]

the reason why i don't think blood & cheese works without maelor is because it undermines the gravity of helaena's choice

in the books, as we all know, she has to choose which son to sacrifice. blood & cheese are going to kill one either way, so, whatever happens, if you want to get cynical about it, aegon will still be left with a male heir of his body. no, the horribleness of the choice lies not really in dynastic matters, but in basic humanity: which of your children are you willing to condemn to death? and helaena truly does try to make the best out of a bad situation, she picks not because she loves jaehaerys more, but because maelor is so tiny that she hopes he won't understand what's going to happen to him.

and she absolutely has to choose, because b&c threaten to rape her daughter if she doesn't. it's psychological torture. b&c just want to fuck her up in the head as much as possible and helaena tries her goddamnest to minimize the harm done to her family. to further compound on the tragedy, b&c kill the opposite child, so now she has to live out the rest of her days knowing that the son left alive is the son SHE herself marked for the axe. which is what understandably drives her to lose her mind

now, in the show, the "problem" blood & cheese have doesn't exist at all: that they can't supposedly tell the twins apart. but (as awful as it sounds, since it involves sexual assault) they could very easily check which child has male genitalia and be done with it. it's a "problem" that takes literal seconds to solve. they don't need helaena at all! it becomes irrelevant which child she points towards - b&c can always just check! she can't save jaehaerys in this situation no matter what she does, because b&c were never interested in jaehaera in the first place. in the books, she has the ability to save one child and this exact horrible "agency" bestowed on her torments her for the rest of her days. in the show, even had she pointed towards jaehaera, it would have been a narrative plot hole for the writers to have killed her without checking

likewise, in the books, she begs them to kill her instead, but, in the show, she offers them a necklace? you can't deny that the dramatic stakes are lowered substantially by making that change. which one of these options would have been more filled with pathos? personally, it just feels like this was phia's moment to shine and, while she did a good job with what she had, every narrative choice was somehow made to subdue this horrible event and left her only crumbs to work with. cinematically-speaking, this scene (as it was executed) does not even come close to the iconic moments that cemented GoT into the collective consciousness, which is very strange, as the subject matter is anything but mediocre

and that's not even getting into the rest of the plot holes that others have already pointed out, like:

- why are there no guards at helaena's door or anywhere else for that matter? not just on that hallway, but on many other hallways, she has to run quite a lot to get to alicent's chambers

- why is her room unlocked at the very least

- why is ALICENT's room unlocked, for that matter? she is having secret guilty sex with criston and she forgets to lock her door in a castle full of spies? anyone could have walked in

- not even getting into this whole thing just being one huge misunderstanding + minimizing daemon's and mysaria's roles :))

- NOT EVEN mentioning removing the trauma of alicent witnessing all of this, gagged and bound on her own bed, not being able to help or intervene in any way

i can understand the likelihood of these elements happening sometimes (maybe someone does forget to lock their door from time to time, maybe a guard does shirk their duties from time to time), but you can't write all of them at once without it turning all looney tunes. if you introduce too many aspects that defy logic in your story, it ceases to be believable and just becomes bad writing

___________________________________________

also, "they killed <the boy>"? not "my son" or "jaehaerys"? it sounds so removed, don't you think? helaena out there on her mother's floor dropping exposition for the audience 🥲

[writingwithcolor]

Avoiding the white savior of the kingdom

@ceo-of-angst asked:

Okay so I'm writing a fantasy series. There's two main kingdoms though there is a third but that one doesn't have to do anything with this ask. Both of them are likely as big as a continent each so there are different climates everywhere, therefore there's a lot of diversity even within one country. The issues mostly is between the two kingdoms nationality wise, as there's a war. The prince of one of the kingdoms kills his older brother to gain the throne. This is where the issue starts. They have a younger (half)sister who ends up leading a revolution bc of her brother's bad rule (famine, war, dictatorship and incantation or sentence to fight to the death in war to anyone who doesn't obbey the government etc), she's white, she's helped by my main cast who are all poc (one of them also from nobility) from the other kingdom and I don't want to accidently make it a white savior She's not my main character though if anything we only see into her pov bc of a difference between kingdoms in book 2. Most of the pov is on my main cast so I don't know how this could pay out.

Add diversity to the kingdom

There is a simple solution: don’t make one kingdom all-white or all-BIPOC. Add in diversity and mixed race. You seem to already be doing that, and it’s not an issue of race but rather tyranny. White saviorism is when only a white character can solve a problem for BIPOC and they’re seen as the hero. If it’s a team effort, where your protagonist is fallible but well-intentioned, you should be fine. -Jaya

Questions to ask yourself

This critique got levied at Tamora Pierce’s Trickster series, and it’s a pretty valid critique of the books—every time you have a white person as a figurehead of an otherwise-diverse movement, you’re going to start getting into why this white person, and why then?

It’s especially salient if you have the person come into an already-established rebellion movement. Is her involvement the thing that gets the privilege necessary to make the movement valid? What about her makes her the ideal top person in the organization?

Why is she white?

My first question is: why is she white? Is it related to colorism and classism? If yes, then why are you automatically making the leading group white if there’s so much diversity and so many other groups can trend extremely pale?

Why are the kingdoms so big?

My second question is: why are the kingdoms so big? It’s actually frighteningly hard to run a continent-sized country. If you’re attempting to make these single groups so big simply for ease of worldbuilding, and for diversity’s sake, know that a country does not have to be large to contain a multitude of groups. You are allowed to have political rivalry in a small area and still maintain diversity within it.

How much privilege is she willing to give up?

My third question is: how much privilege is she willing to give up? Is she trying to take the throne for herself, or is she trying to destroy all of the structures that gave her status in the first place? Because that question will determine how willing the PoC around her are going to be. Why would they support a ruler if they’ve been subjugated by that family, with no real promise she’s going to be any different once she gets in power?

On the flipside, why would she be willing to give up any of her privilege in the name of removing her brother from the throne, and what stops her from going off the deep end once she has the ability to control others?

It’s likely doable to make this situation read as less of a white saviour, but in order to do that you’ll likely need to wask yourself a lot of hard questions about your motives and the character arc you want to have with her.

People may see a white savior, regardless

And you’ll also have to ask yourself if you’ll be comfortable with never really being able to avoid some people calling this a white saviour plot. Even if you do “everything right” and follow every bit of advice you can, there’s always going to be some people who aren’t too thrilled that the person saving everyone is white.

So examine your motives, really nail down what you’re trying to show with this, and come to terms with not making everyone happy no matter what you do.

~Mod Lesya

[moinstar]

Lesson 54 spoilers

"...So, tell me. What is it you're plotting, exactly?" Raphael eyed Diavolo with mild irritation in his tone.

He smiles apologetically, caught in an act and felt the need to explain now. "So, you can tell something's up, huh? I was afraid of this."

"It's odd enough that we're the only ones here. And then after we were attacked, your response seemed unusually tepid. There are so many red flags..," the gray-haired angel sighs. "Of course I can tell that something's going on."

Moin speaks up. "I'm guessing that has something to do with me?"

"Yes, it does. Though it's nothing you should feel bad about." Diavolo reassures, though it's not bringing relief to the burgundy-haired human girl.

"This is about your magic power, Moin. And what has been happening to it." Mephisto stresses it strongly.

"Yes, your power has been growing greater by the day. And then there was the incident with the hostile demon in Meowcao. That's when we realized that you weren't in full control of it." Lucifer added.

Simeon nods mildly, carefully regarding Mephisto, Lucifer, and Diavolo's statements. "And when Raphael was attacked earlier, it looked like Moin cast a barrier spell of some sort, but without an incantation. I'm guessing that in the heat of the moment, the spell must have gone off subconsciously."

"What exactly is happening to Moin's powers, we need a definitive answer to that question. Then we can take action if necessary. However, we thought we needed to spend a bit more time observing things from afar." -Diavolo

"Right, our theory was built on too many assumptions. They needed to be verified." -Lucifer

"...So you used the SF as a chance to do that." -Raphael

"That's right." -Diavolo

"Ah, that must be why there was a second preliminary test. You presented everyone with a problem that no ordinary student could solve." -Simeon

"In any case, Lord Diavolo, Lucifer, and I were the only ones to pass the second test." -Mephisto

"So, it worked out exactly as you'd hoped, then." Raphael gapes his mouth a little, coming to a realization. "...Unbelievable. You mean to tell me that the fiery rock that nearly hit Simeon and the beast that attacked us were both YOUR doing?"

"No, that was the work of demons who oppose the royal family. We'd never resort to such cheap tricks." -Mephisto

"However, we knew that if we were to hold the SF finals here, those demons would see it as a good opportunity to strike... That I cannot deny." -Diavolo

"Yes. We did know they were here, and we didn't try to stop them." Lucifer sighs defeatedly. "So in that sense, you might be able to argue that it was "our doing"."

Moin's eyebrows furrowed at this. If Diavolo knew about the opposition, why didn't he do something about it? Why did it have to go as far as almost risking their lives since that incident in Meowcao?

"There are still many lower tier demons who think that harming an exchange student would be a good way to damage Lord Diavolo's reputation. They had no idea they were being lured here, the fools," Mephisto scoffs with a smirk.

"Even so, if you'd only told us this in advance-" Raphael notices Simeon who hasn't been talking for a while now. "...Um, Simeon?"

Simeon smiles. It was that frightening smile back when he used to scold the brothers. "Ah. I see... Thank you for making things so very clear." Everyone except Moin pales at the sight. She knew that Simeon would never direct his anger towards her. "For the sake of argument, I'll overlook the fact that you chose to test Moin's powers. Because I can see how that might be the only way to draw out certain aspects of these powers. Tell me though, why was it necessary to lure the Demon King's enemies into attacking us? What if Moin or Raphael had been hurt? What would you have done then, hmm?"

"It's only thanks to Moin that we're okay. Because she protected us, even though it meant putting herself in harm's way," Raphael added in.

"What's more, I'm a human now: weak and frail. Should I assume none of you cared about what might happen to me?" -Simeon

"I wouldn't call you "weak and frail"..." Lucifer mutters.

"Sorry, did you just say something, Lucifer?" Simeon pointedly smiles at him, daring to continue what he has to say.

"No, nothing."

"I didn't know it was possible to project so much anger while maintaining a smile..." Mephisto whispered to Diavolo as he takes a step closer to him.

"I'm too scared to move a muscle. It's been a long time since anyone's made me feel this way..." -Diavolo

Moin turns to Diavolo with an expressionless gaze. "I'd like you to avoid such methods in the future..., Lord Diavolo." His face immediately shifts to the one who's worried and hurt genuinely, sensing that Moin is indeed mad and felt betrayed at this whole discussion they were having. It's spiraling down rapidly that Diavolo almost forgot to consider her feelings and wanted to comfort her. But as he was about to speak his reassurances once again and offers his hand, Mephisto butts in with a disdainful remark.

"Well, I'd like it if you could learn to control your powers. Then we wouldn't be in this situation."

Something snapped in unison. There was a moment of defeaning silence, as if another wrong answer would cause an explosion, figuratively. Simeon could tell that it was the last straw. The revelation hurt her than they thought it would. And there was another person who wasn't helping the situation get any better. He could feel the gears of emotion running around her head and that she's barely holding to what she might impulsively do: tears, anger, or running away. She really wanted to do those three options but before she could react, Simeon shields Moin from them, hiding her behind his cloak.

"...Lucifer, Diavolo, Mephisto. You need to think about what you've done today."

[starillusion13]

BETTER THAN GOLD (TEASER)

Synopsis: Taeyong cleared his throat, “your dad will be fine but you. The princess needs to face the consequences.”

Every good thing comes with a price.

Pairing:Taeyong x Doyoung x Jaehyun x f!reader

Genre: Angst, Business, Romance, Smut

W/c: not yet

Warnings: mention of drinking and smoking, poor and rich, name calling. Rest warnings will be later in the original plot.

Note: please I want to thanks to people for reading and reblogging. Reviews are always appreciated . Applause to the ones who come up to me to interact and they know how friendly I am. Okay enough!

you are different from them. There’s nothing common between you and them. They should hangout with each other but you are not allowed there. You are being told repeatedly that they are like the royals and you are just a commoner. But why though? Can’t you be friends with them? You didn’t mind the rich and poor before you met them but now you envy them. They get every single respect and recognition unlike you who is under shadows.

Shadows of them.

.

.

.

It all started when your father moved to this new city because he told you that this new place would be a better place for his job opportunities. You and your mother were really happy for this and it gave you hope that the future ahead of you would be a better one. Your family doesn’t need to be in poverty anymore and your days of struggle will be over. You will be living a happy life with no worry and regrets.

But you forgot one thing people said.

Everything comes with a price. If one problem gets solved then another problem rises up.

Your dad got invited to a grand hotel from his new workplace and you wondered how is he being treated like this. You are not complaining but getting surprised. You have never been to such grand and luxurious places before and deep down you are excited and wondering what it would be like to experience such things.

Will you be considered rich or you are still being treated as low class?

“Dad…”

He hummed while tightening his belt around his waist and looked at you through the mirror. He sent you a warm smile and you returned the gesture.

“Isn’t it suspicious that they are inviting you to this place when you are not even a part of the project team.”

“Y/n… I have told you that they are my friends and they are just helping me. Why are you so suspicious of them. We are having such a good life because of them and we should be grateful.” Your dad stated and turned towards you.

You nodded but still you are a bit hesitant to go to this place because of a foreign feeling lingering on your skin. You always trust your dad and if he was telling you to not think about it then you should not.

“I have never been to such places.” You whispered under your breath but your father chuckled on hearing you.

He walked towards you and sat beside you, “come on my child. Cheer up. If you have never been then atleast now you are able to attend such parties. Everything will be fine. Promise.”

Promise…

“Okay.” You and your dad smiled towards each each other.

.

.

.

“Hello Mr. Kang, Welcome to the party. I hope you have arrived safely and have you brought your daughter?” Mr. Kim greeted and your dad nudged you to come closer.

You were already anxious about the situation because of the grand spacious hall with richness and lavishness radiating everywhere even the dirts under the shoes and all the stares from people surrounding you.

You smiled and bowed towards thim, “Hello, myself Kang Y/n. Nice to meet you.”

Two other men also joined the scene and they had the same cheerful expression on their faces. Their welcoming gestures were calming your nervousness.

The other two also introduced themselves as Mr. Lee and Mr. Jung.

The three of your father’s friends had one attraction in common. Richness. The expensive suits and their great businessman aura was radiating off from them and your dad was looking like a mere corporate worker in front of them. But friends don’t let their money to come between their friendship and you should be grateful that wherever you are today, it’s because of them.

They studied in same school, they had same childhood then why your dad was the only one to suffer. It’s because he was greedy and he ran after money without working hard. But they chose patience and day by day they earned their position like this. Your dad has now learned the lesson. But are they same like before? They will still consider your dad to be that friend when they had nothing. Right?

“Hey dad…I was going upstairs and we won’t be eating here… And who is he?”

“Hey Kang, meet my son Lee Taeyong. And son this is my childhood friend I told you about, Mr. Kang.” Mr. Lee stood up from his chair from around the round table and came behind his son, patting his back he gestured him to bow.

His son rolled his eyes but still bowed to your dad in a bored expression. Your dad smiled but you didn’t. Your curious eyes watching his movements.

Rude.

His eyes locked with yours and you were expecting his bored eyes but the corner of his lips curled up. The sharp facial features were reflecting the expensive light and texture of the hall. His smooth skin and piercing eyes with the sharp jaw was a perfect combination for the grand name: LEE TAEYONG.

“Who is she?” He pointed towards you.

You were surprised that he even asked about you. You were trying to be out of spotlight but still he noticed you. Nothing. Just because you were sitting beside the man to whom his father introduced him.

“She is Mr. Kang’s daughter. Your new best friend.”

He chuckled and then laughed before glaring at you, “I don’t even know her and she is not even my friend and you are already referring her as my best friend? No way you are being serious, dad.”

“Don’t say like this. They are our guest. He is my bestfriend. Like the way you are friends with them, I hope you can be friends with her too.”

Like the way you are friends with them, you can be friends with her too.

Mr. Lee was serious and his son poked inside of the cheek with his tongue. He was annoyed but with whom.

Mr. Jung spoke up, “hey Taeyong, she is getting bored here among the dad talks so it’s better to take her upstairs with you all, I hope you all will get along well.”

Get along well with him? No way.

Mr. Kim nodded in agreement and Mr. Lee excitedly glanced at his son. His son was about to argue but his father’s stare made him shut.

Mr. Kim called you closer to Taeyong and with small steps, you stood beside him and gulped down the anger.

Did he despise you so much because you are not rich like him?

Taeyong extended his hand but as soon as you reached your hand to hold it, he smirked before pulling it to himself and said, “oh princess. I’m not here to escort you. Remember your place. You are just here because of my dad and I’m showing you the way to where we have to go.”

No one could hear him because others were already at the table and the music was atleast loud enough to make his low heavy voice inaudible to other people around him.

You just wanted to punch him but you curled your fingers into a fist by your side. He didn’t wait to see your glares but already started walking towards the fancy stairs. You were hesitating and thinking to go back to the table. But you didn’t want to give excuses to them and to have them a different impression of your dad.

.

.

Reaching a green door, he didn’t even knock but pushed open it. He looked back and gestured you with his head to enter the room. His tilted head and tongue licking the lips with the black hairs falling over his eyes was screaming at you, the most perfect man you have ever seen.

As soon as you stepped inside, the room had a strong smell of smoke and alcohol. You wanted to puke but just gulped the lump.

“What are you doing here?”

You got startled by the sudden voice and looked towards the side to see one man sitting on a sofa scrolling through the phone with a cigarette between his fingers. Everytime he was blowing in, the dimples were pointing out on his handsome face. Beside him, the one with wide eyes and a wine bottle in his hand staring at you. The one who questioned you.

“I have asked you something. No one is allowed here so get out.”

“I-i’m here—“

“Meet our little friend. Miss Kang Y/n.”

Friend? Huh!

The one who was smoking also looked up from his phone and all the stares from three of them was overwhelming you.

You started picking your nails and your hands got swatted away by the one who was smoking, he glared at you and threw the cigarette away. He was so tall that he was towering over you. You were feeling intimidated under their gaze but still you were doing your best to stray strong.

“Don’t do that. It can cause infections.”

You nodded, “it’s okay. It’s just—“

“Don’t think that I’m caring for you. We don’t want to get sick because of you.”he harshly replied before scanning you up and down.

“Oh come on. Be nice with her. Our dad told us to get along with her or this princess would complain about us to her dear daddy. Poor daddy. Can he buy a handkerchief to wipe off your tears?” Taeyong had a wide smirk across his face.

You had enough.

“Well it’s good that my dad is poor and not rich like yours. Maybe We live in poverty but atleast we have better manners and respect for others unlike you who are blinded by luxury. Actually you all can’t even differ between love and money. Emotional feelings and materialistic satisfaction are two different things. But you can’t see the real emotions because of material emotions. You all have an artificial soul built by the expenses and royalty.”

The one who was still drinking at the sofa laughed out loud. The smoker was staring down at you and Taeyong folding his hands beside you was now glaring at you.

“Do you have angel eyes to see all these? Don’t think that if you were rich then you wouldn’t have been like this. You can’t even know the air we breath because you can’t even be in our place ever. This No.1 company in this city was built by our dads, I’m the son of Mr. Kim. Everybody knows me here, Kim Doyoung and everybody looks up to me.”

The named Doyoung glared at you in the end before chugging down some alcohol.

“If you go downstairs and say my name Jung Jaehyun. Then you can see all the ladies will turn their heads to get a glimpse of me. Everyone try to marry off their daughter to me so that they can have my dad Mr. Jung as their business partner and their daughters would be happy to marry their dream guy.”

Jaehyun smirked in the end and leaned to the wall near him.

Finally Taeyong spoke up as if he was waiting for the chance, “Nothing can be more valuable than money, princess. Status can change everything. The facade of innocence that you have will be ripped off the day you will sit on the throne. But fake princesses don’t get the royalty. Only the gold ones get it.”

You scoffed and glared at each one of them.

“I would rather be a person with good morals, good reputation with others, instead of with rich material things which can be here today and gone tomorrow. Riches cannot buy you true love or true lasting happiness.”

“Riches can buy us everything, Y/n.”

Hearing your name from Taeyong shifted something inside you as if you were in a trance earlier. You licked your lips.

“If those riches can buy me true love and happiness then It’s better than gold.”you stared at them.

“Do you think you are better than gold?” Jaehyun asked you.

“Yes I am.”

You turned on your heels and bumped Taeyong’s side, you knew it would make him annoyed and it did.

Doyoung shouted, “where are you going?”

“You only said earlier that no one is allowed here then I should assume that I am un-welcomed. And if you want to take revenge for this like whatever I have said and made you angry with pointing at your attitudes then show it on me. Don’t do anything to my dad.”

Doyoung leaned back and smirked, “are you scared? Oh wait are you requesting something to me, to us? I really can’t hear you.”

You cursed under your breath because that earlier the rush of adrenaline made you lose your temper but you didn’t think of your dad at the time that it could harm your dad’s situation. They might can do any conspiracy to kick your dad out from the job.

“Oh the angel is silent now. Who was being so strong a few moments earlier?” Jaehyun’s mocking voice earning laughs from the other two and your tears were threatening to fall.

The sweet names ‘Angel’, ‘Princess’ are so lovable to be greeted by but they were calling out to you in mockery. They were having fun because you were having happy life at their mercy.

Taeyong cleared his throat, “your dad will be fine but you. The princess needs to face the consequences.”

Every good thing comes with a price.

COMING SOON…

Taglist: @mymoodwriting @justhere4kpop @anyamaris @yeoobin @icchyi @jwnghyuns @piratequeen-queenofgames @dinonuguaegi @oreharuuu @hwanring @sanwifesstuff @kiwiisnthereoops @kiwiraccoon @hyuukah @kazscara @aceofspadesbiofalltrades @sexygrass @minkyuncutie @loveforred [open! ask/reply/dm]

[wip]

Hey WIP,

Would it be feasible to allow pinning more than 1 post? Having a single big pinned post front and center is very useful, but sometimes i do wish i could separate different topics into different pinned posts instead of trying to fit everything into one.

An artist, for example, could have 3 separate pinned posts covering:

an introduction

links to their work/kofi/patreon/etc

and another that addresses some FAQs

As topics these flow well enough that they all work as a single well written post, but not all topics flow as smoothly or carry the same tone. I would also imagine a follow up request to being able to change the order of pinned posts.

What are your thoughts?

Answer: Hello, @cinna-bunnie!

A little plot twist for you. We actually built the infrastructure for pinned posts on Tumblr to allow as many pinned posts as you want. We have, however, limited it to just one for now.

This is mostly because pinned posts can take up a lot of space when viewing blogs, and this can be a little frustrating for people who have already seen the pinned posts and only want to get to the latest content. So we need to solve that problem before we expand it to more than one pinned post. We might return to this in the future—and we will be sure to let you know if we get around to it.

Keep the questions coming, y’all!

[under-loch-n-key]

Longggg Sherlock & Co plot rant. You have been warned.

I know the creator of Sherlock & Co. found the idea of writing Moriarty into the series intimidating. Plus, not knowing how to do Sherlock's "death" over a podcast and such. But I had an idea.

I love the idea of Professor Moriarty being some sort of hacker/online troll and MORIARTY is the name of a dark web corporation that is trying to hack into the Sherlock & Co. Company to send Sherlock puzzles/cases. You lot know those shady anon hackers on the dark web in films and certain websites? Like that.

I think it would be cool if at first Moriarty leaves hate/weird comments on John's podcasting sites and Watson just thinks it is some hater and thinks nothing of it and deletes the comments. He just grumbles about the comments being a continous thing.

Suddenly the comments stop. Watson isn't complaining about it, he is relieved by that because they were really annoying him. (no matter how many times Sherlock & Mariana told him to ignore them.)

Later on, Watson gets these emails from an unknown email of some shady guy (Moriarty) taunting Sherlock (and the rest of the company) and sending them on goose chase cases (Like the BBC did in that one episode with the phone calls, in a way?)

When Moriarty becomes the main centre of the podcast episodes, instead of Sherlock dying, he gets kidnapped by Moriarty's network. Watson and Mariana embark on and have to solve their most important case yet "Where is Sherlock Holmes?" This would give us some cool dynamics and more screentime between Watson and Mariana.

Watson starts to panick because he thinks he isn't like Sherlock and Sherlock did tell him that he would never be able to figure out stuff the way he could. Mariana is there to support and be there for him. Watson and Mariana have to channel their inner Sherlock Holmes to solve the case.

Idk whether I like the idea of Sherlock expecting this to happen and leave behind clues in some way. I do know though, that I like the idea of the following cases being them trying to work on finding Sherlock.

When they do, Sherlock is banged up and Sherlock tells him "I trusted that you would find me, Watson. You really are a persistent fellow."

And Watson just runs up and hugs him and Mariana joins in and they are just mother henning him like crazy.

Watson tells Sherlock "Don't do that to me again. Don't disappear on me again, you hear?"

And Sherlock is like "It's not like I was expecting to kidnapped, John. Besides, your podcast wouldn't last without me."

Watson just huffs and tells him "No, no, it wouldn't. Just come here," and then goes to hug him again.

Mariana pulls away from them both in realisation and she tells them "Boys, I don't mean to break up our moment, but we still do have one problem."

They both look at her and Sherlock nods and says "Moriarty. He's still out there."

I want it to be implied that they came face to face while Sherlock was kidnapped.

"He? Sherlock, you saw him?" Watson replies.

"Indeed, Watson and I think I know where he'll be waiting next."

*cue Sherlock & Co. End of episode music.*

Anyways, then we get to the episode of the Reichenbach fall, they have their final facedown. Sherlock doesn't die, but Moriarty does fall.

Watson would 100% be grumbling about how he can't pick up any audio over the sound of the falls.

Sherlock and Moriarty would begin fighting and Watson would start describing the scene in a panicked tone.

Sherlock calls over "Not helping, Watson!"

After more sounds of fighting and nervous ramblings from Watson. Sherlock & Moriarty turn the corner of the falls into a blind spot.

All Watson hears and sees is a cry and someone fall and crash into the water.

Watson panicks and shouts "SHERLOCK!" then dashes up to where they were fighting. Sherlock is sitting down and catching his breath.

Sherlock would probably make a smartarse comment like "Ah, John. Glad you make it. Help me up will you?"

"You're not dead."

"Clearly, or else we wouldn't be speaking. Now, would you please help me up?"

"Right, yeah." Watson helps him up.

"So, you, erm, you killed him?"

"I did. His baritsu was lacking, so his demise was inevitable."

"You're a clever, bugger, mate. Now, lift home?"

"Yes, of course."

I think it would be funny if the episode ended like this. They get home and Mariana starts mother-henning them both and she is scolding them both in Spanish about being more careful, how much she cares for them both, etc. Then she hugs them both.

Later on, we cut to them sitting in their chairs and talking about, well, everything.

"It's good to have you home, you know? I- well, Mariana and I both missed you."

"Mm. It's good to be home, Watson. I prefer the smell of our flat to the vile odour of where I was."

"Do you want to talk about it? Because, I, erm, am always here if you need a good talk."

"Not at the moment, Watson, but I will keep that in mind."

Long pause.

"So, Moriarty's network.. is it?-"

"Gone? Mm. No, but it will be taken care of."

"How? They are bloody HUGE, Sherlock. Shouldn't we, I don't know, contact Lestrade? Actually, the whole bloody Scotland Yard?"

"They're useless here, Watson. I'll leave this to the government."

"The government? Sherlock, we both know what they are. The government is not reliable in the slightest."

"Mm. The government you are discussing, yes. They are indeed unreliable, but in this instance I am discussing a WHO not a what."

"Friends in high places?"

"No. Much much worse."

"Oh, erm, an enemy then?"

"Mycroft is not an enemy, but certainly not a friend."

"What the devil is a 'Mycroft'?"

"My brother."

There's a long silence in the audio

"YOUR WHAT!?"

*Cue end of episode music*

I think this concept would be a cool way to be introduced to Mycroft, Watson realising his capibilities since meeting Sherlock, more screentime with Mariana and John's friendship, a way to do the podcast without killing Sherlock and having the time gap between Sherlock's "death" and resurrection, etc.

If you made it to the end of my Sherlock & Co plot concept ramble, good for you. Lol. Anyway, I just thought this would be a cool concept. The rant kinda blended into a fic, but oh well.

Do you lot like this idea? I thought it would be neat.

If John (or even the creator of Sherlock & Co) sees this ever, I will spontaneously combust. 😳

Enjoy my story/plot rant-

(Sorry for any typos, I am sick and half-asleep)

(I am so normal about them, I swear-)

[thesiltverses]

I was listening to S2Q&A and I went over the character limit on Spotify so I'm just gonna drop my comment here instead:

I think all y'all do incredible work, but I'm especially a fan of the sound design! It's one of my favorite things about audio dramas that makes them distinct from audio books. The environmental storytelling that comes through is so satisfying and easy to understand without sounding manufactured.

I might be a minority, but I actually love the muddiness and chaos of your action/battle scenes. You're clearly mastering a fine line between listenability and honoring the disarray of the scene. I enjoy the brief pockets where I don't understand what's happening beat-for-beat because it feels like I'm caught in the fray of it, and not being able to 'keep the score' until it's over ramps up the tension deliciously.

Everyone does fabulous work on this, but I just wanted to gas up your sound design. It's like costuming or lighting- you're doing your job well when those things support the story, and it means people don't notice that effort at times because it's so seamless. One 'tech' to another: very well done!!!

Thank you so much, that's really kind and means a lot! Other than in the Q&As, I haven't really talked that much about picking up sound design duties over the course of the series, but it really has been a meaningful and exciting learning experience for me, not least as a writer getting to hone his writing via audio editing.

Since you mentioned it and I can't pass up the opportunity for a rant - listenability and what that actually should mean in practice is a topic I think about a lot.

I think it's important for audiodrama designers not to get haughty or defensive when listeners struggle to comprehend a particular sequence (I have designed scenes poorly where the dialogue clearly didn't rise over the background noise sufficiently, I've designed scenes poorly where the action was clearly too chaotic or lacked sufficient cues to help the audience through it).

But equally - between wildly different auditory processing capabilities and the wildly different listening environments and listening habits at play, I don't believe there's any perfect state of comprehensibility available in this medium, and sometimes I think our hunt for it can lead us astray.

Over the years, I've heard from listeners who honestly can't tell the voices of actors with globe-spanning accents apart, I've heard from listeners who can't pick up on environmental SFX cues indicating a change of location and need something more explicit in the dialogue whenever there's a scene shift, I've heard from listeners who can only listen through one earbud in the workplace and therefore don't want binaural sound, listeners who struggle to hear any action sequence whatsoever as more than incoherent noise, and listeners who can only enjoy audiodramas solely as a second-screen activity and who can't keep up with a fast-moving or complicated plot without regular recaps.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with any of that, and those listeners aren't wrong to respond in this way - everyone has their own processing threshold, and everyone has their own needs and preferences as an audience member.

But I also don't believe I'd personally want to create a full-cast show under the limitations that would arise from my attempting to strictly solve all of those problems at once (as opposed to being flexible and considerate about them during the design process).

There has to be room for calculated ambition and big swings in the medium, and there has to be room to trust the audience to keep up with you during the ambitious moments, albeit with one eye firmly on accessibility - otherwise audiodrama is likely to remain dominated by 'one actor with a nice soothing voice telling stories' or 'one small group of characters having lots of conversations about their ongoing efforts to resolve a single plot thread'. Which is often fantastic, but there's plenty of it already!

When it comes to action scenes in particular, I've been trying to operate under the consistent philosophy of 'before, DURING, after', with equal weight and design attention given to each third.

In other words, if we do enough careful and quiet work to establish the environment and props and rising tension ahead of a big noisy chaotic sequence, and if we do the careful and quiet work afterwards to clearly show where the characters have ended up and what condition they're in, my belief is that it's 100% acceptable if the audience can't immediately track the movement of Character A's fist hitting Character B and Character B falling against a table in three seconds flat.

Like good action editing in cinema, an engaged audience member will follow the motion and comprehend the outcome cleanly, even if they don't take in all the details. That, to me, is a vastly better result for the work than having to include a 'oh, no, he stabbed you with that knife!!' line of dialogue.

Anyway, you just wanted to gas me up which was very kind and instead I wrote out this big long blather. So apologies, and thank you so much again!

[topazadine]

Signs That You Will Probably Finish Your Writing Project

Anyone can finish a book if they work hard at it, even if it takes them longer than someone else. That's right: anyone. Anyone, anywhere, can write a book. Maybe it won't be the best book in the world, but it would be done!

But most don't. Many start a project and never do anything else with it. They then come up with a million excuses as to why they couldn't do it.

After speaking with dozens of writers over my lifetime, I've become able to predict with good accuracy whether someone will actually achieve a completed first draft. I am not always right, of course, because I am simply a human. But I am right most of the time.

There's no rocket science here, and I'm not a mindreader. It's just that there are certain habits conducive to finishing projects, and others that stymie your success.

I know that this will upset some people, and I'm sorry in advance. I'm not saying any of this to be mean, nor am I trying to discourage you. All these bad habits can be fixed, though it requires a mindset shift. You can achieve all of these powerful mindesets with some of the tips I provide.

Why should you listen to me? I have a pretty good track record of finishing things. I have 132 stories available on AO3, have published two parts of The Eirenic Verses, and am already revising the third manuscript before the second is even out. I've finished three of the other manuscripts in the 10-part series already in addition to the aforementioned third part.

It is the mindset I mention here that helps me stay so productive. This is not exhaustive. There are probably plenty of things that go into a great writing mindset that I have completely forgotten about. And maybe you'll beat the odds and have one of these issues but still get it done! And that's great, and I'm happy for you.

But nevertheless, let's get into it.

You have healthy self-esteem (or are working on building it)

I'm dead serious here. Having a healthy self-esteem is crucial to being a great writer. Here's a few reasons why:

You believe your work is good enough as it is, but that it can always be better. You think you have something important to say and that other people will enjoy it. You are not shooting yourself in the foot by bemoaning how terrible your writing is, making no one want to read it. You self-soothe when things get frustrating (writer's block, plot not working out, etc) and encourage yourself out of that hole rather than needing others to comfort you. You believe you have the skills to solve problems in your text and remain proactive in fixing things. You don't get absolutely obliterated by critique because you recognize that it's not a personal attack, so you improve by taking good advice. You don't think that rejection of your writing is rejection of you as a person. Your happiness doesn't hinge upon success as a writer, which may not happen no matter how good you are. You're willing to take risks, to talk to people about your work, and to market yourself because you understand that you won't get success without a bit of exposure.

What are some signs of low self-esteem for writers?

Not wanting to show anyone their writing yet also talking about it constantly hoping that others will want to read it

Talking about how bad their writing is

Getting jealous of other peoples' success

Being hypercritical of other writers

Talking more about their failures than their successes

Dismissing any praise as disingenuous

Needing constant reassurance at every part of the writing cycle

Being a perfectionist, especially during the active writing phase

Constantly revising to the point where they don't get anything done

Obsessing over perceived imperfections in their work

Avoiding getting feedback after they have completed a draft

Just as with everything else in life, your mindset plays a huge role in your success as a writer. Having healthy self-esteem (not an overinflated ego) will serve you much better than being overly critical of yourself or others.

Knowing you have the skills and talents necessary to tackle your project (because you do) will help motivate you when things get tough and keep you from giving up at the first sign of trouble.

Look, I had a shit childhood and a rocky start to adulthood. But I've managed to scrabble up some good self-esteem juice, and I am sure you can too. It takes time, and it looks different for everyone, so I'm not going to tell you how to do it because I don't know you personally.

However, fixing your mindset and believing in yourself does wonders for your writing - more than any expensive course, more than a personal editor, more than any of that. Trust your own process, and you'll reap wonderful results.

You think of yourself as a writer first, not an aspiring author.

Though my profile says I'm the author of The Eirenic Verses, that's not how I introduce myself. When people ask me what I do, I say I'm a writer. Because it's true: I write business stuff for work, and I write fiction for self-fulfillment.

When I was still working on the first book in the series, I did not call myself an aspiring author. I said I was writing a book. I've never called myself an aspiring author once in my entire life, and I'm glad for that.

Why is this important?

"Author" is a status, but "writer" is an activity. Anyone can publish one singular book and be an author, but only people who write regularly can call themselves writers.

"Aspiring author" is a dead-end title. It means you want something but haven't achieved it. Then you become an "author" and ... what? That doesn't mean you're going to keep writing. It just means you did one thing, once.

For sustainable mindsets, we need to remind ourselves that if we want to be something, we have to do something.

No one calls themselves an "aspiring scientist." They call themselves a scientist in training because they are learning how to be a scientist. That's an active title. It implies you are doing something.

So, if you want to keep doing, call yourself a writer. It reminds you, every single time that you tell someone, that you need to write. You'll feel guilty if you call yourself a writer and then haven't written anything in five months, and it will compel you to keep going.

You don't worry about what happens after finishing.

Fussing about what will happen after you finish is the best way to burn yourself out. The writing phase is about writing, not about revising or publishing or marketing or whether anyone will ever want to read it.

Focus on one thing at a time. Think only about the writing when you are writing. Everything else comes at a later date.

You do not announce WIPs when you start them.

There's this author I follow over on Twitter whose name I will not share. It seems like every other week, she's announcing a new WIP with a pretty moodboard and a name and characters and so on.

She has little emojis and "code names" for each of her WIPs, and she'll "drop hints" about all of them every once in a while, all mysterious and Taylor Swift-esque.

Has she published anything? Nope. Nothing. Nada. A whole lot of talk and not a lot of action.

Why are you announcing something you haven't even done? Why are you telling us about a project that you personally haven't devoted much attention to? Why should we care about something that you haven't cared enough to work on yet?

I have a list of my WIPs for The Eirenic Verses because they are all in the same world and all have to exist for the next part to make sense. I don't have a choice to drop them if I want to finish the series. I didn't create that WIP list until I had already decided on each of the parts and had already published the first book, so now if I want to keep people reading, I have to commit to them.

But if you have dozens of different unrelated WIPs, who is to say that you'll finish all of them? You probably won't.

Announcing a WIP before you have done the work is cheating; you're getting a little dopamine hit of everyone telling you how excited they are rather than a dopamine hit of achievement for doing the thing.

You do not talk excessively about your projects.

The more you talk about your work, the less you get done because you are tricking your brain into thinking that you are actually getting things done.

Again, you get the dopamine hit of people saying "ohhh that's so cool I love it!!" and then you are happy that people liked your idea, and then you don't do the idea because you don't need to. You already got the result you wanted, which was people telling you they liked it.

Great authors don't tell anyone about their projects except in the most general, vague sense before they are well underway, because they don't want to jinx themselves. If you're already staying mum about your work, then you're doing great.

And yes, your constant updates of "here is exactly how much I wrote today" every single day does count as talking about your project.

You are okay with going it alone.

The Active Writing process is the loneliest part of writing. No one is looking over your shoulder and encouraging you. It is only after you get to Percolation and Revision that you start to share your work with others, get feedback, and find ways to improve what you already have.

If you need someone to constantly build up your confidence and tell you that you're wonderful and that you should keep going, then you are not likely to finish because you are constantly talking about your work instead of doing it.

Writers need to be comfortable with solitude, but they also need to be willing to network, get feedback, and listen to other perspectives. It is a balance and it all depends on where you are in the specific stages of this given project.

When I'm working on a project, I tend to just avoid other writers entirely and stick to my other activity groups so that I'm still getting social stimulation but don't feel encouraged to share details of my work.

Those other friend groups do not really care about the ins and outs of writing, and that's perfectly fine; they don't need to. If they're willing to show up and cheer me on when I actually finish the project, great! That's all I need.

Constantly needing to check in with other people and having them rubber-stamp your writing is a sign of a lack of confidence, and it's something you need to work on it if you want to finish anything.

Be okay with going it alone. Be okay with waiting for feedback. Trust in yourself and your writing.

You have a process.

Your process doesn't have to look like mine to be successful. I've shared my process so that those without a process yet can get some inspiration for how to organize themselves, but there's no rule that you have to do it like me.

I will say that my process has achieved great results, but I'm not omniscient; maybe there's an even better way of working that I don't know about yet.

Every writer goes about things a different way, and that's totally fine. What matters is that they are getting things done in a manner that they like and that is working well for them. Even if their approach would make me want to tear my own skin off, I cannot and will not judge. They've got their thing, and that's perfect.

You need to have something that guides you so that you can replicate your successes. Scattershot approaches get scattershot results.

Contrary to how it may seem, I am not actually a very organized person. I work on both Google Docs AND Word for different parts of the process because I like doing it that way, but it would probably drive someone else insane if they like to use things like Ellipsus or Scrivener.

But it works for me, and if it ain't broke, I'm not going to fix it. If what you has is doing well, then keep at it. If it's not working for you, then you have many options to better organize and systematize your work.

You worldbuild as you go along.

This is specifically for fantasy and scifi, two of the genres where I see people crash and burn the most.

That's because they set everything up to perfection before actually doing anything and then just ... don't do the thing. Or do the thing in fits and starts because they spent so much time and energy worldbuilding that they don't have any creative juice for actually writing anything.

If you have like one chapter done but you have a full bible-sized guide to your lore, you've gone about things in the wrong order. Now your project becomes about fitting all of that in somewhere instead of writing an entertaining story, and you're far more likely to fall into the Infodumping Trap. You're making things too complicated.

In my guide to worldbuilding, you'll notice that the things I encourage people to emphasize are little things that don't have anything to do with the plot. One cannot build a plot around a cultural dish.

And I emphasized those things on purpose, because those are things that aren't going to overtake your story and become a substitute for actually creating something people want to read.

When I started writing The Eirenic Verses, I had a pretty simple premise: there's one country that has poetry magic and one that doesn't, and there's a giant mountain range between them and the girls are fightinggg.

That's about it for what I had at the jump. All the other things - lore, mythology, religion, international politics, festivals, cultural consciousness, economy, clothing, etc - all came later, as I was writing.

I didn't set out knowing what festivals the Bremish had or how the royal family works in Sina or what the towns looked like or exactly how High Poetry works or any of that. I discovered all of that during the writing process and noted it down so I wouldn't contradict myself.

By focusing only on the "what if" at the start, then infusing the rest as you go along, you will avoid the sin of infodumping because you don't know what to infodump. Things will just come to you as they make sense, and you will include them as relevant. You don't have anything to infodump on the reader.

You remember that you can always revise.

And lastly, great writers worry about getting the draft done. They don't fret over every word because they know that they can get it looking flawless LATER. They just want that rough draft, and then they seek specific feedback on how to improve that draft.

My third book, Funeral of Hopes, is extraordinarily short right now. after finishing the first draft, I then sent it to a great beta, who offered me suggestions for how to lengthen it, and I'm now fitting those new puzzle pieces together.

I knew as soon as I was done that I needed more, but I wanted to let it sit for a bit and get some suggestions for how to do that. If I had spent ages trying to lengthen it the first go-round, I probably would have gotten frustrated and given up. It's okay to just have the bare bones of the story and then seek out feedback; there's something there to scaffold off.

If you'd like to read more of my work, consider buying my book!

9 Years Yearning is a gay coming-of-age romance set in a fantasy world. It follows Uileac Korviridi, a young soldier training at the War Academy. His primary motivations are honoring the memory of his late parents, protecting his little sister Cerie, and becoming a top-notch soldier.

However, there's a problem: Orrinir Relickim, a rough and tough fellow pupil who just can't seem to leave Uileac alone.

The book features poetry, descriptions of a beautiful country inspired by Mongolia, and a whole lot of tsundere vibes.

You can also check it out on Goodreads for a list of expanded distribution.

Be sure to preorder Pride Before a Fall, arriving January 1, 2025!

If you do purchase my book, don't forget to leave a review!

Reviews are vital for visibility on Amazon and help to support indie authors like me. Whenever you love a book, be sure to let the author know! It's much appreciated.

I've also created a masterlist of writing resources that you can peruse at your leisure, all for free.

Enjoy!

[flo-zoinks]

Merry Christmas Zoinky!! 🎄🫂❤️

I would love to hear you yap about your thoughts on Reverend please 🙏🙏

MERRY CHRISTMAS AOIOOZORA❤❤❤❤❤❤❤🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 SORRY IM A BIT LATE I LOVE UR ASKS

I've had such a moving relationship with Swanson as I've played - I started by HATING him because of the interaction he has with Javier (I'd only caught about some of it and thought him telling his 'Mexican friend' as he says to repent was for being Mexican). But I've defo grown to love my boy so I'm very grateful for this ask thank you!!!

One thing I adore about his character is his parallels with Dutch - how both of them seem to be in always completely opposite situations. Whilst at the start Dutch is seen as loving, respectable and driven, Reverend on the other hand is presented as shameful, shallow and hopeless (essentially the complete opposite.) Dutch knows and is confident in his ideals and how he will lives accordingly, whilst Swanson is shown multiple times in almost comedic oxymorons with his actions to beliefs, like when his bible opened to contain recreational drugs.

However, as Dutch comes down, Swanson goes up. As Dutch falls and betrays his own beliefs on family for instance, such as leaving Arthur to die, Swanson instead finds truth in his faith and gets sober, doing actions such as preaching to people like Arthur wisely. I think this is to show perhaps the effect of their characters different mindsets, or just overall views. Dutch believes his problems are not him, but everyone else. He believes hes somehow perfect, and will change his ideals to make himself feel perfect - ultimately becoming his downfall as he goes against everyone and runs to live in a cave. Swanson, though, is only harmful to himself, and takes full accountability for his own actions. This means he is able to see his problems, and when he can stop the shit he throws at himself and solve them. So Swanson is able to heal, and become the best version of himself learning from his mistakes and changing accordingly.

If I'm being honest too, his relationship with his Faith is one I've always related to a little. He struggles in the beginning to understand why a God would cause his life to go so astray and horrendous while he, in comparison to so many others, chose to become a man of the cloth and dedicate himself to his faith - proven as he makes comments like "I feel like if God really loved me he would've struck me down years ago" (paraphrasing). But growing and healing himself to a newer version allows him to refind that security in his God, becoming someone with so much to be grateful for (like his own Church) when he commits to changing. But that's just me.. - yet because of that hes always had a little place in my heart 😭❤❤

I personally love his character in the camp, whilst at the start I struggled to understand why the game (and mostly Dutch) would add a reverend with no criminal skills or monetary skills to the camp, rendering his character quite useless in a good number of missions. Continuing however, and seeing his character as one representing much more than just a 'drunk gone sober yipee', I think is very poetically tied in with the main plot. He's a prime example of the layers in every character in RDR, as hes so much more than just that. Even whilst a drunk, whilst still sometimes causing harm to those around him, he purposely tries to prevent everyone else being wrapped in his issues, and tries to be a help during Colter in the ways he can. I had no idea during my first play though that the Reverend reading passages to the gang and helping John with his morphine (now I sound like an idiot) would be a 'low life' addict, and that definitely shocked me. Even whilst he's considered healed, when Strauss tries to talk to him about his own worries Swanson is a little ignorant, and instead yaps about his own journey and ignores Strauss trying to talk. That little interaction though had me surprised at how well he had changed as when Strauss asked to talk his immediate reaction to shut his book and say "yes, of course", getting up was starkly different to their other interaction in chapter 2 in which he calls Strauss a horrible man for not giving him money for drugs. Especially since Strauss by all holy books is perhaps the definition of sin, preying on the poor and showing little empathy, Swanson sees the good in him that other's don't and turns the other cheek to kindness as his Holy book preaches time and time again. It also presents how much he actually took the beliefs to heart, as many people who identify themselves as Christians (no matter where you go, trust me I know) will often be ignorant of some rules to hate on "those who deserve it", or do the bad thing when it's easy. But Swanson doesn't, and works hard to take in and do the option according to his beliefs, even if the harder option like showing kindness to the face that insult you. Yet of course, hes still not perfect at the end, which to me solidifies him as an examples of the amount of depth in each rdr2 character

Finally can I just say

🙏him in chapter 6..😔Zoo..wee...mama...

Thanks for letting me yap!! What do you think about him??? I would love to know 😚😚 HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

[yowyowyaoi]

Hidan's Daily Texts from the Akatsuki, Part Two

From Konan

Why would it gross you out? You basically deal with blood for a living!

Flattery might get you a hug but it won't get you out of your share of the food bill.

In all seriousness that's ridiculous.

Just pretend he’s Kakuzu. Problem solved.

You guys need to keep it down. I need my beauty sleep!

Sasori has a variety of things he could give you to ease the pain. But be warned he’ll likely give you a three hour lecture on “proper dental hygiene”.

I'm sure he just meant it as a joke. No need to eviscerate him.

I need that like I need a hole in my head.

Love is not about looks, it's about feelings and personality. He's the kindest, most gentle man I've ever known in my life.

If you're that curious, just transform into one and feel them yourself!

He doesn't take betrayal very well. I'd strongly reconsider if I were you.

Being immortal is a hell of a thing to have in common, isn't it?

I wish you and Dei would leave him be. Just because he *chooses* not to fight back doesn't mean he can't, or won't at some point. And I think that will be a scary day for the two of you.

Ladies don't curse but if you heard even half of what I was thinking it'd blow your mind, Hidan.

From Itachi

Looks mean very little to me.

If you're that interested in seeing them, then just ask him to pull down his pants for you the next time you see him. See what he says.

A compliment coming from you sounds very, very odd.

I would not just leave something like that to chance and never, ever to the two of you.

We're close. That's all you need to know.

I'll admit, the honey and ants in my bed was a clever, if sadistic, touch.

You've got ten minutes to return it to my door or I promise your eternity will be one long inescapable nightmare.

No.

The last time I went with you guys you ate $1000 worth of food and then tried to stick me with the bill!

If you'd just admit it I'd be willing to go easy on you.

Of course he's an attractive man but I couldn't deal with that personality on a daily basis.

In that way I'm better than you, aren't I? You clearly fear death. I don't.

If my opinion counts for anything: hold on to Kakuzu. I don't believe there's a single other soul in this universe that would care for you the way he does.

I suppose not all the time. He does brush my hair out for me a lot. Very gentle.

From Tobi

If it isn't something that could work, why would it be the plot to SO MANY homoerotic stories??

You left it sitting there for three days! If I didn't eat it, it would have spoiled!

Just woke up not in the mood for your shit rn

If he thinks you're like a brother than one day me and you can be in-laws!

You didn't even spell "delusional" right.

Are you the one who left the jar of crickets on my bed?

Actually your hair would probably look good longer.

You're not going to lecture ME on something like that!

I think of him like a little cousin. So STOP messing with him!

If you think Kakuzu looks "sexy" without his mask you couldn't handle ME, man.

Come with us, the water should be fine by now.

The Hidden Leaf? Nope. Never heard of it.

Sharingan?? LOL

Be warned, Hidan. I'm not as stupid as you think I am.

Do YOU want to see my FIST? Okay then.

So is "Jashin" just looking the other way while you love Kakuzu, then?

From Nagato

I think of you all as my children. Some more problematic than others.

Yes it works! And even if it didn't, she wouldn't leave me!

I almost teamed you up with Deidara but I don't think I could have afforded that sort of damage.

Ultimately that would be Kakuzu's decision.

Tell your God to meet up with me and we'll see who's more "real", brat.

What. Did. You. DO?!

If I hear that you "accidentally" walked in while she was changing again, you'll wish to the heavens that you WERE able to die.

Yes but a mostly vegetarian diet is easier for my body to handle.

I did not form these teams with the intention of being a matchmaker.

I wish you would put as much effort and planning into your missions as you do to harassing your fellow Akatsuki teammates.

From Deidara

Yes I blew him up but I didn't rob him. Standards, man.

Me and Kisame going fishing, you in?

Come see me we gotta get our stories straight before Leader questions us.

He stepped on a beehive. Spent all day pulling stingers from his arms and legs. STILL wouldn't take off his mask.

I knoooooow. God you sound like Sasori.

I did but I don't think they can prove that it was me ...

You can't just sculp some little mouse and then call yourself an artist! It doesn't work like that!

I think the chicken was bad I can't stop puking and my ass is literally on fire!

If you won't listen to me talk about my REAL art, what makes you think I'm gonna listen to you talk about your FAKE God??

Me and you and Itachi. Yes he'll go if we drag him out.

Yeah but she's sooooooo pretty how can I help it?!

Why are you bragging? That just means you'll be old and ugly before me!

Honestly I just bring him a body and some tools and he stays distracted for like a week. Lets me do whatever without even questioning it lmao

He likes to carry me. Don't ask questions, I just enjoy not having to walk for a few hours.

I really, REALLY don't need to know what "gets you off". Pervert.

From Kisame

I have no idea how to answer something like that.

I don't know what's going on with you and Kakuzu but please stop "accidentally" sending me pics like that or I'm blocking you.

I'd die for him but all I really want is for him to live for me.

I think we're the only two who like it ultra-rare and dripping blood. Well, maybe Zetsu.

Yeah I have my suspicions as well but it's like that thing is glued to his face or something. Deidara is the only one who could get close enough to him to try it but he seems scared for some reason.

You can join us but no screaming in the water this time or you'll scare them all off.

I've got at least 11 years up on you so yes, you ARE a brat to me.

I don't think there are any decent shortcuts, we just have to walk straight through. Ask Kakuzu to lend you his tall boots.

There's doing our job and then there's crossing the line. Guess which one you did.

Yes it's warm but that doesn't mean we wish to see you sitting out there in the nude.

Itachi's not feeling well so I need a replacement weight for my other arm. Deidara is already helping, now I need you too.

In the old days they used leeches as a cure for everything. A few aren't gonna kill ya, kid. Don't be a baby.

He's literally perfect. And he's MINE. So onsen or not the next time I catch you looking like that I'll snatch your eyes out and eat them like grapes :)

From Sasori

Come see me before the infection spreads.

Mint, rosemary, and a tiny bit of thyme.

Unless you’re looking to get bent over, brat, how it works is none of your goddamned business.

You would likely be a terrible one.

No, he’s it for me. I’ll either marry him or kill him, haven’t decided yet.

I can imitate eating to fool enemies but the food will just stay in my throat until I manually remove it.

You kill humans nearly every day, you can handle a spider.

It would break my metaphorical heart.

I’m not “betting” you anything. I KNOW it won’t kill you. But the poison is both expensive and time-consuming to make and I’m not wasting it on you.

18 and 34.

Leave the ones that I’ve marked alone. They’re perfect specimens and I won’t have you ruin them with that heathen ritual of yours.

Yes but I’m slowly coming to accept that sexuality is a spectrum and nothing is black or white.

You and Tobi will be coming with. Pack extra food and warm clothes. No whining that you’re hungry or cold later on.

It won’t be as amusing when I nail your skull to the wall.

From Zetsu

He tasted so good. My many thanks.

I haven’t any idea why the others seem so perturbed by it, considering their *own* “atrocities".

Too loud. Sensitive ears.

Aren't you having relations with him? Surely you could convince him.

Unfortunately we need them alive and well, so please, none of your antics.

Couldn't hurt. But I doubt it would help, either.

Out of everyone here, you and your blood-scented skin smell the best.

I'm beginning to think your obsession with penises is more than a passing curiosity and an indication for serious concern.

Deidara is correct, everything is ephemeral. This world is temporary.

I wouldn't know the first thing about manipulating anyone. I'm just a plant.

From Kakuzu

Try me and see. I DARE you, brat.

Either help me or stay home and shut up about it.

You stimulate me, but not in all good ways.

If I wasn't "obsessed with money" this entire organization would be nothing, we'd be homeless and everyone would be starving.

Just wait until I get you alone.

Next time I suggest you think before you act.

Deidara will face Sasori but YOU will have to deal with ME. Consider that.

It's your turn to pay for dinner. I could go for either seafood or steak.

Call it gay if you wish but you won't change my mind.

I'm not sure if your body could handle multiple hearts, immortal or not.

Endurance training. My room. Ten minutes. Hydrate yourself beforehand.

You're going to eat something green if I have to pry open your mouth and shove it down your throat.

Because I CARE, asshole.

Why should I have to fight them off because you can't keep your hands to yourself??

I happen to like Itachi so watch your manners, if any exist.

Can't "believe" in someone I've never met. Which is why I don't understand why YOU do.

If I ever went, I'm taking you out with me. "'Til death" is inaccurate.

Sure, sure. While you're at it pray for money to drop out of the sky and into my lap.

Handcuffs aren't doing it for me anymore. Bring some rope and maybe some honey this time.

Get back here and clean this shit up before I come kill you.

Love you. <3. Delete this text immediately.

[autumn-foxfire]

IT'S FOR THE SECOND BEST KAISHIN MOVIE! That's right, it's time for me to watch the Lost Ship in the Sky!!

This movie has everything, gay people, terrorists, gay people, a goat and gay people.

Oooh, I didn't know that their was no cure for the bacteria. I was not paying close attention last watch, probably because I was distracted by the gay people.

Actually interesting question: would the effect the bacteria has on a child's body be the same for Shinichi and Ai? We're still not really sure if they've reverted in age or just shrunk. Shinichi get infected and be Ai's lab rat.

Heiji is being such a little shit to Shinichi, teasing him about his small problem.

Awww, Heiji is such a good friend T-T He's always treating Shinichi to restaurants when he's in Osaka. Shinichi you need to return that from time to time, instead of being annoyed when your best friend comes for a visit.

And Kaito is such a gentleman XD "I will be on board but don't worry I won't steal anything until we're near Osaka so don't spend the trip a fretting mess."

Awww Ran, Sonoko and Agasa was about to throw hands with the man trying to scare the children. As they should.

...Okay. The story with Ran mistaking the blimp for a UFO when she was a child is cute but why did they writers have to twist it into her being an "appealing" girl? What? It makes no sense T-T

Oh thank god, yes KID plot please distract me from this mess. I love that Sonoko is so good with the kids too.

NO AI DON'T BRING IT BACK TO THAT DUMB MOMENT.

Kaito~ He's stalking his husband.

Hmmmm, I'm not sure I like how the lady sky is displayed, it deserves better metal casing.

Genta being the devil on Kogoro's shoulders XD Can it punch Kogoro again? He deserves it.

Sonoko. I love you. But girl, you should know Ran deserves so much better than Shinichi. I swear they think they like one another due to half the cast insisting they'll be together and not due to their own feelings.

KAITO! And he's wearing glasses. Taking a page out of his husbands book! How fitting he's wearing a bandage that says Shinichi<3Love on it.

Ran shows no sympathy for KID XD

How did Kaito do his hair to look like Shinichi's so fast? Hmmmm, he probably had to prepared for a quick escape thinking about it.

Kaito is actually telling the truth there, he does partially dress us as KID in order to solve his father's murder.

Damn though, Kaito really monopolised on Shinichi's own lie to Ran in order to help himself. I feel bad for Ran. She's so conflicted. I don't blame Kaito though, he's doing what needs to be done, Shinichi is the one who's put her in this situation.

GROSS. Ran kick him please. Not only did this man touch you, he also made comments that made you uncomfortable.

CAN WE NOT DO THIS. Shinichi, if you actually knew Ran, you would KNOW she's not looking at the man in interest but DISTRESS. But no because Sonoko says she's interested that must mean she is so it's time for Shinichi to do his pissing contest to show the man Ran is his property <.< Good movie, has some really bad points. Especially near the end which is one of the reasons I said Kaito deserves to be hit.

Ran getting to be badass and disabling the threat even at the risk to herself T-T

It's a good thing terrorists don't look up. Oh wait, that's gamers.

It's also good that Lupin is well trained because they would have no hesitation in shooting him and I'd be very upset if that happened.

Kaito's inner thoughts at the moment: Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck. I did NOT plan for a terrorist attack.

Shinichi is so worried about Genta T-T

Time for spider Shinichi to come out.

And I hope the woman who slapped Ai gets hit 10x harder.

OH IT'S THIS MOMENT.

KAITO SAVE YOUR HUSBAND!

WOOHOO! And thus begins the Shinichi being carried in Kaito's arms adventures!

Oooh the aforementioned mention of motor on the glider! Something we know KID does install in the future, probably due to his husband complaining about not being able to get back to the airship

Kaito landed so elegantly <3 How does one man serve so much cunt.

...Never beating the incest claims. This little kid, a relative of Kazuha, just asked if he could marry her. I know kids are also like that but still.

Awww, it's nice to see Kazuha and Heiji being cute together. I could almost forget the dumpster fire that is the writing of their relationship.

THE GOAT!

HOW SUS TO GO FROM ONE "COUPLE" BEING DOMESTIC WITH ONE ANOTHER TO KAITO AND SHINICHI BEING DOMESTIC.

HE DOES NOT SAY THAT XD He says "Listen Hattori..." Thank you fan dubs for sharing what Shinichi most likely is thinking though!

And we start with another of Shinichi's crazy plans that Kaito just goes along with.

Not without a little complaining at first, can't let his husband now that he has him wrapped around his little finger.

I wonder where they got the uniform from? Either Kaito had it on hand for the presumed plan of disguising as Shinichi as a quick escape or they stole clothes from someone's backyard. I prefer the second one because it's funnier.

I love how Shinichi sticks his hand out as well. We all know Kaito is doing all the work honey.

AND THE BEST SCENE IN THE MOVIE WHERE THESE TWO ARE IDIOTS!

Shinichi touched his dick. Won't be the last time he does that.

OH MY GOD HE ALSO MOANED.

I wrote about Shinichi using Kaito's grappling hook to save them as a prompt drabble forgetting it was actually canon. Well, movie canon.

Oh my god we actually got a proper look at Kaito in the movie too.

Awww, poor Heiji got hung up on. I'm sorry he got distracted by his husband.

This child is smarter than most of the cast.

I love when Shinichi can work with someone at the same intellect as him. The conversations are just so fun, especially when it's with Kaito.

RAN MY SWEET GIRL T-T Movies bring out the best side of Ran, and they don't have to sacrifice her kindess to do it, like what happens in fandom when they try and improve the misogynistic writing of a female character but only making another version of the misogynistic writing.

Shinichi had way too much fun doing this.

This is what I mean when I say Shinichi matches Kaito's freak. The two of them love pulling shit like this against others.

Shinichi showing off his acrobatic skills once more, combined with his skills on a board that would make Tony Hawks gush.

Imagine being a bunch of terrorists (thieves) and when you get arrested you have to confess to the cops you got taken down by a child. The daily life of DC criminals.

I'M DYING FROM THE CUTENESS T-T KAITO COMPLIMENTING SHINICHI AND THEN GIVING HIM HIS "WARRIOR'S MEDAL"

Kazuha and Heiji and that little kid messing with the thieves is so funny T-T

Does Shinichi not realise how hilarious it is that he admits to Ran he was going to potentially infect a man with a dangerous bacteria?

And Shinichi is being tortured with a gun. He and Ai can bond over that.

The second of Shinichi's insane plans. Where he returns the favour and drops a man into the ocean.

And Kaito does the funniest thing in the movie. Just strolls in, leaves everyone but Ran tied up (just because he knows she won't chase him due to what he did earlier), takes the jewel, and leaves. King.

And the consequences of Shinichi's own actions.

Damn Ran, you can't even have Shinichi's back if he was a thief T-T Asking him to turn himself in. Meanwhile Shinichi will make excuse after excuse to let Kaito walk free.

And this isn't okay, even if I do like Kaito. Not only is he trying to kiss Ran with her under the impression of him being someone else (which would be sexual assault), he also tries to sexual assault her by groping her only for her to notice and stop him. She even mentions to Sonoko (in jest because how dare women be actually MAD about this) about how she can still support him like that after he just tried to do that with her. Any other character and this would be given the name it actually is.

How to ruin a perfectly good movie <.< We all ignore the ending as it's gross.

[disquetlibrary]

Inspired by this post

about how humans tolerate ambiguity and funkery in ther tech where other species strive for tech that just works and stays working. (Linked because I don't want to derail their post)

Despite the years of science and advancement. Some stories of magic and gremlins still stick around. First we talked about how gremlins would steal our food and mess with our neighbors. Then as tines evolved it became that the gremlins were responsible for tech issues like strange nonrepeatable programming bugs. Now days when the warpcore acts up or the nav computer plots a long series of jumps that wrap us round the edge of the galaxcy instead of a direct route. We say it's the gremlins. Aliens say we are insane: what invisible people who cause trickery just because. It's clearly caused by this phenomenal or just because 'your tech is so shodddily built.' And our scientists agree with them, but us boots on the ground know how things truly work. The fuel injector is not working? Leave out a bowl of milk I promise it will fix it right up. Say a prayer and offer thanks with every safe warp core jump and your trips will be safe and smooth.

At this point with our tech being built on so many years of advancements and the gremlins being there every step of the way. Engineering on a ship is much more like being a Shamen communicating and collaborating with the very ship itself. It freaks the hell out of any newbies though. All 'why are you doing that? And what's the tuning fork for.' Bud just trust us this is what we need to do.

Several aliens have taken up calling us the cursed people cause their ships have gotten strange errors and bugs when in extensive contact with human devices. It's just the gremlins finding new homes just treat them well and if you can't be bothered whelp sucks to be you.

I honestly love when children come aboard our ships and I get to show them around the inner guts. Cause some if them can see the gremlins and give excelent descriptions of hiw they enjoy our actions and gifts. And they will have the darkest ideas on how to solve our tricky problems. Sure they sound innane; I mean an engine block doesn't want a toy car. But damned if they don't work. I rarely catch glimpses of the fellows but children are better able to see them.

Aliens and scientists will claim that gremlins aren't real but will study and slaver over our tech. Trying to disect it to discover why our ships are so fast, or why they are nigh unkillable. Everything they come away with the understanding g that our tech simply shouldn't work much less perform so well. I just smile and leave out a few extra cookie crumbs as offerings on my snack break.

[j0hb0y]

Hiya Papaya! 👋

Someone online (I actually forgot who it was though and cannot find the message anymore) recommended to me Haibane Renmei with the quick summary of "It’s about a sort of afterlife where haibane need to figure out what to do to ascend.". I decided to give it a go, which was a good decision! I can really recommend you to watch it too! It's even better if you do that and then come back to this post and read the rest. However, I felt like this anime is not about "ascending" or "reincarnation". Personally, it's about moving forward with your life. (Spoiler warning obviously and I should mention that I have no clue about psychology and english isn't my first language, so I could confuse some phrasings.)

If you didn't watch it, let me clarify some small things:

There are angel-like people called the Haibane, born from cocoons, who cannot remember anything except for the dream they had just before.

The walls encase a town called Glie and some landscape with buildings (e.g. Old Home), forests and many plots of land

Nobody is allowed to touch the wall (or go even near it) or go behind the wall except the Toga and animals like birds (e.g. Crows which play a big role)

An organization called the Haibane Renmei takes care of the Haibane and their head is the communicator.

Being Sin-Bound means that a Haibane didn't have a dream and don't get their Day of Flight.

I'll also try to write this essay chronologically, so along what we learn in each episode.

So let's talk about my view on what story the anime is trying to tell. I believe Haibane Renmei talks about being able to take a step towards the future.

In episode 1 we learn that the one and only thing that the haibane remember is the dream they had before waking up in a cocoon, for example: falling, being surrounded by sparkling light, getting run over by a train or just sleeping. You can either interpret this as how they died or their plan to end their lives. In my opinion, it's the latter one because it makes more sense why they arrive in Glie and inside the walls separating the town from the outside world. We'll talk about it at a later point. So, the Cocoon represents coming out of their shell and getting help on their own. That's why it's a custom that one should break out of their own cocoon. It's like the haibane has regained their will to live and tries to improve their lives by getting help. Which is quite a tough thing to do. The part where a haibane doesn't remember anything besides the dream and getting a new name could be seen as a metaphor for restarting from zero and leaving the regrets (or anything similar) behind.

During episode 2 we also learn that there are not just angel-like Haibane in Glie, but instead they are allowed to stay by the normal people living there. The townsfolk are really nice people too, so I think these people personify a safe space where the Haibane can work and get back into a rhythm and normalcy. Additionally, in episode 4, Kana also mentions that the town is extremely protective of them, further strengthening this argument. This idea of Glie as a safe space is also represented by the communicator, who helps the Haibane and has them live in a controlled space so they can focus more on moving forward.

The next big thing that happens in this anime is Kuu having her Day of Flight (episode 6). I believe that this event is a signal that the Haibane has finally "solved"/worked out their problem and broke free of it. From my point of view, it seemed like Kuu figured out that she doesn't need to be like everybody else. The first clothing item she bought was a jacket in a larger size, the size of the other girls. She also tried to be like them by wearing Hikari's glasses or riding Reki's scooter. However, Kuu said to Rakka "You gave me some of the drops, Rakka.". Drops were filling a cup (in her mind) and it got completely full. On that same day, Kuu had her Day of Flight. In episode 3, Kuu said that she hoped that Rakka would be a little sister and seemed happy when Rakka called her senior. I think that made her realize that she doesn't need to be like everyone else; she can be herself and still be a senior. Kana also confirmed that in episode 6 by saying that "I think she no longer has to pretend to be what she isn't anymore." and "[...] but maybe she's grown up in her own way.". Meaning she's able to move forward towards the future. Having her Day of Flight. After Kuu had left, the only thing that remained was a few feathers and her halo. This can be a metaphor for stripping off that feeling that she's not like others. Like she's regained her humanity and not feel alienated.

Sadly, Rakka couldn't get over Kuu leaving and is in a really depressed state (episode 7). So much so that black spots appeared on her wings, which Reki recognized. This is where we learn about being sin-bound. (Note: I'm jumping between the crow and sin-bound themes since both of them are deeply connected) I think that being sin-bound signals someone that has given up or is about to. In episode 8, Rakka is led by crows to a well to meet someone. That someone is a skeleton of a crow. However, she recognizes the bird by saying "You've taken the form of a bird now, but it feels like I had known you from somewhere, a long time ago.". Furthermore, she adds "I can't even remember my name. [...] So I can't remember who you are. Except that you're somebody precious to me. I was always lonely. And I thought nobody would grieve, even if I was gone. So I wanted to disappear. But you were by my side. You became a bird to go over the walls and let me know that I was not alone." These sentences give us a lot of information. She wants to disappear. She even thought/dreamed "My existence should be erased from the world.", when she was unconscious in the well. Due to her feeling lonely, she thought that she didn't belong in this world. That's why it hit her so hard when Kuu left.

The crows play a huge role in the anime too. In episode 4, Kana said these things about the crows "They're said to carry lost items.", "Things we left behind and forgot when we went into the cocoons." and Kuu also talked with Rakka about them in episode 3 "But I think they want to be friends with us.". It seems to me that the crows represent someone or something that is connected to past regrets/problems. But instead of being hurtful, they're trying to help so that the Haibane can be free again. Free from being sin-bound. That is why the crows led Rakka to the well. This thesis is further proven by the fact that Rakka wants to return to her dream and apologize to the crow (episode 9), which is directly followed by the communicator saying "One who recognizes their own sin, has no sin." Side note: They also talk about sin-bound itself, that "Perhaps that is what it means to be bound by sin. To keep going around in the same circle looking to find where the sin lies and at some point losing the sight of the way out." When Rakka got back to Old Home, Reki noticed that the black spots were completely gone. Meaning that Rakka is no longer sin-bound and has let go of her past regrets, she actually confirms this at the end of the episode too.

Speaking of Reki, she's another sin-bound. That's the reason why she knew so much and was able to help Rakka this often. Since Rakka has recovered, she and the communicator got to have a talk in episode 11 about Reki. There she learns that "She is still lost in the dark. Rakka, you had the bird come to you enabling you to fill in the missing pieces of your memories. However, Reki has no one. She must face the darkness in her mind, on her own." From what we learn throughout the last 3 episodes, I'm positive that Reki's regret is similar, if not the same as Rakka's regret. Reki is alone but, in contrast to Rakka, she felt betrayed by everyone "Every time I trusted someone, I always ended up being betrayed." (episode 13) because everyone leaves her side. When Kuu had her Day of Flight, she said to herself "In the end, everybody leaves me.", just like when Kuramori (a Haibane who took care of her) was gone or she and Hyouko (a Haibane from the Abandoned Factory nest) weren't allowed to go to each other's district. She was afraid to hurt somebody she trusts and get hurt by them. As a result, she stopped trusting everybody and became a "stone" by closing her heart (episode 13). Even Rakka noticed that in episode 11 "Because she doesn't want to worry anyone and because she doesn't want to lean on anyone, she just smiles.". In the last episode (13), Reki also remembers her dream; in that dream, Reki is run over by a train: "It's an iron rail that carries something. This is where... I abandoned myself.". So not only has she "[...] lost the people that she could share her sorrow with.", but also herself. Additionally, her time is limited as she was ready to vanish, leaving nothing. "Soon, I will be forgotten by everybody and vanish. Where did I go wrong?" And if she was not rescued and forgiven by Rakka, she would've gotten hit by that train. She would've died if she hadn't found the last remaining energy to call for help. To put it bluntly, this is a direct comparison to suicide. Reki had given up on her life and wanted to end it because "[...] no matter how much I wished for it no salvation has ever come to me!". She was afraid that no one would come to her aid if she asked for help. But at the same time, Reki didn't want to die. She wanted to be just like Kuramori, helping the newly hatched Haibane and that's why she called for Rakka and was "forgiven". Rakka found the answer to the question of the circle of sin (episode 12): "The one who recognizes one's own sin has no sin. You cannot help going in circles if you are alone, but if you have someone by your side..." and together they broke free and both of them were no longer sin-bound. The same night Reki had her Day of Flight.

So what happens after the Day of Flight? For that, we got to talk about the walls that encase Glie. We go a few episodes back, specifically episode 9, when Rakka touched the wall because she heard laughter coming from it. Rakka even recognized it as Kuu's voice. Then she has another conversation with the communicator and we learn that "Only those whom the walls recognized as ready to live outside may go beyond the walls." which implies that the Day of Flight is someone ready to live a normal life again. However, Rakka falls ill shortly after (but this time it's not because of being sin-bound). In episode 10 we learn from the communicator that "Even a good Haibane must be punished if she touches the wall.". I think that the walls are a metaphor for a limit and you should not overstep or push too hard to get back on track. I firmly believe that the walls also act as a reminder to take your time to heal, let go of regrets, ask for forgiveness and when you're ready, aka the day of flight, you can go outside and go towards the future.

While working inside the walls (to collect light leaves), Rakka has to wear a robe as protection. I imagine this acts as guidance to avoid overstepping the limit too. Inside the walls there are tags on walls with names written on them. In episode 12 we get to understand that these are the names of the Haibane. Furthermore, the communicator explains "It is proof that the Haibane attained a true identity. When the time comes the name on the tag hanging from the wall is changed to the true name." I'm positive that its meaning is that the Haibane is not someone new, but rather the Haibane did (re)find their real selves. The real self who was lost and can move towards the future.

Of course there are some things that I cannot interpret or some that don't really fit, for example, the Toga (people who come from outside the walls to do trade and only the communicator is allowed to talk to them) or sentences like "As you cannot remember the world you used to be in... nobody in this world remembers you.". However, it's stated that "[...] The creators have deliberately maintained this ambiguity and refused to elaborate on these points in interviews, with Yoshitoshi Abe stating he doesn't want to impose his personal views on the viewers."(Source: Wikipedia) and I'm misusing that as an excuse to not be able to explain everything, hehe.

To put it in a nutshell, given the arguments above, the safe space being Glie, being sin-bound represents giving up and from what we learn of the walls. I'm firmly convinced that anime's key motif is going forward and not reincarnation. Anyway, I'm grateful to you for reading my thoughts and opinions! And I hope that you'll share yours with me. :D

On a side note: The communicator leaves Reki alone after their conversation in episode 10 with the following sentences: "You have always been there for Rakka. You have been doing the right thing. And now, you must not be envious of Rakka for moving forward.".

[itsyagurlchip]

hot takes, small details or personal headcanons you have in your au?

you. you are my reasonnnnnnN THANK YOU FOR THIS ASK IT'S GONNA BE ONE OF MY LONGEST ANSWERS. VEEEEEEE THANK YOU <3333 (I'm sorry if none of these headcannons match up with any previous ones i've made, simply imagining them as people makes my brain run on 1000)

(me now) Umm. Seeing this is finished you know you better prepared to sit down and read.

Keep in mind that reader is a child! They will not be the average y/n, she won't try and solve everyone's problems, and they're still learning and growing as a person! (That's what this whole fic is for-)

okokookookkokokokok these aren't all relevant to the Au per say, but this does apply to the plot and some of the lore for the fic.

im sure you saw the post- but I headcanon the skeles to be able to pop out their eyes. and at first it seemed random- but Papyrus has fucking eyes in the game (!?!) and so does sans, so why tf not?

Now a thing that I do not headcannon is their bones being able to pop out. I don't have any reason, I just don't like the idea of their limbs being Legos (but fsr eyes r ok?)

They do have amazing dance moves tho (Sans gets a lil zesty when he does the worm).

Everything in this universe is like a sitcom, and while predictable things happen, it's not in the usual way it would.

Ebbot is in New York. (you know why, and if you don't be prepared for a particular chapter.)

In this universe, pollution doesn't exist as much as it does in the real world. Give these guys a chance to see those beautiful ass stars.

Dynamics I'd Like to Explore:

Horror and reader.

I would love to explore that "Mama bear" dynamic that Horror could have without dumbing him down to just "hungry" "traumatized" and "comfort".

I want to show how being in a starvation crisis still affects him, while also wanting someone to take care of.

I think reader would appreciate a person who always makes sure that they eat, because they didn't have that as often in the program they were previously in.

I also really really really want to make Horror very disturbing and unapproachable, so it would make him and reader need their characters to develop for their relationship to actually bloom.

I also wanna see him do odd things, like grinding his teeth to a piercing shriek, or putting things in his skull to remember for later, and reader's reactions and approaches to them.

Sans/Papyrus and reader

Ah yes, they will be a joy to write.

Sans and reader's relationship will come from a place of mutual respect almost? While also blatantly disrespecting each other at the same time???

They dont really do much together, other than chill.

And in the small moments that they actually do things together, they don't actually talk much (in a serious way) at all.

Papyrus and reader start it off rocky a bit, because of the surface level reason for why she was adopted.

Papyrus tries to engage reader in activities that he likes, but every try leads to some kind of avoidance or lack of enthusiasm.

(insert sans threat here)

But after having a deep conversation with each other, they become the bestest of friends!

Payarus hypes up reader every chance he gets, and reader makes so many gifts for him that his ego just can't take it!

I feel like the three of them together would be so wholesome, whether it's Sans reading Papyrus and reader a bedtime story, or if they all go shopping together.

There's never a dull moment with these two!

Swapfell gold Sans and Papyrus

LET THEM BE WINE AUNT BESTIES PLESSSSS

LET THEM TALK SHIT ABOUT THEIR BROTHERS WHILE ABSOLUTELY LOVING THEM TO DEATH.

They always walk in the room stunning, Swapfell Sans won't ever let Paps walk in the room with rags while he's there.

Both of them enjoy those live-laugh-love type decorations at hobby lobby, and always decorate the house up like a doll.

They curse without actually cursing and it's so funny.

"AW CORNUTS!!"

"YOU BITTER HARLOT"

"Outrageously strong-stenched sinner."

"Papyrus I swear to all stars shining if you do not get your scraggly pelvis in this room your femur will cease to exist."

Mostly a crack dynamic, but that's what this fic is for.

Sans and Papyrus

A lot of this is half-personal and half-out-of-spite-in-the-fandom-because-i-hate-the-way-they-are-sometimes-portrayed-in-fanfiction.

Papyrus calls Sans "lazy" in a lighthearted way instead of actually believing as such. He knows that Sans could do many things, but he won't do them because of his mental health.

I like to think that since Papyrus has such great control over his magic, he's very much patient as well when it comes to people.

Especially Sans, because he of all people needs it the most.

Sans loves his brother, but not to a possessive extent. Yes, he will kill anyone and everyone for the coolest guy on Earth, but not without reason.

They take care of each other as much as they can actually.

They also have more complications other than "just keeping secrets". It's actually communication as a whole.

Something that I will not explain because it's a headcannon and not my story yet👍

Red and Sans

I feel like they'd be assholes together. That's all I need.

They probably make card houses out of boredom, but with packs of condiments.

They hate each other at first, but neither of them want to fight so it's passive aggressive comments between the two.

Imagine two Loona's (helluva boss) in one room. One emotionally stumped and the other too laid-back to do anything about it.

Suddenly the hostility goes away and everyone else is confused.

Very nice.

Fresh and Reader

Okay I admit this one is purely crack.

I need them to go to Chuckie Cheese and make fun of two year olds when they lose a game.

I want them to attack Karens in the parking lot with possessed furbies.

I want Fresh to scare reader with an ominous statement about her soul and go back to living life free.

LOOK INTO MY EYES!!!

I want reader to believe he's not real and only a part of the fever dreams she has since the world changed.

I NEED FRESH TO PLAY ALONG BC HE THINKS ITS FUNNY

Dream and Nightmare.

Most of these headcannons are inspired/from Ano (@/signanothername). So if my brain is rotted no it's not.

Their relationship is...complicated.

At first, they sabotage each other for fun and competition.

But next thing you know! They're full blown fighting, throwing jabs at each other physically and verbally.

Most people like to think that the two fight each other because they represent and protect different and opposite emotions.

But they fight because they are mentally teenagers, who are SIBLINGS<

It's very tiring to experience and be apart of, because you never know what the two will do in a room alone.

Coming from experience, when I would want my sibling to feel something that I was trying to get through to them, I would say something that hurts. Like really bad.

Dream and Nightmare remind each other of their past mistakes with aggressive and ingenuine kindness when no one's looking.

While Dream isn't an asshole per say, he just has a hard time keeping himself in check around Nightmare. Other than that he's the kindest soul.

Nightmare is an asshole, but he doesn't make any move to "confront" Dream or make a meaningful conversation with him. He still has regrets and animosities from the past, but won't intentionally heal from that.

^^These all will contribute to main plot and subplot. Nothing will be completely resolved, but each relationship will be expressed with more realistic situations rather than "they feel this way because everyone else says so." (cough cough fandom cough cough)

Every other dynamic like Reader and Gaster, or Star/Bad Sanses will be explored as well- those are just the main ones I'm excited for. Of course, I cant fit them all in (because it'll just be run-on words with no actual plot), but I can try to give everyone a situation where they can interact with each other.

Unfortunately, Swapfell Gold won't be in this story at all- only Horrortale and Underfell and the usual multiverse deities. I may not be able to fit them in one fic, but I can make side content and my own fanart to satisfy myself. (WHY WONT MY BLORBOS FIT IN!!!)

Sans

Sans actually does sleep in my au, probably too much really. He uses it as a means of escape because it's hard for him to come to terms with "no more resets"

Frisk isn't the same anymore, and throughout the story he'll get more and more paranoid.

Sans will trip Gaster any chance that he's given.

I like to headcannon that Sans doesn't have an obsession with ketchup, and it's moreso "gasp! the ketchup guy!" type thing. I also like to believe that the only reason why he can drink so much ketchup like that is because of people's reactions.

Sans is a comedian at heart, so he will do/say most things that people consider outrageous; hence the ketchup thing.

I like to think that he only pursued physics because of his dad, rather than mathematics like he initially wanted to do.

Sans hates slime and the grease it leaves on his phalanges as well as the sound it gives off.

He'd probably bring ketchup popsicles to the function.

Papyrus

Imagine that he can 'port' as well, leaving Gaster the only one who cannot. He just doesn't do it because the "void" makes him uncomfortable.

You could call him the "emotionally intelligent one" despite him not understanding a goddamn thing. He's just good at solving problems with patience.

He can see how someone feels, but he won't use that to read the room and understand what to do and what not to do.

He doesn't understand some social rules, like "comparing yourself to others for competition" and "tips for a cup of coffee"

It's confusing he thinks. Which can also lead him to misreading someone's emotions.

If you open up his closet there's a trick wall in it. And behind it, there's a dart board with Gaster's face on it. He's still mad at him, but won't let it show as to keep the family as peaceful as possible.

Sometimes when he's out with Sans, Papyrus would grab him and hold him under his arm and just carry him like that.

He is actually a pretty decent cook. And Sans doesn't lie to him about that.

Gaster

He actually falls when Sans trips him. It's funny as hell.

Since we don't know much about Gaster, this personality is kind of all over the place.

As I've stated before, he is morally ambiguous, and is comfortable with justifying things that seem wrong to most people.

Like cutting holes in his hands to get children instead of getting a wife.

On the other hand, he finds most arguments that humans have tedious, annoying, and easily solvable.

Or testing on a subject's soul who's figured out how to reset time itself instead of asking various questions.

He probably takes the top off of muffins and puts them back in just to spite Sans.

He loves his sons, but doesn't have a way to show them without making them feel awkward.

Despite him being open minded on human affairs, he can be very closed-minded when it comes to new things like routine, emotional intelligence, and boundaries.

Reader

Reader believes that the only reason why she was adopted is because Sans wasn't okay. Like she was supposed to "fix" him in some way, and kind of resents Papyrus because of that.

She's just a kid! How are they gonna help a stinky blob of depression?

Otherwise, it's probably the best they've ever lived.

When there's chaos, reader will remind Sans how "good" they're being and expect a reward when it's over.

She stims by rubbing her knuckles vertically across the joint of her arm (like me, tehe), and picks at her hangnails when she's under stress (also like me).

Granted, she doesn't remember memories from when her parents were alive, but right now she feels like she's in a place where she belongs. Like people actually want them.

Reader grew up in a place where they were older than everyone else, so they were immediately dubbed "older sibling".

Despite the wholesome sentiment, the way those kids would treat her would be toxic, but a small part of her still misses them.

Cannot match clothes to save her life (she walks out the door looking horrendous AFTER Papyrus gave her an outfit-)

She's fine with it though, "No aesthetic can fit me anyway."

Okay I'm done y'all, sorry for putting you through that torture.

I don't think you guys understand how long I want this fanfiction to be. Like bro IM PLANNING CHAPTERS NOW. I know I was trashing on the "fandom", but do know that whatever opinion you have is fine with me. I just have different ones and I prefer to express that through writing rather than arguing/causing mess.

And reminder: THESE.ARE.HEADCANNONS. If you agree, that's fine, if you don't that's also fine. But please do not come to my comments with your fists up. I'd rather discuss more headcannons for variety/diversity rather than claiming that a character can only be represented in one way. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk :))

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