#this section includes my favorite bit of dialogue!

[wolfjackle-creates]

WIP Wednesday

Part 1, Part 2

This is more of Ghost!Robin haunting Jason. This might not've won the poll (if you haven't voted, it's the post right after this one on my blog. But you'll have to come out in numbers to win against the Dead on Main shippers!), but it will feature in both this week's WIP Wednesday and next, so y'all better be happy.

1,100 words

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“If he’s still in the area, you should invite him,” said Dick. “Alfred’s food is to die for.” Robin was hanging upside down next to Dick nodding solemnly.

Danny tried to stop himself, he really did. He even managed to keep from saying he’d been there done that, but he couldn’t keep from laughing so hard he couldn’t breathe.

From where he was bent over trying to catch his breath, he saw Dick do some sort of spin that ended with him sitting upright on the chair. “Um… Is he all right?”

“He’s fine,” Jazz insisted. “He just thinks he’s hilarious. He had an accident when he was younger with electricity and his heart stopped. But after a few months his condition stabilized and now he’s stronger than ever.”

Through his laughs, Danny gasped, “If— If I hadn’t died… Mom and Dad… And you never, Gotham.”

Jazz turned away from him and hid her face in Jason’s neck. Danny just got himself under control when he noticed her shoulders shaking slightly.

He lost it again, Jazz following just behind.

Someone was saying “I’m confused” but someone else joined in their laughter. Danny looked up and saw it was Jason. And Robin. He liked them both already.

“Sorry, sorry,” gasped Danny once he had enough breath to do so. “Amity Parkers have a morbid sense of humor.”

“Tt, I hardly believe your heart stopping then medical intervention saving your life can count as you actually dying.” Damian had a sneer on his face and Danny already didn’t like him.

But rather than engage, he just shrugged. “It was close enough that the ghosts back home like me more’n most.” He wiped his eyes to get rid of the tears.

“I like you, kid. Great sense of humor.” Jason reached around Jazz to ruffle his hair; Danny swatted the hand away.

“Ghosts?” asked Cass.

“Yes, of course,” said Jazz. “Amity Park, the most haunted town in America.”

“Ghosts aren’t real,” argued Damian.

“Do you really need to play up the tourist gimmick even around friends?” added Tim.

“Tourist gimmick? We hate outsiders.” Danny didn’t even bother responding to the comment about ghosts not existing.

“Why do you dislike outsiders so much?” asked Bruce.

With a shrug, Jazz answered, “It’s hard to explain, but outsiders just don’t fit in in Amity.”

Danny let himself look at Robin who was sitting on the back of the couch behind Jason. “Jason might be an exception, though. Have you taken him home yet?”

“No, but I’ve been wanting to. Just… Jack and Maddie.” Jazz did take their betrayal so much harder than Danny had.

“Fair. Tell you what, give me a list of weeks you two can arrange to get off and I’ll make sure Mom and Dad are out of Amity for at least one of them.”

Jason leaned around Jazz to ask, “Why are you so sure I’d fit in in Amity?”

Obviously he couldn’t say it was because Jason was haunted and liminal, so all he said was, “Oh, you’ve got the vibes. You’ll understand it when you get there. Just… Listen to Jazz? It isn’t really safe if you try and do your own thing.”

Around them, various conversations developed and Danny let Jazz take over describing the places in Amity she wanted to show Jason. Instead, he watched Robin interact with the wider group.

The ghost kept trying to get the attention of someone, anyone, in the Wayne family. But his efforts focused on Bruce and Dick. He was clearly haunting Jason, though, and it feels like they might be sharing ectoplasm somehow.

Danny really wanted to pull out his Ecto-tracker, based off the Fenton Finder but far more sensitive and accurate. Instead, he just moved his bag closer to him.

“We can store that somewhere so you don’t have to carry it around with you,” offered Tim who must’ve seen the motion.

“Oh, that’s okay. Mr. Alfred already offered. I feel more comfortable having my bag with me.”

“What are you carrying around?” he asked.

“Bit of everything, to be honest. Laptop, PDA, chargers, first aid kit, granola bars, medicines, change of clothes, things I need for my job.”

Jason asked over Jazz’s head, “What is your job? Jazz never shares specifics, just that it keeps you too busy to visit or call very often.”

Robin was now staring at him with a grin and making amused trills. It took all of Danny’s self control to not snark at him.

“I do contract work.” It was his default answer on Earth. It was even sort-of true. If he squinted and tilted his head. Robin did not look impressed by his answer.

“I… Don’t know what that means,” admitted Jason. “What field do you work in?”

Danny waved a hand in the air. “Ancients, easier to ask what I don’t do! I build or repair things. I’m good at finding people. I help others get where they need to go. I’ve done babysitting before. I’m called in to deescalate or otherwise resolve conflicts. Basically, if someone needs assistance with something, I do it. Or I know someone who can.”

“Why do you swear by these ‘Ancients?’” asked Damian.

“It’s another ghost thing. But you don’t believe in ghosts, so I don’t know what to tell you.”

“Jazz swears by them, too,” added Jason.

Tim elbowed Damian who stood and actually pulled a knife on his brother. Not only was this kid liminal, he definitely had some ghostly instincts. “Woah, that’s enough, Damian!” ordered Dick as he positioned himself between the two.

Damian allowed Dick to take the blade, though he continued to glare at Tim. “Then tell Drake to not touch me again.”

Tim rolled his eyes and said, “Whatever,” as he moved closer to Danny and Jazz. To Danny, he asked, “So, what sort of things do you build?”

Danny decided Damian’s ghost instincts weren’t worth commenting on at the moment and just answered the question. “Oh, I can build anything.” Pulling out his PDA, he unlocked it and handed it to Tim. “My partner Tucker and I designed these. All the capabilities of a smartphone without the need for a cellular plan. Plus durable enough to survive being run over by a tank. And it gets service anywhere.”

Tim wasted no time in navigating the device’s capabilities. “What is this UI? I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Tucker designed it. He’s a genius with software. I’m the hardware guy.”

Tim asked more details on the specs of the PDA which Danny happily answered. The things he built with Tucker were always his favorite inventions.

Tag list!

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Part 4

@addie-lover-of-stories, @justwannabecat, @gin2212, @amercurio, @regonold, @overtherose, @readerzj, @sjrose1216, @echoednonny, @deeterzz, @blu-lilac, @number-one-jew, @rowanaway-fromthisbs, @vythika96, @tired-yet-awaken, @themirrorghost

I think that's everyone! Let me know and I'll add you.

[blueisquitetired]

When you got time, do you have any tips on writing Ingo and Emmets dialogue? I really like how you write them but I can't seem to get their speech down. It's mainly Ingos which is annoying since he canonical has more dialogue than Emmet.

Oh thank you!! I’m glad you enjoy- writing these boys dialogue is one of my favorite parts of writing and has made me seriously consider how I write speech for every character I do. It’s been great practice!

Okay, actual advice time lol.

HOW TO WRITE INGO AND EMMET

(According to me, Blue)

(Now, keep in mind that there isn’t one true way to write the boys, and this is just how I personally write them. Take this with a grain of salt)

When you’re first starting out writing the boys I recommend writing dialogue in your own voice and then submasifying it.

For example, let’s take this dialogue and transform it:

“Sorry I’m late for work! My dog chewed through my nice pants so I had to find some new ones! It’s been a bit of a rough day today, not gonna lie.”

So starting with Ingo-

Ingo talks extremely formally and is super long winded. When writing dialogue for him, try to imagine a fancy British butler who uses long words and long sentences. Replace normal words with more “fancy” ones and use more words then you really need to. (A thesaurus can be extremely useful for this)

“My sincerest apologies for my tardy arrival!”

Then, pepper in train terms as much as possible. If he goes three sentences without saying something train related, find a way to stick one in. If you’re stuck, look up a list of train words and take inspiration (I’ll include a list of train expressions I commonly pull from at the bottom of the post) (Make sure to use “Bravo!” and “All aboard!” whenever applicable as well)

“I awoke to the unpleasant surprise of joltik holes in my trousers this morning- which delayed my cab significantly as I was forced to find an undamaged pair!”

I personally strive to use consonants (stuff like I’d, we’ll, don’t) as little as possible with the boys. For Emmet it’s to add to the choppiness of his dialogue and for Ingo it’s because that man would rather use fifty words when one will do. (It also makes them sound more professional!)

“Honestly, after a morning like this one, I pray that the remainder of today’s tracks prove to be much smoother.”

Another thing to keep in mind is that Ingo is extremely polite while Emmet is a bit more blunt. Try to use titles like “sir” and “miss” when writing Ingo- and then just don’t bother with Emmet.

Next up is Emmet, who I personally find much harder then Ingo! Unlike Ingo who’s dialogue you need to add words to, Emmet you need to subtract and simplify! This is the post I originally read to kinda get the jive of things, but here’s my pointers!

First off, figure out what concepts the are being expressed in your sentence, and split those apart.

“Sorry I’m late for work!” has two parts- an apology and an acknowledgment that the person is late. For Emmet we would want to split this single sentence into two.

“I am Emmet! I am late! Sorry!”

Next is vocal ticks! Emmet has several, and they should ideally be sprinkled in sparingly through his dialogue. (You can see that I used ‘I am Emmet’ in the previous section)

‘I am Emmet’ should be used when he is joining a conversation or when he’s about to say something about himself. It CAN be used more then once in a single conversation- but try not to overdo it.

‘Verrrrrrrry’ is another one! Other submas authors have him roll the r on other words as well, but I stick with verrrrrry. This one is easy to use- just extend the word very with extra Rs and use very whenever naturally applicable.

‘Yup’ is one as well- and one I admittedly don’t use often. It rarely jives with the way I write Emmet so I usually don’t bother- but you should definitely keep it in mind!

And of course, train terms! Less often then Ingo of course (since he says less words in general) but if you can find a way to fit it in, go for it.

“The joltiks chewed holes in my pants! Verrrrry naughty. Had to find new pants. Holey pants do not pass safety checks! Yup!”

Finally, the man likes his patterns! When writing Emmet it’s a good idea to have his Blubapedia page open nearby so you can just steal chunks of his script from that. (You can, and should do this for Ingo too!)

“Bad morning. Oh well. Follow the schedule! Everybody smile! All aboard!”

Of course, the man is perfectly capable of speaking longer sentences- but when and where he does so is up to the author.

All that being said, it’s important to remember that you’ll likely have to attempt their dialogue a few times before getting a sentence to flow right. Even for these examples I had to do a couple takes until I found one that really worked!

Here’s a couple of other notes for writing Pokémon characters in general:

Watch out for expressions and words that use animals. (like beeline or ‘in the dog house’) Try to replace those words with their Pokémon counterparts- (such as combeeline [which I’ve typed so many times I’ve started using internally in my day to day life]) or something that sounds close enough (like if your censoring f***, ducklett doesn’t work nearly as good as duck. So try muk instead!)

Do your best to replace religious swears with Pokémon religion! Instead of heavens, or the big G word, use words like, ‘Dragons!’ Or ‘Sweet Swords of Justice!’ (Of course, these are Unovan swears. For Hisui you should be using things like ‘Sinnoh’ and ‘great Time!’. Other regions have their own legendaries as well)

And finally, my list of train terms I pull from regularly!

Cab (or car): To refer to one’s body

“I am afraid my cab is in need of repairs.”

Tracks: A plan or intended route

“Very well! I will follow the tracks you have set!”

Destination: The goal or like, the actual destination

“Bravo! Your talent has brought you to the destination called victory!”

Station (or terminal): A location

“Very well! Let us set our tracks to the Pearl Clan’s station!”

Two Car Train (or three or four or whatever number you need): Friends or a team

“Emmet and I are a two car train!”

Couple (opposite being uncoupled): To join together

“I must ask that you couple your car to mine as we make our way through here. It can get quite dangerous!”

Engine: Another term for your body, but more specifically in regards to energy or drive

“I’m afraid I must rest my engine.”

Refuel: Eat.

“It is getting quite late- let us take a break to refuel.”

Conducting: Guiding

“I look forward to conducting you on this endeavor!”

Derailment (or collision, wreck, trainwreck): Something that has gone wrong.

“Apologies. It appears I have been derailed.”

Unscheduled (opposite being scheduled): Something unexpected

“Ah! A cave in! It appears we must make an unscheduled stop.”

Passenger: Person (or Pokémon)

“It appears we have picked up some unexpected passengers!”

Conductor: Ingo sometimes uses this to refer to himself (works especially well in Hisui)

“Passenger, please refrain from stabbing the conductor”

Delay: Something happening later then scheduled

“Apologies for the delay! Let us begin!”

Sidetracked: put off course

“Ah, but now I have sidetracked us with this talk.”

All aboard!: Good conversation ender 💙

“ALL ABOARD!!!”

[thecoleopterawithana]

Eras: The Beatles | Episode 6 - Now and Then

In the final episode of Eras: The Beatles, we hear the story behind The Beatles' final single Now and Then, including new interviews with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. Narrated by Martin Freeman, the episode also features insight on the new track from Sean Ono Lennon, Olivia Harrison and Peter Jackson.

.

[This episode features more complete audio from the soundbites included in the 'Now and Then' short film/documentary. Under the cut are transcriptions of some of my favorite sections. Including Paul's interpretation of the meaning of 'Now and Then' (bonus points if you guess his answer!)]

PAUL: And then 'Now and Then' just kind of languished in a cupboard and we didn't do anything with it. I kept saying, "You know, maybe we should do something with this, seems a bit—" "Hm, I don't know..." There wasn't a great desire to do anything with it. So it hung around for a while. Years! And every so often, I'd kind of go to the cupboard and think, "There's a new song in there! We should do it! We gotta do it!" But it'd go back in the cupboard.

[...]

PAUL: Peter [Jackson] had sent me a text while he was doing the 'Get Back' thing. He said, "Here's a piece of dialogue of John's that I'd like to use, but George is rehearsing in the background," and you could hear George's guitar and you couldn't really make out quite what John was saying because it was distracting. He said, "But we've got this new technology: Machine Assisted Learning. M.A.L., so we're calling it MAL." Which was like— that was really cool! Because our old road manager and dear friend was Mal [Evans].

[...]

PETER JACKSON: I'd had this idea for two or three years about him [Paul] singing a duet with John. And the fact that we'd developed this software now allows us to separate the voices and the music meant that I could take a song that John and Paul were singing on, just separate John's vocal only, and Paul could have that for playing on stage. And then his band and himself could do the vocals and the playing for the rest of the song. So he could do a duet with John. He didn't even blink, he just said, "That's a fantastic idea, I love it! Let's do it!" And so we quickly turned that around and got that underway. So Paul was now touring with a John Lennon duet on 'I Got a Feeling'.

[...]

PETER JACKSON: I got a phone call from Paul saying, "Is it possible to use that technology for another project I've been thinking about? [...] Would it be possible to take John's vocal and clean it up and get rid of everything else? Because that would allow us to finish this Beatles song." And absolutely, it didn't take me more than about a second to get back to him and say, "Of course we can do it!"

[...]

PETER JACKSON: We assumed that the copy of 'Now and Then' that they were working to in the studio in 1995, where the vocals were coming from, was probably not a first-generation copy. [...] So we though, well this is probably a third generation [tape copy]. [...] And so we contacted Sean Lennon and he was very helpful. And sure enough, we got a digital copy of the original. Which is the same demo, same performance, but two generations better.

[...]

RINGO: I'm sitting there thinking, "I don't remember George doing that solo?" It was just like practicing, maybe. Cus it sounds like George! Then Paul said, "No, it's me." [laughs] But Paul did a great job. I mean, he's very good, you know, Paul. He's a very good musician.

[...]

RINGO: Giles [Martin] had to fly out to LA one day to listen to a four-hour string session that Paul wanted, and then fly back to England! [laughs] There's no string sections in England!

[...]

PAUL: Eventually, when we got to mix number 7 it was, "Wow, this is it! Now it's a Beatle record!" And we played it to various people, some of whom cried. Some of whom said, "Jesus Christ! It's a Beatles record!" But the reaction was very favorable.

[...]

RINGO: The difference from the two tracks of John, the old track of John— you know, we have to thank Sean as well, because he found the original tape. So that's the one you can really hear John, not the copy-copy-copies. And... it's like John's there, you know. It's far out. It's so clear now you know it's him. Cus on the original one we were working to I couldn't tell if it was Paul or John singing half the time. But now you know it's John! [chuckles]

[...]

PAUL: I think it just means 'now and then'. "Now and then, I have a cup of tea". I'm not sure it means an awful lot more than that. But, looking at it from today's perspective, now and then. Then you can start to get all sorts of meanings in. The modern-day, the historical past of the Beatles. It lines up with all of that. But we were always very happy to let people make their own minds up. "Here it is, it's a song. Now, the minute we deliver it to you, it's up to you. You can do anything you want with it." And people do!

[...]

RINGO: And that was what it was like for the three of us when we started this role in the 90s. We had to pretend— it always makes me laugh when I think of it— we had to pretend that he'd gone for a cup of tea or his lunch. But that he was still around. Because it was very strange when we started there's only three of us, after all those years, and all that life, that there were four of us. And I still miss him, man!

[...]

SEAN LENNON: It feels very synchronous that the lyric speaks about time and that it's taken so much time. That it sort of fuses the past and the present. It's like a time capsule. And it all feels very meant to be — or fated, or something — in the nicest sense.

[...]

PAUL: When I remember the Beatles, I remember the joy, the talent, the humor, the love. And I think, if people remembered us for that — for those things — I'd be very happy.

[sonnet009games]

Just read chapter 3, and it was my favorite so far! It's getting better and better each time and I can't wait for more!

Ilyana was a truly terrifying opponent, and it was interesting for me to see the whole thing unfold, including its aftermath. I was actually wondering before how would Flea act if MC got seriously hurt at some point and... well I guess the answer to that came faster than I thought! Though it seems poor Flea himself really can't take a break - something happens to him in each chapter!

I also enjoyed the scenes with Ted by the end. Since I'm on a "only friend" playthrough, it was so fun to see him having a field day trying to tease my MC, who was just rolling his eyes and enduring it because what else can you do. It's sweet to see how much Ted cares too. Funnily enough, even if I don't know the guy that well, I actually expected him to be sort of relieved when meeting Flea, even if he doesn't truly get what the relationship is at this point. My MC is the "neat" kind - and with the whole clinical looking and sterile home, I can't help but think Ted must be relieved at any "life" brought into it, be it Tabby or Flea. It's like bringing more life to MC's actual life?

Anyway, that aside, there was one scene that I think sort of felt like a continuity issue. It's actually not something the character creation recap asked for, so I'm assuming the scene is the same no matter what, but it felt a little bit strange on my playthrough so I prefer to mention it: when talking about Ilyana, Flea mentions how "If Ilyana really is a succubus, and if she's really that comfortable with killing, then she'll be the first truly dangerous demon you've ever tangled with". The MC corrects this by thinking she'd be the second because of the one that killed their family. But I was wondering if this wouldn't warrant a different line from Flea with a MC who told him about their family? It seemed a bit strange to me Flea wouldn't act/speak at least a bit differently here if he knows, basically. It's not a big issue though, and who knows, it may even be intentional from him, but I guess better safe and sorry, I just prefer to mention it and be sure.

I think that's it! And now I'll just replay it for a second time because I need more! It was amazing!

Re: the issue you raised--I see your point. My thinking was that Flea means "tangling with" in the sense of deliberately seeking out danger, and thus isn't counting the red-eyed demon from your childhood. But I can understand that it might feel a little off. I'll put a little note in my records so that, if I ever update Chapter 3, I'll take another look at that section and see if I should tweak the dialogue a bit.

Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed this chapter! And that you liked the stuff with Ted. He is definitely surprised, amused, and, yeah, relieved to see the detective making out with some weird dude at the door to their apartment--he's never known them to have any kind of connection to another person who isn't him.

I'm also glad you liked Ilyana as a villain. She's lived in my head for so long, it's kind of sad that she's gone so soon.

[ebonysplendor]

A Date with Death 💀💻💬

TL;DR: What's totally hot is that we are chatting with this major edge lord who is cosplaying as the Grim Reaper. What's even hotter is that this major edge lord actually is the Grim Reaper...pfft, yeah right.

Game Link: https://twoandahalfstudios.itch.io/a-date-with-death

Notable Features: Customizable MC (pronouns, appearance, name, etc.), Customizable bedroom, Internet romance, Supernatural LI Spiciness: 2/5 -- It can get a little suggestive, but nothing unholy...unfortunately T_T LI Red Flags: 0.5/5 -- The guy's trying to kill us but I mean...it's kinda his job so...? Also! This isn't even a yandere LI so, just a heads up! We're changing gears a bit

Wanna know more? I didn't see a rating on it, but I wouldn't suggest anyone under 16 play this. But if you are over 16 or simply don't give a rat's ass about my warning, I can't effectively police ya, so let's get into it!

(Unrelated, but peep the additions and new section marker...thingies. Ahhhh~! <3 Okay anyways...)

I found it. I finally found it.

I found a game that has me raving harder than Perfect Love, and those of you that read that review (or even some of my follow up posts) know how much I absolutely loved that game!

Even still, so far, Perfect Love is still my favorite visual novel with a yandere LI; in this one, the LI isn't a yandere. Admittedly, this was a totally foreign experience to me, because I honestly (and clearly) gravitate towards the yandere stories, not to mention just simply favoring and have a preference for them. Like I've mentioned in other reviews, it is just something about a man with an ungodly obsession for me that just draws me in...

Anyways, that's not featured in this game, but it was still just as good! I loved this! The story, the dialogue, the art, the little quirky features, the customization!! Gods, the customization. I loved that! The customization didn't even hugely matter, but it was just the fact that it was included and that I knew that that was what the MC looked like.

As a POC, it is so refreshing to know that my love interest "knows" that I have dark skin. Like, ahhhhh, my heart. Representation really does make a difference, even in adulthood. I love the games with the custom pronouns, or just straight gender neutral language, or even when they draw the character to be bald, grey, and faceless so it represents everyone. I honestly love it so much, and I do feel included, not gonna lie, and it's exciting that others can, too.

Anyways, I'll rant and rave and rant some more during the review. I've really gotta get into the amazingness that is this game, and I'm definitely going to keep the spoilers extremely light (like always) to ensure that you can play with a vague idea of what's going on but not knowing exactly what's going down.

So, oh my Gods, boom.

The game kicks off with a little exposition on how we're pretty much living life final destination style. Some way, some how, death seems to always linger around us, but it just never seems to connect. Just picture a situation where we 112% should've died, but we somehow come out damn-near unscathed. No injuries, no long term scaring, no broken bones, nothing. Like...we're Gucci, and just straight up living our best life.

So, we're chilling at home one day when our laptop keeps going off. Consistently and incessantly. It gets pretty annoying pretty fast, because:

Who the hell is trying to get ahold of us that damn bad?

What app do we even have on our computer that's making all of that ruckus?

So, naturally, we go investigate, and it's this weird ass messaging app on there. Never seen it before, never used it, and have no idea where it came from because we didn't download it. Delete. Immediately delete. Only issue is that, when we delete it, it comes right back, and we can't delete it anymore. Okay...what the hell?

Not having much of a choice, and just out of curiosity, we click on this app, and we just see a wall of text from what is likely either a bot or a scammer.

Having nothing better to do, we confront this scammer bot, and we go back and forth with this totally not a scammer bot...thing...for a hot second. Basically the whole of it was that this basement creep was trying to convince us that he was the Grim Reaper and that he was after our soul. No, like, no lie. I have receipts. This man deadass said that he was the Grim Reaper and that he was coming for our soul.

See? I wasn't joking.

We continue to go back and forth with this weirdo about how all of this is fake and ask him is this a cry for help, and he gets all pissy and says that we have a small and smooth brain and all of that jazz before it finally gets to a head. Mr. Edgy over here finally decides that he's had enough of our shit, and he sends us a request for a video chat. Still having nothing better to do, we enter the call, and well....

....okay, definitely not how I'd imagine some incel living in his parents' basement that reeks of constant rejection and a middle school boys' locker room to look like. He do be kinda fine. Fake as hell and a major edge lord, but kinda fine. Hella fine, actually. Deathly fine, amiright? Ha, ha....haaaaaa. Okay, moving on...

So, now that we're in this call, admittedly, we're a little taken aback because, well for one, he's actually pretty damned attractive, and for two, he is still insisting that he's the Grim Reaper. Like, yeah, okay...

It gets to a point where we finally cave and start to play along, and we're just like "Okay, if you're really the Grim Reaper, then you should have no issue with reaping my soul before the week is up right? If you can get it, you can have it. No questions asked."

Upon hearing this, he is clearly intrigued, and he arrogantly says "Lmao I only need an hour" and we're like "Lmao then why haven't you already taken it?"

Silence. Exactly what I thought, "Grimmy".

Anyways, he agrees to being "honour bound" to the bet or whatever the hell his edgy ass said. Before the bet gets solidified, though, we establish what our winnings would be should we win, and you already know that we asked for...

THAT MAN'S HAND IN MARRIAGE.

I mean, come on: his own house, stable work, hot as hell -- this man is the full package. Fuck a soul, I'm trying to fuck him.

I mean, he...didn't really, like...agree to that, so we opted for his soul instead. Fair is fair, but apparently our soul is on the line so we can't screw this up. Oh noes! The big scawy weaper is gwonna come gwet mwe! Lol.

Unless...

...this is a very real bet with very real consequences, and we made a very stupid mistake.

Where do I even begin?!

I loved this game! It made me laugh, it made me cry (not joking, it really did), it made me feel things.

Like, holy shit, I'm so used to the yandere games where you're essentially like "This man is hot, but he is fucking nuts, and I need to get away from him", that it really starstruck me when I was like "...I want to marry this man and live happily ever after". Like...there was nothing toxic this time around it and it was...huh? Kindness? Positivity? Boundaries? What is this?

It was deadass like being in a string of toxic relationships and finally finding the one. Not even just the one, but a legitimate healthy relationship. Like, I have no idea how to react to this, but it's such a fuzzy feeling. Grim literally got me over here giggling and kickin' my feet and shit.

Anyways, this visual novel was really, really good and an absolute chef's kiss. The pacing, the story, the humour, the customization, the art, the UI, the everything! Everything was so good! Like, if you couldn't tell, my favorite thing was by far the customizations. Let me show you what I mean:

Like, how cool is that? The screenshots doesn't do it full justice, but from looking at the characters that I made, you can tell that you can customize quite a bit. Granted, it doesn't play a huge role, and there's not side sprite or CGs with the character that you customized, but I still like that there was an option so that it's like "Fuck yeah, he knows I'm Black" ya know? Not to mention, you can also customize...

...your room and your household companion! You can even have a snake as your pet, if you choose to do so!

I'm sorry, I was just absolutely geeked about the customization options. Honestly, the overall art in the game was just absolutely stunning; however, I did wish that there were more CGs, but that's more of a personal thing versus a flaw of the game. I just wanted to see more of this sleek ass art, because, as I've mention, I am an absolute slut for CGs.

Anyways, much like the Perfect Love game, I could definitely ramble on and on and on and on some more about this game, but I'm going to demand -- not ask but politely, yet forcefully demand -- that you play this game and enjoy it so that you can see how edgy yet sweet this man can be. And like I said, the dialogue is so funny. Admittedly, my humour is kind've broken, so I laugh at just about anything, but I think the dialogue was legit funny this time around. And again, the way that it just switches over from being a total meme to something kind've serious to super sentimental and sweet and it's...like what? The transition was just so damned smooth. Like, the dev(s) absolutely killed that shit. No debate, and don't at me because outside opinions that oppose this idea will be ignored.

That being said, I cannot stress enough how much this game needs to be played. It's so good. It's so funny. It's so sweet. It's so sleek. It's so everything. Like, just play it. You'd be doing yourself a disservice if you didn't. Okay, okay, but that's enough gushing and rambling. Here's a link for when -- not if when, because I demanded it, remember? -- you play the game for yourself, and drop those supportive words of "This game is fire as fuck, dude" and maybe some monetary support if you can.

Anywho, I'm not the dev(s), so my transition to the end won't be as smooth, but I'm going to go ahead and end it here!

As always: Don't forget to drink water, don't be dumb, and hope to see you around~!

A Date with Death

[jules-has-notes]

Oogie Boogie's Song — VoicePlay music video

It wouldn't be spooky season for VoicePlay without an elaborate production involving costumes, makeup, and character voices, so they dipped into the soundtrack from The Nightmare Before Christmas once again. After portraying the hero and denizens of Halloween Town over the previous two years, the boys turned to the villain of the piece. And since they'd been kidnapped a couple times themselves during that time, it seemed only fair that the boys got to turn the tables for once.

They'd included an excerpt of this song in their "Aca Top 10 – Disney Villains" countdown earlier in the year, the fans had clamored for a full version, and VoicePlay definitely delivered.

Details:

title: Oogie Boogie's Song

original song / performer: Ken Page as Oogie Boogie in The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

written by: Danny Elfman

arranged by: Layne Stein

release date: 18 October 2019

My favorite bits:

their closet cosplay versions of the characters, complete with dramatic high-contrast makeup

that high, taunting "Oooh, I'm really scared!"

Layne's shuffling percussion line that keeps the tempo feeling unhurried

the moments of double-tracked Geoff doing his usual non-lyric bass stuff to give the sound more depth and menace

J.None, Earl, and Eli repeating ♫ "Ha!" ♫ in their harmony lines to really rub it in

everyone's distinct character voices that they somehow maintain while singing and speaking on pitch

Layne's giving adorable finger guns on beat in the first chorus

the fun syncopation from the trio on ♫ "This may be your last song" ♫

Geoff jumping up two full octaves for that first big belt of ♫ "I'm the Oogie Boogie man!" ♫

J's bouncy gallop as they sing ♫ "roly poly Santa Claus" ♫ 🎅

that funky descending arpeggio from Geoff after Layne's "to add a little spice"

the eerie, ghostlike ♫"oooh"s ♫ in the backing vocal behind Santa's "please come to your senses"

those cool raver mouth lights in the blackout breakdown section

the crunchy harmonies for ♫ "shut this fella up" ♫

the jittery audio panning on ♫ "drowning in my tears" ♫ (Listen with headphones if you can.)

Eli's plaintive descending riff behind "I'm going to do my stuff."

the playful tone of "Imma do the best I can."

Layne's descending tom line to transition into the key change

those light, rounded arpeggios behind "Release me fast…"

the meta humor of Geoff addressing his actual brother-in-law as "Oh, brother…"

Earl putting a little extra grit on "You haven't got a prayer."

Eli's wavy hand motions as the whole group creeps toward Santa

that long belt on ♫ "No-WHEEERE" ♫ followed by going even higher

Geoff spelunking down three and a half octaves in about ten seconds, good grief

the captions (accurately) describing his final subharmonic note as "subterranean"

that deep, gravelly chuckle under the rest of the group's laughter

Trivia:

This is the third of four consecutive Nightmare Before Christmas videos VoicePlay created as their Halloween offerings.

It was filmed at the REBL HQ studio at Full Sail University, with production assistance from several of the film students there, and set design by the studio's production design instructor.

Their costumes represent characters from the movie. Geoff is, of course, the titular Oogie Boogie, as he was two years earlier for their version of "What's This?". Eli, Earl, and J.None are his minions: Lock, Shock, and Barrel, respectively. And Layne cast himself as Jack Skellington's ghost dog, Zero.

To achieve those looks, the guys once again called on stylist Tanya Buzu, who had previously dressed them for the "Beautiful Low" and "Shape of You / No Diggity" mashup videos.

The character appearances were made complete with makeup from their frequent collaborator, Rick Underwood.

The performer in the Santa costume is Kathy Castellucci's brother, Pasquale Palazzolo, who had known most of the guys since they were in high school together.

Santa's dialogue, however, was provided by Eli, who lends his voice acting talents to many of their guest characters.

For their "Kidnap the Sandy Claws" video the following year, Eli and J.None reprised their roles as Lock and Barrel, but everyone else was recast.

Geoff's original final note was an E2 (already fairly low), but Layne asked if he could take it down the octave for a more dramatic ending. He gave it his best shot, and the E1 that reliably shocks YouTube reactors was born. He quickly got good enough at it to consistently perform the song in their live shows starting that holiday season.

The funky bass-guitar-sounding descending arpeggio at 1:20 was created by layering two different takes of Geoff singing the notes in two different octaves, then applying a filter in post-production.

The Facebook upload hit a million views in less than three weeks.

The YouTube version quickly caught up and surpassed that total, with another recent surge of views bringing it over 13 million after the passing of Oogie Boogie voice actor Ken Page in late September 2024.

A fan's daughter was inspired to draw her mom some adorable chibi-fied versions of some of the characters.

digital drawings posted by @/tra23581191 on Twitter

[inkblackorchid]

Discounting anything in Embers so there’s no worry about spoilers, what would you say was your favorite duel to write, and why? And you can include things around the duel as an explanation- like I would count Crow teasing Yusei about giving Aki Stardust or Yusei just giving a shit eating grin to Team Unicorn as great moments that are still part of the duel even if they don’t involve the actual duelists.

Tried to think about this a bit, but even now as I'm looking at the ask again, I'm honestly not sure I have one definite favourite. I'm pretty proud of my finished duels in general—largely on account of the effort that goes into them—and there's always something immensely satisfying about making plot and cardplay work together.

That said, let me try and give a proper answer. I can narrow my "favourite" duels down to three, I think. One would be the Aki VS Divine duel in To Bloom or To Wilt, the first duel I ever wrote. I like this one a lot because I'm proud that I actually gave duel scripting a shot instead of chickening out and because I love the narrative tension this specific duel has going on. So I guess you could say my love for it partially stems from nostalgia, but also from the specific stakes and character interactions that duel had. The second one would, depending on whether you count that as one, two, or three duels in quick succession, be the Team Unicorn duel rewrite in Snapping Jaws and Piercing Horns—specifically the section where Aki plays against Breo. The main reason why I like this one so much is very simple: I have seldom had as much fun writing a duel as I did when I let Aki sass Breo to hell and back. Generally, the sense of stumping Team Unicorn instead of letting Aki play into their hands that I was able to play with because of that duel was a continuous source of joy and amusement. The third duel would be Aki VS Misty in Be Careful What You Wish For, on account of the sheer amount of emotional tension in that duel. I went all-out on the heavy dialogue in that duel and still look back at it with a sense of pride because those emotions run deep and I'm glad I could capture that while also entangling the cardplay in the action.

If I had to pick a favourite out of these three, specifically, and thus out of all my fics right now, on the spot, I think I'd actually choose Aki VS Misty in Be Careful. It was the culmination of several duels that came before it and I like what I did with it. There are a bunch of callbacks in there, both to canon and to my own fics, the cards really worked to give me the escalating tension I wanted, and though the duel is technically short in terms of the number of turns, it perfectly accomplished exactly what I needed. Misty's Reptilianne deck was also fun, in a way, even though I know her cards aren't great in the TCG. And the dialogue, often tied to certain cardplays, came from a very raw, emotional place and I like the feel of it, especially once the tension breaks during the grand finale. I was playing with the readers' perception VS Aki's perception a lot in that duel, too (in regards to Aki's monsters) and enjoy how that turned out. (Though I realise it's probably my most dialogue-heavy duel so far. Make of that what you will.)

Aki VS Breo is a very close second place, though, because writing Aki's sass in that one gave me life. ^^

[cosmicjoke]

Hey cosmic! So you often talk about Levi and manga things that didn’t get animated. What are some of your favorite Levi moments from the manga that didn’t make it to the anime? Like internal dialogues or random panel?

Hi there!

Well, there's a few. Obviously, the sections with Levi that they trimmed down the most were from the Uprising arc. The entire sequence between Levi and Dimo Reeves, as well as his speech to the 104th about the need to act when the time came, about not knowing if what they have today, they would still have tomorrow, etc... I wish they had kept all of that in. We get a lot of insight into Levi in these scenes, so it's a shame they cut so much of it. I still think you can tell what kind of character Levi is, even without those scene, despite what some people claim, but they're still important moments for Levi. Also, they shortened Levi's conversation with Erwin, right after Erwin loses his arm, by quite a bit, just cut a lot out, and I wish they had also kept all of that in. I also wish they had been able to animate a lot of scenes from "No Regrets" that they left out, including when Levi saves that one scout from impaling himself on the titan dummy, and if I remember correctly, they also cut the whole scene with Hange, when they come up to Levi, Furlan and Isabel in the old, abandoned castle.

Anyway, I'm sure I could think of more, but just off the top of my head, those are the ones that jump to mind.

[simplyclary]

Red, White and Royal Blue: A Royal Obsession

(Photo credits: Entertainment Weekly)

This is honestly a long overdue [personal] review of one of my most favorite book to movie adaptations EVER, considering it came out last August 11, 2023, and I wrote this entire thing on October 11, 2023 (Wow, on the 2nd month anniversary of the movie's release! How ironic!). But hey, what's important is it's here and it's here for you to read.

To be quite honest with you all, I have no particular format for this review, but I will be reviewing the storyline, the characters, the dialogue and what's in the book but not in the movie and vice versa.

I will also discuss the perfection that is the CASTING!! Like I can't imagine anybody else as Alex and Henry than who was casted, and you should know their names by now even though I'm gonna state their names a little later, so stay tuned.

Feel free to keep reading even though you haven't watched the movie or read the book, I'll leave it to your discretion but there is a section where I discuss the differences between the movie and the book so skip that if you wish ;)

So with that, I'll go ahead and jump into the movie and book review.

RED, WHITE AND ROYAL BLUE MOVIE AND BOOK REVIEW

Let's talk about the storyline first.

The storyline is not one for your typical romantic comedy. To be honest, this is the first romantic comedy storyline of its kind that I have ever seen in my life, like its not set in like high school or whatsoever where stakes are low. This is sort of high stakes (though not fantasy level high stakes), considering that the lives of the main characters Alex and Henry are forever altered with what happens in the story. This is also a story with an enemies/rivals-to-lovers trope, which I personally love, like I'm such a fan for any story with that trope.

The story has plot and it's a good one. It's one of those plots that are sort of unforgettable and you really need to watch until the end to find out what happens. The storyline of this balances the comedy to the romance and the drama. Like I love that so much, it's everything I want in a romantic comedy story.

Also, there are certain changes between the movie and the book but I'll discuss that in a bit.

Now, let's talk about the dialogue.

With regards to the dialogue, I wouldn't call it cringe because some of the lines are just the wittiest and hit lines that I have ever heard and read. The banter between characters is so fun to read and the way the actors delivered the dialogue is just worth remembering. Like there are certain scenes that I can never unhear from my brain, even while I was reading the book. I would also like to point out that the dialogue are not those cringy one-liners that other rom-coms have and so, it was one aspect that set it apart from your typical rom-com.

One thing that I would like to point out is the conversations between Alex and Henry through text and emails. Now, this was an aspect in the movie that I loved, like the way they executed their conversations in the emails and texts by having text bubbles show up is just cool. Their emails were longer in the book, with some poetry involved but I didn't mind how it turned out in the movie.

I'll now talk about the characters and the utter PERFECTION that is the CASTING.

This story does not have an overload of characters, which makes it easy to remember almost everybody in the story. There were some characters who were not included in the movie or was changed in the movie but kind of had the same vibe with the original character in the book. The titular characters of this story are Alex Claremont-Diaz and Prince Henry. Notable side characters include June Claremont-Diaz, Nora Holleran, Princess Beatrice, Zahra Bankston, President Ellen Claremont, Oscar Diaz, Shaan Srivastava (Henry's equerry), Rafael Luna, Percy "Pez" Okonjo, Duchess Catherine of Edinburgh, Queen Mary and Henry's pet beagle David.

Casting wise, I have nothing to say except that the characters were casted perfectly. Having Taylor Zakhar Perez as Alex and Nicholas Galitzine as Henry was nothing but PERFECT! Like, their chemistry was off the charts and emanating through the screen as I was watching the movie. The banter that flowed between them is so natural and so fun to watch. They did have to be close immediately because of the intimacy of the story, and I love how easily they got along considering that Nick was casted first and they had to find someone who can easily bond with him and I'm happy they found Taylor because their friendship is a gem to be treasured.

Even when I read the book after watching the movie (I know, it's a sin. PEACE!), I heard their voices in my mind as I was reading their characters' dialogues. As for the supporting characters, Uma Thurman as President Ellen Claremont was a force of nature, her speech toward the end of the movie was something else, Sarah Shahi was hilarious and iconic as Zahra, Rachel Hilson as Nora is the best friend you want in your life, and Ellie Bamber as Princess Beatrice is the sweetest and supportive sister you want with you during tough times.

Honestly, I have nothing but praise for the casting of this movie. Other casting directors should learn from this (just kidding, but lowkey, yes, they should!).

Moving on to the twists and differences from book to screen.

Similar to every other book to screen adaptation, not every element from the book gets adapted on screen and this movie is no different. Certain characters were also not adapted and changed and certain scenes were not included.

Let's talk about the differences in characters first.

One of the characters that I really wanted to see in the movie (this is after reading the book already) was June Claremont-Diaz. June is Alex's older sister and the First Daughter of the US. She was not included in the movie, which kinda made me sad because her banter with Alex and Nora is one of my favorites in the book. Also, she just provides that sisterly vibe to Alex similar to what Beatrice provides to Henry. I would've also loved to see the Claremont-Diaz siblings banter on screen but sadly, that is not the case. I would also like to mention that one of my favorite actresses Emeraude Toubia was the fancast for June and simply imagining her with Taylor just makes me giddy and happy.

Another character that was not there but mentioned multiple times in the movie was Henry's mother Duchess Catherine of Edinburgh. She was present in the book but not in the movie so that's another character that I would've loved to see on screen.

For the characters that were changed, a few notable ones were Rafael Luna. Rafael's character became Miguel in the movie, and believe me when I tell you that Miguel irritates me in the movie, especially when he is around Alex, which is always! Another notable character change was the royal ruler of England. In the book, it was Queen Mary but in the movie, the character became King James so it was a transition from a queen to a king which I don't mind.

So far, those are the only ones that really come to mind. The other side characters like Zahra, Nora, Shaan, and Percy were maintained. I would also like to add that it's a smart move when they decided to have the author of the book Casey Mcquiston appear in the movie! That's a slay, honestly.

As for the differences in the storyline and dialogue...

Storyline-wise, the movie stayed pretty true to the book, which is honestly good because I am not the biggest fan of when they put too much twists in a book to screen adaptation that sometimes it already strays away from the original plot. Some iconic scenes from the book that did not make it to the movie (the Cornetto scene, for example, but it was released later on) and some minor changes to places were made like in the book, Alex and Henry first met in the Rio Olympics while in the movie, they first met at the Melbourne Climate Conference.

Dialogue-wise, it is pretty much the same thing. Some dialogue was just made more dramatic in the movie (Zahra saying "I will Brexit your head right off your body" to Henry in the movie is one of my favorites), but most of it was taken from the book itself which honestly, slay because the book basically gives you your script so if changes were to be made, it would be minor and not super major.

More deleted scenes could possibly be coming, so keep manifesting for their release, you guys!

Before I end, let's talk intimacy, smut and spice

This story is definitely not YA, and it has spice and smut within. Honestly, I would rate the spice 3/5 chili peppers because it's not like a full-blown "frack me boneless" or something but it still has hooking up and making love scenes that are essential to show the growing romance between Alex and Henry. To be fair, since I watched the movie before reading the book, I was surprised by the speed of the spice but I was also enchanted by the tenderness of when they made love in their room in Paris. Like that scene was beautifully executed and I was speechless after that.

The intimacy level of the story is one of the main reasons (if not the main reason) why Nick and Taylor had to be close so fast because the level of trust that needs to be established in order to execute the intimate scenes is necessary between two actors. Their dedication to their craft just leaves me in awe every time I think of the care and work they, along with the entire cast and crew, put into this movie.

Now, to conclude,

To end, I do not regret watching Red, White and Royal Blue. It's one of those feel-good movies that I could never get tired of no matter how many times I have already seen the movie, read bits of the book and heard the dialogue. It's just that good. The movie easily became a comfort movie for me and the book is one of my 5-star reads for the year.

History, huh? This movie definitely made some.

[calunalilly]

Questions for Writers

Haven't done one of these ever so... here we go :D Thanks for the tag @riversofmars

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

128

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

1,815,281

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Last Tango in Halifax

Doctor Who

Happy Valley

Collateral

As long as we have Nicola Walker and/or Sarah Lancashire I'm there!

Some of the others include:

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

These Are The Days Of Our Lives - a series of Last Tango in Halifax fics based on prompts from Tumblr, these were meant to be one shots but found myself weaving it all together int oa bigger story!

The Story - my canon companion to Last Tango - weaving things around the canon with no divergence to make it a love story - this was bloody hard!!!

More Time, More Life, More Feeling - another Last Tango, and probably one of my favourites - I still read this fairly often like a little comfort blanket haha.

The Big L.  - my very first outing with Last Tango. I still love this story even though I look back at it and cringe a little giving it was the first thing I ever wrote, but it means a lot to me.

Fall On Me  - a collab that I did with @question-of-perception that explores things from a different perspective for Last Tango!

I've actually written far more for DW than LTIH but you wouldn't know it!

5. Do you respond to comments?

Of course! Each and every one, it's so lovely when I get them and I get so excited!!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I'm definitely a happy endings girl and I can't stand it when things don't work out, so this is hard... Maybe

Between the Eyes  because it wasn't an immediate resolution?

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Hahah all of them have happy endings! I would probably have to say

New Day Coming  for DW, perhaps, although love the one for What Christmas Means To Me  as well. In terms of Last Tango in Halifax, probably The Big L.  because I was so determined to give them their happy ending, its fluffy mcfluff.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Thankfully no, I would definitely cry hahah.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Um. Yes. Probably too much, but its a public service, right? RIGHT?!

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Yes, all the time! My maddest one is probably Call It Dreaming which is a crossover between DW/Last Tango/Happy Valley/Collateral and also has some Stranger Things elements... That was madness, haha.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of! Hope it stays that way...

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I feel like I'm some kind of co-writing slut, hahaha. Yes. With @riversofmars, @question-of-perception, @mrskeeleyhawes, @meluisart, @pocketofpencils and also with some of the folks over at the Hebden Bridge Discord Server. I really enjoy it!

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

It's a close toss up between Caroline Mckenzie Dawson/Gillian Greenwood and Liv Chenka/Helen Sinclair <3

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Hmm... I've got a lot of ideas for different things that I make notes on and a few WIPS, but I'm sure I will come back to them eventually!!

16. What are your writing strengths?

Maybe dialogue? To be honest I don't really know, I just go for it and hope for the best hahaha.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I feel that sometimes I fall back on the same language/phrasing for things and I annoy myself, and always think it's super noticeable in my writing!

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I have the odd bit where there is a point but otherwise CBA. I don't speak any other languages haha.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Last Tango in Halifax.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Whyyyyy do I have to choose just one?! I love More Time, More Life, More Feeling for Last Tango, Interstellar for DW (the middle section is probably, in my head, one of the better bits of writing I've done), Danger Zone because Top Gun AU makes me die, and also Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost  with @riversofmars because Lord of the Rings was the first fic that I ever read way back when I was an angsty teen fangirl. Hah.

Tagging some people I think might be interested but anyone who sees this and fancies it, please fell free! @katiedingo @meluisart @ultramassivecollectorcupcakeblr @pocketofpencils @darkbloomiana

[soot-and-salt]

for the fanfic ask game: F and N!!!!

Hello anon!!

(Question from this list of fanfic author questions - come ask me more!)

F. Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you've written and explain why you're proud of it.

This is so hard because writing dialogue is my favorite. Okay let's see. Off the top of my head I thought of:

"You," Vox growled as he sidled up next to Alastor. "Me," the Radio Demon replied with a special shit eating grin he kept in reserve only for him. He took another sip of the admittedly very nice whiskey (one point in this terrible club's favor, his internal review of the place jumping from minus 4 to minus 3 stars). Vox snapped his fingers at the bartender and a drink was put in his hand immediately. "Manners," Alastor chided. "You can tell so much about a person by how they treat waitstaff, you know." "Fuck you, first of all," Vox said, pointing the glass at him accusingly, "second of all, what the fuck are you of all people doing at the trendiest night club in the whole city? I thought you'd burn to a crisp like a vampire walking into a church if you set foot into a place that refused to act like culture stopped evolving after the Great Depression." Alastor huffed a laugh. "I'll have you know, my dear, that I enjoy an evening out every so often. I'm not a nun." "And, so, what? You guys picked here?" A disbelieving chuckle clung to his words, glitchy and warped. Vox leaned into Alastor's personal space a little, screen lighting up with one of his patented shark toothed grins. "I had no idea you were so fond of EDM music, must have missed that segment on your little radio program." Alastor refused to take a step back, instead letting his smile turn into something sleek and serpentine. "Oh, so you do listen to my program! I was wondering who's been writing me all that deranged fan mail lately, so good to find an answer to that little mystery!" Tinny canned laughter played through his static, a few whoops thrown in for good measure.

(sic)

"Pfft, lucky for you! If this place wasn't warded I'd beat your ass so hard they'd have to sell your hide as ground venison." Vox let his own internal studio audience ohhh at the insult, grin dripping with malice and pixelated saliva. The Radio Demon rolled his eyes, his monocle a shard of glittering red in the dark of the club, elbow leaned primly against the bartop. "My dear fellow, it would be a miracle if you could even lay a fingertip on me before I rend you down into scrap metal and sell you for pennies." Valentino slotted himself between them, angling for the bartenders attention. "Girls, girls, cut it out, you're both pretty."

It's from my radiostatic fic Betty Boop Then The Beat Drops which I'm still bizarrely fond of, even though I think it could be a better fic in places. The reason why I love this dialogue is because I think it's so SNAPPY. I love BANTER and Vox and Alastor do it SO damn well. They're both the very definition of catty bitches and they love to quip at each other. Alastor's snark is sharp and witty while Vox's is a little more bravado-heavy, but it works so well. This section was an absolute JOY to write. They're both so MEAN. Writing their snark lets me let out MY inner catty bitch and it's the best time ever.

The end bit with Valentino, who is bizarrely a RIOT to write, is just so absurdly funny that I can't help but include it. They're all fucking terrible and it makes for fantastic comedy.

Is there better, wittier, snappier dialogue in stuff like Fetch Quest or the Cursed Cat Alastor fic or the one where Valentino teaches Alastor gen z slang? Completely. But for whatever reason these two being dicks to each other here is so funny to me that I can't help but hold it dear. It just sounds like them, I can hear it so clearly in their voices. Now that's good television dialogue!

N. Is there a fic you wish something else would write (or finish) for you?

I'm not going to tag him here, because the good doctor just started his residency and he has enough going on (so tell him I said nice things!), but DEAR GOD do I wish I could pick Prince-liest's brain on how to write Vox in a sexy context. HOW DOES HIS BODY WORK???

I had a great idea for kink week back in June involving Vox and Alastor and I failed completely at writing it because I just could not figure out in my head how Vox's whole deal worked. It's mostly why I haven't written anything smutty in a radiostatic context yet. I'm utterly flummoxed on how to write Vox's body.

Prince is the fucking GOAT at it, though. His 666: Live On Air! series is FANTASTIC. Literally the gold standard for demented radiostatic and his Vox is exceptional. Prince absolutely understands how that weirdo's body works, in lots of different iterations even, and executes it flawlessly in his writing. Completely believable, completely makes sense. I bow down before him.

Don't get me wrong, I'll get there at some point, but MAN. Vox, buddy, the actual fuck are you, my guy. Prince, sir, doc, I don't know how you do it but I tip my proverbial hat to you.

[birlwrites]

do you have any recommendations for fics or other writers/artists that make Regulus-centric stuff that isn't jegulus?

I DO YES - i don't really know anything in the realm of fanart but if anyone does feel free to hop on!

first of all, some good places to look are in the ao3 collections for regulus black fest (it's a different collection every year). you can find a lot of info on the tumblr blog which i am not going to tag because i feel like their notifications are probably hellish but it's https://regulusblackfest.tumblr.com/ - the url is just regulusblackfest

and they also have artwork! so that's a good source for that as well if you haven't already looked

of course, there will undoubtedly be jegulus in there, but it won't ONLY be jegulus

as for my personal recommendations:

rosewater:

if you're looking for regulus/evan, i have a bookmark collection on ao3 of my favorites. it's a bit on the small side, and they're all one-shots right now, but i do check the tag pretty religiously (we're talking 5+ times per day) so i will add more new favorites as i find them!

and here is a link to xslytherclawx's works on ao3 (@xslytherclawx-writes on tumblr), already filtered down to just the works featuring regulus, of which there are QUITE a few

no romance:

these are some of my ABSOLUTE FAVES for regulus-centric fics! here goes:

leave no stone unturned (a series of standalones) by thedivinecomedian has a lot of great stuff - i haven't read the whole series, but i love blackpool, styx, and sabotage! please do mind the content warnings on all of those. (as the title of the series suggests, they're all standalone fics)

bindings, bindings by quietlemonhush isn't SOLELY regulus-centric - it focuses on regulus, sirius, remus, james, and lily - but regulus is one of the main characters, he has a pov, and i just love the fic in general agslhgjskdf. once again mind the warnings but it's less intense than, like, blackpool

through a glass, blackly by wheresmejumper is one that i just read fairly recently and became an INSTANT fave. it's just so well done GAHHHHHH my jaw was on the fLOOR when i got to the end, highly highly recommend, yet again do mind the warnings

some more no romance fics i found in my older bookmarks:

birthright and brotherhood - one-shot, regulus pov of sirius running away

to blow a gasket - one-shot, regulus using notable muggle inventions like duct tape and explosives to steal the horcrux

miscellaneous pairings:

smoke slow: a spy!regulus au - regulus/remus series, regulus is The Spy who ends up with the hogwarts teaching job. he's a runes professor, one of my favorite takes on the 'regulus was dumbledore's spy' premise, and regulus himself is just *chefs kiss* he's punched dumbledore in the face multiple times and i live in the hope of him getting another one in. the dialogue is EXCELLENT

midnight hues - bartylus one-shot, emotional hurt/comfort i guess? it's soft (it's in a series, but the series is more a collection of regulus fics than anything requiring continuity)

kindness blooms - regulus/petunia series, which is a WILD pairing but the author totally sold me on it - 'good petunia dursley' is a prominent tag in the series, it becomes more harry-centric as the series progresses but there's still a lot of regulus!

AND FINALLY........

technically this fic should go in the no romance section but it's just so glorious that i felt the need to give it its own section

regulus black and the way things changed: a not!fic - another take on regulus becoming a hogwarts professor, told in humorous bullet point style, and it's just delightfully unhinged the whole way through. regulus competes with gilderoy lockhart re: who is the most fabulous dresser at hogwarts. snuffles gets HEAVILY involved. it's absolutely wild. also they kill voldemort and whatnot

okay that's what i've got right now - if anyone else wants to add on more, including art, go for it!!

[flyinghome-againstthewind]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thank you for the tag, @walkinginland!! 💜

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

8! 😅

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

234,699 (the fact that I'm almost at a quarter of a million words feels all kinds of crazy to me 🥹)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently and on ao3, just Outlander. I did a lot more fandom hopping in my youth and on ffnet.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

the best by far is you (Outlander, multichap, canon-divergent - what if Faith lived?)

Beside the Seaside (Outlander, multichap, 1940s au - single parents twist on seasons 1&2)

The Lost Ones (Outlander, one-shot, modern au - Jamie and Claire are neighbors and help each other through a difficult holiday season)

Holly, Ivy, Mistletoe (Outlander, one-shot, tbbfiy holiday fic)

When My Love Reaches to Me (Outlander, one-shot, modern au - follow up to The Lost Ones)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I do for most of my fics! Beside the Seaside has become a little overwhelming so I don't respond to those comments at the moment.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I have to go with one of my drabble for this bc I dont usually write angsty endings for my fics, only angsty middles 😅 but I think Something to Hold Onto fits the bill for this. Though she be but 100 words, she is angsty.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

the best by far is you had a pretty happy ending, but I think Soften Every Edge will hold that title once it's finished.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

There was one person who REALLY didn't like the family separation arc in tbbfiy and trolled the comment section a few times, but that's been the only true hate I've ever received on a fic.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I hadn't ever written smut before Outlander, and I blame Jamie and Claire being the two horniest muses I've ever worked with for my forray into smut writing lol. I don't write a lot of smut, but if inspiration strikes and I feel like it adds to the story, I will usually include it.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I do not!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of 🤞🏻 Back in my ffnet days, I had someone message me about my fic that they wanted to basically copy and paste bits and pieces of it and change the characters but keep the main storyline (staying within the same fandom, mind you... and just switching characters around) and I said ummmm no?? but thank you for asking nicely?? and then watched their stories like a hawk for a few months, but to my knowledge, they respected what I said and didn't do that 😅

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I'm aware of!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I haven't and honestly I'm mystified by how people make that work. I've read a number of fics that were co-written by two people and the results are so cool.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

I don't like to answer what my all-time anything is because I am indecisive 😭 but at least in terms of writing fic, I've got almost a quarter of a million words published just about Jamie and Claire, so. That answer feels obvious.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Oof. I never even posted it, but in my college years, I was vibing very hard with a Smallville au, wrote several chapters, it lived rent free in my mind, and never got around to finishing it. But oh my god the Themes of it all...

16. What are your writing strengths?

Characterization and theme, I think. I feel like if I know the characters and I know what the themes are, I can cobble together some kind of story.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Plotting lol. It's always the joke with fic writing that you have to write a whole story around the one random scene you envisioned, and that's how most of mine start. So figuring out the plot and pacing from there is always a struggle.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I always want to include other languages that are integral to the characters (hi, jamie fraser!), but as someone who regrettably only speaks English, I get so nervous about the fact that I rely on google translate and might get it horrendously wrong and upset someone who actually speaks the language because it's That Bad. 😅 So I usually include what I can and then use indicators when someone is speaking in another language but I'm typing it in English.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Oh god, I can't remember exactly, but I think the first fandom that I actually wrote and posted a fic for was One Tree Hill (though some of you on twitter might remember the story of 8th grade Anna turning in a chapter of her Alias fanfic for a creative writing assignment, I didn't ever end up posting that story, so that was just for me, my sister, and my 8th grade English teacher, apparently 💀)

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Oh god. I feel like it changes depending on what I'm working on, honestly. Beside the Seaside has been super self-indulgent and fun to write, but I'm having a love-hate relationship with sharing that one with an audience at the moment. Currently, my favorite one I've written/am still writing is Soften Every Edge - I'm just very pleased with how chapter 1 turned out and loving any time I get to return to that world and that family.

I'm not sure who all has done this already, so no pressure tagging @theawkwardterrier and @behindthelabels

[talldecafcappuccino]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thanks for the tag, @chainofclovers!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

41

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 301,363

3. What fandoms do you write for?

It's really just Ted Lasso. I wrote a bit for The Lizzie Bennet Diaries years and years ago and then a couple one-offs for Schitt's Creek and The 100, but it wasn't much.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

my body over yours

calamine

when we were young

It's Great to Stay Up Late

love the lasso way

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes, but I fell off for a while at the end of the last year. I feel weird not responding to comments and also it's just really nice to chat with people in comments. It's where I first met many of my fandom friends! Alas, it's harder to respond to comments on a multichapter because the story isn't done and I don't want to give anything away so I'm just like repeatedly saying "thanks for sticking with this fic!!"

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

home again - I pretty much only write happy endings, but the most open-ended thing I wrote was this post-finale fic for Ted Lasso that I suppose some people might find angsty for reasons (it's really not angsty, but like...I could see making an argument for it).

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

leader of the pack - To me this is the happiest possible ending to AppleTV+ Ted Lasso: a future fic with Ted and Rebecca happy together, splitting their time between London and Kansas until Ted's eventual retirement from coaching, but they still visit the games in the fan section (where the season ticket holders have a permanent seat saved for Ted).

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not that I'm aware of.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Not really. I've only written it as part of a larger story and I guess I don't tap into writing it very easily without a larger story to frame it (basically I need a whole lot of build up or context before I can write it which I suspect is thanks to demisexuality lmao)

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I’ve never set out to write a crossover, but I realized after the fact that my Ted Lasso goes on Queer Eye fic is in fact a crossover.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, just brainstormed with a friend or had a convo that sparked something, but never actually co-written anything with someone else.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

I don't have one! I don't like picking favorites in general and for ships there are different faves for different things and different faves for different seasons of life. I'm currently hyper-fixated on Ted/Rebecca, but that doesn't necessarily make them my all-time favorite ship.

15. What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Hmm idk. I think the ones I want to finish are still able to be finished and any other ones I'm good with them remaining WIPs. I only have one active Ted/Rebecca WIP posted on ao3 and I plan to finish it.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think it’s dialogue. My honors English teacher said I was funny once and I've latched on to that as well.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I tend to get focused on plot and what's happening and I find it harder to just write someone's thoughts and emotions without it veering into melodrama (or at least it feels like melodrama to me).

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I think it's very cool if you are someone who knows another language or has the resources to do so and it works for the character/story/fic. Unfortunately I am terrible at languages (including my own) so I'll just appreciate it when someone else does it.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

I definitely wrote some very terrible HP one shots when I was like...13?

20. Favorite fic you've ever written?

Idk about favorite but I'm proud I finished my bodyguard au the way I wanted to which makes it a fave based on that alone.

leader of the pack might be my personal fave because it's how I initially pictured an idealistic happy ending for the show (post-season 1)

But also I liked writing lots of my fics for different reasons. I really truly hate picking favorites!!

Tagging: I'm late to this and I feel like everyone I know who writes has been tagged already 😅 Please participate if you want to!!

[jules-has-notes]

Crystal Lake, IL — VoicePlay live performances

On the day after Thanksgiving 2019, VoicePlay headed north for a show in a suburb of Chicago. Athough it wasn't technically part of their Warm Up holiday tour, the guys didn't shy away from performing some seasonal tunes. Luckily, they had several Nightmare Before Christmas songs in their repertoire to help bridge the gap between spooky and jolly.

.

This song is full of joyous energy, so it's a great fit for a live setting in general, and for J.None's voice on the lead in particular.

Details:

title: What's This?

original performer: Danny Elfman as Jack Skellington in The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

written by: Danny Elfman

arranged by: Layne Stein

performance date: 22 November 2019

My favorite bits:

those lovely smooth opening chords

J.None smacking Layne's shoulder in his excitement

the alternating bobbing choreography

Earl wagging his finger at Eli during the snowball fight

Layne imitating a wind-up toy as he makes clockwork sounds

♫ ⇓ "–laaand" ⇓ ♫ "That was mad weird." "Sorry." 😬

J batting away their encroaching monster mitts

Look at him twirl! 🕺

Trivia:

The music video for this song was the boys' Halloween offering in 2017, and the audio track was included on their "Warm Up" holiday EP released a few days later.

The song itself had been a regular part of their holiday setlists since at least 2015, when they first held a seasonal residency for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at Disney World.

.

Keeping up the theatricality, the guys took things a little darker. Seeing them perform all of those character voices and vocal acrobatics in a live setting is so impressive.

Details:

title: Oogie Boogie's Song

original performer: Ken Page as Oogie Boogie in The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

written by: Danny Elfman

arranged by: Layne Stein

performance date: 22 November 2019

My favorite bits:

seeing Geoff switch between his usual on-stage demeanor and the more bombastic Oogie Boogie characterization

J.None, Earl, and Eli's fantasticly cartoony minion voices

that first big ♫ "Whoa-oooa" ♫

Eli and J.None doing a little half-time groove at the start of the breakdown section

Earl twiddling his fingers as he sings ♫ "with liiives on the line" ♫

Geoff pulling off that three-and-a-half octave hopscotch into the basement live

Trivia:

This song was their spooky season tune for this year, with the music video made public just a few weeks earlier.

Santa Claus in the video clips was played by Geoff's brother-in-law, but his dialogue was recorded by Eli.

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It can be easy to overlook even the most talented vocal percussionists, since they provide the rhythmic foundation of the rest of the group. But when they take center stage, their skills are impossible to deny.

Details:

title: Layne's percussion solo

written & arranged by: Layne Stein

performance date: 22 November 2019

My favorite bits:

testing out the "instruments"

poking fun at an audience member with cough hits

"Hngh, needs tuning."

pretending to be surprised by his own bassy EDM sound

that super deep "mama"

the sleigh bell tutorial

Trivia:

This demonstration has been part of their setlists since the early 4:2:Five days.

Layne was also part of group beatboxing segments during both Sing-Off tours in 2014 and 2015.

Those sleigh bells have been put to good use over the years, from "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" to "Christmas Don't Be Late", and several other songs in between.

.

Although this recording is missing the first couple of lines, the rest of the song is a soothing display of their vocal skills. Even when they're simply sitting and singing together, it's a thing to behold.

Details:

title: O Little Town of Bethlehem

original song: traditional American carol

written by: lyrics by Phillips Brooks, music by Lewis Redner

arranged by: Geoff Castellucci

performance date: 22 November 2019

My favorite bits:

the lovely four-part harmony on ♫ "in thy dark streets shineth" ♫

the moment of anticipatory silence between ♫ "the hopes" ♫ and ♫ "and fears" ♫

Eli's clear timbre on the lead for the second verse

that harmonized descending riff on ♫ "of Ma-a-a-a-a-ary" ♫

the slow layering during ♫ "gathered all above" ♫

the build up to that lush ending

Trivia:

This gentle carol was the final entry in VoicePlay's first round of PartWork videos back in 2016. Because it was recorded before J.None was a member of the group, Geoff also covered the baritone part for that version.

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Additional photos

[gnomeniche]

Any thoughts on Ducks voice always being at least a little bit autotuned? It's like that all throughout the web series. The tv show gave him a less processed, normal voice but then the autotune comes back it "electricity". I thought it was kinda fascinating.

duck’s autotune fascinates and vexes me! i do have non-diegetic opinions and it’s that i think it was a good choice to take it away for most of the tv series. i personally like his voice without it and i could see it being distracting. but that then means it was Very Intentional to have it come back in “electricity.”

(whoa this got long!)

i think i saw someone note once that the autotune only returns once he gets electrocuted while playing the guitar during the song? and i think that’s correct. but i HAVE also noticed that it disappears during the blackout, which is when all the other artifices of the show-world kind of shut off as well. listening as hard as i can, i cannot hear it during any of his dialogue in those sections (including the fridge scene bc i know some of you are wondering).

i saw someone else note earlier that it sounds like he has the autotune when he’s trying to take yellow’s batteries. i would need to go back and confirm for myself, but if that’s so, then it means he’s missing it throughout the blackout but it returns once the light and music come back in. it seems to me like the autotune might, at least in the tv series, represent him being subject to the artifice of the show. autotune does lend one’s voice a rather robotic tone, after all.

but in the tv series, it only becomes apparent when he’s supercharged with electricity, which creates… interesting implications. we know that yellow is powered by electricity, and the world is itself electric, as shown by the house dissolving and all of the characters save the students shutting down or malfunctioning without power. and my favorite theory about the three students’ true natures is that, though they have seemingly gained their own sentience that is being repressed, they were all originally constructs of the world.

that might be a point in that theory’s favor; duck sounds more robotic when he’s filled with more electricity than normal, which has that effect on his voice bc he is already partially electric. and if we believe this, the fact that he, who clearly has a connection to electricity, can still function in the blackout is yet another point in favor of the theory. being able to function without electricity might represent how the personhood they’ve grown allows them to act without the world programming and determining their actions.

+ if you like to connect the webseries and the tv series like i do, you could even say that the webseries characters are at an earlier iteration of their selves, so they have yet to grow as much personhood as the tv characters, which is why he’s way more autotune-y there.

idk! this stopped being about Duck Alone but those are all the thoughts and theories i have relating to the possible significance of the autotune. thanks for the question! it was fun to hash all of this out and i hope this was interesting.