#I am a shit editor

[in-kyblogs]

Devil’s Minion hints - Part II // link to Part I

Part II Ep 8

- what to say of the whole ‘disregard’ debacle, well. Why do you have such an antagonistic relationship to the former house servant Daniel? What is it about him that makes you even more uncomfortable than Louis, the vampire you actually remember attacking you and almost killing you, does? Arguing as foreplay, as you say. Also clearly the memory wipe doesn’t totally erase feelings: he is angry at him even if he doesn’t remember the psychological torture, but at the same time there’s no fear. Only a need to rile Armand up. (Also Armand are you trying to look extra slutty for Daniel sitting like that? What are you doing with the unbuttoned shirts, really.)

- Mr. Molloy count: 3

- Armand is so sick and twisted btw for that little smirk when Daniel says he’s ‘a bright young reporter with a point of view’. No remorse in sight none. He’s like ‘yes you are. Do you remember who said that to you? Because I do’. My favourite sicko

- When Armand says that journalism is Daniel’s drug, wow he did really clock him. Have you seen that post about Daniel chasing an high from the adrenaline of interviewing dangerous people? Yeah. Armand really does understand him on an intimate level, like the comment in the season 2 finale also reveals. Probably too good an understanding for a superficial-I tortured you once-acquaintance. On the other hand torture sure is an intimate experience to share with someo[gunshot]

- the little wistful smile he has when he talks about ‘the boy we met in sf’.

- the way Armand can’t help but smile at Daniel’s sassy comments directed against him. Like he should want to kill him for the disrespect alone why does he seem almost fond of this insufferable human?

- I am so impressed with this episode by the way. Before seeing this season I was like ‘one hour of ww II Europe? Grim.’ I though I wouldn’t like this one and in the end it ended up being one of my favourite episodes. It’s really a character study and I loved that. Also great job at woveing in European politics (the soldiers saying ‘speak Russian’ and Emilia refusing and speaking romanian, the complex intermixing of cultures in Eastern Europe with the whole urss situation is a big thing we still see the effects of today). Usually I don’t trust at all US shows to talk about eu politics and history without making it usa centric in some way but they proved me wrong here. 9/10 episode all in all

[its-your-mind]

HEY. HEY.

HEY @re-dracula WHAT GAVE YOU THE RIGHT TO HAVE JONATHAN ACTUALLY READING THAT PASSAGE OUT LOUD BEHIND SEWARD DESCRIBING THE SCENE, HUH? WITH THE TEARS IN HIS VOICE AND THE PAUSING AND THE SHORT LITTLE INHALES AND THE VOICE CRACKS? WAS IT TRULY NECESSARY??? I WAS ALREADY CRYING. I DIDN'T NEED THIS TOO. WHAT THE FUCK.

[cozylittleartblog]

random note about king on that animation, i got really lucky with how simple his animation was and how clean my sketches were to begin with that i was able to do very minimal cleanup on what i had sketched (and add back. his horn. it's supposed to take place just after echoes of the past, Oops) and call it done that way instead of having to redraw the entire thing like i had to on his dad

first sketch > line cleanup > nearly final animation (i'd added slight eye movements last-second but otherwise that's the final)

[beesantennas]

for whatever needs you may have

[princemick-archive]

cota mick is something different

[lispenardst]

fellow travelers | ur so pretty - wasia project

watch on youtube here 📺

[from-a-distant-end]

Part 1 of Lena's request | x

[m1d-45]

hidden blessings

summary: thoma takes you to the teahouse, but you two are interrupted. you don’t know whether it’s fortunate or not, but it will affect your trajectory within inazuma.

a/n: this one goes out to @shizunxie and @alexteea, who asked for a part two to small miracles. i now fear talking in the tags [/hj].

word count: ~2.1k

-> warnings: spoilers for inazuma archon quest, spoilers for ayato story quest, probably out of character ayato…. green tea?

-> lowercase intended!

taglist: @samarill

<< first part || < masterlist > || third part >>

komore teahouse is warm.

the moment the door opens, it’s the first thing you notice. the air smells of honey and spices, heated by some invisible fire. your hand is still in thoma’s, leading you behind him as he moves into the teahouse.

taroumaru sits up a little straighter on the counter as you two approach, but doesn’t seem on guard. strange, considering you’re not a member of the kamisatos, but since you have thoma with you…

“hey there taroumaru! is anybody here?”

the dog barks once. you don’t know what that means, but thoma seems satisfied, pulling you to one of the tea rooms.

“komore teahouse is owned and operated by the yashiro commission, so only those approved by the con can enter. whoever your hiding from-“ how did he know? “-can’t get in here, alright?”

he waves at a cushion and starts to fiddle with a tea set, lighting a small flame on the end of one of his fingers for the heating element. it’s strange to see such nonchalant usage of his vision… but wouldn’t that be normal here?

people with dendro visions selling herbs grown to order, hydro users automatically refilling their drinks, anemo wielders catching a dropped pen or paper before it hits the ground…

not for the first time, you wonder how you ended up in such a world.

“there! that should be ready soon. i’ve made you green tea, hope you don’t mind.”

you shake your head. even plain water would be fine to relieve the burn of salt on your tongue, and the fact that he went so far to make you tea when he barely knew you..

you lick your lips, “thank you.”

he waves it off with a laugh, sitting down himself. “oh, don’t worry about it. and please, save your breath, id hate for you to irritate your throat on my behalf.”

you swallow. salt stings. you’re quickly getting tired of the taste.

“that being said, i do have some questions, if you don’t mind. for starters, you are hiding from the shogunate, right?”

you pause, watching the fire flicker. yes, he’s with the yashiro commission, but he personally had to hide with yoimiya from the vision hunt decree, didn’t he?

you nod.

“thought so… well, the good news is that i can help you, but you have to tell me why they’re looking for you, alright?”

there it is. the fact that he went so long without asking why you were hiding is a testament to his character, but even he couldn’t trust fully when he’s so close to the kamisatos.

though, he did bring you into the teahouse…

“you stay here, and i’ll go get a notepad from the back room. if the tea’s done by then, feel free to pour yourself a cup!”

he stands up from his spot and exits the tearoom, hesitating for a moment in the doorway before undoing the string keeping the cover tied above the doorway. the mat rolls down smoothly, swaying, and you’re suddenly alone in the room.

though being ‘alone’ probably doesn’t apply in a tearoom belonging to the kamisato clan. you don’t remember seeing the girl at the front, nor have you heard the other two NPCs inside, but that must only mean there’s more security elsewhere.

and that the clan must have moved the prior personnel.

…like to hunt for the imposter running around teyvat.

no matter how kind they looked, they were still involved with the shogunate. there’s no way they haven’t heard of the situation, and have likely dispatched some of their best to find you.

and you’ve walked right into one of their bases.

suddenly the warmth in the room feels oppressive, the soft smell of green tea overwhelming. you shouldn’t have caved. you shouldn’t have agreed to come with thoma, shouldn’t have let his kindness pull at your bruised, beaten heart, you shouldn’t you shouldn’t you shouldn’t-

“-ot necessary, my lord, i-“

“-best for you. please, allow-“

words outside your room pull you from your thoughts, muffled by your heartbeat in your ears. it’s familiar but you don’t know why, footsteps and voices passing through the thin walls. three men are speaking, and are quickly approaching your room.

you tense, but settle for grabbing a spoon to try and soothe yourself. they won’t come in here, you tell yourself. you have to trust thoma.

the footsteps stop.

“is this the room?”

it’s not your room. it’s not. you’re safe in the teahouse. you have to be. thoma is on your side.

fingers fit between the mat and the floor, carefully curling the edge to roll it back up.

no.

three sets of shoes appear. two are dark, one dressier with a golden design on it, and the third are taller, heeled, with a buckle. the mat rolls higher, almost ridiculously slow, revealing details you struggle to place.

white pants. brown striped shorts. a black belt, a jacket lined with purple on the inside, yellow tassels and black gloves and you hate that you don’t know who it is.

the mat reaches the ceiling, hands you now recognize as thoma’s tying it back up.

to his side are two men. one is dressed simply, like the many NPCs around the city, and the other…

kamisato ayato.

his clothes are far simpler than his model, but he’s unmistakable. calculating lavender eyes, framed by deceptively soft eyeliner and baby blue bangs. the vision dangling off his hip, the set of his shoulders….

it’s only by sheer will that your terror doesn’t show on your face.

the unidentified man hums, crossing his arms, and thoma looked between the two of them with obvious unease. they must be the voices you heard.

“hello.”

ayato is the one who breaks the silence, and you almost wish he hadn’t. his presence is far more intimidating in person, very much so what you should have expected from somebody of his status. you clutch your spoon tighter.

“i don’t recognize them, my lord,” the unnamed man says, and something in ayato’s eyes shift. you can’t decide if it’s better or worse.

“so you’re the one that’s caught thoma’s eye.” ayato walks into the room, taking a seat across the table from you. “why?”

you shouldn’t be surprised he knew that. you still are, as information couldn’t possibly be passed all the way to him in time for him to arrive.

thoma walks in, taking off the pot you didn’t notice was boiling, attempting to break the tension by pouring out two cups of tea.

the pot hesitates over the third cup. “hisashi, would you like some tea?”

hisashi. why is that name familiar?

the man—hisashi—shakes his head, but does walk in to lean against the doorframe. “no.”

the teapot is set back down on the table, but ayato raises a hand as thoma steps away.

“please, stay. i have as many questions for you as i do for…?”

his eyes turn to you and you can feel the bitter taste of salt burn away any thought you have of responding. the tea looks too hot to drink, and you’re not sure if green tea would taste the same here anyway.

“ah, i never got you your notepad!”

thoma tries to leave for a second time, and ayato stops him again with a questioning look.

what had you gotten yourself into?

“they’re sick, and their voice doesn’t sound too good. i was getting them a pen and paper to ask my own questions before..”

a small smile crossed the commissioner’s face. “excellent job, thoma. you may leave; and please, take your time.”

thoma quickly bows before leaving with hurried steps.

ayato’s gaze returns to you, and he picks up his cup, swirling it twice before taking a small sip. his eyes sweep your figure, pausing momentarily on the hand with the spoon. you let it go, pulling your hand back into your lap, and he hums. after another drink, he sets down his cup.

“you should really try some,” he says, nodding at your untouched tea. “thoma always makes excellent tea.”

you don’t doubt it, but you’re not keen on drinking something still steaming. it may be wise to drink it, something something green tea has medicinal properties and the warmth will ease your throat…. you still don’t touch it.

his eyes flash, and you feel like you passed some sort of test.

“are the shogunate after you?”

you nod.

“do you know why?”

you hesitate. you technically do, as it’s likely the same reason you were chased out of liyue and everywhere prior, but you still don’t know why they’re accusing you of such things. you didn’t do anything initially, you’d barely gotten out your name before…

“interesting.” you look back from where your eyes have wandered, seeing his smile has grown. apparently your silence was answer enough. “you’re not from inazuma.”

it’s not a question, but you shake your head no anyways.

“and yet you know me.”

why wouldn’t you? he’s the head of the yashiro commission, a prominent figure in inazuman politics. even outside of inazuma, surely there’s people that know the yashiro commissioner, right? you know he stays out of the public eye most chances, and that ayaka handles that side of things, but still. it can’t be that rare.

ayato takes another drink of his tea. you wonder when thoma will come back. ayato told him to ‘take his time,’ but finding a pen and paper shouldn’t…

…oh.

kamisato ayato. what else did you expect?

“do you have any plans to stay in inazuma?”

you didnt have plans at all, really. you fully expected to die in the ocean, whether by the fall or the waves or the rocks below. perhaps even osial, if you were unlucky. all you wanted was food and maybe some clothes; you didn’t think you’d get this far.

you shrug.

“given your state, i doubt you can leave,” he points out. “do you even have any mora?”

the jab works better than you thought it would, the memory of the kind hilichurls sharing the mora from the chests they guarded for you to get things from marketplaces sparking defensiveness. of course you have mora, because you had friends.

“even if you did-“ oh, he is far too good at his job “-i don’t believe it’s enough for you to make yourself presentable enough to get a job.” he’s speaking to his teacup, watching the tea swirl. “so i offer you a deal.”

of course. of course he wants a deal.

“you tell me why the shogunate is after you, and i will protect you from them.”

what.

there’s no way he could do that. he couldn’t just go against the tenryou commission like that. there’s no way. there has to be a catch.

“i can see you’re confused.” if you weren’t certain it would hurt, you’d have said something sharp in reply. “thoma is an excellent judge of character. though he is sometimes far too kind for his own good, he still knows a criminal when he sees one. i am inclined to agree with his judgement, and this wouldn’t be the first time the tenryou commission has unwittingly accused an innocent.”

…huh?

the sudden tone shift sends your brain in a loop, repeating his words over in your mind. he was offering you an out? why was he willing to go so far from his duties for somebody he didn’t know?

ayato finishes his tea, setting down the empty cup on a platter. he seems to be waiting for your response, surprisingly, and the only problem is that you don’t know what to say.

you’re faced with the same dilemma again: trust, and get involved with people that could get you in severe trouble were you to be caught, or decline, and risk getting caught quicker by giving up that safety.

footsteps project thoma’s rearrival. he hesitated in the doorway, likely sensing the tension, but comes in anyway, placing down first a plain notepad, then a similarly simple pen on top.

“would you like anything else, my lord?”

“sit, please.”

thoma pauses again, and it’s comforting to know that not everybody here knows everything.

that point is driven further home when he chooses to sit next to you rather than ayato.

the commissioner himself seems shocked, his eyes widening slightly as he sits up straighter. beside you, thoma’s hands twist in his lap, and you wonder if even he knows why he chose what he did.

ayato clears his throat, catching your attention once more.

“do you accept?”

[sexynetra]

WIP WEDNESDAY

Surprise bitch I’m alive (and making my editor work on this chapter under duress)

~~~~~~

Anetra slammed her sketchbook closed and whipped around in her seat to look at Marcia again. “Do you really think that’s helpful right now?” she asked coldly. “Like, I’m asking you for help so I don’t show my ass in this show and you’re here telling me I’m shit at it before it even starts. What the fuck is your problem?”

Marcia started. “I’m sorry… I didn’t think.”

“You never do.”

[onyourstageleft]

[i-like-books-and-women]

Different random thought that idk if I've shared before:

The boys have one of those double sided white boards and they use that shit for literally everything. Bringing up ideas, rdebriefing, planning things, chore lists, drama debriefs, they get their money's worth to the point that the Saturdays dub white board as the 5th roommate

[mickules]

YOU'RE FREE OF THE MATURE FILTER THING I THINK

LORD YOU'RE RIGHT

And it only took *checks notes* 23 days, removing infinite scroll from my theme, 4 separate support tickets, 3 times I linked them their own TOS, 2 'how did we do :-3?' surveys and one post @'ing staff.

At the end, I still couldn't reply to a single e-mail, couldn't 'review' my flagged post, and they never even told me why it had triggered the "Mature" label in the first place.

Fix your shit first tumblr Fix the tags, fix the search function, fix the bots, fix your '''community labels''' before you listen to how profit-makers who've cannibalised the internet say you should ☝️ improve 👆 the site

for folk who like to throw stones at twitter, you sure are sitting in a fucking glass house

[doodleodds]

July random art dump!

[typomachi-themoth]

I just fucking now realize that I never uploaded the amazing art pieces that are these ultrakill doodles I made while trying to explain some tech to my best friend.

[definitelynotshouting]

Hi! This has nothing to do with hermitcraft at all, but I think you’re a great writer so I’d like your opinion on something for my passion project! ((If you’re willing Ofc))

What do you think about the prophecy trope?

Like- “a great saviour will appear! The prophecy says so!” For example.

Furthermore; how would you go about improving the trope / making it more unique?

- binge reader

OOOOOH BINGE READER ANON I LOVE THIS QUESTION!!!! its very flattering that you would ask this of me, and for what its worth, its actually exactly in my wheelhouse-- im a professional editor who often works substantive edits, so youve found a good person to ask :]

Because of that, im gonna answer this in two ways: one as a writer, and one as an actual editor

So beyond my own personal opinion, which we'll get to later, the general rule of thumb in writing is that you can make pretty much anything work so long as you put in the effort. This includes things like characterization that would otherwise come off as ooc-- if you take the time to make it believable, to see what it would take to make this character act a certain way, that can absolutely work!!! And likewise, the same goes for tropes. You can generally make almost any trope work-- even if its typically viewed as clichéd-- so long as you put that work in, and weave it well into your storyline!!

For this trope in particular, it absolutely has its place. If your story is centered around that, then that is perfectly fine!! All writing boils down to what the author wants to depict, portray, and show you, and sometimes that involves a prophecy!! What i would recommend to make this an effective prophecy, however, is making sure it slots in well with the surrounding world and storyline-- tropes like The Chosen One tend to be the crucial hinge on which the story operates, so you'll want to structure stuff around that so that it feels properly baked in. To do this, i'd recommend figuring out what you want from the prophecy in general first-- is this an accurate prophecy?? Is divination a known aspect of this world?? Is magic?? Or is this closer to a self-fulfilling prophecy, where no magic or divination exists but events have been manipulated so that it still comes true??? These are super good questions to ask yourself because they heavily impact the approach you take with your worldbuilding, and i find that rippling outward from one central plot point/plot device can do a ton to make your story feel more cohesive overall.

Now personally, as a writer, im not generally super interested in writing a garden variety prophecy trope. But something i do love to do is take tropes and twist them around, turn them on their heads, and shake things up so it feels a bit more fresh and keeps my personal interest while writing. The way i see it, you have a sort of bell curve/spectrum to reference here: on one end its "the prophecy is true and the story is informed by it wholesale," and on the other end, you've got "the prophecy is bullshit and actually means nothing" 😂😂😂😂

Both of these feel too extreme for me. There are a few ways i would take this, depending on the overall story and its message/themes, but something that i find personally entertaining is the sort of middle ground of "half-true, half–self-fulfilled." I find it deeply compelling to have a character yank their own fate into their hands and start wielding it like a weapon-- there's something incredibly powerful about a narrative where a character sees a prophecy and chooses to make it come true. Sometimes this is written as the character stepping up to the plate for other people. Sometimes it's written as the character just being clever, and doing some social engineering-- whether that be for power, ambition, responsibility, or pure survival. But the end result is the same: the prophecy is ultimately fulfilled, and on a meta level, you pose a question to both your character and your readers-- was it real? And does that matter??? Were the choices taken by your protagonist what shaped the story, or were they shaped BY it, and just didn't know it?? Does choosing to abide by a prophecy make it true, make it inevitable, or is it all just a sham??? Is there a middle ground here as well?? What does that mean for the events that happened????

These are all EXCELLENT questions you can use to make a genuinely gripping narrative, one that makes your readers really think after they've read it and come to conclusions of their own. They're also part of tropes i personally like, which involve the power of choice, and very clever characters (i love clever characters, im a little trickster at heart), and rules-lawyering, and often some interplay between the concepts of freedom and fate. These questions may not work for your story, though, and thats okay!! Your story is ultimately for you, and i think asking yourself what you ultimately want out of it is the first step towards finding an effective way to tell it. Some people just want to write the trope wholesale with nothing else added in and that is perfectly fine. Some people, like me, enjoy writing very complex thinkpieces and will want to change it up a bit to better fit that structure 😂😂😂😂 At the end of the day, ask yourself what it is you're trying to tell, and then start asking yourself what will help you tell it best :] and then you can start changing things up from there!!

Hopefully this made sense, anon!!! Again, im deeply flattered you've asked my opinion on this, and i wanted to make sure i took the time to answer it thoroughly. I'm so interested in your passion project already!! If you ever want to share more, or just want to ask more questions of editor-TJ, absolutely hit me up!!! I love love LOVE talking about the mechanics of storytelling, its my passion and my career, so i will never get tired of infodumping about it :DDD i hope this helped!! Thanks again for asking!!❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[crvwly]

i'd say the worst part of this is i have at least 2k to go