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honey-mumbled-hymns · 4 months ago

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"art isn't art until someone says it is." "IT'S ART!" - Mona Lisa Smile, 2003

This is my first little post on here so, take it easy on me. please.

A couple months ago I was watching Mona Lisa Smile (I'm an educator and got bit by the School Film Bug and this is one of my favorites) when I suddenly thought, "Gosh, I wish someone would have added in a little gay sub plot."

And it hit me. Maybe someone did!

I cannot be the only person on this earth that looked at Betty and Giselle and went, "yea, that would make a KILLER enemies to lover story!"

And, dear reader, I was not alone!

I logged onto AO3 and BAM! There it was... well there were only 6 but there they were! Real, written and (as far as I am aware) completed works on my favorite little pairing in my favorite little teacher film.

And I read them all in one sitting. I have no self restraint.

And I told my partner, "You know what, I will make a tumblr and I will review these 6 fics as my first real post!" That was months ago and today felt like a good day to make that happen!

Disclaimer to all: I am not someone who considers themself a "great writer/reviewer" but I will say that I enjoy consuming media, especially movies. And I enjoy thinking about how to make things gayer SOOooo, here we are!

Let's do this thing!

I do not want to rank these as I review. I did at first but in doing so I felt like I was doing these all a disservice? It would feel like I was pitting them against one another and these is so little wlw things in media that to rate fanfic against one another feels... bad? haha so here we go.

!!SPOILERS FOR THESE FICS UP AHEAD!! (you've been warned)

In order of links as they pop up in the search:

#1 - Future Homemakers of America (100 Words)

This fic is 100 words and it BROKE me yall... I was devastated by the last little paragraph. I mean even the summary kills me. I did think a lot about the movie, The Hours, when reading this for some reason... (I know the reason, I'm just going to get sad and will not elaborate ha!) Overall, great for 100 words!

#2 - Not All Who Wander Are Aimless (3,478 Words)

This is 7 chapters of Betty coming to terms with who she is and it is done... SO artfully! I love reading about her being imperfect and trying to change despite how her mother raised her. Powerful and beautiful! This one has spicy scenes, nothing too smutty if I remember correctly! The comp het is also so real ah. The way it is written/formatted, is also very well done. It feels more like you're reading a poem than a fic and I really enjoyed that. The voice in it draws you in, ah!

#3 - The Spark of Enduring Flame (2,584 Words)

Oh this one is a little steamy, haha. I enjoyed this one more for the setting and pace of it all! Having them get cold during a snow storm is a classic little rom-com moment and I was all here for it! The smut is small but it is there and it is gentle. Also, the opening line and then the candles being done after their night, p o e t r y.

#4 - Repentance (1,065 words)

A very different twist here. Betty taking on Spencer in court is just what I needed after those credits rolled! No relationship for Betty and Giselle BUT we do have Giselle getting a partner and still being a steady friend for Betty, and that's still solid! The mention of Amanda Armstrong (first but not last in our list of fics) was exciting and then got real sad. Having Betty go to apologize at her grave for what she did to her feels like a good step for Betty.

#5 - The Girls in No. 8 (3,377 Words)

OKAY, this one charmed me so much haha. The author has a series where they are telling stories in this apartment building and (if I remember correctly) have some OCs they add in. In this one, Betty and Giselle move in across this apartment of Nurses and they all think the two girls are dating. Anyways, Amanda Armstrong shows up at one point and it just ties everything together in a way I never expected?! I was so charmed and pleasantly surprised by the setting and the back and forth between the apartments. A genuinely fun read! (Also, the author has another smaller fic about Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada, being the lady that hires Angel, from RENT, to play until the dog jumps and that was silly and a crossover I didn't expect but made sense aha!)

#6 - Calico Girl (5,401 Words)

This one threw me a bit, I wont lie, but it led to a whole new ship for me haha. The premise is really interesting and follows Giselle getting a crush on an OC the author made. Now, this I will admit is my own bias, but if I was putting an OC into a fic, I would have her fall in love with the character I had picked from the show. I was a bit thrown when all the build up between Giselle and the OC ended sour. The build up of community and realization is still really good and worth the read because then we get Giselle and Connie?! And, honestly, I'm upset I didn't consider it until I read this one... cuz now, like what if I find more fics under that pair?! ah, it is still gorgeously written and broken up into small sections that keep drawing you in. So worth the read. Also, the kiss Connie gets is the best ha!

AND THAT DOES IT, I think...

I really just wanted to share some thoughts. And I did, so I'm done? I might do this again if I find another pair with less then 10 fics to their name haha.

Please give the movie a watch if you haven't seen it! It really is one of my favorite teacher movies. I watch it at least once a year and can't get enough of it. The soundtrack is also so good! Tori Amos is on it, iconic.

Anyways, thanks for reading this, if you read the fics, let me know what you think!

#ao3 fanfic #fanfics #mona lisa smile #betty warren & giselle levy #fanfiction review

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peachy-anon · 3 years ago

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EPILOGUE // EXPOSITION

It’s been a long two years. Peachy first arrived in TrashFoundation in early 2020; they were only 12, they still went by she/her pronouns, and they were somehow painfully naive, despite approximately 6 years of losing everyone you know and love. It is currently 2022, and Peachy turned 15 last month. Nashari is older, too. She turned 18 recently.

Peachy finds themself ruminating on TrashFoundation. They’re still having problems accepting what happened. They’re still processing all that trauma. And all the trauma that came before it, too.

..Might as well do a late night therapy session on themself, right? It’ll give them something to talk about in therapy next week.

Nobody knows what happened to them during Peachy (Unbound); least of all Peachy themself. They have a suspicion that Greenie had something to do with it, but Greenie is gone. They’ve been gone for at least a few months now.

…Peachy is still coming to terms with the fact they’ll probably never see anyone from the TrashFoundation universe ever again. Smiley went inactive long before they left. The main blog went on indefinite hiatus that’ll likely be permanent. Flamey and Areli and so many others left a long time ago.

And they have a feeling that PeachyMun’s attention has drifted from the SCP fandom. That it’s drifted away for a while.

It’s a natural part of their world. Of course it is. PeachyMun grows attached to something that’s just media to them at first, and then they accidentally bring (or at least help to bring) that media to life. It happened with MultiTale, it happened with Brawl Stars (that’s how Peachy really got created), and it happened with TrashFoundation.

Really, if it weren’t for PeachyMun being so used to meta stuff, nobody would’ve ever known about the muns.

And Peachy wouldn’t of gone unbound.

But they suppose they can’t complain. If it weren’t for the metaness of everything, they wouldn’t be the person they are today. Nobody would.

Peachy sometimes thinks that maybe the moon incident was a defining character moment, along side Peachy going unbound. If anything, it deeply affected their psyche.

And, of course, Smiley kind of went unbound. If you think about it deeply enough, the incident with the archives was an unbound event of some kind.

Heh. Smiley (Unbound). Sounds kind of like a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts, knowing the circumstances that made them start existing in the first place.

They miss Smiley. Smiley was nice to them. Smiley was family to them. They regret never telling them.

It wasn’t Smiley’s fault that Peachy had to be killed. Not in their mind.

…Peachy wishes that they were around for the Harmony raid. It was something they missed out on, one of the only major events since their joining that they never got involved in. But, their mun was busy that day, if they’re remembering right, so they were forced to forgo participation.

They wonder what would’ve went differently if they had gotten to participate after all.

And speaking of things gone differently.

..It’s funny, really. A while back, in thoughts only shared privately, thoughts that might not of happened here, when they weren’t thinking quite clearly, they blamed Lovet. But really, that’s kind of illogical. What could be blamed, but circumstance? It was selfish of them, really. The butterfly cannot be held accountable for the hurricane, so Lovet cannot be held accountable for the disaster of March 1st 2020. It’s not the butterfly’s fault for flying. The butterfly couldn’t of known what would transpire in it’s flight. There is no blame on the butterfly.

And there is none on them for March 1st 2020, either.

Or maybe there is. Who knows.

Certainly not Peachy.

Peachy gets out of their own head, and looks at the alarm clock.

9:35 PM.

Next to the clock is a pin. It says “they/them” on it. It has flowers as it’s backdrop, and the text is written in orange.

Peachy is enrolled in a normal high school, or as normal as it can be in a universe like this. It’s summer, so they don’t technically need to sleep, but…

Well, no, they do. It’s good for their health.

They should go to bed.

…

So, they do.

#trashfoundation

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teacupfulofstarshine · 4 years ago

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pattonella part 13: kingdom alert: the princes are fiiiiiiiightiiiiiiiing!

cw: mentions of injury/infection/illness, mentions of death, arguing, overworking, parental figures who are not the best

wordcount: ~3.3k

part 1 // part 2 // part 3 // part 4 // part 5 // part 6 // part 7 // part 8 // part 9 // part 10 // part 11 // part 12 // read it on ao3!!

virgil stays in the infirmary for almost a week after he first wakes up.

he spends a lot of his time sleeping, since he’s too weak to do anything else. for the first few days of wakefulness, he barely has the strength to squeeze logan’s and patton’s hands when they hold them. despite his barely-open eyes, he smiles every time he sees them.

“i’m sorry,” he says once, voice raspy and hoarse. patton tilts his head in confusion.

“why are you apologizing?”

“for scaring you. i came home unconscious . . . on logan’s horse . . . and you didn’t know . . . what was happening . . . i’m sorry . . .” his chest heaves slightly with effort, and patton leans in to brush his hair out of his eyes.

“it’s not your fault. you saved roman’s life, vee, you saved everyone. you all came home alive, and that’s all i can ask for.” virgil smiles at him, eyes half-open, and yawns. “are you tired, vee?”

“‘m always tired lately.”

“that’s normal,” emile says, carrying over a large teapot. “you expended an enormous amount of magic when you were fighting. your body is trying to recover that energy; that’s why you’re sleeping so much. this tea helps you recover your energy as well, so keep drinking.”

virgil makes a face at the cup of tea emile has in his hands, but he still lets patton help him sit up. he takes the tea and sips at it gently, blowing off the cloud of steam. emile dips a washcloth into a pail of cool water, wrings it out, and drapes it across virgil’s forehead, removing the old cloth that has grown warm.

“is logan going to visit today?” virgil asks.

“prince logan said he would stop by after attending to his duties at court,” emile says. “remy will be back in a little while, he’s attending to the king.” a somber tone falls over the infirmary at the mention of the king.

“what . . . exactly is wrong with the king?” patton asks. “we know that he’s sick, of course, but - but we have no idea what’s actually wrong with him. do you know? are - are you allowed to tell us?”

emile exhales, nodding slowly. “the king was injured in battle. he hid it because -”

“he’s a self-righteous idiot and a coward,” remy mutters, shoving the infirmary door shut behind him. emile’s face brightens when he sees his husband, dimming when he sees how pale and drawn remy looks. “he didn’t want to worry people, so instead of letting me treat his injury and having a recovery time of maybe two weeks, he hid it until it got infected and then he hid the infection until he collapsed and now it’s so far gone that there’s nothing i can do to heal him. it’s killing him from the inside out.”

“the king will die?” patton asks.

“we all die eventually,” remy says, “but it’s true that the king is ailing more swiftly than most. i’d say he has . . . three years left to live, at most.” emile reaches up and gently kisses remy’s cheek, pressing his face into his shoulder.

“there’s a reason the rush is on to get thomas officially named crown prince,” emile says. “if he does not bear the official title when the king passes on, there will be a power struggle.”

“why? thomas is the eldest prince. roman and logan would never stand in his way of becoming king, would they?”

“no, but without an official heir appointed, it is possible that anyone with a connection to the royal bloodline, however small, could present themself as heir apparent. it would take months, perhaps even years to sort through the muck and mire of all that inherently political bullshit, which would derail the peace and prosperity of this kingdom. it is imperative that thomas is officially named the crown prince before the king dies.”

“do we have to be married for thomas to be named crown prince?” patton asks. “is an engagement enough to satisfy the law?”

“unfortunately, no. engagements can be made and broken at the drop of a hat, but a marriage is not so easily annulled. the wedding ceremony must be completed before thomas can be named crown prince.”

“i think that’s a stupid rule,” patton mutters. virgil laughs softly, and patton squeezes his hand.

“the most likely scenario at this point is a triple function.”

“a what?”

“logan and roman will have a double wedding to the two of you, and then once the wedding ceremony is completed, thomas will immediately be officially named crown prince. that way, no matter what happens, the kingdom will be secured.”

“and then we party?” patton asks. remy laughs.

“yeah, babes. and then we party.”

*~*~*~*~*

“everything alright?”

logan jumps three feet into the air at the sudden noise, whirling around to see roman behind him, hand raised as though he was about to lower it onto his shoulder. “take a deep breath, lo, it’s just me.” logan presses a hand to his chest, exhaling sharply.

“you startled me, roman. please do not do that.” roman rolls his eyes, bumping his shoulder against logan’s as he steps towards the window logan’s been pensively staring out of. “can i be of assistance?”

“do you know any good smiths?”

logan hums, clasping his hands behind his back. “you spend far more time consorting with the villagers than i, roman. if anyone were to possess such information, it would be you.”

“yeah, but you spend all your time with the tax records and shit, i figured you’d know.”

logan frowns. “what is all this about, roman?”

roman looks at him, and logan realizes he’s been crying. “roman -”

“i went to see father.”

logan wants to swear. “roman, i thought we agreed to go together if we went -”

“we did! but i saw remy going to treat him, so i followed him, and when the door opened he saw me and he beckoned me inside and what was i gonna do, say no to the king?”

“what did he say to you?”

“he asked me if i was married yet.”

“and you told him?”

“no, but i have a partner.”

“what did he say?”

“‘that’s not good enough, roman,’” roman grouses, dropping his voice into a gruff imitation of their father’s. “'you of all people should understand how imperative it is that there is no issue with succession. thomas must be named my heir and become crown prince before i shuffle off this mortal coil -’”

“don’t talk about father’s death like that,” logan snaps.

“and how else should i talk about it, logan? father has been dying for years. and he’s making me rush my relationship with patton just so that thomas can get the official version of a title we all know he has!”

“father does not want to die without officially naming an heir. i understand that.”

“you really think someone’s going to be stupid enough to challenge thomas’s birthright?”

“it will not hurt to be prepared. you are responding irrationally.”

“right, because you’ve never done anything irrational in your life, logan, like riding into battle with no backup and no plan because your stupid magic boyfriend thinks i can’t take care of myself! what does he know, anyway? he doesn’t know anything about me or us or -”

“virgil saved your life,” logan says, voice low and thunderous. he takes a step forward, then another, and roman takes a step backward, then another. “if it wasn’t for his vision, you would have died . many more people would have been injured or killed if he had not come when he did. or did you forget the fact that he fell into a coma because he expended so much magic saving you? healing you? keeping you alive?” roman flinches away from his anger, and logan can’t bring himself to care.

“logan, i -”

“this conversation is over,” logan says, voice icy and cold. “i will see you at dinner, prince roman. send a servant if you have need of me.” he turns around and stalks down the hallway, footsteps sharp and precise against the stone floor. he hears roman throw a punch at something behind him, but he doesn’t call out, and logan doesn’t turn around.

*~*~*~*~*

“lord san - patton?”

patton looks up from the basket of yarn he’s picking through to see nate standing in the doorway, fidgeting with the hem of his tunic. “nate! come in!”

“you have a visitor,” nate says. he sounds oddly formal, and patton tilts his head in confusion. “sir claire, knight of the kingdom, second in command to his royal highness prince roman, requests an audience.”

“oh! um . . . send her in, sure!” patton remembers her riding just behind logan and roman when they’d returned from battle, but he’s never actually spoken to her.

nate steps into the hallway and murmurs something, and then claire steps in. she’s not wearing full armor, but there’s leather wrapped around her forearms and legs, and her hair is tied up in a knot atop her head. she’s panting slightly, face shining with sweat, as though she’s just come from the training grounds.

“lord sanders,” she says, bowing to him. patton stands up, not sure if he’s supposed to curtsy back at her or not, but as he’s gathering the material of his dress claire continues speaking. “i would request something of you, lord sanders.”

“um . . . okay! is it something you need from roman?”

“it actually concerns his highness prince roman.”

“is he hurt? is he alright?”

claire shakes her head. “i believe he had an . . . altercation with his highness prince logan earlier. prince roman came to the training grounds two hours ago, and he has been putting any guard he can through rigorous dueling. he’s finally exhausted his supply of human opponents, and he has been hacking away at training dummies for the past thirty minutes. his hands shake with exhaustion, but nothing i do or say convinces him to stop and rest. i worry he may pass out from heat or over exertion or -”

patton wrings his hands nervously, and claire takes a deep breath. “i do not mean to alarm you, lord sanders. i merely thought perhaps, as you are beloved of prince roman, you might accompany me to the training grounds and convince him to rest, if only briefly?”

“of course,” patton says. “nate, go to the kitchens, get some cold water, as much as you can carry, and some sort of snack. cheese, maybe? and nuts? something to get roman’s strength up. meet me on the training grounds.”

“at once, lord sanders,” nate says, bowing his head respectfully to patton and claire before sprinting out into the hall. patton slips his shoes on and follows claire out to the training ground.

“how long have you and roman known each other?”

“the prince and i entered knighthood training at the same time. were he not the prince, i suspect i may have been picked for captain of the guard, but i am not stupid. i know the ways of the kingdom. the third prince, should there be one, becomes captain of the guard, leader of the knights. prince roman has the skills to back the position up, at least. he is the only person who has ever bested me in combat.”

“it sounds like you really like him.”

“i admire and respect him greatly. it pains me to see him like this.”

“i’ll get him to calm down,” patton says. “what was he fighting with logan about?”

“it is unclear to me, lord sanders, but it distressed him.”

“you can just call me patton, if you want!”

“that is very kind of you, lord - patton.”

the stone walls of the castle keep it cool, even in the warmth of summer, so patton had chosen a dress with a long skirt made of lighter fabric. the minute he steps foot outside, he can feel himself starting to sweat. claire, wearing training clothes and leather guards, doesn’t seem bothered at all, so patton pretends that he isn’t, either.

he can hear sounds of exertion before they even reach the arena. patton gathers the fabric of his skirt up into his hands so that it doesn’t drag along the dusty ground as claire opens the gates to the training arena for him. roman is surrounded by a series of training dummies, stuffed with straw and carrying crude replica weapons. roman is shouting and grunting as he throws himself at the training dummies.

“his strokes are sloppy,” claire says. patton doesn’t know anything about fighting, but he sort of sees what she means. he’s watched roman train before; he usually keeps all his limbs close to his body, watching with narrowed eyes and striking with quick, precise movements in rapid succession. this looks like a hurricane given human form. roman’s limbs flail wildly, his chest is heaving, and his hair is matted with sweat.

patton hurries across the arena floor. “roman!”

roman whirls around, holding his sword out, but his arms are shaking and the tip of the blade drops down into the dust. “patton?” he pants.

“ro, sweetheart, how long have you been out here?”

“not - not long, i don’t . . .” roman drives the tip of his sword into the arena floor and leans on it heavily. patton lets his skirts fall down around his ankles again as he reaches out to take roman’s arm and help support him.

“come sit with me, ro, okay? come on. come sit down.” roman doesn’t protest, quietly staggering over to the wooden benches lining the arena. patton moves slowly to allow roman to shuffle along at his side, carefully helping roman sit down. “claire said you’ve been here for hours, ro.”

roman sighs. “so she sent you to come reign me in?”

“she sent me out here to ask you to take a break. she’s worried about you. so am i.”

“i’m just training. that’s my job, patton.”

“you’re destroying yourself,” patton says firmly. “what happened?”

roman stares off at the horizon. patton doesn’t pressure him to talk, gently leaning his head against his shoulder. after about ten minutes of sitting in silence, roman finally says, “lo and i got in a fight.”

“a fight?”

“i went to see father today. we had an agreement with the two of us and thomas that we wouldn’t go see him on our own. he can be a bit . . . intense. and lo and i got into an argument, and . . . he used my full title. he never uses that unless he’s super pissed off. and like, i’m pissed at him too! he was being an asshole! but . . . so was i, i guess . . .”

nate approaches, setting down a pitcher of water, two cups, and a basket of bread and cheese and nuts. roman shoves a hunk of cheese in his mouth as patton pours them both water and nods his thanks to nate. roman downs a glass and a half of water before staring off again, eyes unfocused.

patton hums, reaching out to set his hand on roman’s knee. “do you wanna talk about it?”

roman hesitates for a moment, swirling the water in his cup around, and then he does.

*~*~*~*~*

“are you going to tell me what you’re brooding about?”

“i do not brood,” logan grouses.

“are you going to tell me why you’re pouting, then?”

“i do not pout either.” logan pouts at virgil, who bites his lower lip to keep from laughing. logan continues to pout as he gently picks up a clay teapot and pours virgil another cup of the magic-replenishing tea. virgil wraps his hands around logan’s as he takes the cup, and logan’s face smoothes into a small smile.

“i . . . had a disagreement with roman, earlier.”

“i don’t like the way you’re saying disagreement.”

“he saw our father.” virgil, sitting up to sip at his tea, pauses as logan’s hands ball into fists.

“how is he?”

“our father? the same as always. asking about if we’re married yet so he can name thomas crown prince and die already.” virgil winces, and logan sighs. “forgive me, my love. our father . . . he is constantly rushing our lives. he would have had us wed to anyone, regardless of feelings, so that thomas could have his position as crown prince secured. thomas fought for us to have a chance at happiness, hence the ball for roman’s birthday. our father gave in, but he is . . . irritated that we have not yet wed.”

“would it make things easier if we got married?” virgil says. logan reaches out and takes one of his hands.

“i am not going to rush you or have roman rush patton because of our father’s succession issues. you are more than a political bargaining chip to me, virgil. you are . . .” logan’s cheeks and ears flush pink, and virgil can’t hide the besotted smile on his face as he watches logan’s gaze fix on a specific point over his shoulder. “you are invaluable to me. you are incredibly precious. i will not have you feeling like a pawn to be manipulated when you are - you are so much more than that to me.” virgil’s gaze slides to the black chess queen, propped neatly on the nightstand where he can see it.

“you’re important to me, too, l.”

“roman was insinuating that we were irrational for running into battle to save him. he was implying that you are - are stupid or something, that you don’t know things, when without you he would be dead and we would have suffered innumerable casualties! that fool, what was he thinking , he -”

“you were worried about him,” virgil says.

“roman is capable. he does not require worrying about, so he likes to say.” logan scoffs.

“you’re his big brother, lo. you were going to worry no matter what happened. i worry about patton no matter what, and i bet thomas worries about you and roman no matter what. that’s just what brothers do.”

logan pulls his hands into his lap, fidgeting with his fingers. “i . . . suppose i should apologize to him.”

“hey, if he was being a jackass, he should apologize to you, too.” logan leans in and gently presses a kiss to virgil’s cheek. virgil makes a very undignified squeaking noise that he will deny vehemently to anyone else.

*~*~*~*~*

“logan?”

“roman.”

“i . . . uh . . . ‘m sorry. i didn’t, uh . . . mean to insult virgil, or . . . or imply that he’s stupid. i know his magic takes a lot out of him, and i know he . . . he really used a lot when you guys came to save us. i just . . . i don’t like feeling like the stupid kid brother you all have to chase after, you know?”

“i find that i owe you an apology as well, roman. i was, perhaps, unnecessarily harsh on you when last we spoke. i felt that someone had to defend virgil’s . . . honor is not quite the right word, but it is the closest i have.”

“i can take care of myself, you know.”

“i know, roman. but when virgil burst into the throne room and told us that he had seen you being slain . . . after the truth of his prediction with my horse incident, thomas and i were understandably distraught. we always fear the worst when you ride out into battle, and virgil seemed to be implying that those worst fears would be realized.”

“i get that. and i . . . i am grateful, for what he did. for what you did.”

“i know.”

“father just . . . rattled me.”

“i confess that i am irked as well. he has been ill for years, and remy is confident that he is not on death’s doorstep despite his illness. there is no reason for him to be so insistent on this marriage. patton and virgil are more than just marriage partners.”

“i love him, lo. i - even if i didn’t have to, i would want to marry him.”

“i share the sentiment.”

“. . . i do love you, lo. even if you’re an annoying big brother sometimes.”

“and i love you as well, despite your constant annoying younger brother status.”

“hey!”

(patton, hiding in the hallway, giggles and scurries off to the hospital wing.)

#starshinewrites #sanders sides cinderella!au #pattonella!au #romantic analogical #romantic royality #platonic TLAMP

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optimismrpt · 6 years ago

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hello! i have followed so many of your groups and i've always admired how well you structure and plan your plots. i feel like many groups these days get buoyed up on an idea but fail to make it past the first event. can you explain just how you plan out a plot, how your structure that plot progression, and any advice/practicalities on how to build a full narrative into a plot that has a definite start/end and can come full circle? any advice you have would be so amazing. thank you for your time!

Okay first off wow, thank you so so much! I try my best and I put A LOT of work into the rps I run. And it’s true it is very hard to get part the first two weeks, and even I, with all my structure and planning, falter sometimes! But sometimes things work out! And below the cut I have put some of my plotting tactics and strategies.

First off you need an objective in mind, something concrete that your character need to do, achieve, or get.

For example:

The team must find and kill Vronsky.

The team must relight the beacon.

The team must track down the war fugitive and bring him in for trial.

The passengers must discover who the murderer is.

I take inspiration from shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender which had a clear plot and timeline in mind from the very start. Ex. Aang must master the four elements and defeat Ozai before the comet.

And I take warning from shows like Supernatural: Dean and Sam hunt monsters for seemingly the rest of eternity.

One of these has a strong ending that will bring peace and resolution to watchers because it fulfills the starting goal. The other will go on and on until eventually people lose interest or they end in a ridiculous and contrived deus ex machina. (Not to get too off topic but if Supernatural had ended at season 5 it would have been an example of a good plot arc).

This is the problem I see a lot of rps facing. The plot is: weird town is weird. Or people do bad things for bad reasons. And there is no structure to it - nowhere to go. Start with the end in mind.

But I get it, sometimes simple can be fun! And not everything has to last for months!

Here’s what I do to plot my rps: plot point A to point B.

Point A: The very beginning of the rp. I like to set this within a month of the characters meeting each other, so they’ve known each other long enough t o have first impressions as well as know what they have signed up for whether it be a mission or a quest.

Example Point A: The team met in the capitol city three weeks ago and have been planning and packing for the long journey ahead. Today they exit the gates and start their quest.

Point B: the very end of the rp. This includes the climax and the resolution. You need to know if you want your team to be successful or not and you should have at least a vague idea how they ‘save the day’.

Example Point B: The team arrives at the top of the Great Mountain, are tested by the guardians and relight the beacon. With hope restored to the land they part ways, changed forever. The princes and crowned and the couples marry.

Once you know point A and point B you need obstacles. Obstacles can be people, monsters, the weather, the landscape, an event, and so on! This is what Joseph Campbell would call ‘The Road of Trials’ and like any classic myth it involves circumstances getting int he way of progress. These must be overcome. I view each obstacle as a plot drop and usually write about 6 to 12.

Here is the plot outline I wrote for my latest completed private rp @questbegunrp. It’s quite long so If you don’t want to read it scroll past the italic.

Plot:

Leaving the city - the team rides out and away from anderos’ capital city where they first met. This is the first week so it’s pretty much just a time for everyone to do initial threads and get started.

Plains of Anderos - while riding across the plains of anderos towards baine the group is attacked by wargs. They must fight off the giant feral animals, protect each other and their horses (and the dog).

Wrongly accused - the team make it out of the forest and into the kingdom of ironhaust. They stop at a small town and enjoy the moment in civilization. But one among them is framed for a crime and a mob attempts to hunt down the innocent team member. The team must save their friend from the gallows. Now is the time to lay low recuperate and gather information on what Wulf is accused of

Lost forest of Baine- The team finally arrives at the border of the entlands. They find that it is disorienting and filled with a thick fog. They must navigate through the confusing and threatening environment. ( view of the past )

Ruins - the team find the lost city of baine, now in a state of crumbling ruins. They decide to make camp there for the night but are force to fight when a group of bandits attacks and takes rosalyn hostage. The team must get her back.

Bridge - The team is attacked by a group of goblins just before they are about to cross the ‘blackfire gorge’. They choose to run hoping that they can cross the long wooden bridge in time to make is safely to the other side and some of them do. But the other are trapped by a flaming arrow and the bridge snaps. Six party members are left on the edge and six tumble to the river - swept away to the mines.

Mines- While the fallen half of the team nearly drowns after falling into the river and being swept into the underground dwarven watermills they safely arrive on a bank. This team struggles with injury and a lack of direction. While the other half of the tema enters the mines and searches desperately for their friends. Just as the leave they are attacked by living shadows.

Refuge - the team is reunited and with the help of their new guide they make their way to the remains of a onc great dwarven city. It is empty now but the wanderer has been maintaining it. This is the time for the team to express their feelings to each other as their destination grows near.

( Cemetery - Seer ( a view into their future ) the team arrives at a cemetery near the edge of the mountain. While there they meet two strangers: a wizened seer and a young man. The seer offers to show the team visions of their future.

Maze - a labrightn of stone and vine surrounds the base of the mountain, built by magic. There is no climbing over it so the team must navigate the maze together. But that isn’t the most difficult part: there is a Wyrm that live sin the maze. It can only see movement but if it finds the team it will eat whoever it can catch.

Statues of judgement - the final threshold. Living statues demand that each member of the team prove they are worthy of going to the final resting place of the council. Each team member must make a case for themself and for one other person.

Relighting the beacon

Resolution

Some of these ended up being cut but for the most part we got through this plot all the way to the resolution!

It is important to remember that a rp plot is like a growing, living thing. You do not have full control and you never can. Sometimes your members will do something with their character that will change the plot. Sometimes members leave and there is a huge blank space that you need to fill. You have to be willing to twist and mold the narrative to fill in blanks and meet the needs of your players. And that can be really really difficult.

For more information of how I run my skeleton rps check these two guides PART ONE and PART TWO.

#guide !#rpc #rpt #rph #rpo #rpa #how rigby runs a roleplay #advice !#rigby gives advice !#asked and answered !

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thatonekawaiigirl13 · 7 years ago

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Who Said Death Was Easy? [Death Note] Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve: Unraveling

Keiko’s POV:

Keiko followed closely behind her boyfriend as he stepped out of the hospital’s elevator. Her stomach was in knots. The night before, after Matsuda had finished taking her home, she had received a phone call from Light, explaining how he heard his father recently had suffered a heart attack. Keiko didn’t have the heart to tell him that she unfortunately witnessed it as it was happening.

Instead, she didn’t say a single word, and just continued listening to Light. He further told her that he had attempted to try and visit him in the hospital, only to be turned down by the nurse who insisted that visiting hours were over, no matter how hard he had tried to persuade her to bend the rules for him.

Light then mentioned that he wanted to try and visit him again that day, and asked if Keiko wanted to tag along with him. That way, he wouldn’t have to go alone, and his father would finally be able to meet his girlfriend, which Light explained he hoped would make his father happy.

Keiko also didn’t have the heart to explain to her boyfriend that she had already met his father a while ago, almost two months ago, to be exact. While she knew that it would be risky to go with Light to visit his father, she couldn’t turn down her boyfriend’s request. She would have felt too guilty had she said no to him, considering that she was secretly spying on him and that she had been there when his father collapsed.

Now, there they were, out of the elevator and heading towards the room where Soichiro Yagami was laying down in his hospital bed. She hoped with all of her might that somehow neither she nor Light’s father would give away the fact that they had already met before. Or the fact that they had been investigating Light together with Ryuzaki and the rest of the Task Force for the past two months.

“Hey, dad,” Light said as the two stepped inside of the hospital room. He took a seat in the chair closest to his father, and Keiko took a seat in the chair right next to his. “I’m really glad to see you’re stable. I was so worried last night, but the nurse insisted I wait until today to visit...so I did...and I hope you don’t mind; I brought a guest with me.”

Keiko watched as Mr. Yagami’s eyes flickered open. His gaze first focused on his son, then drifted over to where she was sitting. There was a blank look on his face which gave away nothing as he stared at her, and she let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Light’s father then coughed a little, and he looked back over at his son. He said, “no, no. That’s fine, Light. Any friend of yours is welcome here. It’s nice that you two came, it was getting rather boring doing nothing here...”

Light chuckled, “I’m sure, but it’s also a good thing that you aren’t doing anything right now, dad. The reason that you’re in here is because you stressed yourself out too hard, hard enough to give yourself a heart attack. You need to take a good break.”

“I suppose that’s true. However, Light, you should know by now, with my line of work, one never gets a break. Crime doesn’t sleep, so neither do I,” Light’s father replied, and focused his attention back onto Keiko, “but I digress. Anyway, who is your friend?”

Light smiled at his father, and Keiko’s heart gave a lurch as he grabbed her hand, interlocking her fingers with his, “actually, dad, she’s more than just a friend of mine…you see, I’ve been meaning to tell you but because you’ve been so busy lately, I never got the chance. This is Keiko Kagami...she’s my girlfriend.”

Keiko watched Mr. Yagami’s carefully, scrutinizing his every move for something that would give away that the two had already been introduced long before. It appeared that Light’s father was quite a good actor so far. Or perhaps he was just too tired to properly show any deep emotion. On second thought, given his father’s personality, she figured it was probably the latter.

Mr. Yagami offered Keiko a half smile, “Keiko-chan, it’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to finally meet you too...I, uh,” she started to say, and almost choked on her next words. She mentally cursed herself for being so dumb and hoped that Light didn’t think she was being suspicious, “um, I heard what happened. How are you feeling?”

“Well, last night wasn’t pretty. However, today I’m feeling much better,” he replied, and turned towards his son, “I’m hoping that they will let me out of here soon.”

“Not too soon, I hope,” Light said, “as I said before, you need to take a good rest.”

Keiko nodded, “yes, Yagami-san, just rest here for a while, and try to clear your head. Your son tells me you work pretty hard, so you deserve it.”

Mr. Yagami looked back over at Keiko, and gave a little sigh, looking defeated. She knew that he wished he could be anywhere else but that hospital. While he was exhausted, he was also clearly restless, but that hospital bed was best place for him at the moment.

The rest of the visit went by pretty fast. Light spent the time telling his father stories about Keiko and him, like how she was over to study with him, how he had officially asked her out, and about how both she and Light had received perfect scores on To-Oh’s entrance exam. All things his father already knew about.

The whole time she sat there, Keiko wished she could just disappear. It was awkward enough working with Light’s father under his nose, but it was even worse sitting there with Light visiting his father and having to pretend she only just met him. She was relieved when the nurse had finally popped in to scold them, saying that visiting hours had been over ten minutes ago.

/timeskip/

Later that evening, Keiko was curled up in her bed, skimming through the different channels on her television, stopping when she heard the word Kira on Sakura T.V.. At the top of the screen she could see there was a banner that read “messages from Kira, in the form of four videos”.

Even though she knew she was supposed to also be taking a break from the investigation, she couldn’t ignore something like this. There was also a chance that it was probably just a hoax but she just couldn’t take that risk.

Keiko decided to keep on watching, grabbing her notebook full of investigation notes and a pen.

“-in other words, all of the reporters and staff here at Sakura T.V. are Kira’s hostages. Aside from that, we have a professional obligation to share this message with you. I assure you that this is not a hoax and that Sakura T.V. is not airing this tape for the purposes of sensationalism,” the news anchor said, and there was a serious look on his face, as well as on the faces of the other news anchors sitting next to him.

He continued on, “a few days ago, our director here at Sakura T.V. received four tapes, and after a thorough examination, there are no doubt that they are from Kira themself. The first tape we received contained a prediction regarding the time of death of two suspected criminals who had recently been arrested. As predicted, at the exact time that Kira had specified, both men died suddenly of heart attacks yesterday morning.”

What? This isn’t like Kira...he’s never pulled a stunt like this before, so why is he doing this now? There’s no way this could be real...could it?

“Kira has instructed us to air this second tape today at exactly 5:59 p.m., and we do intend to comply with his demands. This tape should offer proof of his powers by predicting yet another death. Beyond that, we understand that it contains a message to all the people of the world from Kira….and now, the video.”

There was a shuffling noise heard in the background, but soon, the screen switched over from the news anchors faces’ to a gray background, in the middle of that was the word “Kira” written in gothic letters. As soon as the video started to play, Keiko noticed that it was of pretty poor quality.

“Ah, hem...greetings. I am Kira. If this video is being aired on April 18th at exactly 5:59 p.m. as I requested, then the time now is 5:59… and 47 seconds...48...49...please change the channel to I.O. T.V., news anchor Mr. Kento Tamura will die of a heart attack at exactly 6:00 p.m.”

As soon as the clock near Keiko’s bed turned to 6:00 p.m., she did as “Kira” instructed, and changed channels. She gave a yelp, covering her mouth as, indeed, the news anchor was hunched over in his chair, dead.

Keiko kept on watching. Now that she was sure it wasn’t a hoax, her eyes weren’t going to leave the screen until the broadcast was over. However, once the broadcast was over, she knew exactly where she was headed next, whether she was supposed to be on break or not. She couldn’t rest now, not with this. She quickly changed the channel back, feeling a little sick to her stomach.

On screen, Kira predicted the death of another news anchor, but this time Keiko didn’t change channels. She couldn’t bear to see another news anchor hunched over, and instead waited until he was finished making his predictions.

“Now that you have seen proof of my powers, you should have no trouble believing that I am Kira. People of the world, please listen to me, the last thing I want to do is kill the innocent.”

At this, Keiko couldn’t help but to snort.

“Sure you don’t,” she muttered bitterly. On the inside, her her stomach was churning, and there was a buzzing in her ears. She had to do something about this soon.

“I hate evil and love justice. I have always thought of the police as allies, not enemies. I intend to create a new, perfect world that is free from evil. If you were to join me in my mission, together I know we can make it happen...and as long as no one tries to catch me, the innocent will not be killed. Even if you don’t believe me or my ideals, as long as you do not publicize your views in the media, you will be spared. All you have to do now is be patient. I will create a better world, one that is free from evil, that we can all enjoy. Say goodbye to the world as you know it. Soon we will have a new world, a world only filled with people that are kind and honest....try to imagine it, a world where people can roam the streets, no matter what time, and not have to worry about getting mugged or shot. A world in which no woman will have to worry about being sexually assaulted on the streets after dark. No more robbers, no more murderers...you have to admit, even if you do not support me, this is what an ideal world looks like to you.”

There was a pause, and Keiko gave a sigh. While she could easily say that she would love to live in a world like that, she also knew that such a world could never exist. No matter what, criminals would continue to be born. Also there was the fact that, no matter what, murder was still murder. What Kira was doing was wrong, it didn’t matter how pure he thought his intentions were.

The broadcast wasn’t over yet, but she couldn’t sit for much longer. Especially when she saw that the view switched from the Kira video tape to a video feed taken from a camera outside of the Sakura T.V. building.

“Breaking news!” the news anchor said, “we interrupt the video tapes to bring you news that a police officer that was trying to enter the building has just collapsed, dead on the scene...this is clearly the work of Kira. Is he sending a message to people out there, telling them not to publicly oppose him? Keep watching, and we will continue playing his video soon.”

Her heart felt like it was about to leap out of her chest. In the middle of the screen there was a body lying on the cold, hard pavement in front of Sakura T.V.’s main entrance.

Although she had only known him for almost two months, she still felt the tears threatening to fall from her eyes. Hirokazu Ukita, a dedicated and loyal member of the Task Force, was dead. Her heart ached. She bolted from her bed, and headed towards the hallway outside of her bedroom.

“Keiko-chan!” her mother called after her as she dashed out of her room and towards her front door, “you know there’s no running in the house! What on earth has gotten into you?”

Keiko stopped a moment to explain as she slipped on her tennis shoes and a light spring jacket, “sorry, mom, it’s an emergency. I have to go, I’m not sure when I will be back, so please don’t wait up for me.”

Keiko’s mother, Kotoko Kagami, gave her a strange look, “I see, you’ve been leaving me home alone an awful lot lately. I know you’re usually busy but it’s been even worse as of late...is everything okay?”

“No,” Keiko replied, a hard look on her face, “but hopefully one day, it will be...as I said, don’t wait up for me...I love you, mom.”

With that, she sprinted out of her house and onto the sidewalk. Keiko could hear her mother yelling several things after her, but she didn’t listen. She had only one goal in mind: to get to the Task Force as fast as was humanly possible. Luckily enough, the hotel that the Task Force was staying at this week was only a few blocks away from her own neighborhood, so getting there didn’t take her too long.

However, it was only when she arrived at the door to the hotel room that she realized she had left the key card, which would allow her to enter the room, at home. She resorted to banging on the door, her heart thumping like mad in her chest as she did so.

Keiko could feel herself starting to shake, she was so desperate to get inside, and she knew that she was going to burst if she had to wait any longer. All the emotions she had been holding in up until that point were now spilling out all at once. She had lost her cool composure. Her thoughts were racing. It wasn’t just Ukita’s face that was flickering through her mind, it was also that poor news anchor, and those FBI agents...all of the innocent people who had died because of Kira’s evil actions.

“It’s me!” she called out, “p-please, o-open up! I c-can’t just sit here and d-do nothing while more and m-more innocent people are d-dying!”

Fortunately, a few seconds later, she was greeted by Watari opening up the door for her. She sighed heavily in relief. As she stepped into the room she instantly felt the burning gazes of the four active members of the Task Force and the great detective.

“Kagami-san,” L snapped at her, a little too harshly for her taste. Keiko could see the determined look on his face as he walked towards her, and she closed her eyes, bracing for the lecture that she figured was about to come.

Except...it never came.

There was silence for a few seconds instead. Keiko slowly opened to eyes only to realize that she was now face to face with L, who was holding an unreadable expression while studying her face. She was sure he was scrutinizing every inch.

But why? There’s more important matters than how my face looks right now! Kira’s on the loose, probably still broadcasting who knows what to the people of the world and we just lost Ukita to him! We can’t afford to lose anyone else or waste any more time!

She opened her mouth, about to speak, when all of the sudden L tentatively reached a finger out towards her face, causing the words she was about to say to die before they even had a chance to reach her lips.

“You’re crying,” L murmured matter-of-factly, and for a moment, Keiko swore she saw a flash of genuine emotion cross his face. It left almost as quickly as it came and she watched as his finger hesitantly came closer and closer towards her upper cheek. He slowly and gently, as though she were made of porcelain, touched her face, picking up a stray tear that was rolling down her left cheek.

Keiko felt herself freeze up as the detective touched her. He inspected the teardrop, watching as it now rolled down his finger and onto the palm of his hand.

“H-huh?” Keiko stuttered out, trying to wrap her mind around what had just occurred between the two of them. One of her fingers traveled towards her face, and she caught one of her tears herself, closely examining it.

I’m...crying…? I hadn’t even realized...

Aizawa cleared his throat, breaking the sudden silence that was filling the hotel room, “uh, Ryuzaki-san…I hate to break this up...but now really isn’t...uh, we’re wasting precious time.”

“Right,” L looked up from his hand, and gave another quick unreadable glance at Keiko before focusing his attention on the stern looking police officer.

Just like that, he was back to business. The moment was over. Keiko released a breath she didn’t know she had been holding.

He walked back over to his desk, “please, I know that this has been an emotional night for all of us, but it would be best if we could all just remain as calm as possible. Initially, I deduced that Kira needed both a name and a face to kill. However, judging from what we’ve just seen, I’d say that it’s not entirely impossible that Kira can kill with only a face. All I know for sure is that Kira is in that T.V. station or he’s somewhere close by, in a place where he can watch everyone who enters the building. Perhaps-”

“If Kira is in the area, then isn’t that why we should get down there?” Aizawa interrupted, heading towards the door near where Keiko was still standing, his hand hovering over the handle.

L sat in his chair in front of the multiple T.V. monitors that had been set up for the investigation, “if we rush down there now, there’s a good possibility that we will all be killed. So sit back down, Aizawa-san, unless you want to become one of Kira’s victims yourself.”

“Wasn’t it you that said we would have to risk our lives to catch Kira?!” Aizawa demanded, his face now turning a deep reddish purple.

“I said what I said, but risking my life to catch Kira and doing something that I know will cost me my life are two entirely different things,” L emotionlessly replied.

“H-he’s right,” Keiko softly spoke up, drying her face with the edge of her jacket. She was no longer crying.

She took a step closer to Aizawa, staring him straight in the eyes as she said, “we already lost Ukita-san, we can’t lose anyone else. If we go down to the T.V. station, I know that we will ultimately share his fate. Instead we should stay here where it’s safe and try to formulate a new course of action.”

Aizawa sighed, taking his hand off of the door handle, and walking back towards his spot on the couch. Keiko followed him towards the couches and took a spot next to Matsuda.

The Kira recording started to play once more on the news station, “I am now awaiting a response from the police. They must decide whether or not they will help me create a better world, one free of crime. Please announce your decision on the 6 o’clock news in four days. I prepared two videos; one is to be aired if the answer is yes, one to be aired if the answer is no.”

With that, the broadcast finally ended.

However, that still wasn’t the end of it. As soon as Kira’s video tape was finished, another news report was being thrown at the viewers, “a vehicle has just driven through the front doors of the station!”

“Well...that’s one way to get into a building without being seen by Kira,” L commented.

“...but who would…do that…?” Aizawa murmured, standing up to get closer to the T.V. screens. The rest of the Task Force, Keiko included, stood up as well, trying to get as close as possible.

“Huh,” the news anchor said, and the image of the station’s broken glass doors filled the screens, “we are still outside of Sakura T.V., as you can see, a police car has just arrived.”

“So we’re not alone,” Matsuda announced, “it appears that there are other police officers out there willing to stand up to Kira.”

“Aizawa-san,” L said, “you know Deputy Director Kitamura’s cell phone number, right? Please give him a call.”

Aizawa looked a little confused, but did as he was told and dialled the number. He was about to put the phone up to his ear when L grabbed it out of his hands, “yes, hello? This is L speaking. There’s something I need you to do for me. Watch the news and you will see the police officers who are fighting hard to bring Kira to justice, or so they think they are. If you don’t take control of them as their superior, we’ll have a tragedy on our hands.”

L paused a moment, probably listening to the deputy director’s response as the anchorman visibly gasped on the news, showing yet again the scene outside of the broadcasting station, “the two police officers who rushed forward to help have suddenly collapsed on the sidewalk. I think we may be in danger ourselves! We are moving away from the scene.”

All of the sudden, there was a ringing noise from the back of the room. Keiko and the rest of the Task Force looked back to see that it was Watari’s cell phone, “it’s from Chief Yagami,” he announced.

L lifted Aizawa’s phone away from his ear and reached his hand out behind him, “please give me the phone immediately.”

Watari handed L his cell phone, and L spoke into the receiver, “Yagami-san, it’s me...so that was you in the police van….yes, but what about your condition, are you alright?...please hold the line for a second.”

He switched back to Aizawa’s phone, “Deputy Director, it was Chief Yagami that just drove into the building. Are your preparations complete?...good.”

With that, L hung up Aizawa’s phone and handed it back to him. Afterwards, he held Watari’s phone up to his ear again, “Yagami-san, please wait five minutes, after exactly five minutes have passed, I want you to walk out of the front entrance...I understand your concern, but please, trust me, you will be in safe hands...yes, see you soon…”

L closed up Watari’s phone as well, placing it on the tray Watari had left near his desk.

“There you have it,” the anchorman announced, “the police have refused to cooperate with Kira. Instead, they have shown that they are ready to fight. And, as much as I fear for my own life in saying so...this is right! And it must be done! Kira has become a threat to our very constitution and as its citizens, we must fight back.”

L swiveled his chair back around so that he now faced Keiko and the rest of the Task Force, a determined look on his face.

“And now, we wait,” he announced.

/timeskip/

“Yagami-san!” Matsuda called, jumping up as Watari helped the worn-down chief into the room, leading him over to the couches.

As he was sitting down Light’s father said, “Ryuzaki-san, I’m sorry for acting out on my own like that. I have to admit, I got a little bit carried away. Here-” he shoved a brown paper bag towards L’s chair, “the tapes and envelopes that Kira sent are all in there.”

“I can’t thank you enough,” L responded, picking up the bag and emptying out its contents.

Mr. Yagami settled into the seat, “ahh, I better rest for a minute.”

“Take all of the time you need, Yagami-san,” Keiko said, offering her boyfriend’s father a smile, “what you did just now was both reckless and brave.”

“The postmark is from Osaka,” L mused as he rifled through the stuff, “hm...interesting...Aizawa-san, could you please take these papers to the crime lab right away? I will review the tapes here with the rest of the group, and we will see if they reveal anything.”

“Yes, of course,” Aizawa said, helping L stuff the envelopes back into the bags, “I still have a couple friends down in the labs, I will make sure that they check, and then double check, everything thoroughly. You have my word.”

When Aizawa left the room, L turned to the rest of the Task Force, “now, let’s get to work. There’s a lot of investigating we have to do…”

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Thirteen

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thinktosee · 7 years ago

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THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MASS KILLERS - by Robert J. Burrowes

Today’s post is very, very important towards our understanding of violence in general, and especially of mass murders. I am pleased to introduce our readers to Dr. Robert J. Burrowes, a well-known writer and activist for non-violence.

Robert’s early life, David’s and mine have something in common – At 14 years old, Robert made a decision to do something about the violence and pain in our world. David did too, by his conscientious objection. I was also “called.” However, I knew of the personal sacrifice this would entail. I was, in Roberts words, among the ’“cowardly powerlessness is the state they have been trained to accept...” and refused to step forward. Until now, and after David left us. The Bible said, “Many are called, but few are chosen.” That’s not quite true. Many are called, but few stepped forward.

Robert and I have been corresponding not long after David’s passing. I am learning from him, the way I am learning from David. Non-violence is a part of us, just as violence is. We must decide which we want to live with. It begins with us – you and me.

I urge you to read and be a part of Robert’s dream, which says “If you have lived your dream, you have lived.” A few of David’s friends are majoring in Psychology. I have no doubt this essay by Robert will be most helpful towards your understanding of violent behavior. It reinforces a few elements of and then goes further, from the “life-stage virtue” first propounded by Erik Salomonsen aka Erik Erikson (refer to “Childhood and Society” , 1950, among others, by Erik).

I have taken the liberty to bold shade what i believe are very important points in Robert’s essay :

I like to thank Robert for the kind permission to reproduce his piece.

- David’s father - Oct 20, 2017 - Email : [email protected]

The Psychology of Mass Killers: What causes it? How can you prevent it?

By Robert J. Burrowes

In Las Vegas on 1 October 2017, it appears that one man (although it might have been more) killed 59 people and shot and injured another 241 (with almost 300 more injured while fleeing). The incident got a lot of publicity, partly because the man managed to kill more people than most mass killers. However, because the killer was a white American and had a Christian name, he was not immediately labeled a terrorist, even though his death toll considerably exceeded that achieved in many ‘terrorist attacks’, including those that occur in war zones (such as US drone murders of innocent people attending weddings).

According to the Gun Violence Archive, http://www.gunviolencearchive.org/reports/mass-shooting there is now an average of one mass shooting (arbitrarily defined by the FBI as a shooting in which at least four victims are shot) each day in the USA. By any measure, this is a national crisis.

However, while there has been a flood of commentary on the incident, including suggestions about what might be done in response based on a variety of analyses of the cause, none that I have read explain the underlying cause of all these mass killings. And if we do not understand this, then any other suggestions, whatever their apparent merits, can have little impact.

The suggestions made so far in response to this massacre include the following:

1. Making it much more difficult, perhaps even illegal, to own a gun. See ‘Guns’. http://news.gallup.com/poll/1645/guns.aspx

2. Drastically reducing the prescription of pharmaceutical drugs (which are almost invariably being consumed by the killer). See ‘Drugs and Guns Don’t Mix: Medication Madness, Military Madness and the Las Vegas Mass Shooting’. https://www.globalresearch.ca/drugs-and-guns-dont-mix-medication-madness-military-madness-and-the-las-vegas-mass-shooting/5612178

3. Recognising and addressing the sociological factors implicated in causing the violence. See ‘violence is driven by socioeconomic factors, not access to firearms’ argued in ‘Another Mass Shooting, Another Grab for Guns: 6 Gun Facts’ https://landdestroyer.blogspot.com.au/2017/10/another-mass-shooting-another-grab-for.html and ‘a deep sickness in American society’ argued in ‘The social pathology of the Las Vegas Massacre’. http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/10/03/pers-o03.html

4. Identifying whether or not the killer had ideological/religious links to a terrorist group (in this case ISIS, as claimed by some). See, for example, ‘ISIS Releases Infographic Claiming Las Vegas Gunman Converted 6 Months Ago’. https://www.theepochtimes.com/isis-releases-infographic-claiming-las-vegas-gunman-converted-six-months-ago_2328317.html

5. Identifying and remedying the ways in which constitutional provisions and laws facilitate such massacres. See ‘Las Vegas Massacre Proves 2nd Amendment Must be Abolished’. https://www.globalresearch.ca/las-vegas-massacre-proves-2nd-amendment-must-be-abolished/5612066

6. Recognizing the way in which these incidents are encouraged by national elites and are sometimes, in fact, false flag attacks used as a means to justify the consolidation of elite social control (through such measures as increased state surveillance and new restrictions on human rights).

7. Limiting the ways in which violence, especially military violence, is used as entertainment and education, and thus culturally glorified in ways that encourage imitation. See ‘People Don’t Kill People, Americans Kill People’. http://davidswanson.org/people-dont-kill-people-americans-kill-people/

However, as indicated above, while these and other suggestions, including certain educational initiatives, sound attractive as options for possibly preventing/mitigating some incidents in future, they do not address the cause of violence in this or any other context and so widespread violence both in the United States and around the world will continue.

So why does someone become a mass killer?

Human socialization is essentially a process of inflicting phenomenal violence on children until they think and behave as the key adults – particularly their parents, teachers and religious figures – around them want, irrespective of the functionality of this thought and behavior in evolutionary terms. This is because virtually all adults prioritize obedience over all other possible behaviors and they delusionarily believe that they ‘know better’ than the child.

The idea that each child is the only one of their kind in all of living creation in Earth’s history and, therefore, has a unique destiny to fulfill, never even enters their mind. So, instead of nurturing that unique destiny so that the child fully becomes the unique Self that evolution created, adults terrorize each child into becoming just another more-or-less identical cog in the giant machine called ‘human society’.

Before I go any further, you might wonder if the expression ‘phenomenal violence’ isn’t too strong. So let me explain.

From the moment of birth, human adults inflict violence on the child. This violence occurs in three categories: visible, ‘invisible’ and ‘utterly invisible’. Visible violence is readily identified: it is the (usually) physical violence that occurs when someone is hit (with a hand or weapon), kicked, shaken, held down or punished in any other way. See ‘Punishment is Violent and Counterproductive’. http://www.yeoldejournalist.com/punishment-is-violent/

But what is this ‘invisible’ and ‘utterly invisible’ violence that is inflicted on us mercilessly, and has a profoundly damaging impact, from the day we are born?

In essence, ‘invisible’ violence is the ‘little things’ we do every day, partly because we are just ‘too busy’. For example, when we do not allow time to listen to, and value, a child’s thoughts and feelings, the child learns to not listen to themSelf thus destroying their internal communication system. When we do not let a child say what they want (or ignore them when they do), the child develops communication and behavioural dysfunctionalities as they keep trying to meet their own needs (which, as a basic survival strategy, they are genetically programmed to do).

When we blame, condemn, insult, mock, embarrass, shame, humiliate, taunt, goad, guilt-trip, deceive, lie to, bribe, blackmail, moralize with and/or judge a child, we both undermine their sense of Self-worth and teach them to blame, condemn, insult, mock, embarrass, shame, humiliate, taunt, goad, guilt-trip, deceive, lie, bribe, blackmail, moralize and/or judge.

The fundamental outcome of being bombarded throughout their childhood by this ‘invisible’ violence is that the child is utterly overwhelmed by feelings of fear, pain, anger and sadness (among many others). However, parents, teachers and other adults also actively interfere with the expression of these feelings and the behavioural responses that are naturally generated by them and it is this ‘utterly invisible’ violence that explains why the dysfunctional behavioural outcomes actually occur.

For example, by ignoring a child when they express their feelings, by comforting, reassuring or distracting a child when they express their feelings, by laughing at or ridiculing their feelings, by terrorizing a child into not expressing their feelings (e.g. by screaming at them when they cry or get angry), and/or by violently controlling a behaviour that is generated by their feelings (e.g. by hitting them, restraining them or locking them into a room), the child has no choice but to unconsciously suppress their awareness of these feelings.

However, once a child has been terrorized into suppressing their awareness of their feelings (rather than being allowed to have their feelings and to act on them) the child has also unconsciously suppressed their awareness of the reality that caused these feelings. This has many outcomes that are disastrous for the individual, for society and for nature because the individual will now easily suppress their awareness of the feelings that would tell them how to act most functionally in any given circumstance and they will progressively acquire a phenomenal variety of dysfunctional behaviours, including many that are violent towards themselves, others and/or the Earth.

Moreover, this emotional (or psychological) damage will lead to a unique combination of violent behaviours in each case and, depending on the precise combination of violence to which they are subjected, some of them will become what I call ‘archetype perpetrators of violence’; that is, people so emotionally damaged that they end up completely devoid of a Self and with a psychological profile similar to Hitler’s.

These archetype perpetrators of violence are all terrified, self-hating and powerless but, in fact, they have 23 identifiable psychological characteristics constituting their ‘personality’. For a full explanation of this particular psychological profile, see ‘Why Violence?’ http://tinyurl.com/whyviolence and ‘Fearless Psychology and Fearful Psychology: Principles and Practice’. http://anitamckone.wordpress.com/articles-2/fearless-and-fearful-psychology/ Of course, few perpetrators of violence fit the archetype, but all perpetrators are full of (suppressed) terror, self-hatred and powerlessness and this is fundamental to understanding their violence as explained in ‘Why Violence?’

Rather than elaborate further in this article why these perpetrators behave as they do (which you can read on the documents just mentioned), let me explain why the suggestions made by others above in relation to gun and drug control, socioeconomic factors, ideological/religious connections, constitutional and legal shortcomings, resisting efforts to consolidate elite social control, and revised education and entertainment programs can have little impact if undertaken in isolation from the primary suggestion I will make below.

Once someone is so emotionally damaged that they are effectively devoid of the Self that should have defined their unique personality, then they will be the endless victim of whatever violence is directed at them. This simply means that they will have negligible capacity to deal powerfully with any difficult life circumstances and personal problems (and, for example, to resist doctors prescribing pharmaceutical drugs), they will be gullibly influenced by violent ideologies, education and entertainment, and they will have virtually no capacity to work creatively to resolve the conflicts (both personal and structural) in their life but will do what was modeled to them as a child in any effort to do so: use violence.

And by now you have probably realized that I am not just talking about the mass killers that I started discussing at the beginning of this article. I am also talking about the real mass killers: those politicians, military leaders and weapons corporation executives, and all those other corporate executives, who inflict mass violence on life itself, as well as those others, such as academics and those working in corporate media outlets, that support and justify this violence. This includes, to specify just one obvious example, all of those US Senators and Congresspeople who resist implementing gun control laws. See ‘Thoughts and Prayers and N.R.A. Funding’. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/04/opinion/thoughts-prayers-nra-funding-senators.html

In essence then, if the child suffers enough of this visible, invisible and utterly invisible violence, they will grow up devoid of the Selfhood – including the love, compassion, empathy, morality and integrity – that is their birthright and the foundation of their capacity to behave powerfully in all contexts without the use of violence.

Instead, they will become a perpetrator of violence, to a greater or lesser extent, and may even seek employment in those positions that encourage them to support and/or inflict violence legally, such as a police or prison officer, a lawyer or judge – see ‘The Rule of Law: Unjust and Violent’ http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35866.htm – a soldier who fights in war or a Congressperson who supports it, or even an employee in a corporation that profits from violence and exploitation. See ‘Profit Maximization is Easy: Invest in Violence’. http://www.eurasiareview.com/11092017-profit-maximization-is-easy-invest-in-violence-oped/

In addition, most individuals will inflict violence on the climate and environment, all will inflict violence on children, and some will inflict violence in those few ways that are actually defined as ‘illegal’, such as mass killings.

But if we don’t see the mass killers as the logical, if occasional, outcome of (unconsciously) violent parenting, then we will never even begin to address the problem at its source. And we are condemned to suffer violence, in all of its manifestations, until we inevitably drive ourselves to extinction through nuclear war or climate/environmental collapse.

If you are looking for a lead on this from political leaders, you are wasting your time. Similarly, there are precious few professionals, particularly in the medical and psychiatric industries – see ‘Defeating the Violence of Psychiatry’. http://old.warisacrime.org/content/defeating-violence-psychiatry – who have any idea how to respond meaningfully (assuming they even have an interest in doing so). So why not be your own judge and consider making ‘My Promise to Children’? https://feelingsfirstblog.wordpress.com/my-promise-to-children/

In addition, if further reducing the violence in our world appeals to you, then you are also welcome to consider participating in the creation of communities that do not have violence built into them – see ‘The Flame Tree Project to Save Life on Earth’, http://tinyurl.com/flametree – signing the online pledge of ‘The People’s Charter to Create a Nonviolent World’ https://thepeoplesnonviolencecharter.wordpress.com/ and/or consider using the strategic framework on one or the other of these two websites for your campaign to end violence in one context or another: Nonviolent Campaign Strategy https://nonviolentstrategy.wordpress.com/ and Nonviolent Defense/Liberation Strategy. https://nonviolentliberationstrategy.wordpress.com/

In summary then: For the typical human adult, it is better to endlessly inflict violence on a child to coerce them to obey. Of course, once the child has been terrorized into this unthinking obedience, they won’t just obey the parents and teachers (secular and religious) who terrorized them: they will also obey anyone else who orders them to do something. This will include governments, military officers and terrorist leaders who order them to kill (or pay taxes to kill) people they do not know in foreign countries, employers who order them to submit to the exploitation of themselves and others, not to mention a vast array of other influences (particularly corporations) who will have little trouble manipulating them into behaving unethically and without question (even regarding consumer purchases).

Or, to put it another way: For the typical human adult, it is better to endlessly inflict violence on a child to coerce them to obey and to then watch the end-products of this violence – obedient, submissive children who are powerless to question their parents and teachers, resist the entreaties of drug pushers, and critique the propaganda of governments, corporations and the military as well as the media, education and entertainment industries – spiral endlessly out of control: wars, massive exploitation, ecological destruction, slavery, mass killings…. And to then wonder ‘Why?’

For these terrorized humans, cowardly powerlessness is the state they have been trained to accept, while taking whatever material distractions are thrown their way as compensation. So they pass on this state to their children by terrorizing them into submission too. Powerfully accepting responsibility to fulfill their own unique destiny, and serve society by doing so, is beyond them.

The great tragedy of human life is that virtually no-one values the awesome power of the individual Self with an integrated mind (that is, a mind in which memory, thoughts, feelings, sensing, conscience and other functions work together in an integrated way) because this individual will be decisive in choosing life-enhancing behavioural options (including those at variance with social laws and norms) and will fearlessly resist all efforts to control or coerce them with violence.

Biodata: Robert J. Burrowes has a lifetime commitment to understanding and ending human violence. He has done extensive research since 1966 in an effort to understand why human beings are violent and has been a nonviolent activist since 1981. He is the author of ‘Why Violence?’ http://tinyurl.com/whyviolence His email address is [email protected] and his website is here. http://robertjburrowes.wordpress.com

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