#At some point I would love to write longer-form things with more elaborate original plots but we'll see. I'm not very skilled at plots

[jorvikzelda]

At this point I've got a full list in my head of fics I want to write when You Know What is done lmfao

[hypnotisedfireflies]

Hi Arien! Were there any major or minor plot points in Driftersverse that almost happened but didn't? Would love to learn about any and all tidbits you feel like sharing. Thank you <3

Okay ... this is fun, thanks for asking. <3 I'm going to remember what I can. Most of the stuff that almost happened but didn't I've been able to cover off in some of the prompts, by expanding things.

Speaking of, at the risk of being George Lucas, there is actually an additional chapter I plan to slot in early to Dawn. It's something that is subtly throughout but I realised I didn't give it proper gravity until it was better embellished in one of the prompts. So yeah that's a thing. But anyway, on to your question proper:

Ash was not originally a villain. He was going to be with them awhile longer and then die as a sacrificial lamb. He was still a dick, though.

Mike was not originally dead, but missing. He and Tess got separated and she was in a camp with their son, who died a couple of years in when that camp got overrun.

I never meant for him to come back, though. It was just going to be one of those 'lost in the chaos' things and Tess would eventually accept he was gone.

Keisha was more villainous and less mixed up. In fact, the whole scene with Tess and Joel in the park at night happened because Keisha was supposed to see them and then make certain accusations that would get Joel in trouble. And because it was rough, she didn't register the consent, it just hearkened back to her own trauma.

Tess was going to take care of it in a way that would make things look like an accident but I just felt it was all over too dark and melodramatic and stupid.

I wrote about 3000 words of this btw

It just felt more interesting to me that Keisha was broken and harmless.

But this plot meant Rachel didn't leave with them because she figured out what Tess did.

Which was the original plan, Tess was going to choose Joel over Rachel but it just seemed dumb to me. I mean ... she could have both. There was no reason to make Rachel a villain for the sake of it, it seemed more interesting that she would be a gradual ally and form her own bond with Joel.

Plus I realised that if things were going to work, I needed to get Tess to a place of healing that he finds at the end of TLOU, so I started laying plans for that instead.

There was a lot of stuff in Indy that I didn't dwell on but wish I had, so I'm really glad for the prompt that led me to write Spite, so I could expand on that. I wish I had spent more time in Indy, but Tess didn't know what was going on behind the scenes so I couldn't really write it ... plus pacing etc etc.

I had planned on going into the consequences of all those pills and alcohol a bit more but there just wasn't really room to give it the full treatment so I just dropped it. I have sort of left it there a bit? There's some stuff coming up in Miss World that elaborates more on what I wanted to establish with Tess and her relationship with pills, and I sketched it out a little in Shots Fired!, but I did intend them to be a bit more fucked up on that kind of stuff at one point.

Ricardo was supposed to live longer than he did but he also got the sacrificial lamb treatment. (I would actually like to write more about those happy months with the four of them travelling around.)

There was a thing where they were going to travel by motorbike for awhile but that's happening in the AU instead. >.>

[jeptwin]

My thoughts on Tim Drake now being queer: I love it. However, not for the reasons you’d expect.

To be perfectly honest, I have sincere doubts about Timkon ever happening in canon, and it may be better if it doesn’t. Timkon could very easily be a mistake. I would love to see it happen of course, but the only reason for it to happen would be for it to compete with Wiccan and Hulkling from Marvel-due to their similar dynamics, demographics, and characters-but by doing so they would actually devalue both Tim and Connor by essentially forcing them to serve as foils to a more popular couple that was canon from the start, thus sending the message that DC is only willing to make LGBT+ characters and relationships for the purpose of competing with Marvel. This would not only devalue the significance of any and all LGBT+ characters within the DC universe, but in the process be a pretty serious hit to the LGBT+ community by basically openly stating that the only reason LGBT+ characters exist is to make money, rather than because they deserve to exist and it is normal for them to exist. So, as much as people want Timkon, it may be for the best that it never happens.

Now, let’s address the value of Tim’s queerness. We can start by looking at his character as a whole. Originally Tim was the prodigy Robin, performing well amongst audiences and showing himself to be capable and well fleshed out. However with the introduction of Damian-as we all have noticed and commented on-Tim’s character has slowly degraded over time, becoming less and less significant and pushed off further to the side. Much of his popularity has been superseded by Damian, in no small part because Damian has taken his place as the main Robin now. Thus, for a good while Tim has been stuck in a limbo both in real life and in the comics. Damian has slowly usurped his place in the family-for the most part unintentionally-and left Tim as something of an outsider, his only real significance in his relationships. However many of the people closest to him have died, left him, or he has distanced himself from in recent years, leading him to a tumultuous state where his character is at a point of flux. He is no longer Red Robin, but he cannot truly be Robin with Damian around. He’s not dating Steph anymore, and he’s reunited with this cute boy he was friends with a while ago and who clearly is interested in him. Thus, he is clearly going through some intense emotional changes, one of which appears to be a crisis of sexuality. Now, to explain, I do not believe that he is in any way concerned about his sexuality, but I do believe that all of this is new to him and he is still figuring himself out. Thus we get a real chance to see Tim develop a lot as a character for the first time in several years, and perhaps gain a lot more significance in the process

Now let’s examine the thought behind making him queer. This is very clever in my opinion, and though it could be taken as a bit underhanded it doesn’t diminish the positive impact of Tim’s becoming a member of the LGBT+ community. The fact of the matter is, Urban Legends’ decision to make him queer was greenlit solely because of his performance in recent years. For YEARS Tim was the most popular Robin, a massive success. Everyone loved him, and as evidenced by earlier comics where he was without Batman-such as the Young Justice series, in which he was one of the main characters alongside fellow members Impulse, Superboy, and Wonder Girl. But since the introduction of Damian, his popularity and significance have steadily waned until today, where he is one of the lower performing Gotham heroes and frequently overlooked as a character. All of the other members of the Batfamily have a hook of some kind, particularly the other Robins-present and former. Dick was the first, and his popularity as Nightwing is also tremendous. Jason is the rebel, and the one Batman couldn’t save. Damian is the blood son, the former assassin Bruce tries so hard to do right by. And Stephanie was the only girl, the daughter of Batman’s villain-third rate or otherwise-with a significant audience of her own as one of the major female members of the Batfamily. However Tim was only ever known as Robin, and as a member of Young Justice. Well, Young Justice has, for the moment, taken a sideline due to the popularity of the animated show, and Red Robin was never as popular as his siblings’ solo identities. Take DCeased as an example: Both Dick and Bruce were elaborated on-either in plot or by Damian and Jason-while Tim ended up with a tombstone that simply said ‘the best of us’. He got basically no time in the hit series, nor in Dark Knights or Joker War-both central to Batman and the Batfamily.

In addition to the progress DC has shown by allowing Urban Legends to write this, it was a clever marketing move designed to capitalize on the increasing significance, sway, and wealth of the LGBT+ community, which is one of the fastest growing markets with some of the largest spending power. Not only does it give Tim a unique hook that draws people in to his character-as well as making room for some significant development on his part-it also attracts an immediate and significant crowd in the form of LGBT+ comic readers, who have long been awaiting such a move by DC.

Tim Drake’s status as an LGBT+ character has been a long time coming, and I for one am glad that DC decided to finally act and make it canon. Not only does this spell good things for the future of Tim Drake and the Batman comics in general, it also shows that DC is not afraid to make controversial decisions and take risks in order to make better stories and more compelling characters. And that, to me, is worth far more than simply making a new LGBT+ superhero or villain.

[gunterfan1992]

Episode Review: ‘Obsidian’ (Distant Lands, Ep. 2)

Airdate: November 19, 2020

Story by: Jack Pendarvis, and Kate Tsang, Adam Muto, & Hanna K. Nyström

Storyboarded by: Hanna K Nyström, Anna Syvertsson, Iggy Craig, Mickey Quinn, Maya Petersen, James Campbell, & Ashlyn Anstee

Directed by: Miki Brewster (supervising), Sandra Lee (art)

Of all the many colorful characters in Adventure Time perhaps none has a more elaborate backstory than Marceline the Vampire Queen. In many ways, Marceline really was the writers’ gold goose, engendering complex story after complex story. By the time the series ended, the vampire’s life had in more ways than one been woven into the very fabric of the show’s mythology.

But because I am a Marceline fanboy—whose zeal for her majesty is rivaled perhaps only by Glassboy himself—I always felt like the show could have done even more with her backstory; I mean, when the series finale aired, there were still plenty of questions that had yet to be answered (What happened to her mom? What is Simon going to do now that he’s “cured”? How did Marcy and Bubblegum meet? Were they romantically involved before the events of the main series? How did it all go south?). Nevertheless, when "Island Song” played for the last time at the end of “Come Along with Me,” I forced myself to push aside this minor, fannish grievance and applaud the show for writing such an excellent character. I didn’t need for every last detail of her life to be explicitly shown on screen. I was happy.

But then, about a year ago, news dropped that one of the Distant Lands specials would really delve into the history of Marceline and Bubblegum’s relationship. In an instant, I tossed my stoic “I-am-satisified-with-what-I-received” mentality right out the window. We were going to get another Marceline episode, and it was going to dive back into her elaborate backstory!?! I could barely contain my excitement as I waited for the episode to drop.

Well, was my excitement worth it? Or was “Obsidian” a big ol’ let down—a tragic victim to grandiose expectations that were never meant to be fulfilled?

I’m quite happy to say that not only was “Obsidian” a remarkable special in its own right, but it is arguably one of the strongest episodes of Adventure Time, period.

The plot of this episode is fairly standard, as far as Adventure Time episodes go: Glassboy (a new character voiced by Michaela Dietz, the voice of Amethyst from Steven Universe) accidentally sets a giant fire monster named Molto Larvo loose on the Glass Kingdom, and Marceline and Bubblegum—who we learn have been living their best cottagecore life together in Marcy’s cavehouse—are forced to save the day. But the series’ writers take this otherwise quotidian adventure idea—a story which, at least on paper, could have easily fit in during any of the show’s many seasons—and employ it as something of a Trojan Horse, using it as a pretense to delve into both Marcy’s traumatic childhood and her and Bubblegum’s romantic history. And, boy, is it a ride!

With regard to the former story thread, the audience learns that sometime after the Mushroom Bomb detonated, Marceline and her mother, Elise (voiced this time not by Rebecca Sugar, but by actress Erica Luttrell, who played Sapphire in Steven Universe), roamed the wastelands in search of shelter; after Marceline’s mother came down with some sort of sickness, she sent Marceline to be on her own. Elise was hoping that this would spare Marcy the trauma of seeing her mother die before her very eyes, but due to some communication issues, Marceline never learned what became of her mother. As such, Marceline began blaming herself for “leaving” her mom to die in the wreckage of the world. This plot thread is perhaps one of the bleakest that Adventure Time has ever explored, and the show does it masterfully, balancing the darkness (e.g., Marceline’s mother coughing up blood) with bright spots of comedy (e.g., the "wazzup” dog) that never feel distasteful.

Likewise, when it comes to the story thread about Marcy and Bubblegum’s romantic history, the special does not hold back. We get to see “Bubbline” at its best and its worst. I have a feeling that the word “fan service” is going to be used by a lot of folks when talking about this episode. As the AV Club writer William Hughes notes, this word is usually hurled around like a pejorative, but it aptly describes the appeal of “Obsidian”. After all, this episode really is “fan service at its finest”—not only does it give the ravenous shippers the story tidbits that they have so long to see (e.g., the moment Marcy gave Bubblegum her rock shirt, Bubbline’s epic break-up), but—and this is very important—it does so in a way that is fundamentally meaningful. “Obsidian” does not feel self-indulgent, unnecessary, or pandering. On the contrary, it is overflowing with deep emotion that allows us to better understand how Bubblegum and Marceline really feel about one another. Sure, over the centuries that the two gals have bummed around Ooo, they have bickered and fought, but deep down, their love is passionate. In many ways, it is like the titular obsidian, which means that nothing short of an enchanted diamond pickax is strong enough to break Bubbline apart for good.

(It’s also quite nice that after seasons and seasons of tip-toeing around the question of Marceline and Bubblegum’s sexuality, “Obsidian” can explicitly focus on their life together, showing the two characters cuddling, kissing, and dancing. In terms of LGBTQ+ representation, it’s a huge leap forward, and I’m so happy that Adventure Time has had a part to play in normalizing queer relationships!)

Marceline episodes almost always featured a catchy diddy, but "Obsidian” really cranks things up to 11 by featuring a whole bevy of catchy songs, several of which are perhaps among the show’s strongest. The first right banger, “It’s Funny,” is the song that plays over the special’s credits. With a grunge-meets-riot grrrl feels, this track really sets the tone for the episode, signaling to the audience that we’re in for, as Lumpy Space Princess once put it, some “drama bombs.” The next standout is “Woke Up,” a brutally honest diss track that Marceline used both to contain Molto Larvo and break up with Princess Bubblegum centuries prior to the start of this episode. This song was written by pop rocker Zuzu, and it—as the kids say—slaps. Layers of fuzzed-out guitar and digitally processed vocals are used expertly to sell Marceline’s emotions and convey how, on the surface, she’s delighted to no longer be under Bubblegum’s romantic spell... even if her heart may not be so sure.

But arguably, the musical jewel of the entire special is “Monster,” a somber ballad that Marceline sings to Bubblegum when they find themselves trapped in the collapsing furnace and are facing what they believe is certain death. Written by indie pop artist Half Shy, this song is, in many ways, something of the inverse of “Woke Up”: soft, happy, and filled to the brim with a sort of love that few are lucky to receive and even fewer can honestly express. Not only does “Monster” finally cement Marceline’s real, visceral love for Bubblegum in song form (remember: almost every prior Bubbline song was either indirect or delivered by an angsty, heartbroken Marceline), but it also “tames” Molto Larvo, allowing him to metamorphose into a strange but harmless cat-butterfly critter. Just like “Come Along with Me,” “Obsidian” proves that the power of love and music will save us in the end—if not physically, then at least emotionally.

Regarding the production-side of things, there’s a lot of praise to doll out. First off, the look and style of “Obsidian” is gorgeous. While “BMO” opted to experiment somewhat with the classic Adventure Time art style, trading cel shading for an almost watercolor feel, “Obsidian” echoes the aesthetic of the original series. That said, there’s an undeniable animation bump—likely courtesy of that sweet, sweet HBO money—that lets Ooo and its denizens shine in all their glory. You can tell that Adam Muto, art director Sandra Lee, supervising director Miki Brewster, and all the members of the production staff really went above and beyond the call of duty. The episode's soundtrack, composed by Amanda Jones, as deserves a shout-out. Jones did an excellent job mixing the chiptune style of the original series with a bass-heavy rock sound that highlights Marceline’s starring role. Bravo!

As another production aside, I should point out that CN/HBO’s decision to make these specials each 44 minutes was the right call. The 11 minute format of the original series often left something to be desired when it came to plot development, as many an important episode was forced to end somewhat prematurely due to time constraints; conversely, the 8-episode miniseries format that the show experimented with during its latter days sometimes felt like too much time (Stakes, Islands, and Elements all had whole episodes that felt like nothing more than the show treading water). The length of “Obsidian”, however, was just right, giving us plenty of time to take in what was happening without ever feeling like it was dragging.

A final aspect of this episode that is worth mention is its many call-backs to previous episodes and characters. “BMO” was mostly a self-contained story that, due to its nature as a prequel in space, really couldn’t reference the Land of Ooo without feeling forced. “Obsidian,” however, throws in everything and the kitchen sink (Adventure Time superfan and all-around cool person Jagm has collected most of them here for those of you who want to see everything laid out nicely). Stand-outs for me include Choose Goose (someone who we really haven’t seen since season five) smuggling sketchy products into the Candy Kingdom, post-Ice King Simon trying his hand at open mic nights, Bronwyn as an adventurous hero, and Finn the (Adult!) Human complete with beard and scars! Of note, Jake does not appear in this episode, except as a tattoo on Finn’s chest. Many in the fandom are now speculating that the events of “Obsidian” take place after our beloved shapeshifting dog’s death. Oh say it ain’t so! Perhaps we’ll learn more in “Together Again.”

Mushroom War Evidence: Unlike “BMO,” which directly referenced the Mushroom War and its fallout (both literally and figuratively), this episode returned to the show’s roots by featuring gobs of explicit hints in throw-away lines or elaborate background pieces. Honestly, there is far too many to list here in a pithy paragraph, but some major references include: the reveal that the Glass Kingdom, like the Fire Kingdom, was created by ‘magic’ blaze from the heavens (almost certainly a nuke); the fact that Marceline and her mother wandered for a time in the debris-filled wastelands following the apocalypse; and the reveal that Marceline spent at least part of her childhood holed up in a bomb shelter surrounded by the bones of myriad dead humans. Honestly, while references to the Mushroom War have always been sad footnotes to an otherwise cheery show; in this episode, however, the references are very graphic, illustrating the sorrow and horror of mutagenic war.

Final Grade: As I said earlier, I’m a Marcy fanboy, so I’m horrible biased, but I don’t care. This episode rocked. Q.E.D.

[dukeofonions]

Duke Gets Personal

So I’ve been doing a bit of thinking lately (dangerous I know) since the last Asides and I’ve come to this conclusion: I miss enjoying this series. 

(This gets long and is just a mess of feelings and thoughts so sorry in advance)

I miss analyzing videos and the characters, I miss looking at theories and coming up with my own, I miss getting excited for future episodes. I really wanted to stop enjoying it and move on to something else, but then this flipping video dropped and I just loved it.

This is the first time I’ve just genuinely loved and enjoyed an episode since Dealing With Intrusive Thoughts, the one where I stayed up until almost 2 or 3 in the morning to watch even though I had work the next day. 

The videos that followed just didn’t really do it for me, and the whole concept of Asides didn’t help either since it’s purpose seemed to have been lost with the first episode. Heck, I hesitated to call this last one an Asides just because it feels like it should have been a main episode.

That combined with the waits (especially after Putting Others First) also killed a lot of my engagement with the series. I’ve said before that POF felt like it was set up to lead directly to the finale, only for Asides to be crammed in and forcing us to wait longer for the conclusion to that episode, and season two as a whole.

I’ve said countless times how Asides has messed with the flow of the original series, with the complete tonal whiplash that was Flirting With Social Anxiety being the follow up to POF, and how the introduction of Nico completely undid everything that happened (at least to Roman) at the end of POF by having things suddenly be happy and good between him and Thomas.

I’ve said that certain moments (like seeing Virgil having to face Thomas again after his confession) were ruined by the Asides as well since we don’t get to see them happen in the main series and tend to be, well, brushed aside.

And you know, to an extent, I still see Asides as completely unnecessary and it feels like it was thrown in at the last second because they forgot they wanted to add a love interest to the plot so had to find some way to do it without disrupting the flow of the main series but ended up doing so anyway and so far all these Asides could just be regular episodes because they were apparently necessary to have before the season finale despite Asides being a relatively new concept so why would we have to have them before the season finale unless you were planning to go this route the whole time so why bother making a “separate” series in the first place when you were just going to be telling the same story anyway???

Sorry for the run on sentence but it felt like the best way to describe my confusion.

But to summarize, the last episode clearly shows that things are being set up for the finale. Everyone is reaching their breaking point and clearly, everything is not as fine and dandy as I initially thought the series was implying. And it’s here that I get to the actual reason of this little post.

The thing is, I’ve been jumping to conclusions about the series and making judgments about it as if I have the complete picture when, that’s not even remotely true.

Like this episode clearly showed that things are being put into place, and there is more thought to the story and characters going on than I initially gave them credit for. Sure, there are things I still don’t like, but I’m starting to come to the realization that I just need to wait and see where things go before jumping to judge something I don’t even have yet.

And part of that is because I do want things to get better. Like take Virgil for instance. I hate how he’s been written lately because it feels like all his negative actions just get excused and the show never addresses how harmful some of the things he says and the solutions to dealing with him (I’m glaring at you Embarrassing Phases) aren’t actually good or healthy at all and maybe I’ll elaborate on that later. 

But my point is that I need to see these things be resolved and for them to get better. It feels like all these characters flipping hate each other right now and it’s exhausting to see them like this. I just want them to work things out and start on the road to getting better because my gosh I just want them to feel like a family again. 

And I understand that story-wise it makes sense as to why they’re all so prickly with each other but y’all, Virgil’s been mad at Patton for who-knows-what for awhile now and we still don’t have a conclusion to that and again, I think the waits are a problem when it comes to this series because things get left unresolved for months, or even years, only for an episode to finally drop and the issue is never even brought up because those characters are completely absent.

And that’s why the Asides bug me so much because they initially promised something (less angsty content that we’d get more frequently between the heavier longer episodes) that we never ended up getting and it gets treated like a joke. 

Like I understand that so far the main thing that separates Asides from Sanders Sides is that they tend to be filmed in a different format, but is that really enough to count it as a separate series when it’s existence is deemed necessary for the series you’ve already been working on for awhile now?

I dunno, I loved this episode, I genuinely did and I’ve loved seeing people pick it apart and analyze it because there’s so much to unpack with it. And just from a technical standpoint, my inner film lover was geeking out at the use of camera angles, lighting, music, all of it.

And since I loved it so much it started to make me wonder if I’ve been being too harsh on the series, and even Thomas and the team in general. Most of my thoughts have come through assumptions made, and my own personal feelings, towards Thomas and the team, and I’ve realized that yeah, I have been harsh. And honestly, a bit unfair.

I’m not saying I don’t still have my own personal issues with them all, but a lot of the things I’ve said have just been, well, assumptions. Especially in regards to how much care and planning actually goes into this series. With all the details put into this last episode, how could they not have been planning things out?

Now part of me is hesitant to let my guard down in regards to how this series will go due to a number of things. One of them being that this could probably be the last episode that Joan had any input in, and personal feelings towards them aside you couldn’t deny that they had so much passion and love for the series. And it makes me wonder if future videos will be better, worse, or even the same without them.

Another thing is, again, the waits for videos. I still don’t understand why Thomas’s content in general takes so long to make, especially the unscripted videos which are fairly simple in terms of their content, so why do they take months to come out? And with everything they’ve talked about wanting to do or are planning to do, it makes me wonder if anything will ever get done due to them not seeming to be able to find a way to make their videos faster.

Like I don’t know if it’s an issue with finding people to work on videos, or them continuing to make things more difficult than they need to be, or maybe them just not working as much as they say, or a combination of multiple things. But again, I don’t know if any of that is the case.

All we have is Thomas’s word and the end product when it does finally come out. And yeah, this last video was really good in terms of the production, but there are still some things about it that make me feel iffy about certain aspects of the series that could come in the future, but this post is already getting longer than I intended for it to be so I’m just gonna wrap things up here.

On one hand, I don’t want to get my hopes up all the way due to one video that exceeded my expectations (which I had zero expectations to begin with) when the rest of the series could end up going downhill. On the other hand, I want to let myself try and enjoy the series again and find things to love about it instead of constantly focusing on the negatives.

Negatives that, technically, aren’t even real negatives to begin with.

So what does this mean for my blog? Well like I said, I still have some issues with the series and other things that I’m not gonna push aside (I use that word a lot don’t I?) just because of one video. However, I’m going to try and stop making harsh conclusions about the series before I’ve gotten the whole picture.

And of course, my blog is still open to anyone that has their gripes with the series because that’s what it’s for. Even if we don’t agree I like to get other perspectives from people and a lot of y’all really do bring up some good points. And the last thing I’m gonna do is turn around and start saying that y’all are wrong for feeling a certain way about the series.

This is all personal here. How I’ve been thinking and feeling in regards to what I’ve been personally saying. And you know what? This could all completely change by the time the next episode finally comes out because who knows what could happen between now and then?

When you’re presented with a new perspective or new information, sometimes you’re just bound to change your own and that’s just the way it goes. 

I’m probably going to start delving into the fandom and series again. Maybe write a fic or two or just some simple analysis. I do have one passion project of mine that’s been in the works for awhile and I’m finally getting closer to making it a real thing so I’m excited about that.

But I also really wanna start branching out into other media as well. Talk about movies or shows that I like, dislike, or have some kind of connection to. Whatever it is, I just wanna start having fun again, in whatever form that takes. 

So, yeah. That’s the long and short of it. 

I am gonna make an actual post talking about the video because oh boy there’s a lot to unpack with that one. But this has been pressing on my mind quite a bit since the episode and I just needed to get my thoughts out. If y’all stuck around to this point I’m sorry for the emotional spiel, and I’m also sorry if anything I’ve ever said has made anyone feel bad or ashamed for liking the series because really, there’s a lot to love about it and I don’t want people to think they shouldn’t like it just because of what some random person thinks.

I mean heck, I love movies and shows that are considered “bad” by most and who cares? As long as it’s not my family hating on the things I love than I don’t care. 

*laughs in family issues*

Alright, gonna atually close this out now so... see y’all and hope y’all are going okay.

[the-lightning-strikes-again]

Hi! I just started reading your fan-fiction, "Adrenaline Rush" and I have to say it is VERY good. I have a question if you don't mind answering it. I am writing fan-fiction of my own and I have been pushing it off for months because I don't know where to start. For this, what was your writing process? Example: Did you write your plot first or did you write as you went to each chapter?

Hi, anon! Thanks for your very kind note and interest in Adrenaline Rush! The story has its issues/tangles, but it’s definitely been a fun and personally meaningful project for me to try writing. It means a lot to hear that you’re enjoying it! And that’s very exciting that you want to start writing as well. :)

Each writer will be different in terms of their creative process, so a part of your question involves learning more about yourself as a creator too! It’s good to know how your brain likes to work and what environment helps it hum along, which may or may not align with what works for me.

Honestly, AR’s design and development has been haphazard. For me, AR all started because I was unable to attend a nearby drag racing competition in 2018, and those races had been a pretty big staple in my life. At the same time, my head was full of Voltron shenanigans because I’d just recently joined the fandom. I was walking the family puppy when it hit me that Blue Lion, Red Lion, etc. would be good names for Top Fuel machines. I was so excited at the concept of exploring drag racing in a fic. It gave me a “race” to look forward to, along with all the drama and adrenaline that came with it. In that moment, I had enough excitement in my brain to convert the Potential Energy of my idea into the real Kinetic Energy of writing/typing.

If you have the energy but are not sure how to “start” your story, then you might consider what it means to set aside the opening or even the assumed first chapter for now. What scene/image/dialogue in your head do you really want to write right now? What happens if you just…start there, and then work backwards or forwards? Sometimes you have to get a feel for the medium you’re working with before you can really start molding the scenes and imagery into something fully formed. My first “scene” I wrote for AR was definitely not the opening one. The first story lines I wrote involved Lotor smoking a cigarette on a pro stock motorcycle, lol. I built around that image, as well as the image of a determined Allura sitting in Blue Lion, preparing to race. The desire to bring these characters and their racing machines to life really helped me hammer out that first chapter in a blur of a few days, where I puzzle-pieced scenes together. 

Other activities that can help you start a story is to look at how other authors start their stories. For example, do they start with a question, or a conversation, or a description of scenery? Do they start at the very beginning of a plot, or in the middle of action and catch you up on the details later? What kind of opening in other people’s stories most engages you? What happens to your story if you start with one element over another? What kinds of plots and story structures make you feel most engaged when you read them? What happens when you try to emulate those things? (Just questions to munch on here.)

I think it also helps to ask yourself why you want to write this story. Do you just want to explore an aesthetic that makes you feel good? Do you have a deep need to explore a certain kind of character or world? Are you hoping to get a catharsis of some kind? Is it a couple of things at once? Are you wanting to write a massive epic or just a short drabble to convey a moment in time? If you know “why” you are doing something, that can help you to know what kind of scenes to write—and what the story’s goal or vibe should be. Silly plot holes and clunky dialogue and some OOCness can be forgiven, especially in fanfic, which is a labor of love anyway—but if your story radically changes its tune or plot and no longer addresses the “why” that made you so excited in the first place, then that can alienate even you from it. Once you know what you want out of your story, then you can start plotting out all the different ways you could potentially achieve that goal. This feeds directly into the types of scenes that appear in a first chapter.

Before I started writing any actual scenes for AR, I did try to feel out more of the story by writing a promotional blurb. Like, if this were a book jacket or a Goodreads summary, what would that enticing blurb potentially look like? What was this story going to be about, aside from Lotor and Allura being pretty while they race machines, lol? I had some people in a discord who were kind enough to let me “pitch” a blurb at them to see if it would be of interest. This was my original pitch, which isn’t terribly different from the story summary as it appears on AO3 today:

The discord members were very encouraging, and so that gave me the push I needed to start writing story content, beginning with the images of Lotor smoking on his bike and Allura preparing to qualify. This tactic might not be for everyone just starting out, but writing a short promotional blurb/story summary can help you identify some initial parameters in terms of characters/conflict/setting. Having those basic parameters can then further target the types of images, dialogue, and scenes that make logical sense for introducing your story.  

If you need more structure than just free-form writing or building off an image in your head, you can definitely use an outline to help you identify scenes or images that you’d like to try working on. While AR did not start off with an outline, it does have a plot outline now to help ensure I don’t drop something important. So I started bulleting ideas, trying to stretch out the story summary to its natural/logical end point.

An outline can help you write linearly if clear, concrete structure resonates with your brain. It can give you an opportunity to “preview” how a chapter opening can affect future events before you even write them, if you’re worried about where free-form-writing can take you. If you want to use an outline, it doesn’t even have to be all that elaborate. It can just be bullet points or explanatory sentences, or pieces of dialogue. It can be notes on a poster arranged in a spider web design. It can be a collection of gifs on your computer that signify the emotions you want to simulate in the story—it can be literally anything, and it can evolve too.

Paradoxically, writing an outline has also helped me move away from having to write individual chapters in a linear fashion, which is sometimes hard for me to do over a long course of time. So readers on AO3 might experience AR as a linear story, but I have dozens of pages of future scenes or bits of dialogue that I felt inspired to write over the last few years. Like, one major scene appearing in the most recent chapter 9, which published here in January 2021—it’s been written since July of 2019, lol. Using an outline to tackle a story can empower you to follow your bliss in a nonlinear fashion. For example, sometimes I’m more in a mood to write racing, and other times, I’m more emotionally invested in writing AR’s background drama or romance. If I halfway know where I’m going based on my outline, I can switch gears to write what I immediately want to write, and then I can later sew scenes and dialogue together later in a fairly smooth fashion.The concept of writing a chapter straight from start to finish just doesn’t have to constrain me with this method, and that’s critical for me. I understand having to trudge through writer’s block for a particular scene, but I like to minimize that pain as much as possible. And sometimes moving beyond that point can remove the writer’s block entirely.

Admittedly, the original outline I wrote for AR doesn’t match 1:1 to what’s currently written. As I started actually writing out scenes correlating to those bullet points on my outline, things changed. The space between bullet point 1 and bullet point 2 expanded with additional scenes, and those additions changed the details in the original bullet point 2. So my outline has gone through several tweaks as well.

This is the “organic” slop that can occur between your true written product and your initial assumptions for where the story should go. There are going to be plot milestones that you likely have to hit in order to achieve your end-goal/correct vibe with the story, but it’s totally okay to let your characters have a voice in how they get there. You might start an outline or a story assuming Road Trip A through the city is the best way to get to the end or achieve a certain vibe, but as your characters grow in your head, they might decide for themselves that Road Trip B through the mountains is the best way to the end. Once you set a story in motion, it’s no longer just you driving it. Your characters should drive the story too. Allowing them to do that will keep you emotionally invested and interested in the story. Sometimes, your characters will even write for you if you don’t know what to write. Honestly, I’m not entirely sure I’m in control of AR—I suppose I’m the navigator with a map sitting in the passenger seat, but I know I’m not the one holding the wheel, LOL.

And while we all do hope to create something quality that we’re immensely proud of, I do think it’s important to keep G.K. Chesterton’s thought in mind: “If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.” In other words, the desire to create something immediately perfect with minimal effort can keep you from doing anything at all. It’s better to accept a messy first draft and to know you may have to revise later, than to sit in fear and end up writing nothing. And sometimes, your brain needs physical content to react to before you feel you’ve found the best option. Like, just getting content down to start with can change your whole perspective. You can revise and mold things as you get a better feel for what you want to convey. There’s always draft 2 for structural changes. Or draft 3 or 4 for polishing and getting a satisfying first sentence down. There’s no pressure to crank out a Pulitzer Prize Winner on a first draft or even after you publish something to a fanfic archive. This is fanfic. It’s supposed to be fun, at the end of the day. Let yourself enjoy the process of messy creation. Let your characters help you out. Don’t be afraid to revise or try out a few different things get to the vibe/end you really want. To do is to know.

If you’re still not confident in yourself or your abilities to make a critical design decision, you can always engage a beta reader or have someone listen to your ideas. Talking things out loud or reading your work out loud to yourself can help you process creative decisions in a new way! There’s also a significant difference between typing on a computer or writing things down on paper. Typing on a computer can take away the fear of permanence, while writing things down on paper can slow you down and make you experience each word more fully.

So I guess to wrap all of this up: I have a pretty fluid process, and I’m more worried about not creating at all than I am about screwing it up. Even a screwed-up work can teach you something and help you get somewhere better next time. And if you had fun making it, then maybe it wasn’t a screw-up at all! I really encourage you to soul-search on what gives you joy or excitement regarding this fic idea you have, and to hold on tight to that joy as you begin translating images in your head or outlining plot points, or something in between.

I hope something from this response helps you! <3

[yanderecandystore]

How would (female) Darling react to a yandere King of the human world and a yandere Queen of vampires fighting for Darling’s hand)? [Headcannons]

Hello everyone, I hope you didn't wait too long.( ˘ ³˘)♥

I wasn't sure how to write this one, but it's a really interesting concept and I couldn't leave it behind.

 I don't think this is my best work, since the story that I'm going for is a little too big to be contained in a headcanon, so all may feel a little fast, and a little too long at the same time.

 So maybe I'm going to make an proper fanfiction with an longer experience of this events. And I'm sorry if this isn't what you were waiting for, and if there is too many errors. This is so huge, is a nightmare!

 Also, a little trigger warning, there is an mention of an increasing number of deaths caused by an "disease", but is mostly used in the headcanon as a little plot point, and is mostly because I like to reference the anime Shiki when I write about vampires. But if you feel like this may trigger or affect you in anyway, especially considering the recent events, I would just like to warn you right now.

꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍰꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍰꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍰꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡

Crossfire [Yandere Human King x F!Reader x Yandere Vampire Queen]:

 Being born as an commoner was already hard enough, you didn't need anymore trouble in your life!

 You started working inside the castle as a simple gardener, attending to the gardens inside the castle walls. The queen was known to love gardens, well, until she passed away.

 The queen passed away years before you started working inside the castle, and the original king? Died a couple of months ago.

 Both stated to have mysterious causes of death. Most likely caused by an disease.

 The coronation of the prince wasn't so long ago, so he is your king now. But even working under his roof, you only met him a couple of times.

 Some of your co-workers who had been here way longer than you would say he was a childish, egotistical man, who only cared about his wealth and power over the happiness of others. He didn't have a good relationship with the older king, and his mother passed away when he was only 5 years old.

 It wasn't a surprise for any of them that the new monarch would be an bitter man. Yet, he didn't seem to tend to only his needs.

 Although he is very rude to you and the other servants, he seems to take his responsibilities really seriously. He seems, almost always on edge, but you don't know why.

 Your task made it really easy to never interact with him, he seems to dislike going in his mother garden. You started feeling uneasy out in the garden, you could tell someone was watching you, and when you looked to find out who it was, you could see the king himself watching you from a window. Yet, even when meeting his gaze, you still felt like there was another pair of eyes watching you.

 One day, when you start to feel really paranoid, he decides to visit the garden.

 "- Oh! Greetings, your majesty!" You bow down to him, trying to hide your surprise, yet it didn't go unnoticed by him, he did came out of nowhere while you were doing your job after all.

 "- Good morning, miss [Y/N], right?" He doesn't seem to care about being to formal, but you still feel a little afraid to act the same way towards him.

 "- It's been so long since I last came here." He says. Looking around at this place which seems so familiar, yet so foreign at the same time.

 He seems to be daydreaming, memories of his mother flow through his mind causing him to feel desperate to go back inside the castle walls. Yet, he feels like he needs to be here.

 He knows you shouldn't be here. It's dangerous in the garden, his mother said so.

 "- A-are you okay?" His breathing, his whole body language tells you he is not okay. His almost hypnotized by whatever terrible thoughts going on his mind. It's the first time you see a different expression on his face. It's not one of anger or of silent disgust, is fear.

 It's like a child.

 You can't have him passing out like this, you take him to the nearest sit so he can calm down.

 "- I am calm!" He corrects you, clearly lying yet trying to strike his usual confident and superior act.

 "- No, you're not. Please, tell me what happened, should I call the maids? The guards?"

 You asking what's going on with him, yet he can't find the words to describe it. He is too scared to say, so you should try to comfort him instead of asking too much questions.

 Slowly, he start to feel more comfortable around you, your eyes, your voice, the reassuring touches, it helps him calm down. Your presence makes him forget that his is in this terrible place. You call the maids to help him out, it seems like they already know what to do in this type of situation.

 Weeks after the incident, and it seems like the king has been way more attentive to you. Always coming to the garden to talk with you, although he doesn't like to go to far inside the garden. It makes your job a little more difficult since he seems to take all of your attention, yet is a better company than the winds that shake the leaves of the lonely trees.

 He doesn't seem to be so rude with you. He is a little narcissistic, but not really mean towards you.

 He never told you what happened that day, he only said that the garden brings bad memories. Ever since that day, he kept worrying about you.

 Trying to convince you to take the roll as a maid, it would be more beneficial for you, and he could keep you away from the garden.

 Yet, you never accepted his request. It seemed weird how fast you became close to the king. 

 You never understood why he would be so afraid at the garden, until one day, you unfortunately found out who was always watching you work in the garden.

 You weren't feeling well, so you decided to take a night walk through the garden. It didn't seem like an clever idea at first (and it wasn't), but when you saw the lights coming from the garden from the window of your room, you couldn't resist taking a closer look.

 Fireflies! They look like little stars dancing around the garden.

 You should have stayed inside.

 Someone, or something, came from behind and neutralized you. It was too fast for you to notice, but now that you're awake as in a completely different place with an familiar knight in front of you, you guess this is what happened.

 "- W-where am I?" You try asking the knight who is blocking the door. You try pulling yourself up, yet feel your hands immediately be pulled to the ground by the chains wrapping them.

 This makes you instantly freak out and fully wake up. You're inside a dungeon cell.

 Yet, the knight doesn't say anything. He just huffs at your whining. You were about to try take some information out of him, when someone knocks on the door.

 He looks at you one last time, you can't see his face because of his helmet, yet you can still tell he is threatening you to try anything funny. He turns his way to open the door and go outside, closing the door after getting out.

 You can't hear what's going on outside, but since you're all alone, you might as well try to take a good look around. There is only the door, a uncomfortable looking bed, and a window too small for you to fit in.

 Noticing that the only light in the room, was the moonlight coming through the window. It is still night time. There must be away out-

 "- Evening." Said an female voice. It was monotone, yet seductive in a way. You turn around to find an tall woman wearing dark, extravagant clothes.

 Her face was covered by an dark veil, it was as if she was an bride wearing fully black, or an black widow. You didn't recognize her voice, or her appearance, yet you could only feel extremely frightened by her presence.

 "- I didn't think you would be awake this early, but since you're finally conscious we can get to know each other." She says as she starts to walk closer to your shaking form. You can't see her eyes, but you can tell she is staring at your very soul. 

 This feeling is way too familiar to you.

 "- Who are you? Where am I?" Trying to maintain a confident attitude you ask who is she. Yet, you are visibly too scared to strike a threatening tone, she notices this and laughs at your naivety.

 She kneels down and is face to face with you. This is not exactly how she wanted things to go, yet she is just so thirsty, she can't wait any longer!

 "- Aham." You hear the knight call the woman's attention, he seems annoyed with the lady. But either she doesn't notice him, or is just ignoring him. She just keeps observing you with a smile on her pale face.

 "- Your majesty." He calls, oh, well apparently your kidnapper is royalty! You don't feel honored by that even a little bit.

 "- Yes?" She says overly cheerful, while cupping your cheeks and turning your face, examining your neck. You hold your whimpers, you feel like that would be giving her too much satisfaction.

 "- I'm aware I'm not in any position to question your actions-"

 "- Yes, absolutely. You're not!" She giggles, although her statement wasn't necessarily mean, her tone seemed to change between anger and playfulness, like she is mocking the knight intrusive behavior.

  "- May I ask why I had to go to the filthy castle, to bring you just a simple gardener?"

 "- Excuse me?" She finally turns to look up at the knight, who can easily see the mistake he has made. Her tone is serious this time around.

 "- I mean- Why her? Why not bring the king? Or any more powerful member of that place? We could have planned an elaborate attack, destroy their kingdom and bring in the humans for-" You started to really dislike where he was going, but before you could get all of the information, the queen shushes him, before he spilled so much info.

 "- Oh, my dear, loyal knight, can't you see we have a quest?" She almost yells at him so he could stop mumbling.

 "- You're making her afraid~" She pinches your cheek. 

 "- WE don't want her to be afraid on her first night, right?"

 ' How considerate.' You think.

 "- And for your question… Well-"

 She pauses putting a finger over her lips, thinking over what her knight just said.

 "- It's true we could have stuck we the plan and destroy the human kingdom fully, and although it is NONE of your business, I'm going to explain to you why I asked you to get me this sweet looking girl instead."

 "- …"

 The room falls silent, is she waiting for him to question? She wraps her arms around you, her grip is almost squeezing the air in your lungs out.

 "- … W-why?-"

 "- Because I'm extremely pick with what I drink, love." She keeps giggling and hugging you tighter. Wait, what did she mean by-

 "- And you, my lovely knight, is in no position to question me, or are you?" Her tone is playful, yet her whole demeanor seems so threatening.

  He keeps his head down, you can hear him say a meek "yes". Maybe he is just as scared if her as you are.

 "- Leave." Her happy tone goes away again and is replaced by the serious one.

 He stumbles a little, but manages to get out of the cell as quick as he could.

 After she makes sure she can't listen to his footsteps anymore, she signs and turns her full attention on you.

 "- Sigh, I lost the mood, you know?"

 Yeah, you know exactly what she is talking about.

 "- Oh don't look at me like that, aren't you glad you're here? You're in presence of a vampire queen, you know?"

 "- … What?" Is all you can think of asking. What is she talking about? Vampires aren't real, right?

 "- You're so cute! I'm so glad you're here, I been hungry for so many weeks now. How mean of you to make me hungry~" She smiles while teasing your neck with her fangs. They look so sharp to the touch.

 She is saying the truth though. They had planned an attack for months now, yet after she saw you, she had thrown all of that preparation out of the window.

 Like a spoiled child, she refuse to drink from anyone or anything. Your sweet little form plagued her mind. She was a pick drinker, nothing but the best for the queen, after all.

 She was planning on having a better approach to you. Having a better room for you than the other blood stocks on the dungeons, having an good preparation to meet you in person and bring you here with her mind control.

 But she is just so hungry. And you have an nice sent, better than any of the nobles of your kingdom she had drunk from.

 "- Don't worry about it." She whispers, not waiting too long to just sink her fangs into you.

 After so much screaming and so much failed attempts at running away from her grasp. You had fallen asleep. While she didn't know if she would stay here or go back to her chambers.

 And on the castle were you once worked for, the king search for you at every corner, after noticing that you were missing from your room.

꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍰꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍰꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍰꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡

[thewatsonbeekeepers]

Chapter 1 – A Mental Mindfuck Can Be Nice – an introduction to EMP theory

I amused myself whilst writing this meta by coming up with referential chapter titles – the song to title this chapter can be found here! (X)

I’m not the first person to propose EMP [extended mind palace] theory and I certainly can’t claim to take the credit for it! After TFP (well, after Apple Tree Yard aired really) I left the fandom, and only rejoined tjlc this year during lockdown and discovered the theory that the entirety of S4 takes place in Sherlock’s Mind Palace, not just TAB, and that even more crucially, the EMP section of the narrative doesn’t happen because of Sherlock’s overdose but rather after Mary shoots him in HLV. Other people have elaborated as to why this is in greater detail and I certainly don’t want to steal their thunder – you can find some of my favourite metas on this here! X X X The original founders’ post is here and great X – it should be noted that the concept of EMP theory appeared way before the superficial shitshow that was series 4, so it was not invented as a fix-it – far from it! 

As well as that, tweets from Arwel Wyn Jones (production designer) and Douglas MacKinnon (TAB director) here X X suggest that a lot of the inconsistencies that make HLV onwards quite dreamlike are absolutely deliberate, which has never been explained in the context of the show. In fact, Douglas MacKinnon specifically suggests that the plane could be in Sherlock’s mind, which has no bearing on the superficial plot unless you buy into EMP theory. We’ve also already been shown that the modern day, particularly when it’s fucky, can be in a mind palace illusion in TAB, and we can read that as a kind of rehearsal for the proper fucky mind palace stuff in S4, a clue that everything is not as it seems – much like the Mayfly Man’s murder rehearsal in TSoT.

It's worth pointing out that there are several different versions of EMP theory – I personally subscribe to the idea that this is Sherlock’s mind palace after being shot by Mary, but there are plenty of popular theories on John’s ‘Mind Bungalow’, blog theory, which I don’t want to dismiss out of hand. However, I think the obsession with the figure of Sherlock Holmes and who that might be throughout the fourth series is thematically consistent with it being from Sherlock’s perspective, as is the precedent from TAB.

The other thing I want to lay on the table as foundational to this theory is the fandom’s obsession with TPLoSH [1970 Billy Wilder queer Holmes adaptation, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes]. Mofftiss have long stated their love for TPLoSH and even that it is the adaptation that has most inspired them, and I don’t know a single tjlcer who doesn’t have this quotation from Wilder emblazoned onto their memory.

I should have been more daring. I have this theory. I wanted to have Holmes homosexual and not admitting it to anyone, including maybe even himself. The burden of keeping it secret was the reason he took dope. X

What I’m proposing here is that whilst we’ve thought about this quote quite a lot, we’ve always focused on the first half – that Sherlock Holmes is a homosexual – and not the second, which is that that’s the reason he’s on dope. We talk a bit about Sherlock being upset in HLV about John’s marriage and that being why he turns back to drugs, and likewise when TAB first aired a lot of people (myself included) thought he was ODing because he wasn’t going to see John again. I now think – and will provide evidence through the meta! – that it isn’t his feelings of (seemingly) unrequited love which are sending him to drugs, nor that the EMP is a place where he’s discovering his feelings – my meta here X is not the first to point out that Sherlock almost definitely deduces his own feelings for John in TSoT, in a case of the worst timing in television history. Instead, much like Wilder’s Holmes, I think our Sherlock is dealing with a huge amount of shame and internalised homophobia, which has metafictionally* been building up since Conan Doyle started writing – hence the trip back to 1895 in TAB.  S4 is about breaking through over a century of Holmes adaptations which have formed Sherlock’s own version of himself, so that he can break out of them into a ‘Private Life’ outside of established canon.

*Metafictionality is the defining idea around my version of EMP theory, so for anybody who’s not familiar I’m going to do a quick run down. The idea behind metafictionality is that Sherlock is aware of itself as being a work of fiction and deliberately plays with that – in this case, I’m arguing that the character Sherlock is subconsciously aware of the history of book/film/tv adaptations of Sherlock Holmes, and his existence outside Sherlock builds up to create his internalised homophobia. Sounds mad? Maybe. But stick with me here. The reason it’s taking so long for Sherlock to process his sexuality is not just because he’s repressed, but because he’s dealing with the weight of other Holmes adaptations – which is the reason arguably that a modern audience would also take so long to accept it, longer than were this character not such a huge part of the Western psyche.

My aims from this meta:

1.       To prove that tjlc remains endgame (eh, if there’s a series 5)

2.      To show that s4 is about Sherlock trying to break out of his MP coma after being shot by Mary

3.      That s4 engages with the history of Sherlock Holmes adaptations through the character of Sherlock investigating his psyche

4.      That in the real (non-MP) world, John is suicidal, and Sherlock has to wake up to save him.

Chapter 1 – A Mental Mindfuck Can Be Nice: a quick summary of EMP theory

Chapter 2 – Look up here, I’m in Heaven: the height metaphor

Chapter 3 – Death Cannot Stop True Love [HLV 1/1]

Chapter 4 – It is always 1895 [TAB 1/1]

Chapter 5 – Hey, Soul Sister: Who is Eurus?

Chapter 6 – So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish [TST 1/2]

Chapter 7 – There’s Something About Mary [TST 2/2]

Chapter 8 – Dream a Little Dream of Me: parallels with Doctor Who

Chapter 9 – Rock’n’roll Suicide [TLD 1/2]

Chapter 10 – Oh No Love, You’re Not Alone [TLD 2/2]

Chapter 11 – The Importance of Being Earnest [TFP 1/3]

Chapter 12 – Three Men in a Boat [TFP 2/3]

Chapter 13 – Out of My Dreams [TFP 3/3]

I’ll (ideally) be uploading a chapter a day for the next 13 days. Some of these chapters will contain links to later chapters; if that chapter isn’t uploaded yet, I’ll add in the link retrospectively, so that might be why the links don’t all work on first read. With chapters that have an episode in parentheses beside, I strongly recommend either watching the episode before reading the meta, or even better to do a simultaneous read and watch through with your finger on the pause button. The only episode which doesn’t do a play by play is TLD 1/2 , purely for time reasons (my college term starts very soon and I really needed this meta put to bed for the sake of my degree!).

The other thing worth saying is that if you want this meta as a word document for some reason, drop me a message – I’m more than happy to share it that way as well. It is a cool 50k so takes some reading. This chapter has been a bit of a nothing, but I hope it lays the groundwork for what to expect from the next 12 – I’ll see you over the next 12 days!

[yume-fanfare]

hi i am that anon from like 29th Dec (last dang year) who said i read ur tsuki no hime and loved it and that u understand Aizou. i have read more of ur stuff since then and now i NEED to ask you for writing advice, on both characterization and general writing tips since I didnt mention it before. Sorry about that! i just forgot i sent an ask and i do not get notifs at all (or does anon asks not get notifs?) Also, ART STUDENT! That's why the nice art and art leaning!! I feel smart for sensing it

oh yup, tumblr doesn't send notifs for anon asks! but i'm glad you did see the answer anyway

this post is hideously long, so answer under the cut!

so, on characterization: it is mostly a matter of what would they say, rather than what you want them to say. the joke about "the characters do what they want to" instead of what the writer wants is pretty much true if you want them to be in character lol (that's why sometimes a little bit of OoC isn't too bad)

checking the source material is the most important thing: look at prior similar interactions the characters have had and how they reacted

this is kind of hard with LIPxLIP, as there aren't that many translated texts about them but with honeyworks the most canon and reliable thing to use as reference are the mvs. the mvs are drawn in a way that can pretty much be understood even if you don't have the lyrics, and sometimes it's even better if you can't read them, to properly focus on the images better

look at their expressions closely: while aizou is always explosive in his anger, yuujirou often has a more indifferent expression. so, when they fight, aizou is probably the one to blow up first while yuujirou maintains his composure better. it's kind of the classic "this was only a brief passing panel but i am going to expand on it" www

but the thing about fanfiction is that it's always a bit of a character analysis in itself. you don't start writing having already a color-coded folder of possible situations and reactions a character would have for each setting. you just throw the characters in a scenario and then think from there onwards, and eventually you'll be able to have the folder of situations and what you think their reactions would be like. (though, this links back to the prior point, if the characters have gone through a similar situation in canon, use that as guide! plus, finding little references to canon when reading is always fun)

for general writing, i'm going to mostly talk about my own experiences and process! i'm in no way a professional though

the basic is reading a lot. not just books but also fanfic. in fact, since you're writing fanfic, i Encourage you to read fanfic. even if your story ends up novel length, the way of treating the story is different from that of an actual novel. for example, because you're working under the premise that everyone knows the characters already. the general style of fics is different as well.

in fact, the style is the main reason i'm saying this slfkslfkslkf

read a lot of stuff and find a style you like. think of it as sewing together pieces from here and there to make a frankenstein amalgamation: this person's metaphors, the comparisons from here, the descriptions from there

personally, i adore the "long one-shot with a long title formatted (like this)" fics that are mostly feelings and descriptions and as little dialogue as possible, and some that occasionally play with the "show don't tell" rule, and some months ago i read a book whose descriptions amazed me because you could feel what the character was focusing on the most, rather than being general descriptions of the situation (i actually have a lot of thoughts about descriptions but that's a post for another day). but also i really like dialogue and plot-driven stories, descriptions can get boring and before trying to break rules, you have to be really good at following them

but, let's go step by step: developing an idea

for this i'm going to mostly reference the multichap i finished a while ago as an example

i started with just a few vague concepts in mind: non-idol au with aizou who does some sport and likes music but is insecure about his singing and yuujirou who does some music related thing and encourages him to sing in a way that's somehow related to the hozier song to noisemaking (sing), because it's what inspired me to write in the first place

then, from then onwards i wrote down what would happen in the first chapter of the story bullet-point-list-style, including things like the roommates part or the clubs the boys were in (at first yuujirou was in the choir club lol the change was a last second decision that idk why i took) and then bits of dialogue here and there that would be The Turning Points. those first dialogues were for the fight at the end of ch 1, the apology-date in ch 3 and then some vaguely unused ones for the "yuujirou encourages aizou" part, as those were the first key moments i thought of

because, since it's enemies to friends to lovers, an important aspect was character development

not all fics have character development bc not all of them are long enough (if you're aiming for short and sweet then there's no need). but if they do, i recommend you write down how the character was at the beginning of the story and then how they were at the end and then fill in the middle later, think of what those key turning points that made the character change were (the more little things you add, the more gradual it'll be)

samishigariya illustrates this very nicely: the song starts and finishes with the same lines, but the ending ones feel more light-hearted. the beginning has pre-arisa ken and pre-getting-along-with-yuujirou aizou, when they were the lonely people the title mentioned, and the ending, when they're not lonely anymore. the in between can be seen in depth during the other songs: ken before arisa was a playboy who didn't take love seriously, but after meeting her he realized that games were not all there was to love; and aizou used to be quite cranky and high-key a loner, but then he "meets precious things and knows of love". i will not elaborate on that because this isn't an aiyuu post but Oh You Know

for the fic, aizou would go through that same process, more or less: someone who doesn't really form meaningful connections with people but who, in the end, would end up having quite a bunch of people who care about him as his relationship with yuujirou advances too

since the relationship was the main focus, i wrote a very simple outline for how it would develop throughout 5 hypothetical chapters that was just: 1. civil w each other but mostly bad > 2. bad > 3. half friends > 4. pining > 5. date

and then with that in mind and the bullet point list, the final basic outline ended up like this:

there were scraped ideas and ideas that made it in later, but i believe having a simple outline, a bare skeleton to add things to, is important. stories need continuity, development requires a prior buildup

it's especially important in multichapter fics where you post as you write, you need to have a more or less clear idea of what's going to happen because you can't ignore scenes you've already posted

shorter stories don't need it as much, you can think as you go, but it's still helpful to know where you're going with things to avoid getting stuck

and, on getting stuck: don't be afraid of deleting things. if you can't figure out how to continue things, then delete the situation and start again. it might feel like you'd be wasting time but in the end, it is so much better than being stuck on the same scene for weeks

in fact, you don't have to write in order. jump to the next scene and you'll figure it out later. you Can write the scene you want to write and then build everything else around it

it's normal to write a scene and then realize it would make more sense later in the story, or that it would be better if you added another scene earlier, or sometimes you just find it easier to jump from one part of the story to another. rely on your outline to keep track of what you've written, what you have left to write and what's the best way to arrange your story. make your story understandable

which bring us to editing

there's a lot of much better posts on editing stories, but yeah ctrl+f is your best friend: don't repeat yourself too much. and be sure to vary sentence and paragraph length, as well as sentence structure, to give dynamism to the writing

now, i've mentioned before the show, don't tell rule, but i'm going to talk a bit more about it because it's quite important

once again there's a lot of posts that explain more in depth what it is, so i'm not going to expand too much on that, but, very basically, try to avoid things like "then some time passed and they became friends". explain it: what happened exactly? how did they become friends? if it's important, show it to us, instead of summarizing

since things like these make the story longer, it also gives room for more development and proper explanation for things that happen

for example, the fic was originally going to start with them already in the room, and the whole situation would have been explained in a single paragraph somewhere, but by actually adding the scene where they first arrive to the dorms and argue with the lady at the main desk, the story flows better and it let me actually describe their first meeting

and uuuhhh i think that's all? this took super long to write i hope i didn't forget any super basic stuff lol

i want to add that for enemies to lovers i greatly recommend this post bc it's super good but yeah i think that's basically it, if you have any more specific questions just shoot me an ask

[1-800-i-ship-it]

khun modern bf headcanons?

Hmm oof i am probably not the best person to be asking this cause I dont write fics or anything but I’ll do my best

So i realized that i just wrote plot stuff but im posting anyway cause i spent way too long on this ahaha 

apologies in advance for typos that I'm too lazy to go through and correct

Enjoy the headcanons that i wrote later + plots that i originally wrote and went on a long tangent on oops

Headcanons:

Khun would be that subtle overprotective boyfriend 

He’d just kinda silently watch from afar but he’d totally kill anybody who hurt bam in any way, shape, or form

But he’d like be SUPER sweet with bam like

Pet names yall PET NAMES like khun and bam would prob both mutually melt when they call each other pet names

Khun would always help bam with hw and whatnot, let’s pretend bam’s a physics genius cause thats just how i imagine him in modern life, always has trouble with law class (he’s  taking it just for khun so he can understand what khun’s talking about) so khun helps him

Khun would be a super smooth talker, can woo a n y b o d y, exceptional at speeches, captain of speech and debate team

Khun would never admit he’s jealous but like the whole gang would know (except for bam who’s clueless as usual) 

Like bam is friendly with everybody so khun’d just be like ugh screw yall 

But then bam always confides in him and spends a crapload amt of time with him so he knows he’s just doubting himself and he’s mad at himself about it cause he knows bam is loyal to a fault and would never betray him

When bam gets older bam uses this against him hehe

Khun would also be that bf that everyones jealous of 

Everyone would want to be with khun but he only has eyes for bam

Ignores everybody else who hits on him

Side note i still stan top!bam and bottom!khun 

Khun would also be super thoughtful and goes out of his way to help make bam’s life easier whether its doing chores or smth etc, and each time bam smiles at him and expresses his gratitude khun’s heart would melt for the 1000th time

But like secretly khun really likes confident and sexy bam

They’d probably roleplay ngl (let ur imagination wonder~)

Khun would enjoy just spending time with bam :’) just cuddling and doing mundane things, they’d be super adorable together, hugs and kisses and ah just too cute-

Khun secretly likes bdsm and bam knows this 😏they switch roles from time to time, i cant decide who’s sub/dom

Khun would plan a super elaborate proposal to bam but then somehow bam would catch him off guard and then khun would just blurt it out when they’re together <3

Khun’d always be up early to cook for bam, they both morning ppl tho khun’s always sleep deprived bc hes also a night owl 

Khun is shy with pda in public but eventually he and bam decide they dont care anymore and just hold hands and act all lovey dovey to the point where shibisu cant decide if he’s a proud dad or if he wants to throw up, rak is always proud of his turtles, endorsi and hatz literally want to throw up all the time and would die before admitting that they secretly approve of khunbam

Khun is all around a model bf that i am sure half the fandom would be willing to date but im sorry guys khun’s taken cause he’s only got eyes for bam~

Plot things/idk what they’re called:

CEO!khun and intern!bam

Assassin!khun and assassin!bam who eventually get together and destroy the corrupt system

Gdi i thought of so many while having dinner but i forgot

Hmmmm

Imagine bam as jue viole grace like forced to work in a gang or smth and then khun as the gang boss 

I totally dont have a thing for badass assassin themed things pls dont judge me

Teacher!khun and student!bam (ofc it’d be near graduation if u get my drift...😏)

Idk why i thought of this but imagine idol khun o.o wait YO idol khun + assistant bam

Tutor!khun and student!bam 

I feel like im literally just saying the same ideas

Theres a reason why im not a fic writer :’)

High school sweethearts -> angst bc parents dont approve, sad forced breakup, no contact -> get back together when older after a time-lapse when they’re more mature, heated reunion 

Best friends bam and khun since preschool, since they were in the womb, PINING, both of them scared to admit it cause they dont want to ruin their friendship, meanwhile the entire gang is betting on them getting together (aka mainly rak and shibisu betting, hatz, endorsi, anaak, (insert s2 and s3 gang dont wanna spoil) everybody etc)

Uni students with khun as a law major and bam as a cs major (both geniuses, nerd bam), roommates *insert smirk* lots of pining, blushes from them casually changing in front of each other...the rest is up to ur imagination

Khun and bam as rival sports teams coaches 

Age gap!khunbam (not a lot, somewhere between 5-8 yrs), with bam as the younger one who kept saying that he loves khun but khun just laughs it off bc bams a kid but then khun sees bam after he comes back from college and bam gets a massive glowup from clueless cinnamon roll to clueless cinnamon roll hottie who only has the hots for khun (still) and then khuns all like “fuck” *dies inside*

Single dad khun, bam as a daycare employee who keeps getting flustered by khun, khun takes interest in bam bc he doesn’t ask nosy questions like other ppl, and bam has these mesmerizing golden eyes

Tailor/dry cleaner owner!bam and office worker!khun who constantly needs his clothes to be altered so they fit exactly how he wants them to (this eventually results in awkward moments and blushing), and also dry cleans like his countless number of suits and dress shirts and whatnot

Author!khun and publishing assistant!bam (is it even called publishing assistant honestly i have no idea but u get what i mean right), khun never signs books but bam convinces him to 

Poet!khun and uni student!bam as a literature major who’s a big fan and wanted to meet khun at one of his signings but is too shy even though shibisu drags him there, accidentally bumps into khun in the bathroom, is all flustered, ends up talking to khun for super long, khun loves bam’s enthusiasm for the subject, offers to give feedback on bam’s poems, bam is literally about to combust, they have lots of meetings and khun flirts with bam who’s clueless but blushes a lot anyway, they kiss *ahem* the rest is history

Spy!khun and bam, khun realizing he doesn’t want to hurt bam, sends fake info back to his country (ruled by eduan and jahad), eduan finds out (sent khun out in the first place bc khun was a threat to him cause the ppl liked khun better), sends out an assassin to get khun, who knows this and escapes with bam somewhere, some complicated plot taht idk how to figure out but you get the drift, eventually khun rules the country with bam

Real estate agent khun and contractor bam, eventually start their own business together

Khun as student pres, also known as the ice king bc he’s turned down dating everyone who asked, bam as the transfer student who catches his attention  (bam with more of a jue viole grace complex), the silent physics genius who is also on par with khun when debating in speech and debate club 

Khun and bam as besties, always do their hw together and hang out after class (cause bam always needs help haha), something leads to them fake dating, eventually real dating 😏

Khun and bam as besties, always do their hw together and hang out after class (cause bam always needs help haha), someone (rachel, DO NOT KILL ME I HAVE A REASON) asks bam out and he doesn't know how to say no (the rest of the gang egging him to date cause they know khuns gonna be jelly) khun goes and sulks, eventually bam gets hurt and manipulated by her, khun is pissed off, rachel is reported for abuse, khun and the gang fight for bam, khun is there for bam all the time, after a while bam asks khun out of the blue if khun likes him (shibisu let it slip that khun is gay bc god knows bam is oblivious af), khun is shocked but says yes bc he cant hide it anymore, bam says he always loved khun but thought khun was straight (bc of some dumb rumor someone said) which was why he ignored his feelings and agreed to date rachel bc he just wanted to distract himself, lots of cuddling thereafter, they get together, rak wins the bet for when khunbam will get together, khunbam gets married

oh man that became way longer than i expected...anon i hope u enjoyed that? half of it prob made 0 sense ngl and idek if i answered the q properly?

kudos to you if you actually read like all my rambling :’)

[militant-holy-knight]

Castlevania Season 3 Review: Ellis is Gonna Ellis I Suppose.

Warning: Massive spoilers ahead because I don’t give a shit anymore so scroll down really fast if don’t want to get spoiled

Being a Castlevania fan is pure suffering, man. Not only is the video game franchise being put on ice by Konami at the time of writing, but your only form of enjoyment is a hit-or-miss Netflix Original written by a guy who admits never playing the games. I tried to enjoy the first season despite it being only four episodes long, and same thing with the second one which was longer but had a plethora of issues. Now it’s the third season, which took a year-long break to be made, and I am absolutely sorry to say it’s the absolute lowest point of the show: not only repeating the issues from the previous season, but amplifying them and failing to do anything interesting with anything new that is given. I will elaborate why I think so in this review.

So after Season 2, Dracula has been destroyed, our heroes have split up with Trevor and Sypha going their own way while Alucard has stayed behind in his father’s castle overlooking the Belmont Hold. Carmilla and Isaac have survived and are preparing to build an whole new army, the former to establish a new empire and the latter to get his revenge on her for betraying Dracula. 

Even though the stakes are lower than the possible extinction of the human race which was the (possible) outcome from Season 2 which never actually came into fruition, you’d imagine they would do something inciting with this new status quo... But you’d be wrong. This season as a whole felt like padding in all conceivable manners. Not only was the pacing atrocious (which I will get into a minute), but really, nearly all of the events that occurred could have been omitted and the storyline as a whole wouldn’t have been affected somehow. 

The pacing was the worst problem in Season 2 since you had the protagonists locked down inside a hold to do research on how to kill Dracula and endless exposition among the bad guys that some defenders call “vampire politics’ which ultimately went nowhere. The pacing in Season 3 is even worse since not only is it longer (10 episodes this time), you have more storylines now but each of them move at completely sluggish pace with a disproportional large amount of exposition and comparatively few action. 

The Castlevania games were level-based games which had you visiting several distinct locations whether if it was inside or outside the castle. An adaptation series of Castlevania would make more sense if it was episodic in nature, perhaps even with monster of the week formula. It would have been better off for it, but the show is attempting channel Game of Thrones with an over-aching arc with sprawling individual storylines whose episodes are build up for an epic confrontation at the end, but it fails in that regard.

Trevor and Sypha’s storyline was absolutely pointless - they have no idea of the larger threat brewing with two demonic armies about to clash against each other, but they are stuck doing what basically amounts to a sidequest, investigating a evil cult operating in a small town which takes a needless long time to conclude. They completely fail in saving the townsfolk from being sacrificed and end up discovering that one of the characters that has been helping them is actually a monster all along. This only serves to make their effort completely pointless and leave the pair absolutely bitter and angry.

Not that there is any urgency in stopping Carmilla or Isaac since they come nowhere near close to trading blows to one another. In fact, Carmilla doesn’t come anywhere close to achieving her goal of raising an army of demons with Hector (who has been enslaved by her for this purpose) and it’s actually one of her lieutenants Lenore that solves this problem at the end. On the other hand, Isaac gets the closest thing to an highlight in this season by experiencing something of an character development since he is questioned by several characters that maybe humans aren’t so bad as a whole. The problem is that his development becomes inconclusive since he doesn’t learn to be anymore different than he used to.

Alucard gets sidelined like you wouldn’t believe. He spends the entire season in his castle now with two new characters, Japanese twin hunters that seek to be training so they can free their people from the vampires... Aaaaand they try to fuckin kill him, which comes out from nowhere specially after an extremely uncomfortable threesome between him and the twins. And just in case you thought the previous season was depressing enough with Alucard breaking down in tears completely alone in his castle, this one ends not only with Alucard still alone, crying, but now emulating his dad by leaving the impaled corpses of the twins in the castle’s entrance to scare off any trespassers which is the closing shot of this season.

But for me, the biggest letdown has to be Hector. He was one of my favorite characters from the games, having starred his own entry Curse of Darkness for the PS2 where he actually turns on Dracula on behalf of humanity and pursues Isaac for murdering his wife. Here, he does absolutely fuck all during the entire season except being bossed around by Carmilla’s sisters. The guy had such cool powers of summoning Innocent Devils and wielding all types of weapons (including a lightsaber) is reduced to a whimpering slave, whom I have absolutely no hope of seeing in his absolute glory. The worst part is that it was very predictable - the moment I saw Lenore saying that both her and Hector should flee together, I knew she was gonna screw him in some way. The irony is that unlike the other storylines which pull some kind of mean twist in the last second, here you already can tell what is going to happen next.

The new characters frankly do nothing for the story. The aforementioned Carmilla’s sisters are pure window-dressing and only Lenore gets the shit done by herself might I add completely independent from the others and specially Carmilla herself (who does nothing). A video game character actually does get featured - Comte of Saint-Germain, who is some kind of magician in search of his loved one who got lost in another dimension. Another step down from his video counterpart who is a time guardian that preserves the cosmic balance (though it seems they were channeling the historical figure rather than the character that happens to share the same name given their ignorance for the source material).

There are of course those typical Warren Ellis moments like three mentions of bestiality (and one goatfucking as usual) and anti-Christian commentary, though it seems to be sending some kind of mixed messages this time: in one hand Sypha comment that while she hates God, she at least admires Jesus because of his sacrifice which can be considered one of nicest things that atheists can comment about Christianity... And then the next episode features an demon that used to be a Greek philosopher who lived during post-Constantinian Roman Empire and was persecuted by Christians because of his intellect. Oh dear. With that said, it’s rather odd this guy became a demon so maybe he had it coming? 

Overall, this season is a lot more weaker and lacking than Season 2, which at least had the climax in Episode 7 which some people were willing to forgive the dullness from that season. But Season 3′s climax is completely unfocused, interlaced with unnecessary and uncomfortable sex scenes and doesn’t even feature classical music from the games, which was the saving grace from the last time.

So did it have any upsides? I guess so if you look hard enough like Isaac’s schizophrenic “should I hate all humans or not” dillema which goes unresolved. Hardly anything that elevates the season or make it redeemable in some way. To be perfectly frank with you, I don’t know if I have any interest in keeping with this show. It blew away any good will Season 1 and 2 did, it barely moved the plot forward (and that if it has an overaching plot at all), the protagonists being disconnected to the main threat at large and quite frankly, none of the antagonists are as interesting as Dracula, I just don’t care what happens next. Specially if the pacing and exposition remain in place. In theory, if the series was restructured to be episodic instead of trying to be Game of Thrones, my interest in the show would have been renewed but it’s too little too late.

I guess in retrospect I should be grateful that Season 1 was so short had I knew later ones would be so tedious. There is so very little to do with Castlevania: Dracula’s Curse when you already got rid of the main villain and you don’t move the plot forward. If they want to regain my interest, do a Leon Belmont season that is episodic or heck anything else, but I don’t see them doing this because they have to give closure to this story arc, which already grew past it’s welcome and wasted everyone’s time with a season that amounted to nothing more than filler. Well, my patience has been worn thin.

[snarktheater]

Ready Player One — Level Two (Chapters 26-27)

“I figured it out later that night, a few hours after Shoto left my stronghold.”

See, when I said that Wade making a mistake in the search for the Jade Key didn’t prove the book understands character flaw, I didn’t think the book would literally have Wade go back to having a random, convenient epiphany for the next step in the Easter Egg hunt. This book is the gift that keeps on giving, in that I rarely have to go very far to elaborate on my arguments: usually, all I need to do is turn the page.

The epiphany, by the way, happened because Wade was randomly folding the wrapper the Jade Key came in, and suddenly remember there’s a scene with a unicorn origami in Blade Runner.

The moment I said the word “unicorn” aloud, the wrapper began to fold on its own, there in the palm of my hand.

…Okay, sure. That’s nice, I guess.

From this, Wade decides that the “test” mentioned on the Jade Key must be the Voight-Kampff test from Blade Runner. The book also exposits to us what that is, and what Blade Runner is. And while the book does mention the movie’s based on a Phillip K. Dick novel, I’m not getting the impression that Wade has read it. I mean, it doesn’t even mention at any point (in this chapter or anywhere in the book) the phrase “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”

Anyway. There’s a convenient re-creation of the Tyrell Building from Blade Runner as part of the OASIS standard planet-building kit, meaning that building (and the Voight-Kampff test located in it) can be found on any number of planet. Do I really still need to call attention to the fact that the planet-building tool apparently contains hundreds of other assets similarly taken from existing properties, or have I made my point clear enough about the death of originality in this book yet?

So, Wade goes to the closest planet that features one such replica, Axrenox. It doesn’t matter what that planet is. Actually, not much of anything matters. I mean, the book spends a whole paragraph telling us about how Wade hopes nobody will steal his ship while it’s parked on Axrenox, but—spoiler alert—nobody will. I’m calling attention to it because it’s the second time Wade has expressed worry that someone would steal his transportation method, and the second time nothing comes of it. At some point you have to ask if someone’s not projecting a little too much. And I don’t mean the fictional character here.

Speaking of things that don’t matter: writing a good action scene as Wade goes through the replicants that guard the place. Because, yes, the planet-building kit includes guards in the building too.

The next ten minutes played out like the climax of a John Woo movie. One of the ones starring Chow Yun Fat, like Hard Boiled or The Killer.

Shitty writing aside, I want to point out that the book really shows how much it understands Blade Runner’s theme and central message by…treating the replicants as disposable mooks in a John Woo movie. Like, sure, they’re constructs in a video game, but still. Good job.

Speaking of not understanding the point, remember how the clue was like “take the test”? Yeah, if you know what the Voight-Kampff test is, you might have gotten a little enthusiastic there, since that test is meant to ascertain the ability to empathize with others. Which would be hilarious to see Wade Watts take. Sadly, no, the test only acts as a gateway to a 3D recreation of a video game that Wade has already mastered.

I honestly feel like it’d be insulting to you if I were to recap what happens next in detail. It’s a game. Halliday dropped a hint at it in his will video, which is mentioned to justify Wade being a master at the game. There’s another case of the book using romaji to transcribe the title of the game in Japanese, even though, again, that name is just English words written with Japanese characters and phonotactics. There’s still no tension; I mean, we literally go from Wade explaining the rules of the simulation and how he can’t leave to…

I managed to clear all eight levels of the game in just under three hours.

Oh, sure, after that he tells us how he got close to dying at one point. Like…thanks for telling me I should have been worried in the time you skipped.

At the end of the trial, he gets to choose a giant robot from fiction from a list (some of which already crossed out due to being picked by the Sixers).

I stopped cold when I saw Leopardon, the giant transforming robot used by Supaidaman, the incarnation of Spider-Man who appeared on Japanese TV in the late 1970s. I’d discovered Supaidaman during the course of my research and had become somewhat obsessed with the show. So I didn’t care if Leopardon was the most powerful robot available. I had to have him, regardless.

Okay, so, I just rambled about the romaji, so I won’t do it again here, though you should know it still annoys me. But I will say I’m pleasantly surprised that Wade actually made a decision derived from passion for something. I was starting to wonder if that would ever happen.

Anyway. Wade gets a toy replica of the Leopardon, and with that, he’s now cleared the Second Gate, and receives a hint to the Crystal Key’s location, in the form of a logo of a star inside a circle. This sounds like a pretty generic symbol, but Wade recognizes it. Probably because, if you look it up, it is actually distinct enough:

It just so happens the book describes it really poorly:

Then a symbol slowly appeared in the center of the screen: a glowing red circle with a five-pointed star inside it. The points of the star extended just beyond the outer edge of the circle.

The book skips over Wade leaving the Tyrell building, by the way. I guess the guards only prevent you from entering? I don’t know, because the book won’t tell me. Once he’s back on his ship…wait, I’ve gotta point this out:

And thanks be to Crom, the Vonnegut was still parked right where I’d left it, its cloaking device still engaged.

I already mentioned the ship would not in fact get stolen, but…“thanks be to Crom”? This isn’t even something he’s done until now. It’s just a random reference out of the blue.

Back to the plot. The red star and the image I just showed you are from a music album, 2112 by the band Rush. I don’t know anything about them, but the album is apparently about…

a time when creativity and self-expression have been outlawed.

So…like this book’s world, then?

Wade somehow knows exactly which lyrics on the album are relevant to finding the Crystal Key: a passage about the “Priests of the Temple of Syrinx”, because there’s a planet Syrinx somewhere in the OASIS with a temple in it. And by “a temple” I mean 1024 copies of the city described in the album’s supplemental material. Because copy-paste is an excellent substitute for good ideas. You know, between this, the planet with hundreds of copies of Halliday’s hometown, the planet with hundreds of copies of that text adventure game, and oh, the fact that the game’s planet-building tool contains hundreds of licensed assets. I mean, you can make the technology to run a lifelike VR simulation, but procedural generation and original art assets are both out of reach?

No, I will never stop being angry about this. It’s lazy writing and lazy in-universe, and it heavily undermines the idea that the OASIS somehow dominated the market. I mean, think about it: right now, the videogame market’s latest trend is Battle Royale games. The first game that managed to put the genre where it is is Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds, but because it lacked any original assets—and was frankly shoddily made because it was rushed into early release in order to be the first out—it was easily outdone by Fortnite, a game with a more competent team and actually creative people working on it, specifically because the concept alone isn’t going to make a game win on the market (and it also makes for very weak ground to sue people for copyright infringement once they beat you, Bluehole).

A concept can be replicated—don’t ever believe the myth of the indispensable lone genius, i.e. Halliday in this case, there’s always someone else, or a group of people, who can replicate your idea and probably improve on it while they’re at it. So I cannot for even a minute believe that there isn’t someone who couldn’t make the OASIS, except, you know, better. Hell, that’s what IOI should do, instead of investing loads of money into a contest to take over the OASIS with a very low chance of success.

Ahem. I’m getting off-topic, aren’t I? Well, that’s okay, because the actual action is as stilted as usual. Wade lands on the planet, and I guess IOI didn’t attempt to leave people to guard it or anything so he’s all alone. He finds the temple mentioned in the song, and figures he has to make an offering at the altar. Luckily, he instantly knows what other lyrics of the album are relevant, and they lead him to a secret cave behind a waterfall. If you think I’m rushing through the scene…barely. It takes him a paragraph to search the cave, for instance. The book’s as uninterested in this as I am. Which…you know, it shouldn’t be.

What does he find in the secret room in the secret cave, you ask? An electric guitar. It’s another reference to the album, but also, it’s stuck in a stone.

I grinned at the absurd Arthurian image of the guitar in the stone. Like every gunter, I’d seen John Boorman’s film Excalibur many times, so it seemed obvious what I should do next.

Yes, really. Apparently Arthurian legends are no longer widely known and the only reference Wade has is a specific movie adaptation of the mythos. Because that makes sense.

So Wade gets the special guitar, and it turns out he knows how to play it (in the OASIS, that is), and he’s randomly inspired to play the song 2112, even though there isn’t really anything prompting him to do. But it’s lucky, because it makes another clue show up:

The first was ringed in red metal The second, in green stone The third is clearest crystal and cannot be unlocked alone

Had the Sixers played the song and discovered this message? I seriously doubted it. They would have pulled the guitar from the stone and immediately returned it to the temple.

Yeah, so, because Wade played the guitar for no clear reason, Wade now has an advantage over the Sixers. Thanks, author puppetmaster! It’s not like giving characters a clear motivation to do what they do is difficult or useful to reinforce the book’s verisimilitude!

I mean, for real. Would it really be so hard to say Wade just…felt like playing the special guitar before he offered it at the altar in the table? It’s really not that hard.

Also, what the fuck is up with that hint? No, really. Now Halliday wants to encourage cooperation in his contest? Don’t you think it’s a little too late? Also, why do that at the last stage? Does that mean multiple people will get the egg at the same time…by design? That’s not gonna backfire at all.

Anyway, Wade returns the guitar to the temple, and when he puts it on the altar, it turns into the Crystal Key as planned.

my score on the Scoreboard increased by 25,000 points. When added to the 200,000 I’d received for clearing the Second Gate, that brought my total score up to 353,000 points, one thousand points more than Sorrento. I was back in first place.

As a hint for the location of the Third Gate, Wade only gets a stylized A. It’s actually the symbol of Halliday’s avatar Anorak—and of his castle. Because of course he has a castle in the OASIS.

the castle was impregnable and always had been. No avatar but Anorak himself had ever been able to pass through its entrance. But now I knew there must be a way to enter Castle Anorak. Because the Third Gate was hidden somewhere inside.

You know, Halliday making his own impregnable location inside of his own game explains a lot about why the OASIS is so permissive towards griefers. It was made by one.

Speaking of griefers, now that someone else has found the Crystal Key, guess who made an impenetrable dome around Castle Anorak? Yep, it’s the Sixers! And yes, there’s an artefact that lets you create a literally impenetrable barrier around a location in the OASIS. Again, who designs this?

The news of this soon reaches the gunter and clans, who all converge on the planet Chthonia, even though, you know, they don’t have the Crystal Key yet. But in spite of being in a really bad spot, Wade decides not to give up this time. I mean, it’s not like the Sixers having the exact same advantage (exclusive access to the Third Gate) didn’t make him fantasize about committing suicide three chapters ago or anything. That’s character consistency right there.

Yes, I’m still bitter that the book went there.

I began to formulate a plan. A bold, outrageous plan that would require epic amounts of luck to pull off.

Well considering how the rest of the book has gone, I’m not exactly on the edge of my seat here.

So Wade emails Artemis, Aech and Shoto the location of the Second Gate and the Crystal Key, and prepares to put the rest of his plan in motion, while the book attempts to end “Level Two” on a cliffhanger.

Once I was sure all three of them had received my message, I initiated the next phase of my plan. This was the part that terrified me, because I knew there was a good chance it was going to end up getting me killed. But at this point, I no longer cared. I was going to reach the Third Gate, or die trying.

I did say “attempts to”. I mean, this is the first time Wade actually has a plan, and the “reach it or die trying” has sort of been his MO so far. But hey. Nice attempt.

[insanescriptist]

If you did a crossover between KHR and Fairy Tail, what characters would you involve in the crossover and which way would it go (Fairy Tail in KHR-Verse or KHR in Fairy Tail-verse)? What possibly pairing would emerge and most importants what magic would you impart upon the KHR characters?

Hmmm…. well the trend is more about putting the KHR people in FT, which essentially tends to make the Vongola another guild or have the KHR people as part of FT.

Which is kinda stale. Especially since most of them don’t diverge from FT-plotline, even if they involve an extra character. Partly because FT fails to elaborate on most of their characters characters; Juvia got reduced to Grey’s psycho stalker and not a woman in charge of her own happiness. Basically everything past the seven year time skip is not as good as it could have been.

Especially towards the end! You can see how they story line went a lot more wronky towards the end. Oda’s twenty-month pregnancy with Ace stretched belief but Erza’s dragon mom carried Erza for centuries! Never mind how bullshit all those hyped Spriggan 12 were and how things like coherency stopped mattering!

Zeref’s death was good writing; Curse of Contradictions and all that. Was poetic and had a sense of closure. We didn’t need the ‘look, the reincarnations that look and behave pretty much the same have met and its tru wuv!’ shit at the end.

Acnologia’s defeat/death was nothing but asspull and dues ex machina in a plot device tossed in last minute. Plus his character was stupidly, stupidly flat. Like during the Tenrou Arc when he showed up -due to Zeref supposedly- after Gildarts had managed to get away alive I was hoping for backstory and complex motivations. Guess what got shafted in favor of megalomania and destroy everything?

Basically while the seven year time skip helped to resolve Lucy’s feelings to her father in her narration… whatever happened to the side-characters like Lyon? Grey comes back and is able to match the guy who’s had seven-years to train and practice magic in? Basically what happened in those seven years is that outside the FT-guild, no one grew in skill or prowess unless needed for plot. Jura, the O-something Seis… about the only except is maybe Romeo but he got older and is hinted at being Wendy’s eventual romance in the shonen ‘first love is true love’ way and I’ll consider that plot.

Yeah, FT started going off the rails then with bullshit after the ordeal at Tenrou Island. Never mind the lack of world-building, inconsistent details and lack of government; sure you have royalty, nobility and the magic council that gets destroyed like three times. Which the Rune Knights obey and presumably police the mage population. Like we know there are laws but it seems like they’re more suggestions? See the Duke guy in the early chapters, all but kidnapping the author for years?

I’m also still kinda pissed that the few times they’ve ventured out of Fiore, they never were able to explore other lands -Sun Village, those islands near Alveraz that got miniturized- unless it was part of a movie in which Magnolia gets destroyed for the Nth time for some reason. So you really can’t base a character anyway but Fiore. Because we Know Nothing.

Basically if you’re going to do something original in FT you’re going to have to do Massive Amounts of WorldBuilding because you can’t just superimpose our history and all our world details on it. Or take the easy way out, focus on characters and make it a romance or something.

Now then, put an FT character in KHR and you’re going to have uh, problems. Because most of the FT characters run wild and are used to a weak government and getting light penalties for their crimes. Unless you belong to a Dark Guild, in which case they leave you to rot in jail until you break out.

So you’d want to put in someone smart and can blend. As great as Grey is undercover -see Avatar Arc- the stripping would get him arrested. Because other characters like Natsu and Erza�� they’d make a splash, cause a wreck and then get quietly assassinated by poison. Natsu might survive the poison due to shonen powerups and actually being a demon but that’s not a sure bet.

Honestly, for characters of FT that wouldn’t get targeted/killed inside a week by being stupidly headstrong or attracting the wrong sort of attention: Rouge, Gajeel, Cobra, Levy, Cana, Freed, Evergreen, Lyon, Minerva…

People that have a brain and no habit of being a public nuisance. Sure how they fight would gain notice but these characters are smart enough to know that fighting isn’t going to solve everything and to know when things are over their heads and need to go to ground and how.

Because a terrible author bends the rules of reality so their characters can do the impossible. A great author makes their character bend/change the rules to achieve the impossible.

Plus I’m probably PMS-ing and so want to make characters hurt and suffer so I’d drop them into the Estraneo labs. Because that’s a solid first impression of be cautious and consequence that means you need to keep your wits because Look At What Has Happened Here. With the creeping realization of ‘of fuck, magic is a myth here’ and ‘any people that can use a form of it belong to Dark Guilds.’ Alongside the ever popular, ‘We’re not longer in Magnolia, how do we get home?’

But ASSUMING Izzy would right typical ‘reincarnates or oops KHR character into FT and learns magic’ most of them would get fire magic as a primary/basic sort of thing. But they’d all be Caster-type instead of Holder-type.

Tsuna would probably pursue Fire and some sort of Flight magic, because he’d like that. Gokudera would learn explosion magic because that’s Gokudera. Yamamoto would diversify by learning some water magic, sword magic and probably a bit of Requip and illusion. Ryohei would learn some sort of strength magic, possibly even Titan because for all that Ryohei’s Sun Flames can heal you have to know what you’re doing to heal properly. Lambo of course gets to get electricity which he learns to shape and use for defense. Mukuro’s going to specialize in illusion and also go grab-bag. Kyoya would go for self-enhancement magic and pick up telepathy if only to relay orders to his minions because it’s not Kyoya if he doesn’t pick up minions.

The Varia and others would pretty much follow the same them in that it suits their character and inclinations and if smart/practical enough, covers for their own weaknesses. Like I could see the Varia learning various types of runes for practical reasons like singling their target and telepathy so they can communicate and coordinate.

Because as Jellal and others prove, it’s possible to use and learn other types of magic in battle.

But Izzy really wants to see Enma, reincarnated as the son of Gildarts and one of his one-night stands and has Crash and Gravity Magic. Oh and he tells Gildarts that as soon as he sees him. Which makes him Cana’s younger half-brother, by at least six or so years so Enma’s pretty much of age with the main-cast ie Lucy, if a little younger. But based on experience fighting from a past life and training in this one… yeah, he’s probably S-class and made it younger than Erza did. Which is also a point of conflict with his half-sister, he didn’t know he had. Although I suspect she told him after her third or fourth failed attempt at becoming S-class. By this point however, Gildarts has been long gone since FT has three young S-class mages and Enma makes number four; Mystogan, whenever he joins would make number five.

Pairing? Enma probably settling down after dating a few others casually with hmm… not Lucy for all that there might be a crush, Erza is practically sister-territory after remember Adel, Mira is cute but I don’t think they’d have much chemistry, Wendy is twelve/thirteen-ish at the end of FT… and for all  hate how ham-fisted the Gajeel/Levy pairing is in the manga, I’ve seen enough fan comics to adore it for.

Oh and I’d like to have him avoid getting stuck on Tenrou for seven years, so can someone say Fourth Master Enma? Because I can. And it would be original.

[pardonjimin]

Touchdown

credit to the owner for original pic

word count: 1k

summary: you needed a tutoring session and fortunately enough, Jungkook was around. *little to no content*

genre: partial smut + smudge of fluff idk 

warnings: none!

A/N: it’s nice to be backk, but i’m also going to be pretty busy over summer so i’ll do my best to write as much as possible. here’s a short smut to make up for my absence for the past month or so! this one doesn’t contain a lot of smut for the reason being that it wouldn’t fit the plot. this might be a series, but i’m not sure yet. 

You never had a thing for cheerleading.

Yet here you are as the team captain. 

Releasing a deep sigh, you hurriedly copied down the notes from the board, erasing the misspelled words while resisting the urge to stand up and walk out of the class. The second semester was coming to an end and you couldn’t afford to have your GPA drop so low once more. The first semester was bad enough, having your GPA drop from a flat 3.5 to a deadly 2.4 all because you had borderline grades. Shuddering at the very thought, you gripped your led pencil harder as your hand flew across the page. Your grades were finally improving, now, all you have to do is maintain it until the very end. If your GPA dropped any more than it already has, then you’ll no longer be captain of the cheerleading team which means your scholarship will eventually be revoked and you sure as hell could not afford to have that happen..

Upon hearing the bell ring, signaling that it was time for lunch, you quickly packed your utensils and burst out the door, not caring to say goodbye to your fellow classmates who looked at you strangely. Dashing to your locker, you quickly shoved in your bag then speedily walked towards the football field for your tutoring session, textbooks and notebooks spilling in your arms. You weren’t dumb, but you weren’t exactly smart either. Sitting on the benches, you laid out your material and waited patiently. A few minutes went by before you felt the bench slightly dip down, causing a small smile to etch upon your face. 

“I don’t understand why you always run here,” Jungkook said, laughing, “I’m practically always behind you, you know that, right? I have class right next to you,”

You looked down at your hands before responding, “I didn’t want to waste any time.”

“We have a lot of time before the final exams and don't forget, we can tutor after school at my house too!” Jungkook reminded.

You rolled your eyes as you open your book, explaining what parts you didn’t understand in regards to math. One of you weakest yet strongest subjects. Fortunately enough, Mr. Perfect here was a straight A student. Jungkook had it all: looks, intelligence, athleticness, wealth... but the one thing he didn’t have was a relationship. He pitied the girls that threw themselves at him without shame. All he wanted was a girl that loved him for him, not as the captain of the football team. You liked this about him, how humble and caring he was. He wasn’t like the others on his team, the ones who use vulgar words as they verbally degrade women and compete over how many girls they can screw in a single week. At times, they would even have a competition about who can make a girl moan the loudest. You would always scoff at their actions, labeling them childish for their behavior. You weren’t the type to hang with football players, despite always having to cheer them on at their games. You prefer being alone, enjoying the eerie silence. Sometimes, you would get picked on too by your fellow cheerleaders. They would insist on going out with them, getting wasted, and sleeping around, but you were against it. School has always been so important to you and after your little slip-up, you can’t even afford to have a C if you want to go to a good university.

All your life, you’ve been pushed to be the prestige, perfect daughter. You were forced to be the role model you never had. However, no matter how good you were, your parents were never satisfied. Eventually, you made the decision to stop living to please them. From that point on, everything you did was for yourself. Even if your parents weren’t proud of you, you were proud of yourself and at that time, that was all that ever mattered to you. In your years of education, you had made many friends, but none of them were able to become worthy of being someone you could call family nor best friend. However, that’s where Jungkook comes into play. He was the exception. Jungkook was always there for you since your middle school years. Fortunately, once you hit high school, you guys became closer instead of drifting like how many other duos had done. You were grateful to have him in your life and he knew that. You made sure of it. 

For the remainder of lunch, you sat beside Jungkook, shoulders touching as he elaborated on all the topics that left you dumbfounded. At times, you would find yourself staring at him as he demonstrated how to solve some of the problems. You began to wonder what it would be like to run your fingers through his hair as he unclasped your bra. You wanted him to moan your name as he penetrated your body, your juices splashing on his thighs as he thrust. Rubbing your thighs together, you shifted your body in an uncomfortable manner, causing Jungkook to stop in his actions and look at you with concern dancing in his doe-like eyes. 

“Are you okay? Do you need me to take you to the nurse’s office?” Jungkook put the pencil down and wrapped his hand around yours. 

“I-It’s not that. I have another problem..” You averted your gaze as you fiddled with the hem of your skirt. 

“What is it? You can tell me.” Jungkook spoke softly, tilting his head in confusion as he awaited your response. 

“Jungkook, I --” 

You got cut off by the bell, indicating it was the end of the day due to the fact that you only had 4 periods. Before you could gather your belongings and dash off to selfishly pleasure yourself, Jungkook invited you over to his house to continue the tutor session. You were lost for words but agreed anyways. If you were going to make your move, now was the perfect time. Worst case scenario, you get rejected. 

What could possibly go wrong?

You sat on the edge of the bed, legs dangling on the ground as you fidgeted around. Jungkook sat beside you, watching intently as he continued to wait for you to evaluate your problem. He lifted your chin, staring deeply into your eyes before smiling and god did he know how to make the butterflies in your stomach rapidly increase in flight.

“Are you hungry or something?”

Yeah, but not for what you’re thinking of.

You shook your head, embarrassed to admit what was really going on with you. The fear of rejection began to creep up on you, causing you to release a lengthy shiver before blinking rapidly.

However, the second he innocently placed a hand on your thigh, you lost it.

“Jungkook, can we please do something else other than study?” You said, releasing a small moan. You were desperate at this point, unable to contain the pent-up frustration.

“What do you want to do?” Jungkook smirked, finally understanding your situation as his hand traveled up your thigh.

Throwing one leg over his lap, you straddled him before gently pushing him down so that he’s lying on his back.

“Let me please you.” You suggested which came out more as a command.

Jungkook stayed silent, unable to utter a single syllable as he hungrily watched your hands graze over his bulge before undoing his pants and tugging down his boxers.

“You know, I always thought you had a big dick,” You praised, grasping his length in your hands. “but I didn’t know it would be this big.”

Licking the tip, you shoved his entire shaft into your mouth with a moment’s worth of hesitation, causing him to groan loudly at your actions. Relentlessly sucking him off, the sound of his moans filled the room as he fisted your hair, pleading that you go faster. 

“Please, Y/N, fuck    go faster.” Jungkook began to beg.

You hummed in reply, quickening your pace. 

“Wait, baby. I’m gonna co     ” 

“Come for me, Jungkook.” You looked into his eyes as you bobbed, tongue swirling around the swelled tip. 

With a couple more seconds worth of deepthroating, he finally released into your mouth, watching you sexily swallow his come, not missing a single drop. You threw off your shirt along with your bra before tugging down your black lace underwear. You kept the skirt on, knowing that it would please Jungkook.

Jungkook got up, but you stopped him. “You don’t have to eat me out. I’ve been dripping wet all day.”

“Because of me?”

“Because of you.”

Straddling him once more, you held his cock at your entrance before slamming down. With his hands around your waist, he began to suck on your breast as you held onto his shoulders for support. Bouncing on him, you cried out in pleasure as he thrust into you, unable to hold back. Asserting dominance, he flipped you on his back as he pounded into you. 

“This is what you were thinking about all day, hm?” Jungkook teased as he played with your clit. “Me destroying this little pussy of yours?”

You could barely form words as you screamed out, “Yes, fuck yes!”

His cock had filled you whole and it was making you lose your mind. He was hitting all the right places with the perfect amount of acceleration. Your mind began to become fuzzy as you screwed your eyes shut in pleasure, arching your back as he relentlessly attacked your g-spot.

 However, for some reason, your mind began to wander even more. The sex seemed more intimate than what you had originally planned. You didn’t mind it one bit and you wondered if he noticed too.  The sex wasn’t filled with lust, but love as well. You hadn’t noticed it before, despite him being balls deep in your cunt. The way he released sweet moans made your heart flutter. He caressed your body so gently but penetrated so roughly. You loved him for years on end, but you would never let him know. To confess your love would mean that you’ve finally surrendered to him.

 Sex with Jeon Jungkook is a one-time thing. You were just friends after all.

 And even though it hurts to admit it, that’s all you two will ever be. 

[agentverbivore]

Hello! I love Side by Side. Your writing is incredible. And not just for this, but in all your works. Two (unrelating) questions: 1) Are you published? I'd love to read your original works. 2)About the epilogue, why did Caedmon refuse to speak to Jemma? Does it have to do with Will?

my, what a flattering question! 

I’m not published - in fact, the longest thing I’ve ever written and finished is my fanfic. (that is… not a fact I’m especially proud of, but there it is. plot is evil.) and tbh, even if I were published, I wouldn’t be able to talk about it on here in association with my username anyway - it’d ruin the whole “anonymity” thing I’ve got goin’ on. ;-) but I really appreciate the kind words and the vote of confidence - thank you!!

*sigh* ah, the Side By Side!dark planet. I’ve gotten a few questions about this on AO3 as well - I’ll get over there to answer them when I have time.

it sort of has to do with Will, although not in the same way as it was in canon (aka. no romance), but it mostly has to do with the way that the existence of daemons fundamentally changes the way the world works in that story. (and honestly, fixes half a dozen logic flaws in that entire canon Maveth storyline.) it does take a bit of explaining, however, so bear with me - lots of His Dark Materials in here.

In that ‘verse, Hive actually feeds off of daemons, or, more specifically, the Dust/Rusakov particles that connects humans and their daemons. While studying the Rusakov particles and in search of Hive, NASA sends Will and his team through the monolith. One by one, Hive rids the team members of their daemons, thereby killing them through torturous means. A human cannot survive once their daemon is dead - except in the following, extremely rare circumstance. The remaining team members go insane - partially because of the isolation/planet, and partially out of terror that their daemons will be next. During a struggle involving the advanced Hydra/NASA equipment they brought with them, somehow Will is severed from his daemon (a part-husky, part-terrier mix named Laika), who disappears just like daemons do when their humans die. 

Because of the way “severing” happens, though, the human doesn’t die - it turns them into a “lifeless shell” of a person who has been separated permanently from their soul. Their survival instincts still exist, but almost everything else about them is just… gone. (This is from HDM; it has to do with how the separation happens and the equipment used, not anything from the SHIELD-verse.) As a result, Will outlasts the rest of his teammates, all of whom die as Hive finds them one by one on the planet and consumes their daemons. (They are not “severed,” which is a specific term used for what happens to Will.) Hive has no reason to kill Will because he no longer can feed off the Rusakov particles - Will is irrelevant to him. Without a soul and the need for more than basic sustenance, he manages to exist for 14 years just because he doesn’t quite know how to stop living. He’s empty in a way from which there is no coming back.

After 2 months of surviving on the planet alone, Jemma and Caedmon meet Will, but it’s difficult to befriend someone who no longer has a soul or a personality. He speaks, but barely, and spends a lot of time just sitting and staring at the walls of the cave. (I draw this from HDM directly, where Lyra tries to befriend a boy who has been severed from his daemon.) This, however, is why Jemma and Caedmon are confined to the cave while Will is not - Will has nothing to lose by going out into Hive’s storms, whereas Jemma could lose Caedmon (and, therefore, herself). 

Much of the middle part of their time on the dark planet takes place similarly - trying to get home to Fitz and Sarama, and having their last chance go up in proverbial flames. They are inconsolable - not that their severed companion would know how to console them anyway. However, Caedmon wants to keep looking, while Jemma’s heart is just broken - she can’t see any way home again. One of the reasons he stops speaking to her is because she just gave up, and it takes him a long time to forgive her for that. (Which is, in effect, what I think happens in canon and makes her recovery process that much more difficult. Her relationship with Caedmon is a physical variation of her canonical depression and self-loathing, ca. 3x04.)

In the meantime, Jemma tries to make herself as much at home on the planet as she can, which includes her attempting to help return some of Will’s humanity. (A fool’s errand, she knows, but it gives her something to do.) She notices that sometimes Will’s eyes just follow Caedmon around - it’s been so long since he’s had a daemon, after all. (This kind of behavior by someone who has been severed is, again, drawn from HDM.) And Jemma misses having Fitz around to hold Caedmon. So eventually she tries to convince Caedmon to let Will touch him. She reminds him that she won’t ever love anyone like Fitz - let alone someone who is barely human at this point - but it would be the kind thing to do. How horrible must it be for him to live without his soul? They argue about it for a long time, and ultimately, Jemma wins out. Caedmon backs into a corner of the cave, a low growl in his throat as Will reaches over to pet his head. 

Jemma tries to hold it in, tries to let it happen, but she retches, bursting into sobs immediately. It’s not the same when it’s not Fitz, and she can feel the revulsion and anger rolling off of her daemon through their bond. It doesn’t take long for Will to notice and withdraw his hand. Caedmon runs, escaping the cave and sprinting away. Jemma and Will follow him, Jemma calling for her daemon through the sand dunes, and the humans get separated. Just as she catches up, reaching forward to try to bring Caedmon back to safety, the flare explodes into the night sky. 

Caedmon looks up and breathes: “Fitz.”

The two of them sprint into motion, running towards the flare as fast as they can. The next few minutes happen just like in canon - although here, Fitz has Sarama strapped to his shoulder in a peudo-tact gear holder. :-)

This takes place after she’s been on what she knows as the dark planet for a little over 4.5 months. Fitz never gets to the point of discovering the Maveth name, and thus her referring to it as the dark planet throughout the epilogue. It’s ultimately thanks to Skye’s weasel daemon that they get back sooner than in canon - he keeps sniffing around the monolith, sure he knows something about it, but it takes him a long time to figure that out, and then it takes them even longer to figure out how to tap into and manipulate those vibrations without killing Skye in the process. (Although I also definitely think that a big part of Fitz’s initial search involved him hunting for the Subtle Knife. :-) )

Once back home, Jemma curls into Fitz’s arms and won’t leave - if she’s not crying, she’s kissing him anywhere she can reach, and he doesn’t stop her. As if he would deny her anything, especially then. (The only time he isn’t holding her back is when he needs to exercise his left arm; ever since the pod, it continues to have tremors and gets stiff if it isn’t in motion for a long time.) She tells him everything - all of it - as soon as she’s able. But she feels guilty for not even thinking about Will as she escaped. His life is so horrible without his daemon, shouldn’t they try to rescue him? Fitz agrees without hesitation. 

But when she finally separates from Fitz for any long period of time, Caedmon doesn’t follow her. If Fitz goes to shower, Caedmon goes with him. If he goes to the lab, Caedmon goes with him. The lion pretends that Jemma doesn’t exist. (During their first journey through the monolith, Jemma and Caedmon experience the same kind of bond stretching that Lyra and Pan experience when she goes to the land of the dead - rather than the 2-story bond that is elaborated in SBS, they can travel much further distances from each other from that point on.) For all intents and purposes, her daemon (her soul) abandons her in favor of staying with Fitz. It’s heartbreaking. 

It’s also the final step in the story that really begins in SBS proper - the two of them are always more at odds than most people are with their daemons. That storyline is the final lesson that the two of them need to learn - Jemma can’t always rely on her logic, and Caedmon cannot ignore her and follow his instincts all the time. They have to learn how to work together, and it’s been something they’ve been learning their entire lives. This storyline - taking the form as an exploration of Jemma’s long journey to recovery from her PTSD - is the culmination of that.

So that’s that. I was giving serious thought in the fall to writing this out as a one shot post-SBS, but decided to scrap that idea. it’s too sad, and not at all in keeping with the tone of the original fic. and I’d rather be writing happy things. :-) but hopefully this adequately answers your question - sorry it got so long, lol. lots of explaining necessary.

If you want to know more about post-Side By Side, click here!

[leonawriter]

Hey Leona! I saw your post about writing a fic soon, and I was wondering if you could give me some advice. I recently got into redorbshipping, and I love your fics a ton! They, and a few others, inspired me to go ahead and write some, so I've been drabbling. What I was wondering about was when you feel confident enough to post your drabbles when they're snippets from a greater timeline. How do you know when it's 'ready' to post? (as opposed to a full chapter fic with a beginning and end?)

First of all - wow, thank you! I really appreciate it!

Secondly... for me, drabbles (originally the term meant ‘story of precisely 100 words’, but the meaning seems to have shifted to just ‘very short story’, which I’m fine with - I was never good at keeping length exact) are less something you have to be good at and more something you write as practice. I wrote a minific of Lance and Hunk from Voltron talking some stuff out just to get a handle on their voices; sometimes when the fandom is one I’ve written enough to get confident in, it’s more because there’s a specific scene in my mind that doesn’t need a detailed plot to be understood.

And, often, my drabbles aren’t from any sort of greater timeline. Or, at least, I don't see them as such.

But when they are, what I usually try to do is hint and imply what went before without going into detail. You don’t need to go ‘first this happened, then that, and then this, and now finally we’re here’. In a bigger story, perhaps it’s useful to give the reader a sense of the setting they’re in - but in a drabble, a really short fic, the importance is less on the setting and more on what’s currently going on. As long as the setting is clear, and consistent, it should be fine.

So, instead, you can have characters drop events that have happened in conversation - for instance, Maxie referring to ‘that one time you accidentally let Rayquaza out in the base entrance and we all had to deal with an angry dragon for a week, even after it was back in its ball’. From this, we get an idea of an event that may have had a big impact on them, as well as the people they mutually know, with it also being a shared memory to laugh over. Put together, they give the reader an understanding of the kind of timeline we’re in, as well as how close the characters are. 

Larger and smaller details can also be used - ‘You know Groudon likes spicy pokepuffs’ is a detail that can be said and adds familiarity, but a line such as ‘“Well, if you hadn’t gone through with your last crazy idea, we wouldn’t be in this situation!” May shouted over the wind, voice muffled by the scarf keeping the sand out of her mouth.’ would give you a great many details in one line of dialogue and narration, saying things such as: Maxie is having a ‘crazy idea’, that Maxie is speaking, that Maxie’s plan to have Groudon create more landmass succeeded, that they’re in a desert, and so on.

As for beginning and ending? Because each story needs one, and just because it’s short doesn't make it any different...

Often I find beginning harder than ending, I have to admit. Maybe I’m contrary like that. But both points come from the same origin of thought - how will the reader react to this?

With the beginning you want to directly engage the reader. You want to tell them, in the first lines, ‘this is a story you want to be interested in enough to spend the time reading’. I say that, because as someone with ADHD, if something doesn’t engage me, it can be really easy to switch off. With a thing like a drabble, that can mean going straight into dialogue, but it can also mean an interesting thought or bit of narration that leads me to wondering just what is going on, or what’s going to happen next. 

With the ending, I think the most important thing is to find somewhere in the story that’s in your head, where the action and dialogue slows down. There have been times in the middle of some of my longer stories’ chapters where I could carry the chapter on longer, but the scene - or chapter - has gone on long enough. It’s the same on the smaller scale.

With a drabble, you’re only looking to make the story about one key event. Perhaps that’s a conversation. Perhaps it’s a moment of introspection. Maybe it’s even while someone is doing a thing. But thing is - since you’re focusing everything on that one thing, once that thing is over, so is the story. You shouldn’t need to write more. You’re probably looking to condense things a bit to keep it all short, though. Which means more ‘not using elaborate terms and flowery language’ rather than ‘skipping bits’.

As for when I personally feel confident to post a thing... as I mentioned up there in the beginning, I see drabbles as writing exercise, getting the creative muscles moving. Yet at the same time, I’ll post a thing up if I feel like the voices are coming through strongly, if I think it’s successfully conveyed the idea or message I wanted to get across, and if I think there weren’t any mistakes. If I think it ticks all of those boxes, I just post it up.

Also, some of my drabble fics are the greater timeline. I can easily think of ‘Early Flames’ from Blue Exorcist, though I’m sure there are others. Stories where it’s told entirely in short fic form rather than chapters, and as long as the context is conveyed, you don’t need it to be a longer thing at all anyway.

(I’m sure I rambled on off topic at various points but I hope even some of this helped, anon!)