#I'd just have to like... rewrite a chunk of it

[clit-eastwood-spicy]

What if a God was dethroned by being killed and then its soul / powers were released from the body holding them and then went back to its temple of origin and people made a pilgrimage there to gain its power and potentially become the new God by proving yourself worthy before it within its hallowed halls?

This was a theme in my Pokemon / Naruto crossover fic I made when I was like 14. Dude my shit went so hard lmao.

[fstbmp-a]

I only remember the canon I threw out /hj

[twisted-wonderland-shenanigans]

Twisted Kaijuland Prologue (2025 Rewrite)

AT LAAAAAST!!!! I have finally completed the rewrite of an AU I've been wanting to work more on, but I'd lost interest in the direction it was going at the time. Now I feel more saatisfied with this and hope to continue sharing these ideas with everyone!

Note: there are LOTS of changes to how the story originally started, so please keep that in mind as I work to continue figuring out more and more of this AU and how everyone works. That means some (aka a good chunk of) scenes and scenarios will be completely different from before, mainly to make it flow and make better sense compared to my other AUs. But I will be keeping up the originals, so don't worry!

Also random, but I believe this version is much longer than the original prologue was! 😂 Hope you all enjoy this retelling! And I will be uploading this on AO3 as well!

WARNING: Minor and explicit language (cursing) and blood mention. Going forward there's a possibility of there being more blood given the nature of the kaiju, but I'll be sure to properly warn when those do pop up. Meanwhile, most of the storytelling in the beginning will be Yuu exploring the island and getting to interact with each of the kaiju packs!

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Prologue: Found Astray in a New World

Beep……

Beep……

Beep……

Bwoop…

The steady beeps rang in Yuu’s ears as they drifted in and out of consciousness, lulled by the rush of crashing ocean waves that coaxed them to fall back to sleep. Yet the discomfort they felt on their back as the heat of the sun pulled their mind back to the surface, tempered by the cool breeze filled with the smell of sea salt. A pained groan escaped as they forced their body up, sand clinging to their damp skin as they stared through the haze at their surroundings in the faint morning light on the horizon. ‘W…where…am I?’ they thought, panic slowly creeping in as they realized they didn’t recognize anything. ‘Huh?? Where-? What-?? How did I get here? Why can’t I-!’

A sharp pain hit as they groaned, clutching their head and hissing as they waited for it to pass.

“Why…can’t I remember?” they uttered aloud, their voice cracking a little from thirst.

Yuu sat in silence as they waited, hoping that the headache would pass quickly while trying to sort through their clouded thoughts. Fragments of memories—of shapes and sounds so unrecognizable they couldn’t be real—scattered no matter how hard they focused. And yet while those memories eluded them…some were too nightmarish to be forgotten.

Long, narrow faces with gaunt skin and fangs sharper than needles, maws and pores oozing a viscous black ichor that stained and burned the ground it touched.

Sharp, wicked claws attached to long, gangly arms that pulled and dragged the bloated and serpentine bodies across the ground at inhuman speeds.

Flashes of teeth so close to their face they could smell the rot of its breath.

‘These are just nightmares,’ they thought to themselves, taking a deep breath to try and ease the fear clutching their chest in a vice. ‘They’re not real—they’re just fragments of bad dreams from my memories!’

Memories you don’t have, a small, nagging voice in the back of their mind chided them. You don’t know where you are. You’re lost and alone…do you even remember who you are? Who you’re supposed to be?

BEEEEEEEEEP!!

“Wah!?” they yelped as they fell backwards into the sand, staring at the source with wide eyes. Around their ankle—glinting in the sunlight like a beacon—was a metal band. A cursory glance revealed a near-invisible seam, a soft red light blinking erratically like it was seeking…something. “What is this thing?” they uttered, reaching down to try and pry it off. It refused to budge, tight enough prevent it from being slipped off yet loose enough to wriggle a finger underneath. Whoever made this ensured there was soft material underneath, keeping the metal from rubbing against their skin.

Confused and frustrated, they turned their attention back to their current situation: finding out where they were, getting help, and finding a source of food and water. Knowing which of the three would be easiest to achieve, they began walking along the beach to find a fruit-bearing tree towards the strangely shaped rocks.

The sand was soft beneath their bare feet, Yuu taking note of their attire and realizing they were wearing long gray pants and a strangely designed long-sleeved top. They noticed what looked like a faded black symbol resembling an upside-down triangle with a boat-like shape. Around their neck they felt an odd band, though what it was they couldn’t tell—though at least it didn’t seem to be restricting their breathing.

“What is even happening to me?” they uttered, feeling around for any injuries they hadn’t noticed. There were no bumps, no tender spots, no cuts or scratches…nothing to explain the massive gap in their memories. “If this is some sort of prank, I-“

Thunk!

“Yeow!” Hopping on one foot, Yuu hissed and glared at the rock…before realizing it was too reflective and shiny to be one. Cautiously, they started digging around the object, taking care to avoid the sharp edges. More and more was uncovered as they dug, shoveling sand away until they finally managed to make out something. The same marking as the one on their top, only…different somehow. Like someone had tried to alter it to appear more monstrous or dangerous. “What in the…world,” they uttered, finally looking up and staring at in shock and horror.

As the sun rose higher, the light revealed more and more that the strangely shaped rocks they’d seen weren’t made of stone. Twisted and mangled, Yuu found themselves staring at a massive graveyard of ships and planes. As far as the eye could see it stretched, creating a maze of metal corpses jutting out of the sand like the bones of a monstrous creature. Warily they ventured forth, watching their step and avoiding the jagged metal pieces that reached out like lost souls seeking to drag them down into the sand. Slowly they began to notice other materials in the mix, hulls of wooden ships rotting away yet somehow maintaining some semblance of their shape.

Peering inside one of the ships, they spotted a scores of barrels and crates—some broken revealing their contents. Furs, herbs, spices, cloth…all relatively in decent condition, if worn down by time and scavenging critters. In the corner, they noticed a large coffer of coins and jewels—completely untouched.

“What did all of this?” they muttered aloud, taking a closer look around at the condition of the ships and planes. As the sunlight revealed more and more, so too did they notice the full extent of the damage. Some bore gashes along the sides—some a singular line while others bore more than one in a row. Some were warped with chunks dripping like frozen droplets, as though something corrosive had burned through the metal and cooled in an instant. Others…

Others were impaled with black crystals.

They felt ill as they approached one of the crystals, a dark, noxious green light pulsing within that seemed to grow brighter as they moved closer. Wisps of eerie gray mist slowly cascaded down from the stones, where they could see a pool of inky ichor at the base of the plane’s frame. For a brief moment, they thought they heard…whispers coming from within.

Stay away!, their mind seemed to scream even as their body crept forward. Danger! Evil! Vile! Beautif-

In an instant they stopped, quickly backing away before they could touch the tip of the crystal and collapsing with a wheeze. “What was that?” they uttered, shaking their head. They stared up at the crystal, only to avert their gaze once more when they felt the strange pull again. Whatever this thing was, it wasn’t natural and it wasn’t safe. Climbing to their feet, they decided it was time to leave the ship graveyard and continue their search for food and shelter. “This place will be a last resort,” they uttered, shivering as they moved away from the inky black crystals.

The sun was steadily rising now as they continued their search, somehow managing to escape the giant metal deathtrap maze and into a wide clearing. Up ahead they could see a jungle tree line, immediately recognizing the cluster of yellow at the top of one of the trees. Relieved to have found a food source, they ran as fast as they could towards the trees. As they grew closer and closer, however, their excitement turned to confusion as they slowed to a trot. Still the trunks of the trees continued to grow bigger, dwarfing Yuu as they stopped and stared up in horror at the sight of the trees looming over them like towers.

“What the hell is going on,” they uttered, slowly turning in a circle as they realized just how small they were compared to the foliage. Plants that should have come up to their waist or shoulders were large enough to form a canopy, shielding them from the steadily growing harsh sunlight. Trees that should have been easily 15-20 feet tall were easily three times that height, fruit that should have been easy to pluck and gather now swayed threateningly like a boulder ready to be dropped.

Buzzing overhead caught their attention as they looked up, pure terror filling their veins as they saw what could only be described as a giant dragonfly-like creature flitting about. It hovered close to a flower, the downdraft of its wings buffeting Yuu with strong winds as it landed on a petal—and disappearing the moment the flower snapped shut around its body, clamping down like a vice as it struggled to escape.

“Nope! Nope, nope, nope, nope!” was all Yuu managed to say before they scurried away, not wanting to find out if anything else had a taste for flesh. “Giant food is one thing, but I draw the line at man-eating plants!”

Giant food, giant bugs, giant plants, a deserted island, and an entire graveyard of ships and planes? This had to be a fever dream or a nightmare of epic proportions! Yet it was getting harder and harder to find logic in anything they were seeing. None of this should even be possible, and yet…here they were, stranded in the middle of nowhere with no idea of who they were, how they got here, or even why they were here. And if the insects and plants were enormous, what else was even bigger than them? They didn’t even know if there were any other survivors out the-

‘Get a grip, Yuu!’ they thought, managing to stick close to the edge of the jungle on their right and keeping the shore on their left side. ‘Panicking won’t help anything, and you need to stay focused. Food will have to wait, so let’s just find water and shel-‘ the ground collapsed under their right foot, sending Yuu sliding down a steep incline with loud, “Aaaah!!”

Whud!

“…ow,” they uttered, groaning as they slowly sat up. Glancing back where they came from, they spotted the steep slope that had been concealed by one of the leaves. The dirt was smoothed away to reveal red and yellow clay, as though someone had carved out the opening with a tool to remove any bumps or ridges. Realizing that it would be too steep a climb to get out of the ravine, they sighed and shook their head. “Great…is everything on this island trying to kill-”

Thoom…

“…me…” Their voice trailed off as another thud hit the ground, the earth vibrating beneath their feet as they slowly turned towards the densest part of the forest. Something was coming, the sound of branches creaking and snapping reaching Yuu’s ears as they slowly started to creep behind a large rock formation—before finally noticing the razor-sharp teeth and the empty eye socket. They clamped their hands over their mouth as a massive black shape began to emerge, ducking into the gap of the skull until they could peek through the socket.

The creature that emerged was gigantic, towering beyond anything they could imagine as it crept into the area on four legs. The sunlight fell across its body, black and green feathers gleaming while its beak—wickedly sharp and deadly—was slick with something damp.

‘What…what the fuck is that thing?!’ Yuu thought, pressing their body against the inside of the skull as they watched the monster move.

It sniffed the air, its four glowing golden eyes scanning the area. It sniffed at the colorful crystal formations at the base of the tree. A pair of thin, small arms extending from its chest as the strange hands grasped at the stones, snapping them from the base. When it opened its beak, the sun glinted off of sharp rows of teeth before it crunched down on the crystals. Once the crystals were gone, it sniffed around for a moment before it stood on its hind legs and leaned against one of the trees. Its neck stretched out further than they thought was possible, its sharp beak plucking at the fruit that seemed so ridiculously small in comparison. From this angle, they could see a pair of massive wings pressed tightly to its sides and a long serpentine tail lazily sweeping across the ground.

‘Okay…whatever the hell that thing is, it seems only interested in fruit, so maybe it won’t mistake me for a bug and eat me…?’

Something skittered across the bark near the monster’s claw, and a moment later its head had darted forward. A giant spider-like bug with crystalline spikes was squirming in its beak before it tossed its head back, swallowing it whole before continuing to pluck at the fruit with a distinctly happy trill.

‘…yeah, that makes more sense,’ they thought, feeling their heart beating heavily in their chest. ‘Dammit…I can’t run or that thing will spot and eat me like that spider! Maybe I can just…wait here in this skull and-”

Beep-bwoop!

“Shit!” Yuu whispered under their breath as they immediately reached down to the ankle bracelet. To their horror, the bird-lizard monster’s head immediately snapped towards their direction, the two feathery ears popping up and swiveling left and right—searching for the sound again. ‘Dammit, why is the universe trying to kill me?!’

THOOM…THOOM…

Each footstep from the monster made their heart jump as they pressed their body against the wall of the skull, bracing their feet against the other side to avoid falling over and making more noise. They could hear the beast sniff the air, the musty smell of rotting meat and fruit washing over the area while something loud scraped against the ground around their hiding spot.

‘Please don’t beep again, please don’t let it find me, please, please, please, please!’ they thought, staring at the bracelet as the light blinked mockingly up at them. The monster sniffed—horrifyingly close now—as a wave of hot air rushed through the eye socket. Through the gaps in the skull’s teeth, they could see its shadow blocking out the sunlight, the tips of what they realized were its massive claws beginning to curl underneath their hiding spot and starting to lift. ‘I just woke up, I don’t want to die!’

Just then, in the distance, a loud, echoing roar filled the air.

Immediately the bird-lizard let out a sound akin to a chirp as it dropped their shelter back down, the quiet crooning it was making earlier devolving into a terrifying hissing snarl and caw. The earth shook as Yuu heard it bound away, branches and leaves snapping in its path as they heard it barrel through the forest. Then…

Silence.

They waited, heart racing as they listened for any sign of it returning. Minutes felt like hours before—finally—they cautiously emerged. Shaken, Yuu was horrified to see the deep gouges in the earth from where the creature had been digging with its claws, realizing just how close they were to being eaten.

Cursing under their breath, Yuu pointed at the bracelet and said, “Once I figure out how to get you off, I’m breaking you with the biggest hammer I can find.”

Be-beep! Beep-bwoop!

They glared at it and asked, “What now?���

“Signal connection: acquired,” a mechanical voice from the wall said, the sudden speaker startling Yuu as they pressed their back to the skull, looking around warily. “Scanning…no threats detected nearby. Opening access port. Please stand by.”

Chk! Tsssss….

Right before their eyes they watched as the stone wall split open, revealing a large metal door that slid open into a dark tunnel. “Please step forward,” the mechanical voice commanded as the lights turned on inside.

Glancing back at the path the monster had disappeared through, Yuu reluctantly obeyed and entered just as the entrance shut with a decisive tssss. Now they found themselves stuck between two locked doors with no visible way out. “Okay…now what?” they asked aloud, looking around in confusion. A thought occurred to them as they uttered, “Please tell me I didn’t just walk into a trap.”

“Please stand by for entry permission,” the mechanical voice said. “Analyzing bracer code…error! Error! Code cannot be found in database.” Movement out of the corner of their eye drew their attention to the inner door, a panel opening on the side as a camera-like device emerged. “Please stand still while scanning is in progress.” A red beam of light shot out, the thin line moving from their feet to their head before vanishing, the camera retracting with a click. “Scan acquired. Searching for facial recognition files…search complete. No staff record on file. DNA signature cannot be verified. Please stand by while I contact the current on duty director for further instruction.”

“Wait, what’s going on? What is this place?” Yuu asked, searching the room for something to focus on. “Where are we?”

“Status update: cannot establish contact with current on duty director,” the computer voice said, making them wonder if it was canned phrases. “Attempting communication with secondary duty director……attempt unsuccessful. Reevaluating follow-on directive…complete. Beginning creation of temporary visitor profile.” The panel on the other side of the door opened, this time revealing a small screen and a microphone. “Please place your hand on the screen and state your name to begin registration process.”

Gingerly placing their hand palm down on the screen, Yuu leaned in and said, “Um…Yuu?” They jumped but held their hand to the screen when it began to scan, the glass surface pleasantly warm to the touch compared to the chill of the room.

“Name and handprint scan accepted. Creating temporary visitor profile…profile complete. Welcome Uhm Yuu.”

“I-it’s just Yuu,” they said quickly.

“Please report to the main office for assistance, Uhm Yuu,” the computer voice continued, the door sliding open as lights began to turn on inside. A path of green lights appeared along the floor, creating a pathway for them to follow. “Once in the main office, you will be provided with instructions, your new staff badge, and your new Multi Information Record Assistance tool. Access to the lab facilities will be limited without the badge and tool, so please ask for assistance from the main office if you find yourself unable to enter certain workspaces. If you lack the current clearance level, you will not be permitted to enter the space. Please ensure you follow proper protocol when storing collected samples before proceeding through the decontamination and hazard chambers. Have a nice day!”

“…what is this place and why does it sound shady as heck?” Yuu uttered as they shook their head. Knowing they had no other options and didn’t want to be outside, they followed the green lights.

It was…eerily quiet. They expected to see someone—anyone—in this place rushing around or even just working, yet it was silent. Each room they passed by was either dark or lit up but empty, various tools and computer equipment scattered about in the gloomy space. Streams of data flickered across the monitors and transparent screens, occasionally displaying diagrams of weird and disturbing creatures that looked nothing short of a nightmare’s dream! Only one monitor, however, caught their eye as they stared, noting how oval its shape was and the ornate serpent-like frame that decorated the edges of the cracked surface. Instead of a reflection, however, bright green flames flickered within the dark depths, the screen glitching as a broken white mask blinked in and out of existence.

Whatever had happened in this place, it was clear to Yuu that this place had long since been abandoned. A struggle happened from what they could tell, though it looked less man-caused and more…sinister. The walls were dented and marred with deep gashes, patches of dried blood stained the floors the further they ventured in. On one wall mirror, they saw a bloody handprint that slid down before disappearing, the inside of the room looking like something had shattered the equipment with a single blow. What unnerved them the most, however, was the fact that there were no bodies.

‘Why am I still going deeper into the creepy abandoned death-trap?’ they thought, warily looking between the rooms for any sign of life. ‘Isn’t there some rule to horror where you’re not supposed to do that?!...then again, being out there with big, tall, and terrifying and whatever made that roar sounds even worse.’

They finally reached the end of the green lights and entered a large open room, multiple desks and chairs arranged in a chaos of papers and busted computer stations. Only one in the back against the wall seemed operational, flicking to life as they approached. “Please place your hand on the panel to begin replication of your new staff badge,” the computerized voice said. Upon touching the panel, the screen began to fill with data faster than their eye could read, the machine whirring to life before ejecting a thick plastic card from the slot beneath the monitor. “Congratulations, Uhm Yuu, for joining the Night Raven Corporation’s Exploration and Research Development Team. You will begin your first assignment as a lab assistant to our great technicians. Please follow the lighted path to the lab area where you will obtain your first Multi Information Record Assistant tool and receive your first task from your immediate supervisor.”

“I’m not even a scientist, and even if I was, where is everyone?!” Yuu asked. When they received no response, they slumped their shoulders with a sigh and said, “Yeah. These are just recorded voice lines…that can somehow say my name without issue…mostly…”

The lights led deeper into the facility, the lights dim with red emergency lights flashing the further in they moved. The eeriness made their skin crawl, walking around the shallow gashes in the floor until they finally made it to a large warehouse-like area. From wall to wall were machines and, rows upon rows of glass tube tanks lined up as far as the eye could see. Each one was filled with a viscous liquid of various colors: red, blue, orange-yellow, and green. Yuu could see there were dark shapes in most of the tubes, though any distinct features were obscured by the layers of dirt and dust against the glass. Cautiously they approached the closest one, wiping their hand against the glass-

“AAH!?” they shrieked, tumbling over one of the cables and scrambling away until their back was pressed against the base of another tank. Inside the glass was an almost humanoid creature, its face looking like a squashed reptile crossed with a fish as the gills on its neck slowly fluttered in the liquid. Tubes and wires connected to the creature’s body, though whether it was to keep it alive or feed data to the computer next to the glass tank they couldn’t tell. Breathing heavily, they uttered, “This place is going to give me a heart attack before I can even figure out what’s going on! What even is that thing?!”

Blip! “Cannot com-m-m-mpute your question. Please con-n-n-nect device and ask again.”

“…what?” they uttered, looking around in confusion before spotting what looked like a large, thick bracelet next to their right hand. Curious, they picked it up, examining the surface and spotting the screen. It was dark, with the word “M.I.R.A.” displayed in bright blue letters. “What…are you?” they asked.

“Answer,” the tiny bracelet said, startling them as they dropped it into their lap. “I am M.I.R.A., an a-a-a-artificial intelligence tool. P-p-p-please pl-l-l-l-lace me on your wrist in a comfortable position to begin user r-r-r-reassignment and module r-r-repair protocol.”

“Nnnnot sure that’s a good idea if you sound broken,” they uttered. Still, they complied, the bracelet snapping shut around their wrist.

The screen blipped and flickered, a loading bar appearing on screen as the voice said, “Beginning r-r-r-repair protocol. S-s-s-stand by………repair protocol, complete. Module is now in operational order. Beginning user reassignment. Please state your name.”

“Yuu,” they stated clearly.

“Acknowledged. Searching database…new staff profile found. New user ‘Uhm Yuu’ has been accepted. Welcome, Uhm Yuu. What would you like to know?”

“…are you actually going to answer my questions, or are you just saying canned recorded responses?”

“Answer: it is my directive to assist my user and answer any potential questions they may have and provide suitable answers based on available data. I am designed to learn and respond accordingly to any situation you may come across.”

“Guess that’s good enough for me,” Yuu muttered. Aloud, they asked, “So what exactly are you? Let’s start with that.”

“Answer: I am a Multi Information Record Assistant, an artificial intelligence tool developed by the Night Raven Corporation to aid its researchers and exploration teams in the study of the local flora and fauna. Once assigned, I am to monitor my current user’s vitals to ensure they remain in good health and offer suggestions on mitigating stress when not in current danger. I will continue to serve my purpose until the day you pass, in which I will once again be reassigned to a new user. What would you like to know?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, back up! What do you mean ‘once again’? Did you already have another user before me??”

“Affirmative. Dr. Amity Willows was my previous user prior to her passing. As the top researcher in this facility, Dr. Willows’ work was vital to the progression of understanding the environmental effects of the energy found across the island and the influence it has on the local flora and fauna.”

“I…what? Island?” Yuu uttered, thinking back to the beach they’d awoken on. “What do you mean by that? Where are we? And…what happened to Dr. Willows?”

The tool said nothing for a moment, the screen humming as a new loading bar appeared. Then, with a blink, it transferred to another screen with what looked like a variety of folders with locks on most of them. “Answer: Due to the low clearance level on your profile, I am unable to access many of the files uploaded to the Dark Mirror Server. Searching……located data logs recorded by Dr. Willows. Data logs have been triple-encoded to prevent complete factory reset in the event something should happen to her, and will require time to unlock each data log. However, I am able to access the last few minutes of security footage before servers went down.”

“Can you show me what happened and where everyone is?”

The screen blinked through various different screens—too fast for their eyes to follow—before finally settling on an angle of the lab they currently stood in. Compared to now, there were more people around frozen in time. They were examining the figures in the tanks, some holding tablets while others were standing in front of stations filled with test tubes and beakers. The video began to play, though the quality seemed…strange. The video glitched and skipped, some segments being streamlined while others looked like fragments of images. In the center of the room, however, they spotted two unusually colored tanks: the largest being a noxious red color while the smaller one was a brilliant cyan. Both seemed to have creatures inside them, though what they looked like they couldn’t tell from this angle.

In an instant, the imagery changed. Warped screams and cries of panic emerged from the speakers as the scientists began to run, the red tank shattered as the creature’s serpentine body—dripping with a black ink-like substance that seemed to burn the metal floor—dragged itself across the floor by two sets of gangly clawed arms. Its head in one image showed an oddly familiar narrow skull-shaped head, the eye sockets empty of any eyes yet seeming to “cry” drops of the inky ichor.

Yuu covered their mouth in horror as they saw the creature hunting down the scientists, the camera shifting to the hallways they’d walked through as the creature went on a rampage across the area. The scientists that managed to avoid the creature by hiding in the rooms had been splashed by the black ichor, which began to spread across their bodies, the feed cutting out just before they could see what happened—though given what they’d seen and the lack of bodies, they had a good idea.

“What…the hell is that thing?” they uttered, watching as the creature crashed its way down the hall and out the entrance before the feed finally cut off. Remembering the giant skull they’d hidden in just outside the facility, they asked, “Did…that monster die after escaping?”

“I do not have access to the outside cameras at this time. However, the little data I am able to access from Dr. Willows’ research logs suggest that the creature’s DNA was unstable. Comparing data prior to and just before the incident in the lab, it appears that the creature’s DNA was contaminated by an unknown substance that weakened its immune system. The compromise appears to have created an unstable reaction to the creature’s DNA, triggering a rapid deterioration of its physical body shortly before its emergence from containment. Based on visual analysis, it would suggest the creature’s movements are indicative of death throes warring with an insatiable instinct to feed and consume other living creatures. Conclusion: it is highly likely that whatever skeletal remains you have found may be the very creature that escaped.”

Yuu was silent as the screen went back to the screen showing the rest of the videos that weren’t locked, their thoughts swimming. When they finally spoke, their voice was quiet as they asked, “Does…this mean…I’m alone on this island?”

“Answer: cannot confirm. I am unable to connect to the communication network between the various facilities scattered across the island. Current status of facilities is unknown—I cannot detect any distress signals either.”

“So…there may be other people out there, then. I just have to find them, right?”

“Affirmative.”

“Okay…I don’t suppose you can tell me anything about why everything is so giant? Or…maybe what that giant bird…lizard…monster thing was.”

“Answer: the island’s biology constantly shifts and changes over time. The energy that’s released in the environment enhances the soil’s nutrients and the resulting flora growth, creating a rich ecosystem not found anywhere else on Earth. Due to this, the creatures of this island have been noted to grow at an exponential rate, resulting in many animals and insects developing mutations and abilities unnatural to those commonly found in their natural habitats.”

“And the giant bird-lizard…?”

“Cannot confirm. The island is host to many a creature that match that description.”

Yuu groaned and covered their face, leaning against the closest surface while uttering, “Of course…why would I think otherwise on an island full of giant monsters? How in the world am I supposed to survive here if the scientists in this place didn’t even survive that mutant in the tank?”

“Rrrrr…”

‘……why does this feel so soft?’ they though, a sense of dread filling their chest as they patted the fluffy damp surface. Another low, rattling growl erupted beneath them as Yuu slowly turned their head.

Bright cerulean eyes with cyan sclera stared at them in the gloom, blue flames flickering in its ears. The creature’s face was cat-like, ebony scales decorating its cheeks and forehead gleaming like obsidian stones. Its upper lip curled up to reveal sharp fangs, licks of more blue flames emerging from its mouth.

“Niiiiiice kitty…monster,” Yuu said slowly, carefully getting off and backing away. It watched them intently, standing taller on four legs as a three-pronged tail swished behind it. “Gooooooood kitty-monster…”

Out of the corner of their eye they spotted the red and blue tubes from the video. The larger of the two had clearly been shattered, its bulk all but concealing the smaller tube’s condition. Drops of containment fluid dripped from the broken glass to the floor, revealing the very large pool at the base.

‘Oh shi-!’

“Sssscraaaarl!!”

“FUCK!!” Yuu shrieked, barely dodging the monster’s jaw as it snaped at them before bolting for the exit. “MIRA!! What the hell is that thing?!”

“Cannot confirm,” came the computer’s response. “Please stand still so I may conduct a proper scan, Uhm Yuu.”

Hearing the snarling creature charge after them, Yuu picked up the pace and shouted, “I’m about to get eaten by a mutant cat monster, and you want me to stand still?!”

“Negative. According to article thirty-five, section five—”

“Less briefy, more helpy, please!” Yuu yelped as they quickly turned the corner, hearing the monster slam into the wall as its claws scrabbled for purchase on the metal flooring.

“Affirmative. Activating lockdown procedures. Please proceed to the entrance, Uhm Yuu, as quickly as possible to avoid being locked in. You have ten seconds. Nine. Eight.”

Seeing the end in sight and the steel door starting to descend, Yuu uttered every curse they knew as MIRA continued her countdown. Fueled by pure adrenaline and fear, Yuu launched themselves forward and slid across the floor—and out into the open field. A loud clang rang out as they landed in the dirt, a muffled growl of pain escaping through the metal.

Panting and trembling, Yuu turned to stare at the door as the monster slammed and scratched at the metal. How they managed to outrun such a creature they had no idea, and yet…they had. They were still alive! They made it!! They-!

…why was the door glowing?

They watched in horror as the door changed, the silver metal shifting from glowing orange to pure white as it warped and melted right before their eyes. Through the slowly widening gap they could see the monster’s face, licks of blue flame escaping its jowls as it locked eyes with them.

“Are you kidding me?!” Yuu yelped as they scrambled to their feet again, bolting away from the hidden base. Their heart leapt in their chest as the monster snarled, hearing its bounding gait charge after them catching up faster than it had on the metal floor. For a moment they swore they could feel its hot breath against their back, the smell of sulfur and smoke filling their as they heard what sounded like clicking—

BWOOSH!!

“Gyah!?” they shrieked, somehow managing to dodge the burning brush that exploded in front of them without stopping. “Is everything on this island trying to kill me?!”

“Answer: the local flora and fauna-”

“I wasn’t asking literally, MIR—ack!”

So distracted were they by dodging the bursts of flame from the monster, they didn’t realize they had run into a dead end as they all but slammed into the wall. Hands quickly patting the smooth surface, they cursed when they realized they couldn’t climb their way out and turned to find another way out—only to stumble back when a wall of blue flames erupted in a circle around them. As though it knew they were trapped, the creature slowly walked through the flames as it flickered over its fur without igniting it.

Cerulean eyes stared them down, and in the light they could finally make out more features. What they’d thought were wires on its back were actually four tendrils, each one bearing a wicked stinger-like barb on the tip dripping with a noxious green liquid. A drop hit the ground, a faint sizzle escaping as steam rose from the hole in the dirt. Its tail was pronged like a trident, the light glinting off what looked like metal edges along the pointed tips. In that moment, Yuu knew they were dead…

When a shadow fell over them.

In seconds the feline monster’s face went from cold predatory hunter to confusion to fear, eyes gazing up as it hunkered low to the ground. A low, garbled sound akin to a caw and growl rumbled overhead, Yuu’s heart dropping as they followed the monster’s gaze. Perched atop the ridge like a hawk was the bird-lizard from earlier, a large gash that hadn’t been on its shoulder before glistening with fresh blood in the light. Amber eyes locked on to them, a slit in its forehead opening up to reveal a third eye that seemed to pierce through their very soul.

“Tssss-EAARRR!!” the goliath shrieked, flaring its wings as sparks flickered to life across its feathers in a dizzying fashion. Yuu’s hands clamped over their ears as the sheer volume overwhelmed them, the pressure weighing on them with each passing second.

Over the din they could make out a faint shriek, peeking up to see their pursuer writhing on the ground with thorny vines gripping its limbs from the ground. It was clearly in distress, body thrashing as it tried to chew its restraints off while hissing and screeching. Realizing that this was their chance, Yuu bolted past the monster—

And screamed the moment something massive enveloped them, the ground getting further and further away as the wind whistled against their aching ears. They froze in pure terror as they came face to face with the corvid, all three of its glowing eyes staring down at them. It opened its mouth, breath washing over them as—in a low, gravely voice—it said:

“Never…more…”

/------------------/

“……uu……it…get up…….Uhm Yuu. It is time to get up.”

“Mmn…five more minutes…”

“That is ill advised. Vital signs indicate hydration and nutrient intake are critically low, resulting in lowered cognitive abilities. Recommended course of action: seek closest water source and edible fruits.”

Vital signs…?

Groaning, Yuu opened their eyes and sat up, their head pounding from a headache as they realized how dry their throat was. “Wha…what happened?” they mumbled.

“Answer: you fell unconscious and have been asleep for the day,” the computerized voice said calmly. “According to my data, your body was undergoing incredible amounts of stress, resulting in unhealthy amounts of cortisol. Recommend engagement with meditative activities such as yoga or coloring pictures to increase the body’s natural ability to process and regulate your stress levels.”

“Wait, what do you mean I-”

All at once they remembered, hearing the monster’s words echoing in their mind.

“Fuck!! Where’d the monster go?!” Scrambling backwards, they felt something against their back and yelped, finding themselves encircled in what looked like a giant wooden wall of branches—a nest? “Oh no…is it going to feed me to its babies?!”

“Negative. Nevermore currently does not have any young under his care.”

“…wait…his name is Nevermore?”

“Affirmative. Due to his corvid-like appearance and behavior in mimicking some words during test phases, researchers have since dubbed him ‘Nevermore’ in tribute to a famous known poet’s works.”

Yuu’s mouth opened and closed, processing this information as they stared at the bracer. “…you mean to tell me that you know exactly what this thing is?” they finally asked, keeping their voice low in case the monster was nearby. “Do…you know why it didn’t eat me?”

“Affirmative. Nevermore is one of several creatures that match your earlier inquiry, hence my inability to assess the probability. In reference to why he did not consume you-”

THOOM!!

The ground lurched beneath them as Yuu scrambled to press themselves against the wall of sticks—or rather trunks—with a muffled squeak. Another booming step rattled their bones as Yuu silently prayed to not be seen, hand instinctively covering MIRA’s screen to stop the computer from speaking further. Their heart thumped against their rib cage as a massive beak appeared over the edge, seeing the giant monster’s eyes that seemed to glow a brilliant amber in the dim lighting scan the nest.

‘Don’t see me, don’t see me, don’t see me,’ they thought, frozen in pure terror as Nevermore quietly chirped and trilled as he sniffed the air. ‘Goawaygoawaygoawa-’

Nevermore’s eye locked on to them, sending a wave of cold dread through their veins as he turned and leaned towards them.

“NO!!”

He recoiled, blinking at the sharp sound of their voice. When he tried to lean in again, another sharp ‘No!’ from Yuu made him back off with a tilt of his head. As soon as he started venturing into the nest, they noticed how…slow he moved, his body hunched lower than normal. They watched intently, knowing they were trapped but refusing to turn their back on him.

As soon as the pair of smaller arms stretched out from beneath his feathery chest, they braced themselves—until they realized he was holding something.

Carefully the monster set down the massive pile of fruits, each monumental in size and shape. Only when the last of the fruit was still did he move to the far end of the nest, resting his head on his paws and closing his eyes with a sigh. From this angle they could faintly make out the thin line indicating he was still watching, yet he strangely seemed to be trying to appear smaller than he was.

“MIRA…what is going on?” they finally managed to whisper.

“Answer: Nevermore is offering sustenance. Based on previous records of his behavior, he is attempting to ease your fears much like he has in the past when tending to young cubs in his care. Dr. Willows once noted his role as a caretaker of future generations, as he is often found to have adopted orphaned cubs and hatchlings and raise them with his fellow Primal Guardians.”

“So…he’s not pretending to sleep so he can trick and eat me?” they asked, noticing how his eye opened just a little wider before shutting quickly.

“Negative. Though he has not had direct contact with humans, he has not gone out of his way to attempt to harm or eat any of the researchers. According to my database, Dr. Willows was once saved by Nevermore when an expedition was attacked by smaller yet deadly creatures that wiped out the rest of her party. As such, Dr. Willows has started thoroughly studying him as soon as she was released from the medical bay for injuries sustained.”

“…okay…so this giant fruit…is it safe for me to eat?”

“Affirmative. The produce found on this island are noted to be safe and ideal even for humans who require additional nutritional supplements to function properly, providing a stable source of energy and nutrition necessary for day-to-day function. The peach on your right should provide adequate hydration and sustenance.”

They warily looked between the fruit and the monster, half expecting him to gobble them up like the spider from earlier at any second. Each step they felt the bark beneath press harshly against their bare feet, slowly reaching out to dig their hands into the peach while watching him. In an instant the aroma of the peach intensified, making their mouth water and their stomach growl. Before they knew it, their lips were sticky from the nectar and they had all but devoured the chunk in their hands.

‘How long has it been since I’ve had anything to eat or drink?’ they thought, thinking back to the beach and realizing they couldn’t remember anything leading up to that moment. ‘…why am I even here?’

So lost in thought and the flavor of the food, Yuu hadn’t even noticed when Nevermore’s head began inching its way over…until they felt something stiff press against their head.

“BWAH!?”

“SQWARK!?”

Yuu’s eyes were wide as they stared up at Nevermore, his ears perked up and main eyes just as wide and confused as they felt. “Di…did you just lick me?!” they asked incredulously.

“Note: it is not uncommon for Nevermore to attempt to calm frightened cubs with careful grooming after offering a meal,” MIRA commented. “Much like how animals in the wild and domestic settings will perform social grooming to bond, known as ‘allogrooming’, it is an essential and fundamental aspect that reinforces relationships, builds social hierarchies, and even resolves conflicts. In this case, Nevermore is seeking to reassure you as much as he is assisting with hygiene after your meal.”

“And you didn’t think to warn me he might do that?!”

“I am unable to access any records indicating this being a possibility. I’m afraid this was outside of the realm of my assessment to predict such a scenario.”

For a moment Yuu couldn’t speak, watching Nevermore with a confused frown. Despite his size, the griffin-like monster seemed…strangely calm. Like he was observing them as much as they were observing him, a strange intelligence in his eyes. Then, with a quiet voice, they asked, “MIRA…what exactly is Nevermore?”

“Answer: Nevermore is one of many creatures belonging to a category of megafauna. While each megafauna possess differing appearances and capabilities, researchers have begun referring to them as one singular species: Kaiju.”

[sausage-rolll]

I think it's pretty clear that season 2 of Ncuti's era was rewritten at some point and that a big chunk of the original story was lost.

So I thought I'd write up what I believe the original plan was, or at least what I think would have worked better than what we got.

First of all, I think Ruby was planned to still be the companion in this season. Belinda is depressingly underutilised and somehow less relevant to the ongoing plot than Ruby is, despite the fact that she’s the one actually traveling with the doctor. So unfortunately I think she was not a part of the original plan for the story. So in the version I plan to lay out now, she isn’t going to be present.

Now, I just want to stress that me writing Belinda out of this version of the story isn’t because I do not like her or that I don’t want her in the show. It is because I genuinely believe she wasn’t planned to be a part of it until something happened midway through season 1 that led to Ruby’s role in the story being cut down. In my perfect version of the show Belinda would still be a part of it, she would just be a part of a 3rd season (and beyond) alongside Ncuti where she can be actually plot relevant.

Now, with that cleared up, let me quickly lay the groundwork for this alternate version of the story, then we can really get into the meat of potatoes of things. 

It’s quite simple really, only two major things are different.

Ruby is still traveling with the Doctor during season 2 but frequently takes breaks from the TARDIS in order to live her normal life and spend time with family (this allows the events of Lucky day and Joy to the world to happen basically unchanged.) 

The mystery of Ruby’s past and her mysterious and elusive mother is not solved in ‘Empire of Death’ and Ruby is still silently craving answers about everything.

Now let's finally begin.

The Doctor and Ruby, after another adventure in time and space attempt to return to Earth on the 24th of May so Ruby can spend time at home for a while, only to find that… They bounce right off of it? That’s strange… that’s certainly never happened before. The doctor is silently concerned about the implications of this, but makes sure to keep an upbeat and carefree attitude to hide his worries from Ruby. Ruby isn’t necessarily happy about being unable to return home at the time, but just assumes that it’s another quirky “timey-wimey” thing that the doctor can figure out. Overall she’s slightly annoyed but not worried.

The doctor whips out the vindicator and explains that it can be used to triangulate the coordinates to get them back home. Things continue relatively identical to the original version for now. They go to Earth 1952 where they face off against Lux. During the 3-dimensional part, the doctor confides in Ruby that he is terrified he won’t be able to get her home safely, that he’s worried he’ll never be able to save Rogue. And one other thing… something that (I believe) he’s never admitted to Ruby before. He isn’t just a timelord. He’s the last of the timelords. The soul survivor of his species. This pops him back into full 3D. From here the episode continues as normal.

The well happens essentially unchanged.

Lucky day also happens unchanged but is an episode set slightly in the past during a time Ruby isn’t travelling with the Doctor. However young Conrad sees Ruby and the Doctor together in the opening segment with the vindicator which is part of the reason he tries so hard to get close to her during the events of lucky day. He recognises her from his childhood and it drives him mad because that isn’t possible.

The story and the engine once again happens mainly unchanged, however Poppy does not appear this time. (I can’t think of a way for her to fit into this rewrite)

The interstellar song contest occurs, once again, almost unchanged. They finally have enough vindicator juice to force their way back to May 24th and rush into the TARDIS without saying goodbye after hearing Earth's history and how it ceased to be on that very day. Miss Flood Bigenerates and all the cards are set as she, using her own TARDIS (The Doctor doesn’t have the only one, fuck you) uses the vindicator coordinates to also get back to earth. Well after a quick pit stop to pick up one more thing. Flood is dropped off in modern day to break Conrad out of prison while Rani goes to the past to find their trump card. Desiderium the god of wishes.

-

Wish World

John Smith (The Doctor) wakes up in his house. He’s alone as he starts his day. No partner, no pets, just him in an empty house going about his morning routine. It’s not that he didn’t crave companionship, he did. He deeply did. But he was never particularly interested in women and… well there certainly wasn’t any other options. Not in this world.

Not in this world. This perfect little world.

John realises he’s running late for work and rushes out the door, only to be greeted by an unfamiliar face. A girl. Young, short and blonde. She asks John if he was… The doctor? No, of course not. He’s just an ordinary office worker, but if the young woman needed help he’d be happy to call someone, it’d have to be quick though since he was running late for work.

The girl quickly apologizes and mumbles something about her being mistaken before running off… How strange.

How strange indeed. Desiderium’s power… it doesn’t seem to work too well on Ruby. yet another oddity to add to the list. Her oddness was what drew Ms. Flood to her in the first place, not that Ruby would know this . She wanted to understand what made her tick, she needed to understand what made reality bend around her. 

Now from here things continue as normal. John Smith goes to work and Ruby stews in her confusion and false memories.

After work the doctor sits down in front of his TV and watches Conrad's channel. The only channel. But… then something else fizzled into the picture. The stark white background was drowned out in a deep red and Conrad was replaced by someone else. Seeing him made the Doctor’s heart drop. There was something about the man on the TV. He liked him. He really liked him.

He listens to his advice and slowly begins to snap out of his delusions, but before he can, Miss Flood arrives and takes him to the tower.

From here Rani's plan is revealed and the doctor is plunged into a decaying London.

-

Reality wars

From here, things once again happen almost identically to the original, however without Belinda there is no need for the stasis cube.

The doctor and Ruby free Unit from the Wish, confront Miss Flood and Rani and make the plan to infiltrate their tower, take Desiderium and stop the Rani from freeing Omega.

The doctor encounters Rani, keeping them distracted as Ruby goes after Conrad.

Omega appears, killing Rani and Miss Flood escapes.

The doctor forces Omega back into the underverse and Ruby defeats Conrad and returns the world normal.

Everyone meets back up at Unit and celebrates defeating the Rani and the Wish world. The doctor walks over to Ruby who is still holding Desiderium, a nagging feeling eating away at him as he approaches. The two of them talk for a short while and the doctor neutralises Desiderium powers with a wish.

It isn’t foolproof mind you. There’s no knowing what their life is going to be like. Their powers could reawaken at any moment, and even if they didn’t it could still bend reality around it just by existing. But to the doctor it was worth the risk.

Then why was he so scared?

Ruby sees The Doctor’s concern and offers for him to hold the baby. He agrees.

The doctor picks up Desiderium from Ruby’s arms and looks down at the baby.

And his heart stops.

He’d seen this baby before. He’d held this baby before! But where?!

His mind raced trying to grasp what gave him such a suffocating sense of deja vu.

And then it clicks.

Then it finally made sense.

Everything finally made sense.

The Doctor looks up at Ruby and thanks her.

He shouts out into the Unit headquarters that he knows exactly what to do with Desiderium. They would be safe, happy and loved, he would make sure of it.

He runs into the tardis clicking buttons and pulling levers, all the while never letting go of small Desiderium.

He knew exactly where he was going.

He puts Desiderium down for just a second, just long enough to throw on a long, hooded cloak from his wardrobe. He picked it so the young baby wouldn’t get cold. It had a built-in heat regulator that would stop the small thing from freezing. Ironic that it also covered The Doctor’s body head to toe.

He picks Desiderium up and steps out of the Tardis into a cold, dark alleyway.

He would have parked closer but he knew what was about to happen. He couldn’t risk being spotted by anyone lest the timeline unravel itself at the seams, and he’d had quite enough of reality breaking for one day.

As he walked through the dark street looking down at Desiderium, he thought about his time with this face. It was all so nostalgic. 

His mind wandered to Ruby. He thought about how snow and soft tunes of Christmas hymns followed her everywhere she went. How no technology in the universe could track down her past. How Mistro was terrified of her. How Sutekh was curious about her. How Desiderium’s power failed to keep its grasp on her.

She had defeated the very gods. And now he finally knew how.

After a short walk through the snowy streets he finally found his destination. A small, simple church. Snow falling heavily all around him and the sound of singing getting ever so closer.

He gave the small child a light kiss on the head and set her down on the front step of the church before turning around and walking away.

Away from Desiderium. He didn’t even look back. Afterall, he knew she was in safe hands here. 

He knew she would be safe, at the church on ruby road.

He returned to the present with a grand smile on his face, stepping towards Ruby and pulling her into a hug. They had a lot to discuss.

[cbk1000]

wait... are you the book of merthur writer? oh my god hiiiiii OK, i am SO excited to start that fic first of all... thank you for writing it. to come into the fandom and hear that there is this incredible long meaty re write was like having the heavens sing down upon me. cannot believe how good it looks, nor the amount of time and love you must have poured into it. it's just incredible.

can I ask if there are any natural breaks in your fic where I could pause to return to it later, like intervals in the narrative? a halfway point or otherwise? I'm prone to just devouring fics in one go, but obviously life doesn't always allow for that, so I was wondering if there was anything I could tell myself to force me to slow down more than anything. like a semi satisfying break off point so I can take a breather between seasons 😭😭😭 and to drop a proper comment about the chunk I just read! I know it might be a ridiculous ask for you to think over however gazillions of words you have written but I just thought I'd ask in case something immediately came to mind! <3

Yes, I'm the author; there are actually a few long rewrites in this fandom, though I haven't read any of the others and can't personally recommend them.

As for a natural stopping point, it actually has five 'books'/parts to it to sort of parallel the show's five seasons, so the end of each book would probably be a good stopping point for you.

Also, just an FYI, but if you haven't read any of my work before, I would start with one of the shorter fics instead of diving straight into that one. My writing style/characterisations are a bit atypical, imo, and that could be something you either really like, or don't want to slog through.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

So, controversial topic. taking in count that in a month, the webcomic "scarlet lady" is gonna end ¿what are your feelings about it?

I know that there's people out there that don't like it for the chloe salt, but i have to admit that the damnation that chloe went through, at least for me, gave her more agency than canon, for the fact that it wasn't manipulated by outside forces like canon did, it gave her the right to choose to be better or worse.

Another great element is that it does what canon refused to do: five back Adrian his agency by letting him vent his frustrations AND let him realize that his father is a bastard.

If you don't agree, that's more than excellent, i want to know your take in this topic, that being positive or negative 😄👍

My friend, you are talking to a big Scarlet Lady fan, so I'm happy to give my thoughts! Get ready for some gushing and in-depth discussion of the adaptation process. That's really what all fanfiction is, but Scarlet Lady is more of an adaptation than most since it's a true canon rewrite that often requires you to know canon to fully appreciate its jokes and meta commentary.

Before we get into it, I want to give a link to the comic for those who haven't read it. The artist/writer is @zoe-oneesama and this is page one of the comic. I'd follow the comic link if you haven't read it as the comic is nearing its end, so going straight to Zoe's page will spoil you on elements of ending.

General Thoughts on Adaptation

Adaptation is an art, not a science. There are things that are objective elements of a story. Things you really cannot change if you want people to feel like you're telling an adaptation of a given tale. But there are also plenty of elements that are more subjective. Things some people might consider vital, but that aren't truly necessary to stay true to the story's core. (Yes, the character core thing applies to stories too!)

For example, to be a Cinderella adaptation, you need to have some sort of big reveal moment where "the prince" finds Cinderella, but that moment doesn't need to involve a slipper and the prince doesn't need to be an actual prince. My favorite modern Cinderella adaptation is A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song and it twists both of those elements while keeping the major story beats in place, making it fully deserving of the Cinderella label while also being its own unique story that isn't a straight retelling, it's an adaptation.

I bring all this up because, as readers of this blog may have already guessed, Scarlet Lady does a lot of things that I personally would not do when adapting Miraculous. A big one being that I prefer a more complex take on Gabriel, but that's simply a matter of preference. A complex Gabriel is not a requirement for adapting Miraculous. Complex Gabriel vs comedic villain Gabriel is just a choice you have to make when it comes to adapting canon because canon is such a mess that both options have straight up backing in the source text. Even if they didn't, Gabriel's core role - villain - is one that leaves you a lot of room for interpretation based on other factors that we'll talk about in a second.

I'll close off this section with this: having read all of Scarlet Lady, I'll be so bold as to say that Zoe and I almost perfectly align when it comes to identifying the flaws in Miraculous because I've agreed with pretty much every change she's made. She did a fantastic job staying true to the core of canon while also telling the story she wanted to tell. It's not the way I'd redo canon, but it doesn't need to be for me to call it a fantastic story. Plus a lot of the different choices I'd make come down to narrative style and tone.

Narrative Style and Tone

I'm a novelist at heart, which means that I favor serialized storytelling. For those who don't know that word, it means stories that are one coherent whole just broken into chunks. Stories where the order matters. You can't start watching at a random episode, you have to start at the beginning. And skipping an episode usually means that you'll have no idea what's going on.

Miraculous is not a serialized show. It's primarily an episodic show, a word that means that episode order doesn't matter. Every installment stands alone.

Obviously Miraculous isn't completely episodic, but that's fine. Purely episodic narratives are rare these days. Most stories have at least minor serialized elements even if those elements are often ignored for multiple episodes at a time. This is where both Miraculous and Scarlet Lady fall. They're mostly episodic stories with serialized elements popping up every now and then.

Miraculous does this element poorly because it acts like it's a purely episodic show and then takes that to an absurd extreme. Rules, characters, and lore can never be counted on to stay the same from episode to episode even though that's not actually how episodic stories work. Scarlet Lady doesn't make this mistake. It understands that episodic narratives should have STORIES that stand alone, but that the WORLD the stories take place in must stay consistent.

Now that we've gone over the basic format stuff, let's talk about tone.

Generally speaking, tone is the vibe of your story. It can be serious, silly, dramatic, and so on. One of Miraculous' biggest flaws is that its tone is all over the place. It's a silly romcom that brings in serious topics in serious ways and then handles them with all the grace of a hippo performing ballet in a china shop because of course it does! Those topics are horribly suited to the show's overall tone so it has no way to properly address them.

This is one of the many things I love about Scarlet Lady. It takes the show's absurdist tone and honors it. That's why Zoe's version of Gabriel works so well! He's a silly cartoony villain in a silly cartoony comic as he should be. It's also why my versions of Gabriel tend to be more complex. More serious serialized narratives are where more serious complex villains thrive. Neither option is better than the other, it all comes down to how you're adapting the original work. Zoe's choices are perfect for her version's style and tone. If mine are even close to that good for my preferred style and tone, then I'll be a happy author.

Narrative Weight & The Chloe Thing

This is getting long, so I'll end with a note on Chloe since you brought her up as it's another great example of the fact that there are very few choices that are inherently right or wrong when it comes to adaptation.

I don't know if I'd say that I'm a Chloe fan, but I certainly don't hate her. I also love what Zoe did with the character! It's a prime example of a thing that I've talked about before: the issue with Chloe is not a lack of redemption. The issue is that Chloe was given too much narrative weight to be what canon made her.

Quick definition: narrative weight is the importance a narrative places on a person, event, thing, etc. The more time you dedicate to an element of your narrative, the more weight that element has in the eyes of your audience. The more they expect the element to matter. The way that you develop the element will also shape audience expectations.

In the context of canon, Chloe has more development than almost any other side character. We know more about her family, her childhood, her personality, and so on. This was an absurd choice for canon to make because Chloe is not actually important to the story they told. You could pull her out of canon and almost nothing would change. Gabriel can make akumas do whatever he wants so, lore wise, he didn't need Miracle Queen. In fact, he arguably shouldn't have made Miracle Queen. He could have just taken the miracle box and jumped right into the plot of season five. Similarly, Chloe being mayor was an absurd one-note moment that's easily replaced with something more logical.

Because of this, there are a lot of things you can do when adapting Chloe. Everything from turning her back into a one-dimensional mean girl to redeeming her to what Zoe did: take Chloe's narrative weight and petty brat behavior and lean into both to make Chloe a main antagonist while also acknowledging the fact that Chloe is a messed up teenage girl who needs some serious help. I'm super excited to see the end of Chloe's arc in Scarlet Lady as I think it's going to be one of my favorites in the fandom. That is admittedly not a high bar as I'm very picky when it comes to Chloe content. I think most of it falls flat because most of it fails to let Chloe hit some sort of rock bottom when she absolutely needs to if you want to do anything interesting with her. She's not the kind of person who will easily change or see the error of her ways.

Conclusion

Scarlet Lady is a fantastic adaption of Miraculous and Zoe is a fantastic and funny adapter. The comic might not be to your tastes - and that's fine, nothing has universal appeal - but it's still a great example of how to honor source material while doing your own thing with it, which is a true skill. One of the problems with many modern retellings and reboots is that the people running the show don't understand how to adapt a narrative. They take far too much creative freedom and end up with something that doesn't feel anything like the source.

If I found out that Zoe somehow got hired to adapt something I love, then I wouldn't have any concerns. I'd have no idea what she'd do with it, but I'd be confident that it wouldn't spit in the face of the thing I love. I'd personally read a hundred Miraculous re-imaginings with her at the helm.

[chaifootsteps]

I'm honestly so curious about who made the call to rewrite ghostfuckers

given how long animation takes and that they were already at the board stage and how similar the antagonist and setting is to the episode proper, I'm not entirely sure I believe Viv's 'it was a different episode that we shelved' thing.

they can barely seem to do second drafts given all the continuity errors but for this one episode they basically started over??

It feels like it can only be in response to the leaks - or rather the backlash to the leaks

and that's curious to me because whenever there's been backlash before Viv's response is usually to double down and just start liking tweets of people defending her writing, regardless of how bad their points or or how unprofessional it makes her look

she must have seen all the convos around Stol1tz in the lead up to full moon dropping but that didn't get a rewrite. it got delayed to basically the last second but I still don't know why - there's nothing noticeably higher quality about that ep and they didn't do the bare minimum of rewriting or recording that sad little 'I didn't know you think so low of me' to be nails on a chalkboard awful

she's basically committed the entire back half of the season to blaming Blitzo for daring to stand up for himself and not immediately be at Stolas' beck and call and large chunks of the fandom - even those who still believe Stolas will realize that he's in the wrong (or equally in the wrong, I guess is what some are going with). if the audience isn't into that the show is dead in the water

and yet backlash over driving Millie to suicide was enough to make her trash a whole episode? given Brandon eventually rewrote by himself the real version it makes me wonder if other people in the studio pressured her into redoing it and she made Brandon do it solo as a 'fine if we have to do a rewrite you do it' sort of attitude. even then she has script supervising credits, probably because she didn't trust him not to have someone point out the Stolas thing is completely wild

it's kinda sad because it felt like Brandon was trying to right the ship by giving Millie a backstory and something resembling a character dynamic with Blitzo. it's not a great episode but it's leagues better than the unpleasant shitshow of the last two Viv written outings with Stolas in them and the group is once again in the forefront (funny how that happens whenever Viv isn't the one writing the script)

bu even that wasn't enough, because the views are showing HB is increasingly dead in the water. if they even make it to s4 we might be looking at something totally outsourced getting only 5M views tops, if not lower

"I'm not entirely sure I believe Viv's 'it was a different episode that we shelved' thing."

Nor should you. Viv's a notorious liar, and not a particularly good one, and I'd be willing to stake real money on the episode being rewritten solely because of the leaks. It couldn't have been easy on the animators, going back to the drawing board, but when has Viv ever cared about her animators before?

[chrysanthemumgames]

Could you share a little more about your writing process? Do you outline? I’m struggling with keeping the amount of choices down in my game but also keeping it customizable

I may not be the best person to ask about this, as I'm honestly still quite an amateur, but I'll share some of what I do, and maybe it'll help.

I do think some amount of outlining is pretty necessary for writing an interactive fiction. Flying by the seat of your pants (that is, just writing until you're done, then going back to rewrite everything into coherence) isn't really sustainable practice for a (long) choice game. You really want to know at least where all the major branches of your game are going, and where they can meet back up again.

Those meeting places are called chokepoints, and they're vital.

For example, in Chapter Four of FoA, the player has three different routes of investigation they can take. They can go talk to Lethe and try to help heal her, they can go into the city to see if the spirits know anything, or they can go to the riverbank to try and pinpoint the source and nature of whatever is ailing the river Lethe. This results in three distinct scenes, each with their own choices, and if I'd wanted to, all of them could have further branched in some big way that would affect the plot, and so on, and so forth.

The thing is, that's not really doable. There needs to be some place the branches meet up again so the story can continue, at least as early in the game as Chapter Four! In this example, it was literally a meeting where everyone talked about their findings, but of course it doesn't have to be. The point is, it brought the branches back together again and allowed the story to continue. You should probably at least have a sense of when the bigger branches are going to occur, and what's going to bring them together again. That alone will help you control the number of choices and branches you offer. If you know they all have to eventually get the player to the clock tower at midnight or something, then you know how to steer things within each branch.

My outlines tend to be a little more detailed than that. I start with a beat chart for the game (or, in the case of BotL, a beat chart for each subplot, because it's basically several subplots stacked together wearing a trenchcoat), and from there I put them in the right order and make a beat chart for the whole thing.

A 'beat chart' here is just a list of the big things that happen like 'PC meets Iasion' or 'Trial of Pirithous and Theseus.' Once you have a really general outline like that, you can stop outlining if you want. You have a roadmap, and if you're more of an improvisor, that should still be enough to help you steer yourself towards the necessary chokepoints. If you prefer to plan more, like me, you can break your outline into chunks and add levels of detail. I will do a chapter-by-chapter outline with a list of scenes for each, and then when I come to the specific chapter I will actually outline the scenes with code before writing my way through them. Sometimes all at once, sometimes in the form of outline, scene, outline, scene.

Finding the process that works for you is a big part of succeeding at finishing an IF, I think. Yours might not (probably won't) be the same as mine; the important thing is that it keeps you moving forward (and not just laterally, into more and more branches). Branches are great, but you have to prune them back sometimes for the healthiest plant. IF. You get what I mean, I hope.

[setaflow]

Writer Interview:

Thank you for tagging me @wanderingaldecaldo ! :)

See Wash's responses here.

___________________________________________

When did you start writing?

I think I read and wrote my first "fanfic", if you could call it that, sometime back on the Warrior Cats forum in the late aughts, back when I was like 11 or 12-ish. Surprise surprise, I was a desperately lonely kid with not a lot of creative outlets in middle school, so online forums made up a chunk of my social life for a good three years, but they also probably unironically saved my life. Thank you Erin Hunter for your dumbass religious cat books.

I remember it really clearly too, oddly enough. It was like a Long Shadows rewrite for if Brambleclaw had been cornered in the fire by Ashfur instead of Squirrelflight (my WC homies know what I'm talking about). It was probably 100 words long and about as good as something written by an 11 year old with no writing experience can be in that time, but I think it maybe got one or two nice comments? Definitely didn't consider it a herald of things to come, but it was nice that a few people liked the concept.

My first time actually writing real-deal, honest-to-god, free range USDA grade organic fanfiction was in 2012-13 after the launch of Assassin's Creed III, my first and longest video game love. This was around the time when FF.net was on the downslide but still fairly popular, and a couple of my high school friends introduced me to the concept of fanfic hosting sites around that time with the idea that it'd be something I'd probably be into. After reading a bunch of work in the fandom I sat down in the spring and started penning my own stuff, and my writing just kinda took off from there.

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

I'm actually a huge horror nut. Stephan Graham Jones is a personal fav of mine and I have The Buffalo Hunter Hunter lined up for reading as soon as I'm done with my book club read this month. Themes-wise, while I don't really write about death, I love novels that explore death and the ripple effect it has on people in a public or personal community. I also really love coming of age novels.

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

Literally anyone who's ever spoken to me about my writing will know that I am doing everything I can to model my writing style after Fredrick Backman. I can actually demarcate a point in time, around 2017, where my writing quality took a huge jump before and after reading Beartown, which is part of the reason why I'm so insistent on recommending it to everyone I meet. Anyone who's read a Backman book and then reads a piece from my more recent work can instantly tell who I'm trying to model my stuff after. It's honestly kind of embarrassing.

Tom Robbins gets a shout-out, but mostly for humor and metaphors/imagery. There's a little of Oscar Wilde and Virginia Wolfe in there if you squint, but it's not hugely prevalent.

I don't often get comparisons, but I think once upon a time I ran a snippet of one of my fics through a style comparison simulator and it spat out Kenneth Grahame, who wrote The Wind in the Willows, so take with that what you will.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

Either a couch full of dog hair, my desk when I'm bored at work, or my bed. Those are the places I'm usually able to get a modest amount of writing done, but honestly somedays my head is my best writing space for 5 months running 🫠

What’s your most effective way to muster up a muse?

Honestly, and this sounds so obvious but I swear-- reading a new book you like. NOT fanfiction; an actual published book. Go get a library card and just start checking shit out. The amount of times that I finished a really great book and then immediately spat out 2k words has been astronomical. It works your writer brain and helps you get new ideas. There are some days where I'll read 5 sentences in my book and get the itch to start writing immediately.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

I enjoy writing in shades of gray. I'm very into exploring the concept of when revenge is mistaken as justice and what ripples through stories as a result of that-- it's a very Hamlet-esque topic I know but goddamn do I love inserting it into everything I write. Particularly when I write original characters, themes of loneliness, the perpetuation of violent cycles, and forgiveness of the self are also standouts.

Also, since I'm not a huge romance writer, literally every single one of my fics focuses on either families of choice/familial love, intense platonic love, or both. You WILL get found family and you WILL like it, goddamnit.

What is your reason for writing?

The poetic reason is "because I have to". The real reason is, back in 2013 every Connor Kenway-centered fanfic on ff.net featured a poorly written romance with a copy-and-paste colonial self-insert woman and after a while, I got fucking bored and wrote what I wanted to read. Literally that's all it took. Every other fic I've written after that has followed that impulse-- something that I wanted to see in the fandom and knowing there was a small chance anyone else was actually going to write it unless I buckled down and did it.

Is there any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating?

I'm going to be such a huge dick here and say that I don't really find any comments to be a huge motivator. Comments are very sweet and I cherish every single one of them no matter how detailed and/or personal, but it's the onus shouldn't be on the commenter to motivate the writer. My motivation to write is always there and very sweet and well thought-out comments do give it a boost, but I think a writer that uses comments as a large chunk of their motivation is making a huge mistake.

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

As a funny little guy who occasionally writes something that makes them think "Hey, that was pretty profound" from time to time. When you kinda cultivate the online image of yourself as a shitposter who constantly makes jokes, I guess sometimes you want to be taken a little bit seriously from time to time.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

I'm good on descriptions-- I try to use as many different sense descriptors as I can, and maybe it's a "throw shit at the wall to see what sticks" method, but I've really liked some of my descriptor paragraphs looking back on them.

I usually get some nods towards characterization and character writing. I try to plan out character arcs with the same tact and scrutiny as my story arcs.

I've got a decent-enough sense of humor where I feel I can add levity and make it come across as organic.

I suppose I'm never struggling for word count (both a blessing and a curse).

How do you feel about your own writing?

God, loaded question, that. Some days I really love my writing and other days I want to hurl my computer out a window. It comes and goes in waves-- right now I'm in a "eh, my stuff's not half bad" phase for all my CP2077 stuff, so hopefully we're on an upward trend.

My old stuff though, from 2016 and back? God, toss it into the fire. The only reason I haven't deleted them is because I hate deleting my work unless I REALLY fucking regret it.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely for yourself, or a mix of both?

See above answers lol. My preferred topics of writing are not really destined for high hit count/reader count anyway, and I've accepted that, so if I didn't write solely for myself I'd probably have stopped a long time ago. Also, and I hate to be this person, but topics that are 'popular' in a fandom aren't always what's 'good' in a fandom. There are people who can do 'popular' with way more talent and zeal than I can, so I'm fine hanging with my own work and the like 5 people that really enjoy it lol.

___________________________________________

Not tagging anyone because I tagged for the 20 Questions tag yesterday, but maybe I'll change my mind in a week. if you want to give it a shot, do it for me and hit me up when you do!

[pennyblossom-meta]

I want to start your story because I love your meta but I'm scared because of the major character death tag 😭 I can't have L die like in canon, don't hurt me

anon is referring to The Ides of April

Hello and welcome, dear anon! I'll try not to give you spoilers but I will say that, for now, you're in the clear for any major characters dying.

But what is a major character? There's certainly Anna and L, the main characters for TIoA series --- but then there's also Watari, Light, Misa, Rufus, Millicent and the Task Force. I'd consider them major characters as well, even if they're presented as secondary for chunks of the storyline. Millicent is a driving force even from a distance, acting as Anna's conscience when she falters or is unsure of what to do. Anna does ignore a lot of Millicent's advice, but no matter :p

So, the concept of a 'major character' is not so set in stone. The more time you spend with them throughout the story, the more connected you feel. It's all a matter of perspective and immersiveness.

That being said, the story is a Death Note x Harry Potter crossover and quite niche, so it may not be to most people's tastes. The writing itself is so-so and I'm always tempted to rewrite past chapters. I hope you'll enjoy it if you do decide to read it and would love to know your thoughts on the plot so far, but the heavy world building might be a turn off for some people. For some reason, I just can't seem to write without indulging in a mammoth of context around the characters.

Have a wonderful weekend! Feel free to ask questions here or in AO3, I'll try to reply as soon as I'm able.

[the-furthest-city-light]

ohhh thank you @swordsmans this is gonna be fun.

words posted:

24,422: I only posted one chapter of New Seas Ahead this year, and have not finished the sequel to spill your wine yet (though both are still in the works). This is actually a little higher than i expected lmao.

additional words written:

84,726 - this is all WIP stuff that I'm actively working on and intend to post. Eventually. This is the end of New Seas Ahead, empty your basket, a gift fic (that is much delayed i'm so sorry TT) and two secret fics. This does not include words i wrote and then deleted.

fandoms:

one piece. It's always one piece.

highest kudos + highest hit one shot:

highest kudos/hits: Found in the Crack of Your Palm, which is the only standalone fic I published this year. It's a get together fic, Luffy is very demisexual at Zoro for 11k.

new things i tried:

One of my secret WIPs is being written in a completely different outlining style. I like it. It's much less haphazard than my usual. i will probably adopt it for new fics going forward. Hopefully this means I will rewrite less TT.

fic i spent the most time on:

New Seas Ahead. I wrote and then rewrote the next three chapters like 2-3 times, which totaled anywhere between 25k and 60k words depending on the version. I am considering doing it again. Don't tell me I won't.

fic i spent the least time on:

Contretempts of a Swordsman and a Liar (or Chapter 4 of Flotsam and Jetsam): Word count wise it's the shortest but also I almost didn't publish it. I found the notes and a good chunk of the dialogue in a google doc from 2021 and rewrote it in a single day, then hit post. It's fine. Somehow my fic with the laziest title keeps getting chapters with my best ones.

favorite thing i wrote:

Found in the Crack of Your Palm, easily. It's the first time I've written something that self contained in a WHILE and it was refreshing. Plus it was a gift! I also just really enjoyed the process of writing this one too.

favorite things i read:

oh noooo....this is...ugh. I guess I'd have to say Heating Up by keyascribe, as I think it's the one I've returned to most this year. It's a Zolu fic set pre-ts. There's some quotes I can't stop thinking about, and I love the author's lyricism and the rhythm of the prose. The way they handle the emotional conflict is so deft too.

writing goals for 2025:

goal number 1 is the same one i've had since like, 2019....finish New Seas Ahead (I can do it this year! If we just believe!)

Goal number 2 is finish/post empty your basket (the spill your wine sequel).

Goal number 3 is write some smaller, less intensely long or emotionally complicated fics before attempting to write my next epic or the third installment of fair winds and following seas but we're not gonna talk about her until elbaph's done probably.

new works:

I have a gift fic that will be the next thing I post. I'm like 50-60% done with it and would have posted it by new years if life stuff hadn't been happening as it does. I have two smaller suprise fics that I've been noodling on since August. I have a slightly cracky fic that is inspired by a post i saw like a year ago. Lots of WIPS. let's hope i actually manage to be satisfied with my writing enough to post it this year hm??

tagging:

@loopeyfluff @mangogreent @majormiles you're it!

[lynxfrost13]

LYNXXXXXX for the ask game..... 1 for sonderbar and 3, 6 and 14 for pebble 🥹🥹? I heart him fuckkk also. 20 for voel pretty please.....

RENEEEE TY FOR THE ASKKK

Sonderbar

What was the original thought that led to the creation of this character?

I wish I could say more, but I just went "what if a replika thought they were a different unit" and from there I thought going from a really low ranking/common unit to one of AEON's top dogs would be really fun to explore!

3. How long was the process before the character reached its final version? (or a version that would be clearly recognizable as the character?)

OKAY I actually have the exact time and date of her conception for you: July 22nd in the year of our lord 2024

^ This was the original thought that led to her, but I didn't make her intro post until August 3rd, which is definitely when she became the Sonderbar we know today, I remember spending a solid chunk of time trying to name her and work out some of the more fun details about her that night, like her arm defect! Also I think I have mentioned it before but she was originally very different character wise, she was a lot more of a real threat and not at sierpinski, and even had gotten a destabilized adler unit to be by her side in that version of her which I did think was a really neat idea!! However I am very happy with the beautiful girl I have today, idk something about her being much less able to become a falke in the setting she's in really gets me and feels more realistic to the setting of sierpinski/signalis to me.

Pebble

3. What was the first thing you decided on, the character's name, appearance, personality or their role in the story?

Appearance! And he's changed a bit since then! I went through and dug up his first ever art pieces for you for fun! The first pic was his birth into the world... 4 years ago... shortly shortly followed by his first ref... looking at my old art of him is wilddd but here's his progression from 2021 -> 2022 -> 2024

6. What was the thought process behind their appearance? Did you go mostly for the aesthetic or are there other reasons they look the way they do?

Tbh he was just made for the aesthetic at first, I originally tried to make him look more like many types of river rocks but settled on the stone and moss look. He's also originally from wings of fire so I also took into account what type of dragon he'd be: a mud/sea hybrid! He gets his fins and glow spots from the seawing side, and his chunky solid build from the mud :)

14. Do you have any quotes tied to the character, either from the story itself or from another source that fit them?

Idk if song lyrics count but I'm counting them, Karma by AJR is THE Pebble song and if I had the skill and patience the animatic I'd make would be legendary... these lines especially I think are really defining for his character:

Time, I know we're out of time But what if sad thoughts come and I can't stop it Bye, I don't wanna say bye If only I could keep you in my pocket...

^ I say it's very character defining mostly because although he's sort of in sotry/lore limbo right now (the amount of retcons and rewrites he's gotten... I might yap abt those one day) Pebble's always managed to have this core theme of moving on from grief funnily enough. He does lose someone important to him (again kind of old lore, originally he lost a partner -> changed to child -> partner again -> in limbo again but I think it might become a loss of a best friend and/or partner. This is up in the air rn mostly because at the time I wasn't happy with how those other versions of the character existed solely around Pebble and weren't really characters in their own right. Perhaps this is hell). I really have to work on my wof worldbuilding and Pebb's story again tbh, he deserves it and now you've got me thinking about him again... I actually also might put him into Voel so that leads into a nice transition lmao!!

Voel

20. Bonus question: share any additional thoughts, art, favourite scenes, anything you've been waiting for a chance to ramble about

aw fuck this is gonna be such a long post I don't think I've done a true yap sesh abt Voel yet... I'm gonna try to keep it to the bare bones but THERES SO MUCH I WANNA YAP ABT AND WORK OUTTT AUGHHH a lot of this text is copied from random discord places where I've already done some talking so I'll put that stuff in quotes

Also just for fun but I think it does better at giving the vibes for everything is my eternally in progress pinterest board for Voel + the lands and races here

"So the background for how this world was formed into what u see on the map is that originally, the world was a barren and dry wasteland inhabited by one single being, Arvellis (names are being workshopped rn). They only knew the world they were born into but fell in love with it despite it being incredibly harsh to live in. They spent their entire life exploring the wasteland hoping to find someone, anyone to share it with, but eventually they realized and accepted that they were completely alone. Their heart couldn’t take the grief, and they died (rip lonely guy 😔). Their body was full of a lot of potent magic though, and so as it rotted and as its blood seeped into the ground, it became the catalyst for life on Voel! There was also a small explosion of that potent magic caused by the heart upon dying, which is why there’s the lake where it is. Arvellis was HUGE so parts of their body are still easily recognizable as landmarks present day, notable the ribs in the desert, and south Quara's islands are made up of skull fragments"

Okay so that's how everything is created and from there I've got those 4 main regions with their respective races:

Thros is the primarily rocky desert region (formerly grassy plains, scrapped that though). The Throsians inhabit it, they're inspired by a mix of real life animals (long distance running plain mammals, wasps, pangolins, etc) as well as buggy type aliens and the draenei race from warcraft. Here's some old ass sketches from when I finally solidified a lot of their features, I think the bottom headshot and the headshot next to the big YES are the most accurate to what they look like. Originally I considered making them mammals but idk about that... I might still keep them mammalian but get rid of the small sexual dimorphisms they had. They've got weird ass sturdy feet that are built for both running on rocky and rough desert terrain, and along with their long legs they're also very long jumpers. These guys can run for ages at a steady pace because of gill-like structures on their torsos that help them take in more air as they're in motion, and they've also got their tails for balance!

Culturally I'm still figuring a LOT out for these guys but Throsian cities are kind of cool in that they're inspired by paper and potter wasps in terms of how organic they look. This was a super rough sketch from a while ago kinda showing that. All Throsian cities apart from their "capitol" one (which is essentially just the crossroads city so it's big bc there's a lot of Throsian commerce happening as well as travel) are nestled into the ribs of Arvellis. Yeah the dead giant guy. His ribs over time turned into stone and fragments + whole bits are scattered across the entire desert. The cities being nestled in and on there is also practical since it keeps them in a cool location with less sun beating down on them. Also it's cool as fuck to live right on the bones of a dead god.

Quara is a little weird in that it's kind of spread out, and the Quarans as a people are also generally split into three groups based on their region + regional culture divides. They're essentially fish folk/mermaids with legs lmao. Here's some ancient ass brainstorming from early last year, they were originally ALL called Tideborn before I swapped to the general name of Quaran for the race so sorry if it's a bit confusing.

"For a long time the tideborn as we know them today were united under one leader and they were a very strong unified nation across Voel, with lots of underwater highways of a sort connecting the different islands. Slowly over time though cultural and physical differences grew and they sort of just naturally drifted apart into individual little groups. The southern tideborn and northern tideborn are often in disagreement over how to best worship the tidemother and tend to not get along present day as a whole in terms of culture (there are lots of individual exceptions of course, and city dwellers intermingle much more). It’s not a hostile relationship, they keep up a business relationship and trade often, but each thinks the other has the wrong idea. Southern tideborn really stick to the idea of the tidemother as a wanderer first and then protector. And they tend to have much smaller but more frequent villages, with many of them passing through the villages and acting like wanderer knights of a sort (I love knights. Fish knights. Let me have this)

Whereas the tropical tideborn think more along the lines of, protector over wanderer. They have strong, large fortified cities that are connected to each other and from there they protect people much more locally (and if needed they can send their people in huge groups to assist during like. Natural disasters, disease spreading, etc on a more global scale)

The temperate water Tideborn are kind of a weird middle ground? They’re not wanderers in the sense that their southern cousins are, but they tend to be traveling merchants and entertainers and such instead (they see that as a way of helping people too. Not just saving them from danger but providing goods and stories) and their influence on both of their brother groups has led to this odd little coalition that serves as a loosely united leadership for the tideborn as a whole."

This is all hella old and some things have changed but most of it is still true. The Tidemother is the deity that all of the Quaran cultures revere regardless of their differences!! Also I made it a lil confusing but Northern Quarans are the tropical fish variant, Southern are the arctic fish variant, and the temperate Quarans are a mix of tropical, arctic, and freshwater/river fish variant. Northern Quarans tend to physically be shorter,more slender and naturally have lots of bright colors and patterns, Southern Quarans on the other hand tend to be very large size wise. They're both taller and usually more heavyset since their bodies adapted to storing more fat for the colder enviroment. Again the temperate Quarans aren't as fleshed out but they have a lot more variety in terms of body shape, but color wise they're never as eye catching as their northern cousins.

Culture wise something that has changed is Southern Quarans do also have a few small fortress type cities, nowhere near the scale of the north though. I really struggled figuring out the general architecture style for both south and north Quara, but I think these rough sketches do a decent job of showing what I want. Sorry abt my handwriting but yeah! Northern Quarans tend to have very organic and round strucutres with lots of open space due to the tropical climate. A lot of their structures are inspired by conch shells and underwater organics, and their cities also tend to be very busy visually, with a lot of buildings intertwined/ stacked which can almost make it feel like the city is crawling on itself. Although the building layout is super busy, Northern cities do always have a clear and wide main highway going in and through. Southern Cities on the other hand are very bare bones at first glance. They can come off as very cold and rigid and that's bc Southern Quarans love their inorganic structures. They use a lot of hard straight edges for their structures, with really tall ceilings and neat square or rectangle layouts. It's not that they don't like incorporating organics, but they like them contained and orderly. If you go up to any South Quaran city wall it's guaranteed to be intricately carved, either with artistic depictions of historic figures, animals, etc or just patterns.

OH also fun detail since I will be talking about the skeleton of a magic system that I have rn, but Southern Tideborn have a tradition of getting magical tattoos as a sort of coming of age ritual.

So next up is Dekthros and its draconic citizens, the Dekthrians! I'm currently in the process of reworking them to try and make them fit a little better into the world/not be just generic dragons/dragonfolk because I worry that they are (Ultimately I'm creating all of this for myself BUT that's exactly why I want to change things). So the fun thing about the Dekthrians is that they all mostly live in the mountain region of Voel, but they live underground since that region has a lot of naturally sprawling caverns. Think of like how expansive and huge the new minecraft cave enviroments are and how sometimes they don't even feel closed in, that's basically what it's like. The big thing the Dekthrians have going for them is that they're generally known for their skill when it comes to crafting and forging weapons, armor, and jewelry, and their cities aren't called Forge Cities for nothing. At the center of each city is a giant forge and crafting center, inspired by Ironforge and dwarf architecture from warcraft (all of their aesthetic is generally warcraft dwarf inspired. There is a theme here of me taking a lot of inspo from warcraft aesthetics lmao). Another thing I think is really awesome is that the Forge Cities aren't isolated, but there's a lot of different smaller settlements in pockets of the underground all connected by major underground tunnels. An easy and safe way to travel through the otherwise very harsh mountain range is by just traveling the cave system, it's well lit and easy to go on foot or via other transportation modes, and there's plenty of points where someone could stop and spend a night resting. I've done almost no art when it comes to Dekthros or its inhabitants but here's a really fast concept scribble I did a while ago for a tunnel/forge city. They tend to have a lot of bridges built across for accessibility, and Dekthrians tend to layer their homes vertically since the caves allow for that. They literally just dig into that rock and live there!

Physically I don't have too much to say about the Dekthrians other than they're mostly built like the typical western dragon... but I'm planning on fleshing them out at somepoint to allow for variation from their chunky bulky builds (I have to work it out, but I'm planning on potentially a variant that lives on the coast, mostly as an excuse to put Pebble into Voel lol, but also a more serpentine/cloud serpent inspired high altitude variant...). The cool things that I do have about them though are some of their cultural bits, mostly their visage crafting and their funerals. The visage crafting is partially in limbo right now as well due to figuring out what the limitations should be and if it should even exist as it is right now, but essentially a coming of age thing that most Dekthrians participate in is designing and crafting their own tool/weapon/accessory of choice that the also enchant to give them a smaller form more similar to the size of the other Voelian races as a way to integrate better (Dekthrians are the largest of all the main races, with Quarans and Throsians being in a similar range and Teelans varying more... I'll get to them later tho). Again I do have to workshop it but I really like the idea of it being a big deal in their society to spend a long time designing something that's just right for you!! Whatever a Dekthrian makes/chooses is pretty permanent in that making another visage is incredibly difficult due to the magic system I'm also still working on!!

Anyway the other thing I think is really neat about them is their funerals because they go all out. Some more copied text coming up

"it ties into the idea of their primary god being The Mourner... The Dekthrians build off of this and their traditional funerals are basically these very beautiful parties. Everyone is invited regardless of whether they knew the person that died, because this is a chance to get to know them now. The entire thing lasts several days, with the first day being the cremation (burial also happens but is less common. Each family member contributes to the lighting of the fire in cremation) and families tend to have a place where their visage tool is stored afterwards. Not much else happens the first day apart from a quiet moment for personal mourning. The next day is when festivities are expected to start, and these differ from group to group on length and what they do during them. Some parties last a couple days, some last up to a month (tends to happen with popular figures or leaders). The common things in all of them are stories, incredible food, and lots of games. Most Dekthrians try to do activities that the dead person would’ve enjoyed, so maybe poetry reading would happen at one, or there would be a concert at another, etc. It’s a lot of fun and they do a really good job of not just partying but also remembering that person. The last day, whenever it is, usually has a big send off to the deceased, where everyone gathers and a nighttime fire display with lots of colors (magical fireworks basically) marks the end of the ceremony."

Theyr'e the only race whose funeral/death rites I've fleshed out, I do want to get around to everyone else eventually.

Okay last of the races are my favorite children, the Teelans! Aesthetically they're heavily inspired by both the brokers from warcraft and a lot of cool pottery and mesoamerican art and architecture! Here are the brokers for fun because I think they deserve more love (#1 broker fan here they were the best thing to come from shadowlands and I'm dying on that hill)

Teelans are a funny race in that they are technically constructs (animated beings that are usually crafted/sculpted/grown etc) but they're fully sentient and intelligent, where true constructs might have some personality they're ultimately made for a purpose and aren't sentient. The super fun thing about the Teelans is that they're essentially living clay dolls, and a huge part of their culture is self expression and body modification. The variety you can get in size and shape in these guys is one of my favorite things about them, here's some old arts of them.

The blue "flame" is what separates them from true constructs and it's kinda like their soul/consciousness. They're really hard to fully kill because of that, you'd have to completely pulverize their body and leave it unsalvageable. Also a fun thing is that the way Teelans are "born" is via an enchanted mud pit that they emerge out of all goopy -> they then dry out into a very basic humanoid shape and from there they start making adjustments and modifications themselves as they progress through life. They also can't die from old age! I feel like I don't have as much I want to say about them but another thing I think is neat and that transitions semi nicely into other stuff is that Teelan homes are true constructs. Teelan cities technically CAN just get up and move anywhere anytime because most buildings are animated constructs!!

I also don't have a lot to say about constructs apart from what I've already said, but I do want to point out a notable one called the City Colossus. No one really knows who animated it or why they did it (it's theorized that it woke up/was "born" due to a high saturation of god blood in that region...) but the Colossus is always traveling around Voel, and it's become a weird mobile trade hub of sorts. There's again, still a lot I'm working out like whether all of the races inahbit the city -> or if I want to make someone new OR I have considered leaving it abandoned and I do like that a lot. Anyway, the Colossus is completely harmless and just completes its route every year and I love it a lot.

The last thing I really wanna talk about is the magic system which is undergoing some serious reworking, what I can definitely say about it is that everything in this world does have magical properties of varying degrees, with organic creatures having more typically (an exception is the Teelans but they're weird). There's two primary types of magic that can be performed, enchantments and wards. Enchantments are usually assumed to be "temporary magic" and while that is true a lot of the time, the main difference between an enchantment and a ward is where the magic comes from. Wards come from a magic user drawing on their own magic, which is a lot more taxing and typically reserved for bigger permanent spells (for example, Quaran tattoos or Dekthrian weapons) where enchantments make use of other magic sources (so this would be like using animal and mineral ingredients or potion brewing to give temporary effects usually). It's mostly undergoing some reworking because I like it when magic is a little more grounded and has hard set rules, and I felt like earlier on Voel didn't have that! I'm currently trying to figure out the consequences of someone overusing ward magic, it's probably gonna involve just dying from being so drained buttt I'm also playing around with the concept of draining yourself of magic leading to something worse... idk as you can tell a lot of this is still very much being developed!!! That's basically all the big stuff but for fun and as a treat if you made it to the bottom of this, here's some different rough creature concepts for this silly world

[27spoons]

yapping to you about that insane act 2 of crush and telling you about my favorite lines because i am a mutual supporter.... n e ways

"You had to fucking grip it like that?" As you continue your work, Nat snarls— or attempts to, but she really isn't that scary right now.

THIS HAD ME HOWLING and also it's so painfully nat... like i heard soapy t in my head dude.. superb dialogue all around you write her speaking patterns sooooo well.

also, this might be niche (and kinda my own freak) but the way you describe injuries really scratches (no pun intended) an itch. i love the wording you use

"I didn't even start doing shit until late sophomore year. Denny and his gang move dope, and I've always had a hard time saying no. So, when it was offered…" She shrugs, "I did some lines. But it's not something I do often."

SHE SAID THE THING!!! literally pointed at my screen like THE LINE... THE LINE...... yes....

It takes you a second to catch up and understand what's happening, but you kiss her back this time despite the tachycardia causing your chest to feel tight. 

TACHYCARDIA????? oh your wording... YOUR WORDING... ate so hard with that line i'm sorry

"Oh," Nat pulls back slightly, using her hands on your shoulders to keep you from moving back in to continue the kiss. "Yeah, I think we're a little too dressed for that."

and also

"You make it sound like we're assembling IKEA furniture," you deadpan, but the corners of your mouth twitch into a smile. "Some assembly required," she quips back, closing the distance and kissing you again.

giggled. chuckled even. you write true to canon silly nat so well

not gonna quote anything from The Action because... i'd quote the entire thing you knocked it out of the fucking PARK my friend it ATE (no pun intended) like oouguhhhh you can write sex but can you write intimacy is always the question and the answer is yes. you killed it. wonderful 10/10 no notes

final review: SO GOOD. YALL BETTER CLAP FOR THIS INCREDIBLE FUCKING WRITER RIGHT HERE !!!! and also i'm terrified for everything to go downhill but i also can't wait to see it happen because i know you're gonna make that shit HURT...

anyways thank you for entertaining this ask. 5 stars 10/10 would (and will) read again

THANK YOU FOR THIS MESSAGE IT'S GENUINELY SO NICE TO SEE PEOPLE BREAKING DOWN THE WORK AND SEEING THE REFERENCES

when i read my own works back to myself, in my head, if i cant hear sophie t's nat........... it's getting rewritten. when i was reading the first chunk of it back to soph she pointed out phrases that didn't sound right and i was like........ damn ur right.......... rewriting this

as for the injuries and technical stuff............. i have medical training so i was like "teehee i'm gonna make this descriptive"

ANYWAYS!!!!!!!!!! thank you for the nice comments 🥺🥺🥺🥺 i promise I'll only make the pain kinda painful in the upcoming chapter

i was looking for the first gif but after posting the answer to 🍓's ask i realise that these gifs r the same thing just in different fonts

[yarameijer]

Hi, I've been reading accidental reversal and I really like your 'what if' scenarios with tenma and the gang, and I've had a fic idea I've been considering for a while that I'd appreciate your input on

I've really gotten attached to the idea of a Deaf Tenma, making the decision not to go to a Deaf School (The only Deaf school in Japan that I can find is Meisei Gakuen, which is located in tokyo, which is extremely close to if not the same city where Raimon is) so that he can play for the soccer team that inspired him, only to find the whole fifth sector mess going on.

naturally, he starts the whole revolution, because hes putting the quality of his education on the line to play for raimon, and he isn't about to let that sacrifice for nothing.

tsurugi notices straight away, and when he goes home he immediately starts learning JSL, because first of all he is Not ableist (for obvious reasons), and second is because if he's going to be monologuing at this kid, he's going to make sure he can be understood (he ends up being to go to interpreter when aoi/shinsuke isn't there)

shunsuke asks aoi to teach him and they bond

endou is surprisingly good at JSL when he picks it up (good with his hands + has a very expressive face), kidou, not so much (obscured face, not very expressive anyways)

due to the tension among the team in the first few games, it takes a good chunk of raimon an embarrassingly long time to realize that he isn't just wearing earbuds, and that he doesn't just have an odd accent, and that him looking directly at peoples mouths isn't just a quirk (shindou/kirino/sangoku being like 'How did you not realize? it's so obvious, we've just been learning independently')

also because I've noticed a trend in the show that these kids sure do like to monologue on the soccer field, and I think it's funny if they keep getting interrupted by a kid that just, does not seem to care (its difficult to lip read from a distance, they won't always be facing him, and it seems like a bad idea to wear hearing aids while playing a sport where kids can whip up fire tornadoes, because the average cost of a pair of hearing aids is approximately $4000, or ¥592,560)

anyways it's just an idea I've been considering

Whoa, I love that idea? It sounds so great! I’m a huge fan of rewriting the old story with just enough of a spin to give it a new flavor, and this one’s super interesting. Kinda reminds me of an idea I had at some point in which Tenma is mute and uses sign language. Also lmao Tenma pulling the revolution because ‘’I did NOT sacrifice my education just to get stuck with this crap’’ sounds like such a Tenma move, ngl.

Also yes, Raimon is located in Inazuma Town which is somewhere in Tokyo, it’s on the wiki if you want to check it out!

Okay so I’m not sure what exactly you wanted my input on, so I’m just gonna ramble! Feel free to send me another ask or comment if you wanted something more specific. Anyway, some things that immediately come to mind when I think about this:

1) One of the reasons Tsurugi takes his JSL lessons so seriously could be because Tenma reminds him of his brother. It’s not the same situation but in a way they’re both dealing with disabilities and Tsurugi has seen firsthand how hard it can be for Yuuichi, so he’s a bit softer towards Tenma because of that.

2) Depending on how much of a little shit you want Tenma to be: imagine him turning off his hearing aids at comedic moments, like when someone starts gushing about Fifth Sector’s goals. Tenma just nope’s straight out of that one. Or, although this might be a bit later when he’s more comfortable with the team, him turning off his hearing aids when someone starts scolding him. Absolute power move. They don’t even need to know he does it, maybe someone eventually finds out, cue comedic moment.

3) Since you mentioned accents… Tenma’s from Okinawa and as far as I could find, Okinawans have at least a bit of an accent. Deaf people are also known to learn how to speak by copying the lip movements of the people around them… so if Tenma grew up on Okinawa, it could be assumed he’s grown up speaking Okinawan Japanese and has the accent to match. I imagine non-deaf Tenma would have worked out most of his accent after he moved to Okinawa town so as to not stand out, but deaf Tenma would have had a harder time doing so/might not have even realized he had an accent in the first place. (There is a difference between Okinawan Japanese, which is a Japanese dialect, and the Okinawan language, which is a whole other language altogether and only a few people speak it (mostly the elderly) because it stems from a period before Okinawa was Japanese territory, so if you make use of this idea, maybe look into that a bit. It’s a bit of a complicated situation but I think it could really add something to the characters). This does depend a little on whether Tenma was born deaf or not, I think (that would also influence his lip reading/sign language skills - was he born deaf or has he only been deaf for a few years?)

4) Find subtle ways to mention it throughout the story instead of using full paragraphs. I like comparing it to writing someone who wears glasses. Small details are glasses getting fogged up when going from the outside cold into a warm room, or when drinking tea. Smudges on glasses that annoy the character. Pushing them up when they slip down their nose. These are all small, subtle actions that add a lot to the story and ‘remind’ readers of this detail without putting too much focus on it - you could try and do the same thing with Tenma’s deafness: lip reading is really difficult so Tenma might misunderstand or ask for clarification, or little habits he has (like you mentioned, watching people’s mouths rather than their eyes).

Anyway, I’d definitely recommend doing research on writing deaf characters because it’s very easy to accidentally make a mistake and come off as disrespectful. I’ve read a story or two in which there was so much focus on a character being deaf that it seemed to be their only character trait, and not only does that take away from the story, but it’s also not a good representation. Being deaf is not a defining character trait; it’s just part of their character, like wearing glasses or having asthma. An important thing that should be acknowledged but not constantly mentioned/made to be the center of their life and character.

Some questions that immediately popped into my head:

1. Was Tenma born deaf or did he lose his hearing?

2. Does he shout or say the name of hissatsu techniques? Would he even bother with that?

3. In fact would he even bother trying to learn the names of hissatsu techniques (since they can be super weird + it’s during a match and he’s not wearing hearing aids, so these both make it hard to lip read) and instead just come up with names for them himself? Imagine him referring to Sangoku’s Fence of Gaia as ‘’the rock thing’’ or Kami no Takuto as ‘’Shindou-senpai’s lightshow’’.

4. Does the entire team learn sign language (and how good are they at it), or does Tenma speak and lip read more with certain members of the team and use sign language with others?

Of course the amount of detail you put into it all depends on how long you want the story to be! I hope this is sort of what you wanted, and again, feel free to ask something else if this isn’t what you hoped for.

And in case you decide to write the story, best of luck!

[woodchipp]

You have a lot of thoughts about the topic, so what ideas/suggestions/other input (if any) do you have for an Omori rewrite?

Ideas? I have way too many. I've outlined some of them here and here (in a very disorganized manner), but I've thought up a lot of new ideas since then. I recommend to check the linked posts first, but I'll try my best to recap some of the ideas from the posts I've linked in this post, if you don't mind!

Long and most likely incoherent rant incoming.

1) Make Mari actually kill herself, of course. I really did like the game's initial premise of this young kid and his friends trying to deal with the loss of a beloved relative/friend before The Twist, so I'd cut The Twist and try to keep the story straightforward in that aspect. Perhaps that could've made Sunny a bit more sympathetic since he'd get to be the victim of circumstance the game evidently wanted people to see him as and allowed the story to explore Mari as a full character instead of reducing her to the typical saint for everyone to revere and cry over.

One could try to make the suicide itself the plot twist, though. Maybe the sight of Mari's hanged corpse could've been so incomprehensible to the 12-year-old Sunny he'd just pretend to have never seen it in the first place (his mind would block it out) and instead convince himself that Mari happily left for college with Hero. Maybe Sunny mentioning her to Hero or asking him about her after he comes back would make the latter pause and then change the subject of the conversation in a neat little bit of foreshadowing. Besides, a good chunk of the original game's foreshadowing for its twist already pointed to suicide, so why reinvent the wheel?

I insist on this idea in particular because it's tragic, it's horrifying and, most importantly, it's realistic - it's everything the game strove to be. Realism-induced horror is one of my favorite "genres" of horror, and I think OMORI could've had a great shot at exploiting said trope to its benefit were it not for The Twist.

The biggest problem with that sort of plotline, I think, would be Basil. His importance to the game's story relies on The Twist; without it, he has no reason to be there. I woudn't want to cut him altogether, but I can't think of an organic way to insert him into the "Mari kills herself" plotline either, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

2) Make Sunny and Mari's home life horrible lmao. I've already talked about it here and in the first linked post, but I'll reiterate myself - you don't grow up into a strict perfectionist or with self-esteem as low as Sunny's (the game very clearly implies Sunny had self-esteem issues even before he killed Mari) by partying at your besties' birthdays and hugging plushies together. Problems like that tend to be caused by a dysfunctional home.

Yes, the "abusive parents" trope is rather overused nowadays, but I'd still consider it somewhat of an improvement over the complete lack of information about Sunny's family pre-Mari's death. I also think it'd have been quite interesting if the game explored how the toxic home environment the two were born into would inform their personalities. That way, the recital argument would be less "why is Mari so mean 2 me 💔" and more the result of their issues boiling over.

Tying into this idea is the next one.

3) Make Black Space a recollection of Sunny's backstory a la Time's Arrow. Long story short, Time's Arrow is an episode of a show called Bojack Horseman that stands out to me due to the way the featured character's trauma is subtly conveyed without sacrificing story - the flashbacks are mostly coherent, but filtered through the character's emotional perception of the events at the time. The best example of this is a formative memory from the character's childhood, in which she sees her father callously throw her beloved toy into the fireplace before warning her to keep her emotions in check and telling her not to cry. The fear she felt at the moment infuenced her memory of the event, represented by the aforementioned fireplace becoming a wall of hellfire.

I think such an approach would've been a great fit for Black Space as well. Not only would this allow the player to get some real insight into what made Sunny the way he is, his memories being filtered through his emotions would allow the game to characterize him (e.g. the sash bars on his house's windows could be made to look like the bars of a prison cell to imply he felt trapped in his own home). This could even allow the game to show us the big argument itself!

4) Make Kel, Aubrey, Basil and Hero characters instead of props for Sunny to interact with. The story should've examined their issues too. Hero and Kel have some workings of interesting conflicts (e.g. Hero's outburst and how it affected Kel, Hero struggling with relating to the friend group only as their "dad", Kel's status as the unfavorite sibling), as do Basil (his parents and the abandonment issues stemming from them, his general relationship with his grandma) and Aubrey (see the second linked post), but none of that is elaborated on by the game in favor of focusing on Sunny and his (w)angst. Delving into their issues would've been way more interesting for me than listening to them go "man I miss my wife Tails Mari ;A;" over and over again, at least.

5) Make the game's timespan longer. 5 or 10 days instead of 3 would allow the game more room to get through the other characters' arcs before shifting focus to Sunny for the finale, I think.

6) Make Faraway Town a bit larger. Make it wackier, too. There's four streets, a church, a park and a supermarket. There's nothing to do in this town at all, which isn't good since it's where the player spends a good chunk of the plot in. The NPCs and their sidequests are equally cookie-cutter - buy a grandma her medication, tutor some kids, play hide-and-seek with the twins...

It'd have been nice if the main story's subject matter was juxtaposed with the sidequests being as batshit insane as realistically possible. "Realistic" doesn't have to mean "boring", IMO. Real life can be fun!

Tying into this idea is the next one.

7) Lock the good ending behind 100% completion of all the Faraway sidequests, probably...? It's one of my weirder ideas, and I don't know whether it'd be feasible since I'm not a game developer lol. But I think the game could've tried to make some sort of point about how Sunny managed to make headway in working on his issues only because he made the effort to socialize with people who weren't his comfortable circle of friends.

I don't know what to do with Headspace. Really. The general concept of a saccharine dream world created to avoid reality is nice on paper, but it's a big tumor on the plot - it contributes next to nothing to the player's understanding of Sunny or his friends and becomes entirely irrelevant halfway through the game. I guess I'd make it shorter?

[rojaceartandgaming]

Hopping onto your blog to ask questions and statements!! I'd love to hear about your process for making your ffxv character analysis videos. Do you do any research? How long does it take to write a script and record your voice over? Is editing the video the easiest or hardest part? What part of the entire process is the most fun or rewarding?

I enjoy re-listening to your ffxv videos while I do chores or eat lunch. They're relaxing, and it's awesome hearing somone dive deep into the backstory and lore of characters I've grown attached to ❤

Good day to ya! Thank you so much for the ask, and honestly its so nice of you to say such kind things about those videos of mine. I'm rather proud of them!

I honestly do a lot of research for these videos for many, many reasons. First of all, my memory simply isn't always the best thing in the world. When working on a video I often try to get the b-roll I need while I'm scripting so the events of the game are still fresh. I think I played Episode Ignis... three, maybe four times while scripting that video? I'll often also have the fandom wiki, the collectors edition guide, and the Official Works artbook thing on hand for reference - along with the Dawn of the Future novel for the current videos I'm working on.

Honestly, I think doing research for videos on this game might be a special kind of hell that I willingly embrace since the lore is all over the place. Somehow I think researching stuff for the Sephiroth analysis video I want to make will be far easier. But Final Fantasy XV is my favorite game, so for now it comes first.

The longest part of making a video for me by far is the scripting process. Recording my lines only takes a couple hours at most, but jeez scripting things is a chore sometimes. Much like my college essays, the scripts often go through multiple drafts before I'm happy with them. I've learned to outline my scripts so I know where I want to talk about certain things, but actually getting the meat and potatoes of the video all figured out can been rough. I don't want to sound too rambly and I've got to make sure that things make sense when both reading the script in my head and out loud.

Basically, scripting can take months. I had to rewrite the Ignis video 3 times bc it was a struggle.

Honestly, I wouldn't say editing is hard. Once you figure out how to do it, it's relatively simply. But god is it tedious. Especially since, well... I am a very loud breather. I'm always rather short of breath and sometimes have to take a gasp of air in the middle of a sentence which doesn't sound good in a video. Noone needs to hear my asthmatic ass dying when trying to hear my thoughts and opinions on the character of the month. So a good chunk of editing is me listening to my voiceover audio and trying to cut out most of my breathing sounds.

Other then that, editing's just a bit tedious. Get the audio levels right, put the clips that I'm bringing up in the right spots and adjust their audio too, put the silent footage in where it needs to be so people have something to watch and not just a podcast, and then finally put in the background audio. Rinse and repeat for each segment, check over the audio once more, export the project - and ta-da! You've got a long form video essay on your hands and may feel sick of hearing your own voice!

All jokes aside, I really like making these videos. It's really satisfying to see the finished product, and it's kind of neat to be able to put all of my thoughts about things I love in an understandable format other then "AHDIKHAP:JS", y'know? And I honestly never thought that people would like these videos of mine. It's really cool to meet people who also like FFXV and are just as insane about it - and its equally as cool to know that people like my insane ramblings. It's just... nice! And I honestly am so, so grateful for how kind people have been,

Thank you so much for the ask and sorry for how long and rambly it was!