#and i'm already doing that with document tracking this year haha

[vickyvicarious]

I mentioned this briefly in the tags the other day, but I think we have another moment of timeline wonkiness in these past three days. Nothing anywhere near as big as Seward's missing week or Lucy's letter, but things still don't totally line up.

On the 11th, Van Helsing gets the flowers set up in Lucy's room. When they leave, he tells Jack "To-morrow in the morning early you call for me, and we come together to see our pretty miss, so much more strong for my 'spell' which I have work." So they are planning on going back right away the next day.

But there is no mention of them visiting on the 12th. Instead, we get Lucy talking about the flowers like they are new to her, and she has not slept with them in her room yet: "And yet he must have been right, for I feel comfort from them already. Somehow, I do not dread being alone to-night, and I can go to sleep without fear." If the date were correct, she should already have slept alone with them between the 11th-12th.

Finally, the doctors visit today on the 13th, and both of them act like this is their first visit since the other day without mentioning any delay or change in plans. When Van Helsing hears about Lucy having slept well, he says "Aha! I thought I had diagnosed the case. My treatment is working," suggesting again that this is the first night she's slept with the flowers around her. (In fact, she hasn't gotten their protection but this quote is seconds before finding out about that disaster.)

All in all, it seems pretty clear to me that Lucy's diary entry should also be on the 11th, and today's entry should have been on the 12th.

[dragonpurrs]

Hey! So I'm on a mission to make sure the alterhuman/non-human/otherkin/and so many others/ communities are properly represented. I'm a snow leopard kin and voidkin myself and know that there are a lot of misconceptions about us, a long with just not much information on some certain topics about our communities. With all of that being said, if you were to see more writing about our communities, what do you think needs to be mentioned more often?

Oh hi! Well, first I'll be seconding what Nova had to say on the subject. Aside from that, I feel like a lot of people have it in their heads that alterhumanity is purely 100% only a spiritual/past life type deal for every single one of us, which is of course not true!

I think also, more writings from alterhumans who aren't living things/fall outside the bounds of what can be easily grasped. Plenty of folks here are alterhuman with the vast expanse of space, rocks, toys...you name it! I don't have high hopes for our public perception in the near future, but more positivity around identifying "strangely" in general... It's so disheartening to see people like Toco (Youtube: I want to be an animal) bullied relentlessly for existing and being happy. I dunno. Being Strange Positivity I guess. You CAN put rocks in your mouth (just don't swallow them)! I feel like going "haha no we do not sleep in cages" is I guess...misguided? What if some of us DO wanna sleep in a giant cage with a doggy bed? SO WHAT? Who is that hurting? Especially in times like these, it's important to not reinforce stigma within our community, when there is already so much outside of it. Also, well, more writings in different languages! I recently joined a Spanish speaking alterhuman community and it was SO heartening to be in...I'm Latino and getting to speak with alterhumans who speak Spanish expanded my world, I met alterhumans who are like me and others who are not like me, that I never would have met if there was no Spanish speaking community at all. A lot of our community documentation is, well, A. Fairly new and B. In English. I believe we had a bit of a moment at Othercon this year discussing a potential alterhuman language learning/exchange server - I think that's a wonderful idea! Perhaps a "Resource translation community" is in order as well. Expanding on what Nova said about fictionfolk, I definitely think a "Clearing up misconceptions" is in order after the uh, well...The Incident™. If you've ever seen someone use the term "Kinning" to mean "This is my blorbo" you know what I'm talking about. And honestly just more on fictionfolk in general. The Incident™ really hurt the way fictionfolk are viewed, and the way they may view themselves in turn. I think that would help a lot. Moving on from discussion of The Incident™, I really liked the alterhuman etiquette panel during Othercon this year! I'd love to see more input on that subject. Oh and finally, as a word of caution: Generally speaking, if [News outlet] or [Journalist] who is not a KNOWN member of the community that YOU KNOW YOU CAN TRUST reaches out for an interview, say NO! News media "interviews" for alterhumans are used mostly to exploit and bully us for views and money. If you want to go through with applying for an interview, documentary, whatever VERIFY they are who they say they are, LOOK at their track record (have they interviewed other 'weird' communities? how polite were they? what do the comments look like? what sort of community do they foster?) and DO NOT HESITATE TO ASK OTHER PEOPLE IN THE COMMUNITY FOR HELP!!!

[castlebyersafterdark]

can someone please explain how the time jumps are going to work??? like the ending of s4 was a disaster hawkins were split in 4 and they are going to randomly do a 3 year time jump??? or they're going to do a few month time jump where it will make us get to 1897 but then they're going to randomly do another time jump? and how would they address the painting or something else happened after 3 years? i know this isnt about spicy byler but i really think about this but o cant really find answers

i hope you can post this love youu <3

I love you too anon haha ☺️ Just my very very loose theories because it's all just guesswork on my part, I'm sure others have been meticulously tracking timelines through hints we've gotten but I'll admit all the leaks and theories and rumors got overwhelming to a point so I've been reading others stuff here and there instead of obsessively documenting things anymore. But!! My thoughts:

E1 - The immediate aftermath of what we saw from the ending of season 4. Action following the sights on the hill. I almost think either something is going to happen right away with Will, cementing his place one, as the main character for 5 but two, to showcase that he's a major target and to establish the storyline as to why he and Mike are going to be paired together the whole season. To establish both the supernatural storyline as well as the romance. See what I mean when I say both of these arcs are completely entwined, like a DNA helix. I think it'll start with the flashback to Will's time in the UD and then it will cut to present day Will standing on that hill, we hear that icy vecna voice in his head "Will Byers [something sinister and 👀]..." and then boom opening credits. Cut to the group trying to come up with a plan, how they're hiding El and Hopper, maybe there's a little mini mission that fails, start the season off strong with some major injury to a lead character, introduce the military takeover, showing Hawkins on whatever the version of a lockdown/quarantine situation is, boom end of episode. There's a lot of stuff I can't think of that will be here too, these are just the major plot points. I think some E1 spring 1986 stuff has already been filmed when they were making 4 but not all of it.

E2 establishes that time has passed. Here's where I'm not sure how deep the time jump is. Because we see a lot of the leaks/officially shared behind the scenes shows the characters in the same outfits and scenes and it looks like fall? So is it fall 1986 or fall 1987? And we missed an entire year, we skipped the entire sophomore year of the party? So they're juniors now? So I wonder if we get anything in the in-between of spring 1986 and fall 1987. That's a big gap (A gap in which I would hope Mike and El have split) I have this suspicion that Will actually has been staying with the Wheelers - all that time, though? Interesting. What are the older teens (young adults now. What do we call them now, the Nancy age squad) doing - all stayed in Hawkins out of some sense of obligation to see the situation through, but what do they think is the end point? No one went to college? But E2 will be the first time jump.

I'm having trouble establishing if there's a Fall 1986 jump and then a Fall 1987 jump. Are there summer scenes? There were filming rumors at a pool. All these different dates on props and release dates of cassettes (I think one was 1989 - epilogue? Graduation for the party? big ONE YEAR LATER card) so I think there will be multiple jumps. But adding in the relationship timelines and the painting issue - unsure how that'll all play out. That's the thing that completely alludes me, I've tried multiple ways to make it make sense through theorizing and laying out a fic and it's all just not clear to me so I'm kinda just riding the waves of anticipation at this point!! Because I can't commit to a timeline. I do think there will be multiple jumps. The plot will not be contained to one week like in all previous seasons. At least I don't think so?? And some people think we'll jump all the way to the 90s at one point - no. No we won't be. It's the 80s show and in the 90s the party would be 18/19 in 1990 I think and college age and we're not going that far, unless it's the unlikely event they show them years down the line. Which I highly doubt. This is such a flighty answer but such is the issue of predicting things!!

[ppjeterka]

YOUR PYGMALION AU OMG, I JUST READ THE PROLOGUE, I AM SO HERE FOR IT!!! The CONCEPT, inspired (especially in light of recent info pushing us more and more towards the "Matthew Tkachuk is the REAL hockey bot here" narrative lol), and the execution! You have such a lovely writing style! I am so excited to read more!

AHHHH I'm so glad you're enjoying what you're reading so far!! It's really great to hear you think the concept is inspired LMAO I'm usually not vocally proud of my work/ideas, but I will fully fess up to being actually kind of proud of my behind-the-scenes planning and world building for this story :) I legit have an entirely separate document that I'm using to track motifs/themes/rules of the (very vaguely established) magical system to keep myself straight. I'm just hoping that I manage to communicate all of those ideas in the final product in a natural way that doesn't just come across as me going "so the world is like this because X and Matthew has grown to be like this because Y and he has to do things like this because of the rules of Z" you know? I guess I'm just taking a lot of time to say I want to show and not tell, but it's definitely something I'm thinking about going forward.

Also omg stop thank you for complimenting my writing style!! I'll admit I wrote the prologue in a certain style that I'm not necessarily planning on committing to quite so intensely for the remainder of the fic for fear of being too pretentious LOL but don't worry it'll probably be pretty similar when all's said and done :>

AND YES about the whole Matthew Tkachuk being a hockey robot thing. One of the things about NHLers that I've always found so interesting (or maybe, more accurately, so boring it's interesting?) is how the best stars are often so, so well developed in one aspect of their life, and so incredibly underdeveloped in every other sphere LOL. Admittedly, this phenomenon isn't the main thing I planned on addressing in SB (which deals more with legacy, complex familial relationships, learning how to live for one's self, etc etc) but it will certainly be a big part of the story (and is obv a nested condition of all the things mentioned in the above parenthetical)!

Okay, I'll stop talking now haha, if it's not incredibly obvious already, I've been chomping at the bit to talk about this story for so long (over a year!!!!), and its genuinely making my day to get asks about it so THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TAKING THE TIME TO DROP IN AND SEND AN ASK :DDD

[waywardfacegarden]

I just saw that you're back into writing after a months-long break! I'm SO HAPPY for you! 🎉 And ironically enough I came here to ask you a writing-related question ^_^ What are your thoughts/opinions on major character OCs in fanfics? Like, dislike, meh? What about Character x Reader fics? I'm curious to know 😁

LOVELY!!💖💖💖 Yes, I’m finally back on track!!! I’m actually pretty inspired right now, but I think I’m taking a bit of a break and take it slowly since here because my last fic was so long and writing 25k in two days and spending 5 days editing it was really exhausting. Plus college?? Gah. But I’m so happy words are finally working for me!!!! Writer’s block is absolutely terrible and it strikes me ALL THE TIME, but it never felt this frustrating for me before. Mainly because this time I HAD the ideas. It’s not like I didn’t know what I wanted to write, is just that I couldn’t. Every time I sat down in front of my laptop I kept... I don’t know, I just couldn’t bring myself to write even one line. i wrote down something like “The sky was mainly grey, a couple of clouds gathering around and hiding the welcoming goldish sunlight of dawn.” and I kept staring at it for 30 minutes and going “nope. I hate it.” and closed the document and gave up for the day. I don’t know why, but I just couldn’t bring myself to write. I felt like words weren’t working as I wanted, if that makes sense. But I really enjoyed doing this last fic, it all flowed down pretty nicely, so I’m really happy!!! And it’s just pretty sweet of you to being so happy for me, too???? Aaaaah, my heart🥺🥺🥺😭😭

About your questions!!! Because you know I always sidetrack and talk too much ajsdajdasdl. I actually haven’t read that many fics with major character OCs in them, and it’s not something I personally actively look out for? However, the few ones I’ve read (from different fandoms), where OCs play major roles in the fic are in my main favorite fics of all the time. For example, I remember one of the top of my head that was from Gravity Falls (LOL), and it was like 21 chapters. It was mainly about the twins getting back to their town and every chapter was about one different classmate (all OCs) describing how weird they were, haha. It’s one of my fave, fave, fave fics, and I keep getting back to it a lot, even after like, six years of the first time I read it. So while it’s not something I mainly look out for, I think is pretty interesting. People tend to develop their OCs really good, and it’s a refreshing perspective to see characters from POVs you don’t know nothing about? It gives you a whole new light, given that even if you’re reading something through the eyes of another character (that’s not on the main couple, for example), you kind of... already know a bit about the way they see them? But it’s different when it’s a whole new character -- I don’t know if I’m making sense asdkjald. So, conclusion: I think they’re interesting, I haven’t read that many but I really liked the ones I have read, and I love getting to know new freshly characters and the way they develop into the story with characters we already know.

Character x Reader fics are, again, not something I actually look out for. Maybe because I’m more into shipping LOL than the actual idea of me getting with one character? AJSDLAJD. Like I can LOVE with all my heart a character. Love them totally. I have like (5) crushes in anime characters [more tbh LMAO but I’m talking about like. The strong ones] that I swear to god are so insanely big that is ridiculous LMAO, and if they existed, I swear I would be head-over-heels LMAO. (You have Rin, for example, that I swear -- if he existed irl and I was his friend OHHHH BOY I would be a mess around him LMFAO. Clumsily in love with him from afar, oh the tragedy :’u) -- but I just. I guess I don’t see myself with them in a relationship? It doesn’t appeal to me personally (read a character I love fall in love with me) for some weird reason asdasjdlasdj. But like I said, maybe it’s because I’m completely enamoured of my ships and the dynamics they have -- whether in a platonic or romantic setting -- so I absolutely LOVE reading them in like 8000 different scenarios interacting HAHA. I had read like (3) character x reader fics in my whole life, though, and I absolutely loved them, haha. So, idk, I think is a matter of what you prefer?? I personally prefer reading things of my ships or gen of my fave characters, but if character x reader fics are your cup of tea or your preference for whatever reason than that’s totally okay!!! You shouldn’t be ashamed for loving the things you love, never, and I’m not trying to shame those who love this kind of fics. You do you, my friend, and you’re absolutely valid💕💕💕💕💕

[pickalilywrites]

Ah! I'm late!!! I hope requests are still open >.< Is there a chance we have a continuation of that New Years AruMika fic? Did they get together right away? Or maybe some other special moment they might have had, good or bad, depending on your mood... xoxoxoxo

ofc ^^ that’s one of my fav arumika fics that i’ve written haha. this one is loosely based off this clip from community w/ brie larson ^^

I’ll Call You

AruMika. College AU. 

1759 words. 

Buy me a ko-fi!

Armin Arlert has a dorm room on the other side of campus near the bookstore, but he practically lives in the library. While he loathes how packed it can get during midterm and finals week, it’s relatively empty in general. Most students flock to the first two floors, sometimes the basement if they want a little more privacy, but Armin typically studies on the third floor where hardly anyone ever visits. It’s partly that way by design; the books that most people use are on the first two floors while the books Armin needs are on the top floor. And, well, it helps that there are only a handful of other people studying marine biology at his school.

He plucks a book from the shelf, a thick book about coastal algae, and sits down on the floor next to the other tomes he’s selected for his research. He could always sit down at a table nearby as most people do, but he’s always liked occupying a space between bookshelves and splaying all his papers and research out on the floor. He finds that taking up a lot of space helps him think better and keeps him from feeling too constrained when brainstorming, but he’s also learned that people despise it when someone takes up more than one desk in the library, so he finds that this system works better. Anyway, it’s not as if anyone ever looks through these stacks anyway.

Armin sits cross-legged, the book comfortably in his lap. He flips it open, running a finger down the table of contents before opening it to the page on algal blooms. The chapter opens with a picture of a deep blue sea with vibrant red algae blooming across the body of water. There’s a small smile on Armin’s face as he admires the natural wonder. He gazes at the picture for a little while longer before looking at the text, the tip of his finger going line by line down the first paragraph. He reads about how algal blooms occur, their consequences, and how to control algae growth. Every once in a while, he sets down the book, muttering a note about algae growth curves or major factors that contribute to algal blooms, and types a quick note in an open document on his computer, before returning to his research. He’s so engrossed in his reading that he almost doesn’t notice when somebody else has arrived on the top floor, walking towards the bookstacks he’s housed himself in and stopping at the bookshelf right next to him.

When Armin hears the footsteps approach him, he gets ready to shut his book and apologize, hurriedly gathering his things so that the student can reach whatever book they need, but he’s surprised when the person walks right past him. He peeks between the shelves and sees a slick black boot – a female student, Armin thinks when he observes the heel of the ankle boot – and he wonders if it’s anyone in his department. There aren’t that many female students in his department to begin with. Whoever this person is, maybe she’s not a marine biology major at all, Armin thinks. Maybe she’s here to research zoology, although he’s not even sure if their school even has a zoology department.

Well, it’s not any of his business who she is, Armin decides, returning to his book. If she doesn’t walk through this aisle, then they don’t have to bother with each other. He’ll just bury his head in this text until she walks away, then he’ll concentrate on the paper he has to work on.

“Excuse me.” The footsteps stop right where he’s sitting and he looks up to see none other than Mikasa Ackerman. He’s partly surprised because she’s a mechanical engineering major – engineering books are in the basement – but mostly because, well, she’s Mikasa Ackerman. If she’s surprised to see him, she doesn’t show it. Instead, she stands there with a hand on her hip, looking down at him. “Do you know where I can find a good reference about biofouling?”

He blinks up at her, wondering if she’s serious. He’s about to ask her if she really needs a book about biofouling, but she taps her foot impatiently, and he immediately rises from the floor and hurriedly leads her to a small section on barnacles and biofouling. “I did a short paper on it back in my sophomore year,” he mumbles, gesturing towards the shelf. He shifts around on his feet, watching her nervously as she scanned the titles. “I…I’m surprised you’re looking into it, seeing as you’re a mechanical engineering major.”

Mikasa plucks two books from the shelf, holding one in the crook of her elbow and inspecting the other one more closely. “My senior project was on a search and rescue device that operates underwater,” she replies, not even bothering to look at him. He’s beginning to wonder if she remembers him at all or if she’s just mistaken him as a librarian. “We didn’t really account for how the environment would affect the material and device operation though, so I’m researching future improvements that can be made if this project is taken up in the future.”

“I see. That’s…interesting.” Ah, if only he could say something more interesting. It’s this uncertainty of his – that he’s not cool enough, interesting enough, or funny enough to carry on a conversation – that has prevented him from actually calling Mikasa after they had talked at the New Year’s Eve party. But maybe he should have called her anyway. Now he just looks like an asshole.

“Thanks,” Mikasa replies coolly. She looks him up and down. Her expression isn’t exactly disapproving, but it still makes Armin feel as if he’s done something wrong. “I think these will be sufficient. It was nice seeing you again.” She turns on her heel to leave, but Armin reaches out, his hand on her shoulder. Slowly, she turns around, eyebrow raised as she waits for him to say something.

“I...How are you? I haven’t seen you since the party,” Armin says. They stare at each other for another moment, neither of them saying a word, until Armin realizes his hand is still on Mikasa’s shoulder. He draws it back, holding it close to his chest, and his gaze falls to the floor. “I…I was thinking about texting you before break ended, but I never did.”

She looks at him with the same indifferent expression. “I know.”

He waits for her to continue, but she never does. It looks as though she’s waiting for him to continue instead, but he’s not sure of what to say. Then again, that was the issue that’s caused this awkward conversation to begin with. If he had just texted her once, she wouldn’t be looking at him with such an impassive expression. The very least he should do is apologize for never contacting her. Even now, they never would have met if Mikasa hadn’t come up here by chance for research. He should say he’s sorry before she leaves.

“Mikasa,” Armin says, looking up. He shoves his hands in his pockets, purses his lips. He stands there like that for a while, fidgeting awkwardly, but he’s already hesitated long enough. A month of silence is too long, he decides. He no longer wants to hesitate any longer. Finally, he says, “I’m sorry I haven’t called you or even texted you. I’m sorry that we didn’t get to see each other until now. And I’m sorry if you never want to talk to me again since I’m kind of a jerk for just disappearing on you…but I’m really happy to see you again too.”

He thought she would turn away, huffily agreeing with him, but he sees a slow smile creep across her face. Almost shyly, she looks down, reaching up to tuck a lock of black hair behind her ear. “Yeah…well, I can’t be entirely mad at you,” she says with a soft laugh. “I could have called you too, after all.”

Armin shrugs. “Maybe,” he laughs. “…would it be okay if I called you later? I promise I will this time.”

“Alright.” She lingers for a moment, looking at all his papers scattered on the floor. She looks at him again, a smile on her face, and says, “But don’t take too long, Arlert. I might call you first.” Mikasa turns on her heel, giving him a wave and a cheeky wink before she takes off, and Armin stares after her until she disappears down the stairs, carrying the books she had selected earlier in the crook of her arm.

After she’s gone, Armin returns to his books, but he can’t find it in himself to concentrate. He’s restless as he flips through his reference book, his foot tapping impatiently as he wonders how much one person could possibly write about algae. Only a few minutes pass before he gives up entirely, instead looking at his phone screen. He’s not exactly sure why. He’s not expecting a message – Mikasa did say she’d only call if he didn’t call her soon – but he glances at his screen anyway. For a brief second, he thinks about calling her right now, but would that seem too eager? Ah, but wasn’t it this line of thinking that prevented him from calling before in the first place? He should take initiative this time…maybe in a bit.

Armin gets up, stretching his legs. He abandons his things and wanders around the library. It hasn’t even been two minutes since she’s left, and he’s getting antsy. He finds himself at the window, watching the entrance of the library. Only a few students come in and out – most students don’t stay in when the weather’s this nice – and he sees a familiar figure own below. With her dark hair and graceful stride, Mikasa is difficult not to recognize even when Armin is observing her from a height.

He’s not sure when he dialed her number. He only realizes he’s called her once the buzzing of his phone stops and he hears her voice.

Down below, Mikasa stops in her tracks. “Armin? I didn’t think you’d call so soon.”

“Yeah, well, I couldn’t wait.” He leans in closer to the glass, one hand on the window pane. “And I was wondering if you’d like to go out this weekend.”

“I’d love that,” she replies. He doesn’t even have to see her face to know that she’s smiling.