#this is still a very loose concept but i'd love to write more about it

[galaxywhump]

Stargazing

[An Immortal Among Stars Masterlist]

A new story for the Whump Girl Summer event hosted by @whumpawoman, Day 1: Environmental Whump. I probably won't be able to fill too many of the prompts because of a lack of time, but I still wanted to share at least this short piece, even though it's mostly introspection.

contents: lady whump, immortal whumpee, imagined death.

~~~

Centuries too late, people gathered to see a dying star.

The explosion had wiped out some nearby planets, but that was back when most of the universe was out of reach. Several diviners attempted to establish a link to the area, and found that among the debris that was left behind there was nothing hinting at previous life, or even at the planets being able to sustain it at all. No guilt was involved in enjoying the spectacle, and everyone treated it as such.

There were vendors, music, laughter, mouth-watering smell of food permeating the air; those were contained in a smaller area, while the rest, a huge open field, was left for the crowd to gather, to stand or to sit down, and watch the clear night sky.

"Incredible, isn't it?" Daria's eyes reflected the stars. "It happened so long ago, long before any of us were born, and we only get to see it now."

Karita nodded. She realized that the arm she'd wrapped around her partner had tensed up, and she forced herself to relax her grip, not wanting it to become painful. Her gaze stayed fixed on the burst of light.

"It's weird," she said, "that there's a whole festival around it. It feels wrong."

"I felt that way too." Daria shrugged, then reached up to hold Karita's hand and keep her arm wrapped around her shoulders. "But there had been no one and nothing there, right? So try to think of this as a… show, I suppose. Everyone treats it that way, anyway."

I could've been there, Karita thought, but didn't say it out loud, and instead nodded again, hoping that her silence would be taken as a sign of amazement.

Well, not there. She hadn't been there for this particular star's explosion, though Daria would have been surprised to learn that less time had passed between that event and Karita's birth than she would've thought.

But she could have been there to witness other stars dying. She could still experience it. She stared at the explosion in the sky until her eyes became dry and she had to blink, and she couldn't help but imagine being there.

The explosion getting closer, blinding her. The ground shattering beneath her. Dying, multiple times, coming back to life and-

She inhaled sharply and shuddered, and Daria looked at her with concern.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah," Karita sighed, bringing her hand up to her forehead. "I think I'll go grab something warm to drink, it's… kind of chilly." At least that wasn't a lie. "Do you want anything?"

"Hmm… Spiced hot chocolate. You should try it if you haven't already, it's amazing."

Karita mirrored her smile and gave her a kiss quick enough so Daria couldn't feel the tension that filled every nerve in her body.

"I'll be right back."

Even when she stopped looking at the star, it was still on her mind, fire, burning her to death, then leaving her at the mercy of space, ice, ice and loneliness, and vast emptiness all around her that she couldn't escape.

She hugged herself as she maneuvered among the other spectators. People. There were people around her, both a risk and a soothing constant. They didn't matter to her as much as they used to, but she found their presence calming regardless. For now she wasn't alone. For now she got two cups of spiced hot chocolate, returned to Daria, and smiled when she saw the way her face lit up.

Karita sat down behind her to wrap her hands around her and bury her face in the back. She heard Daria giggle.

“Wouldn’t you rather watch? It’s a once in a lifetime experience.”

“I know,” she muttered. “I just love you so much.”

“I love you too.” She could hear a smile in Daria’s voice.

She had eternity to watch stars die, but if she didn’t change her mind on keeping her immortality a secret, she had a few more years at most to be with Daria. The choice was obvious.

Holding Daria was like holding an anchor. There were other anchors before her, there would be many more after her, but that didn’t make it any more shallow. It was like a burst of love in Karita’s life, short but intense, like an exploding star, and then it would be gone.

The hot chocolate was heavenly. The night breeze made her skin rise in goosebumps.

Her mind and heart were heavy with memories and worry, no matter how much she tried to shut them out, but she was never going to stop trying.

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is:  @wynnyfryd! Wynnyfryd has 34 fics in the Stranger Things fandom and all of them are in the Steddie tag!

i don’t know, you figure it out

Plot Holes

biting you biting you biting you- oh! kissing you!

Satanic Ritual: DO NOT WATCH!!

She's got some of the FUNNIEST writing in this fandom, and it's very snappy too like. She's an editing demon for sure, she can take a concept that I'd think would take paragraphs to explain and find the right words to make it hit just as hard with like, two sentences. I also really really love how descriptive her metaphors are, really visceral sometimes, and she's really good at writing realistic life events but still making them fun to read about even when it's about like, devastating shit. The sex she writes is also intense as hell! -- @griefabyss69

Below the cut, @wynnyfryd answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

I am but a humble bisexual — I see two beautiful brown-eyed men makin’ beautiful brown eyes at each other, I go a little insane for two years. It is what it is.

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

late-night moments of quiet hopeful hesitant intimacy over a shared joint or cigarette. Thin wisp of smoke between them, stars dancing in their eyes. Yeah. YEAHHHHHHH 

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

This isn’t really a trope so much as a dynamic, but I love a good dipshit 4 dingus dialogue-heavy scene. Don’t get me wrong, I think Eddie and Steve can both be very smart and knowledgeable in their areas of interest/expertise, but these are two young dudes with no access to the internet. I love letting them be confidently incorrect dumbasses. Just ‘yes and’-ing each other’s stupidity while an exasperated third character begs for mercy.

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

Well, this question is impossible and furthermore rude. This question came into my home and didn’t take its muddy boots off. This question never mailed me a thank you letter for my lovely wedding gift. That blender was expensive; the absolute nerve. No but seriously, I think The Lathe by palmviolet is going to stay with me forever.

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

I’m a big fan of doing canon divergence from different jumping off points — the beauty of having characters live in the same small town their whole lives is that you get so many great opportunities for these “what if our paths crossed sooner” moments.  I have some very loose notes for a S3 fic where Eddie is the movie theater employee who finds Steve and Robin in the bathroom after they escape the Russians, and I also have an old WIP set between S1 and S2 where lifeguard Steve rescues Eddie and then spends the summer teaching him how to swim. Would love to revisit those after I finish the trailer park AU (which I will be referring to as TPAU because my fingers are tired and because ‘toilet paper au’ makes me laugh.)

What is your writing process like?

Uhhhhh. 😂 I mean, for TPAU, basically just insert the scene from Dune 2 of Paul’s first sandworm ride: I’m shaking I’m sweating there is sand in my nostrils and I am surely about to die— oh wait, maybe I’ve actually got this? Am I actually doing it? Oh shit, look at me go!   For one-shots I like to use a more structured outline and bracket method. I start by dividing my doc into numbered scenes, with each scene getting a notes section and a prose section, like this:

This format gives me a lot of freedom to switch up the order of scenes and to move between scenes so I avoid writer’s block. I can also jump ahead to scenes I really want to write without making a mess of my outline. Once I have something written in the prose section of each scene, I go back and work on replacing each bracket with prose until there are no brackets left. Lastly, I create a new blank doc and copy the prose over in order so I can read the full fic and work on edits from there.  

Do you have any writing quirks?

I have been known to abuse a semicolon. And an em dash. And a conjunction at the start of a sentence. Yes, I do have ADHD.   I’m also a lyricist, so I feel like my prose tends to stray into poetry territory pretty often.

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

When I’m finished! Which is probably why I tend to stick to one-shots; I get impatient and want to post stuff the second it’s ready.

Which fic are you most proud of?

‘i don’t know, you figure it out’ for SURE. I’ve never written a fic this long or stuck to a writing project this consistently in my life. Like ever. The last time I even came close was my first NaNoWriMo when I was 16, which was, uh… years ago, plural, and I’ll leave it at that. 😂

How did you get the idea for i don’t know, you figure it out?

“There’s a dead rat on his doorstep.” That’s it. That first sentence/scene popped into my head while I was bored at work, and then I started thinking, “hey, you know what? I don’t know that anyone’s ever done a fic where Max and Steve trade places for S4; that might be fun.”  And then NaNoWriMo was coming up, so I thought it would be cool to try live posting a fully improvised fic every day for a month to see how many words I could write. And then this tragic wet cat version of Steve Harrington grabbed me by the throat and took over my whole life.

When writing Satanic Ritual: DO NOT WATCH!!, what was something you didn’t expect?

How SAPPY these two got!! My god, boys, I’m trying to write smut over here, stop having a beautiful existential crisis! (I blame Briston Maroney for that though lol, I think I listened to ‘Body’ like 1400 times that month.)

What inspired Satanic Ritual: DO NOT WATCH!!?

@inklessletter posted this totally gorgeous art of Steve and Eddie recording themselves kissing, and I promptly lost my mind.  

What was your favorite part to write from biting you biting you biting you- oh! kissing you!?

This exchange: Steve: “What? I’m just asking!” Robin: “You’re being embarrassing!” Steve: “No, you’re just embarrassed. There’s a difference.” Like it’s just so them lmao

How do/did you feel writing i don’t know, you figure it out?

You know when you set out on a long hike in the summer and three hours later your calves are screaming and you’re covered in sweat and your sunburn’s starting to itch and this one horse fly won’t fuck off and your cell phone doesn’t even get service out here so literally WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO YOURSELF, and then you climb that last hill and look out on the most beautiful landscape you’ve ever seen in your silly little life? Basically that.

What was the most difficult part of writing Plot Holes?

Ooh, that one was fun! The only real difficulty was trying to keep it to a microfic because the concept could definitely be fleshed out to a full story — @griefabyss69 and I were joking around about “what if someone did ‘plot hole’ for the @steddiemicrofic prompt fill?” and then that fic just fell out of my head in about 15 minutes. 

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

For sure! I’m currently super proud of the graveyard scene in the most recent update of TPAU — I don’t write true horror often, but I love horror so it was really fun to give it a try! Favorite line from any fic is probably this reference to ‘You’re Divine’ in my fic Monsoon Season because I love uncomfortably-aroused prude Eddie, and his internal monologue cracks me up every time I think about it: Freddie Monsoon’s debut novel is called The Fourth Chime, and it is, as far as Eddie can tell, the first installment in a series of unapologetically filthy fuck fests about a man whose lover gets flung into an alternate dimension during an apocalyptic event and miraculously returns as some sort of… sexy bat-boy with a fucking horse dong and a bite kink. Critics are calling it “the most romantic novel of the last decade.” It’s me; I’m Critics.

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

My main project right now is finishing TPAU if it kills me, but beyond that, I have a few one-shots for @subeddieweek in the works, including a collab with @griefabyss69 that I’m so so SO excited to share. It’s hot, it’s funny, I can’t wait for y’all to read it. 

Outside of these questions, Is there anything YOU would like to add?

First of all, as @wormdebut would say: I think you’re pretty. Thank you so much for all your hard work! I love this blog, and I love answering questions <3 Secondly: - Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. - Toss cubed sweet potatoes and parsnips, sliced sweet onion, and fresh garlic in a mix of olive oil, salt, pepper, and rosemary, and then spread in a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet.  - Bake for ~40-45 minutes. (Potatoes and parsnips should be soft without being mushy when you poke them with a fork.) - Prep your sauce: I made a dijon drizzle situation by mixing olive oil mayo, a dash of dijon mustard, lemon juice, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and a splash of water, but you could also add a little dab of hot sauce, bbq sauce, or different mustards. Basically just grab like four condiments out of your fridge and play around with the flavors you like until you make a mix that’s thin enough to pour. - Drizzle roasted veggies with sauce. - Enjoy a very tasty side dish (or do what I did and eat the whole sheet as a meal like some sort of parsnip goblin because you were too lazy to make the main dish after chopping all those veggies) okay thank you love you byeeeee

Thank you to our author, @wynnyfryd, and our nominator, @griefabyss69! See more of Wynnyfryd's works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

[hawkinasock]

TELL US ABOUT YOUR OTHER AUS (IF ABLE AND WILLING AND YOU WANT TO) ‼️‼️‼️

Tread carefully, Anon... Once I start yapping, I can't stop (jokes on you tho, I love yapping. Let's go)

I assume you mean aus for HSR specifically? I've got a lot more for genshin, but to stop myself from going on massive tangents, I'll just stick to HSR. I'll keep them all as summaries and go into more depth if there's any interest. Ok here we go:

Chimera Yanqing has kinda become my whole thing now, but I've never actually mentioned the other characters that I've also made chimera forms for. Namely Jing Yuan.

He doesn't really have any lore...? Unlike Yanqing, I was too focused on making him look pretty, which is easy because it's Jing Yuan. I'll make an update if I add anything more to his lore, cause I'd hate to just leave him unfinished forever. I do have a chimera Yunli au too, which I'll also save for another time. (Also keep in mind that he has wayyyy more fur than what I've shown. It just would've made his actual form unclear. He is very, very fluffy, canonically)

Mara-struck Yanqing (aka How the general ate the cabbage). Made a whole fic for this one, the plot is in the pudding, and by pudding I mean my ao3 lol. Instead of deflecting Jingliu's ult, Yanqing is instead killed and mara-stricken, and everything falls apart from there. Keeping it vague since it's still in progress. As of writing this, I'm three chapters in, so check it out if you're interested <3

Band au. I actually forgot about this one until I went through my list. Basically, It's a modern au where the high cloud quintet were a huge band back in ye olden days of the mid 1980s until their downfall, where the lead singer (Baiheng) is killed in an accident, triggering a series of unfortunate fates for 3 of the 4 remaining members. Jing Yuan is the only member still working in the industry and adopted Yanqing roughly 20 years after the the HCQ's fallout. One day, though, after years of no contact, Blade comes back into Jing Yuan's life, seeking refuge from law enforcement, and it all tumbles out of control from there after Jing Yuan accepts. The rest of the story would follow a very suspicious Yanqing wondering what the deal is with his dad's weird new boyfriend, and eventually reuniting the 4 remaining members (getting the band back together, as Phineas would say). There is SO much lore for this one, but it would take up this entire post to explain, so I'll probably just make it into its own post (with designs ofc). Tbh I haven't done as much work on this one as the others simply because I just don't know that much about music? Zel does though, so if I ever come back to it, I can go to him as a consultant.

Kind of an odd one, but I'm including it since it sorta counts, and I've become pretty fond of it over time. Mom Lumine au(s) Xiaother being Yanqing's dads is one of my favorite little crack aus. This au is the brainchild of imagining Yanqing as Lumine's child instead, but me as the author not enjoying xiaolumi as much. Thus, this was born. There's not really a story? Just a bunch of loosely put together concepts with multiple potential narratives that I find fun. Most of the time I default Childe as Yanqing's bio dad. In a weird way, it makes sense in my head? Yanqing resembles Lumine and uses a sword, and has that same go-getting, battle-hungry attitude as Childe, with all the knock-outs to boot. I mainly imagine chilumi as this interstellar crime duo; the Bonnie and Clyde of space, if you will. Because, honestly, if Yanqing's parents are ever to be revealed, would it not be the funniest thing for them to turn out to be criminals? I think it's hilarious, because Yanqing himself would be mortified.

Guardian Blade/Stellaron Hunter Yanqing au. These names are kinda lazy cause I usually don't make official titles for them unless their a fic, which this one happens to be. Here, Yanqing is an abomination of abundance, and as my interpretation usually goes, the only person who knows about this is Jing Yuan. Him and one other - blade, who was confided in the secret shortly after Jing Yuan had taken baby Yanqing in. Jing Yuan made Blade promise that, should the truth ever be uncovered and Jing Yuan punished, Blade is to take Yanqing and protect him. And years down the line, when the truth does finally reveal itself, Blade fulfills his promise. Theoretically, Yanqing would then join the stellaron hunters, albeit unenthusiastically. I haven't actually made any plans for that concept outside of a single one-shot. I still need to finish the actual fic first lmao.

Mara-struck Jing Yuan au. Probably the least original one I have to offer, because there's nothing particularly unique about it aside from one little twist I added that I think differentiates it, and that's that Yanqing doesn't actually kill Jing Yuan, or vice versa. Instead, Jing Yuan, in his current state, attacks everyone and everything except for Yanqing, and actually goes out of his way to keep Yanqing away from danger. The way I rationalize this (and this is me stretching the mara lore a LOT) is that Yanqing is so important to Jing Yuan that he creates a sort of blind spot to the mara when present; he is both innately precious and harbors only positive memories in Jing Yuan's mind, so in a way, he retroactively contradicts the way mara-struck!Jing Yuan would normally perceive him, seeing Yanqing as something to protect rather than attack (i hope that made any sense </3). This would probably never actually happen in canon. I just really like the idea of Jing Yuan's love for his son being so strong that it stays with him even after he's gone mad and can no longer remember what Yanqing means to him.

Progenitor au. Saved this one for last because it's been occupying my entire brain for the past few days. It's based on Dillongoo's Progenitor Albedo series, and by based, I mean it's just the same au, same universe and everything, but HSR. I won't go into the details because I'm planning to make it its own dedicated post as well, but I think its safe to say its becoming my favorite au out of all of these. I already have some designs and original lore cooked up, so hopefully I can post about it soon.

I think that's all of them? Debatable if some of these even count as aus, but who cares. I hope you enjoyed my rambles and found my ideas interesting enough to read through. I'm hoping to eventually give them some more life and make actual content with them.

Till next time <3

[semiweirdshipper]

Hello! It has come to my attention that you are currently looking for inspiration, so I thought I'd lend you a hand! First of all, if this does not peak your interest, please don't feel pressured to take my suggestion! Alright, so, emotional support/fluff, hm... What about killers being tenderly taken care of after a survivor managed to hurt them? I'm not sure if this is the kind of concept you are looking for, so please excuse me if it isn't! Have a lovely day! 💗

A reader helping killers' who were hurt- emotionally and/or physically.

For the very sweet, lovely @lovesick-on-the-loose

Thank you so much, lovesick, for being so kind and patient. You're a very wonderful person and I've enjoyed the conversations we've had together. I apologize that the drabble is late, but I really hope that you like it 💐❤️ Much love to you, my dear!

Also.... This is my first time writing Kazan, so I probably did an iffy job. Nonetheless I'm glad I got the chance to portray his character more.

Warnings: Non-graphic violence. Character injury. Blood and injury. Fat shaming.

...

Max (injury)

Max was in a rough chase with Ada who kept hitting him with pallet after pallet until one point it finally managed to break the skin on his head. And it was painful. So painful that he dropped his hammer and chainsaw and began limping around blindly while clutching his head.

He growled and groaned in pain. His heart was racing and it felt like his skull was broken. Blood oozed down his face and into his eyes. What did he do? How was he supposed to fight like this? Aw, he just wanted the pain to stop.

"Max."

Max jolted and spun around anxiously. Who was that? Someone else who wanted to hurt him?

"Max, it's me, (y/n), a-are you okay?" It was you.

Max relaxed a bit and stilled his movements. Personally, you were his favorite person here. You were just so pretty and kind and caring. And he kind of... 'liked'... you........

"Oh, that looks bad. Here, I have a medical kit. Would it... Is it okay if I help you real quick?" You asked, stopping nearby.

Him getting help from you? Was this a dream come true? Max hesitated, but eventually he nodded and got down to his knees. He heard you approaching, his eyes squinting with the intense desire to properly see you.

"Here," You say, your gentle hands cupping his chin and tilting his head up, "Hold still, ok?"

Max uttered small, patient growls while enjoying the feeling of you softly cleaning away the blood. You were so gentle and kind. Oh, how he wished he could speak.

"I'm gonna bandage this, but it might sting a bit, ok?" You say, patting his shoulder.

Nodding, Max tensed and groaned whenever you poured cool liquid over his head, but once it settled a bit, he was surprised to notice the painful wound go numb. "I'm sorry this happened. I know Ada can be a pain to deal with," He heard you speak while wrapping up his head.

"But you did a good job," You hum, and it caused his chest to flutter. "And you're so strong. I love how you never give up."

Stop it. You're making his heart go crazy. Max's crooked mouth curved in a smile, and he growled bashfully at your praise. It might sound silly, but he really wanted to hug you right now.

Once you were done bandaging his head, you sat back and smiled, "There. Is that better?"

Brushing a hand over his tingly, bandaged head, Max nodded and looked at you, his cheeks turning red at your beautiful, kind, amazing face. Gosh, you were so incredible. He was grateful to even walk on the same ground as you.

Wincing, Max clenched his eyes shut and forced out, "Thhh... Thank... You."

"You're welcome, Max," You grin, leaning in to place your hand over one of his, "This trial is pretty much over, but I'll stay behind so you don't get punished. Does that sound good?"

What? You would do that for him? And the way you were holding his hand- it just- ahhh! What was happening right now?

"Wh-what's wrong?" You laugh softly, obviously catching onto his adorable panic.

Max tilted his head away. What's wrong is that he really liked you, and you were really nice, and you just helped him, and you were holding his hand, and it felt like his face was about to burn off. He growled a bit, closing his eyes when he slowly turned his hand over beneath yours, your fingers lightly intersecting.

"Max?" You squeeze his fingers back.

Max turned and looked at you, and his heart rocketed into his throat at what you said next.

Herman (emotional)

He was sitting at the isolated killer campfire by himself, his knees drawn and body slumped forward as he stared with blank eyes at the infinite fire. Around a week ago he had been rejected by someone who he was really attracted to, and that pain was still heavy inside him, endlessly weighing him down.

And, to add more salt to the wound, people both killer and survivor alike had been making fun of him and all for different reasons. He felt like a fraud, an outcast, a failure and a hated imbecile. And lonely. So very, very lonely. Unliked. Unwanted.

There was the distinct sound of tasseled tree branches in the distance, but Herman didn't care to register it. Was probably just some other jerk come to rub his own humiliation in his face again.

"Herman?" He heard a voice. 'Your' voice. "E-excuse me, I don't mean to bother you, I just... I just came to see if you were okay?"

Herman turned his head and spotted your shy figure standing just on the other side of the fire. While he didn't know you personally, he knew that the brief moments you did share together in the past had been decent. But that didn't answer why you were here. He nodded.

You approached slowly, your steps light and hesitant, "Aren't you lonely out here all by yourself?"

Yes. Herman shook his head and sighed, idly watching you from the corner of his eye.

"Is it okay... Can I sit with you?"

He nodded. You sat down about five feet away from him, mindlessly grabbing a nearby stick and probing it around at the ground, "It sucks- being rejected. Makes you... Makes you wonder what you're doing wrong."

Herman's eyes widened and he looked over at you. You were looking at the ground, casually tapping at it with the stick. You had been rejected too?

"And it's crazy because-pfft! Who would wanna reject you? You're smart, kind... Handsome..." You bashfully admit, turning your head away.

Interest fully caught, Herman straightened his posture and turned towards you a bit, "(y/n)?"

"I'm just saying-" You say somewhat passionately, albeit embarrassed, "They're stupid for rejecting you..."

Herman's gaze drifted off a bit, "Or perhaps I merely hone no attraction."

"Uh," You scoffed, glaring at him, "Yes you do. Why would you say that? You're very attractive, and kind, and you have the most beautiful smile, and you're such a gentleman- I-I seriously don't know why anyone would want to turn you down. You deserve so much more than that."

"Hm," Herman smiled a bit and scooted closer to you, his tone pleasant and smooth as he mumbled, "Yes... Yes, I suppose I do deserve better, don't I?"

When you turned your head back and saw how close he had gotten, you blushed and stammered, "O-oh, I-I... I?"

"Tell me, (y/n)... Is it true? Do you really think that highly of me?" Herman asked, staring hopefully into your eyes.

You stare back, a bit flustered, but honest, "Yes."

"Well then," Herman stretched his hand out towards you, murmuring, "I guess I just need to set higher standards then, hm?"

Kazan (injury)

Kazan is not used to the foreign, futuristic buildings that he is forced to do trials in. And not frequently does he have the proper attire to venture through these realms- like right now he was trying to navigate his way through some freezing, concrete building filled with flashing lights, walls, creepy bathrooms and more walls.

There was also a lot of clutter in the institute, and along that clutter there lie stray broken glass. Glass that he stepped and 'slipped' on thus creating multiple, long cuts in the bottom of his bare feet.

Kazan roared in anger and pain, immediately dropping his katana and falling down onto his bottom. He growled, pawing at his rapidly bleeding foot. There was a piece of sharp glass lodged inside it. He touched it and roared yet again in excruciation. Curse this hell.

If the Entity was a belly, he would slice it.

Kazan attempted many times to remove the glass, and when that failed he tried resuming the trial, and then when that failed he sat back down and huffed and groaned loudly in a mixture of pain, fury, and annoyance.

"Hello?"

Kazan huffed and turned his head straight in your direction, startling whoever it was that dared tread close to him. His eyes dilated, though, whenever he saw that it was 'you'. (y/n). You were standing nearby with your hands lifted in the air- a red medical kit held in the right one.

"I-I saw that you were hurt," You say softly, gesturing to his foot, "I can help."

What? He didn't understand you. The language you spoke was foreign to him, didn't you know? Kazan huffed gruffly, clenching his hand around his katana. The only reason he didn't cut you where you stood now was because he liked you. You were the only survivor who he respected in this gruesome purgatory.

Instead of running away like he expected you to, Kazan watched suspiciously as you pointed from your med-kit down to your own foot, back to the med-kit and then to him. Hm? He knew that those red, square things were filled with equipment survivors used to heal themselves with. Were you implying that... You could heal him too?

"I can help you."

Well, there wasn't anything about your tone that suggested malice, and your expression seemed empathetic enough. Perhaps he could stand to accept your aid. Kazan huffed and spoke in his own language, relaxing his body and lifting out his foot.

He thoroughly observed you as you slowly approached him and kneeled down in front of his injured limb. So far you seemed trustworthy. You shuffled through that red container and pulled out a pair of pliers.

Kazan wasn't completely ignorant. He knew what was coming. This wasn't the first time something sharp needed to be pulled out of his body. So he sat up a bit and braced himself as much as he could, stifling a great roar whenever you swiftly pulled the glass out.

Your care after that was immediate. As you quickly dowsed his foot with numbing liquid and then wrapped it with gauze, Kazan listened to your soft yet foreign mumblings. Somehow it was reassuring to him, and you were so precise and gentle.

Kazan decided that he really did like you.

Once you were done, Kazan sat up straight and began to thank you in his own language. He even did a little bow to further express his gratitude.

When you bowed back, he blushed a bit and gazed down at his bandaged foot. You not only helped him but you showed him great kindness and respect. He said that he wanted to get to know you better.

You squinted your eyes at him, looking confused, "What?"

Kazan did the only thing he knew of that could work. He grabbed his katana, ripped off one of the decorative sakura on the handle, and lifted it out towards you. Take this as a clarification of his gratitude and maybe even, one of these days, his love.

Jeffrey (emotional)

He was sitting outside of his caravan on a chair all by himself, simply enjoying the peace after-trials brought. It had been a rough day- one that was filled with hate, degradation, embarrassment and loneliness. Jeffrey knew that he wasn't the best looker out there. He had let himself go a long time ago and he was far from being healthy.

But man, did people really hate him.

A lot of the survivors were friends with the killers, but no one was friends with him. Jeffrey was positive that the reason behind that was due to his appearance- hell, the survivors and even some of the other killers reminded him of how disgusting he was every day.

That's why, when Jeffrey saw you timidly approaching him from the opposite side of the dead circus, he rose an eyebrow of curiosity and defense. Judging by your posture, you didn't look like you were here with ill intentions. In fact you seemed kind of nervous and... shy.

Jeffrey eyed you heavily up until you came to a stop just a few meters away. "Hi?" You bashfully said, your adorable fingers lifting in a small wave.

"An' what the hell do you want?" He asked, prepared for the worst.

"I um... I just wanted to come by and say that... I saw how the other survivors were treating you last trial, and I... I wanted to come see you and say that... That I..." You cleared your throat, pressed your hand against your mouth and looked away, your cheeks a vivid red, "I don't think you're ugly at all. And... I hate the way they treat you. It's not right."

Jeffrey could only sit still in silence for a moment, utterly shocked. Well, of all the things you could have said, he definitely didn't expect to hear that. "Heh," He smirked, spreading his legs a bit and leaning forward with interest, "An' what made ya come all the way down here just to tell me that, sweetheart?"

"I..." You stammered, your blush more than obvious, "I-I felt bad for how they were treating you, and I... I was worried that you- you know... Might be feeling bad too..."

"Well, ain't you sweet?" Jeffrey grinned and beckoned you closer with a finger, "Commere."

You complied hesitantly, coming to a stop just a few feet away from him. Jeffrey eyed you up and down, pleased with what he saw, "Tell me: if ya don't think I'm ugly, then what am I to ya?"

Your fingers nervously rubbed together in front of your belly. Your cheeks were dark and your gaze averted. "I- you... I think that you're... Handsome." And then you covered your face with your hands.

And oh did Jeffrey love that. Someone thought he was handsome- and not just any someone. 'You'. One of the greatest survivors in this junky place. "I'm sorry, sweetheart, can ya repeat that?" He teased, lifting a hand behind his ear.

You made a face that caused him to laugh in amusement. "Aw, come on, ya gotta know I ain't got good ears," He grinned.

You shuffled and gazed around, unable to look at him as you sputtered, "I said... I think you're handsome."

"What was that? Sorry, one more time."

"Mm..." You blushed furiously, covering your face, "Seriously?"

Jeffrey leaned back and chuckled, "Ain't you just the dammed most adorable thing I ever did see... Much better than all them other hustlers. Prettier too."

"Is... Is it okay if I sit with you for a while? Please?" You ask.

Jeffrey hummed and closed his legs together, patting his thighs as he said, "Yeah, yeah, here. Sit right here. Take a load off from all them darn nice things yuv been sayin' to me."

Whether you sat on his lap or not was entirely up to you. Either way, Jeffrey loved having you around. And for the first time in a long time... He felt like he was finally accepted.

[youling-the-ghost]

I just got caught up on the bnha manga and boy do I have some thoughts about the future of the series. OBVIOUS SPOILER WARNING IS OBVIOUS

I don't know how to feel about the fact that bnha could be ending soon. On one hand, I'm glad that the final war arc is finally reaching its conclusion, but on the other hand, there are so many loose ends that I'm worried will never be tied up. I'm mostly worried about the future of class 1-A because every scenario that I thought of had something wrong with it:

Class 1-A continues studying at UA as if nothing had happened. This doesn't quite sit well with me because let's be real here, all of class 1-A were all more heroic than most of the Pro Heroes. Having them continue studying at UA would feel almost disingenuous to the entire final war arc. Despite this, I still feel like this is the best option for class 1-A. After everything that has happened, a sense of normalcy would probably be appreciated. Plus I'd love to see Shinsou as part of the hero course in their second year.

Class 1-A graduates from UA by default and all become Pro Heroes. I don't like this scenario for more personal reasons. The main reason why I love bnha so much is its academia aspects; I loved seeing the characters grow like actual students in a genuine school setting. Having the students graduate would be taking the main charm of the show away, at least in my opinion. Although I will say that it would be incredibly exciting to see the students that we've been following for the past 400 chapters become Pro Heroes, so I'm not entirely against this option either.

The hero society crumbles and heroes cease to exist, thereby disbanding UA and class 1-A. Honestly I'm only including this because it's a popular fan-theory, although I don't agree with it at all. It feels like a slap in the face to every student who faught in the war. It would genuinely be such a big disservice to have all of them who risked their lives fighting in the war, only for their dreams to be ripped from them. Another issue is that in my opinion, the heroes themselves isn't even the biggest flaw within the hero society. I feel like the biggest flaw with the whole system is how the general public views heroes. They see Pro Heroes as saints and pillars who can shoulder all of society's burdens and blames. Removing the job of Pro Heroes would just feel like putting a band-aid on an amputated limb, as the core issue of bnha's society shifting its blame onto others wouldn't be resolved. It would also just be scummy to title your series "My Hero Academia" only to remove the concept of heroes by the end of it. I'm not bashing Horikoshi's writing or even fans who support this theory, I just personally think that it's not a very plausible ending for bnha.

Again, I feel like option 1, where class 1-A continue to school as normal (followed by a time-skip when they become Pro Heroes) would be the best and most plausible option. However, I don't think it would be right for things to completely return to normal either.

I really hope that Horikoshi adds an arc after the current one that explores the aftermath of everything, including the public reaction to how hard the heroes faught against the villains and their unwavering spirit, which could also serve as a proper end to the overarching story of the broken hero society.

This is more of a tangent than anything else, but I CAN'T BELIEVE SHIGARAKI JUST DIED LIKE THAT??? I guess it makes me overly optimistic, but I genuinely thought at one point that Midoriya could save Tenko from All For One because it would be an incredibly fitting end for him. Tenko's main motivation behind becoming Shigaraki was the fact that not one person helped him when he was wandering the streets as a traumatised kid, and a common narrative that all of the League of Villains shared was how their fates could have been different had someone reached out a helping hand when they needed it most. Having Midoriya save Tenko from All For One would be such a satisfying ending, not only for the overarching story of the villains, but for those who wish that the villains could be redeemed. It would be such a perfect ending AND IT WAS TAKEN AWAY JUST LIKE THAT?? I don't buy it tbh maybe I'm just delusional but I have a feeling that the whole ordeal with Shigaraki isn't finished yet.

Lastly, IS MIDORIYA QUIRKLESS AGAIN?? Since Shigaraki had One For All when he died, that would mean that the quirk is also gone, right? So would that mean that he would no longer be able to become a hero? I could see this going one of two ways:

Shigaraki's not actually dead or One For All didn't disappear when he died, meaning that Midoriya can continue using it.

One For All really is gone and Midoriya is quirkless again, but he continues striving towards his goal of being a hero despite not having a quirk.

I think both options have potential and I wouldn't be opposed if either option becomes canon. Although, if Shigaraki gets revived for some bullshit reason, I might just riot. I know I literally just said that I'm not against Shigaraki not actually being dead, but that would require a plausible explanation for why he's dead but not actually dead. I think the most plausible explanation right now would be if somehow Shigaraki's quirk mutates and the "restore" part of it returns, which could "restore" his body again. But even that is a little...eh to me. Either way, I'm excited for what's in store.

You thought I was done, well SIKE! Let's talk about Midoriya's dad! Horikoshi has confirmed in 2018 that his identity will be revealed at some point, but it's nearing the end of the final war arc and still not one hint has dropped about Hisashi Midoriya. I feel like this could end up being another "Aoyama is the traitor" situation, where we think that Horikoshi has forgotten about this plot line, only for him to come back to it in full force that makes total sense in retrospect.

The most popular theory right now is that Hisashi Midoriya is actually All For One, and I actually kind of agree with it. I don't think that this is 100% going to be what Horikoshi goes with, but I think it's a pretty interesting idea that also has decent plausibility. Apart from the evidence that other fans have accumulated, there's also a lot of merit in the storytelling that could stem from this reveal:

It has already been established that the public is willing to turn their backs on heroes, no matter how much they sacrifice to ensure the safety of the civillians, if they believe that the hero is "immoral" in some way. The reveal that All For One is Midoriya's dad would be like the "Dabi is Touya" reveal except 10 times worse because this isn't just some villain, it's literally All For One. The public would not take it well, and that could be a great segue to directly addressing all of the issues about the hero society that Horikoshi has been building up.

This also completes the foil contrast between Midoriya and Shigaraki; two kids who were victims of the broken hero society, one born from a villain and one born from a hero, who become the opposite as they're taken under the wing of the greatest hero and the greatest villain. There's just something so poetic about that that I love.

Let's say that Tenko Shimura does get saved by Midoriya, imagine how he'd feel when he finds out that the person who saved him is directly related to the person who caused all of his pain and grief. It would probably break him, and this could lead to such an interesting arc of Tenko re-adjusting to a normal civilian life, dealing with the backlash that's bound to happen, and learning how to trust Midoriya again. It's such a compelling idea that I'm itching to write a fic about it.

But apart from that, there's also the fact that there aren't many other ways that would make the reveal interesting enough to justify it being such a long mystery. Think about it, there's probably a good reason that Horikoshi kept Midoriya's dad a secret for so long, and it would be lame as hell if he just turned out to be some guy. Having All For One be Midoriya's dad seems like one of the few ways for the reveal to be compelling. I could also see Midoriya being related to the Todorokis in some way, but then it would just feel like the "Dabi is Touya" reveal with extra steps.

And with that, I'm finally done with this ridiculously long post. Again, depsite my grievances, I'm super hyped to see what's to come with the series, and I'm genuinely so excited for chapter 424 to come out.

[kitkatopinions]

I think it was a mistake to make RWBY a grand epic adventure with relics, maidens, gods, and a supervillain. Keep the show within the simple and fun academy setting with a monster of the week style formula. With the occasional field trip to other places to freshen things up and meet new faces. As bad as the writers are, this would play to their strengths and not their weaknesses. Instead of bloating the cast and inventing new ideas only to never revisit them all while failing basic worldbuilding. Simplifying the story and limiting concepts to dust, aura, and semblances would also save money too. What do you think?

For sure. If we were talking about different writers, I'm actually one of those people that has no problem with the big changes RWBY underwent.

Back when V3 and V4 were new to me, I was totally on board with the changes! A good show can go through a... I don't want to call it a genre shift, but at the very least a plot shift. Things go from 'Ruby Rose and her friends attend a combat school, but there's something brewing under the surface' into 'Team RWBYJNROQ are on a world-saving adventure quest that will take them all over the world searching for magical objects while opposed by an immortal villain.' And to me, that's fine... Except that the writers couldn't handle that strain and couldn't manage to turn one into the other.

They're some weird combination of writers who plan and writers who fly by the seat of their pants, as in it feels like they have some things set that they want to do but never know how they'll get there and then just fumble to do it. This is a pretty bad thing when the show actually relies on things like magic system and world building now. A loose magic system was fine when it was 'Team RWBY has super-powers, they're in school to help them use it to destroy giant robots' but it's not fine when it's 'Team RWBY want to use the magical staff to save Penny and make a magical route to Vacuo and have to use the specific magical rules to do it and then they fall into a magical world that the gods came from.' That requires care and attention and lore-building, all things that the writers aren't good at. And big overarching plots are great, but not when the writers can't seem to actually get anywhere with it, can't seem to remember to have the mains learn and grow in significant ways, can't seem to keep track of who knows what, and can't seem to make their writing choices have any real significant impact.

I say this all the time, but the reason I have so many problems with the writing in RWBY isn't the thing itself, it's the fact that the writers don't understand what they can and can't handle.

This is why if a RWBY rewriter or fixer is like 'here's how I'd handle serious topics like XYZ' or is like 'I still plan to kill Penny/Pyrrha' or 'I'm definitely still including Maidens/Relics/Gods' or even does something like have Oz in Jaune's head or something, I'll caution them to be careful but I have zero problem with it actually because there's very little that I think a skilled and passionate writer can't do well (this is also why I'm never gonna be a 'stop making live actions' girlie.) But as for the RWBY writers we do have, yeah, they really should've stuck to what they were good at, the slightly more low stakes fun with an underlying tension somewhat episodic monster-of-the-week thing about teenagers and their fun little dramas. I'm not even trying to say that badly, I think I would love it! But instead what we got is a hot mess of jumbled half-complete ideas that are badly written at best and actively offensive and harmful at worst.

What a bummer.

[bettsfic]

Just read the excerpt of your story and oh my it is so interesting. I didn’t want to get to the end of the chapter ;(.

With the structure and with the clarity of Layla’s voice, I was wondering how you came about writing this project and what that was like?

thanks, anon! i'm hoping to share more of it now that the rewrites have gained some momentum.

basically in january 2023 i had a silly story idea about two coworkers who antagonized each other but were anonymously corresponding on a (bdsm) dating app. the guy finds out his coworker is the femdom of his dreams. they fall in love. end of story.

i wrote a scene where the love interest discovers the POV character is covered in tattoos. i wrote a scene where he gets a new tattoo, and he doesn't care what it is, he just wants to be marked by someone. and then i wrote a scene where the love interest offers to pick out what he eats for lunch and he loses his mind, because someone making decisions for him is his thing. then i decided to make him an underwriter, because i thought the character concept of "an underwriter, whose job is to make economy-altering decisions on a daily basis, detests making decisions" was interesting. so i was goofing around across 10k or so when the POV character (Henry) really caught my interest, and i kept asking myself, "what's this guy's deal" over and over again.

fast forward a couple weeks, i'd mostly given up on the project because it just seemed too ridiculous to exist and i couldn't think up any sustaining conflict. i was meeting up with my former thesis advisor for lunch, and on the hour-long drive i kept thinking about my indecisive underwriter covered in tattoos. she and i had a great conversation about craft in general, and i left thinking, so what if it's too ridiculous to exist? i'll write it anyway. it's not like i have anything better to do.

i cut out the stupid dating app thing. i got bored with the love interest (Layla) being perfect and decided it would be interesting to make her a character who thinks she's a sociopath but is not at all a sociopath. and i've also just always had a thing for loose cannon characters who are willing to commit atrocities in the name of their skewed sense of justice.

the first draft was 120k with a trash document of over 100k. i finished it in june. there was a cult involved, and trauma and the recovery thereof, and really a lot of sex. the hardest part about writing it was my own apprehension that i was maybe finally writing a novel that would be strong enough to exist in the world. when i shot it off to my agent, i felt great about it. as i waited for her feedback and started getting some distance from it, i started to feel less great about it. then i started to feel ashamed of it. then it made me sick to think about.

i tried to stay positive. i got great feedback just in time for last year's artist residency, and on the 10 hour drive to new york, i came up with a revision plan. as soon as i arrived at the residency i started working on it, and i worked on it so much that i burned out after the first week. and then i started spiraling, because it became clear to me that conceptually there was something wrong with the story, and even if everyone who touched it totally loved it, i still wouldn't want it to see the light of day. i truly can't begin to explain how i could love something i wrote so much and still be mortified by its existence. and yet for months thereafter, i wasn't ready to concede any of the foundational elements of the story. all of it still seemed so important and meaningful to me. but also i knew it wasn't very good, and i didn't know how to make it better.

fast forward to last month, i finally had a big breakthrough about it and enough distance that i still admired it but was willing to gut it and basically start over. i was prepared (and planning to) get rid of all the things i loved in the name of making it a better story that wouldn't make me feel ashamed of myself, and in the process found that all of those things i loved have actually become clearer simply in my willingness to let go of them.

i'll have about 300k words worth of scenes and concepts i cut, but i'll have around 90k of what might be a good story that will go out on submission at the end of this year or early next. and although there's no guarantee it'll get picked up, a few editors will probably have some nice things to say about it.

[animehouse-moe]

Marriage Toxin Volume 1: A Matchmaker Made In Heaven

Yes yes I'm a little late, but I still wanted to talk about this first volume and maybe even encourage a few people try it out. Really, it's great fun and full of potential as both author and artist have a solid head on their shoulders and some pretty deft hands at work with the series. Plenty to chat about of course, otherwise why would I be here, so I'll just get into it.

The basic gist of it is a bit of an absurdist comedy wherein a master assassin specializing in poisons ends up saving his mark so they can help him get married so his grandmother can be satisfied as the clan line continues onwards.

Yeah, a very very novel concept, and that sentiment remains for the entirety of the first volume. But let's rewind a little, take a better look at the bigger picture here. Marriage Toxin is an author-artist duo, so I have some higher than average expectations for its execution. Thankfully, both ends are promising, and they give me some great ways of highlighting those proficiencies.

Gero here, our poison master and head of the similarly titled Poison Master clan, has a phenomenal character design.

Messy hair, rectangular glasses, long and loose clothing, ankle length pants. Sharp and dark fashion that betrays a disinteresting, unassuming, and even awkward and offputting air. Couple that with his overall build and his slouch/hunch and you have a very low level character that's perceived as "simple".

But, that same messy hair, that same loose and long clothing, that very same hunch can be used to weaponize Gero and turn him into a freaky terror of the night.

It's sublime work that appears ever apparent with the simple addition of a gas mask (and a side profile view). Very very smart work in creating a character whose appeal completely shifts depending on where you're looking at them from.

And just to be a little cheeky, I'll say that that sentence pertains to the work in creating his personality as well. Neurotic and high strung but ever aloof, Gero's identity as a character is equally as fluid. Flipping a single switch accomplishes a great deal with him, and vibrating between those two modes of operation is Marriage Toxin's very charm. Which is still a little bit away.

I'll just take a moment to explain the layouts and paneling for the series. It's good. Rather straightforward in terms of paneling which does weigh it down, but the layouts are really great and express a comfortable amount of range.

Though, I will say that the lack of creative paneling is a shame, purely because of some of the ideas that were cooked up for this first volume. Hopefully we'll see that degree of expression evolve as we go on.

You know, while I'm on the point of hoping for better, it's just a bit of a complaint but I'd really love to see the side characters more expressive. Considering the impressive degree exhibited by Kinosaki and Gero, the gulf between them and the rest of the characters can feel a little odd at times.

All in all, I wouldn't say anything falls short of expectations with art for this story. It's all very solid, backgrounds and environment art are comfortably common, and Kinosaki and Gero command the reader's attention during the volume. It does more than what it needs to in order to engage a reader, and it deserves praise for that.

Of course, engaging the reader isn't a one sided visual affair, the writing needs to be up to snuff, and it definitely is. It's hard to explain without spoilers, but I'll do my best.

I think the easiest way to describe it is practical, and not in a bad way. It lines up countless one two punches of foreshadowing/leadup and delivers swiftly with its relation or reveal. Here's just one example.

Some might argue a little heavy handed, but considering the goal of this series, I don't have any issues with a more straightforward approach to a well written narrative.

And it's not like it's a one off either, the author has very clear intentions and ideas they want to realize with this series, and if you're paying attention you'll understand very quickly.

That aside, let me talk in broad strokes here with narrative work.

Marriage Toxin as an action comedy is really enjoyable. The action is very prevalent and reads easily as it aims for impact over experience with its feeling, and the humor is perfectly exaggerated and telegraphed, effortlessly filling page after page.

I am worried about it turn too action heavy and forgetting its roots (just because the action is that good), but I'm not super worried.

Keeping the ball rolling with action though, an assassin power system? Very unique, and they've chosen all the right ideas for expressing it as a fluid and free scale where they're not likely to encounter too many issues. And I mean that in terms of power balances, but also in regards to how many bad guys they can cook up for this series.

And lastly, LGBTQ+ representation, and not in a "look at me!" way. It feels as natural to the characters as it does for them to breath. It's really great stuff to see in a prominent and popular Shounen Jump title. Hoping they'll give us more details and interactions in that vein, but I think even with what we have in this first volume I'm very happy to see the representation.

At the end of it all, there's a lot of praises to be sung for this first time pair of mangaka. Marriage Toxin is impressive, in every sense of the word. It's not knock your socks off incredible, or once in a generation outstanding, but it's certainly a cut above a lot of other new series in similar veins.

So would I say it's for everyone? Definitely not, no. Humor is touch and go, so it's best to give it a shot before you commit if you're not into the more loud and fast style. Thankfully, Manga Plus has all chapters of the manga available digitally for you to check out, so I really recommend that people at the minimum give it a shot!

[tothesolarium]

im memepin (currently not logged into that acc) and on your space elves comment, i have a species of space elves in a scifi thing where they're technically immortal but as they age/take damage/etc their tissue hardens into an obsidian like substance. taking off from a planet/landing on one/dealing with atmospheric changes causes microscopic injuries and repeated stress like this gives them a shimmer like glitter. it also generally gives them Space Arthritis. Bc yknow. i have arthritis of course im giving it to my pretty boy elves. They consider becoming a statue to be a high honor and outsiders arriving on their world learn most statues aren't carved but are corpses. so like, you can make more humanoid aliens you just gotta get weird with it and arguably this isn't That Weird. (also you can use this concept its fine :thumbs_up: ) Also for writing romance i always suggest beta readers, or even more deranged, rping. Bouncing my bad writing off another person always made it come out better. I really like focusing less on actions and more on mental state for romance and affection, etc. small motions get a whole sentence or more. slow pacing for more effect.

oh my goodness that's such a beautiful idea!! Love the statues being corpses, that's so, macabre but beautiful! a love for who once was putting them on display, but also what kind of lessons/statements can be made with them! what a lovely idea!!

though I would feel terrible using your own idea. if i ever do you'd get extensive crediting + i'd talk to you about the vibes of the ideas.

I will tell ya about what i'm thinking for my space elves. I am going on the, they are mortal, but try to beat time. this is done with different methods. They are very royal~nobility ruled, but better at giving out hearty bread and entertaining circuses. Circuses that can put younger royals and nobles at risk, so it feels like an even more important show.

ANYWHO ON BEATING TIME! they're finding ways to stall aging, or regrow themselves (think immortal jellyfish), or beating time by out living others. there is the practice of using others bodies to try and to invigorate themselves. just, eating blood, wont do anything but make them sick. so it takes a lot of processing to turn a Whole body into new material that can keep the recipient young (but i don't want to do suprise blood libel so,,, i want more,,, vampirism, sucking the life from already struggling people or the royal's own children because they don't want 'ick' body. but i'm still working on this and really don't want blood libel. More willingly turning self into pretty frankenstien) It's also, not looked highly on! so if its done! not flaunted! except for those who are okay being scared and hated. the other, more common, among royals!nobles! is a sort of metal 'alchemy' where they fuse/weave their skin/muscle/soft tissues with metals or gems. But it's not how any are naturally born.

Naturally they are more tall, with point ears and long limbs. with color pallets that range from warm and cool greys to black, green, and blue. maybe some pink but that's more on albinism end (I think it colors the colors came first so the rest is me trying to justify colors and elves with silver eyes and gold lips. SO! crit~ideas welcome, if ya want mwah. more magical is okay too i'm just stuck. story fully involves a ghost who can become physical a bit and Can make Very Strange web of blue brains, v v loose science heavy fiction )

you're ideas for romance is very good too. i just need to stop being, embarrassed by the thing thats making me happy lolol. also love the deranged path, that would probably work really well + help with genuine responses that aren't just me clacking dolls together. I always worry that i'm making the characters boring, or doing what i want them to do. They don't know the plot! they should mess it up! if the romance did that, that'd be Cute, but these two weirdos are difficult (affectionate) ANYWAYS I CANNOT EXPRESS HOW MUCH I APPRECIATE YOUR RESPONSE!! and your elves put such a lovely image in my head. love the space arthritis + damage making them glitter. people who don't know them just see this beautiful being approaching, possible with more labored/intentional movements. others just see the most Life Hardened person. it's such a good idea you got!!!! my brain did make the crystal bits a dark blue, like,,,

or like a geode crack where a scar could be!! sorry, brain is a picture book. all in all!! love your brain!! thank you for sharing !!!!

[2n2n]

the Sounds of Nightmares...

Well specifically I'm being baited by the stupid Sounds of Nightmares podcast, despite my own insistence that I don't care about aside material or really consider any new content commissioned by Bandai-Namco, and the scattered independent producers of all the various things under the property, necessarily relevant when analyzing the 2 games helmed by Tarsier Studios ...

Which-- I do stand by that ! Here is... an important... precursor, to talking about it.

I think who produces something is very important. It's not the franchise name which makes something enjoyable to you, it is what voice is creating it. If there were JSHK stories written by someone other than Iro-sensei, or if the property was sold off to another artist & writer, would you still be a fan of JSHK? This is how properties like... Warrior Cats (which is a book packaging deal comprised of at least 7 ghost writers), Star Wars, Marvel, work-- those characters, worlds, are not anybody's baby, but are loose concepts which people are paid to contribute to, to generate money as a franchise. It banks not on artistic integrity, but recognition of the property.

For example, I don't love everything that 'Adventure Time' is, or has become. It has passed through different directors, artists, writers, to the point that the original team who made it what I love, is not a part of something as derived as Distant Lands or Fiona & Cake. I also think somebody could like Fiona & Cake and not like OG Adventure Time. Because these are entirely different creations, with different vibes. I'm sure everybody actually has a relationship like this to SOME franchise! Liking early seasons of AT under Pendleton Ward, doesn't incline me towards liking how Adam Muto directs things, once he takes over. If my favorite board artists gradually leave, and are replaced, then I may not relate to the new voices writing episodes. I may not recognize what I loved in the original thing at all, in these new voices. OR sometimes, I CAN like a new voice... that's the roulette spun when things change hands many times.

I mean, people can like or dislike any Star Wars movie, as a mundane example. There is not 1 voice for all trilogies. Or extended universe novels. Or games. Or cartoons. Or Spinoffs. Famously.

By design, art created this way can't represent a singular vision, goal, or worldview... so as a result, these things tend to be haphazard, sloppy, inconsistent, roguely retconning or redefining aspects of canon as different writers or artists want to remake, reinterpret, or ignore set-ups proposed by others, in favor of their own. You'll have characters... often forgotten, brought back, killed multiple times, imbued with significance as quickly as they are written off. Some writer might introduce a concept which the next installment's writer hates. Individual teams or studios for different disciplines (one may commission a wholly different place to make an app game, a podcast, and a comic), may have hardly any communication with one another, and may only be working off of a loose lore bible or rubric. It depends on... the integrity of the franchise ... but almost by uhm, virtue of being a franchise, I'd say most don't... have.... integrity. Because it's often better to just throw more and more darts at a board and test what your audience likes .... artist integrity doesn't necessarily make something popular or speak to what the audience wants, after all. If anything I'd say being an artist with integrity makes one stubborn and liable to act regardless of what the audience wants ...

SO. all that out of the way....

Where all Little Nightmares bonus material is concerned, I take in each on their own terms, and don't necessarily absorb it all into my 'canon'. I mean, I feel LN2 entirely threw away what VLN did, by locking the 2 games in an enclosed loop.

I can't think "this aside comic EXPLAINS this thing from the games" when the games writers don't often acknowledge or engage with what those teams are doing.

BUT BY ENGAGING WITH THINGS ON THEIR OWN TERMS, I CAN ALSO BE LIKE... UGHH??? urhghgg... any random thing COULD beguile me. I mean, nothing is STOPPING ME from LIKING a new installment of Adventure Time, it's just that I DON'T like them, as fate has it.

I think the Sounds of Nightmares, is ,, HILARIOUSLY badly written, like from a quality or believability of voice standpoint. The dialogue is so cartoonishly bad. Feels a bit like a fanfic written by a 14 year old 😭 unfortunately it do be sounding like the exact kind of dialogue the writer of 1&2 has mocked & talked about swerving to avoid in his own work. Like the lack of subtlety... its so funny when LN1&2 are, entirely composed of subtlety.

but you know what I cannot resist, in my godforsaken bones ................................................... the notion of Mono & Six having been siblings in their previous existence. For The Love of God!!!! THIS AVVY BAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAOURUUGHHH ... Mono as a little brother growing older, struggling with the idea of his big sister abandoning him, refusing to believe she ever would willfully do such a thing... falling down an oubliette of moral decay, torturing children & sending them into oblivion in his desperation to reach her. The concept that he may do all of that only to become trapped in a loop where he both doesn't fully recognize her, or himself, but is also continuously abandoned by her endlessly. But also Did Find Her, Did Reunite, Does Have Her. So maybe the kid torture was the right choice.

I LIKE THE IDEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But it is mildly frustrating to engage with, because of the lack of... absolutes. I feel like the implications are intentionally opaque yet ubsubtle all at the same time (Six's theme softly plays as Otto shouts at recognition of her yellow raincoat.... he is perfecting tuning the frequencies of the nightmares... he comments on the eyes watching him.... a tan trenchcoat is seen in the seamstress area wherein bodies are made to tether children into this other realm... otto mentions the importance of donning many masks...). There is a plausible deniability to it, and I wholly believe creating Red Herrings tastelessly is expected of the property, given the entire bait-and-switch of VLN is you thinking that girl is Six, But No She's An Unrelated Raincoat Girl (why?) (it helps the franchise recognizability by there always being SOME sort of girl in the iconic raincoat.. how could you sell an app game without that visual cache?)

I think the threat of "is this Six? Wouldn't that be interesting...." is frustratingly imperative to maintain audience attention, while the open possibility of saying "naaah lol nvm" is important to 'save' the lore (particularly if the audience doesn't like or rejects an idea ... you can pretend anything was the intention all along retroactively). This is the madness of franchises... *rubs temples*...

so what do I have to say. I do think the writing is not good, but I think the concept is delicious. I would love for Mono to have created a device to communicate with the Nowhere (and it as a semi-reality semi-dreamspace IS original canon...), and I like that suffering is essential to reaching towards it. I would love the creation of this device to be the inception of the Signal Tower, I would like his only window into this world to be the thing that will entrap him, as if the two cannot exist apart. I would like Six as a long-lost older sister who escaped through her dreams, but perhaps anticipated her brother following behind her.

The vibes of Otto, are great. I love a guy muttering "my beloved..." about his sister, and pathetically whining about how she'd never leave him. I like how much "Sisi" sounds like "sissy". I love how he speaks always in possessives about her "my Sisi" while Noone also fsr validates this by saying "your Sisi". Yeah!!!! I like how absorbed his life is in this, like he's had no pleasures or joys outside of his sister, and is always yearning for her.

I would say it suits Mono's description of being "uncommonly single-minded. When he sets himself to a task, he rarely gives up before it's completed." He's a uniquely determined person, to a fault. The Thin Man erodes many in his terrible city, so corrosive is the humm of his Signal Tower. I would like all of the irradiated child remains found in the Pale City to be children he treated with his machine, who were not only lost to their nightmares, but trapped within the Signal's call.

Imagining Six & Mono's lives before winding up in this nightmare... I haven't had anything in mind; I like to engage in the world as it is now, on its own terms. I would imagine neither remember what existed before this, anyway. Suddenly being proposed "Mono was Six's obsessive little brother" is like being electrocuted. UGUGHHH... YEAH??????? FINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! if YOU want to, SAY THAT.... !!!! to ME.... ! it's designed specifically to torment ME.... to test my integrity....

It is also kind of HILARIOUS!!!!! Ahhhhh imagine working tirelessly to reunite with your sister, only to have the demons that be give you the ironic fate of being unable to remember or recognize her in such terms, yet there is a draw, a pull, a sense to need to protect & keep her at all costs. And then what ! It would be amazing to fall in love with her, to find her beautiful. It would be amazing to fuck her brains out like that !!

For the mostpart I don't have... interest at all in Noone's, visions or what have you, it feels a little mind-numbingly episodic, but I could probably enjoy plenty of it fully visualized...? I don't really vibe the podcast medium as a tool for storytelling I am afraid; it feels simultaneously less than a book and also less than a visual medium. Not enough immersive prose or opportunity for shifts in perspectives a book could offer, limited duration, a kind of hokey amount of SFX and the need for a contrived framing narrative (which basically demands a lot of unnatural exposition to convey anything), really dampens it for me. I read it all as transcripts because that's a little more tolerable, but that just leaves me wishing it didn't need to be in a scripted format, and was .... a book .

My favorite concept it did bring forth, which well-aligned with my own impressions, was that seamstress room. I liked the half-made doll stabbed onto the table, and Noone feeling a connection, as if that was her, and all of these awaiting clothes. I enjoy the idea that one's consciousness is sort of split & hobbled when in-between reality & dream, until a vessel is made on this other side, which 'completes' you at last. I like the mythology of that, of needing a new body... exploring the 'doll' aesthetic we've got here.

I also like.... the notion of time not being linear, the Ferryman simultaneously existing for a lot of children. Since I'm only willing to engage Sisi & Otto as Six & Mono... I would love the notion of timelessness, that despite 'searching' for his sister for years, they might come into existence in this world at just the same time; maybe the Ferryman could have promised Six that her brother will come, & the matter of time is relative here as everything warps. They won't be apart, actually. I am FOND of the idea of Six & Mono's clothes coexisting in a trunk... despite Six having disappeared much 'before' his, in our world. Perhaps her body isn't finished being stitched together until Mono appears. That would be what I would like... </3 Maybe sissy only left because it was promised that you would eventually come.............. only the illusion of abandonment. To motivate you </3 come chase meeeeeee otouto

[serendertothesquad]

Seren's Studies: Tiny Time Travel And What It Takes From Odd Squad

I didn't think I'd have to write two "Odd Squad knockoff???" essays within the span of a month. But lo and behold, an announcement came, left like a Black Friday sale, and then got extended as it was heavily promoted by PBS Kids up the wazoo.

I talk, of course, about their newest short-form series, Tiny Time Travel.

You might be wondering, "Okay, I can see one resemblance to Odd Squad...but is that really enough to compare it to a decade-old franchise?" And oh. Ohhh! I would say NAY. N A Y .

Because I've seen all the episodes of it. And I'm about to lay everything down on the line when it comes to how it's Odd Squad's adopted child.

Not a knockoff, mind you. This isn't Fear and Loathing in Wordsville 2: Electric Boogaloo.

Below the break. Chop chop. Time can only keep moving forward in the real world, sadly.

Let's start with a rundown for the uninitiated, because I guarantee hardly any of you have heard of this series.

Tiny Time Travel is a short-form series created by Tim McKeon, most famous for being a co-creator of Odd Squad. Unlike Odd Squad, it's under the banners of Marobru Productions, a prodco based in New York, and Easy as Pie Productions, a prodco based in Georgia. (Tim had his own prodco in the form of Hundredth Town Productions, along with Adam Peltzman, the other co-creator of Odd Squad. He doesn't own EAPP.) The series consists of 12 episodes, with no further seasons planned.

As for the premise...see if this rings a bell, hmm?

We have two 11-year-old boys, Tyler and Tony, the former of who invents a time machine that can send them both back and forward only a few hours at a time in order to help people in their town.

You see? All it took was the one whole entire sentence and the one whole entire screencap.

The Odd Squad episode "6:00 to 6:05" was, to absolutely no one's surprise, written by Tim McKeon. Much like Tyler and Tony's time-traveling tales, it involves Olive and Otto using Oscar's Before-Now-Machine to travel backwards by 5 minutes from 6:05 PM to 6:00 PM in order to stop dinosaurs from breaking out of their room and destroying what has to be Oprah's 1,000th Headquarters.

While the tale of Tiny Time Travel runs much deeper than an episode they copied the formula from, it's safe to say that Tim likely looked at this episode for inspiration for the series, among others. Odd Squad is more abundant with time travel than Precure is with kaijus, having several episodes about it and at least one movie. Really, if you're a writer in the TV industry, it's hard to get to a point where any ideas based around a concept you love that are posed in a writers' room are shut down on sight. Tim managed to do that single-handedly and still flipped the bird as a creator by inserting time travel as a solution in the Season 3 finale. In the industry, they call that abuse of power. In the Odd Squad branch, they call that "bending the rules just this one time".

The episodes of Tiny Time Travel range greatly in terms of plot, because each episode focuses on a different client person that Tyler and Tony help. And I use the term "plot" very loosely, because while My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale can stuff lore into 5 minutes (to...varying degrees of success), Tiny Time Travel...doesn't. It's not as lore-filled as Odd Squad and isn't even half as crazy because it's purely episodic. About the craziest thing I've seen is the neurodivergent and Hmong rep, and after watching Jelly, Ben and Pogo, that surprises me next to none. (And Odd Squad, because it's got rep up and down both streets.)

There's also the matter of differing morals. While Odd Squad teaches about mathematics, and later STEM stuff, Tiny Time Travel teaches more about social language and language in general, in a way that isn't really as seamless as Odd Squad. When creating Odd Squad, there was intent to hide the lessons so kids can watch the show and not have the math be in-your-face and up-your-butt. Tiny Time Travel is far more in-your-face and up-your-butt about the lessons by a complete longshot, which I personally can't really fault it for because 5 minutes can only get you so far. (If anything, I'll fault PBS execs, because that method of delivering morals has been standard since the 90s. But I digress. I can spew about PBS later.)

----------------

So I might as well address the elephant in the room: is Tiny Time Travel an Odd Squad knockoff?

Short answer: no.

There's a lot of Odd Squad influence within it, in terms of humor, characters (Samira reminds me a hell of a lot of Polly Graph, and that's not even getting into the alliterative naming of the two protags) and general vibe, which is quite common with two pieces of media that share a creator. I'd also throw in that it's made in, and features, New York as a setting, which is where the Odd Squad pilot takes place, but that's a little irrelevant.

However, it's important to note that "inspired by" and "ripping off" are two very distinct things.

Take Wordsville, just as an example. Which I'm bringing up because, y'know, Odd Squad has more knockoffs than I've had good nights of sleep, but anyway. Wordsville is, as discussed before, a complete bonafide knockoff. It bounds over "inspired by" and goes straight into "I wanna watch you bleed!" territory by basically being Odd Squad but with a coat of literacy and digitization on it. Tiny Time Travel, by contrast, has very few straight similarities to Odd Squad. There's the alliterative names of Tyler and Tony, the inclusion of time travel (with limitations), similar music (thanks to Paul Buckley coming back on board), and a specific brand of humor that is pulled off well. But they are very few and far between, and there are far more differences. Tim looked to Odd Squad for inspiration, but he didn't seek to create a whole entire ripoff of Odd Squad. (Knowing PBS, though...maybe an Odd Squad ripoff was what they wanted originally. Wouldn't be the first time network execs made a request to Tim only for him to find a compromise.)

Likewise, another thing that sets Triple-T apart is how it was made. You're gonna wanna sit down for this one if you aren't sittin' already, because the amount of irony could probably level the planet.

If you're one of the old-timers of the Odd Squad fandom who qualifies for a senior's discount and Medicare, you're probably well-aware of Tim McKeon's absolute adoration for time travel, something that leaks into Odd Squad just as much as it leaks into his personal media preferences. Like I said, the franchise has had a ton of time-travel-related material, so much so that any ideas involving it were barred from the writers' room. All of it pretty much came from Tim McKeon's love of the concept. (And his love of pies. That too. Though whether that came from the prodco or from Tim himself remains up in the air. And yes, Triple-T does mention pie in one episode. And toast, believe it or not!)

Tiny Time Travel is basically what would happen if Tim flipped both birds at whatever writer bopped him with a newspaper and said "no more time travel episodes", and he made an entire series out of it with both government money and our money. It's like if you had a fanseries idea, money, enough passion, money, good connections, and money, and you turned it into a show. That's what Tiny Time Travel is. It's purely, unequivocally, a passion project for Tim.

Of course, there's also the underlying, less moral side to its making, in that it was made in order to fill a quota of PBS to get at least 25 new shows out by end of year. But this is one of the ones that's definitely filled with more quality. Let's be honest, the question of "am I gonna grow up to be a rebel leader and save humanity" is not something you'd find in typical PBS Kids fare. (And it also somehow passed S&P. But Odd Squad has over 70 questionable moments in the series alone -- and yes, I've counted -- so it's clear the rules of S&P don't apply to the god that is Tim McKeon. He flips the bird at that too.)

----------------------------

So overall, Tiny Time Travel is one hell of a short-form series. City Island threw me for a loop a couple years back based on the object show comparisons alone (and when you get Adam Katz himself to recognize that shit, you're nigh-unstoppable), and this series threw me for a loop similarly just due to the sheer premise and near-immaculate quality.

Odd Squad was, on all accounts, a major influence in Triple-T's making, to such an extent where there's a cameo of two agents walking in the background that someone managed to spot long before I got to the "Tennis Talk" episode that featured the cameo to begin with. The show's cute, it's sweet, it's got hella good rep, and it's short enough to please attention spans around the world. (Or at least in 'Murica. And maybe some parts of Canada.) It wholeheartedly has the Seren seal of approval, and if you're tired of waiting for Odd Squad UK in 8 months like I am, this will tide you over in the meantime.

As for whether it'll get a Season 2...after "Surprise Party", I can't see that happening. Unlike with Odd Squad, which is constantly under the threat of cancellation, Tim had a chance to end the show on his own terms without PBS giving it the sharpest axe in the shed, and he wrapped it up beautifully. It doesn't need a second season. It's beautiful as it is. Keep it as a one-hit wonder. (And preserve it, because otherwise it'll become lost media by the time half the century is up.)

I'll see you all in the next essay. Seren out!

[demonsfate]

canon questionare meme: #5, 6, 7, 8

canon questionnaire // accepting . . .

5. What’s the best thing about the fandom?

Uhhhh... hard one to answer 'cos I don't really engage in the fandom often lol. I think on my main blog, I follow only one (1) other Tekken blog. I guess I really like the fan content - especially the cosmetic mods for Tek8, and the fanart. Good stuff! Though, I guess I will say that the fandom peeps that follow me are also very awesome. I used to argue with a lotta ppl on the sub reddit, but the ppl here are understanding and epic. The Jin Support Club ✊

6. What’s the worst thing about the fandom?

A lot lol. I guess the worst thing is just ... the way a lotta fans criticize Jin. I swear, a lotta my arguments on Reddit was just concerning Jin's character because people either don't understand him (SO MANY were saying he "cared for nobody" prior Tek8's release) or they just bring up Tekken 6. What is so frustrating about the latter is that say, let's look at another fandom - as bad as ppl wanna say the Star Wars fandom is, they understand when a character's actions are uncharacteristic and when to reject this. Like almost the ENTIRE FANDOM can agree that Luke was written terribly out of character in The Last Jedi, and they can agree that the dude trying to redeem his father wouldn't try to kill his nephew because of "bad dreams". Hardly anybody argues about that or tries to insist on Luke being a Bad Jedi because of his actions in Last Jedi. In fact, most people still fondly look at Luke because they think of the first three movies he was in. YET, with the Tekken fandom... the fandom is just INCAPABLE of doing this and it's really weird. It's almost as if they see these characters as real lol. Like whereas the majority of Star Wars fans won't bring up Last Jedi when discussing Luke's character, the majority of the Tekken fandom WILL bring up Tekken 6 when discussing Jin's. Like you can't even fondly talk about Jin without sb saying "BUT THE WAR! ☝️🤓" Like even when you DO point out it's bad writing, they'll say "well he still did it! we can't ignore it! 😊" Maybe not entirely but... you can still acknowledge the writing goes against Jin's character, and it's something his character wouldn't have done if he remained in character with competent writers / no director meddling.

7. What’s the best thing about the canon you are writing?

Hmm... is this pertaining to Jin only, or the lore as a whole? Idk really how to answer this because I've already discussed how much I love Jin and why I love him. I'd say I found the devil gene concept extremely interesting, more interesting than the other "evil" curses fighting games do. Buuuut... the devil genes been totally whacked up by retcons, I'm not sure if I can say that either. The prob is, Tekken canon is so frickin LOOSE, it's hard to even pick a favorite thing about it haha. Like I say somethin and it's like "ooh... that's no longer canon..." Even when I talk about Jin's portrayal, it's like "ooh... yeah... but that was ruined momentarily..." Other than what I said when talking about why I started writing Jin, I dunno how to answer this one!! Maybe I'll go back to this when I come up with somethin'... I feel kinda awkward now. xD But LIKE, I love the Tekken story. But I already stated how I like the cast, why I love Jin, the game's fun. And... yeah!

8. What’s the worst thing about the canon you are writing?

The inconsistencies. Like I understand some retcons, especially if they're really needed. But like... Tekken does retcons EVERY game it seems, and then they're just... stuff that didn't need to be retconned in the first place. I've already went into great detail about how sloppy and confusing the devil gene lore is. But like here's another example - this is a minor and UNNECESSARY retcon. It was Lee who fixed up Alisa and gave her her freedom or whatever. But in her TK8 bio, it says it was Dr. B / her father...? What? Like I get that they maybe wanted Alisa to bond more with her father / creator. But like... couldn't they do that in another way? People say this is minor, but the problem is when the game is filled with many retcons - then when ppl are trying to learn about the lore, ppl are gonna get several different answers. "Lee fixed Alisa" "No it was Dr. B." See? That's just frustrating. Same with how the Tek Wiki still calls Devil Kazuya Devil Jin's "other half", even though I strongly feel that's been retconned long ago. The lore is confusing as hell with all these constant changes.

[twodiamondhoes]

Oh wow, I didn't realize my ask would be replied back with a fic snippet!

Concept 1 sounds a bit like The Highwayman so I'm glad Dirges took a new turn (the snippet was awesome though!). Concept 2, though, that sounds so cool! I'd love to see a fic where Tango takes more of a proactive role in death and protection as a soulkeeper! Maybe you could spin it into an AU with it's own brand of spookiness, with or without Del Sombra.

I now want to ask another thing: what made you decide to use Empires characters in Dirges? And are we going to see more of them in the character stories?

Haha, hope you enjoyed it! I figured it would just end up continuing to collect dust in my docs folder otherwise, and your ask was the perfect reason to post it.

This got longer than expected, so I'm going to put it under a cut. :D

Fun fact 2! I was about halfway through plotting the revamped second concept when I read The Highwayman (if you haven't read it, go go go!! it's so good) and let me tell you, the crisis I had once I'd finished it and come down from that "I just read an excellent fic" high was major. I was in full on panic mode for a few days, worried that even though I'd already changed so much from that original concept that Dirges would still be too similar. My partner had to remind me that there are entire library sections out there that are similar premises with vastly different executions (please see: westerns, lol), that no one could write the story I had in my head but me, and that even if no one read Dirges, it would still be worth writing.

But let me tell you there was a period of twenty-four hours where I tried to think up a fic that I would want to write more than Dirges for the sake of the Big Bang and I just couldn't. So in the end, I kept going, ended up with the final concept for Dirges, re-plotted the whole thing, and then basically ate, slept, and breathed Dirges for about four months. I'm not going to be doing that with the sequels because holy smokes that was a lot of writing in a very very short time, but I still can't quite believe I pulled it off in the end.

As far as Soulkeeper Tango goes, I might see about giving him his own au! The idea is so near and dear to my heart. I've got a lot on the docket for the future, but I'm going to keep him in the back of my head, in the hopes that inspiration strikes and I can give him the story he deserves. I have toyed with the idea of a smaller fic, loosely based around the original Concept 2 plotline for Dirges (so basically an au of my own au lol), but we'll see!

Oooh excellent question! The short answer is, I needed a huge cast. The longer answer is, it felt odd to have Jimmy be the only non-hermit in the entire story, and to separate him from his buddies on other servers, especially because I wanted Lizzie as the fourth Ratcliffe sibling, so it would be Lizzie and Jimmy versus the Hermitcraft members. There was also the factor that both Pearl and Gem were on Empires 1, and the HC/Empires crossover made it an easy leap to make. I wanted Jimmy to have been able to make friends, and to make the world feel populated, without having Del Sombra be the only place the Hermits congregated, since I'd already made Joe Hills Mayor of another town, and the places I could think to put a lot of the other hermits were Elsewhere. My options ended up being: either come up with a bunch of OCs, or see if I could sprinkle in some Empires characters, and it all kind of spiraled from there! I wasn't sure how people would receive a plethora of OCs, and since the Hermitcraft cast was a limited pool of folks that I'd already placed in the world, I figured adding in some other MCYTs couldn't hurt. So, I started with Shelby and Sausage and it all kind of fell into place from there!

As for if we'll be seeing them in the other stories, absolutely! There are some Hermits I haven't included yet (sorry Iskall, my beloved), and there are parts of some of the sequels that will be taking place around some of the Empires members as well as HC members that we've seen, and some that we haven't! For example, the reason Iskall isn't in Del Sombra to pester Stress and the others is because he's a holdover from one of the Earlier Concepts and I like his role too much to change it, so it's going to be folded into one of the later stories. Oli will also be showing up at a couple of very specific points! Those are the two examples off the top of my head, but there is definitely more to come!

Thank you for the questions! This is a lot of fun XD

[imagine-a-sanctuary-like-this]

Thoughts on AUs in fanfiction and why they may fall flat

So the other day I was having a conversation with a friend of mine about fanfic on ao3 and shared some thoughts on a very good SteveTony AU I'd read recently on ao3. We talked a little about that, and I was surprised to discover that my friend didn’t enjoy AUs because he felt that they defeated the point of writing about those specific characters. For him, an alternate universe (not canon-divergence, I mean like a serious AU that changes the setting completely) is more like an original work thinly veiled with the names of characters from fandom. Out of their specific stories they become something else - i.e., they are no longer the characters they are claimed to be, but simply OCs.

As someone who loves all kinds of AUs and who regularly filters by the Alternate Universe tag on ao3, I found this idea interesting. It got me thinking about the kinds of AUs I find successful and those that I feel fall flat, and in the end I came to the conclusion that it’s absolutely possible to write an AU that is wildly different from canon but still tells a story about the same essential characters. Since I've been reading a lot of SteveTony recently, I use Tony's arc (the MCU one) as an example here quite a bit, but you don't really need to be in the fandom to understand the point of the post.

Before all that, though, a quick poll:

Okay, so with that done...

I’ve decided to post my simple musings here, where perhaps other people would like to contribute to the discussion. I know many people enjoy AUs like me, and I always like to hear their reasoning for things like this.

Character Essence

First I guess we have to think about what makes a character who they are, since this is what the whole issue seems to hinge on. I’d imagine if I were asked to loosely define a character, I would say that broadly speaking they are a person (not necessarily a human person) in a work of fiction. This is good enough in that it seems to capture what I think of as the concept of 'character', but it's not helpful in so far as it gives us nothing to really differentiate one character from another.

So maybe what distinguishes a character from others is their personality. But if this is the case, it certainly does not encompass the whole idea - otherwise we would have no real way of distinguishing between characters who are as people the same, but end up in different circumstances that force them to act differently (an example of this would what I call type-b parallels within a same story, where characters with the same essential personality are thrust into different circumstances, probably to highlight their differences or make a thematic point). Probably a bigger issue here is that characters personalities change, sometimes almost to the point of becoming unrecognizable, or at least significantly different as a matter of personality (Jaime Lannister in season 1 vs season 4 of Game of Thrones, Bucky Barnes compared between Captain America: The First Avenger and Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Powder/Jinx or Jayce over S1 of Arcane to name a few examples). Still, we would generally consider someone whose arc includes a strong change ‘the same character’, even if they are not the same personality.

Obviously things like ‘character name’ or how they look don’t really seem to work on a fundamental level. I think a little closer to the mark is something like ‘the story the character goes through’, i.e., the events that happen to them or action they take over the course of canon. These define the arc, because you bounce the character off the events around them to form an image of how they change (or how they stay the same, in the case of flat arc. Basically imagine this as mapping their internal journey as a function throughout the story) or a deeper look into their psyche.

I think this is where me and my friend would diverge, because while I think characters’ specific stories and events are important, this view sort of misses why they are important.

Why tell stories?

The story is about something. I suppose the conventional term for this ‘about’ would be the ‘theme(s)’. The story - and therefore the character’s arc - has some essential components that align with the theme, or else act as a mode of its expression. What I’m saying is that in terms of narrative layers, the theme is probably the most fundamental. What comes on top of that - places, names, specific events - map onto the theme and all those core ideas underlying the narrative, usually in a way that follows ‘narrative beats’ (in that, moments in the story that are significant to the theme) that are usually not one-to-one specific to that situation. Often these involve exploring questions about human nature, psychology, morals, etc., which don’t in themselves require a specific context to be followed to a T.

By the way, I’m not saying it’s just this that differentiates a character, that would probably be too reductionist, but at least for me when I analyze a story, this is mostly what makes a character ‘who they are.’ Themes, beats.

Which is why I think AUs have great potential to be fully in-character and in line with ‘who the characters are’ in canon (if that is indeed the goal. To be honest though, I don’t always see the point of writing strong OOC on purpose because here you’re certainly not writing about the canon character anymore) while also adding fun new elements and worlds into the mix. This way you can change events dramatically, but as long as they have the same thematic relevance or fulfil the same beat in the story as in the original, it is hardly out of character at all.

Compatibility

Of course this works better for some universes than it does for others. Some thematic beats are simply too fine-tuned to the story - for example, I have trouble visualising a drastic AU of something like Better Call Saul that keeps up with even most of this stuff. ‘A drastic AU’ here would be something like removing the ‘lawyer’ element from the story completely. I mean, one of the other reasons you probably couldn’t do that is because ‘law’ is among the themes of BCS. Some themes necessarily imply certain content, so you can't really write about these characters without writing about the law somehow.

On the other hand, other arcs are very adaptable to this kind of AU-fication. An example that springs to my mind is the MCU (not 616!) Tony Stark’s arc. It’s fairly complex, but after some reflection - and drawing on a LOT of SteveTony AU fics done well - I've found the themes are very ‘universalizable’.

To illustrate, here are the main things Tony's story is about: sacrifice/selflessness, redemption, purpose (very big in Iron Man 1), moral choices like security vs freedom (Civil War), identity I guess (big in IM3), security taken on its own (obsession with extra-terrestrial threats after what he saw in the wormhole in Avengers 1 is the cause of PTSD in IM3, creation of Ultron in Age of Ultron and the whole thematic thing they did with Thanos in Infinity War), dealing with strong emotions (Civil War)…

So there’s a lot to draw from. And what I mean when I say this kind of arc is 'universalizable' is that a lot of these can be mapped onto other stories without losing much of this meaning. This is coincidentally why I believe AUs “before ‘modern science’ was a thing” still work for Tony, because nowhere in his arc is Tony necessarily a scientist. I see it more as a tool for these themes than a theme of its own. It seems there are many beautiful AUs out there where Tony is not a scientist/engineer, yet remains in character (though I guess if you consider it a necessary part of his character, he isn’t in-character, and my argument is circular. I don't think it is though. I might make a post about this sometime...).

Anyway. That's some stuff in favour of AUs from a the story structure standpoint. They can be non-OOC.

Now, of course, an AU is not bad if it isn’t in line with what the original story was about. Well, okay, firstly there’s probably gradations of how close you are in terms of loyalty to the shape of the original story. Some AUs are almost one-to-ones moved into a different setting, some are a little more vague but follow with the general idea and map onto the most important things in the original story. If your criterion for a 'good' AU is just characters staying in character (which in my view is a little... shallow) then I guess you have a way of differentiating between fics. Personally, I think a lot goes into a good AU, and being in-character or OOC is just one factor (though not a small one).

Interpretation

There's just one more thing to talk about, and that of course is the matter of interpretation.

Different people may interpret what a character's story is about very differently. This is a complicated question that tracks back to the nature of truths and all kinds of things that are beyond the scope of this post, so I'll only touch on this briefly. Coming back to the Tony Stark example (I swear I have others, but months of reading SteveTony are... showing). I have seen people claim that Tony's arc is essentially about him realizing that 'making weapons bad' and finding ways to right his wrong and become a better person. I don't think this is... entirely wrong. That does happen in the first Iron Man movie.

But the broader point is: the people who claim this and me have looked at the same material and drawn different conclusions. Is either of us mistaken?

I think the answer in this case is yes. The reason is evidence. There is a lot more evidence against the above statement than for it (this doesn't mean my vision of Tony's arc is accurate, mind you, only that this one is inaccurate) which I think resolves the question nicely.

Some people think that discussion about literature consist of nothing but opinions, and evidence is... irrelevant. I disagree. Value-statements are certainly opinions, but examining a character's arc is not entirely a value-statement, a lot of it is working with material. The material is the story, and a lot of it can be used as concrete evidence - events, things characters say or do, things they think even. These do form a picture, and while it's sometimes hard to find a single thing they point to, it's usually pretty easy to weed out things they definitely don't point to.

Now of course, I think some variation will exist without any statement being correct or incorrect, but most of the time for the fundamental ideas in stories there will be a bunch of clearly wrong interpretations, and very strong - true - evidence that shows why those interpretations are wrong.

Endnotes

Anyway, wrapping up, that’s my thoughts on AUs and why some of them may fall flat for people like my friend. I think for a guy like him, the reason he hasn’t read many good AUs is that he hasn’t read many in general, so there’s not a big sample to draw from. And then once you’ve made a judgement about a kind of fic, you don’t try it again, so you never really end up changing your mind even if there is a chance that it might be.

If any of y’all have thoughts on this (you like AUs/dislike AUs, maybe your ideas about what makes a good AU) I would love to read them. Drop a comment!

- S

[aliatori]

🖋️❓ 10 & 25

So you know that thing where you read a text message notification but then don't immediately respond to it, so it vanishes into the ether of memory to be obliterated forever? That's what happened to this ask until I was going through my inbox for other stuff! Better late than never, and these are great questions from the weird writer asks, so let's get into it. 10. Has a piece of writing ever “haunted” you? Has your own writing haunted you? What does that mean to you? Writing has absolutely haunted me. Most of my favourite writing haunts me in one way or another, especially if we use a loose definition of 'intangibly living rent-free in one's mind' as haunting. Haunting, for me, revolves around a piece of writing having a prominent place in my memory, even if I've only read it once, or if it has been years since I've read it. I'd be here for a much longer essay if I listed every piece of writing taking up residence in my mind like a beloved ghost, but a few that come to mind immediately:

The Animorphs series by K.A. Applegate. Little did I know picking up the second book in this series as 2nd grader would etch permanent grooves in my psyche and interests. Ostensibly, these books are about kids transforming into animals via sci-fantasy magic, but as the series goes on, it unpacks a startlingly political and horror-backed landscape of personal trauma, the cost of colonialism, and how war never has any victors even when there is a 'victor'. It's no small wonder I ended up radicalized.

Empress of the World by Sara Ryan. I've known I was queer since a very young age even if I didn't have all the words for it, but across the years, I've felt so seen by certain pieces of writing in terms of my identity. This was the first contemporary sapphic book I ever read, and while 'sapphic' no longer completely describes my queerness, as someone who identified as a mostly-closeted bisexual girl when I read it, it was deeply impactful.

Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey. I can credit this book with planting the seeds for the kinky, poly self I am today, as well as for many of my favourite concepts/tropes (tangible deities! masochists who are strong-willed and feisty! magical tattoos! sex as the vehicle for the sacred!) I re-read this book... this year? Last year? What is time? It still holds up each and every time I re-read it.

Everything Pablo Neruda. Neruda was the poet who made me fall in love with poetry as an art form. I will probably spend the rest of my life trying to describe love with a fraction of the artistry that he does in his love sonnets. Specifically, XVII has always been a favourite, and this stanza in particular: I don't love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz, or arrow of carnations that propagate fire: I love you as one loves certain obscure things, secretly, between the shadow and the soul. (Fun fact: This is where the title of my first FFXV longfic came from as well.)

Haunting also implies more morbid aspects, and to me, that means corpses. When my own writing haunts me, it tends to be the unfinished corpses I have left behind. My abandoned longfic Artificial is first and foremost among the corpses that haunt me. To this day I wish I had been able to finish it, but for a variety of reasons I won't detail here, it's not happening. I've gotten to the point where I appreciate how well it prepared me to transition into mostly original writing, and how it gave me an idea of the discipline and scope finishing a 100k+ project requires. I've never been a BNF and likely never will, but I will forever be grateful for the small yet passionate community that sprang up around Artificial. It's humbling to have people along for your weird (but well-mapped from canon!) AU project and have recursive creativity result from it. My original sapphic inkwitch/painter romantasy continues to haunt me, both because it was originally supposed to be for a project I self-sabotaged myself out of and because I still really need to write it - for myself. It's been through three drafts at this point without being quite what I want it to be. I keep tending the idea field and collecting bits of inspiration, letting the field nourish itself before giving it another try. 25. What is a weird, hyper-specific detail you know about one of your characters that is completely irrelevant to the story? In their youth and pre-transition, before their first long-term posting aboard a navy vessel, Izod Arsenault was a talented dancer, to the point of receiving accolades from and invitations to the Imperial court to perform. Their favourite was a dance I imagine to be similar to the quickstep in modern ballroom dancing. It's also half the reason they sincerely enjoy attending Admiralty parties—the other being their bottomless thirst for throwing their political weight around. I'm not sure if this is hyper-specific enough, but it's at least specific, and it's for sure completely irrelevant to any plotty part of F&F.

[hellfirenacht]

me when i jump over your fence to indulge you. HIHI rachel im here to!!! make you ramble!! affectionately!!(you dont have to ramble if you dont wanna). youre in a fandom that i thankfully know stuff about AND SO I WAS CURIOUS if we could get insight into your relationship with eddie?? im most curious on how yall met, the dynamic(s) yall share, if yall have been in a relationship before the season started...just general relationship tidbits!!!

This has been sitting in my ask box for over a month because I'm so used to writing x reader that I often forgo my own self ship with him even though he's basically been all I've been thinking about for a few months lmfao.

Anyway this one is for me, sorry everyone else.

-I honestly keep thinking about with this specifically, being Isekai'd into Stranger Things Vol 4, (Isekai Chronicles is loosely based on this concept, though of course my own story has some bits that would be exclusive to me instead of a Reader)

-Meeting Eddie was a lot of pussy-footing around and almost approaching him but chickening out. Less in a shy way and more in an anxiety way. I ended up Forcing My Own Meet Cute by buying weed off of him because that's the most sane and logical way to meet your crush, right?

-We become friends after that, and it's very much a slow-burn one sided crush. He liked my hair and my tattoos and how I was a freak too. Did you know that tattooing was illegal in Indiana in the 80s?

-It's so hard for me to judge Eddie by 80's standards. As accepted and popular as he'd be today, yeah, he WOULD have been an outcast in the 80s. We both would have, but there's a lot of comfort in having each other around.

-A lot of our relationship involved teasing and play fighting and some real fighting, but never anything hurtful or too far. Eddie is stubborn, and I'm not afraid to call him out like a lot of Hellfire Club is.

-We become a safe space for each other, and because I'm me I'll always bend over backwards for the people I love. I'd do anything to save him and keep him alive

-The details get muddy when season 4 starts. I can never decide if I save Chrissy, therefor saving Eddie. Or if I take Chrissy's place as Cursed, or a secret third thing. (I get blamed for Chrissy's death? Actually that's something worth exploring, I'll put a pin in that)

-Something something, Upside Down, something something, Vecna, uhhhh

-I confess to Eddie before the final battle because I'm terrified that I haven't done enough and it doesn't... go super great. It's bad timing, Eddie has no idea how to feel. We kiss. Even less makes sense.

-I pull off Distraction 2 Electric Boogaloo and manage to save Eddie.

-His name is cleared, but the town still never trusts him again. Eddie runs away and everything goes from Upside Down to Inside Out.

-Basically all of my self ship with Eddie gets broken up into pieces and distributed to different fics I write.

-There's an eventual happy ending when all is said and done.

Sorry this is all over the place, it's so hard to write him for myself sometimes!