#worth it though since I've wanted to draw this scenario for quite a while

[kmesons]

back on my infected!paul/wilbur cross nonsense. an interaction between these three would be very amusing I think

[sovonight]

You totally don’t have to answer this, since you’re very busy, but I wanted to ask a question because I love your buttons and charms so much (I am so excited for them to arrive!!) I’ve wanted to make some fandom charms or buttons to sell on Etsy but, like, I have no idea... how it works, and I’ve googled and tried watching videos of other people explaining it, but I couldn’t quite understand ;-; like I’m mainly confused on, how do you know what size your canvas is supposed to be when you draw on it, so the image doesn’t come out blurry? And how do preorders work? can you recommend what site/company you use that makes your charms and buttons and such? Again you don’t have to feel obligated to answer, I’m just very very lost :’D please have a wonderful day!

sure! lemme break it down into pieces here:

how to know what size your canvas is supposed to be:

your canvas should be, at bare minimum, the size of your final product at 300dpi. some products require bleed (prints, buttons) and some manufacturers might ask for a higher dpi, it just depends.

my recommendation is to start big and just scale it down to whatever size you need later--always scale down, not up, so that you don't lose quality. i tend to start with 7000x7000px canvases for my charms/buttons, which translates to a 11.66x11.66in canvas at 600dpi, which is huge compared to a final product that'll be 3" tall at most.

this does make your file sizes way larger though, so if you're running low on storage space and need to be more economical, i'd say just use a canvas that's the size of your final product + a little buffer for breathing room at 600dpi.

so for a charm that's 3" tall, i'd probably start with a 3.5x3.5in canvas (3" for the charm, 0.5" for breathing room while you're drawing) at 600dpi

and for a button that's 2.25" in diameter, i'd go with a 2.75x2.75in canvas at 600dpi

how do preorders work:

preorders are handy in two cases: when you don't know how much demand there is for a product and want to avoid over/under stocking, or when you don't have enough funds to make that initial investment to stock the product yourself.

scenario 1: you want to sell a charm design, and buy 50 of them to stock in your store. you only sell 20 of them. if only you'd run a preorder, you'd know exactly what the demand was for the design, and you'd only buy as many charms as you need.*

scenario 2: you want to sell a charm design. you know it'll be popular, and that you'll easily sell 100 of them, but you don't have the funds to buy 100 of them at once yourself. if you run a preorder, the orders that come in will fund the purchase.

*very important to running preorders: when you place the order with the manufacturer, always buy a few extra. i do maybe 10-20% extra at least.

this is why: suppose that 100 preorders are placed, and you order exactly 100 charms to fill them. when your order arrives, you find out that 3 charms were misprinted, and can't be shipped out for the preorder--so you're down to 97. while you're trying to figure out what to do about the 3 orders that you can no longer fill, you then find out that 5 of the preorder packages you sent out went missing in the mail--meaning those orders need to be refunded or replaced, meaning that in total you're now out 8 charms. then, while you're contemplating placing a reorder, you find out that there's still demand for the charm from people who missed the original preorder. if you'd ordered 120 charms in the beginning, you'd instead have 12 charms left at the end of these mishaps, which you can sell as in-stock product.

what site/company to use for charms/buttons:

for charms, the most beginner-friendly place imo is zap!creatives. their selection should be enough to cover the basics. i also used to buy from inkitlabs, who iirc is a little pricier, but their print quality is the highest out of all the places i've tried, so it's not like it's not worth it.

if you need more niche features/effects, then you'll have to head over to alibaba. you'll have to do your own searching for companies, and vetting/evaluation of those companies, but they have more specialized finishes. just search for "custom acrylic charm" or similar, and set the MOQ (minimum order quantity) down to 10 or so (however many you plan on ordering at once).

here's where the trade-off comes in though: generally, when buying from a us/eu/uk based company, the products will cost more, but the shipping will cost less. when buying from alibaba (china-based companies), the products will cost less, but the shipping will cost more. so if you're buying a lot of products, it might be worth it to pay more for shipping with a company on alibaba. but if you're only ordering a quantity of 10 or so, it might be better to just buy from a us/eu/uk based company.

this goes doubly for buttons. buttons are a lot cheaper than charms, and are actually common in us/eu/uk companies, so if you're only buying buttons, it's usually better to buy local instead of heading over to alibaba.

[pillars-of-alt]

Trying to do costume design stuff feat. the first time I've broken out my tablet in a while....

I've been in an awful creative slump for literally like 2 years. I love my ocs, but I haven't been able to write or draw anything I'm happy with for so long. But I'm trying to revisit Vel's world and start from scratch with a lot of world building and plot elements. I've had some ideas and inspiration that I'm actually excited to flesh out and I feel like it makes so much more sense with the characters I have in the story. Idk if it'll go anywhere, but I've been developing these characters for 7+ years and have never felt like they're quite at home in their own world since character dynamics and development has always been more interesting than plot and setting for me. There is a LOT of retconning going on, with characters, backstories, and setting... I just want to have some fun with it and not worry about having a product worth posting or showing to anyone because I feel like that mindset gets me into a rut.

I feel like since it was always, at heart, a pirate adventure story it had to be golden era of piracy/western Europe inspired even though it never made sense in the timeline... I think I'd like to explore Russian historical dress and folklore since I find it way more visually appealing, way more fitting to the character's senses of style, and a closer geographic equivalent to the setting of Skavarren.

I'm also not sure why but the pirate thing feels so off for Vel as a character. She's just not the right character to inhabit that role, but at the same time I love it and I'm really invested in it, and I'm not sure where else I'd go with her. But I want to do them justice as a character and give them a role that fits. What I know about Vel is that she was a ship's surgeon for a while and has her own passion project studying natural sciences, and has used their travels as an opportunity to study. She is a morally grey character, but probably too introverted/self sufficient to be interested in what a life of piracy would have to offer. It would take some external force or plot stuff to make her end up in that scenario, which makes them seem like a passive character being influenced by other stuff and I really hate main characters that have stuff Just Happen to them instead of actively doing things that influence the story. Plus I've retconned a lot of her backstory and family which definitely changes her as a character... But it does feel more in place in the setting instead of the setting being built around the old backstory.

I just!!! Plots don't make sense and that's my fault cause I've written myself into a corner a million times with this story. There are a few set points that I know would happen regardless but everything between them is up in the air. (Also, I have another new character who makes SO MUCH MORE SENSE in the role of badass gay pirate and,,,, I want her to have it ... But I want it to make sense in Vel's timeline and not just be basically the same story with a different name...)

I don't necessarily want to have a set plot that I could theoretically turn into a book/comic or anything, but boy oh boy I want to talk about my ocs so much but I don't have anything to say cause I DON'T KNOW what's canon anymore and what's not ... And I like the idea of someday returning to this with actual time and motivation and making something cool with it. But maybe that'll kill my motivation again because I like exploring my stories and adapting them as I find new interesting concepts.

Man this is hard.

Also I wish I wasn't so out of practice with drawing cause I suddenly want to draw again after so long of not feeling it at all and NOW I have to relearn a bunch of stuff lol I am continuously my own worst nemesis

[daffietjuh]

Hey! I don't know if you're taking prompts or not (just ignore this ask if you aren't) but since the spoilers I've been feeling a little petty. I had an idea for a fic and since you're my favorite writer I thought I'd ask: After a ons, Forest can't get Alex out of his head, he finds the perfect opportunity to shamelessly flirt with him and ask him out when he spots him at the pony with all of his friends (including Michael). [1]

Everyone keeps asking Alex if he knows him and while the airman says no, Forest’s dirty smile and emphatic yes tell another story. [2]

Omg, Nonnie. Thank you so much. Nonnie, listen, I want you to be my new best friend (sorry @likebadgal-riri XD) I am feeling the pettiest and I had a blast writing this! I’m always up for prompts, especially since I’m not working on anything specific right now!

Ever since stopping in Roswell approximately twelve hours ago, Forest had learned a few absolute truths about the town.

One: The place was just straight up weird. Way weird.

Two: If you wanted good food, you went to The Crashdown.

Three: Alex Manes was way too hot to be living in a shitty town like this one.

You see, Forest knew his type. Smart, sassy and with a story. Alex had looked like he had a story that couldn’t even be told in a night. He’d seen him his first night in Roswell, sitting in The Crashdown after dark, alone with a single vanilla milkshake and an order of fries. He’d looked tired in a bone deep kind of way that didn’t just come from physical exhaustion, but mental and emotional exhaustion too. There had been a crutch leaning against the booth and Forest had been intrigued. Especially when he’d dipped one of his fries in his milkshake before eating it.

‘Is that actually good, or is that just a myth?’ He’d asked and Alex had looked up like he was expecting to get punched in the face. After the look had passed however, he had darted his eyes up and down Forest’s body and yep, that was how he’d ended up with Alex pressing him into the wall of his room in the singular hotel in Roswell.

Normally, he was perfectly good at one night stands, but, well, he had not been able to get Alex out of his head. He was just so… captivating. There was something inside of him that he tried very hard to hide. Something that burned hot and fast. Something that made Forest feel like he could do anything. So, maybe he wanted to see him again. Normally, Forest would have moved on already, it wouldn’t have been an option to go back to Alex, but his damn car hadn’t started that morning and maybe it was a sign?

So, he’d ended up in what seemed to be the singular bar in this town. Seriously? Did they have only one of everything here?

And another handout from Fate, Alex was there. In the bar. The Wild Bronco or something like that. Unlike the other day, Alex wasn’t alone. He was squished in a booth between two dark haired girls that looked like sisters. A guy with a jawline to die for. A beautiful black woman with her hand tangled with a curly haired guy.

Forest had never been shy, exactly, so he only hesitated for a second before heading over to their booth. He wanted to see Alex again, so he’d ask.

‘Well, would you look at that. Twice in two days, I’d call that Fate.’ Forest said with his most winning smile, cutting the curly haired dude off mid-sentence. All eyes snapped towards him. The only eyes he cared about though were those deep, warm, brown ones. Which flashed with recognition and then went carefully blank.

‘Alex, do you know this guy?’ Jawline asked, frowning at Forest like he wasn’t sure if he should be running or throwing punches. Not a very trusting bunch, were they?

‘I- Well, sort of.’

‘Cryptic.’ Curly said smirking, but there was something tight in his voice.

‘We know each other intimately.’ Forest said, he only flinched once he realized he had no idea if this guy was even out to his friends. If he wasn’t, well, he would feel like a giant dick.

Luckily Alex sighed and rolled his eyes.

‘We met yesterday.’ Alex said to Jawline, whose eyebrows had climbed towards his hairline. ‘I thought you’d be leaving town in the morning?’ Curly had tensed, but was trying really, really hard not to show it. They seemed like a strange couple. Curly really was quite scruffy and she seemed way too pretty and put-together to be with him. Like Beauty and the Beast. Belle threw Curly a look like she was trying to figure out what was wrong with him.

‘Car broke down.’ Forest said with a shrug. ‘Again, I’m callin’ it Fate.’

‘That truck brought in this morning is yours?’ Curly asked, sounding offended by the idea alone. ‘The dark blue one?’

‘Yeah, how do you know that?’

‘He works for Sander’s Auto.’ Belle said, smiling at Curly. He didn’t smile back, he was too busy glaring at Forest.

‘Anyways. They said it might take a few days to fix, so I’m sticking around a little longer.’ Forest said with a shrug. ‘So, now that I’m not leaving quite yet, any tips on a place to eat that isn’t the alien themed diner?’ Alex huffed out a laugh as the sisters looked mildly offended.

‘I thought you liked the fries?’ He asked, finally smiling a little.

‘I did, but I can’t keep all of this’ he motioned at himself. ‘in shape if I eat fries for three days straight. Curly rolled his eyes, but Alex looked amused.

‘You do realize how a one night stand works, right? You have sex and then you leave each other alone, maybe see each other in the grocery store once or twice.’ Alex said, leaning back in the booth a little. Forest shrugged.

‘I know, and if you want me to leave, I’ll leave you and your friends be, but if you want to, I could do dinner. I had a good time last night. It’s just some easy fun. Fun is good, right?’ Alex’s eyes darted at Curly, before settling back on Forest.

‘I suppose so.’

‘Plus, you’re by far the hottest guy I’ve seen in months so, I wouldn’t mind getting seconds.’ Forest grinned and Alex rolled his eyes again, but with an amused huff, so he was counting that as a win.

‘Ow, Michael would you be careful. You’re cutting off circulation to my hand.’ Belle snapped at Curly (Michael?). She pulled her hand away from his and Curly wiped any emotion off his face with a snarky smile.

‘Sorry babe, I thought you liked my strong grip.’

‘Ugh.’ Jawline said, rolling his eyes and making a gagging noise. ‘Stop that.’

Alex was watching Curly with narrowed eyes before he turned to Forest, a determined set to his jaw and oh yep, that was pretty hot.

‘Alright, I can do dinner, but there really aren’t many options around here and nothing that’s particularly healthy. I can cook something though, Liz has been teaching me some things.’ Alex said, motioning at Sister One.

‘Am I being invited to your place?’ Forest asked, grin spreading over his face. Alex’s bed couldn’t possibly be more uncomfortable than the bed in the hotel so this was the best possible scenario.

‘Unless you’re scared of coming to my cabin in the woods.’ Alex said with a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth.

‘Now, see, why couldn’t you just call it a cottage in the forest? Now I feel like I’m going to get serial killed.’ Forest said, drawing a laugh from Alex and a chuckle from Jawline and the sisters. Sister Two looked incredibly amused. ‘But fine, I’ll come to your cabin in the woods.’

‘Even if I might kill you?’ Alex asked, looking truly amused now. Forest was pretty sure that meant he was joking. Pretty sure.

‘Eh, as long as you promise to kill me after, it’ll be worth it.’ Sister Two grinned even wider and Jawline made a face like he did not want to hear that. Alex huffed out another laugh.

‘Alright, I promise.’ Alex made a shooing motion at Sister Two and Jawline, sliding from the booth after them. ‘If I’m gonna cook, I need to go to the supermarket so, let’s go.’ He motioned at Forest. He waved his friends goodbye as Forest followed him from the bar.

‘So, where to?’ He asked with a grin. Alex turned to look at him, amused smile around his lips. He pointed at a car a few spots down the line.

‘Up for a ride?’

‘Always.’ Forest smirked, practically begging Alex to roll his eyes. He did not disappoint.

I might actually want to write a follow up to this at some point because I love this whole premise!

[ahhhsami]

So I've had this I dea for a while. Korra broke up with Asami because she couldn't handle that Asami was an extreme workaholic who never really rested and never really spent time with Korra. After the breakup Asami throws herself even more into her work and [time] later she gets hospitalized because she collapsed (worked herself to the bone, forgot to eat and stuff). there she meets Korra again.

Thanks for the request! I hope you don’t mind how angsty I made this. It’s just kind of where my mind’s at right now. Plus this prompt already has so many angsty possibilities, lol. :P (AO3 LINK)

The fact that, we as humans have emotions and the ability for higher thinking, has always been something that’s interested me. It’s amazing that we can empathize with another without even experiencing it ourselves. We may smile when another person smiles at us. We may cry when someone else cries. We may feel an ache in our heart when we see someone’s relationship end. It’s one of those things that makes life worth living. Makes it so amazing.

But it’s also the worst too. Our complex minds allow for doubt. It allows for overthinking and leads us to taking actions we may regret. It makes us question everything in this world and everything that we do. It allows us to feel so much and feel so little at the same time. And that’s where I am now. I’m so broken that I’m numb. I’ve cried to the extent where I have no more tears. I’ve rerun the same thoughts through my mind to the point that I’m drawing a blank.

I don’t know how long I’ve been staring at the same spot on the ceiling, but it’s been a long time. The clock next to the bed clicks melodically as the seconds pass. Everything just feels wrong. The room feels wrong. The bed feels wrong. The smell’s wrong. The sounds are wrong. The only thing that’s right is the feeling of emptiness in my chest. My heart aches and all I want to do is pick up my phone and call her. To tell her that this wasn’t the way it was supposed to happen. But I know I can’t.

I knew what I was getting into when we first started dating. I knew that her work was her first love, but I thought it would work because we both acknowledged it. We both knew that we had our own careers, our own paths that we would need to take. But I had always thought we would make time and space for one another. That we’d sometimes put our jobs on hold.

At first we did. We made time for one another. We were living in the moment. But as time progressed and years passed, it started to change. Suddenly when we were together, we weren’t together. She’d be on her phone, constantly plugged in. Constantly replying to emails and checking up on her employees and contacting partners. Eventually this progressed to her not even meeting me. To the extent where I was sitting in restaurants, cafes, theaters, and more, just waiting for her. More than not, she would forget completely, only apologizing and making excuses after I’d call or text her. And then I’d return home to an empty bed. And again I would find myself waiting.

And I’m the first to understand that work is important, especially if you love what you do. I’d be crazy to be working as an emergency physician if not. The work wasn’t made for someone who couldn’t invest time and devotion. But there’s a point to where it’s too much. And she somehow had reached that point and our relationship was put on the back burner. Eventually the flame would fade completely.

Even though it’s been three days since I’d finally called it quits, I can still hear her weak voice and the way it cracked when she begged me not to leave. I can still see the tears that had streamed down her cheeks and smudged her usually flawless makeup. I remember the way her slender hand had reached out and clutched the back of my shirt and the way she clung onto me. I can remember it all. The way I quietly walked through the house that was ours. The house that we had made so many memories in. How I had left my home behind. My home that was her.

My feet feel heavy as I move through the halls of the hospital. Even though it’s bustling with people moving in and out, I don’t hear or notice any of it. My mind is still focused on what’s ended more than anything else. I can’t stay in the present and instead keep getting trapped in the past. Recalling memory after memory. Flitting from the best of memories to the worst of memories. The times when we adopted our puppy, Naga. The times when I’d bring her lunch, to drag her away from her work and she’d actually appreciate it. The times when she would take me driving around the track in the newest car model, going on about this and that which I never truly understood. But then I’d remember the yelling. The times I’d burst at her for standing me up or forgetting an anniversary. She’d always just shrink in on herself, always apologizing in the quietest of voices. Every time, she’d slink off to her office, throw herself into her work instead of trying to solve the problem though. Every, single, time.

Things happen for a reason and I know I need to accept it. I need to move on because it’s already been two months. And yet it feels as if it were yesterday. I wonder how long it’s going to take to move on. I know that I won’t be able to forget and honestly I don’t want to. I just want to feel at peace with the choices I’ve made, but I can’t.

“Korra!”

My head jerks up at the sound of my name. Bolin is panting as he hunches over with his hands resting on his knees.

“Where am I needed?” I ask, automatically thinking this is related to something in the ER.

Bolin shakes his head and holds up his finger, signaling that he needs a moment to catch his breath. He’s easily one of the best nurses in the hospital. Alway so personable and able to make the saddest person smile in the hardest of times.

“Asami,” he gasps.

My brow furrows. “What about her?” I kind of snap.

“She’s here.”

“What?!”

“Here.” He points down at the ground. “At the hospital.” He finally stands and looks at me, his eyes full of sadness. Something that is so rare to see it causes my heart to instantly ache. How serious was this to make the most optimistic man this distraught?

“Where?”

“A wing,” he says.

I let out a heavy sigh. At least she’s in the least intensive area of the hospital.

“What happened?”

“Her secretary brought her in because she was acting weird. Saying stuff she wouldn’t normally say and then she just collapsed in the middle of a meeting. They said it’s probably sleep deprivation, stress, and exhaustion.”

“S-she collapsed? Did she hurt herself?”

“Luckily, she didn’t. I think they have her hooked up with an IV too. I guess she hasn’t been eating either.”

“What? I-I…”

“It’s not your fault. But I think you should go see her,” Bolin suggests.

“I don’t know if I can.”

“Do it for her.”

“Shit,” I whisper as soon as I see her. I close my eyes for a moment, holding back the tears I can feel welling up. “Look at you,” I say to myself as I pick up a chair and silently place it beside the bed.

I sit down, not daring to touch her. But not because I’m worried I’d wake her, but because I don’t have the right to. How could I let her get to this? How could I have left her? I know I can’t make choices for her, but maybe if I had tried to stick it out, tried harder to fix what we had… she wouldn’t be here. Wouldn’t be hooked up with fluids flowing into her body. Wouldn’t have sunken eyes with dark bags beneath them. Maybe her body wouldn’t look as if it’d lost twenty pounds. Maybe her skin wouldn’t be as ashy and pale. Maybe, just maybe if I had just tried harder.

“What’s happened to you?” I ask her although I know she’s asleep, something she evidently needs. She looks as if she hasn’t rested for days, weeks, maybe even months.

I sit there, not caring about the ache in my back. I sit there, trying to imagine how things could have been different. How things could have been. I sit there, waiting for her to wake, knowing full well I may not be welcome when she does.

“Mmmm,” I groan softly. Someone’s hand is threading through my hair and my eyes gradually open, trying to adjust to the bright lighting.

“You look tired.”

It’s a voice I haven’t heard in so long. A voice that I thought I wouldn’t hear again, not since I had walked out. A voice that I had missed so dearly.

“I’m not the one in the hospital bed,” I mumble as I sit up, her hand settling down at her side.

She’s sitting up now, the IV not in her arm anymore. Our eyes meet and her peridot ones are nothing more than tired. Her body had obviously shown that, but finally looking into her eyes, I can see and feel how exhausted she truly is.

She laughs weakly. “That’s true.” Asami’s expression changes though and she looks at me seriously. “Why are you here?”

“I, um… Bolin said that you were here and I just…” my voice trails off. I don’t even know where to begin trying to tell Asami about how I feel and what hell the last two months have been.

“You what, Korra?” Asami presses.

“I was worried,” I whisper, barely loud enough for Asami to hear.

“You don’t need to worry about me.”

“I know,” I mumble. “But when he said that you were here, every single worst case scenario went through my head. I couldn’t stop thinking that you might have been in an accident where you seriously got hurt. Where you…” My voice cracks and I clench my eyes shut. I don’t want to cry in front of her.  

“I think I’d take being in an accident over you leaving me,” Asami admits softly. “It’d probably hurt less. Honestly-”

“Asami, I-”

“Wait, let me speak.” I close my mouth and nod for her to continue. “Honestly, I understand though.” She pauses and takes in a steady breath. “I know why and I guess I needed to lose you to realize what was actually happening. It was my fault.”

“Asami, it wasn’t. We both made our own choices and are at fault in our own ways.”

“Sure, but it was my actions that forced you to leave. I wasn’t there for you. I was always at work and even when you made time for me, I didn’t do the same for you. I just made excuses. Made reasons to make myself feel better for what I was doing to you. You did everything you could and I wasn’t doing a single thing.”

I open my mouth to speak, but she shakes her head.

“You know it’s true.”

I’m speechless and it’s clear that Asami can see that.

“I ruined what we had. And I-I didn’t know what to do. When you left me… I don’t think I’ve ever felt as horrible as I did that day. It broke me and I chose the only thing I knew what to do. Instead of trying to reach out to you, to get you back… I worked and worked and worked. Honestly, I think it’s the only thing I can do right,” Asami’s voice cracks, tears now streaming down her cheeks. “I should have followed you. I should have run after you and not let you go. I miss you. I miss you so much, Korra. I-I thought work would be able to distract me, but it didn’t. No matter what I did, I was still thinking of you. I wanted to hear your voice, to tell you about my day, to feel you hold me and tell me that I was doing a good job and that everything would be okay. But it wasn’t. And I know, I know it was because of my choices.”

I can tell she wants to reach out to take my hand, but she holds back.

“I don’t even know why I’m telling you all this. There’s no reason for you to forgive me. I know I hurt you and I can’t take that back now,” Asami says, her voice hopeless.

Neither of us speak as tears keep falling from Asami’s eyes. She covers her face with her hands and shrinks in on herself, just like she had so many times before. She never was one to deal with confrontation when it wasn’t related to her company.

“You can’t take it back… but you could fix it,” I finally say. I get up from the chair and settle on the edge of the bed. I reach out and guide her hands from her face. I wipe away her tears with my thumbs and then cup her cheeks. “Leaving you was the hardest decision I’ve ever made in my life. I loved you. I loved you more than anything in this world, but I didn’t feel that you felt the same way. Honestly, you broke my heart too… but I missed you.” I pause to clear my throat. “And I still love you.”

The corner of Asami’s mouth twitch and then fall back to a straight line. I’m not sure what’s going through her mind, but I hope it’s the same thing that’s going through mine. I smooth my thumbs over her cheeks, trying to reassure her.

“I never wanted to leave you. I just felt that it was my only choice at that point… so I did. But I can’t stop thinking that it was the worst thing I could have done. I-I still want to work this out, Asami. B-but I can’t be the only one wanting to fix this.”

“I’ll do anything,” Asami says, more strongly than anything else she’s said. “I love you… and as you can see I’m even more of a mess without you.”

I smile at her attempt to lighten the mood with a joke, even though it’s really bad.

“You’re still beautiful and I still love you,” I try to comfort her.

She just laughs at me and turns her head to kiss the center of my palm.

“I really missed you,” she mumbles, her lips brushing against my skin. “Can I hug you?” She can’t bring herself to look at me, her eyes focused at the wall past my head.

I don’t answer her with words, instead I lean forward and wrap her up in my arms. She clings onto me, her hands clutching onto my doctor’s coat and her face burrowed into my neck. I close my eyes, letting her familiar scent and warmth calm me. It’s the most at peace I’ve felt since I’d walked out.

“We’re going to make this work, I promise,” Asami says muffled against my neck.

I nod, not able to speak as tears slowly fall down my cheeks.

I’m home again.

[howtofightwrite]

Hi there! I love your blog! I've seen you mention a few TV shows and movies for research, and I was wondering what your opinion is on the show Leverage and it's accuracy for social engineering in potentially violent situations. I remember one character saying that "Thieves look for entrances, but grifters create them." They'll often use approaches like this to avoid violence.

If the question is: can you use social engineering in order to defuse or avoid violent situations? The answer is yes.

Grifters are conmen, and like spies, they don’t want to fight unless it is absolutely necessary. Whether they can fight or know how isn’t really the point: combat makes messes, big messes, and draws the kind of attention they don’t want/can’t afford.

As for the line, “thieves look for entrances, but grifters create them” the point of it is that grifters focus on people as the exploitative aspect to get what they want. After all, it doesn’t matter how good your security system is if your infiltrator is expected to be there. When someone opens the door for them, they didn’t have to break in.

It is worth pointing out though, being able to stop, defuse, avoid, or redirect violence via social engineering (especially when the character is the target) is very difficult and requires someone who excels at rapidly changing their story/manipulating under life or death pressure while also maintaining their consistency/re-establishing their innocence/regaining their target’s trust.

That’s masterclass social engineering. The average person, even the average grifter can’t do it. When we see Nate Ford, Sophie Devereaux, or Michael Westen on Burn Notice socially engineer their way out of potentially explosive and violent scenarios, we’re supposed to understand this level of manipulation is very difficult. You need a solid ability to read people, predict their behavior patterns, understand how to shift your role so you suddenly seem trustworthy, confuse them, and then redirect their anger somewhere away from you.

You can see another variant of this kind of social engineering on display in The Negotiator. Samuel L. Jackson’s character is a hostage negotiator. Deliberately maneuvering a man who’s taken a child captive around his apartment so he can be taken out. You can see him joking with the target, gaining his trust, distracting him, and guiding him off topic until he’s in a position to be neutralized.

The Grifter is not a fighter, they are a talker and their trick is getting people to move however they want. A skilled grifter can slip in, turn the best of friends against each other, and walk away without a care. Grifters don’t punch. They trick other people into doing the punching for them. When sitting down to write a Grifter, remember: their first instinct is getting others to act in their place, to create the openings they need, and be their fall guy.

On the whole, I’ve liked Leverage ever since the episode where Eliot pointed out that guns are ranged weapons, and the most common mistake people make is giving up the distance advantage by getting in too close. However, I’ve only watched the first season. I liked what I saw, it’s an enjoyable caper show in a similar vein to The Equalizer, Person of Interest, or Ocean’s Eleven. Not quite in there with the original Law & Order when it comes to accuracy (in this case for cops) but certainly better than White Collar, which uses similar techniques (though never, ever pay attention to White Collar’s usage of the FBI… ever). The X-Files, meanwhile, fudges a bit but it’s pretty good when you’re wanting to get a grasp of the FBI’s culture and what happens to someone who doesn’t come from a military/law enforcement background.

Of course, the patient zero for these types of shows is the original Mission: Impossible. The television show, not the Tom Cruise movies. Mission: Impossible is all about flipping people and manipulating them into positions to do what you want. The A-Team is its slightly more pulpy counterpart, but its a similar (though far less subtle) deal.

On the whole, Leverage tends to explain itself better, which is helpful when you’re trying to learn or take techniques from a television show rather than just absorb.

The reason why I often suggest Burn Notice and Spy Game is not necessarily just because they’re good, but also because they teach. The narrator on Burn Notice, especially in the first season will offer up a lot of helpful/beginner tradecraft for a variety of situations. This, ultimately, will help you more for taking pieces and creating your own characters than a show that’s trying for smoke and mirrors like White Collar. The same situation is there with Spy Game, where Robert Redford’s character is teaching Brad Pitt’s on how to be a spy. Ultimately, more helpful in the long run than just watching The Recruit. The Michael Mann films like Heat and Collateral are exceptionally good for learning tradecraft, but you have to know that’s what you’re watching/looking for. You’ll learn more by watching them together, rather than separately. The Borne Identity novels are also very good at showing the tradecraft, while the Le Carre ones tend to be a little more hit and miss.

When you’re new, you want sources that are free with their information. Who are good at getting you to think, to take what you’re seeing and apply it to new settings. You may not ever figure out how to build a car bomb, but learning about how the thought process of a spy, criminal, or conman works will serve you better for your writing than a hundred other movies that only show.

After you’ve drawn back the curtain then you can turn to those other shows, novels, and narratives with new eyes. Once you see what they’re doing, how they’re doing it, and why when they don’t explain you’ll get more out of those other sources than you did before.

When you’re watching a well put together show like Leverage, start questioning character motivations. Not just whether the social engineering there works, but why the characters are choosing to go that route or which routes they prefer. Leverage gives you five characters with different specialties, four thieves and the guy who made a career catching them. They all think in different ways and have different approaches when it comes to problem solving. Leverage offers up a heist per episode, so you have lots of opportunities to see the characters in action. Evaluate their problem solving methods and you’ll come away with more than just questioning whether or not it works.

How and Why.

Then, go find a good video on YouTube where a professional magician explains pickpocketing. It’s the art of misdirection.

Once you understand basic theoretical underpinnings (whether or not you could ever actually pull the real thing off) then you can apply it to many different situations in a fictional context.

When it comes back to applying this to the combat arts, learning to see the big picture is the first major difference between trained and untrained. The untrained only copy surface level, singular techniques, while trained delves deeper to understand how these techniques work together.

My advice for when you’re wanting to pick and choose television shows for accuracy is to check who their consultants are/were, and what experts in the show’s chosen field say about it. That doesn’t always guarantee accuracy, but it will help you flip through the rave reviews.

If you want to watch more fun shows with Timothy Hutton or just like detective shows, I recommend Nero Wolfe.

-Michi

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