#Im actually working on an original work using this story and taking the fallout out of it and taking the time to develop all the

[possumteeths]

Just read raider gangbang and it's like... The most wholesome thing. Loved the dynamics between the boys and Stella, and that most didn't look like models. Like with Bailey, how his big features looked goofy to her, but his personality made it endearing and attractive. Or what kind of a man can pull off a rat-tail?? An infuriating twerp who somehow makes it cute, that's who. Even though I hope she gives in to the urge to cut it of.

And Stella is so... Idk lovable?? In that snarky kinda way that makes you wanna do whatever she says, but only after being snarky back. Like how can you NOT tease and mess with her when she is being all bossy <3 was kinda imagining she looked like Tanya from mamma mia, and then she straight up lounged with a sunhat and everything haha (move out of the way lads, I'm gonna steal her for myself)

Also so cute how she was so ok with the idea that some of them would want something different - with someone different - one day.

Makes me wonder who she thinks of as entirely hers though? My bets on at the very least Bailey, Leon and Theo

Anyway, loved it and I loved Stella!! Hope you write more for her and her scrungly harem <3 and all of the note ideas seemed like so much fun!

Oh my god!!! I am grinning so fkn wide reading this, thank you so much for putting this in my inbox. What a gift omg I am just AAAA!!

This story is one of my absolute favorites, I know its long as hell for a single chapter but it kinda serves as its own lil mini completed story so I left it as such. I love love love all the characters and they all have so much personality! I definitely wanted body and face diversity because its the WASTELAND, like theyre all cute to HER and probably her descriptions wouldnt be the same to someone else.

She’d refuse to describe herself as a nurturing type but she so is, she sees all these dummies as like a basket of puppies who obviously need to be taken care of DUH. Also I love that she turns her nose up at them being raiders and likely doing sketchy shit and she’s like hm, i don’t like the shower is super bloody but wow a new chair thank u!!! I definitely enjoy that she makes things overcomplicated and difficult for herself because of her stubborn heart. Nobody TOLD her to go fuck all these dudes and she’s acting as if she HAS to hahah I love that you were imagining tanya thats perfect. Milf!!! energy!!

Stella is my BABYGIRL like i totally get it hahaha maam can I!! be in your harem? surely you need an escape from the cloud of idiot testosterone sometimes!

I think any of the boys who were named at the end are officially hers, so Colt, Theo, Leon and Bailey. Its a good mix of different personalities and I would love to explore more of their whole dynamic. Certain other side characters who got in on the action im very attached to haha, sackhood for one. I have plans and wip’s that include sackhood, zombie freak and some others.

Thank you again for reading and taking the time to send your message! What an absolute treat! Literally I am just stupid happy for your comment hahaha.

[tanadrin]

@iracher

Tumblr recommended me your post and I just got really interested in what game writing do you think is good? (im really interested bc I love rpgs) I think pillars of eternity did a good job to let you roleplay whatever. I hate inquisition tho, I dont understand why would MC help chantry =\

i’m gonna use this opportunity to vent about inquisition for a sec, because although it has features i like, it also has features that bug the shit out of me.

i like that the DA franchise doesn’t have a single protagonist--having multiple main characters you play as lets them tell discrete stories and keeps you from omnicompetent hero syndrome, where a characters feels like a mary sue just because they have the lifetime accomplishments of like six people (i’m look at you, Star Wars Expanded Universe). the worldbuilding isn’t great--it’s mostly ISO standard fantasy--but it’s OK, it has some original bits (the qunari are great for this), and it’s a fun enough place to run around in.

but they clearly want the chantry to be the local catholic church expy, with all that entails for a modern popular audience--dogmatic, often militant, strictly hierarchical. as a result, they’re sort of intrinsically organizationally unsympathetic. and then in DA:I they borrow the name “inquisition” to continue the medieval aesthetic, except the actual historical inquisition is monstrously unsympathetic, especially to a modern audience, and the name doesn’t even really make sense? and why should an independent organization trying to save the world from disaster be affiliated with the chantry anyway? and why are you the head of it? just because you have a magic hand? idk, it’s all quite weak justification to get the setup they want, and even then it takes way too long to establish all this in-game. it would make a lot more sense if you were already a minor-but-significant political or religious figure of some sort, but mostly you’re just Some Guy/Girl.

boring fantasy writing by committee is the worst kind of fantasy writing.

my absolutely favorite all-time RPG is the original Deus Ex. it’s so old now it’s probably hard to look at unless you’ve got some intense nostalgia goggles on, but it had extremely fun gameplay (the genre is sometimes called “immersive sim,” i think, and it’s one that’s kind of rare nowadays; hbomberguy talks a little about its history in his hilariously long video on Human Revolution), and i thought the writing was great.

not to say it doesn’t have weird bits and bits that fall flat. but it had ideas, and it was willing to try them, even if they didn’t always work. it’s a heady mix of 90s conspiracism, cyberpunk, and weird political tangents and digressions that you don’t get anywhere else, not even in its direct sequels. it also prefigured in a dreamlike way the next 20 years of political and social development with uncanny accuracy, as if Warren Spector had a vision of how the 21st century would go but could only half-remember it in the morning. and the soundtrack slaps so fucking hard it’s unreal.

otherwise, i generally prefer RPGs with tons of visual character customization and dialogue. which is to say i liked most of Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 (never played the third one). the character-level interactions often felt strong and satisfying, even if the plot as a whole wasn’t super well-written. i actually think that lower-level element of writing is more important--i can forgive a dumb plot around a macguffin or a threat to the universe, but not boring character interactions. this is something skyrim was bad at; for open-world RPGs, Fallout: New Vegas does it considerably better, although my only real complaint about that game is that i like having a fully-voiced protagonist.

[sharkmobster]

So whats you’re interpretation on Funtime Foxy? We have the awkward sibling dynamic of Michael and Baby, the slight animosity of FF and the “cold but a little trusting” thing with Ballora. But I don’t think we’ve gotten anything on the Fox yet??

*cracks my knuckles* I GET TO TALK ABOUT FUNTIME FOXY YEYYEYEYEYE

ok so my interpretation of Funtime Foxy is that he (i like to think that ft foxy goes by he/they but gets misgendered by the hand unit.......... like a lot....... remind me to talk about ft foxy and circus baby and how they both struggle with the gender binary or lack of gender binary lakdjsf) tends to be a loner. Which is definitely not at all like the animal they’re based on. They’re incredibly distrusting of Michael and tend to isolate themselves away from the others as well. Hiding away in a room that’s away from everyone, ala the original Foxy and his Pirate Cove.

Whereas Ft Freddy didn’t trust Michael at first but still interacted with him in some kinda way (albeit in very mean ways alkjdf) Ft Foxy did the exact opposite which was to hide away and all out ignore him. He’s not outwardly violent or aggressive towards Michael but they make it well known that they want nothing to do with him. Obviously, Michael has nothing to do with their imprisonment (still kinda running with the theme of michael dealing with the fallout of his father’s actions but taking the responsibility of it all onto his shoulders anyway) but he shows a clear distaste and distrust towards humans in general, even if Michael is the only human they really only interact with. Michael and Ft Foxy’s relationship can be described as incredibly strained. 

I kinda characterize Foxy as being a bit of a hypochondriac, incredibly aware of the idea of mortality and that even tho they’re technically immune to death they’re still susceptible to breaking down or damaging their A.I. in a way that could ‘kill’ them. Foxy has killed before so they’re at least aware of the natural human fear of death. It’s imprinted into their A.I. in a way that the others didn’t experience. Whichhhh means that the first few months for him were incredibly hell-ish bc some days he experienced a twitch/glitch in the servos of their limb but couldn’t bring themself to ask for help from the others (and especially not Michael). Ft Freddy eventually forced his way into his space (which is a big problem that ft freddy has: his lack of respect for everyone’s personal and emotional space) and dragged him out of his safe space only to force Michael and Ft foxy into an uncomfortable situation that they have to follow through with bc ft freddy’s impatient nature. michael does run maintenance on ft foxy but only when ft foxy gives the okay to do so (showing that michael respects their boundaries) 

 Ft foxy experiences anxiety and ptsd (once again, another thing that michael has in common with a funtime) but he’s not sure how to cope with it in a healthy way. Because how could he know? Michael’s not even really sure how to cope with his own, yet he knows when he’s falling into a spiral, something that ft foxy can’t recognize. I feel like im getting super rambly cause im trying to explain how ft foxy ticks as well as how he and michael interact and how they eventually come to terms with each other but alsdjfk i ended up getting super into overexplaining asldfkj. but ok ok anyway michael isn’t necessarily the therapist friend to ft foxy it’s more like they both find value in each other and their similarities, like their fear of death and their need to isolate when it gets too bad. it’s more like they both end up becoming more comfortable with their trauma (which im now realizing is a term that i love to sling around when talking about these guys but damnit i call em like i see em and they all experienced some kinda trauma and hurt from what they all had to go through and that’s thtat on that) and therefore more comfortable with each other. there’s a lot of healing in this au which is what i sought out to do with this story, to explore the possible trauma that they all could face and working through it  and maybe im projecting but we don’t have time to unpack all that. and i think that’s incredibly transparent in how i frame ft freddy and ft foxy’s relationship with michael.

in summary: michael and ft foxy learn to coexist with each other through patience and understanding of each other’s boundaries (which ft foxy does learn to respect michael and essentially learns michael’s own boundaries. making him like...one of the first funtimes to actually respect michael’s personal/emotional space which can’t be said for the others since most of the others do have striking and blunt personalities that don’t allow for coddling. which is something michael very much appreciates). They do become close but more in the emotional sense since ft foxy isn’t as physical with affection like ft freddy is. when ft freddy likes you he reminds you of that everyday often using physical reassurance to voice this to you. Ft foxy leaves lil trinkets on your bed and does thoughtful things like setting his alarm clock for work when michael stays up too late and forgets to set it himself, or attempting to get michael to eat when he’s too involved in a personal project. just little things like that. and oof ok i rambled way too long and it’s late and i have no idea if this is legible but im posting this anyway so i hope it’s easy to understand!

[curious-menace]

The rogue gallery members general reaction to encountering the batman who laughs and his creepy ass Robin's.

ok id like to preface this by saying that red death batman straight up crucified riddler and decapitated scarecrow and the batman who laughs is MUCH worse than red death batman. 

i want to enjoy the dark knights metal but it is needlessly fuckin complicated with all this multiverse oververse omniverse shit. maybe i just don't have the galaxy brain necessary to get it so i apologize if this is all wrong 

(also i know its canon that the batman who laughs has no rogues gallery left, either because he killed them or joker killed them before he turned but hey ho hypotheticals it is)

also no one talk to me about kiss fan lookin riddler from this verse. im not ready. 

Penguin

i think his first reaction was to laugh. Batman’s finally gone and he took joker with him. I mean he literally calls him "bat gimp". I seriously doubt he anticipated the fallout of batman becoming some sort of hideous joker hybrid. he still chuckled when he started seeing the news. someone calling themselves “the batman who laughs” and “the darkest knight” then he sees the robins, he even recognises damien and it makes him a little sick. he books the next flight out of goodwin before things get too hot. 

shame goodwin was burned to the ground to stop anyone leaving gotham. 

with everyone inside. 

Twoface

i dont think its an exaggeration to say he was absolutly fuckin horrified. it's rare that harvey and two face agree on something, but this bastard has to go. the murder and mayhem he could tolerate, hell even killing the other rogues, some of them needed to be stopped. but having to look at this creature and know it was once bruce? harvey knows better than anyone its a fate worse than death to be trapped in your own mind with someone else running the show. they do their best to stop the darkest knight, bring all the hired guns they can to the fight but it wasnt enough. Harvey dies, but at least he went out trying to do the right thing.

Poison Ivy

She sensed him coming, her flowers screaming at her to save herself. part of me wants to hope she took one look at that abomination and noped the fuck out of there to slaughter swamp or something. but we know ivy, she stands her ground like a tree planted by a river. she looks people like batman and joker right in the eye and down the barrel of a gun and says “no, you move” Shes not a good person, but in this verse she might as well be the hero of the story, maybe the only meta human in gotham who stood a chance against him. The batman who laughs was scared of her and thats why she had to die. if she’d just minded her own business she might still be here but no. She dares the batman who laughs to come for her, she’s going to take him out. for what he did to her plants, to gotham, to HER home and HER friends. unfortunately for her ivy was one of the first on his kill list. She doesn't go down without a fight. ironically it was her human qualities, the human drive to help people that got her killed. she heard one of the robins crying and went to investigate. the batman who laughs doesn't care about those robins, he’s got a basement full of jokerized kids to throw at people. 1 to trick her and a few more to hold her down while he doused the lot of them with weedkiller and gasoline then poof.

i doubt the botanical gardens will ever be the same. 

Scarecrow

part of me wants to say he’s loving this. He’s enjoying all the suffering and sadness and fear as the batman who laughs murders everyone and everything from the dandelions upwards . but he cant, not just because he’s not the one causing it. this is fear without meaning or purpose, this is killing hope so thoroughly that there is nothing left for people to fear, not even death. he’s not so foolish as to think he wont also be on the batman who laughs chopping block. so he makes himself scarce, works on a toxin that might be able to stop him or even slow him down so someone has a shot at it. Jon knows hes going to die, its only a matter of time before that thing calling itself the darkest knight sends one of his minions to his doorstep. He’s been working on something to try and help the rabid robins. he has a small soft spot in his cold obsidian heart for kids and looking at these creatures makes him physically ill. 

he thinks hes made a breakthrough, thinks he’s finally got a formula that will effect batman and the joker and hopefully, whatever abomination they’ve become . he decides theres no time like the present to try it out when word of the other rouges deaths reach him. he’s the last one left and thats....well its scary. His surprise attack works, the robins go down without a fight, screaming and scratching at their faces, their throats and each other. regrettable but if he stops the darkest knight now, maybe jon can help them. Just when he thinks he’s got him, scarecrow goes down. so close, he falls at the finishing line, his toxin having as much effect as a gentle summers breeze. Much like the original scarecrow , the batman who laughs likes using guns. For jon however? he makes an exception. poor scarecrow gets eviscerated by his own scythe, pilfered from arkham asylum by the batman who laughs. gotta love the classics, right?

Riddler

Riddler was second on his kill list. only because the batman who laughs knew how much it would annoy riddler not to be at the top. He’s another rogue who stood a chance of stopping him if he really tried. sadly edward is nowhere near as altruistic as harvey, and could never be as strong as ivy. He likes to think his escape is for everyone's benefit. live to fight another day and all that. He learned from harvey and pamelas mistakes, took one look at this new batman and his creepy kids and said “fuck that noise” and tried to run. except he didn't really try. god if he’d only gotten out of the city, he would have been the only rogue that survived. the batman who laughs looks at him like a pathetic insect, unworthy of notice. he’d have killed riddler eventually, maybe put him in a riddle with no answer or a trap with no escape for extra irony points but he wasn't about to stop the little green cockroach from skittling away.  but of course, riddlers ego got in the way; he just HAD to try and best this new batman, no matter how much he scared the shit out of riddler he just HAD to try. and of course, pride comes before downfall. 

The batman who laughs helpfully provided riddler with some rope to help break his fall. 

Harley Quinn

some part of her was happy to have joker back. he was different, scarier but she was used to the abuse. what she wasn't used to were all the kids. she recognised damian wayne but didn't quite put the pieces together to realise it was bruce under there. she thought maybe he was just a random casualty . she tried hard to look after the kids but they act like animals rather than humans, there was nothing she could do.As time went on she found it harder and harder to sit at the right hand of this clown prince of horrors. harley has always been along for the ride, but how are you supposed make the whole world laugh if everyone in it is dead? i dont know what happens to harley in this world. either she leaves and much like joker, the batman who laughs fails to notice, shes killed by him because he was bored or she does when the world is destroyed by barbatos. either way, no happy endings here. 

Thanks for this incredibly depressing ask Ghostly T-T

im kidding, im kidding it was fun! it makes me wish i knew what the everloving FUCK was going on with this verse so i could enjoy it properly. the only comic store i know of has been closed since like march of last year and i don't know what im looking for on amazon to actually order them. i have 1 issue of nth metal but it was interesting enough that i want the collection.

if anyone knows what the collection is actually called hmu bc i wanna buy it. 

yes i could read it online but i like owning the hard copies. 

got something you wana talk about? send me an ask or a dm!💜💙🧡💛💚❤️

[stabletwooriginals]

CHAPTER FOUR: Perspective

LittlePip had the bright idea of looting a building she is way too underleveled for. That's not really a Gamer Joke, as FoE really does seem to take a lot of rules and mechanics from the Fallout games. But it's also funny.

Her opponents are the classic brain-bots we know from the games, made more horrifying with the simple detail of sounding like children. "Come on out. We only want to kill you for trespassing!" also reminds me of the turrets in Portal.

This is also where we get our first reference of the zebras as the enemy, via the intercom playing an ancient, automated message. Oh, and the first mention of the Minstry of Technology too!

The Mr. Handy equivalent of a plasma weapon is said to look like a unicorn's horn. That's cool.

While trying to escape on collapsing catwalks we get the first instance of self-levitation! That's a creative use of the canonical ability unicorns in the show possess. I'm not even sure if a unicorn levitaed *another* pony in season 1. But I think they never levitated themselves? This also gave me flashbacks (or rather flashforwards) to all the cool stuff LittlePip can do later with her levitation, I'm excited to get there.

 Oh fuck me with Celestia's forehooves!

The first instance of a PipSwear! Now, I love them. They are iconic. But heck, gosh, darn it if they don't sound awkward when said out loud. Which kinda makes them not work as swears, in my opinion. But for me, they are dumb fun and sometimes that's enough. Her remark that she picked these exploitives up from the raiders is a nice touch. That she keeps them up and builds on them is all her, though.

IRONSHOD FIREARMS How do you like *them* apples?   I didn't get it.

So, I am not a native English speaker. I know this saying, but I was curious where it comes from. *Apparently* that's not really known, but according to this article the phrase was used like this in 1895 already. However, it was also used to refer to anti-tank granades in World War I, for their apple-like appearence. Since granades also look like apples in FoE, I will take the risk and say that I think I do get Ironshod Firearms' slogan.

The anti zebra propaganda found in the factory overmare office is both creative and glossed over. The slogan ("Better Wiped than Striped! Join the Equestrian Forces Today!") is heavily reminicient of the German rhymes of similiar racist nature from the world wars. And the depiction of the zebras as some dark creatures with evil glowing eyes is over the top, but only a reread might reveal this as the neon sign it is, as the zebras have not yet been introduced as the enemy force properly.

In the overmares office Littlepip finds a ton of useful items, from spark batteries , a StealthBuck and gum (which could be the first instance of MintAls, altough not called such, as LittlePip doesn’t know them yet (and if they aren’t, she finds some later in this chapter in an abandoned camp under a bridge), to the one, the only: little macintosh. This revolver will become LittlePips iconic weapon that she keeps until the very end of the story. Presumably made for or at least by Applejack, so this also gives Littlepip a neat little tie to one of the original shows main characters.

Hacking the terminal LittlePip discovers that she could have opened the safe she picked with a bobby pin remotely from there. Intentionally or not, this is a dig at Fallout 3′s design philosophy of giving you several ways to open locks, making only learning one of them enough, while skilled characters are left feeling a bit overqualified.

Leaving Ironshod Firearms, LittlePip admits to having given up on finding Velvet for now and being set on just exploring the world instead. Again, very Fallout 3 in my book.

Past a playground that became a graveyard for little ponies (dark!), she finds a “Sparkle~Cola” vending machine. This becomes LittlePips favorite drink and when I first read it, I was super happy about that for some reason. The book keeps mentioning how she sipps on carroty cola sometimes and every time I remember thinking it was a fun detail. I have no idea why.

Resting on a bench closeby we get a description of this poster:

(Art by Droakir - DeviantArt)

First mention of the Ministry of Morale, first instance of Pinkie Pie and a really fun description of how her graying mane makes it look like a candy cane. Like the poster on the zebras, this is also great, classic propaganda writing. Obviously it is a reference to the episode Green Isn’t Your Color, but while I feel that it is referencing some real life propaganda, I do not know a specific one.

Watcher suddenly is back, helpfully explaining that the MoM is “another well-meaning idea that was so much better on scroll.” What a fitting description of pre-war politics in FoE.

Getting jumped makes LittlePip call back to the slaver, that complained about sprite-bots sneaking up on ponies. If I recall correctly this will be one of the biggest sources of fun in FoE: Callbacks like this, that help paint the world in your mind by connecting the dots for you. Im certain some find this aspect annoying, as they rather enjoy doing that work themselves, but as a casual reader (of a very long story) I always welcomed it. I will also stop pointing them out from here on, unless they strike me remarkable in other ways.

A quick reminder of the raider armor she is wearing and some foreshadowing how it makes her look like “a nightmare pony”, before Watcher offers that she needs to find her virtue. This will be as important as in the original show, but also almost take LittlePip until the end of the story to really figure it out. Right now, she doesn’t quite believe him and his connection to the sprite-bot drops. Now we get a different voice from the radio the sprite-bots play, when Watcher is not in control of them. Similiar to President Eden of the Enclave in Fallout 3. This however, is Red-Eye, altough not named yet, giving a motivational speech about the posibility of rebuilding Equestria. Naturally, this confuses LittlePip even further, having seen no trace of any leaders or reconstruction efforts.

Well, technically she has seen slavers, so, unbeknownst to her, she actually has seen a part of Red-Eyes plan.

But it gives her the idea to look for settlements and actually finds one in the distance. A undamaged looking caravan is moving away from it, all in all a great disovery.

While a fun and memorable scene in itself, what follows is meant to reflect a corner stone of LittlePips character. As she approaches the settlement she gets mistaken for a raider by her barding and shot at. Remembering the caravan she collects her strength and stands up to her agressor, threatening to kill them if they attack the others. This reveals the misunderstanding -- her attacker thought she was endangering the caravan -- and LittlePip exits the chapter loosing consiousness from her insuries.

Footnote: Level Up. New Perk: Egghead -- You will add +2 skill points each time you gain a new experience level.

What a chapter! While it might feel like not much happened, so many pivital and iconic elements were introduced here. Even if a lot weren’t named yet. Like Calamity! It does feel weird that LittlePip just admits on giving up on Velvet like that, though. On my first read I didn’t mind, because I just enjoyed how similiar the experience felt to playing Fallout 3, which I liked more than any other entry at the time. Now it seems odd, but there are a lot of other things to focus on and enjoy in this and the coming chapters.

[lesbianechinocereus]

wip meta post

tagged by @svpphicwrites (ily)

im tagging @linariouswrites @radiomacbeth @howdy-writes

it's long so under a cut

setting info:

the backstory starts with a group of seven or so astronauts who find something powerful in deep space and make a deal with it. the entity itself isn’t characterized too heavily because i want the story to be about people

that’s a theme i guess, that the monster we should be afraid of isn’t some eldritch horror sleeping under the ocean but the kind of person who has too much power and doesn’t care who he steps on to get more of it

so there is a glamorous high class society out there somewhere but the protagonists never see it until the very end of the first arc, the story takes place on dingy spaceships and entire planets that have been cordoned off as landfills and mining areas

our protagonists have to reckon with that, since when they try to look after themselves they’re accidentally striking at the foundations of what’s allowing people who aren’t them to lead much better lives. you can have borderline magical technology but the materials to build it have to come from somewhere

there is a theme to how the fountain works and an underlying rule to the setting: when a person uses it, they become powerful but they have to lose a key part of themselves in the process. it tends to follow patterns with what you can give up and what comes out on the other end, but everything actually magical is a result of people reaching the capital planet where the fountain is and making these deals or being forced to on someone’s behalf

that’s another theme, people cheating the idea of sacrificing something to be more powerful by making other people pay and stealing the benefits for themselves. hahahaha real world parallels

the people who initially found the fountain are worshipped as gods and people don’t really have room to argue with that when one of them can mind control millions of people at once and another throws around planets with his mind. this comes up later though, since most of the people on the outskirts only pay lip service to the established religion. most of them haven’t seen someone affected by the fountain personally and don’t believe the stories

Characters:

every character is paired with the person trapped inside the robot they pilot. the robots got the dealmaking part of the fountain in their bargain, they can give some of their power to the person who pilots them in exchange for having to share a body with them for life

both people are always conscious, inhabiting the humans body unless the mech is being piloted. if one wants to do something the other one doesnt want to they have to out will them, which is easier for the human in the human body or the mech in the mech body

the pilots gain their mechs abilities, for example the knight can conjure weapons for itself and wolfsige himself later learns to do that, so even cornering the pilot outside their mech is difficult

the #theme is people whove been through A Lot learning to work together and trust each other, at first because they have to to survive and later because they care about one another

all of the robots were turned into robots as punishment for crimes and were sedated to give their original pilots full control, so the moment they stop being machines and let themselves feel things it hits hard and the humans are the ones to be there for them

the human characters are also going through a ton, most of them have never fought before the story starts and have little time to deal with the fallout because things keep falling on their heads

all of the characters though are dealing with not knowing what to do with themselves and if they want to accept having that chosen for themselves. when they do become a small fighting force its on their own terms, against the choice to cut and run and leave everyone behind

wolfsige just wants to run a junkyard in the middle of nowhere, but quickly becomes team leader just because he can’t leave someone else to suffer and charges into things

the knight was an attendant in the system where the fountain was, put in a machine for trying to use it for itself, out of a fear of dying. he got his wish but lost his life and struggles finding something new to live for

z is a self-proclaimed explorer and scavenger, she originally wanted to just keep her mech for study. however her and the mech form the best friendship of the three pairs and suddenly the world’s problems are her problems as her friend was plotting against the space govt

the witch was a bodyguard for a sector governor who became mechrd for failing an assassination attempt and as an insult was left to be piloted by the person she tried to kill. initially helps z and co out of gratitude they killed her pilot even though she doesn’t believe in any of what they say, but she learns to have hope again when she sees she can help

bonus: z is partly inspired by the story about a ww2 pilot who was believed to handle flying better thanks to his missing legs

liana is initially on board, as she’s a runaway from a wealthy sector because of things she saw go down and had hired z to take her away. she has a crisis of faith when she’s forced to fight her old friends but finds new resolve when she realizes she was never treated that well back home to begin with

the spider has in fact actually done nothing wrong and is the victim of a framing by a close friend, outright refusing to trust anyone and only working with the party out of necessity until they prove themselves reliable

misc+story:

the story follows these people being dragged way over their heads by circumstances not of their own doing

they find an abandoned mech by accident, not realizing that turning it on makes them a target

they’re forced to fend off several more, the other two the protags use are ‘rescued’ the only way they can be made to change hands: killing the current pilot

this just so happens to be the inciting factor for a series of revolts on a nearby series of mining planets, and so our protagonists are dragged into all out war

im only planning this up to the first ‘arc’, whether or not i end it there will depend on how i feel then

[takerfoxx]

When trying to write a big balloon of good feelings with the EXPRESS INTENTION of bursting it... how big is too big before it's just cruel?

A very good question, and it comes down to purpose, execution, and follow-through.

Now, given my history and reputation, those sorts of situations are something of my forte, and I’ve had a lot of experience and trial and error to work things out, so here’s how you get maximum impact out of your dark, cruel plot-twists.

First, ask yourself why are you doing this? Is it purely for shock value, or does it serve some greater purpose for the plot and characters? If it’s the second, then go ahead and skip to the next section. If it’s the first, then go ahead and put that idea back in the oven because it’s totally not ready yet.

Look, as a writer, I get the appeal of shock value. Shock value got Imperfect Metamorphosis on the map. Shock value is in my blood. But if all you have is that shock and nothing else, then it’s shock value for shock value’s sake, which is just shallow and useless. You want to shock and disturb, yes, but you also want your audience to keep going to find out what happens next! Dangle that emotional catharsis in front of them! Give them some measure of hope that this is leading somewhere satisfying! Even stories like Chinatown and The Mist, which ended with the protagonists losing in horrible ways despite all their efforts, still felt like they were saying something bigger about the human existence and didn’t feel like they were cheating the audience.

For example: Marisa’s death in IM. I’ll freely admit, the idea first occurred to me and became part of the plan for the shock value, a way to throw down the gauntlet and show that no one is safe. But since the idea came to me early in IM’s run, I had literal years to refine the idea, build towards it, and map out how the fallout would go down, so that by the time it came around, it had turned into an essential part of the plot, from which the rest of the story would lead.

See, here’s the thing you need to understand about dark plot twists: they follow the same rule as edgy humor that breaks societal taboo. And that is this: the twist is not the payoff; the twist is the set-up. Think of the difference of between a rookie “comedian” who thinks that saying shocking things that you’re not supposed to say constitutes as “funny” and those who are offended just don’t have a sense of humor, and a genuine master like George Carlin, who used edge subject matter and taboo breaking not as the punchline, but as the set-up to the bigger joke and thus earn the big laughs when he managed to land the punchline and say something bigger about the topic at hand. It’s a wire act without a net, something that is spectacular if you can pull it off and lead to something greater, but will end in disaster if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Now, let’s move onto the next part: execution. Here you have to be careful, because while it’s perfectly acceptable (and in fact encouraged) to break the rules and conventions of the story’s genre, you still have to ensure that it’s keeping with your story’s internal consistency and rules, and that it makes sense! You want such-and-such a character to betray their friends and turn bad guy? Okay, but it has to make sense and be consistent with their backstory and motivations. You want to pull the rug out from under the heroes and ruin everything they had been working toward? Okay, but it has to be consistent with the rules that you had set up.

I’ll give you a few examples. Now, Game of Thrones might be in the doghouse due the dumpsterfire of a final season, but there was a time when it was upheld as the gold standard of dark plot twists, with the two big examples being Ned Stark’s execution and the Red Wedding. The reason why those moments were so shocking and effective wasn’t because they came out of nowhere, but because they broke the conventional rules of storytelling. OF COURSE the main character would survive! They even gave him an out by having him sentence to the Wall where his bastard son was, where they would no doubt reunite and plan their next steps! Ned’s the hero, after all! Except no, this isn’t that kind of story, Joffrey is still a sociopathic narcissist, doing what sociopathic narcissists do.

And the Red Wedding? OF COURSE it would work! Walder Frey had accepted the compromise, and we’ve put a lot of time and investment in Rob and Cate and their retainers. Rob was practically the new main character, and the driving force against the Lannisters. What was more, he was winning, and he was going to keep winning, even with his one or two slip-ups...except no, he wasn’t, because he had been warned about Walder Frey’s easily bruised ego, he had broken his word, so there was going to be consequences when the Frey’s cut a deal with the Lannisters, so welcome to Medieval-style skullduggery!

Hell, you can have some real fun with this too! And if I may toot my own horn, let’s look at the most recent dark twist from IM: the return of the Shadow Youkai.

Now, I know what my reputation is, and what people expect from me. As such, I can use those expectations to play a sort of follow-the-cup game with the plot. Everyone knew that the Shadow Youkai wasn’t gone for good; the epilogue of Fires of the Sun pretty much showed that. But no one knew when she’d be back, and that let’s me play with expectations a bit.

So I put together a big beach trip, where Rin takes all of her friends, new and old, out into public. And since this is Rin’s story, everyone expects it to go wrong. She expects it to go wrong. Because things always go wrong for Rin!

Sure enough, here comes Hong Meiling and Koakuma, two people with reasons to ruin Rin’s life! Surely they’ll catch and bust her! In fact, it turns out that Koakuma is Elis’s cousin, so surely that would mean she would...except no, they have a short chat, Koakuma doesn’t expose them, and they all go their separate ways. Nothing happens.

Oh shit, here comes Reimu! Not only does she know Rin, she also knows everyone in Team Nineball, and has fought most of the other girls as well! This isn’t good, how will Rin wriggle out of this (no pun intended)...except she doesn’t need to. Reimu and Rin’s various friends walk right past each other over and over without noticing, she chitchats with Hong Meiling and Koakuma for a bit, and then she’s called away to the next chapter’s plot. Rin never even so much as realizes that Reimu was there. Nothing happens.

But wait! Flandre is still a problem, and Seija’s still loose out there! And there she is, taking advantage of Rin’s absence to trigger Flandre’s madness! Surely THIS is the big disaster that’ll...except no, Kogasa quickly gets Seija to piss off and Wriggle coaxes Flandre back to sleep. Nothing happens.

Wait, the beach party was...a success? Nothing bad happened? Everyone had fun and made friends like they were supposed to? And it ends with Rin actually saving a stranger’s life and getting praised for it? Which story was I reading again?

Oh hey, there’s Minoriko, someone who hasn’t been seen a long time, and she says that Hina successfully devoured the Shadow Youkai’s essence, so there’s nothing to worry about. Well, that’s a relief! Strange though that a little curse goddess could handle something of the Shadow Youkai’s caliber, seeing how Sariel already mentioned how unsafe it is to use anything other than the original sword to do so, and how Rhapsody of Subconscious Desire already established that the Shadow Youkai is capable of taking over a secondary host, provided that she had access to their subconscious, and-

Click.

Boom.

So if you’re going to do it, make sure you set up believable reasons why it would happen in advance, even if the audience doesn’t notice them at first. Otherwise, you get Vince Russo’s booking of late-90′s WCW, where everyone was switching allegiances on a dime left and right just for the sake of having a SHOCKING SWERVE! Remember: it’s a highwire act without a net. Know what you’re doing.

Also, for the love of God, if you’re going to have a bad guy do a really bad, shocking thing in one part of the story but later join the good guys later on, don’t just sweep said bad thing under the rug. If Cain the Bloodspiller butchers little Timmy in book one but becomes Cammy the Bloodsaver in book five, then don’t let little Timmy be forgotten. Make sure that there’s still consequences.

And finally, the follow-through. Justify this shocking twist. Have it mean something. Take your time to explore the consequences. Show how it affects the characters. Dig deep into their psyches and make it feel real. The reason people STILL talk about Aeris’s death in Final Fantasy 7 is that the gameplay itself was designed to make you feel her loss, both from the viewpoint of the characters and you, the player.

One of my favorite dark twists is Mami’s death in PMMM, because it follows all of these conditions and does so spectacularly. It sets up how dangerous fighting witches is and explains that someone could really die while doing it, while tricking us into not expecting that to happen by already showing us how Mami kicks ass and establishing her as a main character with a promise to form a lasting bond with Madoka right before pulling the trigger. And afterward, it takes the time to really dig into the consequences of her death, from Madoka’s depression to Sayaka’s increased recklessness to being the catalyst that brought Kyoko into the story in the first place. Everything that happens after does so as a result of that moment.

So yeah, by all means, do that shocking thing, but make sure you put in the work to both earn and justify it.

[vapidsims]

Hello my friends! I know maybe a total of...5?

yea five sounds about right. A total of five people might actually read through this XD

I came up with a demon type!

I use “came up” loosely cause nothing is truly original anymore on the internet im sure there are simmilar concepts floating about.

Anyway this will be more of a lore post as opposed to a CC post, but The masks will be in my unreleased cc folder if you feel so inclined to make one of these guys! I would love that

Their name: The masked

Their story? While it spans quite a few centuries by now, it is not a very long one. The masked were originally created by a demon queen who, while ruling, also dabbled in sorcery. She was struggling with the spreading of her reach (the underworld has a lot of territory but also...a lot of royals assigned to those territories.) turf fights can get messy and she was no fan of mess. Also its not as if she was ~so greatly favored~ that her subjects would throw themselves at deaths heels for her. 

So she came up with an alternative. Why not...just make loyal subjects? Adopting and adapting the humans concept of automata she used her sorcery and alchemic knowledge to...craft a doll. It was empty and obedient, but not what she was going for. But a start nonetheless. 

continued below 

After some trial and error the first mask was made. She started with the face first, but not really a face. with the other dolls she’d made before she could not stand the look in their dead, beady eyes. so decided to forgo the idea of a face entirely.

And this time the thing she made had some spark in it. not only obeidient but grateful that she had created it. whilst also having whims of its own. these were the making of “real subjects”. so she made more.

 After this success some of the other demons in her lower courts noticed the “masked dolls” walking around, and requested their own from the queen. 

She, knowing they didnt know what they were dealing with. gave them all the ingredients to creating ones of their own. The fallout was hilarious to her but spelled disaster for the masks that resulted. Common demons previously assumed the masked to be dolls. Toys, things to be ordered about. They had no indication beforehand that they had their own minds. 

While the queens Masks were treated well and favored by their “mother” the masks created by her clueless subjects found themselves largely abandoned, if not in a few cases subject to outright cruelty. And some situations got messy, as the masked may be made, but they are not without their own powers. (it just manifest differently with them)

The forgotten masked would hear of the queen through the grapevine and when they gathered and got back to her they were unquestionably loyal. If not purely out of spite for the demons that made them, and were cruel to them. They never recognized her partial fault in the matter. (or they just refused to acknowledge it)

The queen still had not gotten around to conquering new territory yet as she was too..erm...unmotivated, to engage in conflict with other demons. so some of her loyal masks proposed taking a chunk of territory off the human world.

So topside the masks went! and considering their unique composisition they were much harder to get rid of than common demons. Not because their powerful or anything. Theyre just hardy. And humanity had yet to encounter them before this point. They were not just here for typical demonic hijinks such as cursing and haunting. they came to take the land.

The queen got her new territory and humanity forgot alllllll about that tiny corner of the world. They were basically like:  

Now. Less about their backstory and more about, what they are exactly?

The masked are not robots, despite being inspired by automata and the human concept as such.  they.are. DEMONS. underestimating them only works in their favor. 

that being said. they have no inherent devilish nature of their own. Many will adopt the evil or michievious nature of typical demons, some, however. Are rather nuetral. being content with the mundane. 

The mundane Masked seem to get along with human beings just fine,assuming that the human is not scared of them.

Physically, theyre humanoid. But theyre extremely durable. the core of their being is contained in their “face” on the occasion that a mask is defeated their body may disinegrate but the mask is left behind. At this point one of two things can happen, so its better you dont touch the mask at all:

1. you touch the mask. it...intrigues you. you put it on. your face burns. you dont have one anymore. Your vessel will make a nice new body. 

2. The masked are tight-knit. another will come to get it and revive it if they do not claim a new body. if left too long without one a mask can die.

their voices seem to emminate from their entie body. their words hang in the air as you try to figure out where its coming from. they dont seem to know either...some of the older masks seem to think its a mind thing...a theory disturbing to both parties.

Socially. as aforementioned they are tight-knit. Most of them either know each other or know of eachother. if neither of those, the mask in question is either a newborn or extremely kept to themselves. In which case other masks (especially older ones, will make it their buisness to be NOSEY xD

Mundane masked have almost overly-bubbly or outgoing personalities that kindaaaa put off other masked. but hey still family.

family is weird, they can reproduce on their own but not with other masked. (meaning theyre shooting their shots with humans or demons) and the resulting child will more than likely not have a maskface. Or more commonly a mask wanting to start a family will find a partner or two and make a child using the formula. or take the issue to the red queen herself. shes always happy to make another.

Actual blood relation is extremely uncommon, and often- Aunts, uncles,cousins and the like are just “theyre closer to me than most”

Masked have also been known to extend this practice to very confused humans,vampires,aliens ect. who are like:

“since when am I your cousin”???

there a few types of masked:

there are the ones made by the red queens subjects back in the early days, they come in all kinds of colors because the formula was never perfect. these mask tend to acctually show age as they get older.

There are masked created by the red queen. they do not age or become ill, they come in shades of red or rarely (like literally only the master and the king) black. but they’ll get another post entirely.

Then there are the mask who have taken human bodies, however a rare occasion. they can originate from either of the first two types.

Anyway theres the lore.

link to my unreleased cc folder.

let it be known if you use the mask (skin detail) you need to really suck in the sims face to make it fit right. If that alone dosnt do it you may need to mess around with the jaw a bit. (a lot a bit) 

[thisweekingundamwing]

This Week in Gundam Wing 24-30 November 2019

Here’s this week’s roundup!

Remember to give your content creators some love! And join in on the events at the bottom!

(Looking forward to all the Unorthodox Undercover Work Mini Bang entries going up this next week!)

~Mod Hel

Fanfiction/Snippets/AU Ideas:

@bobo-is-tha-bomb​

Encounters with Heero (Ch. 12 & 13) https://archiveofourown.org/works/21385951/chapters/51360610

F/M, Heero Yuy/Reader

Heero Yuy, Reader, Relena Peacecraft, Duo Maxwell, Hilde Schbeiker, Trowa Barton, Quatre Raberba Winner, Chang Wufei

Romance, Drama, Fluff, Friendship

This man oozed danger. Nonetheless you are attracted to him and you grow closer to him than anyone has ever before. Being nice to a stranger was what got it all started.

Burn to a Cinder (Ch. 7) https://archiveofourown.org/works/18781273/chapters/51374644

F/M, Zechs Merquise/Reader, Treize Khushrenada/Reader

Zechs Merquise, Treize Khushrenada, Lady Une, Mariemaia Khushrenada, Relena Peacecraft, Chang Wufei

Romance, Drama, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Violence, Reader-Insert

Your path had been laid out for you from an early age, allowing you to move into the higher circles of society and catch the attention of one of the most powerful men in the Earth Sphere. As Treize’s mistress, you watch his rise to power and the disastrous war breaking out on Earth and in Space, putting your loyalty to the test. You are torn between your duty to His Excellency, and your unquellable lust for one of the top soldiers under his command. And when he rises to power in Outer Space, there is nothing you can do but stand back and watch them tear each other apart. This is no game of hearts, but yours is at stake, and the consequences can be felt for years to come. Labeled as OZ’s whore, you struggle to find your way, only for things to fall apart around you again. But then there is still Zechs, and the undeniable way he makes you feel…

@doctormegalomania​

Your Body’s Poetry (Ch. 7) https://archiveofourown.org/works/20438891/chapters/48490382

Duo Maxwell/Heero Yuy, Trowa Barton/Quatre Raberba Winner, Chang Wufei/Original Female Character(s), Duo Maxwell/Hilde Schbeiker, Relena Peacecraft & Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell/Original Male Character(s)

Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, Trowa Barton, Quatre Raberba Winner, Chang Wufei, Sally Po, Relena Peacecraft, Lucrezia Noin, Zechs Merquise, Hilde Schbeiker

Past Relationship(s), Slice of Life, Post-Break Up, Slow Burn, Developing Relationship, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence

Long after the wars, long after peace is established the Gundam Pilots discover one immovable fact: Relationships are hard work.

@duointherain​

The Hidden Cherry (Ch. 1) https://duointherain.tumblr.com/post/189338568519/fic-the-hidden-cherry-1

Intersex Duo, disabled Heero

He closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. Duo wanted to think that the stress in his voice made him sound like an asshole and that would motivate the person on the other side of the phone. The space he was in was small, like 3 meters by maybe 5. His cigarette lighter had given him enough light to see the space, but it was back in his pocket now.  “I need an analyst. It’s fucking Wednesday. There is an analyst in the office.”

@janaverse​

Stickies from Heero (Ch. 26) https://archiveofourown.org/works/19796581/chapters/51374212

Chapter 26: ‘circumnavigating the simple truth’ is now on AO3. It was nice to actually get another story written for this odd universe!

Duo reads Heero latest note and fallout ensues.

Rough https://janaverse.tumblr.com/post/189270598643/drabble-day-38-adult-themes-rough-heero-stood

drabble - day 38 - adult themes

Consider it done https://janaverse.tumblr.com/post/187883433878/consider-it-done

So this is the follow up to my short fic ‘something to consider’ which I posted about a week or so ago.  You can find it here:  https://janaverse.tumblr.com/post/187689757828/something-to-consider or here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20669474 in case you have not read it yet. this fic will make infinitely more sense if you have!

pairing: 1X2X1

warnings: unholy amounts of sap and lovey dovey stuff. please take this warning seriously! lol  this is THE sappiest thing i have ever written!

Heero had entered the house first, taking off his soaked shoes and leaving them out on the front porch beside the door. Duo had followed suit, noticeably shivering once inside the house, and headed toward their bedroom to get changed. Heero had only removed his jacket and hung it on the coat rack inside the front door; opting to start a fire before getting out of his wet clothes and into something dry.

@ransomedbard​

Clipped Wings (Ch. 3) https://archiveofourown.org/works/21360976/chapters/51500641

Duo Maxwell, Hilde Schbeiker

Preventer!Duo, Criminal!Hilde, 2+H, Adventure, Kidnapping, mild violence, Crime doesn't actually pay

Time has a funny way of turning history on its head. Two years after the Eve Wars, former rebel Duo Maxwell is now a member of the secretive anti-terrorism unit Preventers, while Hilde has been living on the wrong side of the law on Earth. When he makes a visit to attempt to salvage their strained friendship, he’ll uncover just how much their paths have diverged, and end up getting caught up in her life on the run from a gang that wants revenge.

Fanart/Gunpla/Photo Manips:

@animethingsandstuff​

https://animethingsandstuff.tumblr.com/post/189231234100/w-night-by-%E3%82%80%E3%81%86%E3%81%9F%E3%82%8D-posted-with-permission-please

The G-boys and posing... and flowers.

Photosets/Gifsets/Screenshots/Manga Pages:

@vegalume​

https://vegalume.tumblr.com/post/189361489995/i-immediately-thought-of-heero-but-this-could-be

Before leaving the house, Heero does...

Fandom Discourse:

@amberlyinviolet

https://janaverse.tumblr.com/post/189290275628/i-am-here-for-the-giving-of-the-happily-ever-after

@noirangetrois​, @janaverse​

About the struggles of all GW characters.

@incorrectgundamwingquotes​

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/189326495789/unpopular-opinion-despite-the-horrible

Unpopular Opinion: FT had good points.

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/189326409984/for-unpopular-opinion-not-on-the-series-itself

Unpopular Opinion: 1X2 is overrated.

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/189326308699/i-dont-know-if-this-is-actually-an-unpopular

Unpopular Opinion: EW was not that great.

@lifeaftermeteor​

https://lifeaftermeteor.tumblr.com/post/189380639699/life-after-meteor

LAM has a website now!

@ransomedbard​

https://ransomedbard.tumblr.com/post/189357520583/thank-you

Fandom loves you too!

@terrablaze514​

https://terrablaze514.tumblr.com/post/189258275567/wing-zero-episodes

Wing Zero Episodes (Who flew it better?)

My opinions on Wing Zero and the impact it plays. Borderline meta I guess, and excuse the occurrence of Trowa and Zechs muses.

Quotes:

@incorrectgundamwingquotes​

https://gwminorcharactersrpblog.tumblr.com/post/189313789527/quatre-why-is-your-back-all-scratched-up-trowa

Quatre & Trowa

With additions made by @gwminorcharactersrpblog​

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/189293229002/texting-duo-hello-duo-are-you

Duo & Trowa

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/189298062910/quatre-you-should-be-nicer-to-people-heero

Quatre, Heero, Duo, Trowa, & WuFei

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/189326315129/zechs-you-played-me-like-a-fiddle-duo-oh-no-i

Zechs & Duo

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/189333739266/duo-whyre-you-ignoring-relena-heero-im

Duo, Heero, & WuFei

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/189338458478/trowa-handing-duo-some-pills-here-take-four-of

Trowa & Duo

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/189342871815/heero-ill-worry-about-that-bridge-when-i-get-to

Heero & Quatre

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/189358288319/heero-dont-correct-me-wufei-dont-be-wrong

Heero & WuFei

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/189397723234/duo-uh-its-salt-wufei-thats-what-i

Duo & WuFei

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/189377500808/une-about-mariemaia-you-cant-give-her-that

Une & WuFei

Calendar Events:

@gundamzine​

Rhythm Generation: Shooting Stars, Celebrating 25 Years of Gundam Wing

Zine Content https://gundamzine.tumblr.com/post/186791784139/rhythm-generation-shooting-stars-is-an-unofficial

Pre-orders Open! https://gundamzine.tumblr.com/post/189370843928/gundamzine-pre-orders-are-open-rhythm Open until January 11th!

Q about Free Merch https://gundamzine.tumblr.com/post/189215831466/are-you-really-giving-free-merch-i-am-kinda

@gundam-wing-bingo​

Gundam Wing Bingo is here!

Come and sign up for a card here: https://gundam-wing-bingo.tumblr.com/post/185466400076/gundam-wing-bingo

@gwcocktailfriday​

Cocktail Fridays!

Post responses on Friday, during Happy Hour between 3 & 5 pm in your own timezone.

Here’s the prompt for Friday, December 6th! https://gwcocktailfriday.tumblr.com/post/189390586070/cocktail-friday-post-responses-on-friday-december

For those going to Pillowfort, find us here.

If anyone has ideas for prompts, PLEASE send them in! Our ask box is always open.

In need of Winter prompts!

@thisweekingundamevents​

Gundam Wing Holiday Gift Exchange 2019/2020

https://thisweekingundamevents.tumblr.com/post/188113410410/holiday-gift-exchange

Schedule: 5-11 January: Post your Gifts!

Holiday Exchange Q & A: https://thisweekingundamevents.tumblr.com/post/188824081840/some-holiday-exchange-q-a

Criteria and Schedule Reminder! https://thisweekingundamevents.tumblr.com/post/188943007445/holiday-gift-exchange-reminder

Gundam Wing Unorthodox Undercover Work Mini Bang

Posting starts today!

Here’s everything you need to know to post! https://thisweekingundamevents.tumblr.com/post/189346329635/gw-uuw-mb-posting-again-lol

For those artists who haven’t a story, if you finished your piece, feel free to post it up on tumblr. Remember to tag us and I’ll get you in the End of Event Roundup anyway! ^_^

Posting Dates: https://thisweekingundamevents.tumblr.com/post/189405682420/posting-dates-gwuuwmb

Note! There is also a Gundam Wing Discord Meet-up going on right now! See @lifeaftermeteor​ for details and a discord invite if you aren’t in it already!

[sheikzeldatetra]

hey im a dumb-dumb, could you describe what’s going on in your gq timeline? Also i wanted to send this from my gq blog its @ohohohallnightlong *winks with both eyes*

Totes! I’m still wrapping my brain around it myself, and I’ve already received some helpful feedback I’ll hopefully add! (I’m also working on a full analysis of the entire show to the best of my ability, so watch for that...... in a few months........ hopefully.............)

Anyways! It’s easiest to understand if you take it branch by branch. In the upper left, you have what I call the “Four Friends” storyline. This is where Dave, Brittain, Gelsey, and Brent are themselves; weird nebulous versions of themselves existing in some weird place outside of time. They start the story with “I Don’t Know,” and progress chronologically through the way the story is told in the show (I only connected songs based on story, not reference; almost all the songs reference each other because they’re also all considered the same simultaneous stories, which is poetic but does not make much for actual understanding.) That story ends with the track “Midnight,” where Brittain remembers her other lives.

The Usher storyline takes up most of the bottom of the page. It’s the most straightforward. It begins either with “Family Meeting” or “Lights Out,” I’m actually not sure, and I need to do some digging. It depends on how old Roxie is in “Lights Out.” Regardless, Roxie grows up, playing with her dead sister as a friend, and eventually has a fling with a different/same astronomer and has a daughter. This daughter is stolen by the time-traveling Rose for the secret baptism (“Starchild.”) Roxie declines and “dies,” Lady Usher goes mad, and the Fool runs away from home. Their story ends when Roxie emerges and attacks Lady Usher, and Lady Usher dies. This occurs in the same track that describes the climax of Pearl’s death on the subway tracks, which is why “Usher Part 3″ connects to the track “Subway.”

The Fairy Tale storyline--the one with the original Rose Red and Pearl White--begins with “The Astronomer” and.... doesn’t really end. This is where the “circular story” elements become really unavoidable. “The Astronomer” leads into “The Telescope,” where we see the beginnings of Rose and the Astronomer’s relationship, the poetry incident, etc. “The Camera Shop” has an overview of the whole story, so arguably that track should connect here as well. “Bad Men” depicts the fallout between Rose and the Astronomer and skips over some details told in “The Camera Shop” and Rose’s journeys through time to her final encounter with the Bear. “The Wind & Rain” tells the aftermath.

The 1,001 Nights story gets real confusing. “Monk” references Scheherazade and Dunyazad, but doesn’t quite exist as separately from the Four Friends world as the other stories do. Regardless, I consider that our earliest point in their story. Scheherazade continues the story in “Bad Men,” and we don’t learn of her fate later in this story other than she apparently lives to become an ancient. She speaks to Rose in “Tango Dancer,” and we hear nothing more from her, Dunyazad, or the Shah. 

Finally, we have the Camera Shop and Subway stories, which are almost completely overlapped and have zero regard for the flow of time. Several different songs build up Pearl’s arrival on the subway. “Usher Part 3″ is the only song that completes the story with Pearl’s death. After Pearl’s death Rose sings “Hero,” which actually just now makes me realize I have not placed that song correctly. Regardless, “The Photograph” takes place after “Usher Part 3″/“Subway,” (I think Hero might go here) and Rose goes into the camera shop run by.... Pearl. Bringing us back around.

On top of all this you have Rose Red of the Fairy Tale time/lifetime hopping after the overview in “The Camera Shop” to visit all the timelines, obtaining her baptism during “Starchild” after stealing Roxie’s child, getting the honey from the soldier in “Soldier & Rose,” the stardust from Scheherazade in “Tango Dancer,” and finally getting the photograph in.... “The Camera Shop.”

WOOT WOOT. I hope that makes at least two granules worth of sense, because it’s really nuts. Again, revision suggestions are more than welcome.

[desertbroad]

kaj + (inverted) tropes: part two! * * i don’t know all the actual Official TM names for these tropes, so most are made up. also, you might notice the regular trope list (part 1 of this headcanon) is significantly longer. this is because kaj has a few main inverted tropes but tons more regular ones, since tropes are like atoms: they make up everything. i just wanted to focus on the few inversions that created her character and let the rest come naturally! under a read more for length. ** also as of 7/6/19 part one isn’t done yet. yes i know please don’t shame me ok IM GETTING TO IT

fridged woman (aka back from the dead)—

for this one i took inspiration from laura moon from american gods, with a few tweaks (love neil gaiman, but some of the things about her character are...a bit squicky). unlike a good number of women in media, kaj isn’t shoved over gently and pronounced dead so that a man can grow from her pain. in fact, she’s shot in the head twice, pronounced dead, & buried. while her “death” means more pain and character development for the characters surrounding her, it means pain and character development for her, too. truth be told, she survives a hell of a lot more than any average person should, especially one with her low luck stat. half of this is the fun and wacky way new vegas’ world works (obviously, no real person could survive all this), but also because of her good ol’ courier determination. things that should’ve fridged kaj but haven’t include: two shots to the head, numerous combat scrapes, being stabbed, having her brain/heart/spine removed, having a bomb collar attached to her neck, killing an entire fortification of trained legionnaires, stepping on landmines, etc etc. the courier is pretty much the bruce willis of fallout.

world ending vengeance—

specifically applies to certain characters. while most others who piss kaj off get the full brunt of her wrath (see: caesar, mr. house, elijah, general oliver, ulysses), benny, along with dr. mobius & the think tank & mcnamara*, get a pass. in fact, she lets him go not once or twice, but on three separate occasions, even knowing he’s likely to betray her again. the reason why? not even kaj knows. some people speculate it’s because she likes him / slept with him (incorrect; she liked house to a degree, and slept with caesar); others speculate it’s because they’re so similar (also incorrect; she shared an alarming number of similarities with ulysses & elijah). the theory that comes closest to the truth is that she pities him. it fits in line her past behavior with mobius & the think tank, who were physically unable to see the effects of their actions and thus were spared a horrible fate. likewise, kaj seems to have judged benny to be innocent in her own personal court, and though he continues to be a thorn in her side again and again, she refuses to “sentence” him for anything. it helps his cause that his plan helped her take over vegas, and he created yes man, one of the only living beings she’s ever fully trusted. also a slight inversion of kaj’s maneater / black widow trope; the one person she truly should seduce and kill, she doesn’t.

that said, benny doesn’t get away from their encounters without any punishment—after narrowly escaping being crucified, both kaj and benny have matching rope burns around their wrists. it’s her morbid idea of a joke.

*mcnamara doesn’t fit within this trope, but kaj spares the bos for veronica & christine’s sake, despite yes man’s warnings. also for the off chance that they might convert to being her allies (they don’t, and this choice helps lend itself to more BOS trouble all over the wasteland).

white man cowboy—

kind of a simple inversion that’s been done before, but an important one and one that i like a lot. for starters, the “john wayne” cowboy is a bastardization of a history that was made up of ethnic minorities and whitewashed for hollywood aesthetic (also fuck you john wayne). while none of my research has come up with anything about women of color or nonbinary people in the western scene, only moc (whether this is intentional or not, i’m not sure), i still wanted to write kaj as non-male. frankly, this is because i wanted her to be an inversion of tired tropes, and that included being a debonair, byronic woman / non gender conforming hero (think gentleman jack) instead of a debonair, byronic white dude. we’ve got 20 of those for every fleshed out woman/enby on screen, lbr. kaj is also a femme fatale, but only by coincidence; she’s more of a wandering heart breaker than a necessarily dangerous woman, much like many of the heroes on screen.

i also find that non-men of color are one of the most underrepresented minorities in fiction—even media that celebrates diversity simplifies them down (hamilton), or centers their narrative and entire purpose around a man (hamilton, again). nevermind nonbinary people / trans folk. for that reason, i wanted kaj’s story to be about a woman of color / someone who doesn’t conform to expectations and doesn’t allow herself to be put in the sidelines for a white person or a male to lead her life. and regardless of whether a woman filling this swaggering, womanizing cowboy role is accurate to history or not, fallout’s setting lends itself an air of exaggeration, so i felt it was appropriate to include her here, instead of arguing with people over whether someone like her existed in actual history (my suspicions say yes, and that these people have simply been erased from the narrative for the convenience of certain people’s feelings, but still).

smarter than you look / deadly doctor (this one actually has a tvtropes page! look it up!)—

from the deadly doctor page : ‘ surely the ultimate example of the morally ambiguous doctorate. one reason for this is due to all his/her training : while having advanced knowledge on the human body can be used to save people, it also gives all the knowledge on how to injure and kill people with minimal effort by knowing all the body's weak points. some more sympathetic examples equate to the medical version of a well-intentioned extremist, who may certainly have good (or at least sympathetic/understandable) intentions but ruthless medical ethics. ’

one of the most important things kaj took from her thorough education is medical training—unable to depend on anyone after being traumatized, trusting any doctor who happened along to treat her illnesses was out of the question. she was also smart enough to know the original kaj wouldn’t be around to heal her up forever. thus, she began her training as a self preservation instinct; but over time, as she grew and relearned how to be compassionate and empathetic, she decided to use healing for good, too. trained as a young girl by the original kaj, and then later trained officially as a combat medic by the ncr, kaj has spent a countless amount of hours inside army tents, healing wounds and assisting doctors with tough cases. she even keeps a medical bag on her person for exactly that sort of situation (especially since supplies in the mojave aren’t exactly easy to dig up). though she’s a big scientist in general (the big mt saw to that), medicine is her specialty. she’s even stitched up her own wounds, though it’s not something she particularly enjoys (it takes a lot of whiskey and something for her to bite down on).

for reference, consider this scene of anton from no country for old men (TW: he’s performing self surgery, so it’s pretty gruesome). though both anton and kaj’s lifestyles are rough and even sadistic at times, they both still have medical training—if not to protect others, then to at least protect themselves. and like anton, it shows kaj’s inability to trust anyone with her most important commodity: herself. this makes her surgery in the big empty doubly as horrifying, given she took specific pains for something like this to not happen. it’s why she refuses to leave without all of her organs (also, stubbornness). all of this is just one of the ways kaj is way more ... well, everything than she looks. which leads into...

underestimate me if you dare, aka femme fatale (sort of?)—

though fallout prides itself on being a soft reset on the world, people’s perceptions of minorities are still ... iffy, due to real world influences by the creators. thus, the people around kaj often jump to assumptions about her based on her identity—mostly, that she’s weak. once, it offended her, but now it’s a perception that she encourages. after all, she’s not flat out strong like your usual hero, but is more of a hamlet-type; smart, perceptive, fast, and willing to strike from the shadows. it’s hard to do any of that if you’re putting on a big performance about your power (though admittedly, she’s been known to go big or go home if she’s planning on killing everyone; if she’s not faking nice and telling you what you wanna hear, trouble’s ahead).

of course, the reality is that kaj is a powerhouse. but these perceptions about her supposed weakness are why posing as a legion member is so easy—those who think she’s weak underestimate her or keep their distance, which gives her leave to do what she wants. she’s viewed more like a pet than a person by most, and though it frustrates her at times to pretend, it also gives her leave to do more, than if she were to simply pose as a man.

all that said, kaj doesn’t exactly qualify as a femme fatale. most of her lovers are just information givers, and they escape from their interaction unharmed. kaj killing her bed mates is actually less likely than her just sparing them and letting them go, none the wiser. of course, you kill one tyrant (maybe two or three) and suddenly you’re a black widow—

[loveydoveypiperwright]

Video Game Tag!!

Yes hello, Im three days late, don't @ me. I was tagged by @fen-harel , as per uge. Time to type up a storm 😎😎😎

Favorite game from the past 5 years? =That I've played in the past five (5) years or that came out in the past five (5) years? If the former, Assassin's Creed III or Dishonored. AC3s storytelling was one of the best from the entire franchise, I'd like to think. Dishonored bc I like the whole parkour aspect and the fact I don't have to kill people if so I choose. If the latter, Dragon Age Inquisition!! It's very pretty and I adore the characters.

Most nostalgic game? =Toy Story 3: The Video Game!! It was my first videogame and my brother and I used to play it together so many times.

Game that deserves a sequel? =I'd say Dragon Age Origins bc I want to see my Warden again, but they can die so like,, Not everyone will see them. How about Mass Effect Andromeda? There should be more to Ryder

Game that deserves a remaster? =Dragon Age Origins!!! More flora, better graphics, clutered areas, a new look at all our favorite characters, etc. It would be banger!! Here's a (Not actually going to made but still cool) link to a remastered Ostagar. It's so gorgeous. Props to Makara Tes!!

Favorite game series? =Draaagon Aaaage, if it weren't already obvious.

Favorite genre? =Choose Your Own Adventure RPGs and Action-Adventures are my faves, although I kinda really like MMOs

Least favorite genre? =Anything really old, like pre-1995 old. That or pixel games.

Favorite song from a video game? =The Lost Elf theme from Dragon Age Inquisition written by Trevor Morris is incredible. Ezio's Family from Assassin's Creed 2 written by Jesper Kyd is the sountrack of this franchise; The lead woman's voice, the lone violin, even the kickass electric guitar at the very end. No matter how many new games take a spin on it, it will always be something that is Assassin's Creed. Assassin's Creed 3's base and DLC soundtracks are also incredible, but I like Fight Club the most. Tavern instruments!!

Favorite character from a game? =Either Piper Wright or Ratonhnhaké:ton (Rah-toe-hEINg-atohn) or Connor Kenway, as that's what he's refered to outside of his Mohawk tribe. I like to think in a sense they're a clash of what I'm like, but there's barely any string to tie us together, lmao.

Favorite ship from a game? =The El Impoluto from AC4, GOSH, what a beast!!! Oh, you don't mean an actual ship? Ah, Aveline de Grandpré and Gérald Blanc (Assassin's Creed Liberation) or Ezio Auditore da Firenze and Sofia Sartor (Assassin's Creed Revelations) are very lovely. Ezio and Sofia are simply perfect 😊

Favorite voice actor from a game? =Duncan from Dragon Age Origin's VA Peter Renaday (Fun fact he's actually 83), Leliana from every Dragon Age game's VA Corinne Kempa, Miranda Lawson from Mass Effect 2 & 3's VA Yvonne Strahovski, Sera from Dragon Age Inquisition's VA Robyn Addison, they're all so smoooooth, fuuuck. Katy Townsend is the only VA (Cait from Fallout 4 and Suvi from Mass Effect Andromeda) that I follow on social media and she's such a dork, I love her

Favorite cutscene? =That scene in DA2 where Marethari visits Kirkwall's Alienage, looking apon the Vhenadahl (the tree) and a few of the city elves flock around her, bowing. Gosh, it was so mystical, I love it.

Favorite boss? =To be honest, Knight-Commander Merebitch Stannard. Like she's a complete and utter shitstain upon Kirkwall, upon every mage in Thedas, but in her final moments I had sympathy for her. Her doubt, its just,, its a heavy burden to bear

First console? =PlayStation 3

Current console or consoles? =I currently play on my PC and a PS4.

Console you want? =A better computer would be nice. My laptop can run most games but not super fast nor well.

Place from a game you'd love to visit? =Literally any game. Anything not here has my interest. (Maybe not Dunwall or a Fallout map, thats kinda gloomy.)

Place from a game you'd like to live in? =Dunno. They all look pretty but I dunno if I'd stay. For me people are my home so I'd rather be around characters who hang together.

Ridiculous crossover that'll never happen but would be super fun? =Xena the Warrior Princess becomes as assassin!! That would rad!! Some of the AC protags in Mass Effect?

Book that would make a good game? =I don't read many books bc I can rarely ever concentrate, but maybe Fairest by Gail Carson Levine? It'd be like a Witcher-story, Dishonored -gameplay mash!!

Show/movie that would make a good game? =I don't watch a lot of anything sooo ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Maybe The Pinkertons??? It'd be kinda LA Noir but in the Wild West with a lady as the main

Games you want to play? =Oh I have a bunch, but Dishonored 2 and Monster Hunter World are what I'm working for right now. Others on my list include The Wolf Among Us, God of War 4, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Shadow of The Tomb Raider.

Have you ever gotten 100% completion in a game? =From AC2 through AC Rogue (AC2, ACB, ACR, AC3, ACL, AC4, ACRO) I've completed them 100%. (As in I completed the map shit, not all the achievement lmao)

Have you ever cried over a game? =Twice. First was Aunt Mays death from Insomniac's SpiderMan and the second was when Kaidan was yelling at me in Mass Effect 2 on Horizon. I'm sorry dude, it's not my choice to work with Cerberus, please just come back to me. *Sobs a bathtub full bc I'm a sensitive little shit lmao*

What power-up or ability would you want in real life? =Not really either of those, but having horns like Qunari would be fuckin' RAD also I really want wings I really want wings I havent played a game with people with wings but I really want wings

GOD THAT WAS A LOT Hello I procrastinate a lot and I shouldn't've spent three hours on this

Not tagging anyone bc it's a lot and I'm not that mean lololol

[haltquirk]

// i might make the fallout au a verse for this blog?? idk. i have hcs about what all the characters are and actually now that im thinkin about it im gonna ramble under the cut. its based around fallout 4 a lot since im hyperfixating on that but id be down to expand on it or move away from that

shouta is a synth, unit designation Z1-18. he was a courser but members of the railroad captured him while he was on a reclamation mission. they were originally just going to kill him but a member argued that they should try to save any synth they can, including coursers. he was shocked that someone who he considered his enemy was willing to defend him like that, and immediately got pretty attached to that dude. he ends up working with the railroad after unlearning the toxic shit the institute taught him about not being human and all. since lots of their missions overlap, he helps yuuei out sometimes.

said dude is hizashi, who runs put your hands up! radio. he uses his platform to secretly send messages to railroad agents. different songs might mean different things. like a certain song might mean “courser in this area” and he signals the area by mentioning the place by name. he keeps his affiliation with the railroad hidden to avoid ruining the best source of communication and information gathering, and also to avoid getting Murdered. to mask his involvement in the railroad and have a wider source of information, he joins yuuei, also helping them coordinate stuff and do missions.

toshinori is a pretty famous vault dweller. he left his vault, and was the only survivor when a big raider party (all for one) hit the place. he was trained in wasteland survival by a caravan guard (nana). he did lots of independent training then fought tooth and nail to get her to take him under her wing. from then on he was n and out of his vault traveling a lot, until the vault got hit. then he left and vowed hed clean up all the raiders. nana died trying to help him get revenge. he (thought he) killed the leader of the raider band all for one, which was the dominant raider band. after that things seemed to settle down for a bit, partially because he formed (or maybe just joined up with and helped?) yuuei, a band of self described heroes.

izuku is also a vault dweller. his vault opened before he was even born and he grew up hearing stories about the heroic all might, cleansing the wasteland. he completely idolized him. eventually his vault starts getting all kinds of fucked up and they ask for volunteers to go out and find stuff to fix it. obviously he volunteers. he’s laughed right out of the room but decides to go anyways, and he spends a lot of time trying to hunt down yuuei to join them

ochako is a wastelander. her family runs a lil farm, just trying to get by. her parents pay protection money to raiders to avoid getting hit, and its her life goal to make it so they dont have to do that. she joins up with izuku to try and join yuuei so she can do that

katsuki was raised in the same vault as izuku. he was the one everyone thought was gonna end up, like, becoming overseer and going to get what they need and all kinds of stuff. he also goes out to try and find what the vault needs, and find them protection. im also kind of toying with the idea of connecting him to the brotherhood of steel?? i thought about making him a squire but i wanted him to be from izukus childhood

tenya was pretty much raised around yuuei. his brother is a big name hero and hes training to be like him. 

shouto is a brotherhood squire and the son of elder enji, who has been nicknamed endeavor for all his hard work in expanding brotherhood influence. his father was shitty to his mom and obsessed with having the perfect child to succeed him as leader of the brotherhood. his mother had a breakdown, hurt him, and was subsequently locked up for it. eventually he escapes the brotherhood and ends up tagging along with izuku

eijirou is a ghoul. hes pretty chill about it and doesnt really see it as a bad thing. he feels like it makes it easier for him to protect his friends. idk i dont have much backstory for him other than He Ghoul

eri is a ghoul, and a glowing one. she was kept by a rogue group of ex-institute scientists calling themselves the eight precepts of death, who studied her and tried to use her to develop something to make everyone immune to radiation, or something to reverse being a ghoul, or some kind of weapon. lots of experimenting done to her. she ends up getting cared for mostly by shouta since the radiation doesnt hurt him.

[booksandtea]

Author Interview | Rhiannon Frater For the month of October I’m hosting Spooks and Tea where we aim to consume as much horror, or spooky, books as possible.

I also wanted to do something a little different and fun this year so I reached out to a few authors to see if any would be interested in taking part, most of them agreed to do a Q&A with the Book Club! I have never felt more blessed.

If you’re a member of Books and Tea you’ll have been given the chance to ask these authors questions, as well as getting to see their answers early.

It is now time for me to share the second one which is the amazing Rhiannon Frater! I was introduced to her work in my early blogging years and I think she’s a staple to the horror world tbh, and I love the fact she’ll sell personalised signed copies of her work on her etsy which makes us international bookworms very happy! Keep reading to see what we asked her.

Rhiannon Frater

Rhiannon Frater is the award-winning author of the As the World Dies zombie trilogy (Tor) as well as independent works such as The Last Bastion of the Living (declared the #1 Zombie Release of 2012 by Explorations Fantasy Blog and the #1 Zombie Novel of the Decade by B&N Book Blog).

She was born and raised in Texas where she currently resides with her husband and furry children (a.k.a pets).

She loves scary movies, sci-fi and horror shows, playing video games, cooking, dyeing her hair weird colors, and shopping for Betsey Johnson purses and shoes.

Find her at: Instagram | Twitter | GoodReads | Website | Pinterest

What are your hopes for Z Nation season 5? (I picked this series back up thanks to you and I screamed about it so much a few of my friends did too!) I’m thrilled you started watching because of me! SHARE THE ZOMBIE LOVE!

To answer your question, I would love to see the return of all our missing favs: Sun Mei, Red, 5k, and Addy. It looks like I’m getting my wish! Of course, Karl Schaeffer, the showrunner, has to evilly tease us by saying (paraphrasing) “They’re back, but how long until they die!” He loves his hashtag #donttrustznation.

I would also LOVE it if the show was able to book Steven Yuen or Chandler Riggs. The showrunners promised the actors they won’t kill them if they guest star.

Which character from Z Nation would you most want to be watching your back in a Zombie Apocalypse? Roberta Warren. She’s an amazing leader and I would follow her to the ends of the earth.

In a typical horror movie setting, how long do you see yourself surviving? I’m not certain what typical is anymore. If it’s World War Z, I’m toast instantly. I do know how to shoot and I drive like a stunt driver (so I’m told), so I could probably last a reasonable amount of time against a regular monster if I have a gun and fast car. If I don’t have those things, I’m probably dead meat.

What horror monsters could you see yourself beating a fight? Traditional vampires. I know better than to invite them into my house. I win automatically.

Which horror monsters do you fear the most? Slasher monsters like Jason and Freddie. I don’t watch slashers at all.

If you could write a horror book with any author, living or dead, who would you pick and why? Jane Austen. It would be so subversive and fun.

What media influenced you the most? (i.e movies, tv shows, books) I love books. I always have. But when it comes to my love of horror, definitely films. I follow in my grandfather’s love of the horror film genre.

What video games do you find yourself returning ot the most, and what aspect do you find most important? (For me its definitely character customisation, but also the ability to reload should I make the wrong decision) I play Guild Wars 2 religiously. Every damn day. I love it so much. The setting is just so imaginative and fun. Plus, I love the “fashion wars” aspect of the game, too. I’m a big fan of Fallout New Vegas and Mass Effect, too. I enjoy games that allow me to play women who kick ass.

What was your first main struggle on becoming a writer? The main struggle was figuring out how to get published. In 2008, my husband approached me with the idea of self-publishing. We self-published As The World Dies and it was later picked up by Tor. It was very rewarding to take things into my own hands and have the end result be a traditional publishing contract with a genre powerhouse like Tor.

You’re currently writing two serials on two different platforms (Patreon and Radish), what has your experience been like with these? It’s fun, but can be mentally exhausting when I have to keep switching back and forth between very different stories. I’ve grown as a writer by doing the serials, so I’m glad I’m doing them.

Can you tell new readers a bit more about your serials? The serial on Patreon was revised and published as The Unblessed Dead and The Accused Dead. It’s now a new post-apocalyptic book series. It’s origin was actually a short story called The Necromancer (you can read it here for free) originally published in Zombie Tales From Dead Worlds.

The Radish serial, The Impaled Bride, is a sequel/prequel to The Vampire Bride Dark Rebirth trilogy. By the time I’m done, it will be a whole new trilogy that I will most likely self-publish.

If you could be in any of your characters shoes, which would it by any why? That’s tough because all my characters are in really difficult situations and dealing with stuff I definitely don’t want to deal with. I think I’ll have to take a pass on this question!

Why Zombies, Vampires, and Necromancers of all creatures? What makes them so unique and compelling that you write about them? Well, zombies always make a great background for a post-apocalyptic tale. Their constant threat and the dread that comes with it really adds to any tale of survival. I have always loved vampires thanks to Bela Lugosi and Hammer Films. Necromancers are intriguing because they bridge the gap between the living and dead. They add a new dynamic to any story because of their abilities. I love all monsters, of course. I just haven’t written about all of them yet.

Oh and lastly this is more just for me than anything, I think you’re still blonde with a bit of very light pink? How difficult has it been for you to not return to a more intense bright colour? Im currently in the same position but a bit of very light blue and I feel like I lost a bit of me in this change. I’ve wanted to do rose gold for a while. It’s a very hard color to maintain. I’m trying to figure out how to make it work at least for a few more months before I switch it out again. The platinum blonde look before the rose gold has been tough to keep up, too, but it’s been fun to experiment.

I hope you enjoyed reading this, I had so much fun talking to Rhiannon and I’m super excited to dive back into Z Nation and seeing her tweets about it weekly! I have her As She Dies trilogy on my TBR for this month so *fingers crossed* I have time for that with all the travelling I have coming up.

Thank you so much for reading this! What did you think about Rhiannon’s answers?

If you enjoyed this post consider supporting Northern Plunder Ko-fi | Twitter | Book Club | RedBubble

Spooky Q+A: @RhiannonFrater #blogoween #BooksandTeaBC Author Interview | Rhiannon Frater For the month of October I'm hosting Spooks and Tea where we aim to consume as much horror, or spooky, books as possible.

[maythedreadwolftakeyou]

Fic Writer Meme! tagged by @aban-asaara, thank you!! a nice meme to self-indulgently wind down with after a stressful day...

What is your total word count on AO3?

160,546. I had forgotten all about the AO3 stats page until having to dig that out, oops. I have more short drabbles etc on tumblr as well (and a LOT of stuff I just... never finished/posted anywhere).

How often do you write?

varies hugely depending on what else is going on in my life. In good times, I aim for daily, at least 500 words. During years I participate in NaNoWriMo, 1500-2000 per day in November. Other times I just can’t make even 500 happen with work/etc. Still more other times, my depression kicks in and I’m pretty useless at everything, and unfortunately go months with no writing at all. 

Do you have a routine for writing?

I try to write in several short bursts. If doing 500/words/day, then two chunks of 250, and some editing/planning on top. If during NaNoWriMo, 4 chunks of about 500 words each. If I really push myself to get them done in sections, I spend less time fiddling around, but the break between them makes it still relaxing/fun.

I also have a computer/document setup that works very well for me. I write on a laptop that can scroll between several different ‘desktop’ screens. I have one for fun stuff, and set one aside for writing. The only browser window/tabs allowed to be open on that desktop are writing-related ones--research, youtube clips of scenes, wiki articles, etc. All other fun stuff goes on the other desktop where it can’t distract me while I get through a section. Then over the browser I have two word documents: one on the left titled “[StoryTitle.docx]”, and one next to it titled “[StoryTitleNotes.docx]”. On the left is the “final version” of what I’m working on--aka the working document, with the most current edits/chapters/etc. The right “Notes” one is for outlines, summaries, lines I had to delete but might want to use somewhere else, passages I haven’t gotten to yet but wanted to sketch out before I lost the inspiration for them, quotes that I want to echo the feel of, copied dialogue from the game so I don’t forget it, etc etc. Anything related to the story in the working document that I might want to reference. The notes doc can be fairly messy--my level of organization for it changes from project to project. But it makes it WAY easier for me mentally to delete and tweak things when I can put them somewhere else just in case it turns out the first way was better. 

What are your favorite kinks/tropes/pairing?

Ohh... my pairings are pretty obvious, I’m really into Lavellan/Solas, Hawke/Fenris, and Shepard/Garrus. 

But what I’m really into is Hawke/the concept of found family and also various coping mechanisms+mental health issues; Lavellan/the weight of duty above all else, Shepard/the giddy knowledge that you won’t survive what you have to turn yourself into in order to save everything you love, Ryder+Sam/breaking the boundaries of what it means to be a single conscious entity...  

my big literary kinks are pretty much any narrative that has to do with one or more of the following: self-sacrifice, the transcendence of humanity in pursuit of a goal, the knowledge of the futility of one’s actions, the duality of self plus other, the terrifying and terrible beauty of rage, stubborn and violent perseverance in the face of insurmountable odds, the frailty of people who nonetheless fool everyone into believing they’re not broken. I am also a very big fan of nontraditional formats, and the meta-narrative of a story over usual structure. 

tl;dr: I like my fiction weird. 

Like... I recognize that most of my fics. Do not include a majority of these. And the ones that do aren’t really very popular. The one that gets closest to these concepts is probably the people you love become ghosts inside of you, and like this, you keep them alive which very few people read and got almost no attention. But I knew that when I posted it. I wrote it for me, after finishing the ME trilogy for the first time. The above tropes show up way more in my original writing, while I use fanfiction as a break from these more complicated/heavier themes, and to just have some fun with less technical writing. They’re there, just in smaller doses.

Fics with that sort of bend are WAY harder to search for than ones based on pairings though so like... if you have recs for anything that follows the above themes. please send them to me. i’m dying. please. 

Do you have a favorite fic of yours?

How can I not answer this with Fallout from the Fade? It’s my baby. It’s the longest thing I’ve consistently written, without getting bored and abandoning it halfway through. It will probably take me a while yet (depending on mental health/writing pace/etc) to finish but I know how it ends, and most of how to get there. It’s also the third fanfiction I had ever started writing. The beginning feels rough to me when I go back to it (which an inevitable fact of my decision to post as I write/not use beta readers, which I still think was the only way for me to do this story), but I still think a lot of my ideas were clever and my execution may not have been perfect but it was pretty good. I’ve learned a lot while writing this fic.

And also I love to make people suffer. Knowing that people have shed literal tears because of things i have written fills me with the delightful glee to push forward. 

But really. Comments mean the world to me. They spur me on through rough patches where I otherwise abandon works. I’m really not used to having an audience: most of what I’ve written in my life is original content that I don’t post/share. Having other people also invested makes me feel accountable, in a good way. 

Other honorable mentions: I think Grief is one of my best fics in terms of execution and balance. Less a man than a wild cat and A Slip of the Tongue were both exercises in pacing/timing as well as forays into the highly unfamiliar territory of comedy. The aforementioned the people you love become ghosts inside of you, and like this, you keep them alive satisfies my eternal desire for weird presentation and ideology taking a front seat over narrative structure (I have like. 4 other partial fics similar to this that will probably never be posted because I know they’re what I want to explore, not what other people actually want to read).

Your fic with the most kudos?

Fallout from the Fade, with 626.

Anything you don’t like about your writing?

I wish I was more consistent about sitting down and working. I managed it for 6 straight months when I started the fanfic gig, but to be fair, during that time I also had no friends and spent 5 days every other week camped out in Death Valley with no internet and nothing to do but write and brainstorm. Having the barest scrapings of a social life now that I’ve moved doesn’t do much for wordcount, it turns out.

Now something you do like?

I think I can write about mental illness realistically without it coming across as either overdramatic or idealistic. I like my descriptions, when I allow myself to use them (y’all don’t want to see how flowery most of my works would be without my self control). I have visibly improved since I started writing in 2015. 

i feel like a lot of my original circle on tumblr isnt active/writing anymore but gonna tag some people w/ no obligation… @leviathanmirror  @seekingidlewild @littleblue-eyedbird @loquaciousquark @kayla-bird and anyone else who wants to answer!! feel free to tag me if you do it, im lonely... 

[amerasdreams]

I really hope my story turns into something-- otherwise I’ve wasted all this time

why does this always happen, I write something, takes a long time, then it doens’t turn into anything. not revisable. have to start from scratch-- well, that’s a whole new story! I’ll never get anywhere if that happens each time. If I have to write the whole thing over again, in a different form, and then that form is no good--- I mean. i don’t have unlimited time. Some people have written 20 novels by now. they write three novels a year. at this rate, I’ll have 1 novel by the time I’m 50, maybe 

when I want to have a whole series!!!! and I want to have multiple series! multiple series of at least 6 books each! this one, the multiverses, one with future earth and space, a fantasy, maybe try something in this time and space but with Mysterious Happenings, time travel perhaps, maybe try a dif genre like mystery, horror....,.  HOW CAN I POSSIBLY WRITE ALL I WANT

 i mean, i need to be good enough at it by now to write the series I want, the books I want! I don’t care if they’re famous or I get a lot of money, i want a nice enthusiastic fandom. I don’t care about lots of good critics reviews. but I do want a good amount who like my stories and characters. maybe a movie or tv series ha-- just bc i want to see others’ interpretations of it. see my characters come to life, see who would play them etc. I want to write and touch people’s lives and souls. have my characters and themes resonate with them. 

IS THIS TOO MUCH TO ASK

or am i doomed to labor in the shadows, never getting anywhere...

I get somewhere-- more than if I was writing what I didn’t care about. But idk... is it enough. I just. want my characters loved and seen by a nice fandom... i want to talk to ppl about my stories. and develop them with others’ input. and write lots of my series and see what happens! go on the adventure of it--

I’ve had this series in my head for almost 10 years! maybe 10 years this month. I made up Jet (wasn’t even his name then) when I was doing crossing guard and waiting for the few kids that crossed in my car. Writing notes and thinking. a character and situation emerged. and evolved a lot over the years. I wrote novels and then abandoned them, no good. abandoned this world and wrote about another. but always came back! There must be something here if I come back. 

here I am, finally able to write a sequel, not just a sequel but a trilogy. I hope it’s finally canon... I’m finally making something that can work as a story, and as a foundation for what happens next. I hope things gather and finally make sense enough to launch everything else from. I mean, I wrote Justice Lost in 2012 (or was it 2013?... maybe it was 2013... or was that Spark... in any case been a while since the 1st one!). yes i think it was 2013 and then tried to write the sequel during Nano and that didn’t work. then I wrote Spark on the edge of 2014.... get it mixed up bc I was writing my first AIO fanfic, Fallout, on the end of 2012.....

But is it good enough... I never know till I’m finished and this time I’ve been writing for a long time-- it’s a trilogy and I won’t know if it’s any good till it’s totally finished!! am I totally flailing around, focusing on the wrong thing... should I even be writing this.... is this a viable kind of story... are these characters even working.. or is it just my imagination. would anyone else like or care about them. or do i need validation.... writing should be its own reward!!! and it is. 

still. I love validation. :) i got spoiled... esp during fanfic..... comments and stuff I never dreamed of... some for my original fic.... it’s just! so fun.... not only do what you love but others love it! not only love your characters, your babies, but have others love them!!!! nothing like it. how can i still endure in silence and shadow like i used to when I know this whole world is out there... is it that my stories are no good or that they just don’t affect others like they do me. or that they need a lot of work :( after all this time-- or just that it’s a case of marketing. i suspect a lot of things are just good marketing whether their products are good or not... good graphic design to lure ppl in.... how do i lure ppl lol. the right ppl bc it’s true not all will like these stories. I hope that lots do, I mean-- maybe they are different than normal and different is good but they might not give it a chance bc of that... or may not even like it... but doens’t mean it’s not good, all a matter of perspective... 

going crazy, maybe i should just write. but now my sister is over and it’s nice out. i wanted to be able to write today! but i have to do pet sitting... i’ll never get my stories done at this rate esp if i’m not relying on them for income lol (as if i could) bc i need to work on other stuff so i can actually get my own place... live with the minimum and write with the rest of the time. write for myself... immerse in the worlds.. good enough (i suppose sometimes emerge to experience the real world.... ). but to share it! i’ve just experienced a few times where others shared what i loved and they were all too sweet and fleeting. and my stories, what i like doing the most... if i could have just 1 i could talk in depth with... share my life with lol... as if. um... ramble! again. where am i going with this. i haven’t had caffeine i swear. but. i just realyl want. and really am scared at the cusp of this-- ending-- which I’m trying to pound out-- i have suspicions it’s too unwieldy... i need this to work!!!! i want to get done by March month but ... feb is almost over and there is no leap year (last year leap night was...traumatic)-- I want this to be my year and finally make it. to SOMETHINg after working all this time

stories are the things that should matter and they do. esp when im’ immersed in them and nothing else matters. i should just focus on that. focus on focusing on that. But i also want More