#- characters or the universe in general if you’re curious! i want to flesh them out more lol

[fowlblue]

The Magician’s Assistant: The seven Six Sins

(they’re not all designed yet but I wanna go ahead and jot this down so…)

So, in Max’s world, there’s the human realm (where he and Florence are, as well as some other cast members), and then there’s the Underworld- this is the realm of demons, and a large portion of it is overseen by the Deadly Sins, which behave similarly to organized crime within the Underworld. Usually, demons can’t travel to the human realm on their own, but the Sins are powerful enough to not only do so, but to influence the human realm. They use this to further their own power and ambitions, with their strength already being well beyond an average demon’s.

The Sins are:

Superio (Pride)-

Superio is the ‘big boss’ of the entire organization- arrogant, selfish and cruel, he’s every inch the personality powerhouse to back up his overconfidence. He’s manipulative, magnetic and charming, always looking to further his own ends- despite this, he does take his job seriously and views a slight directed at the Sins to be a slight directed unto himself.

(he/him)

He is the one working most closely with The Master- the two have a… ‘confusing’ relationship.

Most resembles a classic red devil.

Appears in reflective surfaces.

Generally skilled in magic- in terms of unique abilities, he grows bigger and stronger the more confident he feels. The weakness of this, however, is that ‘wounded pride’, for him, is very literal.

Fascinated by magic tricks and showbiz.

Mynah (Greed)-

For Mynah, there’s no such thing as wanting nothing. Overseeing the Underworld’s casinos, Mynah too takes his job seriously… if only for the money and power it brings him. Welcoming in personality but easily distracted, he’s a good host- if someone decides to start trouble, or doesn’t like how their bets have played out, however, they’ll find themselves another golden statue littering the casino floor.

(he/him, occasionally they/them)

Four arms (all the better to play the tables with).

Always covered in absurd amounts of jewelry. He’s almost painful to look at directly.

In a ‘situationship’ with Superio.

‘Midas touch’ ability, alongside manipulating other valuables, like silver or gemstones. Crafts jewelry for himself as a hobby- crafts magic, soul-stealing jewelry for others as a sidegig.

Big believer in hustle culture.

Ira (Wrath)-

Ira, true to her name, hates just about everything- and that’s hardly an exaggeration. She hates her job, she hates her coworkers, and someone so much as bumping into her in the hallway is enough to send her into a rage. It’s a real pity, because she’s genuinely good at her job, and might possibly be the most powerful (physically) of the Sins- of everything, however, she hates battle the least, and thus is always the first to leap into combat on the turn of a dime.

(she/her)

Dragon-like in appearance and abilities.

Lacks magical ability beyond manipulating fire, but she cannot be harmed by mortal weapons, though she can be injured by her own strength (such as crashing into something).

Smart, but short-sighted and easily tricked when she’s in a rage. Skilled tactician.

The only thing that she doesn’t seem to mind much is being by herself, where it’s quiet and no one is around to bother her.

Wounds glow and bleed gold.

Gluttiere (Gluttony)-

Gluttiere is every inch a party animal- proud (co)owner of most of the Underworld’s nightlife, he eats, sleeps and breathes overindulgence. Drugs (manufactured at his command), alcohol, food and fun, he doesn’t believe in limitation or abstinence, and will push those around him far beyond their limits in the pursuit of a good time. He’s friendly and funny, but ultimately, a bad trip.

(he/him)

Insect-like.

He and Luxurio behave like brothers.

Heavily drawn to sweet, sugary things, especially mead.

Presence is intoxicating to mortals, and he’s prone to creating a ‘hive-mind’ of those partying with him, especially those that have eaten his food or drinks.

Those who consume too much of his offerings break down like melting candy. This fuels his power.

Not built for combat and usually lets his partygoers fight for him. Will try to talk someone out of battle before it reaches that point.

Gets extremely upset at the thought of someone not liking him. He craves attention and will throw a fit if ignored.

Luxurio (Lust)-

The fellow owner of the Underworld’s nighttime scene, Luxurio has different interests- those of satisfaction and want. Quick to grow fixated but quicker to get bored, Luxurio hops from object of interest to object of interest fast as rabbit. Shallow and selfish, Luxurio would much rather get his kicks than start a fight, especially when it causes problems between others.

(he/him)

Rabbit-like in appearance.

Changes outfits/hairstyles constantly- uses shapeshifting magic at times to alter his appearance (and better screw with someone)

Takes pleasure in causing infidelity and treats the resulting damage like a soap opera.

Ability to make clones/copies of himself, though these are mindless and cannot speak.

Enjoys performing for others.

Teams up with Gluttiere to pester the other Sins.

Acedia (Sloth)-

Acedia embodies feelings of loneliness, apathy and nihilism, rarely inclined to anything to help or hinder the Sins’ cause. Finding amusement in others’ hopelessness and frustration, Acedia only makes appearances when needed and offers nothing of substance to meetings- despite this, their ability to instill inaction in others and their skills in perception and manipulation keep them under the Sin’s payroll.

(they/she)

Deep sea-coded- very tall.

Hair always appears wet, though she never leaves water behind where she walks.

Presence instills tightness of the chest and feelings of apathy and hopelessness in others.

While they’re never angry or vengeful, they have a cruel streak.

Lazy- enjoys tormenting others and is very powerful, but won’t instigate or continue battle if it looks like it’s going to be difficult.

Ability to turn solid surfaces to liquid and vice-versa (water -> ice, etc)

[quem-pel]

I was feeling really unsettled after the finale of The Bad Batch and I wasn’t entirely sure why until I talked to my best friend about it.

Spoilers and unsolicited opinions below.

This is just me trying to sort things out in my head and thought I would share.

Obviously Techs death was pretty devastating, and I thought that it was the loss of his character that had me so in my feelings. They had fleshed him out to be very unique; he was the genius trope while still being confident and warm in his own way. You don’t ever see that portrayed in any sort of media and it was super endearing and refreshing. Then they canonized (I’m calling it canon at this point) him being neurodivergent/Autistic and that felt really good.

From what I can remember, he had never been made fun of by his brothers for info dumping, interrupting or his general demeanor. (The Regs made fun of all of them so I’m not counting that) And again, he wasn’t portrayed as being completely callus and uncaring. When he came across that way, Omega called him out like any little sibling might and he had explained his situation beautifully.

“I may process moments and thoughts differently, but it does not mean that I feel any less than you.” Same my tall neurodivergent buddy, same. And I think that is an incredibly powerful thing for a show to say, especially a SciFi universe/series that attracts this sort of following.

So yea, Techs death felt a little like a gut punch. I get sad over character deaths but this one got to me, and Tech wasn’t even my most favorite character.

I believe it was because of the timing and the tone.

It happened with 15 minutes left to the last episode, at that point we know things can’t get better. There would be no ‘fix it’ curve ball where he comes back to save the day, Crosshair wasn’t getting saved and then Omega was taken. There was so much despair and strife that the ‘I’m your sister’ reveal had very little emotional effect on me. At that point, I just didn’t care. I had been curious before, but it’s hard to feel curious about anything when everything felt so demoralizing and hopeless.

And that’s where my disconnect and unsettled feeling is coming from.

Starwars is about Hope, it always has been. It’s a huge reason why I latched onto the universe as my ‘comfort’ fandom. I’m emotionally sick of shows that everything is horrible all the time, if I want that I just open up Facebook or watch the news.

That isn’t to say that bad things don’t happen in Starwars, they absolutely do. But I don’t remember the last time any of the shows or films left me feeling utterly hopeless. Even in season one we have Omega telling Crosshair “You’re still their brother, you’re my brother too.”

This season we get; Tech falling to his death. Wrecker, Echo and Hunter sitting in a Dark Marauder ready to go feral after already trying everything and having nothing left. Crosshair out for the count after being tortured for who knows how long and Omega being kidnapped by the Empire.

Obviously the writing is really good, especially if so many people are having an emotional reaction to it. And I understand that its set right after order 66, so the empire is in full swing of being vicious evil bastards. But I think I am just really missing that punch of hope at the end, that light at the end of the tunnel that can pull us through until next season.

I am unsettled because it just feels really hopeless and that isn’t the theme of Starwars at all.

I want next season to turn that around, I want Tech to make a Starwars ‘not dead yet’ return, Crosshair and Omega to escape and the found family Trope to be intact. But that all seems like a very big ask at this point.

Makes me scared for the Mandalorian. At least we got to see Zeb Live action this week.

[echoes-lighthouse]

Hey, since you’re now answering questions from that dark/unconventional ask game, then how about 💭 and 🎧 for your selfship with Stolas? (I’m curious about how you portray him, since he used to be one of my favourite characters in the first season…)

And also, 🏴‍☠️ for any other ship that you might have that is more fluffy~

– villain-in-love

Heck yeah! Thank you! (dark/unconventional selfship asks)

It's funny, I have so many feelings about the pilot Hazbin characters vs. the Season One Hazbin characters, while people who came in for the Amazon show don't have the same disconnect: in the same way, people who were there for Helluva Season 1 have a lot more feelings about the Season 2 character changes than I do, because I watched it all at once.

Anyways, let's get into the Stolas questions!!

💭 What scenario do you return to when you think about this selfship? How does it make you feel?

With Stolas, I think often about the minutes between the scene and the conscious aftercare, where I have to leave him and get the food, get water running in the bathroom, clean up the things that we used.

I think about the unbinding, running fingers over and under his feathers to make sure that he's not hurt (not that he would be, but it's the routine that matters), I think about the seconds when he's just catching his breath, exhausted and still deep in subspace but just on the brink of resurfacing, that glassed-over and delicate contentment. It feels like the beautiful colours on the clouds before the sun rises into view: the best part of a sunrise.

🎧 What song reminds you of your selfship?

My My My! by Troye Sivan is my general Stolas song, but when we're dealing specifically with our selfship..... hmmmmmm, it's gotta be a Depeche Mode.

Let's go with Mercy In You, by Depeche Mode. That's the right vibe.

"You know what I need when my heart bleeds I suffer from greed, a longing to feed On the mercy in you"

🏴‍☠️ Do you have any dark AUs for your more fluffy selfships?

None that I've already fleshed out, but I do have a few that I'd be interested in exploring!

-I think there's space in my Zero Rick ship for an AU with a less functional Rick... whether I'd keep him in the Zero brand or branch out into a more C-137 adjacent universe I'm not sure. -I'd still be open to an AU where my self-insert is a sinner for my VoxVal selfship, which I think would be about 90% more fucked up than my "canon" selfship with them -I currently write the fluffy parts of my Night Vale selfship but rest assured it's actually super fucked up, I just kind of never write about that part of it because I like the fluffy parts also and I want people to like the ship :p

[writingwithcolor]

Gingerbread man as golem

@yaronata asked:

I would like to write a character who is Jewish and uses a Golem. She's based on the D&D class of the artificer which looks magic but isn't, because they produce all their effects with inventions, like the "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" quote. Her story is that her very Jewish town was under attack from a terrible monster when she was little. Her Rabbis made a Golem to protect the town, and it succeeded but was torn to pieces in the process. She was fascinated by the Golem and as a kid didn't see a big difference between it's sentience and person's so was really thankful for its sacrifice like you would a person's sacrificing their life for you. They thought all the pieces had been devoured by the monster before it died, but she went looking and found the piece used to animate the Golem, which she, kinda misunderstanding called its "heart". She kept the piece and grew up to be an incredibly skilled cook, specialising as a baker in the town. I imagine she would make a lot of really good food for the Jewish holidays, or to break fasts on ones like Yom Kippur or Tish'abav. But she also made a town specific holiday to honour the Golem's sacrifice and the town still being alive, because I feel "we are not dead woo" is a big theme for Jewish holidays from my research, so it could fit, for which she invented ginger bread men to be the golem, and gave them little "hearts" of fruit or honey, and you're meant to eat them limb by limb like the beast did before eating the heart. This would be the inspiration for using the "heart" piece later to make her own giant gingerbread Golem to help her save the world.

These are my questions 1) would it be considered bad or disrespectful for someone who isn't a Rabbi to make a Golem, or is this method of taking an animating piece someone else made disrespectful? 2) Her journey will take her far from her town and her Jewish family and friends and she will likely travel with gentiles. Would it be disrespectful for a Golem to be used to protect a lot of gentiles and one Jew in the course of saving the world? I don't want to fall into the stereotype of someone putting all their effort into valuing and protecting very specifically the group that in real life is oppressive to them. 3) While she is not using magic and is actually mimicking its effects with technology she invents, is this drawing too close to the line of "magical Jew"? 4) I like to "play test" my characters in ttrpgs to really get a feel for them before I write. Would it be disrespectful to play a Jewish character when I am a gentile, and would it be disrespectful to play a Jewish character in a setting where there are demonstrably real gods other than the one of Judaism?

I really like this character idea and I think it's cute and fun and rooted in Jewish culture but I really want to make sure it's respectful and as good as I, a gentile researching on the internet, thinks it is. Thanks so much! Have a nice day!

My answer to this is very complicated because there are things I both like and do not like about this premise. First of all, I love the idea of a cookie golem, and I'm even imagining the magic word that brings him to life (EMET/truth) would be written in icing. And I'm okay with the part about how she found a piece of the old golem and used it to build a new golem, because that makes sense for a golem made from a baked good when you think about how people use sourdough starter to make a new batch of sourdough.

However, here are the thing that make me cock my head to the side like my little sister's German shepherd:

1. re: "magical Jew" - that's not a trope I've ever heard of. Remember, marginalized groups don't receive identical disrespect across the board. It is indeed a trope to use Black people or disabled people as supernatural plot devices who exist only to further the stories of white main characters or able-bodied main characters. But I can't say as I've ever seen anyone using Jewishness that way. Usually if we are someone's one-dimensional plot device it's as someone's lawyer, fixer, "money guy", etc, not a supernatural force. So this isn't something you have to worry about.

2. I have a certain level of discomfort with you playing as a Jewish character just because playacting as a marginalized culture you're not part of strikes me as off, but I understand that that's how you gain insight into a character you're about to write so it's more of a writing exercise than anything else. (I wonder if D&D regulars from marginalized groups have written about this -- I've only played a few times casually with family so if I did run into this type of discussion in my social justice reading I wouldn't have absorbed it. If anyone is curious I played first as Captain Werewolf, and then switched to playing as Cinnamon Blade because lawful good was too hard. :P )

3. I would prefer you omit the detail about eating the cookies piece by piece symbolically, for two reasons: a. it unintentionally evokes Communion by having appreciative people consume a baked good symbolic of an entity who sacrificed his life for theirs, and b. focusing on the details of flesh consumption reminds me too much of Blood Libel (yes, a gingerbread man is in the shape of a person but how many of us actually think about it literally, the way this act would cause?)

As to your first question: I'm fine with her making a golem even though she's just a rando. Second question: I see what you're saying and maybe it could be more okay if it's really clear how well these gentile folks are treating her? And questions three and four are answered above.

I really do love the idea of a giant gingerbread man golem. Cookie golem T_T <3

--Shira

I would like to second Shira’s point about not ripping apart the gingerbread cookies. I honestly would prefer they were used as decoration, and other cookies eaten instead, since that part just feels so not-Jewish to me, but I don’t have golem-specific issues other than that. It seems like you have already been doing a lot of research, which is appreciated.

As far as the ttrpg/DnD aspect… I bounce back and forth on the topic of playing characters that are so very different from our experiences, other than in fantasy-related ways. However, I am aware that a lot of people will play with, and experiment with gender in game, and learn something about themselves in the process (the number of trans players of ttrpgs who tried out their gender in game before they were out is high). It’s different with Judaism, and even more significantly different when it comes to things you can’t convert into, like various actual, real-world races. But because people do sometimes experience growth from experiences like this, I’m hesitant to dissuade players completely. I do urge you to, at a minimum, bring the same care, research, and willingness to learn, that you brought to this question.

--Dierdra

This sounds like a creative storyline that you could have lots of fun with 😊

At first I was confused by this part:

She also made a town specific holiday to honour the Golem's sacrifice

But then you really got me thinking about different types of Jewish holidays and how they come about, so thank you for that!

Because it’s often the little details that either make a story super powerful or kind of nonsensical, I think it would be a good idea to decide what type of holiday is being created here:

A full-blown chag with restrictions on labour and halachic obligations? These are commanded in Torah and new ones can’t be added.

A minor yom tov with halachic obligations but no restrictions? These were instituted by the rabbis prior to the destruction of the Temple, so again new ones can’t be added.

A public holiday or equivalent? This would usually be declared by the Knesset in Israel, and filter to the rest of the Jewish world from there.

A community-based yom tov with specific customs only for people in the know, such as certain Chasidic groups celebrating the birthdays of their deceased leaders? I asked around, but no one can really tell me how these holidays get started, which is probably a good indication that they arise quite organically from a group of people who all just feel that it should be celebrated. Probably not created by a single person, as such.

Something she runs from her bakery, not religion-based, but more like a day of doing special products and deals the way many small businesses do on their anniversary?

Now, if the people of a modern-day town were actually saved by a real live Golem, that would arguably be the most overt miracle for many generations, so there would be a decent chance of options 3 and/or 4 happening. It’s entirely plausible that there could be special foods for this day that become a tradition, including Golem cookies. People who directly benefited might also return to the site where the Golem fought the monster and recite the prayer, ‘Blessed is Hashem, Master of the Universe, Who performed a miracle for me in this place.’

Alternatively, if it’s important that your MC created the holiday, something like option 5 might be the best. Hopefully this will still fulfil what you need: you describe her as incredibly skilled, so I can imagine the day when she goes all out on the Golem cookies being one of the most exciting events of the year for the townspeople, just because her baking is that good. Plus, they already have a personal stake in the Golem’s sacrifice, so I definitely think it could be a thing without being an official holiday. Also, if she is outside of an all-Jewish environment, don’t forget that she would have to decide whether to commemorate the anniversary in the Hebrew calendar or the local one.

Coming back to the cookies, sorry if we’re getting a little repetitive on this point! But I don’t see the cookies being torn limb from limb as part of a celebration. First of all, this doesn’t sound like a very celebratory thing to do, to say the least. Can you imagine explaining that to a three-year-old on their first Yom HaGolem? They would be terrified! (I don’t read this suggestion as accidental anti-Semitism so much as getting carried away with a metaphor, which I’m sure as writers we have all done!)

But also, it’s worth pointing out that our commemorative foods aren’t usually that literal. If you think about hamantaschen, maror, or apple in honey, they’re all symbols. That’s not to say that having Golem-shaped cookies is a problem, as this sounds like just a bit of fun that the MC is having and not something that is directly at odds with Judaism or Jewish culture. But it’s worth bearing in mind that the more literal you go from there in terms of tying the cookies to the event they commemorate, the less culturally aligned your holiday food becomes.

Finally, about the Golem protecting non-Jewish people: I like this idea! There’s a stereotype that we only use whatever is at our disposal to help ourselves and other Jewish people, so a Golem being created by Jews but helping others as well is a big plus for me. Of course, as has already been pointed out, this would be an odd choice if her Saving The World team were anti-Semitic or otherwise disrespectful to her/her community, but I don’t think you were headed that way!

-Shoshi

I have to come back in here just to squee over the phrase “Yom HaGolem.” Well done :D

--Shira

[thickenmyblood]

hey maca :)) I have sth that I’d love to hear your input on! (wall of text incoming so beware- I’m absolutely not mad if you don’t want to answer lmao). Basically it’s about how you portray women in your works and to what extent you see that portrayal mirrored in the canon books. I have noticed that a lot of writers tend to go a traditional route with for example daughters not being heirs like you also mentioned in an answer for a wtsioa ask on here. Considering the cultures Vere and Akielos are based on that’s obviously very logical and a lot of authors (including you) make it work fantastically! Yet personally I never got the vibe of Vere and Akielos being as patriarchal in canon, mostly because the Information we get is kind of confusing. On one hand damen is a walking manosphere (and. all of Akielos in general as well) without any prominent female figures in his life but on the other hand damen only ever speaks appreciatively of for example the female vaskian warriors. Both countries seem to ban women from the army yet Damen also refers to a warrior queen. The regent is a total misogynist but with the wording Laurent uses it almost seems like that is more the exception and not the general rule of veretian court life. Both countries also have ties to Vask, an exclusive matriarchy and Akielos is said to be similar to Patras which Pacat has stated is also partly a strong matriarchy due to vaskian occupations in the past. I could go on for a lot longer but I guess that damens overall positive attitude towards women and especially stereotypically spoken masculine women is what sticks out the most to me. It just seems kind of misplaced in a world that supposedly is as sexist as the original cultures from our world. Which is why I’d say both countries do have gender roles but are overall a lot more egalitarian than their respective real world og cultures. But that’s only my take and I’d love to hear more on what others think about the portrayal of women in canon and how they chose to portray it in fanfiction. Love you and your new work, hope you’re doing well❤️

HELLO!!! Thank you for asking me interesting stuff :, ) you always have the best questions and my sad little inbox is open to you any time, friend. I divided this into parts, so:

My portrayal of women: I need to work on this a lot lmao. I’m not proud of any female character I have ever written for this fandom, and I’m also not proud to say I struggle horribly when it comes to writing female OCs, especially if the story is not about a female character that is a literal projection of me. Or Bella Swan (yes, Twilight literally shaped my sad little brain and the way I write and consume fiction).

Authors writing female characters in a “traditional” way (for fantasy settings): I can’t speak for other authors but I definitely think, in my case, that using the “it’s a patriarchal society, women have no rights, women can’t be heirs, etc.” blueprint is a matter of being lazy. It’s quick, and easy, and it’s been done before so we all know how it works and a) it’s unlikely that you’ll mess it up (in the plot hole kind of way) and b) it’s obvious that most readers know how the usual system works and so you don’t have to spend paragraphs or even chapters explaining it to them. I am very lazy when it comes to world-building for fics. Why? Because when I’m writing fanfiction I don’t give two shits about the world, I just care about the characters doing Things and having Feelings. The moment you start to question these issues (a society where women can join the army, where they can be heirs, where maybe they can have multiple husbands, etc.) a billion issues arise because it’s not the “usual way” and so you’ll have to deal with “unusual problems”. See: plot holes, info-dumping, etc.

Vere and Akielos in canon: I think the books get very, very confusing at times when it comes to gender roles in that specific world. They also get very confusing about how royalty works, in my opinion. So:

Damen never mentions female influences in his life, not even nannies or wetnurses or anything. He mentions past queens and his mother, but even then… It’s always struck me as “what the actual fuck” that we get no information on Egeria. In TSP, he doesn’t even read as curious to me, especially when I think of that line that goes something like “oh, well, he’d never asked how tall she was”.

Then you have Jokaste, who is highborn and also… perhaps trained in politics? It’s unclear to me if she’s ever been directly involved in meetings or been an active member of the Council or even been allowed to study these issues. Clearly, she’s smart and capable and cunning, but like… how? Did she have private tutors? Is she a self-made woman? Like, what’s up with that? Are women allowed to engage in public politics? Are they allowed to be kyroi?

IMO, Damen complimenting the female warriors in Vask has to do with how appreciative he is of war-related stuff. Like, he thinks people with his own qualities are neat. We see this time and time again in the books—having honor, being brave, respecting one’s family, protecting those who need protecting… He compliments these things when he sees them in others, especially in Laurent. Obviously one of the big changes in Damen as a character is that he goes from being daddy’s boy to being like “well, actually… maybe war isn’t always the answer, and maybe war isn’t always honorable”. The Vaskian warriors prove themselves worthy of praise in a “manly” way, if that makes sense. (In the same way, Laurent proves himself in the Okton, not so much to Damen but to other Akielons). So, in essence, War > Any issues he may have about women doing Stuff.

Don’t judge me for this but I can’t remember the Regent talking about women. Do you have any quotes about that? I feel like Book 1 is super rich when it comes to world-building stuff and yet it’s the book I remember the least. I know he obviously has a preference for boys and not girls, but I don’t recall him having interactions with Vannes or ladies at court? I’M SORRY I’M SO STUPID but I don’t own the book so I can’t exactly word search my way out of this one, and so instead of saying stupid stuff, I’m asking anyone reading this (lol, you and my mom probably) to please tell me what canon says on this issue.

Ties to Vask: Er, yeah, I mean… They’re clearly not at war with Vask and have some sort of economic deal (there are Vaskian pets in Arles? Which makes me wonder if they, like, buy them from Vask? Or if the pets are Vaskian and turn into pets in Vere? Slaves are not like pets so I don’t know?), BUT just because they have deals with this kingdom/are on good terms with the ruler does not mean they necessarily approve? Like, maybe they’re like “yeah, it’s weird they give women so much power, but also I need that silk/leather/WHATEVER, so I’ll shut up about that”.

“Akielos is said to be similar to Patras which Pacat has stated is also partly a strong matriarchy due to Vaskian occupations in the past.” Is this in the books or is this something she said in an interview/post-releasing the trilogy? I know in the books there’s a quote that Akielos and Patras are similar because they both have slaves, but other than that I can’t quite remember anything about Patras? Like, I don’t recall Pacat giving us extensive and thorough world-building on either nation, at all. Once again, I am asking you for more explanations on this because I literally don’t remember.

4. My opinion and a Stupidity Disclaimer: As I’ve said above, there’s a lot of stuff I don’t remember and so I’m not trying to preach to anyone reading this or even saying that I hold the truth about… anything. I’m answering questions as I see fit and asking more questions when I run out of answers.

I believe world-building is not one of Captive Prince’s strong points. I will not elaborate on this because this is already long enough but there is simply, in my opinion, not enough material to reach any solid conclusions when it comes to world-building questions such as the role of women in Vere and Akielos, how compulsory homosexuality affects the development of highborn men and women in Vere, exactly what makes Akielos’ view on women different from Vere’s (if there’s any difference at all), the history of gender roles in this world and how it’s evolved up until canon, how Lamen can solve the heir issue without recurring to, once again, “the usual stuff” (concubines, bastards, marriage to women, etc.). It’s clear from what I’ve read that Pacat has come a long way as a writer and that her new trilogy has a lot more in-depth explanations to world-building questions, but this is not the case with CP, and so I’m afraid my answer to most of this is “I don’t know, and I don’t think anyone can know for sure”.

Lastly, I think I struggle a lot with understanding the role of women in this universe because I simply did not see enough women doing stuff, so I don’t know what’s permitted, what’s unacceptable, what’s illegal, what is straight-up execution worthy, etc. This is not me complaining about the lack of female characters in CP, at all, which I know is contradictory to stuff I’ve said in the past (I answered a couple asks a year ago about how I’d wished we’d gotten Vannes’ POV or Jokaste’s POV in the short stories). I’ve changed my mind, and so I think Pacat is entitled to write whatever she wants, just like I’m entitled to talk shit about KR with any living soul who will listen lmao.

To end this on a spicy note, I think sometimes we consume the wrong media and then complain because it doesn’t have what we wanted. If you’re looking for a trilogy with strong, fleshed-out female characters, Captive Prince is not for you. If you’re looking for a trilogy on female struggles and, I don’t know, defying… the male gaze… Captive Prince is not for you. There are plenty of books out there that focus exclusively on female characters, featuring sapphic relationships, and dealing with gender issues. WHICH IS NOT TO SAY WE SHOULDN’T BE HAVING THESE DISCUSSIONS. This is not about this particular question, but more about a lot of posts I’ve seen floating around… complaining about Pacat’s writing and the themes she didn’t explore.

If anyone has made it this far, thank you for reading, and know this is NOT me telling you what to think. This post is an open question that anyone can engage with, although I hope people will engage with this directly and on this platform, instead of… taking it somewhere else where I sadly can’t engage back! Unlike what happened with our awesome fat Laurent discussion, I will be replying to any questions I get on this (Note: I did not reply to most of those questions because a long time had passed and they were sort of repetitive).

[numberonephantompizza1]

Poppy Fanfic: “Ask Her”

For context: This is a fanfic I wrote in order to join the Poppy Milk dev team and show off my writing skills. Since the callout at the time said we’d need to write a lot of sidequests, I wanted to ask the question of what a Poppy-centered side-quest would be like. I got the idea that it would be from an Asker’s perspective, and everything sort of came naturally after that. Even though I’m on the dev team right now, it’s not canon to Omega Timeline: Poppy’s Story and even has some inaccuracies that contradict canon. With that said, please feel free to read the story below the cut.

---

You noticed something very different inside your room when you woke up. The lights were off and the sun hadn’t yet risen, but there was a certain… aura, coming from your door. You were filled with a certain trepidation, but… you approached it. It was hard to see in the light, but it looked… grey. 

Swallowing the lump in your throat, you stepped through...

...and found about the last person you would’ve expected. The spitting image of Frisk - CORE!Frisk, that was, looking up at you, in the middle of a white void.

“Wh- You’re real?!” you asked, dumbfounded.

“Of course I’m real. Have you been taking all this multiverse stuff for granted? Everything is real somewhere,” Core answered, simply. 

“I… I don���t… and you, me…” you panted, starting to feel a small panic attack coming on.

“Focus,” Core snapped their fingers, grounding you back in reality. Okay, this was happening now.

“Let’s get down to business. Simply: you don’t like me. And I don’t like you. But we BOTH like Poppy. Poppy, my dear, sweet angel… has unfortunately recently come to the realization that Askers ALSO exist in the multiverse. And now she wants to do a ‘meet n’ greet’ with one of her fans. Trust me, I TRIED to talk her out of it, but she can be darn persuasive when she wants to be. And as you’re now realizing, that’s where you come in. 

“I wanna make you a deal. You play along with whatever Poppy wants until she gets bored of this. If you’re on your best behavior - and that means, don’t give her anything bad, don’t tell her anything you KNOW she shouldn’t know, don’t use any magic, and be a general good influence - if you play nice, in exchange, I will allow you to hang out with ANY resident of the Omega Timeline. 

“Want to spend a day full of wacky hijinks with a Papyrus, or even an Underswap Sans? Consider it done. Want to know how Deltarune Chapter 2 plays out ahead of time? I know a Susie with your name on it. Whatever you want, so long as you play by the rules, and don’t ask for anyone obviously ridiculous. So… do we have ourselves a deal?”

You contemplated that offer, and everything that was happening, trying to suppress your inner urge to geek out for just a few moments. The Omega Timeline, Poppy, and all the AU’s you could think of and more were real. And you just got an invitation to visit them.

“Yeah, of course!” you nodded excitedly, though your enthusiasm only seemed to make Core more anxious.

“Don’t make me regret this…” Core sighed, as the whiteness seemed to melt away into a cozy-looking house with wooden floors and lime walls, where you were standing directly outside of a white door. Core seemed to have disappeared.

Technically, there was nothing stopping you from exploring. So you did just that. You walked up to a shelf with some family photos. One was a photo of Poppy, Core, Dusted and Rust all together, in some meadow, looking happy. At least, you assumed Dusted and Rust were happy, they didn’t show up well on camera. There was another photo of Poppy alone, looking somewhat younger than she did on the blog, seated on a chair in a photo that looked far more staged. She held an actual poppy flower in her hand and smiled brightly.

You opened the cabinet doors, curious of what knick-knacks you might find in there. Some crayons, a few random glass cups, some art by 3-year-old Poppy that was so poorly done its meaning was hard to decipher, and a locked box. You reached for the box--

“Getting a bit sidetracked, aren’t we?”

You jolted up, and faced Core behind you. Even though they were child-sized, they crossed their arms with the poise and authority of a stern parent. You laughed anxiously. “Ahahaha… ahaha… ha……..”

“...Strike one.” Core said, and vanished. The meaning of that was all-too clear. Deciding not to dilly dally any longer, you went to the room you suspected to be Poppy’s, and knocked. 

“Just a sec!” Poppy said, and opened the door. She looked up at you, and gasped. “Wow, Granpa really did come through…!” She twirled excitedly. “You must be my adoring fan, aren’t you?” she asked.

You stared down at the girl in stunned silence.

“To be honest, I kinda figured you’d be some gray guy with sunglasses, but that’s kinda silly in hindsight. How you doin’?” She asked that last line in a mock accent as you continued to stare.

“Baby,” you said.

“What?”

“Nothing,” you quickly tried to change the subject. “Yeah, it’s… y’know, it’s great to be here…” You clasped your hands together, biting your lip. You were in an Undertale AU, faced with the AU granddaughter of another AU character. You still weren’t entirely over that. Was this fever dream? Fandom heaven, or fandom hell?

“I know! Once I heard you guys weren’t from the Omega Timeline, I realized I hadn’t met even ONE of my fans… even if you guys are super annoying some of the time.” 

“Uhhh, yeah…” you wondered if you should apologize on behalf of the askers who put Poppy in the hospital that one time. Then again, it seemed kind of awkward, and it might have been best not to bring that up while Core was watching, which was always. Looking down at the cutesy girl, it was almost tempting to pull her into a hug, but you managed to keep your composure. 

“I wanted to do something a little more special than just some sorta interview, though, because you ask me questions all the time anyways,” Poppy said. “Granpa said you’ve never been to the Omega Timeline before, so I wanna give you the big tour!” Poppy went to the door. “I’m gonna be outside when you’re ready!” She left the room.

Seeing the empty room in front of you, you were tempted to snoop again, but you’d learned your lesson after last time. You headed straight out after Poppy.

You couldn’t help but gasp in awe of the serenity of the great outdoors as you were beckoned to it. You’d been outside before, obviously, but everything just looked so… nice. The blue sky, the grassy grounds, the ornate buildings… you’ve seen this place in pixel art and a couple drawings before, but seeing it with your own eyes was another story. And the next thing for you to nearly faint at was seeing the Undertale characters running around, Sanses, Undynes, Frisks, even goat moms. 

Poppy smiled. “...It’s nice, isn’t it? I KNEW taking you on a tour was a good idea.” She smirked. “Now remember, just because this is a meet-up doesn’t mean it’s free, and there WILL be a fee at the end of our ride.”

“...Uh… I left my wallet at home,” you said, patting your pockets, “And I don’t have any, uh... ‘G,’ I think. Unless the G stands for ‘Gratitude,’ amiright?” you did finger guns.

“G stands for Gold,” Poppy corrected you bluntly, unamused. She returned to her chipper attitude just as quickly, though. “Now, let me show you around!” She led you down the street. 

Walking with her, seeing so many versions of your favorite characters in the flesh, walking around… well, the temptation to talk to SOME of them was irresistible, Core be damned. You did resolve not to go too far off-track, but you shared some words with the folks you passed by, Poppy thankfully stopping each time you did. You met two Frisks - one boy, one ambiguous - an Underswap Undyne, a human version of Toriel, and surprisingly, a version of Princess Peach.

You and Poppy approached an elegant fountain, stood upon proudly by a statue of a mustachio’d CORE!Frisk. “This is the Timeline Plaza! It’s sort of the local park, where people meet up to do... stuff. Just hang out. Make a picnic. Play ball. All that good park-y stuff, y’know? And there’s stores in all directions, so it’s pretty good.” She proudly showed off her home to you, with a smile.

You talked to more on the way to the next place. An Inverted Fate Papyrus. A weird Ralsei who said his name was “Noyno.” An Asgore wearing a hoodie, who you assumed was swapped with Sans. (Poppy did scold you a little bit for this, telling you that just because someone has a hoodie you shouldn’t assume they’re swapped. You apologized.)

“This is Grillby’s! One of them, anyways. The nearest one to my house. It’s pretty good if you want an OK burger. Sanses love the place, though. It’s… kind of unhealthy. And a little gross.” Poppy said. “Especially when they just drink… raw… ketchup.”

“Can’t handle a little ketchup?” you smiled mischievously. “We drink it by the gallon back in my universe,” you lied.

“...I really hope you’re joking,” Poppy said, alarmed.

“Am I?” you smiled brighter.

“...W-well, we’re not going in there, so you can FORGET about drinking that much ketchup!” Poppy said, afraid of the sheer power of your ketchup-drinking.

You and Poppy moved onto the next spot. You met an Underswap Alphys who seemed to be trapped in a red-and-gold palette. You met a robot dressed as a circus ringmaster, who claimed to be a Chara. You met a Dummy dressed in a Frisk shirt. (You didn’t assume it was swapped with Frisk this time, which turned out to be a mistake, because it was.) Poppy stared at you awkwardly now, wondering why you were talking to all these random strangers. Finally, you and Poppy reached your next destination.

“The theater! Where we show off all the greatest hits! Including MY movie, which, not to brag, but it’s--”

Except, you’d been distracted by a hyperdeath Asriel, and were ignoring Poppy for the moment.

“...” Poppy spoke up. “That’s what I don’t get about you.”

“Huh?” that seemed to wake you up, and you looked at her. 

“Everytime it’s always, ‘have you met Underswap Sans,’ or ‘have you met JangoTale Frisk,’ or some other weird thing. You always ask that. But… they’re just people. Why do you always assume I know some random Sans or Frisk or someone?”

“I…” you were a bit taken aback. “...I don’t… we don’t assume you know them, they’re just… they’re just important.” 

“Important?” She asked. “...I-I mean, yeah, EVERYONE’s important, but, I don’t really get what you mean…”

“They’re all--” You paused, trying to collect your thoughts, think of everything you knew from the blog, and tried to actually talk to her. “...They’re like friends to me. Kinda.”

“...You guys are friends with them? I thought you were stuck in your world…” she frowned.

“No, it’s like-- I’m not ‘friends’ with Underswap Frisk, or-- or Storyshift Frisk, or Shifty or whatever, I’m just friends with… Frisk.”

...Poppy stared at you like you just said the ground was turning to jelly, or something equally bafflingly inane. “...I… think you’re confused. Look, sometimes newcomers struggle with this. Your Frisk isn’t the only Frisk--”

“I know! It’s… You don’t get it. This world, these worlds are so special and creative, and they mean a lot to me. I know we can be really edgy, and I know we ask weird questions about Dusted and Rust, but that’s all because… because...” you paused.

Poppy looked, seeming upset about hearing her siblings mentioned in the context of ‘edgy’ questions, not seeing what you were seeing. Core, standing behind her, holding up a hand signal.

The number two.

You were getting carried away. You overstepped.

“...Um… I’m sorry.” You pulled her into a hug as Core vanished. “There’s really no reason for us to ask those questions. We can just be dumb sometimes.”

“...” She hugged back. “Yeah, it’s okay. I knew you guys were super weird and dumb before I convinced Granpa to let you in here, so I guess I should’ve seen this coming,” Poppy smiled, regaining her confidence as you did your best to not be offended at being called weird and dumb.

“Okay! I think I have just one last stop in mind to cap this tour off on a high note! Literally, hehehe…” She giggled mischievously. This time, you didn’t stop to talk to others, following her directly as you approached a peak overlooking the town. For yet another time, and probably the last, you couldn’t help but ogle at the town’s beauty. “Pretty good, right?” She sat down.

“Ha… with all the climbing, I was worried we’d fall down a mountain,” you joked. Poppy seemed to roll her eyes, as you sat beside her. “...I guess I get how you can call this place home. I mean, once I stop nerding out, anyways. You don’t see stuff like this in my… reality.”

“Just gallons and gallons of ketchup, huh?” she commented. You couldn’t help but laugh. 

“Yeah.”

And you two just stared into the distance for a while. ...She wasn’t just a character. She was a human being.

...Or, technically just a ‘being,’ scratch the human part. Still, you felt a bit desensitized to all this. And so did she. You related in that way.

“I can’t say you exactly passed with flying colors, but you fulfilled your end of the agreement well enough.”

Without any warning, you were back in a white void with CORE!Frisk, just like before. You almost forgot about the deal you made, what with all the time you spent with Poppy. You stood.

“Uh… yeah. So, my reward…” you drifted off, remembering the offer Core gave you. The chance to meet just about any AU character of your imagining… or at least, any that would be peaceful enough to be in the Omega Timeline. Which still left a WIDE variety of options…

Who did you want to see? What mattered most to you?

...

Thinking deeply… you told Core their name.

“...Oh. Really? Well, I guess it makes sense for you that you’d want to see them,” Core remarked. “I can’t guarantee they’ll give you what you’re looking for, but a deal’s a deal. Let’s head off.”

You and Core went somewhere else.

---

And that’s all she wrote! If you read this far, thank you. Working on the game since then has been fun, and I think you’ll like what we have in store. Until then, ciao.

[wolveria]

Hi!!! I frickin LOVE your writing and I was wondering how you go about planning a story (outlines? Freestyle bits of it? Etc), getting the inspiration for your stories (like do you use aesthetics? Movies? etc haha), and just generally your process?

I'm fixing to start writing fanfics for once in my life and I'm curious how different it is from working on original content, so I'm asking a few of my faves this question 💌😘

First of all, thank you so much! That's very kind of you.

These are great questions. I do what I call "outlines" but in reality, they're more like zero drafts or scripts. I write the fic as fast and basic as I can using bullet points. It's not truly an outline because it's too detailed and can run really really long (I have one "outline" that's 250k words lol), but it's not truly a rough draft either because of how fast it moves. So I call them zero drafts with bullet points lol I don't know if anyone else writes this way, but that's how I do it.

And then when I get to the "real" rough draft, I know what I'm doing and where all the scenes are, but most importantly, I've already written down a good chunk of the dialogue. Dialogue is the hardest for me to remember while playing out the stories in my head, hence why I have to write them down.

(Also, that's another good piece of advice for writing out a story. Daydream about it constantly. That way when you get to actually writing it, it'll be fleshed out with the details easier to recall.)

Which leads to my biggest piece of writing advice: Write it all down. Zero drafts are great because you can jump to anywhere in the story and write down a bit of dialogue or a scene you don't want to forget. When you're writing a full rough draft, it can be difficult to do that, especially if your story is running over 60k words (the standard length of a beginner novel).

On the other hand, if you're writing a pure short outline, that can be hard because you can't put in all the little details you want to. Zero drafts are the compromise for me. And of course, if I get to the rough draft and suddenly want to go off in a whole new direction, I don't feel afraid to explore that because the zero draft is still there if I ever want to return to my original idea.

I get inspiration from published books and movies/shows for sure. I get a lot of inspiration from video games and other fanfics too. Basically whatever genre I'm writing, I try to find other mediums in that same genre and absorb as much as I can. If I'm writing horror, I go watch movies or games on horror. If I'm writing high fantasy, I'll go find some high fantasy books to read. It's really helpful.

I'm also a vivid dreamer, and I get a surprising amount of ideas from dreams. Even the nightmares can be useful in that regard.

To wrap this up, you asked how different writing fanfiction is than writing original fiction. For me, I give fanfiction the same treatment I do when writing original fiction. I write it as a story, with all the same beats and twists and turns. The characters and universe might not belong to me, but I still have to know them well enough to make them believable. When I write fanfiction, I want readers to feel like it's a real story.

Everyone's process is different and it'll take some time to find your rhythm, but that's part of the excitement of writing. Good luck, and send me any more questions you come up with!

[heyjude19-writing]

Im the list anon again and boy do I have more for you but this time I also have some questions as well if your time allows and you are willing to answer of course. First with the other things I loved:

1) the fact that Ron warmed up to Draco so quickly! I genuinely think thats so much in character. Ron is not a distrustful person and as a middle child as they come is very easygoing and would for sure make stupid jokes at Draco

2) The patronus. My god the Patronus. I seriously put the phone down and made a small slow clap during that chapter. At first I was like hmmmm *insert unsure kombucha girl face* because almost all fanfics have him with a dragon patronus and leave it at that (and lets be honest at this point my expectations of you were quite high dont blame me blame your bloody brilliant writing) but then, and I dont know if you did this on purpose or not (I have a feeling you did) but the fact that the dragon was the same (pale white) wounded but still feral dragon that Hermione FREEED (!) from a bank (£££) dungeon, malnourished and used for its nature, surrounded by darkness, wealth and misery!! And it was Hermione who broke its chains!!!!! Is just *chefs fucking kiss* slow clap*

3) the way you describe sex scenes are so natural! Ive never read a fanfic or book that doesnt make me gag a little bit (I am not a fan of smut at all but ill go with it because of a good story) until I read yours. Its so simple but yet intricate and you make the entire act so intriguing and normal and intimate. Bravo.

4) I LOVE SASHA. I love that Theo fell for her head over heels and the way you portrayd her reminded me of a friend of mine who works as a sous-chef in London so I always pictured her when reading it!

5) Dracos inner voice is ON POINT. Like I genuinely think you shoud own the rights to that character now.

6) Ill say it again. I love Ginny. You should also own the rights to her character too.

7) my interest for Quiddich (even when reading the books/wathcing the movies) was on par, if not lower than Hermiones. You managed to get me interested in that too so yes another slow clap to you

7.1) Also such a clever career for Draco!! Made si much sense!

Now to some questions

A) What was the deal with Malfoy referring to Ginny as Weasly and refusing to aknowledge her Potter surname. And why did everyone kept correcting him? It was hilarious granted but I wanted to know whether the reason you included this time and time again had to do wih something deeper? Or was this included as just a funny recurring joke?

B) Why did you choose for Draco to have a “fantasy” to produce a patronus and not for example for him to have had to do that after theyd exchanged “i love yous”. Very interesting angle and i liked that it was sort of a loophole to all the ‘death eaters cant have patronuses’ but quite curious on the thought process

C) Why did you opt for Draco to remove his mark? Do you think that stands as reward for him more or for Hermione? Very smart solution by the way

D) if you have the time- Could you please elaborate a tad more on what the soul-bonding means? Why was it so taboo? At furst hand it seems like a very romantic/amazing thing to do with your partner right?

Lastly- Do you ever itch to make a second part to this? And in the most acceptable case that you dont, I always wondered what you had in mind for them in the future- because of the soul bonding thing, you mentioned that the generational curses will be erased, which means I guess that the Malfoys can have more than one child now, and girls as well. (I cannot believe im asking for this as I am the one to avoid any pregnancy fanfics but) do you imagine them with children and if yes, how many? How do they integrate muggle devices(I know youd agree wit me that Hermione would definitively bring some muggle stuff over!) and which devices would Draco really secretly like?

Pleasewriteasecondpartwhereyouelaborateyourthoughtsonthisthankyou.

Ok rant done. :D

List anon! You’re back with another amazing ask. I’ll do my best!

1.) I like to think Ron matured a lot post-war (not enough to stop making terrible jokes, though.)

2.) Regarding your beautiful analysis of my specific dragon breed for Draco’s patronus: How many points would you like for your Hogwarts house of choice? I will add that according to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the Ironbelly’s scales are normally a metallic grey. I will also add that I subscribe more to book canon than movie canon. In the book version of events of the Gringotts escape, Harry breaks the chains and Hermione (with eventual help once the boys catch on) destroys the ceiling so it can have a way out. The partially blind dragon does the rest of the work on its own.

3.) Thank you, that’s very flattering.

4.) Does your friend also get you into fancy restaurants and can they make salted caramel bread pudding???

5.) Thank you, it was one of my favorite aspects of writing this story.

6.) Thank you, she’s so fun to write and flesh out from her book portrayal.

7.) Haha, I felt so validated by that line of dialogue in Cursed Child when Draco tells Harry he wanted to play quidditch professionally, but wasn’t good enough.

Now to some answers:

A.) It’s definitely a recurring joke. It’s up to the reader to interpret Draco’s actions here: is he doing it to be a massive troll? Or is he genuinely not retaining the information of her married name because he considers this fact so unimportant that he does not bother to keep it in his brain? Troll, snob, or both, you can decide!

B.) I’ll address the second part of this first, because it was not intended as a loophole. I 1000% do not understand the “death eaters can’t have patronuses” thing. It makes absolutely no sense. Snape has a Patronus. But beyond that… Umbridge has a Patronus (a cat). If we’re letting that woman have a Patronus, then yeah, I think Draco can cast one. As for the vision that Draco used to conjure it… up to you whether that’s a fantasy or a glimpse of a certain ritual actually working. Draco’s thoughts on the matter: “An image of such striking tangibility that he might have already lived it, or perhaps experienced time in such a way that he lived it now.”

C.) I wanted Draco to have a choice, obviously a recurring theme for him in RN. For my characterization of him, that symbol on his arm causes him nothing but shame and self-loathing (see the end of chapter 36 during his heart-to-heart with Hermione). He’d already exercised almost every known avenue to rid himself of it before Hermione entered his life (he lists these in chapter 44). Hermione already loved him (and has told him so) by the time she’s figured out how to remove it: “I love the man you are today and I will love that man tomorrow, bare forearm or not. I simply wanted you, for once, to have the choice. It’s your body.”

D.) Ooh anon, you are tempting me here. I really hate to be coy, but you might see some future writing on this very topic.

I can at least answer the taboo part: I think soul magic in general (horcruxes, the use of unicorn blood) is quite taboo in the HP universe. As no one knows what happens after death (not even ghosts, Nearly Headless Nick says as much when Harry asks him point-blank in OoTP) I think most magical folk would think the intense ritual (blending magical cores) an unnecessary thing anyway. As Draco explains in chapter 48, since no one actually knows the effects or if it works, it’s considered a bit over-the-top since it’s probably futile anyway. It is also not a Vow with a death component; Narcissa is obviously alive in this story even though Lucius is already dead. I wrote the generational curse protection theory in as a dig at Cursed Child for the way they handled Astoria’s character.

The idea of it I think is romantic, but I will stress it is very dependent upon the intent of the two participants. To quote Draco in chapter 48 again: “To twine one’s soul to another showed a willingness to not only physically tether one’s self during your time here on earth, but to commit to a blending of your magical cores, putting faith in your magic to recognize its bonded counterpart in another life. Should other lives even exist.”

If you re-read Draco’s experience during the bonding ceremony in chapter 51 (starting from this bit: “The cognizance of his own powers never felt sharper, more familiar, but suddenly another power pulsed within to join with his.”) you might find it bears a resemblance to the trajectory of their relationship.

Lastly- I’ve left Draco and Hermione to their wedded bliss. I’ve got nothing planned for them beyond where they are in the final lines of chapter 51. I don’t have that itch to write more into their future because it would feel forced. Draco laid out his two envisioned futures with Hermione in chapter 48 when they discuss having or not having children. They are happy and content in the life they chose together. That’s all I ever wanted for them.

You will see more from this story though. I have an entire series of one-shots and outtakes from the published Remain Nameless timeline that I’ll start posting soon.

Thank you so much list anon! These were fun to answer!

[soulwitch]

So as you know there’s an event looming in the next month. There’s going to be a bunch of event temporary characters, that like in Redbellion, might stick around, might not. Might die, might not. So for now, I thought I’d go over them, at least show the faces, a few pieces of info.

Things that at least people can sort of hum on. As said in a previous post, this’ll include muses using Team DEFY of GFL as FCs, and a set using the Helltaker girls as FC. As well as including the FCs people voted on in the community poll awhile back. The only change, was that I swapped out the community’s vote for Rhea, for Nian. As she fits the mold I needed for characters.

Most of these muses have power ups that are heavily inspired by Bleach’s release system. With the 3rd Generation daughters using the call out of Dread and Fear, as they’re all named after the obstacles to enlightenment. The 2nd generation are all named after flowers, and use flourish and bloom. And the last group, use only Heart. Their releases allow them to channel parts of their patrons power, turning their bodies into hybrids of their respective monsters, where a full release is true to form, indulging in all the power their patron has. For the daughters, 3rd and 2nd generation, their patron is Jeanne. For the others, that has yet to be revealed.

More will be added on how these work, but for now known that these release relate to their more monster forms born under the Red Light, and for the last group their powers will be born under a different light. Their individual weapons and abilities on top of forms, will be revealed at a later time.

And if you’re curious, the first generation of Jeanne’s daughters are those like Lust, Envy, ect. The Redbellion daughters.

So without further ado, the new muses below. Big thanks to @usagienforcer​ and @dizzydeadinside​ for name help.

Starting with the 3rd Generation of Jeanne’s daughters, born as she fully realized her red world, and built off the souls that Michiko so kindly offered up to Jeanne as a gift.

These four are the closest to being mostly humanoid till their final forms, while others exhibit far more traits, these four made of such high quality souls, do not twist when subjects to so much of Jeanne’s power.

Name: Skara

Obstacle: Clinging to forms, perceptions, and mental states as ‘real’

Height: 5′6″

Personality: Quiet, reserved, uses few words and hides emotion.

Monster: Horned Centaur

Added Release Features: First release Skara sprouts horns on each side of her head, like large bull horns. Second release, Skara’s lower half takes the form of a horse, embodying a true centaur in look.

Name: Yuma

Obstacle: The obstacle of death itself, fear of change, and impermanence

Height: 5′7″

Personality: Honest, direct, stern and forward with actions and words.

Monster: Basilisk Lamia

Added Release Features: First release Yuma’s eyes take the properties of a Basilisk, inviting death as their glow and change to slits. Second release her lower half changes to that of the Basilik’s lower half, like Skara they remain mostly humanoid.

Name: Klesia

Obstacle:The habitual pattern of negative/destructive emotions

Height: 6′1″

Personality: Cold, angry, hostile and rash. Hates social interaction.

Monster: Zombie Amalgamation

Added Release Features: First release Klesia’s skin turns cold and she loses all feeling of pain. Second release, her body can freely detach, reform, sew together, and change shapes flesh wise.

Name: Deva

Obstacle: The craving for pleasure, convenience, and ‘peace’

Height: 5′7″

Personality: Aloof, scheming, teasing and strange. 

Monster: King Slime

Added Release Features: First release, Deva’s body becomes slime but retains it outward appearance, impacts on her merely splash slime. Second release she entirely tosses away the humanoid form to be a massive ever changing slime creature with many mysterious properties.

Next, the 2nd generation, born once Jeanne fully dragged Wadanoharo into her red universe and red world. Leeching the abundance of magic in her grasp to form these souls.

Like the 3rd generation, most of these try to retain some humanoid appearance, some fair better than others. Most adopt wings or very visible changes before second release.

Name: Dala

Flower: Dracula

Height: 5′5″

Personality: Haughty, confident, impulsive.

Monster: Abomination*

Added Release Features: First release Dala is able to freely change and mold her body, most changes having many eyes. Second release all humanoid form is lost in an every change abomination of deep sea eldritch monstrosities. 

Name: Raffia

Flower: Rafflesia

Height: 5′6″

Personality: Enigmatic, secretive, boastful.

Monster: All Insect Monster

Added Release Features: First release Raffia grows buzzing wings. Second release she turns into a mist of insects that may reform to turn into any sort of giant monster insect.

Name: Berri

Flower: Iberis

Height: 5′4″

Personality: Nervous, chipper, curious, holy!

Monster: Harpy

Added Release Features: First release sprouts harpy wings, second release Berri turns into an angelic harpy bathed in light.

Name: Hinu

Flower: Antirrhinum

Height:5′9″

Personality: Decisive, strict, punishing.

Monster: Gargoyle

Added Release Features: First release grows strong wings and slightly stone skin, second release turns into a hulking devilish gargoyle.

Name: Paver

Flower: Papaver

Height: 5′9″

Personality: Laid back, easy going, empathetic despite duties.

Monster: Behemoth

Added Features: First release Paver displays large horns and a swinging bushy tail. Second she grows immensely in size, turning into a full bull faced monstrosity.

Name: Nit

Flower: Aconitum

Height:5′4″

Personality: Cold, uncaring, vengeful.

Monster: Nue

Added Release Features: First release allows Nit to fade in and out of vision, second release she turns entirely into an unrecognizable creature, the exact appearance depends on the enemy’s fears.

Name: Lyco

Flower: Lycoris

Height:5′6″

Personality: Scheming, playful, cruel.

Monster: Hydra/Leviathan

Added Release Features: Lyco’s first release allows smoke, fire, and vapor to be used and shot out. Even giving her decapitation protection. The second allows her to turn fully into a massive leviathan hydra with endlessly growing heads and bodies. 

Name: Mea

Flower: Ipomea

Height:5′5″

Personality: Reserved, uneasy socially but confident otherwise.

Monster: Phoenix 

Added Release Features: Mea sprouts rainbow feathers wings, and second release turns her into a giant form changing phoenix. 

Name: Rysa

Flower: Chrysanthmum

Height:5′3″

Personality: Loving, teasing, sexually charged.

Monster: Medusa/Succubus

Added Release Features: First release her hair moves and shapes like snakes to turn others to stone. Second release she turns fully into a medusa like creature, lamia lower half and all. Those curious her hair and eyes can either turn to stone, or charm and hypnotize as she sprouts succubus wings.

Name: Rii

Flower: Trillium

Height:5′3″

Personality: Fun, playful, hounds that bite.

Monster: Cerberus (duh)

Added Release Features: Rii’s first release adorns her with hound like senses, ears and tails. Her second release allows her to become cerberus, even making endless copies of herself as heads split off into new three headed bodies.

And finally the last group, that can be referred to for now, as the heart seekers. Are a group listed by Harune as potential candidates for the memory weaver’s heart. Gathered eventually by Zen.

These five are all from different places and times that will be explained in their debut drabbles. 

Name: Leb Uwe Graf

Height: 6′1″

Personality: Caring, easy going, older brother type. Selfless.

Monster: Manmade Golem

Added Release Features: Leb’s body becomes golem like, durable, regenerative, and brimming with magic.

Name: Raven Wainwright

Height: 5′4″

Personality: Silent, caring, secretive.

Monster: Manmade Automaton

Added Release Features: Raven’s body because doll like and has the ability to suffer more damage, and puppets others/other dolls.

Name: Gao Jie Xue

Height: 5′8″

Personality: Proud, impulsive, a small bully at times.

Monster: Dragon

Added Release Features: Gao’s release allows her to change from just having some dragon features, to have wings, to being a full dragon.

Name: Kiyoko Kurousa

Height: 5′7″

Personality: Silent, few words, a loner despite good intentions.

Monster: Black Moon Bunny

Added Release Features: Kiyoko’s release allows her to make use of lunar bunny magic, as well as make use of shadows as weapons.

Name: Aloysha Kazakov

Height: 5′5″

Personality: Closed off, standoff ish, selfish.

Monster: Siberian Tiger Thunder

Added Release Features: Aloysha’s release allows them to harness thunder and shift between added claws, and full transformation into a tiger.

There will be a lot more to edit and add, but i wanted to get this sort of, basic thing posted.

For now, I go eat dinner!

[moviemunchies]

Hey! Last weekend I rewatched SHAZAM! so check out the review I did when I saw the movie in theaters:

Shazam! is a 2019 superhero film that has the distinction of being the superhero film with the title that’s the most fun to shout at the top of your lungs. It’s also known by DC fans as “The Other Captain Marvel Movie” but that’s a bit of a confusing mouthful, so if you’re curious how that happened it’s best you read up on that somewhere else. The seventh film of the DC Extended Universe, it chronicles the story of the orphaned boy Billy Batson, who meets a wizard that gives him the ability to turn into a magical superhero upon saying the word “Shazam.”

Amongst the roster of comics characters that DC was hoping to turn into a big budget movie, this was hardly one of the ones that people were expecting. It’s not as if Shazam is one of their A-list characters, and often when he shows up in cartoons it’s to be someone for Superman to fight on his level. But because Dwayne Johnson was such a fan of the character and his evil counterpart, Black Adam, he’d been making publicity about the idea of this movie for years; you’ll notice in the credits he’s one of the producers of the film. So when DC decided to get the ball rolling on some of their solo movies as opposed to the big team-ups, Shazam got his big break.

Smaller in scope than many of the other solo movies, Shazam! goes to basics with an origin story. Billy Batson is a fourteen-year-old orphan in Philadelphia looking for his real mother, and in his search has run away from over two dozen foster homes. But the system is giving him one last chance with the Vasquez family, and though he fully intends to leave, he can’t help but stand up for his foster brother Freddie when he’s picked on by bullies at school. This gains him an audience with the wizard Shazam, who summons him to his realm and grants him powers--upon saying his name, he’ll turn into a full-grown superhero.

Of course, being a teenage boy who just got both superpowers and the body of an adult, Billy quickly uses this power the ways you’d expect, working with Freddie to figure out and document the exact powers he has and their uses. But it turns out that the wizard went through a lot of candidates to find Billy, and one of them, Dr. Thaddeus Sivana, is back and wants to claim those powers for himself.

What sets this movie apart from other superhero films is how from the premise it’s very lighthearted and fun. Yes, there are plenty of Marvel films that are lighthearted and fun, but most of them are quirky takes on serious premises, like the space opera or the wealthy industrialist learning how his actions affect people. No, the very premise of ‘child getting superpowers’ is funny, and the film milks it for all its worth, showing us all the terrible decisions a teenage boy would make when he gets superpowers and his best friend decides to make him a YouTube star because of it.

But a superhero film has to be more than funny to work, and luckily this film also has a lot of heart. Billy Batson’s foster family gets quite a lot of focus, more than the ads would lead you to suspect. And unlike the usual of a Hollywood film, the foster family is actually a very likable and supportive family, and their involvement in the film’s climax is as heartwarming as it’s clearly meant to be.

Because a huge part of this story involves children and teenagers, I was somewhat concerned about the use of child actors, because unlike many other screen works the teenagers and children in the foster family are mostly played by performers of their actual age (with the exception of Mary, who is a high school senior about to enter college and played by an actress in her early twenties, so it’s not too egregious). Child actors don’t have a great reputation for their acting skills, but it turned out I had no reason to worry because their performances here are top-notch. Of note Asher Angel is fantastic as Billy, a kid who is both likable but also kind of a jerk sometimes, and Jack Dylan Grazer perfectly plays Freddie as a boy who is both vulnerable and endearing but also really annoying without even trying. Their relationship and becoming foster brothers is really what makes the movie work. 

As Billy in his adult form, Zachary Levi is inspired casting. He’s not the first choice when I think ‘superhero’ but watching him in works like Chuck he’s definitely the perfect choice to portray a kid who is currently in an adult’s body. He infuses the role with enough energy and playfulness that you buy him as Billy, even if the suit is a bit ridiculous-looking (though I suspect that’s part of the point).

Mark Strong turns in another strong performance as the villain Thaddeus Sivana, with a character arc so that you understand where he’s coming from. That being said he doesn’t particularly wow you with his motivations or characterization. He’s a good villain, but he’s not an outstanding one, and I wouldn’t be too surprised if non-comic fans didn’t remember his name a week after seeing this movie. What isn’t helped is that he’s helped by his own goons who are meant to represent the Seven Deadly Sins, and instead of them each having their own motif and distinctive looks, they all pretty much look like generic evil monsters that eat people.

I would have liked to have seen more out of some of the supporting cast. It’s not until the second half of the movie that most of the foster family has enough time to shine, though that’s intentional as Billy is deliberately keeping himself separated from them. I also would have liked for the film to further flesh out some of the other villains in Shazam’s rogue gallery that are only given brief mentions in this movie; not to share the spotlight with Sivana, of course, but to give us something else to look forward to if sequels do come. The makers of the film admitted though that they were more concerned with making sure this film stands on its own two feet though, and I think in that regard they succeeded.

Shazam! is everything I wanted from a film about the titular character, and I think anyone that’s read the comics or seen him adapted in various mediums will find the experience just as rewarding. But if you’re not a comics fan, you’ll still find this film appealing, if only because the sheer joy of watching what teenagers do with superpowers. It’s goofy and good-hearted and glorious. I heartily recommend.

[victorluvsalice]

Hey, you know how I tried to restart Fallout 4 properly around my birthday with a new Victor save? Yeah, uh, ran into a few issues with crashes and whatnot and had to start again! Fortunately, after much fiddling and poking and whatnot, I seem to have finally gotten myself a save that’s at least somewhat stable, so this here should be my final Victor Sole Survivor to go through the game with. Allow me to go through some of the pertinent points of my playthrough with you:

Appearance: Yeah, I had to redo him again -- at least this time I’m a bit happier with the eye spacing. He’s always going to look rather weird simply because I’m trying to translate a Tim Burton character into flesh, but I think I did a pretty good job under the circumstances!

...As for his fashion sense, he found the chestpiece and whatnot in a suitcase by Sanctuary, and the hat gives him +1 Intelligence and thus is giving me a bit more experience for his early quests. He’s not here to look good, he’s here to level up.

Stats: I ended up having to tweak his SPECIAL, mostly because I forgot just how many points you get at the beginning, and because I wanted to pivot slightly with how I designed his build. Here’s what he started out with:

Strength: 3

Perception: 3

Endurance: 7

Charisma: 2

Intelligence: 7

Agility: 4

Luck: 2

He’s still a high Endurance/Intelligence build, but I’ve decided that Agility is probably going to be his third “main” stat, because perks like “Moving Target” (harder to hit when you’re sprinting) make sense for him. (I mean, dodging like crazy was how he survived so long against Barkis!) I’ve already boosted it twice -- once with the You’re SPECIAL! book that you can find in Shaun’s room, and once through a level-up. I’ve also boosted his Perception thanks to the bobblehead in the Museum of Freedom. As for perks, he’s currently level 5, so I have the following:

Scrapper Level 1 (scavenge more uncommon components from scrapping things)

Gun Nut Level 1 (basic gun mods)

Armorer Level 1 (basic armor mods)

Given Victor’s whole “thing” in this universe is that he’s something of a tinkerer and good at modding things, this felt appropriate. :p

Mods: Because it’s not recommended to play without them! Certainly not without the fixes. . . Anyway, my complete mod list as of now is below, if you’re curious. I did try to vaguely group them into “these mods are part of the same category and/or go together,” but it’s not perfect. Still, if you see anything you find interesting, feel free to go to the link and check it out!

Fallout 4 Script Extender (https://f4se.silverlock.org/): Allows for script changes, enables certain other mods and serves as my game launcher through Vortex

Achievements Mod Enabler (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/15639): Enables achievements in a modded game; requires manual install (extract files into Fallout 4 folder)

Mod Configuration Menu (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/21497/): Adds a menu for configuring compatible mods; uses F4SE

Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/4598): General bugfixes and small improvements

Crafting Highlight Fix (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/27479): Removes the crafting “highlights” overlay so you can actually see your items while crafting; uses F4SE and requires MCM (to adjust things like how power armor pieces are highlighted)

Elevator Buttons Fix (Contraptions) (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/20664): Fixes floating elevator buttons from Contraptions (buttons can appear miles from the actual control panel)

Rusty Face Fix (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/31028): Fixes the rusty face glitch that may occur with the PC and NPCs (turning faces brown)

Nuka-World Bottle Scenery Fix (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/17853): Fixes the giant bottles that can sometimes spawn in Nuka World instead of the regular-sized models, completely obscuring the game world

No Aggro Impact Landing (Power Armor) (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/9019): Stops friendly characters getting aggroed if you jump from a great height and land near them in Power Armor

Vault 81 Molerat Disease Immunity with Power Armor and Hazmat (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/5646): Stops you getting infected with the Molerat Disease if you're wearing full power armor (chance of infection goes up with each missing piece of armor), or if your companion gets bit; lesser chance of infection if you're wearing a hazmat suit

CryoFreez Fix (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/10000): Fixes the bug where, if an enemy dies as a result of the Cryolater or other cryo-based weapons, they will respawn in a weird “dead” state with no AI

Cattle Feeders Immersively Filled (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/11998): Two files; first adds a filled water trough for brahmin to use, second fills the vanilla feed trough with plants

Worthwhile Caps Stashes (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/23464): Increases the amount of caps in stash and have them contain other junk items; also makes the stash tin itself a junk item

Piper Interview Restored (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/21829): Restores some cut questions post Piper’s interview about your pre-war life

Dumpster Diving (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/33474): Adds new containers to open dumpsters with new and amusing junk to collect

More Grind-Free Game Settings (from Thuggyfied – A Fallout 4 Mod List) (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/41435): Removes the need to get “Local Leader” Rank 2 to make crafting benches; quest markers display from five times further away; followers no longer auto-attack non-hostile Radstags; settlers run to the summoning bell; Jet doesn’t show up in pre-War coolers and containers (just Vault 95); pipe weapons no longer show up in Pre-War safes or trunks; ability to craft a “Jetpack Ring” at the chem station (I mainly got this for the first two items)

Useful Pulse and Cryo Explosives 1.1b (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/24848): Tweaks the cryo grenade’s damage output and fixes the “dead enemy AI respawn bug” for cryo grenades; tweaks how the pulse grenade works, making it affect robots and turrets more strongly and removing damage to organic enemies (though the explosion can still stagger them); also changes the crafting recipes

Wasteland Survival Guide 5 - More Map Markers (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/26367): Changes Wasteland Survival Guide #5 (available in Gorski Cabin) to mark not only Diamond City, but also Goodneighbor, the Glowing Sea, Boston Airport, and Quincy

Strong Back Improved – Weightless Equipped Apparel (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/17361): Improves the “Strong Back” perk to first halve the weight of worn apparel, then make it entirely weightless, and give more carry capacity out of Power Armor

Diamond City Plus (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/19293): Updates Diamond City with new shacks and interiors to the lower stands (including an arcade and a laundry!), along with new NPCs to populate them; also adds a proper farm with brahmin and chickens by the mutfuit plants

Commonwealth Wilderness Overhaul (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/41008): Adds lots of little scenes, objects, and creatures (including rad rabbits, rad chickens, and wolves) to the Commonwealth Wilderness to fill it out and make it more interesting

Nuka World Open Season Extend II -- Assignable Factions - Recruitable NPCs (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/47209): Allows you, post- the “Open Season” quest, to attract settlers to Nuka-World who can then be sent to regular settlements, and populate the parks and main market area with more traders, or various faction NPCs! (So if you really want the Minutemen to hold Nuka World after you gun everybody down, you can use this – though if you want them to come and HELP you gun everybody down, you need a different mod)

Flashy(JoeR) - Advanced Needs 2 - Customizable Survival Mode (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/40440): A customizable “survival mode” that allows you to play with a character who needs to eat, drink, and sleep periodically without necessarily dealing with some of Survival Mode’s other stuff (namely, the lack of fast travel in my case). Comes with expansions for being a playable ghoul, food spoilage, and other activities if you’re into that, and a patch for “Campsite – Simple Wasteland Camping” so you can use the two together.

Sunshine Tidings – No Ghoul and No Corpse (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/47044): Will eventually remove ghoul and human corpses from Sunshine; assigns Professor Goodfeels protected status if he hasn't already been disabled

Croup Manor Waterfront Extended (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/47144): Adds another chunk to Croup Manor's building area so you can actually access the water on the nearby beach for purifiers and whatnot

CWSS Redux V4 – Craftable Working Showers Sinks Baths Toilets Urinals Kitchens Etc (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/14326): Adds craftable, usable bathroom equipment and some kitchen equipment in a separate workshop menu so the Sole Survivor, companions, and settlers can go to the toilet, shower, and have pretty kitchens

Vault-Tec Workshop Overhaul Redux (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/43643): Fixes some errors with the Vault-Tec DLC items for Vault 88 and adds newer, better versions for some other items (e.g., better lights, in three variations depending on computer specs)

Wearable Backpacks and Pouches (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/3258): Adds a backpack workbench and a variety of upgradable backpacks to the game (three files – standard, ballistic weave addon, power armor capacity addon)

Campsite – Simple Wasteland Camping (and HD Sleeping Bags) (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/11734): Adds a book to Sanctuary (the root cellar) that allows you to make camping gear at the chem station and set up camp in the Commonwealth whenever you want

The Mobile Mechanic – Portable Workbenches and Junk Scrapping (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/18262/): Allows you to make a portable, customizable workbench for scrapping junk and in-game crafting anywhere

Atelier – Paint and sculpt (Unsupported) (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/36485): Allows you to make and mix paint, paint pictures (for the "Well Rested" XP bonus), and work on a sculpture; also has settler-ready versions to increase happiness in settlements. Unsupported and glitchy ("Well Rested" perk sound will play incessantly if you try to paint, with the animation popping up when you disengage from the easel – keeping this mainly for the look of the thing for Victor’s house)

Fallout Instrument Pack (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/46604): Adds four playable instruments to the game, along with a small (and unfortunately bit glitchy) quest to unlock the ability to craft them; also has two new instrument-themed weapons

New Recipes (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/12276): 60-ish new recipes added into the standard categories, with unique effects and healing (like new teas under Beverages)

Fine Dining (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/33128): Adds a “Fine Dining” section to the cooking menu with six new recipes, with strong effects that require a (reusable) steel plate as well as the food; also adds milk and cheese as items to be found in the world

Culinary Masterpieces – Useful Food (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/16055): Adds a “Culinary Masterpieces” section to the cooking menu with new recipes, and the ability to plant tarberries, hubflower, bloodleaf, and rice (after buying it from the Abernathys)

Apple Trees 3.2 (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/40388): Adds an apple and pear orchard to the game near Vault 111, and a “Fruit Recipes” section to the cooking menu for apple and pear-based food; also you can grow apples and pears for food in settlements

Tales From The Commonwealth (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/8704): Extended quests and companions mod – features new characters, new locations, and new quests across the Commonwealth, along with three new companions (contains additional file for DLC commentary from the new companions)

Tales From The Commonwealth Visual Fixes (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/43974): Patch to fix some of the broken precombines and visual bugs from TFTC

Tales From The Commonwealth – FaceGen Data (For PhysOp or Vanilla) (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/45148): Patch to help provide face generation data for TFTC; vanilla file used

We Are The Minutemen (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/6443): Overhauls the Minutemen, giving Preston a new outfit, making patrols more common and more powerful as you level up, giving you a command table to make Minutemen, and cools down the frequency of radiant quests

Better Companions – No Conflicts (Accuracy Version) (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/24233): Improves companions – in particular, making them more accurate and better at sneaking

Settler and Companion Dialogue Overhaul (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/41785): Increases the variety of companion lines while adventuring; gives certain companions their own radiant quests; gives settlers more variety in what they say to you while visiting settlements (acknowledging you as Minutemen General, complaining less)

Realistic Conversations Fallout 4 (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/32514): Makes conversations between NPCs more realistic, adds variety

Settlers Of The Commonwealth (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/8704): Adds unique new settlers to the Commonwealth that you can recruit

Level 4 Merchants Improved (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/40747): Puts all the level 4 merchants you can find and recruit in the Dugout Inn for easier location; also assigns protected status to certain ones that might otherwise easily die (like the Vault-Tec Rep)

Squirrels of the Commonwealth (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/20027): Adds a variety of (surprisingly tough) squirrels; using the “docile” version that adds Garbage Squirrels but makes most squirrels run away if you shoot them

True Storms – Wasteland Edition (Thunder-Rain-Weather Redone) (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/4472): Improved weather, with more intense thunderstorms and whatnot; also has files for earlier sunsets, compatibility with Far Harbor and Nuka World, and (if you want, I didn’t) more dangerous Far Harbor fogs and Glowing Sea

Atomic Radio (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/8704): New radio station with original radio shows and commercials

Where I Am In The Game: Given Victor’s only level five, you’ve probably guessed I’ve only just started -- and you’d be right! Victor’s about five days into his adventures in the Commonwealth, and has spent that time mainly cleaning up Sanctuary and the Red Rocket, meeting Dogmeat and Preston, killing raiders, and molotoving and machine-gunning a Deathclaw to death. I’ve completed Out of Time and When Freedom Calls for quests, and I’m currently working on Sanctuary before moving onto The First Step. Next playsession, Victor and Codsworth are going to go visit the apple orchard on the other side of Vault 111 and get some apples for everyone! And probably fight a bear! :D What, the gang needs food, and I want to give them more variety than gourds and melons.

What Comes Next: While I hope to actually start the main plot a lot sooner than I did in my original attempt at playing, we’re definitely doing some Minutemen stuff first, plus exploring the general area around Sanctuary so I can pick up that “double meat” magazine. Think of it as Victor getting his hand in as he tries to figure out how to survive in this brave new world.

[mikauzoran]

3 and 4 for the writer questions 👀

Thank you so much for the ask! ^o^

3. Do you write fics from start or finish, or jump around?

This depends on what kind of story I’m writing, honestly. For some stories like I Would Give You Some Violets or Études: Fifty Lukadrien Kisses the chapters are not written in chronological order, and I jump all around the timeline. I did, however, write the chapters in order. I wrote Chapter One before Chapter Two, and then I wrote Chapter Three, so the order in which the chapters appear is the order in which I wrote them, even though the chapters themselves jump back and forth in time.

So, I guess I do write stories from start to finish, even if the chapters aren’t in chronological order. Nachtmusik is kind of the exception because it has extra scenes and outtakes from all over the Springtime Universe. But ninety-nine percent of the time, I don’t, say, go work on a scene in Chapter Four before I finish writing Chapter Three. I have ideas for things that I want to write later, but I don’t actually write them until I get to that point. The reason being that by the time that I get to that point, things invariably have changed, so the way I was going to write it no longer meshes with the flow of the story up to that point. I think this links well with the next question.

4. Do you outline before you start writing? If so, how far do you stray from that outline?

I usually do have some kind of outline for what I’m doing, but that “outline” can be very different from one story to the next. In some cases, I do sit down and write a fairly detailed plan of what I want to do. Sometimes I just jot down little bits of dialogue I want to use or the general idea of what I want to happen or things I want the characters to discuss. Sometimes the outline is just a vague idea of the general direction of the story that I keep in my head while writing.

It really depends on the piece. For Rejects, I printed out a calendar page and wrote down what events I want to happen on the days that they happen. I have a separate piece of paper where I have little blurbs about the individual events.

Sometimes I scribble down my notes on post-its. Like, wanna see some behind the scenes nonsense? Here are two of my sticky-notes for future Rejects chapters:

As you can see, this is utter chicken scratch that I jotted down as fast as possible. (The two Japanese characters in the second note are the symbols for “Friday” and “Monday” respectively. There are some words like that that I just use Japanese shorthand for, so the note reads, “the Louvre is open late on Friday” and “Adrien confronts Marinette on Monday”.) These just serve to refresh my memory about what I wanted to do and in what order. When I go back to Rejects, I’ll probably end up scrapping some of the ideas I had when I was working on it last year, but at least they’re preserved for me to work with when I get around to it.

As for a different kind of outline where I go in-depth, please see below. I was in the shower two weeks ago Thursday when I had this whole idea for an Adrienette one-shot called The Adventures of Off-Brand Ladybug and Chat Noir. Later that night, I sat down and typed out a six hundred and seventy-eight word outline of what I wanted to do with the story. Here’s an excerpt from the beginning:

Adrien skips fencing and invites Marinette to a café because she’s seemed stressed and upset and self-isolating recently.

Asks about Luka.

Marinette talks about boy she’s hung up on.

Chat Noir?

No! …Yes. Sort of. Developing feelings. How know?

Guess because of Papa Garou.

How know Papa Garou? Not even Alya knows about Papa Garou.

…Uh…heard from Chat Noir? He felt really bad about turning you down because you’re so amazing. We talked

Explain how Papa Garou mistake. Transfer feelings. Brokenhearted over other boy and Glaciator was romantic and felt connected talking to him. Feelings weren’t real, not like now.

…How are things with Kagami?

Oh…uh…not…good. Hung up on other girl. Whenever Kagami tries to kiss, gut instinct is to pull back. Don’t want to lead her on. Do have feelings, but…not like for other girl. …And crush on other friend too, so always feel like cheating. Just waiting to get her akumatized a third time.

This is my most in-depth level of outlining. See how I include descriptions of what I want to happen along with some proto-dialogue? I’m slowly working on fleshing this out into the actual story.

Funny story, though. You see that first line about Adrien asking Marinette to dinner? I’m two thousand five hundred words into this story, and I’m still on the first sentence of the outline. T^T Adrien hasn’t asked her how things are going with Luka yet. They’re just talking and being goofs. This is going to be longer than anticipated. ^.^;

As for how much my stories change from outline to posting, that also depends. I guess, on average, I’d have to say “a lot” for my longer stories. The one-shots sometimes go in unexpected directions with added dialogue, but they generally stay pretty close to the Major Events I had planned for that story.

Phantasmagoria went completely AWOL with Luka and Adrien just talking and talking and talking, so that story really grew. Even though it checked off all of the Major Events, there was a lot of extra content that naturally grew out of the story once I started writing.

That’s the most common thing that happens. I start writing, and things start growing organically. Once I get into the story, it takes little twists that I couldn’t have anticipated when I was just looking at it and planning from the outside. My stories tend to be true to the spirit of my outline, but they don’t always follow the letter of the outline. Once I get in there and start writing, things usually change for the better, and I’ve just learned to accept that and roll with it.

So, yeah. That’s a little bit about my process. Thank you again for the ask! <3 I’m so pleased that you were curious. ^o^ I hope all my rambling was interesting? ^.^;

[philologer-mosaic]

Hey! Fellow writer here! I was curious as to how you learn to write characters and /keep/ them in character without it being overly stereotypical or stiff? I've read your work and I'd love to learn from you ;^;

Hi! Glad to meet you, and wow, I am so flattered to be asked this. Happy to help out a fellow writer, and I’m always down for rambling about writing-related stuff! I’m not sure how helpful some of this will turn out to be, but here goes.

I’m not sure if you’re asking about characterisation in general including crafting OCs or specifically about writing canon characters, and a lot of this advice will be relevant to both, but I will say this straight off: I’ve seen a fair amount of quibbling about how fanfiction won’t teach you how to worldbuild and maybe that’s true, but there is nothing like writing fanfiction for teaching yourself how to craft character voices. Especially when your source material is a movie/ TV show/ whatever definition RWBY falls under. So: rewatch! Pay attention to all the little details. What turns of phrase do they use? How do they stand, how do they move? What’s their usual emotional range? Pick a line they speak, think about what descriptors you’d use to get across their tone of voice or their emotional state if you were writing the scene in a fic. When you’re writing new dialogue for them, try to hear it in the actor’s voice (if that’s a way your imagination works; some people don’t have great auditory imaginations. Mine can be kind of hit and miss!).

Rest of this advice is going under a cut, because this got looong!

With canon characters: start from what you know, then extrapolate. Especially with characters we don’t see all that much of, boil them down to a handful of personality traits/ ways-they-present-themself first, then consider what might underly them. And in reverse: take the things we know about their status and backstory, consider what that implies about them as a person.

So, Clover: I think I boiled him down to ‘confident, friendly, professional’, and what’s underlying ‘confidence’ is really obviously his semblance: he’s never had to hesitate about anything, he always knows he can rely on himself. So in his internal monologue, he’s not going to second-guess his decisions. He calls Qrow out on deflecting compliments, so he’s good at reading people and also wants to help them; I assume that applies more broadly than just to Qrow. He’s leader of Ironwood’s flagship team of Specialists, and semblance or not I made the assumption he didn’t get there without working for it [that is an assumption, though! People less inclined to think well of Clover will make a different assumption, in-universe as well as out, and how he responds to that is also something to consider], so he’s got to be smart, dedicated, a good tactician, a good leader. And building from that: he’s smart and perceptive but we know he’s also loyal to the bitter end (very bitter); what sort of personality can we project that reconciles those two, what sort of person would respond like that? What I went with is that he trusts the system because he understands enough pieces of how/why it works that he trusts the bits he doesn’t understand are also created with the best interests of the people at heart. (Even when that’s really not true.) So then that’s a consistent philosophy-like thing that underlies a lot of how I write him: he understands the reasons for a lot of why things are how they are and then assumes the best of all the rest.

– This looks like a lot, now I’ve written it out. I thought all this out while working on the early chapters but I never put it some of it into words really. In coming up with the plot or story idea you’ll have made plenty of these assumptions and extrapolations already. Take a second look at them; take them further, find places to link them together or pit them against each other.

And remember, these are your interpretations. There’s not a right or wrong way to flesh these out. Work with semi-canon stuff like the mangas or discard it as you wish; follow fanon or argue with it or throw it out entirely. I interpreted Yang as ‘normal outgoing teenage girl in a non-homophobic world’ and wrote her as having dated people from Signal before she got to Beacon; the other day I came across a tumblr post interpreting her as “a rural lesbian”, by which standard she definitely didn’t have any romantic experience before canon; they’re both entirely plausible takes! Where we don’t know stuff for sure, slot in whatever your story needs, or whatever you think seems interesting. I settled on Clover’s backstory for Soldier, Spy mostly by going ‘ok, what’s an interesting way to contrast him with Qrow?’ And in some of my other fic ideas, he’s different.

Limited third person perspective (or first person, if you can pull if off) is the best for dropping in characterisation smoothly. Though I’m probably biased because I love it so much. Omniscient third person POV is when the narration’s impartial and uninvolved, and skips between person A’s thoughts and person B’s thoughts and pure description of what’s happening, objectively speaking; limited third person is – when the camera’s always over one person’s shoulder in a given scene. It’s less close in than first person, but we get the POV character’s thoughts and no others, we only see/notice what they notice and pay attention to, descriptions are coloured by the way the POV character thinks about the world. I don’t want to be setting you homework, but, a neat writing exercise, if you want it: pick an object, place or person, and consider how two different characters would see it differently. Write those two descriptions. For fun, pick something that at least one of the characters is going to really look down on or dislike parts of! (Qrow’s snark is so much fun.)

This is cynical, but: people lie to themselves a lot. When you put yourself into a character’s head, they’re going to be telling themself a narrative in which what they’re doing is the best thing to do and makes them a good person. (With a few exceptions, the big ones being depression- and anxiety-brain, which instead do their best to convince you you’re the worst.) Get your characters to justify themselves to you.

Goals, motivations, priorities. It feels like a massive oversight to write about how to characters and leave that one out, but honestly I can’t think of anything I can say here that hasn’t been covered better by tons of other writing advice. [Incidentally: https://www.writersdigest.com/ . Subscribe to their email newsletter, it’s free, they will try to get you to buy their how-to courses but there’s no need to, the website has all kinds of articles about the craft and details of writing and the newsletter will send you all the new ones plus curated picks of what’s already there. And also: https://springhole.net/writing/index.html . There’s some stuff specific to fanfic in there, and also general writing advice.] Just: keep it in mind.

Related to that, but a separate thing and one that I haven’t seen other writing advice talk about so much: how does the character try to achieve their goals? What are their skills and resources? And more than that, what’s their preferred approach? In the simplest terms. It’s a matter of mindset, and what options they see as available to them. So the things I would keep in mind for this are: Who’s got social skills/ is good at thinking in social terms, and who isn’t/doesn’t? (Not just interpersonally speaking. James “not really concerned about my reputation” Ironwood is a good example of a character who always thinks in terms of hard power over soft power; even when public opinion is an important strategic consideration he only thinks about it in the broadest and most simplified strokes.) Who would rather work within the system, and who prefers to do an end-run around it? (That doesn’t have to correlate with who’s actually got power, though obviously there are trends. I’m writing Clover as tending to take charge even when he officially shouldn’t because he’s more concerned with solving the problem than with rank, and that’s a case of circumventing the system, it’s one of the things he’s got in common with Qrow.) Who’s more analytical about their approach and what they’re trying to do (which means their failure mode is overthinking and decision paralysis) and who reacts with their gut instinct (which means their failure mode is getting in over their head)?

… I could talk about this one at length. There’s a whole framework I use to categorise characters in this way (I came across it in, of all things, the flavourtext of a supplement to an RPG no one’s ever heard of and it just stuck with me, and I’ve made it my own in the years since) and I could go into all sorts of detail about how it works/ what it means. But I think this is enough to be getting on with, on that topic. If you want to know more, send me another ask? But no one else talks about this thing in writing advice, it might be completely orthogonal to the writing process of anyone but me.

So! Related to the topic of characters’ skillsets, a really great tip I can’t remember where I picked up: how do you write someone who’s smarter/wittier/better at tactics than you? Spend minutes or hours turning something over in your head that the character is going to come up with in seconds. The great advantage of writing: it’s so much easier to be eloquent when you’ve got time to think. [If you had asked me this question in person you would have got ‘i don’t know?’ and then half an hour later I would have thought of half of this stuff and kicked myself. A week and change later, you’re getting the other half too :p ]

And lastly: you said you were worried about your writing getting “overly stereotypical”. And my immediate response to that was stereotypes bad, yes, but archetypes great. The difference being: stereotypes are lazy and offensive writing that let ‘membership of a social category’ stand in for ‘actual characterisation’ and if you’re asking for advice on characterisation you’re obviously too thoughtful to commit them; archetypes are pre-made sketched-out personalities that you can take as your own and flesh out into your own thing. Tropes are tools. No one ever said ‘They were roommates? Ugh, how unoriginal’. By the same token, ‘lone wolf who pretends he’s fine and doesn’t dare trust anyone no matter how much he secretly wants to’ is a fantastic trope that exists for good reason, the CRWBY used it for good reason, and when we found out Qrow’s semblance I went yes please I will have some of all that angst and then laughed at myself because when it comes to fictional characters I have A Type. I’m pretty sure I’ve never written the exact scenario ‘pushes themself way too hard and passes out, wakes up in unexpected safety and immediately condemns themself for not sticking it out longer’ before the opening of Soldier, Spy, but I know I’ve come up with plenty of things that were like it, and if they’d made it to a state of publication you’d be able to see that.

It’s like artists using references. Just because they looked up how to draw that hand and that pose doesn’t mean the final product’s not their own. There’s no reason not to start with your ideas of the character (no matter how ‘stereotypical’ they feel) or a collection of traits you’ve grabbed from other characters that seem like they’d fit – or, for OCs, an MBTI type or a roleplaying class/background combo or one of these or some other personality type you feel like you can find your way around the basics of – and just take it from there. When you start writing/outlining/daydreaming-about-ideas you’ll run into scenarios/setups you can’t copy across from but you can see what responses might come up, and that’s how the template becomes your own unique iteration of it.

… Because really all writing advice does come down to: just write. In your head or on the page, try things out, see what works, see how it goes. I’ve been doing this a long time; most of it never made it to words on a page, let alone to the internet at large. Read across genres, read things people write about themselves and how they live and think and feel, and just – go for it.

I hope this helps! Once again, I was really glad to be asked; feel free to ask me to elaborate on any of this, or about anything else you want advice about. I wish you all the best in your future writing!

[uozlulu]

Given some spoilers I’ve seen for chapter 291, I’m going to post some snipets from my giant TodoBaku soulmate AU relevant to upcoming spoilers.

I used canon-typical plot points to pad the fic and guide the soulmate plot because since the soulbond is the ability to feel each other’s emotions, it’s a very slow burn fic about growing up and maturing as people as much as it’s about Todoroki and Bakugou being soulmates

I decided to do this fic preview since some sections might change or might not depending on how the canon goes. I was trying to come up with ways to do anticipated plot points like the upcoming spoiler and Midoriya vs. Shigaraki in ways I thought the canon wouldn’t do them, so there might be nothing to change in the end. 

Anyway, warnings and such under the cut. I’ll provide relevant context to the snipets. Please keep in mind that these sections have only gone through the first edit phase so they are still rough and will be tweaked further before posting. 

I’ll probably get around to posting the fic in about idek probably 3 - 4 weeks since it took about 10 days to put half of it through the first edit. 

Okay so generalized fic summary is basically: Todoroki and Bakugou share a soulbond that allows them to feel their emotional states. When in a shared emotional state, this soulbond can vibrate and increase their quirk output. After finding each other in high school, they go on a journey from soulmates to classmates to friends to boyfriends. 

Some general warnings: canon typical abuse (though in canon it’s more implied and this gets into it a bit more than that), canon typical violence, suicide, immolation, death, kidnapping, cursing, major character death, gruesome injury (not in that order, I’ll be more exact about warnings when I post the fic properly)

So, you know, read at your own risk. 

If you’re curious why I did what I did I either a) forgot, b) didn’t notice, c) it’s in the pocket of story I haven’t read yet, d) chose to ignore it (like Mineta or Yaoyorozu flashing people to use her quirk), or e) it just wasn’t working out for the fic  (Hatsume unfortunately D:).

I’m going to post all the sections Dabi appears in and provide context before each scene. I should also note it’s my headcanon he was born just under two years before Fuyumi, making him nine years older than Shouto. 

Please keep in mind there are several sections in-between what I’m posting, so these sections have lighter moments and so forth in-between when the fic is whole

===

Basically at the start of the fic, I establish when the soulbond began. The following is the second scene of the fic. The previous scene was Bakugou’s POV and established how things work in universe and teased that Midoriya’s soulmates are Uraraka and Iida. 

This scene is Todoroki’s POV because their POV alternates throughout the fic. Todoroki grew up sheltered from things like how the soulbond works so he thinks Bakugou’s emotions is a part of his brain acting on its own rather than another person’s emotional state (this will get clarified to him later in the fic)

***

For a long time it was just Todoroki Shouto, one mind and one body. Then one day, his brain decided it was tired of this routine and became sentient. When Todoroki was sad, his brain was mad. When he was content, his brain was aggressive. When he tried to feel no emotions at all, his brain was endlessly frustrated. It was worrying. It was too much like his father. On television, Endeavor was commanding, confident, and capable. He dispatched villains easily and everyone complemented him as strong, fast, brave, and exceptional. At home, Endeavor was angry, violent, demanding, and commanding in a different, more stressful way. Todoroki did not want to be like that. He did not want to be two people, and he definitely did not want to harm his family.

Todoroki’s brain became another person soon after his quirk manifested and Endeavor began training him. No matter what Todoroki did, thought, or tried to feel, his brain stubbornly felt other things. Luckily it was not always aggressive annoyance. Right now, for example, it was content like a day at the playground. Maybe his brain was just nostalgic. Todoroki could not remember the last time he went to a playground. There was no way to train there after all.

It was afternoon, not long after Todoroki’s birthday. He was hungry and bored from studying. As he approached his bedroom door, he froze. Voices drifted to him from his oldest brother’s bedroom. Ever since Todoroki started training, his siblings did not talk to him much anymore. His father said it was going to make him a better hero. Todoroki was not sure. It seemed like heroes should play with their siblings, give them presents on their birthdays, and help them with their chores.

“I don’t want to play it,” Touya murmured.

“It can’t be that bad,” Fuyumi said.

“When I use my quirk, I get blisters. Sometimes I just set everything on fire. I don’t want to be Blister Man, so I just didn’t use it,” Touya said. “It was that bad.”

“He’s got Shouto now,” Natsuo said. “Maybe it won’t matter.”

“You know it will.”

A long silence followed. Todoroki frowned. He knew he should not keep listening but he could not move from his door.

“Play it before Father comes home,” Fuyumi said. “We’ll figure something out.”

“Fine.”

Todoroki kept himself against the bit of wall beside his door. He held his breath. What were they watching? Why was it so bad? Todoroki put a hand on his door and then removed it. No matter how curious he was, he could not look. He should not look. He could not get them in trouble. He should ask his mother for a snack before their father came home. He remained against the wall. He let out a breath he did not know he held.

“Thank you for participating in UA’s hero entrance exam this year!” All Might’s voice boomed.

There were hasty whispers and button pushing to reduce the sound as much as possible.

“All of you showed great skill and achievement, however, only so many students can pass,” All Might continued.

“Shit,” Touya whispered.

“I am sorry to say that you did not pass the entrance exam this year,” All Might said in a firm but not unkind voice. “That does not mean your hero journey stops here! Cheer up and –”

There was silence. Todoroki held his breath again. After a moment, the disc ejected and the laptop closed. His brain commenced a power trip. Why? There was nothing to feel powerful about. Todoroki bit his lip. Heavy footsteps sounded in a far hallway.

“I…I got to get rid of it,” Touya said.

Todoroki should say something. He should do something.

“He’s going to want to see it!” Fuyumi  hissed.

The footsteps only drew closer, making the door shake as they passed. It was too late.

“I don’t care. I’ve got to get rid of it.”

“Get rid of what?” Endeavor’s voice seemed to echo through the house.

Todoroki’s heart stopped. He pressed himself against the wall more even though no one could see him. His brain continued on its power trip with a twinge of spite.

“That’s it,” Touya said. “This is fucking it!”

Todoroki braced for the sound of a hand on skin.

Instead there was a whoosh of flames and everything seemed much hotter than it ever did when Endeavor used his quirk inside the house. 

“Touya! Don’t!” Fuyumi shrieked.

The smell of burning flesh, fire, and smoke filled the hallways and surrounding rooms.

“Touya!” Natsuo cried out.

“Get back! I’ll handle this!” Endeavor commanded. Not even seconds later, Endeavor ran down the hall and out the door. Fuyumi or Natsuo cried. Todoroki could not move.

“Why would Touya do that?” Natsuo whispered.

Fuyumi did not answer. Maybe there was no good answer. Todoroki remained against his wall. Endeavor did not return for hours. Touya never returned. His photo appeared in the family shrine. No one explained anything. Todoroki did not know when or how to ask. Rei snapped two days later and then she had to live at a hospital Todoroki could not visit and she could not come home again.

Todoroki did not want to feel anything. He could not feel anything. His brain continued its parade of incorrect disembodied emotion. Maybe Rei was right. Maybe he was too much like Endeavor. Todoroki wrapped himself in muted numbness. He would make sure he did not become Endeavor. He would find a way.

===

This next scene is Bakugou’s POV. This first part of the fic explores canon events with the soulmate lens to help me get a feel for how the soulbond works and also a feel for the character development journeys both Todoroki and Bakugou would have to take. So this is set immediately after the League kidnap Bakugou during summer training after the sports festival he got tied down to a cement pillar because he didn’t want to accept the gold medal. 

This is also a scene in which the soulbond’s ability to amplify quirks comes into play. I called it the resonance since the ability for emotions to resonate together is what amplifies quirks. So for Todoroki, his fire and ice  become easier to draw forth and for Bakugou that means increased sweat production and increased explosion power. 

***

There were no windows. There were few doors. There was a bar of all things. Sweat puddled around Bakugou. When the villains attacked the training camp, everything went sideways quickly. The resonance began to vibrate as Bakugou’s sweat production skyrocketed. His arms ached from holding back his quirk. He could no longer estimate the size of his explosions. If he let one off against his leg, he could just blow his leg off instead of bust his restraints.

Bakugou’s jaw tightened. Every time his mind wandered, it returned to Midoriya staring back at him as he disappeared into Kurogiri’s quirk. Midoriya’s eyes lit with determination. He totally did not listen when Bakugou told him not to follow. How long would it be before Midoriya was here too? Before both of them were completely fucked?

The room grew colder. Bakugou froze. The mist had been cold and suffocating. He took a deep breath. The bar’s air was normal. The resonance kept vibrating. Of course now would be the time Todoroki would finally allow himself to feel so freely. Todoroki definitely looked terrified enough before the mist made everything dark.

“You can’t stop thinking about the consequences can you?” Dabi asked. He looked like some kind of Frankenstein reject and smelled of death and ash. They were the only people in the room right now while the other villains took care of whatever villains did after a successful kidnapping.

“All of us have this rage,” Dabi flexed his fingers as though his joints were stiff, “because we want control.” He looked from his fingers to Bakugou. Dabi’s laughter was quiet, mirthless, and hoarse like his voice. “Who controls you?”

“Not you,” Bakugou said.

“That’s right,” Shigaraki said as he entered the room. His voice was thin and quiet. Hands gripped his body like some kind of bizarre fetish. It set all of the hair on Bakugou’s body on end. “We aren’t here to control you. We’re here to give you control.”

Bakugou narrowed his eyes. “Then free me.” Would it be that easy?

Several other villains appeared like some reject disco revival group.  

“In time,” Shigaraki said. “We want to give you control, but we’re also not idiots.”

The resonance began to lessen. The sweat began to dry. Fear and terror transformed into resolution and determination. Bakugou’s jaw tensed, his stomach tightened. Midoriya had a dumb plan. What else could it mean? He had to come up with his own plan to counter it. If he freed himself then there would be no need for a stupid reckless plan. The resonance fluctuated between aching and normalcy. Bakugou would have to act sooner than later. Bakugou could still feel his quirk aching in his arms. He had to find the right time to act and find it fast.

===

In the fic the hospital raid goes differently like the whole Shigaraki vs. Midoriya thing doesn’t happen, though Shigaraki has been enhanced so he can use his quirk without destroying his body in the process. 

Anyway, after the hospital raid, Endeavor finds out that samples obtained from Ujiko’s lab are a DNA match to Touya. Now the heroes are doing a preventative raid against multiple targets in different cities. Endeavor’s group is targeting an apartment complex full of villains and civilians. Bakugou and Midoriya are helping Burnin’ get civilians out of there while Endeavor wants Todoroki in his raid group in the off chance they confront the villain he assumes is Touya (aka Dabi, but Todoroki doesn’t know who Endeavor suspects is Touya). The ring goes back to a theme of jewelry, adornment as an expression of rebelion. 

This sequence is set during second year in late April maybe the very start of May. It’s after Bakugou’s birthday but with enough time for students to recover to do the sports festival the weekend at the end of Golden Week. I decided to include Bakugou’s POV between the two Todoroki POV involving Dabi so it would flow as intended. When you see a ~ the POV changes. 

***

Todoroki fought Endeavor many times. Frequently as an intern he was support and rescue. Only on rare occasion did they fight in the same place at the same time and even then Todoroki was not sure he would calling it fighting alongside each other. Today was different. Endeavor was deliberate, swift, and dramatic like always. He expected Todoroki and the heroes with them to keep up and assist without direction. Todoroki did not have to blink. He knew Endeavor’s attack patterns, the pauses, the direction and intensity the fire would take. He knew when to shoot his ice and when to shoot flame.

As they traveled upwards through the building, the fighting from below grew fainter. Sometimes there were ambushes, sometimes the villains attacked head on. Endeavor motioned for Todoroki to meet him on the next floor. Endeavor took stairs to the right and Todoroki to the left. The sidekicks finished securing the villains on this floor.

Todoroki charged up the stairs as silently as possible. There was no one in sight. He looked at the numbers on the doors. None of them matched the numbers he memorized.

“I told you. Get your ass downstairs!” Dabi kicked a villain with a tiger quirk near Todoroki. There was door open at the end of the hall that was closed when Todoroki arrived.

Dabi ran his hand through his hair. In the hallway light he seemed more grotesque than he had in the dark woods at the training camp. His flesh seemed to slip from the staples in places. Dabi looked at him. “You’re not my enemy.”

“You kidnapped my friend.” Todoroki slid into a stance. He drew his quirk to his hands. Dabi did not look away.

“Still doesn’t make you my enemy.” Dabi put his hands in his pockets. His shoulders almost slouched out of their sockets, but he managed to keep them where they should be.

“Touya.” Endeavor’s voice seemed to echo.

Todoroki did not move. He kept his eyes on Dabi. Endeavor was just in his line of sight down the hallway over Dabi’s shoulder.

Dabi held Todoroki’s gaze for a long moment and then rolled his eyes, turning his body so he could keep Todoroki’s movements in the corner of his eye but also look towards Endeavor while keeping himself between them. His chest moved with each breath, and he wheezed occasionally. His fingers contorted but he did not draw flame to his hand yet. “That name means nothing to both of us.”

Endeavor approached. Dabi remained where he was. His shoulders angled like a shield. For the briefest moment, something through Todoroki’s mind. Touya with his body almost in the same position except with a hand stretched out to block Todoroki even more, body tensed. Endeavor’s footsteps loud and decisive against the flooring. Touya’s hair was pale. His flames were yellow and blistered his palm and fingers. The memory faded as quickly as it arrived.

Dabi bounced on his feet. His attention turned more and more towards Endeavor.

“Your quirk was so unpredictable, I never imagined it would consume you. It was a shock. It seemed impossible.” Endeavor approached them. “So I pushed myself. I resolved to become even stronger, even stricter. Then I lost your mother, and again, I pushed myself farther. I kept pushing, I kept winning, but also losing.” Endeavor stopped walking. His flames shrank but did not extinguish. “You started me down this road. Finding you again now is a sign that my actions are the right direction now.”

“Yeah, and that direction is down!” Dabi called flame to his hand, intense and blue. The smoke carried the smell of meat turning from burnt to beyond salvaging and intensified the smell of death wafting from Dabi. Dabi lunged forward in that same instant, his flame engulfing his arm. It plunged into Endeavor’s chest and intensified further.

A low rumble approached. The building began to shake, bits of ceiling began to crumble. Dabi pulled his arm back, his hand covered in blood and arm charred to a crisp. His unused hand shoved Todoroki towards the stairs.

Todoroki stumbled. He could He could not look away as blood oozed from Endeavor’s wound and Endeavor fell to his knees. Todoroki’s feet remained stubbornly planted to the floor as the building began to creak and squeal in agony, the shaking building. Dabi grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the stairwell. Todoroki called his quirks just as the floor gave out from under him.

~

This was it. This was officially one of the worst days of Bakugou’s life. Bakugou bit his tongue. He wanted to curse. He wanted to shout. He had to keep his voice down. He had to keep his movements to a minimum. He was trapped between floors and a wrong choice could compress the debris further. Midoriya’s teeth were just about to bite through his bottom lip. His eyes flickered up towards the debris hanging centimeters above their heads dim from the emergency lights attached to their costumes. Midoriya’s gaze returned to the body between them. They landed on Endeavor when the building collapsed. They managed to dig him out without compromising things further. Midoriya pressed his undershirt firmly against Endeavor’s chest wound, trying to keep it closed. “We have to cauterize it, Kacchan.”

Bakugou took a deep breath. Yes. Yes of course. Use nitroglycerin sweat to cauterize the wound on a fire user. Bakugou grit his teeth. Even with their first aid gear they really didn’t have a better option for such a deep, gaping wound. “Fine,” he hissed, already formulating a plan. He was not going to be the reason Endeavor died. He was not. Not after Best Jeanist.

Bakugou removed his storage tanks and gloves, setting them down slowly. He waited for signs of their perch settling with the change of weight distribution but there was no movement. “Move your shirt. Hold the wound closed.”

Midoriya did so. His lips became a fine, thin line, and his brow furrowed with focus.

Bakugou took a deep breath and thought about a small amount of pressure, small sparks, a line of very excited tiny sparklers. He took two fingers and showered the wound with sparks, energetic but controlled. It did not work. Endeavor’s skin was too used to heat. Bakugou grit his teeth.

“Maybe if you –”

“Shut it.”

Midoriya surprisingly did. Bakugou breathed through his nose. Fire resistant skin meant higher heat. But even with a low level explosion he could cause organ damage. Sweat trailed down his forehead and nose in the heat. The resonance remained quiet. Bakugou frowned deeper. “I need metal.”

“My mask,” Midoriya said. “Use it. Destroy it.”

Bakugou freed it from Midoriya’s costume. He put his glove on his right hand and began heating it with his quirk from his left hand, trying to keep everything low-level. The metal did not warp or melt. It did heat. When he could feel the heat through his glove, he pressed the metal along Endeavor’s wound. The wound finally sealed.

Midoriya leaned back and removed his hands. Bakugou set the mask aside and put his gear back on his arms. If he wore them, he had more control on their weight distribution.

Endeavor continued to breathe. There were no other sounds.

“It’s eerie when you can’t feel them isn’t it?” Midoriya murmured after a long time.

Bakugou did not answer. He had not thought of Todoroki since finding himself in this collapsed hellscape. He searched the resonance a moment. There was only a dull buzz like there was when Todoroki slept.

“I can’t feel either of them,” Midoriya murmured. “They were probably on the ground floor when it happened. They were both in the final wave.” He continued to murmur to himself, his voice becoming quieter and hard to distinguish syllables.

Bakugou’s jaw tensed. The constant whispery noise almost made his ears hurt and set his brain on fire. He should probably tell Midoriya why he hated it, but then Midoriya would write it in one of those notebooks and who knew what would happen when villains got their hands on those things. Bakugou took a deep breath. He could not shout. He could not lunge for Midoriya either. “Will you shut up?!” he managed a gruff hiss.

Midoriya blinked. “Ah…sorry.”

Bakugou kept his eyes on Endeavor. He was still breathing. They already sent out a distress signal. Now all they had to do was wait.

~

Todoroki opened his eyes and then immediately closed them when his futon shook beneath him. Something gave way and he fell just a second before everything settled. He groaned and coughed, dust filling his lungs. When did his room get this dusty? Why was his futon so uncomfortable? He opened his eyes and blinked. Everything was completely dark. It felt like the ceiling was much closer than it should be. Debris seemed to lay underneath him instead of a futon. He was not in the dorm or in his bedroom. What was the last thing he remembered? His head hurt too much.

“I wouldn’t sit up if I were you,” a voice rasped.

Todoroki’s instincts and the dizziness in his head agreed. He tried to ignore his growing nausea. The resonance was full of sharp annoyance and frustration, maybe fear. It was hard to discern. It did not quite feel normal, but it was a good sign. Wherever Bakugou was, he was awake and possibly with Midoriya.

“You should talk,” the voice said.  

Todoroki tried to place it, but it was hard to concentrate. The person seemed to be laying down nearby. The smell of death wafted from the same place. “Why?”

“Because you hit your head.”

Todoroki’s eyebrows drew together. He went to touch his head and then reconsidered and lowered his arm.

“Tell me about the ring.”

“It’s just a ring.”

“Endeavor wouldn’t think so.”

Todoroki frowned. “How would you know?”

“I’m his number one enemy.”

Todoroki tried to see in the darkness. There was nothing to see. “I like the ring.”

“Good. You’re not completely their dog then.”

“I’m not…a dog…” It was hard to make words. Maybe he really did have a head injury.

“All heroes are dogs.”

“No…. Just the dog ones.”

“Which are all of them.”

Todoroki opened his mouth and closed it. He tried to focus on Bakugou’s emotions. If he could just latch onto them, maybe he could stay conscious. There was more fear now and stress. Whatever was happening wherever Bakugou was must be dire and terrifying. Maybe the adrenaline would transfer.

“Shouto, keep talking.”

Todoroki opened his mouth but there were no words. His eyes fluttered closed. The darkness seemed less claustrophobic this way.

Todoroki opened his eyes. Sun filtered into a white room. The smell of death was gone, replaced by something distinct but sterile. An alarm somewhere kept ringing. It was near and then far, left and then right. Maybe there was more than one alarm. Activity rushed past. Todoroki’s brain could not focus or process it beyond acknowledgement. He tried to speak but only managed a faint graon.

“Oi!” Bakugou’s voice rose above the din before saying something unintelligible. Someone answered from nearby. Midoriya also said something. Todoroki could not process any of it. He closed his eyes.

Todoroki’s eyes opened again. The room was white again but this time there was barely any light. There was a television in the corner. There was an IV hookup in his arm and a heart monitor clamped to his finger. Fuyumi sat in a chair beside him, using a reading light to work from a binder. Todoroki blinked. Fuyumi was still there.

“What…?” his voice barely functioned.

Fuyumi closed the binder, turned off her light, and set both aside. “You’re in the hospital. Looks like the doctor’s quirk finally worked. I have to call the nurse now.” She reached over and hit the button by Todoroki’s bedside.

A medical team appeared and started poking and prodding. Todoroki slowly sat up when allowed. There was no dizziness or pain. After some water, his voice began to work properly. This was his second day at the hospital. He was in and out of consciousness for that entire time due to a healing cranial injury. He also sustained an injury to his left side, but it healed first and even when Todoroki prodded his side through his hospital gown, he felt no evidence of it.

“We should be able to release you tomorrow morning,” the doctor said. “Unless there are any more complications in the healing process. These types of injuries are always difficult even with my quirk.”

There was a long silence after the medical team left. The clock said it was about the time Todoroki would turn in for the night. He did not feel sleepy, though he could feel Bakugou’s sleepiness, exhaustion, and stress acutely.

“What do you remember last?” Fuyumi’s voice was quiet.

Bakugou and Midoriya were there, but maybe it was Dabi. It was dusty but also sterile. Strong terror and yellow flame flickered. He might have used his quirk in a building. There was blood. So much blood. Whose blood? What was clear? Endeavor must have been there but Todoroki could not remember. What was clear? What was solid? “Waiting for the signal,” he said. The memory was well before sunrise. Everyone was silent. Endeavor was just seconds from turning his flame on full. It felt real.

Fuyumi frowned. She tugged at her bottom lip in thought. “Shouto,” she said carefully, looking towards him in the dim light, “Father’s also a patient here.”

Todoroki tensed.

“They told me there was a building collapse. That makes sense with your injuries, but his…” her voice trailed.

Todoroki shivered involuntarily. His first thought was blood, All that blood. Except there was no source. Just blood. “What happened?”

Fuyumi continued in the careful voice, choosing her words deliberately. “Something happened to burrow into his chest and damage his heart. They’ve done all the healing they can, but the injury weakened his heart significantly.” Fuyumi paused to let Todoroki process the information. Then she said in a quiet voice, “They’re optimistic about his prognosis, but he’ll have to retire.”

Todoroki pulled his blankets up around himself. Even his right side felt cold. What if Endeavor did die? What if Endeavor did not die? What would retirement even look like? What would Endeavor do with that much free time? What would an Endeavor who could not use his quirk at full power be like? Would he just push himself to death even if he survived?

“I’m going to help while I can,” Fuyumi said. “So, don’t worry about Father.”

Todoroki’s frown deepened. Was he worried? Was he relieved? Guilty? Afraid? Which emotion went with which outcome? “You don’t have to do that.”

“I…I know.” Fuyumi stretched her legs out and looked down at her hands on her lap. Her lips pressed into a thin line. “But I want to. I know our childhood was beyond stressful, but things aren’t so stressful now. Maybe it can keep improving.”

Todoroki did not know what to say. Staff walked past their room. Someone’s heart monitor crashed across the hallway. There was a rush to help.

“Your friends are okay,” Fuyumi said. “I’m not sure about your classmates or teachers.”

Todoroki nodded. He was one of the people everyone waited for this time. They probably made food for him. How many others had not returned? Did they get up early and fall asleep in the common room waiting again? They should not sleep on the sofas for his sake. His shoulders slumped and he ran the hand without the IV hookup through his hair.

“Why don’t you lie down?” Fuyumi suggested. “You’re still recovering.”

Todoroki did so. Slowly exhaustion crept over him. He did not remember falling asleep.

 ===

One of the points of the fic is to get Todoroki, Bakugou, and Midoriya to a point in which all three of them become something different than they set out to become as first years. Todoroki steps out of Endeavor’s shadow, Bakugou becomes less of a King Explosion Murder, and Midoriya diverges from being an All Might clone. Part of what encourages these journeys is the corruption of the Hero Commission. That’s why, after Dabi’s captured after the building collapse, this scene happens because the Hero Commission wants what it wants and what it wants right now is confirmation that Dabi is Touya and also confirmation none of the Todoroki sibligns are working with him. 

Narratively though I wanted to do this scene so Natsuo and Fuyumi are now both in on the Touya is Dabi circle. 

This takes place after Todoroki is released from the hospital following recovering from injuries sustained in the raid from the previous section. The reason they’re not at Tartarus is Shigaraki eroded Tartarus when he broke Kurogiri out of prison a few sections ago. 

***

Golden Week meant a break from internships in lieu of the sports festival and this year also meant a time for recovery from the recent raid. Today was one of the days off school, and Class 2-A planned an outdoor lunch. It sounded fun, but Todoroki would have to skip it. That morning, All Might arrived at the dorms to collect him with Detective Tsukauchi. They picked up Fuyumi and Natsuo and began a long drive. Detective Tsukauchi drove, choosing a playlist that had a mix of music from several decades. All Might hummed along quietly frequently especially to the songs that were in English.

The car ride kept going. Where? No one would say. Why? Still no answers. Todoroki stared out the window as mountains, houses, and fields passed. They were on the road with the whole of Japan it felt like. When Detective Tsukauchi turned off the music, they entered a section of tunnel that required his ID.

There were several forms to fill out, all of which Fuyumi had to sign as Todoroki’s present guardian. There were still no details.

“It’s like we’re going to meet a prisoner or something,” Natsuo murmured.

“What else would it be?” Fuyumi whispered.

“But why?” Natsuo whispered.

Todoroki said nothing. He glanced at All Might. All Might kept watch.

Once the papers were signed, All Might cleared his throat. “I’m sorry we could not say anything sooner. This matter is highly confidential.”

“About what?” Natsuo asked.

“Even I am unsure of all the details.” All Might’s eyes seemed to soften. His lips were a thin line.

Todoroki stared at him for a long moment. He glanced at Natsuo and Fuyumi. Natsuo’s jaw tensed. Fuyumi stood straighter.

“Are we in danger?” Fuyumi asked.

“No,” All Might said.

“Is this something Shouto should really be doing?” Fuyumi asked.

“The Hero Commission believes so.”

“But do you?”

All Might was quiet a long moment. “From what I understand, there is no reason he should not.”  

Todoroki watched All Might’s face. It was that face when Midoriya broke his fingers. The face when Bakugou and Midoriya fought after the kidnapping. That face. All Might did not like this. Todoroki tensed and looked around them. There was no one out of place. There were no windows. There were only two doors in view. His eyes returned to All Might. All Might held his gaze. “You are all safe,” All Might mouthed.

It seemed that way. Todoroki remained silent. He followed his siblings, Detective Tsukauchi, and a pro with a wasp theme down the hall. All Might brought up the rear. There was an observation room at the end of the hall. The siblings sat in the chairs provided. The room on the other side of the glass was dark.

“I will be outside the door,” All Might said. He closed it behind him. The siblings were alone.

“I don’t like this,” Natsuo whispered.

“If they were going to do something I think they would have done it by now,” Fuyumi whispered.

Todoroki remained silent.

The lights in the other room turned on. Todoroki’s heart caught in his throat but in a way vastly different from how it moved when he was around Bakugou. Fuyumi froze, her fingers curving but not quite curling.

“Touya!” Natsuo exclaimed, his voice thin.

Dabi stared at them. He was strapped to a chair and there were reinforced gloves on his hands to smother ignition. He laughed a dry, hoarse cough. “The assholes running this place must be desperate for fun.”

Fuyumi’s fingers curled into fists. Todoroki tried to keep his attention forward. He tried to keep his mind focused. It kept flickering back to the villain raid. The fire. The blood. The collapse….

“This doesn’t make any sense.” Natsuo said. “What the hell is this? What kind of sick entertainment….?” his voice thinned further. “How long have you been alive?”

“Who said I was alive?” Dabi snorted. “Surprised you were let in here without the chimney to supervise.”

“I’m in charge here,” Fuyumi said firmly. Her gazed locked with Dabi’s gaze.

“Ooooo….teacher voice,” Dabi said. “What are you going to do? Expel me?”

“I’m in charge here,” Fuyumi repeated. “This is cruel and unusual punishment for all of us. I work hard. I don’t use my quirk on others. I pay our bills. I make sure everyone has what they need. What has Natsuo and Shouto done to deserve this shock? Why couldn’t you people tell me and let me handle this? I’m the oldest. This is my burden. There was no reason to do this to my brothers.”

“Fuyumi…” Natsuo murmured.

“No.” Fuyumi’s fists tightened steadily. “No, I’m serious. Shouto is only sixteen. He’s fighting a war. Natsuo is working so hard to become a nurse, which must be so stressful. How does this help them? How does this help anyone? It doesn’t. This is unproductive.”

“Then what are you going to do about it, Fuyumi?” Dabi asked. “You don’t use your quirk on people.”

“None of us should!” Fuyumi said. “Isn’t that what we all should have learned?”

Dabi snorted. He leaned his head back as much as the high back of his chair would allow. “If these freaks want a show. I can give them one.”

Todoroki tensed. He turned the palm of his right hand upward and curved his fingers, keeping his movements small so not to draw attention from anyone observing. He did not call his quirk, but waited.

“When Natsuo was two he was a fucking prodigy. He opened his mouth one morning and let out a bunch of misty icy fog into the playroom. It was ridiculous like a fucking frog or something.” Dabi smirked but there was no mirth in his eyes. “Anyway, we had a blast. We played swamp monster for hours. Fuyumi and Mom would have loved it, but Fuyumi had a fever so they were busy. This was before we had anyone else watching us.

“Anyway, Endeavor comes home and the playroom is a fucking disaster. Everything’s been stewing in frozen mist all day. Mom never saw it so no one gave a shit about it, so we just didn’t realize you know what was coming.”

Todoroki’s heart rate sped up involuntarily. He could almost finish the story though he had not lived it.

“So Endeavor comes home and he’s pissed already because that’s who he is. He starts roaring audibly fire and voice. No clue what the fuck he said it was all noise. He grabs Natsuo because the last time he grabbed me he left bruises without even trying. I had to make a choice. I had to do something. So I light myself on fucking fire.” Another breathless coughy laugh escaped. There was still no mirth. “It hurt like a bitch. I was covered in blisters immediately. Endeavor shoves Natsuo aside and starts shouting at me and rolled me up in this carpet in the playroom until all the fire was out. So now I couldn’t run, couldn’t hide. Natsuo is crying.

“Mother appears.”

Dabi’s face contorted. “She should have stayed with Fuyumi. Mother could do this thing where she could cover her body in ice, so she had this shield. I tried to get out of the rug but it was too tight. I couldn’t do anything. Natsuo kept crying. I didn’t know what to do. So that night I took Natsuo and ran away.”

“What…?” Fuyumi whispered.

“We got picked up by the police immediately. So I made up a bullshit story about a villain with a fog quirk. It worked? Endeavor actually told me I was brave or some shit. How the fuck did that work? Everything got stricter after that.”

“What the heck…?” Natsuo whispered. “What the…? I don’t remember any of this! My quirk’s too weak to even show up!”

Dabi wheezed. “Lies.” He sighed. “My story is true. You can prove it. Open your mouth and let it fly.”

“Don’t,” Fuyumi whispered, her teeth close together.

“I read the agreement,” Natsuo whispered. “Besides, we all know my quirk’s a dud.”

“There’s more proof of the story,” Dabi said. “You’ve got burn scars on your elbows.”

Natsuo tugged at the sleeve of his shirt self consciously. He pressed his lips together. “Endeavor’s grabbed me like that lots of times because I’m as good as quirkless.”

“Who said that? Endeavor? Fuck him.” Dabi snorted.

“Well maybe you’d know if you didn’t disappear! I saw you die! Fuyumi saw you die! Endeavor saw you die! Mother saw him carry your body out the door! And here you are!” Natsuo’s chest heaved. His lips trembled. Tears formed but did not fall. “We’re just some freak show. Can’t even take you home.”

“That’s not my home.”

“Touya –”

“Dabi. My name is Dabi. Touya died from his injuries in a white room. I’m going to die in a ball of fire.”

“You’re just going to die again?! What kind of BS is that?!” Natsuo’s fists were so tight his knuckles paled.

“Do you really think the heroes will let me live after I ripped Endeavor’s heart out? Natsuo, you’re a genius. You can do math like some human calculator. They’re not going to let me live. They already took the bad doctor away. It’s already set in stone. I just got to do it first before I fall to pieces.”

“Wait,” Fuyumi said. Tiny snowflakes began to appear instead of tears. They melted the instant they touched Todoroki. “I didn’t hear that right. You did what?”

“I ripped Endeavor’s heart out. You can thank me later.”

Fuyumi sucked in a breath. “You did that?”

“Yeah.”

Fuyumi’s fingers trembled. Her arms trembled. The tremor worked its way to her torso, her face, her legs, and feet. “I….” More snowflakes appeared. “I didn’t want that!”

“That’s because you’re too steeped in Endeavor’s bullshit –”

“I AM NOT!” Fuyumi held Dabi’s gaze. “He was terrible to us! He used his quirk on his own family! That’s not love! But….but that doesn’t mean he deserved what you did! He was changing!”

“He wasn’t changing! He can’t change! If he was going to change, then he should have changed the first time he used his quirk against Mother! He should have changed when –” Dabi tried to shout but it led to coughing and a quiet, wheezy, “Fuck.”

Fuyumi waited for the coughing fit to pass. She sat straight in her chair. Her fists were so tight her nails drew blood from her palms. More snowflakes fell from her eyes, some gathered around her fists. “Did you even think about the consequences?! Did you even think about us?!”

“Of course I did! I didn’t even attack Shouto in that stupid forest or at the raid.” Dabi’s hand moved in Todoroki’s direction vaguely despite being restrained.

“No! No you didn’t think of us at all! This isn’t cathartic, it’s a nightmare! I woke up in the middle of the night and Dad and Shouto were both unconscious and in the hospital and had been for hours! I had to sit there and watch them decide if they were going to live or die! Now I have to deal with you as a villain in this place. I…” Fuyumi shuddered with a silent sob. “I…” She could not finish. She removed her glasses and put her hands on her eyes. Snowflakes kept falling from her hands and face.

No one spoke. Todoroki saw every sob but Fuyumi made no noise. How many times did she cry and they just did not know? How stressed was she? What could he do? What was he supposed to do?

“Do something, Natsuo,” Dabi said.

Natsuo’s hand hovered above Fuyumi’s head. “Do you…? Should….?”

“I don’t know,” Fuyumi wailed as quietly as possible.

“For fuck’s sake. Just wrap your arms around her. That’s what you do. She’s a crier,” Dabi said.

Why was it so hard? Todoroki frowned and then put his hand on Fuyumi’s shoulder. “Is it too hot?”

“No….”

Natsuo slid as far over as he could in his chair that was bolted to the floor. He put an arm over her shoulders.

Fuyumi just cried harder but still silently.

“We should….We should go,” Natsuo said. “Fuyumi’s This isn’t productive.”

Todoroki looked up at the ceiling trying to find the camera. He could not locate any. Perhaps a quirk recorded them instead or the cameras were too well hidden. “Let us out! We’re done!”

There were several voices outside the door.

“Then you’ll have to arrest me!” All Might boomed.

Silence followed.

The door unlocked. All Might appeared, breathing labored. “Let’s go.” He looked at them a long moment and then looked at someone behind the wall in the hallway. “We’re leaving.” It was firm. Final.

Natsuo and Todoroki helped Fuyumi to her feet. She could not stop crying. Natsuo wrapped an arm around her shoulders and helped her to the door. Todoroki paused and looked back at Dabi.

“See you later, little brother!” Dabi called out. The lights on his side of the glass went out.

Todoroki lingered. The other room remained completely dark. Was that really Touya?

“Todoroki-shounen, we must go,” All Might’s voice was barely audible.

Fuyumi still cried snowflakes. She still made no noise. Natsuo offered her some tissues. Todoroki swallowed something in his throat. He followed All Might out of the room.

===

So, I needed a subplot for Todoroki so he didn’t like disappear in the word count. I was also not really sure what to do with Gang Orca who’s his current internship. I kind of didn’t know what to do until I decided when the League broke Dabi out of prison, the Hero Commission put the Todoroki family basically under a type of house arrest to prevent Dabi from interacting with them. This evolved into the Hero Commission trying to bait Dabi into attacking Endeavor or any of the other sitting ducks in a bid to recapture Dabi. 

Meanwhile, after resonating so much Todoroki and Bakugou double knocked each other out with their amplified attacks at the sports festival, they realize they have to train this soulbond resonance thing. Aizawa is helping them do this, since Aizawa has done it before (though this is just heavily implied in the fic, Aizawa never tells them why he’s the one training them). 

So, this section picks up in October or so of second year after the cultural festival. Class 2-A put on a play Kouda wrote about superhero insects. That’s what the first part of this section is going on about. Also, as a side note, Bakugou’s new internship is with Miruko. Natsuo and Todoroki have been messaging each other since the family dinner incident. since part of the goal of the fic is for Todoroki to grow closer to both Natsuo and Fuyumi. 

***

The play was a success. The jokes for the most part landed and the audience seemed to enjoy the ending when Hagakure sent Bakugou sliding across the stage. They won their year but the overall school champion was Class 1-J and their maze. After the festival wrapped, it was time to study for midterms. The mornings grew increasingly chilly making jogging easier. By the end of the month, Todoroki was running faster and found he had more strength and endurance during his resonance training.

Today was the last day to train the resonance before midterms. When their cellphones buzzed to indicate the end to the session, Todoroki and Bakugou walked over to Aizawa. Aizawa observed them a long moment. “For the last few weeks, you’ve gotten to a point I don’t need to use my quirk during some of our sessions. You’re showing greater control when attacking and greater control when you try to disconnect from the resonance. After midterms, I think you will be able to start practicing attacking simultaneously. Custom dual attacks can come later after you prove you won’t create indiscriminate bombs you can’t control.”

“About time,” Bakugou said. He let off a series of sparks, each spark diminishing in intensity as Todoroki calmed and Bakugou’s excitement grew.

The session ended. After cleaning up and changing, they headed to the cafeteria, walking in step with each other. Todoroki’s phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen and then accessed his messages with Natsuo.

Natsuo: I did it! Behold~

Natsuo:  [a stack of Japanese style pancakes sitting on a plate]

Natsuo:  Be jealous.

Todoroki silently snorted. He texted as he walked, too hungry to pause.

Todoroki: No syrup?

Natsuo: I put the sugar in the batter.

Todoroki’s lips turned upward as he put his phone back in his pocket. While stuck in his apartment near campus, Natsuo started cooking regularly. He always sent Todoroki a photo of his successes. Todoroki hoped the pancakes tasted as good as they looked.

That phantom tightness returned to Todoroki’s stomach. Bakugou looked away casually like Todoroki could not feel the tightness.

“Are you okay?” Todoroki asked.

“Of course I am.”

Todoroki’s phone buzzed several times like a phone call. He frowned and glanced at the screen. It was a call from Natsuo. Natsuo never called. Todoroki slowed and answered the call.

“…going to kill you,” a faraway voice murmured.

“You don’t know that!” Natsuo hissed. He also seemed far away from the phone.

Todoroki froze. His heart started beating faster but it was different than when Bakugou made it beat faster.

“How can you trust the Hero Commission to do anything? They looked at Mother’s medical assessment and said, ‘Yeah nothing to see here,’ and then locked her away.” Dabi was the faraway voice.

“She has a legitimate mental illness you know. Oh wait. You don’t know. You decided to fuck off on us!”

Todoroki looked down the hall. Bakugou stood only two paces away, eyes fixed on him. “Get Aizawa,” Todoroki mouthed.

Bakugou disappeared back towards the gym.

“Do you think I chose to die?!” There was a raspy, breathy chuckle.

“Well, you’re still alive, so I don’t know!” Natsuo shouted.

There was a scuffle. Something or someone seemed to hit a wall possibly.

“Shut up! Shut up! Do you want to get busted?!” Dabi hissed. Then he said something too quiet for Todoroki to discern all the words.

Aizawa and Bakugou appeared. Todoroki bit his inner lip. There were no more voices, but he did not dare take the phone from his ear. “Sensei…I….” his voice trailed. He tried to ignore his own rushing, cycling emotions. “Natsuo’s phone called me. Dabi’s there.” His voice was not as firm as he wanted it to sound. He hoped no one on the other end would hear him and end the call.

There were still no more voices on Natsuo’s end of the call.

Aizawa pulled out his own phone. “I’m going to contact Detective Tsukauchi. Don’t hang up.”

On the phone, someone in another apartment turned on the television or maybe the radio. Someone honked multiple times outside the window. There were no other noises.

Todoroki’s heart kept pounding. He did not move.

Aizawa greeted Tsukauchi barely. “I’ve been alerted that Dabi is at Todoroki Natsuo’s location.” He looked at Todoroki. “Are they talking?”

Todoroki shook his head.

“There are no voices on the call now.” Aizawa was quiet for a long moment. “Alright. Thanks.” He hung up and looked at Todoroki. “He’s going to forward the information.”

Todoroki nodded. The television kept playing. There was the sound of a door barely. Then nothing. Absolutely nothing. The call ended. Todoroki’s phone slipped from his hand. He took a step back and leaned against the wall. His hands kept trembling. He was sort of certain Dabi would not hurt Natsuo. He was not sure about the Hero Commission. Now what? What about Fuyumi? Was Dabi going to try and take her too? Would he come to UA? What kind of battle would that be this time?

Aizawa’s hand hovered beside Todoroki’s arm and then withdrew. “Todoroki, I need you to breathe.” His voice was low, steady.

“Natsuo’s not a villain,” Todoroki whispered. “Fuyumi’s not either….”

“I know,” Aizawa’s voice was quiet, still firm.

“But do they know?” Todoroki put emphasis on the word they.

Aizawa did not answer. Maybe he could not answer or did not know.

Todoroki took a few deep breaths. What could he do? He could not leave campus. Even if he could leave campus, then what? Even if he was there, then what? Could he have stopped it?

“Todoroki,” Aizawa said, pausing until Todoroki looked at him, “you can’t let what ifs and unknowns overwhelm you. If you need things, ask for them. We might not be able to let you leave here, but there are other things we can do.” He paused and waited. When Todoroki said nothing, Aizawa said, “I’ll let you know if there are updates.”

“Thanks.” Todoroki took a deep breath and stepped away so he could pick his phone up off the floor. “I’ll…let you know if there’s anything.” Did he want anything? Did he need anything? There was a rushing in his ears with no sound. His shoulders tensed. He wanted to scream.

Aizawa left.

Bakugou watched the direction Aizawa left in for a long moment. He was either calm or his emotions so much quieter than Todoroki’s own that Todoroki could barely feel any of them.

Todoroki remained standing in the hallway, clutching his phone. What should he do? Should he call Fuyumi? Was she in danger? Should he text Endeavor? He was definitely in danger. Did they already know? If they asked for details, Todoroki would have none to give. He could not even prove Dabi took Natsuo, though he doubted Dabi would kill Natsuo. Kurogiri probably used his quirk. Todoroki’s grip on his phone tightened. His jaw clenched.

Bakugou approached and extended a hand. When Todoroki did not step away, Bakugou carefully worked the phone out of Todoroki’s grip. “Breathe,” his voice was louder than a whisper but still quiet.

Todoroki inhaled and exhaled. He lowered his head and then ran a hand through his hair.

“I’d kick your ass in the gym but we already did that. Miruko says what we need most now is protein and rest.”

“I don’t know if I can eat.” Todoroki’s stomach rumbled in protest.

“Do you want to bother with the fucks in the cafeteria or eat at the dorm?”

Todoroki rubbed his face. His thoughts were still all over the place. “I want…to do something normal.” Maybe. He had to do something at least. He also had to eat. Maybe things would seem steadier after eating.

Bakugou nodded. He handed the phone back to Todoroki, who put it in his pocket.

“Thanks.” Todoroki tried to breathe deeply. He put a hand on Bakugou’s shoulder. It made things seem more real. Todoroki dropped his hand and headed to the cafeteria.

A few seconds later, Bakugou followed. They parted on their way to get their food as they always did. Todoroki took another deep breath and kept his face neutral. His emotions were still anything but.

===

While Todoroki’s stuck on campus indefinitely, he’s been interning with Present Mic temporarily since he can’t go to his internship with Gang Orca. This will be Dabi’s final appearance in the fic. 

I decided to kill Dabi because I wanted to keep a 1:1 hero : villain death ratio. So since Best Jeanist died earlier in the fic, Dabi was the League member to die. 

***

Everything seemed surreal. Todoroki sat on the floor in Aizawa’s and Present Mic’s apartment with a cat nestled against his left side. Eri stretched out on the other side of the cat. She had a blank notebook she was filling with doodles. She sang softly with the pop act preforming on the New Year’s variety show on the television. Present Mic and Aizawa were in the kitchen preparing food. The apartment was a modest two-bedroom apartment in commuting distance to UA. Artwork and photos decorated the living room. On either side of the TV were two picture frames. One was a selfie of Present Mic and Aizawa that had to be almost ten years old from when they first moved in and the other was a timed photo with Eri on the sofa from last year. The same cat against Todoroki’s side was the cat Eri held in the photo. The second cat was more aloof and remained in Aizawa and Present Mic’s bedroom on its own volition.

After lunch, Present Mic received permission from the Hero Commission for Todoroki to leave campus under certain conditions. Todoroki could only go to the off campus apartment, he could not tell anyone outside of UA staff that he was not on campus, and he had to return to UA by noon tomorrow. How Present Mic made it happen, Todoroki did not know.

Paper ripped, drawing Todoroki’s attention. Eri sat up and smiled that same awkward smile from the photo except it reached her eyes more now. “I drew this for you.” The picture was the two of them sitting on the floor with the warm cat and the aloof cat. She drew the cats better than the people. Across the top of the drawing was “Happy New Year” written in hiragana.

“It’s really nice.” Maybe more than that. It was the first drawing someone gave him. Todoroki rolled it up carefully and set it where it would stay nice. He would put it up in his dorm room later.

“Maybe when Mei-chan gets used to you she’ll come out of the bedroom. She’s very soft.” Eri smiled a little bigger. “Last year she curled up with me on the sofa. I want to stay up all night this year!” It was an ambitious goal.

Eri made it to about ten thirty before she reluctantly fell asleep between the cats on the floor. Aizawa put her to bed. Close to midnight, Present Mic cracked the window and they listened to gongs from a nearby temple. By twelve fifteen, Aizawa was in bed. Present Mic and Todoroki finished a movie that started a little after midnight. By three in the morning, only Todoroki remained in the living room. He could not sleep. The futon was comfortable but his mind kept wandering. He scrolled through his messages.

Fuyumi messaged him leading up to midnight and a little after before disappearing. Bakugou sent him pictures of food that Todoroki responded to with little cat stickers he found in his phone options. The Class 2-A chat finally quieted for the night for the most part. Todoroki put his earbuds in and opened a music app. He opened a user profile that had several playlists of music sorted by century. He was several playlists in, but still in music made before quirks. This playlist was a bit peppier than the previous playlist. He saved songs he liked to a playlist of favorites. Todoroki watched colorful lights shoot across his phone screen, moving somehow in rhythm to the music. It was hypnotizing 

His phone buzzed.

Hero Highway: Endeavor spotted in Shinjuku! Live feed!

Hero Highway was a service that tapped into local security cameras and provided live streams of events in real time, some of which never made the news. Midoriya suggested it along with some similar services that also specialized in rare footage and news. Todoroki hesitated and the alert disappeared, returning him to the light display and music. He paused the music and closed out of the app. He opened Hero Highway.

The video angle was from the perspective of a security camera second story balcony on the same side of the road. Endeavor stood almost unrecognizable, his muscles considerably leaner and his shirt almost a size too big. The building behind Endeavor glowed orange, setting a familiar glow in absence of flames.

Dabi stood a few meters to the left facing Endeavor, his shoulders surprisingly relaxed. Cars sped past them on the other side of the road. People nearby gawked. Some wore kimono, others street clothes.

“Where’s Natsuo, Touya?” Endeavor asked, his voice barely carrying to the microphone.

“That’s not my name now,” Dabi hissed, his voice carrying slightly more. “Natsuo is safe.”

“Your lair isn’t safe!” Endeavor’s posture changed to the one he struck most often before igniting. There were still no flames.

“It’s safer than being surrounded by Commission pricks!

“It’s safer than surrounded by Commission pricks! I mean look what they did to Hawks. Who would trust them with their children?” Dabi’s voice grew louder.

“Touya –”

“You know when I was twelve I reported you to the police,” Dabi said, projecting his voice as if on stage. “They threatened me! They said I must be desperate for attention! That if we angered you, we were at fault! That I lied about Mother! They said it was discipline! That wasn’t discipline!” his voice grew in intensity and volume. He let over several wheezy coughs after.

Endeavor said something in response, but it was too quiet for the camera to record.

“No! I won’t! Everyone should know! If the Musutafu police office is worth their asses, they’ve still go it on record! It’ll be from March fifteen years ago at midnight. I detailed everything. If anyone wants to go digging, it’ll be the file about the father who uses his fire quirk against his family. Sometimes it’s ‘training’ sometimes it’s an argument, sometimes it’s ‘discipline’ which leaves blistered and marks. It sucked ass when it was me. I hated waking up to an immediate fight or being covered in burn salve gauze, but then Shouto got his quirk that February and everything changed.

 “Who fucking trains a three year old by attacking them? Who fucking does that? Surprise attacks. Constant fear. Constant vigilance. I had to watch you fuck him up like you fucked me up. I started trying to stand up to you, but my fucking body isn’t made for this shit. I just couldn’t take it. I just stressed out and lit myself on fire. I didn’t even fucking think.” Dabi snorted. “I can still remember standing up to you, trying to protect Shouto. I would still have the scars on my palm, but…” Dabi bent his arm at the elbow and made a gesture with his hand, “well, this skin isn’t really mine. The bad doctor kept patching me up with treated cadaver skin.”

“I know I made mistakes,” Endeavor said, his voice carrying this time. “I’ve been working to atone for them. I want everyone’s lives going forward to be better than they were. That’s why I built that house, that’s why I told the doctors it would be all right if Rei transitioned away from the hospital. It’s why I’ve made promises to everyone I intend to keep and have kept. It’s why I need to find Natsuo.”

“If you find Natsuo, they’ll just send him to jail now. You know that.” Dabi snorted. Flame flickered to his hand. “I’ve been thinking about revenge for almost twelve years – Hell, maybe my whole life. When you captured the bad doctor, my body started falling apart. Not even Natsuo can do what that geezer’s laboratory could. I’m royally fucked, but it showed me what I should do.” Fire shot up Dabi’s arm. “Fuck killing you! Fuck this body! Fuck your mistakes! Fuck your promises! Fuck everything! Live with this! You can’t save what you throw away!” Dabi’s entire body erupted in blue flame. There was a cry of shock and fear from the onlookers.

“Touya! Touya!” Endeavor ran towards him.

Dabi’s flames grew more intense. When Endeavor reached him, his flames ignited even brighter, leaping to Endeavor’s clothes and skin. Dabi fell to his knees, his flames becoming a blue beacon in the street, his body too weathered and dry to fight his quirk. Endeavor kept trying to extinguish the flames, ignoring those on his own body, but they were too intense and fast. All too quickly, all of the flames extinguished as Dabi’s quirk stopped. Endeavor sat back on his knees. A howl echoed through the street and buildings. It was not quite a cry or wail, not quite a scream or shout.

Todoroki dropped his phone. His hands shook. Tears threatened but did not fall. Touya was important to him even if his memories were faint and short. Dabi terrorized his friends and committed so many crimes even if he did not attack Todoroki directly. Dabi made Fuyumi cry and kidnapped Natsuo. Todoroki did not like Dabi. He might have loved Touya. Endeavor’s howl echoed in Todoroki’s ears even though he no longer wore his earbuds. What kind of noise was that? Was that even real? Was any of it real?

Todoroki pulled his blankets over his head. He shut his eyes tight. All he could see was Dabi burning. Todoroki opened his eyes. He did not know what to do.

[gittetj]

Build an OC: Starting from scratch

Let’s say you’ve decided to write a story but you don’t have any characters yet. In fact, maybe you don’t even know what the story is about. Maybe you’ve never even made an original character before! Well, don’t worry because you can make a decent character out of nearly anything if you know how to add some surprise and conflict to their personality. I mean, everything in the following example is something I just pulled out of thin air as I wrote it.

Usually, characters belong in a story or at least some kind of setting. Some people like to start by making a cast of characters and then let them lead to a story, others like to put together a plot and let that lead to the characters. Either way works, but since this post is about character development, we’ll go with the former approach.

For the sake of this post, let’s say all you know is what kind of story you want to make. Let’s go with something common like a young adult story about a teenage girl who discovers she has superpowers. There’re already tons of stories about teenagers with superpowers out there so now here’s a challenge to come up with a protagonist that doesn’t seem too generic.

We have to start somewhere, so just think of the most generic protagonist you can. A teenage girl before she gets the superpowers? I’m picturing she’s 16, lives with her parents, goes to school, probably has some friends and probably has a hobby she likes to do in her spare time.

Now, this girl might sound extremely boring to you, but that’s because right now you’re probably thinking of a character you’ve seen variations of a hundred times in other stories. There’re actually already plenty of variables to play around with here:

For example, where do the girl and her parents live? Maybe they’re in a country you don’t usually associate with superheroes, like South Africa or Syria or Greenland. A Greenlandic superhero? Haven’t seen that before, that might be interesting.

What kind of school does the girl go to? Maybe it’s not an average high school but rather a boarding school or a tiny school out in the countryside or maybe she’s homeschooled for one reason or another.

Her friends don’t have to be typical either. Maybe her best friend is an 80-year-old woman who used to be a stewardess or the neighbor’s 10-year-old son who really likes trains. It could be literally anyone because you don’t know what the story is about yet - you can make their personalities work together and come up with an explanation for how they became friends later.

She could have an unusual hobby like cave diving or building really advanced Lego models or it could be something that requires a lot of her time and devotion like maybe she’s working to become a professional athlete. Again it could be absolutely anything, just pick something that feels interesting to you.

This is already a lot of options and you could create even more by moving the story to a different time period or a different universe. A teenage superhero in the wild west? A teenage superhero on a Mars colony in the future? A teenage superhero in a fantasy universe where she isn’t actually very special because humans are the only creatures who don’t already have superpowers? You can do literally anything you want!

Having a million different options can be pretty overwhelming though so let’s reel it in a little, let’s sort through all these ideas to come up with something cohesive.

In this case, let's say you really don’t want to have to come up with a fantasy universe or do a lot of research on time periods or foreign countries you haven’t lived in. Most people reading this will probably either be American or be familiar with what it’s like to live in the US, so let’s say our girl and her parents are American.

Now, of all the random ideas I spewed out earlier the one that stuck with me was the 80-year-old stewardess best friend because I personally really appreciate when elderly people are included in young adult stories - and that’s what you should do at this stage, go with whatever feels right and interesting to you.

At this point, a good start would be to figure out why the 16-year-old girl and this 80-year-old stewardess are friends. The first thought that comes to me is that the girl is probably fascinated by the stewardess’s stories about all the countries she’s been to and the people she’s met through her job. If this is something that stands out to the girl she probably hasn’t traveled much herself - in fact, maybe she’s barely ever been outside her own state. Maybe she hasn’t traveled because her parents are very bound to the place they live, like maybe they’re farmers. If they’re farmers they must live in the countryside which could very well mean the girl goes to a small high school where everyone knows each other. If the girl really wants to break free of this place and everyone who only knows her as a plain farmer girl and not the adventurous traveler she really deep down wants to be, maybe that has made her a bit lonely, maybe that’s another reason she’s found an unexpected friend in the stewardess.

See how one detail can lead to something that’s starting to feel like a person worth telling a story about? There aren’t even any superpowers involved yet! Developing a character this way is a bit like doing detective work - you find a couple of pieces of evidence that seem promising and then you try to connect them and make assumptions that lead to more and more evidence until you have a clear picture of who the character is.

This story was supposed to be about the girl developing superpowers so let’s move on to that. If wanting to travel is a theme here and maybe even a conflict for the protagonist it would probably be fitting to give her a power that has something to do with that - something like flight or teleportation. Flight and a farm just make me think of Superman so let’s not do that and take teleportation instead.

What would a young girl with wanderlust and a newfound ability to teleport do? It’d be a good idea to take a closer look at her morals and personality before deciding that.

There’re a few character traits we can derive from what we already know:

The girl is curious about the world and people different from her

She picks her friends based on personality, not who it’s cool to be friends with

For that same reason, she’s probably pretty sure of her own values

She’s responsible or respectful enough of her parents to stay in her hometown despite wanting to travel

Or if you want to cook it down to just keywords:

Curious

Open-minded

Independent

Responsible

Self-restrained

Apart from the self-restraint these are all typically seen as positive traits, but rather than coming up with a similar list of negative traits to round the character off, let’s think about what the downsides can be to the traits we already decided on.

First, there’s definitely a conflict between her curiosity and her self-restraint. That’s really good; internal conflicts like that are what makes a character engaging because we can’t quite be sure which trait they’ll favor when they’re in a situation where they can only follow one of them.

Curiosity and open-mindedness in combination might make her a bit gullible. If someone told her things about the world that were false or skewed by the teller’s own agenda she might not question it.

Her independence could easily make her set in her ways, stubborn or unlikely to ask for help. She probably has strong beliefs about what’s right and wrong but since she’s so young she probably adopted those beliefs from her parents.

If she adopted her values from someone else, the kind of responsibility she expects of herself might not be right for her. This plays into the internal conflict between curiosity and restraint.

It looks like the big question this character will have to deal with is: Should she be as her parents want her to be or should she leave and find her own path?

It’s interesting to give someone like her the power to teleport because teleportation is basically ultimate freedom. She can go wherever she wants whenever she wants. Before getting her powers it’d be easy to come up with reasons why she couldn’t leave, but once she has them what’s the excuse when she can go to the other side of the world in a second? She’ll be forced to think about that conflict she’s struggling with.

I don’t know what kind of adventures our teleporting country girl will get herself into, but with a bit of brainstorming and some detective work, we already have a good foundation for both a protagonist and the beginning of a plot.

If you want to try to develop characters this way just keep building on top of what you already know. There’s plenty we don’t know about this girl yet - what does she do with her free time? What is she really good and really bad at? What does she tell people she wants to do with her life and is it the same as what she really wants? Don’t focus too much on the really flat questions (how tall is she, what’s her favorite food, what clothes does she wear) the answers to those often come up naturally as you get to know the character’s personality, and if they don’t you can figure them out as they become relevant.

If you get stuck it might be time to start thinking about the other characters in the story. In this example we already know the stewardess, the girl’s parents and some of the kids and teachers from the girl’s school will have some importance. Flesh them out and maybe it’ll reveal something new about the protagonist. You can go through the exact same steps as we just did with her, except now you already have a setting and a vague idea of where you’re going.

[catscradlezine]

Never fear, recovery is here!

Hello, everyone!

Thank you so much for all the interest in our zine! At one week in, we’ve received an incredible amount of support and we thank you very, very much for all your interest in our project! 

Since we’re halfway through the interest check, we’d like to take some time to answer some of the questions we’ve gotten on the survey. So many of you have also sent in encouraging things in the comments section of the survey and we appreciate each and every one of them! Truly, the support for our zine has blown us away.

So without further ado, here’s some answers to the questions you’ve left us!

Will this be for all characters or character centric? Is it canon compliant?

This is for all characters. We will be having 5 categories of characters/general topics to choose from (UA students, pro heroes, villains, family, other) so that the zine isn’t over-saturated with one or a few characters. As for canon compliant, we do very much encourage headcanons for our topic, but we would like to keep it in-universe. 

Would ships be allowed?

There are a few questions like this, so we’re sort of compiling them into this one answer. This is a gen zine and we want to keep it as free from ships as possible. While we understand the importance of a romantic partner helping their partner through something, we ask that you don’t make the shipping explicit. You can still have them as friends or leave their relationship up to the viewer/reader. This is to ensure that the zine is for everyone and not just people who like certain ships. Thank you for understanding!

What kind of recovery are you looking for and is it going to be different for each character? Like I know for todoroki he is going to be dealing with things different than say uraraka. And then how far are we allowed to go with the recovery? Like emotion wise and are there certain topics that you would rather not have involved? Some people are uncomfortable with certain things and there are triggers but I understand this is a zine for self care and working on that so I'm guessing you'll have limits but not that much. 

We’ve touched on this a bit in asks like this one, but you’re very right--recovery looks different for every character and that’s where you as a contributor will have your artistic freedom. It’s up to you to decide what recovery looks like for your character. As for how far you go, that’s up to you. Your character(s) could be at the start of their journey, the middle, or the end of it. 

We’ve explained how we’re handling triggers a bit here. There are limits, yes, but we have plans for how to handle things. We also ask that everyone keep in mind that the zine is rated T and is also to focus on recovery. 

This is briefly mentioned in the zine description, but I'd really love to see an emphasis placed on physical disability in this, and recovery around that, and not just mental health! Of course the two go hand-in-hand, and the latter accompanies the former anyway, but I hope there's a good focus on the physical side of things too. 

While this isn’t a question, this is a good suggestion I wanted to touch on here. This is absolutely a topic people would be allowed to cover. While we don’t want to touch on disability as something that needs to be ‘cured’, the psychological process of accepting it and coping with things and/or the effects of physical injury are definitely topics that we would allow in the zine. You are very right in saying that the two go hand in hand. 

What will the timeline be, past present future? Is any character allowed or is it a pre picked group? Will this be for profit or charity?

This is a charity zine, donating to two charities. You can find more information about our charities on this page!

You are definitely allowed to portray things in the past, present, or future. All we ask is that you keep it in-universe, rather than AU. As for characters, all characters are allowed, but in order to prevent over-saturation of characters, once participants are picked we’ll be having them sign up for which ‘group’ (students, heroes, villains, etc) they want and asking them for which characters they’ll be focusing on. We’d like to focus on many different characters in this zine and have a diverse group. 

Would you consider opening applications for cosplayers?

Sorry, we’ll only be having applications for writers and artists (with a merch option on the artist application)! Thank you for your interest, though!

I’m super glad you guys decided to do this! I saw the zine a while back but guessed nothing had come of it, so I’m super pumped to see it starting back up! 

While this isn’t a question, I wanted to take the time to say we appreciate it! It’s been hard rebuilding the zine after the old team left, but it’s going very well and we’re all having a good time! Thank you!

What would be the tryout process for writing? How many MHA pieces would you like to see?

We haven’t decided exactly, but in general, we’re going to be asking for 3 pieces of writing, a portfolio link, and some general ideas/characters you’d like to focus on for the zine. We’d like to see at least 1 MHA piece. The examples will probably have to be 3,000 words or less, in the interest of time.

I would love to participate as an artist OR a writer, whichever you need more! 

You can definitely apply for both, if you’d like! You’ll only be accepted into one position, but you can try out as both artist and writer.

Is there a age limit for contributors? and I'm curious if I were to apply and be chosen if it's okay that I can't be payed due to not having a paypal?

We ask that contributors be 13+. We’re a charity zine, so you do not need a source to be paid, since all profits will be donated to charity after compensating contributors with full bundles. 

I saw that there are only two mods on staff right now and a jr mod? I’d highly encourage reconsideration to add at least two or three more mods onto the team, considering recent failed zines I’ve seen. Especially if all writing and comics are to be as strictly vetted as you’ve indicated.

While we understand the concern, sometimes smaller mod teams are better. There’s no reason for us to add more mods since the three of us are able to do everything. All three of us--our junior mod included--have also completed publishing projects and have finance experience. Additionally, sometimes with larger mod teams, things become over-delegated and it can just be better to have a smaller team of mods who are familiar with each aspect of modding. Thank you for your concern, but we feel more than comfortable with our team.

What's the skill threshold for being an artist in it? I. Want to participate but don't know if I'm good enough, nor what all it entails.

There’s no skill threshold to apply and while we understand the feeling of not thinking you’re good enough, we still encourage you to apply! There’s times where all of us have been surprised and even if you aren’t accepted, then you can’t say you didn’t try.  

I filled more writing than art, but I'd suggest a bigger word count for writers? Because something about recovery probably needs time(and words) to flesh it up. Although some writers can probably do it in a short word count, I personally like longer fics!

Yes, we’re thinking the same thing :) Our zine will definitely have a bigger word count for writers than most zines do, for this exact reason!

I would give up my left lung and stomach for this.

Not a question, but this made all of us laugh. Thank you!

Thank you all for your interest so far! The interest check is still open and will be open for about another week! We’re so excited to see all the support so far!