#(and also re organize all the info as a whole)

[koushirouizumi]

( Koushiro's place-holder profile for my re-done Advs shrine is up! )

[radical-rigatoni1]

Had this on my tiktok but OH YEAH I HAVE A TUMBLR soo... ayy! Love this fanfic omg and THE FREAKIN WORD COUNT WHAT THE SHELL??? Below is me going insane that would increase the size of this post tremendously @erinwantstowrite

So good, love the dialogue, dynamics, the au is just so angsty and peter getting lots of love and also more trauma in his little life sandwich❤️❤️ EVERYTHING IS DONE SO BEAUTIFULLY

BRO WHERE DO YOU BOTH ORGANIZE ALL THIS INFO LIKE SO MANY THINGS CROSS OVER OUT OF THEIR OWN SEPERATE TIMELINES AND SITUATIONS WHAT THE BUG???

ALSO THE WHOLE DINK AND PETER SITUATION HAD ME LIKE 🫵😲 "OH OH OH I KNOW WHATS HAPPENING I KNOW WHATS HAPPENING!!!!!"

BRO AND PETER'S BACKSTORY THINGS FEELING LIKE THEY'RE PEICEING TOGETHOR BASED ON THE INFO HE GIVES AND WHAT YR TIKT9KS GIVE I AM LIKE SLOWLY LIKE WHATTTT THE FUUUUUUCCCKKK

ALSO PETER IS SO FUCKING SMART THANK GOD FIRST PETER IN GOTHAM FIC WHERE HE FIGURES THEM OUT FIRST!!! LIKE DUDE I KNOW THIS TIKTOK SAYS THE OPPISET LIKE HE ACCADENTALLY MAKES THESE SITUATIONS HAPPEN AND STUFF BUT LIKE THATS MORE RELATED TO HIM GOING LIKE "YES THIS UNIVERSE PLACE INDEED I AM AWARE AND HAVE LIVED HERE FOR MY WHOLE LIVE!!" BUT THE WHOLE THINK WITH TWO FACE AND THE BOMB???

AND HIS GRNERAL STEET SMARTS AND "NUH UH TO DANGER" HAS ME DYING LIKE HE GETS HIMSELF OUT OF SITUATIONS IN SUCH A WAY THAT IM GLAD HE ISN'T MY KID EVEN THOUGH ME AND HIS ADULT FIGURES ARE COLLECTIVELY LIKE "DUDE WTF?"

All in all this fic is so good, such a rollercoaster of emotions every chapter. Ive been reading since chapter 1 and the shock that coursed through me as every chapter kept hitting the 20k mark. I felt like the "THATS ENOUGH SLICES" guy. Not a bad thing I'm just scared for yall's fingers and that keyboard. Part of me imagines it looking all faded on some keys like worn out elevator buttons. I genuinely re read just to give me a vibe on how to proceed with my OWN writing. aughhhh its amazing.

Here, take a picture of my cat as gratitude ❤️❤️ deserve every single kudo, re read, like, follow and fanart. Doing amazing

[vetted-gaza-funds]

hey i'm not sure who to go to for this, but do you have resources on vetting a specific gofundme? most of the "vetted" ones i see on here just link to a tumblr post as "proof." my friend is trying to convince me to donate thousands to a gofundme that has a "deadline" of overnight, to me it seems scammy. i thought people in gaza can't access money immediately? can't find any other info about the fund online.

tl;dr below

Re: how to check up on a specific fundraiser, a lot of organizations running verification efforts will keep a spreadsheet of fundraisers that you can search by name, campaign title, social media handles, etc. That’s what I do when checking campaigns that are new on tumblr, since sometimes they were verified by OOB or another org before making a blog here. You can check my pinned post for some links. You can also find websites and/or social media accounts for some of the verification efforts that will explain who they are and how they verify people.

The ones linking to tumblr posts as proof are doing so because certain users are known to be Palestinian Arabic speakers who are personally vetting fundraisers. el-shab-hussein, nabulsi, or 90-ghost vouching for a fundraiser means that they have spoken personally to the organizer, seen ID documents, cross checked socials/phone numbers, sometimes even called them on the phone in real time and heard the war planes overhead. Hussein and Nairuz keep a spreadsheet as well that is also linked in my pinned post. It’s the source for most verifications on this blog.

All I can say is that you’ll just have to read what you can about the person or organization who did the vetting and use your own judgment. That’s all the vetters are asking folks to do. If this is a fundraiser where you can’t seem to find a verification source at all, dm me at palms-upturned and I’ll try to see what I can find quickly since the deadline is so urgent.

Re: the deadline, off the top of my head I don’t know of a fund with an overnight/today deadline, but I have seen a lot of funds with multiple deadlines. Needing to raise x amount of money to evacuate a member of the family who is in most urgent need, needing to raise a certain amount by a certain day in order to ensure that an evacuating child can be accompanied by an adult family member, needing to meet the goal by a certain day to make sure that the whole family isn’t separated, or in Bilal’s case recently, because he was raising funds from Germany on a visa which was not renewed simply because he is Palestinian, and needed to meet the goal before potentially being deported to Palestine, where he would no longer be able to raise funds. It’s not necessarily unusual for people to set a very sudden deadline or even multiple ones. Emergencies are constantly happening and the banks and travel agencies are also trying to squeeze as much money out of people as possible.

When people set these deadlines and goal amounts, they are also trying to take into account things like how long it will take to access the funds and how much of a cut will be taken by all the third parties down the line. Honestly, if there’s something that needs clarifying, you can usually just talk to people. Ask the organizer or one of the users who have been keeping in touch with them and promoting the fundraiser with updates. These folks are trying to be as transparent as possible and stay connected with anyone who can help them. They’re not going to dodge your questions. And they can explain best what sort of time/money constraints apply to them specifically. It differs depending on the banking situation, number/age of family members, offers and/or ultimatums from the travel agency, etc.

But the truth is that you and me both don’t have the know-how to verify this sort of thing ourselves any more than we could verify whether or not someone has cancer or is living on the streets or any number of reasons people launch fundraisers. Any time you donate to a cause like this, you’re putting some amount of trust in the organizer, the platform, and the people promoting the fund. But never in my life have I donated to a crowdfund that has been put through such intense scrutiny and as many layers of verification as Gaza fundraisers right now. Platforms like GFM are requiring constant updates about every penny spent of raised funds, and it still doesn’t guarantee that people’s verified fundraisers won’t be nuked and refunded without any real explanation to anyone involved. I’ve had I think five or six donations to various fundraisers refunded back to me at this point when I didn’t even want a refund. Zionists are mass reporting Gaza funds and smearing both the families and the people who are verifying and promoting them. Scammers pretending to be Gazan are not going to have a remotely easy time of it. Things are engineered to be as difficult as possible for people actually in Gaza.

tl;dr— if you need help with finding an actual source of verification, since this seems to be an emergency, dm me at palms-upturned for assistance. Obviously can’t say if this campaign is legit without knowing which one it is. Otherwise, you can check my pinned post for a list of orgs/spreadsheets/master lists of verified campaigns that you can cross reference. If you need more info on who’s doing the vetting and how, find the website and/or socmed page for the person or organization. You can also usually ask organizers/the people helping promote their campaigns directly for clarification on anything that’s confusing. But considering the harsh discrimination against Palestinians on crowdfunding platforms like GFM and PayPal, and the extra scrutiny their fundraisers are subjected to, you’re at a pretty low risk of being scammed most of the time. Sudden deadlines aren’t uncommon because emergencies are happening every day and the banks and travel agencies are squeezing as much money as possible out of people.

[theladyofrosewater]

Some of my FNAF 6 designs, close ups and notes under the cut

Scrap Baby

She's like 75% Elizabeth 25% Circus Baby's Murder AI

Still around 7"2 feet tall

Her roller skates are retractable if she needs to walk

I really hate her skirt in Pizza Sim so she gets puffy shorts instead

Puppet

I like ruffles so the design has a bunch

Those round yellow things are bells, She was too silent so Mike belled her like a cat this did not work but she likes them and won't let anyone remove them

Puppet is like 8??? Feet tall

Also dark green because the fandom decided that that's Charlie's color ( because of the mini game right?)

I had like 5 different designs but they started to look like moon so I pulled back on those aspects

Michael

I swear I remember Scott saying Michael lost all of his bones as well as his organs but I can't find the info anywhere so uhhh lets just say he found them again or Henry made him new ones or something

Since his bones are weak he needs a few braces to support himself as well as a pair of crutches to move

I think it would be funny if the remnant the scooper injected him with ONLY works on his hair so that still grows and he absolutely hated it when they started to come in gray.

Part of his lower cheek is missing because of Ennard and he re-enforced his jaw with metal piping

He's only around 6 ft tall, he used to be taller but after the whole scooping ordeal he shrunk around 4/5 inches

[matan4il]

Daily update post:

Another day, another independent Palestinian terrorist attack in Israel. This time, a 64 years old man was stabbed in Jerusalem, in the northern neighborhood of Neve Yaakov. The terrorist is a 14 years old Palestinian from East Jerusalem. I honestly wish we could arrest the people radicalizing these teenagers, using them like their lives and their futures mean nothing. Technically speaking, actively recruiting a teenager to a terrorist organization IS a war crime, but as we know from the way ISIS recruits people, it's not always done in a manner straightforward enough, for someone to be arrested. In this case, there is an estimate that someone has helped this teenager, and searches for this person are currently underway.

We're five months into the war, and the IDF has arrested 250 terrorists in Khan Yunis, among them are terrorists who had participated in the Oct 7 massacre. We're talking about thousands of people who were a part of those war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated on that day, and I hope Israel manages to bring them all to trial, if they choose to surrender.

Israel's National Security Council has issued an official travel warning for Israelis who happen to be abroad during the month of Ramadan this year, when there is an increase in Islamist calls for violence. I know this is for Israelis, but I personally think this is a good warning for all Jews, given that most Islamist organizations target us all, and make no distinction between Israeli and non-Israeli Jews. So please, wherever you are, whatever your political views, if you're Jewish, be extra cautious this upcoming Ramadan (starts Mar 10), and please pass it on to others as well.

In ocntinuation of what I wrote yesterday, that Israeli officials believe Hamas isn't interested in a hostage deal that would include a truce, and that American ones seem to think the same, now we have sources that say that yep, that's exactly US officials' impression.

Israeli minister (and Prime Minister hopeful) Benny Gantz is in the US, and has apparently tried to explain to American officials that de-militarizing Gaza of Hamas' terrorist forces, without touching the organization's last stronghold, Rafah, is like putting out 80% of a fire, and that in such a scenario, Hamas would be able to use a truce to re-arm, keep fighting, and will overall prolong the war.

Loay Al-Shareef, a Saudi man who speaks up for peace with Israel, has to be one of the bravest people I've heard about. Here is a short vid from an interview with him, talking about how he came to know Jews, and stopped hating them:

And here's a short intro for the full interview he did (I haven't had a chance to see the whole thing yet, but I want to, so this link is for me as well), which I found very interesting:

This is 71 years old Batia Holin.

She's an amateur photographer from kibbutz Kfar Azza, who has also believed deeply in coexistence, and even managed to put together a joint photography exhibition with a Gaza photographer. Here's a part of the Facebook post she used to find a Gazan partner for this:

Out of 5 photographers who contacted her, 4 ended up backing out, which is how she ended up with the one partner she did have for the exhibit. On Oct 7, as she and her husband (Nachum) ran into the bomb shelter, she saw strange men with headbands in their courtyard, realizing these must be terrorists. Batia and Nachum were scared for their family, which also lives in southern Israel, and went for 18 hours in the bomb shelter without food and water. When the soldiers arrived, she refused to be evacuated before she would know that her daughter and two grandchildren are, too. During that day, the Gazan photographer who became not just a partner, but also a close friend, called her. Claiming that Gaza was being bombed (this was a lie, the IDF was not yet operating in Gaza, it was still fighting terrorists in southern Israel), he asked her for info on the number and position of Israeli army forces. She realized he needs this info for Hamas, and hung up. Rotem, Batia's daughter, was shot and wounded, but they were all eventually rescued.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[curioussubjects]

Feedback Fest 2024

Since everything I've read for the past 1.5 years has been pilots, all 10 of the fics here are Kara/Lee from Battlestar Galactica. I'm only listing one fic per author, so be sure to check individual author pages if you liked their style.

(go here over on @transformativeworks for more info!)

1. In the Whole World by pennyante (M, ~80K, WIP)

Summary:

The Cylons aren't quite human, and the humans haven't quite forgiven them. Political stability is less certain than ever now that the war is over: Lee Adama finds himself up for re-election, where being defeated will mean a Gemenese theocracy puppeteered by Leoben Conoy. Meanwhile, Kara Thrace has nothing but questions about her death and destiny. The only answers available come in the form of the vision of a temple, and from her hybrid/comatose husband's cryptic ramblings about a sister artifact to the Arrow of Apollo.

There's violence in the air. Civil war looms. Can Lee and Kara save each other, and keep the fledgling colony whole?

Thoughts: The best season 4 fix-it, lives in my head rent free, rewired my brain, etc. Also I've read it, like, 3 times (and I cried).

2. We're Not Friends by ninety6tears (M, ~25K)

Summary:

When two soldiers in the middle of a war can't seem to like each other, baptism by fire is apparently the natural solution. (AU in which Kara never knew Zak and first meets Lee after the fall of the colonies.)

Thoughts: I love a different first meeting AU, and this one takes pilots on a fun rivals to lovers spin that works surprisingly well. They're still very unwell about each other, though, make no mistake.

3. Artemis Rising by clairza (M, ~11K)

Summary:

The next morning Lee makes a few phone calls, and when everything has been organized and his credit card has been used for the first time in three months, and he’s had the pleasure of telling his mother that no, he has plans this week, he tracks Kara down in the quad. 

She's lying on her stomach poking sticks upright in the grass. He sits down beside her, and he can see the tension in her shoulders.

“So,” he says casually, and he’s very proud of the way his voice doesn’t shake at all. “I hear the Aegean Peninsula is nice this time of year.”

“It probably is.”

“I’ve booked a unit.”

“Where are you going with this, Lee?” Thoughts: I have a huge soft spot for fluffy academy pilots and this fic absolutely delivers. Happy baby pilots go to the beach five stars no notes.

4. An Arranged Meeting by lark_ral (E, ~11K)

Summary: Even outside of wartime, you might be surprised by the pressures our service men and women are under. The most effective among them either have, or need a release valve. Thoughts: Lee and Kara are scene partners for years, then the Cylons come. Somehow less messy than the show, but still delicious.

5. Rota by leda13 (E, ~2K)

Summary: The days are arbitrary, in space. Bereft of the guide of a planet's rotation around the sun, they live in slices of time, stealing as many as they can. Thoughts: Emotional support curtain fic of pilots sneaking around.

6. Sufficient to the Day by rachelindeed (T, ~1.5K)

Summary: At the sound of Lee’s voice, she feels her stomach twist and drop. Reluctantly, she opens her eyes and sees him come to a stop an arm’s length away, settling one elbow onto the corner of the bleacher behind her. His jacket is unbuttoned, his hair mussed, jaw ghosted with stubble, and the frakking sun is rising behind him. The look on his face is casual and fond, but he breathes as if he’s been running. Thoughts: Mandatory UB morning after fix-it...sort of. I really like this one because all I wanted was for Lee to get to Kara first. Or for him to call her bluff. This fic is both. It's not a showdown on main street like I enjoy joking about, but it's quiet and it's them (so it's better!).

7. Contrecoup by Fahye (T, ~2.2K)

Summary:

Contrecoup (n): A concussion or shock produced by a blow or other injury, in a part or region opposite to that at which the blow is received, often causing rupture or disorganisation of the parts affected. (One story told right-way-up, the other told upside-down, but both in the same narrative.)

We begin at a single point in time. The present goes forwards. The past goes backwards.

The story is AU-within-canon and set after episode 1x11, "Colonial Day."

Thoughts: I can't say too much because I don't want to spoil the fic. So: a bit angsty, a lot sweet, with a side of Kara's amazing problem-solving skills.

8. Lee's Emo Coffeehouse by haycorn (M, ~2.9K)

Summary: Lee has a bar, and sometimes Kara makes his life more interesting. Thoughts: I love cute modern AUs in general, and I love them even more when there's pining involved. There's not nearly enough of this type of fic for pilots, either! Many thanks to the author for their service. Would read 100K of this 'verse.

9. Breathing Room by callmeonetrack (M, ~12K)

Summary: Kara and Lee adjust to their new, very separate lives on the Pegasus. Badly.

Thoughts: My favorite Pegasus fic! Being on the Pegasus sucks, but then Lee and Kara find each other and things get better. Chef's kiss, peak pilots.

10. And I Feel Fine by hazellazer (M, ~2.4K)

Summary:

“That was… that… why?”

Her hands stay firmly on his face, thumb brushing over his cheek. “I was just thinking—”

Cutting her off, he smirks. “You think?”

She swats at his arm, hard enough that it might actually bruise. “I thought you were dead, Lee.” Her gaze is harsh on his, voice rasping, before something softens. “And I should’ve done this the second I knew you weren’t.” Thoughts: Season 1, but Lee and Kara are together. It's nice, refreshing, and plain good.

[nikethestatue]

I know that sometimes the people in this fandom can come up with the worst takes in existence, but I think if you have a considerable number of people questioning if a mated pair who have already had their HEA are going to remain together or break their bond, then maybe the writer hasn't done such a great job with their romance. No one could ever doubt that Feysand and Rowaelin (and also Quinlar imo, but I know not everyone agrees) are going to stay happily together forever, but Nessian? They're not a side couple like Elorcan or even Daynight, they had a whole 800 pages to themselves and yet I'm less sold on their romance than I was in ACOWAR. Maybe it's just me, but a man in a romance book with split loyalties who isn't willing to swing for his girls 100% is unattractive to me. If I have to read about Az appreciating Mor's beauty I might just gauge my eyes out, if he doesn't stand up to Rhys at least ONCE the book is over for me.

So here is what I think happened--I feel like large chunks of info are missing, because of the re-write. I feel like like there is information that was there, whole scenes, which SJM took out. I also think that the 7 million bonuses that we got were originally in the book. I think they were part of the first draft.

There is absolutely, 100% something missing from Cassian/Nesta interactions, because I think they were cut. That line in the Ember and Randall bonus, where Nesta looked at Cassian and then thought that he was the one she was disappointing the most--that screams a missing scene.

I won't be surprised if we get something in the next book, which will say that Cassian KNEW that she was giving the Mask to Bryce, and that he implored that she didn't do it, but then agreed with her in the end, and hence, the scene between all of them yelling at each other reads so weirdly.

Or he warned her not to do it, and she did it anyway, and was now feeling guilty.

It sucks but I have to chuck some of it to the awful editing of this book, and the fact that it was rewritten, carved up, stitched back together and we got a Frankenstein monster now.

I dont think that the bonus scenes were simply a money grab--I think SJM wanted to include them and build a fuller picture for all of these couples and interactions.

Like if we think about the Azriel bonus in ACOSF, it reads like a bonus, because it's not from Nesta's POV, she isn't even present, it's from a completely different POV, kind of random, dealing with things which have nothing to do with Nesta as the MC.

However, the Az/Nesta/Bryce bonus, for example, definitely feels like it was part of the book, and not as a bonus. It was very organic and within the rest of the overall scene, also dealing with what SJM originally promised--the differences and advances in Midgard vs Prythian.

Basically, what i am trying to say is that I am not taking HOFAS as any indicator for the Nessian relationship. I think it's just a cut up mess, and I think initially Cassian played a bigger role, which was thrown away.

I mean. let's remember, people also hated Quinlar and thought that Bryce would end up with Az.

[rubykgrant]

The Reds and Blues (your full group and anyone else you might wanna add) are in a Pride Parade. What is everyone doing? All I know is that Sarge is driving a float and Simmons here is IN CHARGE OF CONFETTI. (This ask is brought to you by me going to my first Pride Parade yesterday)

Hey, first of all, congrats! I hope you had fun~

Sarge is definitely driving his own float, and Lopez helped him build it; the thing looks like a big rainbow version of Red Base, with multiple flags of various gender/sexuality combos (but also, they all have the Red Team insignia in a corner somewhere). Rather than drive it out of sight, Sarge is towing the whole thing in the warthog, and he's wearing a special version of his armor (just this ONCE he will be more than pure RED; he's the sunset lesbian flag, because- "It's got all of us on there!". he fully embraces this, let's go lesbians!)

Simmons is once again the Social Chairman, so he got put in charge of trying to organize everybody's duties and make activity schedules. He had to revise it several times (because he tried to micro-manage EVERY LITTLE THING), but it finally worked out pretty good. Once everything is going good, he can finally just... relax. People can still check in with him for specific things, but he mostly just gets to chill and walk around with Grif (my personal ideas for Grif and Simmons- Simmons is trans and gay, Grif is bi. they've both been in different levels of denial/awkward about this over the years, but now they can finally be themselves and embrace it. Simmons felt the need to wear a binder for years, but for the full effect of feeling accepted and proud, he has a light button-up shirt with the gay rainbow as stripes opened with a loose-fitting binder that has the trans colors underneath. then just some jeans. such minimal clothing! in public no less! Grif's in shorts and his own opened button-up shirt with the bi stripes. they participate in the parade at one point, holding up a banner that reads- "Why Are We Here? Because We're Queer!")

Caboose is the confetti king, with Freckles naturally helping! He's wearing his helmet (just regular clothes instead of full armor), and Church helped him figure out how to make the visor outwardly change to different pride rainbows without messing with his vision

Doc has a booth for anybody who needs any medical attention, and also walks around to help re-fill hydration stations, plus a variety of free snacks for people (with plenty available for people with specific diets/allergies). He has a lot of helpful references for anybody who wants to read and learn about gender/sexuality (so family and friends who want to be more accepting and mindful can get more info, and other people can figure out how to find their own community)

Donut is handing out coupons for places that sell special soaps/candles with various pride color themes. He has his own float in the parade as well, and it is a WHOLE musical number, with some flamboyant special effects and excessive glitter

Tex is just walking around ready to intimidate the absolute heck out of anybody who tries to disrupt the events. No cops or bigots at Pride, just Tex (she WILL throw a car if she needs to). She and Church participate in the parade for a bit, just kinda having fun with casual drag (she's in a masc outfit, he's in a dress. Donut helped make sure he'd be very pretty~ nothing fancy, but they have fun going with a rock-a-billy theme)

Church is handing out different kinds of glow-sticks as the sun goes down (some of them the bracelet/necklace kind that clip together). Once it is really dark, he and the rest of the Fragments put on a light show, with Theta creating the most AMAZING pride color fireworks!

Kai helped get a few different live music things going, and set up booths that have various merch/clothing for people... and once that is done, she took her rightful place in a throne on a float (there are several intersex, bi, and pan designs... but she also has a crown that says "Slut Queen", and the kink flag as her cape~)

Carolina sings some songs, and helps with some of the booths here and there... but she's mostly just enjoying the chance to take this all in, and appreciate everybody all around her

Locus is still awkward with crowds... like Sarge, he's in full armor, but similar to Caboose's visor, his can change to different rainbow combinations. He's actually more comfortable being in the parade, where he doesn't have to TALK, so he does that most of the day

Tucker is helping with the kid-friendly areas (and gives anybody who wants to call this "forcing kids to be gay" MORE than a piece of his mind). There are a lot of games, snacks, free clothes/merch. When Tucker participates in the main parade, he sets off some confetti canons with his sword (on the float, he skips a shirt, and wears leggings with the big community pattern)

Wash has clothes with his ace, trans, and gay colors, and he helps set up different booths/floats. He also passes out free key-chains and bubble bottles for people

My OCs Poppy and Junonia would help as well; Poppy would be on a float that has different flowers arranged in pride color rainbows, tossing out fake flower bouquets to the crowd. Junonia has a booth for disability inclusion (with info for people who want to learn more), and also hosts artists/craft creators who are selling merch

[scribefindegil]

71?

71. When it comes to more complicated narratives, how do you keep track of outlines, characters, development, timeline, ect.?

A big old messy scratchdoc!! I try to use headings to keep the information somewhat organized, but they work best if I let them stay pretty sprawling. It's usually something like:

Top section: What are The Themes? Why am I writing this story? Are there important symbols or visual motifs I want to keep track of? Are there reminders to myself that I want to see frequently to bring myself back into focus (re: tone, characterization, types of description or details to focus on)?

Character Section: I don't always do this, but for big fics or things with a large ensemble cast I usually lay out each important character, the basis of their arc/conflict, and how they contribute thematically to the story. If it's AU or set post-canon or there are other reasons that information about the character would be different from their canon counterpart, I note it here.

Reference section: Any specific research I've done for the fic. Lists of things like minor characters' names, descriptions of settings or OCs, etc.

Revelation List: I stole this from DMing advice blogs, but any time there are mystery elements to a fic I always lay out the Revelations (what the characters need to learn) and the specific clues or circumstances they encounter that allow them to reach those conclusions. Do they find and interpret evidence? Do they get information from another character? Do they do research? Even if I don't plan out all the details of the plot, I need to understand how the characters are going to reach each of the Revelations or I'm going to get stuck.

Timelines: I don't always do these either; it really depends on the fic, but if there's a specific chronology I need to keep track of (or a secret structure that would get lost in the full outline) I try to write it down

The Plot: Finally!! The actual outlining part! I start by writing bullet point versions of the events I know will happen (I usually have a pretty strong sense of the beginning and climax of a fic by this point, even if I still have a bunch of fine-tuning to do) and then work backwards or forwards to fill in the gaps. If it's a mystery fic (and most of my longer fic has at least some mystery elements) I refer back to the Revelations list to make sure I have scenes that cover all the necessary Leads and Revelations to get the characters to the endpoint.

Snippets: For certain scenes, the outline version doesn't accurately capture the Vibe I'm going for, so I have a section at the end where I write quick, tiny, scaffolding-style first drafts. These usually have almost no relation to what the final scene actually looks like, but it's about pinning down the idea and the atmosphere.

These documents are really big and messy and I usually need to go back and edit them as I go, because my original ideas inevitably undergo some shifts as I figure things out, but that's the fun of it!

It has to be the right type of fic to make this worth it, but sometimes I'll also do a scene-level outline in an Excel spreadsheet, with columns for Scene, POV Character, Location, Characters Present, Events, Reactions, and Plot-Important Info. This is good for super plotty/mystery-heavy fics and fics with big ensembles that I can't keep track of other ways. I have an enormous and beautiful outline in this style for the Owl House Tam Lin AU which I do still want to write someday, bc while I didn't end up loving TOH as a whole I do love a lot of the characters, and also we came up with possibly the best plot twist of my life involving 400 years of moon phase records so. It's on the back burner but it's still on the stove, as it were. And the good thing is that because I have such an exhaustive outline it will be easy for me to pick back up at any time if I want to!

[cobwebcorner]

I know the RE writers didn't think this through, but I'm fascinated in a world in which 9/11 may or may not have happened after a rural US city was nuked, a billionare's floating city was passed by a satellite, then after that a sitting president died in office and the city was bombed. Like what's the US foreign policy like.

Ok fun fact but 9/11 did still happen in the RE verse! The fandom wiki has a whole page about the war on terror in universe (yeah, I know, fandom wikis….BUT the secret to getting good info there, like with any kind of research, is to check their sources. And while I don't know about all of that page--Glen Arias supporting the Taliban?!??--they do cite a file from RE 6 that specifically mentions 9/11 , but only in the original Japanese. The reference was removed in English translations, I guess because they thought it'd be insensitive? IDK)

I could not make this shit up.

So like. Yeah, the games skirt around it, but all that 'selling bioweapons to terrorists' plot lines that were bouncing around from the 00s through the mid 2010s? Directly tied to the war on terror. Yes THAT war on terror. So I guess that US politics for the time is the same as it was for our world, but with the addition of 'the terrorists might have zombie plagues'.

Also let's not forget the fact that in-universe, the US government is secretly controlled by an evil organization of mustache twirling puppet masters who consider zombifying/nuking the sitting president an excellent solution to preventing scandals.

The politics in this world must be so wild, guys.

[unproduciblesmackdown]

oh, Mordecai having some romantic feeling about Atlas is so delicious. Adds inherent internal conflict -- Mordecai's dad is dead, Atlas may have thought of himself as stepping into a pseudo parental role (even if it was only as a manipulation tactic). Mitzi helping Mordecai with new clothing is an almost familial act, but also he's competing with her for atlas's attention (which is romantic attention for mitzi)! Very fucked up, I love it. thinking about it feels like getting tazed.

right! all about the Drama and that [lol that would be very fucked up. i love it] element

like we Could just suppose mordecai peaced (violenced) out of lackadaisy based just on the Business considerations of marigold now being the sole large & relatively stable operation around, and that he's now moved to dig into things only because he's worried about, what, arrest for murder (which would have Been a concern re: "murder is a not insubstantial part of your job" the whole time, but)....but it's more Enriching if he gets personal character motivations that aren't solely practical concerns, so you gotta imagine that's how it really is

and like what's (so likely i just assume it's true, and) important is just that mordecai has some kind of very motivating emotional attachment to atlas out here, and given that he's not forthcoming about that and atlas is (a) dead and (b) also not forthcoming in his fleeting, mysterious appearances, any details have to be speculation, but aren't Needed to suppose that that emotional significance is there....i assume the most common theory re: wondering what atlas meant to mordecai is that mordecai was like "that's my dad" and ofc with the lack of specific info we can't say that's Not the case lol. it would also be hilarious anytime there's like unilateral [that's my dad] that is never acknowledged / taken on by that would-be dad lmfao....and ofc it's possible that atlas is the one with the unilateral [that's my son] especially by virtue of assuming the figurative role of Patriarch as less mere "is this my begotten son" and more "i'm a Man who is In Charge of this group of people. meanwhile mitzi and mordecai truly can get in on some "familial" dynamic like particularly on the basis of "people who are stuck together (in this house, in this job, in this group you're supposed to belong to all your life)" and their being Rivals re: atlas in one way or another making them like frenemies out here is great, and that now they are plausibly frenemies who are also the only people who can understand each other's depression is even better lmfao. still thinking it was mitzi (wife) asa (friend) and mordecai (???) at atlas's funeral for sure

meanwhile it's really not difficult to imagine that mordecai could feel some type of way about atlas when it's like, people are gay, it also Is difficult to imagine a More emotionally impactful introduction to someone / establishment of their role in your life than "thinking your own murder is imminent and even that atlas was someone about to kill you Now but then it turns out that this guy absolutely out of nowhere basically saves your life even though he just spared you a revolver"....i do generally assume that atlas related to most everyone around him in that opportunistic way, that, like in taking on viktor, atlas sees someone backed against a wall here, and if they can shoot their way out of it then he has this potential hire who now owes him their life and has that ability to fight their way out of a situation in which others are trying to kill them and still doesn't have any other options, and, like pretty much everyone, continues to have few options as they get involved in the organized bootlegging world, the other paths are closed to you....but, of course, mordecai may not have ever been confronted with that hypothetical reality of how atlas related to Him, and not really have pushed to make his Own hypothetical feelings about atlas manifest as more than like, being that ferocious little shadow, nbd just an important, fave employee, and of course there's atlas being married not long after....not some amazing situation, but regardless of any further specifics, we can presume that it's as big a deal as anything to mordecai that Someone is on his side at all and helping him out, even just on the level of like, on his side of "not dying" and helping him with "not dying," and he's taking what he can get out here, aren't they all

and just some more "wow. wild" visuals like, such as The Following peak dramatic introduction and how it's like okay you could at least imagine it Could be the kind of thing mordecai feels differently about than like [literally dadcore] lol

meanwhile always going "wow....wild" about this bit

just before he's also like "i'll kill you" at the suggestion that he was Romantically Involved with mitzi lmao....i do not imagine that mordecai was ever living with atlas but it's like, how much bodyguarding was done, to what extents. certainly could imagine him getting close enough to escort people to their homes, doors of apartments or hotel rooms, could imagine sometimes staying in those places too....real "why are you, as a man, aware of another man's living situation and the status of his marriage's deterioration" moments lmao. even when it's like, well yeah he's quite literally Close to atlas whenever being like a personal guard type situation, and presumably being privy to a lot re: business, and even some of the personal. and it's also a question of, supposing atlas did have a part in his own death, What atlas's motivations would be....evidently it wasn't great for lackadaisy that he died, or for mitzi, and what benefits could atlas reap directly by his dying when yknow then that'd mean that he was dead....gotta suppose if he Did go "look, most trusted employee who's already privy to a lot and maybe i also trust b/c i know you Care A Lot: you gotta kill me" it's more likely that he Was motivated more sentimentally than like ruthless business boy style out here. maybe mitzi wasn't living with him after some opportunity she pursued too far evidently fucked some things up, but atlas would still be like "well the things are already fucked up, and also i'll die to get mitzi out of some impending further consequences of it" maybe. maybe it was that atlas was just Sure he'd be killed, and so he had mordecai be the one to do it rather than live in suspense and not get to pick the time and place and be killed right off rather than hoping that enemies lurking around every corner both can & will make it a quicker less painful death

and it's like, hand to forehead, oh lord The Drama to suppose atlas told mordecai "okay. you gotta kill me :/" and mordecai is kind of in love with him or something and yet still has to go "okay :/" and then do it and then he and atlas's now-widow, who he kind of hates and is now the one other person who knows what went down and who he'll attend the funeral with, can be [hand to forehead] about it together....not like there's no drama in mordecai going "i have the worst luck re: my dads dying, ugh" in this scenario either lmao but it Could instead be like This and it Would be all the more agonizing. gotta kill this guy you love who you knew was never exactly gonna return that even beyond "i mean, to what extent did he Love his actual wife, even if it's a [nonzero] answer" and who would entrust you with this task b/c he not only knows you Could do it but that you Would....which also leads me to the postscript of this theory, that atlas also could've just leveraged that "however anyone felt about it presumably mordecai was Technically only ever Officially: atlas's employee of the month" and also basically made it a Professional Order to be the one to kill him. sure thinking about how mordecai repeatedly, including in his introduction, goes "it's really important for me to have a consistent and rigorous approach to Doing My Job that isn't based on going 'yahoo wippee i'm having so much fun' b/c I'm Really Not, i do not like any of this" like hmmm! might be the kind of important, emphasized perspective of a character who was like "yeah i had to kill my boss who i loved and i deal with that by being all-in on 'i don't do this because i enjoy it'" while others are like wow mordecai why don't you Seem to enjoy this either way more or way less? what a weirdo. and he's like, literally i just work here. anyways imagining the like "mitzi and mordecai hanging out in silent crisis together in the Depression Café immediately after mordecai killed atlas b/c atlas arranged that and both of them were aware of this and mitzi was married to him and mordecai was his right hand man and now their frenemies forever competitive status is that classic 'we might never even talk now but we'll just share a lifelong secret maybe, you know how it is' and in this scenario i also do imagine mitzi would be aware how mordecai felt, gayly. a ton of fun"

[mcchipisfried]

do you have a note taking system somehow? i want to start annotating my books but i never know what to mark down

oh Oh OH OHH OHHH you do not know how long I have been waiting, longing, for SOMEONE to ask this. You are now my favorite person ever and we are now besties :D

Okay so I do and don't have a system but tl;dr Do whatever you want and mark what comes to YOUR mind and what you WANT to recall if you decide to re-read a book!

Long info dumping on how I do my notes under the cut!

So lets get one thing straight, I have not a single clue as to how to "properly" annotate a book in any sense of the word. So fuck it we're doing shit MY way.

So I started by noting that I wanted to mark quotes in my book without writing in it or highlighting [this is personal preference you do whatever you want its your books and they're for YOUR enjoyment] so I got these really cheap side tabs from Amazon

As you can see they're all sticking out because I actually like the whole "messy but organized" look but you could take some scissors and trim them up a bit.

Okay so what do my side tabs mean? Well, I originally didn't know what I wanted to see. I had done Dracula Daily before with the emails but I wanted to make this experience much more enjoyable for myself so I thought of marking quotes or scenes I liked which turned into:

The only time I actually wrote on my copy (this was before I got my sticky notes) I know. I am a genius and my wordplay is unparalleled. So the multicolored tabs mean I ran out of that color and needed a new one. You can see that some of them are different lengths and that's because I cut them so they can properly fit in my book (and it doubles the amount I have) Also here are the "meanings" of each tab:

Ayo that's kinda sus: Each and every time someone (Dracula) does something that reveals their true nature or that something weird is going on. Works well if you're reading mystery and coming back to see all the clues you had since the beginning!

*Women*: Every time a woman does something that surprises me, intrigues me, or makes me smile. I often find these instances can be rare in some books so I decided to mark these in Dracula. I was pleasantly surprised to see how often I was using this tab (when the woman gives Jonathan her crucifix even though she's probably terrified of Dracula, Mina being the devoted wife and woman of my dreams that she is, Lucy being Lucy, etc.)

Ayo that's fucked up: Every time something that breaks my heart or is needlessly cruel happens. The first scene with the baby saw a lot of use from this tab.

Ayo that's gay: C'mon. We're on tumblr. We all know what characters I'm using this tab for.

Quotes I like + Food: I have a soft spot for when characters info dump about historical places or things they like. Stoker has a way of describing certain settings and scenes that honestly makes me smile so I want to mark them. Also I like food. Yeah

When I found my sticky notes I realized I also wanted to write down things (but not on the book) and draw things. I had a lot of fun looking up the recipes that Jonathan mentioned in the beginning of the book as well as drawing them. (I have the preparation instructions on the back) (you can also see the side tab for food on that page)

I also think in memes or at least I process information as jokes a lot

Sometimes I get more detailed with my drawings or even write theories I may have about what is happening in the book. Trying to capture my emotions and thoughts in small blips (even though I have read the book before and know exactly how it ends)

At the end of the day you can take everything I just said and defenestrate it and do you own thing. Which honestly, I would do because this is just a mess. But I hope I have at least provided a small base from which to build upon. My own advice would be to take into consideration how committed you are because I do think just tabbing you book is sufficient enough but who knows maybe you're more of the power point presentation about the books you read kinda person.

Either way, a good time zone to you, and hope you found this at the very least amusing!

[derangedhyena-zoids]

Many thanks to my wonderful friends for helping me unfuck part of my fic. I am now feeling quite chipper about it again. I also want to dump a little quick backstory/lore info here re:Sara and her stupidity. I may have mentioned it on this blog before, but if so only glancingly... so. I'm putting it under a cut because it's ... ish? spoilers, but not really? because this is mainly meta-knowledge. and I don't think any of the characters will ever actually figure any of it out. OH WELL.

Backdraft as a group is/was older than it let on, but its form and function had seen a lot of radical changes in the ~half century prior NC0.

Backdraft used to have a very purist policy for their membership - it was a "I do what I want" club comprised largely of rich Imperial families and their kids. You didn't join this group you were invited - and you could only actually join if you could prove you were some stripe of Imperial descent. (I need you to picture that the kind of folks running this would be the kind of folks who would've been on Prozen's side, pre-crazy.) As time went on and politics became bland by way of a benign but totalitarian government, the populace lost both interest in and knowledge of their backgrounds. Imperial or Republic heritage didn't matter anymore, not to anyone but a select few. As proto-Backdraft's membership was aging out and dying off, it realized to survive as an organization it had to relax its requirements. The furor this caused led to the Committee structure being formed, so there wasn't (as intense) squabbling over leadership and the way things were being run. A lot of older folks in what soon became known as Backdraft caught and maintained good-old-days-itus, in which they began to resent the org being "polluted." But most everyone at this point had fixated on Backdraft's control and moneymaking capabilities - completely losing the original concept(s) in the process. Enter Sara and her years-long power grab. In the process of viciously making her way up the ladder, she learned about the org's history and had the bug put in her ear about the good-ol'-days. She wanted to return Backdraft to being Imperially-rooted for the following reasons: -she, herself, is categorized as from the Imperial line -she thinks herself superior to other folks and is, in fact, aware of her Zoidian genetics, minus the knowledge that they're Zoidian. -her understanding of history boils down to "when the Republicans touched shit everything got fucked up, wow." Which is a gross oversimplification and hilarious misunderstanding of Literally Everything, but this is the kind of shit that happens with history! Especially when immersed in roiling Agendas. Which tl;drs to, if she decides people need to die, she's going to target one group over another, very much. Sara this is eugenics please stop

In reality: -Raven is the reason Sara's bloodline is considered Imperial. Ryss never made it into the recorded equation. Considering that Raven himself probably wasn't of Imperial descent (his parents seemed kind of faction/location agnostic - which is a whole other population nuance rarely considered), Sara isn't really Imperial at all. -As a result of the Cataclysm, records went to SHIT. And a lot of information was basically re-compiled after entire cities & their associated recordkeeping had been destroyed. What could be recovered and rebuilt was, to a degree. But a lot of information came from people's recollections. Most records have a large degree of uncertainty in them. -Once science recovered a little, there were sufficient advances in technology to allow a degree of insight and provide better resolution for well known families/lineages. But most people didn't care by this point... and this kind of information was seen as little more than a rich person's vanity pursuit. (please see: the other post I did awhile back about modern technology's development being oddly stunted due to many societal factors, most of which are intentional) -The genetics of Ryss's bloodline are known but not associated with her or Zoidians. They're erroneously lumped in with all the other genetic fuckery going on with Imperial bloodlines... almost all of which was self-imposed by the royalty and nobility early on inbreeding too fucking much. -Sara's dumb quest to have Best Baby resulted in her having None Baby - she miscarried multiple times. Vega was her last try, more-or-less an accident, and absolutely not what she was after: on paper, Vega's father is Republican thru-and-thru. -...because anyone in from Hiltz's lineage are Republican. He sired kids in a Republican colony when he lived with the Scholar. Whoops, nobody knows. -But this ruins Sara's whole feeling-real-special thing, so she went full sunk-cost-fallacy and ignored it all. And though she does love Vega, you can't help but wonder if this colors her perception of him at all ... or she's just in complete denial of reality and substituting her own (yeah, it's this one.) The amount of characters who have any of this knowledge is very small and getting smaller by the minute. :I again, oh well.

[astraeus-moon]

@melchinafan Sorry for the late ish response I feel kinda sick so it took me a while longer to organize my thoughts. Also here we fucking go apologies for no read more sins I am on mobile

And no I haven't seen those ign articles! More canon info to add to my hordes! And Jacob :( sad baby girl. I'll probably post those (The screenshots of the new info)  later for easy access for others

Your point on all 4 of heros being effected makes me wonder if Grave lock girls magic has sort of an area of effect or if the alpha vampires magic is a double edged sword in positively affecting the heros

And ooooo I didn't know there were other blood remnants that came in dif forms makes me wonder if they are somewhat similar to the alpha vamp remnants bc I think i remember it being mentioned somewhere the vial also had psychic residue?? Could not be I'm just losing it but eh. And the psychic residue perhaps being in the blood/body? And that's why it alters you?

And yeah I agree! I think that we don't carry them into the fight just to crack open the door and sort of wave a red flag at a bull sort of way

And then when the alpha vampire dies we get the remnant imbued with a bit of that vamps specific magic

And yeah perhaps using the skulls almost a psychic lockpick if those chosen had been imbued with some of the alphas powers (referring to the trickle down effect you noticed, Vampire mlm is a concept that will be lodged in my brain now)

The biggest one for Bellwether not giving a shit I believe was a piece of dialog that said like "once we get out of here do you think they'll drop a nuke on this place" which made me laugh bc I audibly went just like resident evil grqt2h3 which despite some of the negative reviews comparisons to other games the lack of resident evil with vampires is making me laugh (I mean it in a positive way I'm very attached to RE)

Plus I don't think a privately funded not so small military/mercanary group is gonna lose sleep over a "few" civilian casualties (especially not when you can write em off as vampire deaths when it comes down to it)

Yeah I agree! One of my main grievances was I wish that side quest/mini bosses got more diversity and watchers idk if those are miniboss types as I think they go down p easy (but like I said can't/haven't played the game so I could be wrong) they seem closer to the mutated cultists than "true" vampires

And totally get you on lore one of my other favorite games is destiny 2 and holy shit the amount of environmental storytelling/lore is so strong they have a fan run website to compile it all so I totally get you.

And ooo I'm always looking for new games to watch/obsess over so I'll have to check it out

And yeah unfortunately the people I watched wernt too into grave lock collecting and the only 100 locations video I've found doesn't play em in full

And yeah with Addison I won't spoil it but holy shit he was the worst one too me I wrote out/expanded on the house of Echos mission so I was rewatching and it ended up being 4k words but also it was woof. I almost wish they swapped the order of the map start out in the second way with the other 2 then work into the 1st area for the hollow man

Yeah my sort of interpretation (both in how I'm writing and general fun) is that his Ravens outlines + his guns lock on are from that eye but a fun thing I had was giving them all like the way things are highlighted blue for you to grab some of the psychic residue as most of the psychic energy we see (barring layla) tend to be a pale blue - teal(?) Ish color and it was just funny to me that the highlights for important objects were similar

I agree with vampires probably having night vision as they are supposed to be a sort of apex predator so night vision fits with the whole can't go in the sun.  It does make me wonder if Jacob would run into issues in direct sunlight with that eye time to invest in sunglasses my guy

And yeah I hadn't considered the psychic spaces as like stronger spaces where the trance is louder, bc in my thoughts I think the trance is a seperate but adjacent magic thing to what turned them into vampires

It definitely seems like the magic sort of got them all or bolstered abilities in some way and come on we both know that devs def smart enough to crack teleportation lmaooo necessity is the mother of invention and all that. But I do think that magic and science go hand in hand (destiny 2 is so great for that reason aswell because so much of what looks like magic can be kinda turned into science)

I think Remis ult is pure video game but healing it would make sense if it gave out a sort of opposite end of the spectrum vampire healing and helped you regenerate by like tapping into that magic that's settled in you or the vials/remnants

yeah we don't know how the healing actually works as you don't regen health unless you find medpacks which leads me to believe you do have to needle and thread it up instead of magic video game heal as explained in dishonored or prey

And yeah I'm assuming vamp regen at best at worst, you should uhhhh probably got get that looked at bud and yeah blood as fuel is a good idea even if it was connected or disconnected

And yeah the tissues, I'd imagine a wash cloth would be slightly more useful than tissues but eh and yeah sort of a gunk goop dripping thing (ie Eris Morn from destiny with her hive eyes)

And yeah! I think to be a bloodbag/sin eater it also I think is slightly voluntary(?) As the sin eaters are like that. And the blood bags seem pretty eager so maybe the most devoted cultists get turned into em

And yeah I'm uncertain bc I remember for one of the missions Jacob has a line like "but slitting the throat of your neighbor to get in." Or smth like that it's been awhile

And yeah vampire mlm, and yeah definitely maybe the more sacrifices brought in = higher chance of getting turned

I think it's a bit of both as we see with the alphas they were all real shitty people beforehand and yknow being willing to kill others to further your own gain definitely fits under "bloodsucker" (derogatory) in my mind lmao

And I think that's why Jason got away was bc hes not a bad person and was rather selfless hence but still also perhaps shaped by the intent of the person giving you magic (jacobs raven, laylas telekinesis which is something other higher up vampires can do as weve seen with the sea) But also made to shape you're own natural abilities remis healing, devs gadgets :) especially in those latter two cases where they wernt forced really to have the powers

The slow boil is soooo intresting to me bc like where were they? Like in the nests psychic spaces and just coming out to feed plus with the size of the alphas I think that'd kick up a fuss

I think probably a but of both, as drug trials/medical research like aevum was doing was bound to test on mice at least and upon observing the effects may have worked there way up to humans but huge fucking claw marks are probably vampires especially from what we've seen they are extraordinarily wasteful with animals perhaps both as food and ensuring surviving humans can't get it

And birds + animals disappearing evokes a similar feeling of when animals tend to dip before natural disasters because there senses and instincts are so much stronger than ours but also vampires killing them because they couldn't go after people yet

also lmao yeah like idk where tf they were going with that like was the plan to eventually move out of redfall or use it like a home base or smth bc you kill the animals and the people you're gonna have to start eating each other

And yeah I have to imagine at least one cultist was wincing and didn't voice it but was very much like aw come on guys

And yeah! Idk if it's ever explained if vampires exclusively have to eat blood/meat or can eat other things aswell

And oh my God don't get me started on the impacts of introducing a fuck ton of apex predators into your ecosystem and food chain not to mention if other animals mutated and are breeding. Like just removing Wolves from Yellowstone was enough to fuck over the ecosystem I can imagine something on this scale plus the probably intense growth from the decomp rates of bodies.. anyone in an environmental science field would be tearing their hair out (specifically my own redfall oc whose a park ranger is not having a great time with that)

You would have to build ground up essentially as trying a top down approach would fuck up the few remaining secondary and primary consumers (obligatory environmental science rant over)

They all def do the trance def is giving hive mind vibes aswell as a removal of emotional/rational thinking makes me wonder if the blood trance heightens base instincts/hunting drive or aggression like with animals being aggressive and shit being fucked

And oh def, bc each of the bosses has there own space but the nests aswell which makes me wonder if vampires have their own allegiances or a nest is like a pack

And yeah hindsights 20/20 and yeah fears a hell of a motivator and cults pray on scared lonely people with no other options and yeah in too deep

I haven't! Unfortunately I haven't watched a dev playthrough and there's not too many multiplaythroughs on YouTube but I'll inform you if I come across any! And as for rough speculation on mothman physique(?) I think leathery makes sense from someone as logical as dev since it glides so it being similar to a bat or moth it almost makes me think of point pleasants.. intresting... statue of the mothman to say the least...

And yeah woof the scientists sure as hell are doing some malpractice although I'd admire arkanes commitment to fuck the rich with them being consistent enemies.  And yeah sorry this got Hella long

[kahuna-burger]

Oh Oh Those Summer Nights

Warnings : None

Pairing : Hydra husbands (of course)

Characters : Brock Rumlow, Jack Rollins, Jasper Sitwell, Phil Coulson, mostly unnamed STRIKE team OCs

Other tags : Pre canon, mild identity porn, under cover operations, SHIELD compartmentalizing like crazy, implied homophobia, possible internalized homophobia, epistolary (email)

Summary : Tell Email me more! Tell Email me more!

Chapter 1 : Happened So Fast https://www.tumblr.com/kahuna-burger/727100817162797056/

Chapter 2 : Had me a blast https://www.tumblr.com/kahuna-burger/727218990297055232/

Chapter 3 : Met a girl, cute as could be

From : brumlow@shield.gov

To : <shitheads>

Re : this is why you aren't in infiltration

Not one of you fuckers is even a little subtle, and that is only one of the reasons NONE OF YOU is going to be my god damned SIC when we're back in action. The others have to do with team integration and if you shit for brains had the command training to understand that, I might have considered you.

Seriously, I get any more private emails on the new fucking team command structure, the sender gets all latrine duties for our next field mission. 

Also, no, I'm not telling you details of the cover job that could identify the location, dammit it's like none of you whiny jerkoffs works for a secret government organization! You get the details I feel like giving and fucking thank me for the entertainment while you waste all our tax dollars faking your injuries for more morphine.

But no, I'm not dealing with kids, because the "attraction" I'm working at is dangerous enough to be adults only, health questionnaires and waivers, all the fucking hoops. I don't do that part, but it makes my life significantly less shitty than it could be if I had to try to teach fucking snot nosed brats and adventure seeking grannies this stuff. Most of them are fairly fit, really.

Actually, one today was EXTREMELY fit, in a way that made helping with her equipment damn fun, if ya know what I mean. Picked up the training really well too, definitely a job perk of a customer.

Doubt I'll get too many like that, though, so make sure you lazy fucks get on your PT so I can get out of this place.

To : <gamma>

From : jrollins@shield.gov 

Re : Thanks for the good news!

Glad to know we won't be broken up, and that this assignment will end at least for me. (No promises for the operation as a whole, as no one even knows what the objective is.)

In other news, I got to check out the new attraction and it's actually fantastic. Without too much identifying info, it's the kind of thing that is just stress and danger if it comes up in the course of a mission, but they've made it feel just dangerous enough to be an accomplishment and make the gorgeous payoff even better. 

Speaking of gorgeous, my training did not come from a college student, but an extremely professional but friendly grownup who obviously had years of practical experience. A+ gear up experience, will be hoping for the same crew next time. And there will definitely be a next time.

Decided to leave my bet on the money laundering since the cancellation penalty they've worked out is too high to be worth changing it, but I'm considering some side bets on specific people's involvement in WHATEVER. Will keep you updated.

-Jack

Notes : posting even though the read more is being a bitch to barely maintain my dream of one chap a day. Also, feel free to send asks about anything in this.

[soul-dwelling]

Man, maybe its just confirmation bias because I heard this take many times, but yeah, rereading the manga fully for the first time really makes it seem that after the baba yaga arc the whole thing kinda lost steam, with chapters just meandering about, charachters getting introduced while being boring, established charachters just turning into evil caricatures (Justin, Crona) and the good guys just being kinda anoying and acting like unlikable brats.

I mean, if you’re re-engaging with the same work more than once, you’re bound to find details that you scrutinize more. I hope my negativity isn’t leading to confirmation bias, and I hope on re-reading you find details that you appreciate more that can balance out what new stuff you’re finding that you’re scrutinizing more. 

The post-Baba Yaga era is a bit of a story reboot--without going far enough. We start strong with showing Soul’s new power set, setting up an opponent in Gopher, teasing out the mystery of why Justin turned and what Noah is up to and why he wants Giriko. We show what the other students are up to, including Black Star looking for Crona, and the Thompsons and Team B looking for Medusa…

…and then things kind of feel like missed opportunities. 

It’s not all bad, but some things fall apart. 

Soul is a Death Scythe, he and Maka have to learn a new balance in their relationship when it comes to the form of the Grigori wings. And while flying is cool, how many times did we really see it between the Gopher fight and the Moon arc? Flying wasn’t as integral to, say, the Book of Eibon arc or the Black Blood Bubbles arc. It’s not that these arcs needed to have flight--but we don’t even get just action panels showing Maka flying to destinations? 

(The revelation that Maka has a Grigori soul and what that means going down the line also feels like it is swept away. It’s neat trivia and worldbuilding, but it isn’t explored much. It feels like a logical tie-in to finally bring Maka’s mother into the story--except, first, it doesn’t seem like Maka’s mother had the Grigori soul either, so, second, she would just end up repeating the info dump we already got from Spirit and others.)

The mystery of what Noah is up to collapses once you learn he is an extension of the Book of Eibon. I think it could have been saved if the Book had a bigger victory over Asura at some point in the final arc, but it didn’t pan out that way. 

Giriko’s story ends in a fitting way. 

Justin’s story collapses on its own, until you put it into context with Fire Force to read Justin’s character arc as much as an indictment against organized religion and fanaticism as it within Soul Eater a reflection on how isolation and unquestioning faith are bad things. 

(This is a whole other tangent as to how Justin’s story does and doesn’t work, seeing as we don’t get a sense that anyone really cared to intervene in Justin’s isolation--perhaps because they didn’t notice?--and not even some regret on the part of others for not seeing the signs earlier--you would think, with how smart Azusa and Stein are presented to be, that you’d hear far louder regret from one of them at this screw up.)

Black Star and the others finds Crona and Medusa’s clowns…and then they disappear again. Cool action scenes, new powers unlocked--but just kind of happens. It makes me think you could have combined this part with the last arc of the manga and have a faster pace that would make the developments more impactful on the reader. Instead, you wait until the Black Blood Blood arc to get back to Crona and Medusa, just to have Crona kill Medusa and wrap up this narrative. 

Maybe I’d push back against saying the new characters introduced are a bit boring, or that the good guys become annoying and unlikable. 

I think there is lacking potential in some new characters. Tezca and Enrique should be hilarious--but we rarely get to see them outside of some brief interactions. Show us some weirdness, like how the DWMA reacts to Enrique running around; we got some of that with Free commenting on him to Eruka, but that’s about it. Tezca is a fan favorite because of his design and limited background information on him--and he’s funny, but we get so little of him. Does anyone remember the name of the person who made the airship to the Moon, Gen? He was here for a corny pun on “ecchi” and that was about it. 

And I actually like the good guys being a little annoying and unlikable. There’s the debate about whether what Lord Death is doing is right--it’s underdeveloped, but it’s a worthwhile question, one that should have been explored more so that his death and his faith in Kid hits harder. Maka being indecisive about what to do about Crona is earned and is a legitimate debate, one that opens up her teammates to debate as well, finally giving some of them some personality, including making Harvar a hardass and, yeah, unlikable, which is the point, to add some conflict to the story. It’s a little late to do more with Harvar (he and Jackie are sidelined in Baba Yaga, and that arc also reduces Ox and Kim’s conflict to a love confession--not bad, especially how Ox sees good in Kim, but kind of limited).