#that's how s6 worked

[zmediaoutlet]

if you're doing the fic writer asks, 44 and/or 52!

oh, thank you for sending one :) let's see:

44. any writing advice you want to share?

In general I think it's a good idea to think about what a character would actually do in a situation and have them do it, rather than think about what the story needs or what the trope requires and cram the character into that box. But this is a particular kind of writing which not all fic falls into. I much prefer character-realism, whenever possible. A lot of stories, you can tell someone's thought of a joke and they want to put it in, and humorlessly I go but Sam would never think that; or they want the sex scene to go a particular way for porny reasons or even thematic reasons, and horntlessly I go but Dean would never go for that in this moment, also where did the lube come from; or they want a character to have an emotional moment in order to further the plot, and coldly I go John would never express that -- and it's almost never because any of those things are literally impossible for the characters (...Sam's sense of humor perhaps aside), but because the writer hasn't done the supporting work to prove how a character might make such a leap.

All stories are a series of proofs that the writer is engaging with to lead the reader from logical step to logical step. If you skip a bunch of them, I fall down the stairs. And then I'm bruised, and mad, and not paying any attention to your story bc I need an ice pack. So. If you're going to have Sam crack an OOC joke, you'd better have meticulously set up the situation around him so that it follows logically that he will have done so, or I'm limping.

52. how many unfinished ideas/stories are you working on at the same time?

I don't actually pick up and drop stories in rotation, although I've heard that can be a good way to manage writer's block (though I've equally heard that it's a good way to have an endless parade of WIPs that you never actually sack up and finish, so. who's right). That said, doesn't mean that there isn't a sad pile of 'hmm what should I do next, idk, let's think about it for three years' unfinished bois sitting in my fic folder. I did used to think that none of them would ever be done, but given that I managed to finish the genderswap thing with only two paragraphs done ~8 years after the idea, I'm hopeful. It should be a year of finishing.

At the moment there are 8 fics I have an actual start made on and think it's feasible I could finish them. Ideas that haven't actually been started yet: 37.

[megaawkwardhuman]

[pepoboyz]

darling heart, i loved you from the start

but that’s no excuse for the state im in

[id: a digital portrait of runaan from the dragon prince. he has pinkish skin, long white hair partially pulled back, and purple tattoos of lines and circles on his face and body. he has horns, one is broken. he wears a purple shirt with a deep v-neck and the sleeves pulled up, and a pair of dark teal torn pants with knee-high boots. he sits slightly hunched over with an avoidant gaze. stalking behind him is another version of himself, unkempt and darkened by shadows. he holds two swords, barely visible in the low light. his eye glows red. the background features a treeline, full moon, and traces of haze and mist, all in purple and blue. end id]

[raayllum]

THE DRAGON PRINCE: THE MYSTERY OF AARAVOS — Book Six: Stars

I see everything. I see a thousand stars. A thousand eyes. Worlds one and myriad. All of us nothing... and all of us infinite.

[lunarskeletonart]

Classic art study that turned into a sticker design!

[thankstothe]

[n1blakelover]

was watching jame’s interview today with some of the writers of s6 and one of the writers saying she wasn’t even a huge rayllum shipper but she still couldn’t stop grinning during jack and paula’s recordings of the end of ep 6 because of just how amazing they blew it out of the park and she grins every time she watches the scene as well just proves how amazing rayllum and paula and jack’s portrayal of them is, even if you aren’t really a shipper you can’t deny that they have amazing chemistry

[kradogsrats]

obsessed with the long-game payoff of "Hearts of Cinder" rn tbh

like not just in a narrative mirroring/parallels way, showing in s3 how far Viren had fallen and closing that arc in s6, or with how Soren and Viren's positions reversed, but like... either they planned this for Viren literally from the beginning or it came about through a startling commitment to lore depth and consistency

because like

a) Back in s3, the "Hearts of Cinder" spell is... weird. Like not so weird that it clashes with the setting as we know it, but at the time we're only just being introduced to things like the Draconic corrupted Sun rune spells, or the role the Staff of Ziard plays in dark magic. It's got an incantation that, at the time, is kind of unusual in the context of other dark magic spells but slots in with the series' overall recurring heart motif such that it can't really be called wrong. It's not a Spiders Georg-level outlier, but it definitely feels like there's something we're missing.

b) That's because someone planned it out in deep detail: "Hearts of Cinder" is, in hindsight, the only dark magic spell we see that is clearly intended for war with Xadia. It's a spell that comes from a much more brutal era both politically and magically, when armed conflict with dragons was high and "make your army immune to dragon fire for the low, low cost of one human sacrifice" was a deal people were willing to take. We know that's intentional, because it's right in the incantation: dark magic incantations frequently reference the spell reagent, as with "Slithering Steel" or "Ash of Fallen, Rise Again." So someone knew as far back as s3 that this spell normally used a human heart for its magical power.

c) This confirms so much stuff that it's like they put it in there for me, tumblr user kradogsrats, special interest: dark magic. The on-screen exposition drop that the Sunforge Staff contains a Sun primal stone. Confirmation that you can use a primal stone as a source for dark magic. Confirmation that you can use human essence as a source for dark magic. Another consistency example of the Staff of Ziard being used to empower dark magic spells. Confirmation that there are dark magic spells built on human sacrifice.

like... that's all stuff I knew, or at least suspected and wanted to be true, but having it all right out there like "hey who wants some resolution in the lore arc of dark magic? kradogsrats again?" just has me like

[al-luviec]

Morro design + a ton of notes.

[vamp-a-day]

day 58

Vampire cookie as Pure Vanilla, designed by strangermask on discord!

[kaythefloppa]

Enough time has passed to where I think we can openly admit how WK has gone through seasonal rot within its previous 2 seasons and how the hype of Season 7 along with the generally positive reception is a really green flag for the show's quality.

[theblackcatmasque]

TERRY, SWEET SWEET TERRY!!! CLAUDIA BABY GIRL! GO! GO ON THAT JOURNEY AND DO WHAT YOU GOTTA DO TO START HEALING! SWEET TREE BOI HAS GOT YOUR BACK AND HE'S NOT GOING ANYWHERE!

[thecranekick]

˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗

[redmyeyes]

superstition

for @wincestwednesdays

On bad nights, Dean takes the car out.  There's no memorial, no resting place, so.

He tried a picture once. After the crossroads but before the third breakdown. A therapist of a friend of Lisa's boss suggested it. Which means his level of fucked-up was enough to warrant four degrees of casual-aquaintance separation. My friend's co-worker's bf is a real mess. Lost his brother, poor guy. Any suggestions? 

Pretty impressive, if he does say so himself. 

So, the picture. You speak to a picture of, of the loved one, she phrased it. Tell them all the things you meant to tell them. You know.

Dean couldn't do it. Can't do it. The one picture he has of Sam is tucked safely away in a cigar box in the trunk, but he can't, still, bring himself to look at it, no matter how old and faded or unfamiliar or different from the way he looked when he—

When.

People think the legend of the crossroads is superstition. What they don't know is, they're right. And wrong at the same time. Started as superstition. Demons just got wind of it, and started taking advantage.

Sometimes you can make a superstition real, if enough people believe. 

That's what he tells Sam in the dark, when he's driven so far out into nowhere on a moonless night that he can almost pretend the shadows to his right engulf a missing person.  Like they're working a case. Like Sam will turn to him in the dark and say, Maybe it's just about finding the right demon to apply pressure, and he'll feel the heat of Sam's breath as the words come or he'll see Sam gesture with his ginormohands out of the corner of his eye. 

Well. Those days when Dean could still pretend are long past, so he mostly just sits silent now.  He's not delusional.  But this is sacred. This ritual. This… communion. Sitting in the dark on the hood with a whiskey.  Talking or not talking. 

Most days, Dean thinks this is the only thing keeping him sane. 

He takes two deep pulls of whiskey, and starts choking when one hits the wrong way. "I am not, shut up," he mutters around a cough. 

So much effort to keep putting one foot in front of the other; he doesn't know how people do it. He needs a project, something all-consuming enough to take his mind off— take his mind out. 

He's trying.  He's trying to put in the same effort to taking care of Ben, to the work, to Lisa, to friendship. All of these half-measures to replace one person and it doesn't come close.  Like filling in blanks with stick figure drawings of a copy of a copy of a picture. 

"Not replacing, you know what I mean," he says to the air.  

"I am trying though, I—"  Another swig of whiskey, it always takes him a minute to warm up to it.  "Today was a bad day, Sammy.  Guess they're all bad days but—"  Dean shakes his head.  He's careful to stay on his side of the hood, to keep staring straight ahead, or up at the stars.  They used to get like this sometimes, whiskey-loosened lips and the dark and the one person in the world who'll actually get what you're saying right there next to you…

"You remember that time in, uh— I dunno, Ohio I think. You woulda been about ten, eleven.  Same age as Ben.  Actually, you probably don't remember.  Woulda been one of a thousand to you, but— I remember it. So clearly, man.  First time I—"  A gulp of whiskey.  "You were out.  Me and Dad were off on a quick recon and got back—quicker than you expected I guess—and you were gone.  This was before Flagstaff, before things got real bad between you and him.  You snuck into the movies or some shit, or maybe you were at the arcade, I don't know. 

"I remember your face when you came in.  You were—happy.  Like, light.  Like a kid. Like, you didn't even get what was about to go down.  Didn't bother sneaking in 'cause you thought you'd done nothing wrong, and Dad was— " He huffs. "You don't need me to tell you how he was, 'cause he always was.  But you started arguing like the stubborn ass you always were.  Are.  And— Sammy, I remember the way you looked at me. Like— pleading for help or backup or— no, not pleading. Like— betrayal. Like I betrayed you. I— I don't know why that stuck with me. That stupid moment from when you were ten, when we've had shit a million times more serious gone down since then."

Dean's silent for a moment, and when he starts speaking again he's forced to clear his throat.

"I kept thinking... if he would just obey.  If he would just listen, just— shut up, sometimes. Just let Dad talk. As if that— was something of value. But you never could.  Always had to have your say, always stood up to him, and I didn't back you up and I kept not backing you up with Dad, and maybe if I'd done better you wouldn'ta left for Stanford in the first place, even though, I dunno man, maybe we were always destined to end up here anyway, but—"  

He cuts himself off and gets his breathing back under control.  Another swallow of whiskey, craving the burn in his throat.

"I saw that same look on Ben's face today.  From me.  He was scared of me, looking at me like— just like you used to look at Dad. Except without your piss-ass stubbornness. " A moment passes before he continues, his voice strained. "It's not just me here, Sammy.  I mean, you begged me to do this. To live this life, and I'm trying, I am, but— it's not just me, okay?  Lisa and Ben, they— you know. I was so messed up when I knocked on their door I'm shocked she didn't call the cops. I came to them. Because you wanted me to and they took me in and now they're just there, suffering, because I can't get my shit together and—"

His gut wrenches. It's a long time before he can speak again, and he has to uncurl himself to do it.

He takes a breath in.

And out.

Sam used to do this when—

Sam used to do this.

"Okay, yeah. Maybe that's a cop-out.  Maybe I just don't—"

He cuts himself off again and sighs, banging his head lightly against the windshield.  He survived forty years in Hell, you'd think he could do Suburbia.

"It's different.  Hell was survivable because I was there to keep you alive."  Not strictly true.  He tries again.  "Hell was… I thought you were okay.  I thought you were okay, and that made it worth something. And even when it wasn't, it was so intense that I— couldn't think.  Couldn't.   And that was a blessing."

I'm not strong enough for this, Sammy.  Not without you.

He can't say those words aloud yet.  To do that would be to admit— too much.

"I don't know how long I can keep doing this," he whispers instead.

Even that admission… it's enough.  For now.  It's enough to get him through the next however many days until things get so bad that he needs to come out here again.  Sam's silence feels like acceptance, and Dean breathes it in.

He's not resigned. Not yet, anyway.  He still hasn't given up hope that there's some way to get Sam out.  But, he knows, the moment that last shred dies is the moment he goes with it.

Until then, he'll keep talking to the dark.

"Call it superstition," he says.

[raayllum]

i'm gonna get my broyals angst / ezran feels abandoned arc aren't i?

[spinjitsuburst]

i just discovered the existence of the Nadakhan Thrash Metal Lullaby Quiz after watching a Ninjago Iceberg video and i'm crying why is this so funny