#splice is better y'all

[the-entity-down-the-street]

"Splice" is a better Frankenstein adaptation than "Poor Things" because:

SPOILERS FOR BOTH FILMS

A) the mad scientists face consequences for their unethical genetic fuckery instead of dying peacefully. Elsa is left traumatized, with her loved ones dead as a result of this experiment. Sure, she's getting a lot of money, but that's not going to undo the mental scars that will no doubt haunt her to the grave.

B) The female monster is actually fucking monstrous. Dren does have some typically attractive traits like symmetrical features, smooth skin, etc, but still. If you're going to make an abomination against science, MAKE THE ABOMINATION. Don't give me some pretty girl in a frilly dress and call that a monster, okay? Cowards.

C) They don't frame the dubious consent/noncon as liberating. Elsa is disgusted with Clive for sleeping with Dren, and when Dren assaults Elsa in her male form, it's a traumatic experience. Bella's assaults (because that's what they are. She has the mind of a literal toddler. I don't care if she is enthusastic about it if she doesn't have the cognitive capacity to understand what's happening.) are framed as sexual liberation and it makes me want to hurl a chair at somebody. Calling sex "furious jumping" because she's not mature enough to fully understand sex. The fact that her fiancé wants to marry her when she's a fucking toddler. Gross. Disgusting. I hate it.

D) Splice is a true gender swap of the Frankenstein narrative, because both the scientist and the creature are female. Clive helps, but let's be real, Elsa is pulling the strings and convincing him to go along with it. Splice doesn't claim to be a feminist retelling like Poor Things does, but it's more narratively driven by women who are allowed moral complexity and agency. There's no bullshit girlboss moment either (the goat brain swap).

E) This one is just a personal gripe, but the whole "bringing back a dead woman with the brain of an infant she was forced to carry" thing? And somehow, this is a feminist retelling? Hate. Get it away from me. Not saying Dren was created ethically (Clive didn't even have fully informed consent because he didn't know it was Elsa's DNA), but goddamn, at least the mother of the child had agency in the child's creation. There is absolutely nothing feminist about using an unwilling woman's body as a vessel for the baby she didn't want. What in the pro-life bullshit is this? Ew. Ew. Ew.

Rant over. Thanks for coming to my Tedtalk.

[cryptids-of-spielzeit]

Reunion

Prologue: The Fae: A Brief Introduction

(A Spielzeit Fae Story)

Playtime Co. as a whole seemed to have no moral compass. Save for one or two, all of the experiments that were run inside were done on the orphans in Playcare. One of the more gruesome series of experiments were the entirety of the Smiling Critters line.

It started with the Bigger Bodies. After a few failed attempts, all 8 of the Critters were made into living giants. The 8 were made to work around Playcare, and all had different roles to fill. But, because of their strict placement around the orphanage, many of the children were saddened once they had to leave them for the day. They would openly wish to visit certain critters, and even when they were given the plushes sold to the public, it wasn't enough. They wanted the real ones.

It was then that Dr. Harley Sawyer got an idea. At the time of completion of all the Bigger Body Critters, Playcare had been suffering from overcrowding. There were too many children, many sleeping on the floors, and no employees wanted to take them home. So, if the kids wanted more Smiling Critters, why not make more?

Soon, many of the unwanted orphans were "adopted" by the scientists at Playtime. It would be a waste of money and resources to just make copies of the Bigger Bodies, so they had to go smaller. Like many other experiments, they went to work on making living variants of the publically sold Smiling Critters plushes.

In order to tweak their personalities to better fit their characters, they decided that splicing the children's brains with those of the local wildlife outside would work. At least, that's what Dr. Sawyer told corporate, not that they'd care. From squirrels, to foxes, frogs, and birds, many animal craniums were melded with the children's minds, to mixed results. Those who were more animal than human were put in the reject pile, left to survive for themselves. The ones that the children in Playcare received were still kids, mentally, with barely any memory of who they were and their animal instincts only kicking in at certain moments (I.E. in front of food, loud noises, etc.).

The children loved them, and they loved the children. They also kept their love of the bigger Critters, who saw their tinier versions existence to be both welcoming and tragic, with the knowledge they knew. Catnap, in particular, took pity on all of them, even those amongst the rejects. After he put the orphans to sleep, he would converse with all of them, letting them rest with him for the night, unbeknownst to the scientists.

Come The Hour of Joy, the mini critters that followed Catnap were also following the Prototype. Both animalistic and childlike minds worked together to maul every worker they saw. It was a grand massacre on their part alone.

The allyship between the different minds soon soured once they had escaped. One side wished to just enjoy their freedom, live life and be happy. The others wanted to stay by the side of the Prototype, their bloodlust still unquenched. Thus, the two factions of what would be known as the Spielzeit Fae were made.

This story concerns 4 peaceful fae, Allison, Mandy, Louise, and Max, and a reunion with an old friend under rather amusing circumstances...

(Thanks to @abugcalledtoken for the inspiration behind the mini critter mind splicin', and for makin' the Defects AU, which inspired this short story (y'all will see in the long run ;3) - JY)

[mikeydoodledandy]

a brief fond letter to the tf2 rp community

Sorry to dip in y'alls tags. Not an RP blog I'm afraid, just a guy who used to spend SO very much of his time RPing in the community with so many different characters, and I guess I was just feeling nostalgic. It's been years at this point and sadly I know myself well enough that RPing would be the only thing I would do if I got back into it. But I look back with fondness nonetheless.

Anyone from back when they used to release the comics on the reg? I'm sure there's a whole slew of new characters and folks in general. Are there still "guilds" for characters stationed at different maps anymore? Are there enough of you to even do that now? If it faded out of style, y'all should try it, it was fun.

What extensions are you using to make RPing easier these days? Is the community still unabashedly queer? It better be, it's tf2 after all. Homoeroticism and queer subtext is its bread and butter.

I hope y'all are making friends and your characters are having taboo sneaky red/blue romances. I hope they're pranking each other or picking fights or doing mad science. Are splices still a thing? Someone better have a character spliced with an armadillo or a octopus or something, I swear to god.

Jesting aside, the community and RPing in it is what literally made me realize I was trans. Doing research for my trans characters is what literally pushed me to transition and I'm now the happiest and most comfortable I've ever been. It's been pretty great.

Anyway, love y'all, whoever might be left out there doin' their thing. May your love for this weird quirky game and its funky little dudes be eternal.

[anendoandfriendo]

hii 💚

y'all seem cool

love your blog theming

Oh, hello! :D

And TYSM sksksk the blog header is the three system origin [-genic] label flags we use the most spliced together and the blig avatar is Vanilla from World's End Club (but edited to match the blog header).

It looks much better on mobile because you can actually see the header flags lol, we should probably fix it for desktop too, but it should be something like the endogenic, recursigenic, and the protogenic flags.

[illholy]

what do you consider your strengths as a writer?

which character have you written the longest?

is there a specific character archetype you enjoy writing the most?

█ 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 : 𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒆 𝒊, ( not accepting ) ⤿ @solarisgod. why hello there my brightest mutual (literal )

* ˚ ✦ what do you consider your strengths as a writer? I don't think I have anything in particular that stands out, but I've noticed I have the habit of overly describing things for better or for worst, ( i love you Demonstrative adjectives, i love you Indefinite adjectives, i love you Participial adjectives, i love you all 13 types of adjectives. ) I haven't been confronted of this either, but I splice quotes onto almost all of my replies. * ˚ ✦ which character have you written the longest? There's actually three characters I consistently go back too, Judith, Riruka Dokugamine and Shoichi Irie. Those three would be the oldest in likely equally space of times. I always long for these characters eventually, but with Riruka specifically, it can get very, very odd ⸻ bleach fandom is scary with the femme presenting characters, I think. * ˚ ✦ is there a specific character archetype you enjoy writing the most? Let me answer this again, but with another archetype. ' LOVE OBSESSED' , yandere tropes, truly honest to god characters that WILL throw you in the basement. Think Toma from Amnesia, had me howling when y'all ended up in a kennel, WHAT WAS THAT? I don't think this is rpc friendly tho, so I hadn't yet done this in public, I do in fact have some sense.

[radioconstructed]

[ It's been almost two months that Al can't just make music. It used to be second nature. She'd just imagine the instrumentation, she'd just think of how to adjust or splice or remix music, and the sound would come out of her body-radio with no effort.

If she wants to make music now, she has to play it, all analog, like a normal person. Arranging music? Better bust out the sheet music and get to work. If she wants two instruments playing simultaneously? She'd better get dexterous with those hooves real quick, or refresh her memory about her old synthesizer's looping functions, or download software. At minimum, she'll have to learn to use audacity, at best, she'll have to learn ableton.

Lol. Anyway, she'll ~learn technology as a form of liberation~, but she's drawing a line here. (For now, at least. She gets to be a pouting Luddite about this as long as she wants to be!)

VoxTube music posting is on hiatus. If y'all want any Al Radiodemon Productions in the near future, you'll have to see her doing acoustics, in person, at the Happy Hotel. It's one deer, her voice, and her four limbs, truly out here!! ]

[gr8gollygrace]

Angelina Welde Grimke - Notes + Thoughts

A Black History learning series crafted by Rachel Cargle

Feb. 1880 - June 1958

Father, Archibald Grimke: lawyer, author, Vice President of NAACP at one time

Angelina began teaching English at Dunbar High School and studied at Harvard during the summers

began writing poetry, short stories and eventually plays

Rachel - 3-act drama as a response to Birth of a Nation, published in 1920

Much of her work was not published because, identifying as a lesbian, her sexuality would have been a theme of her writing(1917-1927)

After her fathers death in 1930, Angelina moved to New York and didn't publish any more work

Considered by Alain Locke as "a forerunner" of the Harlem Renaissance

At April

Toss your gay heads, Brown girl trees; Toss your gay lovely heads; Shake your brown slim bodies; Stretch your brown slim arms; Stretch your brown slim toes. Who knows better than we, With the dark, dark bodies, What it means When April comes a-laughing and a-weeping  Once again At our hearts?

Why might this information not been something I had learned -- or at least learned with some depth?

This was an awkward time period, right before what most scholars recognize as the Harlem Renaissance

She was a gay woman of color, who wrote about joy, love and passion, "racial injustice and black pride"

Have any of y'all read her work before? I'd love to know your thoughts!

[im-like-if-a-girl]

*THE* mean-girl-dean-girl's Supernatural reboot MEGAPOST!

I'm gonna stick a little "keeping reading" here because hoooooo boy, this is a very long post.

Let's start with

Plot

Season 1

Dean kills John while they are out on a hunt in a crime of passion, but Dean doesn't remember because he blacked out. Cue Dean going to Stanford to get Sam and tell him "Dad's on a hunting trip... and he hasn't been home in a couple days."

The audience doesn't know what happened to John, but slowly figures it out with Dean and Sam as Dean slowly remembers what happened that night.

The entire first season, the boys are following the trail John left and fighting monsters as well. They find out Dean was with John, Sam realizes Dean has an unreliable memory, they have heart to hearts about their childhood and the fire, they find John's body, "how could you kill Dad?" but maybe Dean didn't kill dad, whooaaaaaa, misdirection.

It was actually good ole yeller eyes (Azazel) and he made it look like Dean killed John.

Okay, now let's move on to the first episode

Not sure how the opening would work, I would like the story of the fire to be revealed over the course of the first season, but maybe the opening scene could be a little bit of an establishing character relationships and backstory, idk, I haven't thought that far yet.

I'm thinking maybe it's like, Dean gets back to a motel room covered in blood and he listens to a voicemail on his phone from John saying he was on a hunt or something, I don't really know lol.

HOWEVER

I do know that after the intro rolls, we get a scene of Sam waking up to his alarm and "Nine to Five" by Dolly Parton starts playing.

Y'all know where this is going.

Cue a montage of Sam's normal Stanford college life (him sitting through lectures, walking through the campus with friends) spliced with scenes of Dean absolutely slaughtering a nest of vampires (or some other monsters, whatever works best.)

But

Now onto

Characters!!! (And descriptions)

Dean Winchester

Some lovely person on this site made edits of Dean with platinum blond hair and it made me feel some kind of way so we're doing that, homie's gonna have platinum blond hair

Side note about the hair, later when the brothers are running from the FBI he dyes it a dirty blond/light brown (insert jackles hair color controversy here) as a disguise.

He also gets tattoos because we were robbed.

Speaking of tattoos, concept: when Dean comes back from Hell, all of his tattoos are gone. His body is a clean slate, devoid of tattoos, scars, etc. So he gets his tattoos done all over again, which he doesn't mind because he made some bad, drunk tattoo decisions in his youth.

(And before you ask, yes, he does get one for Cas, either a bee or Cas's name in enochian, something cute.)

Dean goes to therapy after Sam gets sent to the Cage.

It's actually court mandated because he got in trouble, lol, he would never go to therapy on his own.

Along with the hair, Dean gets to be the grade A twunk we all know he is.

Sam Winchester

His hair gets longer in every scene he's in

No jk, but imagine

King of Microaggressions

Sam starts off like the sweetheart he is in season 1 but in later seasons he starts enjoying killing a little too much...

It's that demon blood, ba-by!!!

He brings up issues of morality to Dean, i.e. killing monsters who aren't hurting anyone. (Yes I know this is contradictory to my previous statement, but these two facets of Sam can and will coexist.)

Sam and Jess's relationship is explored further, meaning we'll need to start with a different inciting incident, but that's fine, I think everyone can agree fridgings are *(thumbs down)*

Sam doesn't truly know what happened the night of the fire until later, and then he understands why Dean is so protective of him.

Jess

She gets to live beyond the first episode

She is also trans

No, I don't feel like I have to explain myself and I won't 💜

She urges Sam to join Dean in a search for their brother, kind of gets pulled into the hunter lifestyle by association lol.

She dies on a rusty nail after fighting vampires on a routine hunt with Sam

No jk!!!

But imagine....

She's amazing and I love her and Lucifer also uses her as leverage against Sam and possesses her because I think that'd be cool.

She supports Sam 100% and also she and Dean are buddies, pals if you will.

She meets Cas Thee El and immediately she Knows, that is a homosexual.

She dies still so that we can have a Saileen Endgame but she's not dying the first episode or in a fridging. Not on my watch.

Castiel

He gets to keep his raw, light-fixture-exploding power.

I want more of that "I pulled you out of hell, I can throw you back in" energy except over dumb shit like Dean not cleaning up after himself.

He looks like a Dilf in every scene he's in, yeah, that's right, dilf with a capital D for *(GUNSHOTS)* *(gets sent to horny jail)*

Claire

She gets pink hair

And more time with Cas

And maybe a nose piercing

Feel like she should be able to kill a couple angels onscreen, punch a couple homophobes

She gets to meet Jack and teaches him swears and fun slang words.

She deserves it.

Jack

I says "that's my baby and I'm proud."

Jack starts off as a baby, but like Amara he grows up super quickly.

Like, baby to 11 year old in a couple days or less.

This is because Jack's emotional age on the show is on par with that of a 5th grader.

It's at this point when he's a young kid that he runs away from the Bunker and shenanigans ensue.

It's also at this point that Dean threatens to k*ll him.

(Still not sure if I want that in my Supernatural (threatened infanticide? In my Supernatural? It's more likely than you think) but we'll see. We'll see.)

Throughout a majority of season 13, Jack is like an 11 y.o. kid

Season 14 he's like a 16 y.o. teenager

Season 15 he's 21, you get the picture.

Listen, I love Alex Calvert a lot. He's great.

But Jack is a child and should be a child.

Kelly Kline

Kelly, baby, stay right where you are, you're perfect.

Eileen

SHE DOESN'T DIE

SHE GETS TO BE IN THE FINALE BECAUSE SHE'S AMAZING AND I LOVE HER.

BLURRY WIFE WHO? I ONLY KNOW SAILEEN ENDGAME!

She teaches Claire and Jack swears in sign-language. Castiel is not impressed.

John

J*hn W*nchester stans, DNI.

He's dead.

We only see him in flashbacks and only sometimes hear his voice in voice overs.

He's not "down the road" from Dean in Heaven, in fact he instead gets to wander around in some Purgatory like Hell for the rest of his time :)

People who get to say "fuck" on the show:

Cas (but only Once)

Jody

Bobby

Now onto other things

I want more of

Ghostfacers

(they need more screentime because I love them)

Dean/Benny

We know they had a thing.

They definitely had a thing.

Demon Dean

Again, I feel like more should've been done with this. All that build up for what, 2 episodes? was not utilized well at all.

Dean's Bisexuality

Straight Dean truthers DNI, my Supernatural is a show about love and being true to yourself

You think Supernatural is a show about 2 straight brothers fighting monsters?

Naw bitch, this is a show about the Gay Experience

He will get to have relations with men on this show.

Of course, only after John dies does he, y'know, display it. Maybe he kisses Cas on his dad's grave just to fuck John over, make him roll in grave.

We all agree John would be/is a homophobe piece of shit, right?

Okay, glad we're on the same page.

Dads

3 men and a baby with Jack is what I'm saying.

I love it when the Trio are father-figures to younger troubled characters they see themselves in, even better if it's like reluctant-but-loving father figure, oh, that trope gets me every time :'^)

Dadstiel and DadDean are my favorites, but I like it when Sam plays "Uncle Sam" to kids too lol.

"Fellas, is it gay to want a tight knit family with your husband, his son, his vessel's daughter, your brother, his wife, your cop mother figure and her wife and their adopted daughters? Asking for a friend."

Garth

Biggest flaw of Supernatural was underutilizing Garth.

I will never not be bitter that Garth was only in like, 7 episodes out of the whole 15 season series.

Every episode with Garth gets immediately 5 times better.

I love Garth.

Follow ups on characters who had entire episodes featured around them and then just... vanished???

This is mostly about Jesse, the magic kid whose imagination ruled an entire town like, his daddy was a demon and nothing came of that kid??? Only one episode about him?? No follow up???

KID CAN MANIPULATE REALITY AND WE'RE NOT GONNA GET A FOLLOW UP ON THAT?????

Uh, there was that one episode with Ennis the guy whose girlfriend was killed by a monster? I think?? Who we never see again, that was weird.

Tamara from season 3, episode 1.

And of course-

Cassie

She was so cool, and then we never saw her again :////

She gets to be a badass.

Religious imagery

As a former Catholic school student who has become for the most part, disillusioned with religion, religious imagery in TV shows like Supernatural make my brain go "brrrrrr."

Fun episodes!!!

Like, after season 6 or so, there's a drop in funny episodes

I'm talking Changing Channels, The French Mistake type stuff. (Scoobynatural is an outlier and should not be counted.)

So anyway

In my version we would have more fun episodes

I'm thinking

GENDER-SWAP EPISODE, BABY!!

(why they didn't do that in the original, we'll never know.)

An episode where Dean gets to wear eyeliner

That's it, end of post.

I want less

Racism

Yeah I feel like this is self explanatory, nearly every reoccurring character in SPN is white, and black side characters normally die in the episode they first appear in, or they'll be featured as a villain (Uriel, Raphael, Billie, etc)

Also there's a lot of... uh... asian fetishism featured in the show (what with "Busty Asian Beauties) that's really gross, also Kevin was a bit of a stereotype...

Also also it's super yucky how they kill the gods from other religions like???? Uh??? That's super disrespectful, let's not do that????

I know Supernatural is like, inherently racist because monsters are a separate race that are seen as some dangerous "other" that must be eradicated by hunters in a form of genocide-

Okay we won't get into that but

Still

Stop killing all your POC

Fridgings/Unecessary murders of female characters

I know Supernatural starts with a fridging, so this will be a hard thing to remedy, but

One death that really pissed me off was the death of Charlie

Yeah, that was pointless and we're not doing that. Charlie gets to live and be an awesome aunt to Jack.

And also Claire

Charlie Bradbury Superiority

Charlie and Garth get to meet because they're nerd/geek solidarity.

British Men of Letters

I fucking hate these guys

They're "litcherally" the worst.

The worst part is that the actors they have playing the British AREN'T. EVEN. BRITISH.

And you can tell

Uh, and that's all for now, I'll add more later.

tag list for people who liked my "if this post gets one like I'll post my SPN reboot masterpost" post.

@darianyunidi @sarasidlesaid @crazybananaalpaca @playfulpanthress @ultfreakme @fififeelsmellow @heller-char @luna8eaton @princessmeganfire @insanebot109 @queenofnightsnow @mongoose-underthehouse

Thank you for the support, hope the wait was worth it.

[bakugouscentedcaramel]

Ah yes, the time has come.

It's time to get your pen and paper because class is in session!

There's plenty of things I could talk about and I pretty much covered the basics down below, but I'm more than willing to help y'all out with anything specific!

I have to preface that I'm not an English major by any means nor do I have any experience writing professionally, the things listed below are purely based on my opinions and submissions I have received.

Writing is forever a learning process, there really isn't a right way of writing but there are definitely some things that will hinder your readers. Here is a list that I compiled both with my own experiences as well as some user submitted issues when it comes to reading works:

•Big blocks of text

° Typos/wrong word usage

•Using the same words

°Too spaced out/not indented where needed

• Dialogue runs into normal sentences

° Speakers/POVs change without notice

• Inconsistencies, either in general or story inconsistencies

°Lack of description/Too much description

• Bland/Artificial actions/dialogue

° Misuse of punctuation/lack thereof

• Capitalization errors

° Long winded sentences

• Using italics for actions

° Confusing formating

• Changing in Tenses

° Using wrong tags/falsely advertising (ex. Reader x Blank should have Y/N, not an OC/Authors name)

• Author notes/comics/pictures in middle of fic

° "~This is a transition~"

• Forcing a character to be OOC for sake of story

° Filler characters

• Not sticking to a specific genre/jumpy moods

Now don't be intimidated by this list! Some of these are pretty self explanatory so I won't go into a few of them. There are plenty of ways to avoid these and in some cases it is perfectly fine to use any of the above. 

Let's start off with the basics!

Sentence structure is the backbone of writing, but it's a very flexible rule. Obviously you have your subject, verb, object and whatnot, but the true art lies in word choice and length.

When it comes to sentences, size does matter. If your sentences are too short they will seem choppy and unfinished, whereas if they are long they will seem winded and unnatural. The biggest tool you can use to find out if a sentence is too short/long is by reading it aloud! If you run out of breath it's too long but if you finish abruptly it's too short.

Word choice is my favorite weapon to work with, I could describe a blue jay as a normal bird or as a mythical animal just by picking the right words!

"The blue jay flew across the field while it sang it's melody."

Or

"A creature with wings made of clouds swooped across the field whilst roaring out a devilish tune."

Word choice can easily convey tone/feeling so it's definitely an important element to writing! If you ever have trouble finding that perfect word try googling for synonyms! Also this website might help you find that one word that you just can't think of!

Grammar is also a very important part of writing. Using the right words and punctuation can be difficult sometimes but there are some easy fixes!

Spelling is an easy fix, if you forgot/don't know how to spell a word consulting a dictionary or Google is a surefire way of solving your problem. You can even find synonyms if you feel like you've used a word too much. 

Punctuation on the other can be a big more difficult, however. 

Here's a couple of sentences that helped me learn basic punctuation:

A comma splice walks into a bar, it has a drink then leaves. Commas are a means of sewing two sentences together to form a compound sentence. These are mainly used to list out things and to add fluidity to your works so they don't sound as choppy.

A question mark walks into a bar? Question marks are pretty self explanatory. They either raise a question or form uncertainty.

Two quotation marks "walk" into a bar. Quotations are used for both dialogue and metaphors. I personally love using them for sarcasm!

A gerund and an infinitive walk into a bar, drinking to drink. This one is a tougher one that I personally never learned from any of my classes. A gerund is basically a word that can act as a verb or a noun which would be "drinking". An infinitive is the base of a verb, in this case it's "drink".

The bar was walked into by a passive voice. A passive voice is when you emphasize the action and object of a sentence rather than the subject. You can find that a passive voice tends to use past tense where as an active voice uses present/future tense.

Three intransitives walk into a bar. They sit. They drink. They leave. An intransitive verb is an action verb, expressing a doable activity like arrive, go, lie, sneeze, sit, die, etc.

Some other things that I commonly see are the wrong usages of words. For example:

They: a group of individuals/pronoun "Yeah, they said he'd be here thirty minutes ago."

Their: a possessive pronoun "Leave their stuff alone!'

There: location "What's that over there?"

Then: event/action "Val went to the mall then skittered to the park."

Your: possessive "Your self esteem is lower than the Mariana's Trench!"

You're: a conjunctive "you are"

Affect: caused by actions "The fallen french fry really affected Val's mood."

Effect: caused by events "Climate change has a negative effect on my Cheerios."

Peaked: a summit "Val has peaked at 10:19pm"

Piqued: stimulate interest/curiosity "You have piqued Val's interest by mentioning food."

Do time: "Val is fixin' to do time if she keeps slacking."

Due time: "Val will come with hydration in due time."

Per say: not a thing

Per se: by/in itself "She didn't write this late at night, per se…"

There are different tools you can use to spice up your writings, from metaphors to innuendos, all the way to zeugmas! Let's go over the basic definitions of these bad boys.

Metaphor: a figure of speech that is not literally applicable. "The darkness surrounded us like a shroud." Obviously the darkness can't physically shroud anyone.

Innuendo: a sentence with a hidden meaning "Is that a gator in your pants or are you just happy to see me~" 

Zeugma: a sentence containing words that can be used literally and figuratively, like a love child of the two above. "Val and her coupon expired last week." This implies that not only did my Colgate coupon expire, but I died as well.

Paragraphs are a necessity when it comes to writing. Big blocks of text are an eyestrain to readers and it's easy to lose your place, even if it's only 150 words. It's always best to use Tab or at least 5 spaces when indenting. A paragraph should only be 5-7 sentences long, this is so it's not just multiple blocks of text

When to add a new paragraph:

° A new person comes in

• New idea/context

° Setting changes

• New person is speaking

° Time changes

• The "camera" moves

° Tone shifts

• 5-7 sentences has been reached

Paragraphs help you organize your work in a way and they make it easier for your readers' eyes!

POVs are also very important. First person and third person are by far the most common ones so I'll only touch on these two. It's very important to write a story in one strict POV as to not confuse the readers. You can however jump perspectives like Heroes of Olmpyus by Rick Rodian, as long as the ready can easily tell who is telling the story.

First person is a story that is told from first-hand experience. It's the same as if I told y'all the story on how I almost chopped off my thumb in woodshop class back in middle school. First person tends to use a lot of I's and my's

Third person is a story that is told from a narrators' point of view. Such as "Once upon a time" type of stories. I's and my's should only be used in dialogue

Dialogue is probably one of the most important features of any fic/story. Dialogue can push plots forward as well as add life to a character. Here's a simple exchanged:

"Hiya 'Splodey," Val chirped.

Katuski smirked, "M'dumbass."

Dialogue should always come with a pair of quotation marks. Commas and periods generally go inside the quotation marks whereas dashes, colons, and semicolons almost always go outside the quotation marks. Question marks and exclamation marks however can go either inside or outside, it goes by a case by case basis. Always indent whenever a different speaker is talking, running quotes into each other is a no-go because it causes confusion and eyestrain.

You have to be wary of using simple dialogue exchanges though, if they seem off try saying them out loud! Dialogue is one of my favorite things to write because you can weave personality into them, not to mention you can always hear people talking to get a better idea on how to write dialogue.

For example, I have a southern dialect, meaning I sound different than someone from the north! I use words like "y'all", "fixin'", "finna", "ain't" and have a different vocabulary than that of my northern friends. This means that the characters you're portraying should have their own way of speaking! This will not only add flavor to your dialogue but it also adds to their personalities/backgrounds.

Describing things can be just as valuable as dialogue, but it is a bit more complex. Sure we've all heard of the "show, don't tell" rule. Which is a good rule to follow, however too much showing is just as bad as telling. Again, reading out your work is a great way to tell if you're focusing too much on one thing. Another thing to keep in mind is importance, such as do we really need to know that the grass outside was bluegrass? Which in certain situations it would be! For example:

The grass around the disheveled house was brown and straw-like, with the exception of a ring of grass. Bluegrass. Which wasn't even native to this location.

This paints a pretty good spooky picture in the readers' mind and even adds the element suspense by the implied uncertainty.

I've only covered a small portion of writing so if y'all have any questions or need any help feel free to slide into my DMs or send in an ask! I love getting questions about writing and I'm always willing to help a fellow writer!

[the-patrex]

The Master bit back a frustrated growl as he weaved his way through the crowd of partying humans as he made his way to the refreshment booth. He needed a drink if he were to get through this night. Sniffing, he tried to gag at the sharp scent of alcohol and individual humans. Despite the strong odor, however, he caught the hint of something different. This one was lighter, more enticing than the others and had a hint of lavender perfume to it. Theta. He scanned the crowd but was unable to spot her. What was she doing here? Didn’t she have better things to do than stalk him 24/7? Irritated, he stood at the table and poured himself a cup of whatever drink was in the giant bowl. He wasn’t going to give any information on the Timeless Child if that’s what she wanted. In fact, he didn’t even want to see her anymore. The damn Matrix was enough to make him hate her, or so he’d thought before seeing her new face for the first time.

He clenched his teeth around the rim of the foam cup as he sipped, remembering her holy, angelic features. As if her spliced DNA being inside him wasn’t enough. He’d been awestruck seeing her new regeneration for the first time in person. The way the sunlight had made her hair burn like the early rays of morning and her smooth, perfectly crafted from seemingly God Himself(so different from the old, wrinkled face and bushy eyebrows he’d grown accustomed to as Missy!) made his hearts ache with an intensity he’d never felt before. “What are you doing here sulking about like that?” Speak of the devil, he thought bitterly, turning to face her. “Hello, sweetie.”

“Come to give me a check up, Doctor?” he asked sarcastically, smirking devilishly. She arched her brows, seemingly amused at the response.

“You missed your last appointment so yes.” He scoffed. “Enjoying the party?” His brows furrowed. There was something…off about her stance. She seemed a bit wibbly and sour smelling underneath the perfume. It was definitely not the smell of a rotting corpse or garbage but it made him faintly queasy. He decided to ignore it for now.

“What are you doing here? Don't  you have to babysit your little human friends like you always do?” She chuckled, baring her milk white teeth like a feral creature. Hell, she probably was under that humanoid guise. Or maybe she was a creature whose true form was so incomprehensible to the mortal eye, it had to take the form of a Shobogan once it fell through the portal above that monument so it wouldn’t cause a ruckus. Perhaps that’s why she hadn’t died in the Kassavin realm. Maybe they’d seen her other form and decided to let her go easily because of it. The Master took a sip of his drink which was probably some sort of fruit cocktail by the taste of it. Her other form was probably to beautiful to look at if she looked this blinding in the body of a Time Lord. Blinding like the suns of Gallifrey. The Doctor poured herself a glass of wine.

“Your thoughts are too loud,” she grumbled, taking a sip.

“No one told you to read my mind,” he retorted, moving away to the garden behind the ballroom. He could feel her piercing gaze on him as he pushed the back door open and headed toward the gazebo. “Where are they anyway? That trio of yours?”

“Sheffield,” she responded, picking a flower that complimented her blue dress quite nicely. “You have quite the imagination, we’ll tell you that. Your speculations are wrong. Probably.” Probably?

“You found out?” The Master turned to face her. That wasn’t right. She wouldn’t go looking for the truth unless he’d forced her to. She was a runner not a seeker. He searched her eerily serene expression for some sort of clue. A clue to what, he didn’t know. She was a mystery that he intended to unravel but not in the way her adopted mother had. The Doctor’s eyes bore holes into his own, analyzing every twitch and muscle movement on his face. He didn’t like that look of hers. It reminded him too much of Tecteun the explorer and exploiter. She smiled knowingly and placed the plant in his suit pocket. Who are you? he wanted to ask. Why are you here? What do you want? “Did it hurt?” he asked instead, ignoring the gut instinct to fear this person(thing?) he’d known since childhood. “I bet it did because it definitely hurt me.” He stepped closer to her(it? Them?), wishing she’d show some sort of weakness instead of the serenity he privately yearned for during the late hours.

“Of course it hurt you,” she murmured, cupping his face in her hands. “Everything hurts, doesn’t it? We can see it, all that pain hiding behind the rage in your eyes.” We? When did she start referring to herself as we? She stared sympathetically at him. “Do you want it leave? We can make the hurt go away. Would you like us to quell the rage and pain in your hearts?” Her voice was more soothing than ever and her eyes were so hypnotic, he could barely look away. Their foreheads touched lightly. “Please, Koschei. Let us help you.” He frowned, mulling over her words. Us? Why would she use the word “us” to refer to herself? The strange trance broke and he sharply pulled away, feeling disgustingly exposed and violated. What had just happened?

“How dare you,” he growled, lunging for her throat. She dodged out of the way and placed a hand on his temple while making a sound in her throat that, judging by her expression, was one of disapproval. The Master suddenly felt weak and crumpled to the floor. Time seemed to swirl and wobble around him, causing his brain to spin. When she released her touch, he felt nauseous and puked a bit on the grass. “What the fuck did you do?!” he snarled, wiping the mess from his mouth and glaring at her. The Doctor, or whatever the fuck she was, looked down at him with mild dissatisfaction.

“We opened you up to the influences,” she responded simply, turning away. The Master’s head was still reeling but he struggled to his feet to catch up with her.

“What influences? Who the fuck are you?” The creature didn’t even turn to face him as it- no, they answered his questions.

“We are Legion. Unfortunately, you’re not getting your friend back any time soon.”

“Wh- you’re possessing her?!”

“No, it’s a progressive alteration of the host’s brain to better fit the needs of the parasite.” A parasite, the Master thought bitterly. Of course. So that was where the smell was coming from. He watched as they plucked a rose from its bush and examined it thoughtfully in their hands. “This is perfectly normal for her kind, as I’ve explained to her.” Today was just full of surprises.

“You talk to her?” He didn’t know if he should be horrified, impressed, or enraged at the thing. What has it been telling her?

“Yes, we have tea together.” Legion looked at him. “Would you like an invitation to our next tea party? You seem…what’s the word? Distressed? No, that’s not it.”

“I’m going to kill you,” the Master snarled, getting in their face. They didn’t even flinch which was quite impressive. “You think I’d be okay with a parasite talking to my best enemy like that?”

“Ooh. Careful, Koschei. She’s listening to everything you say right now. Don’t want her getting the idea that you care about her or anything now do we?” They smiled, tapping his nose mischievously with the flower. He wanted to bite them.

“Fuck you,” he spat, storming off to the direction of the ballroom.

“Was that meant for us or your girlfriend?” They called.

“Both!” He paused, realizing the implication of their word choice. Motherf- “And you’re not my girlfriend!”

[Okay, Kos. Sure,] Legion said telepathically. [We’re greatly flattered.]

“Piss off,” he growled through gritted teeth, feeling their amusement roll off him like waves.

A/N: He kept the flower in his coat pocket by the way if y'all are wondering.

[hwajoongie]

Tagged by @pansynight thank u 🥺💖

tag 8 people you wanna get to know better! 

Favorite color: dark red/maroon

Last song I listened to: Put It On Ya - Jessi ft BM & Nafla

Favorite musician: monsta x for sure for sure. Also Taemin & Dean. Millic?? He's a producer moreso but I'm constantly checking to see if he's put out anything new (millic please get Vida back on Spotify before I combust) and Bring Me The Horizon ✌️ seen them live 4 times

Last film I watched: rjsjdjsjfn SPLICE...... my friend and I had never seen it,,, I don't wanna think abt it tjjdjfs

Last show I watched: Its Okay to Not Be Okay. This show is wild?? Im not a big crier, especially when it comes to movies and TV but somehow this show makes me go Absolutely Bonkers

Favorite characters: Andrew Minyard from the book series All For The Game, Bucky Barnes 👀, there's more but I suddenly cannot remember a single piece of media I've ever consumed???

Sweet, spicy or savory: savory, big extra points if its savory and spicy at the same time

Sparkling water, coffee or tea: coffee, I drink coffee all day, I'm drinking coffee right now, I'm the iced coffee gay

Pets: I have a cat named Rory, he's a tyrant and I love him, nobody asked but here's a picture of him

Tagging: @softhyungkyun @brdybtch @rozegolden @ckyunoirs (I don't really have 8 people to tag 😔, also lemme know if y'all don't wanna be tagged!)

[lasergeist]

So Shane Dawson fucked a cat

Or he didn't and it was a joke, whatever. It'a gross and uncomfortable even if it was a joke, but that's beside my point.

A lot of people are getting mad over this cat thing, dragging up old pedophilia accusations, etc., but I'm here to tell you one thing:

This is not the reason y'all should be coming after Shane Dawson

If you want to be mad at Shane, you don't have to dig. You don't need to use debatable shit that can and will be brushed aside easily. You don't have to look any further than his last video.

I was a fan of his content for a while, and I'll admit that shit started to stink when he made his Jake Paul series. But I wasn't able to really pin down what was off until "Investigating Conspiracy Theories" came out.

In it, Shane literally takes the real life trauma of one of his old friends (youtuber Brittani Louise Taylor) who recently escaped an abusive marriage and possible human trafficking situation and puts it side by side, literally intercuts it with, him investigating some silly conspiracy theory about Chuck E. Cheese reusing uneaten slices of pizza, and scenes of himself and his friends dicking around with a voice A.I. program.

I shouldn't have to explain how utterly horrifying it is to even put Brittani's story in the same video as the other two topics, but it's made even worse by the way he formats the video, splicing the three discrete "investigstions" into each other clip by clip. Brittani's story is lumped in with childish conspiracy theories, and isn't even given the respect of being told in its own segment. She talks about how terrified she was in her own home, then it cuts to shane and the crew giggling and trying to peek over at other booths in a Chuck E. Cheese, or using a robot voice to prank call Morgan. It's literally sickening. How thoughtless could you be to try to put these subjects on equal footing? Shane doesn't even use the video for raising awareness or putting resources out there. Looking at the context he actively chose to let this story live within, it becomes obvious that Shane views, consciously or not, Brittani's experience as having the same level of entertainment value as the Chuck E. Cheese shit. That it can be exploited for shock and horror points. It doesn't matter how many quietly horrified "oh my gods" he uttered while Brittani cried ok camera. The way he chose to edit and compose this video speaks volumes.

This isn't new either. Shane has no fucking clue how to handle more serious subject matter. He may have quit the horror movie-style editing after the first few videos in the Jake Paul series, but he still never took the time to stop and critically analyze how he treated Jake Paul while he believed he had a mental illness and how it changed afterwards. When the series shifted away from sociopathy, he didn't take it as an opportunity to discuss how Jake selling his dangerous stunts and destructive lifestyle as genuine affects his target audience. How selling it as truth might be better for profits but also sends all sorts of fucked up signals to impressionable kids.

I'm not saying that Shane has to turn into a video essay channel. He doesn't have to turn into Big Joel or Philosophy Tube. Those channels already exist and are there for the people who actually want thought provoking content. But Shane Dawson has shown repeatedly that he is incapable of having nuanced discussion of serious issues. He built his channel on vapid, cheap entertainment and comedy and that's FINE. But that's clearly all he knows how to write, shoot, and edit for, and it's incredibly harmful to frame actual, serious topics in the same way. What I'm saying is, sometimes you need to stay in your own goddamn lane.

This is what you should be getting riled up about. This is what you should be calling him out over. Not tasteless obscene jokes he made years ago. Focus on the harmful things he's doing right NOW, so that he stops doing it MORE.

[milomeepit]

What's your favourite food from Australia? I might be going on Holiday there next year, and want to try more food. (I've had Tim Tams, and they started stocking them in a shop near me) but what else would you recommend?

-Smith's chips are great.-Meat pies- I personally prefer Snowy River brand, but that's up for debate. Four and Twenty are also a very good brand; they have many flavours and variations as well.-Milo (obviously 😂)-Woolies mudcake-Coles mudcake-Fairy bread-I don't know if Arnotts is big in other countries? But screw it eat some Scotch Fingers anyway those things are the bomb -PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD TRY AUSSIE PEANUT BUTTER. I HAVE TRIED AMERICAN PEANUT BUTTER AND I HAVE SYMPATHY FOR YOU POOR SOULS-get a local to make you Vegemite toast. Do not attempt this yourself without direction- it is a very delicate process to the untrained.-Aeroplane Jelly? (🎶IIIIII LIKE AEROPLANE JEELLYYYYYY AEROPLANE JELLY FOR MEEEEEE🎶)-Sara Lee apple pie and bavarian-Streets Paddlepop (the rainbow ones are a spiritual experience)-HAVE A GOLDEN GAYTIME. I REFUSE TO GIVE YOU CONTEXT.-Do other countries have Twisties? Eat some Twisties. Twisties are amazing.-Pavlova (*quietly flips off the Kiwis* I am not starting a war, I'm just saying it is a common food that can be found down here)-Lamingtons-Weet-Bix-if they're in season? Bowen Mangoes. Amazing-Anzac biscuits-a fish and chip shop dim sim. Trust me. There's a whole culture there.-actually just fish n chips in general. Eat em by the beach. Peak Aussie.-Milk bar lollies (i will remind y'all of the time I nearly died for these f**king things)-Aussie prawns. TRUST ME.-Splices. Great blend of popsicle and icecream. Iconic experience.-Damper. Like bread but worse- in the best possible way.-Lamb leg roast-salt and pepper calamari-have an Iced VoVo (another Arnotts classic)-bbq sausages/snags-a Bunnings snag. Very different. I made a whole post about them.-Democracy Sausage, if you can. Again, different from your run of the mill snag.-Actually just bbqs in general-especially potato salad mmm-Sausage rolls-Cherry Ripe chocolate-Chicken Parma- born in Italy, an Aussie pub staple now-Chiko rolls-SPAG BOL. ICONIC.-Vanilla slice-Cheese and bacon rolls (trust me, it's not quite what you're picturing)-tbh you can try most of the wildlife- crocs, emu, kangaroo (i actually love kangaroo meat tbh it's very rich)-Barramundi fish-Crab sticks (are they crab? Are they fish? Are they even meat? Who knows. But they're pretty tasty)-an Aussie Burger. They're stacked high and amazing.-most people like avacados? Idk. Theres an obsession over here.-apparently our organic stuff is a lot cheaper??? Like??? A lot??? So have some fruit man go wild-Balmain bugs (actually like, a cousin of lobsters, dont be alarmed)-if you can find them? SUNNY BOYS -Yogo. You just. You gotta.-pigs in blankets (ours are better. Bacon. Nuff said.)-last of all, you want bush tucker? Witchetty Grub (aaaaand every city Aussie who saw this post just ran I bet 😂)WOW THAT GOT LONGI hope I gave you some things to try, Anon!

[anodyne-sunflower]

Love me like you do (Part 19)-Balem series

A/N: Here we goooo! Part 19! Can you guys believe it’ll be part 20 next update?! Omg…this was supposed to be a 5-10 part series 😂 Well, whatever…I enjoy prolonging the feels. Hope y'all do too. Please enjoy! I know next to nothing of space, and since it’s just a fanfic and not a scientific paper, spare me the lecture on Jupiter’s weather lol

MOOD MUSIC: Lust for life by Lana Del Rey

***

Trying to find an empty place to keep to yourself proved harder than you originally planned. The servant quarters were quiet enough, minus the many people coming in and out throughout the day. And even with the door closed you could clearly hear the gossip going on in the halls. You even lost count on the number of times your name flew passed their loose lips. It was bothersome to listen to, but you always tried your best to remain the bigger person. In this instance, that meant getting up and wondering the endless halls of Balem’s palace just to get away from them all.

You found yourself lost rather instantly, this place quickly becoming a maze for you. None of it made sense, and even trying to find something familiar was hard. It dawned on you how little you knew of this planet and all its surrounding cities. Balem was usually by your side you didn’t feel the need to explore or learn any of it. You supposed, in the back of your mind you saw all of this as temporary. Little chance of that now.

“Gardens?” You chewed on the inside of your cheek, looking at the golden plaque sign that adorned the black marbled wall. There was two large glass doors that led outside, and from your current position you could only see trees and grass. You guessed it was Balem’s idea of a garden, which likely meant it would’ve been the equivalent of a park on earth. He truly didn’t spare no expense in his life. But, with no one around it seemed the best choice for you. With slight reluctance, you looked around before sneaking through the door and making your way outside.

The breeze was instantly refreshing for you, a nice chill to the air you hadn’t really expected. But, the view was something that left you breathless. From the inside, it looked like a forest, perhaps even a meadow. However, up close it looked like something straight out of a fairy tale. The grass expanded around his palace, at least as far as you could make out. But, the flowers and ponds decorated this area so beautifully it was breathtaking. It could easily rival Kalique’s home, with the gorgeous waterfalls and red plants. Unlike hers though, this one somehow felt more serene to you. As if it was a little piece of home to be cherished. And for once in your time here, it felt like true peace.

You walked deeper into the path, holding your hand out as the bushes brushed along your fingertips. They were lovely shades of greens, oranges and colors you couldn’t even begin to describe. And each flower that bloomed along their tops was stunning. None of them looked familiar, save for the few that resembled roses. But, you had never seen anything like this before and it was already becoming your favorite part of this planet.

With a contented sigh, you eased between two shrubs, coming upon a large pond and fountain. You took a seat atop the rock on the edge, leaning back as you closed your eyes and enjoyed the breeze. You removed your boots, dipping your feet into the cold water. It was like heaven for you, just the sounds of the local fauna and trees swaying in the wind. It was the first time you had truly felt relaxed since being here. Unfortunately, not all things get to last. Especially amongst Balem’s numerous workers and advisors. No matter where you went, you figured they’d always find you. As was the case with Mr. Night.

“Go away.” It was nearly pleading, your body growing slack as you felt his gaze upon your back. You didn’t even need to turn to see his judgmental expression, because you already guessed that your new attire would throw him for a loop. Just imagining Balem’s expression was humorous enough.

“I was sent to retrieve you for lord Balem. So, if you wouldn’t mind.”

Mr. Night held one arm out, gesturing back towards the entrance in a means for you to follow him. But, right now you had no interest in seeing him or Balem. You were still feeling rather lost about the entire thing, and at this time you didn’t think your heart could take anymore hardships for the day. Unfortunately, Balem was not an understanding man, and you knew Mr. Night would do whatever it takes to keep his master in good spirits. Even if it meant dragging you away by force.

“I very much mind.” You shot him a less than gracious look, trying to convey how annoyed you were with him and his lord. Not everything in life had to revolve around them, but you doubted they’d ever see it that way. “What does he want anyway? Last time I saw him he was screaming for me to leave.”

None of this was his advisor’s business, but it felt good to vent it out to someone. Even if that someone was a splice who likely detested you for whatever reason. Perhaps that’s why you trusted him though. Mr. Night didn’t play games with Balem’s moods, so your negativity wasn’t likely to fall upon the entitled’s ears anytime soon.

“I believe he wishes to have dinner with you.”

The splice craned his neck towards you, trying to gain your full attention so that he could complete his simple task. But, you weren’t having it today. If that’s truly what Balem wanted, he could wait forever on you. It was maddening how he believed himself so powerful that one fancy meal would make all this go away.

“Dinner?” You scoffed in disbelief, giving a cynical smile as you turned back to the wonderful view before you. “I have no interest in joining him.”

“This wasn’t a request.”

“Nothing ever is with him. Now go away!”

Every second that ticked by made you more frustrated, and as much as you disliked Mr. Night you didn’t intend to be rude to the splice. He was only doing his job, the downside was that his job was simply helping Balem.

“I see the standard Abrasax temper has rubbed off on you.” He said with contempt, moving his hands behind his back.

You couldn’t blame him for that comment, your anger was misplaced. But, would it kill Balem and all the others to leave you be for even an hour. Apparently, that was far too much to wish for here. The power of these people, they seriously earned the description of entitled.

“All this time…” You scoffed, shaking your head as you began to think back on all your decisions here. Life had certainly not turned out like you planned or even expected. If someone long ago told you you’d end up mistress to the ruler of Jupiter and earth, well, that wouldn’t have gone over so well. But, here you sat, amongst the lovely gardens of Balem’s alcazar as if it was a normal habit of yours. Somewhere along the lines of being abducted you grew to just accept all this. It wasn’t easy, that much was sure, but you felt like maybe it was just the easier thing to do. Accept it, and learn to like it. Because, the more you marinated on the questions the more it grew to make you nervous. Besides, you always believed the world was much bigger than people thought. You just didn’t think it’d turn out quite like this. “All this time we believe the world is ruled by men and women in charge of countries. And here stands one man ruling our entire planet.”

Mr. Night kept quiet at first, hands clasped behind his back, and beady eyes set upon you. He was only mildly interested in your words, the better and smarter half of him thinking delicately on time. Because, Balem was definitely not going to be pleased if he took far too long to retrieve you. “You are just now coming to terms with this?”

His question did catch you off guard, for he hardly cared to converse with you. Much less even greet you half the time. It was only a matter of time though, he couldn’t possibly ignore you forever. Especially standing right behind you.

“No…no, of course not. It’s just-” You had to think deeply on it, because this world…that man, they had a way of changing your perspective on things. “Before I came here, before I was brought here, I thought I had a pretty good handle on the way the world works. What’s right, what’s wrong. I convinced myself that it was black and white.” There was a small pause between your words, your eyes downcast towards the water as it glided over your ankles. The fish in the pond grew near, only to skitter away when you barely moved your foot. “Now I just don’t understand anything.”

Your voice was desperate for an answer, a hint of hope that Mr. Night could somehow fix it all for you. It was pathetic really, but you didn’t care if it was him or a complete stranger. You just wanted somebody to figure this out for you. Because, the confusion you were beginning to feel was building up to the point that thinking was becoming quite the chore.

“I should hate him.” That was the problem. You should hate him, without any doubt in your body. Since the very beginning you should’ve loathed that entitled man with every fiber of your being. Black and white. That’s what it should have been. He used people, killed them, bent everyone to his will. He was tiresome, selfish, temperamental, anything negative you could possibly think of and that pretty much summed up Balem. “But, I can’t.”

“Personal crisis aside, we should not keep Lord Balem-”

“I want to hate him…”

Mr. Night sighed heavily, growing impatient with your issues. He didn’t have time to play therapist for you. Everyone on this planet had problems, but only Balem’s were of his concern. And seeing as how you were his Lord’s current predicament, he may as well try and humor you along. If only to get you to follow him back without use of force. He gritted his teeth, rolling his eyes as he tried to sound genuine towards you. “Oh?”

You laid your chin on your knees, feeling the weight of the world upon your shoulders. Or universe, in this case. You didn’t really want to hate him, that was a bit harsh for someone like you. Dislike, sure. But, hate was entirely different. As hellbent as Balem was on causing harm to billions, you didn’t wish death upon him.

“I just-”

“Can’t. Yes, I know. You’ve already…said that.” Mr. Night sucked in a frustrated breath, trying hard to maintain his composure despite his ever growing impatience with you. “But, Lord Balem is waiting on your arrival. I am sorry for your friend, it was a terrible tragedy but she is gone-” He didn’t mean it, he could care less about the serving girl. But, if his sentiments allowed you some comfort enough to get up and go, then he’d play along. “And my lord is not. So, need I remind you once more that he is waiting on-”

“He is not…” You lifted your head, brows knitting together as you replayed Night’s words over in your head. “He’s alive.”

Your words confused the advisor, and he glanced around the garden as if there might be someone else around that could make sense of all this. Instead he found the usual sounds of waterfalls and wildlife. Not to mention your crazed sounding revelations. Maybe it was time you finally snapped, the knowledge of all this eventually getting to you. But, that wasn’t the case. Mr. Night’s words just made you realize something in yourself, something that only served to further the idea that life really wasn’t so black and white. Even with you.

Nevaeh was gone, and Balem was alive. And it was only now that you comprehended why his words made you so angry. You felt for the loss of your friend, truly you did. But, when Balem said those cruel words, it wasn’t the grief of her loss that hurt you. But, rather grief for your own musings. Nevaeh was dead, and Balem still stood before you. Unharmed, and as well as anyone could be after an attempt on their life. And that was a relief to you. You were happy that he was well, that he could still stand there before you in all his confident glory like he always did. You ached for her loss, but you were more elated by his survival and that very thought disgusted you. That’s why his words cut so deep for you, because he so casually made you realize how selfish you could be. All because of him. In that moment, his life was more important to you than a ‘serving girl’ as he so nonchalantly put it on most occasions.

You closed your eyes in defeat, heart wrenching at your emotions. “Oh god…” If his advisor wasn’t here, you were positive you would’ve sank onto the ground in a ball of self pity. Everyone sought to explain your feelings for you lately, but you didn’t need them to verify anything for you. It seems you were perfectly capable of approaching that understanding on your own. It may not be love, you thought. But, it certainly couldn’t be classified as nothing anymore.

“I can’t go…”

You dropped from the rock, pulling your boots back on and attempting to get passed the splice. Only he appeared to have expected such a reaction, and with a wave of his hand two guards grabbed your arms lifting you easily from the ground and carrying you off into the alcazar.

***

“Let me go!” You fought desperately against their tight hold, heels barely scraping the ground as the doors to Balem’s chambers slid open. It was the last place you wanted to be, but no matter the fight you put up you still ended up back here. It was just like the first time you saw him. Only this time you weren’t laying at his feet. But, the guards threw you to the ground as soon as you entered the room, making you catch yourself on your hands and knees.

“Mr. Night.” Balem was sitting at his private dinner table, playing with the bottom of his wine glass once you came in. His eyes were trained on the wine sloshing around, but it was obvious he was still aware of his surroundings. “Is that really necessary?” He took a sip of his wine, his eyes moving to the side to take in the scene.

“She refused to come, my lord.” The splice bowed upon being addressed, a concerned look on his face. He knew you were particularly special to the Primary, roughing you up was the last thing he wanted. “Forgive me, but I tried every-”

“Enough.” Balem held his hand up, no longer interested in the details of the story. All he wanted was for you to be here, and seeing as how that wish was met he cared little for the rest of the reasons. “Leave us. Now.”

The guards and advisor bowed once more, exiting the room and leaving you to kneel on the ground. You didn’t want to move, because that meant seeing him. Even speaking felt difficult, as much as you wanted to yell at him for all of this harsh treatment, you simply kept your mouth shut. Not that any of this behavior was pleasing to the Primary. You could almost feel his anger in the air.

“Get up.”

Ignoring him would only make it worse, and that was something you weren’t keen on dealing with. With as little joy as possible, you rose to your feet, smoothing out your shirt and trudging along until you stood at the table. He wasn’t in any mood to play games, and just when you stood before him he looked up at you. It was the first time in hours that you saw those green eyes of his, the very ones that made you nervous and excited. Only this time there was far more to it, a feeling that was almost indescribable for you.

“Sit.”

He used his boot to push the other chair out, eyes still fixated on your sullen form. It was hard to tell what he was thinking, but his intense gaze was enough to make you believe it wasn’t positive. Emotions aside, you fell back into the chair, avoiding his glare as much as possible. It wasn’t an easy task considering how heated his stares could be, but you tried all the same.

Balem watched you, taking in your appearance as if this was his first time seeing you. You wore clothes that didn’t quite suit your beauty, something he found rather disappointing. And as much as he wanted to address your poor choice in attire, he opted for lighter conversation. Anything to regain your attention once more.

“Where were you?”

“The gardens.” You answered curtly, trying hard to keep your sights set on the elaborate table cloth. It was proving difficult though, because how could you ignore the aura of power around such a man. Every little movement of his was beckoning you to look, but in your current state you didn’t think you could handle such a thing.

“And what did you think of them?”

His attempts at polite conversation were nerve wracking, each sentence that left his lips making you curl back into your seat even more. It’s not that you didn’t enjoy the idea of them, but every part of you just wanted to take off running right now. You shifted in your seat, twiddling your thumbs as you rested your hands on the table. It was a minor distraction from him, not that it helped at all. It only made you realize how close you two were right now. His hand was only inches away, still clutching his glass as he rolled the stem of it between his fingers.

“They were beautiful.” You choked out, nerves becoming unsettled as he reached over you and grabbed some fruit from the bowl. The entire time you held your breath, heart beating madly in your chest when the very air around him swept by you. How one man caused you such excitement was disturbing, but you couldn’t let him know that. Because, no matter how you spun your words he would immediately shun your emotions. That much, you knew.

“Look at me.”

You stiffened at his demand, anxieties kicking in when you fully comprehended his words. It was only a matter of time before he realized how reluctant you were to even meet his gaze. But, that was the last thing you wanted to do. If only he knew what was racing through your mind, then he wouldn’t be asking such a thing of you. Looking into those eyes was a dangerous game to play, and if you didn’t avoid it something told you it’d be the end of you.

“My little dove.” Balem leaned over to you, eyes looking you up and down as if he was assessing your behavior. He imagined you were still angry with him, something he figured he could remedy later. But, your lack of interest in conversation was growing tiresome for him. Whatever your issues were, he had no attraction to them. He just yearned for your company, but this wasn’t it. There was a gentleness in you that was lacking, something that irked the Primary to no end. He longed for the woman who had that fire in her eyes, and right now this wasn’t you. So, he lifted his hand, gripping your chin gently and turning you to look at him. And just as your eyes met, the doors slid open, a single servant waltzing in with dinner. A true heaven-sent for you.

It offered a momentary distraction for Balem, and he sighed as he let you go and waved the girl on over. But, you hadn’t moved. Instead you found yourself staring at him, and in that moment it was like a crushing blow to your heart. Everything you tried to avoid was now before your eyes, and nothing was going to save you from it. All you knew, was that you had to get away and quickly. Because, staying here and dealing with your conflicting feelings for him would only hurt.

“I-” The words wouldn’t come out, your resolve slowly falling to pieces the more you took him in. It was true, you admitted to yourself. True, that his well being meant something to you now and having him perfectly fine in front of you made you elated. Yet, the reasoning behind that revelation was nothing that brought you joy. Only pain led down that road, and it wasn’t something you were eager to put up with. So, with all the courage you could muster you begged him for your release. Not only from this planet, but from the potential heartache of his rejections. “I want to go back to earth. Please…”

The servant was moving closer, tray in hand as she made to lay it on the table. But, you had chosen a poor time to convey your desires to him. Your words immediately took him by surprise, his eyes narrowing into threatening slits when he made to look at you again. This time you held his gaze, faltering only when he yelled his displeasure at the servant.

“Get out.”

She looked confused, barely able to place the tray down as he ordered her away. “My lord?”

“GET OUT!!!”

His voice made you both flinch, the serving girl taking the food and practically sprinting from his chambers. You, on the other hand, stayed put in your seat, meeting his icy glare.

“Balem-”

He slammed his wine glass onto the table top, cracking the edges of it as he seethed with rage. You had never seen him this way, not to this extent and it frightened you. Where all this anger came from, you didn’t know. But, he was not going to let you go lightly.

“You are never leaving this planet for as long as I live…”

His tone was cold, even, as if every word he said was a threat. It made you shiver in fear, eyes wide with worry as he leaned over until your noses were nearly touching.

“And I assure you, little bird-” The usual mirth in your pet name was now gone, and in its place was now a voice that sounded almost disappointed and rejected. “That could be for another thousand years.”

***

A/N: I know this was kind of a filler, but as always, a necessity to move my plot along. Hope you still enjoyed. And if you would be so kind, feedback welcomed. ❤️

[grejedi]

so my sister and i were talking and i really do think the "i need help" rey scene and the kylo reaching out scene are two seperate incidents. it's significant that they spliced them together but it seems unlikely, even though the lighting and atmosphere seems similar.

and despite my garbage shipper heart racing, i would really like it to be two separate scenes.

it makes more sense for rey to be reaching out to luke for help at a campfire than it does for her to reach out to ren, unless this movie is going to be so insane that her entire character does a 180°. it would be interesting so see her sway to the dark side, but the end of the force awakens sees her hating kylo ren so much - so much, you guys - that unless a significant portion of the last jedi focuses on ren's backstory, being manipulated by snoke, his training with luke, perhaps absentee parents, and rey starts to feel a smidgen of empathy for him, i am convinced she would never actively seek his help.

and she shouldn't! kylo ren is a fucking disaster, y'all. rey would be better off secluding herself on a planet and force training herself than asking for his help controlling the force. even though he's a powerful force user, kylo ren is waffling, he's irrational - you can see him mentally flailing all throughout the force awakens, and the last jedi clip with him and leia? he's a mess. he's being pulled around by snoke like a pet. our girl knows this, i know our girl rey knows this. unless she is very very scared of her powers and unless she is very incredibly oh so very desperate, she would never turn to a traitor like kylo ren for help.

remember that finn and han were the first people to come back for her, something akin to a family that she's wanted desperately since jakku. empty lonely years on jakku. and who takes that away from her?

would you ask that person for help?

you know who should be asking for help? our boy ben solo.

i just said it, and we all know it: the boy is flailing. he thought killing han solo (rip) would be the last cut he needed to fully delve into the dark side, into Ultimate Power. but do you guys remember his face post-slaying and consequently in the snowy woods fight afterwards? he is falling apart at the seams. on top of that, we know he disagrees with the first order using starkiller - why wasn't he with hux during their Moment of Victory, but instead secluded on his ship, watching the destruction from afar, completely detached. you guys know why. our boy ben solo is still in there, and that little glimmer of goodness refuses to be squashed down.

then rey bursts into his life as bright as the goddamn sun.

rey has stormed into his organized upward climb to power and kicked apart every single one of his defenses. first meeting - well, first meeting she technically shoots him and flails around. but second meeting, she tears into his psyche relentlessly and tells him about himself. and kylo ren is Shook. she escapes, she meets up with his dad to do some damage, she kicks his ass to hell and back, and then she leaves him in a field to think about his life, think about your choices, ren, look where you are, you disaster.

so whom is more in need of help, here. whom should be reaching out their hand in a gesture of supplication and defeat. do you think rey, scavenger extraordinare who had to raise herself in an unforgiving desert, would be asking that brat and traitor kylo ren for help? do you really?

or do you think kylo ren is faltering and needs guidance, especially because snoke is very not happy about ren not being able to kill leia (because y'all, we all know).

i think our boy is gonna come to rey, tail between his legs, and he better have kneepads ready for all that groveling, bitch.

[midnightluck]

ahhh if you're taking prompts atm, would you mind ?? writing an interaction between sabo/marco?? or your headcanons on it?? Mybe ribbing each other abt the fact that they both like Ace? Thank you!!! (I really like your character analysis+au musings btw. They're really interesting and usually really funny or painful 💖💖)

“Watching you watch him is sad,” Sabo says and Marco almost doesn’t jump.

“I thought you’d already left,” Marco answers a beat too late.

“Not quite yet,” Sabo says, but it’s quiet and calm, both of which alarm Marco.

He turns his head a bit to glance over at the kid. He looks tired, is his first thought, because there’s creases on his forehead and dark spots under his eyes. Of course, there’s also a mouse on his cheekbone and his bottom lip is split from that last brawl, but neither detracts from the air of quiet stillness that hangs on him, and his usual grin is three shades too light to hide it.

Marco sighs because what else can he do? Sabo is all sharp edges with them, which is understandable but tiring. He wishes he knew what to say to make him trust them, but the only way he knows to gain trust takes time, and that’s something else Sabo won’t give them.

“He’ll never notice,” Sabo says lightly, casually. “He’s oblivious like that.”

Marco knows that, but the reminder pricks the corner of his heart where he keeps his hope. “Speaking from experience, yoi?” he asks before he can stop himself. Shit, that’s bound to set Sabo off, he didn’t mean to–

“Yeah,” Sabo says easily and Marco’s head whips around. He glances over to meet Marco’s disbelieving gaze and raises an eyebrow. “What, you couldn’t tell?”

Marco breathes out and returns his gaze to the freckled shoulders they’re both watching. “I was expecting you to deny it,” he admits.

“I’ll never deny that I love him,” Sabo says, then sighs. “I lie a lot, but not about that. Never again.”

Marco doesn’t actually know what to do with that without his heart bleeding all over the place, so they both look at Ace some more. He’s checking some rope with his legs hanging over the other side of the deck, facing away from them, head bopping to whatever song he’s humming to himself.

Marco finally asks what he wants to, because this is apparently something Sabo will actually talk about. “It doesn’t eventually get easier, does it?”

Sabo shakes his head. “Nope,” he says, popping the p like Ace does when he’s being purposefully obnoxious. “Doesn’t go away, either. Welcome,” he says, suddenly grand, throwing his arms wide and spinning on a heel, “to the family zone! Like the friend zone, but worse.”

One day, Marco thinks absently, he would like to see Sabo smile and mean it, or joke about something that’s not pain. “At least I’m in good company, yoi,” he offers, and Sabo makes a noise that’s almost a laugh.

“I wish I had the luxury of liking you,” he offers back. “You’re good for him.” But, Marco notices, there’s a distinct lack of permission or blessing in there, and he doesn’t think that is at all accidental.

“You could stay,” he says, but they both know Sabo can’t. That little sideways grin is acknowledgement and sorrow and duty, and Sabo leans back on the rail next to him again. “I’ll take care of him,” Marco says instead because this promise, at least, is easy to make.

Sabo turns to face him fully and waits until Marco meets his eyes, and he isn’t smiling at all. “I’m going to hold you to that,” he says. “When he tells you–if he tells you–you better think before you react, because I’ll still hold you to that, even after. He respects you, so you have the power to hurt him. And he might forgive you if you do, because he’s nice like that.” And then the smile comes back, but it’s the sharp, dangerous one. “But I’m not”

Marco stares back because this he will not back down on. “There’s nothing he can do to make me hurt him, yoi,” he says and hopes Sabo can tell how much he means it. “And you can hold me to that, too.”

The moment holds, then Sabo nods once, shallow and not breaking eye contact. “I will,” he promises. Then he looks back to Ace, clueless across the deck, then back to Marco. “I absolutely will,” he says, then tips his hat and vaults over the rail in a flutter of blue.

Marco leans back over the rail just enough to say, “Goodbye to you, too, yoi,” because he can use manners as weapons too. Sabo just flashes him that big bright grin he never seems to mean and casts his little schooner off.

He sighs and turns back to the deck. It’s almost time for dinner and he really should check on Pops, but the sunset is painting the deck and everyone on it with dripping streaks of red and orange, and he can afford to dally just a bit longer.

And then he realizes that Ace is now asleep, face planted firmly in the railing, tangled in the rope he’d been splicing. He sighs. Life was easier before Ace, and that’s not even counting the chaos Sabo trails everywhere, but he doesn’t regret it.

So he goes to wake Ace for dinner and tries really hard not to think about Sabo or wonder what devastating secret Ace is hiding.

~@~

Lol idk I hope that’s what you wanted? It was fun to write! I’m so glad you like the dumb ideas; I live for crossovers and crack and character breakdowns tbh.

I’m absolutely open to prompts! I can’t promise to be fast, though. In fact, if y'all catch me earlier in the weekend I can often be found drunk writing, because that’s a thing I do. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯