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[deftsoft1]

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[elainsgirl]

Nesta’s story is not finished. Getting an Elain book next would not be smart. She’s irrelevant. Nesta’s arc was at least built within Feyres books. SJM needs to do that with Elain in Nesta’s second book because right now Elain could be killed off and it would have no impact as she contributes nothing to the story. I literally forgot about her in SF. You all put her on this high horse that she doesn’t even deserve to be on. She’s irrelevant and her book now would be boring and ruin the series and everyone would leave.

Nesta’s story and Arc is very much finished. By the end of acosf - we see her happy, healing surrounded by her new made family whilst also healing her relationship with the IC. We see Nesta grow and take on a more prominent role as well as her becoming something. We also witnessed her love story with Cassian that Mass left on a happy note - with them being mated and having a mating ceremony for it.

Sorry, but Nesta is not getting another book. HOFAS simply shows there’s history to the archerons sisters that we will learn about & the family is important.

There’s only 3 spinoffs anon. If Nesta got a duology -> Elain would have to get a duology and that requires 4 books altogether surpassing What Mass was contracted for.

Elain does have an arc in SF, just bcs you ignored it doesn’t mean its not there. Elain becoming bolder, speaking up - reminder of her traumas and how she still has powers from the cauldron. Feysands bonus telling us there’s more to Elain then meets the eye -> Thats enough information to set her up as the next protagonist. Remember these books are standalones, in SF we did not need to see Elain or have her developed too much that acosf then becomes important to read in order to understand her book. We got hints here and there and thats enough.

I could say the same for Nesta in acofas. If you killed her off then, it would not have affected the plot one bit, a characters main development should come from their own book. Look at how important Nesta is now AFTER she’s had her book? The same will happen to Elain.

“Elains book would be boring!” To YOU. There are thousands out there who are intrigued for Elains story. And even those that arent’ will still read an Elain book bcs Sjm has a fandom that would eat up and consume whatever she writes and puts out.

“everyone would leave” Thank God. We need a fandom cleanse.

[pastafossa]

hi pasta ! i’ve been a long time fan of you and your work, your writing is by far my favorite so far for matt that you’ve reignited me to write fanfics again ! i think you’re incredibly talented and so smart in your way of designing a story so vividly it just sparked my desire to to create again after my 30th reread of TRT. it is totally okay if you choose not to answer these but i have a couple of questions for writers? i have written fanfics before but they never came out to my liking (i never published them😅) so i’m looking to improve it and better my understanding of creating content that i like and am proud of!

the questions !! :

what are some things and tricks to writing lively, real dialogue? i find when i write sometimes my characters seem dull and cardboard like. i want it to flow naturally god dammit !

how do you go about characterization and staying true to it as your character develop and evolve? and to riff off of this question what is some additional research you would do to get the nature of your chosen character (ex, matt) right?

what are ways to better your writing? for example highlighting a characters complex emotions, describing the scenery around, detailed fight scenes and car chases, etc, etc. and not just them but silly grammatical errors and simple vocab. (i’m trilingual so it get a bit fuzzy remember all the rules of every language 😭) your foreshadowing game is just chefs kiss cuz you would sit on something and brush past it but it’ll make its comeback 20 chaps later, HOW??

and lastly, what is your advice to planning a long story? what are some steps you take to je respect the timeline of a show or a movie and how do you fit your OC into it? as well as making the OC’s backstory fit in. speaking of backstory and lore, i find it so hard to fit in believable, human lore to my OC and not make it super childish. i think you did such an interesting job with project beagle, the antagonist, the body swapping, the symbolism, etc, that it just feel so canon to me.

well thats all i have to ask, i hope it’s not too much, you really are such an awesome artist and i admire your work as a writer so much! thank you for sharing your stories on here/ao3. ❤️

Oh my gosh, this is so sweet! I'm absolutely gd honored you love TRT this much, I'm so, so happy it could help make you want to write fic again! 😭😭😭 Seriously, one of the things that just makes me absolutely delighted is when something I've made could lead to more things being made in turn, cause I don't just love Matt and Daredevil and TRT, I love stories in general! The world needs more of them, so this is FUCKING AWESOME. And I'm happy to answer these questions as best I can!

I'm also going to put this behind a see-more tag cause it's long LOL.

Token Matt gif just for fun. LET'S GET STARTED.

Natural, lively dialogue: Ooooh this is a fun question I haven't gotten asked before I don't think. I won't lie, part of it absolutely the immersion with all the shows, movies, and books I take in. But there's another element I was taught in creative writing classes - the idea that sometimes you should read as a writer. That is: read while asking yourself, 'how did they do that? Why? How did they foreshadow this?' Etc. You can do the same thing with characters speaking and with people. Listen to how these characters speak, how similar people speak, and try to get a feel for how they talk. I'll use contractions as an example. Most people use contractions, for example (at least in the US), in natural flowing dialogue. It's shorter, it's more casual, whereas they might speak more formally (less contractions) in a professional setting like a courtroom or when they're really angry and speaking somewhat threateningly. They also might not use contractions for other reasons - in TRT Ciro tends to use fewer contractions when speaking English, both because he's a classy guy and because English isn't his native language (he learned it more formally). I also try to treat each character as having their own natural accent (which can also show a bit of their personality). Matt rambles when he's nervous, but his dialogue gets sharp and choppy when he's furious (Devil wants to act, not talk). Foggy loves metaphors and has a lot of swings up and down in tone for emphasis (Grew up a theatre kid). When Jane in TRT is feeling particularly cold, she starts dropping unnecessary words from her sentences so they're shorter (more efficient + trained to give immediate answers without flourish). Sometimes it can also help to listen to the dialogue you write or have it go through a text-to-speech program so you can hear if it sounds stilted, but I've found the ability to detect stilted dialogue is just something you have to practice!

Keeping true to the character while letting them evolve: this is ALSO A FUN QUESTION. Especially because something I was taught is that, generally speaking (always exceptions): a stagnant character is a boring character. They need to struggle with who they are, and grow or devolve as a person. They need to learn. I knew I wanted that to happen in TRT, so yeah, a big question was how I could show characters growing while also keeping them the characters we know and love. And for me it was about figuring out what the basic building blocks of those characters were, and making sure they were always present, because an apple pie should always, in theory, come out of the oven an apple pie, even if it's been changed some by baking. Things like Matt's struggle with his faith, the way he's sorta incapable of finding a middle ground between Devil and Matt Murdock, his refusal to ignore injustice, his trauma and fear of abandonment, his love of the Kitchen, his anger issues and the ensuing impulsivity, these are all building blocks for him. These do not change. What changes is how they manifest, and what he does with them. Matt learns he can trust Jane with his trauma and fear of abandonment. She helps calm his anger. The building blocks are all still there. Some of them just get arranged a little differently as he grows. Same with Jane and how she has grown. She's always going to have Hound Mode floating around in the back of her head. Security will always be her biggest concern, her motivator. She's always going to be the one who prefers to think and plan. She'll always feel a little weird about personal identity, and be able to flip through lies and false faces with the best of them. But she'll handle all of that differently as she grows alongside Matt. The plot is baking them, changing those pies in the oven, but their base ingredients are something I'm super careful to keep consistent. That I think is one of my secrets since this has been going on 8 years now!

Additional research for characterization: I am always, always, always going to recommend good psychology research (I loved this shit in college, especially developmental psychology, and fortunately there's a TON that's easily accessible online and doesn't require any classes). For Matt, that would be psychological things like... what does repeated abandonment do to a person when they're a kid? How does abandonment and parental loss shape their attachment styles and relationships later in life (hint: it's not great)? We know he has untreated depression, so what's going on in his brain considering he's pushing all that down? What would the day-to-day struggle being exposed to all that crime and pain do (research into things like the mental health of paramedics and social workers, etc)? Dissect these characters like little bugs, put them on your table, and try to figure out why someone would do what they do. Be curious, basically!

How To Improve In General: I LOVE THAT YOU BROUGHT UP MY FORESHADOWING FIRST OFF, I'LL ANSWER THAT IN THE NEXT BIT FOR PLANNING BUT. For me this is a couple things. The biggest one is reading, reading, reading. Read professional stuff in addition to fanfic. Read in your chosen genre. Read writers you want to write like! Read writers who are writing what you want to learn! And when you do, ask yourself how they did what you want to do. I have one book series that's my absolute favorite, I've read it over and over and over again. And it's very likely that someone who's read that book series and TRT would be able to spot the influence that book series has had on Jane's character voice, how I write action scenes, morally grey characters, etc. So that's where some of it comes from! For things like detailed emotions and sensations, my favorite book is The Emotion Thesaurus! I've found I don't need it as much now because I've gotten the hang of it, but it's still good to have there as a refresher. And for things like grammar and simple vocab, not only will reading help, but I'd also open the door to any fandom friends who might beta read for you! I've been writing fic since I was... hrrgh, quite young. And I'm super grateful for the betas over the years that would go over my fic and leave notes - notes not just on what they had changed but why: why they changed this punctuation, why they broke up this sentence, why they capitalized this or lower-cased that. That helped a ton! But yeah, when in doubt, grab an author you love and open it up and go, '...Ok, so how did you do this???' Also holy hell, you're triilingual so you already get a TON of kudos here on learning how multiple languages work, YOU GOT THIS.

Planning a long story: now's the part where I make people groan but the biggest advice is to outline, I know a ton of us heard it in school and ignored it because pfft but THE OUTLINE REALLY IS IMPORTANT. This is how I was able to foreshadow things ages in advance - I knew what was coming in the future so I was able to leave breadcrumbs earlier on. This also meant I was able to figure out how certain dominoes would tip (like when TRT's original plotlines would change something in canon) or when there were gaps in Daredevil's timeline that I could neatly settle into. Knowing the entirety of the story and having it all laid out also meant it was easier to change things or work to make sure TRT fit into the Daredevil/Marvel Universe like a puzzle piece. That was one of the steps for me both when it came to respecting the timeline (not that you need to! That was a personal choice for me) and with making sure the lore all fit in. I love the Marvel universe, have since I was a kid, so I was able to tap some of their fun recurring tropes and themes (Evil scientists, secret government projects, Mutants/Enhanced characters in hiding) and instead of trying to make it new, I tried to do my own spin on it instead because I know this sort of thing already exists there, and threw in some of the other general genre tropes I enjoy (love me some symbolic otherworlds and psychic connections). I think for an OC like this, that's sort of the key. Their backstories will fit because they're built on power structures and building blocks that already exist. It's just about finding a little section that hasn't been told yet. That's where this type of OC flourishes: in these little gaps between walls and load-bearing pillars, a story and character you wouldn't find all that unusual if they popped up as a side character in canon, all to explore some part of the world that hasn't really been fleshed out yet. AND if desired, I think there's something to be said for matching just how grounded/fantastical your show/movie is. Daredevil is very, very grounded. People get hurt. They die. These aren't Avengers-level Gods who can take a lightning strike. So I respected that with Jane, who gets hurt... fairly often, tbh. I also leaned into, yet again, a story gap in that while a lot of the people running around with the Devil (Frank, Elektra, Stick, Jess and Luke, etc) are GOOD at fighting, Jane's specialty is NOT fighting, generally, even if she's pretty damn good with a gun and quick with her knife. Her specialty is getting away, so it gives us new things to explore in terms of threats and fight scenes!

I hope all of this helps! Everyone gets better with practice, so don't be afraid to put your stuff out there! God knows I've got old fanfic floating around the internet, and a lot of my early stuff wasn't anywhere near what TRT is. But I also couldn't have gotten to TRT without writing it, posting it, and learning from it. <3

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

I’m confused…. So SHE is restocking and the deal is still HAPPENING?

😵‍💫

It's all PR and semantics - if you're getting confused, that means her plan is working.

So let's dig into it.

Meghan's team is now hinting that the As Ever products will be restocked. That's really what the quote is: "But while the As Ever team has hinted online that the items will be back on sale soon, Meghan also wants to take a step back, gather data from the launch, and figure out exactly what As Ever could be."

Note that that text is linked to this Instagram post:

Suggesting that Meghan's PR is justifying a restock with this vague confirmation of new products.

But new products is not a restock. Hinting is not confirmation.

Which leads to a second source of confirmation: an exclusive to Vanity Fair in which they said "that products for [Meghan's] As Ever brand will be restocked on her website soon."

But soon is not a specific measurable unit of time. Soon can mean anything. I mean, I've been promising y'all updated timelines soon for 6-8 months, and I actually haven't done any work on it.

Now consider these excerpts from the interview:

Meghan also points out that Netflix is not just a financial backer. The company’s consumer packaged goods team works closely with Meghan’s team to manufacture the products. “We are on calls daily, working through product development, SKUs, and inventory,” she says. “We have a field trip tomorrow to look at different manufacturers and suppliers as we expand the brand.”

and

There are some clues about what new items might be in the pipeline. Meghan’s trademark application for her brand includes things like cookbooks, tableware, cutlery, and serving ware. “I want to really focus on the hospitality angle of As Ever, but as we take the learnings, we can understand what the customer’s needs are seasonally,” she says.

None of this actually says or describes work to restock the products. If As Ever actually were planning to restock, they wouldn't be focusing on product development, brand expansion, and new manufacturers. They'd be on the phone demanding current manufacturers get their act together and restock.

Two last wrinkles in this:

First, this update from the Fast Company writer:

"products may be restocked in the future." Not products will be restocked. May, which is a measurement of probability. Like "it may rain tonight." It could rain, or it could not rain. Meghan could choose to restock her products, or Meghan could choose not to restock her products. May is vague and it is not definite. It's the word you use to hedge your bets.

Second, there hasn't been a reason for why As Ever hasn't been restocked. Don't you think that if she hasn't restocked for legitimate business reasons, like supply chain issues or manufacturer delays, her PR would be all over that like white on rice? Just all the attention she could've gotten, crying to People and her podcast about how she's just a new female CEO who just wants to support her fans but big mean manufacturing CEOs are keeping her down?

It's the same phenomenon as her products selling out in 45 minutes - all that product sold out that fast, and the website didn't crash? With all that interest she and her fans are claiming?

Yeah, it's bunk. It's Meghan playing semantics and word games hoping no one is smart enough to pay attention to the details.

I'm not totally sure what your comment about "the deal is still happening" is for, but I think you're commenting about the DM's throwaway that they've independently confirmed Netflix is renewing their contract but without Harry, right?

I can't really speak to that because I can't get to the article - it's behind the DM's paywall, archive.org can't generate a screenshot, and I can't access archive.today links on my devices. But I've seen enough that I believe the DM is quoting "sources." In other words, they haven't actually named anyone.

And until someone is actually and specifically named, or the press release comes from Netflix itself, don't put any stock behind it. For all we know, the DM's "sources" is Meghan and Meghan's hotmail herself (which has actually happened before in the not-so-distant past) trying to manifest a done deal -- the same way she tried to manifest Megxit as a done deal for half in/half out, the same way she tried to manifest the Spencer tiara for her wedding, the same way she tried to manifest being besties with Kate.

Until someone's real, legit, actual name is attached to the scoop, it is imaginary hearsay.

[bayemon]

I often see the fandom conflate plot points / set-up with whether a character is 'defendable' or not.

For instance, Ivypool lashing out at Dovewing in one of the newer books.

"I can't believe Ivypool said that!"

"She was so mean to Dovewing!"

Well, while I personally feel like Ivypool was acting out in a very understandable, and sympathizable way, I also think fans are ignoring the obvious elephant in the room.

—This conflict only happens in the book to set up the book's story arc about 'alternative' afterlives. Bristlefrost, who we assume has faded from the world entirely, is revealed to still live on, even if only symbolically, through a stag that appears before Ivypool.

In other words, Dovewing's grief over Rowankit is being juxtaposed to Ivypool's loss of Bristlefrost, so that the book can reveal that she's not really gone.

In other book series, a Series of Unfortunate Events, for instance, the choices a character makes say something about who they are as a person,

As an example, from a Series of Unfortunate Events, the character Violet Baudelaire purposefully writes with her non-dominant hand when signing a marriage contract to Count Olaf thereby nullifing her marriage to him.

This shows that she is both clever, and knowledgeable of marital law. She is an inventor, and sees all the possibilites before her, even ones that would require her to think outside the box, in situations where a solution might not seem apparent.

Contrast this to Warriors, and you'll find that most characters are mouthpieces for the plot with characterization on the side.

Cinderpaw getting hurt, leading to Jaypaw developing hydrotherapy, allows us to learn about Cinderpaw being Cinderpelt, furthers the relationship between Jaypaw and his connection to the stick, and allows for bonding time between he and Leafpool.

But, we don't get much overt characterization out of this. We learn that Jaypaw is smart. But, it doesn't really say anything about him as a character. This follows for every other Warriors character, too.

We are dripfed characterization through little moments, Whitestorm spending long hours with Bluestar as her health declines, Firepaw's crush on Spottedleaf, Ravenpaw being happy at the barn with Barley.

But, ultimately, the characters are written in service of the plot, and not the other way around, like in a Series of Unfortunate Events.

This is a book series about a plot with characters, and not a book series about characters in a plot.

[httpscomorg]

I’ve recently become obsessed with Wade Wilson and Logan Howlett, and I love your FSD and Ensnared series.

I wanted to make a request on a poolverine one where Deadpool and Wolverine were both hired by the Avengers to find the reader and bring her to the tower because even though she’s just a normal civilian, she actually has some secret shit up her sleeves like a Mafia boss or something, but they kinda grow on her?

Thank you 💛❤️

Risk of Contract - Red and Yellow

Summary: You’re back to partying after a few years of giving up, but of course, your idols have to get in the way, and you quickly learn just how bad you’ve fucked up with the Avengers.

(Find what I'm currently writing by checking my pinned post)

Pairings: Logan x Reader x Wade

Warnings: Individual Warnings PerChapter - Kidnapping, drugging, language, cruel jokes, underage drinking, mentions of murder, blood, fight, sexual jokes, Honda odyssey, early stage obsession? Logan and Wade are both warnings.

Word count: 4815 (Find all chapters here) Chapter 2

P.S. If you’d like to be tagged, please let me know through an ask, DM, or comment. Thank you. (This fic is going to be a non-con with triggering kinks such as blood kinks and pain kinks)

P.P.S. Red and Yellow=Wade and Logan, Yellow=Logan, Red=Wade

There it was again. Another TikTok edit of Logan Howlett on your FYP. You’ve considered deleting all of your socials a few times. Your little crush had developed into an obsession. Which, for some reason, was becoming unhealthy. For some unknown reason, it made you genuinely sad that you knew you would never be able to meet Wolverine or Deadpool. Hell, you lived right in New York, and you’ve never even seen Spiderman for fucks sake. Everyone else has, but for some reason, you haven’t.

It actually made you jealous of your friends.

Yea, you were a normal college student who was working for your degree, but you lived in the heart of the city and you’ve never seen any of the heroes. Worst of all, you’ve never seen Wolverine or Deadpool, your idols. They weren’t the best to look up to, but you loved them.

Every edit you got on instagram or TikTok almost had you crying yourself to sleep.

So yea, it was unhealthy.

But you couldn’t help it. And with Halloween being today, it was even worse. Maybe a Wolverine costume wasn’t per-say the best idea.

You felt like a weirdo being obsessed with the two men, but you didn’t care.

You’re a loner in the school. The only reason people knew you was because you’ve shown up to parties on multiple occasions uninvited, but one specific time you got overly drunk, and your ex just wouldn’t leave you alone. So you got into a bit of a fight, and broke some kids' furniture.

That was in the past though, and he finally forgave you after two years, so there you were again. Dressed in a slutty Wolverine costume, walking up the front steps of the rich kids mansion, his parents went out on their annual work trip for Halloween.

Of course, you weren’t the only one dressed as Wolverine. The fight for humanity was just won to protect your earth, so obviously everyone was dressed as them. The most realistic being some of the football players.

“Hey! Y/N!” You turn as your friend runs towards you, a bald cap on her head. She was dressed as Charles Xavier of course. She was still disappointed she wouldn’t be able to bring a wheelchair to the party. Her definition of a cruel joke. “Love it, you look hot.”

“Thanks.” You chuckle, bringing your hands up to show the claws you programmed to come out upon clicking a button with your thumb, her mouth making an ‘O’ shape as they retract.

“That’s cool as fuck, I wish I was smart, your costume is way cooler than mine.”

“Pfft, what? You are absolutely rocking that bald cap.”

“Oh har har, very funny.” She walks up to the front doors of the mansion with you. “I’m glad Luke is letting you back in, just don’t fight anyone this time please.”

“I’m not promising anything.” She rolls her eyes and shows one of Luke’s bodyguards the texts on her phone which proved she was invited, then you show yours.

“You again? There better not be another fight.”

“Promise.” You tell him, your friend looking back and rolling her eyes.

“What happened to no promises?” She whispers, a smirk on her face as she walks in with you.

“They don’t count.” You tell her, immediately making your way to the table with red cups, and you quickly pour yourself a drink.

“Maybe you shouldn’t drink this time?”

“Oh hush, don’t deny me my happiness.”

“Still think you should go to rehab.” You give her a look, which she immediately takes as a sign to shut up.

“Hey, surprised you showed up.” An arm lays over your shoulder, you look over to see your best friend, and he’s dressed as Spiderman for the fifth year in a row.

“Spiderman again, Peter?”

“He’s my favourite, I think he’s cool.”

“He’s probably not.” You shrug, messing with him.

“Well you’ve never met him.”

“Yea, well I’m not as lucky as you.” You roll your eyes, taking the first sip of your drink.

“Hey Ned, how’s it going?” Peter's arm leaves your shoulder, and he goes to greet Ned before they do their long ass secret handshake. One they do so often you’ve memorised it.

“Peter Parker?” Flash… “Didn’t expect to see you here.”

“I come here every year…”

Their conversation fades out as you stop listening to it. Flash being the asshole you fought with in the first place.

You start to think again that maybe you shouldn’t be there. You could always go to another party or just get drunk in your own dorm, you weren’t sure why you even bothered coming.

Right.

Michelle.

“Hey, yay. You came.” MJ nudges you to get your attention. “How long have you been here?”

“Not long.” You answer her, drinking some more and you feel your phone buzz in your pocket, but you ignore it.

“Are you alright?”

“Yea, why?”

“You seem different.” She tells you, tilting her head up a little and her eyes stare down at you. “I don’t know what it is.”

“I don’t-”

“Did you take drugs?”

“What- No-”

“I’m joking, calm down, you don’t have to take everything so seriously.” She teases.

“I’m not taking anything seriously.” You chuckle. “I’m totally chill right now.”

“Oh my God, stop yelling at me, it was a joke.”

“You jerk.” You playfully punch her shoulder. Her little tactic to put a smile on your face works, as usual. You take another sip of your drink, the alcohol easily slipping down your throat.

Looking around the mansion, which was now filled with people, your suspicions were true. A majority of the kids were in their Deadpool and Wolverine costumes.

“What are you supposed to be right now?” You ask MJ, your eyes trailing up and down her costume. It was like a child mashed together a bunch of colours.

“Oh my little sister made it for me. I’m Captain Spider.”

“Captain Spider?”

“Yea, Captain America and Spiderman.”

You try not to laugh, you really do. And you don’t.

It comes out as more of a snort. Then it turns into a laugh.

“Not funny, she worked so hard on it.”

“I know, I’m sorry.” You continue laughing, covering your mouth to try hiding it.

“Are you already drunk?”

“What? No…” You lie. “What makes you think that?”

“You giggle a lot when you’re drunk, but not normal giggling, it's obnoxious.”

“Oh please, go find your boyfriend. He’s Spiderman.”

“What about you?”

“I think I’m gonna leave.” You see the visible disappointment on her face as you tell her you’re going to leave soon. You didn’t like the party aspect of parties. Always too many people.

Then there was Flash…

“Hey, glad you finally forgave me.” Shit.

“Who says I forgave you?”

“Well you showed up so I assumed-”

“I don’t forgive you.”

There’s silence between the two of you before MJ speaks up.

“Let’s um… Let’s calm down, how about Flash you go that way, and Y/N-”

“Yea Y/N, calm down.” Flash interrupts her.

“Don’t interrupt my friend…”

“Or what?” He puts his drink down on a nearby table, a little harshly as some alcohol jumps out and drips onto the table under it.

“I beat your ass last time I’ll do it again.” You tell him, you head tuning out MJs voice.

“You did not win that fight.”

“You would’ve been in the hospital if Peter hadn’t pulled me off of you.”

“You weren’t even close to that level.”

“I broke your nose, asshole, why do you think your face isn’t symmetrical anymore?”

“One more word.” He warns, but you only smirk. You throw your head back, finishing your drink in one big gulp before setting down your empty red cup next to his full one.

“Fuck you.”

Your hand swings first, before he can even process what you had said. He looks back up, stunned from the punch as a trickle of blood leaks from his nose.

“I think I fixed it.”

“Asshole!” He jumps at you, knocking you into some other people dressed as animals.

“Hey!” You hear Luke’s voice, his dumbass shouldn’t have invited you again. Or he shouldn’t have invited you both at least, that would’ve been logical.

He tries to get to you as you easily overpower Flash, on top of him as he covers his face, preventing you from throwing punches at his nose, but his arms were sure to have bruises. You knew Luke wouldn’t be able to reach the two of you, he was skinny, and the crowd of people barely moved an inch as he tried to push them out of the way.

“You fucking bitch get off!” Flash yells from underneath you, his hand finding an empty Cola can on the ground which he quickly smashes against the side of your head before getting up quickly, immediately grabbing something from the table as you pop onto your feet, you knew better than to turn your back on the person you’re fighting. “You crazy fucker…” He mumbles, a full bottle of alcohol in his hand being held by the neck, which he was ready to smash on you. But you didn’t care as you wiped a little sliver of blood off your cheek and walked towards him. You had much more experience in fighting than he ever will. “Come on! Come at me!”

“Do you ever shut up?” You groan, and he swings the bottle at you, which easily smashes over your head, and as you drop to the ground, your arms wrap around his legs, making some people gasp as you drop him back onto the ground, your knee sliding over broken glass as blood seeps through your Wolverine costume, your fist colliding with his jaw, not nearly all of your strength put into the punch, as you didn’t exactly plan on breaking his jaw.

Though it might do him some good.

And you were about to let him pull the white flag, your fist halfway in the air, preparing to come back down, but then he spoke again, and it pissed you off.

“You’re such a freak.” He pauses, and then the next part blows your steam.

“It’s no fucking wonder your dad abandoned you.”

You jaw clenches, and all mercy leaves you body as you’re about to put all of your strength into the punch, but a force stops you, and you’re forced to your feet.

“What the fuck?”

“What’s going on?”

“Y/N?”

“Her eyes…”

You hear everyone mumbling, but you don’t bother paying attention as the arms around your waist bring you away from Flash. You can’t seem to turn your head, your eyes are locked on him, some camera flashes hitting your pupils, but you ignore it. You wanted to fight-

No.

You wanted to fucking kill Flash.

But you’re dragged away, and only when a hand slaps you across the face do you snap out of it, and you’re outside now, two of the football players standing in front of you. One in a Deadpool costume, the other in their Wolverine costume.

In anger, you shove at the one dressed as Wolverine, and he barely budges as he stares down at you, his mask covering his face.

“What the fuck man! I had him!” You shout as you push him. “Fuck!” You scream, the outside of the mansion's front yard completely empty as everyone else continues partying inside.

“Not very pretty words for a very pretty mouth.” Excuse you?

“Excuse me?” You look at the one dressed as Deadpool, your voice stunned, sounding offended as he stares down at you.

“How about you calm down?”

If another person tells me to calm the fuck down…” You shout the last few words, it was worse than being told to smile more.

And for the first time, you look up at the dude's face who was wearing the Wolverine costume. He was a full grown fucking man. He almost looked like… No, it wasn't possible.

There was no way the real Deadpool and Wolverine would just show up to some random Halloween party, they had more important things to deal with.

Or so you thought.

But then your stomach drops as the man takes off his mask.

It was really him.

You turn your head to look at the guy in the Deadpool costume- err- suit. He had already removed his mask.

Sure enough, it was the real deal.

“What the fuck-?” You mumble.

Of all the ways you see these guys face to face, it was like this.

Blood leaking down your face from your scalp because a bottle was smashed on your skull, your lips also covered in it from the amount of blood, well- basically the entire right side of your face was covered in the blood, some still occasionally dripping down from the cut on your scalp, and you knees were also blooded, along with a huge gash on your thigh as it seeped through your yellow costume, staining the fabric.

“You got a nice punch for a college girl.” Wolverine speaks up finally, his arms crossed as he stares down at you, almost like he hates you.

“Well that's because she’s a bit more than that, ain’t that right?” Deadpool asks you rhetorically, and you debate how to answer it before your phone starts ringing in your pocket.

You pull it out, the screen now cracked from the fight, the screen telling you that ‘Mark’ was calling, so you pick it up and take a step back from your idols.

“Hey man, what’s uh- what’s up?”

“Did you get my text?”

“Probably, I just haven't seen it yet, why?”

“Well how about you look at it, it’s really fucking important.” He hangs up. Such an ass.

You open the messaging app, one notification from him.

And your heart stops.

Shit. You tell yourself.

Shit.

Shit.

Shit.

You slowly look back up at the two men. They knew exactly what the call was about.

Of course, you finally meet these two, in the wrong setting, at the wrong time, wearing the wrong thing, and for the wrong reason. Couldn’t possibly be worse.

“Anyways, uh… I should- I should really go-” You tell them, your voice shaking embarrassingly as you take a few steps back, they take the same amount of steps forward.

So you break out in a run, it doesn’t last long though.

You’re quickly stopped, your hair pulled as one of them drag you back.

“Woah there biscuits, we just wanna talk.” Wade turns you around, holding you by your shoulders as Logan tenses up, just waiting for you to run. “We’re not gonna kill you, just a few questions and we will be out of your hair.”

“Really?”

“Yes, then replaced by Nick Fury's agents.” You scoff as he keeps you still. You don’t bother fighting back, you knew damn well you wouldn’t be able to overpower him.

“Wonderful that makes this so much better. Look.” You gently take his hands off your shoulders. “I don’t know who you think I am, but I’m definitely not who you think I am.”

“Oh you are. We know exactly who you are.” Logan speaks.

“Who am I then? I am a twenty year old college girl with a drinking problem who goes to my friend's drama club every Friday. Doesn’t sound very Wolverine and Deadpool worthy.” You blab out, hoping they’d just leave you alone.

“No, see. You’re the girl who was abandoned, or rather ran away,” Ouch. “At a very young age because of daddy issues, who decided that she would cope with the loss by becoming a very, very hated bounty hunter, mercenary, assassin, whatever you may go by.” Wade spits out, nodding a little in the end. “But we just have a few questions.”

“Fuck you.”

“Again, your mouth is too pretty to be saying that nasty word-”

“Wade enough.” Logan shuts him up, and looks down at you, bending down a little to reach your height. “You going to tell us everything you know about your boss, or we are going to have our fun fucking your face up before we give you to Fury.”

“Again, you have the wrong person.”

“Give it.” He stands straight, holding his hand out to Wade as the guy in red reaches into his pocket, placing a syringe into his palm. “You don’t wanna talk? Fine. We won’t let you go.” He tells you, taking the cap off the needle and grabbing you as you try to move away before stabbing the pin into the side of your neck, and he pushes the contents into your veins.

When you wake up, it feels like you’ve been sleeping in a dusty room for years, your body immediately gasping and coughing for years as the smell of alcohol and murky water clouding your lungs like we're in a swamp.

Your head spins, and you groan in pain, whatever they injected you with fucking hurt. You wouldn’t be surprised if it expired as you sit there, feeling paralyzed. Each of your limbs in pain and a tear falls from your eye, but you sit up, the worst of the pain targeted towards your waist, like you’ve done a thousand curl ups without a break.

The room is as you expect it to look, the murky scent of a swamp on making you lightheaded. There’s a green glow on the walls as the sun shines through a window curtain, and you’re sitting in a bed that was more than likely the origin of the smell, a dirty hand rag sitting on the edge.

“Fucking disgusting…” You mumble as you throw your feet over the edge of the bed, your bare skin touching the cold, worn wooden floor. You make your way to the bedroom door, expecting it to be locked but it opens easily, the hinges screaming as you slowly open it, checking for anyone in sight, but there was no one. Until a head peeks up from behind a counter.

“Are you awake girl?” The voice asks, an older woman's face looking towards the area you were standing in, but not quite. “Hello? I swear I heard the door open…” She mumbles, and stumbles towards you. She’s blind. You realise, stepping to the side slightly to avoid her running into you.

“H-Hi?”

“Oh! Hi. So you are awake.”

“Yes, sorry. Where am I?” You ask as she begins to walk back over to behind the counters, tripping on the way over a box but catching herself.

“Dammit Wade, stop moving things…” She growls, her teeth clenched. “You are in my humble abode. Wade said to keep you here until he got back.”

“Well, I have to go-” You take a single step towards the front door, but stop.

“My name is Althea hun, what’s yours?” She asks, and you tell her your name. “That’s a very pretty name. Wade and his friend Logan have said a lot about you.”

“Have they…?” You roll your eyes a little. What could those two possibly say about you, someone they’ve never met before.

“Yea, they tell me you’re stubborn, but you’re smart.”

“That's… not a lot, but okay.”

“Oh there’s more, mainly from Wade but I don’t think you want to hear the sexual fantasies that I was cursed to listen to from the day I met him.” Your eyes squint in confusion, and your mouth moves as if you’re about to say something, but nothing comes out. “Are you hungry? I know Wade has some leftover mac and cheese, but it’s shaped like unicorns. Although I can’t see very well obviously and I personally think they’re shaped like a penis. Or at least that’s what the shape feels like when I eat it.” She opens the fridge taking out a tupperware bowl and she slides it onto the counter. With as much as you wanted to leave, you didn’t want to be rude.

“Yea no they uh…” You look down at the leftover noodles. “Yea those aren’t unicorns.”

“I fucking knew it.”

“OH! That was amazing! A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!” You turn around quickly, and you’re met with Wade removing his mask as Logan walks in behind him like a lost puppy. Logan's eyes quickly land on you while Wade talks about whatever was so amazing. “Gasp! She’s awake.”

“You don’t actually say gasp, Wade.”

“Well it’s more fun to say gasp than to gasp you should try it some time. Oh wait, you’re too busy grumbling to be able to gasp.” Ironically, Logan grumbles something under his breath. “Well hey there goody-two-shoes. Has blind Al kept you entertained?” Blind Al? He hooks his arm over Althea's shoulders and takes the tupperware of noodles from her. “What’s wrong? Not a fan of the unicorn noods?” He laughs a little, opening the container before picking up some of the noodles with his fingers and shoving them into his mouth as Althea mumbles something you don’t hear, then there’s a presence behind you.

“How long have you been awake?” Logan asks you, his hand settling on your shoulder as you jump to the sound of his voice.

“She hasn’t been up long. Maybe five minutes.” Althea answers for you. “Now are you sure you aren’t hungry? We’ve got crackers, cup noodles-”

“I ate the cup noodles.” Wade interrupts.

“Well we have crackers still and-”

“I ate the crackers with the noodles.”

I’m sure we have half a cucumber left in the fridge.”

“What? Last time I used that thing it wasn’t cut.”

“Used?”

There’s a long silence before Logan speaks up again. “Look, kid.” He makes you face him. “We just have some questions. S.H.I.E.L.D wanted us to bring you to them, but they have this torture method I’m not very fond of that they use when people don’t co-operate.” He explains, his eyes staring into yours, searching for an understanding. “And I know you aren’t the co-operating type, to Wade and I thought it would be best to bring you here. But if you don’t cooperate with us…” He gives you a warning look, and you nod a little. “Good.”

“I just don’t get why they need to question me.”

“You’re smart. And that makes you a threat.” He tells you, and sighs. “So are you hungry?”

“I’m okay.”

“You haven’t eaten in two days.”

“Two-” You stutter, your eyes widening and your eyebrows quirking up. “Two days?”

“Yea, and you don’t even wanna know what Wade did in the bed next to-”

“Okay Ms. Menopause, don’t you have an eye appointment at 2?” Wade shuts her up.

“Why would I have an eye appointment? I’m blind.”

“Let's talk outside.” Logan grabs your arm, and leads you outside of the little apartment.

“I just don’t get it, I didn’t do anything wrong. At least not recently.”

“You have a suit.” Fuck. You freeze as he brings you into the hallway and looks down at you. His height is more intimidating than it should be.

“I- Have… A suit?”

“Yes. Which Tony Stark believes was created by Stark tech. He had a shipment that was stolen last week, and it’s leading back to you.” You stand there speechless. Feeling ridiculous as your shift on your feet, still wearing your Wolverine costume. You didn’t steal shit.

“I did not steal anything.” You answer him honestly. Who in their right minds would steal Stark tech? That’s a death wish.

“Well, they say otherwise, so until you can prove your innocence and that you are not a threat, especially considering you murder people for a living-”

“Woah okay.” You put your hands up defensively. “I have not murdered someone in a little over two months, it gets stressful.”

“Big pay.”

“Really big pay, but not enough for me to do it like it’s a full time job.”

“Then how do you make money on the side? Part time theft?”

“Are you kidding?” You ask, genuinely. “No, I’m a lab assistant at the college I go to.”

“Is that where you get your tech?”

“No, I buy stuff off Facebook and then break it down and repurpose it.”

“With the money you make from murdering people?”

“No, with the money I make from grading chemistry tests.”

“That’s barely $300 a month, I know how much you make.”

“Stalker alert.”

“Look.” He sighs, rubbing his hand down his face. “What was the name of the last man you killed? On March the twenty-third?”

“Does it matter?”

“Oh it matters.” He nods. “It matters a fucking lot. That was a very important person.”

“He was a drug dealer and trafficked children.”

“Yes, and he had very vital information, which the physical evidence was destroyed in the fire you decided to start.”

“I didn’t decide to, it just kind of happened.”

“You turned on a lighter and threw it behind you.”

“So you can get video evidence on that but not video evidence on what he did to children?”

“Did you get anything out of her yet or do we need to waterboard her?” Wade steps out, a dog in his hand. What the fuck?

“We are not waterboarding her.”

“But it always works.”

“I can breathe underwater.” You break into the conversation, and both of their heads turn.

“You’re a mutant?” He asks, more of a declaration though.

“Will that be used against me?”

“Say it again I wanna get it on recording.” Wade giggles a little and hands Logan the hairless pug, its collar reading “Mary Poppins,” then he takes out his phone, the case was adorned with pink sparkles and a unicorn sticker that was peeling off and covered in blood.

“Your friend thinks everything is a joke?” You ask him, and he just nods.

“Yea, you have to be a dick to him first and insult his past if you want him to be even a little serious.” He scratches the dog's head.

“Speaking from experience I’m assuming.” He nods.

“Uh oh, the one eyed ninja is calling me, do I pick up?”

“Yes you pick up, or he’ll come here.”

“Hello Mr. Fury.” Wade speaks into the phone. “Oh no, we still haven’t found her.” He pauses, presumably letting Fury speak. “No, no. We’ve got everything under control.” You reach out and pet the dog that’s still in Logan's arms, and her tongue reaches out to lick you. “No you do not have to put another bullet through my head, that hurt last time- what? No. Of course I’m not lying to you.” Then he suddenly reaches over, and knocks hard on the wall next to him. “Oh? Do you hear that? That’s the stripper I ordered, I have to go before it gets cold. Okay love you bye-” You hear the hang up dial tone before Wade even finishes his sentence. “He’s on his way.”

“You’re fucking kidding me.” Logan growls, handing Wade back the dog.

“Oh I wish. He doesn’t know you’re here though because of the whole…” He moves his hand in a circular motion. “You know, our universe Logan being dead and all… So I guess you can take Y/N and go out for a few hours, come back when I text you it’s safe.”

“And how will he know it’s you texting, not Fury?” You ask.

“We have a safe word.”

“Safe word…?” You look between them. “Like for sex.”

“Yes.” “No.” Two different answers.

“You’re both chaotic.”

“Lovers franchise.” Wade whispers.

“His ‘safeword,’ is bazinga. Whatever the fuck that means.” He makes air quotes.

“Okay well, I’d rather be with you two than see whatever Fury has in stock for me. Where was he? Is he on his way or-?”

“Oh he’s waiting by the front door.”

“What?” You and Logan say in unison.

“Yea, so you’ll have to take the fire exit.

This fucking dude.

Logan growls and grabs your wrist before leading you down the hall and to the window at the end of it before sliding it open.

“Come on.” He steps out, and grabs your hand to help you, not letting go until you were both steadily standing on the metal stairs of the fire exit, then he closed the window and he led you the way down.

“So where are we gonna go?” You ask as you both reach the ground, him helping you down as if you’re fragile. Which you weren’t.

“I know a place.”

“Just don’t murder me…” You mumble, sort of a joke as he leads you to the parking lot, a set of keys in his hands as he clicks a button on them, a Honda Odysseys lights blinking as it unlocks.

“As long as you behave and tell me everything.” He opens the passenger door for you.

“I can guarantee you will not be harmed.”

[heartfullofleeches]

Here to once again advocate doll pilot reader this time with a clown performer mix. Quirky scientist reader who has the brains, but not the smarts when it comes to interacting with real people and partners with a tech company for the funds and equipment to make a functioning robot to get around town. The contract comes with the added deal of reader becoming a star on a show they've had in the works for a while about an android learning the ropes of life as a human - which in turn works in favor for reader and their poor social skills

Reader presents far more cheerful than they are in person most of the cast assume their robot to be advanced a.i. Their genuine confusion on basic human educate and them stuffing bagels in their mouth to take to their human self sells their clueless act well. A few might've developed a little obsession crush on the bot but alas it could never be... If only...

"Hey, can you pass me that charger?"

"Sure." Their co-star smiles as the android unstraps the bracelet from its arm and plugs the cord into an outlet on their wrist - hooking the charger up to the phone in their hand. It yawns without a breathe - rubbing at its eyes. So cute♡- Just where did they get the parts to make this bot.... what's that room on their screen?

"This? It's my bedroom. Needed to do some cleaning today but obviously I had work. Might do some while I'm sleep since my link we have is neurological."

It sure is.... wait- huh?

"Nobody ever tell you? Actually, only like... three people know so I don't blame you. I'm human just like you.. well, the me back home is. I have severe anxiety and not as chipper as I am on stage. Nice to meet ya - name's Y/n, but I'm sure you already knew that."

... ah.. that - definitely wasn't in the pamphlets.

In come the - innocent queries about the real you. Your bot is modeled off you - are you as cute as it? What's your full name? Address? Oops- looks like your charger disappeared. Filming took extra long today - might run out of battery before you get home. Maybe your kind, well meaning coworker can bring it to you?

crackpost under cut

Yan: I'm so happy to finally have you home, angel. Anything I can get you?

Human Reader: Just a glass of water, please-

Yan: anything for you dearest~

[Human Reader kicks off their shoe and takes the sleeping pill from their sock as their Yan returns]

Human Reader: Thank you- [swallows the pill and passes out - their robot kicking down the front door, smacking the shit outta their yan, and carring their human body back home. Yan, broke jaw and all, takes a picture of their sleeping angel carried away in their own arms]

Yan: worth it...

-

[Robot Reader picks up groceries after work covered up by a surgical mask and an oversized sweater. One of their fans sneaks up and tags magnet to their backside]

Yan fan: found you, dear~

Robot Reader: oh! Haha, ya got me! Would you like an autograph? Here- [wheels their cart into the fan and sprints off into the parking lot.]

-

Human Reader, watching Yan make out with their robot before their identity is revealed thinking noone is watching:

[ratasum]

Lore Post - Leyya, Whispers Infiltrator

(There are some headcanons ahead, as well as information from mine and @wall-legion's lore and slightly altered version of some events.)

The oldest child of Pruri and Daxx, and the only one they had in their contract (though both would go on to have numerous other contracts, having gotten contracted after a whirlwind college romance the minute they were of age meant things fell apart pretty quickly after Leyya was born).

With at least twelve other half siblings spread between both of her parents, she was always a little out of place.

It is, of course, important to note that Leyya was not born Leyya, but I will be referring to her as "she" and "Leyya" through the entirety of this post.

By the time Leyya was old enough to enter progeny school, Pruri was working as a private progeny instructor, primarily in a cushy position as tutoring "wards of the council." That is: she specialized in teaching orphans who were under the care of the state.

Since Leyya was the right age at the time, Pruri just decided to have her sit in on the class instead of enrolling her in a traditional progeny school. She was a friendly kid, open, got on well with the other kids around her. It helped the other progeny feel more at ease in the uncomfortable new surroundings. What happened then was unexpected, however: Leyya spotted a girl sitting in the back of the class. Prickly looking, big pale blue eyes, tucked in on herself and taking notes without really talking to anyone.

Her decision? Yeah. That girl's going to be my best friend.

This amused Pruri- after all, Leyya having a close friendship couldn't hurt. And so Leyya met Zojja, and it was pretty clear Zojja had no idea what to do with this girl with the wild white hair and pumpkin orange eyes and big toothy grin that sat down next to her and talked enthusiastically after every lesson, regardless of the what they were learning.

To be fair, it was not an easy initial friendship. Zojja was very unsure of Leyya, and Leyya was an Extremely Loud Kid. But it can be lonely being an orphan living in Charitable Council Provided Housing with Council Provided Care, especially when you're very smart and there's just something that sets you apart from everyone else. Then you've got Leyya, miss "Hey, I'm a weirdo too!"

Things did eventually warm, to the point that they were pretty much glued at the hip. And honestly, Leyya being so loud and boisterous let Zojja focus on her work… and it did eventually bring her out of her shell a bit.

They were tight enough that when Snaff came into the picture, looked at this angry but clearly brilliant ten year old orphan, and went "Is anyone gonna adopt that," he kept her in Pruri's progeny classes and happily encouraged her friendship with Leyya.

Of course, in the end, Leyya did end up going to Dynamics instead of Synergetics... not that it did much to divert her. She wound up playfully instigating academic rivalry with Zojja, though she otherwise did quite well in college. She proved to have a penchant for sneaking and hiding and getting into trouble, too. It was also during this time that she sort of started… feeling herself out.

Leyya was not as she was born, Leyya was a girl. And so in college, she tentatively came out to Zojja first. Not out of any fear of her reaction to Leyya being trans. Growing up steeped in asuran culture, being trans was a perfectly normal state of being. Matter can change its shape, and so too can people. Instead, it was because of a different reason: by this point, Leyya had developed a significant crush on Zojja, and she was worried about whether Zojja was into girls.

(She forgot to ask Zojja if she was into girls.)

After the two of them graduated, they did drift apart a little, though not completely. Zojja threw herself into her apprenticeship with Snaff while Leyya went on to be recruited by the Order of Whispers. Eventually, Leyya drifted back into Zojja's life, and the two hit it off as if they'd never spent time apart. Snaff began affectionately referring to Leyya as "Zojja's girlfriend" during introductions with strangers, something both young woman constantly denied.

This continued on even into the start of Destiny's Edge, when during one meeting at Snaff's laboratory, she was introduced as such to the new members of the small guild.

Leyya was encouraging the whole time. Zojja had her reservations, not trusting the plans of these representatives from the other races, and it was all Leyya could do to try to keep her spirits up as things grew more and more tense.

And then, late one night, she met Zojja at the entrance to Snaff's lab as she returned home alone, having cremated her adopted father and mentor with her own hands after their disastrous attempt in Elona.

She was one of the only people outside of Destiny's Edge to witness Zojja cry, sitting on the floor with her long into the early hours, draped over her like a blanket and paying little mind to the tears that soaked her thick leather jerkin as her childhood best friend, the most beloved person in her life, grieved the loss of her master.

As for Leyya, she vowed to never let Zojja bear that kind of weight alone ever again.

As time passed, Leyya did her best to help out where she could. She encouraged her parents to help sponsor the creation of the Snaff Savant prize, and for the six years it ran leading up to the Personal Story, Leyya was often in the peripheral, keeping an eye on things and being there should Zojja need a "gopher."

When Zojja came to her to let her know she was seeking out her old classmate Vezz with the intention of having him help with a project since his recent rumored "explosive" exit from the Inquest, she gladly stepped in to help, leading Vezz's induction into the Order of Whispers and then tailing Zojja through the dungeons as the war against Zhaitan progressed. When they learned of Logan's sacrifice in Arah, it was Leyya again who encouraged Zojja to finally speak with Eir, leading the two women to finally bridge the gap and start working down the path to reconciliation.

Through LWS1 and LWS2, Leyya spent her time alternating between living with Zojja and traveling to keep an eye on the younger of her two apprentices, Taimi. It was a time for both of them to relax, and Leyya's time away provided Zojja with time to work and to continue her talks with Eir.

HoT provided the major pivot point. Leyya was at Zojja's side en route into the jungle, but they were separated when the Pact airships were decimated. And when Leyya finally was able to get back to everyone, she learned what had happened to her beloved Zojja. Furious at what had happened and at herself, she went searching for some way to find some form of vengeance. And she found it in an ancient dagger. On slicing through the skin of her arm with it, she was overwhelmed by a foreign power, foreign entity, foreign thoughts...

And so her possession by the Kryptis, Cepir the Greedy, began. She immediately went into hiding, immense guilt overwhelming Cepir's attempts to use her lust and anger to return to Zojja immediately.

What happens next is a story for another day.

[sergeifyodorov]

hmm i was scrolling through Twitter earlier and as the designated leafs blog in my mind, what are your thoughts on fraser minten? like he’s so interesting to me because in the narrative i’ve created of him he was tavares’ fifth child but then was our balanced by knies being better, but then wjc happened and he still couldn’t crack it. now he’s on the blades (one of the best whl teams i think??) very interesting

NARRATIVELY he's definitely The Tavares Child -- okayyyy so. Sew. this New Generation of leafs (imho starting at Knies and including Easton Cowan as well as minten) kind of... each parallel a member of the Core: Knies is Auston's child (Arizona boy, big strong forward), Cowan is Mitch's child (London Knight, small winger with endless energy) and Minten is JT's child (Captain anywhere he goes, known for maturity and intelligence)... william child + morgan child ->

anyHWAY the real life scouting report under the cut (not too long i don't think)

Minten's a high second-rounder, which is the type of player that's generally designated as an "upper maybe" NHLer -- by which I mean odds-on he'll get NHL games (as Mints has) but it's less likely he'll become a serious full-time player (although many a second-rounder can and does do so!) The most interesting thing about his draft position was that the Leafs, under Kyle Dubas, traded DOWN to get him -- we had a low first-rounder, then traded it to Chicago to get rid of the Mrazek contract and got the pick that would become Mints in return. Many a source says that Kyle wanted Mints anyway and would have taken him with the first-round pick.

The general consensus is that Mints tops out as a middle-six centre, a 3C on a good team or a 2C on a worse one (or a 1C on the Boston Bruins.) His ceiling is probably about 40 or 50 points, maybe more depending on how much power-play usage he gets.

However, it's also noted (and was pretty obvious to me, even watching him at the WJC -- which I'll get to in a second!) that his real value is not and will likely never be in point production. He's a natural centre, good-to-great at faceoffs (a skill that he learned in part from JT!!) and very good defensively. Because he's still a kid, plays a bit physically and tends to be involved in the play at both ends, he probably takes a few too many undisciplined stick infractions, but these things of course can be straightened out with time and wisdom. Also, he's a touch of a personality hire: he was the youngest A on the all-timer Kamloops Blazers last year and was pretty much immediately named C after the Leafs sent him home this year; he was named captain of the CANADIAN WORLD JUNIORS team with zero other experience playing for Canada on the national level. He plays the piano! He's smart, polite, doesn't cause a fuss, wise beyond his years. Takes a guy far.

Anyway, the WJC: just an absolute hackjob by the coach and one of those years that really demonstrates that Hockey Canada still thinks it can get ahead by being Canada (the ol' throw bodies at the wall shtick) and not, like, because of its actual quality of development. I think bowing out when they did was a bit unlucky, but they absolutely were NOT primed to win it all -- especially because the coach basically seemed to have no concept of... line construction? or anything of the sort? Like he just tossed players together from a hat once (1) and decided they were just going to play out the tourney like that -- no real concept of "x is the playmaker, y is the shooter, z is the forechecker" or "these three are the transition line that take d-zone draws and use their speed to create rush chances/o-zone draws" or even something so simple as "this defensively-minded, slower centre is perhaps not the best match for the winger notorious for being opportunistic and shooty." Also, not to put too fine a point on it but a player can have a bad WJC and it doesn't mean anything, or a good WJC and it also doesn't mean anything -- Jesse Puljujarvi rose his draft stock by a good chunk in 2016 by having a FANTASTIC WJC, and he's currently on an AHL tryout. It's a small sample size, mostly played with teammates they barely know and against competition about a half-step up from what they're used to. Weird statlines happen.

Back to MINTS because we're still talking about him. Yess currently he's on the Blades -- traded from the Blazers because the Blazers are garbage and they want to Do Right By The Player and put him on a competitive team (done for two reasons: one, because it can be demoralizing to be the best player on a bad team, and two, because being on a good team in juniors often means you get actually good-for-your-development linemates and usage). He was generally not expected to make the Leafs at ALL this season (I mean, 20-year-old second-rounder, right?) and cracking the roster out of camp, even though he only got three games and has a rather blank statline is SUPER impressive. I'm pretty sure this is his last year of CHL eligibility, after which he'll probably either get put on the Marlies for a year to keep cooking or he'll make the Leafs again and stick around. Either way, he's slid twice I think so we burn a year of his ELC.

and my opinion of the boy? I love him. Let's go baby leafs baby leafs forevar

[dazz-linglight]

Miss Independent

(inspired by Ne-yo's song)

(GirlBoss!Reader x Personal Assistant! Hongjoong) (Colleagues to lovers) (fluffy romance) (reader is afraid of storms) (short office romance) (possibly there will be a part 2 with smut)

In the bustling halls of a cutting-edge technology company in a very busy commercial building, you, a remarkable business woman and Vice President of this company, got known for your determination and relentless focus on achieving a successful career, betting all of your efforts on growing this company scratch with your best friend. You learned over time that you needed to be tough to progress, since this area was widely controlled by men and there's always someone trying to discredit women. So you made it a personal mission to get your company to be a safe place and be the best professional you could be.

You're an admirable leader, but your personal life took a backseat. You always worked endless hours and overtime, focusing solely on doing business. The company kept rising well, then came a problem: your assistant decided to resign to go work for your competitor. Now you have to go over interviews to find a new assistant, so you did. You participate actively in the process, since whoever gets hired would work directly with you, so you felt the need to be sure they would be capable enough.

You didn't make it easy for anybody, you made specific questions and a few of the candidates didn't know how to answer or started stuttering, others weren't as qualified and you were getting tired. It lasted four days until you met Hongjoong one morning doing an interview for this job. A young and talented software developer, that didn't show any fear and aswered your questions perfectly well, looking in your eyes without any fear. After 40 minutes you told him to stay and gave him a few tasks to see how he would go. Hongjoong showed himself to be smart, quick witted, committed to work and serious about it. At the end of the day you called him to your office to give the final answer. He entered bringing a cappuccino and placed it in front of you in your desk.

"This is for you, Miss." He said and you tilted your head, letting out a very light smile at the action.

"Thanks, Hongjoong. You can sit down." You offered the seat in front of you and he did as told while you took a sip of the coffee.

"Well, I have to say you impressed me in a good way. None of the other candidates caught my attention like you did today." You started and Hongjoong visibly relaxed at your feedback.

"I did my best, I'm glad to hear that from you, Miss."

"I'm sure you'll be even more glad to hear that you will be hired. You can bring your documents to the HR department tomorrow at 8 in the morning and sign our contract." You got up from your seat and Hongjoong did the same, bowing to you and you raised a hand to greet him, which he took and shook your hand.

"Thank you Miss ______, I will not disappoint you." Hongjoong smiled widely and you let his hand go, switching off your computer and getting your bag to leave, dismissing Hongjoong to go home.

|•••••Time skip•••••|

The first six months of working together were a challenge. You resisted any form of distraction, maintaining a strictly professional relationship with Hongjoong. Everyday he came to your office to report and receive new tasks, he brought your lunch and coffee and as days passed and you worked side by side, he started making a few little efforts to make the barriers give way. One afternoon, you were reviewing an important document in your office when Hongjoong walked in. He noticed the tired look on your face and suggested you take a break. You resisted with a frown at first, but Hongjoong someway succeeded at convincing you to go the snack bar on the first floor of the building.

The snack bar was peaceful at this hour and made a good break from the stressful office atmosphere. You felt at ease with Hongjoong's presence and he offered to buy donuts. You both sat down, ate and talked about trivial things and sharing laughs here and there. You found yourself truly relaxing for the first time in years.

After that day, you and Hongjoong began sharing more and more moments outside of work. Having lunch together became a routine and when you worked overtime he occasionally invited you to dinner together. He opened doors for you, drives you off, treated you like a princess. You both didn't talk clearly about it, but you were beginning to feel something that had long since receded from your mind: the spark of romance. However, you struggled with those feelings. It seemed so wrong, he is your assistant and you're the boss. You felt afraid of mixing love and business, worried about the consequences a relationship could have for the company you had worked so hard to build. But every time you're together, the chemistry between you becomes impossible to ignore. It started making you mad.

One day, you left your office because you needed a document that was with Hongjoong, but as soon as you saw him you noticed something and frowned. Yujin, a beautiful co-worker, was approaching him a little more intimately than usual. They seemed to be having a lively conversation and Yujin didn't hide her interest, touching his arm unnecessarily. You, feeling a pang of jealousy, tried not to act affected, but you couldn't avoid the stress of seeing the scene. Your mind created several unpleasant scenarios. "Is he interested in her? Is he flirting back?"

"Kim Hongjoong." You spoke in a firm and serious tone, catching the attention of the two who were talking.

"Yes, miss? Do you need anything?" Hongjoong stood up and responded, no longer paying attention to Yujin.

"Come to my office and bring the project presentation I asked you this morning. Quickly." You said sharply and looked at Yujin from the corner of your eye, who soon got up and left the place.

"Yes, ma'am." He spoke and you turned around and walked back to your office as Hongjoong saved the presentation file you asked for. You slammed the door angrily and headed towards your table, a minute later Hongjoong entered and came over to you.

"Here's the presentation, Miss ______." He gave you the pendrive and you sighed, connecting it on your computer to open the file. You inspected it and pointed things out for Hongjoong to add since you thought it wasn't enough yet.

"You're staying overtime today, we need this presentation ready for the meeting we'll have with our client tomorrow morning." You told looking back at him and he nodded.

"All right, I'll bring my laptop here." He left the room and came back a minute later with his laptop, sitting down and placing the laptop in front of him and started guiding him specifically on what to add to the presentation. An hour passed and all the employees began leaving since work time was officially over.

It's mid summer and it was very hot during the day, but as the night came many clouds could be seen in the floor-to-ceiling window behind you. Hongjoong finished the details on the presentation and saved it as a sudden storm started. You looked at the window and the lights went out, the fear started creeping out on you but Hongjoong didn't notice yet as he got his phone to activate the flashlight amidst the darkness and the sound of rain outside. Hongjoong placed his phone in a way it illuminated both of you and he finally could see your face again, now noticing your pained expression and your heavy breathing.

"Are you okay, Miss ______?" He questioned with a frown and you shook your head no as a thunder sound out loud and you covered your ears. Hongjoong got worried about you, wanting to keep you safe, so he got up and closed the curtains of your window, coming behind you to cover your shoulders with his blazer.

You've always had a paralyzing fear of thunder, and that night, the storm was fierce, growing stronger and stronger. As he touched your shoulders he felt your whole body shaking with fear and then he crouched to your level and brought up inside his arms in a warm hug, whispering words of comfort. "Don't worry, I'm here with you. You're safe. The storm will pass soon." You looked into his eyes hugging his waist carefully, grateful for his presence.

"I hate storms, they make me so nervous, Hongjoong." Your eyes had tears on the edge of falling down, while you and Hongjoong shared an intense look, full of repressed emotions. This was the first time you were truly showing vulnerability to him and he was astonished, all he ever wanted was to take care of you. He pulled your head to his chest and you could listen to his heart beating fast just like yours.

"I don't know if this is really the right time to say this, but.. but I can't deny how I feel anymore. I'm in love with you, ______." His words echoed in the empty office as he broke the silence and confessed his feelings. You were shocked. You didn't expect that he felt the same way you did all this time. Your heart jumped now, not anymore because of fear but from happiness.

"I'm in love with you too, Hongjoong. I tried not to, but it's stronger than me." You squeezed Hongjoong as tight as you could and he kissed the side of your head softly. You looked up and offered your lips to him, which he understood and closed the little distance, sealing the beginning of a long-awaited romance. The storm outside seemed to symbolize the change in your lives and the relationship from boss and assistant to lovers.

"I want to be with you and take care of you through all the storms, will you let me?"

"Of course, Hongjoong." You smile widely and he cupped your face, caressing your cheeks as he smiled as well. "Will you take me home?"

"As long as you wish, my darling."

|•••••••|

Over the next months, your relationship with Hongjoong blossomed into a great love. You chose to main discretion at work, avoiding any favoritism or conflict of interest and not letting the coworkers know you are together. They only knew Hongjoong is in a relationship but he never told them with who. You realized that by making room for love in your life, you weren't weakening your career, but actually strengthening it. Hongjoong supported you in every aspect, becoming a partner in all areas of your life and you become his.

Together, you faced new challenges and business opportunities while the company prospered even more. You found balance between personal and professional life, discovering that you can be a successful leader and at the same time share a loving relationship, that success in business didn't have to mean sacrificing love and personal happiness.

[call-me-strega]

Ghost Selkie AU Tidbit: Abuela Soliña

I’m still playing with my Ghost Selkie Au, tossing it around like a cat toy trying to decide if and how to write it and one figure that I’ve kinda developed a backstory for is Abuela Soliña. Now said backstory may never see the light of day in the the main story so I thought this’d be a fun tidbit to throw out while I’m still considering the main story overall.

Okay so my inspo for Abuela Soliña, or Señora Mariana Soliña, actually came from a couple of different sources. I took some of the general headcanon from the DCU; Crime Alley has a large population of people of color, specifically Hispanic in the area Jason lived; that Jason has Hispanic heritage; that some of the older women in the alley occasionally feed street kids; and took them to create a person that would be a maternal figure for Jason bc I’m all for giving him Good Adult Influences.

She functions a bit as a plot device taking up the role of Jason’s magical mentor and helps move the story along. However, I wanted to give her more depth so I based her off an actual figure in Spanish history. Once I had decided a witch was the best magical figure to live in Gotham and guide Jason I actually did a bit of research on famous Brujas in folklore and came across María Soliña/Soliño a famous witch from Galicia who inspired the women of her village to fend off Ottoman raiders and survived the Spanish Inquisition without being burned at the stake. She was the main inspiration and namesake of Abuela Mariana Soliña. She did have children, though not much is known about them, so I wanted it to be implied that Mariana was a descendant of María. I wanna say I’m placing her around age 50 when she first met Jason and 65-ish(?) when he returned to Gotham.

Anyways, like I said I didn’t want her to remain a plot device and actually have depth so I kinda started building a backstory for her. Her grandparents or parents were likely immigrants who moved to Gotham from Galicia, Spain back when the city was younger. Back then the different magical communities were a bit more segregated. Vampires stayed clans with vamp doctors and leaders, gargoyles in their own community, fae in their courts, etc., but she did let that stop her. She was always deeply involved in the inter-magical community and was a central figure due to her interest in learning other supernatural cultures of the city.

She eventually grew up to be a full-fledged bruja who sold her magical remedies, charms, potions, etc to any supernatural being willing to pay her. This actually helped her amass a large amount of wealth quickly, especially when her charms, totems, and remedies caught the eyes of superstitious crime bosses across the city. She always insisted to cover her face with a shawl to protect her anonymity and had several mob bosses sign magical contracts agreeing to protect her and her rights to do business thus making her virtually untouchable in the Alley.

I wanted her to be a very strong influence on Jason. She is very strong, sassy, confident, clever, and street smart and taught Jason some of those traits. She actually meets Jason through Catherine. Mariana had many close friends with children though she herself never married. Catherine was actually the daughter of one of her close friends and Mariana was like an aunt to her. When her friend died and Catherine was left on the streets Mariana did what she could but her fear and unreadiness for motherhood held her back.

Catherine was taken in by her uncle’s family and the two were estranged for a time. In that time she falls into addiction due to her uncles on involvement in drug running as well as bad peer influences. She reunites with her Tía Mariana when she marries Willis and reaches out to invite her to the wedding. Even though they are no longer very close, after Catherine becomes pregnant Mariana offers to help out when she can. She lives in a different (read: magical) part of the Alley so she only sees Jason occasionally but makes a point to feed him, and when he discovers her secret, to teach him some basics of the supernatural world to help him get by.

After Catherine’s death Abuela Soliña is distraught. She offers Jason a hot meal and some money she had set aside (Catherine’s old college fund she never got a chance to use) but hesitated to offer a place in her home so soon after the loss. Jason sees her grief and hesitation, mistakenly assuming it’s unwillingness to deal with him full time and runs off. She tries to invite him back a couple of times but he mistakes it as one off events and remains a street kid until Bruce adopts him.

He still occasionally goes back to the Alley to visit her after that, usually as Robin. The first time he went to let her know he was okay she immediately clocked him as Jason but wished him well with Bruce. When he visits she still feeds him and gives him luck and protection charms to help with crime fighting. (Side Note: on one of his visits Jason finds out the Alfred and Mariana know each other and Have Met Before™️. Neither explains how or why)

When Jason dies Mariana grieves him deeply. When he comes back as a revenant she is both relieved and guilty. She’s happy to have the boy back but a revenant’s existence is not a peaceful one. When he searches her up and comes to see her he looks like he’s survived hell and back and he probably has. He seek out her guidance and help and this time Abuela Soliña is more than willing to pass on her vast wealth of knowledge of the supernatural community and its cultures to Jason.

One of the biggest two regrets Mariana holds with her is not adopting Catherine or Jason when they were at their lowest and she had the chance. That’s why as Jason’s rage cools and he begins looking to return to a (semi-)normal life she offers to adopt him as her grandson for real this time. She has a friend who owes her a favor and can fabricate the paper work to turn Jason Peter Todd into Jason “Pedro” Solina (and his mother posthumously Catherine Soliña-Todd). She offers to officially make him her little witchling and he emotionally accepts.

Mariana is still an active and well-known figure in Gotham’s underworld and supernatural community so having her backing gives Red Hood a lot of pull and credibility. Plus his revenant titles increase his claim to fame in the magical community. Red Hood is well loved and “Pedro” is well accepted with in the community. He’s kind of a public figure, bordering minor celebrity due to his connection to famous Bruja and witch doctor, Mariana Soliña. Not that he is aware of that fact.

Lastly I’m gonna tack on some nicknames Jason receives pertaining to his connection with Señora Soliña:

Soliña’s boy (el chico de Soliña)

Little witchling

Pequeño niño brujo or pequeño brujo (little witch boy)

Young brujo

El neito guapo (the handsome grandson)

Alborotador (troublemaker)

Heredero (heir/inheritor, referring to Mariana’s kowledge, wealth, and position in the community)

(P.S I tried my hand at drawing what I think Abuela Soliña would look like but I’m not super confident in it. I think I’m a better writer than drawer, but if you guys actually wanna see the drawing anyway let me know and I’ll make another post with it)

[talonabraxas]

A Color Diagram (From book, "The Anatomy of the Body of God")

1. Recognize the source, and intuit into the unity of all existence. The idea that we can win at the expense of them is, in the long term, illusory. We're all in this together. Ecology. An expanded sense of identity. Also, this source points to the great mystery of creation, and what lies beyond our knowledge.

2. Celebrate creativity. It's a mythically grounded idea. There's a tradition in many religions to imitate God, however the Divine is imagined: The most useful way to do this in our own time is to recognize the prolific process of creativity–not just through the "Big Bang," but in the present moment, through the imaginations and inspirations–literally, in- spirit- ations – of all sentient beings.

Corollary: Question authority. Accept nothing as the final solution. Dare to re-evaluate, revise, re-negotiate, imagine new possibilities. Obedience, in this view of the meaning of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, is no longer operative–there's a move from the medieval tone of unquestioning acceptance to the modern and postmodern worldview that supports responsibility, an alert consideration of the needs of the moment in light of continuing developments, discoveries, new technologies, etc.

3. Recognize the Other-ness of people, their differences, of the environment, and of the Divine. On one hand, we may be expressions of the Divine flow, and at some level, as claimed by Yogis and other mystics, "one" with It, yet that doesn't mean that the world is there for the gratification of your ego-narcissistic desires. Respect, reverence, humility, and a valuing of the needs of others and the whole all are implied here.

4. Cultivate Generosity and Purpose. The life force is innately generous, but in states of fear, can contract to mere life-sustenance. In today's complex culture, there are tendencies towards stinginess of spirit, and this must be balanced, in wisdom, by the joy and need for an extra bit of giving of oneself to the world. Seek to clarify your talents and abilities and turn them toward this task, at least to some significant degree, lest you die having lived selfishly, pettily.

5. Realize Limitations. Much of human life is a process of dis-illusionment, which is a process of dissolving childish feelings of omnipotence. This need not be tragic. Much of it is simply adjusting to the realities of physical and social constraints, learning to think and work politically, seeking a more refined and less impetuous mode of action in the world. It's a one-step-down form of humility, more practically applied.

Realize, also, that as shown in the diagram of the Tree, the lessons play off of each other, and especially there is the ongoing play of 2 and 3, 4 and 5, and 7 and 8, while 6 is to some degree, the player, the juggler, the dancer.

6. Exercise Balance, seek to harmonize the many different needs, desires, inspirations, ideals, and other complexes that seek expression through your own mixture of temperament and interests. One of the beauties of our time-bound lives is that we can choose how to diversify, focus, take turns, and thus have some existential responsibility for how we live our lives.

7. Identify your passions, what the comparative mythologist Joseph Campbell called, "following your bliss." What tickles your fancy? Instead of pursuing what is merely fashionable, liking or disliking largely to garner approval or to be included in the "in group"–which is an in-authentic reason–, get in touch with what more genuinely interests or appeals to you. This can take many years, even into late adulthood. Often you'll find it correlates with what you have at least some moderate ability to do. Have the courage to pursue it. (And this can be tremendously varied in the world, different folks liking different strokes.)

8. Recognize and work within the cultural matrix you live in. If not, then either be a smart revolutionary–to change or expand it–or pay the price of changing cultures, emigrating, and becoming acculturated into a different culture. Lots of people do this, too. The point is to deal responsibly with the social context you find yourself in, rather than simply sulking, withdrawing, giving up, mindlessly conforming, or numbing yourself.

9. Cultivate Imagination, in many ways–the arts, drama, mythmaking. Note that much of ordinary education and life neglects, distracts, and sometimes actively suppresses this human potential. Refuse to be tempted by vicarious imaginary experiences offered by the media, in video games, television, movies, etc. Take responsibility to use those elements like small stimuli, like appetizers or dessert, but not your main meal. Become a person who imagines your own life!

10. Manifest your life. Avoid the temptations to become preoccupied with the seductions of spectatorship, or living in "what if" (either in past or future). Deeds, projects, action. The world is no illusion. You have an opportunity for authentic enjoyment, for adding your own creativity to helping the world be a better place. In can be in as small a way as an act of kindness or generosity.

Lest these points seem like mere platitudes, rather obvious, consider that many if not most people do not live these principles out in their lives. Nor are these ten points the only lessons you can gather from studying the tree. They just show what can come to mind–that the principles noted are by no means mere abstractions.

Another way to view the tree is in terms of how it can reassure and remind you: That you are part of a great, unified "becoming" of the cosmos (1); that this is a creative process and your life creativity is an integral part of the great becoming (2); that the cosmos is here, a matrix (related to the Latin word root for mother) for you, a setting, playground, stage, for you (3); that you can choose a direction, many directions, in fact, and your choices add to your story–and indeed, you may be assured that your life is a story (4); part of that story involves the way you've coped with limitations–your body's structure, illnesses, dis-abilities, areas of no-talent, the weakness and deficiencies of your family, region, and historical era, and the many other obstacles that life presents–and indeed, that which makes your story a good piece of drama! (5); the creative way you've balanced your strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and limitations, etc.(6); the many lines of interest and ability, the archetypes, the mythic resonances with the spirit of (whatever dimension you channel)–all set you into stage in which you play many parts in a unique fashion (7); the cultural forms all this enactment takes, and how you are a carrier of certain cultural values, and a challenge to others that you don't agree with–these, too, make your life good theatre and also part of the great unfolding myth of that culture!(8); the richness of your imagination as you assemble these many threads into a meaningful story, embellishing it also with all the other what-if-dramas you can fantasize, thickening your existence (9); and, finally, how you actually play out your unique life, your actual achievements, your deeds. You might be surprised how far many of your actions have reached (10).

The point of this rhapsody is to enjoy the depth of your mythic embeddedness in the Divine Process of Unfolding. This is the way God works, through your individuality (and everyone else's, also, of course)! Envision it as an infinite symphony, improvised, incredibly rich, which, if perceived from enough distance and time, expresses amazing harmonies (in spite of a surprising amount of what in the moment may seem like mere noise, or as Shakespeare called it, "sound and fury." On a micro-scale, it may "signify nothing," but in the big picture, this is how we all grow, evolve as a species, groping, going up blind alleys, turning back, trying another way.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The Bezzle excerpt (Part II)

I'm on tour with my new novel The Bezzle! Catch me next in SALT LAKE CITY (Feb 21, Weller Book Works) and SAN DIEGO (Feb 22, Mysterious Galaxy). After that, it's LA, Seattle, Portland, Phoenix and more!

Today, I'm bringing you part two of this week's serialized excerpt from The Bezzle, my new Martin Hench high-tech crime revenge thriller:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865878/thebezzle

Though most of the scams that Hench – a two-fisted forensic accountant specializing in Silicon Valley skullduggery – goes after in The Bezzle have a strong tech component, this excerpt concerns a pre-digital scam: music royalty theft.

This is a subject that I got really deep into when researching and writing 2022's Chokepoint Capitalism – a manifesto for fixing creative labor markets:

https://chokepointcapitalism.com/

My co-author on that book is Rebecca Giblin, who also happens to be one of the world's leading experts in "copyright termination" – the legal right of creative workers to claw back any rights they signed over after 35 years:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/09/26/take-it-back/

This was enshrined in the 1976 Copyright Act, and has largely languished in obscurity since then, though recent years have seen creators of all kinds getting their rights back through termination – the authors of The Babysitters Club and Sweet Valley High Books, Stephen King, and George Clinton, to name a few. The estates of the core team at Marvel Comics, including Stan Lee, just settled a case that might have let them take the rights to all those characters back from Disney:

https://www.thewrap.com/marvel-settles-spiderman-lawsuit-steve-ditko/

Copyright termination is a powerful tonic to the bargaining disparities between creative workers. A creative worker who signs a bad contract at the start of their career can – if they choose – tear that contract up 35 years later and demand a better one.

Turning this into a plot-point in The Bezzle is the kind of thing that I love about this series – the ability to take important, obscure, technical aspects of how the world works and turn them into high-stakes technothriller storylines that bring them to the audience they deserve.

If you signed something away 35 years ago and you want to get it back, try Rights Back, an automated termination of tranfer tool co-developed by Creative Commons and Authors Alliance (whose advisory board I volunteer on):

https://rightsback.org/

All right, onto today's installment. Here's part one, published on Saturday:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/17/the-steve-soul-caper/#lead-singer-disease

It was on one of those drives where Stefon learned about copyright termination. It was 2011, and NPR was doing a story on the 1976 Copyright Act, passed the same year that was on the bottom of the document Chuy forged.

Under the ’76 act, artists acquired a “termination right”—­ that is, the power to cancel any copyright assignment after thirty-­five years, even if they signed a contract promising to sign away their rights forever and a day (or until the copyright ran out, which was nearly the same thing).

Listening to a smart, assured lady law professor from UC Berkeley explaining how this termination thing worked, Stefon got a wild idea. He pulled over and found a stub of a pencil and the back of a parking-­ticket envelope and wrote down the professor’s name when it was repeated at the end of the program. The next day he went to the Inglewood Public Library and got a reference librarian to teach him how to look up a UC Berkeley email address and he sent an email to the professor asking how he could terminate his copyright assignment.

He was pretty sure she wasn’t going to answer him, but she did, in less than a day. He got the email on his son’s smartphone and the boy helped him send a reply asking if he could call her. One thing led to another and two weeks later, he’d filed the paperwork with the U.S. Copyright Office, along with a check for one hundred dollars.

Time passed, and Stefon mostly forgot about his paperwork adventure with the Copyright Office, though every now and again he’d remember, think about that hundred dollars, and shake his head. Then, nearly a year later, there it was, in his mailbox: a letter saying that his copyright assignment had been canceled and his copyrights were his again. There was also a copy of a letter that had been sent to Chuy, explaining the same thing.

Stefon knew a lawyer—­well, almost a lawyer, an ex–­trumpet player who became a paralegal after one time subbing for Sly Stone’s usual guy, and then never getting another gig that good. He invited Jamal over for dinner and cooked his best pot roast and served it with good whiskey and then Jamal agreed to send a letter to Inglewood Jams, informing them that Chuy no longer controlled his copyrights and they had to deal with him direct from now on.

Stefon hand-­delivered the letter the next day, wearing his good suit for reasons he couldn’t explain. The receptionist took it without a blink. He waited.

“Thank you,” she said, pointedly, glancing at the door.

“I can wait,” he said.

“For what?” She reminded him of his boy’s girlfriend, a sophomore a year younger than him. Both women projected a fierce message that they were done with everyone’s shit, especially shit from men, especially old men. He chose his words carefully.

“I don’t know, honestly.” He smiled shyly. He was a good-­looking man, still. That smile had once beamed out of televisions all over America, from the Soul Train stage. “But ma’am, begging your pardon, that letter is about my music, which you all sell here. You sell a lot of it, and I want to talk that over with whoever is in charge of that business.”

She let down her guard by one minute increment. “You’ll want Mr. Gounder,” she said. “He’s not in today. Give me your phone number, I’ll have him call.”

He did, but Mr. Gounder didn’t call. He called back two days later, and the day after that, and the following Monday, and then he went back to the office. The receptionist who reminded him of his son’s girlfriend gave him a shocked look.

“Hello,” he said, and tried out that shy smile. “I wonder if I might see that Mr. Gounder.”

She grew visibly uncomfortable. “Mr. Gounder isn’t in today,” she lied. “I see,” he said. “Will he be in tomorrow?”

“No,” she said.

“The day after?”

“No.” Softer.

“Is that Mr. Gounder of yours ever coming in?”

She sighed. “Mr. Gounder doesn’t want to speak with you, I’m sorry.”

The smile hadn’t worked, so he switched to the look he used to give his bandmates when they wouldn’t cooperate. “Maybe someone can tell me why?”

A door behind her had been open a crack; now it swung wide and a young man came out. He looked Hispanic, with a sharp fade and flashy sneakers, but he didn’t talk like a club kid or a hood rat—­he sounded like a USC law student.

“Sir, if you have a claim you’d like Mr. Gounder to engage with, please have your attorney contact him directly.”

Stefon looked this kid up and down and up, tried and failed to catch the receptionist’s eye, and said, “Maybe I can talk this over with you. Are you someone in charge around here?”

“I’m Xavier Perez. I’m vice president for catalog development here. I don’t deal with legal claims, though. That’s strictly Mr. Gounder’s job. Please have your attorney put your query in writing and Mr. Gounder will be in touch as soon as is ­feasible.”

“I did have a lawyer write him a letter,” Stefon said. “I gave it to this young woman. Mr. Gounder hasn’t been in touch.”

Perez looked at the receptionist. “Did you receive a letter from this gentleman?”

She nodded, still not meeting Stefon’s eye. “I gave it to Mr. Gounder last week.”

Perez grinned, showing a gold tooth, and then, in his white, white voice, said, “There you have it. I’m sure Mr. Gounder will get back in touch with your counsel soon. Thank you for coming in today, Mr.—­”

“Stefon Magner.” Stefon waited a moment, then said, for the first time in many years, “I used to perform under Steve Soul, though.”

Perez nodded briskly. He’d known that. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Magner.” Without waiting for a reply, he disappeared back into his office.

ETA: Here's part three!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/19/crad-kilodney-was-an-outlier/#copyright-termination

[blametheeditor]

Voretober Day 26 | Acceptance

Voretober Prompt List

First | Previous | Next

If given the opportunity, would you take the chance to go to space and travel the stars? What if the person offering to take you was someone you trusted more than anyone else?

What if that person is no longer entirely human?

MENTIONS OF SOFT VORE

Content Warnings: Soft, non-sexual vore (only mentions for now). Mentions of body horror. Mentions of experimenting on people. Mentions of death and murder, violence. Being trapped against one's will. Dehumanization. Abductions. Cursing. Darker themes/tone

___________________________________

“Were you able to locate the ship?” 

“Yes, sir.” 

William looks up from his work to fix a cold stare on his monitor. “And?”

The bounty hunter he hired to find his son and greatest achievement bows her head respectfully. “It was empty, sir, including the ship bay.” 

Well, that certainly is a bold though clever move. One thing he will always admire about humans despite all their other short comings, and that is their tenacity. 

He knows where Vincent is going, however. Knows his creation is coming here to his ship currently orbiting Colossus to confront him. And due to unforeseen circumstances, he is no longer hindered by his own body fighting itself now that he has been injected with a serum meant to keep it from decaying any further until proper treatment can be provided. 

Of course, Vincent would have been given the serum whether or not he obediently went with the bounty hunter. It was only if he fled was it ordered to tranquilize him as well so he could be brought to the only person with a more permanent solution. The fact he escaped despite guaranteed having collapsed within a few minutes of getting struck simply made things a little more complicated. 

It meant the not truly human, not truly Colossian was on his way to William on his own terms. 

Pity.

“Have you been able to locate the smaller ship?” 

“No, sir.” 

William sighs, disappointed in his creation, the bounty hunter, and himself. 

“I’m afraid this is where our paths divert, I will be terminating our contract here.” 

He sees a brief flash of hatred in her eyes. However, she is smart enough not to announce her frustration. It would be rather foolish to challenge a Colossian, none the less this particular one. He is the only person in the universe who knows more about her species biology than even those on her home planet. 

Funny how morals can get in the way of advancements, particularly immunities to attacks directed toward one’s anatomy. It means he can develop a virus that targets her specifically and can be activated by very specific circumstances in which she will never know, and no one will ever be able to trace it or even know it existed at all. 

A shame, really. She was promising. 

“Thank-” 

William cuts their link before she could finish her sentence, having more important matters to attend to. Such as a certain human with abilities such creatures were never supposed to possess arriving in two days if the ship didn’t need to stop for fuel, three days if it did. 

“My, how needlessly complicated you make things, Vincent,” he sighs. 

There’s nothing he can do about it now. So rather than lament on how this all could have been done and over with by now, he walks through his lab to grab a few items, bringing them into the operating room to prepare it. Finds himself glancing at the floor to ensure no minuscule figures are trying their hardest to keep up with him. 

He has certainly missed Hunter. He knows Vincent has taken exceptional care of his son, but William had never wanted such a young child to traveling through space without his father by his side. At least not until he hit his growth spurt and therefore capable of protecting himself against those who had yet to learn Colossian’s are to be respected. 

It’s William’s own fault he wasn’t there. Failed as a father for not realizing his own son was missing from his own ship. But that will all change soon enough. No, if everything goes according to plan, there will be a second figure running after footsteps. A permanent one who will never be able to grow into a giant, perpetually no taller than his fingers. 

He certainly enjoyed the time when Vincent was purely human, though it wasn’t necessarily productive during that short period. With the language barrier, he never was able to gain a proper bond, his hands always shied away from no matter if they held a syringe or simply rubbed an arm in an offer of comfort. It only got worse when they moved on to the more intensive experiments. 

But he genuinely enjoyed the novelty of holding someone who looked like a Colossian far past the time in which they would have hit their growth spurt. Contemplated if it would be possible to have a human around without any enhancements. Who wouldn’t be nervous around hands and be comfortable enough to walk on the ground despite such catastrophic footsteps standing right beside them. 

The report of a third Colossian being part of the small crew wasn’t fooling him. William knows Vincent went back to Earth, brought another human along when he left the planet. 

He has so many questions to ask, a plethora of theories that need to be proven or disproven. Unfortunately, if he wanted them to all properly be answered, he had to give the experiment time to reach crucial stages. Adding a rather significant variable could all but corrupt the data he requires. 

The only reason he is risking such crucial information is the reality that if he fails to reach Vincent in time, his creation will die. 

William is far from oblivious. He is well aware that, despite giving such an incredible ability no other human has or will ever possess, Vincent does not trust him. With good reason, though it is rather detrimental in this moment. But while it certainly would have been easier to have his creation brought to him at a diminished size, drugged, and prepped for operation, he has ways to effectively communicate the gravity of the situation. 

Once everything has been set and he’s programmed the table to activate on set times and dates, William leaves the room, the door locking behind him as he walks back to his lab. Grabs the file he has regarding the other twenty nine humans he gathered for his sample, setting it beside the one solely dedicated to Vincent. 

He may have the solution for what is currently ailing his creation, however it will only extend his life another ten years before needing another operation. It will do for now considering what limited information he has regarding the exact details on how it’s progressed as well as its speed. He will require updated vitals and tests to find a truly permanent solution. 

Vincent will be anything except willing if William is given a chance to properly explain. They will simply be at an impasse until his creation accepts the reality that while he has every right to loath his creator, there is no denying Vincent will always need William. 

Or, at the very least, an Afton. 

[theambitiouswoman]

Heyy

Do you have any advice on starting a real estate business as in just buying and renting out property?

Thanks 🤍

Yes!

**For the record, I have personally done a few flips/rehabs. Apart from that, I knew/know most of the realtors in this city and relating companies as I worked with most real estate/mortgage and title companies here when I had an agency.

First you need to be able to learn the market and research comparables. When looking to buy properties there are important factors to consider to make sure you are not paying overprice for a property as well as that the are is on demand, ensuring it will be easier to rent out the property.

The location of the property and its proximity to amenities like schools, shopping centers, grocery stores, transportation etc. Also that the area is safe.

You also want to look for areas that has future development plans, this will raise the value of your property.

If you have worked with investment companies, you will quickly learn that buying a property that is not in the best condition, a rehab property, could be a very smart play. You want to make sure of course to check the comparables and ensure that the property is underpriced compared to the other homes in the area. Once you rehab the property, it could raise or even surpass the value of the other homes in the area.

Any home that you would look into to buy for renting out should have elements that you intend to upgrade on. There are a lot of reasons for this but the most important one is how it raises your price and potential earnings. Redoing a kitchen or a bathroom can immediately raise the value of your home anywhere from 5-50k. A project that will cost you anywhere from 3-10k on average for a standards nice kitchen depending on your area.

Overall you still want to look at the comps to make sure you are getting a fair deal. Calculate the potential annual rent as a percentage of the properties price. This will give you an idea of the return on your investment. Also make sure that the potential rental income exceeds the monthly expenses. If not it does not make sense.

Check the vacancy rates in the area you want to purchase in, if its high there may be a low demand and not a good area to invest in.

Also you want to think about how easy it would be to sell the property if you need to. In demand areas tend to be more liquid.

So important, to understand the landlord/ tenant laws in your state. Including their rights and eviction process etc. Nothing worst than having a horrible tenant and not being legally able to remove them.

There are a lot of rate plans depending on your specific situation and mortgage rates also vary significantly by state. Make sure to get the best deal for you. Some states a first time can give as little as 1-5% down depending if you are a first time/ entrepreneur etc.

Property insurance is another cost factor to consider when working out your numbers as this varies by area.

Managing a few properties on your own is easy, but after a handful, you may want to consider hiring a property management company to handle these things for you.

I would strongly urge you to get a lawyer to draw up renter contracts.

To grow this business what you want to do, and this is a general overview: down payment for house, fix, rent out, refinance, use refinance to purchase another property and have enough to put into upgrades/repairs on the second purchase and repeat.

I can get into taxes on this too if you want.

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